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.

Hang on, I need to find the camera. And the cord. And figure out how to do this.

Would you believe it's been 2 days since I wrote the title of this post?

I won't bore you with the details of my life the last few weeks, I went to Utah (which is another post) and left my kids with my wonderful parents and Chris and I have been left to our own devices for 18 days. Let me just say that we are very different people without children.

So lets get on to the main attraction, shall we?


This is Christmas morning at Grandma's house, from left to right we have my sister-in-law Erin holding Max, Zoe, Holly, Jimmy, and Sam. They're waiting by the door to the livingroom while Grandpa checks to see if Santa really did come.

Apparently he DID! Those are all ELEVEN stockings, all hand-knitted by my mother and stuffed full of candy and peanuts and fruit and cereal and presents.

This is back in Ohio, the day after we got back in January. Jimmy is wearing his new coat and doing some sort of awesome dance.


Close up on the awesome dance.


He's very good at shoveling unstepped on snow.

Helping Daddy.

I had to put this in-this is a bad picture of my nutcracker collection. I have many different kinds, but my favorite is the one just to the left of center -a Mountie that my parents brought me from Canada.

This is a Zoe's 3rd grade class performing Thriller at the end of the year. I was about to tell you which one she is, but she's the only white girl in the picture ^_^. She's also wearing the best costume...



And has the least rhythm. Notice how everyone else in the picture (especially the girl in the front) is in the middle of some great move and my beautiful daughter is just kind of standing there? Yeah. Funny thing is, she worked really really hard on this dance and practiced all the time so she had everything memorized. I guess you either have it or you don't. It's cute though because Jimmy somehow ended up with it.

Pictures

I've been told I don't post enough (read:any) pictures. Well I'm sorry. If I knew how to use the camera, I would. If you're wondering why I would buy a camera I can't figure out, ask the person who picked it. Which, in case you were wondering, isn't me.

The other part of the problem is, simply, that I am not a picture taking person. I love to take pictures, don't get me wrong. It's just that I never remember to. When I was growing up it was always my dad with the camera. Then my mom got frustrated that there were too many pictures of trees and not enough with people, so he started taking pictures only of people which was better but where was the beautiful scenery we drove so far to see? So she got her own camera and started taking pictures as if the fate of the free world depended on it (which it might, you don't know). They both have taken classes and know wonderful things about picture taking that I will never know, like moving your finger away from the flash and taking the lens cap off.

But now that I am far away from both of these photogs, I really should make more of an effort to remember that when my son is walking like an egyptian in front of the whole school, posterity should know about it.

Plus, if I'm the one taking the pictures, I'm only in them if I want to be, so its better for everyone.

Spring in Ohio

I wanted to blog, because I'm happy today, but now that I've started I don't have much to say. My job is going well, things are seeming to pick up a bit which is nice. I'm still having massive migraines and they're starting to branch out into new symptoms that are not very fun and last week resulted in my coworkers calling 911. ugh. But I still love my job and I LOVE spring here. Everything is so green and there are citywide gardening motifs that all include daffodils which is awesome.

The kids have new schedules at school, Zoe spends half the day in 3rd grade and half the day in 5th, and Jimmy splits his time between kindergarten and 1st. Since this started she's been happier and he's stopped acting up so I think it's a really good thing. They're just too smart for their own good.

Chris is finishing his thesis and getting ready for his defense date in May, and we're all very very excited for him to be done with it and get his Masters. I'm hoping we'll be able to afford graduation announcements before its too late, but if we don't then keep an eye out on facebook.

We (the kids and I at least) are coming to Utah at the end of June, I'll stay about a week and then head home and leave the kids for a while to be spoiled rotten by any and all. I can't stay longer because I'll be starting rehearsals for "Dancing at Lughnasa" with Solstice, and especially if Chris can't come then I don't want to stay too long. But its also my 10 year reunion, and that's going to be awesome (and freaky-that makes me old).

