Saturday, January 30, 2010

The Snow Bath

It was snowing outside, Anna still has an ear infection and I was itching to do something crazy!  Then I had a genius idea pop into my head. An idea that hasn't popped in there since I was kid.......I'LL FILL THE BATHTUB WITH SNOW!!!   

After thinking about it for 2 hours I grabbed an empty plastic trash can and a tall laundry basket, put on my snow gear and took off outside. I was determined to fill the bathtub with snow so that Anna would have a nice warm place to play. Plus, what person doesn't think, at least at some point in their lives, "hey, wouldn't it be cool to bring a bunch of snow inside?" Now that I'm an adult, have my own house, my own children and am perfectly capable of making grown up decisions I decided that bringing a massive amount of snow in the house was, in fact, a GREAT IDEA!!

After watching me carry up one load of snow (through the house, up the stairs and into the bathroom), Roger decided to get in on the action.  Maybe he was afraid I would trip up the stairs and snow would be all over the place. I don't know. But I like to think that he thought it was a great idea too and wanted to join in on the fun.  
We were so excited about the snow in the bathroom that we couldn't hardly wait until it was full. Here is our excited faces!! 

We decided that we would pretend  Anna's doll house family was our family and that they had a MASSIVE snow!  At which point Anna insisted that she actually play in the snow with the family.  She had a blast being the giant that threw snow balls at the little people, knocking them down. 


Anna and her Daddy are seen here showing off the snowman that they made together. It was pretty had work but they did it in record time!

The kids insisted that they go sledding as well. We made a snow hill and the little family thanked us for it. 

This is PAul and Dad having a snowball fight. Look at those massive forts!  Great job you two!
The Dad had a blast making snow angles for the kids. But he later wished he hadn't forgotten his jacket in the house. He's arms started to turn black.

Just a few family photos in front of the house. It's there first REAL snow and they never want to forget about the fun they had. I was laughing at them because they clearly need to take down the christmas decorations. Notice the CAndy Cane Reindeer by the front door. So tacky. 

The funny part of this whole thing is that once the kids were finished playing and snuggled up taking their afternoon naps, I decided I would finally take a shower. After getting ready for my shower I was greeted with a tub full of snow. Well, I guess I'll take a shower later tonight.  Oh well. Should have thought that one through. But, if you know me, I don't think things through.  

Also, a funny little side note. I called my mom and Dad to check on them. She informed me that they were having a great time being stuck alone together in the empty nest with a foot of snow. They had just finished going sledding down the driveway together and were warming up before they went back out to make snow angles. My mom convinced  my Dad to go sledding with her "come on it's 11am on a saturday. all our neighbors are still sleeping."  WEll, when they got to the end of the driveway the mail man pulled up and everyone came out to get their mail. After the initial embarrassment, mom went "Oh well" and gave a friendly wave to everyone. As they were walking back up the drive Dad said something to the effect "well, that was fun" and mom responded "yeah, LET'S DO IT AGAIN!!!"   And they kept on sledding!  Ya see, it runs in the family!

Thursday, January 28, 2010

a bloody mess

Today has been interesting. I got Paul and Anna out the door by 8:15am.  Paul's preschool starts at 9am so I figured I would run over to the pharmacy to pick up my medicine then take Paul to school early so the kids could play on the playground before he had to go to class. Well, there was a problem with my insurance (when is there ever NOT a problem?) so it took about 40 minutes to just pick up my prescription. When the woman finally handed me the meds and I paid my 10.00 copay, I had to laugh out loud when upon opening the package I discovered there were only three pills.  three pills?  I did all that work for three pills??  Man oh man I sure hope these three pills were worth the office visit with kids in tow, a 15 min line to drop the prescription off and a 40min argument to pick them up. But I do aprriciate Dr. Asher's tother perception. Me- "My shoulders and neck hurt so bad."  The doctor rubs my shoulders and says  "yep. they are really tight.  you should have your husband work his magic hands on you to loosen you up. your in need of a massage"  me -"is that a prescription?"  Doctor - "yep. that's a prescription."    me to roger - "I swear the doctor said you needed to give me a 15min massage 3 times a day to clear up this bug I have."

