Let Me Put You On A Ship

It's hard to even start writing about our vacation.  There's so much that happened, and I took more than 1,000 pictures (yeah, yeah, I know I have a shutter problem).  I'll try to stick to very basic photo editing so that I can get something on here while it's still fresh in my brain.  I am going to have to do it in installments.  I'll start with an overview, then I'll probably do more detailed posts later.

Friday, February 24: Allen had given me a gift certificate to "Just Perfect Salon" for my birthday, but I hadn't had the opportunity to use it yet.  I really needed to get my hair done before the cruise, so I made an appointment for 11am.  I had hoped we could get out of town earlier, but the hair took priority.  It  only took her a couple of hours, and now I am much more blonde (and I look much more put-together).  She also put in some strawberry (reddish) highlights, though those have mostly faded.  It's okay, though.  I'm liking it more and more.  We ended up leaving about 3pm, and drove to St. George.  We met up with my friends Shelly and Shauna for dinner, and we stayed in Shelly's mom's basement for the night.

Actually, I've changed my mind.  I wrote a rather long blog entry while staying at the Adams' house, and I can't think of a better time or place to put it.  Alors, voila quoi.

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2/24/12

It has been a long day.  I can't believe it was just yesterday that I went to "Parent-Teacher Conference" with Miss Erika (and with monsieur in tow).  About the conference--I seriously love Miss Erika.  I love that they love Benji, that they know him and his quirks and they are sincerely trying to help him.  Anyway, she gave me a report on his progress for the year so far.  As far as understanding and completing commands, he's not really there yet.  The goal was/is to hear and obey two-step commands.  He can perform one-step commands (when he wants to . . . he can be a bit stubborn), but two-step is still a way off.  So are social skills, and playing with toys appropriately.  He'd rather spin toys than play with them the way they were intended to be played with.  There's not a lot of progress, but there is some. They gave him a huge jump in language and speech, (75% increase!), because he has started counting and using words and signs to communicate wants and needs.  He can recognize and repeat letters and numbers.  He likes to count to himself; he usually skips 5, but he does pretty well up to twelve.  Then he fudges a little, and gets to about twenty (at least, I think that's what he's saying!).  He does very well with "Book Awareness," meaning that he can tell if a book is upside-down, and he'll put it right and go to the beginning and "read" it.  He has been doing that for a long time, so I don't think that's such a huge deal.  Whatever.  He certainly has a long way to go before he'll be on-par with regular kids, but considering where he started this year, he has come a long way.  I really am proud of him.  

Side note: Benji and I were in the hallway of Lincoln Elementary while we were waiting for our turn, and a couple of different kindergarten classes walked by.  Benjamin is the same size as most of those kids.  Some were bigger, some a little scrawnier, but he could easily pass for a 5-6 year old.  I don't really mind that; it's just a little frustrating when people think he should be able to carry on a full conversation, respond appropriately to questions, take himself to the bathroom, etc.  Yes, I get to "have him as a baby longer," and I shouldn't compare him to other kids.  It's just really hard not to.  And when he does go to Kindergarten, he'll be one of those bigger kids.  I just hope the others don't make fun of him.  But then, Benji wouldn't care what anyone else thought.  I guess I should be more like that, too.

Well, after PTC, I had to go to work.  It was a pretty good shift--quite a lot of plastics, which I enjoy.  I got to scrub a gnarly GSW to the hand (in case you were wondering, you probably shouldn't put your hand in front of a loaded semi-automatic weapon when you have a finger on the trigger.  I'm just sayin'.)  Also, don't use Meth.  To quote from Super 8: "Drugs are so bad!"

So I came home after work last night, and cleaned.  I had left Allen with a list of things to do, since I know they wouldn't have been done otherwise.  He did start the dishwasher, but I kept finding dishes all over the house and loading them in, when I realized it was onto the drying cycle.  *sigh*  So I had to start the whole thing over again.  I folded some laundry and wrote thank-you notes for Benji's birthday.  When I finished that, I had some other things to do, but I was so exhausted that I fell asleep on the couch.  I stayed there all night.

