One of my favorite hymns. Just beautiful.
Monday, April 25, 2011
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Easters
At my house, Easter is usually pronounced Easters with a Nacho Libre accent, as in, Don't you know that I have had diarrhea since Easters?
The Easter bunny hid candy at our house this morning, and we had a delicious Easter dinner and Easter egg hunt at Cami's house.
I have been doing pretty well on my weight loss quest. Nothing dramatic, but I've been feeling good about my efforts. Until today, when I ate too much. I did skip dessert tonight to try to make up for it, but I don't think that was enough. I have been really dizzy the past few days, so I hope I'm up for exercising tomorrow. Otherwise I'm going to really be getting off track. Losing weight is such a weird thing, because it's the only thing where you can achieve your goal by not doing something. So it should be easy. Like, if you want to get a good grade you have to do hard things. If you want to build muscle or get in shape or run a marathon, you have to do hard things. If you want to learn to speak Mandarin Chinese fluently or remodel your whole house, you have to do hard things. If you want to lose weigh, all you have to do is nothing. Not buy that candy bar, not put that thing in your mouth. Keep on walking past the donuts in the break room and don't stop. Don't get up and get a snack. But somehow it's harder to just do nothing in this case.
I cannot believe the amount of money we've spent on health care this year. Thousands, and it's only April. And I cannot believe the amount of money the doctor's office bills the insurance for some of the most simple things. Brittney's track physical and immunizations were over $400. He listened to her heart and looked in her ears. Seriously? Lexi's first diabetes appointment at the Clinic came in at well over $700 for a half hour appointment.
I can't believe it's midterms. A few more weeks and then the school year will be over.
The Easter bunny hid candy at our house this morning, and we had a delicious Easter dinner and Easter egg hunt at Cami's house.
I have been doing pretty well on my weight loss quest. Nothing dramatic, but I've been feeling good about my efforts. Until today, when I ate too much. I did skip dessert tonight to try to make up for it, but I don't think that was enough. I have been really dizzy the past few days, so I hope I'm up for exercising tomorrow. Otherwise I'm going to really be getting off track. Losing weight is such a weird thing, because it's the only thing where you can achieve your goal by not doing something. So it should be easy. Like, if you want to get a good grade you have to do hard things. If you want to build muscle or get in shape or run a marathon, you have to do hard things. If you want to learn to speak Mandarin Chinese fluently or remodel your whole house, you have to do hard things. If you want to lose weigh, all you have to do is nothing. Not buy that candy bar, not put that thing in your mouth. Keep on walking past the donuts in the break room and don't stop. Don't get up and get a snack. But somehow it's harder to just do nothing in this case.
I cannot believe the amount of money we've spent on health care this year. Thousands, and it's only April. And I cannot believe the amount of money the doctor's office bills the insurance for some of the most simple things. Brittney's track physical and immunizations were over $400. He listened to her heart and looked in her ears. Seriously? Lexi's first diabetes appointment at the Clinic came in at well over $700 for a half hour appointment.
I can't believe it's midterms. A few more weeks and then the school year will be over.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
April Stuff
Life is moving along, and it's going pretty well. I'm really looking forward to summer. I'm not feeling too sad about having a few months off of work.
Spring Break was pretty good for me because I got a lot of things done that I have a hard time doing when I'm working. Ran errands, made doctor appointments, made phone calls, got estimates, cleaned stuff. We didn't go anywhere, and that makes the break feel longer, too. My kids were probably really bored, though. I felt like I got a lot accomplished, but then when work started the next Monday I wished I had spent time just resting and hanging out, because it's been really busy ever since. I wish I had taken a break. Oh well.
Josh and Lexi have been taking swimming lessons, and they really like it. Thank goodness. Josh is really funny about stuff like that... you never can tell if he'll like it or refuse to do it. Lexi cried when it was time to go with her teachers, but now she loves it. Kaden and Spencer have swimming lessons at the same time, so I get to hang out with Mindi or Steve, too, so even better.
