I simply can't express how happy I am it is finally Friday.

You can see the latest gift guide at Mighty Junior today. This week we've found a lot of great things for your baby's first Easter basket. Make sure to throw in a bunch of really good chocolate so you can "help" them eat it.

My personal favorite write up is here.

My grandmother used to make yo-yo dolls from her extra quilting fabric. This colorful bunny reminds me of those dolls. The best part is, you don’t have to learn to quilt, but you’ll still sound like a douche if you tell people it’s hand made by Bolivian artisans.

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The kids got McDonald's for lunch the other day. Can you explain this "toy"?

This is a toy from the television show Camp Lazlo.

The bottom part opens up to reveal a pencil. The toy reads, "Made In China"

(Aside, Max said the other day, "Chinese people are super good at making stuff." Me, "Why do you say that?" "Because they make almost EVERYTHING." Well Max, let me tell you a little something about cheap labor.)

The confusing part is the pencil itself. It reads, "Vietnam". You'll have to trust me because my lens had a bit of trouble focusing on the tiny letters.

I don't know what it means, but I'll tell you, I plan on putting the Vietnam pencil in my wallet so I can befuddle the entire state of Michigan.

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In other news, the sleep doctor called to let me know I am....lazy. Which we knew for the most part already.

The next step is being tested for Celiac's Disease next, though I truly don't think that's my issue. If it is and that's what's making me so tired all the time, then maybe it wouldn't be so bad. I mean, imagine the weight I'd lose when all my favorite foods are taken out of my life (well, except bacon).

I'll also get my thyroid checked and when that happens I'm sure the internet will tell me the exact name of the test I need to ask for because you are all good for that type of thing.

Then, if none of that turns up anything, I'll just start snorting cocaine. Whatever it takes.

Until then I'm just sleeping a lot.

Yesterday I had to take a table down to my friend's house. I've been trapped in the house with the kids for 5 days now and when I got to my friend's house to give her table back, I never wanted to leave. I wanted to wrap my body around her head and just talk about things. Things not involving body temperature, clogged noses or how incredibly hot the Jonas Brothers are.

But I didn't want to be a nuisance and besides if I'm not with the kids 24 hours a day, something might happen to their body temperature, or one of the Jonas Brothers might start dating someone and then what? I'd miss it! That's what.

Comments

[NoPasaNada]

I've actually had the same conversation about the Jonas Brothers and exactly how hot they are. And each time, I look up towards the heavens and wonder if this is really my life or if I'm in some nightmare. Alas, it really just is my life. But at least I only have to deal with it like once a month. So that's a plus.

[bigpikchur.blogspot.com]

I've only just started hearing about the Jonas Brothers, but that's because I don't have kids of my own. My friend's daughter has a Mrs. Jonas t-shirt (which she got from her teenage cousin as a birthday gift) and since she only just turned 7, I was wondering who her "husband" was and why her mother wanted her married off so early. Guess those Jonas Bros are hot!

Oh, isn't Vietnam one of Crayola's new line of country-themed colored pencils?

Jules
House of Jules

[how did I get here]

I was diagnosed with celiac three weeks ago. One of first symptoms I can remember having is being tired. Eventually, that turned into extreme fatigue.

I seem to recall that as a kid most colored pencils said Vietnam on them.

[Michelle]

I guess pencils are the one thing the Chinese AREN'T good at making.

[hoxwrth]

To test your thyroid levels, you just need a blood test for T-3, T-4 and TSH.

[Lisa V]

Like 8 or 9 years ago, I had a thyroid test. The doctor called "Yes! Your thyroid isn't working right!" Whoohoo! I did a dance, finally a reason I was fat and lazy!

Then came the bad news- it was working too well- they wanted to slow it down. Are you friggin kidding me? Give me meds to slow my metabolism? In a matter of weeks I would be so fat that I would be making blubbery slobbering phone calls to Richard Simmons asking him to bring the firefighters to cut me out of my bedroom. No way.

Luckily, my doctor thought it was mild enough that it would mostly correct itself and would probably come and go with hormone levels going up and down. It has. We do nothing but check it once in awhile.

Turns out there is no real medical diagnosis for my fat and lazy other than "too much remote, laptop and girl scout cookies". Sigh.

[paigerun]

Melissa, I suffered from being tired all the time for a very long time (3+ years in different stages of my life). Each time the exhaustion was depression related (OR it was a side effect of depression medication. Zoloft works very well for me, but makes me tired so I also have to take Welbutrin. I felt like I was counting the minutes until bedtime every day and after my medications were right, I was really living. I recall you saying you tried or may still still be on Prozac? It may be making you tired.. just a thought. Before my initial diagnosis of depression, I had so many tests done. Turned out I was depressed and it was manifesting itself physically.. Hope you feel better soon.

[Account Deleted]

Hey Melissa,
You're absolutely right. The plus side to Celiac's is you'll be totally skinny with zero effort. The down side is, you'll be too exhausted to enjoy it very much. I send you lots of good wishes that it's nothing a B-12 shot can't cure. I was on corticosteroids once that made me hyper and gain weight. We can't win!
Cheers,
filmfangirl

[brady]

As we like to say in my house, "F***in' Jonases!" What's with those kids anyway???