By the time we got to Paul's school it was time for him to go to class. He took the no playground announcement well but Anna did not, so I took her out for a little bit before wrestling with her to get her back into the car. That child can throw a fit.  With her being 24 pounds it is terribly hard on my back when she kicks and screams while I am trying my hardest not to drop her. I wonder where she gets her strong will?  hummmm

The rest of the day was a blur. Anna screamed ALL DAY "I wannnn disssss"   "disss disss comma comma disss  dissss pleassssssssse."   It has been three weeks now that she has been irritable like this. But I am happy to announce that we finally have an appointment set up to see the Ear Nose and Throat Doctor!!!!!!  YAAAAYY  I will kiss the man/woman when I see them! however, we have to wait until February 15th. :(  oh man. I have just reached the laughing point now.  While she throws a fit that I can't do anything about, I sit and laugh at the situation, praying for Feb 15th to hurry up and get here.

This afternoon was a dozy.  Roger had to leave right after work to go talk at his fraternity house. I was left with the kids after being with the kids all day. I'm tired. They're tired. Bad combination. During their bath Anna found my razor. I walked in to find her finger painting the bathroom with her own blood. Awesome. Then had to fight with her for thirty minutes in order to get the bleeding to stop. She kept ripping the band-aid off, insisting that she wanted to suck the blood from her finger. She got blood all over my bed, her face, my glasses and her breath has that weird blood smell.  Pretty nasty and pretty frustrating. But I kept cool and just laughed with paul about it.

AFter I got the bleeding stopped and the pjs on, I walked back into the bathroom to clean the blood up and was welcomed with a big puddle of baby soap in the floor.  She must have decided to pour all her lavender baby shampoo all over the floor.  Man oh man.  So I cleaned up a big soapy and bloody mess while running back and forth into my room reminding the kids that there was this rule in the house that stated "thou shalt not jump on mom and dad's bed. because I totally just said so."

Now I am sitting here thinking about how class starts on monday. How are we going to do this? When will I ever have time to do my reading for class? Maybe I should just drop out until roger is finished. i don't know. Maybe I'll give this semester a try for a couple of weeks and see. "I think I can. I think I can.  I think I can." It's just every thursday from 6 until 9pm I will be sitting in a lecture after having chased the kids around all day. And I will probably be frustrated because I wont have my reading done because Anna kept ripping my book out of my hands.  How in the world am I going to get any reading done let alone write any major papers?  It makes me tired to think about class starting back but it makes me sad to think about not starting back.  I guess everybody feels that way at the beginning of the semester. Cold feet?

Alright, the kids are in bed, roger is gone, the Deep End comes on in 15min (the grandson of one of our church members is the main character so I feel I need to support the local people :) ) and I have a great book that Sarah has let be borrow (the lovely bones).  AHHHH  the quite alone time has missed me. "here I come empty living room.  Open up your arms fluffy couch!  Mamma is tired!"

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

I want my mom


I'm getting to the point where I understand no one cares but I still need to type it out and pretend that someone out there in the internet world gives a rip about the things that I am wrestling with.  Most of my time is spent bent over picking something or someone up, cleaning or doing homework. There are times when I go weeks without talking to a grown up.We try to get together with friends but I am slowly finding out that childless people enjoy going out instead of staying in with the not to fun old married couple with kids. (all smiles) So, I talk to the computer as if it were a good friend. Someday I am going to print all of these posts out, bind them into a book and give it to my children on my death bed. Yep, a keep sake of their good ol' mamma!

