Monday, December 06, 2010

Terriers :-(

My favorite show was canceled today after one short season.  13 episodes of some of the most fantastic acting I have ever seen. So few people watched and now are clueless as to what they missed.
I'm pretty sure Terriers will remain my most favorite. show. ever.  Seriously, I don't really get hyped up about shows.  Up until Terriers started, Lie To Me was probably my most-liked show.  Honestly I would have thrown it under the bus had that been possible to save Terriers.  Not that that was ever an option I'm just saying if one of my personal fave shows had to go I would have given up any......past and present.

Do yourself a favor. When that single season DVD comes out of Terriers, buy it and watch it.  You won't regret it......well, maybe you will regret not watching it originally because that might have saved it.

RIP Terriers

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Thanksgiving

Well we survived yet another Thanksgiving with a house full of people.  Missed Joe and Kylie though.  Also Pam but she stopped by later in the day.  As usual my favorite adopted son Andrew came by for a visit as he has every Thanksgiving Day for as long as I can remember.
No Thanksgiving Karaoke this year.  Hmmmm  Maybe we'll need to have some Christmas Karaoke in a few weeks.

I hate when Thanksgiving is over and I haven't started Christmas shopping.  I always feel like I'm running behind.  I suppose I'll just need to make a list and get moving.

In the last 4 weeks we have had our dishwasher break and now the washing machine.  I only had to go a few days without the dishwasher but I'm going to be about a month before my washing machine can be delivered. DANG all those Black Friday shoppers for buying appliances and taking all the earlier delivery dates.
It's not like anyone gives a new washer and dryer as a Christmas gift. geez!  So, will take inventory of the laundry and hit the laundromat to get caught up. Luckily the dryer is working fine so I'll just bring home the wet clothes and dry them here.  Daughter-in-law has graciously offered to help me out.  She actually has a load of towels at her house right now.

As usual nothing interesting to write about.  I've finished a few good books and am starting a new one today......just can't decide which one.  Have I mentioned how much I LOVE my Nook?  Yeah, I do.

Ciao

Tuesday, October 05, 2010

Totally Fitting Title

Yep, when I titled this blog I was dead-on!  I wish I could write.  I really do.  It just isn't going to happen.  


I'd much rather read. I have 66 books on my NOOK now just waiting to be read.  Wait, scratch that...maybe about 10 less since I have been reading them and saving them.


Last book read-  Love in the Time of Cholera.  Had to buy the paperback though because that book and the author's other book, One Hundred Years of Solitude, were not available in ebook format.  Was a very good book.  I'm currently reading The Help by Kathryn Stockett.   I am shocked that this is the author's first novel.  I can not seem to put it down.  


So yes, reading a lot.  Writing, not at all (unless you count Twitter).  


Not exercising at all either.  The knee is messing with me.  My doctor has discovered I have high blood pressure so there's one more medication to take....well two if you count the low dose aspirin too.  Felt kind of crappy the last few weeks what with changes in medications and such but am feeling better.  


Pretty sure that 46 is too young to feel THIS old. LOL


Blessings.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

To exercise or not to exercise...

The only thing I love more than pencils is....


new tennis shoes.  Or whatever you want to call them.  I don't play tennis but that's how we've always referred to athletic shoes.  Weird.  Anyway. In the past I've always bought cross trainers.  Now, before I get too deep here I should mention that I don't play tennis AND I don't cross train.


Only once have I bought shoes to use for their exact purpose.  That was 2 years ago.  I bought a pair of running shoes because I had started a running program.  It seems like SO long ago and yet I still miss it.  No matter how far I ran in our neighborhood I always ended my run and started my cool down in almost the same spot. It was right on the corner by our fire station.  I originally started running near the fire station so I could joke that if I keeled over during a run at least I'd be near some guys who might help. I digress.

Every time I drive that little stretch to the north of the fire station I still can feel that sense of accomplishment that I always felt when I hit that part of my run.  I was finished, I had accomplished something really cool, I was proud of myself and I felt great. 


I want to feel that way again.  Not sure if I'll be able to actually run with my knee still being wonky since my surgery.  I think I've been using that as an excuse to not even try.  So, the new running shoes I ordered arrived today.  Yes, I'm being optimistic because I bought running shoes and not walking shoes.  I can walk in running shoes if I have to but I don't think I can really run in walking shoes.  
So, the plan is to just start walking.  I also need to get to the Y because there are some weight machines that my physical therapist told me would be helpful to increase the strength in my knee again.  I know if I get into a good rhythm the running will probably happen eventually.  


So yeah, we'll see how all this goes.



