BYU football, Thanksgiving, Black Friday and sewing withdrawl

WORST-

1. as usual, my body doesnt seem to want to cooperate with the happiness plan. All kinds of problems. Then, for almost 48 hours, I had restless legs so bad I couldnt even sit at the computer. I had to stand, walk, etc. I got about 3 hours of sleep two nights in a row. By Saturday night, my brain couldnt even function because of sleep deprivation. It's funny how rls (restless legs syndrome) works. The more tired you are, the worse the rls gets. But the worse the rls, the less you can sleep, so you get even more exhausted which makes the rls worse, which makes you more exhausted....... you get the picture. Finally, Sat night, I actually fell asleep and got a regular night's sleep.

2. Yesterday we had to finish raking leaves. Katie and Connor volunteered to help over Thanksgiving weekend, but of course, it rained most of the time so we couldnt rake. They left Sat morning and by Sat afternoon, it was sunny and beautiful. So we had to finish the raking alone. Bah!

3. Sit down for this one. It's really bad. My sewing machine is in the shop for cleaning, adjusting, etc. It has been there for a week, just stitting in the queue. And he wont get to it until next week sometime. I could have been using it all this time. But no....it has to sit in the store, just to stay in the queue. I am suffering severe sewing withdrawl. I try hand quilting, etc which helps. And I've cut out pieces for 2 quilts. Now I just need my machine.

BEST-

1. BYU won the annual BYU vs. U of U football game. We were able to watch the game (instead of listening to it on the computer). Brad and Keva Cochran (ward members) invited us to come watch at their home. They had family in town and everyone was a rabid BYU fan. So that made it even more fun.

2. This weekend, I made some major contributions to the economy, especially on Black Friday. Got some incredible deals. Got most of my Christmas shopping done. Didnt deal with many large crowds or lines. It was all good.

3. I used a gift card (from one of my 5th grade students when I left) to purchase a blender thingy (like magic bullet, but Cooks brand). With the huge holiday sale, and a customer satisfaction coupon, and my gift card, it only cost $1.76! I'm excited to use it. Hope it works as well as I expect it to.

4. I finished quilting (on the longarm) 9 quilts for other people. I should make about $750 on them. Which is being used to buy some more expensive craft and sewing items. Items that I want but dont need. So I use quilting money.

5. On Thanksgiving we went to see the movie, Blind Side. It was so good. The rest of the day I felt uplifted and happy.

6. Earlier that day, we had Thanksgiving at the church. Every year, I organize a potluck Thanksgiving for families in the ward who want to share Thanksgiving with others, but don't have family near by. We had about 35 people this year. No one wanted to bring turkey this year, so I had to do it. I was pretty nervous that the turkey would be dry and awful, and that I would ruin everyone's Thanksgiving. But I used the huge roaster that Bryce had given me for Xmas 2007, and the turkeys were perfect! YAY! Even my gravy turned out. Miracles do happen!

7. For the first time in nearly 30 years of marriage (I think for the first time), I have ideas for multiple gifts for Bryce for Christmas! He is impossible to buy for, but this year, I have like 4 good gifts. Exciting.

8. Our 30th Anniversary is coming up. But we have no idea of what plans to make for it. Sad stuff. ---- Maybe this should be on the worst list. (But how can you put info on 30 years of happiness on the worst list? You cant! So it is here.)

quilting, fall leaves, and Elaine Dalton

BEST-

1-I finished quilting 8 quilts (for pay) just in time for the Christmas shopping season to start. And I think I will have about 3-4 more before Christmas arrives. Yay for extra money.

2- I finished an amazing gift for one of my girls. Cant be specific since they all read this. :o) I also made some math geek bags for Natalie and some of her friends, using my YUDU and then sewing the bags.

3- I got some organizing done in the basement. After that, I looked at the dining room/computer room on the main level, thinking I would tackle it next. I think I have decided it might be easier to torch it rather than try to clean/organize it.

4- The fall leaves raking is done (nearly done). Very little left. This is the worst part of the fall, so it is so nice to have it done. (However, my back is aching because of it. Maybe this should have been put under the WORST section.....)

5-I have subbed again for the 5th grade. It's so funny how those kids treat me like a celebrity. I have a couple of days lined up in the future as well, including this Wed.

6-Thanksgiving at the church--every year I organize a potluck Thanksgiving at the church for those who have no family near by or who dont want to fix a whole feast just for their family. Everyone brings part of the feast, we eat all together, then all of us take home mixed leftovers for the next day. It works good. This year, our numbers are smaller, about 35. But often, in the last few days, we pick up a few. Normal numbers are 35-50. It's always fun.