Life in the house has been a bit edgy the past couple of months. There are so many decisions to make yet we have no power in the decision making. I feel like we are floating around in hot air balloon praying to land safely somewhere.  But I feel like we will just be in the hot air balloon forever and i'm fine with that too. I just want to know what is going to happen. Are we landing or are we going to continue to float? Because I would like to watch a little tv 

Going through moments (or months) like this is so nerve racking. You're sad, excited, nervous, anxious, happy, and mad all day long. I hate living like this. I try to put all the decision making in the back of my head, live each day as normal as possible and keep on with the praying but let's be honest, it is easier to give advise than to take it.  The worst part of this whole situation is that I feel so alone in it. I have two mamma friends that I have been able to share my concerns with and whom understand what it is like to be in this limbo state of life. That has helped. It's always nice to hear other people's stories of life. Especially when they have a good ending. We all have to endure changes, it's just some of us handle them more gracefully than others.  I am not graceful. I worry a lot when it comes to change.  It takes a bit for me to adjust. I cling to familiar things, people and routines. When any of the three change I get a bit anxious. 

I just got off the phone with poison control. While I was typing this Anna was apparently eating a whole bottle of 200 homeopathic teething pills. YAY that it was homeopathic. The woman on the phone said she would probably be very hyper since they have coffee and sugar in them but she would be fine.  Great.  A hyper Anna is just fantastic!!  totally kidding.

Anyway, I have a doctor's appointment in 20 mins that I have to take the kids to. It's for me but roger had to work during lunch ( I set it up at lunch so I wouldn't have to take the kids) so I guess I'm going to be wrangling the kids into a doctors office and letting them watch me get a shot in the rump.  SOunds like a fun little afternoon! I want my mom. :(

Thursday, January 21, 2010

tut, tut it looks like rain

On days like today I listen to this song!  It always helps.

I left the doctor's office today in tears. Then I had a brilliant idea. They should have a therapist on staff for the extra emotional moms, like me, that tend to blame themselves any time their child is sick. I was told that Anna's ears are not getting any better. she has a LOT of fluid in her left ear and her right ear is really infected. This is after 2 months and three prescriptions of three different antibiotics. So, we are being sent to an Ear, Nose and Throat specialist to talk about our options. 

I got in the car and felt the urge to sink into a ball and cry. I just needed to cry. One of those really snotty, screaming type of cries that you say "why" over and over again. I know in retrospect it isn't that big of a deal and kids have ear problems all the time but I just hate seeing my child suffer. I hate being up all night, knowing what is wrong, yet not knowing what to do. I feel so helpless. I also hate going to the doctor but it seems like between my heart condition and Anna's ear infections, I live at the clinic. I should count up the hours of my life that I have spent either sitting in a waiting room or hooked up to a monitor. It would be nutts. It is nutts! 

Im exhausted. Something happened today that I have always feared would happen. It turned out alright though but took the breath out of me. I was sick this morning so I took some of the cold medicines that my family doctor gave me that I had left over from the last time I was sick.  It just dries up your sinuses and makes you a bit drowsy.  I got so tired I couldn't stand so I stretched out on the couch.  Then I heard paul scream "Anna is breaking my stuff AAAHH."  I jumped up way too fast, ran into the kitchen and blacked out. I fell flat on my back and the wind was knocked out of me. I think my blood pressure dropped because then I was too weak to even get up.  I stayed flat on the floor, feeling dizzy, with Anna jumping on my stomach until I had to push myself to get up.  I just had that "I give up. Let me die here" feeling of exhaustion. 

So, to make myself feel better I rented Bridget Jones' Diary  and ate pizza for dinner. Good thing Roger doesn't work tomorrow. I am physically exhausted. I don't think I can carry anna up and down the stairs or to the car any more this week.  I want to stay in my bed with my new M. Scott Peck book, chocolate, and french fries. oh and maybe a milk shake to dip the fries in.  I guess I better get out my stretchy pants. Ladies and Gents, I feel a junk food weekend coming.

Oh and on a more exciting note!!  The library is celebrating winnie the Pooh's birthday on saturday with a big winnie the pooh party.  I'm so excited.  Isn't that horrible how excited I am.  I hope to finish reading to paul this winnie the pooh book that our friend tyler is letting us borrow by then.  Ah, the small joys in life!!!  And I might just take a long walk in the rain tomorrow morning!!  I LOVE rain walks!