Sunday, July 25, 2010

I Love Pencils

I love this time of year.  I love school supplies.  At what other time can you get boxes of Crayola Crayons for .25 and spiral notebooks for .15?  I love to stock up on school/office supplies.  I don't "stock up" on much of anything but I do love to have extra crayons, pencils, notebooks etc.

Pencils. I'd rather write with a nice sharp pencil than anything else in the world.  I can't stand mechanical pencils.  I also have a HUGE problem with ugly/missing erasers on pencils. When the kids were younger, and still sometimes now, they would bite the eraser off of my pencils.  I CANNOT use a pencil with no eraser.  I CANNOT use a pencil where the metal piece that holds the eraser has been chewed on. That's disgusting.  I like plain pencils.  I like black pencils.  I like zebra print pencils.

The husband obviously loves me.  Yesterday he bought me a really nice new electric pencil sharpener.

I love pencils!

Friday, July 23, 2010

The same ol' thing.

WOW, so much going on right about now.  Between now and August 13th we have to buy new school uniforms, 2 pairs of tennis shoes each, backpacks, supplies.  We also need to get school physicals.  One kid needs an eye appointment and both need a dental appt.

Somewhere in there I have to convince myself that tuition isn't going to kill us this year.
I get 3 emails from school in 2 days.
1st email tells me what our tuition will be and wants to know which payment plan we want.
2nd email tells me that Rylie has been recommended for the accelerated Language program....that's another 1200. 00 in tuition.
3rd email tells me our school has had something like 100K worth of requests for tuition assistance and can I help?
um yeah.....not really.

A couple of minor funny things.  Kids and I were in the dr's office last week.  One of them asked about injections and I was trying to explain the difference between subcutaneous and intramuscular.  Somewhere in that explanation I used the term "fatty tissue".  Those two words for some reason send 7 & 9 yr olds into the major giggles.  Not sure why.
Other minor funny thing was something my dear mother-in-law said.  Bless her heart.  She's a couple of years short of 80 and has never had a colonoscopy.  I was talking to her about them and how the prep is actually worse than the test.  Her main fear is that they might  puncture one of her lungs.  I did assure her that they don't go "that high" and they aren't near the lungs....poor thing..no wonder she's been putting off getting one.

No excitement here.  Same thing day in and day out.

Chris

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Opossum Wrangling

Yeah, sounds like something that would happen in KS doesn't it!

I went to bed about 12:45 last night.  5 minutes later my little girls (2 mini-daschunds) start barking like crazy.  I get up to let them out.  They run out the back door barking like there is obviously something in the yard that doesn't belong there.

I use a flashlight to look out all the windows on that side of the house.  I can't see anything but I hear sounds that tell me they, and our golden retriever, are cornering some sort of animal.

So, what do you do in these circumstances? Do you wake up the husband who has a business trip in the morning and needs his sleep?  No, you wake up your 24 yr old daughter and tell her to grab a flashlight.  Why?  Cause she loves crap like this just like I do. haha

So we go out the back door.  Heather is about 4 feet in front of me.  I tell her to slow down, she doesn't know what's out there.  Could be rabid.  Right about that time our golden retriever comes happily running (FAST) out of the dark towards us with a very large live,  but playing opossum, opossum in her mouth.  I'm closest to the door so I run inside.  I hold the door cracked. Heather, stuck outside now, jumps fast and high right up on top of the hot tub.  At this point she and I are both alternately screaming and laughing hysterically.  Screaming for the golden to drop the opossum and screaming at the little dogs to get in the house.

Mollie does drop the offending creature. Right on the patio.  I still have the back door cracked, Heather is still on top of the hot tub.  I'm still trying to get both of the little dogs in. Emmie actually dragged the opossum a foot across the patio.  The creature was bigger than she was.  So, finally we get both little dogs in.  I've got Mollie by the collar and Heather is going to try to get the opossum out of the backyard. Mind you, it IS alive.  It's only playing dead.  It was breathing and it moved several times.

So, Heather grabs a small plastic dustpan and tries to scoop up the opossum......doesn't' work.....So then she tries....wait. I should mention that I'm laughing my ass off right about now....So then she's crouched over this opossum who is half in her dustpan and proceeds to try to push it farther into the dustpan with the TINY flashlight she is holding....she stops, looks up at me and says "they don't bite do they?".  OMG I seriously thought I was going to pee my pants.  It was all I could do to get out a squeeky "yes" without laughing too hard at her.
Heather gets it in the dustpan and asks me what to do with it.  I tell her to toss it over the fence.  We'll deal with it on the side of the house in the morning.  Well she goes to toss it over and the handle on the plastic dustpan breaks and the opossum and the dustpan fall at her feet.  Mind you, I'm laughing more because I can't really see what happened and I'm imagining that she didn't get it high enough to go over the fence but just smacked it INTO the fence. In that half second I had flashbacks of Peter from Family Guy trying to get a dead frog out of a window with a shoe box.....something you'd have to have seen to understand.

