MOM~E~CENTRIC has arrived.  The time is now.  Go see, tell me what you think. 

Don't forget all the good content here too, you gotta bookmark 'em all.  Don't forget! 

Go now, and please comment, I'm waiting patiently...

Here's what I knew; it was created for those people who were looking for that boost to get through the day.  So there, I was wrong, not endurance necessarily in exercise nor just for the vitamins.  Cranergy is made from cranberry juice and enhanced with green tea extract and B Vitamins.  See, I knew there was going to be some vitamins in there.  It only had 35 calories because Ocean Spray chose to use splenda. 

So, what happened next?  My samples came, two of them.  I'm not a big juice drinker so I opened one and pour it into a glass so that others could give it a try.  Now, I'm not a big juice drinker but from a juice standpoint, I didn't think it tasted too bad.  As for the energy, I didn't drink enough of it.  I put them both in our employee fridge with a note that said "Free, just let me know what you think".

I noticed they were gone and went in search of the guinea pigs.  I felt like I was too prejudiced because I don't care for Cranberry juice too much anyway.  I like it when it is sweet, but that wasn't the goal of this.  Both of my samplers said that it was ok and that they would drink more if it were available.  So, I would say the juice got a pretty good rating around here, wouldn't you?

Last night at 8:15 I answered an incoming call from my husband who declares, "we have no milk".  My answer to him was a summary of the above paragraph and the following question...."What do I look like?  A Cow?"

Guess what, my daycare children got milk and breakfast about 9 and my children at home managed perfectly fine without milk at all last night.  So there...gah!

Last night I absolutely could not go to sleep.  So, I watched the stuff on DVR and surfed.  Then, this morning I couldn't get going.  I slept and slept and slept.  Finally about 3 I knew I had to get myself motivated.  I got up, Jace and I went to my mom's (where Walker had been during the nap).  I felt horrible.  I was aching, my chest was heavy, I have a real raspy sounding voice and just generally felt like I couldn't even sit up. 

However.....I KNEW I had to go to the daycare and clean.  Basically it takes about 2 hours, maybe 3 each weekend, not including the grocery buying, etc.  However, for at least 3 months, we've done about fifteen minutes and just half-ass handled the grocery shopping.  The cook had to call me Friday morning to tell me we had absolutely no milk for breakfast at the center.  The last few weeks I've only bought a few groceries on the weekend and then gone back 2 or 3 times during the week.  That's basically all the energy I could muster. 

The teachers were helping with the cleaning but it simply wasn't enough.  Just for the record, my house is worse and if you don't' believe me, just go take a gander at this.  Today after sitting at my mom's for over an hour, I decided that I HAD to get my arse in gear or that daycare would never get cleaned.  Remember, Wayne is in the middle of a project and working 16 hours a day since last Tuesday, including today and tomorrow.  That left the daycare for me to take care of.  And, trust me when I tell you that we left it trashed on Friday.  That place looked like a tornado had come through and I knew I had to go do some serious cleaning.

Fast forward to 9pm tonight.  I scrubbed the bathrooms, cleaned a little here and a little there and then, holy cow, THEN I decided to re-arrange my office.  I worked about 3 and a half hours in the daycare.  I am hurting, my back is aching, my chest hurts, my head hurts. 

That takes me to the dilemma.  Am I have a hard time doing the normal day to day things that I need to do because here is something physically wrong with me, wrong with my heart, my thyroid, my insulin?  Or am I simply so out of shape and overweight that I can't do these normal things without being completely fatigued afterwards?  Which is it? 

For the record, I won't be having the cath anytime soon.  I have an appointment with my new general practitioner this week to see how we are going to attack the issues that I know are there...diabetes, thyroid, etc.  I have a treadmill in my office and I think it needs a new belt.  Thus far I haven't ordered one.  Come Monday though, I'm going to try it and see if I can use it.  And, by damn, I am not going to be the one hiding in the back of this year's family Christmas photo because I'm so fat.  I mean it. 

I don't have the guts to post photos of all of my fat rolls like Y did, but by damn, I am losing some weight and I'm making some kind of improvements on my over all health.  I can't stand thinking that my boys are going to have to grow up without their grandmother, but thinking they will have to grow up without me, without a mommy.  No way, no how.  I'm going to do all I have to do to make sure my kids have me for as long as possible and that they won't be embarrassed when I show up at school functions.  That's it. 

I need help from you guys.  I need motivation.  I need you to push me.  My family, Wayne in particular, will not push me.  The people that I have face to face relationships with are afraid to push me, to make me accountable.  Wayne and my Mom are afraid they will hurt my feelings as are most of the other folks I see on a day to day basis.  That leaves you guys.  You, Internet's.  You must push me.  You have to help motivate me.  You have to be the one to call me out.  I begging you, please, hold me accountable.  I'm begging.

I asked for his help with reviewing this product, as I do with most all the products I receive but most of what he said was so way over my head, I couldn't even re-type it for you.  So, I'm going to tell you briefly what I thought instead.  This product arrived in a huge box.  When I opened it, I received a letter, addressed to me, yea, to me, "Hi, Jerri Ann" that's what the letter said.  No, I'm not kidding.  So, this personal letter, don't forget that part, it had MY name at the top, was basically just telling me a little about the product and what they hoped to achieve by having me do this review.  Cool!  I can do that. 