Monday, January 18, 2010

marriage and kids

We sent the kids to their Nanna and Pop's house this weekend!!  I love doing that.  It is a win-win for everyone involved. The kids get to spend a whole weekend with their grandparents and Roger and I get to spend a whole weekend being kids.  It is GREAT!

When we first started sending the kids away on the weekends I had immense guilt. I don't want people to think that our children are a burden to us. That we are "getting rid" of them for the weekend. No, we are sending them to their grandparents house for the well being of our family. They need to have that time with their grandparents and Roger and I need that time to reconnect. 

Staying married is one thing. "YAY, you've dealt with each other for 25 years. congratulations"  But I don't want just that. I don't want to live in the same house with someone that I never get to talk to, someone that I have grown apart from.  My marriage is very important to me. Keeping my little family together is my top priority. That's why we send the kids away. We need that time together about once every other month to reconnect, to be alone together, to talk, to giggle, to remember why we decided to jump into the ocean of marriage.  

I feel that people with children see the act of child rearing as the main purpose within the marriage. They forget about their relationship. They begin to see the time it takes to work on their marital relationship(date nights) as selfish.  Instead they focus all their time and energy towards the children and have very little, if any, energy to focus on their relationship. They become strangers sharing a house. housemates!!  Sometimes even enemies "I hate you" and competitors "i do more around here than you."

I wish more people would see that taking care of the relationship with your spouse is the least selfish thing you can do. In fact, not taking care your relationship is selfish. Keeping that marriage alive and passionate is the greatest gift you can give your children. They learn many things from their parents. How to talk, how to treat people, what to eat and what a marriage should look like. 

Relationships are work. We've heard that many times. But they are. Just because you live with a person doesn't mean that you know them. Get to know your spouse. If you have kids, schedule time together. A whole weekend works great for us!! Then promise not to talk about the kids.  There are other things that you have in common besides the kids.  Positive communication is crucial in a relationship. Try to have more positive interactions with your spouse than negative. Leave notes, make a random "I love you" call.

Anyway, the kids are back now, Roger's at the library studying and I need to head off to my stroller fit class!!!  YAY!!  I feel so refreshed and ready to take on the nonstop week that is ahead of me

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

My Little Gifts

It finally happened today!  It FINALLY happened.  Other moms have told me that it would happen eventually but I just couldn't believe it happened.  

I was bent over in the living room cleaning up some horrible mess that Anna made (She is always destroying EVERYTHING) when all of a sudden it was quite.  I was a bit scared from the lack of noise, I'm not used to that, so I took off on a mad dash to the kids.  I found them sitting in a chair, both had toy car, playing together.  TOGETHER!!!!!  They were playing TOGETHER!!!  It wasn't the normal Anna yanking something from Paul's hand, Paul screaming while Anna ran away giggling type of play.  They were BOTH enjoying themselves.  They were BOTH in this crazy world of make believe.  

After starring at them with my mouth open wide, afraid to move because I might disturb the peace, I jumped on the opportunity or should I say the couch. I grabbed my big blanket, my book and placed my bum on the couch.  I read, I snoozed, I read some more.  After about 30 min I did another look see and they were STIL PLAYING!!!!!   It was incredible.   

I eventually had to get up to do the laundry and make lunch but they kept at the playing. I was able to accomplish my chores in a lot less time without two children "helping" me. 

After lunch I found Anna and Paul sitting in a different chair.  Paul was playing with his spider man car while Anna held her baby doll and rested her head on her big brothers shoulder.  It was adorable and I will admit that I started to tear up a bit "They love each other!!!"  

Just another reason why I feel so blessed to be able to stay home with those two. Not only are they able to spend so much time getting to know one another but I get to witness it first hand.

I get depressed sometimes about not being able to have anymore children but I reminded on a daily basses how blessed I am to have those two!!!  They are my little gifts.  

Monday, January 11, 2010

Straight A's!!!

I know it sounds so silly but I got my last paper back for the semester and I got an A!!!   That means that I have had straight A's all semester for the past two semesters. Rock out!!!!

