Long time no post...

Life has been what you call busy.  There was a lot of change over the summer.  Keith decided that he would run cross country (which he does not like all that much) instead of playing football.  He decided that he would rather play football, but it is to late for that.  Bella turned a big whopping 4 years old on Tuesday.  I can not believe my baby is 4.  It doesn't seem possible.  I got a job working at the kids' school.  I am the librarian and a recess teacher.  Needless to say I am on my feet all day long.  I want to see how many steps I take per day because I am sure it is a bunch.  I travel from end to end of that school 3 to 8 times per day, and it is not small.  The kids have started off school with a great year.  They are both liking it which certainly makes my life easier.  They even have some great grades.  I'm very happy with their grades.  Other than that, not much going on besides work, school, kids, school, and then some more work.  My life is crazy hectic, but I am loving it.

School is officially...

OVER!

Everybody passed.  I'm now the proud Mom of an 8th, 7th, and Kindergartner plus a little K-3er.  I'm officially a sophomore in college.  Woot!  Made it through last semester with 3 A's and 1 stinky B.  Glad that the school year is over.

Went to the neurologist yesterday.  She is very concerned about the blacking/passing out when the headaches hit.  It happened again 2 more times.  She put me on a new preventative medicine.  I started it last night, and I'm supposed to avoid sunlight.  This is Texas people.  It is very hard to avoid sunlight.  It also can cause drowsiness.  I can attest to that.  Every time I've sat down and gotten still today, I've fallen asleep.  It is an awful feeling, and I still need to drive 35 minutes one way to pick up Hubster's final paycheck at his old job.  I'm dreading the drive, but somebody has to do it.  They said they could mail it, but that would be either late tonight or Tuesday.  No thanks, I will come and get it.  I do have to have a second sleep study done, so that has been scheduled for next Thursday.  Dreading that with every fiber of my being.  I despised the last one.  I'm assuming this is going to be even worse.

The Final Countdown...

The boys are in their last week of school.  Woo Hoo!  We are all very, very excited.  My mom was saying that I'm one of the few parents that is excited about school being over.  I really am excited.  I'm lining up my schedule for next semester.  I do need to go in and make one slight change.  I have decided to change my degree plan.  The Lord has been dealing with me for a bit, and I kept trying to not go the direction He wants me to go.  All I could think about was that going into education is a field flush with teachers out of work right now, but I've been praying about what I'm supposed to be doing with my life.  All I keep hearing is Him telling me that He has me covered.  That when I finish, I will have a job.  I'm going to quit fighting it and going with my logical mind and just do it.  If it is God's will, then I'm good to go.

In other news, we serve a very awesome God.  Just seeing Him work in our lives over the last week is amazing.  Hubster's job had slowed down a bunch over the last week and a half.  On Thursday, he got a phone call from a head hunter wanting to know if he might be interested in interviewing for another job. He is always interested, so he met the head hunter.  The head hunter sent his information onto the company Friday morning.  The company called him that day and asked him to come in for an interview.  They hired him on the spot pending a background check and urinalysis test.  He went up there on Monday afternoon to discuss pay and benefits, because the company he was working for didn't have any work for him.  He told them that he would like to give a notice to his old job.  When he contacted his old job they advised him that they didn't have any work for the next 2 weeks.  There is no way we could have survived 2 weeks without a paycheck.  They told him to go ahead and start at the new location.  God was looking out for us.  The new company is close to what we jokingly call "Midland" pay or more.  He thinks he will really like it there.  There is the opportunity for growth.  Our van broke down nearly 2 weeks ago, and we have not had the funds to pay to get it fixed with the 2 short paychecks from being gone.  We have borrowed my parents' vehicle.  I had a customer call me out of the blue on Saturday wanting to go on a trip this week.  I booked it for him Saturday evening.  It was a very nice commission.  He called me Sunday morning, and he needed to cancel.  There went my commission.  I got the mail today, and he had sent me a check for $500 to cover my commission that I lost.  He felt terrible about doing that to me.  That check was enough to cover the cost of my van to be fixed (whole other praise because we found somebody to do it for $60 less than we were expecting), and we can get completely caught up.  God has taken such great care of us.  We certainly don't deserve it.

