Playing Catch Up

I really have not been in the blogging mood for a while. I think it's because I've been so lazy. I had to walk all the way downstairs, and I had to think, and stuff like that. Too much effort. So now I have to catch up.

Hmmm... Let's see. So Josh played some baseball.



Lexi watched some baseball.



Father's Day was pretty low-key. Dennis came over for dinner and we just relaxed pretty much.

We went to Disneyland. We found out the DVD player was broken at the start of the trip. It was the longest drive of my life. Josh and Lexi slept a little while on the way down. I think on the way back all they did was bug each other and say, "Are we there yet?"







I feel like I should record stuff about it so I can look back on the memories fondly someday, but it seems like so long ago and so much effort. Let's see if I can do a short version. We stayed at the Stratosphere the first night so we went up the tower and checked out the incredible view. You couldn't pay me to ride that roller coaster thinger up on top.





We went to the beach and ate at Knott's Berry Farm.



We did Disney. We loved the rides, hated the crowds, stood in line for everything, including food and restrooms, ate way too much, walked a million miles, Lexi cried a ridiculous amount. We started with Pirates of the Carribean as our very first ride, which she hated, so she refused to ride anything willingly for like the whole day after that. Josh was super brave and rode scary rides, but only wanted to do them once. His least favorite ride was Small World; he thought it was so boring. Lexi refused to have her picture taken with any characters, which was fine with me because then I didn't have to stand in line to meet any of them. My favorite part of Disneyland was ice cream time every afternoon. I'm worse than the kids, that's for sure. I'm the junk food instigator.











The kids loved the hotel we stayed at in Las Vegas the last night, the South Point, and probably would have been OK to just have gone there. Yeah, my family likes Las Vegas just as much as Disneyland. Not quite sure what that says about us, but whatever.

The day we got home, Courtney took a shower, threw her clothes in the washer, packed them back up, and took off to go camping with Curtis and his family for 3 days or so.

I went on a field trip with Josh to Dinosaur Park. As usual, didn't take any pictures. It was fun to see the rocks in the museum donated by Grandpa and Grandma Chamberlain.

Sean and I went to garage sales for the first time in forever last Saturday, and we had such a great bargain day! I love days like that. We bought the following treasures: the frame for a go-cart that Sean is going to build for Josh (at least that's his plan... he may end up building it for some future grandchild) $5. Six DVD's, mostly new in package, for $10. Some tools/widgets/whatsits that only Sean knows what they are, a couple bucks for all of it. Some assorted t-shirts for Lexi and an orange deer hunting jacket for Josh, all cheap. Ten or so VHS movies, 6 paperbook romance novels, and a duffle bag, free. The lady said to load anything we wanted up and take it because she was hot and wanted to be done with it all. I tried to pay her something but she wouldn't take it. She was choosing the best novels for me to take, and she's like, all whispery, now those have some sex in them. And like the dork that I am, I said... That's OK, I like sex. Ha! Nothing ever quite comes out of my mouth the way it's supposed to. I hate people who think their crap is worth so much money, and it's 12:30 and mother freaking hot, no one is buying their stuff, and they act like you are trying to swindle them when you offer to pay a reasonable price for something. Like, this lady had a brown skirt she wanted $3 for and I was like, $1, and she acted all put out but then took it. Lady, ain't no one paying $3 for that stupid brown skirt. Only reason I did is that I have some weird weakness for brown skirts, so I buy them and then never wear them. Seriously, I have 3. Used to have 4, but I finally took one to the DI after it sat in my closet for 3 years. So, the big garage sale trauma, though, was that a lady had this primo slow cooker and a set of really cute Mikasa bowls that I wanted. She wanted $40 for both. I offered $25 for both. She wouldn't take it. So bummer. I know she didn't sell them for that price, so I wish she had sold them to meeeeee. So Sean had to hear me lament about it all day, and then during the week... Gee I sure wish I had that serving bowl from the garage sale. Heh. Ima hit the sales again tomorrow morning and see what I can dig up this week. Wow I had a lot to say about garage sales, I guess.

Went shopping for trailers. Found one I want. It's nicer than my house.

Courtney had her 19th birthday. Curtis took her to breakfast and then they went car shopping and played around. Courtney, Brittney, and I got pedicures. Tried to talk Curtis into one, but he said, "No thanks, pedicures are for girls." I even told him he could choose whatever toe polish color he wanted, but no sale. We had Navajo tacos for dinner and chocolate pie for dessert. I love my Courtney. She is super fun, always happy, is always up for anything, and will do anything I ask. She and Brittney are my bestest buds.

I finished reading Steven Tyler's memoir Does the Noise in My Head Bother You? last week. I had to skim some parts of it because I just don't care about the technical aspects of the music or his sexcapades, and his rambling crazy thought process was exhausting at times. It was an interesting read for sure, but it made me like him less, I think. It's interesting to me to read artist biographies and memoirs because of that touch of the crazy that makes them able to do what they do.

We put up the pool in the backyard, got the boat ready to take out, planted a bunch more flowers (they were 50% off and I couldn't resist). My potato plants are giant, tomatoes are looking good, we've had some peas but we just eat them as soon as we see them, apples on the apple tree... Can't think of anything else.

June goal review:
Major fail on all counts.
*I have done only one of the deep cleaning projects I have in mind. I have been very, very lazy.
*The only exercise I've done is walking in Anaheim, which was totally cancelled out by all the crap I ate.
*I most definitely am not on a good schedule.