7- The BEST OF ALL. Last Sunday, we went to a fireside for YW and their mothers with Elaine Dalton (general YW pres). I have to say, it was the most amazing thing ever. Really life changing. The YW in my car talked on the way home. They kept repeating stories, lessons, principles, etc. It was as though they had met a rock star, but one they wanted to emulate. She was so personable, and spent hours meeting and greeting and hugging every girl there that wanted to meet/greet/hug her. (And there were thousands!!) This is something that those YW will remember their whole lives. (and the moms that went as well.)

WORST

1-I have to bring my sewing machine in for servicing. It costs a lot, plus I am without my machine for about a week. AAAAHHHH. I hope I survive.

2- I have no idea of what to get a couple of my kids for Christmas. It will come, but I dont like being stumped this late in the year. I could always go with socks and underwear, right?

3- Holy canolli! Is that all the worst? I cannot think of anything else. hmmmm.

Friends, quilts and other stuff

The worst

1. My house is a wreck. I'm spending too much time doing stuff I will talk about in the BEST section.

2. Bad headaches this week. And a lot of them.

3. Jenna had another panic attack and ended up in the ER again. What are we going to do to control them?

4. I am so tired! All the time. I think the fact that I dont sleep at night has something to do with it.

The best

1. We had an old Stake Young Women Presidency reunion last night. Fun stuff. Heidi, Angie, Tashia and I met at 6:30ish at Outback. We ate too much food, shared desserts, and talked, talked, talked. Heidi donated her $100 gift card so it only cost each of us $5 for the tip. YAY for Heidi! We had missed hearing updates and stories from everyone (especially the hilarious Heidi). We got updated on what is happening in stake YW now. We talked kids, YW, wards, weirdness, dysfunctional families, and more more more. Finally, at 10:57 we decided it was time to go home. These ladies are a blessing in my life. They are amazing women! I am blessed to be around them.

2. I finished the green quilt retreat quilt. It is so beautiful. Everyone who made a quilt there wants to make another one with the same pattern. It is such a great pattern....it's stunning without being too difficult to do. I would take a pic, but it is so large that I dont have any flat space that large. I will have to take a pic at the church during quilting this week. It is fun to look at and remember what a nice time we had at the retreat, sewing with such good friends.

3. I used my YUDO machine! I finally got the nerve. It really was quite easy to use. I used it to silkscreen fabric pieces that I had cut out to make "I love math" bags for Natalie and some of her friends. They are turning out super cute.

4. The General YW President is here from SLC and speaking at a fireside in Maryland tonight for YW and their mothers. I am very excited to go.

5. I figured out TWO, yes, TWO Christmas gifts for Bryce! That is a miracle.

6. On Friday I subbed a half a day in the same school but a different 5th grade class (and will sub in my old class on Monday.) When I came in to the school, it was crazy. Kids ran down the hall in droves to hug me. They were saying, "Come back and be our teacher." "We missed you." and the like. Throngs of admiring 5th graders. It was hilarious. But it was about to get worse. I looked up and the teacher I had subbed for was running down the hall to me. She pushed through the kids, gave me a hug and said "Come back and be the teacher." (I laughed and mentioned I was going to be there on Monday, and she said, "NO! Permanently!" ) It was so funny. (FYI she was out on maternity leave with her 3rd child, the oldest is 5. She she is really having a hard time leaving them.) I wrote on my facebook that I felt like Taylor Swift.

7. Friday night was our annual RS Focus on Sisters. My neighbor, Carol VanGilst came with me. Vicky Carlson, a former member of our ward, whose husband is/was a) the highest ranked mormon in the military (4 star general in Air Force) and b) is now a member of the 2nd quorum of the 70, spoke at it. The theme was the 10 virgins. But she tied it into her experiences dealing with the difficult call to full time church service, and how it changed all the plans they had been making for 37 years (retirement). It was a great program. Carol VG and I enjoyed it. Afterwards, Carol and I talked about some things in our church, prophets, apostles, etc. Carol VG is a righteous Christian woman and a good friend. She likes coming to these with me, and I love having her come. It was a good night.

Its been a good week.

Quilting retreat extraordinaire! and more

GOOD-

1. Just got back from a quilt retreat all day Friday and Saturday. We quilted for about 26 hours total. We all worked on the same pattern, one that we had all wanted to do, but it looked so overwhelming that none of us dared try it. However, we thought if we all did it together, we could help each other. We were right. It was a huge job, very tedious, but it wasnt has hard as we thought it might have been and with 10 quilters there, we were all able to help each other through the trickier parts.

