Well Joe needed to get out of the house. He said he can only handle watching Thomas the train so many times before he goes nuts.

So off we went to the Salvation Army. I bought Joey a bunch of books and some clothes. He's growing like a weed, you know. And we dropped off some books and a few pieces of clothing to donate.

Then we went to Walmart. I decided today that I'm getting fish and no one is going to stop me. I had them all growing up. A few years ago we got some and they kept dying, Joe got pissed and said, 'No more!'

So today I told him, I really want fish. Joey loves watching them. Dena (the daycare owner) has a HUGE tank for the fish in her house. I want some.

So we got some stuff from Walmart - mostly I needed barrettes for my hair and fish filters for my fish tank. I have a 2.5 gallon tank with a built in filter system. It's really nice.

We then went to the fish store. We got three tetras and three zebra fish (called zebra Danios).

Off we went home. I setup our tank. I accidentally killed a fish. We got a SUPER tiny fish and when I was trying to drain some of the water from the container we got from the store, he went into the sink and never really made it after that, so he was flushed. Moment of silence :(

The others are doing well. I got out my 10 gallon tank too. I plan to set that up, run the filter and then get a few cheap fish to get the bacteria level good in the tank, then get a few more fish. Joe says if these live, we will get a nice tank for the upstairs living room where we just took out the curio cabinet. I guess we'll see. They run about $150.

We went outside today to clean up leaves. Another 9 bags later, and we have NO TREES in our yard. That is how much BLEW into our yard. Yeah. Thanks neighbors!! Joey had a great time playing in the leaves again and I guess I needed the workout. You can see him climbing in the bag above. Silly boy! Last time I raked leaves across the street I hurt in my legs for two days - and I workout all the time. So I guess it's good for me - no pain, no gain! :)

Have you noticed anything new? I changed my blog! I personalized it. I played with it all day trying to learn the blog code, etc and I finally did it. What a pain!! I'm sure in another two months or so I will get bored of it and it will change, but this is what I have for now. Oh and I added a counter too so I can get an idea of how many people hit my blog. I changed my blog to only save three posts of history so there isn't so much to load too.

About 6 last night I took a tylenol and it must have kicked in because I felt like the old me. I was cleaning, I ate dinner and I haven't felt like crap since. Thanks for the good wishes. Whew! Thank goodness it was a 24 hour flu.

This morning Joey's face looks awful. I'll take a photo today. Joe and I were going to do a lot of outdoor work today - maybe take Joey to the playground, rake some leaves in our yard for Joey, that kind of stuff!

We called Grandma this morning because we thought it would be ok to go up north, then we looked online and the flu can be contagious in children for up to a week, and adults 3-7 days. I told her, I'm so sorry, we really want to come up and we thought we would be ok, but it looks like we are contagious longer then we thought...

Though - I looked on webmd.com and it says the flu has a fever, and Joey and I never got a fever, and we were getting sick and that wasn't listed under flu either. It looks like we may have had a stomach bug and it didn't say how long it's contagious. I don't want to infect grandma and grandpa, who couldn't handle this type of flu, so we will just wait until next week.

Will update later with photos from today!

Yep, last night I got Joey's flu. Warning, it's kinda graphic, again. I guess writing like this never bothered me. I think my dad desensitized me to anything anyone could possibly tell me.

It all started last night when I called Joe and asked for 5 different things for dinner. It first sounded good and then nothing sounded good. We finally decided on coneys and chili cheese fries.

I wasn't feeling so hot last night. When Joe got home, he actually brought home a gyro too. I opened the cucumber sauce to put on it and almost puked it was so strong. I was thinking, maybe I'm preggo!

So I sat down to eat and told Joe to eat the gyro. I couldn't stomach it. The same with the chili cheese dog. I wanted nothing to do with it.

Then I ate about 15 chili cheese fries and annouced at about 7 pm I was going to bed.

I woke up about 9, and was feeling awful. I had stomach cramps and just didn't feel right. A trip to the bathroom confirmed it - I had Joey's flu.

I have to tell you, I have the world's best husband. Sorry if you thought your husband was the best, because, well mine is.

I puked into the trash can, and well it wasn't pretty. He cleaned it up for me. What a sweetie.

So I get back to bed and ask Joe for two more blankets. I'm freezing. He turns the waterbed up to 84 degrees. Now I have a comforter on, and two huge afghans that my mom knit - you know those really heavy ones. AND I'm still freezing!

I woke up 4 more times last night puking. It was awful awful awful. I have never in my life had cold sweats. I was in the bathroom, getting hot flashes. So I took off my shirt. The next thing I'm FREEZING and sweat is rolling down my back. What the hell!!!

This was the ONE day that Joe had to go to work. It was the last day where they were closing the corporate plan, and even though it's a federal holiday, he had to go in.

So Joey wakes at 8am. I'm totally a veggie. I can't move. I can't even think of taking care of him. I get up, trod over to Joey, then back to the bathroom. Back at it again.