When I woke up this morning, I tried to get rolling fairly early.  Allen was still asleep, and the boy was talking to himself in his room.  I got him up and tried to take him to the potty, but he wouldn't go.  So after about 30 minutes, I got him ready, started another load of laundry, started packing, and took a shower.  Then I went to the "Just Perfect Salon" to get my hair done by Sarah's hairdresser, Nikki.  She's really nice, and she did a good job.  Instead of the ugly, faded mousy brown, it's now more of a strawberry blonde, and she cut off a good 4-5 inches.  My hair really picks up anything red, and the roots were so grown out that they picked up a LOT of color.  So it looks a little bright and brassy at the roots and darkish underneath, but in a couple of weeks, it will look FANTASTIC.  It's much better now than it was, but it will take me a while to get used to it.

Anywho, after the salon, I went home and packed.  Gads--what an nightmare!  I'm sure we forgot some stuff (like Benji's soap and toothpaste . . .).  It also took a bit longer than expected; we didn't leave town until after 3pm.  When we finally did get on the road, we had to make a couple of stops.  One of those was, yes, at the 7-Eleven for some Diet Coke.  I almost felt guilty about drinking it.  Yes, it's the first time I have had one in 2012, but I was a little bothered by the whole thing.  I did break it open eventually, and it tasted divine.  I'll probably give it up again once I get home, but for now--I'm enjoying it.  And you can bet I'll be taking advantage of the free refills. ;o)

I'm not sure if I blogged about it last month, but I read all three books in the "Hunger Games" series over the course of about 5 days.  It only took me that long because I didn't have the second book; I had to go purchase it.  I bought it and read it that same night, then read the final book the following night.  They are pretty quick reads (and I'm a fairly fast reader), but the real reason why I devoured them like that is because it is such a good story.  It is violent, but it is very well-written.  Anyway, I wanted to re-read them before the movie comes out in a few weeks, so I brought the books with me.  I may not do a lot of reading on the boat, but (thankfully) I can read while in the car.  I asked Allen if he wanted me to read to him, and he said, "Sure."  It does serve several purposes: it means we don't have to listen to Allen's terrible electronic "music", it means we don't have to talk, and it keeps both of us awake.  He is a better long-distance driver than I am; I tend to get sleepy.  So I don't mind reading (though my voice is a little hoarse).  I think he's liking it so far; we are about 1/3 of the way through the first book already.

We had to stop in Cedar City for gas.  Benji had taken a pretty long nap earlier, and I had given him a granola bar to tide him over before dinner.  Unfortunately, Benji tends to get carsick.  He had dry-heaved a bit, but nothing came up.  We stopped at a gas station, and I hopped out and washed the windshield.  Then I opened Benji's door to check on him, and he was covered in puke.  Poor little dude!  He looked so sad!  It was all over him; he had even gotten it in his hair.  So I walked him to the restroom in the gas station and cleaned him up and changed his clothes.  The pros: he did pee in the potty for me, and he was clean when we met up with Shelly and Shauna at Red Robin.  The cons: I ended up clogging the sink after rinsing out his clothes, and he decided to wipe his grubby little hands on my pants.  Very classy.

He did okay the rest of the way to St. George.  We had a nice dinner, and he ate his apple slices and drank his lemonade.  He didn't touch his chicken fingers, but he ate a couple of fries.  I thought that wasn't too bad, considering how yucky he was feeling.  It was fun to sit and talk to Shauna and Shelly.  I love those girls!  I can't believe we have known each other for almost 15 years.  I was roommates with both of them in college, and they are both smart and funny and cool.  We keep up with each other (by blog mostly), and usually Christmas cards.  I did send one to Shelly, but it was the wrong address.  So she didn't get one (sorry, babe).  Even so, we can just sit and talk and there isn't any pretense or weirdness.  I'm so glad I got to see them.  