 Now, let me confess that I am only taking one seminary class at a time (so far) so its not as impressive from that point of view.  But the thing is that I have two small children (4 and 19months) that I stay home with. I had originally intended to not start seminary until Roger graduated with his MDiv but since finding out that it is a 90hr program I decided I should just start now or I will be waiting FOREVER for him to graduate.  Along with that wait comes jealousy "why is it that you get to go to school and I am stuck at home all day raising your offspring?"  So, to ease tension with in the house hold, I started back to seminary.  It has helped a lot.

But getting good grades and a less tense home isn't the only boost I have gotten. I have been able to learn under one of the finest counselors there is.  It has been an awe inspiring place to be.  There is nothing more encouraging than a "way to go" pat on the back from a professor you look up too, that you aspire to be one day.  It has helped me get out of the "what now" rut.  I am not only stronger with in my faith but I have goals!!  I have purpose!  I can see that meaning that God has placed in my life.

It is also pretty cool being in the same program as your husband.  The last two classes I have taken he had already taken. We were able to sit up late into the evening discussing certain reading material for the class and assignments on the syllabus.  It is always great to be married to someone who shares your ambitions in life. I love how we work as a team, bouncing ideas off of one another!!!  I also love the giggle out breaks that tend to happen after we come head to head on an issue related to class. The giggling happens when we step back and say "we are so weird.  couples don't talk like this over coffee and cereal."   Just for the record, I'm not the weirdo, Roger is!! :)  Im very normal! Wouldn't you agree?

Anyway, I thought  I would share that I am proud of myself for the first time in a while.  I have made that first couple steps towards my masters degree and I am succeeding.  However, next semester I am taking a Glenn Hinson class and I am so scared I am having trouble not wetting myself.  I already know the reading is going to be a bit heavy so I just pray that I can understand it at least a little.  Good thing I'm married to Roger.  He is always my fall back if I get to a hair pulling point and scream "HELP"  he comes to the rescue.  

Also, next semester Roger and I will not be having class on the same day. That is what sucked about last semester. He was in class all day monday and I was in class at night.  I drove the kids to the seminary, he jumped in the car and drove them home, while I ran to my class.  It was exhausting.  Now he has class on Monday and I have class thursday night!!!  YAY!!!!   We'll see how that works.  


Wednesday, January 6, 2010

venting about the appointment

well, that Doctor's appointment was pointless.  I want to SCREAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMM!

Anna was to have her 18 month checkup today. It was with a new doctor so I called her old doctor to have her chart sent about a month ago. They informed me that it would take 3 months to have her records sent. 3 MONTHS????????  Holy CRAP.  I explained that she needed her shots so they said to simply have the new clinic fax over a request and they would fax the last sheet of her records.  So, I called the new clinic and they said to come 30min early for her appointment to have sign the request.  I already had a copy of the request and the paper work at home thanks to Dr. Griffith, so I filled that out so I would be ready.  

I got to the clinic early, 40 min early, talked to the woman at the front desk.  I explained that I had all the paper work, handed it to her and said that she needed to fax this (I handed her a paper) to the old clinic in order to get the top copy of Anna's last shots.  I needed this done so she could get her shots. 

When the PA got back to see Anna he informed me that I needed to have things signed and faxed and that Anna couldn't get her shots today. WHAT??  "I gave all that to the nurse in the front and explained that to her."   So, Anna was just simply checked which means I answered simple questions and he smiled at her a bit.  CRAP

As I was leaving a I simply explained to the woman AGAIN that I needed things faxed to the old clinic so that I could get Anna's shots up to date.  She laughed and said "Oh I know."   I said "well, did you do it?"   She said "no, I don't have the fax number."   I said "well, hummmmm  you just have to call the clinic and ask.  do you not have it here?"    she said "when you get home can you call them and then call me back with the fax number?"    WHAT????   I don't work her lady.  That's your job.  AAAAAAAAAAAHHH

So, now in two weeks I gotta loud up two kids and myself, drive to the clinic, sit in a waiting room for FOREVER, in order to get Anna her shots.  I thought I was doing that today.  Man I hate this.  I REALLY hate this.  Can't I just get the shots in the mail and give them myself?  I know, unrealistic.  but hey, I gave my self blood thinner shots while I was pregnant.  I got pretty darn good!!!

