Student of the Week

Anakin is student of the week in her class. She gets lots of special privileges at school. She took a collage of pictures of herself to show at school. It was fun looking at all the pictures with her and reminiscing. She was such a tiny baby and looked like she would never make it. Sometimes I look at her and she looks so small then with another glance she looks so mature and grown up.
She has a report on Mexico due on Friday, she is working hard and enjoying studying where our family came from. She and I are going to attempt to make my Grandma's tortillas. They don't turn out very well here, Grandma says its the altitude, yeah, we'll go with that.

Ah, the Power of Google

Fresh from a Google search: The thyroid is a butterfly-shaped gland you can feel at the base of your neck, just below your Adam's apple. Two lobes (the "wings" of the butterfly) fit on either side of your windpipe. Impairment of thyroid function affects about 2% of adult women and about 0.1% to 0.2% of adult men in North America.
These are just some of the many symptoms I found -
-decreased interest in daily activities
-concentration difficulties
-sleep disturbances
-reduced sexual interest.
Aha! Perhaps this is the explanation about why I have had insomnia for 4 years now. Damn you, thyroid!

The Not So Gentle reminders

I received a phone call Saturday morning from Texas. The second I saw the # on my caller ID, I knew something was wrong, otherwise they wouldn't be calling me. My sister's ex-husband was killed in a car accident. He was out Christmas shopping for his kids, (my niece and nephew) and apparently was going too fast for the icy road conditions. He ran into a phone pole and was killed instantly. His aunt called me and told me the news and asked that I be the one to tell my sister. I've never had to do something like this before, especially not from 1500 miles away. Stacey is the strongest person I know. She takes whatever S!*% comes and does what needs to be done. She is the strong one, not me. That was absolutely the hardest phone call I've ever had to place. And just like I thought, she heard the news and was ready to deal. She was only worried about how to tell her 2 kids. Kelen is 5 and Nevaeh is 3. Kelen took it pretty hard, and V (I call her V) doesn't understand. She is too young. I don't understand this stuff. Somebody please explain. Robert was so young, and just beginning to turn his life around. He had become sober and just got a new job and a new house, Stacey was getting child support on a regular basis. He had a conversation with his Aunt recently and was so proud that this was the first Christmas he "was gonna do right for his kids." Why is he gone? I know it's not a given that we understand Gods timing or reasoning, but COME ON! You've got to be kidding, what sense does this make? I'm at such a loss. The only thing that seems to come of all this is the reminder to be thankful, so thankful for my health and life, and the health and joy of my children and to love on the people in my life that mean so much to me.

Kaiser P- My hero

I have health insurance, I have health insurance! I feel like singing that from the rooftop. I haven't had coverage since E was born and it feels so good. Apparently it came at just the right time. I had some blood work done and some of the lab results came back not exactly picture perfect. A couple of #'s were lower than should be. I've gone in 3 different times now to give blood and quite frankly I feel like I don't have any more blood to give- I suspect my doctor is some type of undercover vampire. So I'm being sent to the Radiology department next week to have an MRI done on my thyroid. What exactly is a thyroid and is this what my vampire doctor is trying to get at? But- I can strut right into that Radiology dept and whip out that pretty little insurance card. I love my job that gives me health insurance. I love that I am overall healthy, and I love that I can Google "Thyroid" and get the answers I am looking for.

Akira's Birthday

I can't believe Akira is 7 years old already! You blink and time is gone. We had a party at home. We made sundaes and played karaoke. Too many little girls spent the night. I slept downstairs on the couch and well past 1 a.m. I could hear little giggles from upstairs. Boy was I tired the next day, we all were actually. It's always so neat to see my kids interacting with their friends. All of my kids are definitely leaders not followers. Now gotta prepare for E's party. At least he is too young for a sleepover!

I miss my Dad and Sissy

My dad is recovering great! I miss him tremendously. I'm still mad that I couldn't move out there, but it seems like it has worked out for the best, considering he is improving faster then anyone expected. His physical therapist says he is a star pupil. I wonder what it would be like if he lived here. The only thing I think would be weird is holidays. But it would probably be no different than when I was married and had to split holidays between his family and mine. It wasn't so bad. Stacey seems to be doing good out there, and Kelen really likes his school. I miss her too. I hope she comes back after Dad is 100% again. Dad will celebrate his 53rd birthday this Friday. What an old man!