We held it in Mike Ray's garage, actually, in a huge workshop in his brand new multi-car garage. Heat (including a heated floor), a super long workbench, the perfect height for cutting, room for tables, trashcans, ironing boards and irons, etc for 10 quilters. The floor was so clean we could lay our quilts out on it. It was an amazing room! Then upstairs from that was an in-law suite of sorts. We slept, showered, etc there. (The Ray's home is also where the longarm quilting machine is kept/used--Karen Ray is one of the three owners --Karen, Sharon and Carol.)

So this retreat had no cost, super friends, endless quilting. How can it get better than that? (Oh, I just remembered, it COULD get better! We decided that next retreat will include a visit each evening from a lady in our ward who is a massage therapist. THAT would make the experience complete!)

This is the quilt we were working on. Everyone made it in different colors an sizes. You can see that mine was green and white. I made the largest size so it could fit on a queen sized bed. I still have to add borders but I cant figure out what I want to do for the borders. And because I am a really quick quilter, I finished my top (except the borders) Only one other lady finished her top, and hers was about a quarter size of mine. Everyone's colors were so different! And all were beautiful!

2. I have gotten a lot done around the house. Ran a lot of errands. Helped a family in the ward one early morning, fixed some real dinners, caught up with laundry, started organizing the Thanksgiving dinner at the church. This extra 10 hours a day is really great.

3. Molly got straight A's the first quarter! We were sweating it out in a few classes. But the schedule switch was good choice. It is possible for her to work hard and achieve success with this schedule. The teacher with her other schedule would have made it impossible to achieve success, even with an unreasonable amount of work and effort. YAY for Molly and her hard work!

4. For the first time, the computer let me add a picture to the blog. That is pretty exciting stuff.

5. Four of the teachers I worked with took me out to lunch to thank me for my hard work. We went to Mike's American Grill (the best/most popular restaurant in the area.) It was fun and nice of them.

WORST

1. I miss the kids in my class. I don't miss anything else though.

2. There is still so much to do around the house. Things I have been wanting to get to. But now that I have time, I am overwhelmed with all the things I want to do. How do I prioritize?

3. I now have the YUDU machine and all the accessories I need. But I am too chicken to actually try it. Yikes. (and dumb)

Another excellent week (if you dont count H1N1, migraines, fall leaves and obnoxious elections)

Worst--

1. non-stop headaches. Not fun. I can't figure out why they are so bad right now--I'm not stressed, not sick. Frustrating. Nothing seems to make them go away except percocet, and I cannot take that all the time.

2. Now I have to really start working around the house, since I dont have any excuses not to. (see best #1)

3. I miss my "kids" already. (see best #1)

4. The leaves are falling in droves. With so many kids gone, we are going to DIE trying to rake all the leaves this year. I actually fear how bad it is going to be.

5. Election day is Tuesday. We are getting 3-5 items in the mail every day, and get phone calls as often as every hour. This is insane!

6. H1N1 Swine flu. Everyone is dropping like flies. I sent two kids home Thursday, two on Friday. Families in our ward are reporting new cases every day. Last week, the high school reportedly had 300-400 kids out. EVERYONE KEEP AWAY FROM ME AND MY FAMILY!

BEST

1. I finished my long term sub on Friday. It really was a great experience, and I enjoyed it. (I didnt enjoy the 10 hour days, though.) My kids were so sad. Many brought in nice cards or gifts. (I got gift cards, chocolate, books, etc.) We had a really easy, fun day, with a 2 1/2 hour read-a-thon at the end, complete with candy, cookies, cupcakes, punch, etc all provided by excellent parents.

2. A lady I quilt for brought over 7 quilts for me to quilt, bind and tag. It will be A LOT of work. But I will make between $500 and $600. Excellent! I already have some of the money spent (in my mind anyway.)

3. Halloween was fun. Lots of trick or treaters. I gave away air heads. Molly was a princess, her best friend, Katherine, was a frog (Princess and the frog-new disney movie.......). I handed out candy while Molly, Katherine, her brother Andy, and Molly's friend Paloma trick or treated around the neighborhood. I tried to sew, but found I was interrupted too often to get anything done, so I gave up.

4. The stake High Priests annual dinner and social was Friday. Good company. Good food. We sat at a table with Kirk and Shawnee Marsh, some of my favorite people. One crockpot casserole was so good, I sat by the crockpot when the activity was over, waiting for the person to pick it up so I could get the recipe. It turned out that it was made by Ed Reid. It was an easy recipe that he just told me right there. I am making it for Sunday dinner. The entertainment that night was a sing-a-long, led by Pres. Erickson and his banjo. We sang a collection of unknown and bizarre ( but funny) songs--typical of Pres. E.

