My Insight & Insanity

From Not Much Exciting to A Lot Exciting!

2010-02-22T16:46:00.004-07:00

Sometimes life seems like it's moving at a snail's pace. Nothing of great significance is happening and everyday happens like clockwork. Then suddenly EVERYTHING changes and life is completely upside down!
That's how things have seemed here in just a matter of just over a week. And this is no little change. This is massively huge and crazy! And it hasn't been without tons of thinking and prayer. Anyhow, our friends, Jason and Tony, were laid off from their construction job because the job ended. They were both offered jobs in South Carolina and they accepted after trying and not succeeding to find jobs in Canon City. Both Jason and Tony said that they were still looking for more workers and began tempting DJ. And of course, DJ was not too interested considering he has basically vowed to never leave Canon. But they kept mentioning the perks that go along with the job, we became more interested. So I began praying about the decision considering it isn't just a move to another town. It is a move clear across the country! I started gathering as much information as I could because I knew that even though DJ was very skeptical, we couldn't make a decision without any information. With every bit of news I got about the job and the opportunity, I got more excited and sure. I feel as though I've been praying almost constantly for the last week and a half! Pretty soon, DJ came around to the idea of the great things moving away and getting a new job could do!
So that pretty much brings us up to today. We're both very ready to get the ball rolling to go. Of course we're nervous about being so far away from family. And we don't know what a completely different job, town, climate, culture and time zone will feel like, but we are looking forward to the adventure of it. Well, me more than DJ, but I think he's getting more excited about it.
The job DJ will have is called a Rod Man. He'll be holding the stick that the Surveyor looks at through the little thingy. Yes, so descriptive, but that's the best I can do. :) He'll basically just be standing around doing that most of the 60 hours a week he'll be working. He has the potential to learn how to be a surveyor and move up and get more pay. Speaking of pay: He'll be getting about the same amount of money per hour, but they'll be working an extra 20 hours per week. 6-10s. On top of that they will be getting perdiem for everyday they work and if they show up to every shift, they get paid perdiem for the days they're off too. So, in short, we'll be making almost three times what we're getting paid now. It's sure hard to pass up a deal like that. Especially with the prospect of moving up the ladder and getting a pay increase. Plus, you can do Survey work just about anywhere construction is going on.
Other perks:
#1. Our friends will be there with us. If had to move away, you'd sure want to go with someone you knew. They are great friends and will provide awesome support. We'll all need that.
#2. The weather! It's warm! Like right now it's 60 degrees. Seriously. Of course I'll probably be whining when it's super hot and humid. So when that time comes tell me to shut up.
#3. The beach is about 2 hours away. That one is self explanatory.
#4. My uncle, cousins other family are about 3 hours away.
#5. The town we're all looking at is very close to Columbia which has shopping. That one is pretty self explanatory, too.
#6. I'm not qualified to do Massage Therapy in South Carolina. This may not seem like a perk, but I'm stoked! I can be a stay at home mama!
#7. They offer the same program that Colorado Virtual Academy offers here, it's just for South Carolina.
#8. We can do things like get gym memberships and have regularly scheduled activities without major interruption.
#9. When DJ is off he's off. No being on call 24 hours a day. No surprise fires and no two week dispatches. Oh and no more sooty, black nomex to wash all by themselves. Gar, that drives me crazy.
#10. the opportunity to grow closer to my husband and my Lord and my family. As much of a blessing having my parents around to be a Godly influence on my kids is, I really think it will cause DJ and I to step up as parents and spouses and become the people God intended us to be. It's gonna be tough and I'm sure we'll have times when we second guess ourselves. But we know God is pointing us in this direction so we know good things are to come.
The next step? We are waiting to hear from Jason, who will be talking to his boss about getting DJ a job. Supposedly, last Jason knew, they were hiring, so it shouldn't be a problem. But if God doesn't want us there, this is when he can truly close the doors. We're anxiously awaiting the news, so please pray and I'll keep you updated! :)

Not Much Exciting

2010-02-02T14:13:00.002-07:00

So I have committed to blogging more often, so since I have a few extra minutes I am making myself blog even though I don't feel like there is much to blog about!
All of us here in the Chess household are beginning to feel better, I think. I think. I don't want to speak too soon, but it seems as though there is end in sight. Jerome got sick first with a nasty sinus infection turned to ear and eye infection and a cough that was so bad he puked several times. Once he got on antibiotics it cleared up quickly. Then Bailey was next with the same junk and since it was a week day that she felt her worst, we made an appointment with the homeopathic doctor in Colorado Springs. He gave us a couple tinctures and some natural cold and flu medicine. It took a little longer to clear up, but she's doing well now. Somewhere in the middle of all that I started feeling yucky, but it wasn't anything too bad so I let it go, but this weekend it all hit me hard. I just got back from the doctor and he thinks I just have allergies, with a little viral infection on top of it, but I'm not so convinced. We'll see. I just have a raspy sore throat and the aches.
On another note, DJ and I started watching Lost in the evenings after the kids go to bed. Our blu-ray player streams Netflix so we can watch any of the "watch it now" movies on our TV rather than the computer. It is much more comfy on the couch rather than the computer chair! We're totally hooked and can't wait to dive into the second season after DJ gets home from his Wild Horse and Burro trip on Friday. We're bummed to be missing the final season on TV starting tonight, but it must be watched in order!
A couple of weeks ago we bought a bunk bed for the kids! It was $100 and came with mattresses and everything, which is a steal! The mattresses are in good shape, but the frame needed some work. So we hauled it down to my parents basement and DJ has been using his creative mind to make it stronger and to build stairs since Bailey will be sleeping on top. I have spent my time painting it white. It looks great! Our next step is to finish building the stairs and to paint them. Then we've got to take it all apart and move it to our house! The kids are excited and I'm excited for them to have more open space in their bedroom.
That's all for now... :)

