29 Again!

It's my birthday! I'm 29 again. Ok, not really. I'm really two score plus five. You figure it out.

Overall it was a good birthday. I started the day with a good hour or more of peace and quiet by getting up before anyone else in the house. Always a good present. Then I had an hour-long massage and an adjustment. Ahhhhh!

Then I got my hair cut. Thanks to Elisha for sending an email out about her new studio. And for having an opening this afternoon. And for taking extra "birthday time" to give me a cool new 'do. It'll never look this way again, but it was cool for a day! :-)


She straightened it out and then curled it with a flat iron. It would've been even cooler if I'd gone anywhere the rest of the day besides Kohl's. I scored big at Kohl's - long black skirt, brown sweater and purple sweater all with a gift card. Woo hoo!

Then came the disappointment - which usually seems to come on my birthday. Richard said he wanted to take me out to dinner. So I waited to open presents. I came home and he took a nap after taking some pain meds. I'm trying to be understanding, but he's been in a mood all day today except when he's been asleep. He finally woke up at 7:00. By then it had started raining and was already cold and there were wrecks and traffic all over the place. I gave up. Got into my pj's at 8:00.

At 9:00 he got up and made GF brownies, put some candles on them and they sang "Happy Birthday" and I opened my presents. I got "Apples to Apples Family," "Blokus," and a food processor that I'd forgotten to wrap for Richard for Christmas. I told him he could give it to me for my birthday - but I was really joking. Guess he took me seriously.

So...I should focus on the happy part of the day and not the disappointing part. I should remember that James wished me a happy birthday at 8:30 this morning and over 90 people have wished me a happy birthday on Facebook. The fact that no one else in the family remembered until this afternoon should not bother me.

Well, tonight it does. But I'm sure I'll be over it by tomorrow. Happy birthday to me!

Resolutions

Every year I say I'm going to read my scriptures every day, say my prayers every day, and hold FHE every week. And every year I don't follow through. Is it worth it to continue to make these promises to myself? Should I try something else this year? Or should I keep on saying I'll do it and just hope that, for once, finally, maybe I'll follow through.

I started doing better during the school year and before Richard came home for good. But with him being home, it put a kink in my overall schedule and so I didn't do it as much. I've started reading scriptures using Read the Scriptures.com. You can make a schedule for just about anything. You get a daily email with your assignment right there in the email. However, with school starting, I think I'll need to modify my schedule. There's just no way I'm going to read as much once I'm back in school.

Praying shouldn't be that difficult. I think I'm almost constantly praying, to be honest. But the get-down-on-your-knees-and-say-your-nightly-prayers part I'm just not so good at. For whatever reason, I'm still embarrassed. I don't want Richard or the boys to walk in on me. Isn't that weird? You'd think after 15+ years of being a member of the Church, I'd be past that. One of my trials, I guess.

So...this year's resolutions:
1) Back on Weight Watchers beginning Jan. 10th. (I'm not going to force anything the first week back at school.)
2) Follow through on the scriptures - even if it's only a chapter a day.
3) Remember that the "prayer in my heart" is good, but the focused prayer is important too.

Now...off to shower (finally) and take Chris to the doctor. Possible broken toe. The fun never ends around here.

Merry Christmas

Another wonderful Christmas morning come and gone! James was up at 12:30 having never gone to sleep. John was up at 2:00. They and Richard ate cereal in the middle of the night and then went back to bed.

Everyone was up about 8:00 and paper was everywhere. Stockings and presents were opened - smiles all around. By 10:30, Richard and Chris were reading new books, James was playing with his new Legos, John was playing a new video game, Larry was chewing on his Christmas rawhide and Moe was playing in the tissue paper. Oh...and I was on Facebook and happy with my presents too.

It was a really nice Christmas morning. I'll try to get around to adding pictures later. Merry Christmas!!!

Forever

I haven't posted in forever! And then, when I wanted to post, I couldn't get my background to look right. My Halloween background stayed along with the Christmas banners. Looked really funky and was driving me nuts. Hopefully I've got it fixed now. So...to update....

Richard has been off of work since November 10th. His back hurt so badly that he just couldn't function without terrorizing kids and adults alike. He's been on major painkillers that didn't do anything to help. So yesterday, he had surgery. They removed two pieces of broken disc that were pressing on the nerve. His leg already feels better. He's still in a great deal of pain from the surgery, but I'm keeping him doped up on painkillers and muscle relaxers, so he's sleeping most of it off. We went for a walk tonight - just like his doctor said to.

Chris has had a rough fall, but things are starting to get better. He's doing well in school and scored very well on both his PSAT and his SAT. He's working hard to get back to where he used to be outside of the classroom and I appreciate the growth he's showing. His dad and I are learning quite a bit too.

James is enjoying 6th grade. He's having some of the same difficulties that Chris had in middle school - turning in work, turning in work, turning in work. But he's making friends and likes to go to the dances. I have got to remember to get him a new bow over the holiday! He's been borrowing one since before Thanksgiving! Sigh.

