Merry Christmas

Well we are in recovery mode after the Christmas holiday. That involves cleaning up, writing thank you notes, and exchanging things that didn't work out. Even though I was really rushed at the end, everything turned out as I had planned and for that I am very thankful. I work really hard every year to make Christmas special for my family, so they will have those good memories to hold onto. This year was a little different as Jim had to work on Christmas Eve and Day. We changed up our routine and opened gifts on Christmas Eve this year. It made for a busy day as I also had to work. I got home and started our Christmas dinner and then headed off to church with the boys. We had to go to a different church because services at our church were not at the right times for what we needed that night. We came home from church just as Jim arrived home from work. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner of ham, cheese potatoes, broccoli, carrots, pumpkin bread, rolls, jello, apple and pumpkin pie. Afterwards, we opened our gifts. They boys seemed very pleased the things we gave to them. It gets so hard as they get older to keep the focus off the gifts by keeping it reasonable-after all it is not what the season is really about. This year we gave each of them a set of Batman glasses that I bought off E-Bay. We had a set when they were little and they lost it when I tried to get rid of them. Both of them insisted that they wanted them when they moved out of the house. Nate got a new hoodie and Noah a pair of basketball shoes for their second gift. Noah got a package of goodies including a new laptop battery, some styling product for his hair, some Dunkin Doughnuts coffee, and a carbon monoxide detector for the old rental house at college. Nate got a custom t-shirt with a drawing he did in art last year on the front and a couple hundred dollars off his car stereo. That is a sore subject that threatened to ruin Christmas. He had asked for money to install a car stereo for his work study project over a month ago. I said he could either borrow the money and get a job and pay me back, or I would be willing to pay for him to install a reasonable stereo with a CD player and some new speakers and that would be his Christmas gift. Originally he said he would get a job and pay me back. When he came home he had a huge sub woofer and an amplifier in the back end of his car along with the stereo and new speakers-that's not what we agreed to. When I asked how much it all was, he said around 220 dollars. When I told him it was time to get the job, he was shocked because he thought it was his Christmas present! In the meantime, he told me the sub was defective and had to go back and they were ordering him a new better one. I went in before Christmas to make sure that we were at about 220 dollars and found out that it was currently at 743 dollars and when the new sub came in it would be a little over 900 dollars! This is equipment they gave to him at cost without labor! Not only did this news sour my Christmas spirit, he has been doing his manipulative stubborn Nathan thing-and since it is not working things have been tense and ugly. He has been told he has to get a job by his birthday and start paying me back or I am going to sell the car to pay for the stereo. I'm pretty sure he is going to learn this lesson the hard way. Future forecast-ugliness with power struggles on the horizon, probably bad name calling and maybe some retaliation too. Looking forward to that! He exhausts me. If only he put his energy into doing what he needs to instead of working so hard to avoid it. We have a New Year's Eve celebration we've been invited to and Jim's birthday, and then we are through celebrating for awhile.

Our new furniture hurts my back. I picked it out because it was firm with a firm back and it seemed great in the store. If I sit on it for awhile though, my back hurts. I think I just need to get a lumbar support pillow and it will be fine, but what a bummer. The day after Christmas I found some tables for the living room. We have never had tables before-and Jim wonders why we need them now! They look nice with the new furniture though and have some storage too. Jim is looking into refinancing our house and combining it with a home equity loan to fix up our bathrooms/kitchen. That would be awesome to be able to hire someone and finally get that done. Noah has been a delight to have home over break. He has been very helpful-even doing some things without being asked. He has also been more considerate and thoughtful towards his family. I guess he finally took me seriously about not living here next summer and decided to change his ways. We have had several snow storms-Nate got an extra day of Christmas vacation which was a blessing because he was running behind on several projects that were due that day (imagine that). Yesterday it got up to nearly 60 and rained, so most if it is gone now. Well that's about all I have for now. I have to get back to my laundry so I can get to bed soon.