One of my New Year's Resolutions

2009-12-28T21:21:00.002-07:00

Wow! I can't believe it's been six months since I posted last. Well, actually, maybe I can. Of course it's been super busy for all of us and blogging hasn't been much of a priority for me. And it doesn't help when no one else is blogging or reading your blog. But I'm making a New Year's Resolution: I am going to blog more. Even if no one reads it.
For Christmas presents for my In-laws I made genealogy books for the Chess Family. I researched all of DJ's dad's family and found some really interesting things. I made a couple trips to the History Center here in Canon and got some cool stories about where the Chess Family homesteaded and got some old newspaper articles from the late 1800's and early 1900's. Online I found a letter from Robert Chess (one of DJ's great great great (etc.) Grandfathers) to one of his brothers. It was while Robert was in the Civil War. It's a long letter. SO cool. Other than that letter, I only got a couple of stories written by the actual people in the Chess line. My search got me clear back to 1775 and now I'm stuck. So this research has inspired me to record more for our family to know where we came from, what we are doing and what life is like for us. Even the most mundane thing for us could be so fun and interesting for our families in 100 years. We can hope all we want the rapture happens before then, but it might not and I think it would be great to have as much info from our time as possible.
So that's some food for thought for the rest of you.

Retro Life

2009-07-01T15:53:00.002-06:00

Ok girls, I got a huge kick out of this and I'm sure you will too. Click on this link and check it out. There are some neat photos of back in the day, but about two thirds down you'll see a little article titled The Good Wife's Guide. Read it and let me know if you think times have changed! :)
Enjoy the laugh!

Seemingly Meaningless

2009-06-01T13:43:00.002-06:00

Ok, so Diane had a talk with me when she was at my house the other night. She explained to me that I needed to post on my blog and that it didn't matter totally what it was about and that even if it seemed unimportant to me, everyone would probably enjoy hearing about it. So here goes.
This morning I woke up to my son standing by my bed at 6:30 am. He was saying something to me but I was still out of it so I couldn't understand him. Soon, as he kept saying the same thing over and over again, I started to understand him. It sounded like "poop... foor". Okay! I'm awake! At that point I notice he's naked holding a pair of his undies. So I say, "did you poop in your pants?" And he says, "no". So I say, "did you poop in your diaper?" and he says, "no". So I say, "did you poop on the floor?" and he says "Yeah!". Grrreeaaatt. So I jump out of bed and asked him to show me and he heads into the bathroom. I look all around and didn't see anything and the potty chair is clean. Bailey was in there so I asked her if Jerome pooped on the floor and she told me yes and pointed. I look and the poop was conveniently the same color as our floor so it had blended in nicely. Lovely. The poop was about six inches away from the potty chair! What the heck. Not six inches away like he just didn't quite make it. Six inches away, like on the other side of the potty. Grrrr! All I have to say is that I'm thankful we're past the playing with it stage!

2009-04-23T16:56:00.001-06:00

I just set up mobile blogging with my phone so I'm trying it out! It is amazing what they can do with technology. . . what will they come up with next? :)

Top 10 Reasons

2009-04-12T20:13:00.002-06:00

I know you all are itching to hear something from me and I feel bad about not doing it more often. I'm constantly thinking of things I can blog about, but never seem to find the time to get them done. Since I have a free evening (holy cow, how did that happen, you ask? You'll find out momentarily), here are the top 10 reasons I haven't been blogging as much as I have wanted to. It will also give you a good idea of what I've been doing lately!
In no particular order:

1. I'm still working at K-Bobs! Of course you already knew this, but it is one very good reason I've not been able to have much time to myself. Things are going well there, other than one thing. For lack of a better description there is a "family" of "regulars" that are total jerks. Actually jerk is a nice term for them. They come in AT LEAST 4 times a week and chew out every server they get, except for Kelly who, I quote, "Is the only one who can actually get it right!" So when I manage to see them coming I run to the host station and beg them to not give the jerks to me. I will bribe, I will pay good money to not have them in my section. Seriously. Other than that, I usually look forward to going into work, which is nice!

