Friday, January 23, 2009

Ten Years

Ten years ago today, I married my best friend. Three kids, five houses, four states and many jobs later, we're still here. Amazing! How is it possible that I love Mike more today than I did 10 years ago? Happy Anniversary, Honey! I love you!!! Here's to the next 50!

Monday, January 19, 2009

It's a Monday

It's been a long and busy week here.

Friday morning, I got up and came downstairs to find that the kids were already up. That's always nice. Jacob tells me that he thinks there's something wrong with Daisy, so I go over to her cage. I see that she's got some goo coming out of her eye and she just looks sad. I pick her up to check her out and she just looks at me. She inhales deeply and dies. WHAT????? We think that she got bunny bloat or an intestinal blockage but this is really starting to piss me off. Bumper lived for years. And why do they have to die in my arms??? The boys were okay with it. Hannah cried for about 5 minutes and then began asking when we were getting another one. This will be the last bunny for a while.

I was pretty sad about it (not nearly as sad as with Ruby but that seemed to drag on forever and I think I was much more attached to Ruby) and Mike said he was happy that I had plans to go out with Val that morning so it would keep my mind off of it. So, Val and I go get our pedicures and as soon as I opened the door to the house, I heard the phone ringing. It was the school nurse telling me that Hannah'd had an asthma attack and that she gave her some of her inhaler but she felt Hannah really needed her nebulizer. So, I head off to school to pick up Hannah. I know that a good part of that was that Hannah had been without her Singulair for a couple of days because I couldn't get the pediatrician and Walgreen's to talk to each other. Each wanted me to have the other fax them something. Ugh. Both said they would but neither did. After picking up Hannah, I called the pediatrician and told them that they had to do something because Hannah's asthma was beginning to act up and she needed that medicine. The nurse told me that she would take care of it. I was thrilled when Walgreen's called and said that her refill was ready.

Saturday, I woke up feeling awful. It lasted all of Saturday and most of Sunday. I'm feeling better now but I still have a cough. I'm tired of getting this same cold over and over again.

Saturday afternoon, I began getting e-mails from every old Minee Subee co-worker in my address book. Apparently, one of the teacher's aides at the school in Lincolnshire got frustrated with a 16 month old and slammed him to the ground. With enough force that it was like he had fallen off a 2 story building. The baby died and she's been charged with 2 counts of first-degree murder. It's incredibly tragic. I just keep thinking that Jacob was in that room once-upon-a-time. So sad.

Today, the kids are all sick. Thank goodness for MLK day because I'm sure I would have kept them all home. In fact, Daniel's currently sleeping on the couch. I hope Hannah's okay for her Daisy's meeting this afternoon!

Anyway, that's about it from here for now. Sorry if it felt that I've dropped off of the face of the earth.

Friday, January 09, 2009

Test Results

We got our jiu jitsu test results yesterday. Of the 5 of us that tested, only 3 got their belts. I was one of the 2 that didn't. I'm sad but it's okay. I got this e-mail from Dave, our school's main teacher yesterday:

Karl, Steve and myself take full responsibility for this. We pushed you guys to do in 6 months what it should take to do in a year. If given the opportunity to test whenever you were ready, I am sure you would have chosen a little later. Comments on your techniques are good and I have those at the school. Please do not be disappointed with the results. If you consider that you have never taken Jiu-Jitsu before and that 3 of the people testing had previous experience, you accomplished quite a bit. I am, We are, very proud of what you have done and looking forward to helping you retest.

I did get my comments sheet and it's kind of cool. My evaluator was Rener Gracie and it makes me smile to know that he actually watched my tape. His comments were good (a little harsh at times) but they were very critical. My favorite comment was "awkward falling motion" on one of the standups. Of course, that was a deduction. According to Rener, I was right on the border and they had to err on the side of no belt. A few of the comments:

She stood up in base every time she got up - very impressive

Barbara knew several of the techniques very well. She seemed to be comfortable with the step by step execution with all of them.

Barbara was right on the border, she knew most of the techniques very well but there were critical errors made.

Overall, she did good and I would like her to retest after a few more months of practice.

Right now, I'm teetering on the edge of going full on back into it to prove that I can and quitting. It's not that I only did it for the belt but it's pretty humbling to know that I busted my butt only to find out that I was that close. I don't know.

Monday, January 05, 2009

Back to the Grind

The kids went back to school today. I've been cleaning like a mad woman and I've only gotten the kitchen done. Doesn't help when I opened the fridge to get creamer for my coffee (after I was done) and a whole thing of chocolate sprinkles fell down and spilled all over the place. *sigh* Luckily, I hadn't put the broom away.

The house is so quiet without the kids here. Kind of sad, really. I was just thrilled they went to bed on time last night. That made my night. Daniel got an alarm clock/radio for Christmas and made me set it for him. When I came downstairs at 7am, the boys were both sitting on the couch watching Pokemon. It was nice to only have to wake up Hannah. I wonder how long this will last.

Sorry this post is lame...we haven't been up to much this weekend. Now, I'm going to grab a salad and get to cleaning again.

Saturday, January 03, 2009

Okay Deb...

Where's the bread recipe you promised???? LOL!!! Jacob's been begging for some homemade bread and all I can make is challah. He really loved your bread.

Actually, I got nervous when I was at HyVee yesterday and couldn't find the wheat grinder. They just moved it further inside the organics section (they actually have 3 aisles of natural/organics which I think is pretty cool). I did look at it a little closer and one is a soft wheat and one is a...ummm...red wheat (I think). I'll have to look a little closer next time I'm there. I guess I didn't look as closely as I thought! I'll take a picture of it, too...so you can see it.

Anyway, I need that recipe, woman!!! :)

Thursday, January 01, 2009

Happy New Year and Happy Birthday!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEBBIE!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

We had a nice New Year's Eve. We went to Stephen and Roxanne's house and ate fondue and drank. The kids love going over there since they have two boys Jacob and Daniel's age too. Anyway, it was such a long evening for the kids that they slept until after 11 this morning. Getting back on the school schedule is going to be hard.

Jett, Daniel and Jacob play their DS games together
This picture cracks me up. I do love my Asti...I gave up the glass and drank straight from the bottle. I had a big straw but it's not in this picture.
This picture of Hannah is awesome. She'd never had sparkling grape juice before and this was her reaction. She loved it!
Mike and Stephen chat over champagne
The kids started making crafts about halfway through
Hannah and Roxanne show off the big eyes