I know I suck!!!!

I never update... I'm sorry! I should write more. In fact I'm trying to do that... write more. We'll see how that goes. I am determined to work on some things on my own.

Tommy and I have been through some rough spots lately and are trying to get through it. It's been difficult to say the least. He travels too much and we have no time together and the kids miss him and I'm all alone. I'm tired of it. On top of other things that have been bothering me. So we have been trying to spend more time together when he is home.

I read the Twilight series.... OH MY GOD.... I am in love. I can't believe that I waited so long to read them. I love them so much. I get emotionally involved with my books and with my shows so it has been very hard on me with this one. I have laughed, I have cried, I have been a mess. I really get these characters and feel with them in a way I never have with any other books. No, not even the Harry Potter books. Weird I know. I am all about them. Anyone who wants to talk about them can e-mail me or look me up on facebook.

Well I don't have much else to say. I will talk later.

Hugs and Love,
Chelley

I'm Bored

So I had my shoulder operated on, on Tuesday Mar. 10th and it went pretty well. There was a small problem..... my bones are a little soft which isn't good but we are working on that. It was a labrum repair. That's a tendon in your shoulder. They fixed it and now I'm in a sling and have an ice machine. It's been such a pain in the ass. I hate being chained to a machine. I hate not being able to do things for myself. I haven't been able to drive and won't be able to drive for at least another couple of weeks. My mom is here helping us out b/c Tommy is out of town for the next two weeks over the weekend as well. It sucks! I'm in a bitching mood as I'm sure is obvious. I'm glad that my shoulder will be fixed and won't be popping out of it's socket anymore but it's a long recovery process. My mom has been great with all of us. I think it will be fine but I'm so bored right now. I have been reading a lot which I love to do. I've been reading to the kids and reading my book. I finished one and am starting another one. I slept all morning today with my kitten, daisy which I normally don't do. I'm bored. Someone who wants to come and sit with me and cheer me up, please call me. I'm really interested in something fun!

Love and Hugs,
Chelley

Helpful people.....

So I know that I am blessed to have my mom here to help me for weeks after my surgery. I am truly thankful for that too. She has been very helpful the last few days and I know she will continue to be. Unfortunately Tommy just found out that when he goes out of town this Monday it will be for two weeks straight through next weekend as well. It has to do with the Ga crew coming up to help with a job in Baltimore and if he is working with them he has to work like he is part of their crew which means working two weeks straight. The overtime will be great! The weekend away will suck! The just told them they were going to start working 4 days a week and 10 hour days and then they tell him he'll be out of town for two weeks straight! That means my mom needs to be at my house for two weeks straight. I feel bad for her. She can go home for a while during the day but she still needs to sleep here and be here with us to help me. And in all of this my brother has already started complaining about taking care of Sophie, my mom's mom. I guess she is my grandmother you could say. I never knew her growing up or anything. She came to live with my mom when she found out she had alzheimers a few years ago. But anyways she has a hard time remembering to go to the bathroom and whatnot and Steven has had to clean her up and he hates it. Well I need my mom right now more than he does so too bad it what I say. Well there's my rant for the day.

Love and Hugs,
Chelley

Surgery day came and went!!!!

So I was very nervous about my surgery this morning but they keep you talking and distracted long enough to not notice how long you are sitting there. So it's not too nerve wracking when you get into the back. That being said it was kind of quick. When they told me they were giving me a nerve block I kind of panicked. The nurse explained that they would stick a needle in my neck and that didn't make me happy. They gave me an iv which really hurt BTW. They always hurt more in the hand. Then they gave me anti-nausea drugs b/c I puke easy with anesthetic. And then they say they are putting something in my iv for sedation so they can do the block. When they put it in I immediately smell citrus. Weird, right? So I ask if that's normal and they say no not really. And then I say wow those drugs work fast. And I went out for a few minutes. At some point the Dr. and I marked my arm for surgery. When I woke up I was in the surgical room and they were giving me more drugs and taping my head to the headrest so it didn't fall during surgery. They said it was for safety. Then I realized just how "dead" my arm was. Then I was out again until the nurse woke me up.

Issues: The surgery went well. There was a labrum repair. The problem he ran into was that he didn't meet nearly the resistance he should have for a woman my age when he drilled into the bone. He said my bone is too soft. So now I can't start physical therapy for 3 weeks instead of 1. He wants to make sure his repair sticks and holds. I have a call in to my dr. to talk about it. And before I get helpful e-mails.... I take 1200 mgs of calcium a day and 4000 iu of D-3 a day amongst many other vitamins. So I shouldn't have this problem.