2. We're refinancing our house. Still. Since we've started the Dave Ramsey Plan, we decided to refinance the house to get some extra cash to pay off and down some debt. I'm glad that back at the end of February I decided to jump on it instantly, because we are still waiting to sign the final papers. To spare you from some really boring details, we've had to jump through some stupid red tape, but everything should be coming together sometime this week. Although that's like the 20th time we've heard that... so I'm not getting my hopes up. :)

3. Like I said a minute ago, we started the Dave Ramsey Plan! We planned on going to the weekly classes offered, but decided with our nutty schedule that would never work, so after some discussion with my parents we chose to make a small but worthwhile investment in the whole set to be able to do it all at home on our own time. We're starting on the 4th week, but have been at it about 5 weeks now and it has been totally awesome. If you find yourself with the opportunity to take the class, I would highly recommend it. So far we've saved $1,100 and we're budgeting monthly for things like car repairs, tires, home repairs, Christmas, clothing and putting extra on debt. We've also cut up all our credit cards! Added bonus? You laugh clear through it!

4. Family Kneads is in demand. Most of the time I'm having to book appointments 2 weeks out. It really is a good problem to have, but gets somewhat frustrating when new clients want to get in right this very moment despite the fact that it's Friday night and their back has been hurting since Sunday night. Helllooo?! Grrr....

5. On a not so great note, we've had almost constant sickness in our house since the end of February starting with Bailey's eye infection, then to bronchitis, double ear infections, and sinus infections. Stick in 3 weeks of my major, hard-core sinus infection and two days of the flu for me. On to projectile vomiting and diarrhea from Bailey (who has always been able to puke from her toes) and then from Jerome hours later, we think from food poisoning from a place I vow for the second -and final time- to never go to again. I'm even ashamed to mention where the food was from. Anyway... Next was Bailey's two days of 103 fever. At this point we really thought that was the end. DJ even managed to stay away from all of it! Then, last Friday night Bailey started acting a little feverish and Jerome started getting this nasty green goo coming out of his eyes and his nose. OH MY GOSH. Oh yeah, I have to add that while DJ was staying home with the kids today from Easter Sunday, he started feeling bad. He's currently in bed with a 104.2 fever. Awesome. NOT! Please pray I don't get it. I don't have time to get it.

6. I started a new job! I know what you're thinking, "this girl's an idiot!" Yes, I think I am. However, it is only to do the bookkeeping for the financial secretary at church for about 7 more weeks while she is on vacation. It is only one day a week for about 6 to 7 hours. It doesn't pay too bad, so that's one more way to pay down some debt.

7. Counseling. We've taken a break since our Pastor went on vacation for a couple weeks, but we are getting ready to get started again. Things are going great with DJ and I, by the way. Of course marriage takes work. A lot of work every single day, but the rewards are so great and we are closer than we've ever been. That's not to say there aren't any problems at all, but there are a ton less and we're managing to work through them without major turmoil. Yay!

8. We've started a new workout program. Sorta. We kinda weenied out during the first week because I had some super late nights at work and we were getting super tired. We were planning on getting going again tomorrow morning, but with DJ's lovely sickness and needing to take the kids to the doctor early tomorrow morning, I'm thinking it won't happen. It's called P90X and it's an awesome work out. Full with warm up, cool down and a nice heavy sweat in the middle! I'm psyched about it... as soon as we get started for real, that is. :)

9. I'm a mom! Yeah, I have two kids and a husband that create dirty laundry, dirty floors, dirty dishes, dirty toilets and dirty diapers (well, DJ doesn't create those, but you get the point). So I'm constantly trying to catch up on all of that. DJ's really been a super good sport about cooking dinner and cleaning and has really helped me out a lot. I'm so thankful for a husband that's willing to be mister mom for a while!

10. We're looking into, and seriously considering homeschooling. I've been doing some research and talking to people about it and I've really been feeling like God's been working on my heart about it. I've always wanted to send my kids to public school, but I'm realizing that may not be the best for our family. I'm not a fanatic and I believe the choice is purely personal, but we are definitely leaning that direction. I'm really excited about it and can't wait to see everything move forward. After all, Bailey will be starting kindergarten, not this fall, but next! Can you believe it!? We have decided that if/when I start homeschooling that my working is really not practical, so we are praying that if God wants us to do this, that he provides the situation where we can afford for me to stay home completely or just do a few massages a week to help out. I know how stressed out I can get and I want my full attention to be on the kids' education. And to all you skeptics out there, I promise, my kids won't turn out weird. Promise.

WOW!!

2009-04-08T16:20:00.002-06:00

This is such an awesome group of girls! I could only do this stuff in my dreams! :) Apparently these girls are 4th, 5th and 6th graders from Cincinnati.
Enjoy!

Unbelieveable...

2009-03-18T16:52:00.009-06:00

This isn't much of a post about myself, but I wanted to share a few of the pictures we got from my aunt's car accident. They're pretty amazing and definitely puts perspective on getting "t-boned". The first picture is of my uncle who walked away with a broken rib and a pretty bad bruise. The picture with the hand is one looking down at the passenger seat where my aunt was sitting. It shows the distance between the center console and the armrest on the door. It's pretty unbelieveable. It's no wonder she had a broken neck, bleeding and swelling on the brain and a pelvis broken in 5 places.
I know these pictures aren't exactly fun ones to look at, but it helps me to know you all have seen them. They are sure reminders that we should never wait to tell loved ones how much they mean to us.

