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I got better sleep when the kids were newborns!

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I was up until midnight working on this morning’s cake route. Since we are hitting up Illinois at first it was a 12 hour drive. Well when I rearranged all the places I got it down to six. This should have been my second clue as to what the night was going to be like. My first clue was Emily and her friend decided to go out and have Kayla and her boyfriend drop them off and pick them up. So somewhere in the three o’clock hour I get a text from Kayla saying she is not going to go see cakes or get a new phone today. She hates Emily. So I get up to try and talk to her half comatose and Emily has really hurt her feelings. I go back to bed and Brian is snoring to the point I cannot sleep so I go lay on Allyson’s floor with the dog. Kayla wakes me up again and I convince her she is getting a phone today. Around five I go back to my room because Brian is up and no longer snoring. Now he wants to have a conversation because he heard my text message go off and then I left so of course he jokingly says I was with my boyfriend. Hello moron mole I just want some damn sleep. At six the alarm goes off and I have to get Allyson up for school. As soon as she leaves I go back to sleep. Within twenty minutes Emily is now in my bed and making horrible wrenching sounds. I am thinking are you kidding me? I just want to sleep soundly. Yep she hops and throws up a bunch of time. Finally thirty minutes before my alarm goes off I give up on sleep and get up. Today should be a real fun day.

Mole moral of the story momma mole will always stand on the side that drinking is stupid!

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Today’s cake hunting adventures

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Today we headed down 44 to Meramec Caverns as this was the farthest cake out west. We then made our way back down 44 stopping along the way. We did the cave tour as I have never done it. It was really cool to see but we froze the entire time. I think the girls enjoyed it as well.  We then saw the Franklin County Courthouse. That was a GPS nightmare and walked around the building before we realized we were at the wrong building. Next stop washington historical society. That cake was cool. We then went onto Gray Summit and Purina farms. That was a tad disappointing. I think Suson Park in South County had almost the same amount of animals. Shaw nature park cake was very detailed with little animals glued on and a big sign stating not to even touch the cake. So we didn’t. Would have loved to have driven through it but after spending 55 to see the cave the credit card was on fire. We then visited the Black Madonna Shrine and Grottos. I need to look up the history on that because the name did not match what I envisioned and it was actually pretty cool. Of course when I told Brian about it, he knew exactly where it was as he delivered candles there back during his first job when he worked at a candle factory. Six Flags is closed during the week. You can be sure crazy cake lady told the guys at the fence to move the cake so that it can be viewed even when closed. They seemed to think that was a pretty good idea. We then visited the wolf center where Allyson went to wolf camp last summer. Also the bird sanctuary and we got to see them bring the birds in for feeding. It was cool to see the barn owl up close. Of course we drove around Lone Elk Park and saw the animals and the cake. We ended at Maritz where the girl’s aunt use to work. That cake was really cool as it had each side as a different season. We left at 8:30 and didn’t get home until 6. I think work will be much easier tomorrow!

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10 really good reasons the Mole’s are cake hunting!

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IMG_4732It’s been a while since I have written anything. Emily is home for a week between PT school semesters and she is all into the caking with me. I know it probably seems ridiculous to drive all over town but here are 10 really good reasons.

1. The kids are locked in the car with me without music so we must talk.

2. I have seen parts of St. Louis I would never see.

3. It gets me out of the house as I could easily be a hermit.

4. We have met some cool people while out on this adventure. The one cake artist and the book illustrator. Today I was telling the guy at the train station how there are 250 cakes all over from IL down to Meramec Caverns . Allyson got to meet a saxophone player down by Vinatage Vinyl in the loop.

5. I learned Clayton is five minutes from the loop. Did I ever mention I have zero sense of direction. We are constantly flipping U-turns and going the wrong way. All this driving is not helping me one bit with my sense of direction.

6. We have some great pictures and behind every picture is a story.

7. It keeps Allyson off of the electronics.

8. School starts in two days for Allyson, six for Kayla, and nine for Emily. Then its just me and my fleas!

9. The dog enjoys going when it’s not too hot. We can’t always get her out of the car.

10. This time will be known as the summer “our crazy mother drug us to all those silly cakes and called it culture!”

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My 24 hour fast from Facebook

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First of all do not laugh because it was only 24 hours because I learned a lot in a short time. 

It all started yesterday morning when I read a post that I thought was directed at me. I immediately sent an apology text and then decided I had enough and was getting off of Facebook for a while. I heard back and the post was not for me but since the last few weeks have been rough I just assumed. So then I felt better and decided to stay deactivated for 24 hours. Here are some things I noticed. 

1. I was a lot more attentive to the people around me and my surroundings. 

2. It was nice not checking FB constantly to read my notifications. 

3. It was really nice not knowing Suzy had picked her nose and ate her boogers. And then to read fifteen different peoples reactions. 