Ok, opossum is on the opposite side of the yard which is fine because Mollie, the golden, can't go to that side because of an invisible fence.  We'll deal with it in the morning.

This morning I take a gander (that's what we say in KS) around the backyard.  He's gone.  I'm sure once he realized he was safe from the dogs and the chick poking him with the flashlight, he hightailed it back over the fence from whence he came.  or something like that.

OK so this was about 20-30 minutes going on.  The screaming, the laughing hysterically, more of both....we come in the back door and here comes the husband wanting to know what's going on. Heather and I were laughing like loons.  Most fun I've had at almost 2 a.m. in a VERY long time!!

Chris

Monday, July 05, 2010

I'm a year younger! again!

Today's my birthday. I was sure I was turning 47 today.  Have been thinking that for at least 6months or more.  I've been telling everyone I'm 46 for quite a while.  Anyway, this isn't the first year I've done this.   I think when I turned 43 I did the same thing.....was sure I was turning 44. 

Is this something I should be happy about?  I mean I'm pleased as punch because that's two years now that I have haven't aged! haha.  OR, is this something that should frighten the crap out of me??  The fact that I can't even remember my age......is that a memory problem?  dementia? old age? haha 

Maybe this is just more proof that the number really isn't that important to me.  Maybe this has to do with me having 3 kids in my early 20's and then 2 more in my late late 30's.  I think it is true that kids keep you young. Whatever is I guess I like it.

So, today I'm 46!  woot! 

Peace to all, Chris

Saturday, June 19, 2010

New TV addictions

Oh my gosh!  Thanks to Sarah Fain and her talk about Friday Night Lights, I'm totally addicted.  I have 2 shows left in Season 1 to watch.  LOVE LOVE LOVE it!  Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton are so "real".  A lot of times I watch shows and think "Ok yeah, that's nice but people don't act that way in real life" etc.  These two do.  Friday Night Lights is going to end up being one of my favorite shows ever.

I've also been watching Bones and Sons of Anarchy thanks to Netflix and their instantly available shows..  Both shows are great.  SOA is a bit "dark" but I like it.  Great actors.

Ok so this is my short post because well.......I'm behind in my housework and laundry. LOL
Can you guess why?

Peace, Chris

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Television

I'm not a TV addict but when I find a show I like I'm a pretty loyal fan.  In the last week two of my fave shows have had their finales.  Show finales, not season finales.

First was the LOST finale.  I enjoyed LOST every single week through the first 3-4 seasons.  After that I did watch because hubby still watched.  I prefer my shows to not be too complicated.  I want to watch, enjoy but NOT try to figure out what the heck is going on.  It was a great series though.  The actors all marvelous at making us love (or hate) the characters they portrayed.  In the end for me it was the people that was most important.  Let's face it, most everyone had a "happily ever after" and that's my favorite kind of ending.  My husband doesn't like things left unanswered. Why did that happen?  What did that mean? etc...I don't get too caught up in that especially when it's a show like LOST where I just can't keep up with that stuff anyway.  I had tears of joy several times during the finale and to me that is a great finale.

24.  24 has probably been my favorite show ever.  I will truly miss having the 24 people come in to my living room every Monday evening.  So many talented actors and actresses worked on that series.  A lot of great characters got killed off.  No one was safe on 24.  Except maybe Jack. My favorite character, Bill Buchannon, was killed off in Season 7.  Jack was going to do something suicidal to save the President but Bill jumped up and saved the day first.  That was a sad episode for me.  I was very pleased with 24's finale.  Jack lived!  Chloe lived! Chloe DID shoot Jack but she had to.  In the end though Jack acknowledged to Chloe that when he first met her he had no idea that she would be the one who would have this back always.  Chloe teared up watching Jack leave so of course I did as well.   There is talk of a movie but we don't really know if that is something that will really happen.  Could just be speculation, who knows??  I'd say there is always hope since they let Jack live.

I watch a couple of shows that my husband does not watch.  I actually just record them on the DVR and watch them whenever I get a chance.  With 24 gone now it looks like Lie To Me will become my favorite show.  I will be looking forward to it the most!  Also, two other shows that I recently started watching got picked up for another season.  One is Life Unexpected and the other is Parenthood.  Both VERY good series.  I also would like to watch Friday Night Lights but have missed it from the start so need to get caught up by buying the DVD sets.

