5/16 !!!!!!!!!!ROLL CALL!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry for the yelling, but I had to do it to keep myself up. I had the scare of my life at 4:30 this morning when I couldn't find my toddler (2 and 1/2 years old) in my bed or his. I noticed our door going to the upstairs was open (the little light from the stove was shining up the stairway) and so went downstairs to see if he was there and MY OUTSIDE DOOR WAS OPEN!!!!!!!!!!! I immediately started running around outside in my t-shirt and underwear yelling "Micah, where are you? Micah, Micah..." Then I decided that I needed my teenager to help (because hubby was working) so ran upstairs to get Danny and told him Micah had gotten up and went outside by himself and I needed help to find him. Danny sat up and said, "Mom, he's right here." I just about dropped to my knees thanking Jesus the whole time!!!!!!! I immediately scooped him up and hugged him and bawled! I woke up my daughter screaming so much then got her back to bed and my two boys and I went downstairs. I noticed then that Micah had a dirty face and started asking him questions. That little squirt had gotten up, went downstairs, went outside, gotten something to eat and then went back upstairs and climbed into bed with his big brother - all without turning on an extra light!!! I certainly wasn't able to sleep after all of that!!!!! Needless to say, my contractor was at my house by 7:15 and is installing a double entry key bolt lock - one that you will have to lock with a key and unlock with a key. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH Thanks for listening! I just needed to unload. Now, my goals for the week are simple: 1) Make it through this week sanely - have graduation and party next weekend for my oldest son and my daughter has dance recital Friday and Saturday. Plus, I have 3 big meetings at school this week. 2) Make it to the gym at least 4-5 times this week to help my sanity. 3) Keep control over food and emotions!!! That's enough goals and going to be hard work. What are your goals this week? How did you do on your goals last week? For the question of the week - what has scared you the most in life? Hope you all have blessed weeks. I know that I'm blessed to have my family all safe and sound this fine spring day!!! (As I breath a sigh of relief!!) Hugs to all and God bless, Andrea

WOW Andrea, what a scare!!!!!!! I bet you are still flying high with emotions, I know I would be! Things are pretty good here. I am staying down in Milton, now with my soon-to-be hubby trying to find a job and fix our new (to us) house up so we can live in it. Cant live there yet without plumbing or carpeting, just some of those main things! LOL Graduated a week ago ( I think, lol) not sure about the grades though, I am just glad its done, I can finally breathe. Now, trying to find a job down here, and all that isnt easy! Being not from the area, etc. anyhow. I really dont like that my son had to stay in Osage with my folks to finish his school thru June 2nd, but there is no room in the hubby's trailer, it doesnt hardly fit the 2 of us, honestly, so I can NOT WAIT For that house to be ready so he can be down here all the time.! I have no idea where I am at with weight, I forgot to bring my scale down, but we went to a biker rally this weekend, Conesville, had an awesome time, but ya know how it goes with eating, I am glad I breought some pretzels and stuff along, it was a long walk up to food vendors, and not much good there. My first time in YEARS camping, and the first night we flooded with rain! lol. I had a blast, believe me! hehe anyhow, I hope everyone is well. My goal is to mainly make it thru every day sanely, get a job and get thru it all sending hugs to all of you Judi

Judi - yep - still flying high on that emotional roller coaster. No lock on my door yesterday, so when I talked to my contractor at 9:00 at night, I told him I was deciding which piece of furniture was going in front of the door or where to put my pillow and sleeping bag. He thought I was kidding but you KNOW that I slid my huge oak dining room table over to the door - butted it right up against the door so only an adult or big teenager could move it. I decided that I would much rather experience child birth again several times than relive that night - however - that would lead to more babies and thus more 2 year olds and thus................... AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHh you get the point?!?! CONGRATS on graduating. You have worked hard. I'm sure that you will find a job and be well-qualified. Just remember, June is just around the corner for your little man to join you - until then, sounds like you have your work cut out for you on the house. Keep up the good work on good snacks and eating right. And enjoy the nice weather, you motorcycle mamma, you!!! God bless, Andrea

