Snowball fight

A little levity for Saturday

No School Today

I love days of no school because this is what my office looks like. All too soon she will be grown and gone and my office will be lonesome.

4 tubes of blood

That's how many tubes they drew in order to find out why I. am. so. cold. ALL. THE. TIME.

For pete's sake. I walk around with these hand warmers in my pockets. I put the warmers in my bed before I go to sleep at night. I use these silly things all the time. I wear layers of clothes and feel like the air is 40 degrees (F) when it's actually 76 degrees.

The Doc thinks it's probably my thyroid. I've been on a super low dose of Synthroid for 13 years. I think he's right. I really have tried to lose weight for 3 years and I have had some success. I lost 30 pounds, but I have 15 to go and I just can't lose any more weight. I only eat about 1200-1300 calories a day and sometimes less. Anyway, I hope we can find out why I'm so cold.

Anyone have experience with Armour?

6,000 Days

Is this not the sweetest thing? Last summer, my King thought of a neat way to show his love for me. He wanted to celebrate each day of our marriage, so he calculated how many days we had been married. He had missed the 5,000 day mark, so he marked his calendar for our 6,000th day of marriage.

He then tried to think of a way to show each day. He had to find something small because we're talking SIX THOUSAND of whatever he was going to use to symbolize our days together. He came up with this cup of beads. He presented it to me a few weeks ago with his homemade card, seen in the background.

If only I could be so thoughtful.

I have only been to the grocery store once since November.

There are days when I don't even leave the house except to do afternoon carpool. Did I mention that we are super busy at work? Like, crazy busy. Deadlines start Feb 5th and go throughout February.

From my sitemeter, I see those of you coming to my blog to check on me because you don't even see me in real life. Sorry about that. Relief is coming, but will take a few months.

One joy lately: I have been taking Princess to horse riding lessons on Friday after school. She says she feels like she's flying when she rides Snowflake. Isn't he furry and cute? Makes me wish I could ride with her.

The Best Sunday Afternoon

Riding and talking with a girlfriend. Precious.

Working on the basics.

Sometimes it's just good to sit and think. And feel the horse beneath you.

The holy grail. Cantering.

I'm overwhelmed with work and more work and dreaming of summertime and the caribbean. It's 38 degrees today. Here is Princess last April. It won't be long before we can lay by the pool...

My daughter is bigger than I

I wear a size 6 shoe. Princess wears a size 7 shoe. She has grown about 5 - 6 inches since this picture was taken in August.

J - the sweater you gave me for Christmas? She's wearing it.

She is eating all. the. time. Truly, I think we should measure her every week, just to see how much she is growing right now. I'm blabbering and rambling because I've never seen growth like this. I never thought about her outgrowing ME!

Quiet Strength

I am reading Tony Dungy's book Quiet Strength. It's very good. My head spins somtimes with all of the names and coaching positions and how he knew so-and-so. His philosophy of life and disciplines that his parents' taught him have challenged me. I'm reading it with a pen to underline memorable lines.

I'm 1/3 way through, but I already recommend the book. It's a good read.

Wii Fit Muscles

Having a neuromuscular disorder is tricky. Having the wii Fit is fun. Using my "neuromuscularly challenged muscles" on the wii Fit is even more tricky, yet fun! I have great balance on both feet and on my left foot. My balance on my right foot, however, is terrible! I was telling King this and he noticed that the muscle tone is different in my calves. I hope I can improve my muscles in my right leg by using the wii Fit.

And how embarressing is it that the wii Fit is wearing me out! The hula hoop is wonderful, but makes my thighs burn! Check out this gal who is such an inspiration!

Good Advice

Be kinder than necessary because everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.

A sharp tongue can cut your own throat.

If you want your dreams to come true, you mustn't oversleep.

Of all the things you wear, your expression is the most important.

The best vitamin for making friends..... B1.

The happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts.

The heaviest thing you can carry is a grudge.

One thing you can give and still keep...is your word.

You lie the loudest when you lie to yourself.

If you lack the courage to start, you have already finished.

One thing you can't recycle is wasted time.

Ideas won't work unless ' You' do.

The 10 commandments are not a multiple choice.

Sometimes we are so caught up in who's right and who's wrong that we forget what's right and wrong. Sometimes we don't realize what real friendship means until it is too late. The God of the bible is clear about right and wrong as well as the definition of Love. Be patient today with everyone and everything ... those around you will notice the difference and you will receive a high payout from your efforts.