While we were driving, I texted Shelly to let her know we were on our way.  She asked where we were staying tonight, and I still didn't know.  I hadn't made any arrangements yet (I'm such a slacker!), so she offered to let us stay in her Mom's basement in St. George.  I'm so glad she did, because a) it's free!, and b) Benji totally puked up his dinner in the five minutes it took us to get from Red Robin to Shelly's mom's house.  Honestly, I have never seen him puke that much.  Ever.  He looked so sad when we got him out of the car.  I took him straight in and put him in the bathtub.  Then he had his own little room to go to sleep in.  He does much better in his own room, so I'm very glad he'll get a good night's sleep tonight.  THANK YOU, SHELLY (and Kathy), er, the Adams family.  "Counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike."

So now I'm sitting on the couch in the Adams' basement, typing about this crazy day.  Oh yeah--I forgot.  When I tried to brush Benji's teeth, he got one taste of the toothpaste and spewed it out.  And a lot of water, too.  It even came out of his nose.  :o(  I'm a little worried about him!  I don't know how he's going to do on the boat!  I know he's dehydrated right now, but I'm not giving him anything else by mouth until morning.  We'll have to stop at Wal-Mart and get some Gatorade and some anti-nausea medicine.  I hope they have something he can take, or patches he can use.  If not, I think we'll find an Instacare and maybe get some i.v. fluids into him.  He was pretty perky going to sleep (he likes the queen-size bed!), so I hope it will get better in the morning.  Here's hoping!  California, here we come!

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Okay, back to the vaycay overview.  And no, I didn't take any pictures on Friday or Saturday.  Sorry.

Saturday, February 25: We drove from St. George to Los Angeles, and did fairly well with time, only stopping in Primm for gas.  I finished reading The Hunger Games (Book 1) that afternoon.  We went to Tollene's house and hung out for a bit.  We went out with Dom for some karaoke, and stayed in a hotel that night.  Yes, I sang (The Scientist by Coldplay {a horrible choice for karaoke, btw} and later Don't Stop Believin' by Journey).  I'm a much better singer in my car than I am into a microphone, but it is fun.  It gets the adrenaline pumping a bit.

Sunday, February 26: We had some errands to run, then we picked up the boy and drove to the Port of Los Angeles.  We got a little lost, but I'm glad we set out early.  Allen's mom came with us, and she drove my car back to her house so we wouldn't have to pay for parking.  When we arrived at check-in, they asked us if anyone in our party had vomiting or diarrhea.  We mentioned Benji's motion-sickness puking (there was a lot of it, and I have a bit of an honesty problem), so after getting everything else settled, they put us in a side room to talk to a nurse.  It turns out that the registration gal marked vomiting and diarrhea, and when the nurse took his temperature, it was 99.7.  Gah!  I was getting worried we would miss the boat!  Eventually we convinced them that he was okay, and they let us on board.  We weren't the very last, but there weren't many people behind us.  We got to our room, then went to Guest Services and to the Oceaneer Club to discuss Benji (we missed the sail-away party).  There was a nice gal named Tess who really helped us with him and reassured us that he would be okay.  Anyway, we went to dinner at Animator's Palate and met Chatchai and Tumi, our servers.  Here's a picture of me there.  For the most part, I tried to avoid the camera (why do you think I have such a nice one?), but Sarah got this one of me.

Then Allen and I went to (a second) dinner at Palo, the adults-only restaurant.  Both meals were incredible, but Palo was outstanding (and quiet!!), even if we missed the show that night to eat there.

I didn't take many pictures on Sunday because it was such a struggle to get everything done and settled.  Here's a slideshow/link to my Sunday picture album on Picasa.



That's all I'm going to write tonight.  More to come, I assure you.

A Pirate's Life for Me

***Be ye warned . . . lots o' pictures!***

On Saturday, February 11, we had Benjamin's 4th birthday party.  Here's the invite:

Front

(Yes, I designed the heart pirate myself.  You'll see the inspiration for it on Benji's birthday shirt, courtesy of Gymboree, but I did make this one!  I used a combination of GIMP and Picnik to do it.)

Back

It was supposed to start at 2; I was up until about 5am the night before trying to finish everything up (I may or may not have been slightly distracted by watching Downton Abbey at the same time . . .), so it was a little late starting.  I didn't get any pictures of the decor, but that's okay.  It was just some jolly roger flags and crepe paper, really (red, yellow and black; it easily could have been the same for a Lightning McQueen party!).