I took last Tuesday off to take Lexi in to the Clinic out in Salt Lake. By the time I get out and back it ends up being more than half a work day, so I'm not going to pay for a full-day sub and still teach part of the day myself, so I just took the day off. Lexi's HbA1c was good... it was in the zone for good sugar control and her doctor was happy with it, but I'd like to see it a bit lower. She's been higher than I'd like lately, but hopefully that's worked out a little better now. The first day of swim lessons she was 581 right before (she said she ate 3 pieces of pizza for lunch, which I didn't know about), so I gave her a bunch of insulin, and then I checked her after her lesson before we left the pool and she was 44. Huge drop. Freaked me right the hell out. The next 2 lesson days were much better, thankfully.
Last Thursday we took the kids-minus-Courtney to family bowling night put on by the American Diabetes Association and Family Link. My friend runs Family Link for Utah, and she's really awesome. The littles had a good time... Brittney tolerated it.
We drove up to the cabin to see how it's getting along with all the water coming down the canyon. The retaining wall is holding up well, but it was high enough during the week at some point to come up over the steps and through the yard a little, from what we can tell. It's lapping over the top step right now, but not coming all the way over. We threw a few sand bags down. There are tons of dead fish this year. Should be nice and stinky once the water recedes and we start finding them stuck in the rocks and grass at the edges of the yard.
I had hoped to get a bunch of yard work done today, but it's too rainy and wet outside. So the girls and I are going shopping when Courtney gets off work. I hope I can find something that I even like. I have zero clothes, but I don't like the way anything looks on me. Blah.
I've got estimates for new flooring and an awning... now we have to decide what we can afford to do. There is so much demolition work and painting and tile we are going to be doing ourselves anyway before we do the rest of the floor... we might as well just do the wood ourselves while we're at it. So my house may be torn apart for quite a while. So fun.
Brittney started running track this week, and she went to the Language Fair at BYU on Friday and it wasn't as horrible as she thought it would be. Hallelujah. Courtney is finishing up the semester next week and then taking a trip before summer semester starts. Josh is off-track. Lexi is... Lexi. Sean tore apart the whole front end of the truck and replaced ball joints, a tie rod end, brakes and rotors, maybe a pitman arm? Got it all back together, and that's a relief. Saved us a ton of money. So for now, that is all.
Spring Break was pretty good for me because I got a lot of things done that I have a hard time doing when I'm working. Ran errands, made doctor appointments, made phone calls, got estimates, cleaned stuff. We didn't go anywhere, and that makes the break feel longer, too. My kids were probably really bored, though. I felt like I got a lot accomplished, but then when work started the next Monday I wished I had spent time just resting and hanging out, because it's been really busy ever since. I wish I had taken a break. Oh well.
Josh and Lexi have been taking swimming lessons, and they really like it. Thank goodness. Josh is really funny about stuff like that... you never can tell if he'll like it or refuse to do it. Lexi cried when it was time to go with her teachers, but now she loves it. Kaden and Spencer have swimming lessons at the same time, so I get to hang out with Mindi or Steve, too, so even better.
I took last Tuesday off to take Lexi in to the Clinic out in Salt Lake. By the time I get out and back it ends up being more than half a work day, so I'm not going to pay for a full-day sub and still teach part of the day myself, so I just took the day off. Lexi's HbA1c was good... it was in the zone for good sugar control and her doctor was happy with it, but I'd like to see it a bit lower. She's been higher than I'd like lately, but hopefully that's worked out a little better now. The first day of swim lessons she was 581 right before (she said she ate 3 pieces of pizza for lunch, which I didn't know about), so I gave her a bunch of insulin, and then I checked her after her lesson before we left the pool and she was 44. Huge drop. Freaked me right the hell out. The next 2 lesson days were much better, thankfully.
Last Thursday we took the kids-minus-Courtney to family bowling night put on by the American Diabetes Association and Family Link. My friend runs Family Link for Utah, and she's really awesome. The littles had a good time... Brittney tolerated it.
We drove up to the cabin to see how it's getting along with all the water coming down the canyon. The retaining wall is holding up well, but it was high enough during the week at some point to come up over the steps and through the yard a little, from what we can tell. It's lapping over the top step right now, but not coming all the way over. We threw a few sand bags down. There are tons of dead fish this year. Should be nice and stinky once the water recedes and we start finding them stuck in the rocks and grass at the edges of the yard.