5. Michael Buble has a new CD out. I love the song "I just havent met you yet" Google the music video on youtube and watch it. It is so fun.

7-2 It must have been a good week.

Worst:

1. Headaches are back in full force. Migraines that last days. With medication, I function, teach, etc. But the same medication that takes an edge off the pain also makes me dizzy and loopy. I'm not even feeling stressed right now. I cant figure it out.

2. My house is becoming less clean. I am actually looking forward to some time to do deep cleaning.

3. nothing else???

Best:

1. My school kids have been fabulous this last week, especially when I've been suffering from headaches. M-Th will be pretty easy days this week. Friday is halloween math, PE, art, and a long read-a-thon. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. Then I am done. I will love the free time, and time to accomplish much, but will miss (most of) the kids.

2. While still officially teaching, I have applied for some discount cards. Barnes and Noble, Virginia Science Museum, and will try for a couple more this week.

3. Next week, my first week off, I will attend a quilting retreat on Friday and Saturday. I am having fun anticipating endless quilting. I finished my homespun quilt this week (see pics on facebook since my computer wont let me download pics to the blog). I also made a super cute fabric box and started a purse.

4. I am reading "Three Cups of Tea" and loving it. I'm trying to convince Molly and her group of friends (who are starting a club to do service) to fundraise for this organization. Pennies are easy to collect.

5. Spartanfest was yesterday. I took Molly and two friends. I spent less $ than usual, got a new longarm quilting client, and also bought some cool stuff, including a long wooden board that says "Let us be silent that we may hear the whisper of God", a cool clipboard, notebook and mini scrapbook, fudge, etc. Next year, I am hoping to rent a booth and sell some quilts, maybe purses, and longarm quilting services.

6. I have signed up for Relay for Life walk. If you are able, I would love for you to contribute a little to my fundraising efforts. For years, I have helped fundraise for ACS (American Cancer Society). When I was a poor college student and diagnosed with choriocarsinoma, my insurance covered very little of our bills. The ACS gave us a grant to help with medical expenses. I have always been appreciative. This is another way to give back.

7. I bought a YUDU machine. To do silk screening (t-shirts, bags, etc). I am super excited. Used quilting money to do it.

no brownies, dishwasher or coffee for me

WORST--

1. Working from 715 to 445 every day (9.5 hours), only getting paid for 7, and never quite getting everything done is wearing on me.

2. Even Molly, the "go with the flow" girl mentioned this week that she is going to be glad when I am done, so that we can eat regular dinners again. :o(

3. David's Cookies (traveling booth) arrived at Costco this week, but is NOT carrying their life altering brownie pack! Are they kidding? Why bother coming at all?

4. Our dishwasher finally arrived! But Rob can't install it until at least Monday. I guess if I did without for 2 1/2 weeks, I can do without for another 1/2 week.

BEST-

1. I have every subject planned, papers copied, tests written, etc for the next two weeks. All I have to do now it carry it all out, grade everything and do quarter grades. Maybe only 8 hour days for the next two weeks?? probably not.

2. Started a quilt top that is so so so cute. Three ladies at a table, quilting. (Originally it was 3 ladies at a table drinking coffee, but whats the fun in that? So I changed it to quilting.) I should be able to add the borders today and be done. Its quite small so I'm not sure how to quilt it.

3. For dinner today, I am going to make my niece, Sami's recipe for meatballs. Delicious! Katie and Connor can't come for dinner today, though, so that will be sad. (Of course, that means I don't have to pick up the house, instead, I can quilt all morning. :o)

4. I got a ton of things done this week, including lots of laundry, organizing, de-junking, cleaning, etc. I also did tons of dishes, but that is obvious, with no dishwasher. I also re-watched about 1/3 of conference. Most of the major work was done each day before 7 am because by the time I come home at night, I'm too tired to do much.

5. Molly and I went to the Apple store on Saturday to attend a youth workshop on photos (iphoto, photo booth, editing photos, etc). Then we went to lunch at the Cheesecake Factory with a gift card from a friend that I had done some sewing for. Whole lunch out of pocket cost was $1.46

so so week

WORST-

1. Long weekend. No free time. Not a lot of fun. Run errands. Dr appts. Ward dinner/social to help with. Messy house with no time to clean. Cannot keep up with endless dishes (see #2) and so have turned to using paper/disposable products.

2. I hate my dishwasher. I rinse dishes so clean that you can hardly tell if they are clean or dirty. Then I put them thru the dishwasher cycle and they come out dirty. yes. it is the truth. ask anyone. This week, it got worse, then the dishwasher stopped working at all. No water will come in. So I have a completely full dishwasher of dishes, and a sink full and no dishwasher.

