Families make it happen

Good golly what day is it anyway? Let's see if I can get my barings and see if I can blog this correctly. Tuesday night, I got a call from my sister in law, hilary, that my gma was taking a turn for the worst. The docs were saying that she may not make it and so my dad was arranging to fly back to salt lake to meet my mom and catch another plane to Montana. Hil was calling to let me know they were packing up the car to head up as well, and she wouldn't be able to take my kids for me on Thursday. I was at Matt's house watching the kids-and he and Chris were getting ready to head to a movie. Everything halted. The idea of my grandma dying was too much for me to comprehend. Chris came over to find out what happened, because I broke down on the steps. We decided to cancel all plans, pack up the car and start the 8 hour journey to Missoula. We headed off about 9:30pm and ended up stopping in Dillon MT because the weather was so bad. We got a killer price on the Hotel. Wed afternoon, Hilary and I went in to see grandma in the ICU. She looked like death for sure. She was diagonal on the bed. her eyes weren't open, nor were they shut. And her mouth was dropped open . The only sign she wasn't dead was the beeping of the monitor. She was completely drugged out of her senses. Hilary and I got to talking to her and we brushed her hair, brushed her teeth, painted her nails. She didn't seem to realize where she was or quite who we were. Although it's now Friday, it seems like the same day. Between Chris and I, my uncles, parents, and Russ and Hil we take shifts so that she's never alone. She's made HUGE strides. The doctors went from saying she was hours from death to now saying she's close to coming home. She's been in and out of reality. She'll be totally aware and then a few moments later she has no idea where she is or anything. She has spent our entire time here thinking that chris is my brother Steve. She also goes from very pleasant to hating everyone. She's constantly trying to scheme an escape plan from the hospital. she HATES hospitals. She's pretty irritated that none of us are 'on her side.' I'm ok with her being angry with me for 5 more years, because that means I can have 5 more years with her. hopefully more than that. I have the 2am-4am shift this time around. I'd better get down and try to sleep. Ava is terribly homesick and has spent the last 24 hours crying for home and her friends. Chris is wanting to go home tomorrow as he's far behind in school, and the docs are talking about Grandma coming home next week. My grandfather is truly convinced that we have all saved her life. Showing up to see her, reminding her there is a lot to fight for, and that we are all loving her still has given her strength. Even though he's had 6 kids under 8 screaming and wrestling and spreading crumbs EVERYWHERE the past week....I'm sure he's ready for 'normal' to settle back in. I hope they find a good lawyer. I'm not a big fan of suing, but the way they screwed up my grandma....and the bills that are sure to come from a week in ICU and the long term care she's sure to need ....I say bring on the case! Never underestimate the power of family.

that's gonna leave a mark!

I slipped on the stupid ice this morning outside of my office. My whole body is now having 'after shock' effects and sore in places that don't make sense. Seriously, I need a camera crew following me. With how often I fall, I should be a millionaire from funniest home videos. It's never a graceful fall when I stumble either; it's always a crazy-limbs flying-body twisting, painfully funny fall.
The air outside is so gross, that i haven't been able to see Angie's house for 2 days. She lives across the street from me. That's beyond ridiculous. Ava's lungs are trashed from the pollution, along with just about everyone in the Wasatch Front. I love my neighbors, so we all need to pick up and move to clean air central. Or install some massive windmills along the valley to blow out the bad air. Something. This is crazy.
Simon loves technology. If I'm on the phone or my laptop, he has to be RIGHT.THERE. holding it, pounding it, excitingly yelling, and attempting to slam it open and shut. Fake phones and lappyies are no distraction. He knows the real deal. It's kind of crazy how smart my 10 month old baby is about some things. Things I don't think he should catch onto yet, he totally does. Between him and Ava...I'm TOAST!
Yesterday was beyond crazy. I'm going to post about my reality tv worthy morning on my workout blog, because that's where the drama of the day began.
Just as a side note, the last week has been HELL! That being said, however, I'm finally coming to understand what it means in the BOM about....opposition. It seems the crappier my day is ...the more I appreciate my husband. I mean, yesterday was an all out horrid day and yet at the end of it all, I found myself more in love with Chris than the day before. I am grateful for my trying times, because it makes me realize that I could not do this alone, and that I'm truly blessed to have him at my side. And most days, holding me up, so that I don't drown in the craziness of my days. It's a good thing he is so strong, because at times I feel so horribly weak. He's genuinely a good man.

