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Monday, January 10, 2011

There are no words

For Lori - rrsahm
your loss is felt around the world
My love and strength will envelope you when you need it
— Heather from Seattle, WA, United States

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Community

Imagine your life changing in the blink of an eye. Imagine your whole world falling apart without any warning.

We all may have this experience at some point (I myself found myself in this situation when my Mom felt bad, I took her to the hospital and she never came home - this is another story), but I'm writing to send my concerns, hopes, prayers to a fellow blogger.

I've never met Lori from Random Rambling of a SAHM but she is in my thoughts. Her husband is in the hospital, barely holding on. She is being vigilant, sitting by his side and we bloggers are sending ALL our positive thoughts towards her. I hope she is comforted from us strangers holding our hands and our families, projecting our love to her family and holding her hands through this life changing moment. 

You are in my thoughts. 

need an emergency chiropractor?

We received snow. For one day (really only a few hours) that due to freezing temperatures lasted for over a week. Luckily, we had finished our grocery shopping and gassed up the cars. The buses were able to pick up the kids and the dry roads made driving easy. But our street, it had an ice slick at the top that kept Marc from being able to leave. It was quite humorous to me. I've found a reason to love my minivan. It's heavy enough to get up the hill and across the ice to the dry roads!!

Our sidewalks were a similar story. I walked the kids up to the bus and did a little two steps forward, one step back slipping on the ice. I made a final huge slip at the bus stop. Now I'm thinking "uh-oh, there goes my back". I was feeling good though and decided I would take my alone time to clean the sidewalks. Since we don't have a snow shovel (or a flat shovel), I used a hoe to break up the large chunks of ice and then a large rake to break everything up and get it off of the sidewalk.

I spent about 30 minutes breaking and raking the ice off the sidewalk in front of our home and then up the hill to our next neighbor. I felt wonderful getting this job done and more than earned my 45 minutes of couch time to catch up on my DVR'd "Brothers and Sisters" while sipping a coffee.
 (before)


 (after)

The happiness didn't last for too long. By the time I went to bed and had a HUGE knot (or pinch nerve) in my left shoulder, neck area. The pain caused shooting pain down my left arm. Nothing I was doing, any position I tried to get into would not ease the pain. I tried having Marc rub it. I tried laying on a heat pad. I went to the living room with a rolled up towel and laid any way I could on it to try and pop my neck or upper back or put some pressure on the knots that were causing me pain. Here is where I tell you, I'm not a crier. I'm not. This, this made me cry. I called my chiropractor's office to ask that they schedule me first thing only to here they are closed on Thursdays (this was 3am). My doctor left his home number, but I'm not calling at 3am. Marc came out when he heard the back massager going full blast. I was pressing it into the painful areas and making the fillings in my teeth rattle. He tried me to another mini massage. I finally tried an ice pack and fell asleep.

I woke up feeling better. I went to help my friend set up her booth for the weekend wedding shoot. I felt great all day, then at bed time the pain started to set in again. I really should have seen the chiropractor.

Update:
My chiropractor called me Friday after he got my message and asked if I had an appointment set up. He got me in right away and after a lot of pops and movement, my neck feels fantastic and I'm back to normal. Getting old sucks!

PTSA President

Being a stay at home Mom is a hard job. A rewarding and fulfilling job. It my current job and I love it, but I'm ready to go back to work. I'm ready to make some money for our family. I'm ready to add a new level of insanity to my already busy days.

To help me transition back into this life, I've been volunteering at the kids school. I started out on a committee or two. Then I volunteered as our PTSA Secretary for 2 years. Now, I'm busy being the PTSA President. In addition, to being more busy, this job brought me some happiness and got me through the long, cold, dark winter. I was happy being so busy, but having control over how busy I would be. I'm very nervous about going back to work (and very excited).

But back to my busy, as President I oversee (barely) our day to day business. I run our monthly meetings. I'm to go to for any questions and problems. Really, I've found it very easy and happy I have something to add to my resume (rather than a 10 year blank). In addition to being President, I like to be in charge of a committee or two. In November, I coordinated our schools Food Drive (very successful - over 3000 items) and leading into February, I'm coordinating our annual Science Fair.

This extra task required (because I thought it was needed) me to rewrite our science fair packets. To make the packets more in line with state standards and our schools wording from grades K-6. This (president and science fair) required me to be at school for 2 days for several hours making photocopies. 475 copies of 2 page (double sided) newsletter to go home to our parents (I'm very happy that we are leading into a online newsletter, but it's taking awhile for parents to adjust to this idea). Then, I went back to school to make the science fair copies. A full class set from grades 3-6 and a few copies for the younger kids. Now it's time to email and line up all those judges for our kids.