Lousy Friend

2008-12-29T22:26:00.002-07:00

I feel like probably you guys are wondering where on earth I've gone. But I'm still here, in little ol Canon. I hope you all don't think I've been a lousy friend. Of course I'm sure you don't, but this very moment I have 209 new messages in my email inbox, so you guys aren't the only thing I've ignored lately.
Things have been going really well lately. About 3 weeks ago DJ and I set an appointment with our Pastor to go in and talk to him about us. We've seen him twice and things are going well. We haven't particularly solved anything but we have kind of renewed our marriage a little and changed our perspective. He's given us a couple of tools and so far we are liking each other more, so that is good :). It especially feels good to know we are working on it.
K-Bob's has been going really well. I'm still making far above minimum wage, so it feels good to be getting some not-so-extra money, but enough-to-pay-the-bills money. Every one there is really fun and easy to get along with. The kitchen staff is especially fun... we banter back and forth all night long, so it gives you something to look forward to when you go pick up your food! I'm getting 5 shifts a week and I rarely have one whole day off from everything, so I'm a bit tired and don't have time to do much of anything. Life's a whirl-wind right now.
Our Christmas was wonderful. DJ and I agreed that it has probably been the best one yet. The kids had a blast, and we had a great time talking, eating, giving gifts, sledding, and playing Wii. It was very full, though. We had 4 Christmases in 2 days. Pretty intense and by the end Bailey was asking if Santa was going to come again the day after Christmas. Didn't spoil her a bit! Ha!
DJ was good to me and got me just about everything I asked for and then some. It was very sweet. The kids got a ton of toys and I'm trying to go through their old stuff so that we can fit all the new stuff. It is a huge mess.
Anyway, I will try to give all of you a call soon. And if you'd like to call, feel free. I may not be able to talk, but if I can I'd love to chat! I hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

The Lord's Work

2008-12-11T23:40:00.000-07:00

When I started my massage business I didn't dedicate it to God. I mostly dove right in and since everything fell right into place, I know that I had the Lord's blessing. I was immediately provided a reasonably priced office space, plenty of clients and the knowledge (in which I doubted at times) I needed to help people. All I knew was that I loved people, and I wanted people to be healed or at the very least feel better and be able to live their lives as pain-free and comfortably as possible.

I began in May of 2004 and have had a steady increase in clients since. And like I said, I never really verbally dedicated it to God, but I know that his hand was in everything I had done. About 6 months ago I decided that I needed to intentionally place my clients and their physical problems in His hands. I, without any particular plan, quietly prayed that God would use me and my hands to help people. And that has been what I've seen in my office. I've had the good problem of losing clients because they feel better. And I've seen clients go from struggling with their intense pain constantly to feeling 90% better 90% of the time. I've even been doing some CranioSacral work on a young stroke patient and she's responding fairly well to the treatments. I've not been the one that has changed these people's lives because I haven't acquired any new knowledge or skills. It's all God. He's so awesome!

But I've found a new passion in the massage therapy realm. Hemophiliacs! If you know one, send him my way! I know this is another area God has lead me to in order to help people. Having Jimmy as a willing participant has been a huge blessing. Plus, if it weren't for him coming to me for some tight muscles in his back, I wouldn't have even though about massage helping him beyond his back! He's not the typical hemophiliac, but he's very candid with me about his condition and has answered about every question I've been able to come up. Having known him so long we've all learned a bit about the condition, but since I've done research I feel like I had no clue what really is involved with hemophilia. Massage is typically strongly contraindicated for hemophiliacs (especially severe ones like Jimmy), but I've found quite bit of compelling research that has convinced me otherwise. Well, and the fact that Jimmy's felt better than he's felt in a long time. His ankles aren't locking up like they were and he's had more range of motion in the joints he constantly has problems with. We've not been able to to as many sessions as we'd like because of the holidays and UPS being inundated with packages, but after the first of the year, we will be able to work more consistently. Anyway, I am working on finding contacts that can hopefully help me find more hemophiliacs to work on. That part is going to be tough since it is so rare. It's a touchy area of work, but I see it as a fun challenge! I'm really excited to keep learning and to see what God can do for these guys.

Climbing For Christ

2008-12-02T17:12:00.003-07:00

I thought you all might be interested in some information I got yesterday. Josh Caroll has been hanging out a lot with Navan Powers and I am good friends with Navan's mom and dad who go to our church. Eileen gave me a website for Josh's mission work he's doing that you can check and see their biographies and dispatches. They give periodic updates while they are gone. I ran into Josh at K-Bobs just before Thankgiving and he said he be leaving for Haiti right away and that he was really excited about it. They just left and this webite will kinda tell you what they're doing. Click on the link, then off to the right at the top you'll see a place to click on the Haiti trip.
http://climbingforchrist.org/

Busy

2008-11-30T17:44:00.004-07:00

I've been on the computer twice in the last week for about 5 minutes both times, so I feel a bit out of the loop, but I'm catching up. As you know, I started my job last Tuesday. I had four training shifts on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. I go in anywhere between 4 and 5, depending on the day and get out of there anywhere between 9 and 10. All the people I work with are super nice and friendly (well, all the ones I've met so far... they have a lot of people on staff), and they have a great set-up. You can tell that it is a chain, but in some ways it is a good thing. Everything is organized and done in a universal uniform fashion. I like things to be lined out, so this has been right up my alley! I was worried about everything coming back to me, but it has been like second nature. I took a few of my own tables on Wednesday and I've been doing more and more on my own since then. I pretty much took all the tables in my section on Saturday night and handled it well! So far things are going great! All the people that trained me were great and easy to get along with and all were pleased with me, so I feel good about the whole thing. On top of everything the servers are making an average of $80 a night on the weeknights and $100 on the weekends! I can handle that! I thought I was busy before...

