Mommy Brain

Thank you all for your prayers and concern. I saw the doctor on Friday, but didn’t get any answers. My ears looked fine, so that doesn’t seem to be the explanation for the dizziness or the headaches. I’m also experiencing some other symptoms that my doctor called “soft neurological symptoms,” and has ordered two tests to determine the cause. One, I will be having a CAT scan on my brain sometime soon – as soon as the insurance company forks over approval. Two, I will be doing a sleep study to see if I have sleep apnea, as lack of oxygen while sleeping can sometimes cause the symptoms I’m having.

If you’re the praying sort, I would appreciate your prayers. Pray not only that the doctors are able to find an answer, and that it’s nothing serious, but that God would grant me peace while I wait. One of my biggest fears, in fact the thing that brought on my anxiety problems during a health scare a couple years ago, is dying and leaving my children. I don’t fear death itself, but I fear leaving my children before they are grown. I’m trying not to completely freak out – and the doctor was kind enough to give me a refill on anxiety meds that I have taken in the past. So far, I haven’t had to take any except at night, when the “what-if” thoughts keep me from sleeping.

I’ll post a further update as soon as I know anything else.

Look what I found at Life’s Sweetest Blessings? She nominated me for this blog award!

This blog invests and believes the PROXIMITY – nearness in space, time and relationships!
These blogs are exceedingly charming.
These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement.
Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated.
Please give more attention to these writers!
Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.

Thanks, Laura!

Here are my eight nominees:

Natalie (my daughter) at Homeschool Girl
Carrie at Chocolate, the Other White Meat
Lawanda at Lovin’ Life
Laura at Moomin Light
Gem at My So-Called Homeschool
Karen at Praise the Lord and Pass the Prozac
Kev at The Bayer Family Blog
Leann at The Good Neighbors

1. Natalie and I went to see High School Musical 3: Senior Year Saturday night – and loved it!

2. The Seahawks’ season is a constant source of depression. You may wonder why I keep watching every game. I’m nothing if not loyal.

3. I can’t believe it’s time to start working on the Christmas program for church already! I’m singing in the choir at our new church, and we’re doing some fun music – Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir style.

4. I’m very. very. angry at NBC for cancelling My Own Worst Enemy.

5. Life is one of the best shows on television right now. Are you watching it?

6. A woman came to look at our house today. First person interested in months. She seemed very interested, but we’ll see. If she is, we have no idea where we would move to – right now there aren’t any 4-bedroom houses available in our area. We don’t want to pass on an offer on the house, though, because if we sold it we would be completely out of debt – including the new (to us) van. Finances have been sticky lately. Sigh.

7. I have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow. Don’t want to go on and on about my health, so to sum it up: dizziness and headaches for a few months that aren’t going away, plus a cyst of some type on my wrist joint. I’m hoping he has some easy answers.

8. Looking forward to a weekend of downtime – especially since we cleaned the house today to get ready for the showing.

~ My review of The Grift by Debra Ginsberg.

~ Great post at author Shannon Hale’s blog: How to be a reader.

~ New Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince trailer.

That’s all for this week – sorry it’s slim pickings. Not a lot of time to surf the web lately. Have a great weekend!

(Hannah Montana: The Complete First Season was provided to me by Click Communications for the purpose of this feature.)

See how it all began for TV’s tween diva when every poppin’ episode of Hannah Montana: The Complete First Season comes to Disney DVD on November 18, 2008! Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment marks the first time all 26 episodes from the first season come together in a special four-disc Collectors Edition featuring commemorative packaging and an exclusive
collectible keepsake. With 17 episodes never before offered on DVD, a behind-the-scenes featurette with Miley Cyrus and much, much more, Hannah Montana: The Complete First Season is this year’s ultimate holiday gift!

Miley Cyrus stars as the fourteen-year-old pop superstar with a double life, joined by Emily Osment, Jason Earles, Billy Ray Cyrus, Mitchell Musso and Moises Arias as her friends and family. At home and school, she’s Miley Stewart, a typical teenager, but when the lights go down and the curtain goes up, she emerges as the glamorous and talented Hannah Montana. Having the “Best of Both Worlds” is a complicated proposition, and keeping her identity under wraps leads Miley and her friends into some
hilarious capers as she tries to balance her normal life with her rock star persona.

The roster of awesome guest stars on Hannah Montana: The Complete First Season includes Corbin Bleu and Ashley Tisdale of “High School Musical,” Cody Linley (Cheaper by the Dozen), and more! Hannah Montana: The Complete First Season will have fans rockin’ with a memorable and hilarious portrait of a very special girl who wants to be “Just Like You.”

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(Hannah Montana: The DVD Game and High School Musical: The DVD Game were provided to me by Click Communications for the purpose of this feature.)