It's after 9pm and I am still blocked. It's gotten annoying now. It hurts to be numb so long. And my arm is "dead" and I can't move it. So I am typing this all with one hand! ugghh... it's getting old. If anyone wants to come around and sit with me.... I'm here.

Love and Hugs,
Chelley

My cat is a fuck!

So I love my new laptop.....A lot. And I have FIVE cats. All of which I love differently. But my Noah is a fuck. He really is. Ever since he was a baby he has chewed wires. But tonight he chewed a hole into my laptop wire. The cable that charges my laptop. I am so mad at him. He is such a meanie! He's been scratching my couch tonight too. It's like he's mad at us or something. Very odd behavior for him to get this bad all in one night though. Anyways, just had to bitch about it.

Tommy is going to fix it b/c to buy a new one is $65. I may just buy a new one anyways in a couple of months as a just in case if he tried this again. I can't afford to not be able to use my new pretty laptop. I like the webcam/microphone feature that I can use with Jess all the time. And I will take advantage of it after my surgery too!

Anyways, there's my rant.

Love and Hugs,
Chelley

New Laptop!!!

YAY! I Finally got my new laptop! And this time it was right and I didn't have to send it back! It was the "big" item that we got with the tax return this year. Including a PINK mini mouse, a 4GB flash drive, 25 light scribe dual layer writeable CD/DVDs AND a photosmart wireless printer. All for a great price too! I got about $240 off of it when it was all said and done.

So I had to go pick up both laptops from FedEx but it was worth it to have it right and have a great system. It's new and pretty and it has the alpha numeric keyboard on the side and I was hoping for that. I love it. Now I have to use my new flash drive which I got for FREE to get some pics of the kids onto this puter from my desktop. I'll get on that today.

This is my anniversary and birthday gift all wrapped up into one. I've been wanting one for so long and now it's finally here! YAY! Happy Day! It's so nice and has a 250 gig HD, 4GB of memory, 64 bit vista, 2.2MHz Processor.... it's just nice and new and pretty and MINE. All mine!

Anyways, that's my news.

Love and Hugs,

Chelley

Impending Doom.....

So I have to have surgery.... again. I don't like surgery. But this was inevitable. My shoulder used to pop out of it's socket all the time. And it hadn't done that in a while so I thought it was better. Boy was I wrong.

A couple of weeks ago I brought the kids to some tennis courts to hit a ball around for a bit. Rhiannon had never done this so I knew I'd have to show her something. She was having a hard time, even with two hands although that was a bit better than one. So I asked her for her racket and took the ball. I swing the racket and WHAM! My arm flies out of it's socket and goes "dead". If you have never had this happen it not only hurts but it's numbing and tingly all at the same time. I didn't know what to do. I dropped the racket and I held my arm and just stood there. I was scared. What if it didn't go back in? I kept trying to move it which is never a good idea but I didn't know what to do. So I tried moving it with my left hand... OW! Bad idea. After what seemed like ten minutes but was probably only two my shoulder slipped back into the socket on it's own.

My arm tingled and hurt for the remainder of the day and still kind of hurts a couple of weeks later. Um this happened on..... Feb. 13th. I was having a hard time moving it after that. So I tried to play with the kids but it was hard. I didn't trust my arm and it was my right shoulder too. So I called my orthopedist on Monday the 16th. and had an appt. for the 18th. He scheduled an MRI for the 26th and I will have surgery to fix it on March 10th.

Now this may seem fast to some people but my right shoulder has popped in and out of it's socket for years. And it has always been a problem. It has never tightened up on it's own. He warned me when he operated on my left shoulder 4½ years ago that he would have to do my right. He said it was only a matter of time and how long I could live with it. Unfortunately I can't live with it anymore b/c I don't want to make it worse. It hurts too much when it pops out.

So, off I go. I will be on medical leave from curves for roughly 4 months. And I will be in physical therapy during that time. I will also be trying to do some other kind of exercise to not lose out on all the hard work and progress I have made at curves. I like it there and will miss it while I'm gone. Any support or love you want to throw my way I appreciate!

Love and Hugs,
Chelley

Updates.....

Connor had his Blue and Gold banquet last night for boy scouts. He got a bunch of awards! He got a certificate for most imaginative pinewood derby car! He was so excited. He made a bald eagle and it was really cool. He also got a purple and silver knot for completing the God and Me program back in December. He completed it for the episcopal faith. He also got a gold arrow point for completing 10 electives in his handbook. For finishing more of these he will be able to get silver arrows. He got a patch for doing a good turn for others for 2008. And the biggest one of all!!!! He got his Wolf badge!!! Which also comes with a parent pin. I am proudly sporting that on my badtz maru that is on my bag that I carry around everywhere. It was a long but very nice and fun night. We had dinner and got to see our son get a bunch of really great awards! The whole family went, Will included!

