Note to self.

Self, when you get into the car to go food shopping with your kids and you feel and hear your back pop, you should get out of the car and go back in the house and lay down.

I should have done that but I didn't.  I figured I would be ok to drive to Wegmans, shop the whole store for a weeks worth of groceries, drive home and then unload heavy bags.  Half way through the store I had problems walking.  My lower back was screaming pain and pain was shooting down my left leg.  I grit my teeth and kept on going.  I called Tim as I was driving home to tell him that my back was out again and that I had concerns about carrying the groceries inside.  He told me to leave them in the trunk until he got home.  A couple of days earlier and that would have been fine but on Monday it was 60 degrees out and I didn't want anything to go bad in the trunk.  

Fast forward to today.  Wednesday.  I have been on my back since Monday afternoon barely able to get up to go to the bathroom.   Thankfully Tim's job is flexible and allows him to work from home.  He's been great in making sure Patchy gets outside for his duties and making sure the kids are fed and happy.   I am getting tired of laying down all the time.  I have things to do and places to go.  I get to feeling a little bit better and get up to make dinner.  Then I'm back at square one.  Tim has told me not to move out of bed today and I'm trying really hard to do that.

I'm glad I have Frank.  He's the only thing that is keeping me sane.  Who is Frank you might ask.  Frank is my new laptop.  Tim got me a beautiful 17 inch screen laptop and I've named him Frank.  I've been working on getting my things transferred off of the old computer and onto Frank.  All has been pretty good so far.  Photoshop is up and running.  I'm trying open office instead of Microsoft office and that appears to be a good program.  My camera program is on Frank.   My skype is up so that I can video call my bro and parents.  The one thing that is giving me the most headache is my stupid Itunes.  What a pain in the arse.  I'm trying to transfer my 5000 + songs, videos, books, podcasts over to the new itunes on Frank.  I figured out how to get most of it over but am having duplicates show up now.  I'm trying to figure out whether to go one by one and delete the duplicates or just uninstal and then reinstall.  I think I only have the capability to have itunes transferred a couple more times and then I'm stuck with it on the old comptuer.  I suppose since I have nothing else to do while I'm in bed I'll just play around with it for a while and do it manually.

The kids are doing well.  They have inherited the other computer and they will use that as their school computer and gaming computer.  They are very happy with that.  They also enjoyed doing school in bed yesterday.  I guess a change of scenery was fun for them.  They are also being very helpful with me being down...that is until they forget that my back is out and they come in and jump on top of me.  Ouch.

Not too much else to report.  I will post some pictures on here pretty soon.  I haven't really been out taking many pics lately.  I have to play around with my photoshop some because some of my settings on the other computer were lost in the transfer and I'll be danged if I can remember how to do a couple of simple things.  Again, I have plenty of time right now to play around with the program. 

I'm hoping I'm back on my feet for the weekend.  This weekend we had planned as our massive cookie baking weekend.  I've been trying to figure out whether we are going to do our cookie marathon and make tins up for all of Tim's team or not.  I guess we'll see how my back is on Saturday.

Interesting fact. I just had to look up and make sure I was spelling whether correctly or not.  Usaully my spellcheck will pick up mis-spelled words, but for some reason it's not...something else I will have to look into...Anywhooo, I couldn't remember if it was spelled whether or wether.  It is spelled whether.  A wether is a castrated sheep.  Yikes.

Ok, I'm going back to either my Itunes or my photoshop.  I hope all is well in the world out there.

Winter blues?

Tim and I have been doing some research on the science of winter blues.  We felt a bit of it last year because of the short days and the fact that basically we don't see the sun from the month of November until around May.  

I have a friend Tracy *waving hi to Tracy* who lives in Seattle.  She mentioned that she had a special light on her desk at work that she flips on to help her.  A light therapy of sorts.  I looked at the light that she has and they run between 150 and 250 dollars.  Tim got to thinking that we could probably DIY one ourselves.

He was doing research last night and found out that the color blue helps lighten your mood.  Not just any blue though.  It has to be an LED blue.  The wavelength of the LED blue is the same blue you would see in the sky mid day on a sunny day.  It triggers something in your brain.

We are going to try an experiment.  We are going to get some blue LED lights (they are in all the stores right now because of Christmas) and we are going to do a light sculpture and put it up in our classroom.  I want to see if it helps us.

Take today for instance, it is a really dark gray day.  It has been dark here for a couple of months now, but today it is oppressive.  I have all of the curtains in the house open but our house is still really dark.  How does that affect my mood?  I want to hibernate.  It is three o'clock in the afternoon and I want to sleep. 