Regardless of Who Wins

2008-11-06T21:15:00.004-07:00

I finally got an email that gives me some perspective and hope after all of this mugslinging and nastiness! Hope it can do the same for you!

True/False: The day after the election, regardless of who wins, Jesus will still be King.
True/False: The day after the election, regardless of who wins, our responsibilities as Christians will not have changed one iota.
True/False: The day after the election, regardless of who wins, the greatest agent for social change in America will still be winning the hearts and minds of men and women through the gospel, not legislation.
True/False: The day after the election, regardless of who wins, my primary citizenship will still be in this order - (1) the Kingdom of God, (2) America, not vice-versa.
True/False: The day after the election, regardless of who wins, the tomb will still be empty.
True/False: The day after the election, regardless of who wins, the cross, not the government, will still be our salvation.
True/False: The day after the election, regardless of who wins, our children will still be more concerned with whether or not we spend time with them than with who is President.
True/False: The day after the election, regardless of who wins, my neighbor will still be my neighbor, and loving him/her will still be the second greatest commandment. (Do you know the first?)
True/False: The day after the election, regardless of who wins, the only way to see abortion ultimately overturned will still be winning men and women to a high view of life through the gospel of Christ.
True/False: The day after the election, regardless of who wins, the only way to see gay marriage ultimately defeated will still be winning men and women to a biblical view of marriage through the gospel of Jesus Christ.
True/False: The day after the election, regardless of who wins, my retirement will still not match my treasure in Heaven.
True/False: The day after the election, regardless of who wins, "Jesus Is Lord" will still be the greatest truth in the Universe.
True/False: The day after the election, regardless of who wins, we will still know that God is in control.
How did you score?

Must See!

2008-10-22T13:18:00.004-06:00

Sunday afternoon DJ and I left the kids with Amie and Papa and we headed to Pueblo to go see the movie Fireproof. We'd heard from a couple of friends the movie was great so we thought we should go check it out. I am so glad we took the time and didn't wait until it came out on video! It is by the same people that made the football movie Facing the Giants. Both movies are Christian and they focus completely on God and salvation. If you haven't seen Facing the Giants, I would go rent that one as well. Fireproof is about a married couple with a rocky relationship on the verge of divorce. It's got some funny parts and some tear-jerkers. It is an awesome movie, I hope all of you will make it a point to go on a date and see it with your hubbys and maybe some friends. You won't regret it!

Current Events

2008-10-15T23:32:00.002-06:00

The last couple of weeks since Di's wedding have been pretty eventful. I think you all know the story about DJ's chin (Whit I know you do...) but I'll recap.
Thursday night Whitney was over and I was giving my kids a bath so that they'd be sqeaky clean for Di's wedding. DJ was out fiddling around in his garage. So as we were talking in the bath room with the door shut, DJ comes to the door and asks if I can talk to him. That moment I knew he had yet another power tool accident. I gave Whitney a significant glance and met DJ in the kitchen. He was holding his chin with a paper towel, with silly grin on his face. Anyway, he'd been working with his lathe and the 18" 4x4 had flown off and slashed his chin open. At that point, I took a moment to panic, then organized my mind to take care of business. Whitney and I pulled the kids out of the bathtub while DJ cleaned up. I called my mom to have her come over to put the kids to bed (it was 8pm) and we headed out the door with Whitney to drop her off and run over to the ER. It was quite hillarious, looking back, but somewhat stressful at the time! A $150 co-pay, 4 hours and 9 stitches later, we were home and examining the wood wondering how on earth his face wasn't demolished! Anyway, God was looking out for him. Now we just hope God is looking out for our pocketbook... we haven't received the bill yet....
Next.
The Saturday after Di's wedding DJ had let me sleep in. He had to head out the door to go to work at 9, so he came in at 8:30 to get me up. He crawled in to cuddle up behind me and Bailey and Jerome came in to join us so DJ lifted Bailey up on the bed, then Jerome. We were teasing both kids, then Jerome tried to get down, so we both grabbed one arm and pulled him back on the bed. Suddlenly he let out a loud cry so we knew something wasn't good. We let him settle down but every time he moved just a bit he started bawling. We thought maybe he'd snap out of it so I got up and fixed my hair and put on makeup, but he wouldn't let me put him down, so we stared getting worried. In the mean time he's still crying at the drop of a hat. So again, I call my mother to help me out since DJ's boss wouldn't let him take time off to take his son to the ER! Goodness gracious...he was ticked! My mom called my dad and he offered to take Bailey off our hands and finally DJ's boss called back to say he could take the time off. (Good thing... they were about to get an earfull from the mama! Just kidding, but it crossed my mind!) So I loaded Jerome, DJ and my mom in the car and headed to Pueblo to the Urgent Care. Anyway, to make a long story even longer, we got right in and it was just what they call Nursemaid's Elbow. Which is a fancy term for a dislocated elbow. The doc popped it right back into place and immediately he was a changed boy. All better, with sucker in hand we walked out the door. So... one sucker, a happy boy and only $10 later we were outa there! Thank you God for Urgent Cares, Thank you!