Oh, and Anna has ANOTHER ear infection.  CRAPPPPPPP.  Doubl CRAPPPPP.  He started talking to me about ear tubes.  I requested to see an ear, nose and throat specialist to see if there is anything else we can do before the ear tube thing.  I REALLY don't thing those tubes work.  I have 7 of them when I was younger.  I really don't want to do that. I want to see if there are any other options first.  Poor baby :(

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Sun Shinny Days

At this very moment I am on cloud 9. I'm so happy with the way things are working out in my life, my children's lives, my husband's life.  

Paul is in a preschool that he loves.  Anna is starting to be more independent at the ripe old age of 19 months. She is also smiling more. I have to attribute that to the fact that she FINALLY has cute all of her teeth.  That child has a WHOLE mouth full.  It has been a hard painful journey for the whole family but we are right there at the finish line.  She has just one little tooth left that has already cut through but still needs a bit more pushing.  Man oh man it is so nice to not have the constant screaming.  Turns out she is a lovely child!!

Roger is working a job he has always wanted, full time ministry.  He is learning so much while working with Pastor Jim.  I'm so glad he gets the opportunity to work along side a man that has so much experience within the church. He has also been taken under the wing of two other well known ministers in a mentoring relationship. Church work is emotionally straining at times and I am glad that he has been surrounded by so many wonderful people that he can lean on and learn from. He is also thoroughly enjoying his seminary time. It can be horrendously  challenging with a full time job, and family, but he is doing great!  He is becoming what I feel God has always intended him to become. It is has been transforming to me to watch the process from the time he was in middle school talking about working in missions to now, in seminary, working in the mission of the church. 

As for me, I am doing what I dreamed of as a little girl. I have two beautiful children whom I get to spend every waking hour teaching how to love, honor, and respect themselves, those around them and the beautiful environment God created. Watching them grow, picking them up when they fall and laughing with them on a daily bases can be challenging, oh boy it can be challenging, but it so rewarding. 

Another thing that has been so rewarding this past year is going back to school.  After graduating with my BA in psychology I was incredibly confused. For five years I  had worked non stop, going to school full time, working part time, taking care of little Paul and trying to squeeze in some sort of social college life. what was I to do know. I was handed my diploma along with a whole basket full of "what now."  After a rough year of pregnancy, bed rest, job loss, house buying and postpartum  depression something snapped.  I decided to give seminary a try. I told myself I would just take one class, just one class, then apply for grad school at UK. But something appealed to me. Pastoral Counseling!  A therapy that took into account a persons spirituality as well as their psychological state. "Pastoral Counselors are not only mental health professionals but persons who have in-depth religious and theological training." - Interfaith Counseling Center.  It fit!!  

What I am most nervous about is the CPEs.  I will be working for free as a pastoral counselor within several different settings; church, hospital, hospice, clinic.  It will be a learning process in which I will have a person to check back to and learn from but I will actually be seeing patients.  It kinda scares me to think that one day I will be handed several charts of patients and told "Ok, go introduce yourself to your patients. You're on call tonight on the pediatric unit."  Isn't that weird!?!?!  I'll probably start with hospice because I was advised by a very bright professor that having young children and working a pediatric unit can be very difficult.  "You can get what they call the intern disease. You come home thinking that your children have everything that you witnessed at the hospital. It can be troubling."  Good point.  

Even though I am nervous I am soooooooooo excited!!!!  It is so nice FINALLY having some direction!  It's also nice to know that once I get my degree there is an endless amount of opportunities. I can work in a church, in a clinic, in a hospital, in a shelter.  It's so exciting!!!  I'm also really enjoy taking classes and getting this degree.  So, I don't have that "gotta hurry and get out of school so I can start my career" feeling. My career has started. For example, I want to work with children and families, so why not start with working with my family.  My home is a GREAT lab!!!