I'm also anxiously awaiting news from my nearest relatives-my cousin Ben and his wife Amanda are at the hospital (having an excellent time I'm sure) having their first baby boy and I'm very excited for them!

Whingeing

Slice of my life at the moment.

I do NOT feel
*optimistic
*creative
*encouraged
*energetic
*hungry
*comfortable
*cold
*patriotic
*argumentative
*sexy
*like chicken tonight

I DO feel
*irritated
*grateful
*grouchy
*nervous
*a breeze
*sentimental
*thirsty
*frustrated
*tired
*blank
*dissatisfied
*mortified
*proud

I see
*clutter
*homework
*laundry
*pictures
*cards
*books

I hear
*a breeze
*motorcycles
*teenagers
*ducks

I smell
*a breeze
*water
*downy

PSA

I would like to take this opportunity to say that I have had a migraine nearly everyday for the past 5 weeks. It's getting really old, and I would appreciate it if it would knock it the heck off. I need my brains at the moment, and having them leak out my ears while I throw up is not my favorite activity.

thank you, that is all.

News

So many things to say!!!!!

Okay, so obviously I didn't post in Utah. But that's only because my fingers were frozen. No really, we were so busy and there were so VERY many people I didn't get to see because we barely had time to see the people we did. If I didn't call you, it's not because I don't love you, its just that other people called me first.

So we had a great flight there, the kids were well behaved and we even landed several minutes early. And our really great friends lent us a car so we were a little more independant. The first few days were filled with a crazed frenzy of shopping and baking and enchiladas, the result of which was me losing my mind and curling up in my mom's room and crying/sleeping for several hours. But then came Christmas, and it was great! It was so fun to have Christmas morning back in that house with my parents and my brother and his wife and their kids-there was so much to do and all the kids were so excited about EVERYTHING! With all the people there were so many presents under that tree Santa couldn't even fit them all in and piled some on nearby chairs.

After a few more days of Christmassing and partying and singing about Christmas Monkeys, we had Zoe's baptism on Tuesday. It was absolutely lovely. I cried. And our friends came back early from Idaho just to be there (the ones who lent us their car), and some people from our old ward, and the whole family was there. It was just really nice and a very special day for Zoe.

The next day I went to lunch with my mom and sister in law to the Garden restaurant at the top of the JSMB. It was a snowy day so the view wasn't very far, but the temple was covered in snow and that is my favorite view of it. The food was wonderful of course, but I was just starting to be very extremely sick with some sort of absolutely terrible cold. Once we got back, Chris and I left to go to the Sheraton downtown and a night at P.F. Changs to celebrate our 9th anniversary. We got to the hotel and then decided while we were parking that we should drive the two blocks to the restaurant and see if they had parking because I was so sick Chris didn't want to make me walk in the cold and snow. On the way back to the hotel from our reconnaissance trip we turned a corner and when Chris put on the brake to slow for the light a block away, nothing happened. It was snowing and very icy and no matter what method he tried (and we were so far away he had time to try EVERYTHING), we slid and got into a car accident. Not just any car accident mind you, he ran into the back of a port-o-potty truck. With a port-o-potty on it. It was just great. Remember this is our friends' car. So we had to get out and call the police and fill out tons of forms and exchange all the information-all this while standing in the snow, on December 30th, downtown. This means that there were lots of people walking past on their way to the big parties. With cameras. Yeah. It was awesome!

But eventually it was all done and we had a great time at dinner-my aunt and uncle were at the same restaurant for their anniversary too! And can I just say, after several days in a 61 degree house on an air mattress on top of a futon mattress on the bottom bunk of bunk beds, a king size bed with egyptian cotton sheets and a huge duvet and a 52 inch flat screen TV was HEAVEN for my head cold! I shouldn't complain, because of all the extra people in the house nearly all the kids were sleeping on the floor and everyone was very very very squished. I'm sure they don't miss us-we took a lot of room and probably made a big mess, but I miss them very much. I really like Ohio and I LOVE my house, but I wish we weren't so far apart!!!