I don't think that I watch a lot of tv, buy I do love what I watch.

Blessings, Chris

Monday, May 10, 2010

Not a Blogger

Ok, so I'm not a blogger really.   Actually, I totally suck at blogging.

I didn't realize until after I started reading blogs that there are people who are referred to as "mommy bloggers".  These are some serious bloggers!  I think a lot of them make a lucrative income from ads, reviews and endorsements of various products.  I don't have a problem with that but I don't want a blog to sound like a mini-commericial for things that moms should purchase.

I wouldn't mind something I could do at home to bring in a little extra cash.  Matter of fact I NEED something like that but there are really not any opportunities for that stuff anymore.  Something is going to have to give in the next year or so if I want to keep my kids in their private school.  That's the most important thing to me right now.  That they continue on with the great education they are getting now.

When my adult kids were little I actually did have a "work at home" job.  It wasn't a scam either.  I worked for FoxMeyer Drug Company entering pharmacy claims into their database and reconciling them.  It paid well, I could work my own hours, and only went into the office maybe once a week to pick up work.  I would KILL for a job like that now.  *sigh*  Anyway, a work at home job would be wonderful.  It's not that I don't want to go out and find a "real" job it's just that I'd like to have something that would work around my kids' school schedule.  I enjoy the volunteer work I do at their school, I love being available to drive for field trips, I love being the one to drop them off at school and the same one who picks them up and takes them home afterwards.  I love after-school snacks and hearing about their day etc etc .  In a perfect world I guess.

That doesn't exist now or in the near future.

Well it's time to take these kiddos to school.  Maybe I'll post to my blog again soon....?  I can't make any promises.

-C

Monday, March 29, 2010

Hmmmmmm Not sure what that was.

I think I may be working myself out of my funk.  Things were frustrating/overwhelming but I guess it's better now.  I think I need a mega dose of sunshine.

I REALLY need to get my house clean and have it stay that way for more than 12 hours. I think that's what's been getting me down lately.  If the house is in order I don't feel like I'm neglecting something if I do something for myself.....BUT that pretty much means if the house is a disaster day after day then I do NOTHING for myself.

So, I'm working on it.  Working on the house, working on my attitude etc.


Blessings to anyone who might read, C

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Another Busy Day

I'm watching 3 of my grandkids today so their mom can go on a field trip with their older brother.  She never really has a chance to do that.  So, will have to take my two to school first which means me and 5 kids getting out and back into the car. LOL  Then I have to take the 3yr old to his morning preschool class at a different school.  Pick 3yr old up around noonish(will get exact time from his mom this morning), then pick my kids up just before 4....again carting the 3 grandkids inside with me.

Wow, I've done this before......lived it actually with our 4 adult children, but it sure sounds more daunting now.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Frustrated and Pissy

I'm really feeling frustrated and pissy lately. My knee is still not back to 100%.  It's stiff a lot and I cannot kneel down on it. I usually kneel a lot during the day while cleaning or doing stuff with kids.  I'm just not seeing how I'm going to be able to run again.  The surgeon assured me right after the surgery that running again would happen.

So, what do I do if I'm not smoking and not running?  Yep, I'm eating....and continuing to put on  MORE extra lbs.  I think it really really REALLY sucks that I quit smoking over a year ago and it's still running my life.  I have cravings every day still.  What's up with that???  Anyway, I'm see myself sinking into a slump here that I feel like I won't be able to climb back out of.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Kids Coming Out of My Ears

Busy weekend with my little kids, my big kids, and grandkids.

Friday night was fun.  I watched my 24 yr old daughter teach her little brother and sister how to dance.  I think it was called the Cupid Slide?  It was super funny.  They sure do love seeing their big sister every day now.

Last night was more kids and more kids.  We have a problem with Davis, my youngest son, & Jacob my youngest grandson.  Davis is almost 7.  Jacob is 5 1/2. Davis is the uncle & Jacob is the nephew.  They always beg to play with each other and then each time they get together they fight like cats and dogs!  They're so close that I think their relationship resembles one of siblings than just friends.
We are constantly separating them etc.

So, it's now Spring Break and I guess I'll need to find fun stuff to do with the kids this coming week.  By this time next week I may have lost all of my sanity so this could possibly be my last post ever. LOL


I wish I had something more interesting to write about but I don't.  :-(

Blessings to anyone that might read, C

Tuesday, March 09, 2010

The Family Bed aka Why am I Sleeping on the Couch!

