School Supply Shopping

School supply shopping has officially begun.

This is the first year I've had to actually buy pens, because apparently, 4th grade is serious business.

There's a great deal to be had at Target right now.



Papermate pens are $1.02 for a package

And, you can score a $1.00 off coupon here

Making these pens nearly FREE! Just 2-cents per package. :) Now that's a deal!

I need those prayer warriors again.

I've mentioned her before. She's my good friend that climbed mountains in order to get pregnant. She dealt with a blood clot and was on bed rest at the beginning of her pregnancy. Then, she failed her 1 hour glucose test, which took her to the 3 hour. Needless to say, she also failed that.

Most recently, she's found out she's got a large nodule on one side of her thyroid, and a couple small ones on the other side. The big "C" was brought up, and she'll be going in for a biopsy.

I can't even imagine the fear, the worry. Not only for your own well being, but for your unborn child. I can't help but wonder why people are constantly put through such trying times. Wasn't the struggle to get pregnant enough? She worried for weeks she was losing her baby in the beginning, and just when she started to put her guard down, she's dealing with gestational diabetes. And just when she wraps her mind around controlling the GD, she gets this dumped on her plate.

So, I'm asking all of you .... please keep her in your prayers. I know many of you haven't a clue as to who I'm talking about, but just know she's one of the sweetest and most selfless people I know.

Babies!

So many friends & family members are expecting babies, and I am so anxious for them all to arrive.

Not only do I love snuggling and loving up little babies, but I love photographing them. I can only hope I can get the opportunity with these new little bundles that will be arriving over the next few months.

I mean, I love photographing my kids - but after awhile they get tired of me constantly having a camera in their face (my daughter can tolerate this much longer than my son; he, on the other hand, forces a few smiles and then he's absolutely D-O-N-E). Babies are just great. Especially when they aren't crawling away, eating your backdrop, and for the simple fact that - I get my baby "fix" and then they go home.

Doesn't get much better than that.

Road Warriors .... Groupies .... What's the difference?

A couple weeks ago I went on a road trip to the East Coast with my friend, Kathy. We headed that way so that were were able to hit a few concerts on the side of the country.

My road trip started here in Illinois, immediately after I got off work and took me into Indiana, where Kathy lives. From there, we loaded up her car, stopped at the grocery store to buy some snacks and drinks and hit the road.

We crashed for the night around midnight-1am somewhere in Pennsylvania. The next morning we headed to Intercourse, PA (yes, it really does exist -- along with Blue Ball, Virginville, etc) where we spent a couple hours in Amish Country.

After that it was on to Wilmington, Delaware, where would see the first of 3 concerts. And no, for those that know me, it was not New Kids on the Block. This music is entirely different, and not very main stream.

I highly recommend you look them up though -- Naturally 7. Simply amazing.

It was an amazing few days. We saw 3 concerts in 3 days in 3 different states. We truly rocked it.

After it was all said & done, we traveled thru (whether it was just passing thru or stopping in for any amount of time) 8 different states (9 if you include Illinois for me, which was the final 1.5 hours of my drive from Indiana) and covered 2,029 miles. WOW!

The memories I have are amazing. It was a great experience. While we traveled to CT for our final concert, we drove thru New Jersey and New York. I got to see the Statue of Liberty waaaaaaay off in the distance, and I was extremely excited to see her (have not visited her yet, but it's on the list - my son really wants to go, so it will have to be a family trip). I tried a couple new things (fried calamari (yuck!) and pickled onions (yum!) and I gained a closer bond with my friend.

So, whether we're called road warriors or groupies .... I don't care. It was totally worth it!! Now I cross my fingers that they eventually end up back in the Midwest so we can follow them around a little closer to home!

Little Sports Stars

In a little over a month, my son will be starting his second year of baseball. We are looking forward to it, even though my life goes from busy, to hectic.

And this year, we decided to make it even more crazily hectic by putting my daughter in a sport, too. She'll be playing soccer.

