With a Little Help from My Friends

Okay. If I'm gonna get by I need a little help from my friends. So for all you lurkers, now is the time to stop lurking. MAKE a comment! Drop me an email. . .

I had laparascopy last tuesday to burn off endometriosis and relieve me from pain. However, it has been determined that I don't have endometriosis. I have pelvic congestive disorder and the only cure is hysterectomy. So, the pain won't stop till that is done (which is now up to 3 weeks a month). So, I have a decision to make.

Lee has been having pain in the same area as the last time he had to have surgery and when I called the doctor's office to make an appointment they told me they didn't want to waste time and scheduled him for a CAT scan then. First scan looked funny, the second looked okay. We are waiting to hear from the doc and of course we will get a second opinion.

The girl that was supposed to be doing bookkeeping so far behind that it is causing major problems and worrying about that makes it difficult to study. This is one of those, "when it rains, it pours" times and I find myself short one umbrella.

What did you do today?

I sit in class, bored and tired and amazed at the amount of time we waste.  We had our first test in patho today at 8 am.  We were supposed to have 45 minutes to take the test, but somehow class didn't start again until 9:30????  Seriously we have taken breaks after 20 minutes of lecture and the days drag on and on.  I get more out of going home and studying 2 or 3 hours a night.

We have been learning wound care, skin assessment, and how to stay awake with vending machine aids. . . . 

It's Getting Better All the Time

Yes, it is getting much better. Lecture is down to 2-3 hours per day and hands on lab experience is up to 1-2 hours per day. We are learning lots more practical things, and continuing to cover pathophysiology. I will be done with Methods of Assisting 1 by the end of June. Fundamentals is a new class we start tomorrow. We have a very wide variety of backgrounds and experiences in our class. I can't believe the intensity and pressure of the study alone time, but at least it will got by fast. Thank goodness for all the "made ridiculously simple" books.

Got Caleb's hair cut today. He went from looking like a little surfer boy to a military looking boy. Oh well, no more crazy man hair in the mornings for a while. Collin is doing fine, plugging right along. Really getting a kick out of wearing his big boy boxers. Lee continues to work himself to death. All for now.

Most Boring-est day

Today was my first day of nursing school. We had some get-to-know-you activities for the first hour and then. . . .nothing. Forms, paperwork. then lunch. then pathophysiology dictated to us for 3.5 hours. I wanted to pull my own eyeballs out. A muggy room not enough light. Tons of info to cover. First Quiz on thursday. I planned for this to be hard, but not mind-numbingly boring. After tomorrow we will start having patho in the morning, cuz we are all too sleepy for patho to have it after lunch.

The kids came home from being at grandma's all weekend and Caleb caught lots of fish. it's good to have them home. A break from the kids is nice, but I need my little boys.

Bittersweet. More sweet than bitter.

We took roses to school today.  We passed out a rose to two of the teachers and two of the directors.  There were so many tears today!  He starts the Apple School full time next week because I start nursing school full time next week.

The kids usually got to go out to the playground twice a day and they loved it. 

Caleb and two of the Jacks and Lilly playing on the jungle gym outside.

We also had to say goodbye to Jan today.  Collin went over to her house after he got out of Mother's Day Out at 1:30.  He has been going to her for years.  She got him a cute lightening mcqueen bag for him, too that has a moving speedometer and the car runs the track on it.  She also had this cookie made for him.  She said she cried all weekend just thinking about him leaving. (Oh, she also bought him cars shoes and some cars bubble bath).  Anyway, his little friend Meena (Willamena) came today (and she doesn't usually come on fridays) so that she could say goodbye to Collin.  

Tire swing at Mother's Day Out

Goodbye to Rachel at Mother's Day out.  He was in her classroom last year.  She was the first teacher HE JUST LOVED.  Last year he only went to MDO on tuesday and thursdays, but monday, wednesday, and friday he would still ask me if I was taking him to "Rachel's House."  Yes, the first Christian Church on Tenth and Walnut will always be Rachel's house.  Julie was his teacher this year and he would say, "Am I going to Rachel's house and see Miss Julie?"

On the elevator on the way to pass out flowers (and start crying)  It was a bittersweet day.  My last day of freedom before school 40 hours a week, Collin's last day with 3 of his favorite people who love him so much, and lots of goodbyes.  It was awful.   Do you know how hard it is to try to keep from crying when the teachers are crying cuz he's leaving.  Ugh.  Thank goodness for the people who love our children.  I have been blessed.  Who'd have known when I arranged for a sitter or preschool for my son that I would love the teachers in the end, and that they would love our family.  Ugh.  I hate this time of year.  (Didn't I already say that???)