I had hoped to get a bunch of yard work done today, but it's too rainy and wet outside. So the girls and I are going shopping when Courtney gets off work. I hope I can find something that I even like. I have zero clothes, but I don't like the way anything looks on me. Blah.
I've got estimates for new flooring and an awning... now we have to decide what we can afford to do. There is so much demolition work and painting and tile we are going to be doing ourselves anyway before we do the rest of the floor... we might as well just do the wood ourselves while we're at it. So my house may be torn apart for quite a while. So fun.
Brittney started running track this week, and she went to the Language Fair at BYU on Friday and it wasn't as horrible as she thought it would be. Hallelujah. Courtney is finishing up the semester next week and then taking a trip before summer semester starts. Josh is off-track. Lexi is... Lexi. Sean tore apart the whole front end of the truck and replaced ball joints, a tie rod end, brakes and rotors, maybe a pitman arm? Got it all back together, and that's a relief. Saved us a ton of money. So for now, that is all.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Missing teeth, Bon Jovi, and other scintillating stories
Josh lost his first tooth this month, followed shortly by his second. He was so excited to go to school and tell his teacher because his teacher keeps a record of how many students have lost a tooth each month up on the wall. I love Josh's teacher so much this year. I wish he would move up and teach 2nd grade so we could have him again. Josh learns so much from him. Josh drew him a picture of an octopus attacking a boat, so his teacher said, "Let's find out where an octopus would live," and sat and looked it up with him. He does little things like that all the time.
Bon Jovi was so fun. He still sounds good, he's still hot, and they played all of their greatest hits for hours. It was one of my favorite concerts. We ended up seated 2 rows apart from Mindi and Steve and just barely across the aisle from Miss Heidi, Lexi's daycare teacher. So funny. Lexi and Josh had a blast chilling with grandma Saundra. I think next up is Poison and Motley Crue this summer. Then maybe Def Lepard.
I'm on Spring Break, and I am so very happy about that. This is the first year in as long as I can remember that we aren't going down south for at least a few days. I'm bummed about that, but it will be good just to have the week off. I have no plans except getting a bunch of papers graded and cleaning out the medicine shelf in my closet. I was rumaging around in there yesterday and found a tube of something or other that expired 10/07. Hmmmm... guess I need to go through and see what all is in there.
I'm so excited to plant things in my yard. So of course it's snowing right now. But hopefully that's another thing I'll do this week. We bought raspberries, blackberries, red potatoes, walla walla onions, yellow onions, 2 kinds of lettuce, and some sugar peas. Smith's had some super cute primrose, ranunculus, and anemones. The anemones were crazy awesome and I wanted them all. They were $2.99 a piece and I just had to walk away before I spent another $30 on flowers that are not in my budget.
Speaking of my budget, I spent $250 today on groceries. $250!!! That's for a week. Hopefully next week I'll only spend $100 to make up for it, but I doubt it. It gives me heartburn. That's not including the $54 I spent at the pharmacy. Or the $150 worth of diabetes supplies I got in the mail last week. I can't think about it.
Speaking of diabetes supplies... I have had the hardest time getting the mail order set up through my insurance. Finally got it set up and working... and my doctor called in a prescription for the lancets that I don't like, and they sent me 700 of them. So now I've got to figure out how to return them and get the right ones. So fun.
Speaking of diabetes and so fun.... it's really not so fun. I hate diabetes. It's just constant ups and downs and looking at the numbers and guessing and estimating and guesstimating. There are so many variables and I take it as a personal failure when her numbers are off target... yet there is really no way to keep it on target all the time.
Speaking of failure, the last of my teams lost tonight in the Final Four. Kentucky is out. Won no money, my brackets did terrible, but still love March Madness.
I talked to my doctor about my back pain the other day, and he basically said it's from being fat and out of shape. Except he said it nicely-er than that. He said I need to strengthen my core. So lose weight and exercise.
March goals progress:
*I did not lose any weight. At all.
*I didn't entirely fix my organizational issues, but anything that I didn't accomplish is at least being worked on or looked at.
*No yard work done.
*Did not hang the picture frame. Forgot it was even a goal.
