Spring in my step

I love spring. I love love love spring. It is by far my most favorite season.

I love the new buds on the tree's, I love the different colors of the blooming varieties. I love the bulb flowers that are so vibrant and beautiful after a long dreary winter. I love the sound of all the birds chirping first thing in the morning. I love the chilly beginning of the day and the slow gradual stripping of clothing as the sun warms you up each hour.

With all the hip stuff going on, it has been my goal to become more active. To get up off my lazy butt and move. I would tend to not exert energy in taking long walks because I knew it would hurt at some point. But alas,,,,, as we all know not moving causes....... weight gain.

Well I have made a deal with myself and it's one I promise to keep. So at least 3 nights a week, I have been taking walks around the neighborhood to get my body moving. And I must say I have a Spring in my step. What better time of year to get out and enjoy the daily changes in the surroundings. I have to admit this is one of the best advantages of living so close to the lake. Watching the water slap against the shore with the ducks and geese bobbing in the water. I love it. (Have I mentioned that?)

Yesterday (this is shocking!!) I took the girls to Fairview Park and we took a bike ride. Imagine little Hannah peddling the 4.28 miles from Fairview to the Rock Springs Center and back!!!! It was quite the haul to get her there; and lots of tears and loud shouting back and forth with me cheering her on; but the smile of pride and joy on her face when I showed her how far she went while driving. She couldn't believe it was the equivalent of going from Fairview to Staley Bridge!! That totally wowed her. And the ride thru the woods was so beautiful and peaceful (when she wasn't screaming that is).

So our goal is to find 3 more bike trails to try this spring. If you know of any good one's please let me know.

All that said, Happy Spring Everyone!!

Shots

Yesterday was the appointment for my shot. I would be dishonest if I said it was bad. I had visions of this one foot needle about 3 inches thick being jabbed into my bones haha but no just a tiny pin prick for the numbing stuff, some strange pressure while they injected some contrast to make sure it was in joint and then some tingly pressure while they injected the steroid and more numbing stuff.
And then when it was all done was when it started hurting haha. But it wasn't terribly bad. I think the worst part was the 2.5 hour drive home. By then I just plain wanted to be home. When we did get home I took a nap before the kids got home and was at walmart a few hours later so I guess it didn't slow me down much at all haha. Now today I feel fine for now but I get to start the Physical Therapy so this should be interesting.

Peeking my head in

Hello everyone. Isn't this weather the worst? I am sitting here on April 13th watching the snow showers we are currently having. It. Sucks. Big

I know I have so much yard work to do this year and I am chomping at the bit to start it. All of my landscaping bricks tipped over this winter. I think it was because of the amount of rain we would get after a snow the ground was just so wet and saturated it gave way. I also have about 5 bushes, trees, and roses that need removed because they apparently didn't survive the drought last summer. I am really bummed but what can you do other than enjoy getting to pick out new stuff. We also still have Mt. Frederick on the side of the house from where they dug and buried the drainage pipes from the front yard all the way past our property line in the back. Talk about Ugly and such a PITA too because we can't cut across the yard to go to my favorite neighbors anymore you have to walk to the end of the driveway and walk in the street. Bummer!!

Anyway hopefully the weather will pick up soon. We did have a couple nice teaser day's last week. It was so nice to be able to take the dogs on walks around the neighborhood. They were very excited. I must admit though, if its under 60, I am not going out at all. I don't know what changed in my body this year but I am constantly freezing and shivering when it's under 50 people think I am nuts but I am just plain COLD all the time. Very strange.

This week will be a busy one. I am meeting good pal Val for a coffee on Monday. We will be going to St. Louis on Wed. for my shot. Then Thurs. I start therapy. Friday there is no school so the kiddies will be home. Then to end it all with a bang, we have the Show Choir Dinner Theater on Saturday. Fun Fun Fun. We also have a family reading night shoved in there somewhere with Han's class doing a performance. Usually we have nothing at all going on. NOTHING.

That about sums up life here. Hope the week goes well for everyone.

Frustrations

So today marks a week since my doctor appointment. I think I am more frustrated now that I was then. I felt a bit hopeful that things might be OK. Since Friday's cancellation, I called the canceling Doctor Monday to find out what the reason what he canceled.

The nurse said it was because he didn't feel comfortable administering the shot to some one my age............ What.The.Hell.Does.That.Mean??

Anyway so I called the St. Louis guy to see who he recommended. Well he knew of no one in the area so I am going back to St. Louis on the 16th for my wonderful shot.

But hey, at least I start the Physical Therapy on Friday. WRONG.