I call Joe at 8am. He had gotten into work not long before. I'm feeling awful. 'When are you coming home Joe?'. Silence. Well let me wrap up some stuff.

I call about 8:30. I'm crying. I feel awful. 'Joe, when are you coming home? I can't take care of Joey. I can't change his diaper, and I can't make him breakfast'. He suggests I take him to daycare. Well that would be nice if I could even stand, which is hard for me to do. Everytime I do, I feel like I'm going to get sick again.

So he tells me he's coming home. He comes home really upset. He knows I can't help being sick but it couldn't have happened on a worse day. I crawl back into bed. I feel awful.

A few hours later - around noon, I wake up and crawl into our computer chair. Joe makes me some soup and gets me something to drink. I told him I haven't hardly drank anything since yesterday. Every time I do I get sick again.

I eat about 1/4 cup of soup, then asked for a nutrigrain bar. I finally take a shower and feel better. So far, so good. We watch the OC we taped. When it's done I go back to bed.

I've been in bed most of today. I think I've only been up like 2 hours? I'm surprised I'm sitting here I've been so sick.

So pray for me that I get better. I have never had the flu before and have never, in my life, felt this awful.

So I'm sitting in here, finally up and Joe comes up and asks how I'm doing. He said he's feeling stuffed up and getting a headache. I never had been stuffed up so I'm not sure what Joe has.

So then we are standing here talking and we hear Joey fall and start crying. We both run to the stairs and Joey has blood coming from his mouth. He takes the stairs up and down ALL THE TIME, so he must have misplaced his footing. So we get a cold rag out and wipe him up. He scraped his chin and has a fat lip. We gave him some motrin to help with the pain. The poor kid.

So wish good things for our family. It may be a LONG weekend!

Yes, this happened 10/4 but I warned you - this would be very graphic and lengthy! This was one of our tour days.

We started out with the buffet breakfast because we needed to get off the ship early to meet our tour guide.

I had eggs, sausage on toast with yogurt.
Joe had 2 danish and bacon. He doesn't normally eat a lot when he wakes up.

We took a walk on the top deck and admired the view. Today we were in Puerta Vallerta!

Once we found our tour guide there were 8 others of us.
I will explain via photos below. Beware - I have two close up spider photos!

The Christmas cards are done and ready to go! I just need to get our Christmas photos done, print them and put them in each card and stamp them up and send them out the day after Thanksgiving. I LOVE doing Christmas cards!!!

We have a local radio station that started playing Christmas music on Nov 1st, non-stop Christmas music. I have been just loving listening to it! It gets me in the mood early!

Joe and I have been home today. It's my day off. Joey is feeling much better today. No puking - whew! Must have been a 24 hour flu.

Anyone else have a child that loves suckers. I HATE them because he constantly gets sticky all over and of course we have a ton from Halloween! LOL...

Joey is enjoying the Baby Einstein counting video. He's been trying to count to 5 and he does a pretty good job.

My baby is growing up. I guess it's time to have another! hehe.

Can you believe this used to be Joey?! He was about 3 months old!

Warning - not for sour stomachs! LOL. If you are a mom, well you can handle this talk!

Well I got all the way to work this morning and got a call at 7:30 from Joe. Normally he calls to just talk. Today he says Joey woke up with puke next to him, he puked on the way to daycare and I have to come home because he can NOT miss work. They are closing the plan this week and he has to be there. In fact, he's even been working some overtime hours.

So I get ready and go BACK home...another 45 minute drive. I feel like it's deja vu. I try to listen to NPR like my friend Caroline does, and I can't get into it at all. I call Dena, the daycare owner and she said her daughter has it too and it hits hard, no fever and throwing up and the other end (sorry - TMI)...one of THOSE flus. Great, I'm thinking....!

So I get home. Joey was fine today. He did puke twice, once on the couch so I had to take the cover off the cushion to wash it. I'm praying it goes back ON the cushion because it was a PITA to get off of it. At least I didn't throw it in the dryer because then it could have shrinked.

So I'm kinda worried about Joey. He had one kinda wet diaper today. The diapers have been BRIGHT yellow and none since this afternoon. Everything he drinks and eats comes back up. SOOOO I'm going to watch. If he doesn't have a wet diaper by tomorrow am, I'm calling the doctor. Poor kid :(

Let me tell you about something that happened on Monday this week. Joey and I were playing downstairs and I started to go through his toys. I started to put aside a puzzle to go into storage. It's not one of those puzzles where the pieces interlock, more or less a wood puzzle with shapes in it and you match up the shapes onto the board. Joey dumped the pieces out and went on to put every piece in the right spot! I COULD NOT BELIEVE IT! He's not even 2 yet! I constantly underestimate him and what he can do. Ever since he's been mastering this puzzle and has put it together numerous times. I'll have to take photos.