 I used to be quite the night owl.  I used to be able to stay up late at night and get up early in the morning and still have tons of energy.   With the short days (it's dark here around 4:30 in the afternoon) and very little sun that has changed.  I find it harder and harder to get up in the morning and by 6:30 at night I'm ready for bed.  I will crawl into bed just after 8 after I've put the kids to bed and I'll fall asleep.  That's all well and good, except that I'm then up at 2 am becuase I'm not used to going to sleep that early.  My sleep cycle is all messed up.  There have been studies done about this.  People in the winter sleep more and eat more carbs.  I though Tim was joking when he said that, but he found and article.  When I can find it, I'll post a link.

So this weekend, we are going to go out and make ourselves an LED blue light sculpture and we are going to see if it helps our moods.   I'll keep you posted.  

Realization.

There has been much discussion around here lately about Connor's work habits in school.  I've been working with him for a while to stay focused on his work when he's doing it and to not pay attention to what his brother is doing.  A lot of times I will get Connor started on his assignment and then I will work with Aidan.  Connor will do his work for a few minutes and thenhe will start paying attention to what Aidan and I are doing.  Sometimes I will get Connor started on a project and then run to do something and come back and find Connor not doing what I left him doing. 

On a whim today I went into the basement and dug out my book of all my school stuff.  I looked at my report cards from grade one through grade four.  Every single grading quarter of every single year (yes, 16 times) my teachers put that I needed to work on my work habits.  I needed to start paying closer attention to my work and not pay attention to others around me.  Huh.  Looks to me that Connor is a normal 8 year old.  It appears he is behaving just as I did when I was his age.  

Ambien

Ambien is a drug for those who have problems sleeping.

Meddle

Merriam Webster definition: to interest oneself in what is not one's concern.

How Nancy saved my life.

Before I write this all out I want to first thank Nancy for my bag of trail mix that she gave me with my flying goodie bag.

Now, sit back while I retell my flying story from yesterday. I flew to Florida to help my mom take care of my dad while he recovers from a pretty nasty surgery. I was pretty stoked to find round trip tickets to Orlando from Scranton for a decent price. My flight was from Scranton to Philly with a two hour layover and then from Philly to Orlando. Easy enough right? That's what I thought.

My flight was due to leave Scranton at 12:45 pm. Tim dropped me off at the gate around 11:10. I gave myself plenty of time to get through security and to find my way to where I was going. Granted, Scranton's airport is small, but I have never been there. I find my gate and there is this nice older gentleman waiting there. I walk up and he says, "You know this flight has been delayed, right?" Uh, no, I didn't know that. The board said the flight was still on time. He said it was delayed until 2 pm. I got nervous here because I knew that my connecting flight was leaving at 3:50. I mentally did the math. Ok, if the plane leaves at 2, I should be in Philly by 3 and I will still be ok. The gentleman, Jim, I think was his name then called USAir to confirm the departure time. When he called the delay was still there, but it was only delayed until 1. Great. No problem. I settled in and did some knitting on Tim's scarf. 1 o'clock came and no one was there yet. No guys at the desk to board us. No plane. Uh oh. 1:15 comes and the USAir guys come and say that Philly is backed up really bad. Our flight was now delayed until 2:02 or 2:48. Long, nervous story short, we left the ground at 2:48. I was sure I was going to miss my connection. The flight was in a small prop plane. SMALL. It only seated 37 passengers. They had let another lady catch this flight because the 2 o'clock flight that was due to be leaving was now pushed back to 5. She boarded...we were all seated and nervous with the size of the plane. Before they close the doors, the guy from the counter came onto the plane and told the lady that she would have to get off the plane because of "weight issues". Uh, hello? How embarrassing is that? And should I be worried that there are weight issues on a plane? The flight was pretty good considering. It was a really smooth takeoff and landing.

Landing. We landed at terminal F in Philadelphia. We landed at 3:40. My flight was due to leave 3:50 from terminal C. I had to take a shuttle bus from F to C. I stopped ever so briefly to see if by chance the Orlando flight was delayed and I would have any chance of catching it. I really didn't think I would. Orlando was pretty much the ONLY flight that was on time. Really? I got off the shuttle at 3:48 (flight leaves at 3:50) and I RUN through the terminal to my gate. I made it. I flashed my boarding pass and got on. I was the last person on.

This should be a happy ending right? I was going to land in Orlando at 6:26 and Andy was going to pick me up and then we were going to drive over and see the last ever night launch of the space shuttle. Oh, please keep reading.