April goals:
*Not gain any weight. Exercise. I really, really want to join Gold's Gym just for the cardio cinema thing they have. Or I could just buy a flat screen and mount it on the wall across from my eliptical. Oh, oh, I could move my eliptical to the middle of the surround sound, get an awesome sound system and a big flat screen, and make my own cardio cinema at home. That would be AWESOME.
*Get flooring bids.
*Do yard work. Plant stuff.
*Hang that stinking picture frame.
*Quit reading mystery novels and read some non-fiction this month. I have had Outliers sitting on my desk at work for months. I have a diabetes book I got in January that I want to read. I have a diet book that I need to read. That should do it for starters.
*Keep the entire family out of the doctor's office this month, with the exception of already scheduled appointments.
Bon Jovi was so fun. He still sounds good, he's still hot, and they played all of their greatest hits for hours. It was one of my favorite concerts. We ended up seated 2 rows apart from Mindi and Steve and just barely across the aisle from Miss Heidi, Lexi's daycare teacher. So funny. Lexi and Josh had a blast chilling with grandma Saundra. I think next up is Poison and Motley Crue this summer. Then maybe Def Lepard.
I'm on Spring Break, and I am so very happy about that. This is the first year in as long as I can remember that we aren't going down south for at least a few days. I'm bummed about that, but it will be good just to have the week off. I have no plans except getting a bunch of papers graded and cleaning out the medicine shelf in my closet. I was rumaging around in there yesterday and found a tube of something or other that expired 10/07. Hmmmm... guess I need to go through and see what all is in there.
I'm so excited to plant things in my yard. So of course it's snowing right now. But hopefully that's another thing I'll do this week. We bought raspberries, blackberries, red potatoes, walla walla onions, yellow onions, 2 kinds of lettuce, and some sugar peas. Smith's had some super cute primrose, ranunculus, and anemones. The anemones were crazy awesome and I wanted them all. They were $2.99 a piece and I just had to walk away before I spent another $30 on flowers that are not in my budget.
Speaking of my budget, I spent $250 today on groceries. $250!!! That's for a week. Hopefully next week I'll only spend $100 to make up for it, but I doubt it. It gives me heartburn. That's not including the $54 I spent at the pharmacy. Or the $150 worth of diabetes supplies I got in the mail last week. I can't think about it.
Speaking of diabetes supplies... I have had the hardest time getting the mail order set up through my insurance. Finally got it set up and working... and my doctor called in a prescription for the lancets that I don't like, and they sent me 700 of them. So now I've got to figure out how to return them and get the right ones. So fun.
Speaking of diabetes and so fun.... it's really not so fun. I hate diabetes. It's just constant ups and downs and looking at the numbers and guessing and estimating and guesstimating. There are so many variables and I take it as a personal failure when her numbers are off target... yet there is really no way to keep it on target all the time.
Speaking of failure, the last of my teams lost tonight in the Final Four. Kentucky is out. Won no money, my brackets did terrible, but still love March Madness.
I talked to my doctor about my back pain the other day, and he basically said it's from being fat and out of shape. Except he said it nicely-er than that. He said I need to strengthen my core. So lose weight and exercise.
March goals progress:
*I did not lose any weight. At all.
*I didn't entirely fix my organizational issues, but anything that I didn't accomplish is at least being worked on or looked at.
*No yard work done.
*Did not hang the picture frame. Forgot it was even a goal.
April goals:
*Not gain any weight. Exercise. I really, really want to join Gold's Gym just for the cardio cinema thing they have. Or I could just buy a flat screen and mount it on the wall across from my eliptical. Oh, oh, I could move my eliptical to the middle of the surround sound, get an awesome sound system and a big flat screen, and make my own cardio cinema at home. That would be AWESOME.
*Get flooring bids.
*Do yard work. Plant stuff.
*Hang that stinking picture frame.
*Quit reading mystery novels and read some non-fiction this month. I have had Outliers sitting on my desk at work for months. I have a diabetes book I got in January that I want to read. I have a diet book that I need to read. That should do it for starters.
*Keep the entire family out of the doctor's office this month, with the exception of already scheduled appointments.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)