3. my days of laziness are over. I finally have a new calling. (I've been callingless since the end of July. I have to say, I love it.) Although I am sad at having to contribute again, no complaints at the calling.--activities committee. I know! I am a slacker!

BEST-

1. I mostly finished a quilt I started in August. (still have to bind it) Quilted it today in a pretty difficult pattern (for me). It is a little inconsistent, but I tried something new, and most of all, IT'S DONE! I put a picture of it here, but my computer, in combination with blogger.com will not download pics to add, so i had to try another method. It worked except it made the picture HUGE. sorry. Just patiently scan down. :o)

2. When we discovered that our dishwasher was 10 years old, we wisely decided not to fix it. We bought a new dishwasher. Ranked as one of the best by Consumer Reports. Found an amazing price at Lowe's (so low that we thought it might be a mistake....) and then Lowe's had it for 20% off AND Virginia had a tax free weekend for energy star appliances! So we got a great price plus 25% off! The only bad thing is that we cant get it delivered for more than a week. yick. Paper products, here we come.

3. I only have 3 weeks left of teaching. I have started a list of the things I will have time to do when I am not working full time any more. (organize quilting room, organize storage room, go thru garage, make more quilts, help molly with homework without sighing first, etc.)

4. We got molly out of the psycho teachers class. Things are much better now.

JOY

Best

1- Sunday's General Conference--especially loved Pres. Holland's powerful testimony of the Book of Mormon, Brent Nielson's story about praying for the saints in Russia and his son then serving there 30 years later, D Todd Christofferson's talking about moral discipline, Ann Dibbs talk about using safety equipment And H David Burton's talk about "-ity" virtues. LOVE GENERAL CONFERENCE TO THE POINT OF OBSESSION!

2- Saturday's General Conference-- especially Whitney Clayton's saying that our biggest burdens are self inflicted by not following commandments, Russell Osguthorpe's saying that if you rely on the Lord, you will be able to do things you thought were impossible, Jorge Zeballos saying that the command to become perfect is a challenge to be our best! and Tad Callister warning us not to trade things we DO know for things we do not know! LOVE GENERAL CONFERENCE TO THE POINT OF OBSESSION!

3- passed my hump-day for teaching. (On Wednesday). I now have done 5 weeks and have 4 left. The kids were great this week. And to top it all off, this week, our class had art! (Let me explain this--our class goes to art every other friday. For 1 1/2 hours! I drop the kids off at the end of the day and get planning/free time for the last 1 1/2 hour--no kids, the end of the week, yay. love this.)

4-Finished 2 quilts for Shawna's twin boys. Quilted a quilt for pay and have 3 more in the living room to quilt for pay. Finally started sewing a quilt that I started cutting out before I started teaching, and started planning another quilt, this one an amazing doozie of a quilt that will probably take me until I'm 65 to finish (or Christmas, which ever comes first.) It is really really intense!

Worst--

1- General Conference is over for 6 more months.

2- Ate so much during our 2 full days at the Beans (where we watch conference and eat endlessly), that I have gained some very unwanted weight. However, the chicken chili, regular chili, jambalya, sloppy joes, mango salsa, rice, taco salad, fruit and fruit salad, cookies, muffins, pies, doughnuts, nachos, etc were so good! (note: I did NOT partake of all those foods, but they were all there, and more.)

3- School is back in session tomorrow.

Flower bulbs, psycho teacher, pain medication and one chocolate chip

The best (in no particular order)

1. Just before I got sick, I had purchased about 200 bulbs to plant. Every day, I see those bulb packages sitting, waiting for me to get enough energy to plant them. This week, my friend, Amy Darger-Stewart organized a bulb planting party. So Saturday morning, Amy and her husband George, Sue Ehlers, and MaryAnne McClelland all came and helped plant the bulbs. I have really great friends!

2. The general RS meeting was last night. As usual, it was great. My neighbor, Carol Van Gilst came with me. We went to dinner then to the stake center. We both are working full time this fall--both of us are usually at home moms--so we hardly ever see each other. We had a great time and enjoyed the broadcast. Carol has come to a lot of RS things in the last year or so. She is a great Christian woman.

3. I have been off controlled substances for pain for 9 days now. YAY. I feel like I am nearly back to normal.

4. I have taught/worked for 4 weeks now and only have 5 weeks left. Although I will be SOOO happy to be done, I will miss the kids. (well, most of the kids.....)