When our adult kids were born all in the early 1980's you didn't hear much about the "Family Bed".  I don't think I even knew what it was back then.  I remember that it was considered  bad, wrong, and frowned upon to let your children sleep with you.  So, all of our adult children slept in their own room, in a crib then graduated to a twin bed when they were big enough.  I think we may have kept a bassinet in our room the first few weeks as it made breastfeeding in the middle of the night a lot easier.

I remember one our sons, then 2, laying on the stairway landing crying......because he wanted to come get in bed with us.  We didn't let him.  I DO regret that much now.  That may be because he's an adult now with kids of his own and you always wish you could relive those lost times.  I wish I had dropped to the floor and played every single time he asked me to play legos with him.

So, those kids grew up.  All fairly well-adjusted with good relationships with their dad and me.  I see no lasting ill effects from them not getting to sleep in our bed.

Enter the early 2000s.  After sending our first kid to college, and me always pining for more babies in the house, we reversed our 16yr old vasectomy.  Twice, because the first surgery didn't work.  Along came a baby girl.  She had a beautiful nursery ready for her.   It was right next door to our bedroom AND it had a baby monitor.  She never slept an hour in that brand new crib.  It was just "too far away" and she was just "so tiny".  I had to have her near me at night.....had to.  Hubby was the same.  There really is nothing like falling asleep with a teeny tiny newborn hand grasped around your finger.  When she was almost a year old or so she slept cuddled up to me against my chest.

When she started getting bigger we bought a toddler size bed and shoved it up against our king-size bed.  I would then sleep with my arm draped over the side of our bed, patting her or just touching her hair etc.  By around 3 yrs old she did have her own room with her toys, dolls, a really cute twin bed.  It was an adorable bedroom.  I'll never forget the one evening when she said she wanted to sleep in HER room in her big girl bed. We read her a story, tucked her in, and she was asleep. I laid in bed and cried that night.  At that point we still had our then 1 yr old son in our bed.

Kids are now almost 9 and almost 7.  Both go to sleep in their own bedrooms/beds every night.  All seems normal.  During the night for some reason,  at least one, if not both, climb into our bed.  There's not enough room in the bed for 4 people now so I usually hit the couch with the recliner on both ends.
It never fails that on the nights the kid's DON'T get in our bed, I get run out by hubby because I'm snoring.  I understand that.  He has to sleep so he can get up for work the next day.  I do not.
But, I've started to find that there really is no comfortable spot in this house to sleep.  One kids' bed is too soft, the other is too firm.  The couch is getting old.  

Did I mention how I seem to be tired all the time lately?

Would I do the "family bed" again if given the choice?  hmmmm?

Not sure. Can I get back to you after my nap???

Blessings, C

Thursday, March 04, 2010

Abbi

Here is a picture of my youngest grandchild.  She is 5 months old.  The big bow is supposed to take the attention away from her bald head I think.

She's a good baby and she and her brothers are living 5 minutes away from me while their dad is deployed to Afghanistan.

I need to find a picture of her sharing her sweet smile.

Wasn't sure what to blog today so figured a baby picture was always a safe bet.


Blessings, C


*Edit*

Ok there she is smiling.  That's just a few hours ago.  Yeah, I know, the bow.  It's just a tad on the large side. haha

This is what happens when you have 3 boys before finally getting that little girl. I had 3 boys before having her mommy so I know how it is.  EVERYTHING must be pink and girly.



Wednesday, March 03, 2010

A Good Week, so far.

Wow, this has been a good week so far.  I've gotten so much done and it feels good.

I did my 40 minute library duty on Monday at school and will do another on Friday. I brought home some computer work I'm doing for one of the kindergarten classes.  I don't mind that sort of stuff at all.  It's easy and quick for me but saves the teacher from having to take work home with her.

I've been cleaning like crazy and both bathrooms got emptied, cleaned and then reorganized.  Yeah, did the cat litter too.  That's a whole other blog.  I love my cat but the litter thing is getting OLD.  Let's see, what else.  There is no dirty laundry.  It's being done a load a day now and that will keep it caught up forever. ;-)

My knee is healing wonderfully.  It's been 19 days since the surgery and I'm barely even limping on it now.  It still has a lot of inflammation in it so am taking Motrin for that.  I did have a "cankle" twice now!  I've had 5 full -term pregnancies and NEVER did I have swollen ankles while pregnant!  I have to admit I freaked a bit when I saw the ankle swollen the first time. Cankles are never pretty. haha

I've been spending a lot of time with my grown daughter, Heather.  Her husband was recently deployed to Afghanistan and she moved back to our hometown with her kids.  It's been a lot of fun.  We haven't had a baby around in a while...not since the 3 little 3yr old boys were babies.  Abigail is a sweetheart.  She's 5 months old now and love to interact with everyone.  The little boys are hilarious. Malachi, at 3, is quiet, subdued, and a huge cuddler. Brayden, at 2, is a monster!  If he starts to touch something and I tell him no, he looks at me while sticking his index finger out very slowly to touch the object....all the while smiling.  He's sneaky as can be.  Reminds me of the movie Kramer vs Kramer when the Billy gets the ice cream from the freezer and dad is telling him "no".  Except Brayden would smile a little devilish grin at you while he took the first bite!.