Wax Virgin

Yes. I did it today. Had my eyebrows waxed for the first time ever. They were getting all "woolly mammoth" on me, or at least it felt that way. Got my nails done, too, so this is a little hard to type.

Put up a light fixture today all by my lonesome. Turned off the juice, put on my battery powered "headlight" and went for it. Guess what! It works, and I didn't burn the house down. The light was for my scrapbook room. I got a couple decorations at Hobby Lobby for it today at half off. Lots of pink stuff, cuz this is the one place I can have it.

Collin is nearly completely finished with potty training. Down to one accident a day or less. Gummy bear bribery was all it took. Now he poops in the potty and his accidents are only peeps. Yeah! What a welcome change.

Caleb had a ballgame tonight. I am having fun coaching them again for now. Just got about 5 or so left then I am off duty and get to just be a parent again. I am so glad my boy is not afraid of the ball.

Lee is still working nights remodeling the Golden Corral. Can't wait for that job to be over as he isn't sleeping much.

Speaking of which, here is my schedule of classes for 9 weeks in the summer starting next tuesday: Methods of Assisting 1, Pathophysiology, Foundations for Nursing (Physical Assessment and the Nursing Process), and Methods of Assisting 2. Lots of credit hours and lots of work. Picked up $500 worth of books yesterday and still don't have them all yet. BUT I thought about you, Amanda, when I went into the bookstore to pick up my stuff when I walked right past the counter you used to work at.

The University is constantly building and remodeling so parking is always more of a mess over there as time goes by. I did get a Maryland Avenue Parking Garage permit for the summer, though. That should help.

I plan to post some pictures soon. I need to get back into the habit of taking pictures again, especially now that I am near to having a scrapbook room!

Our House

I know this picture is long overdue, and I have more to post, but here is the front of my house (finally)!  Caleb was helping me water the plants.

Strange Days

Okay, I am still in transition, which, I didn't think would bother me so much. (But it does). Finished my last final today. Looks like "A" in nutrition and "B" in pharmacology. Whatever. I'll settle for the B. That class was miserable.


So, I get two weeks off. 2 weeks. Hmmm. I was planning on finishing my scrapbook room and getting it setup so I can just escape into and do geneology, or, of course, scrapbook. BUT, Lee is working constantly and cannot help me do anything in there, so I have decided to grout the floor all by my lonesome.

He is remodeling Golden Corral and can only work on it at night when they are closed and then it has to be up and ready to go before the morning breakfast rush. And then, he works all day. So, he comes home at 5 or 6 and sleeps till 9 at night then goes into Golden Corral till 1am or so then comes home to sleep and get up again at 6 in the morning and work on the other jobs all day long. He is behind on invoicing customers and I can't help him, cuz I don't know enough of what's going on anymore.

Pat and I are getting along quite well. She and I had lunch together today. We went to a matinee on friday afternoon and Lee took the boys camping. She invited me to a women's night at a local nursery in town the week before and that was pretty fun.

I start med surg and pathophys in a couple weeks. Think I'd like to start now. Am already worried I'll be bored. Or maybe it's cuz it's that time of year again WHEN MY FRIENDS LEAVE. Yeah, going away party in the morning and going away lunch on thursday. This is a sucky time of year. Glad my friends are moving on to bigger and better things, just wish it wasn't necessary. Anyway, I suck at transition.

The studying that never started.

yes, I am supposed to be studying right now. BUT I am so burnt out that I wanted to take a break. Got my last final on tuesday. Got my last TB test read today. Finishing all my vaccinations for compliance for students in the medical professions.

Collin started at Apple School two days a week and is loving it. We are finally making some progress on potty training, too, but I had to resort to gummy bear bribery this week.

Caleb is going thru a tremendous growth spurt and apparently can't seem to get enough food into his face at any given time.

Lee is working a lot, and is loving it, because we have lots of catching up to do after such a long slow time.

Coaching Caleb's ball team has been fun for the most part. Some of the parents from the other teams suck the fun out of the game by being so competitive and nitpicky. This league doesn't get competitive till they are 9. Chill!

I found a new home for my Emmie. It was very difficult to give her to someone else. It was difficult not to vomit. BUT she wasn't getting enough attention here, and she barked constantly cuz she couldn't handle being alone. Now that I am only paying to support one dog (Josie) I can get her cleaned and get her claws clipped and have her in the house more often. This way each dog gets more attention.