Yes, I am officially going to be a Baseball-Soccer Mom. I feel like I need to get decals on my car.

More importantly, I may need to clone myself. If there are overlaps with practices/games, I'm not sure how I'll have myself in 2 places at once if it happens to be when Mike is working. It sure is going to be a challenging few months!!

Facing it

There are big changes on the horizon at work. I'll be honest - at first, I was scared. I was worried. I was ready to look for a new job.

While I'm still a little concerned, I am going into this much more level headed and ready to face whatever is tossed my way. I'm going to face it head on, and conquer. I will not spend my waking moments worrying, and stressing. I'm going to simply give it my all; give it 120%.

I can do this. Bring it!

Say what?

I came down with a cold, and then suddenly I went from having full hearing in both ears, to one of them being so blocked, my hearing was muffled. The "fullness" in my ear did not subside overnight, and the next day I was pulling and tugging at my ear and it was getting increasingly more painful.

I finally sucked it up and took myself to urgent care. Lo and behold, I had an ear infection. They sent me on my way with a prescription for amoxocillin and I expected I would be feeling better in a couple days.

When things did not start turning around, I called my regular doctor's office to be checked out again. The infection was still hanging around, and this time I left the office with nasonex, in hopes that the swelling would go down and that whatever was blocking the eustachian tube would finally free up and give me some relief.

Two days later I woke up with a fever, vomiting and generally feeling like I was going to die. When I finally got my stomach to settle down enough, I called and got in to my doctor's office again.

Infection was still there, and the stomach issues may or may not have been related. I may have just been lucky enough to grab a stomach bug on top of the cold/ear infection I had going on. But the doctor changed my antibiotic, telling me to stop the amoxocillin and start the z-pack. She also gave me a business card for an ENT, and said that should be my next stop if it still didn't clear up.

Now, I should say that when it comes to actually seeing a specialist of any sort, I will drag my feet. To me, in my eyes, a specialist is serious business and that just makes me nervous. So, avoiding the need was my top priority.

Except I just couldn't tolerate it anymore. When you have to continually say "What?" or turn the tv or radio up louder because one ear is barely working, there's a problem. Not to mention how it feels. While it's not painful per say, the feeling makes me want to stick a fork in my ear and poke a hole in there.

I called the ENT, figuring it would probably be at least a week or two before they could see me. Imagine my surprise when they offered to get me in at 2:20 that same afternoon. So, I put on my big girl panties and took myself in after work.

I can't say there weren't tears. The ENT asked me what was making me sad, and I felt like a great big idiot, but I explained that I'm just frustrated.

All in all the visit wasn't nearly as terrifying as I thought it could be. The infection is cleared up, but there's still fluid behind my eardrum. I was instructed to continue with the nasonex (nasal steroid) and I am also now on an oral steroid (prednisone). The doctor said that the steroids usually do the trick, but she did mention that if it doesn't, I'll likely need to have a tube put in (this is the 2nd time I've had an issue with this ear - the first time I didn't have an infection along with it, but I did have fluid in there).

I'm hopeful the steroids will work their magic and I'll be feeling more like myself soon. I've got a follow up with the ENT again in 2 weeks.

I'll tell you one thing.....when this ear finally opens up and my hearing is back to normal, it's going to be like angels are singing. Glorious angels.

Waiting for Spring & Losing My Sanity

Just last week we got hit with a blizzard, and our entire area was pretty much shut down for 24 hours. I was on my way home from work when it really started getting bad, and the road I took home was already covered with drifting snow. Visibility was next to nothing and it was the scariest ride home of my life.

It also made for some challenges at work. And work has been a challenge as it is. There are some big changes on the horizon, and it is stressful.

I do believe I can work thru it, but the unknowns are worrisome to me. I've got a meeting with the bosses coming up, and hope my mind is eased a bit more after that.


I'm hoping Spring is around the corner - both for sun & warmth, and also for my sanity. Winter is really becoming a drag.