As I sat at the computer this morning, the phone rang. It was a woman calling to ask me if I was aware that I missed my 10 am PT appointment today.. ...... Um no I didn't miss my 10 am appointment because my appointment is Friday. Well needless to say I was given the wrong day and it's 2 weeks before I can now get in.

So I guess the week of the 14th will be the week. On a good note, I have been a very very good girl and taking my pills every day. HaHa. I must love that shrimp supplement.

Dr.'s and Other Updates

I haven't posted for a bit so I thought I would do a quick catch up.

We had a quiet un-eventful Easter, which was wonderful.
Tuseday, Mark and I drove to St. Louis to see the Orthopedic Specialist.
All went well I guess. They took lots of X-rays, and bended my legs in all different ways. I walked in feeling fine and walked out in horrible pain. It. Sucked. Ass

They informed me that I had too much arthritis around my hip joints to do the surgery they thought they would be able to do. So they came to the decision of me getting a Cortisone Shot in the hip joint. Then follow up with Physical Therapy 3 times a week for 6 weeks. I also need to consistently take my Naproxen pills daily to reduce swelling of arthritis and then take Glucosamine and Chondroitin pills to juice up my joints daily.

Hopefully this will make it better. If not , then we will be looking at a hip replacement, sigh not what I want to do by any means.

Now that being said I was a good girl and came home and the very next day called my doctor to get these appointments made. And we did!! Monday at 9:30 I go for my shot sniff sniff, and then Friday at 10 am, I go start my PT.

Then at 4:45 pm today (Friday) I get a phone call from my Dr's office telling me that the Orthopedic Dr here in Decatur is not comfortable administering my shot and that I need to go to the Dr in St. Louis for it.

Are.YOU. KIDDING. ME???
So now here I sit with no way to figure out a solution until Monday rolls around. And there is no way in Hell I will be able to get this damn shot before my PT on Friday.

Sigh does it ever end???

Before and After

Before

I won't bore anyone with all the hassle we went thru with the living room updates. I will just show the beautiful pictures.

After

Wordless Wednesday

IKEA Day!!

Ok I am a dork I know this. However, I am in LOVE LOVE with IKEA.



If your not familiar with it, it's a HUGE store that carries home furnishings dirt cheap from over seas. Yeah yeah I know buy American. Well frankly, I am too poor to purchase American made furniture haha.



At IKEA, you can take ideas from the Pottery Barn Catalog, and make them real at less than Target's price. No Joke. OK more like Big Lot's price on some things.



What sucks is they are few and far between in location. We are lucky enough to have 2 in the Chicago area, but still it's even rarer for us to go. I turn it into a vacation destination. I have favorite products I alway think I need every time we go.



Today it's bookcases. I love love love love Billy!!!! When you live in our house your books are our most prized possessions and all of us have outgrown our current bookcases.



So today off we go to Chicago for none other than an IKEA day. I have carried the catalog with me all week making up my list so I don't forget anything. My closest friends and family will share my excitement because I will finally FINALLY shut up about what should I get??!!



I will post pictures of our new library system soon!!

Problem with tv after wii use?

OK I will keep this short. It's not so much informational as searching for help.

We got a Wii around Thanksgiving. We hooked up to living room tv (a tv/vhs/dvd combo and yes I know they suck) and played our hearts out. Right after Christmas/ new years, the tv quit working. You turn it on, and it instantly turned off. We took to a shop where he said he could fix it.
Three weeks later he says oops can't fix.

We then bring Ashley's 12 inch to the living room and hook up the wii and continue on in happy wii bliss fashion. Now her tv (tv/dvd combo) won't turn on. You turn it on , it turns right back off. Same EXACT thing the first tv did. Nothing at all is hooked up to it. What could this possibly be??

Any help much appreciated before we go purchase a new tv only to have this happen again.

WW : Butterfly Breakfast

Peer Pressure

We teach (or try to anyway) our kids to not give in to Peer Pressure. But as adults do we practice what we preach? I can say that for me no I don't.

Time and time again something comes up that I don't whole heartily believe or want to do and yet because my peer's do it, I cave and do it too. Now granted it's never anything bad or illegal, just things I don't agree with. I suffer from "NSN" syndrome. In case you haven't heard of it, it's Never Say NO. I can not say those 3 words. No matter how much I don't want to do it, I NEVER SAY NO. I then call up my friends and complain about the evil person who is putting up to the said task.

This ends today. That said I want everyone to know it's nothing against you but in the future you will ask me to do something and I WILL SAY NO!!! It won't be on everything of course but if it's really something I don't want to do , I will say no.

Today I stood a mini ground and quietly ,secretly , stated a small NO shout. And it was heard. And I got my way!!! So I am now feeling empowered. Next time it will be a bigger NO.

Now I will be staying at home this weekend and totally vegging out and being lazy and I am excited!!

