God's not ready to call me home just yet.

Hmm..Today my tiny son brought me a caulking gun. Tells of what's going on at our house! The painters are still in knee deep (and 22 ft. shoulder deep too) and are getting it done. They did the foyer yesterday and I was so unhappy and got all worked up about it, but it's working out. They put Kilz over the water stain and then painted it, and it has a different sheen than the rest of the ceiling-so obvious! I wanted no Kilz on it, but either he didn't understand, or I don't know-a misunderstanding? He's doing the whole celing in Kilz then repainting. The color formula was changed in Nov of 2008, so it wasn't even the same exact color-the ceiling looked darker than the walls (further throwing me into hissy-fit mode). Again, it's going to be okay, but I wouldn't let him proceed with the kitchen/living room/stairs/walls until he got the color matched okay and promised no more Kilz. He did, so procedure tomorrow....
So today was Mary Claire's room and ceiling. Ugh. I asked them not to put anything back up on the walls or ceililng (yesterday they took down those stupid stars/planet things ticky-tacked to Clay's ceiling *Insert Expletive Here for The First Time they got put up* and then PUT THEM BACK UP! after they painted OVER the ticky-tack!). Again, today I said not to put the junk (stars! stickers! etc.) back up on Mary Claire's walls or ceiling when they were done. Can you guess? They did, of course, put it all back, and not quite in the right places. I could've SCREAMED when I walked in there and found her paper chain (scrapbook paper in pink toile, solid light and dark pink cardstock, and pale lime scrapbook polka dot and cardstock-not hideous, very PB!) poked back into the ceiling and not in the measured spots where it's lived for three years! They apparently pulled out the tacks, laid them somewhere (painting over the reminder holes, I guess?) and then attempted to "redecorate" with them. It looked like Mexican Fiesta. Crazy. Some were hanging low, some poked way higher (on a sloping wall). It was awful. So now we have NeW, CRooKeD holes! ahhhh!! I don't do well with change, maybe? Or gross mess up changes? Now the chains look uncool.

I will live through this $4500 change (don't freak out, of course it's insurance money), I will live, I willl live. There are more important things in the world. Remind me if you see me of all the other problems in your world. Mine won't look so awful.

Okay, so Ethan. STiLL sick! BAck to the dr. after two long nights up with him with fever. We have started ear drops (Ciprodex for his tubes), and yesterday morning he woke up with dried yellow drainage all over (good news, meaning his tube unclogged and let all the fluid out). Well, not good enough news. He had a double ear infection, and both ear drums were bulging. Even WITH the tubes for drainage (or not.). So now he's on Omnicef for 10 days (we'll be in Disney in 7...), has to use his Ciprodex for 7 days, and use his inhaler four times a day for 7 days. Ahh, good times.

My very good news: I got to play outside, clean the pool deck-sweep and hose down all the nasty oak pollen stringy things, and rearrange furniture-it was so cleansing! And I even let the kids put on their swimsuits for the first official time this season and swim (yes, granted, in the polar water), but they were entertained (well, along with the creepy poop and toot jokes that Clay currently thinks are all the rage), and I got lots done! THen, even better, I laid out, and fell asleep! It was so relaxing! Then ...
My SCARE! I woke to Ethan standing next to me with his hand on mine. I woke with a start, started mumbling (in an attempt to think out loud how he was OUTside!), remembered that we turned the beepy thing off the alarm since the kids were opening/closing the door so much and were going to wake him up, wondered where on Earth Ches was! not watching our baby, tried to figure out how he got out of his bed, then felt his diaper to see if it was changed (did Ches get him out?), then was freaking out over the possibility that he'd walked out on his own, and how did God protect him and keep him from deciding to go for a swim (I mean, Ethan and water? like pb and j!) and then I looked around to see Ches on the other side of the pool snickering. Yes, giggling as he could see I was clearly about to have a heart attack in the 10 seconds all this was going through my head! He'd brought Ethan out and stood him by me (knowing I was out cold), then when I didn't wake up for FiVe minutes, he put Ethan's hand on mine, then walked off. Enter me-crazed and panicked. Ethan just sat calmly in my lap for a good 15 minutes as he woke up too. For that, Ches had to make dinner. I was clearly not in a Happy Place. I still feel all freaked out.
I let Ethan put on his swimsuit and put his feet in (he, being smarter than the other two, knew that if the feet are freezing, you should not put more of your body in!), while Ches grilled.

So...I must not have high blood pressure or tons of cholesterol, or God's not ready to see me up close yet, because I didn't have a heart attack and die today!! I'm alive to live another day. I hope I live an amazing day tomorrow, cause I consider it a gift! A Bonus in the cereal box of life!

Ok, so baths, stories, and I'm more tired than the kids! I read to them for over an hour (it just flew by!) and I'm headed to bed early. I've decided I need it once a week to catch up after all my midnight nights. They are SO productive, but then I get worn down. (I made a wreath last night, vacummed, dusted, did three loads of laundry, mopped the kitchen, cleaned my desk, cleaned my bathroom, cleaned up the wreath mess, rearranged the hearth room and rehung pictures all after the kids went to bed last night-and I had a coffee, heehe). That shall NOT happen tonight! : ) G'night!