How am I doing??

I've decided to review my list and see how I'm doing getting all those things done.

• Took Taylor to the doctor on Wednesday. Her stomach was really swollen. She has staph again in three places. Two of them had to be drained. One was packed. She was able to take out the packing herself the next day and we do not have to return unless they get worse. Yay! She does not have strep. More antibiotics and cleaning the holes everyday.
• After the doctor Taylor went back with her mom and we went shopping. (Angie offered to pay for her prescriptions. I asked if she was sure and she said yes. However, when she saw how much only two of them were she was mad. She paid for them but saved one for us to get the next day. Welcome to parenthood.) Tristan spent his Christmas money and got some new playstation games and 2 movies. Chance got a DVD recorder so now we can record movies off the TV. Yay! And we had to buy a new vaccuum cuz ours broke the nite before.
• Thursday I planned to stay home and rest. We were tired of being on the run. Taylor was not feeling well. I lazed around. Later in the evening after I made dinner, I began to work on my syllabus. Was just getting into it when our house caught on fire. Yep. We had been burning a fire in the fireplace all evening. All of a sudden the whole house filled with smoke. I called 911 and the fireman came. We had to get out of the house. Just as we got out in the driveway, it started snowing on us. It was pretty but cold. The firemen were there until 12:30 a.m. I had to take the kids and the dog to Dave and Heather's cuz it was taking so long. They had to tear out our fireplace to get to it. I posted pictures on my myspace. It's lovely. The house stunk to high heaven. My living room is all torn up. At least I will probably get new carpet out of it. The firemen told us if they had not torn it out, our house would have burned to the ground. We have lots to be thankful for. Oh and my syllabus did not get done or even a dent in it. We sat up most of the night in shock.
• We called the insurance company on Friday morning. After our complaining about our living room not being livable (they were gonna wait until next week to do anything), they got us with claims. Took a while for claims to call, but they did. Had to wait for the adjustor to call. He can't come until Monday. We tried to fix our furniture where we could walk through and maybe sit. All the trash is still all over the floor by the fireplace. After all the waiting, it was close to 5. Taylor and I set out for some shopping to spend Christmas money. Were gone about an hour and a half before the boys called and were hungry. So we got food and came home. I think I worked on gathering pictures for the scrapbook. Used up all my photo paper. Oh and I set up my OU account for my class but couldn't figure it all out. That is going to be tricky. I need to enroll.
• Today, I made brunch and was getting ready to take Taylor to finish our shopping when we got a call that Chance's Pap was taken to the ER. He was vomiting blood. Chance was changing the oil in the truck. (Big ordeal that takes all day.) So we did not go shopping as we were waiting to hear when to come to the hospital. I spent several hours working on the scrapbook while we were waiting and I got 5 pages done. Oh, I have so many more to go but it's a start. Pap was admitted overnight. We will probably go tomorrow to see him. He told Karin that he is ready to die. I think he's losing his spunk and fight. That makes me sad. Please pray for him.
• Somewhere in there I made some small changes to my myspace page but not like I wanted. Doubt I will get to that.
• Taylor's Mami is taking her to get her haircut next week so I don't have to do that. I have not made plans for myself. That will probably happen at a later date.
• Emails will still be backed up for a while.
• Still have all my work I brought home to do and still need to make a dent in my syllabus.

Well I guess I got some of it done and some started. Not near as close to finishing anything as I had hoped. The drama really needs to stop. I am ready for some mundane, happy go lucky days. In the past three months, I have had to deal with 5 deaths, strep, staph (2x), wisdom tooth pulled, cracked tooth getting capped, a real FIRE, and now a serious illness with a grandparent. Really, I need a Leave it to Beaver episode or something. Christmas was in there and it was wonderful. I just need to keep everything in perspective. I have so many new things to look forward to and several things on my list to finish up.

Didn't mean to complain. Just had to let it out. That's what this is for I guess. Well it's almost 3 a.m. Guess I should go to bed. Tomorrow is another day to get stuff done. Nitey nite.

Ahhhh, Christmas

Christmas is my favorite time of year. I love to buy presents for others and I get great joy watching them open them up. My hope each year is to get others something they've been wanting but won't buy for themselves, or something clever that goes with something we've experienced together, if that makes sense. However, when it gets down to it, I never seem to get everyone that clever or wanted gift. Either there is no time to do all the shopping or I simply have no idea what to get. So gift cards become the gift. While I enjoy getting gift cards, I don't enjoy giving them as much. It feels impersonal and not so clever or thoughtful. (Now if someone specifically tells me that's what they want, then it feels OK to give.) Even though we began shopping in July, we somehow ended up shopping this past Saturday, during the snow storm slipping on the ice covered roads. Chance had shopped all week while I was at work but I was holding out for that light bulb for a few people. It never went off. So we white knuckled a trip to the mall, Toys R Us and Walmart. It seems we never learn.