The worst

1. A couple of kids in my class will drive me insane by Nov 2nd. Almost guaranteed. (The rest are an absolute delight!)

2. I get to work about 715 am and come home from work about 5 pm . By the time I get home, I am so exhausted that making dinner is a joke. We only get a real, regular meal about 2 of the 5 days. Poor Molly. Last week I bought her a loaf of bread and a chocolate chip cookie from Great Harvest Bread to say thanks for being so flexible and non-demanding. The cookie (diameter is about 6"! ) had only one chocolate chip in it. Another worst item.

3. Back to school night at the high school (for Molly) revealed that she has 6 really good teachers and one teacher that is probably good, but is psycho. He assigns hours of homework every night, uses a college textbook and has arbitrary rules that make little sense, but that he will not change. (No, this is not an AP class or I would expect some of this.)

I think that is all for this week.

Finally on the mend....

Worst

1. Sicker than a dog for 2 weeks, I had to teach 5th grade while on Vicocin most of the time. By Friday, even the vicodin couldnt control the pain. It was so bad.....trying to hide from the kids that I was in so much pain.

2. BYU's game against Florida State. What can I say that hasnt been said on facebook? It sucked the life out of me, minute by minute.

3. Because I've been sick, I have two weeks of work to catch up from......cleaning, errands, quilt gifts, letters, etc. Its hard to get motivated to do it all.

4, Jenna lost her job. I worry about her not having classes OR a job. I'm worried about depression that comes from having nothing to motivate a person. I have enough grey hair. I dont need any more.

Best

1. On Friday, the Dr made things all better. I will spare the details. But by Friday evening, I had energy again. Saturday, I actually went grocery shopping, took Molly for an eye appt, and took her to buy glasses and sun glasses. That much activity is more than I've been doing the last two weeks combined.

2. I am more than a quarter done with my teaching. I've done one week of classroom set up, and two weeks of school/kids. I only have 6 weeks of kids left. And my class is a dream class. They are really amazing.

3. Visiting Teachers and a couple of friends brought us a meal the first week I was sick. Then Jen Bean brought the family a meal every night for the next week and a half. Every night! She is amazing. Amy Darger-Stewart looked out for me, drove me to and from school when I was too medicated to drive, ran errands for me and helped me out at school. These are two true friends. I am blessed to have them in my life.

kidney stones

Many years ago I started producing kidney stones. The first few were bewildering, and I thought I would die from the pain. After a few more, I learned to have percocet on hand all the time, to keep myself on meds, and that I could live through it. In 2005 I passed/tried to pass a kidney stone nearly every month. (12 that year, including on my anniversary, mothers day, memorial day, birthday, christmas, and nearly every other holiday.) Luckily, i saw a new urologist who put me on medication to try to cure me of kidney stones. It has been working great, until now. After 4 years without a stone, I got a doosy! 6x8 mm.

I woke up last sunday morning in pain. I thought maybe uti, maybe kidney stone (similar symptons at first). It was 3 am. Bryce needed the sleep for sunday, so i quietly drove myself to the emergency room. Quickly diagnosed as a kidney stone, the ER Dr told me that it was too large to be passed. But that since it was a holiday weekend, no one would do anything to help until Tues. Great. First day of school was Tuesday.

I got some pain control meds and Bryce picked me up. (Had nice, pain killing, controlled substances flowing thru my veins by this point, so I couldnt drive.)

Tried to recover, rest, etc for the next few days. Tuesday I started school, with plenty of medication to keep me going. Late that afternoon, the counselor took my class while I went to a dr appt. I convinced the Dr to blast the stone the next day. I arranged a sub for the 2ND DAY OF SCHOOL.

On Wed, the dr put me under and tried to blast the stone that was big enough that it had barely moved down the uretor. It popped back into the kidney. He blasted it there, but had to leave all fragments, that I am supposed to pass now. He put in a stint, which is nearly as painful as the stupid stone. I have to have that in for 10 days

So now, I am in constant discomfort, nearly always in pain, not passing anything at all, on vicoden 24/7 just so I can function. Teaching every day. Stressed out. And I think that life isnt so hot right now.

Even quilting isnt fun. This is the bad. There is no good. No quilts. Just bad this time.

a full week--past and future

Busy time. Maybe I will post more than three of each this week.

Bad-

1. Kidney stone! Used to have them all the time (in 2005 I had one a month!!!) but I'm on new medication and haven't had one for 4 years. I'm making up for it by trying to pass a large one. The ER Dr. says I cannot pass it on my own and need to have it removed/blasted. Unfortunately, it is a holiday weekend so no one will do anything but prescribe strong drugs. (and while that isnt good, at least i have medication to hold me off......) The pain started in the middle of the night, so I got up around 430 and drove myself to the ER about 5 am, letting Bryce sleep a couple of more hours. (Sunday is long and hard for him. He needed the sleep.)