Tyler made the high school drum line at school.  He is going to be doing the cymbals.  I think that is pretty awesome considering he is only in 8th grade.  Kylee's teacher is helping me on Thursdays during the summer.  I'm excited about that.  She does an awesome job with the girls plus she helps me keep the house in order.

I am only 60 pounds away from goal weight.  I'm hoping to be there by the end of the year.  I've lost a total of 120 pounds so far.  I really should post some before and after pictures.  Super excited about that.  I think that catches us up yet again.

Can we say....BUSY!

That is my life.  It hasn't slowed down at all.  I look back and I see that I didn't post 1 time in April.  I guess that can tell you how busy that I actually was.  I guess it is time for a quick update.

We decided not to move.  Praise the LORD!  I was so excited to hear that.

Kylee is in her next to last week of Pre-K.  The girl will be a full fledged kindergartner in the fall.  The boys will both be in junior high, and Bella will still be hanging out with mom most days of the week.  She will be starting preschool though part time.  Where oh where has the time gone?  My babies aren't so much babies anymore.

I have decided to start my own business, thus the reason I haven't been blogging.  I have been a travel agent for over 15 years, and decided that the little side business that makes me a couple of thousand a year needs to make me more.  That means that I'm working my tail end off trying to get name recognition out there and explaining just why it is beneficial to use a travel agent.  There have been three huge articles in major publications lately about the reason why to use one.

I have also been dealing with me having medical issues, again, geesh, I can't catch a break.  Keith broke his arm 4 weeks ago.  Kylee had to get 5 stitches in her foot because of an accident at school.  All of this happened in a 10 day time period.  Needless to say, we have met our catastrophic cap for the year already for Tricare.  Still having migraines, but they have been less frequent.  Thank the Lord for that.  That makes life easier.

We are leaving on a jet plane tomorrow for California for a long weekend.  Hubster's grandparents are celebrating 60 years of marriage.  That is pretty darn good if you ask me.  I haven't even started packing, and I still have 1 final in psychology, 60 problems in algebra, and 1 math test to go before Sunday.  Yes, I should be doing that instead of blogging.

That pretty much has been my life in a nutshell for the last month.  It is full of excitement, and I can't wait for summer break.  Ready to relax and enjoy my kids for a bit.

We Made It Through..

spring break.  I did not enjoy getting up this morning at 615 to get everybody ready for school.  I'm certainly not enjoying doing my own school work.  I really do not enjoy this at all.  If I wasn't so set on improving our financial situation, I would quit.  That is how much I'm not enjoying school.  I don't even know what I want to do anyway.

I started taking Topamax last week, and that lasted for 4 days.  I couldn't handle the side effects.  They were awful.  I read somewhere that you have to give it a few weeks to build up in your system.  I couldn't even drive.  4 kids doesn't allow for it to build up in my system especially during the school year.  The tingling sensation in my face and hands was to the point where I wanted to claw at myself.  I felt like I was drunk.  I couldn't function.  It was awful.  The doctor told me to stop taking it because those were the symptoms at the lowest dose.  My mother informed me on Thursday that I looked horrible.  I felt like I looked.  It was a horrible experience.  The only thing good about Topamax was that I had zero appetite, and when I would eat I could only manage a few bites.  I lost 3 pounds in just a few days.  Sugar also tasted very nasty.  Still wasn't worth it to take it.

Yesterday was Ky-pie's 5th birthday.  I still can't believe she is 5.  She got some roller skates which is what she was wanting.  I made her a ladybug birthday cake.  Her "friends" birthday party is this Saturday.  That party I will be ordering her cake for.  I will not be making it.  Here is a picture of her cake.  I never said I was a cake decorator.

My aunt and uncle came over yesterday for Ky-pie's birthday, and we had homemade ice cream and birthday cake.  My dad was wanting some so bad that he used a hand crank one.  My dad is sitting on it while Ty turns the crank.  It actually turned out very well.

