What a Week...



It's been quite a week.  I had both vehicles to myself this week, and emptied both gas tanks--that's how busy it was.  I'm thrilled that Braden is on crutches finally and I've been making him ride the bus home from school, so I can catch a break...except on piano day, homework club day, and tutoring day. I should file for a driving business LLC and write off all this running around!


















Sunday--Jeff headed over to Seattle for part of the week, for some classes in Bellevue and Redmond.  It's nice that he goes over occasionally; mostly to remind us that there's no incentive to trade locations as the traffic over there sucks, the cost of everything is higher, and it's way too crowded to remain sane.  He got home just in time for the first snow and freezing temperatures.  And to think, when the kids went trick or treating last week...it was 62 degrees outside!  We officially changed seasons this week--like overnight.  The new truck needs tires as soon as possible...and we're hoping the snow holds off till Thanksgiving, so we can get them on a Black Friday deal.  That could save us hundreds of dollars and as we just sunk a $1000 on the tires that got shredded off the last burb--it would be nice for a little financial reprieve. Yea for executive memberships at Costco; our 2% rebate is definitely piling up to quite the sizable amount this year!

I took Cameron to a BSA National Jamboree meeting Sunday night at the East Stake Center. That boy is psyched!  I don't think we can talk him out of going, but he's going to have to do every fundraiser between now and June to pull it off.  It's actually quite the bargain for everything that they are going to be doing over 15 days in Washington, DC, Virginia, and West Virginia--but there's a lot of other directions our money seems to fly.

Monday--I voted.  I was extremely hopeful on Monday that a different kind of "hope and change" was coming to America, and totally disgusted by Tuesday. I'm still trying to figure out what people are thinking. (Greedy,corrupt unions/politicians, excessive entitlement incomes/benefits, living off the government's teat--doesn't seem to bother anyone any more!)  I think people will eventually realize that wickedness never was happiness...especially when the free phones aren't replaced, and the checks stop coming in.  It was painful to watch the election results, knowing that the next four years are going to hurt more than the last four...and people still chose the same road!  But at least I can admit I was not a complacent voter or a part of the 3 million registered voters that chose not to attend the ballot booths.  In this case, not voting for one was an automatic vote for the other.  After seeing how people around the country waited in line for hours to cast their votes...I'm so THANKFUL that Washington state allows us to mail them in.  When I went to the post office to do my civic duty, it also gave me a chance to schedule a field trip there for the Boy Scouts--a Citizenship in the Nation merit badge requirement.  Yep. Multi-tasking is the very least I can do as a productive citizen, right? Later, the physical therapist helped me work out the knots in my neck and shoulders.

Tuesday--Somebody needed their nails done--and it wasn't me.  Miss Molly is our token gymnast, acrobat, and sprinter, most of which is done over and around my new leather sofas.  Her nails were starting to cause me some heart palpitations, so we took her on an outing to see the groomer. She was so excited to see everyone there that she did the potty dance at the registers.  Thank goodness, pet store employees actually think that that's cute!  And as always, she was fantastic and loving, even as the lady ground them down after they were trimmed. What girl wouldn't love a mani and a pedi?!

 

Wednesday--Nathan's been complaining about his right hip hurting. I mentioned it to Dr T at Braden's appointment last week and he pulled up Nathan's x-rays from July. He said to bring him in pronto.  I think in all of the chaos of dealing with a collapsed and dead left hip, we didn't really pay attention to the opinion of what was going on in the right hip.  It's a bum hip too...but hasn't turned into AVN yet.  In 2010, the previous surgeon at Sacred Heart, removed the original pins she put in in 2009.  Dr Tompkins replaced them in 2011 because he didn't want the right side to break.  Nathan's complaining that it hurts and the Shriners' team confirmed that it doesn't look like it has impinged, but are going to do a minor surgery on him in December to alievate some of the pain. Dr T's going to also put contrast dye throughout the joint to see where it is catching.  So...surgery number 7 for this year is on the books.  We were also told that we'll need to attend that one year follow-up at the Mayo Clinic to check on his new hip. Nobody wants to take him on as a patient here in Spokane.  Shriners' has been fantastic to help, but we're officially out of their specialty now.  And as Nathan is one of the youngest THR patients in the country...we need the expertise of our amazing doctors in Minnesota .  Life just gets more interesting and expensive, day by day.

Thursday--After four days of nagging and bartering with the kids, the house was clean enough for company and dad's homecoming.  It was my turn to host Book Club and I chose Kathleen Kent's The Heretic's Daughter.  With Halloween recently past us, and now onto Thanksgiving, I thought it was the perfect pick for the ladies.  I read it a couple of years ago, before going to Salem, Massachusetts.  Synopsis:  Martha Carrier was one of the first women to be accused, tried and hanged as a witch in Salem, Massachusetts. Like her mother, young Sarah Carrier is bright and willful, openly challenging the small, brutal world in which they live. Often at odds with one another, mother and daughter are forced to stand together against the escalating hysteria of the trials and the superstitious tyranny that led to the torture and imprisonment of more than 200 people accused of witchcraft. This is the story of Martha's courageous defiance and ultimate death, as told by the daughter who survived.  (Kathleen Kent is a tenth generation descendant of Martha Carrier. She paints a haunting portrait, not just of Puritan New England, but also of one family's deep and abiding love in the face of fear and persecution.)  Despite the sad topic, it was a fabulous read and night.

Friday--I stayed in bed all day with a migraine and cramps in my neck.  Ice on my neck and heat on my hip (Molly) worked wonders...till the kids got home.  Even after physcial therapy on Thursday, it was a "fend for yourself" day.  Before it felt like the eyeballs were going to pop out of my head, I found something I want for Christmas...since Jeff's been plying me for a couple of weeks for ideas.  I think this bad boy would look fabulous by my topiaries, maybe filled with some decorative balls or greens.

Saturday--Scouting for Food pick ups for Nathan and Cameron. Babysitting for Ashley.  XBOX and reading for Braden and Jessica.  And lunch with my favorite person and followed by some Christmas shopping for us.  We went to the Grille from Ipanema in Coeur d'Alene.  One word: Delicious!  The kids would have loved it, but it was nice to go out after a couple of crazy months, alone.  Ashley will also be thrilled to know that I bought our tickets for Breaking Dawn...for Thursday night and am SO glad that they're starting the movie at 10pm instead of midnight, this year! I don't want to look like I've been out all night when I show up for parent/teacher conferences the next morning.   But I'm getting ahead of myself...that's part of my crazy next week!  Thank goodness for crazy weeks...or else how would I appreciate the days with nothing to do?  Oh.  That's right. I don't have any of those kind of days or weeks!