I originally thought about doing a Monsters, Inc. party, since Benji thinks that Mike Wasowski is hilarious.  Then I had a small epiphany: since there will be a pirate night on our Disney Cruise, I decided we'd have a pirate party and outfit all the lil' buccaneers with pirate paraphernalia.  There's a LOT of stuff on the internet for pirates, pirate parties, etc.  Not much of what I did was original, but it turned out to be pretty fun.

After some of the kids put on their shirts (which I made using skull & crossbones cardboard stencils and Martha Stewart any-surface paint from Michaels), we started with "Pin the Eyepatch on the Pirate."  Everyone got their own bandana, which was used as a blindfold for the game.  Above is Noah, observing his doo-rag.  He later admitted he could see through it, which is why he got it his patch on closer than anyone (his was #3).  Poor little dude--he wasn't feeling well.  :o(  He was a trouper, though.

 

Next was opening the package with a hook.  The hook got bent pretty quickly, but the kids had fun doing it.  It was a big candy bar, and I wrapped it in a few layers.  We gave them each 30 seconds (one minute was too long!), so it took a few minutes.  After we shared the candy bar, we went downstairs for the "boat ride."

Phoebe waiting to be towed. 

Allen tying the tow-rope on

This was actually an original idea; I had this little unused dolly, and I thought the kids could paddle themselves across the living room.  Well, that might have worked except for the carpet.  And the box which I covered with brown poster board wasn't very sturdy, so most of the kids fell out of it trying to get out.  We did a little I-Spy thing, where the boat rider had to close their eyes, and find

Ella waiting for her turn in the "boat

the red sash.  I intended to sew those, but that didn't happen.  Instead, they frayed all over everything, but they did look pretty good.  I also wanted to make a spotting scope out of empty cans.  Yeah, that didn't happen either.  I just ran out of time!  Everyone managed to keep themselves busy, between watching Seuao's rugby (or was it soccer?) game in the background, taking funny pictures, etc.


As I was taking this picture, I believe Sarah was taking the picture below with Zekey.      BTW, I owe a huge shout-out to Sarah for taking so many great pictures.  I was a little busy, and the ones I got were pretty pathetic.  Thanks so much, babe.

Love this one! 

Lex channeling John Lennon

After the marginally successful boat-rides, we had a treasure hunt.  I didn't get pictures of the clues, but I printed them out, and tried to make them look old by soaking them in really concentrated herbal tea.  I think it works better if you use real tea, because mine just turned an ugly shade of pale yellow-green.  *sigh*  Well, the kids seemed to like it anyway.  The first clue was:

"Where the Wild Things Are and the Skies are Blue
Is Where You Will Find Clue #2."

It took them a little while to get it (though Nanny was pretty excited when she figured it out!), but it was in Noah's bedroom.

Ella took it upon herself to read all the clues, and while I'm not sure the other kids appreciated it, it was fine.  The age difference makes it a little hard, and she really does put up with a lot.  Ella's such a good kid.  Anyway, the second clue read:

"In the Back Yard, Under the Tree
Is Where You Will Find Clue #3"

I put in the little notes, just in case you were wondering how much work I put into this thing.

At this point, I was trying to hold onto Benji and take pictures and help with the clues, but the boy ran over to the trampoline.  So I tried to get him off while the kids went onto the next clue.  I didn't get any pics of that one.  This clue read:

"Close to some Flowers And Near the Front Door
Is Where You Will Find Clue #4."

Of course, there weren't any flowers (hello, Mary--it's February!).  But the clue that was there read:

"On the Back Porch In Sand Without Measure
Is Where You Will Find Your Buried Treasure."

This wasn't an original idea.  I read it on some blog, and I thought it would be really cute.  I put Allen in charge of purchasing and hauling sand . . . well, it didn't cost much, but it was pretty gravelly (is that a word?).  Anyway, by the time I got Benji off the trampoline, the kids had found the "buried treasure" (I had Dave put little pretend jewels and kaleidoscopes and the swords in the sand, which was in the ginormous bucket that Mrs. X gave us to bathe baby Benji in.  At least it has come to some use!

