Happy Birthday Baby Girl

Happy Birthday Baby Girl. Hard to believe she is 17 years old today. Boy has the time flown!!!

Randomness

Stolen from Crazy Lady in Vegas, here is a random bit of silly for your day.

60 questions answered with 1 word

1)What is in the back seat of your car right now? junk

2)When was the last time you threw up? 2007

3)What’s your favorite word or phrase? craptastic!!

4)Who made you smile today? Mom

5)What were you doing at 8 am this morning? driving

6)What were you doing 30 minutes ago? peeing

7)Favorite board game? scrabble

8)Have you ever been to a strip club? nope

9)What is the last thing you said aloud? hello

10)What is the best ice cream flavor? chocolate

11)What was the last thing you had to drink? soda

12)What are you wearing right now?clothes

13)What was the last thing you ate? chinese

14)Have you bought any new clothing items this week?nope

15)When was the last time you ran?pfft!

16)What’s the last sporting event you watched?football

17)If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?Hawaii

18)Who is the last person you sent a comment/message on myspace? nobody

19)Ever go camping?once

20)Do you have a tan? no.

21)Do you use smiley faces on the computer a lot? Depends

22)Do you drink your soda from a straw? Sometimes.

23)What did your last text message say? bye

24)Are you someone’s best friend? yes

25)What are you doing tomorrow? working

26)Where is your mom right now? home

27)Look to your left, what do you see? phone

28)What color is your watch? silver

29)What do you think of when you think of Australia? koala

30)Ever ridden on a roller coaster? No

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31)Do you go in at a fast food place or just hit the drive thru? drive

32)Do you have any friends on myspace that you actually hate? possibly

33)Do you have a dog? No

34)Last person you talked to on the phone? Josh

35)Have you met anyone famous? Yes

36)Any plans today? dinner

37)Are you happy?Yes

38)Where are you right now?work

39)Biggest annoyance in your life right now? sciatica

40)Last song listened to? Get Stoned (oops, two words)

41)Last movie you saw? bad

42)Are you allergic to anything? lots

43)Favorite pair of shoes you wear all the time? sketchers

44)Are you jealous of anyone?nope

44)Are you married?yes

45)Is anyone jealous of you? possibly

46)What time is it? 3:29

47)Do any of your friends have children?lots

48)Do you eat healthy?sometimes

49)What do you usually do during the day?work

50)Do you hate anyone right now? no

51)Do you use the word ‘hello’ daily?Yes

52)How many kids do you want? two

53)How old will you be turning on your next birthday? 40(!!!!)

55)How did you get one of your scars? scoliosis

57) When was the last time u got ditched? ???

58) Did you like school?? sometimes

59) Is it natural for someone to be sad all the time??no

60) Do you smoke? no

Prom 2008

My daughter had her junior prom Saturday evening. She said she had a lot of fun. She went with a bunch of her friends. Hard for me to believe that she is old enough to be going to prom. It seems like I should still be that age. It hit me hard when she was all dressed and ready to go Saturday. She looked so grown up. What happened to my baby girl? When did she become a lovely young woman? Here are a few pictures that I took before she left for the night. I'll have more once we get them downloaded to the computer. For now, though, here is my lovely not-so-little girl. Enjoy!!

This and That Update

I noticed that I hadn't written for almost a week and figured I'd better post to let everybody know what's going on here.

Thankfully, things have calmed down some. My son is doing much better. No more neck pain and his knee is pretty well healed too. My back is still giving me problems, but I think it will until I get in to see the doctor in June. At least I can function. There for awhile I couldn't do much of anything because it hurt to sit, stand, lay down and everything else. I wasn't sleeping at night and was totally exhausted which really didn't help the pain either. So, although I'm still hurting, it isn't as bad. The part that scares me the most is that my leg is constantly numb on the outside now. It just makes me wonder how much damage I have already done to the nerve and how much more will there be by the time I get in to see the doctor. Will it even be fixable by that time? Scary thought. My daughter had to have another appointment with the doctor for her knee. She wanted to send her to an orthopedist, but after finding out that our insurance wouldn't cover it (benefits of being self-employed strike again!) she said that physical therapy would probably help just as well and we should go that route first. My daughter is now doing knee strengthening exercises twice a day (here at home) to see how that works. If it doesn't then obviously the orthopedist will be called, but if it does work then that's great too.