Midnight and I should get to bed.  I'm hoping tomorrow will be just as productive as the last two days.

Blessings, C

Monday, March 01, 2010

Welcome March, Please Be Kind!

March 1st.  There is something about March 1st that kind of makes me giddy.  I'm not sure what it is.  It could be because, to me, March signals that Spring is near.  I LOVE Spring.  I love everything about Spring. I even love spring-cleaning!

I'm always a bit happier when the sun shines more.  Gray winter days can really get old after awhile.

I'm behind on my housecleaning but I'm so pumped to get caught up.  I'm ready to be back to the place where I am doing one load of laundry each morning and cleaning an uncluttered house.  Yep, it is possible, just check out Flylady.net.  :-)

So, I'm off to take the kids to school on this 1st day of March.  I'll come home, maybe have 1 more cup of coffee and then look around and find a place to start.  I may need to make a list.  ahhhh  I LOVE lists.

Blessings, C

Thursday, February 25, 2010

February Hates Me

Starting Monday things are going to change around here.  I'm so off-kilter right now.  Knee Surgery went very well.  No reason why it shouldn't heal back to 100%.  Michael went above and beyond taking care of me.  He was constantly catering to all of my needs while I was recuperating.  My knee was always elevated and iced.  If I needed a drink, it was right there.  The man seriously pampered me!

So, tomorrow is the big chapel program put on by my son's 1st grade class.  His teacher asked me in January if I'd help her with this.  Let's just say that what could go wrong, has gone wrong.  The kids have many speaking parts and each kid has about 6 still pictures that go along with their parts.  I've put it together several times only to have one thing or another go wrong.  The teacher has been having massive problems with the kid side of the program. It's just been weird.  So, this morning we spoke knowing that a few hours later we'd be doing the final rehearsal.  The teacher even mentioned she was prepared for more mishaps but we are sure the final program will go off without a hitch.  So, I had some errands to run this  morning, had to add a few last minute things to the video etc. I'd talked to a kid at the church who offered to meet me in the chapel and show me how to hook into the sound system and the projector screen that comes out of the high ceiling.
So, on my way to the church(school) I slammed head on into a  man in a mini-van.  Ok that sounded a bit more dramatic than it was I guess.  I've never been in a car accident so the "slammed" part seemed a lot harder than the damage indicated.  Lucky for me the guy's van already looked like it may have just come from a demolition derby.  My Expedition is a tank so it any damage was minimal.  Anyway, it was just ONE MORE THING  to deal with.
Tomorrow at 2:50 I'll be screaming with relief I think after the program is done.

Next week and for many weeks in the future I'm sticking to my twice weekly 30 minute helper job in the library. Yep, that's it.  For now.  Until I recover.

So, here's to March!

Tuesday, February 09, 2010

Busy Busy Busy

Well, I think this is the first time in my entire life where I have looked forward to a surgery.  I've been walking on this torn meniscus for over 3 weeks now and it sucks!

I can't think of any other time I've felt like such an unattractive slug.  45 years old and hormones are causing acne, quitting smoking gained me healthy lungs but also 50 extra pounds, and now to top it all off....I'm limping horribly.  I feel like I'm 90.

OK on a totally different note.  Heather, my daughter, is now living 5 minutes away instead of 12 hours! Her husband is deployed in Afghanistan for the next year.  I am LOVING having Heather here and also her kids.  I have never really had the chance to bond with them because every time we've visited with them it would take the little ones a day to warm up to us.  They are LOVING their Gramma now!  Even little Abbi at 4 months looks happy to see Gramma!  

Finally.  My NOOK finally came and I am seriously in love with it.  I'm loving a lot lately aren't I!? lol  I don't know how it compares to the Kindle because I don't know everything the Kindle does.  I know that I can buy and download books over the 3G network in a matter seconds.  I like that ebooks are cheaper than paperback...I read so much and so quickly that I can go broke buying books.

Ok so, no more news from me for a while.  Surgery on Friday.

Monday, February 01, 2010

Fun Things

Just a few quickies.  I survived the 13 hour drive from TN  to Wichita with the 3 grandkids.....all by myself. It went fine but the bathroom breaks were um...I'll just say "difficult" and leave it at that.

