I Did It!

My car kind of resembles the old game where you see how many people you can fit in a VW Bug, only it's not people, it's presents, and it's not a Bug, it's a Camry. There were lots of presents, several of which were on the LARGE size, but I started with the biggest and just kept adding until voila - they were all in! I even managed to leave the driver's seat empty for me. Hmmm....now the trick is getting them back out.

Angels Who Watch Over Me

If I had to pick one word to describe my life, it would have to be "busy". I like everything I'm doing (even my job, I just hate having to be there full time) and busy is good, but I miss having time to do all the other things I used to do. One of the things I just didn't seem to have time for is putting up my Christmas tree. I managed to carry the tree into its room (with only one big bruise to show for it), but the box just sat there. I'm blessed to have some angels in my life who saw my need for help and without my asking - or even my being there - put my tree up for me! These same two angels also saw the multitudinous packages that were waiting to be wrapped and came again and helped me get them done. I'm not the type of person who easily asks for help and I can't begin to say how much it means to me to have angels who watch over me. Thanks H & F!!!

Can it really be 30 years?

Ashlie and I put our heads together and decided to throw a surprise 30th birthday party for Lorien.  It was kind of crazy working out some of the details (especially what time everyone should be there), but we had a lot of fun getting ready for it - Ashlie is great at preparing for a party!  With some secret help from Sam, we had access to their house for several hours to decorate and cook.  We had almost 30 people there before Lorien arrived - 17 of which were children.  The kids were all upstairs playing and when Lorien pulled up we had all of them come downstairs and hide with the adults to help yell surprise.  You didn't realize how many kids there were until they all came down the stairs at once.  Jon couldn't help but ask how many kids everyone had - and I jokingly reminded him that after all, we were all Mormons!  It was unbelievable - the kids were totally quiet waiting for her to come in the door.  Not a sound. I loved seeing her expression when she opened the door and we all jumped out to welcome her.  What great fun.  

It's strange to realize that I have a child who is 30.  I can remember turning 30 and that it was a tough birthday for me.  And it doesn't seem that long ago!  One of my birthday presents to her was a video of some highlights of her 30 years on earth.  It was really hard narrowing down the pictures and there were so many more I wanted to put in, but the music just wasn't long enough.  Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGqaIXX_CGs

Hard day

There hasn't been a day that I haven't yearned to have Charlie back.  It's an ache that stays deep within, never gone, but is made tolerable by the belief that we will be together again.  I know I am a strong person and I don't want pity.  I see others  that have it so much worse than me and I am grateful for the many blessings that I have been given.  But today was one of those days when that ache rises above all and all I can do is cry and plead for Charlie to come back.  Of course the holidays have something to do with it.  But mostly it's because I'm sick.  I miss having him take care of me.  I really want him to give me a blessing.  And a hug.  

OCD - Obsessive Cullen Disorder

I had to share my two pumpkins.  This is the first time that I can ever remember carving a pumpkin myself; Charlie was so much more artistic that it was his "job".  I must say I love the way they turned out.  Unfortunately the Be Safe one disintegrated today.....

Physical Therapy and The Election

Up to now, I've not had a strong opinion about physical therapy.  It's something I've taken both my kids to due to various sports injuries throughout their lives.  I never stopped to question whether they got better as a result of physical therapy or because we "rested, elevated, and iced" and time took care of the rest.  I've had some back/sciatica pain for a couple of years now, and after finding it almost impossible to get out of bed some mornings, I decided a trip to the doctor was in order, who in turn sent me to physical therapy.  They evaluated me and diagnosed me with - get ready - back pain!  Oh, and I have good posture.  My "therapy" consists of doing some arm exercises.  I don't profess to knowing more than they do, but I told them that moving my arms doesn't hurt my back and they were so impressed by that that they think I should repeat these arm movements every two hours (excuse me everyone at work, I need to stop and lay on the floor and move my arms up and down - sure!).   Now the thing is, my doctor knows that a tenz unit has helped this back pain for me before, but she can't prescribe one to me - and why is that? Because my insurance won't cover it unless I go to physical therapy first.  So I have to go for sixteen visits there (costing the insurance company and me money), where I will learn to move my arms up and down, after which I will hopefully get the tenz unit.  So, for now, I have an opinion on physical therapy - it is a waste of time and money!

So what does physical therapy have to do with the election?  Well....the government has gotten so involved in our health care and taken away much of a doctor's ability to make decisions - as in my doctor has to send me to physical therapy before she can prescribe what she knows works - I can't imagine how much worse it is going to get if we go even farther toward socialized medicine.  The Karl Marx slogan "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need" has recently been rephrased as "spread the wealth around".   Communism for Dummies. 

E.T. Phone Home.....

You know that scene near the end of E.T. when the government comes in and takes over Eliot's house?  When the house is covered in "plastic'?  Welcome to my home!  My house was built with defective plumbing, and a couple of months ago, the pipes decided it was time to deteriorate.  I came home one night to my kitchen/dining room area covered in water.  It didn't take long to discover the water was coming from the ceiling and the ceiling was sagging!  Since it was after 10:00 pm, there wasn't much I could do so I said a prayer and made sure I slept on the other side of the house (just in case the ceiling came down).  You can imagine my joy upon finding out that every inch of plumbing in the entire house had to be replaced - even the main manifold.  So....$5000 later, I have all new plumbing - and an interesting pattern of holes in my ceilings and walls.  The drywall guys came and took out a large part of the main floor ceiling in preparation for replacing some parts and repairing others.  (Cost of this is another $4000).  I had to be at work so there's a lock box on the door and they come in as they need to and I didn't get to see what they were doing.  When I got home from work, I opened the door to - - - plastic covering most everything.  And of course, my favorite part, the plastic "door" with a zipper in it!  Most of my furniture is piled in the front room making it largely impassable.  Add to this mix one large dog with a superman strength tail, and a small, rambunctious puppy who thinks her mission in life is to chew everything in sight, this makes for a fun place to be right now.  Oh, I guess I forgot to mention - the electrician has to come before the drywall guys can come back, and he's not even going to come do an estimate (any guesses how much more this will add to my total bill?) before Friday.  So...anybody want to film the sequel to E.T.?  No studio needed.