The kids got their report cards as well last week. Connor got straight E's again, which is like straight A's. He is still having some trouble with listening and focusing. But he is getting better on his new medication. He has been working on those issues and it's been much better in the last few weeks.

Rhiannon got all S's and one E in Science. Which is like all B's and one A. She is still having time management issues and issues with math and social studies. We are working on those and so is her teacher. Rhiannon doesn't ask for help when she needs it. She has a bad habit of acting like she understands things when she doesn't and we are trying to get her not to do that. But it's a process that we are still working through.

Other than that they have done great on their report cards! They both have areas they need to work on and areas that they are strong in. They are really doing well overall. At the assembly on Friday the 13th, Connor got an award for being on the honor roll for the whole first semester! It was great!

We had Alanna parent teacher conference where we heard that she is doing well in most areas as well. She still needs to learn to use her words and stop throwing herself into a tantrum or tizzy when she faces something that she is having a hard time with. She also puts weird stuff in her mouth like eating sand and whatnot. We have the same problem at home though. She is moving along quite nicely with her letters and letter sounds. She is doing good with shapes and centers. She is very happy at school. She loves chapel and music. She watches in music but she absorbs. She really likes it there. We are so greatful that she loves school.

Well there isn't much more to say the kids are great and so are we right now. Money is REALLY tight but Tommy picked up a couple of side jobs to keep us afloat. We are trying. Thanks for reading folks!

Love and Hugs,
Chelley

Tax Refund time!!!!

So Tommy's job is still keeping him employed however they are giving him between 15 and 20 hours per week if he is lucky. This has been going on for the last 8 weeks or so. I'm sure anyone who lives paycheck to paycheck understands how hard this is. We already have a hard time making ends meet and don't always make it. But then you add in a $300 paycheck instead of an $800 paycheck and we are drowning.

So I bet you can only imagine how happy I was to do our taxes this year! I am the tax prep person in our house and I do a good job at it. So about a week and a half ago we get our W-2's and I get to work. After an hour on turbo tax we get the magical refund number! And Tommy and I are thrilled to see that we are getting back hundreds more than last years return! And thanks to his job making sure he made $3000 less this past year than the year before, we even got a refund for low income. We are that poor folks. I know, it's amazing.

So we have been waiting patiently for our refund. The state came in the other day and it couldn't have been a better time. We are using our refund for many things but now have to keep it good portion of it for this time that Tommy isn't working at all. And this morning we check the bank account and YAY.... there is the highly coveted refund we have been waiting for! We are so happy that there is money in the bank. Who knows how long it will last since we usually have a dollar or two in the bank. We are thrilled to have money there that will be there for a short while at least.

Anyways.... it's tax refund time everyone! And this is the happiest time of year for us. We finally get back a little of what we don't have all year long. So now we just have to figure out the best ways to spend it and the best ways to use it. Good luck to us and to you on your own refund!

Love and Hugs,

Chelley

We've been busy....

I know, it's been a while. And for the very few of you who read my blog I'm sure you are wondering what has been going on that has kept me from writing.

I posted about our family baptism which was great. And it came at a wonderful time too. We couldn't have waited any longer b/c Bill just got sicker and sicker. He held out for that baptism though! Hillary went over and blessed him as Connor's godparent after the ceremony at the church. We knew that Bill was getting worse due to his need for IV pain management. My mom and I went to visit him and brought him a video of the baptism so he could see the wonderful sacrament that had taken place. He was so happy. He thanked us profusely for allowing him to take part in the event in every way he possibly could at that time.

Connor and I went to visit Bill in the hospital on Tuesday, January 13th. Connor had finished his pinewood derby car so he brought it to show Granddaddy. He drove the car up and down Bill's legs. He leg Granddaddy drive the car too. Then he drove it on the walls of his room and even eventually got it on the floor where you would think it belonged. Dianne left for the afternoon and Connor and Bill had a chance to visit for another few minutes together before we left.

After one week in the hospital they released him back to the nursing and rehabilitation center with pill pain management. He had a hard time and was in and out of it. We did not go and visit him even though I would have liked to b/c Will and I had talked to Connor about the fact that Granddaddy was getting worse and was in a lot of pain and visits would have to be very short if we did go. I wish I had taken him one more time in those last few days but the last visit Connor and Bill had was a good one. He was still in pain but comfortable enough to get through his final days there at the rehab center. Bill passed away in the wee hours of the morning on January 23rd, 2009.

He was in very good spirits right until the very end. He showed us how to live your life even in his dying. He was always bright and happy and thoughtful. With much love and caring he will certainly be missed. Connor has been doing ok. He has been upset as we expect but dealing rather well.