My NOOK arrived about 3 hours AFTER my plane took off from the KC airport. Poor poor timing B&N.  Today I had just a few seconds to look it over and hope to read the manual and dive in to it later this week.  I still have grandkids now and tomorrow I have to help Heather unload her moving truck. Anyway, it's really awesome.  I named it Sally.

Wednesday night is going to ROCK!  TEARS will be shed.  I'm seriously betting that my 28 yr old son will be sitting next to me sobbing....like he did when we saw Les Miserables together. So, what is Wednesday night?  Jesus Christ Superstar.....and WHO is playing that lead part you ask?  Why, the  man himself.  Ted Neeley!  Yes, he's old.  67 yrs to be exact but I wouldn't have it any other way.  It just wouldn't be the same!  So, after years and years and years and years of watching the movie, and listening to the vinyl(my folks were hippies and my mom had the album....along with HAIR and many others) I'm going to get to see it.  We introduced our eldest son to JCS when he was really little(as we did with Les Mis.) and I know he's going to love it too.

So, a few days of some busy stuff and hopefully next week I'll get back on track with my blog.  Oh, and somewhere in the next few weeks I'll be having knee surgery.  Oh joy.

Peace to all!

Chris

Monday, January 25, 2010

A Busy Week and Bittersweet

Yikes!  So much to do this week.  I'm going to have that silly meniscus looked at on Wednesday by an orthopedic surgeon.  Will be interesting to see what he he says.

Friday morning my oldest son will be driving me to Kansas City so I can get a flight out of there to Nashville.
Why?

Tomorrow morning my son in law will be deploying to Afghanistan. He'll be leaving behind my daughter and 4 kids.  This is his 3rd deployment. His first two were to Iraq.  Heather stayed in KY during his last deployment. She did come to Wichita to have baby #3 so I could help her a bit but she hasn't lived in Wichita in over 3 years.  We've missed a lot of milestones with those grandkids and it will be so great to have them nearby for the next year!!

So, Friday I fly to Nashville where Heather will pick me up.  Friday evening and Saturday we will spend finishing packing and loading up a U-Haul truck.  Sunday morning I will drive her car and the 3 littlest grandkids back to Wichita.  A 12 hour drive.  LOL this should be interesting!  The grandsons are 3 & 2 and grandaughter is only 4 months.  Heather has to wait for base housing to give her clearance on Monday morning and then she and her 5 yr old will drive the U-Haul to Wichita.

So, starting next week all of my kids and grandkids will be living here.  I'm excited to spend time with Heather but also to bond a bunch with her kids.  It's hard to be the long distance Gramma.  They don't know me like the rest of the grandkids.  Each time we see them we have to wait for them to warm up to us etc.

So, that's it.  A very busy week.  Bittersweet because I am very happy that Heather and the kids will be here but sad that her husband has to deploy to a dangerous place for that to happen.
Please keep him in your prayers.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Meniscus?

Seriously, who makes up these medical terms? LOL

Ok so after 11 days of trying to "power through" the pain in my knee, I went to see my family Dr.  She suspects a torn meniscus and I have an appointment on the 27th with an orthopedic surgeon.  Fun Fun. I'm not worried about surgery if I have to have it.  Surgery has never really bothered me too much.  I think I'm missing half of my organs already.  Ok that was a bit of an exaggeration.  Missing my tonsils, gallbladder, and half my thyroid.   And it's funny but seems like I had one other thing removed LOL but I don't recall what it was.  Good grief, for all my memory is worth it might have been my frontal lobe! LOL  I'll have to ask Michael.

Anyway, I'm more worried about recovery.  I am SO ready to start running again.  I've been anxious to run with my new lungs (no, not surgery...I just quit smoking 9mths ago). I'm just curious how long the recovery will be and when my knee will be back to 100%.

I guess I'll find out Wednesday.

Hockey! Who knew?

Wow, who would have known that I would love hockey?  We went to a Wichita Thunder game last night with Davis' cub scout pack. They are a minor league team and they were playing for the first time in our new big arena (bring on the bigger artists now Wichita!).

We were sitting up in the nosebleed section and I can't wait to go again and get some really good seats.  My favorite part?  I loved it when I saw gloves and helmets start to fly.....that meant a fight.  I asked Michael why the refs weren't breaking it up and he said they don't until one of the guys hit the ice.

I enjoyed everything about the game though.  I liked the way the periods are with the breaks in between.  I loved the enthusiasm of the crowd and how it draws you in.  I LOVED watching Davis stand up and dance everytime the music came on. He was quite the entertainment for our section I'm afraid.  Thankfully we let him sit 2 rows down from us with some friends of ours. haha No one knew who he belonged to.