I am on the plane. I am panting because of a hard run through a long terminal. I'm sweating because I had a sweatshirt on. There is a line of about 25 Indian people (all family I'm guessing) trying to figure out their seats. The overhead bins were all full and I wasn't sure where I was stashing my carry on bag. I really didn't want to have to check it and have the chance of losing it. The family must have been at it for a while because the flight attendant had pretty much lost her cool (and she was really cool) and was yelling that they just needed to find a seat and sit. They were trying to push by me back and forth. Whatever. I was tired and glad to have made it on the plane. I scoured the open overhead bins and found out some jerk had thrown their backpack up there when they very well could have put it down by their feet. I squished it over to a side and slammed my carry on up there. I found my way back to my seat. The very last row on the plane and there was a dude in my seat. Come on. I showed him my ticket and he said he had traded with one of the Indian guys so he could be near his family. The poor guy was 6 foot 2 and not happy that the guy had told him that it was an aisle seat he was trading with. So, he scooted over and was now squished between me and another tall, little larger person. Ok...everyone is seated. Doors are closed. We back out of the terminal and taxi to our runway. Ready for lift off. Going to fly. We wait for about 20 minutes. We figure that we are waiting for an ok from the tower. It's all good. Just get us in the air and start serving drinks.

Twenty minutes go by and the pilot comes on and said "Folks, we have a problem with a heat sensor on the outside and we've tried to fix it and can't. We are going to have to turn around and go back to the terminal and have maintenance look at it." Everyone groaned. We all whipped out our cell phones and called and texted our frustrations. So,we turn around and go back and sit for another half hour and finally the pilot comes on and says "Folks, we are going to have to exit this plane and get on another plane in terminal C24". It took about 15 minutes for everyone to grab their bags and unload off the plane. We all poured out into the terminal and went to the next terminal. There was no plane there yet. We all stood around for what felt like another half hour. Some people were smart and went and got shots to drink and food to eat. I was not one of those smart people. I was not going to wander off too far and then miss the flight. Remember that I had thought I would have a two hour layover in Philly and had figured I would get lunch while I waited and instead I was running trying to catch a flight that wasn't really going anywhere. I had not eaten anything all day, except for some of the trail mix that Nancy had made me.

We finally are allowed to board the next plane. From what I gather, it went smoother this time and the very large Indian family was able to find their seats with no problems this time. I guess it was good we had a dry run. We took off from Philly at the very same time we were supposed to be landing in Orlando. I was not going to see the space shuttle. Oh well. I've seen a night launch before. I would survive. Around 7:47 the pilot comes over and says, "Folks,it may be a good thing that our flight was delayed. In about 8 minutes the space shuttle will launch and if you look at about 10 o'clock, you might be able to see it." 7:55 rolls around and we hear, "The space shuttle has launched. Look out your windows and you should be able to see it. There it is. Well, there it goes behind haze. You can't see it anymore.". At this point I was thinking about how in a movie when they show everyone come to one side of a ship, it flips over. Everyone was leaning over, coming across the aisle to look through minuscule fuzzy windows looking for the space shuttle. I was expecting the airplane to flip over. And I was thinking to myself about the pilot, "You shitbag, if we had left when we were supposed to we would have been able to get to the coast in time to see it in real life...don't tell me it was a good thing we were late". I was getting testy at this point.

Thankfully, for as full as our plane was and for as many children who were on board it was a smooth flight. I think the airline gave out free drinks because I saw everyone getting booze and no cash being passed around. I had planned on getting a rum and coke but by the time they got to me I just got a water because I knew if I had a drink I would probably get sick. I'm also thankful that I had downloaded season one of Pushing Daisies for my Ipod. That kept me entertained for a long time. I think I'm most grateful to Nancy though for my little bag of trail mix. I also want to thank Andy and Diana and Sydney, Bailey and Bryson for coming out three hours later than planned and picking me up at the airport.

I had hoped to have a really cool shot of the space shuttle to post in my blog today, but alas, I do not. I do have a picture of what I think is the light off of the wing. I had handed my camera to the nice guy next to me to try and get a shot of the space shuttle, and I think he got the wing. I might post that when I get home.

So now, I'm sitting here glad to have finally made it and hoping that when I fly home on Saturday it will be a smoother run.

Two weeks ago.

Breathe. That is what I'm trying to do after a very busy three weeks here. One week was a trip to NY for the Sheep and Wool festival, the next week was Dad B's wedding, and then last weekend was GOTV weekend. I think today is Friday and I'm just starting to feel normal again. I will cover the wedding in this entry. It seems like it was such a long time ago, but it was only two weeks ago.

We drove over to Olean on Thursday. We were supposed to be there at 4 for the rehearsal. We left here at 10:30 and should have shown up around 2:30. Becuase of construction on the highway, there was an additional hour tacked on to our drive. We checked into our motel at 3:30. We had to change into our nicer clothes before heading to the church for the rehearsal. Thankfully the church was only 5 minutes from the motel. We unpacked the car and literally threw off our clothes and put on our dressy clothes. It looked like a bomb went off in the room with the clothes just thrown everywhere. We made it to the church in time and the rehearsal went smoothly. The boys were a little wild because they had been in the car so long, but considering that they were good.