How many of you suffer from NSN? Have you ever decided to start standing your ground?

Prayers

I am asking for Prayer's for one of Mark's fellow Manager's. Her 3 year old daughter was rushed to St. Johns yesterday with Acute Liver Failure. She has now been transferred to Chicago and is in a coma. My heart goes out to both. Mom is a single mom so I can't begin to imagine how hard and painful this is. Please keep them both in your thoughts.

Well here we go

I am showing you my inner most parts.

This is what my hip X Rays look like. All I can say is I am glad that I am not a Dr., because if someone showed me this, I would say it sure looks fine to me. But apparently not.

I was diagnosed with Hip dysplasia 8 years ago. It bothers me some days but most days, not. However this winter has been a bit more painfully. So I called the DR, to get some drugs( I haven't taken anything since I was diagnosed for the pain)
The Dr said she would feel more comfortable with me getting X rays to make sure nothing new has appeared.

OK fine off I go like a good girl.

I get a phone call from the Dr letting me know she wants to send my X-rays to the Ortho. Dr because its beyond her expertise. Sigh........ OK fine

Then I get another phone call to let me know that now I have to go see a Specialist in St. Louis because its beyond the regular Ortho Surgeons' Expertise. Yikes

So supposedly this X Ray shows "Drastic Deterioration" for my age

yeah right..............

Wish me luck.................. I think.............. I really am not wanting to get the hip replacement they told me 8 years ago to get ready for.

Brag for a Moment

For Christmas we purchased a new kitchen table. Not a big thing for most people, but since we never purchase furniture, it's HUGE for us. Last night as we ate pizza, and we were able to sit at the table together with two pizza's on the table and still tons of room, my family laughed at me because I kept saying "Look I can eat and not have to get up to get anything for anyone because we can have everything we need on the table." Or "Look both pizza's are on the table at the SAME TIME!!" I know the smallest things bring me the greatest enjoyment haha.

We did it again!

They did it again!!

Last night we went to the Danville Invitational. There was 11 different schools there and man everyone was nervous. Especially because 2 of the groups had dropped out last Friday so we didn't know how there show was going to be and then rumors flew that Mt. Zion who hosted last week changed their entire show.

I guess it didn't matter!!

We won Outstanding Visual Presentation, Outstanding Music Sound, Outstanding Female Soloist, one of the kids received and All Star Performer award and.........Grand Champion again!! There was only 2 other awards so it was almost a clean sweep.

Now I fear that the other close area's are going to be holding a major grudge at the next competition.

On a different note it was a bit of a sad night for out Ashley. Because she was so excited last week and yelled A-LOT she lost her voice. The girl who did her solo last night is who won best female vocalist. It was a hard lesson and she wanted to leave immediately so I didn't get any group pictures afterwards. After a bit of prodding she admitted that she was mad at herself and no one else so that's good. We have two weeks before the next competition so she should be rearing to go by then.

They put me to work so I didn't have my camera with me to take pictures of the show this time.









all the representatives of each school

our kids getting Outstanding Sound trophy

Love Cake!

Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband Mark.

This is the Beautiful Love Cake Hannah made for daddy.

A few days before the Big Day, I was asking Mark what he wanted for his birthday dinner and did he want cake , cheese cake, cookies, or some other dessert (He isn't a big dessert fan) so as usual he said nothing so Nan piped up and said

" Daddy, I know what you want, you want a Love Cake!!"

Well who can turn down a sweet little girl offering a Love Cake?

So apparently this is what one looks like!

Grand Champions!!!

Hello Blogger Friends. I have been so MIA and I am sorry. It's been a little busy since Christmas and honestly I have stayed away from the computer.

Last night was Ashley's first competition with Xperience! (the Show Choir from school) Many hours of practice paid off.

As I understand it, where you ranked the year before is how they list the order you perform in. Since JH placed 2nd last year, they were supposed to be 2nd from last. How ever, as we all know, things are not always fair so they slotted us as 2nd from the beginning. And then ....... the first group dropped out the morning of because their costumes didn't get finished (was the rumor going round) So nervous as all get out they went first.

And they blew the audience away. Everyone I talked to got chills. Then all the other groups performed and it was a fun evening but none (to me) had the tap your feet get into it performance I thought we had. There was even a group from Missouri who donned feather chicken masks and hatched an egg on stage with a big ending of the chick leading the audience in the Chicken dance? Since this was my first show to watch not sure if that's a good thing or not LOL I think I would more expect it at a comedy show but what do I know?

Ashley ended up last Wed getting a Solo for the show. So being the first time to perform it was quite nerve racking. She did great and I am sure next time she won't have the nervous deer in the head lights look.