My other favorite part of Christmas is seeing family and spending time with everyone. We were particularly happy that my family decided to have the celebration a day early so we could spend more time at both places instead of having to rush from one event to another all in the same day. That was really nice. Somehow, I think we are just as worn out having 3 celebrations in a row. It sorta feels like the rushed day makes it go faster, but I think I prefer the spread out thing. We don't have to haul as much with us each trip and again, we get to spend more time with each family. Oh and I really enjoyed playing cards too. I miss our family game times. You have to watch out for Chris, he loves to skip people! All in all, I'm glad it's over now. We got home today from Chance's dad's, cleaned up all the mess (there were boxes everywhere from all the toys), and now we are all relaxing in our jammies.

After our Sanders family Christmas, Tristan came home and tried out all his stuff. He decided which clothes to wear to which Christmas event, we played his new music in his new CD player, taught him how to records his voice on cassette and then he played with his new Star Wars ship that he got from Caden. He found all his men and put them in there. Missiles were flying everywhere. He was a bit upset that his Darth Vader was a bit too big for the cockpit so I guess we will spend some of his Christmas money finding a smaller Vader. Vader HAD to fly the ship you know. When he woke up his CD player came on with Shrek soundtrak blaring out of his room. Now we will have 2 people to tell to turn it down. Oh my...didn't think of that. LOL Taylor loved her gifts. She has big plans for shopping. I promised to take her. She is really sick. I looked at her throat last nite and it has those white puss things on it. So now she could have strep or something bad like that along with her new staph infection on her stomach. I am calling the doctor first thing in the morning. I feel so sorry for her. She completely lost her voice last night. She is at her mom's until Thursday so they will have to meet us at the doctor. I can't believe how much that kid has been sick this year. I hope this is the last round. I don't know what I'm going to do if it lasts for weeks. I am not allowed to take off work in January, although my schedule is erratic and I do get some mornings to myself. We will figure it out I guess.

On Monday, we spent Christmas with Chance's Mom's family. That is where the kids get to open all their gifts from us. Taylor loved her Zune and it's a bit different than the Ipod. I think she's already emailed Sami for tips. Tristan got tons of stuff...he has too much. So much he can't decide what to do next. Chance's grandfather is in very ill health. They spent 8 days without electricity in the ice storm and he refused to leave the house to go stay anywhere else. He's on oxygen too. Poor Pap tried his best to stay awake and take it all in. I somehow think we all knew that it will probably be his last Christmas. Bless his heart. He is one tough cookie I tell you. Taylor and Tristan (especially Tristan for some reason) bring such joy to him. He seemed sad we could not go over there today, but we now have Chance's dad's to go to. I guess we are going to have to try another trip over there while we are off. We were talking about how things will change when his grandparents go. We will probably be hosting Christmas for that side of the family at our house. I'm not sure how that will work as they always do Christmas Eve too. I read Tara's blog about change and I completely understand. I guess that's how life works. It all comes out in the wash as they say.

Today we had a good time at Chance's dad's. For some reason we didn't end up playing games like usual. Melissa's kids (Chance's step sister) got a new horse so she took all the girls to see it. The boys played out back all afternoon. And the rest of us ate and talked. And ate. Man, Ruth sure makes sure there is plenty to eat. I got to take home the rest of grandma Betty's chocolate stuff. I am so thrilled about that. I love that stuff.

So here I am excited that the "me" part of my vacation has started. I have big plans:

• I plan to prepare my syllabus for my spring class.
• Do all the work I brought home and need to have done before my return to work on the 2nd.
• Take Taylor and myself shopping to use our gift cards.
• Take her to the doctor.
• Get my hair cut and colored.
• Take Taylor to get her hair cut (she got a gift certificate for a cut and manicure for her birthday).
• Set up my OU class and order my book. Yes that's right. I GOT ACCEPTED!!!!! Just found out on Monday.
• Update my myspace page and get some old stuff off there.
• Read all my emails that have piled up the past few weeks.
• Make a mini scrapbook for a friend who's had to move back to Texas. This one is extremely ambitious as I can't seem to work on my own family scrapbooks very much. I love making them but don't take the time. Well I have the book and papers bought and most of the pictures selected. I'm pretty sure I can do it.
• Oh and we are celebrating New Year's Eve at Dave and Heather's as usual. We will play games and the kids will play. I'm looking forward to some champagne. I only drink it once a year.

Tomorrow is our 9 year anniversary. Can you believe that???? We aren't able to do our usual date night as we will have Taylor most of the break, so we are going to dinner with Tristan. (Taylor is at her mom's until Thursday morning.) Mom has agreed to let Tristan come over and spend the night the next weekend Dad is off, so that will be when we get to celebrate and have some alone time.