July goals:
*Enjoy my summer while it lasts

Looking so forward to the rest of the month! Pineview extravaganza coming up, and Heather and Peter coming to visit! Yay! July is made of so much win.

So Happy It's June!

I kicked April's butt, and May kicked mine. That month sucked hard core. But it's over now and I'm feeling so much better. I hope it lasts. I struggle with sort of an anxiety induced depression from time to time, I guess, and all of the various crap going on in May just ramped it up. I started going to a therapist a few weeks ago to help me figure out how to untwist my brain and change my thought processes so I don't get so anxious when things start to worry me. Both times I've been there I've run into former students of mine in the lobby. That's an awkward scenario right there. I just want to say, "So, what are you here for?" We're sitting there trying to make conversation, pretending we're not in the lobby of a counseling center.

Ok so May. Hmmm... We went camping over Memorial Day weekend. We stayed Friday night and Saturday night, and when we woke up Sunday morning I officially declared it the Worst Camping Trip Ever. It was wet and cold and windy. We couldn't have a campfire either night because it rained the whole time. Our quickshade canopy tried to blow away in the wind so Sean and I had to go out and wrestle it to the ground and try to dismantle it in the rain. The trailer had technical difficulties right and left (please, trailer, last one more year!). And then when we woke up Sunday morning and it was snowing, I said that's it. We didn't even stick around to make breakfast. I walked up to the bathroom (the one in the trailer was no longer working-- one of the technical difficulties) and by the time I got back 5 minutes later Sean had thrown everything in and the kids were in the car. We were so out of there.







Brittney and Kylie bored and freezing:


Lexi's birthday was on Memorial Day. I think she had a good one. She wanted sandwiches for dinner and cupcakes, and she got presents. She is pretty darn silly, as a 4 yo should be.







We went bowling with Scott & Wendy's family and mom on Saturday night. That was fun. The kids were all cute. David loved bowling.



The weather has been so nice the last few days!



I was out working in the yard Saturday and Sunday, and got such a bad sunburn. I never learn. But I got burned in spots where I didn't think about. The back of my neck and shoulders because my hair was pulled up and my shirt had a low neckline, and then the small of my back because my shirt would ride up when I was bending down. Who thinks to put sunscreen under their shirt? Not me. I still have quite a bit to do out there, but I want to wait until it cools down in the evening. Sean keeps talking about what we need to do to the cabin and I'm just trying to get my first yard worked on before I worry about a second one.

This Friday night is the John Michael Montgomery concert. We aren't really sure if we should count on actually going to it. This is the third time we've had tickets to see him... both other times the concert was cancelled. I'm hoping it will actually happen this time.

This is the last week for Josh's baseball, unless they play some make-up games for the ones that got rained out. It's been fun, but the city rec season is too short. We need to find him something else next year, or at least a camp. Just when he really gets into it and starts really loving it and wanting to practice, the season is over.

Well, that's about it.

May goal review:
*I did not start on any home remodeling projects.
*I did not finish reading Outliers, but I did give it back to the student.
*I did some exercising and lost a little more weight.
*I survived.

June goals:
*Clean.
*Exercise.
*Get on a good schedule.

Catching My Breath

Life needs to have a pause button. I need a few moments just to breathe. I wouldn't want to fast forward; life goes by too fast as it is. I don't want a stop button, obviously. I surely don't want to rewind. It's been a couple of weeks I wouldn't want to live over again. But a pause button, that would be nice.

Mother's Day was great this year, even though I have a well-documented hate of the holiday in general. We went out to dinner with Sean's mom and siblings, and had dinner at my mom's house with my family. The kids and Sean made me breakfast and gave me everything I wanted (concert tickets, flowers for the yard, a trip to Yogurt Stop, and a girls day of my choice and homemade cards). The only thing missing was my beautiful oldest daughter, who went to Texas for 10 days to visit Levi, an old friend-ish type person. I missed her greatly. But she's home now, thank goodness.

Sean planted 8 tress in our yard. I'm very excited to get some shade, and now maybe I won't have to look at my neighbors anymore. Our houses are too close here.

I can't even think what else has happened. I have been in a fog for a few weeks, but I'm feeling better now. I have a few more weeks of school and so much to do. I hope I can focus and get it all done.

April Goal Report:
I kicked April's butt! I did so well. I very rarely get to say that, so it feels good. Of course then May came along and I had a nervous break down, so maybe I can only have one good month at a time.
*I did not gain any weight, and I in fact lost weight. Nothing dramatic or anything, just a good healthy amount that I feel good about. I modified a few small things and I'm going to slowly lose these pounds and keep them off.
*I got flooring bids.
*I did yardwork. I planted stuff.
*I not only hung the picture frame I wanted to get on the wall, I got another one finished that I've had forever.
*I put down the fiction temporarily and finished my diabetes book (well, all but a few chapters) and finished my diet book. I started Outliers, but didn't finish it. I needed the distraction of some fiction the last little while.
*We all stayed out of the doctor's office pretty well.

May's Goals:
*Get started on home remodeling projects.
*Finish Outliers so I can give it back to the student who lent it to me before school is out. Oops.
*Keep exercising and losing weight. I lost a few pounds due to stress, so I don't expect to keep those off now that I've started eating again, but I don't want to gain back anything that I lost pre-freak out.
*Survive.

"How Great Thou Art"

One of my favorite hymns. Just beautiful.

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.

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.

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.