4. If I needed to know something I had to pick up the phone and talk to a real live person. 

5. I did miss my two groups. One is piyo and it’s all newbies trying it out and supporting each other. My other group is lead by a gal at my church that has lost 110 pounds via weight watchers and exercise. This months exercise challenge was running or walking 100 miles. Now I am not that crazy and set my goal at 50. That should be plenty. 

6. I also need my photo album to finish documenting my cake finds. I need therapy about that but that is a whole different post. 

So my take away from this is I am going to delete the Facebook app from my phone. This will greatly reduce my time on it. I will leave messenger on in case someone from one of my groups need to reach me but Facebook has to go. 

Mole moral it has been greatly refreshing not to have even checked Facebook since 7:30 am yesterday! And the post which brought initial hurt turned out bringing great joy. Which makes me think of Josh Williams song before the morning. 

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Rough week

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It’s been a rough sort of week so it makes it really difficult for me to get blog post ideas. So just so random things that have happened.

Yesterday my nephew would have been 14. I worked and our break room is right by the old NICU. It seems like yesterday. I left the burn unit after that and went to women’s health. Yesterday, I had a patient tell her friend who was having upcoming surgery if I wasn’t working she wasn’t getting the best nurse. That was really nice.

It was wise to drag Brian out cake hunting before letting him eat lunch. We had lunch on the hill that day and had dynamite sandwiches. Most of the places are closed on Sunday but we found a great pizza place and yet no one even ordered pizza. Leave it to the moles.

Art camp this week is duck tape. Well it turns out it’s fashion camp so Allyson was totally bored yesterday and predicts today will be no better. She says she can’t wait to start school next week.

We are going caking when I pick her up this afternoon. I become just a little obsessive when I get something like that in my head. We still need to go bike riding but it is going to be way too hot this afternoon. Maybe by 7 we can run up to Meramec trail. That is close to our house but no cakes. See I am obsessed.

My work schedule is all different too. I never work Mondays and always work Tuesdays but I worked yesterday and am off today. I can see the reason now why and it’s all related to the hard week! And that is code for don’t ask don’t tell!

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My bike

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The bike from my dad is really nice and it switches gears. I rode it around the circle in front of my house so he could get the seat the right height. Of course I almost crashed into Brian’s truck. When he got out of the pool and seen the bike he started complaining there was no room in the garage. I told him to sell his giant truck that he had to cut a hole in the drywall to get it to fit in the garage. He didn’t appreciate that. I found out from Allyson when I went to the grocery store she conned him into riding with her. He barely made it down or hill and up then the next when he had to turn around because he was tired. This coming from him who constantly told me my butt shouldn’t hurt, he rode his bike for hours as a kid without a problem. I think he may have figured out this evening that he is not 8 years old and riding a bike at almost 48 is a whole different ball of yarn. Allyson is determined we are riding somewhere tomorrow. I would like to walk and do PiYo as well. Now that is a little extreme in the exercise department. I have lost my mind.

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Before the morning ~ Josh Wilson

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I’ve really had to own this song lately. Hey God if you are reading this CR is ready to move onto better times!

Do you wonder why you have to feel the things that hurt you?
If there’s a God who loves you where is He now?
Or maybe there are things you can’t see
And all those things are happening to bring a better ending
Someday, somehow you’ll see, you’ll see

Would you dare, would you dare to believe
That you still have a reason to sing?
‘Cause the pain that you’ve been feeling
It can’t compare to the joy that’s coming

So hold on, you gotta wait for the light
Press on and just fight the good fight
‘Cause the pain that you’ve been feeling
It’s just the dark before the morning

My friend, you know how this all ends
And you know where you’re going
You just don’t know how you’ll get there so say a prayer

And hold on ’cause there’s good for those who love God
But life is not a snapshot, it might take a little time
But you’ll see the bigger picture

Would you dare, would you dare to believe
That you still have a reason to sing?
‘Cause the pain that you’ve been feeling
It can’t compare to the joy that’s coming

So hold on, you gotta wait for the light
Press on and just fight the good fight
‘Cause the pain that you’ve been feeling
It’s just the dark before the morning

Yeah, yeah, before the morning
Yeah, yeah

Once you feel the weight of glory
All your pain will fade to memory
Once you feel the weight of glory
All your pain will fade to memory, memory, memory, yeah

Would you dare, would you dare to believe
That you still got a reason to sing?
‘Cause the pain that you’ve been feeling
It can’t compare to the joy that’s coming

Would you dare, would you dare to believe
That you still got a reason to sing?
‘Cause the pain that you’ve been feeling
It can’t compare to the joy that’s coming

Come on, you gotta wait for the light
Press on and just fight the good fight
‘Cause the pain that you’ve been feeling
It’s just the hurt before the healing
Oh, the pain that you’ve been feeling
It’s just the dark before the morning

Yeah, yeah, before the morning
Yeah, yeah, before the morning

Read more at http://www.songlyrics.com/josh-wilson/before-the-morning-lyrics/#TtprC1X7li0HKkMy.99

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Random things from today

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1. Forest park is really confusing. Even with GPS Allyson and I felt like we were driving in circles.

