Ten on Tuesday

10 things I got for Christmas.

1. Kindle
2. Cool purple slippers
3. Label maker
4. Port Mortuary by Patricia Cornwell
5. Ghiradelli chocolates - caramel, caramel latte and pumpkin spice.  (Pumpkin spice?  Further proof that Mitch does not know me AT ALL.)
6. Wool socks (because Mitch does not like me to put my cold feet on him)
7. Aloe infused socks
8. Lint roller
9. Bubble bath and bath salts (in which to soak while I read my Kindle)
10. Scratch off lottery tickets from Illinois of which I won $2

How was YOUR Christmas?

This Christmas Day

It's Christmas Day and we are officially exhausted.  Turns out, staying home a million miles away from family isn't really any more relaxing than being close to everyone and driving around from house to house all day.  Plus, someone here has to cook dinner (a task previously undertaken by my mother-in-law) or we're all going to be really really hungry soon.

Sara got us up at 7 AM.  I thought this would be the year the kids would sleep in, but no dice.  And seeing as she was up until after 11 PM last night, apparently too excited to sleep, it meant Mitch and I were up late too.  I'm still unsure what the believability status of Santa is in this house, and the kids aren't saying.  So we continue with the status quo of Santa bringing gifts.

I know when Jacob was in 1st grade, there was a lot of talk that Santa wasn't real.  He expressed some concerns then, but seriously, we haven't heard another word about this since.  Sara wanted to know how a few weeks ago how Santa was going to get in since we don't have a fireplace here, but then said she didn't need to go see Santa this year or write him a letter.  So I just don't know where we stand.  We marked some gifts from Santa, and some from Mom & Dad, as is our custom.  And Sara said last night that she couldn't wait to see what Santa said in his letter this year.  (Every year, Santa leaves them a letter after eating the cookies.)  Needless to say, I was typing up a Santa letter at 10 PM last night.

We've adopted a serious "Don't ask, don't tell" policy around here.  It's more work than talking, if you ask me.

I don't know.  Jacob is 11, so I don't think he believes anymore, but Sara's 9, so she very well might.  I guess we'll just have to see what they say next year.    

I'm thinking of heading out to Kohl's tomorrow to buy myself a set of Fiesta Ware dishes.  We'll see how ambitious I am.   Sundays I am not traditionally ambitious.  It might wait until Monday.

I hope you all had a great Christmas, or a relaxing day, depending on your religious affiliation.  And I hope Santa was good to you, if you still believe. 

Christmas is Coming

So I feel that since I'm not working for the next two weeks, I should be posting every day.  But it's amazing how the days go by. 

Yeah, whatever.  Like I'm sitting here curing cancer or developing alternative fuel sources.

Today I went to the bank and then the doctor's office to get proof that Jacob had his 2nd Hepatitis A shot.  If I don't have that, he can't go back to school on January 3.  And he's definitely going back, believe me.

I wrapped gifts tonight and while there should still be some stuff coming tomorrow, we're pretty much done.  This is unusual for us, since we're usually wrapping gifts on Christmas Eve.  Everything that needed to be shipped has been.  Cards are mailed.  Tree is up.  I might make some fudge or cookies tomorrow, but maybe not.  We got the kids way too much stuff, as usual, but seeing as Jacob got stuff for Boy Scouts, and books and clothes, it's not really that bad.  We would have bought him that stuff anyway. 

Shut up, that's how I'm justifying it.  Oh, and 2 sets of their grandparents sent us money to get them their big gift. 

2 sets?  You might ask.  How many grandparents do your kids have?

Get out your scorecard, here goes.  My parents are divorced and both are remarried.  Mitch's parents are divorced and both are remarried.  So our kids have 4 sets of - count 'em, that's 8 individual - grandparents.

You know how when a kid's parents get divorced, there are people who say (in a lame attempt to show the kid the bright side of divorce) "Well, now you get TWO Christmases!"

I say "lame attempt", but yeah, that is cool.  But you know what's cooler?

When that kid grows up and marries another kid whose parents are also divorced so their kids have 4 sets of grandparents.  Think about that. 

Four. Sets. of. Grandparents. 

Who wouldn't want to be those kids? It's the 2nd generation broken home upside none of the experts ever predicted.  Christmas and birthday jackpots for those kids, my friends.  Jackpots.

I could get my kids celery and shoelaces for Christmas and they wouldn't even notice.  Seriously.

Ten on Tuesday - Old Photo Edition

I had this thought about this earlier and it took me a while to find some old photos.  My oldest albums are in a box somewhere, so it was harder than I thought.

And Amanda, if you read this, it's not that I don't love you as much as our brothers/sister.  But all my photos of you are in those above mentioned albums.  When I find them, my dear, I promise to do an entire post of baby pictures of you.  Because I have that many.  Because you were THAT STINKIN' CUTE.