I have to go and pick up a cookie cake to take to school for Ky-pie for her birthday.  Her class doesn't eat cupcakes.  They lick off the icing, and she said she would prefer the cookie cake anyway.  I told her that I would do that after lunch.  

Just have to get through this week, and the rest of the school year will be pretty much down hill.  I think from what I could tell that they have 9 weeks left.  Only this week and I think 1 other week has 5 days that they will be attending.  April is shaping up to be a month with lots of off days for the boys.  I'm ready to get this year behind us and to hopefully start new and bright beginnings.  

Big Changes...

look like they are in our future.  Hubster went on his job interview in Austin on Saturday.  I'm guessing it went pretty well because they want him to come out to see the facilities that he would be working from and a final interview.  They are paying for 2 hotel rooms, gas, and meals for all of us to come with him.  We have never seen anything like this.  We are already starting to make plans about an imminent move.  I'm trying to figure out the school situation for the kids.  None of them want to go to public school.  I don't know what to tell them.  I don't want them to go to public school either.  I'm beside myself because TB is doing so great at the school he is in now, and I dread the thought of having to uproot him.  He has so many friends.  KB I don't mind uprooting as much.  He has such a hard time of it with the kids in his class.  KG is just starting school next year, so that isn't as much of a big deal either.  I just want them all to be happy.  I was TB's age when I was uprooted from a school I loved, and I hated my 8th grade year.  I cried nearly every day.  It got better in high school because we moved, and I ended up going to a private school.  I have so many friends where we live now, and I am going to have to start over.  I'm dreading it.  Hubster did decide to go ahead and drill where he is at now, so at least I can come home every month.

I saw a new neurologist yesterday, and I liked her.  She believes that everything is migraine related.  She does want me to have a sleep study done because she thinks that my being tired is a trigger for the migraines.  She also gave me a prescription to help prevent the migraines as well as medicine to combat them when I do have them.  I have to keep a journal of my headaches for the month.  She wants me to journal a pain scale, symptoms, and duration of each headache.  She was very easy to talk to, and she answered all of my questions.  Hubster and I both liked her.

I took the girls yesterday to Peter Piper's Pizza with some of the other kids and their moms from Kylee's class. They had a blast, and the pizza was pretty good too.  It was much better than Chuck-E-Cheese, and I think going there on a Wednesday afternoon for lunch is the perfect time to go.  The place wasn't crowded at all.  We had a free run of the place.  It was greatness.

Now off to send an email to the local Christian radio station.  KG informed me this morning that she thinks that they will tell her happy birthday on her birthday in a few weeks.  Here is hoping that I can get the email to them in time to fulfill a little girl's 5th birthday wish.

So much going on...

and so little time.  Hubster was contacted via email a few weeks ago about a job in a different city.  When I mean a different city, we are talking 300 miles away different city.  He ignored it at first because he hadn't applied for it.  Then they started calling him.  He decided to give it a look to see what it was about.  Some headhunters found his resume online, and he matched the criteria that the company was looking for.  We talked about it some and decided that he should go ahead and fill out an application.  It never hurts to talk to them.  He goes Saturday for a job interview.  This job is more money than he is making now.  It has wonderful benefits, and it has a chance for advancement.  All of the things he doesn't have now.  It would require us to pick up and move though 300 miles away into a place I have zero desire to live in, but I am willing to do it if it is God's will.  We have been praying for guidance on this, and that if this isn't God's will that the door for this opportunity would be firmly closed.

I wish at times I could go back to when the boys were little and do things over, but I can't.  I started a bedtime routine with the girls a few months ago where I read them a Bible story and say a prayer with them.  Over the last few weeks, the girls have gotten in on the action of saying a prayer themselves.  BG still recites a little prayer, but KG is praying her own.  She prays for her friends and her family.  It makes me smile and warms my heart.  I'm trying to train these kids up in the way that God wants us to.  I pray for their protection and His guidance in their lives.  I never did this with the boys because we didn't go to church when they were small.  Oh, how I would love to go back and do it all over again.

