Busy January

(Thought I would post a picture of my Maddy Kitty Catty, in case I hadn't done that yet)

I remember January being really boring as a kid. Probably because I hate the cold and was never really adventurous enough to go out and play in. Well, all these years later I still hate the cold, but January is anything but boring!!

I have really been trying to focus on working less, being a better time manager, being more "in tune" with my kids and spending more quality time with friends and family. It is going well.

I tried an acupuncture session on monday afternoon to see if it could help with my chronic shoulder pain. Believe it or not, it is very relaxing. The needles don't hurt (me) at all. I suppose some people might be a little more sensitive to them. Anyway, you "Soak" for 20 minutes during the session. My ears and face were so warm and RED. Anyway, yesterday, I had more energy than I have had in a long time, so much so, that it almost worried me! I exercised and just couldn't get enough cardio. It felt so good! My shoulder pain has been alleviated for now, so I think I will continue to try acupuncture. I love that I enjoyed exercising again.

My sister has been great about staying in shape and has lost some weight this last year, and when I told her it was hard to get motivated to exercise, she told me that if I worked through that I would get the point where I had a hard time going without exercise. I'm sure she's right, and I look forward to it.

Caleb's Party

We decided to have Caleb's birthday party after school was back in session so he didn't get ROBBED for his birthday :) We had it on MLK day since I figured it would be a little easier to get more kids there, and it didn't take up everybody's weekend plans. Yes, I know it looks SO plain, but, it had be, 'cuz we were painting!! They had just taken off their "paint shirts" and put clean white paper down on the table before we took the photo above. I know, I know, little girls have ribbons and bows and pink stuff, but we had MOTORCYCLES AND HUMMERS AND ATVS and other cool stuff.

It worked out pretty well, we had a fun little group, and you guessed it, we went to "The Mud Room" where the kids painted some sort of motor vehicle they chose. They were all SO QUIET and concentrated so hard! (except for Collin).



Caleb got to put his handprint on a plate and his friends put their thumbprints all around the edge, and the store owner was going to turn the little thumbprints into cardinals. The parents really liked it 'cuz it was low key and quieter than most birthday parties. I decided not to give away little party favors since they get to take home their awesome artwork. I knew Caleb would dig this kind of party 'cuz he is so creative, but was pleasantly suprised at how much his little friends liked it, too.

He invited a 4th grader. . . . . . . yeah . . . .that's what I was thinkin', too. Huh? a 4th grader, how do you even know a 4th grader?? But, his friend Chad from his class has an older brother named Nick who is in 4th grade and they are all in scouts together through the school and as it turns out, Nick is quite a good friend to my Caleb. He has a very funny and interesting mix of friends. His friend Isaiah is a few months younger and no kidding, he is a foot taller!!! Kinda funny when they are standing next to each other.



Collin did pretty well, considering he couldn't open his brother's presents. He just enjoyed being around Caleb. They are pretty good little friends sometimes. It is pretty sweet to watch.

Free Weekend

(Okay, I was just gonna post a note, but turns out I decided to vent and ramble, Enjoy!)

Well, Grandma has the kids this weekend since it's her last weekend off before she starts working lots and lots of overtime. I have been so excited about having alone time I don't know which project to work on first. Some of that has been determined for me though, since my bank lost all my bill pay info and I have to redo that. The house is mostly clean since we had a little get together last night and had cleaned to prepare for it.

I will probably start training my "Dragonspeak" a little more so I can get it to transcribe all my hours of interviewing my Grandma. I have homework to do for nutrition. Seems like the teacher is taking a while to grade it, but I guess that's the way it goes in an online class that is mostly short answer or essay.

We had to run around a little to take care of errands before Grandma picked up the boys yesterday and the boys were so excited all day they couldn't contain themselves. SO HYPER!! She came in and sat down and Collin wouldn't leave her side for her to go to the bathroom (which is normal for him now). Caleb has grown out of his fascination with Grandma which is hard for her, but Collin still clearly worships her, so that helps.

I gotta tell ya I have felt like we should have more kids, but of course we'd have to wait till I am done with this program, but then I think I have forgotten how much time babies take up. I used to prefer babies to children, but now I really enjoy being able to have sweet little conversations with Collin and how excited Caleb gets about the most innocent little things.

Caleb got in trouble in school last week for talking in the line twice, so he had fill in a "think sheet" where he had to write about consequences. He had to ask what consequences were by definition so he could complete his sheet, and as I tried to give him examples he hadn't heard of the "just say no to drugs" thing and didn't know what they were, or any other behavior I would think of off the top of my head that comes with consequences. I feel bad for having lost touch with how innocent he still really is.

