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.