John is still very up and down. He's struggling with his reading and is going to Saturday School to help him pass the TAKS test this year. He's doing much better with his emotions though - especially since we discovered how much he loves going to The Royal Brush. It's a ceramic-painting place and he has absolutely fallen in love with it. After the first session, he was flying high for a good five days. It was so great to see him happy! And at anywhere from $5-$25 per piece, it's cheaper than therapy. :-)

Overall, it's been a really crappy fall. But Christmas is this week and, by golly, we're going to have a good one. We're getting together at Judith's tomorrow night for the Dallas Martins get-together. Then it'll be just our family over the Christmas weekend. This is a good thing. Maybe I can get back in to blogging with the start of the new year. All I've wanted to do is slug around for most of the fall. But my hormones are back working again, I've got a new doctor and gotten my other prescriptions back going, so hopefully I'll be back to normal.

Now...if the van breaks down again...I just might have myself committed.

I Just Don't Like People Today

My hormones are all outta whack. Thank goodness for my entire family, the people I work with, the people I go to church with, pretty much anyone who comes in contact with me, I have an appointment on Monday with my "girl doctor" for my post-op appointment, annual exam and bio-identical hormone placement. I'm hoping, hoping, hoping that getting my hormones back in order will help with this depression I've been feeling of late. The Zoloft just isn't doing the job.

On the bright side, Richard is feeling better (better pain meds and some steroids have made a big difference) so he's able to take care of everyone today. At least I managed to shower. I left once to pick up James from a party. I threw some laundry in the washer, but haven't done anything else with them.

I hate it when I get this way. I was feeling so good for a good long time. I'm hoping it's the rain, the hormones, the...oh who knows. Maybe I'm just getting old. Maybe it's just something I'm going to have to deal with. For today, I'm hiding in my cave. Watching TV. Playing Facebook games. And Richard is taking care of me. I'll get back on the horse tomorrow. I'll at least make an effort tomorrow. ;-)

Crazy Weekend

In an odd way, I've actually enjoyed the weekend. Even though it's been busy, busy, busy. It began with a doctor appointment for Chris right after school yesterday. Well, after my school but had to get him out of school. Took John home, took Chris to the doctor. Got home in time to get the last bit of stuff packed up for James's 11-year-old campout Friday night. Got him to the church and off with his leader. Then home in time to take John to baseball practice. Practice was cut short so we could go home and watch the Texas Rangers in the ALCS. Go Rangers! Got home to find that Richard was already home. Yay! The game was great fun to watch until the 8th inning. Fell apart after that. Booooooo!

I still stayed up late to watch the bitter end. Then up fairly early (for a Saturday) to get John off to a 9:00 baseball game. We actually went a bit early and Richard worked with him on his batting. (Yay again!) It really helped and John had a great game. In three at-bats, he got on base twice by walks and struck out once - but he struck out swinging at a good pitch. Our team played fabulously! Some really good fielding, good hitting...it was a fun morning.

While we were at the game, Chris drove himself to his Region Orchestra auditions. After the game, I went grocery shopping while Richard napped (he is in SO much pain these days - having trouble walking.) Got home and got the groceries put away, traded out some laundry and then took Chris to his jubilee audition. Turns out it wasn't at the Allen Stake Center but got moved to the Melissa building. Only about 20 miles in the opposite direction. ARGH! But we made it and he sang "Luck Be a Lady" much to the judges' delight. It was great to spend a little one-on-one time with him.

He was auditioning for the Texas Jubilee 2011. It looks to be a wild party - Mormon youth style.

Came home to find that James was home. He had a great time. Of all my boys, I think he is the one who actually enjoys scouting. He was dirty and smelly, so that means that he had fun. :-)

It is now 8:44 pm. I have finished, including folded, four loads of laundry. I didn't make dinner because Richard has said that it would be his job on the weekends. Therefore, we had YOYO night. Sigh. I watched the Rangers win game 2. And...I haven't heard any arguing from upstairs. I may have just jinxed myself. I think it's about time I took myself to bed. But Richard just got up, so I should probably spend a little time with him too.

I sure hope tomorrow is a bit less busy. It should be - even on a Sunday. We'll see.

What. A. Month...

and then some. It's been crazy! Van issues, refinance issues, surgery (technically, out-patient "procedure,) and crazy kids. Scouts! Homework! Baseball! How did I get myself into this mess? Oh...and a kitten.

I'd probably feel better if I'd been blogging about it all along. So...

the van's engine blew up. Or blew a rod. Or something like that. Whatever. It meant that we got to replace the engine in the van that Richard was hoping to trade in. That's not going to happen now. On the positive side of that, while the van was in the shop in Midlothian, Richard's dad was nice enough to loan him his car.

We finally managed to get the refinance done on the house. The van died in the middle of the refinance, so there was some question as to whether or not we were going to be able to pull it all off. But we managed it. And hopefully soon, we'll get our escrow back so that we can get at least part of our loans paid off. But...1.5% and $150/month lower is nothing to sneeze at.

I got to have surgery - kinda. It was a hysteroscopy and a D&C. I've been menopausal for a good two years now. Suddenly a couple of weeks ago, that thing that's not supposed to happen when your menopausal started happening. Ack! Called the doc, got a sonogram, had a "thing," (I really hate the word "polyp." It just sounds so icky), had surgery to remove it and anything else. Still haven't heard back from the doctor. Guess I'll call him tomorrow.

The rest is typical family busy-ness. Like this weekend. James has a campout, John has a baseball game, and Chris has two different auditions at the same time. Yippee. Think anyone would notice if I just skipped church on Sunday to recuperate?

I really need to blog more often. Maybe over the Thanksgiving holiday. :-)