Since I have turned nearly everything over to Lee for the business (I answer no phone, make no calls, and am treated as a contract laborer) I have to say that my stress level has gone down tremendously. School and kids and a house are WAY EASIER than working with that business stuff anymore, and I have really been able to enjoy my baby's personalities. I have really wanted to focus on KNOWING WHO THEY ARE while they are young, because if you don't know before they hit middle school, you never will. [Gospel according to me ;)]

OH! And to change the subject, lots of people have looked at our spec house to lease. WHICH, we thought would be great, but it turns out that our realtors have only asked for one month's rent?????? as a deposit on our $355,000 house????? HUH???? Now we have people interested and begging to lease it, and our realtors act as though we should be happy that these people want to lease with an option to purchase in 15 months. I'm not sure how they didn't expect that this would be a REQUIREMENT because once anyone lives in that house it becomes USED, and therefore worth less money. I am completely confused by their reasoning and expectations.

AND, when people want to lease it is because they don't know if they will like the school or want to stay in Columbia because of a work transfer, which I get. The others have BAD credit and need to repair it. So, I think we decided to just change the listing to purchase only. Shouldn't you live well below your means in a very modest home to fix those things instead of trying to lease all the home you can afford? Especially in this situation where the lease money gets you nowhere and it's money you are tossing out the window to have a roof over your head? Again my realtors think I'm nuts because one of them is $112,000 in credit card debt that her husband DOESN'T KNOW ABOUT. Can you imagine???? I am realizing how guilty I must be in believing that most people are like us. Guess they aren't huh? We know the gospel does amazing thingvfor people. I just forget those things that have been burned into my skull about what's important. In some ways it's good though, because I realize I must have a better grasp of what's important than I give myself credit for. Any other Moms out there worry about making sure they only focus on the eternal, or at least focus on that first?

Got my test results back from blood sugar and isulin. I am the absolute opposite of normal (add canned laughter here :) My blood sugar DROPS when I eat. What??? That would explain that even though eating should make me feel better it SO doesn't. And justs so y'all know, but Blood Sugar was on the low side of NORMAL at the 2 hour mark which is usually all they check. But I KNEW something was wrong and asked for a 5 hour test in which you see absolutely no reasonable pattern.

I had expected to to insulin resistance. You know, you drink sugar, your insulin spikes and your blood sugar doesn't respond. BUT, I drank sugar and my insulin went up a little, still stayed well below a normal, diabetic or otherwise spike, and my blood sugar DROPPED. I will see a endocrinologist soon. But if any of y'all have any ideas please advise.

So, I guess there is a lot more going on here than I realized. Hope all is well with you, that you are enjoying your family members, are in good health, and that you will keep in touch!

I got IN!!!! I got my letter of acceptance today!!!

I have been welcomed into the profession of nursing. Classes start at 9 am may 16 2008. I will be a nurse (except for my boards) a year from this august. I am very excited.

Nutrition has already started, it is online through the University of North Dakota. I imagine it will be pretty simple since I have had all the other classes first. I expect pharmacology will demand a large amount of my time. BUT, it says that the first day of class I will need my stethoscope, a penlight and a blood pressure cuff (amongst other things). I get to have my head in the clouds for a little while now.

I voluntarily had a 5 hour Oral Glucose Tolerance Test and an Insulin Test yesterday. I believe I am at the beginning of having problems with insulin resisitance due to some vague and other not so vague symptoms. Confirmation of this will just call for a change in diet, but I am hoping to finally get someone to take a look at the other hormones that this involves. Ultimately, I did this so I could be done with my night sweats. There also appears to be a link to cortisol production which helps you to gain weight.

I realize it won't be easy, and know that I must also work on this myself, so I am back to the "weight watchers" way of living. I still have my calorie (point) counting calculator and it seems pretty easy. I don't feel like I am starving. Hopefully this will help. I used to be able to lose a lb a day, but at this point I would be satisfied with a pound a week. I just don't want to get hypoglycemia, or type 2 diabetes by not paying attention. Usually people have problems with insulin resistance for a very long time before they get a diagnosis.

We are doing Caleb's birthday party very late this year. Martin Luther King day. We are going to "The Mud Room" to paint pottery with little boys. I know it's not something you'd figure most little 7 year old boys would like to do, but as you know, Caleb is an artist. He is quite excited about his party.

My little Maddy Kitty Catty is getting fat. But she is beautiful!!! Let's face it, I like my animals to be a little chunky anyway. They are softer that way. All for now!!

We love our Wii and we love our family!

We got a wii for Christmas and we love it!! I am not much of a gamer but this is great!!

Lee and I have been working lots on geneology. I got back to 1190 on one of my Dad's limbs and Lee has been making exciting headway, too. I got an email from my maternal great grandmother's sister's great grandson. (Follow)? My GG Olga had a sister Alma, and he (Jason) is her descendant and has pictures I don't have. I'm very excited about getting those.

Talking with my grandma about a trip to Arkansas so she can see her half sister one more time and hopefully I will have more luck down there actually getting past my great grandma. This has been the most interesting yet most difficult limb to climb up, funny how that works. More later.