Too Funny Not To Blog About

2008-10-01T21:24:00.003-06:00

Here's something I just had to share with you guys. Since Sarah Palin's kids' names are pretty different, some goofy person came up with this thingamajig that tells you what Sarah would name you if you were her child. You type in your name and it generates a new name for you. It is pretty funny what it comes up with!
My name is Jeep Pike Palin. Bailey's would be Package Wichita Palin, Jerome is Revolver Trooper Palin and DJ is Fork Decoy Palin.

Enjoy Playing!

http://politsk.blogspot.com/2008/09/sarah_13.html

East Slide Rock Ridge Fire

2008-08-29T22:34:00.004-06:00

Here's a picture of the fire DJ is on right now near Jarbidge, Nevada. (Yeah, Nevada has some dumb names for their towns. Winnemucca, anyone?) He finally got a minute to call (four minutes exactly) and said the fire is around 35,000 to 40,000 acres now. He sounded totally exhausted and said that he's had lots of long days and short nights. He also mentioned that he's really having a tough time being away from us this time. I know it's tough for them when they're sleeping in a tent on the fire and not being able to call home. Maybe if you girls think about it, you could say a quick prayer for him that he'll have plenty of strength and be alert enough to stay safe. His last day on the fire should be the 7th and then he will have two days travel home. It seems like forever away, especially when I know he's having a hard time. Anyway, I'm doing pretty well considering. I hate going to bed (hence it being 11 pm) when he's not home, so I've been a bit tired. We're staying busy so hopefully the 9th will come soon!

Rain

2008-08-24T16:48:00.003-06:00

Since DJ left for a fire in Nevada on short notice yesterday I'm trying to be excited about his time away and see it as a chance to do some fun things with the kids. After their naps they were pretty restless (as usual) so I thought, "Hey, I'm wanting to get more exercise so I should take them for a stroller ride!" So I look out the window and it is starting to cloud up but even though it has thretened rain for several days now, it hasn't actually done it. So I was thinking that even if it did rain while we were out that it wouldn't be long or hard. (And here DJ would say, "That's what you get for thinkin'!")
I get tired of walking them up and down the streets around my house because the sidewalks are all broken and some sections are raised a good three inches above the one before from tree roots growing under them. So I packed up kids and stroller into the car and we drove just around the corner to third street by the train depot and walked on the riverwalk there. I've never been on that part since they opened it.
As we were unloading we could hear some quiet thunder and the clouds were a little heavier, but I still wasn't worried. A little rain never hurt anyone! We got out of the parking lot and walked across the bridge over the river and looked a minute or so then continued on. A lot quicker than I expected we made it to 9th street and I decided turning around would be a smart plan. I walked a bit faster this time since the thunder was getting much louder and tiny rain drops were starting to fall. Just as we got within 20 feet of the bridge the train uses (which goes above the riverwalk) it really started to come down. So I ran under the bridge and we sat there. And sat there. And sat there. The rain got harder and the thunder and lightning got louder. We sat there about 45 minutes before it finally got back to sprinkles! The kids had a great time under there and even would run out into the rain and stand there for a second. Really the whole thing was pretty humorous!
So when we headed back I put my jacket over the opening of the stroller and I ran about 150 yards back to the car. Didn't get much of a workout, but we did have a good time and we ended up with a story to tell!

Poll

2008-08-07T21:54:00.002-06:00

Since Whitney's poll closed and Tiana got to vote, I'll give my results. I was not afraid of horney toads, but I was of all the others. Silly, I know, but the horney toads were very interesting.... I never see any here in Canon, but they were all over in Monument. I have to think of my next one, but I'll post one soon too. Let's keep doing this, I like it!

Camping

2008-08-02T21:50:00.001-06:00

I love camping. I love it. Unfortunately we haven't gotten to go as much as I did when I was younger, and really, I want to go more now than I ever have. It is most definitely a vacation. Another sad thing is that in me and DJ's whole married life we have never been able to go camping together. Although you could consider going hunting, we have never gone just to go fishing, or on a hike and then go take a nap. Hunting isn't exactly the most relaxing sport. So this weekend we (my parents and I) loaded up half the house and the kids and headed toward O Haver Lake to stay over night. One night never used to be worth going for, but now with little ones, it's about all I care to handle. Maybe next year it will be easier to go for two nights. We all had a great time with ATV rides, walks and s'mores! It was a quick trip, but a nice little get away to wonderful smelling air and beautiful scenery. I wish we could go again, but it looks like this will be our one and only trip this summer... I'm already looking forward to next year!