Teenage drivers

I fell asleep watching movies at my parents house the other night. The kids were all crashed, so I figured it was easier to just stay the night than to load all the sleeping banshees into the car. My eyes felt like sandpaper so I had to go home to get my contact lens case and stuff. Chelsey has her drivers permit so she drove. She has had it for a while now, but has just recently started driving with me. Am I that old? Please, don't answer that. I remember her just being born yesterday. A little frightening. She does really well, but it tends to bring out the control freak in me. I imagine it comes out in anyone riding as passenger with a teenager. Gotta love the airbrake! We've only had one slightly scary, life flashing before my eyes incident. I remember my mom teaching me to drive. After one lesson we both raced into the house only to shout in unison "I'll never drive with her again!" Dad did the remainder of driving lessons. I better have a significant other by time my kids are driving age, I don't think I can handle it alone. They are great backseat drivers already, imagine them with a permit. More gray hairs - fun!

Thanksgiving 2005

Well, my plan for Thanksgiving didn't quite work out. I just wanted to stay in my p.j.'s, not shower, and watch some movies, maybe put up Christmas decorations. Heather and Angie invited me down to the Springs to celebrate with their family. Not really in the mood for other people lately, you know? I'm fast on my way to becoming a hermit. I love that family a lot, but it gets complicated. I didn't want to drive down there only to get the hairy eyeball from Hoss. One of these days he and I will finally work things out. But he has to be speaking to me for that to happen :) We ended up going to Mom and Dad's about 6:30. Had a nice time. Aunt Lin was there, yea!. We played Cranium and surprising my team lost. Hard. Very disappointing. So, I'm not that good at charades. Simone was there with her fiance and future brother-in-law, got to hear a little about their upcoming wedding. Dad seemed very happy to have her there, and hey- there was no bloodshed between anyone! Everyone gave 2 things we were each Thankful for. Anakin was thankful for Jesus and the Bible, Akira was thankful for her Mommy and her Daddy, and E was thankful for outer space and Emily. We watched Christmas with the Kranks, everybody laughed hysterically. I thought it was cute, but certainly not going to watch it again. My favorite holiday movie is Home for the Holidays. Really gets me prepped for the season. Can't wait to put up my Christmas lights. Going to put some outside this year. The kids want all blue, I'm not so sure about that. Much rather stick with plain old white lights. They are my favorite. They look just like twinkling stars, especially when they are covered in snow. I love staying up late, just looking at those lights. So peaceful.

A Bakers' Dozen

Heather invited me to a cookie exchange. My first one, I've finally arrived. It does make me wonder though...Does she know me at all? I can't bake. I CAN'T BAKE. I have to bake 5 dozen cookies and take 20 copies of the recipe with me to this event. After a frantic phone call to Stacey,(and the explanation of the difference between Cream of Tartar and Tartar Sauce) I've got the confidence to do this. Just the girls and I are going so I let E help me with the baking tonight. He doesn't understand why it's a girls only get-together. I don't understand either. All the men in our lives will help eat the cookies, why shouldn't they help exchange the cookies? I'm supposed to share why I chose this special recipe. Should I say I chose it simply because I had all the ingredients already in my cupboards? Great, my first exchange and I'm going to be kicked out. Can't wait to see how this turns out.

The Concert Event of the Year

All day last Saturday, Anakin shamelessly begged me to call our local radio station to win Clay Aiken tickets. As I was dialing the phone # to the radio station, I had a feeling we were going to win. We won. Ana couldn't sleep the night before, she was so excited. Except for getting stranded downtown after the show, we had a lot of fun together. She's a cool little girl. It was definitely an experience. We didn't get home until 2 a.m., but she got up for school the next morning. We got to go backstage afterwards for autographs and pictures with him. I said to Anakin "It's our turn, lets take our picture with him." She said right back to me, without even blinking- "No Mom, I'll just have my own picture with him" Hmmm...