Little Something New

Today we stopped by the furniture store to look at some living room furniture again. I had no intention of buying, just going to measure and consider possibilities. We walked around after checking out our potential set, and ran into another set that I really liked. It was a firm set-no big pillows on the back-like I had been looking for. I need that for my back and it is hard to find. It was also a style that would fit our house much better and it was on super special (the other set wasn't even on sale). Then we found out it was the last set, so they took a little more off the price. The guys weren't as excited about it as I was-Jim liked the rocker/recliner in the other set and Nate liked the leather furniture. This is a red checkered sofa and love seat with a chair/ottoman that is cream, red, and light green floral/multi print. I think it will look nice with the light green accessories I already have in the living room. It comes on Friday!

Nate Update

Took Nate back to the doctor on Tuesday. The doctor previously said he had mesenteric adenitis which is usually caused by a virus. I was reading about it online and sometimes it is bacterial, so I figured he would just prescribe an antibiotic and see if that helped. To my surprise, he said he was going to admit him to the hospital and run further tests. "Is that really necessary", I said? Yes, was his reply! So we drove to the hospital-hurry up and wait. I stepped out of the room for a moment and the nurse trainee decided this was the time to put in his IV. She didn't get it right and when I stepped back in, he was screaming in pain after she quickly shot a syringe full of something into it. They took the IV out and went to get the expert, leaving Nate with a visibly swollen arm. Then he started getting hot. I got a cool rag and tried to make him comfortable and then he said he needed help because he was losing his hearing! I started to get a little panicky-what did they put in that IV? I called for the nurse, but before she arrived Nate said he was seeing spots and then he started to pass out again! The nurse wasn't too concerned, said his blood sugar was probably low and gave him juice to drink. He drank a bunch of liquid to make his insides glow and they did another CT scan. They were able to see his appendix this time and decided it needed to come out. It was inflamed and recessed, so that is why they didn't see it the first time. He was off school all week-grouchy and sore, but I think getting better. Now I pray he will be able to make up all that schoolwork.

I made it through my very busy week. Jim got Nate's tire changed and fixed. I finished up the week with Tinsel and Tears at TBH (a Christmas daycamp), and my office Christmas brunch this morning. Next week, we just have a couple of doctor's appointments so I should be able to get my Christmas tree up and some shopping started. We have a new nephew! Jim's sister had her baby boy-and he broke the family record weighing in at 9 lbs 14 ozs. His name is Matthew. He is really cute!

WOW-it's December!

Today it feels like December too! And tomorrow it is supposed to be 50 degrees-go figure. Did everyone have a nice Thanksgiving? We did, but it was quite a bit of work for me. I made turkey, stuffing, gravy (a first for me), roasted carrots, corn casserole, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, mandarin orange jello mold, wheat rolls, zucchini bread, pumpkin bread, holiday salad, acorn squash, spaghetti squash, cranberry relish (another first), pumpkin pie, and pumpkin cream cheese roll. Noah was home for a few days-then went back to school to catch the final football game of the season and a basketball game the next day. Nathan was sick and didn't even eat. We had taken him to the doctor a few days earlier because his stomach was hurting. This has been an off and on thing since school started. At first the doctor thought he had appendicitis and ordered blood work and a CT scan. Nate clutched his side and passed out after the blood was drawn, and I was scared. Doctor said he just passed out-happens all the time. The CT scan showed he did not have appendicitis, but the lymph nodes in the area were swollen, probably from a virus. He gave him an anti-inflammatory and said he should be better in a few days. When I brought up that this has been happening every 2 weeks or so since school started and he feels sick for 3-4 days at a time and I wanted to know if this was causing it-he kind of shrugged it off. Well it has been 11 days now and he isn't doing much better, so we need to go back. He is hungry, but won't eat because it hurts so bad after he eats.