Hubby is going to a biodiesel seminar this weekend in Nebraska. With the price of diesel going through the roof, he's decided that we have to do something to cut costs or we're going to go out of business. Already, he's paying almost $4.15 a gallon for diesel. Our big trucks (all three of them) easily take $300 each time we fuel them up and that is usually once each day. Plus we also have two smaller ones that top out over $150 each fuel up. We don't run those every day, but still it adds up when we do. He'll be gone all weekend for the seminar so no relaxation for him:(

My daughter has her junior prom this weekend. She's been busy all week, helping to decorate for it. She's getting excited. She is going with a bunch of her friends so it should be really fun. I'll post pictures when we get them back afterwards. I just hope the weather holds out and it is a nice day/evening for the activities. Pictures always look so much prettier when they are taken outdoors. Right now they are saying there might be rain this weekend so we are all keeping our fingers crossed that it doesn't.

Guess that's it. I'm so happy to finally not have a major catastrophe or illness to write about.

Was that an earthquake?!?!?!

Yes, Yes, it was an earthquake! Here in Illinois, at approximately 4:40am this morning, we had a 5.2 magnitude earthquake. I didn't realize what was going on at first. I was in such a deep sleep (thank you vicodin:) that I thought my husband was getting out of bed when I first felt it shaking. That changed quickly however when the pictures on the walls started to rattle and the cat and the kids came running into the bedroom. It lasted for around 35-45 seconds, but felt like an eternity. Nothing like what happens in California, but still scary to say the least.

It started shaking again about an hour ago (9:30am), but didn't last as long, ten seconds maybe, and didn't produce the same rattling and shaking feeling. I was on the phone at the time though and the person I was talking with said she could feel it too, but it lasted a lot longer for her. Maybe she was closer to the center? I don't know. What I do know is that I don't want to feel the earth moving under my feet anymore today or in the near or even distant future. Too scary for my liking! If interested, you can read more about it here. Just click on the side where it says Magnitude 5.2 Illinois April 18, 2008.


UPDATE: Seems like the majority of people that I talked to today about the earthquake thought the same thing that I did...that someone was shaking their beds to wake them up. My mom thought that was what was happening, so did my dad, my aunt thought it was thunder, my uncle thought it was their furnace acting up. Found out today that this was actually the third earthquake I've experienced. I knew that I'd experienced one back in 1987. I remember that one. Scared me almost as much as this mornings did, but it was afternoon when it happened and I was home with my dad so he made me feel a little safer. Anyway, my mom said that I also experienced one back in 1968 when I was but a wee babe of 6 months of age. Mom said that she had just put me down for a nap when things started shaking. she immediately picked me up and ran outdoors, not knowing what to think. Of course, it stopped after awhile and things were calm after that. Well, almost all was calm. I guess since mom woke me up from my nap that I decided it was play time. She said I didn't go back to sleep that afternoon at all. Hmm, kind of sounds like how I was this morning. No way was I going to go back to sleep after almost being shaken out of my bed.

In Need of LOL

After the past few weeks that I've had, I really needed some cheering up, some cuteness, some laughter. My daughter had told me about a website called I can has cheezburger awhile back and I thought now was as good a time as any to check it out.

I'd actually seen a few of these pictures on Facebook under lol cats, but I didn't realize that there was an entire website dedicated to the adorable things. Here are just a few that I loved and wanted to share with you all.







Aren't they just adorable? If you want to check out more of them, just visit icanhascheezburger.com.

You've GOT to be Kidding!

A sore back and sciatic nerve problems I can handle. Falling on my knee and banging it up also I can handle too. My kids both having knee problems, again, doable. But yesterday, when my son said his neck popped and he couldn't move, that wasn't so manageable.

Actually, it scared the shit out of me! Waking up to the words, "Mom, Matt is crying. He said his neck popped and he can't move" isn't the most enjoyable way to start out a Monday morning. We are still befuddled as to how he did it because all he said he did was reach out to turn off his alarm clock. He said he felt something tear in his neck then it popped and he couldn't move from the pain. His first thought was that he'd broken his neck. Thank God that didn't happen! We called the ambulance though for fear of taking him in my car that it might do more harm then good. He was in the ER from 7:30am until almost 1:30pm and was diagnosed with a cervical strain, similar to whiplash. Again, no idea how he did it, but we're all relieved that it wasn't worse.

However, how much more can my poor family take? What's next? Every single person in this house has something physically wrong with them. It's getting to be just a tad bit ridiculous. I just hope this is it. Let us all heal and get back to normal around here.

