I was just reading some past blogs and realized how little I posted in 2011. There really is a good reason for that. I was working full time, going to school full time, and doing lots and lots of theatre.

In the summer I was Rosencrantz in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. It was an amazing play with an amazing cast and I loved every minute of it. The pictures are on facebook, go look them up.

Then right after that our company took over our theatre space that we were sharing with two other companies. It was a lot of work because the terms of our lease demanded visible activity in the space 5 days a week. This isn't a problem when we have a show in the works, but in the meantime it's MUCH harder than it sounds. For several weeks I would go straight from work to the theatre and find something to pretend to do, and it got really old really fast. But thankfully in November we started work on our Christmas show, Laughter and Light: A Celtic Holiday Celebration. It was a compilation of traditional winter rituals, celebrations, songs, dances, etc from England, Wales, Scotland, and of course, Ireland. I wrote it, I directed it, I choreographed it, I costumed it, and the whole family was in it. It was a LOT of fun, but I was exhausted when it was over!!

We went to Utah again for Christmas, and because I, as you know, suck at taking pictures I don't have any. But my mom did so I'm sure they're around on facebook as well. (wow I'm lazy). It was a blast, we had an absolutely amazing time!

January started with yet another play, this time it was Frank McCourt's musical "The Irish...And How They Got That Way". I told Chris I couldn't be in this one too, I needed a bit of a break plus it's tax season and I knew I'd be swamped at work. So I was just the musical director for this one and good thing, too. My migraines had been getting worse and worse, and on the 23rd I had one that sent me to the hospital in an ambulance.

The new diagnosis is Hemiplegic Migraines, which are very rare and nasty. Think of every bad symptom you've heard of with a migraine, add in stroke symptoms (but without the actual stroke/death), plus other things like fever, and that's what happens to me. The one on the 23rd was bad enough it triggered a partial seizure as well. I had to get a medic alert bracelet because these leave me unable to move or speak for hours at a time. Medications used to treat migraines (I was on Relpax before), are very dangerous with this type of migraine, and can actually cause a stroke, so I can't take anything for them except for prescription pain medication when they're really bad. But that doesn't help any of the aura and it won't stop it once it starts. The preventative medicine they've got me on lowers my blood pressure so I have to chart that carefully to make sure it doesn't go too low. Essentially, this sucks. I'm on the longest streak of good days since Jan 12th, 4 days in a row without losing mobility. I've had some massively EPICLY bad pain during these days, but since I could still move and talk I take it as a win. Here's hoping things continue to improve!

Because of the stupid HM, I had to quit everything I was doing except work. School, theatre, everything. So far this is pretty hard for me, when I'm not hiding in the dark with a migraine I sit on the couch and feel like I'm being really naughty and I need to be working on something. Then I remember that no, I don't, and I relax for a while. Unfortunately I do still have housework to do and I'm usually way too dizzy or light/sound sensitive to do it. The kids are being really helpful and sweet though, both in helping out with housework and sitting very quiet and still with me. I'm hoping to take this as an opportunity to pay more attention to them instead of myself.

New Year's Resolutions

I have three resolutions for the New Year. They are simple and I hope that combined they will create a calmer atmosphere in my life.

1. SPEND LESS MONEY. We don't spend a lot of money anyway, because we don't have a lot to spend. But we do on occasion spend money on wasteful things that only contribute to the two problems mentioned next. So what we have done is look at our budget and where we are and where we want to be and cut out or down everything we could, and reallocated funds to where we'd really rather they be. We don't go out very often, whenever possible we like to stay home and appreciate our couch and our tv and being together as a family. So even though it is our one monthly bill that is voluntary we're keeping the satellite, but we're going to cut out other things like fast food to make it more comfortable. We also are hopefully planning a move in the next year or two, so we really don't need to be in acquisition mode, if we don't want to pack it in a box, we won't put it in a cart.

2. MAKE HEALTHIER CHOICES. I didn't say "lose weight" this year, because I want this to apply to everyone in the family, and I certainly don't think my children need to lose any weight. The main thing I'm doing is cutting out all soda, and limiting fast food to a very once in a while special occasion (as per #1). I'm also going to try to keep more fresh fruit and veggies in the house, and somehow in our crazy schedules we're going to try to exercise more often. There's a pool going at work, every day we're putting a dollar in a jar and the person who has lost the most weight/inches in 6 months gets the pot. I decided I am going to win this.

3. GET ORGANIZED. This is vague, but what I mean is that our house is getting very cluttered and messy. So first of all we need to clear a lot of stuff out and find places for the rest of it to live. I don't want a mad dash of sorting while packing for a move like I've done every other time I've moved. Also we need to get chores and responsibilities straightened out. Zoe's only real household chore (other than her room of course) is the dishes, and Jimmy's is the garbage. I think we can all pitch in a little more and if we have a schedule for what day is laundry day, for instance, things will go much smoother.