The family that took her seemed very nice. And I have had people interested in taking her before, but I didn't feel comfortable with them, so I didn't let her go. Anyway, they had a female chocolate lab years ago named Betsy. She got cancer and died. They have recovered from that and were ready for another dog. They had gone all the way to the animal shelter in versailles, mo looking for another chocolate lab. All the ones they came across weren't as healthy as my Emmie. She fetches well, follows the ball (would make a great outfielder). He (the husband) even remarked at how gorgeous she is. AND yes, she is. Beautiful coloring, sweetheart. codependent dog, though. So, I have talked with them a couple times since she left and she is doing "Fabulous".

Other than that, it's fun to have Josie in the house but she is afraid of my cat, Maddy! WILL NOT come to me when I call her if Maddy is between us. I think she'll get over it.

Okay, well, back to the studying I wasn't doing anyway. . . . . . .

Little Little Spider

Collin was singing on the way to school this morning.  "The little little spider went up the water . . . came down the rain and washed the spider out."  It was very cute. 

We have had about 6 practices for Caleb's baseball team.  Went to pick up the shirts today and they were wrong AGAIN.  Decided to pick them up anyway.  The kids I gave them out to today were very happy to have them.  The game scheduled for today was cancelled because all of the rain that came down, and when it did, "The little little spider went up the water. . . . came down the rain and washed the spider out."

A Morning In The Life

I am so far behind in catching my friends up on everything.  SO, I decided to write what a morning in my life is like right now.  I was gonna write about a day, but (and I know this will surprise you) I don't have time for that.

Dogs Bark.  I ignore them.  Collin tries to snuggle me, but gets bored cuz he's done sleeping.  Alarm goes off at 7:15.  yeah, right.  SNOOZE.  Dogs barking.  alarm again.  Okay.  I'll get up.

I head straight to the kitchen to microwave their favorite frozen pancakes. Yes, I give them sugar for breakfast cuz usually they leave home and burn off their sugar with someone else.  PLUS, it's easy, and I CANNOT make pancakes to save my life, so I buy them frozen.  The kids prefer french toast sticks, now THAT'S sugar.  So, I feel like I am doing well to give them pancakes.

They come in packs of 3.  I cook (heat up) a batch for the first Collin, then Caleb, who generally comes down the stairs with crazy man hair and doesn't say a word.  Still asleep, he eats his pancakes and drinks his milk.  He asks for plate number two, sometimes plate number three.  My kids eat almost no dinner, but pig out at breakfast.  (Maybe it's the pancakes).  But at least they are eating something!

They turn on cartoons while I take a shower.  I intermittently do my hair and makeup while helping them get dressed (they don't care if things don't go together).  Let Josie out, cuz she is done eating and Emmie ate outside.  Fill up their water bucket.  Let Maddy the Kitty Catty out to do her "business".  

Phone rings, it's Lee.  Wandering the breakdowns or most recent info on some dire emergency.  Or what would seem to be one to him anyway.  Alarm goes off.  Oops.  Forgot to turn it off again.  Sometimes I have to give Caleb a asthma treatment in the morning.  He hates it cuz he can't hear his precious cartoons.  Ugh!

Raise the garage door, start the car.  Usually its cold or rainy here, so yes, I still warm up the car.  Pack Collin's lunch.  Maybe eat some breakfast.  Try to think of what I need to take with me.  Get the kids in the car after, "Where are your shoes?" at least twice.  

Collin must open his own car door and put himself in his seat.  Okay, so ten minutes later we roll out (very slowly, cuz I backed into Lee's truck about a month ago).  Course, he's already gone by then, but I'm still careful!!

Drive 4 city blocks to drop Caleb off at school.  Roll off when I see him disappear into the building after "Bye Baby, Love You, Have a Good Day" and a muffled "Love you too" in return.  Sometimes I have to roll down the window so Collin can see Caleb to waive goodbye to him.

Collin watches my turns, makes sure I am going the right way to get him to school.  Enlightens me on some deep and profound yet unintelligible truth as we drive.  Go down to Walnut and Tenth.  Park in the church parking lot at the "Reserved for Christian Church Only" Spot, cuz where else would we park.  