2. School starts Tuesday. My room is ready, plans are written. I created a new behavior incentive plan called VISA Rewards. (created? borrowed?) VISA stands for V-value each person I-Integrity 100% of the time, S-Self-Discipline A-Achievement and Accountability. When they earn points for good behavior, they earn VISA rewards--free time and candy every other friday afternoon.

So why, with with such a brilliant plan is this (school starting tomorrow) a bad? See #1. I will teach in great pain and/or drugged up. Not good.

3. Even though I do nothing but drink clear fluids, I am gaining about 3 lbs a day. Granted, it is probably a lot of water weight, but that much weight is not going to all magically disappear when the kidney stone does. AAAHHHH

4. Daily migraines/headaches have started up again. (even before the kidney stone)

5. I had to miss church yesterday. (see #1) I only remember missing church 3 times in my adult life. Now 4. I watched a church dvd so I didnt feel as sinful. Then I slept.

Good--in no particular order.....

1. I got three new pairs of shorts and new top at Kohl's. The shorts are all long, baggy men's cargo shorts. One is Khaki and two are military green with hawaiian flowers. I absolutely love them.

2. School open house went well. Met 24 out of 25 kids and parents for all 25. Everyone at the school was really worried because GT parents have a reputation of being really difficult. Every teacher had a horror story. The principal and counselors were on alert. But except for three parents that questioned me a lot about my qualifications, everyone was fine. And even those three were ok. In addition--the three other 5th grade teachers are super nice and super helpful. That makes this a lot easier.

3. I started making a quilt that is the quilting group's fall project--homespun fabrics. And started making two cute applique quilts (primary colors with trains) for Shawna's twins. I have no idea when I will have time to work on them. But it feels good to do a little quilting.

4. Found out that while on percocet, you can also take 3-4 ibuprofen's at the same time. Now, that is information I can use!

5. Our home teachers brought in dinner yesterday. VT today and a good friend Tues. I am hoping for a miracle and am hoping I will pass the stone by then. Tomorrow I will call my dr and schedule a lithotripsy for as soon as it can be done....but hopefully after school hours. Pray for me.

6. The pet rats Molly was pet-sitting are now home for good! yay. They freaked me out.

7. I still have no calling or church responsibility. yes, this is a good thing. I have been working hard for a long time. If they still cant find callings for everyone in the ward, I will volunteer to be one that is temporarily calling-less. I love the freedom and lack of responsibility. It wont last very long, so I will appreciate it while it lasts.

8. After using a pc laptop at work now, I appreciate/love/adore my mac at home even more. They are so worth the extra money! And the cust service makes it even more worth it! YAY for macs!

Unexpected Utah trip

After playing "chicken" with priceline.com, and losing, I unexpectedly made a trip to Utah this week. Here is the best and the worst.....

WORST-

1. the trip home was long and bumby and I got so so sick. I didnt even feel completely better the next day.

2. the visit was too short.

3. my daily headaches came back during the trip. I cant figure out why.....

BEST--

1. I saw all my sisters! First, Karen picked the girls and me up from the airport (big surprize since no one knew i was coming) and took us to Moms. Mom was surprized as well. When Monta found out I was here, she invited Catie down. Catie actually drove down, even though it was only for about 24 hours! YAY. We took pics of all of us together. I also got to see Val, Ann, Dave and Carol, Dena and Ole, Aunt Timmie and Uncle Bob, and spent a lot of time with my mom.

2. I saw Jenna and Natalie's apartments. Helped Nat clean hers up and move in. Helped Jenna a bit, but she moved in months ago. They live just one stairwell away from each other in Alta Apartments. I had so much fun! Even though most of the time I was working hard. Nat drove me around where ever I wanted to go, even to SLC and to the quilt store in Sandy. (Both Nat and Jenna now have cars that they purchased with no financial assistance from us.)

3. All the other great stuff from the trip. Got to see Jodi, Amy and Kathy. Found out Denice is engaged!!!!, Went to Zupas for soup and salad, bought myzythria cheese and a byu lanyard. Talked endlessly with family--at Mimi's, Brick Oven, Sweet Tomatoes, Golden Corral, and Dena's spectacular breakfast table. Went to the quilt store in Sandy and bought some really fun stuff, while staying under budget! I had a snow cone the size of a basketball. Not kidding. I read a Shannon Hale book on each SLC/Chicago leg of my trip. I used my igo charger for my ipod/itouch with perfect results, put together some new furniture and trash picked other furniture for the girls! HAHA. It just doesnt get better than this!

Thanks for Molly and Bryce for letting me go without complaining. And now, one more free day, (Sunday). Then have to report to school Monday morning. Not exactly excited for that.