Christmas will be here before we know it! I don't feel very prepared and I have a VERY busy week and won't get to anything until next week. We have some decorations up, but not the tree. I have very little shopping done, and don't even have any real solid ideas. Feeling a bit overwhelmed, but trying to daily take time out and ponder what Christmas is really about. Since this is the season for giving, I hope you will consider a gift to the Salvation Army. I have set up an online Red Kettle giving you the opportunity to donate and help those in need.

Otherwise, not much is new. It is nearly 11 pm, freezing cold, and Nate & Jim are out there trying to change a flat tire. Jim misplaced the jack, so that is making things interesting. Noah has applied for a job in Lincoln over Christmas break, so I don't know how much we will be seeing of him next month. I finished my self paced course on web 2.0 at work. They gave us 3 months to complete 23 exercises. Tomorrow is the last day, but today they decided to extend the deadline by 2 months! I worked hard to complete it on time-doesn't seem fair. I need to get to bed, so farewell......

Still Angry

Nate was gone with his youth group fall retreat over the weekend, so I was looking forward to getting a bunch of stuff done. Saturday I worked hard and did accomplish a lot, and I had a nice list going for Sunday too. We were going to take the boat to it's winter home for storage, and it wound up to be a huge mess. We fiddled with it for an hour and a half getting it ready to go (I won't get into that), and then when we left, something was really wrong. Water was pouring out of the boat. Now we haven't used the boat in two years because Jim is in process of fixing the rear seat (he's on the three year plan). Early in the summer, he and Noah did try and go fishing, but his car broke down while towing and they never made it. Noah had put the plug in and Jim never thought to take it out, so the boat sat and collected water ALL summer. It took over an hour for it to drain, the boat is moldy, and things were ruined. Not sure it will work or if it will need some work next year. When we got the boat, I told Jim it was his to maintain, and he is not doing it. I just want to get rid of it now! Really what I want is for him to make some changes in his life and stop neglecting things and help out! Yeah, I know, I'm still angry.

We went down to visit Noah last weekend and celebrate his birthday. He makes me feel so used-he let us take him out to dinner, take him grocery shopping, opened his presents, and then wanted us to go because he had to study. I know he was going to study, but mostly he was going to sit and watch tv. Nate is serving two detentions this week because he got caught going to Burger King for lunch. They have a closed campus and that is not allowed. When I asked him why he would do this, he said he was starving and didn't want to wait. He thinks rules don't really apply to him. I have the day off today, Veterans Day. I am getting caught up on laundry and those errands I didn't have time to do on Sunday! Yeah, I know, I'm still angry.

Well I'd better go and keep moving.

November News

Well fall break didn't go so well with Noah. He is still acting like he did this summer-picking fights and not helping out. We can be going along having a nice conversation about something so ordinary as say.....bread....and then out of the blue he starts being stubborn and ugly and then we are fighting. No joke, this happened while he was home! I woke him up one day at noon and asked him to mow the grass as it hadn't been done in nearly three weeks and it was going to rain for the next four days and his brother couldn't get to it before the rain. He said he just couldn't do it, he was too busy. If only I had woke him up earlier he would have done it for me. I came home at 12:30 and he was sitting on the computer checking Facebook and such-nothing important. I'm going to assume that he got off the computer when I left at 1:10 and got in the shower and started studying. He studied and got his tires rotated until 3:30. Then he convinced his dad to let him take the new truck and take his friends to the pumpkin patch. Afterwards, he went to a party downtown and didn't get home until 1:30 am. So in summary his day consisted of 12 hours of sleeping, two hours of work/studying, and 9 hours of socializing. But he didn't have time to help me out. The rain held off the next morning, so I woke him up at 9:00 when I left for work and again asked him to mow. He said ok, never got up until I called at 12 pm to see if he wanted to join me for lunch (at which time it started to rain). He isn't working yet, and I heard way too much about all the tv shows he has been watching. I think it is best for him, and for all of us if he gets his own place next summer. It will build character and maybe foster a little appreciation. Nate is also not working. He ran out of gas for his car at the end of the month and wanted me to advance him next months allotment. I said no-and he went off on how I was a terrible parent that didn't provide for him. He dug up some change and managed to get by, but still hasn't looked for a job over the weekend.

