…Ice storm warning going on right now. The local school district is closed, but shhhh. Don’t tell my boys. We’re doing schoolwork anyway. I am waiting to see if the community college will be open for the afternoon class my son has today.
…College textbook sales is a whole new world with the internet. When I was in college, our only option was the college bookstore. High prices and low buy back value. Last semester I paid $42 for one of my son’s books, online and used. The bookstore offered to buy it back for $15. I just sold it for $55 online. Yes, more than we paid for it. I love it!
…I am working on creating my own ultimate workout playlist for my iPod. I need about an hour’s worth of songs to get my miles in on the treadmill. I’ve got a list going including a mix of rock, pop, alternative, funk… anything to keep me motivated to keep walking. I am open to suggestions!
…Speaking of the treadmill – my husband rocks! He fixed it with a $2 part when it died a few days into my revolution. I have walked almost 48 miles this year so far; I’m tracking it on a spreadsheet. I’m not quite meeting my 2 miles a day goal because there were some days missed, but I am happy with the progress so far. I want it to be a habit.
…We created a new chore/commission system for the children and just completed our first week. It went really well. We are getting flak from the oldest but we started it too late for him, really. We weren’t this organized about it before. He probably needs to get a real Jay-Oh-Bee if he wants more serious money. He can do the yard work when that starts back up, too. I’ll be on the lookout for some tougher, better-paying jobs he can do as well – but the house looked a whole lot better last week than it has in a long time.
…Both Luann and Foxtrot had math-related strips on Sunday. I loved them both.
…Super glue works really well for sealing a cut – I had one on the tip of my index finger where a band-aid wouldn’t stay well. If it was uncovered it would bust open every time I bumped it, which is a lot for an index finger. Super glue did the trick. I’m going to use it for the deep skin cracks I get in the cold, dry weather this year, too.
…I think I’ll go have a second cup of coffee.

Yesterday morning about 4:50 am our smoke alarms began sounding.  They did it every 10 minutes.  There was no smoke.  We found the offending alarm and vacuumed it twice, changed the battery.  Still went off.  For 2 hours until my husband switched off the breaker.

This one alarm was always the one that caused them to go off in the past, too – we thought maybe it was defective.  But we couldn’t find that brand in town so in the interest of getting to sleep well we decided to replace them all.  All six of them, plus we added a new one in the former playroom, now bedroom for the younger 2 boys.  My husband is pretty handy with that kind of stuff, and I’m so glad he is!

We had a great night’s sleep last night; in fact, we all slept past 9 am this morning.

We just replaced our mattress.  We noticed over the summer that it was getting uncomfortable for our 40-something backs.  We bought a memory foam topper that helped for a little while.  But recently we decided it was time to get a new one.

The old one was only 5-1/2 years old, not nearly a long enough life in my opinion.  I started doing some research.  I didn’t want to visit the big chains to start.  I called a local manufacturer of mattresses and we visited him.  We learned that the big name manufacturers only make “no-flip” mattresses now.   This is what our 5 year old mattress was – no flip, ultra plush.  No flip is touted as a benefit to the consumer – no more flipping heavy mattresses!  In reality, it is a measure that makes your mattress have half the life and you’ll need to replace it much sooner, meaning more profit for the mattress makers.

In addition, most mattresses are made with excessive amounts of polyurethane foam.  Oh, they are beautiful and comfortable.  It’s like sleeping on a cloud!  But that foam breaks down.   Body impressions are normal, but when you have many inches of that foam, you will get craters in your bed.  And the warranty is worth about as much as the paper it’s printed on.  And remember, you can’t flip it – the other side is not cushioned at all.

And the prices!   Crazy!   We didn’t get a top of the line 5 years ago, but it was still a lot of money, especially to only last 5 years.  For about 2/3rds of what we paid for that one, we could get a flippable one from the place we first visited.   We decided we were not getting a no flip this time.  And we didn’t want a lot of that foam built in.  I’d rather get a firmer mattress and put an easily replaced topper on it for extra comfort.

I then called another local manufacturer and he said he would want me to try a natural latex mattress.  Latex?  What?  So I began researching latex mattresses.   I also went to his store and tried one.  I liked it.  But it was expensive.  He said it would last 30 years.  I admit I have a hard time believing that, but even if it lasts half that long it will be three times longer than the last one.

My husband had to try it, too – he wasn’t able to come when I did.  He liked it, too.  We ordered it Tuesday.  It was ready Wednesday.  Because it’s a solid piece of latex foam,  it could be bent and put in the back of my Suburban – so no delivery fee!  We were able to use our current box spring, also.  And I got a discount for paying cash – love that!