But our friends didn't disown us for killing their car, and I got to spend time with both my brothers' families and my parents, and we ate MANY of ENCHILADAS!!! ha ha ha. And I only gained 2 pounds, which is fairly good for me I think. (I managed to hit my goal of 30 lbs lost the day we left for SLC so I'm fairly happy with that)

Then came January 1st and our flight home. The plane left at 8, and with holiday traffic and heightened security we got there just after 6. I was a little worried, because it was so early the kids didn't want to eat anything and I knew they would be starving on the plane, but snacks would have to do. We boarded the flight to Cincinnati and got all settled in, with the kids and I on the right side of the aisle and Chris just across on the left. We took off and the plane was really swervy and turny which really turns my stomach and after about 20 minutes I had just decided to take a motion sickness pill when the pilot came on the intercom

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I have some bad news"

Well if I didn't need to throw up before, I certainly needed to NOW.

"It looks like we've lost our left engine, and we're going to have to turn around and make an emergency landing back in Salt Lake. Now a plane can fly with just one engine, I've done it HUNDREDS of times. In a simulator"

He was actually pretty funny and forthcoming which helped a lot to calm everyone down. We landed amidst tons of emergency vehicles which the pilot assured us quite emphatically that these were "just in case! ...and because the engine started smoking as we landed. But its FINE!" they were able to get us back to the terminal, which, I have to admit, disappointed me a little bit. Since we were on the ground and safe, I kinda wanted to have to exit by the emergency slidey things. I mean, come on. it's the least they could do. But anyway we got off and ran to find other arrangements-we only had an hour in cinci to make our first connection, there was no way we'd make it now-and we ended up with a new flight there, a new connection, and $84 in airport food vouchers. I know! Then the next flight was delayed, so we missed the new connection anyway, and they gave us $56 more in vouchers at the cinci airport. So it was a very exciting day, and we were all safe and together and EXTREMELY well fed, so I didn't particularly mind. We had nowhere we had to be (except watching football, darn it), so we had an adventure instead.

So then...(I know, really long posting, sorry)...I was replaced at my job. :( It's a bummer, because I was counting on that income, but really its okay, because I already had a much much better job. I've been hired by a well known life insurance and financial company. Its really exciting-its all about helping people make the most of what they have and helping them prepare for the future, and its also going to really help us. Its going to be a lot of work, but the hours are whatever I set (so like if someone's sick I can stay home with them), and the pay and benefits are amazing. It's a real big girl grown up job and I'm really really excited. I have a lot of training to get through before I launch full time (and make any money, unfortunately), but I'm doing really well at it and it's going fast.

And lastly, Chris and Zoe are very sick right now with Strep throat. I don't know if that's what I've got, but I don't think so. Jimmy has resisted it so far but I'm hoping if he gets it that he gets it tomorrow when I can still take him to his doctor and get him medicated over the weekend. But knowing him he'll get terribly sick sunday afternoon. ^_^ Chris is funny when he gets Strep-and he gets it a lot-but his whole throat swells up. Tonsils (yes he still has them. Silly boy), glands, and his uvula gets so big he either has to swallow it or rest it on his tongue just to breathe. He can't talk very well, and really can't eat much of anything either. It makes me sad when he gets so sick because I don't have magical mommy healing properties with him like I do with the kids. Zoe's really sick too-they think she might actually have scarlet fever, and when they asked if she wanted the yummy bubblegum medicine for a week or a huge shot of penicillin in her rear end, she actually chose the shot! lol poor kid. But at least she's done with that now and can just get better.

And lets all hope and pray that it keeps snowing all night and the schools are closed tomorrow, because then no one has to leave the house (except when I have to make the obligatory popsicle and soup run).