Connor and Aidan trying to be good at rehearsal.

After the rehearsal we had a fabulous dinner where the kids finally met up with their cousins. They have been waiting since June/July to see them again. It's so cute when they get together too because they always act like no time has passed and they pick right up where they left off.

Friday was kind of a free day for us. We hooked up with Jennifer (Tim's cousin) and her girls and we all went to Pumpkinville. It was freezing that day but we had so much fun. The kids got to ride Andy the pony and we did a huge corn maze and then did a very cold hay ride. As cold as it was out, the kids played with the water pumps more than anything. It was neat because it reminded me of my Grandma. On her farm there was a water pump that we always used and the water was always so cold when it came up.


Connor, Autumn, Danielle and Aidan at Pumpkinville.


Connor cutting through the maze.


Connor playing with the water pumps.


Aidan too. Man, it was cold that day.


This picture was a 'had to take' picture. We have a picture of Connor when he was about 6 months old with his little baby head sticking through the same cat. I'm going to have to somehow scan that picture and get it on here too. He's a little bit bigger now.

After Pumpkinville we went back to the motel and crashed for a little bit before heading out to two separate parties. While we were napping we had the pleasant surprise of Melissa showing up with one of Tim's old high school buddies. We haven't seen him for about 8 years so it was nice to see Tim. Yes they are two Tims. They hung out for a little bit and we found out that he's going to have his first child in about four months so that was exciting news. After Tim left, we went to the parties and that about wraps up Friday.

Saturday was the big day. The wedding was at 4 so we had the morning to kind of laze around. Connor did some school work and Tim worked all morning on his best man speech. Then we all got dressed and to the church at 3. I was worried about the kids behaving themselves for so long. We had an hour to wait before the wedding and then the wedding lasted about an hour. Connor did a fabulous job. He was so well behaved. He sat through the whole wedding and didn't move a muscle or make a peep. Aidan, on the other hand, is another story. He was mad at me because he didn't have a tie. Connor had one but he didn't. We tried to find him one but couldn't. He was not a happy camper. He pouted through most of the pictures. He used a whole stack of donation envelopes and wrote I love yous all over them and then crossed them out as to say he doesn't love me. I think he eventually got over it though. The wedding was beautiful. Dad and Laurie looked so nice. I'm still amazed at how perfect Laurie's hair was. Gorgeous! There was a lot of picture taking afterwards and then we headed over to the reception.


Handsome boys before the wedding.


This would be after the wedding. Wrestling on the church floor. I guess the fact that they were well behaved had to fizzle out sometime.

This brings us to the reception. It was packed. The band was awesome. The drinks were fabulous. We all had quite a few. The food was yummy. The drinks were good. I think I mentioned that already. The kids were pretty good. Connor was hungry by the time we got there and he was grumpy because the food was taking too long, but once we ate he was fine. Aidan took a couple of swings around the dance floor. Connor was too "embarrassed" to do so, but was happy to sit at the table and play his Nintendo DS.


Connor and his Aunt Amy.


Connor and his Aunt Melissa.


Connor looks so grown up here. He and Danielle had fun hanging out together.


Aidan letting loose on the dance floor with Aunt Melissa.

It was a long night but we had so much fun. Tim did a great job on his best mans speech and then was able to relax afterwards. The kids both said around 10:30 that they were ready to go back to the motel, so we left and Tim caught a ride back with his sisters. I really thought he woudl stay a lot longer, but he was back within the half hour. It was funny because when he got back he knocked on the door and all I saw was his forehead. I guess he was ready to come home too. I have the best picture of Tim five minutes after he got back but he won't let me post pictures of him on the blog. Dork. I did get permission from everyone else to post their pictures.

Sunday morning was a brunch for the whole family. We were all really tired and honestly I was more intent on getting our room packed up and making sure we had everything before we left. I got some really cute pics of Grampa and Laurie with the kids but haven't asked them if I could post it or not...so I won't. We left Olean around 1 (in time to listen to the Bills game on the way home...they lost). We got home and then the next week was a blur getting ready for GOTV. I'll write about some of that next time I get a chance to use the computer. The whole time I've been sitting here writing both kids have been bugging me to use the comptuer so they can play Spore. I suppose I will finish up here and go start my 8 loads of laundry. Ack.

I hope everyone is doing well and I hope Dad that you are feeling better. Get well and get out of the hospital. Mom sounds like she's about to crack. =) Oh, and thanks Andy for taking care of mom. I'm pondering if I should make a trip down there to help.