Rearranging

We took down the queen size bed in Princess' room and put up her twin size sleigh bed. This necessitated cleaning out the bins under her bed and donating toys to charity. It's bittersweet that she has decided to pass on her Polly Pockets, Build-A-Bear and Barbies. No one is rushing her to grow up, for goodness sakes, but she's ready all the same.

I am glad to hear that she wants to donate all of her stuffed animals to the Department of Public Safety so the Troopers can have sweet, stuffed friends to hand out to children in trauma. Have you ever been a part of a wreck with a child? The Trooper or Deputy or Officer has a stash of toys in the trunk for the child to hug during the trauma. We couldn't think of a better use for her beloved stuffed animals.

Horse Lessons

Princess on her pony that she rides for lessons on Fridays. His name is Snowflake.

Snowflake is a good boy. Most of the time.

Go Princess!

At Thanksgiving, we were able to go see our Red Raiders play at home. It was cold. I don't do cold. I sat there through the whole game like this.

Cold is to me as a Hatfield is to a McCoy or a cat is to a mouse. I hate cold. That was a very special day in our family. That marked the last time I sit in an open stadium with a temperature less than 65 degrees. I'd much rather watch my Raiders from my big screen.

8 track tapes

We are cleaning out our house to sell it. My King found a collection of 8-track tapes. You know technology is advancing, but then you look back at something so "normal" from your younger life and then you realize just how old you really are!

Love me some nieces!

I made my nieces aprons, too. Love those girls!

Tetanus Shot ... Nail in Finger (not for the faint of heart)

Yeah, "Ouch" sums up this picture. As you can tell from the picture hanger, it is shaped differently from the standard picture hangers. I was trying to figure it out and the nail would NOT go through. I keep trying it and eventually the nail went through. All the way through. Into my hand. Into my joint.

I looked down at the nail my finger and thought, "Wait. That's not right. The nail is not supposed to be in THERE!" So I pulled it out, clamped my left thumb over the entrance area and called to King in the next room in a fairly small and steady voice, "Um, King? I think I did something I wasn't supposed to do."

Then I started shaking. And laughing. When I really injure myself I start laughing ... giggling my head off. It's a nervous reaction. So then I laughed and cried.

It all worked out fine. I was on antibiotics for strep throat anyway, so that took care of keeping the joint from getting infected. However, there was the issue of a tetanus shot. I did NOT want a shot. Not even a tiny bit.

So, three days later, I went for my shot. Lord, have mercy. I got my shot on December 16 and the knot in my arm only went away a couple of days ago.

No joint infection, survived the Tetanus shot, all better. A word to the wise. Just put the hanger on the wall and then press the nail. It is much safer that way.

Aprons

We all three pitched in at the palace. King cut out the fabric, I sewed the aprons and Princess wrapped the packages. We made aprons for my girlfriends in small group for their Christmas presents. Loved it and love my friends!

I'm Coming Back

I promise. January 5th will see activity every day on the ole bloggy. I'll try to catch you up on things of the past and present and future. No ghosts involved.

Talk About Jesus

Dear friend(s) in faithful attendance of this outpouring of my brain waves,

It is in times such as these that I wish I blogged more. So much is happening and the whole purpose of this blog is to capture life and to give us a way to remember life. Trouble is, I have no time to blog.

In the interest of being able to remember what it was that so consumed me, I will make a list of what I am doing (in no particular order):

All the technical support for the company (we have several million machines/customers)
All the customer support
Most of the sales
Dealing with resellers. 'Nough said.
Train our intern
Wife
Mommy
Manage Princess' Periodic Paralysis (makes me tired to think where we are headed...)
Manage my Periodic Paralysis (very consuming in the fall/winter)
Disciple two single women
Friend
And last, but not least, being called to The Anchor (preliminary name). I can't talk about this now, but it's ministry. It's consuming. It's overwhelming. It's ... it's God calling our family to be poured out like a drink offering. We have been in the praying stage for months (years?) and are now moving into the preliminary formation stages ... still praying like crazy. Want to know what in the world I am talking about? This is it in a nutshell. Listen to the youtube and ask me questions. I love to talk about this and we are thrilled and scared to death at the same time.