Not to steal Mike’s thunder, but I did say I would have a link in my side bar so that you could donate if you wanted to. I have finally gotten around to making one and it is now up. If you click on it, it will take you right to my online donation page.

I know I shared our story last year, but for those who might be new to my blog, I’ll tell you again (briefly). Our twins were born 13 weeks early and weighed 2# 7oz and 2# 13oz. They spent several weeks in the hospital and came home on oxygen and apnea monitors, to which they were attached for the first 4 1/2 months they were home. By the grace of God we have been blessed in that we haven’t had any health issues to speak of. At least nothing that can be directly linked to their prematurity.

This year, they will turn 6 the day before the walk. They are happy, healthy boys. We owe an awful lot to the March of Dimes. If it weren’t for their diligent research in finding the causes of, and working to prevent, premature babies, I can not say for sure where our boys would be today or what they would be like. I have participated in this walk, in some capacity, for the last 5 years and with your help, we can continue to help the March of Dimes fight prematurity.

Once again, I encourage you to donate to the WalkAmerica Campaign, either through my online donation site (link found on the right), or by walking with (or for) someone you know.

March Of Dimes, Prematurity Awareness | No Comments »

I took the boys to the Winter Carnival at TREC today. It was fun. Crowded, but fun. They loved watching the guys carve out the ice statues (pictures to follow in a subsequent post). However, I think their favorite part was going up in the tower. I have only been to TREC twice. Once for Fox’s birthday/anniversary party and the other for our church’s 180th birthday celebration. The latter was very brief. I played and sang a couple of songs and slipped out so that I could get back to the kids so dh could go to work. It is a beautiful place.

I have never been up in the tower, but the minute the boys spotted it, they wanted to journey up. We went up twice today. The first time, we didn’t have coats on, so I told them they couldn’t go out on the deck. We went back before we left so that they could go outside. I got some beautiful shots of the bay that I will also post later once I get them off the camera. Sadly, the worst part of the day was when someone grabbed Alex’s balloon animal right out of his hands and kept walking without so much as batting an eye. Can you believe that? Fortunately, we were still at the table waiting for Ryan’s balloon to get done. The clown who was doing the balloon animals tried to go after the person, but he couldn’t get to them, so he made Alex a new one. Some people….I tell you……

If you have time tomorrow, you should go visit. Even if only for the ice sculptures. It was pretty neat watching them compete against each other. A great family event for sure!

Erie | 2 Comments »

Reacting to a furor from some parents, advocacy groups and public health experts, Merck said yesterday that it would stop lobbying state legislatures to require the use of its new cervical cancer vaccine.

The company said it made the decision after realizing that its lobbying campaign had fueled objections across the country that could undermine adoption of the vaccine.

At least 20 states are considering making its use mandatory for schoolgirls, and the governor of Texas, Rick Perry, has already done so by executive order. Part of the states’ rush to embrace the vaccine has been instigated by Merck efforts that began before federal regulators approved the product last year.

The vaccine is aimed at a sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer. Critics of the vaccine on moral and other grounds have used Merck’s perceived influence as a weapon in fighting the drug’s use. And some public health officials who favor the vaccine say the movement to make it mandatory has come too fast.

full article

I am SO glad to see that they have stopped pushing for this! It took long enough!

News | 5 Comments »

No, not envy…green as in GRASS!

Can you believe it? Yeah, it looks more brown than green, but that’s because there’s lots of mud, too. Trust me, it’s green! I thought we’d never see it again!

General, Weather | No Comments »

I decided to take the boys and go bowling yesterday. We don’t get a chance to do a lot now that the twins are in school all day, so in honor of Presidents Day (just for you, Bobbo ) I took the boys bowling. No, I didn’t go shopping. I detest shopping. Don’t like it at all. Strike that. I love shopping for the boys (all 4 of them), but I hate shopping for myself. Yes, I know. I had a friend tell me (and maybe dh told me once, too) that I should have my “woman” card taken away for not liking to shop. I only own 3 purses, only 1 of which I actually bought (the others were gifts). I own less pairs of shoes than my husband, and about 1/6 of the clothes he does (though, in all fairness, the majority of his clothes are for work). So you see, I have no reason or motivation to shop during these sales.