So, we had a really really great time.  I've never really watched hockey on tv but definitely want to give it try.  I'm sure nothing beats it live but I'd really like to learn the rules etc of the game.

Go Thunder!

Wednesday, January 06, 2010

Daughters!

OMGosh!  I was a total tomboy when I was little and somehow my daughters are girly girl drama queens!  *sigh* Sometimes it tires me out, sometimes I can't quit laughing. I strongly suggest the laughing be done when you are out of earshot of a drama queen. Otherwise, they scream and slam a lot of doors.

So, there are 16 years between drama queen #1, Heather and drama queen #2, Rylie.

#1 lives in KY with her Army Sgt husband and their 3 kids.(yes, one of her kids is a girl..payback's a b*tch bwwhahaha).  #1's husband is getting ready to deploy to Afghanistan for a year and I was able to talk her in to moving back to KS while he is gone. We can see her and get to know the grandkids more.  We saw her Thanksgiving and we saw her Christmas.  Ahh Christmas. #1 gives #2 a shirt that she got that was too small.  #2 loves it and wants to wear it all the time.
Last night #2 puts on the shirt and starts tearing up, "I miss #1".  arghhh  here we go with the waterworks.  I'm not heartless, I'm really not.  This just happens OFTEN and it happened OFTEN when #1 was 8yrs old like #2 is now.  Keeping up?

I calmly and nicely remind #2 that in just a few weeks #1 will be living nearby and they will spend lots of time together.  #2 can spend the night at #1's house and help with the little kids etc.  #1 is really a great big sister and does #2's hair and nails etc.  All that girly-girl stuff.  I remind #2 that #1 will be here for a year.

What reaction do I get?  MORE TEARS and then "But mom, when #1 leaves again it will just be that much harder because I will be more attached to her". OMG!  Ok so I calmly and nicely(I'm trying) explain to her that you can't worry about things in the future or you won't enjoy the present as much as you should.  I'm thinking this is a great explanation and she should calm down.  Nope.  I get the "You just don't understand! You don't understand what it's like to have a sister and she's so far away!!".  SIGH  And this is about where my patience ran out.  I don't deal with the doom and gloom drama queen stuff.  The "other" drama queen stuff is fine..the exasperation, the rolling of the eyes, the goofiness, even the slamming doors.
So, my reply this time is "That's MY little girl you're talking about and you don't know what it's like having a little girl and she's so far away."  Silence for just a second and BAM, there it is.  Door slamming.


OK the door slamming ending didn't actually happen THIS time but it will.....omgosh you can bet it will!

Tuesday, January 05, 2010

Runner's Knee??!!

How can my Runner's Knee be killing me when I haven't been running in well over a year??!!  Yesterday was supposed to be the day I started my daily 30 minutes of exercise routine and now this.   Last night I could barely put any weight on it.  It's a little better this morning but imagine in a few hours after walking on it it's going to be hurting pretty good.  ouch!

This is so discouraging.  I really want/need to start running again.  I've got to lose this extra weight plus I can't wait to see how much easier I can breathe since quitting smoking almost a year ago.

Just going to think of this as a minor setback and remind myself that being a few days past my start date doesn't mean I've failed.  NO reason to lose my motivation.

Off to start the day.

Monday, January 04, 2010

Back to Normal. Well, Our Version of Normal

After 17 days off the kids go back to school today and Michael has already left for the office.  We all do so much better on a set schedule.  Going to bed and getting up at the same time every day keeps us all on an even keel.  I know Michael really enjoys his days off and I enjoy having him home.........for a little while. LOL  I joke and tell him he is not ever allowed to retire.  He'll just have to find more college classes to teach or  a good time-consuming hobby.

For the last couple of years, since Davis has been in school full time, I've gotten into a routine at home. After taking the kids to school I come home and turn on the Apple TV.  I don't watch tv but I use the Apple TV to listen to my itunes library that's on my desktop back in my office.  I do it through the tv so I can take advantage of Michael's really nice sound system.  Michael and the kids love to have the tv on every waking moment.  There is NOTHING on during the daytime.

So, today we're back to normal and in just a few minutes time I'll go drag the kiddos out of bed so they can get their school uniforms on and have some breakfast.  I imagine I'm literally going to have to drag them too.  really

So, will take them to school and come home.  Apple TV, some laundry, some cleaning, eating healthy today, and at some point 30 minutes of exercise.  I'll feel sane again just getting back into our regular "normal" schedule.