New relatives, quilting and Nationals tickets

The good--

1. We are related to the Sherrills in our ward. Well, kind of. Trent and Lyndi are here for her sister Anita's wedding. Anita married Michael Bowman (his parents are in a ward in our stake....). Turns out that Michael's younger sister is married to Ben Sherrill. Small world. This was discovered when Katie, Natalie, Jenna and Molly went to the temple to babysit Trent and Lyndi's girls while they attended the wedding. They kept seeing members of our stake arrive at the temple for a wedding. Eventually they realized that the stake members wedding and Trent and Lyndi's wedding was the SAME wedding!

2. I have been a busy beaver at the sewing machine this week. I made a beautiful quilt (wedding gift) for our friend, John Webster and his wife, Ellen. I designed the pattern from some ideas I have seen, figured out how to transfer the ideas drawn on graph paper into a quilt and then did it. This is not a strength of mine, so I am proud of myself. And just because I can, yesterday I decided to make Trent/Lyndi and the girls a quilt--picnic quilt--before they left. So I finished that today. Jean fabric with lots of colors of bandana fabric. Simple but cute. And I stitched each family member's names onto the jean squares. Finally, Bryce and I wrote a poem for the tag.

3. I have spent another 10+hours reorganizing and cleaning the basement, particularly Allie's old room. I dont even dread heading down to the basement any more. I actually look forward to spending time getting rid of more stuff and organizing more areas. This wont last long I'm sure. :o)

the Bad--

1. I only got 3 1/2 hours of sleep on Thursday night. And I just cannot seem to recover, even sleeping properly since then. I am getting old. And I feel a lot older than I actually am.

2. I nearly bought Nationals tickets for next Thursday night. The whole family is free and we love going to baseball games as a family, so we thought we would go. But I couldnt get the right combination of price and seats, so I put it off. Good thing I put it off! I forgot that 3 members of the family have Demi Levato concert tickets that night! Now I have to find another night that everyone can go. Wish me luck. It's a nearly impossible task, I fear.

3. We only have one week left with college kids. Monday the 24th, Connor starts medical school. Jenna and Natalie fly back to Utah. The following Monday, I start back to school (long term sub, starting the school year, until Nov.) Summer is about over. I am not ready. I already miss the relaxed pace.

Another week, another post

Best and worst three

BEST-

-Trent and Lyndi and girls came to visit for a week! Those girls are amazingly cute!

-We canned (well, we froze) peaches and made freezer jam. Finished in one day and the same day helped a new family move in, did major house cleaning and dealt with a major computer crisis. We are very efficient!

-I finished organizing my quilting/sewing storage room. I found TWO craigs lists IKEA shelves for cheap, filled them with fabric, machines, tools, patterns, etc. I even found room for the piles of quilts I have. Sometimes I go down and just stare at the beauty of it all. :o)

WORST-

-Dealt with a major computer crisis that seemed to worsen by the minute. But thank heaven we now have a MAC. The crisis was one hundredth less than it would have been with a pc! GO MAC! I will never go back.

-I messed up two quilts while trying to make a quilt for a family friend. I'm hoping the third one is the charm. If not, I may just give up.

-While canning, I went outside to pick up the last box of peaches. When lifting it up, I found a cricket under it. I slightly freaked, shuddered and frantically put the box down. Bryce had to check out the box to be sure that no crickets had climbed into the box. Meanwhile, Trent was helpful by going out and killing the crickets surrounding the box. I had gone inside to calm down in the living room. Trent came in, hands cupped, and asked "have you ever caught a cricket?" while opening his hands right in my face. To say I freaked out, nearly threw up, and screamed, is probably understating the situation. I guess he is now even for the shark in the bathtub when he was 2 incident.

joining the blogging world

Inspired by my 3 girls who have blogs, and my 4 girls who are obsessed with blogs, I have decided to start blogging.  Who knows how long it will last......

Starting by listing the three best and worst things that have happened this week...

WORST

-because we are making major changes in 3 rooms in the house, the rest of the house is a total wreck

-molly is pet sitting 2 HUGE rats for good friends.  These rats are HUGE.  Creepy.  Did I mention HUGE?

-It's so hot that my face/head/hair is always dripping with sweat (now isn't that a picture you love to have in your head?)

BEST

-We are making changes to 3 rooms in the house.  Molly's room is so clean and reorganized that we actually found carpet on the floor!  And Allie's old room in the basement is being changed into my quilting fabric/supplies room

-I bought two IKEA bookcases on Craigs List for 50% off retail!  I love bargains

-We went to the farmer's market and bought a lot of fresh tomatoes, peaches and corn.