tsj photography » 2009

Today was that day! In a great big ol’ way … it started off okay {sorry, not sure why I’m rhyme master at the moment}.

I dropped the kids off at school and stopped by the gas station to fill up. Took forever to authorize my card {excuse me, I’m standing in 10 degree weather, could we hurry it up a bit?}. Then tells me my card’s been rejected.

Rejected? ”Nah,” I think and being the stubborn idiot I am, I try it again. You know, cuz the first time it didn’t take long enough and because I rather enjoy the freezing cold weather.

Rejected again. Fine, I’ll pay inside then. That took another 30 minutes to process … good times! And then … it wouldn’t let me pick the type of gasoline I wanted. Humpf!

So I get back in the car and drive to the next pump. Same ol’ routine happening at pump number two. I thought surely it was a pump number one ‘thing’ and pump number two definitely wouldn’t reject my card. I was wrong …

I take the rejection easier this time and go straight for the pay inside option. And this pump liked my gas choice and I’m in business.

I get inside the car to wait and notice the shirt I’m wearing is on backwards. It’s a turtleneck {why do I feel like a dork admitting that?}, and it’s got a seam line that runs down the center of the neck cowl. So the seam is in the front. I don’t think it’s too noticeable, and I’m quite lazy, so I leave it like that all day.

Gas is done and I’m on my way to work.

When I get to work, I try to clean myself up a little. I’ve got my jeans tucked in my Uggs {yeah, cuz I’m super cool like that … just can’t let a trend die}, but they’re the knitted type and my jeans are all crazy in there cuz I was in a hurry leaving the house with 3 kids this morning, so I try and straighten them out best I can, but I’m feeling much like train wreck.

I go over and clue Nellie in on my train wreck situation and while I’m talking, I realize I have a hole in my sleeve. Does it get better?

Yeah.

Turns out someone’s gotten a hold of my credit card number and has been doing a little spending. What the heck?

Let’s see … what else? Given my day, I was probably walking around with a hunk of cilantro {from the chili I brought in} in my teeth!

Fast forward a few hours.

We took the girls to a movie tonight {Hotel for Dogs … loved it!}. Curt picked up the baby, while I picked up Piper and Wynter. Miss teenager had a dance to attend.

We met at the theater. Curt was in charge of snacks. He bought each of the girls their own slushie’s. I usually buy them one small drink to share. I’ve been trying, trying, trying to relax a little with the rules, have more fun and not be such a task master.

I was not happy, but I didn’t say a word. Slushie’s? Mmmm, yummy, sure, no problem.

Hunter sat by Curt, so I wasn’t keeping an eye on things. Turns out, she drank her whole slushie. How do I know? It came out at the end of the movie … all over me! With a little popcorn in there too.

She threw up all over herself and me. Yuck. Curt took her into the bathroom to change, while I went to clean myself up. Hunter and I both end up going home shirtless {under our jackets}.

Good times this day of mine … and I’m happy to say, “all good things must come to an end.”

Nite-Nite …

fun paper craft

randomness thursday

I got a whole lotta randomness floatin’ around my head this morning! First … do you love this? Does it evoke anything in you? I love when a picture, or words speak to me. This old man, this old woman … holding hands … laughing. Will I have joy like this when I’m older? More importantly, will I have joy like this with the man I love?

And ooooo how I do love the man I love! He’s been in Japan since last Friday. The girls miss him and I miss him. Isn’t it funny {totally not haha funny}, how we miss them more and appreciate them more when they’re gone?

I suppose the one good thing is that I get no computer time when he’s gone! The reason that’s good, is that I have a love | hate relationship with my computer. I love it to pieces … but I hate that I love it so much!

Anyway, he gets home tonight and you better believe hugs and kisses will abound! The man gets smothered by his women when he walks in the door after being away. Hmmm, maybe that’s why he leaves so frequently? We seem to pay no attention to him when he’s around … :)

Okay, and I also wanted to give you an ‘eye update.’ I had an appointment with my ophthalmologist on Tuesday. I thought I’d have to have my eyes dilated, but didn’t need to … thank you Lord! I have really come to hate having my eyes dilated! My mom went with to drive, but with her broken wrist and all, I drove there and then was able to drive back. And the bonus was some extra mommy | daughter time!