Ok, I've typed way to much but I'm just so darn excited.  As I was typing this the kids have piled Baby Dolls all over me and around me. "We are going on a trip. Can you watch our children?"  What great role play!!!  and they're playing together!!!

 

Saturday, January 2, 2010

A new Year

(in my play list I added mine and Roger's new song.  Simple Life by the weepies.  Take a listen! Just turn on your volume)

It's day two of the year 2010.  That sounds so futuristic doesn't it!?  So far it has been happy, sad, stressful, exciting, laughable and as of right now this very second, restful. 

Wednesday night we had friends over for a small little gathering to celebrate the end of the year. We ate yummy homemade, organic minestrone that my handy man of a husband cooked, homemade wassail that the beautifully talented Amanda M prepared, a delicious cheeseball that Alexandria threw together, a lush salad that Tyler made in front of me upon arriving and some delicious beer from who else but Nathan. We all gathered in the living room in a big circle on the floor and had dinner.  There's nothing like just sittin' on the floor with some wassail, beer, good food and close friends.  Ah  Just so lovely.  

On Thursday Roger and I kept it low key.  We took the kids to dinner at Old Chicago.  Everyone keeps telling me to go there.  First of all I hate chain restaurants.  Second, the pizza was not that good.  It tasted like it had been under a heat lamp for a while and maybe the heat lamp was missing a bulb. Then the lady beside us got served a chicken salad with raw chicken. YUCK.  DANGEROUS.  I'll never go back.  Pazzo's is still my favorite pizza!!! Plus the beer selection is WAY BETTER at Pazzo's!!   It has a special place in my heart!

On the way home we stopped to get a movie. That was crazy and took FOREVER.  Anna not only tried to pull every movie off of the shelf but she pood herself BIG TIME. I took her out and changed her in the car while Roger continued the  "no you can't get that" movie fight with Paul. We'll never do that again.

Roger and I ended up watching the new Adam Sandler movie "Funny People."  Let me just save you the trouble and say IT'S NOT FUNNY.  It is such a sad movie and it is soooooooo long.  I got tired of the thing and went to bed.  I wanted to be asleep by the time the new year rolled around.  I was completely tired of 09.

On friday, new years day, I got up bright and early, ate a good healthy breakfast and started my heart pumping exercise. In the middle of the exercise my mom called to inform me that my Grandmother was in the hospital.  I rushed to take a shower in order to ride with my parents an hour to the hospital.  It ended up taking FOREVER because my parents have a terrible time following directions "It says turn left Randy but I think we should turn right. Look that building looks like it could be a hospital  Just turn here."  I just sat in the back seat biting my tongue until I just screamed out "AAAH just let me out of here so I can run to the hospital. It will help with my anxiety and I'll get there faster. You old people are driving me nuttts"  I know.  I am guilty of agism.  But hey, I did get a free Salmon meal out of the deal. 

Today was spent driving in a car to see my other grandmother for her birthday. It ended up being relaxing. I got out of the house and in a car ALONE with my favorite music (The Weepies, Switchfoot and Sandra McCraken).  I got to actually sit through a movie and eat dinner without someone trying to still my food.  

I do have to tell this one thing because I thought it was rather hilarious.  When we took Mawmaw out for her birthday we sat in the bar area of the restaurant.  The bar tender started giving away free shots.  He came up to my mawmaw and asked her if she wanted one. I started to giggle and thought "oh she wont take one. She's my grandmother. she doesn't drink"  But she grabbed that shot and downed it.  So, I grabbed a shot and downed it.  Now I can say that I took shots with my MawMaw!!  Happy Birthday!

When I got home I was welcomed by Anna screaming "MOMMMMMMMMY," Paul saying "hey, watch my new super hero trick,"  and Roger looking like he had been hit by a big mack truck.  I think he's excited that I'm home too!!!!  He's just too tired to speak at the moment. :)