He´s alive by Dolly Parton

She's Off To Japan

This morning our alarm went off at 2:30am. Ugh! I am not a morning person, and I don't move well in the mornings, so the 2:30 alarm was not a friendly sound to me. ha

After we got dressed, we drove an hour to Ashley's apartment to pick her up, as well as Chelsea, who had spent the night with Ashley. They decided to pull an all-nighter (ah to be young again lo)

We took Ashley to the airport, and got her checked in. I made her agree to let me take some pictures and her comment was "Do I have a choice?" ~ She knows me so well. :)

As we said our good-byes I was fine with the "I love you" and "Have a great trip" part. However, when I said "Have a wonderful Christmas", I lost it. I hadn't intended to cry, but realizing this was our first Christmas

without all 3 of our children home with us, is a sad thing, so I think as a mom, I'm allowed a good cry.

But, that having been said, I must also say that I am so super excited and happy for Ashley and Lance to have this reunion and time together. They were married at the end of April, and in early May, Lance went off to war in Afghanistan. He's a marine, so they are right in the thick of things, and as time went on, the stress was starting to wear on Ashley. She wouldn't admit it, but as a parent, you know your child well enough to see it.

Jay and I both were smiling thinking about which one of them will run to the other the fastest, and how long their first embrace will be before they stop hugging. What a sweet image, and part of me wishes I could be there to see that happiness that will be on both their faces. Sadly, she wasn't excited about the thought of me tagging along, so I made her promise that she will take LOTS of pictures, and she assured me she will.

With lay-overs and total flight time, it will take her 23 hours to fly to Okinawa. She left her at 6am this morning (Monday), and she'll arrive in Okinawa at 9pm tomorrow evening (Tuesday). LOL


In 19 days she'll return, and I know it will be hard for both of them. But, as Ashley said before leaving "I know it's going to be hard to leave him, but it won't be as hard as the last time when I knew he was going to war."

One of the last things she said before she headed up the escalators to her gate were sweet words I'll carry with me for the next 19 days "Oh my gosh mom, Seriously? Another picture??"

I wish both my daughter and my son-in-law a wonderful reunion, and lots of wonderful memories of their time together. And I wish for them both a very merry Christmas and happy New Year. I love you both!!

The Last Blizzard of 2010 - I Hope

We have been so lucky up to this point of the year, in that we haven't had more than a little dusting of snow this year. With my birthday being in early December, any year we don't have snow by the time my birthday rolls around, is a good year in my book.

Well, we got our first snow in the form of a blizzard this past weekend. It made for an interesting weekend to say the least.

First, our electricity flickered off and on, before it went completely off for about 12hrs. When I get cold, my muscles get tight and of course, my pain level increases dramatically, so I bundled up as if I were going out in the storm. I had yoga pants and sweat pants on as well as a turtle neck, heavy sweatshirt, my superthick (old and ugly) pink fuzzy robe, thick socks under my Ugg knock-offs, ear muffs and thick mittens. And I sat under a super thick quilt. I am so thankful no one took a picture as I'm sure I looked uber lovely. LOL

Twelve hours later our electricity came back on. Jay didn't think our furnace was working well enough, so he headed to the basement to work on it. He came back up to go get his saw and some duct tape (still not sure why). It was at that point that I asked people on Facebook to pray for us. Seriously. 

Jay came back announcing he had found his power saw and he gave the "Tim The Tool Man" grunting noise. After letting out a couple of "Oops!" he shouted up the stairs asking Austin to come help him. As Austin slowly made his way to the stairs he looked back at me and whispered "Help me." I shrugged and said "If he yells 'Oops!' again, RUN!"

Now this morning we found we had no water, as poor Austin tried to take a shower before school, which meant he had to take a shower at the school. After spending the past two days trying to keep us (and the pigs) warm, Jay had had very little sleep or downtime. This latest situation just about sent him over the edge. I am convinced that if I had suggested moving somewhere warmer, he would have agreed.

Darn - I probably missed that opportunity.

Part of our line to our well has frozen, and they are working to get it thawed as soon as possible. Austin has his school's Christmas concert tonight and I'm really hoping they get the water fixed, or I will say a prayer for the poor unfortunate people who have to sit next to a showerless me. :-/

Today the sun is shining, the wind has gone down, and I have to admit that in spots, it does look kind-of-sort-of pretty, in a IWishIDidn'tHaveToDriveInIt kind of way. There is only one thing left to say:

Is it Spring yet?

My New Toy

 

I received a kindle from Jay and the kids for my birthday. When I'm having a flare that is bad enough to put me in bed for a few days, I like to read when I'm up to it. Have you ever tried laying down on your side, or even on your back, and read a book? Not very comfortable. 

I have to tell you that I am loving my new kindle. I have downloaded 4 books in different categories: Biographies, Fibromyalgia, Christian, and humor. I figure that will give a good start on a variety of things to read depending on my mood. 

Even today, as I'm in the middle of a nasty flare, I am in bed, and I have read for a few hours. The extra nice part is that I got a book cover for it, and if you fold the front cover back, it makes a stand, so the kindle stands up. That way I can lay on my side and read hands free. It's awesome!