We are so proud of the kids and this can only be the start of a great season to come!! Good Job X!

Ashley and Mrs. Bell her director with the Grand Champion Cup and Best Female Vocalist trophy (actually went to the other soloist Ashley Cook )

Ashley and her friend Susanna

Blockbuster Sucks

OK I am on a rampage. We have done the online movie rental thing for awhile. We started with Netflix. Then we heard about the Blockbuster total access so we switched. It was a no brainer.

Then things got tricky. Blockbuster fazed out my plan so I had to upgrade my plan at the cost of $7 to get what other members were only paying $3 more. I was up in arms of what to do. Do I stay, do I switch? It took quite awhile to decide. I ultimately stayed where I was. I sucked it up and payed the $7 more dollars.

Now that all has changed. I got an email last night. My plan is now going up to ............ $34.99 a month!!! They are increasing it $10 MORE DOLLARS. OH NO they are so wrong.

To put salt in the wound more I found out from a friend who was able to stay at same plan when I had to change, that not only does she still get the free coupon that originally so enticing, but that due to the price change, she is only paying $2 more a month.

To break it down she is paying $19.99 for 3 movies at a time unlimited in store exchanges and a free coupon once a month.
Where I would be paying $34.99!! for 3 at a time unlimited exchanges.

Can anyone see my frustration?

Customer service?? what's that. I called on the phone to see what was going on this is a mistake right?? The guy informs me he can not discuss other plans that other customers might be using. It's not like I gave him a name or anything I just said a member. I didn't want to know how they were paying just the fact of this must be a mistake. He said nope no mistake we are increasing the price and it's reflective of how many movies you rent. What does that mean I wonder?? If you use your service you pay more?? That can't be it, I have had the same 3 movies sitting on the desk for almost 2 weeks now.

Needless to say they lost this customer. Please, if you read this, share it, lets take revenge on the greedy money hungry pigs.

First Perfomance

Ash had her first performance last night. Along with Eisenhower Elite Energy, and the Thomas Jefferson Music Machine, the John's Hill Xperience had their Holiday Preview Show. It was AMAZING!

I have to warn TJ that if their performance last night was any indication of how they will do at competitions, they are going to lose to us every time. I am not saying this because we are in JHX but because we truly were so much better haha.

Anyway the EEE had many solo's then TJMM did their act in khaki's and polo's. It was not so great. Especially after such great performance's by the High School kids. I was very very worried of how bad the X kidss were going to be. But alas they were awesome. Their opener was "We got it Going On" by Bon Jovi. It really got the audience to sit up and take notice. And it only got better from there. Where TJ left you in pain, JH got you tapping your feet and clapping. Thank goodness our outfits came in in time to wear. It definitely made a great impression right from the get go.

Then EEE closed out the show with an excellent performance with their entire group. Hannah was in awe of the costumes. Mark who is NOT INTO this stuff actually enjoyed it for a change. It will be an interesting and fun season to be sure.

When the show was over, we were greeted by Tons of Snow!! Mark went to get the car and while us girls were walking out, we didn't see him because our silver van was totally white lmao. We walked right past him and him us because it was snowing so hard. Luckily I saw the license plate as we passed and back tracked.

On a side note, we cracked up at Ashley's hair all night. Now that I know what they want the hair to look like, I will take over the roll of her hair stylist. She looked like a French Poodle with her do. If your wondering how much product a 12 year old needs to achieve this look here you go!

I am alive

I haven't posted lately. Been so busy and yet so much is going on.

Ashley has her first performance on Saturday at the Lincoln Theater. Wish her luck. Their dresses came in yesterday so they won't be altered in time to wear so they will be wearing their 2nd costume. I still am not sure how I will deal with my little girl wearing a padded bra, makeup, hair done to the 9's and high heels. It's a bit surreal. She also has her "Christmas Ball" dance Friday. I just can't believe I have a 7th grader.

Hannah is doing good. She came home from school last Thursday beaming from ear to ear. She has her first loose tooth. This was hard. This means she will no longer be a baby. She is a little girl. A big girl if you ask her. sniff... sniff... I actually cried. Don't want to imagine her with a missing tooth. She is hoping for Christmas visit from tooth fairy so she will not wiggle it nor let anyone touch it. This could get gross.

Our house was busy with Alexis visiting and playing wii , drinking, shopping , and doing all our favorite activities. We loved having her here and now miss her terribly.

Yesterday my mom came to town and stayed the night before heading of to Chicago for a meeting then she has to rush home to Missouri to pack up to head to VA. I told her to call you Brigitte and help you move into your big beautiful new house!!

That's about all that's going on in the F house. Work and run. And no I do not have my Christmas Shopping done, so don't ask haha.