Yesterday afternoon I accidentally dropped my mercury thermometer on the kitchen floor and it broke. I didn't take time to research exactly how serious a mercury spill can be, or how I should clean it up, so i just went with what came to mind. Using paper towel I rolled the little beads of mercury together (fortunately they didn't seem to be spread too far & wide), and rolled it onto a piece of toilet paper and tossed it in the garbage. I vacuumed the area in case there was something i missed that i couldn't see, and wiped the area with wet paper towel. Then I did some research online, and found more information than was good for me ~ lol. (Oh, and then Darwin went over the area with duct tape in case we'd missed anything, and then we double-bagged the garbage in two black garbage bags and tossed it). I thought i was doing "ok" last night, but this morning something was really "off" and i got wondering (ok, and worrying) if i was dealing with mercury poisoning. (Of course, in my case it could've been one or more of several other issues ~ which i'm thinking now it is/was). Still haven't heard back from my doctor, but i called a different "health care person" who recommended I call poison control. I was afraid of being scolded for having even had a mercury thermometer in my home, or for breaking it, or at least for not having cleaned up properly... but the lady I talked with at poison control was SO WONDERFUL! She just asked me to tell her what happened and how I dealt with it, and she said i had done very well and there shouldn't be any concern ~ except that i might want to replace the filter on our vacuum cleaner. Vacuum cleaners and brooms are NO NO's for this type of thing, but because i only vacuumed after cleaning up everything visible to my eyes, she said the risk would be so small that it wasn't a big deal. Skin contact isn't a big worry with this type of mercury, and apparently it usually isn't a problem if you swallow it either ~ it'll usually pass through. The vapors are the biggest concern... and that shouldn't be an issue if you clean it up like i did. So I'm relieved about that! Still tired and feeling a bit yucky, but hopefully it'll just clear up quickly.

I've been feeling less off-balance lately ~ PTL! I'm thinking it seems to be related to a sensitivity to cold ~ which could be due to low body temperatures (symptoms of hypothyroid ~ which may not necessarily have shown in blood work ~ check out www.wilsonssyndrome.com). I mentioned these symptoms to my homeopathic doctor and he recommended a supplement to address sensitivity to cold. I'd been charting my temperatures, and they were almost consistently low. About a week after starting the supplement my temps went up to where they should be, and I began feeling somewhat better (less off-balance, less tight muscles in the back of my head, somewhat better overall). But then again, the higher temperatures could have been hormonal (last week of cycle kind of thing). Yesterday (before my thermometer broke ~ and today with my cheap digital one) my temperatures were down again... i want to keep charting a little longer to get a bigger picture of all that.

Before I realized the homeopathics might be working, I talked with a pharmacist consultant and finally decided to go ahead with saliva hormone testing (having thought about it for a few years). I should hopefully have my results by the end of the week, or early next week.

The boys (the older two) had a chance to go fishing with "Grandma & Grandpa" last weekend and had a great time. They left Friday evening (3hr. drive to where they went) and got home a little before 11pm Saturday night. They didn't get a lot of sleep apparently, so they were tired. Oh, they each came home with two fish.

Janique had a birthday on July 3 ~ she's 11yrs. old already! How time flies! She planned her party and all ~ she had two cousins over for a sleep-over and they were here til evening on the 4th. On the 4th I also ended up having my sister's three boys and their foster baby over... so it looked a bit like a zoo by the time my two little boys (that I baby-sit) came, but it really wasn't too bad. Yesterday was our first full day with the two little boys ~ it went pretty good. I felt really complimented when their mom told me that with the previous baby-sitter, although she's a good sitter, the 4yr. old cried every time she left. Here he's anxiously waiting to come again... only cried the first day. That blessed me.

Jonathan emailed his resume (improved version) to five potential job openings, so we'll see how the Lord leads as far as that goes. He's been working afternoons & nights all weekend, and that's probably as brutal as getting up at 3am (because he only gets home after 3am now).

I got dreaming a little the other day, but not sure if it's at all practical... there's a group of 7 houses up for sale for a really good price... about 2 hours away (i'm guessing). They are currently all being rented, so the revenue makes it look like a great income/investment opportunity, but how do you manage something like that (with no experience, i'll add) from two hours away. Truth is, if we weren't so "planted" here, we "could" move out there into one of the homes (debt free if we sold our house here), and practically live off of the income of the other 6 houses). But life isn't just about money... there's friends, family, church, etc. all to consider... and we don't know anyone out there. If we knew something about revenue/rental properties, etc. it might still be worth looking into ~ having someone out there manage them for us... hmm, sure is tempting to look into it.

Jonathan called the social worker yesterday and arranged for us to meet with her on Thursday to talk about domestic adoption (the little girl I've mentioned). I've had a few mixed feelings about it, and was ready to get back on the trail of international adoption, but I want to be open to this if it is God's leading. That's the part i'm not totally sure about... seems my heart is leaning more toward Africa. But, some of that is just the questions we'd have about this particular girl and her situation too... so we'll see what we learn at the meeting.

We bought the materials to build a deck ~ finally! (That's a project that's been 10yrs. in coming ~ lol). Jonathan's parents said they want to come out and help us build a deck, so that's why we are finally getting on it. So here's hoping they come! Lol... I think we're going to stain it, so me & the kids should have lots of fun with that.