Okay so the update.

That man loves to talk about MS! Oh my word! I think if he were the only one treating me, he’d have me start a preventative care program. So, I’m pretty glad he’s not the only one treating me!

He gave me lots of interesting information though, and I’m thankful for that. Seems with optic neuritis, some of the nerves in your eye die. So I’ll go back in three months for a test to see just how many have died off. In patients with MS, those nerves continue to die. At a very slow and unnoticeable rate, but they die nonetheless.

So what we’ll do is repeat that test periodically throughout my life {?} to see if MS is developing.

Otherwise everything is progressing nicely. My vision is slowly returning. I’d say I have about 90% of it back. It could take up to a couple more weeks or so. The {very limited} research I’ve done says it could take up to 6 months to be fully restored.

My doc says it’ll never be the way it was. Even when it returns to 20/20, I’ll always ‘know’ something is ‘off’ with my vision. Sigh …

Oh! And a report from my neurologist … she’s going to have me do another MRI in 3 months. And I’ll be seeing her in a few weeks from now. What I love about her is that she is way, super, overly cautious {she calls herself anal-retentive}, but she’s not overly diagnostic. And while she is happy with the Mayo report, she doesn’t want to ignore the MRI’s that were done here {Mayo didn’t look at them}, and she doesn’t want to ignore the fact that I have decreased sensation in my left side.

And while she is sure there is nothing to be concerned about {and I am at total peace with that}, she doesn’t want to wait 12 months {Mayo’s recommendation} to have me seen again. I guess I’m in her court … I’d definitely rather be overly cautious!

My chipmunk cheeks are finally getting back to normal! Woo-hoo! And the steroids have left my body and I’m feeling close to myself again!

Other randomness includes the fact that yesterday was my first day back at work in a few weeks. I get this mixed bag while being there. I love it, love what I created … and at the same time … I so want to be done!

To that end … we have someone who {we’ve been told} is putting together an offer. YAY! Right? And there are two other people who have expressed serious interest. So if this offer falls through, the broker feels confident the others {or maybe they would anyways} will be putting offers together. We’ll see.

I took forever for me to ‘give’ this situation to God. When I finally did … three very interested candidates show up. God is good … all the time!

Well … I gotta get my bootie off this computer … we are going to be way late this morning!

sick piper

I’m home from work today with Piper. She’s got strep. And a sweet tooth. And a new ladybug friend … honest.

She was in bad shape by time I got home from the lake yesterday. You know how you can just hear the pain when they’re trying to talk? She even begged me to put Vicks on her feet before bed. Lady with a sick kid at home say what? Crazy, I know! I got some kind of email forward that talks about putting Vicks on the bottom of your feet and then putting your socks on before bed … that it helps tame a nighttime cough.

With all the coughing children under my roof … I’d be crazy not to try it! And … go ahead and call me crazy, but I’m going with … it works!

And while googling ‘Vicks’ … I found this. You be the judge.

Anyway.

So … I started writing this post at 1:30 this afternoon and now it’s 7:45 pm and I’m sitting at Starbucks waiting for Taylor to be done with her ‘modeling‘ thing. I’m tired. Tired, tired. Like when I just went into the restroom, I didn’t recognize the bags looking back at me in the mirror.

Alright, alright … I recognized them … just totally didn’t want to be the owner of them. And the bland decaf coffee I’m drinking isn’t helping any. But I did just splurge on an awesome krispy treat and that was yummy!!

Splurge? Yeah, I started Nutrisystem again today. I have some of their food hanging around for times when I’ve been splurgin’ a bit too much. Now is one of those times. I did a whole lotta splurgin’ this weekend {ohmyword!} … and on top of all the eating this weekend, I’ve gained a bit of weight with the steroids I was recently taking. And by a bit of weight, I mean about 15 pounds. Yikes, did I just admit that?

Anyway.