So these are my goals, and I'm very serious about them. I have an idea in my head of what kind of person I want to be and what I want to look like and how I want to feel, and I think it's high time I got there.

Christmas

I don't actually have time to blog today, making this no different from the preceding weeks and months. However what DOES make today different is that I am very sick. and at work. These two things combine to keep me awake and yet not altogether mentally aware. Thusly I'm taking a break from making large tax payments with other people's money to update my blog.

Since I last blogged I have done some theatre. So much in fact that at the moment I don't even want to talk about it. I have done some good things at work and made my boss very happy with me, and that makes me very happy. It's nice to have a job I'm good at that I like so much.

My kids are happy and very old now-Jimmy just turned 8, and Zoe turned 10 in October. I feel old, and then I remember that I'm still only in my first year of being 29, and that makes me feel better.

Chris is done with his exams and will start on his dissertation soon, he's already applying for jobs. I would love to move to Ireland, but I'll settle for any job that pays him in real money instead of tuition wavers.

We're leaving for Utah one week from today because the calendar seems to think that Christmas is coming soon, but I really couldn't be less prepared or less in the right spirit if I tried. I wore my favorite Christmas earrings today, so we'll see if that helps me along. This lack of cheer worries me a little, because Christmas has always been my favorite time of year and I usually annoy everyone around me with my enthusiasm. I imagine it will come eventually, I just hope it comes before 2012.

Happy Easter

The last few days have been pretty funny, in very different ways.

On Thursday my boss heralded the end of tax season by taking the whole office out to dinner and drinks. This was really fun because I started there right at new years, so everyone's been really stressed and busy and I haven't had too much chance to get to know them very well. The next day my boss had to leave early so we all got to leave early and I took the opportunity to go to walmart without the kids to get Easter stuff.

I didn't worry about getting much stuff because of the easter egg hunt we were planning on going to on Saturday at the Shamrock Club. We went to this last year and it was so much fun. They have lots of land around the club and they section off areas for different age groups and hide thousands of eggs filled with candy. So the kids get to absolutely fill their buckets without worrying about being nice to the little kids and its a total blast. Then there's food and music and a raffle and its just really really fun and we started planning this years trip as soon as we left last year.

So I'm standing in line with my cart and feeling happy that I was getting out of the store in one piece, when I looked at my phone and saw something weird on my calendar widget. I had completely forgotten that that was the day I had scheduled to take my CPR class. It went from 8:00-5:30 and there was no way I could change it. So not only could I not go to the Shamrock Club as we'd had planned for a year, but I couldn't spend the afternoon dying eggs and doing my homework that was due by midnight either.

So I broke it to the kids that I couldn't take them, and went to my class. It was fine, the teacher was really really good, and I'm glad I learned how to do it. It didn't do anything nice for my costochondritis LET ME TELL YOU. Chris brought the kids over and we had lunch together though, so that was nice. And then when I got home I found that he had had them clean their rooms and the family room so we could get right to egg dying.

We don't hide the real eggs at our house (I know that if we ever did we would lose one), but we still like to dye them. So we cooked and dyed 27 eggs while we talked about the real meaning of Easter. And I introduced the kids to the little shrink-wrap sleeves. I've never bothered with that before so they've never seen it and they thought it was pretty neat. Then I did my homework which was two chapters and a quiz in Advanced Medical Terminology which had to be done by midnight. You may well ask why I hadn't done it before Saturday, to which I answer, hey man, I don't answer to you!

I finished my homework at 11:51 and I still had to do baskets and hide eggs and do all that stuff. I was grumbling and whining about not feeling well and being in pain and being tired and why do we have to hide crap anyway when I went into the living room and found a note very carefully placed where it would be seen immediately upon entering the front door. It was addressed to "Mr Bunny". It very politely asked Mr Bunny if he knew Santa Claus and if so could he pass along a message to him? My son is adorable.

All in all, we had an okay Easter, and at the end of it of course is the realization of why we celebrate it at all.



Oh yeah, and to keep you up to date, a week or so ago I had a very very bad headache that wouldn't go away and so early in the morning I cut my hair. off. Very very short like it used to be. I think I did a pretty good job-but it took me a couple days to remember how to style it right! And in case you're wondering, yes my headache did go away, but only for a day. It was worth it.

