Re-Cap

October has been a whirlwind.  To cap it off we ended with our first snow of the season two days before Halloween.  We have had some challenges this month.  I had two weeks worth of headaches that ended in an emergency root canal.  Hate having a root canal, but love having no more headaches.  Luckily we figured out the problem on the day before we had tickets to see Les Miserables at the Kennedy Center.  Otherwise I would have been one miserables audience member.  My appointment with the endodontist was quite the event.  Because of the emergency situation I had to bring my two youngest with me and they weren't able to come back in the room during my proceedure.  I cringed when I saw the lack of child friendly items in their waiting room.  However with the help of Big Girl and her awesome imagination, they played 'where did I hide the hair-clip on my body' for an hour and a half.  The receptionist was super impressed.

T has been quite busy at work this month.  November will be a welcome break.  We even have a relative coming to spare us for an over-night-escape.  We still need to plan where we will go, but it won't matter as long as we are alone and in love : ) And I truly love that man.  I remember how I used to fret when he'd be gone for work too much, but now I seem to take it in stride knowing that at least when he is here, he is all here.  He spends his time devoted to us, not sitting in front of the computer or the TV.  It also helps knowing that he does not wish to be away.  It's just as hard for him to be away from us as it is for me to fly solo when he isn't here.  I wish I had learned this lesson back in residency.  I would have been happier.  Perhaps the deployment has helped me gain this mature perspective.

Middle Boy had a birthday on 10-10.  He made me a list of things he wanted.  He then rated the wanted items with a '1' or a '2' based on the amount of desire he had for said items.  Here was his list... Psyche (season 5)-1, a set of nun chucks-2 (yeah right!), a cool ping pong paddle-1 (the boys are obsessed with this game lately), a Hollister sweatshirt-2, money-1, video game (Prince of Persia)-2, a cool tie-1 (this kid is into fashion), moccasins-1, head phones-2, paint ball gun-1 (another yeah right!).  What can I say? The boy dreams big.  Here are some photos of what he did score on his big 15 yr old day...

A slick new paddle we'll call the Black Mambaaaaaa!

He loves Phyche... He also has brilliant powers of observation just like the main character from the sitcom.

Ah, the smell of money!  He loves money too.

We found his missing cell phone earlier this day so we wrapped it up as a surprise.

He was thrilled and instantly went into txt mode

Sharing an Appreciation

Hello dusty blog that I have not written in for so long.  How are things?  I have been absent for what seems like a while but really, it's been less than a week.  Sometimes I try and stay away from blogging and focus on the important stuff.  Then an idea will come to me that I feel just needs to be written down.  Life gets in the way sometimes too.  That is what has been happening to me lately.  A lot of life.  But it's time to get back on the horse.

I was in charge of a relief society meeting this month.  My area of focus was marital and family relations.  I called upon LDS social services to recommend a therapist to speak to us.  After a lot of phone tag and schedule re-arranging, I had a speaker.  She did a great job.  Since it was Halloween I tried to throw in a spooky theme.  Some may have not appreciated my flyer, but overall I had a good response...

Relationships Can Be Scary!

Come to this month’s Relief Society meeting to keep things on the right track.

It was odd that a new family moved into the ward the same week as my announcement was posted all over the church with the last name of Adams.  

So since our session with the marriage and family therapist we have a new way of speaking to one another in my home.  We ask "may I have a discussion with you?" permission is (sometimes) granted, and then we proceed with "when you did _______ it made me feel_______" this is then repeated back by the listener.  As cheesy as it might sound it has helped work out a few differences where I thought no resolution was in clear sight.  

There is also the even funnier "may I show an appreciation for you?"  "yes you may"  "I admire your sense of style" or "I like the way you make dinner" etc etc.  The problem with the wording of this one is that my smart alec son likes to say that 'sharing an appreciation' is sharing information about something monetary that has gone up in value recently.  Cheeky!  

So readers, may I share an appreciation with you?  Thanks for reading and commenting on my slow moving blog.  It makes me feel validated and listened to.  Thank you!

SO grateful!

