Medical Transcription

I've recently gotten a bit of a nudge from mi Papa RE: taking a medical transcription course online so I've been looking into it. I stumbled upon a terrific blog devoted to MT and have been having great fun reading thru the first few posts. It does rather sound like a lot of work (the coursework, the actual work work), but I also think it's something that might be right down my alley. I'm interested in things medical if just from a distance (couldn't actually be a nurse or anything like that), I type decently enough (I was the typesetter for my college newspaper for a year; incidentally I learned on a very old manual typewriter in eastern Africa), don't mind sitting on my computer for hours on end and have a love of the English language. Check back in a year or two and we'll see what comes of it all, but for now, I'm having fun investigating the prospect of it all.

Too tired for words (no not me)

The other day l'il bub was woken up from his nap by dad because he'd "slept long enough." Then dad and the older two went to run a quick errand and left Eli at home with me. Well, after a few minutes things got REALLY quiet and I went to investigate. I walked into the family room and this is what I found:


Then going around to check the other side of him:

Nothing sweeter than sleeping babies. Cracks me up the position he chose to cat-nap.

Projects

Here are a couple of my fairly recent projects that I hadn't had a chance to blog about yet. The first one is the bible cover I made out of old jeans for Geo's 7th birthday. I stayed up into the wee hours of the night the night before finishing it. Gigi has already requested one, but if I do, I'll start it months in advance, lol.


The next is the Cinderella Topsy Turvy doll (a la Jean Greenhowe) that I made for Gigi's 5th birthday. I'm really happy with how she turned out. Still need to make some little flowers to go around her bun, but otherwise she's done.


Here are a couple that Geo made for his sister's birthday. The bunny finger puppet was knit in the round using the magic loop method (ears knit by me, whiskers added by me), The pink bunny was knit in the round (magic loop) too, I think I did the ears for that one too, but pretty much everything else he did.

Sleepy Days, Restless Nights

I've had a bit of a revelation that if I don't get enough sleep I can't function the next day (now why is this news? LOL). Anyway, I guess the revelation was that I need to make sure we eat lunch between 12 and 1, eat supper at 5 and have kids in bed before 8 so that I can have some time with DH before I need to hit the sack between 9 and 9:30. One of the reasons for this early of a bedtime is that my back is starting to really bother me in the morning (mid to upper back). No matter when I go to sleep, I wake up between 6 and 7 and can't stay in bed past that time because my back hurts so bad. It stops hurting when I get up so it's a very good alarm clock. Also it's getting much more uncomfortable to sleep at night and I do quite a bit of tossing and turning till I can finally fall asleep. But if I don't get enough sleep the night before, it sets me up for complete exhaustion and inability and total lack of desire to do any of my routines and as a result the house falls apart. SO... this is the new plan in hopes that I'll be able to maintain a certain amount of functionality. We can hope. Next stop, relaxin and aching joints. I hope that stop isn't for awhile yet (like 2 or 3 more months at least!).

Revamped My Routines

Awhile back I decided that my visual side really needed a bit of a crutch when it came to my FlyLady control journal which lists my Morning, Afternoon and Before Bed routines as well as weekly chores and space for To-Dos and the like. I had it to where I liked it, ... for awhile anyway. But I've decided that it's time to simplify my routines a little so I redid my control journal. Here's a snapshot of my Morning Routine:
It sits in a sheet protector and hangs on my fridge where I mark off each task as it's completed with a dry erase marker. I even made the kids their own routine sheets (great for when they actually look at them, lol).

Biblical Womanhood

For awhile I've known about Crystal's (of MoneySavingMom blog fame) website about Biblical Womanhood and in the past I never gave it more than a cursory glance. But I have had the opportunity to read a few of her recent entries and I'm totally and completely impressed by her maturity in the light of her tender age (in her 20s with 2 little ones). I probably have 10 years or so on her and I feel that I am way behind where she's at. But I feel God is leading me to be more deliberate in my attempts to live out His directive for my life (Titus 2:3-5 talks about how older women are supposed to teach younger women [where I find myself at the moment] how to be sober, love their husbands, their children, be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands so that the word of God be not blasphemed). I feel that this is my true and highest calling and I will walk in faith as I attempt to do the best I can with God's help and pray He fills in all my inadequacies (of which there are many).

Part of Biblical womanhood includes modesty in dress and speech. I have felt a calling toward more modest dress for awhile now, but have no means to achieve that end at the moment. I would like to wear more skirts, but for now my swelling belly regulates me to whatever I have in the maternity department which is mostly pants and shorts. But after the baby, I'd love to get into making more of my own clothes, lots of pretty, feminine skirts and simple tops to match, some pretty and functional aprons for working around the house (and eating, lol) to keep my clothes tidy. It will of course be more practical when/if I'm able to cull a good portion of the extras that have been hanging around this house and the last like a millstone around my neck. I'm working on decluttering a little each day to achieve that eventual goal. I really would love to live a simple life... no TV (or very limited), just a few good toys for the kids, fewer clothes for everyone (means less laundry, water, soap, work for me...) and just the things we need or love allowed in our house. Someday...

Father's Day

Happy Father's day to all you deserving dads out there and most especially to my DH and my dad. The kids made cards for Daddy today and I found a simple little poem for Elliot to repeat after me and pulled it into Audacity to edit out all my prompts. I think it came out cute if fairly unintelligible. The text is as follows:

Daddy, I love you
For all that you do.

I'll kiss you and hug you
'Cause you love me, too.

You feed me and help me
Learn how to pray.

So smile 'cause I love you
On this Father's Day.

I'm baaaaaaccckkk!

Yeah, ok, I've been absent for quite awhile now, about 3 months, and in my defense, wasn't feeling great for most of those months. Why you might ask? Well let me go ahead and spill the beans all over the place.

Very shortly after I stopped blogging in March, dh and I found out that we were expecting baby #4. When I got a positive within seconds, it was almost too much to be believed. Dh and I were still sort of living in the fantasy that my cycle was just being a little crazy this month, it would come. But it didn't and, well, after the initial shock of it all wore off and we had mulled over what bad (in our minds) timing this was to be having another baby, we decided to leave it in God's hands and accept it as a blessing that God's Word says that it is. Now that I'm past the almost constant feeling-like-I-majorly-overate-and-need-to-relieve-my-stomach feeling, I'm actually really looking forward to the rest of the pregnancy and for the next addition of our not-so-little-anymore family.