 (I was chained to this machine until 5pm one day - worth every minute)

Busy and exciting. I hope I choose the right roads and enjoy my travels.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Regularly Scheduled Program

Mr N and I had a great 1st day back to our regularly scheduled program. The kids got on the bus (3 out of 4)!! We drove over to school to drop off Miss M's cello (I'm afraid it will get broken on the bus). Mr N and I stopped at Starbucks for some morning caffeine. And decided to stop to play at the park on the way home.

Despite the park being covered in snow (it's just in our little 4 mile radius), we played anyway. The sun was shiny. Rain was predicted. We played. 

Our first park surprise was a pair of bald eagles in a tree. We then walked out on the pier and found that part of the lake was frozen. Mr N had a great time throwing chunks of ice on the lake to see how far they would slide. The echo sound was pretty cool. We then found that we could kick the loose powder snow out onto the ice. It was like powder sugar on a cookie! Lastly, we walked around to the other side of the park and found a frozen puddle. Just thick enough to be frozen all the way through. He was able to slide and dance away. We did have a long talk about some kids that walked out on the lake when it was frozen and fell into the water. I don't want my kids thinking they can walk on any frozen water.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

2/365

Will I try this again?

If I remember (I'm always taking photos with my phone) and If I can figure out how to post said photos from my phone to this blog - I'll be updating with a photo each day of some randomness of my day.

Today:

This is our icy road. Let me tell you, it snowed last week! One day! We woke up Monday to snow. Random and wonderful. I went grocery shopping Tuesday. No problem. By Wednesday, everything had melted just enough to turn into a sheet of ice! It's been like watching our own funny movie to see the cars at the bottom of our cul de sac try to make it to the top. Everyone drives down to the bottom, revs it and tries to get to the flat spot in front of our house. Tires screaming. Rubber burning along the curb (to get some traction). Sometimes they make and you feel their triumph. Others times, we see they don't have the momentum and back down they go. Problem is, once they hit the flat spot, they slow just enough to not make it up the last incline from our house to the main road. Most are stopped right in the middle as they try to figure out what to do. I say, don't slow down!! Try and find the crusty spots and cross your fingers. 

I can't figure out why the neighbors haven't gotten together to buy bags of sand or de-icer to spread on this part of the hill. We, luckily, have been blessed to stay home. Only 12 more hours until I find out if I will be the hilarious one trying to get up the hill to get my kids to school, make the newsletter photocopies, deliver a cello for orchestra practice, get Mr N to preschool and back again. Plus, a pick up of said 4 kids to have their crackly lungs listened to. Hopefully the doctor has an antibiotic shot they can give them to get them started until we can pick up the meds on Thursday.

Day 2 - New Year

Hello,
I know. 2 days. In a row. Do I have a fever? Do I have a new years resolution? Well, No to both. Maybe the fever, but it's slight and would explain why my lymph nodes are making my face look like I'm wearing a much bigger fat suit. Time to call the doctor on that one.

Now, I'm random. Seriously. The whole family is sick. All 6 of us. Not quite sick enough, but definitely sick. Everyone has a cough. The kind where if I take them to the doctor right away, I'll be told it's a cold, but if I don't - I'll be told it's pneumonia. To add some cherries to this recipe, it's the new year and our medical deductible has reset. So, instead of going last Friday (Dec 31st) where our bill would have been 10% of the doctor visit for 6 patients, we'll be going this week and the bill will be 100% for each of us. We have a $2400 deductible we have to reach before the insurance pays anything. Our insurance company does negotiate a lower rate though. Woo Hoo. $76.50 vs. $96 each. 

Ok. I'm done. Maybe. I can guarantee we'll need prescriptions and since payday isn't until Thursday, I'll be holding on to the dimetapp and albuterol inhaler to tide the cough over until I can pick up the meds. I knew I would regret canceling every credit card some day. It keeps us from spending (ehem.. don't look at the current overdrawn bank account), but emergencies arise. We have a plan, but bonus time isn't until early March and THIS year, I will sock away half rather than go on vacation.

Can you believe it? I said, no vacation. Ok, not NO vacation, but no BIG vacation. We are making plans for some smaller ones. A night at Great Wolf Lodge with the kids, a night at Sol Duc Hot Springs to soak in some mineral pools. 5 nights camping at the sand dunes. A night in a Yurt on the coast. A drive to California to visit our family. Maybe some camping through Oregon or Utah to come home a different way. I'm hoping a few mini vacations will make me appreciate that we have a wonderful savings account.

I'm getting my writing groove back on. Hopefully I'll post some of last years travel stories and get this years down as we go. No pressure. I'm going to sit back and enjoy my blog again.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Happy New Year

Happy New Year! We had a great night celebrating with friends and family. It's our first year (in many years) that we've had people over. There was plenty of drinks, snacks and talking going on. 


Today, 1/1/11, we spent the day relaxing, watching cars try to make in up our icy hill and reading. We ended our 1st day of the new year watching "Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief" with the kids. Great movie and fun family night with the kiddos.

Hope you are ready for a Great New Year and many happy travels!