I have had the most stressed out day.  Today was the day of my brother's surgery for a racquetball sized tumor that had been found in the right side of his face.  He has been at the Mayo clinic receiving treatment. He has 8 children.  He is one of the most good natured people you will ever EVER encounter.  I was pretty upset with God for choosing someone as great as my brother to do this sort of thing to.  First He took my nearly perfect mother 22 years ago (cancer) and now my even more perfect brother!  Not FAIR!  I found myself killing ants the day after I heard this awful news about Eric and as I smashed them with my angry thumb I thought to myself "this is what God does.... he says 'I'm taking you, and now you, and you're next... smash smash smash'"  It took me a few days to simmer down but once I humbled myself a bit I started in asking for forgiveness first and for favors next.  Eric and his family have been the subject of much fasting and prayer around here.  I've been so worried at times that I have unloaded my bad new on unsuspecting check-out clerks, walking buddies, and today on a pre-school teacher who wasn't even my kid's teacher.  We were just sitting on the bench together watching the kids play outside on the playground  and the next thing you knew I was spilling it out for her.  I mentioned my name to her upon parting.  Poor lady must have thought I was losing it.  I am.

Today, on surgery day, as I thought about how mangled my brother's new face might look, I forgot to bring a field trip permission slip along with 6.00 that was due.  I asked for a new one.  I went home, showered, looked up gross facial reconstruction photos on the internet, stressed out, went grocery shopping and tried not to tear up in public as I went through the self check out.  I was in a hurry to pick up Little Girl from pre-school and forgot to pay for a gift card...  When I realized, (in the parking lot) my mistake, I looked up to the heavens and promised that I would be honest and return to pay if He would grant a miracle on the surgical table today.  He must really care about that 15.00 I owed Safeway because a miracle was granted (and yes I did return and pay).  I don't even care that I had to humble myself (again!) and ask for a 2nd field trip permission form in front of the one lady at pre-school who annoys me.  Eric's surgery went great!  So much better than we had thought.  You can read about it here.  He started his blog as an update for family but he is such a great writer that you might just want to scan back and start from the beginning.  You will see why I am so inspired by this perfect brother of mine.  Thank you to all of you who have been praying for him and his family.

Eric and almost all of his family before leaving for his surgery.

Right Now

Right now there is laundry to do, a flower girl dress to sew, sleep to be had, and a chocolate bar in the cupboard calling my name repeatedly.  'NO Hershey!' I shout back to it.  So I type on my blog instead to vent-my-thoughts.  Here is what is boaring holes in my brain tonight.
1-My perfect brother Eric has cancer and it's pretty bad...
2-My teenager is being a teenager.  Bad teenager Bad!
3-I need to finish sewing Little Girl's flower girl dress in the next 5 days before we head to Provo for my sister's wedding.
4-I seem to be coming down with another cold just before our flight and that really makes me mad!
5-My bad teenager gave me this cold (same as last time).  I want to put a safety bubble between us from now on.  Perhaps this bubble could have multiple purposes....  less germs, less arguing.  I love him, but he's killing me.  Killing me softly.
6-I am amazed that there is not a single slip to be purchased in the area.  I wanted to get the puffy kind to wear under the dresses for the flower girls (Big & Little Girl are both in the wedding).  When I asked the salesman if they had petticoats he showed me something like this:

Yes, a petite coat indeed.  Not a petticoat though.  That man had no business working in a little girl's dress shop.  Either that or I need to pronounce things better.  Even the bridal shop with fancy little girl's dresses had no such thing as a petticoat.  Is this the reason for the decline in morals in our society?  I know my step mom used to get a bit worked up if we pre-teens didn't wear our slips.  Perhaps I should write my congressman and let him know.  Life goes on.  Luckily you can buy things on the internet.  I am proof of that I tell ya!  Unluckily I sometimes get things wrong when ordering online.  I click things twice and get double what I wanted.  I misjudge sizes, I imagine things better then they really are in real life.  I then put these unwanted items in the closet with the intent of mailing them back.  Sometimes  my closet works like the Bermuda Triangle though and I forget all about them.  I bet I have quite a bit of money saved up in returns right there.  You could look at the bright side and say that when I do get around to returning them, that my Christmas savings will have been right there in the closet the entire year!  

I guess that is all the rambling I will do for tonight.  Please pray for my brother.  I think I will go get that chocolate bar now.

Kelly