Archive for January, 2011

SHUTDOWN

Thursday, January 20th, 2011

I think our homecoming week has hit a roadblock! At this very minute, the weather people are shouting loud and clear…..LOTS OF SNOW coming at midnight and lasting through Friday. πŸ™

As in, HOMECOMING DAY Friday! Boo!

So, I’m here blogging on my bed surrounded by my teen girls, the dog and daddy trying to sinc new cellphones with old ones. All three of us living as if there will be a NO SCHOOL call in the morning. {It’s 11pm for goodness sakes!}

We’re going to pay bigtime if we have school! πŸ˜‰

Oh, and since I’m up late throwing caution to the wind….I found a fun little contest over at Barnes & Noble. I don’t want to purchase one of these but if I won it…..oh yea! I’d squeal like a girl! Go check it out for yourself. Signing up is easy! While you’re Nook looking, The Pioneer Woman has her new book available for a free download (an excerpt only) Nook or Kindle. Love her and her cool story!

So, the question is……SNOWDAY or HOMECOMING?

She Swims

Tuesday, January 18th, 2011

I feel it’s way over due to share about the baby in my family and her latest passion. I say latest like she’s flittering from one thing to another. But that’s not the case. She very carefully chooses what activities she participates in. They just usually consist of singing, acting or planning something like pep rallies. She’s not what you would call an athlete.

Neither of my girls are…..athletic. They are artsy tartsy, drama type girls. Very talented ones at that.

It all started way back in September. I thought the 5am wake-up calls for morning training would wrap the whole SWIMMING idea up in a jiffy. When it didn’t, I admit….I got a little nervous. Then it went to afternoon’s as well. Over Christmas break….they practiced early mornings and afternoons, EVERYDAY!! They did take Christmas day off (Yippee!).

Who does that?

SWIMMERS, I guess!

All I can say is that I’m so proud of her. She took on a really tough sport. Joining a competitive swim team in your sophomore year could be a tad intimidating….but Gates has persevered! She had zero experience and didn’t know any of the strokes. I guess that’s why all the practice is required. Duh! To learn.

She has been an inspiration to me (yes, I’m lazy). Each day she continues on and I know….she’s exhausted! Even knowing she’s not as fast as her seasoned teammates, she keeps on working! I love her passion and I can’t help but smile at her pushing towards a goal that I could never attain. It’s been a life changing experience for her.

As a mom, I marvel at her courage to step out of her comfort zone and take on a competitive sport. That takes guts! And it sure makes for a healthy slim body too. She looks great! Maybe I need to start swim training!

I love you….. G A T E S

It’s Monday, Again?

Sunday, January 16th, 2011

Dang! They just keep sneaking up on me. Monday’s have a way of bugging the mud out of me. No one in my house can seem to fall asleep before 1:00am and then wakeup is like a trainwreck. Everyone feels so tired and grouchy. Yea, we’re a precious family! πŸ˜‰

I’m excited about the coming week this go around. It’s Winter Homecoming week which means spirit dressup everyday. Students and staff dress accordingly.

Monday: PJ Day (Gee, this is my specialty)
Tuesday: NERD Day (I’m a natural)
Wednesday: CLASS Colors Day
Thursday: HEX Day (John Deere)
Friday: PANTHER PRIDE DAY

Now, to be honest….when I heard Monday was PJ DAY, I totally regretted not owning any of the pajama jeans. Dang, my luck! I should have a pair, right? Well, I don’t. So, I’ll have to dress like a grownup. Which usually means I’ll even have to act like one too. Bummer!

Remember my last post regarding the backache? Well, that turned real ugly on Friday. I went to school (WHICH I SHOULD HAVE NEVER DONE!!) and carefully navigated my way around. By the time 2nd period came, the pain was unbearable. I went down to the staff restroom and ended up stuck there. Let’s just say, once I got down there was no coming up! When I did try to get up the pain was so intense I screamed! A for real scream! Luckily, a sweet innocent bystander (Karen) happened upon me and helped. So embarrassing! She knew exactly what was happening. She had just experienced it herself not long ago.

P I N C H E D N E R V E !!!

She advised me to get out of there PRONTO!! I really appreciated her knowledge and recommendation to get to the doctor immediately. No relief without it. I called my hubby who came lickety split to get me. As I was hugging the wall working my way down to the doors….several students stopped to help me. Did I mention that I couldn’t even breathe? Yea, it was that kind of pain! Finally I made it to the door and NO HUBBY! I clung to the door like it was my only lifeline. Then, it happened. Someone of authority came along and saw me there. Poor Mr. Hack. If he only knew, he would’ve kept right on truckin! But he stopped like the good samaratin he is and stayed with me, even helping me out to the car when hubby arrived. I felt so humiliated!

All I wanted was to be NORMAL again. I’ve spent the weekend doped up on muscle relaxants, cortisone steroids and Tylenol! I’m finally able to breathe again. Yay! But, let me tell you…..that was a wingdinger of a pain in the back!