I had fun with Piper today. She started out p-r-e-t-t-y sick! But by lunch time she was a little more herself again. She found a rogue ladybug and decided to build a habitat for it. She gave it lettuce, a strawberry and an apple slice, along with a few drops of water. We ate lunch with it. Watched a movie with it. Bonded with it. Only in my house would we spend a sick day with a ladybug.

I always enjoy spending one-on-one time with each of the girls. Time without their sisters seem to bring out some of the uniqueness in each of them.

Alrighty, my WiFi time at Starbucks is coming to a close {two hour max, what is that?!?} and I still have to tell you about this very awesome move of mine before I’m shut down.

So I’m picking Hunter up at daycare this afternoon and I see one of her old teachers down the hall. Oh! She’s pregnant! Very clearly pregnant. We say our hello’s as I pass, and I say, “congratulations.”

She says, “for what?”

I. am. an. idiot!

I never, ever, never, ever, never, ever, never tell someone congrats, or ‘oh you’re pregnant’ or anything even remotely close to that, unless I know for a fact they are indeed with child!

i.d.i.o.t!

And seriously Starbucks? Two hours? And it’s not even free anymore … humpf …

a weekend with friends

This is has been my view all weekend. Peaceful, no? Even though we were in the midst of a deep freeze … I’m talking 20 below zero … before the windchill!

I’m blessed to have access to a beautiful place in northern wisconsin where I holed up with my girlfriends for a much needed girly-girl weekend. Our husbands absolutely did. not. understand what we were doing. What could we possibly be doing?

Did you go outside? Did you snowmobile? Go for a walk? What then? What did you do?

“You talked?” ”About what?”

Men don’t understand, do they?

We were literally in our jammies the entire weekend. We joked that we played musical chairs … we moved from this chair, to that chair, to the sofa, to the chair … and we listened to music.

We played games, we read, we facebooked, we talked … about every topic under the sun {I’ll spare you the details}. Isn’t it awesome to have a group of ladies you can go away with, and feel complete peace with? We didn’t need to do anything. We didn’t want to do anything.

Oh! Wait! I failed to mention … we ate. We ate, and we ate, and we ate … and none of us will need to eat for a week. Honest.

I am blessed to have these ladies in my life. Thank you friends.

And, as always … as great as it is to get away, it’s even greater to return. I am so in love with my family. With us being at Mayo, I hadn’t seen the girls since Tuesday night. Is it not the greatest feeling in the world to feel the love of a child who hasn’t seen you in almost a week?

Pure excitement. Little arms wrapped tightly around your legs … coming at me from every direction. Even Taylor came running when she saw me, “mommy!” … can I ask for anything more from a thirteen year old? Sigh.

As I was sitting with the girls tonight watching TV before bed, I studied each of them and wanted to record each memory. Every single detail …

Wynter needed my scarf the minute I walked in the door … she wrapped it around her neck like she was the Red Barron and added a matching headband to complete her ensemble. She’s such a tactile little creature … she’s loving, touching, squeezing, smelling. Yeah … she smells me.

Piper has strep right now … she’s such a sick little girl. So she’s laying on me, all stuffed up which means she needs to breath out of her mouth … that really awesome infectious-dragon-breath-that-only-a-mother-could-love smell …

And then little Hunter … who’s somehow grown up so fast. She’s potty trained now. I didn’t want to potty train her. Not because I didn’t want to do the work. But because I want her to be a baby … forever … and ever. Is that wrong? Anyway. She sees Piper laying with me, so she comes over and tries to squeeze in too. My ‘baby’ in her silky, summer pajama dress {that she insisted on wearing} with red polka dotted Christmas pj bottoms and her sister’s hand-me-down pink Uggs, that she thinks are slippers.

And then of course there’s miss teenager. I love her so. Every complicated, moody, emotional, temperamental, sulky ounce of her. We just finished watching The Bachelor {gotta love DVR} and as we’re sitting there I’m realizing just how quickly this little girl has grown up … and even better … just how cool she really is.

I am blessed.

ever have ‘one of those days?’

fun paper craft

randomness thursday

sick piper

a weekend with friends