Plan B

No, this post isn't about some form of birth control--although, YEAY for birth control products. Can I get an AMEN! Anyway, this is about our new life path or direction we're taking life or whatnot. We have taken our home off the market and are here to stay for a while longer. We had 2 homes sell in the neighborhood WAY undervalue, and decided that waiting for a warmer market, and a warmer climate...wasn't something we wanted to do with a for sale sign in the front yard. Our realtor, the amazing Stacey(roo) Bowman, of course sided with us on our decision, because she loves me and didn't want me to have a nervous breakdown, and was gracious about our taking the home off the market. I love that she isn't pushy and always supports us.
So now what does life have in store for us? Well, this semester Chris has 9 credits. Last semester he had 3. HOLD ON FOLKS....BUMPY ROAD AHEAD. One class is online, and one is at Weber State Campus. This means...Deb's workout gets bumped to 6am Mondays and Thursdays...and Chris gets to be gone from 8am-8pm M-F (theoretically) He uses about 5:30-7:30 for study time in the evening and comes home to play with the kids about 45 minutes and then help me get them into bed. What other changes? Well, we have felt very strongly that we need to get a food storage system going. Up until this week, our storage consisted of about 100 lbs of oatmeal and 2 cases of beets. Don't you hope you're our neighbor when things get tough. I know. Well, we received a very generous amount of cash as a Christmas gift from Chris's parents. We usually split the cash and have fun with it or put it to debt. This year, we dedicated it to building up a 6 month non-perishable food supply. I may have gone a *bit* overboard...but we'll see. Caselots usually begin in the spring, but this year...they started in the bitter cold of January. With the guidance of my sister-in-law Hilary, Angie, Katherine and Mary I set out to 3 different stores to stock up. Tonight--I am proud to report that we are good to go on beans, corn, cream of chicken, flour, sugar, rice, tomato soup (a favorite of ava), mac-n-cheese, kidney and pinto beans. And can I interject here for a moment and say WHY ARE PINTO BEANS SO FREAKIN EXPENSIVE? I'd like an answer if anyone has one. They aren't tasty. I mean...as far as beans go I guess they'd be my 1st choice, but really? I also scored some quality toilet paper and a really great price. I don't mind doing generic on a lot of things in life...but somethings I won't comprimise on, and the quality of the TP is one. Just sayin. I am wishing I had more freezer space to store Orange Juice, because Macy's has it for 88 cents a can. We got through a can a day here when we are feelin the need for OJ. We have a passionate love/hate with the OJ. Right now, we're LOVING it.
Another part of plan B is for home cookin. Subway, Mcdonalds, etc you're on the alone train to ALONEVILLE boarding at WEST BWEAKIN UP WIF YOU! (homestar love!) Don't be surprised if you get phone calls from me asking for ideas of what's for dinner tonight or if this weeks' price of chicken is a good deal. I have limited cooking experience. My 'cooking' skills are about a 6 or 7, whereas my baking ......is at a like 3 or 4. Let's just say I was almost 17 before I made my first batch of edible cookies...and I'd been attempting from the age of 11. I can kind of make chocolate chip cookies, and that's where the success with baking ends. Chris got me a lovely bread maker last year for Christmas after I begged for one and promised daily homemade loaves of bread. I made probably 5 loaves of french bread, and quit. LAME! So I plan to put the 50lbs of Flour and Sugar I just bought to good use this year. Pray for my family's health through this new phase of our lives.
Since we were planning for Chris to take a leave of absense, the Health Insurance is now coming out of my paycheck. We also decided that my check will now go to an entirely different bank and bank account and every 4 months, we will throw a chunk of money at a debt. First stop? May 7th (my b-day!) paying off our Saturn Vue. Let us pray that May 7 does not also become the day the car dies. It's ok if she dies on my birthday....as long as it's my 30th or later. This will be the first time we'll ever have lived soley on Chris's income. STUPID that we haven't done that all along, but hey...we're stepping off the stupid bus, and boarding ...the smart bus. clearly it's late and my brain is done processing for the time being. It's 11:23pm and I have an 8am workout. 8am. January. I must really loathe myself to go outside in temperatures below freezing.