Awesome Video

2008-07-25T09:56:00.003-06:00

Hey everyone, I have to share this cool video. It is an awesome presentation. Enjoy!

She's Three!

2008-07-21T15:53:00.002-06:00

Check out Jerome. He's loving the cake. Bailey, on the other hand, never ate a bite!

Her new horsey ride.

"Blow out the candles!"

"Look at all my presents!"

Here's a few of the pictures from Bailey's 3rd birthday party. She had been talking about the event for 2 weeks before, so I was excited to have the whole thing over. Although, not much has changed. She keeps asking if we can have another birthday party for her! She had a great time and, of course, enjoyed being the center of attention. At the moment I seem to be able to use the fact that she's three now to get her to do things she wouldn't do when she was two. Ya know, she's a BIG girl now! It is amazing to see her so big. I even think she's acting older. Time flies... and I'm trying to hold on!

I'm Game!

2008-07-18T16:24:00.000-06:00

I think this is a great idea! I added my poll... this will be fun!

Things I've Learned

2008-07-10T16:26:00.006-06:00

Tiana inspired this post I'm writing. In just the past few days, a few of these things have really hit home to me. I'm sure you can relate.

Since having kids I've discovered that:

You can be sitting right next to a fairly well behaved kid that's coloring with markers and not even notice that he's coloring all over his body until his arms are a nice tie-died blue and green.

That just because you're having "one of those days" or "one of those weeks" or even "one of those years" doesn't mean you're a bad mom or wife.

Even though your child can't talk doesn't mean that he doesn't understand what you're saying.

Even though your child can't talk doesn't mean that he can't communicate with you.

We have to truly cherish life. Even the bad times, because at any moment it could be our time to go. Or our child's time to go. Or our dad's, or mom's, or brother's. But at the same time, we can't live in fear of those events.

You'll have the pants shocked off of ya when your kid who refuses to eat any thing healthy for him willingly devours (and I mean DEVOUR) a half pound of asparagus. Who knew?! You'll even take pictures for proof and write it on the calendar!

A book can be taped back together with packing tape as many times as you need to in order to keep the peace.

We can do a lot more than we think we can. Like raise babies, run businesses, live away from "home", plan weddings, and adopt kids. And furthermore we're old enough to do all those things!

In hind sight God knew exactly what He was doing when we had no clue what He was doing.

Church Prayer Request

2008-07-02T13:20:00.002-06:00

Just wanted to ask you girls to pray. Our church will be undergoing the second final inspection on Thursday (tomorrow) for the new building. The city has been horrible to everyone who is building anything in this town, and we are no exception. It has been very stressful on our Pastor and everyone in a leadership position. Our dedication is scheduled for this Sunday (it was scheduled WAY past the estimated move-in date) and we will be having it whether or not we are approved! We just pray that it will be legal when we do it!

MOPS Garage Sale

2008-06-30T16:01:00.002-06:00

This past weekend we had our MOPS garage sale to help fund our upcoming year. Thursday night we drug everything out and priced all the items, but since there were only two of us doing it, it to FOREVER! But, we did get it done and on both Friday and Saturday mornings we woke up bright and early and sold as much as we could. We managed to sell about $600 worth and most of that was from the baby clothes we had. We didn't have any girl clothes even! Anyway, it was well worth the time and effort and we had fun just the group of us hanging out. The hardest part of the whole thing was that DJ was gone Thursday through Saturday for a fire, so I had to take my kids, but luckily they were fairly well behaved and had fun playing with the other kids.
I'm not sure I mentioned it, but MOPS is going to be at our church next year and I'm totally excited about it. Our numbers were really dwindling toward the end of last year, but rumor is everyone is very happy about us switching churches. God's totally been in control over this years events and leaders. I know it will be a much better experience this year than last. Not that any of you have a lack of things to pray about, but if you think of it, please pray for our MOPS group. We're really hoping we can reach many more moms in our community and provide for them the opportunity to come to know the Lord. Not just moms that are already Christians.
I can't wait to see where God takes us!

Two ships passing in the night

2008-06-25T10:53:00.006-06:00

My picture has nothing to do with my blog, I just wanted to show you how much Jerome likes waffles with powdered sugar!

It has been really dry here. Well, it's probably been dry everywhere, but we are having fire after fire here! DJ's been working 6 or 7 days per week since the middle part of May. On top of that he's been working at least 10 hours per day and more often it's been 12-15 hours. And I must say its getting a little old, but I have to suck it up and be tough since this is his job! Bailey's been missing him a lot, especially since a lot of times he leaves before she wakes up in the morning and gets home just before or after she goes to bed. She keeps telling me in the mornings that she didn't get to tell him bye. It's so sad. So anyway, it is almost as bad as him being on a detail since I still have to make all the decisions for everything, and do everything, cause who knows when he'll be home to do it himself. There I go whining again.... :)

It's all good though. I'm sure that when he gets his next paycheck I will be a little more excited about him working so much overtime.