Without further ado:

Me and brother Dan, let's say 1973ish

Me holding baby brother Dave, with Dan ignoring us, 1974

Me, kindergarten 1975

Me and Dave.  Don't know the year, but that's our house in Cedar Rapids.  And yes, he's wearing a cowboy outfit.  It was cool then.

Me, Dan and Dave.  Dan's 9th birthday so 1981.  Dave and I look completely unimpressed. 

Sister Katy.  I'd say she's a year old in this photo so 1983.  This may very well be the only photo of Katy in a dress. :)

Mitch and I at his mom's in Texas.  1992 probably.  And yes, he still owns that shirt.

Jacob

Jacob and Sara

Sara

Sara's Appointment

Where is Maryann's Monday Madness?  What will I say?  Ugh, the pressure.

Sara had her follow-up at the neurologist this morning and it was basically good.  In spite of the fact that she's had three seizures now since September 9, they are not pushing to put her on anti-seizure medication.  I told them that my only concern is if she starts worrying a lot about having one or it starts interfering with her life, I would like to see her on something just to give her that peace of mind.  She's so self-confident and we'd hate to see anything change that.  The doctor and nurse practitioner both want to wait and see if she has any more before getting into medication.  The reason being that once a child starts anti-seizure medication, they need to stay on it until they are seizure-free for 2 years before trying to come off it.  The downside of no medication is that if she continues to have seizures, it will in effect "rewire" her brain and the seizures will be more frequent and more severe.  So we decided to wait with the agreement that if she has more seizures, we will take that step. 

Another unusual thing:  Sara's seizures always start with a visual hallucination that is very clear.  The first time, she "saw" her classroom while she was in bed, the second she "saw" houses in her classroom and last week she "saw" people in the cafeteria that weren't there.  The neurologist said that based on where her calcium deposits are - in the right rear lobe of her brain - hallucinations are usually spots or squiggly lines or flashes.  Because hers are so well-defined, it leads them to believe that the seizures are actually taking place in further in her brain, the temporal lobe.  Why this is they aren't sure. 

We're keeping her on the aspirin a day regime - that is to try to thin the blood and increase blood flow in the area of her brain where the calcium deposits are restricting it.  She will have another MRI in March and we'll meet with the neurologists again shortly after that.  Unless she has more seizures or we have concerns, when we could go back at any time. 

As far as the mood swings we've noticed, well, there the news is bad.  Apparently, that's just almost-10-year-old-girl related and we can't do anything about THAT.  Bummer.  There's never a pharmaceutical solution when you REALLY want one. :)

Sunday 8PM

Tomorrow Sara goes back to the neurologist for her follow-up.  We'll also be discussing the fact that she had that other seizure in November, as well as some issues last week.  Nothing that developed into a seizure, but she did have some hallucinations.  We don't have to go all the way to Salt Lake City tomorrow, which is nice, but to Riverton, which has a Primary Children's facility there.  It's the hospital we'd been taking Mitch for his face.  Incidentally, he goes back to the allergist tomorrow afternoon.  We do our part to support the health care system here.  Anyway, Riverton is closer and I don't have to get on I-15, which is good, since I always schedule these appointments at 9 AM, forgetting that A) I'm not a morning person; and B) I don't want to drive in rush hour traffic. 

Upside:  I think Riverton Hospital is fairly close to an IHOP.  So I think I know where Sara and I will be going after the appointment.

We are off school now until January 3.  I am mostly ready for Christmas.  The kids and I have to go out so they can get some stuff for Mitch.  But other than that, we're ready.  I'm still waiting for a couple of packages from Amazon, but the site assures me they will be delivered before Friday.  We'll see.  Amazon hasn't let me down yet so I will give them the benefit of the doubt.

I have a great many things I want to do while we're off, all fun stuff like stitching and scrapbooking and making cards, but if the past is any indication, I'll most likely sit around watching TV and Facebooking.  Which is good too in my opinion.  Maybe I'll get some blogging and reading in too.  Stay tuned, faithful readers.  I may have something interesting to say!

Fun Fact Friday

A smattering (because isn't that word fantastic?!) of Utah trivia for your reading pleasure.

** State symbol: The Beehive symbolizes thrift and industry.

** The average snowfall in the mountains near Salt Lake City is 500 inches.

** Because of the state's inland location Utah's snow is unusually dry. Earning it the reputation of having the world's greatest powder. 14 Alpine ski resorts operate in Utah.

** The name Utah comes from the Native American Ute tribe and means people of the mountains.

** Utah's professional sports teams include the Utah Jazz of the NBA, the Salt Lake Buzz of Triple A baseball, the Utah Grizzlies Hockey club of the International Hockey League and the Utah Starzz of the WNBA.

** Utah was acquired by the United States in 1848 in the treaty ending the Mexico War.

** Utah covers 84,900 square miles of land and is ranked 11th largest state in the United States.

**Utah has the highest literacy rate in the nation.