Trying to Join the Club

As you know from my last couple of posts, my kids are having problems with their knees. Both kids, one left knee, one right knee. I was joking with my daughter yesterday about how I felt left out of her and my son's exclusive "knee club". She told me that I couldn't join unless I hurt my knee, my back hurting wasn't enough of a qualification. We chuckled about it and then went on about our day. Who would have thought that later that afternoon I'd almost qualify to join the "club" after all.

I had to run to the post office to get stamps for this month's billing to be sent out. On my way out to the garage, I was walking in front of my daughter's car when my foot, for some reason, decided not to lift high enough to step over the bag of grass seed that was laying there. Lo and behold, down I went....on my right knee, full body force into the concrete. Pain shot down my leg, up my back, through my kneecap. I thought I was down for the count. After taking several deep breaths however, and realizing that our walls must be extremely sound proof since nobody was coming to my aid even though I did my fair amount of screaming and yelling, I pulled myself up, wiped the dirt off my pants legs and went ahead and got in my car. I figured as long as I could walk that I wasn't hurt bad enough to go back inside. Besides, I really needed those stamps.

All the way into town, my knee was throbbing. It burned and stung so I knew I'd scraped it up pretty good, but I wasn't going to give in to my curiousity and look at how badly it was hurt. Not until I got home was I going to pull that pants leg up and investigate. I got my stamps and even went to the gas station and fueled up my car then headed home. As soon as I got inside, my daughter asked if I'd yelled for her when I left. All kinds of smart ass remarks came to mind, but I kept them to myself and instead told her that yes, I had indeed yelled for her, but when she didn't answer I just kept on going. She asked what I'd needed and when I told her what I'd done she just smirked and said that I'd do pretty much anything to get into that club, wouldn't I? Smart ass!:)

Anyway, to make a very long story much shorter (sorry), I fell on my knee, didn't do much damage to it, it's scraped up and black and blue, kind of stiff, but not too bad. It'll be fine in a week. I still didn't get into the club either. My daughter said that they already had a rightie (her), and since that's the knee I hurt there just wasn't an opening for me. She said if I hurt both knees then they'd think about letting me join. I think I'll pass.

Two Little Monkeys Jumpin' on the Bed

Children Medical Update: Took both kid's to the doctor today for their knees. After x-rays, the conclusions are as follows:

Daughter...nothing showed up as being broken or torn on xray, must wear knee brace for stability, rest and keep her leg elevated as much as possible, no gym for two weeks. At the end of two weeks, if knee is still not feeling better, an MRI will be required. She does have some fluid on her knee, but not a lot so no need to drain at the moment.

Son...bruised bone right below his knee. Must wear splint for 7-10 days to keep imobile, rest and keep leg elevated as much as possible, no gym for one week. At the end of the 10 days, if leg is not feeling better, must return for another x-ray to see if bruise is concealing a stress fracture.

Ugh, Ugh, Ugh on both. I really hope that in two weeks time, all is healed and no more doctors visits are needed for either child. Joys of being a parent, I know, but the trips to the doctors office are becoming too close for me. When I walk in and the office staff has me signed in before I even make it to the desk, well, that just screams that I've been in there too darn much!

Humpty Dumpty's Family

Let me introduce you all to Humpty Dumpty's family. First, myself. I guess I'm the original Humpty. With my back problems, I feel like I'll never be put back together again. Next, is Hubby Dumpty. He is also having back problems, shoulder problems and such. His is from too much heavy lifting and unless he can sell our business or find some other smuck to do all the physical labor, well, guess he won't be getting put back together anytime soon either. Next is my daughter. She fell a couple of months back at school while going up the stairs. Yes, you read that right. She fell UP the stairs. Anyway, she landed on her knee. It swelled up like a balloon and was black and blue for a few days, but nothing major. Except for now. Now it has decided to start giving her problems. By problems I mean locking up on her while she is walking or completely buckling under her weight. Not good. She goes to the doctor on Wednesday and maybe, just maybe, they can put her back together again. Then today, the final member of the Humpty Dumpty family...my son. He's usually a pretty rough and tumble kid, but today he wrecked his go-cart and banged up his knee. He is also icing it, keeping it elevated, and such, but I have a feeling we'll be seeing the good ol' doctor for him too. So there you have it...the entire Humpty Dumpty family. I think I'm just going to wrap everybody in bubble wrap. Maybe then we won't be breaking anymore.