The reason I'm a geek - I STARTED MY CHRISTMAS CARDS TODAY!!! I LOVE doing Christmas cards. I absolutely love it. I do a little newsletter that I send out with them, we are getting photos done soon and I include a wallet shot of the family and the Christmas card. I keep track of everyone who sends to me and if they don't send to me, well sorry, I don't send again the next year. I have a system and it works but I just love working on them!!!

So tonight right before Joe gets home, Joey starts to gag. I can not get him to the bathroom in time and he pukes all over the hardwood floor, which I prefer over the carpet. Then trying to get him to the bathroom, all over the carpet, himself, me - ICK. I HATE puke. I can deal with any dirty diaper, even blowouts, but NOT PUKE! So I strip him and put him in the tub. I cleaned him up, cleaned up the floor and had to change myself. My poor kid is looking so pathetic and was crying up a storm. I feel so bad for him. So I rocked him and he just snuggled against me and then he was out - totally asleep. I waited for Joe to get home to change his sheets because they felt wet earlier. Maybe he drooled or the drink he had leaked? So then we put Joey down for the night (around 7pm) and that's early. You can tell he wasn't feeling well.

Then Joe told me to go to Curves. He'll clean up Joey's mess. I needed to get out. I love my workout!! I got in a 1/2 hour.

I got home. Joe gave me a little bit of his steak. I'm starving. I ate dinner earlier but I never felt full. My dinner I made tonight was a flop. So Joe is the best hubby ever. He's doing a taco bell run for me to get me a nacho beef chalupa - YUM! I told him I must be preggo because I'm craving taco bell again. I just love the chalupas!!

Well that's about all. I'm about to get back to my Christmas cards!! :)

Taken from Carolyn's blog to the left.

My top five indulgences:

1. Cleaning. It helps me rewind. I love to clean my house.
   
2. One of those feel good with your kid moments where he's snuggles up on you. Nothing better in the world then that.
   
3. Chocolate
4. Sleep, and lots of it. (This should be #1 right now!)
5. Me time, on the computer or scrapbooking!
   

I'm waiting for my friend Melissa (see blog to left) to post photos of our get together from yesterday!!

I forget what happened on Friday.

Saturday we went outside to do some yardwork. It was a gorgeous day! It was 60 degrees in Michigan in November! Joe got done mowing grass in the front yard (to munch up the little leaves we had) so Joey and I went out front to rake up a little bit.

We started to rake the 10 leaves on our grass (we have no trees in the front) and then Joey was trying to take them out of the yard bag. He kept saying pile pile!! He remembered the leaves pile from last weekend at Grandma Char's house!

So the lady across the street passed away and the kids are trying to sell her house. No one lives there. She has a TON of leaves. Joey and I went over there and I raked huge piles for Joey. He was so happy. A family came along and let their 3 year old play with Joey for awhile. Then Joe came over and we put them all in yard bags. Joey had the best time jumping in the leaves, getting buried in the leaves, and we even put him IN the yard bag and he loved that too! That's my good deed for the day and it was a family bonding thing!

I've been cleaning house - freecycling a TON of stuff. Joey was napping. He took a 3 1/2 hour nap!

When we woke up we went to my friend Melissa's house. I went to scrapbook but didn't even get a page done. She wasn't in the mood and either was I.

Rob, her husband, showed Joey the basement and he has train tracks going through the entire downstairs, and model trains running throughout the basement. It's very very cool. Joey was soo happy just watching it for hours.

Then Joey came upstairs and they took out Melissa's son's Nick's Thomas trains. Joey played for another two hours peacefully with all the tracks and everything. Becca, Melissa's daughter, also helped build the tracks that Joey was putting the trains on.

At the end of the night, we were all throwing balls at each other. They have this balloon type thing that's kinda a harder balloon material (like the type you put on a string and bounce off your fist like a punching bag) and Becca and I were spiking it at each other. She's really good. We were laughing so hard.

When we went home Joe said over and over, I had such a good time. That was so much fun. Joey and the kids played so well. It was a lot of fun. Thanks for the good time at your home Melissa! We'll have to do it again!

Today was Sunday. We have high wind advisory's. It really did gust up to 60 mph. We went to the cider orchard and got some doughnuts, a cider slushie and some apples. We came home. We were supposed to go to a friend's house today but we cancelled because they didn't have power.

Then my mom called. We were supposed to have dinner there tonight. Her power kept going on and off so she cancelled on us too.

We decided to head to the store to pick up a few things. At the end of the trip, we always get a cup and get a slush from the slush machine. Joey loves it. I gave some to him, and then took it to drink myself. I said, 'My turn'. Joey grabbed for the cup saying, 'My turn, My turn, My turn'. He's so comical. The cashier was laughing. So I gave him back the cup after he said please. He took a few sips, then I took it back and said 'My turn'. And he started chanting, 'My turn, My turn, again. What a silly boy. Oh and he LOVED the fish they have there swimming in the tanks.

We made dinner tonight and it wasn't that good the recipe we tried. So tonight we are just hanging out together. Joey is full of energy!