Season's Greetings

Last week we had the audacity to leave the dog alone while we went to two grocery stores in the pouring rain. I know, we're horrible people. Well we got home around 7:30 and she was so excited to see us she actually knocked me down. 7 hours later I got home from the ER with a sprained ankle. I would like to point out that it has been 3 1/2 years since I sprained an ankle, and this one was entirely NOT MY FAULT. In the ankle spraining spectrum it seems worse than others in that its actually quite swollen (which is weird) and turned pretty colors. But it isn't broken, and its my left foot so I can still drive, it won't be long on crutches, blah blah blah. Here's the important bit. For those of you who remember, I'm pretty good on crutches. I've kinda had some practice. But see, when I used to do that all the time I was a)in good strength anyway and b)not fat. Put all this together and you get a seriously tired person with arms that may never move again. I'm typing this with a pencil in between my teeth.

Which leads me to my next story, entitled, "A Bad Day. Or, How a Testing Center Employee made me Cry"
Today I had my last chemistry lab on campus, and I figured that since getting around was so difficult, I would take my last three tests while I was there. So I got to school, parked in the best spot I could find, and went to Chemistry. I was dreading the long walk over to the testing center but there was no way around it so I put my workout music on my iPod and started off. I made the 5 minute walk in only about 20 minutes, stopping to huff and puff and die every 20 yards. Finally I made it into the building, got down the stairs and stood in line, and when I got to the front of the line the woman said, "Oh, your tests aren't in this building. Your math test is in *** hall which is this way and your psych tests are in *** hall which is the other way." I was still, at this point, gasping for air, and I said, "You've got to be kidding me! I don't even know where those buildings are, are they far? I'm so tired from getting here!" And she rolled her eyes and actually said,

"take a deep breath and get over it."

So I gathered my things again and crutched up the stairs out of the building where I lost it and cried and called Chris because I was so tired I wasn't sure I could move any further, let alone find buildings I'd never heard of. I looked at the map she gave me and found that the building for the math test was closer than the car so I sucked it up and made my way over, only to find that it was the least handicapped accessible building I've ever been in, so I had to go down two more flights of stairs to the area where the overflow testing was being held. As I was walking down the hallway I was about 30 feet away from the sign in desk when the woman yelled, "Oh My Hell! Who told you to come here?" So, naturally I started crying again, thinking she was going to send me somewhere else. Apparently I could have taken my tests at the testing center and the woman was never supposed to send me anywhere else with the crutches. The people at the overflow place were so super nice and told me they were so sorry and they set me up and brought me the sheets and the proctors came to me to sign me in and they let me do all my tests there so I didn't have to move anymore. While I was working I had at least 3 people come by to tell me they were so sorry, and when I was done the manager of the testing center asked me who had sent me over and what they had said and I told her and her jaw dropped and she said, "I WILL fix that." So I got all the way back to the car, and I finally made it home and I will never leave my couch again. Ever.

wait, what?

I'm sure it can't be November already, so I'm going to assume that it isn't.

We're all doing pretty well, Chris is plugging away, being awesome. The kids had some trouble with the charter school they were in, it was a great school last year but this year the atmosphere turned really toxic and not one day went by without one of the kids saying they had been made fun of, and the day Jimmy came home with two black eyes we said enough is enough and moved them back to the neighborhood school. We toured the school the friday before they started and two girls in Zoe's new class recognized her from 2nd grade and there was a little 9 year old squealing party in the hallway. She had more friends in the new school before she started than she ever had at the charter school! Plus they can wear their own clothes now instead of uniforms and let me tell you something, that is such a relief on the wallet!

We also are taking care of a puppy (2 years old) for the next couple months, her name is Eliza and she's an American Bulldog-I have pictures on facebook, I'll take more and post them here and there eventually. She's huge, 90 pounds of pure muscle and at first glance very fierce and mean looking, but actually the sweetest little thing ever. She thinks she's a little lap dog and if you're not careful she'll just plop her big hind end in your lap (or face). She's very well trained and has somehow cured Jimmy of his paralyzing fear of dogs. Its pretty amazing actually, he used to be so afraid of dogs that once he ran out in traffic to get away from a little dog on a leash, but since we got Eliza he's warmed up to pretty much every dog he's met. Yesterday a 7 month old beagle jumped up on him and licked his face and he just giggled! It's also kind of weird what she's done for us as a family-I've always told the kids they can't have a pet until they can keep the house clean, but since we have her the house is staying cleaner than ever. Plus we're a little bit more active which is always good.

And on a side note...my hair is pink. pictures to follow ^_^

Old pictures

Here are a couple pictures I have laying around on the computer. They're very old, but absolutely adorable.

This is Zoe, around 2 1/2.


This is Jimmy, or as we called him then, The Ferocious Beast.

This is Joel, Zoe, and Jimmy at Yellowstone about 6 years ago, putting them...um...doing math...I guess 8, 2, and 6 months.


Cute no? What's really weird is how much Jimmy looks more and more like Joel every day. Couple of handsome devils.