I'm always amazed at how God puts people in your life.  He always knows what you need.  Last week I had a friend in need.  I didn't know this at the time.  I just knew that I needed to contact her to find out how she was doing.  She needed a sounding board.  God knew it, and He placed it on my heart to contact her.  It just reinforces to me that He always takes care of us.  Always.

I really need to get back to my school work.  I have an essay to write on Roman and Gothic churches.  Oh boy, doesn't that sound like fun.  I'm still trying to figure out why in the world I decided that I needed to go back to school now.

Recap of the last couple of weeks...

Well, lets see...I'm still having headaches at least one a day, but usually they last for either a few minutes or a couple of hours.  They are just weird.  I have an appointment on March 7 with a new neurologist.  Thankfully my MRI and MRA came back clear, so I don't have any blockage, leaky vessels, or masses in my brain.  I decided yesterday that I'm just going to have to learn to deal with them for now.  Otherwise I'm never going to leave the house ever again.  I'm still very leery of driving any great distance, so I will stick close to home.  Was diagnosed with painful bladder syndrome on Wednesday.  Have to take medicine for 4 months, and I was supposed to have physical floor therapy for 7 weeks.  I nixed that when I found out it was $63 per visit.  Yeah, don't think that is going to happen.  I might do it as we get closer to our catastrophic cap which we are over half way there now thanks to a bunch of tests on my head.  Otherwise, things are going okay.  Just get extremely tired with these headaches.

I'm thinking of starting a new section called Bellisms.  That is our 3 year old, and she comes up with some of the funniest things.  They must of had some service at church last night because the girls were asking lots of questions about Jesus and heaven.  We were explaining as best as you can with a 3 and 4 year old that you have to have Jesus in your heart.  BG ended up telling us that Jesus was in her heart, and then promptly started saying ow, ow, ow stop that your hurting me.  What this child comes up with.

Not much else going on right now.   I'm hating my college courses with a passion.  I despise them.  I struggle with them, and I've never struggled with learning before.  Maybe I really am to old to go back to school.

Let me count the ways I love my children...

First off they keep me laughing like no other.  Nothing can crack me up faster than my kids.  My daughters love helium filled mylar balloons.  That is what they ask for when we go to the store.  Not candy, not toys...mylar balloons.  Last night we had to go to Target to pick up my prescription, and BG took her heart shaped Dora balloon with her.  My girls like to use the clip that keeps these balloons from floating away as hair accessories.  Picture a balloon floating 3 feet above a little blonde headed girls head that is clipped to her hair.  We are leaving Target last night, and BG is running through the parking lot (I was with her.  No cars were in the vicinity) yelling the monster is going to get me and cracking up laughing.  She was pretending her balloon was the monster.  I love these kids.

We went to eat supper last night, and I had memories lapses.  Hubster told me that I kept putting chips into the hot sauce, but I don't remember doing any of that.  It is scary.  I looked down at one point, and I had 3 chips in the hot sauce. There isn't anything wrong though.  Not a thing.  It is all just migraines.  I just want some answers that is all.  I want to know what is going on.

Birthday Week

Last week was my birthday week.  Some people are lucky enough to get to have the whole week devoted just to them.  I'm not one of them.  My birthday was on Saturday.  Hubster ordered me a cake and had 20 of our friends and family meet for my birthday at a local steak house.  I ended up with lots of scrapbooking stuff and a new mountain bike.  Now, I just need to have a place to ride it.  My birthday was wonderful, and I loved having all of my friends and family there to celebrate it with me.  

Last Wednesday was the first of 3 tests on my bladder.  I swear I will never say that I have issues ever again even if I do.  The test was awful.  I had another test today, and that one I got an instant diagnosis of interstitial cystitis.  At least I know that I'm not a complete hypochondriac or nut job and there is really something wrong. After a while as your body stops doing what it is supposed to be doing, you start to wonder if this is all in your head.  I have the biopsy on my bladder next Wednesday, and they said we will go from there with a plan of action.  