While I was down and out….I was literally zonked out much of the time. When I was awake, it was as if the medicine was a sort of truth serum. I said things that I wouldn’t normally blurt out. Mean things, insulting things and even crazy things that didn’t make a lick of sense. Also, I would hear things completely opposite of what was actually said. My people were ready to kill me. I could hear questions but making my lips move to respond appropriately, didn’t work! It was so strange!

But, enough about that. I’m feeling so much better. Before I go though….I must ask–Did you know that to sniff up your snot you use your back muscles? Well, you do! I have experience.

Down in the back

Wednesday, January 12th, 2011

For the last few days (luckily 2 of them were snowdays) I’ve been miserable with back pain. Don’t ask what I’ve done to it…..cause I have no explaination. It feels like I’ve pulled it or strained it doing something. The only problem? I can’t recall doing anything so strenuous that I’d be in this position. Crazy!

I’ve been popping the ibuprofen/naproxen sodium day and night. I’ve been glued to the heating pad. Nothing seems to stop the pain. If I move just right, the spasms make me flip out. Really, I’ve never had a back problem. But this is pain overload!

It’s as if I’ve been out shoveling snow! {Which I haven’t!} Hence, my post about scraped driveways yesterday. Oh, last night about 9pm three high school guys came by and offered to clear our driveway for $15. Since my husband was still at work out of town, I took them up on it. Your welcome Honey! πŸ™‚

Too bad this morning it’s covered again. Boo! πŸ™

So, I’m using my snowdays to nurse my bad back. Wondering if it’s ever going to stop hurting? Could it be a slipped disc or something? How does that happen anyway? Oh this getting old….really stinks!

Snow covers and reveals

Tuesday, January 11th, 2011

Today was a bust as far as school is concerned. I woke up in the wee hours to peek out the window and fell back in bed bummed when I didn’t see any snow. I figured it missed us and prepared my brain to get up and go to school. Then 5:45am my phone rang with the NO SCHOOL message for me to pass along. Yeehaw!

Except.

I had made arrangements to have two of our barn cats fixed by the neuter scooter folks and the appointment drop-off time was 7:30am. Buzzkill! No going back to sleep for this queenie. I was zinging with fear that I’d doze off and miss the whole shebang! So, I laid there eyes peeled open….fretting! πŸ˜‰

Finally, I got up and dressed to go. Hubby loaded up the poor scared kitties and off we went in our four-wheel drive! By this time the roads were a snowy mess. We literally had to “take it easy”. After dropping off our now sure to run over and kill cats (since we spent $75 on them), I jumped back into sweatpants with a side of choffee. Ahhh! Relax minus the sleep.

As the snow has steadily fallen and blanketed my neighborhood, I’ve watched the activity of my neighbors. Some are out playing and sledding, others are shoveling and blowing their driveways. Some even pull out the big guns and use backhoes. As long as I’ve lived in this neighborhood (and I’ve always praised it for being a NICE neighborhood) no one has ever helped us with our loooooooong driveway.

I had to ask myself a very important question. Is it me or is it them? I mean, does that say something about me or about them? So, I spent a little time in self reflection.

Do I treat others with the kindness they deserve? I try to.
Do I help when I see a need? I try to.
Do I care about those in my neighborhood? Of course I do.
Do I have the relationships I wish to have with my neighbors? No.
What can I do? Pray for them and try to reach out. From now on, I’ll keep waving even if they won’t wave back.

Do you show the people around you God’s love? Maybe you have a neighbor that you’re not so fond of. Refuse to be frenemies with them anymore. Drop off some cookies to them or yell a hello next time you’re outside. Do something to be a blessing in His name.

Oh and if you’re out bulldozing snow…..swing over and swipe a path for them too! I bet they’ll love you forever. πŸ˜‰

A quick look out my backdoor this morning….the beginning of SNOW!

**I’m working on finding ways to show God’s love to those in my path! Seeing my neighbors doing just that, reminded me of my mission!

I’m old & blind

Monday, January 10th, 2011

It’s been a long time comin….but I’ve gone blind. Some might say it has to be the fact that I use a Netbook all the time. I wish I could agree. The problem is that anything I try to read…..I can’t see! My eyes feel fuzzy and blurry all the time. I blink and squeeze them closed all day long just so I can read whatever is in front of me. IT DRIVES ME CRAZY!

So, I’m venturing out into the world of readers!

Mainly because everyone’s tired of seeing me like this:


Why yes, that is a magnifiying glass! I told you ICAN’TSEE!!!

I’ll let you know how it goes. Word on the street is tonight Indiana will be hit with a huge snowstorm. If that’s the case and they cancel school…..I’ll keep blinking and squeezing, cause this old lady ain’t going out in no snowstorm! Blind or not, I’m too old to drive in the snow!

P.S.
Stay out of mamaw’s way, ok?