Here's what I learned right off the bat.  MY digital camera, yea, that new one I just laid big bucks down for last weekend, can get a virus.  Really?  I'm very serious.  Your iPod can get a virus too and all that can happen before it ever reaches your home.  That was the biggest shocker to me.  And, I've heard a lot about the word phishing lately but I really didn't know what it meant.  But, now, I do know that Norton can help combat that as well. 

If I don't cut to the chase here, we'll be reading and writing all night.  First of all, let me tell you again, I'm talking about Norton 360 Version 2.0 All-In-One Security.  That means antivirus, antispyware, firewall protection, antiphishing, identity protection, network protection, advanced browser protection, PC tuneup and automatic backup and restore.  That's a lot people. I learned all that simply during the install process. 

Ok, let me fess up here, we've been a family, by nature of my techie husband, that has always managed to get by without having proper protection.  My husband is good, but he is no where as good as this software.  I've lost a year's worth of picture once and lost my second son's entire birth photos because of a virus.  Let's just say that my copy came with a one year protection for up to 3 PC's in my house and you can bet your bottom dollar I will be using it on my computer whether he chooses to or not.

Mom had her first treatment today and since they told her she would probably be sick about 24 hours after the treatments.  So, since Walker had baseball, she opted to allow Jace to come to her house as we've done in recent weeks.  Either way, I doubt that this can continue for a long long time. 

She apparently had played enough and needed to rest so she asked Jace to turn on the oxygen machine and bring her the hoses.  He did.  She sat for a short time in the chair, watching him play with his blocks. 

She asked him to come sit in her lap for a little while and snuggle.  He looked at her and quickly responded, "not til you take that tang outta ya nose".  Mom said she had to take it out too, he wasn't giving up any snuggle time until she removed the oxygen tubing.

See, I told you, he totally didn't understand.

This is precious.  My mom and I never got along very well when I was young (the product of a daddy's girl, I was a devil).  She has always been rock solid for me though, I knew no matter what happened, I could go home to my mom.  And, trust me, there were a few times that I was embarrassed to call her and ask to come home, but I knew I could, just had to get over the ego.  She is sick now.  I haven't emailed anyone about it as for some reason, writing it down has made it so much more real.  However, the time has come for me to face reality.  The prognosis is not good. 

How it all happened.  She had endometrial cancer last summer, soon after a hysterectomy that included removing the lymph nodes in her pelvis, the cancer returned. She had radiation for six weeks.  Never missed a day of work the entire six weeks.  They didn't treat her with chemotherapy because that doctor felt sure the cancer was contained.  He was wrong.  Less than 6 months after her last radiation treatment, we found out she has endometrial cancer in her lungs.  The diagnosis was four large tumors of endometrial cancer in her lungs with small spots peppered all over her right lung. The fluid was building up fast and it too is malignant.  After a pet scan, we learned that the cancer is now spread in her pelvis even further and has now managed to spread to her adrenal gland.

For now, there is no cure, the chemotherapy that will all know is so hard on the body, can only hope to control the cancer so that it doesn't spread.  She is very weak, losing her appetite and is using oxygen a lot of the day and all night.  She starts treatments on Monday.  The plan is to have one treatment every three weeks.  After four treatments (or 12 weeks), she will have another pet scan to re-evaluate the situation.

I'm doing my best to spend as much time with her as possible.  She keeps telling me she doesn't need a baby sitter and for me to get on about running the daycare and taking care of the boys.  Sometime this week a member of our family who is too outspoken for our liking made the statement that she "wouldn't have the chemotherapy". Mom's response to that was this:  "You don't know until it’s you, what you will do.  If it were you and you took one look at those two little boys right there, you would know that there was only one decision to make.  The happiest times of my life right now are when those boys are here."

Now, if that's not enough to make you feel like you need to just pack your things and move in with her, nothing ever will.  Of course, that's not an option right now, but I'm not saying it won't happen.  Mom has a lot of support and says that she is not afraid.  Yet, when she is really weak and having a bad day, she wants to hold my hand.  I can't keep her from being afraid, after all, she is the mommy, she is suppose to keep me from being afraid, right?  But, as the two of us lay in her bed yesterday after an afternoon nap, holding hands, just talking about stuff, I felt, for one fleeing moment, like the mommy. 

I have no clue how to nurse an adult.  I have no clue how to figure out what she needs most at any given moment.  I have no idea how to make decisions for her.  To be honest, I don't know if I ever will.

*Photos were taken from an email that I received.  I have no idea who gets the credit for them, but whoever it is, here's to you.

http://threeandholding.blogspot.com/2008/04/getting-dirty-with-mrs-c.html

http://mom2cne.blogspot.com/2008/04/dirty-girl.html

http://devivo.blogspot.com/2008/04/its-only-wednesday.html

http://blankenshipkids.blogspot.com/2008/04/my-dirty-housewife-confession.html

http://blankenshipkids.blogspot.com/2008/04/my-dirty-housewife-confession.html

http://milkbreathandmargaritas.blogspot.com/2008/04/dirty-housewives.html

http://cheeseparty.blogspot.com/2008/04/one-of-many-many-reasons-i-want-to.html

http://another-sister.blogspot.com/2008/04/blog-post.html

If you notice in the comments how someone observed that we were building an Ark?  You can read here and see that this is not the first Ark at our house or of this kind.

And, I am so ashamed to admit that I pay someone every 2 weeks to come to my house and clean and she has not missed any......sounds bad eh?