Hello I'm excited. I have a job interview with HyVee tomorrow as a cashier. I can't wait. Goals went so-so. 1) Get ride of these so-called friends I have. They are using me. I end up with 40 dollars left for groceries within 2 days. They are always asking me for money for cigarettes. Time to say good-bye. But I'm scared to. Cause I've done this before, and got my parents mail box smashed in. I don't know what's going to happen if I do this. Guess wish me luck. 2) Go to the gym more often then I am. 3) Have another job interview on Wednesday in Des Moines at OfficeTeam, but not sure if I'm going, depends on this job. I don't want to leave Marshalltown area. Des moines is 1 hour away. I would work in Ames, but if it rains I'm stuck, I can't drive in the rain. And HyVee is only 6 blocks from me. 4) Eat more protein and drink more water. What has scared the most well, when my dad had a farm accident when he had a business where a Round bale of hay came bouncing out of a tractor loader and bounced off his head and landed on his leg. Just ended up with a broken leg which the Doctor put a plate in and 18 screws. The other thing that has scared me is mowing the ditch along my parents driveway, it's steep and the mower had tipped over, (Thank goodness the mower has an emergency shut off and that I didn't get hurt). Well, I need to go think about what to say to these "friends". I'll let you know how things go with my job interview. Take Care Love Lisa Young

Lisa, Hey, so sorry to hear about the friend situation. Do you think maybe instead of ending the friendship, you could just tell them that you can't give them any more money at all? Might be worth a shot. Good luck on the interview. It sounds like Hy-Vee is going to be what will work for you. Now, work on the protein and water and see if you can get to the gym more often. That sure sounds scary about the hay bales. Sure glad that your dad didn't get his head hurt and that you didn't get hurt on that lawn mower. Take care and God bless, Andrea

I know how you feel. It is awful firghtening when you can't find your child. That happened to me when my daugher was in 2nd grade. We had moved to a small town during the summer and she had to be bussed to another town for school. I only knew a few people and when my daughter never came home on the bus I freaked. I called all her friends that I knew in the town we lived in and no one remembered seeing her on the bus. Of course the first thing I think of is she was kidnapped. I called the school and no one could be of help. I was crying my eyes out and was just about ready to call the police when she came in the door. She had met a new friend from the town her school was in and decided to go to her house after school. The friends parent brought her home. I was so mad at her but yet was so glad she was ok that all I could do was hug her and tell her dont ever do that again without letting mom know first. I'm glad everything went well for the both of us. My goal (since I am still new at this) is to get my protein in and try and walk a little more. Have a good week.

Patty, Oh my gosh - I can so see my 2nd grade daughter doing that! How scary!! I, too, am glad that things worked well for both of us. Good luck on the protein and walking. Those are so very important! God bless, Andrea

So glad everything turned out ok for you on this! Our now 12 year old son, decided when he was 2 to go out and see the dog without asking. That normally might not be a big deal, but he only had on his cowboy boots a diaper and a cowboy hat. We had about 3 inches of snow on the gound. We noticed within a few minutes he was missing and when we found him, I went through the same emotions you did, grab and hug. I just could not get over him going outside. When we asked him what he was doing, he just kept saying doog doog, his word for dog. From that point on, the dog slept on the back porch at night......kids......

Kathy, Oh my gosh, I can just see my own son going outside to see a dog - and even in his diaper and his sisters shoes - and with the snow on the ground!! Just a minute ago as I talked to my hubby, my little one had climbed on top of the wooden playground - on the rungs - and was trying to slide himself into his swing. I swear, he's going to be my heart attack!!! Kids - gotta love them!! I still don't have the lock on my door, so the past two nights my big oak kitchen table has been up against my door. Hopefully the lock will be put up this afternoon. God bless, Andrea

What is this with 2 year olds & scaring us all? My biggest scare also was something my 2 year old did. I live on a dairy farm & feed calves. Back when my kids were young, I usually took them out with me to "watch" Daddy milk. On the weekends the two older boys would watch Saturday funnies & they would keep an eye on Ben. On this particular day I came into the house & discovered Ben standing on one of the stoveburners. It was turned off but he had the other 3 on high, bright red. He was just standing there grinning. Fortunately he had removed his PJs so there was nothing hanging loose to start on fire. I just gasped & told him to stand still & lifted him off the stove. Then I fell apart. This was the day I decided to get my tubes tied. No more babies for me. My second scariest event also had to do with a 2 year old. I came through the door of the barn just in time to grab Matt's leg as a bull was pulling him into the bull pen. I can only imagine what would have happened to him in the bull pen, under the bulls feet. Fortunatley we got rid of the bull soon after. Now to my goals--- Stay away from snacking! Get & stay in the 170's! I got there once & it immediately bounced back into the 180's. Quit talking myself out of going to the pool like I did this morning and get more sleep. On a happy note, my DIL e-mailed me a picture of my grandchild today. Not a very clear one but what do you expect? He/she won't be born for 7 more months but I can assure you that he/she is the most beautiful baby to ever be conceived! Oh, I'm going to be some grandmother! Do you think I should warn her about 2 year olds? Dixie