It is a good thing I canceled the camping trip-when we went to clear the camper out for the season, the roof wouldn't go up. I called to get an appointment to get it fixed and he couldn't see me until the end of November! Last night was Halloween. It was a beautiful evening-mild temperatures. Jim and I moved our fire pit to the end of the driveway and were toasty warm while we passed out candy. We even shared a bottle of wine. I think we have started a new holiday tradition! We had parent teacher conferences last week. Nate failed math, but she said she would give him credit if he made up the work. He says he finished up the assignments this week and turned them in (I have to check with her this week). Otherwise, we had great conferences. His schedule is light, and it seems to work better for him (not so overwhelming). I spent several days cleaning out my car. It was sooooo dirty. Everything has been wiped down, windows washed, and floors swept. In the spring I would like to use the steam cleaner and wash the carpet and upholstery. It is really dirty too. I have reached my goal weight, and seem to be hanging out there, so I think I am where I am supposed to be for now. It makes it easier to go shopping now that I am done! I am still 20 lbs heavier than when I got married yet almost daily I hear comments from people that are concerned about my weight loss. I've had people think I have an eating disorder or that I am sick. I hear about how I am wasting away to nothing! Come on, I have never been a tiny little thing and I'm certainly not now. I did finally get back into 14 pants though-YEAH! I'm feeling so much better and praise God for what he has done in my life through Prism. I tried to go vote early yesterday. Three times I tried, but the line was so long that it would have been a couple hours wait. Hope it isn't that bad on election day as the weatherman is predicting rain. I did get a new winter coat and I love it. It is faux suede with sherpa inside. We did have a freeze, so it came just in time. My TBH group is bonding and I am enjoying my time volunteering there. I am also going to try a yoga class this month. I need to finish something we are doing online for work this month. We hired a new girl and I really like her. Maybe I will actually be able to work on it at work instead of at home now. If I finish, I get an MP3 player. Well I have to get off and keep my laundry going. Keep in touch.

Noah's Home

Well, we didn't go camping after all. Just like I thought, Jim did not bounce back from working nights and was a real crab. He also told me he would use the time off to get things ready, and he grocery shopped. He just doesn't understand all that it takes to get things ready to go somewhere. I wish just ONCE he would help me get ready to go camping. Instead he procrastinates until the last minute, and instead of helping me, he is busy getting his fishing gear around! We must also have different priorities, because instead of helping me, he set out two huge packs of chicken wings to make for the boys to eat while we were gone. What is wrong with a box pizza??? He spent half of the day on Friday preparing them-a lot of help he would have been to me had we gone.....The weather is going to turn next week, so this was our last chance of the season to go. Instead, we are going to pull it out of the garage and clear out things for the winter. Liquid things and things with batteries.

Noah is home for a long weekend. Yesterday, we went shopping for some new t-shirts. He is feeling older and wiser and no longer desires to wear his high school tees. The guys got their hair cut yesterday too (all but Nate). Now we are ready to take a picture for our Christmas card. Noah informed me that he is glad we are doing it now. The house he lives in made a pact- no shave November. I also picked up my order at Cabelas. Have to take the winter coat back and order a new one though. It is beautiful and soft, but dry clean only. That is not going to work for me!

We had a plumber come out and replace all the guts on our toilets. Have to call and have him come back because one is still acting funny. With the new hardware, our cabinet that went over the toilet didn't fit anymore, so I went and bought some stacking bins and organized everything under the sink. Still have some mess there to clean up. We also hung the shelves over the new tv. It turned out pretty good-it fills the space and gives me a place to put some pretty things.

Well that is about all for now. Better get going and do what I need to do before the day gets away from me.