[Misplaced Mama]

Melissa,
I too went through all the exhausting tests and when not a single thing was wrong with me, other than MILD (very mild; I think my gastric surgeon just said I was to get the insurance to pay for the surgery, which they did not) my GP told me to ask my Psychiatrist about a drug called Provigil. It is for people with sleep disorders and narcalepsy. I don't have naralepsy, but I am extremely tired all the time. I have been taking it for about 3 weeks now and it helps a great deal with the tiredness. It gives me that pep I need to keep going so I don't fall over. If I don't take it, I end up sleeping an extra 4 hours over the course of a day through sleeping in too long and then naps later. You could say it's a weak amphetamine (that is what my doctor called it) but I don't get that speedy feeling at all. Do some research on it and ask your doctor if it might help you stay awake! Good luck, I hope you feel unsleepy soon!

[Misplaced Mama]

Ok, it's late and I am a dork. I meant to say in my previous post that I was diagnosed with very mild sleep apnea. Even after trying the mask and c-pap machine, I was still so tired. It was affecting my everyday life.
I tried several anti-depressants as well and those side effects were not pleasant. So I tried Provigil and it seems to be helping a lot.

anyway...good luck and keep us posted!

[Andrea]

Actually, I wondered about that when I read your sister has celiac. But I kept my mouth shut then.

Again when you wrote about your daughter's neuroses. But once again, worked hard to shut my piehole.

But now that you've mentioned it...

The constant assault of gluten for the gluten-intolerant can cause low thyroid (tired, irritable, depressed) AND low adrenals (tired, irritable, irrational fears).

And in the ever-loving downward spiral, low adrenals cause low thyroid.

Ask me how I know all this...yup, you guessed it. Have all of it.

Never had a GI symptom in my entire life.

Been religiously gluten-free for a year now. Wondering when that mythical weight loss is gonna happen.

Hope you get this all figured out.

P.S. High rate of false negatives in celiac testing...if you get a negative & no answers, except "it's in your head" or "you're just a lazy ass", you might consider a 7-day gluten-free trial & see if anything changes, either without the gluten, or when you try to add it back in.

[Andrea]

Oh, and forgot to mention...low adrenals also = inability to deal with stressors.

Yeah, I was a joy to be around all my life...

[Melissa Summers]

Don't worry Andrea, I've been repeatedly evangalized about the Celiac Gluten thing.

[TeriLynn]

Good news, though- I recently found an article that said the medical community now believes that using the GI camera pill thing works better than using the tube-down-the-throat thing to check for celiac-related intestinal damage. Because I know it doesn't happen to everyone, but they had to take the camera out and put it back in for me. And I didn't have any more of the gag-numbing stuff. THAT was hell, no matter how nice the Demerol buzz was.

But seriously, at least the test will be really easy. Did I mention I spent 2 months of my therapy time preparing to allow someone to shove a camera down my throat?

Then again, I'm a little neurotic.

[Melissa Summers]

[Insert Gross Blow Job Joke Here]

[Jenn @ Juggling Life]

I hope you figure it out.

[Jerri Ann]

Hey, I second provigil...works wonderful for me!

[Missy]

As for celiac, I was tested and they said "negative". I eliminated gluten from my diet with great results (of course, I was symptomatic, unlike yourself).

One of the things I notice when I cheat is that I need TONS of sleep, like 10 hours isn't enough, even though I wake up with a raging headache.

I'm sure your sister has you brainwashed, but it's amazing how much things get better when you remove that one ingredient (which is in damned near everything, but not nearly as much as corn!).

Good luck!

[SueW]

I have had similar fatigue for about a year and a half. My doctor also couldn't find anything wrong, so she put me on Wellbutrin which is used to treat chronic fatigue syndrome (which I DON'T have - and depression which I also don't have), but it does help my fatigue symptoms. It's not totally gone, but it's much better.

I hope you find an answer.

[Sandie]

Hey! Join the club! I am being tested for Celiac's Disease next week (I also do not know what the hell my problem is either)- sadly, this weekend someone told me that it involves them putting something DOWN MY THROAT to look INSIDE MY STOMACH! Can this really be true? On the upside, like you, I was imagining how thin I will become when I am forced to live on chicken breast and Diet Coke.

[Sandie]

Thank God I read the comments after posting.. so there may be hope of no gagging (though the Demerol sounds kinda good right now!)

[mamaloo]

there's a very good chance that this is an asinine suggestion, as you have probably gone into detail (i almost typo'd "bone into detail LOL) about your fatigue in posts past. i've just read this one though and i'm ready to pop off! are you on an SSRI? zoloft had too much seratonin for me, making it impossible for me to function. i told my OB and she...doubled the dose! which made it twice as bad! i didn't get relief until i got on something else. feel free to email for more info if you're interested.