I had my MRI on my head last Thursday.  Met the neurologist on Monday.  I did NOT like him at all.  He told me that I was there only to be told that nothing was seriously wrong and not for relief.  Thankfully the MRI didn't show any abnormalities, but he can't explain the blackouts or the sharp pains in my head.  Everything else he chalked up to migraines.  You know the migraines I have had for 20 years, and that he refuses to treat.  He told me that I haven't had a migraine long enough to be treated.  Even though five weeks of headaches coming and going mostly coming aren't long enough.  He refused to even prescribe migraine medicine for me.  He did order a MRA to make sure that I don't have a slow bleed in my brain.  I go for that on Thursday.  I talked to my primary today about the neurologist.  They couldn't believe he did that to me, so we came up with a new plan.  I will go ahead with the MRA, and have the place fax them over a copy of the report also.  On Monday, they will call and get me an appointment with a new neurologist that I have heard nothing but glowing things about.  Here I was thinking I would want to change primary doctors.  Not after this.  They have been great advocates for me.  At least I know that there isn't any masses in my brain.  (I did see the copy of the MRI)  

Other than the fact my body is falling apart, life around here has been pretty sweet.  The kids are doing good.  Hubster is still liking the job.  I hate my college courses with a passion, and I've really struggled with them because of the headaches.  I just keep telling myself that this too shall pass in a few years.  I just have to keep plugging along, and eventually I will get through this.  

It was a great weekend...

Friday was KB's birthday party.  We had 3 boys come and spend the night.  Hubster and I took them to see Red Tails, but just as the movie started the projector broke.  We ended up with all of our money back plus 7 free tickets.  They could never get the projector to work.  We will go and see it another day.  Hubster took the boys to play mini-golf instead.  I sacrificed and stayed home while he took them.  They seemed to have a great time.  I know they did not go to sleep until around 530 on Saturday morning because I woke up to them being loud at that time.  I'm thinking that KB's 12th birthday was a success.

Saturday I started the day off with coffee at a friend's house.  She invited 3 of us over for some coffee sans kids.  Can we all just say...SIGH how nice!  It was a great way to start the morning.  I came home to Hubster feeding all of the children waffles.  (I knew that belgian waffle iron he got for Christmas was going to be a great idea.)  We did not do anything on Saturday.  We took KB out for dinner for his birthday with the family.  We went to what used to be our favorite Mexican food place.  We found out that the owner and his wife divorced two years ago.  I think she might have been the driving force behind the place.  The service was terrible.  The food was luke warm if not cold, and it did not taste as good as it used to.  We ended up with one meal free and 20% off the entire meal.  Needless to say, I doubt we ever go back.

Yesterday we went to the little bitty town I grew up in for my great uncle's 90th birthday, my great aunt's 85th birthday, and their 65th wedding anniversary.  I got to see my nephews and niece and my 3 great-niece's.  I have a great-niece that is 16 months old that reminds me so much of BG.  Her and I had a ball together.  I told my nephew that he was in for a treat with her.  We had a really great time seeing cousins we hadn't seen in years.  I'm so glad that we got to go, and that I felt pretty good all weekend.

This week is shaping up to be lots of fun.  I have to call and make doctor's appointments with my primary and my GYN.  Will get that done sometimes today hopefully.

Happy Birthday, KB!!!!

Today is KB's 12th birthday.  I went to the school today and ate lunch with him per his request.  Not very many 12 year old kids want to eat lunch with their parents.  He also wanted a cookie cake, so I stopped and got him one.  They had misspelled his name.  Thankfully it was an easy fix.  He has invited 4 boys over tomorrow night for a sleep over.  Hubster and I are going to take them to see Red Tails.  My parents are going to watch the girls for me while we take the boys to see the movie.

Not much to blog about.  Life is not exciting.  Still dealing with headaches that are horrible.  Feeling inadequate because the headaches are so bad.  The more I'm up and moving around, the worse they seem to get.  I'm counting down the days until I can go to the doctor and get them to check me out.

