Happy Valentine's Day!

Bri took his DNA test tonight! So excited to find out if he's part caveman! (Actually this is impossible with an Ancestry test, but it's what we have.)

Later I took Brennan to grab something to eat and we dropped Brian's completed test at the post office. Can't wait to find out what kind of mystery DNA Bri has!

Winco brookies are EVIL

A brookie is a brownie with chocolate chip cookie on top. Oh my heavens. 

Started therapy today.

But first: Trapped in the car with my iPod!! The music, it's....TOO AWESOME 

Playlist: Well here's where things get dicey. I was listening to Ambrosia at the time, and before that a punk song from the Orange County soundtrack. Before that, AC/DC, and I think some 10,000 Maniacs and a Bond theme...

And now:

Designated therapy shoes: with these plaid Converse, anything is possible!

Dodgeball Champs!!

Congratulations to Harrison and his trampoline dodgeball team for winning the weekend tournament! Way to go!!

Winter Wonderland

Poor Hubby, off to work again after two snow days (awwww). The school kids are working on a six-day weekend. I continue to drive like an old lady. All is well.

Later: Hubby and I went for a walk through our still very snowy neighborhood.

This snow will NOT MELT. Not that we're griping.

We never get snow like this, so we're enjoying it.

Snow Night

Pics of the Five enjoying the snow with their dad.

This snow storm was huge and freakish! Our city and surrounding areas were a mess.

But we had some snowy fun and a few days off from school and work.

Quite lovely.

Uh oh

The first of several snow picture posts.

Gorgeous, isn't it?

Happy Birthday C!!

This boy! He stays busy.

Just a few pics from the past year.

We love you, MAN (one of his favorite sayings is "I'm a MAN").

Happy Birthday! We love you!

ding ding ding

Here we have some darling young ladies and soccer teammates 

bell-ringing for Salvation Army at the Fred's on 164th.

R is in the middle.

R's First Band Concert

All through elementary school, she wanted to play the trumpet when she made it to middle school and could play in the band, but when she started band, she decided the sax was cool and not many people were playing it. And so she found her niche.

We had fun (NOT) shopping for this skirt today, by the way. Burlington Coat Factory saw two very frustrated ladies with not much time racing around trying to find a black skirt R liked and ANY white top that wasn't see-through or a polo shirt (she wasn't going to wear a polo shirt). It's a good thing she had this cute sweater at home. Disaster averted.

The songs they played (which she says were easy) were the old perennial favorites Hot Cross Buns, Old McDonald, Ode to Joy, and other beginner band songs. It was a good concert.

Afterward we went to Baskin-Robbins for ice cream with our old friends Tatum, her mom Chrisie, and the G extended family. Happy times.

Three Weeks Ago

....the doctor fwinged out my right ovary (Bella and I like to pretend that the doctor stuck a fork in it and then flipped the fork sideways - FWING!) and right Fallopian tube, and apparently installed a backbone.

Look out world! 

Ugh. This Country Is Populated By Idiots

I really don't get conservatives sometimes. And I *am* conservative. Turn off the cable news and stop feeling so threatened and paranoid about everything. Aren't you white? Didn't your guy win last night? Who's chasing after you? Your guy won, and you're still screaming and whining about liberals and the biased media? Doesn't it ever get exhausting? Why don't you just appreciate that this country has always been led by rich white guys and be happy that he's taking office? Just sit back and relax, for once? The rest of us are mighty tired of your misguided squalling. Especially today.

Done with Facebook

 In February 2016, my doctor discovered I had a cyst on my right ovary. "We'll watch it and measure it," she said. "Sometimes they clear up on their own. Sometimes they grow larger."

Several months and ultrasound tests later, the thing had added two more centimeters; my doctor decided it was growing fast enough that it was time to take action. In September I was given blood tests to see if my little hop-on was malignant. Thankfully it wasn't. We scheduled a laparoscopic surgery to remove it, the ovary it had probably "eaten", and the affected Fallopian tube, on October 20.

Surgery went well. My husband bundled me up, took me home, walked me up the stairs to bed and made sure I took my pills.

There I lay, for eight days.

All this time, I updated my status on Facebook. "Home from the chop shop," I said the first day. "These pills are great," Day 2 said. "Getting a little sick of this lying around stuff," Day 3 surmised. Just goofy little missives while I lay there healing. My friends were nice and left comments. I got sick of talking about my surgery, but really there was nothing else going on, so I had nothing more to say. People stopped commenting. That was fine.

After that, my phone stayed silent. No one called, texted, or commented again. Of course people cared, I knew; but I heard nothing from anyone - family, friends, church (I had told my visiting teacher not to worry about meals or any kind of help - my husband and children are more than capable of cooking and cleaning for themselves). It really, really sucked. I was bored, lonely, hurting, and weak.

By Day 6 - keep in mind that I was using narcotics - I was fed up. No one cares, I thought. I could be dead right now and no one cares, except my husband and kids. In a fit of pouty rage I changed my name to something that would direct my "true" friends to my Twitter account; I then deactivated my Facebook account (making it impossible for any of my "true" friends to find me and therefore locate my Twitter account - like I said, narcotics). Afterward, I thought long and hard about friendship.

I knew people cared about me and my well being, but where were they? Using Facebook, just like me. I couldn't remember a time when I had ever texted a friend and asked "How are you?" while they were recovering from something, let alone call or visit or bring them something. I depended on their Facebook status updates to keep me in the loop. That's the kind of relationships we all have now.

I blame myself for depending on Facebook to maintain my relationships. Because I'd done that for so long, I no longer had physical people around me, except the people I see and talk to every day - my husband and children. All my other relationships felt superficial.

Facebook lies to us about our relationships. It gives us a false sense of friendship, of caring, of love. Love is service, something that I've neglected terribly in the last seven years that I've used Facebook. "Liking" a post isn't love or service. It's nice, but it's a distraction from what people really need.

I've dumped Facebook, and have replaced it with texting, calling, inviting friends out to lunch, making plans for the future, actual conversations and hugs and laughing. Staying close to the people I love, so that if they ever need my help, I'll know it, and I'll act on it.

Thanks, eight-days-in-bed. My life will be greatly improved after this, because of you.

Yep.

Still allergic to honey.

Course by course, one by one, till you shout, "Enough, I'm done!!!!"

Today I left the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Dinner

White toast with hummus. That should balance out nicely.

Also, this:

With her 3rd husband, she uses the word "always" - it being a relative term meaning "until Hubby #4 comes along"

First Day of School 2016

Makers of mischief. Schools, beware.

H and C are together again for the first time since elementary school, H a senior and C a freshman. We took them to school and watched them walk in together this morning and my heart just flipped. There went the two "fighter monkeys." Good luck, high school!

R is in 7th grade and unlike last year at this time, looking forward to the new school year. Last year's transition from 5th to 6th grade (elementary to middle school) was rough. But this year she feels more comfortable, has a few more friends, and is playing SAXOPHONE in the band!

Good times!

Pretty much

Meeting

"I've called you all here today because...."

Cuddling

...and watching Girl Meets World ❤❤