Last night was our first night on it.  I slept very well and wasn’t sore when I got up today.  It felt like a gamble to try this, but we feel our choices were pretty limited when you don’t want a mattress from a major name.  I believe I researched it well enough so hopefully we will have many years of good sleep on our new mattress.  Sweet dreams!

My littlest guy (age 5) has had eye problems since he was an infant.  He’s had two surgeries to correct alignment.  He’s been wearing a patch for amlyopia (lazy eye) since he was 3.  Yesterday was a check up with our beloved ophthalmologist.  First the doctor’s assistant did a basic exam.  My son was able to read the 20/15 line!  Wow!  The patching has really paid off.

The patching has been quite a challenge at times.  We started out with 2 hours a day.  There were many tears and frustrations (I cried a lot, too).  We have to patch until he turns 9.  He’s about to have his 6th birthday so we have three full years left.  But we’ve come a long way.  Six months ago we hit “maintenance” and were able to reduce to 1 hour a day of patching.  The difference, how much shorter it felt, was unbelievable.  It is so much easier overall now.

His alignment looks good as well.  I got the impression that if it deteriorates he would be able to have surgery again to correct it, but I hope that doesn’t become necessary.  The only thing thing that did not develop for him was binocular (or stereo) vision.  The doctor said that will not really impact his life at all; that it won’t affect his ability to read, which was a concern of mine.

I have to admit, I come to these appointments with a bit of apprehension.  We’ve had the ones where we hear that surgery is required.  That his vision has deteriorated (after an especially rough three months of patching).  So I always try to prepare myself emotionally that I might hear bad news.  Sort of a restrained hope.  I sometimes expect he might need glasses because many of these children do – but 20/15 vision?  No, he doesn’t need glasses.  Maybe someday he will, but the older he is, the easier I think it will be for him.

I am thankful for the medical advances that have helped my son have the best vision he can have.  I remember when he had his first alignment surgery at 6 months of age – I could tell that he was seeing better right away.  It was thrilling to realize that.  Of course, seeing his eyes straight was pleasing but to be able to tell he could see better, too?  It was priceless.

I can still see that his eyes aren’t always aligned perfectly – but to me he is beautiful.  I thank God for him and for the doctor that has treated him.

The other night I had a really weird dream… I can only remember a small piece of it.  In the dream, I was with a very dear friend whose husband passed away almost 10 years ago.  I was telling her that her husband was actually alive… but we were both in tears – we were shocked, confused, maybe happy.  I don’t know how I knew he was alive or anything.  I know there was other strange stuff but that one part stayed with me until I woke up.

I could never tell her about that dream – she was with him when he died, it’s not like he was missing and declared dead.  But I wish things were different for her – so maybe that was invading my dream.

Most likely I’ve just been watching too many X-Files episodes lately.

The treadmill died.  Just a few days into my revolution, too.  We’re going to try a part and see if that fixes it.  *hoping it works*  I’m determined that this will not keep me from getting my 2 miles in per day – it will not.  It may have to be a million jumping jacks or marching in place… but I’m going to do it.   So take that, Murphy!

We got Guitar Hero World Tour for Christmas (just the game, not the whole works).  We already had GH3 and Rock Band.  GHWT has Michael Jackson’s Beat It – that was my deja vu moment.  Thriller, MTV and all that.  Before MJ got totally weird.  Anyway, I was doing vocals for Beat It and decided to sing some of Weird Al’s Eat It instead.  My boys were like, “WHAT?”  Eat It works just fine, by the way.   I think instead of the game saying “You Rock” after completing a song on GHWT, it should say, “Y’all Rock” but they didn’t ask me.

Also, I’m trying to decide if I should be concerned that I can do vocals for Paranoid by Black Sabbath flawlessly on Rock Band.  Hmmmm.

Revolution is defined as:

The act of revolving, or turning round on an axis or a center; the motion of a body round a fixed point or line; rotation; as, the revolution of a wheel, of a top, of the earth on its axis, etc.

Also:

A total or radical change; as, a revolution in one’s circumstances or way of living.

I’ve never been much for resolutions, so perhaps I need a revolution, a radical change.  However, I know myself well enough to realize that I can’t just change everything at once and expect to keep it up.  So I have a goal to change one thing at a time.

My first goal is to walk 2 miles per day, every day.  I did 2.15 miles today on the treadmill.  Watching video on my iPod helped pass the time – I have a lot of X-Files episodes left to watch.

I have plenty of other changes I need to make but I’m going to try baby steps, like Bill Murray in What About Bob?  It worked for our finances, maybe it’ll work for something else, too.

In the end, it will be a revolution – the question is, will it be a radical change, or just turning around and being right where I started?