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2. The corpse flower didn’t smell that bad to me. However it was so gross Allyson said it gave her a headache and smelled like dirty butt. I guess after being a nurse for 26 years, I can block anything out.

3. My friends mom wake was this evening. I was lost in forest park for so long, I had two choices go as I was in shorts and a t-shirt or skip it. I chose to go because in the long run who cares what I looked like. Mrs. Braun was an awesome lady who I loved dearly. She was always kind and funny and I will really miss her.

4. A couple of weeks ago when Allyson and I were driving to art camp someone was on the side of the road homeless. I didn’t have a dime on me. I told her if I saw that person again I would give money. Today there was a guy standing there. I had a ten and a twenty so I took the ten out yelled excuse me and handed it to him. He looked at me and said this is a ten-dollar bill. I said I know. He said are you sure. I said yes you use it. He thanked me and said he was going to get lunch. As I drove away smiling I thought even if he uses it for smokes or drugs I do not care. Addiction sucks! And if he does use it for food how awful of me to ignore him because I assumed he was a smoker, drinker or druggee!

5. My mom has decided to do a second blog and since I’m not so crabby tonight I’m going to sign in for her and see if I can’t set it up.

6. I am so thankful I am going back to work tomorrow. It will be good to be back.

7. And for all you doubting Thomas’s my car indeed passed inspection with only mirror! Rock on!

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Anyone got a cigarette? Anyone?

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Today has been by far one of the worst technology days ever. It all started last night with my decision to restore Kayla’s windows computer to factory settings. I bought her a refurbished mac before I went to camp. Well the old Windows computer got stuck at 12% restore. So this morning I spent two hours on the phone with tech support to find out the hard drive had crashed and burned. I spent 800 on it and another 300 to replace the screen. Well they wanted 250 to replace the hard drive. By this time I had zero filter left and I said “No way. I will throw this piece of shit in the trash and buy a Mac.” This makes the fourth Windows computer hard drive that I have had crash. I am finished with anything with windows. I have no intention of buying Allyson a mac until she is a senior in high school. It would have been nice for her to have the windows for her games but such is life. So we will continue to fight over mine.

I had finally finished that disaster up and was headed out the door to walk the dog when Emily calls. Her Mac was asking for some keychain password and wouldn’t run. I said look text Bob across the street, I cannot deal with this. She finally figured out the password but just now said its acting up. I said make an appointment with the apple store. Your computer is under warranty and again I can’t deal with this. Factor in Allyson and I driving all over looking at cakes and then trying to remember which cake is which and I’m thinking I could smoke an entire carton of cigarettes straight. The worst part was I couldn’t figure out where this one cake was located. Allyson takes one look at it and says its the back of the cake in the previous picture. I should have just offed myself right then. However I think tomorrow we will find a few more.

Oh and in the middle of this I call my mom thinking I could easily set up a second blog for her and that turns into total frustration on both ends so we decided we will work on that tomorrow. She finished the family story (www.whenthechurchbellsrang.wordpress.com) and now all her friends want her to keep writing. She’s going to start another called class of 66 but change the names to protect the guilty (like herself-after all she’s the one that got expelled from history class and had to repeat). I will let her tell those stories.

Oh and how can I forget about the camp CD. Someone restored the download code. I put it in and again nothing would download to my computer. So I still don’t have the camp music! Tomorrow will be a better day!

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Herc’s Facebook post about relationships

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Some amazing wisdom in this morning’s session on relationships. Here is a summary…
For guys:
1. Love Jesus (if you cannot follow then you for sure won’t be able to lead)
2. Protect your heart (if you don’t care about your own then you will definitely not care about a girl’s)
3. Get your life in order. (get a job, take your studies seriously, don’t be an underachieving party machine)
4. Say yes to the dress (date with marriage in mind…if you can’t do that then don’t date)

For Girls:
1. Love Jesus
2. Live from your beauty. (you are created in the image of God…you are fearfully and wonderfully made…you are a treasured daughter of the King…when you look in the mirror tell yourself these things)
3. Close the pawn shop. (you are valuable so quit giving cheap discounts)
4. Stock the fridge. (guys gather at homes where the fridge is filled with food…make the guys pursue you…as opposed to a watergirl(boy) who goes around looking for thirsty people)

For All:

1. Am I becoming the right man or woman for someone else?
2. Our hearts should be so hidden in God that a man or woman has to pursue God in order to find you.

Great honesty, openness, and wisdom from camp this morning!

 

I forget anyone can read these so let me tell you just a little about Herc. His real name is Robert but when he was a baby he laid with his arms up and received the nickname Herc from his family. He is second pastor in command after his brother Tom. He is one of the funniest, nicest people I have ever met!

If just one person found this helpful it will be so worth all the technology drama I went through just to paste this onto this blog. In the end it was fairly easy. However, as usual I was trying to do it the hard way. That would be the story of my life!