I digress……

We had a lot of fun. And, the boys aren’t too bad. They had as many spares between them, if not more, as I did. Zach bowled 2 games in the 90’s (90 and 93). Not bad considering I only bowled a 108 and 101, lol. That doesn’t say much for my bowling abilities, does it? It helped that they had bumpers. I suspect that without the bumpers, they may not have gotten out of the 20’s.

I remember bumper bowling as a kid. However the bumpers I remember are quite different than the metal/spring-loaded things they have today. When we would go bowling, they had these enormous blue rolls of plastic/rubber/whatever-they-were that they rolled out into the gutters. They would then hook up these big blowers to inflate them, and voila! Bumpers! That certainly is a lot more work than pulling up a little bar. And, I’m sure, more cost effective.

I have a lot of fun memories of bowling with my parents, who are both excellent bowlers. Too bad their bowling prowess didn’t rub off on me. Ah, well. Maybe it skips a generation?

Family, life, the kids | 1 Comment »

I’ve finally started scrapping again. I’ve been in a bit of a funk lately, but going back into some chats at SBB and doing a few forum challenges has helped me come out of that. Here are my most recent layouts:

Digital LO's, Scrapping | No Comments »

MSN is set as my homepage and upon opening up Maxthon (my browser), what do I see? A small b & w picture of Brian Wells with the headline: Bizarre case: Pizza collar-bomb mystery solved.

I always think it’s cool when Erie makes the national news. Unfortunately, it’s never for a good reason. But, this is good, right?

Erie, News | No Comments »

Welcome to the NEW insanitys-oasis.com! I now have my own domain name and I am so excited! As you can see, I did not go with the b2evolution for a blog manager. Though I really liked it, I was not able to transfer my WordPress blog over. I didn’t want to lose anything, so I went with WordPress again. I am delighted, though, that when I loaded in some themes this time, they actually worked! Maybe it’s the updated version of WP that fixed that. Either way, I’m happy!

General | 3 Comments »

I woke up not feeling too well today. Raspy cough, sore throat, earache (though I think that is caused by the molar that is awaiting a root canal). DH says the sore throat is probably because the house is dry. That may be true. My hands have begun to crack and bleed. No, not really badly, but enough that I have broken out the lotion and am lathering it on 100 times a day.

I have all 3 boys home with me today. I don’t mind so much. They are good and play nicely together. I think the twins were more upset about the possibility of missing their Valentine’s Day party at school. I assured them they would still have it tomorrow. They seemed satisfied with that. Though, I am puzzled why they chose to cancel school today as opposed to two weeks ago when the windchills were 20 below. THAT is when they should have cancelled school, especially considering that the majority of students walk to school.

Happy Valentine’s Day to all my readers. Nothing special planned for today, but since Wednesday is not a tv night for us (that is, until Ghosthunters comes back), dh and I will probably put the boys to bed early and snuggle on the couch to watch a movie. We’ve had The Notebook for awhile, but haven’t seen it yet. Maybe that’s what we’ll watch tonight.

I’m still in the process of getting my new blog set up. My own domain name was my Valentine’s Day gift from dh (and yes, it’s what I wanted). I am very excited. I’m going to try a new editing program called b2evolutions. Anyone have any experience with it? It looks to be similar to WordPress, which I use now. I’ll let you know how I like it once I’ve had a chance to try it out. It has some really neat features WP doesn’t have, so I’m anxious to try those out.

Alright, I’m off to take a shower after my workout and then to work on my new website. Hope everyone is staying warm and safe in the cold and snow!

life | No Comments »

I am in the process of transferring my blog, yet again. This time, I’m transferring it to my own domain I should have the new blog up and running by tomorrow evening…at least I hope! Should this blog go down, don’t worry. It will be back up in no time.

General | No Comments »