Sigh

I have been working on a headache of some sort for nearly every day for the past four weeks.  Today has been horrible with how bad it will hurt, and then it lets up.  I try to get as much done as I can while the head isn't pounding away like a sledge hammer is inside it.  The headaches are strange.  They are not a migraine because I can tell what a migraine is.  This isn't it.  These headaches come and go all day.  I can be fine one minute and wincing with pain the next.  I never know what symptoms might show with each headache.  It can be anything from just pain to tingling in my face, clogged ear feeling, medicine head feeling, jumbled up thoughts, to blurry vision.  All I know is that I'm starting to worry about them.  They are effecting my life.  Tuesday night my head was hurting enough that I couldn't concentrate.  I was having a hard time with getting things to make sense to me.  It was like my brain was jumbled up.  It was not a pleasant experience, and it was down right scary.  I refuse to drive out of town by myself or with just the kids because I don't know when one of these headaches will hit.  I do not like the feeling of not knowing where I am or what is going on.  We haven't made it to church in nearly two weeks because of the headaches.  When they hit, it wipes me out.  I was going to go to the doctor today, but our insurance does not start until February 1.  I will be going if the headaches still persist.  I also start the three weeks of tests that conclude with a biopsy on February 15.  I am ready to be normal again.

We had supper on Saturday night with another couple that we love dearly.  Her and I swear our husbands are kin.  They act so much alike it is scary.  They both pull some of the same stunts, and they both are as sweet as can be.  Don't mess with their family though.

I started back to school yesterday.  I'm still trying to get a feel of what I believe this semester will be like.  I'm having problems concentrating and following sometimes when the headaches start.

We have been talking about changing to a church that is nearer to home.  The boys have soundly objected to that, so I'm pretty sure we will keep going where we are.  I want to be happy at whatever church we happen to be at.  Right now Hubster and I seem to be both struggling with even going.  *See above about the two weeks of not being in church* It has nothing to do with the pastor either.  We love our pastor and his preaching.  It is the drive that is starting to get us.  I don't know what will end up happen, but I'm going to pray for God's guidance in this.

Besides the headache, life has been pretty dad gum terrific.  The kids are great.  The Hubster is great.  Things seem to be looking up.

January is nearly half-way over...

I can't believe it.  Where has the time gone?  Next week is the start of the spring semester for my college.  I just want to be done at this point, and I'm just now starting.  I still don't know what exactly I want to do.  I'm making contingency plans because it is so hard to get into nursing school.  I figure that I need to have a plan B, C, and D in place.  I'm not counting on that route working out all that well for me because of how hard it is to get in.  That will be okay though.  I'm thinking if that route doesn't work, I might go the route of physical therapy.  If that doesn't sound like fun, then I might just give education a go.

Hubster and I have decided that we will just stay in the house we are in probably.  We are hoping that within the next two years we can go from renting to own from the owner (who we know very well and believes our kids are her grandkids) to outright buying it from her with it being put in our name.  We need to get our credit cleaned up, and we are well on our way to getting there according to our last credit score pull.  In the meantime, we are going to start fixing it up the way we want to.  The first project will probably be the upstairs bathroom or the kitchen.  We are also wanting to do some radiant barrier in our attic.  We want to completely gut our kitchen and start over.  Right now it is a small eat in kitchen, and I want to change it from that to a bar area that we can eat at.  We have a large dining room that is not used.  We can start eating in there for "family" meals.

Hubster is liking his new job.  It seems to be working out very well for him.  I'm glad he is liking it so much.  The kids are doing great.  KB turns 12 in 17 days.  I can't believe I will have 2 junior high students next year.  That is not possible.  I can remember when they both started to school.  We are going to talk to the school that KG goes to.  We are hoping that might be willing to let BG start school a year early.  Her birthday falls on September 4, and you have to be  5 by September 1 to go to Kindergarten.  I'm hoping that they will let her start K-4 at 3 and K-5 at 4.  The teacher would be okay with BG starting school a year early.  If not, then she will just start when she is supposed to.