Get out, undo his seat belt, get his lunch and bag and lock the car.  Make him hold my hand into the building and let him run through the gym up the stairs.  Up and Up and Up 4 flights?  I think.  Then, we open the door and are greeted with warm smiles and hellos as everyone is bustling around cuz we are late!!  Put his lunch box and bag in his cubby.  Sometimes he willingly gives up his coat, sometimes I have to stop him to get it.  I undo the latch (dutch door) to let him in, he has already forgotten mommy is there.  Bid goodbye to the teacher after chatting for a few minutes.  She is always doing some fascinating thing with them.  What a wonderful thing is a good preschool teacher.  Heaven on earth is a preschool full of them.  Did I tell you they cried when I told them I have to put Collin in a different school?  OH that was so hard.  They knew it was coming, and I am not gonna pass up the chance to go to nursing school so Collin can go to this school from 9 to 1:30 but I love these ladies and I love this school and THEY LOVE HIM and I love that they love him.  Oh!  This sucks!  It's so HARD to trust your kids to someone.  It's even harder to separate them from TEACHERS they LOVE and who LOVE them.  

Anywho, off I go saying hello and goodbye to the door, and then out the door and down the stairs and stairs and stairs to the car to decide what to do first.  Usually I head back home to study.  All for now.  Hope that is interesting.  Miss y'all.

Me

Updates

I have finished all my lessons for Nutrition and all my quizzes for Pharmacology.  I am coaching Caleb's ball team.  

"Skinny Boarding"

Caleb called it "skinny boarding", but it's really skim boarding, and he and Daddy are very good at it.  Caleb has done it so much on these last two trips that he's wearing the finish off the bottom of his board.  Collin made a little friend while we were down there, (and Yes, it was a girl and her name was Abby).  

I shopped at the outlet mall which they said is the biggest in the nation.  Oh, and the Gulfarium had half off student admission and students who swim with the dolphins, so guess what I did!!

Easter

We were on vacation for Easter this year.  We went to Destin again to enjoy the beach.  The city collaborates with a local church to put on a massive Easter Egg Hunt.  AND it is all FREE!  25,000 eggs were set out, and there were 2 age groups.

They passed out "Meal Tickets" for each person.  It entitled you to a hot dog, a drink, and chips.  They had cotton candy and snow cones.  They had rock climbing walls (which you can see Caleb took advantage of, and they had 3 bounces houses.  They also gave away lots of free baskets and prizes.  

We had also gone to the Adventure Club Egg Hunt before we left town.  They had the best balloon man there that we have every seen!  They hunted eggs there, too. 

The Easter Bunny also made a stop at our condo while we were on vacation.  Although, Collin kept saying Daddy left the baskets out, we kept trying to convince him it was the Easter Bunny.  Man, we had a whole lot of egg hunts this year.  How was your Easter?  Did you lay out on the beach afterwards, too???

Vacation

My Mac

So, I got a new MAC and I haven't posted!!  It's almost been a week, I know. But, of course you know I have been busy.  Had a little lunch at my house yesterday.  Have a fireside there tomorrow night.  Took a nutrition test, didn't go so well.  Caleb was diagnosed with asthma and now must have treatments regularly for a while.  Lee went on an overnight campout for the "Klondike" merit badge I guess it is?  It was really cold, but they had a great time.  Gave him an excuse to spend a little money on camping gear.

My pharmacology class is super interesting but very intense.  Even though I am a BIG PICTURE person, when I want to ace a class, I become really detailed and get so sucked into the details I run out of time to study the concepts and end up with a mediocre grade.  Figured that out after an embarrassing number of years in school.  Started when I struggled in Microbiology.  Got a 68%  what?  But, I KNEW what I knew and boy did I know what I didn't know.  I am getting better at it, though, and don't want to get out of practice.  I was gonna get a couple years experience nursing b4 starting my masters, but now I may not so I don't forget how to study.  I know that will make it take way longer to get done, but it's better than not doing so hot when I go back.  My grades have a massive effect on my self esteem.  Silly a little, I know, but there you have it.

I was studying late the other night and I turned on BYU tv to watch something about Joseph Smith from 2005, at leas that's what the directv guide said, but it turned out to be a press conference with Prophet Monson and and the presidency.  Very cool that I stumbled upon it.  I have had a pretty constant OVERWHELMING I mean really OVERWHELMING feeling and understanding of how the Lord loves us and how much he loves us, and thank goodness taking care of all facets of the work of the church is left in such capable hands.  I continue to miss and love our Prophet Hinkley and thank him for solidifying my testimony in prophets in more ways than I can "verbalize".  Love and miss you all.  

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!!