We're kind of considered being in the sticks in comparison to other parts of the country. We don't have wi-fi locations on every block, and even if we did, I still wouldn't benefit from it because we live 5 miles away from town.

For that reason, I LOVE having my kindle be the 3G version. That way, no matter where I am, I can download a book, easy peasy!

Ok, back to reading! :)

Physical Results

I had a complete physical yesterday, and it was one of those rare times when I left the doctors office happy. :)

My lab results were the best surprise of all. I last had blood work done this past Spring, before I went GF and mostly sugar-free as well. I also now eat very little processed food, so I was super curious to see how things were doing, because truthfully my levels were not great the last time.

My doctor said that last time my blood sugar levels were still within the normal range, but they were teetering very close to being too high (meaning borderline diabetes). These results show my levels are now much lower and way down within the normal levels. Yeah!

My thyroid levels are almost the same as they were before, which has my TSH and T4 reading well within the normal range as well. Another Yeah!

Now for what I think is the best news. The following levels are all now within the normal range:

Cholesterol is down 33 pts
HDL is up 6pts (this is the good one that  you want to go up)
Chol/HDL ratio is down 2pts
LDL cholesterol is down 17pts

Triglycerides is down 108pts. <---this one is still high, but the doctor is confident that when I get my blood work rechecked in 6 mo, that it will be down in the normal range as well. :)

I originally changed my eating because I had read that it can really help with Fibromyalgia symptoms. Honestly, I haven't noticed much difference with that, however I will continue, because eliminating the food allergies I have is obviously doing great things for my body.

Eating this way is getting easier now that I'm starting to accumulate GF/SF recipes that I actually like really well, including desserts. So now I don't have to feel deprived, which is always a good thing!

Winters Coming

Ok, I give up. Winter is going to arrive whether I like it or not (and trust me...I do not like it!). Flurries this morning have proven to me that not all prayers are answered. Or at least, not in the way I'd like them to be. lol

Anyhow, to wave the white flag and attempt to embrace winter, I've changed the background and header for this blog.

*sigh*


Have you noticed the countdown to Spring widget? LOL

Dress Shopping

When Ashley and Lance decided to quickly get married before he deployed, I remember Lance feeling so guilty for taking away her dream of a big church wedding, with the dress, and reception. Jay told him he wasn't taking anything away, and he was giving her a future. He also said we'd give her that wedding, only it will be a vow renewal instead.

Traditional? No, but their entire romance hasn't been traditional. Their tiny private marriage ceremony wasn't traditional. But they were still blessed by God, and this ceremony will be blessed as well, we firmly believe that.

The church has been reserved, the reception hall has been reserved, the photographer has been reserved. She has also talked to someone about invitations, and talked to her hair stylist. Now the fun stuff starts.

A week or so ago, Ashley, Chelsea (who is her maid of honor) and I went shopping for her dress, and the attendants dresses. We had so much fun, and I did really good. I didn't cry, although I felt my eyes welling up a couple of times, because she looked so beautiful.

Ashley has always been a girl who knows what she likes and what she wants. She looked on the bridal shop's website and found a dress she liked. As new dresses were added to the site, she found she kept going back to the first dress. The same thing happened with the attendants dresses.

We went out for supper and then drove to the Bridal shop. We had a few minutes before her appointment, so she started looking at Mother-Of-The-Bride dresses, which of course had me laughing. I have not worn a dress in over 17 years...since Austin's baptism. I had fully intended to wear one of the beautiful chiffon pantsuits you see women sometimes wear. A dress? No. According Ashley, Yes. We'll see who wins that battle.

Ashley tried on the dress she liked online first. It was beautiful, and Ashley's face told us she thought so too. As I told Ashley when she asked what I thought of it: "It makes you look beautiful and sexy, in an elegant way". Her comment was "that works". LOL

She tried on several dresses after that, but her face never lit up as much as it did with the first dress. The lady helping her, said dresses look much different when your hair is up, but we had no hair ties, so she pinned it. Ashley has very thick, fine hair, and we laughed as the lady put pin after pin in her hair to try to get it to stay up. As you can see in the 2nd picture, it was up, sort of, with the help of over 20 bobby pins. haha

After she tried on dresses, they helped her try on different head pieces. First she tried on the tiara, and when she made the funny face you see in the picture, she said "Do I look like a princess Daddy?" She's such a nut. LOL


She had Chelsea try on the attendants dress that she saw on line, and when Chelsea came out of the dressing room, Ashley's face had the same smile she had when she tried on her first dress. Chelsea tried on others that were suggested, but again, Ashley's face was not the same.

In the end, she selected the first dress she tried on, and the first dress she had Chelsea try on. I told you, this is a girl who knows what she likes. :) Three words describe both dresses: simple, elegant, and feminine. All words that describe Ashley.

They were going to have her try on shoes, but in the words her Father would have loved to have heard, she said "I'm not going to get shoes here, we can get them cheaper someplace else."

In the end, the night really was all about the dress. In the picture on the right she has on "her" dress, and as you can see by her smile, she loved it and was genuinely happy, which made me genuinely happy (that and the fact that it was on sale hehehe).