Well, I am not sure what all else I needed to say. Beth got on to me for not writing in a while. I feel like I have so much on my plate being mom, working full time, teaching and now I'm adding being a student to that. I'm a glutton for punishment I guess. I hope I survive. I always do I suppose.

I need to post some pictures. Getting ready to download some. Working on the scrapbook but I still have pictures from Caden's birthday on there as well as Taylor's birthday. I just keep taking them and then not doing anything. There just aren't enough hours in the day for all I want to do.

If anything else comes to mind, I'll drop a note. Merry Christmas everyone!

What's going on.

I just cannot seem to keep up with the blogs these days. Mine just doesn't seem as exciting as all the others I read, but I will do my best to put something down.

Taylor is finally MRSA free. She got her clean bill of health the week before Thanksgiving. She had stitches for while and got them out the day before her 15th birthday. Yes, she is now 15. I can't believe it. We will be sending her to driving school in May. And then come next November look out! She'll be out there with Sami. Do cars come with protective bubbles around them? I think I need one. It would really be more for me than her. I will be pacing the floor the first time we set her free out there! Then the bright side is that is one less kid to get back and forth to school! And she might even get a job.... She is still doing well in school. That is wonderful. We are very proud about that.

Tristan seems to be making progress in school little bits at a time. That is good news but it's still slower than he should be. The teacher is still wonderful and doing what she can to work with him. He likes going to school. Santa Claus came to his school last week and he got his picture made with him. I will post it as soon as I get it scanned. Have some others to post as well but for some reason haven't forced myself to plug that camera up to the puter yet. He told Santa he wants a skateboard. That is a first for us. He's never even mentioned it. Well that's not what Santa is giving him but he shouldn't be too disappointed. We put our tree and decorations up on Thanksgiving weekend. He thinks Santa is coming every day. He can hardly wait this year. He has been checking all the presents under the tree for his name. He doesn't think anybody but him should have presents. Or at least not as many! LOL

Chance is on his down time of the season. He is working this week, but it usually drives him crazy. What does that mean for me??? A super duper clean house and all the laundry done. And an occasional lunch with my husband. What more could a girl ask for??? He and James (his partner) always exchange gifts and this year for some reason, James told him what he got him. A GPS. Usually they don't exchange so extravagently but James thought it would help him find all those appointments. You ought to see the maps we have. It was a great idea.

Me...well I've been in the land of dentist and doctor the past couple of weeks. I had to have a wisdom tooth pulled on Thanksgiving week and today I had a temporary crown put on my cracked tooth. In two weeks I get the permanent one. I hate shots so much and they had to give me 4 or 5 today. And there's nothing like having a droopy face for 4 hours after. Then I had my annual woman visit last week. Well I got a cute little pink slip that says, "Hey you are 40 and now you get to have a mammogram!" Woo..... hoo..... So on Wednesday, I get to experience what I've heard about from all my older friends and mom. I feel like I'm going to be inducted into some sort of club. Not sure if it's a good or fun one. But it's a club. Today my friend Janet tells me that it will feel like they put my boob in a vise. And just when I think it can't get any flatter, they say, "oh now just a little bit more" and they squeeze some more. I keep hearing the words painful, flat, stretched, pancake, etc. I can hardly wait. NOT! Someone may have to drive me there. I'm not sure I will be able to force myself to purposely ask for that kind of pain.

And I did it. I bit the bullet and applied to grad school at OU. It is not the program I would prefer (my boss wants me to do higher ed) but it is the one most convenient for me at this time. Who knows, maybe I will change at some point. I would really prefer to go back to SNU and do one of their programs, but I just don't want to add to my loans. I am going to make an effort to pay for OU out of my pocket. I hope that is possible. I never thought I would ever apply to OU...even though I am a fan of the Sooners. It's rather surreal. But then I can say I am an alumni (alumnus?) when I graduate some 20 years from now. Yes, I am going one class at a time to start. So, I hopefully will soon be a real card carrying Sooner. Wonder if that will help me get some tickets......oh yeah.

Today we had to take my pooky kitty Louie to the vet. He has been sick over the weekend. He had a 105.9 fever and they had to do bloodwork. His white blood cells are high. They gave him a shot for that and one for his fever. By 4:00 today, his fever was still 103 so they kept him. I am sad and miss him. He's probably scared being there without me (ok us...but I am his mommy). I hope he does OK tomorrow. I have no clue what happened or caused this. I hope they can tell me something.

Well, I am going to make a valient effort to go to bed at a decent hour tonite. I haven't even checked my class tonite. That is bad but I did work for hours on it yesterday.

Hasta luego!