Filled with tons of clips, questions, pictures, sing-alongs, dance routines and more, the High School Musical DVD Game will have fans out of their seats and singing, dancing and acting alongside their favorite stars, including Zac Efron, Vanessa Anne Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale, Corbin Bleu, Lucas Grabeel and Monique Coleman.

Far more than a trivia game, the High School Musical DVD Game is jam-packed with 11 interactive experiences that allow players to sing along with favorite tunes (including two original High School Musical 3 songs), compete in a dance off by learning new routines with friends, and test their High School Musical knowledge with hundreds of questions about all three movies. Later, they can help the Wildcats slam-dunk their way to the championship or take the Career Finder Quiz.

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It’s another birthday weekend for us. Josiah, our youngest, turns 7 tomorrow. I’ve searched through my archives, and I’ve never written his birth story. If you’re not interested in that sort of thing, scroll down for the links.

After I had Jonathan, Kevin was ready to be done having babies. Jonathan’s birth was traumatic for me, traumatic for Kevin afterward because of the complications, and he just felt done. I, however, felt like I missed a bunch of Jonathan’s newborn experiences because I was so sick with the epidural headache. I wanted one more. So I prayed that God would change my mind, or change Kevin’s. He changed Kevin’s, and one month later, we were expecting number four. Waiting for him to change his mind is why the length of time between the last two is the longest – 26 months. (18 months between Natalie and Noah; 15 months between Noah and Jonathan.)

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If you saw ME in a police car, what would you think I got arrested for?

Answer me, then post to your own blog and see how many crimes you get accused of.

I saw this at Meg‘s and just had to see what your answers are.

Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander Headed to the Big Screen!

Now, if they would just call me about casting…

My dad is a veteran. He served two tours in a war that many in the government still consider a “police action.” He went to fight for a country that he loves. He came home to a country divided. He was called a “babykiller” when he went out in uniform.

When my parents graduated from high school in 1966, our military was already fighting in Vietnam. The young men leaving high school were told that the United States was helping to stop the spread of communism in the world. They were protecting our freedoms. They were not told that they would be expected to fight the war with the figurative arm tied behind their back. They weren’t told that the Viet Cong used young children, women, and old men to do their fighting, or that you would never be sure who the enemy was.

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(Kung Fu Panda Two-Pack: Kung Fu Panda & Secrets of the Furious Five was provided to me by Click Communications for the purpose of review.)

Prepare for awesomeness with DreamWorks Animation’s Kung Fu Panda, “a delightful movie that can stand among the very best animated features” (Leonard Maltin, Entertainment Tonight). Jack Black is perfect as the voice of Po, a noodle slurping dreamer who must embrace his true self – fuzzy flaws and all – in order to become the Dragon Warrior. With groundbreaking animation, an all-star cast and high-kicking humor, Kung Fu Panda is “Ultra satisfying entertainment…There’s heart in this movie and that’s the secret ingredient.” ~Richard Corliss, TIME

Jack Black was the perfect actor to voice Po, the overweight Panda who works in his father’s noodle shop. His father inherited the shop from his father, and he expects to hand it down to Po. “Noodles are your destiny.” Po, however, has bigger dreams. He dreams of being a Kung Fu master.

Due to an accident, Po is chosen as the long-awaited and prophesied Dragon Warrior. In spite of the fact that everyone thinks he is hopeless, Po finds his true destiny. All of the “Furious Five” were voiced well, Dustin Hoffman steals the show as Shifu, the little Kung Fu master charged with traning Po.

Kung Fu Panda is the best kind of animated film. The kids loved it, and it entertained me, too.

Kung Fu Panda Two-Pack: Kung Fu Panda and Secrets of the Furious Five is available on DVD now. The DVD special features include “Dragon Warrior Training Academy;” Food Network Exclusive – “Alton Brown at Mr. Ping’s Noodle House;” “Help Save the Wild Pandas;” “How to Use Chopsticks;” “Kung Fu Fighting” music video; and more.

This two-pack also comes with Secrets of the Furious Five:

Skadoosh! It’s the world premiere of Po’s all-new adventure from the filmmakers that brought you Kung Fu Panda! He may have defeated the ferocious Tai Lung, but our Dragon Warrior (Jack Black) must now face Shifu’s (Dustin Hoffman) biggest challenge with the help of Viper, Tigress, Monkey, Crane and Mantis. The Secrets of the Furious Five are finally revealed as we discover it takes a lot more than fast feet and fists to become a kung fu master.

Special features include: “Dumpling Shuffle;” “Pandamonium Activity Kit;” “Learn the Panda Dance;” “Do You Kung Fu?;” “Inside the Chinese Zodiac;” “Animals of Kung Fu Panda;” and “What Fighting Style Are You?”