Big Boy and Big Quads

2008-06-07T19:06:00.004-06:00

We took Jerome to his 18 month check-up yesterday. All is well and he's pretty healthy over all. Dr. Cunningham has been very understanding about us not doing vaccinations, and that has been such a blessing. I'm not ready to give up my pediatrician, but don't agree with everything they do, either. And I think she's the best we've got in our parts. So when she checked our charts she said, "So, we're holding off on shots, right?" I of course said yes, but thought, "Sure, whatever terminology makes you feel good!" It made me chuckle inside.
Of course Jerome got weighed and since we were in there just three weeks ago for a vicious sinus infection we got to see how much weight he had gained. Here's where the Big Boy part of the title comes in. He gained 2 pounds in 3 weeks! Newborns hardly grow that fast! That threw him into the 90% pecentile for height and weight. The doctor couldn't even believe it and confirmed what I already assumed: he's gonna be tall.

I thought I'd weigh Bailey since we were there and she even gained 1 pound in the last three weeks. Not bad for the girl who gained only 4 pounds between ages 1 and 2. So now Bailey weighs 28 pounds and Jerome weighs 27 pounds. That's why I keep getting people asking me if they are twins. It's almost on a daily basis now. Together they weigh 55 pounds. That number will come in later.

K, now for the Big Quads. You all know that I've been running three days a week since about mid March. Amy and I've hung in there pretty well and have only skipped a few days in there. But since neither of us were getting the results we were wanting (I want to drop about 10-15 pounds and she doesn't need to lose weight but wants to tone up her legs and butt) we consulted the professional Whitney and she suggested hills and speed work and other evil activities. So now 1-2 days a week we are torturing ourselves with things like stadium bleacher running and running up Skyline drive. Or at least we're trying to do those things. And I hurt! And as if the pain wasn't bad enough I decided in the name of high gas prices I would borrow a bicycle trailer from a friend to see if I could haul my hiney and my kids' hineys over to my parents house. This is my main traveling and it is only about a mile with at least 25 stop signs so, I figure that's why my gas mileage is crap. (Well, and that our car is a gas guzzler.) I go over to my parents a lot during the day to drop off my kids and to pick them up again. Some days I will make up to 6 one way trips! Anyway, a mile is a piece of cake, but then you add my heavy children, plus a 28 pound trailer, that's a lot of extra weight! 83 pounds to be exact. Plus there's this itty bitty hill on Myrtle that doesn't feel so itty bitty on my body! I think you get the picture. I'm going to have HUGE quads for Di's wedding. Good thing you didn't get us short dresses. It could have been ugly. Very Ugly.

Prayer Request

2008-06-03T10:36:00.002-06:00

You've all had some yucky prayer requests lately, so I'm gonna add one more. Please pray for my mom. It seems like every time my kids get sick, so does she (which isn't too surprising since she watches them a lot). But with her lung problem she really struggles getting well again. She has to go on strong antibiotics, which we all know is not good for her, and it takes her weeks, or extra rounds to get her well again. Then not a week or two later she's back on them again with problems. So this last go round she broke out with welts and a rash. She went to the urgent care in Pueblo and they said it was a reaction from the build up of a particular antibiotic in her system. They put her on Prednizone (sp?) and Benedryl and it seem to clear it up but it is back again and she has been off her antibiotic. And in the mean time her breathing problem is getting worse. She feels horrible. She's been on the line of being diagnosed with COPD for a while, which eventually kills the person that has it. I feel like this could be a turning point in my mom's health and something needs to give in order for her to stick around long enough to see my kids graduate high school. (That is a goal of hers.)
I know that her being around the kids when they are sick is much of the problem. I don't want to be selfish here, but we can't afford to pay a babysitter either. I pretty much refuse to hand over what I make doing massages to some teenager, but we can't afford to not have that income in the winter time.
We're going to have to some thinking and praying for a solution. An obvious one is to keep my kids well more of the time, but that is easier said than done when they are in the church nursery and MOPS.
And it's not like my mom is knocking on death's door right now or anything, but it is finally hitting me that she can't keep up like she has been the last couple of months.
Pray for us that God will close and open doors as he see fit.

Mom and Daughter Time

2008-05-28T17:31:00.003-06:00

Today we started Bailey in a gymnastics class! She will attend every Wednesday morning at 9:30 for 45 minutes. We had a blast! The class is for 18-36 months and the parent comes to help their child through the class. She was the oldest and the only one who hadn't been in a gymnastics class before, but she did so good. They basically had little obstacle courses for the kids to do and the instructor showed the kids how to do each thing before we did them. Then we'd go through the course about 4 times. I couldn't believe how quickly she caught on and could do some of the things. Her favorites were the big pit of foam blocks and the built-into-the-floor trampoline.
The funniest part was that as soon as we got home she crashed on the couch for about a half hour. It wore her out! And it wore me out too... even though I run 3 days a week, I'm wondering if my butt's going to be a bit sore tomorrow!
That is true confirmation of being out of shape when a 2 year old gymnastics class makes the mommy sore!

Blogging

2008-05-27T15:57:00.003-06:00

So, since we decided to switch from Yahoo over to blogspot, I actually had some free time to get this thing set up.
But I must say this is so much more complicated! Well, maybe its not more complicated, it is just different and I have to take time to get used to how it works.
I can't even find Tiana! I'll keep working on it.
So here goes nothin.... Good bye Yahoo!!