So that was the end of the games.  Benji wasn't much of a participater; he's so caught up in his own world that being social (even at your own birthday party!) just isn't a priority.  Oh well--the rest of the kids had fun, and we are all a lot closer to being ready for Pirate Night!  Of course, Lex is going above and beyond by making awesome costumes for her crew.  If she weren't so freakin' sweet, I'd totally have an inferiority complex around her.  But then, Lexy has threatened to moon me, so I guess I'd better watch out anyway. ;o)

Captain Dave.  Awesome.

Nanny helping out the Cap'n with his sleeves, and Bex ever-ready for the picture.

We then did cake and presents.  (P.S., thanks for making the cuppy-cakes and the GORP, Mach.  You're a lifesaver.)  The cake was pretty pathetic--a red velvet cake from Costco, but when I bought it, the decorators had all left.  So one of the bakery chicks did it for me.  Not great, but I didn't have time for anything else.  Oh well.

I love the look on Benjamin's face!  Four big ones!

I didn't (i.e., Sarah didn't) really get any pictures of the presents, but that's Benji wandering around in the background, while I'm sitting on the floor opening gifts.  Lily was looking pretty tough here!

Benji got some great gifts--lots of books and puzzles, some finger paints, some clothes, etc.  Everyone was very generous, and Benji is loving them.  We haven't put him in the cute dressy outfit, but we will on the Cruise.  Thanks for the gifts, everyone!

Here are some more random pictures.  Again, Sarah got most of these. 

Allen, in all his scruffy glory

Great shot of Bex and Zeke

Phoebe!

Nanny and Sabrina (with her sword)

Auntie Sarah and Benji, who was very excited to see himself on the screen

Well, that's about all I can come up with.  A lot of the party was, erm, half-baked, but all in all, I think it came off okay.  I'm glad it's done, and I'm glad the kiddos had fun.  Happy Birthday to my sweet little valentine!  I love you all the way to the moon and back!

Make This World A Happy Place

As some of you may know, I was recently called to be a Relief Society teacher in my ward.  Do you know how long it has been since I have taught adults?  A long time.  And it has been even longer since I have actually read the manual.  In trying to do this thing without totally screwing up, I was reading through the George Albert Smith manual, I came across this amazing quote.  I wanted to put this up in my home, so I felt the need to make it into Subway Art.  This is my first foray into that world, but I think it turned out pretty well.  FYI, I used GIMP to make this. 

Isn't that quote just beautiful?  President Smith wrote it shortly after the end of World War II.  I think it's equally appropriate for today's world.  It really spoke to me, especially since I realized that George Albert Smith was called to be an apostle at age 33.  Guess how old I am.  I don't think I'll ever be as righteous and good and kind as he was, but I can bring {some} happiness into this sad world.

I think the art turned out pretty nicely too, even if it made me almost late to work today (that and the ridiculous parking situation . . . grrrrr).  I made it into a .png file with a transparent background, so you can change colors if you wish (I used a gradient fill for this version).

You can also make it pretty with digital scrapbooking, like this (paper courtesy of Shabby Princess--the Plentiful collection):

You should be able to click on these and download them if you wish.  The black & white and the rainbow one are .png files, and the golden version is a .jpg.  They should all be printable as 8x10's, but I hope there is enough resolution and margin for enlarging and/or cropping to other sizes.  I hope you can appreciate this quote as much as I do.  Please leave me a comment if you download it; I might consider making more.  :o)

Mothers of the Disappeared

Ugh.  I'm so bugged!  I did an awesome best-dressed post on the Golden Globe awards, and I was curious as to why I didn't get any feedback at all.  Well, I realized that it wasn't posted, so I published it.  Unfortunately, something happened during the creation of said post, and 90% of it was deleted.  So I tried to do it again (a shorter version), and it still won't upload.  Gah!  Sometimes I love Google, and sometimes I just want to kick them in the you-know-what.  Like the whole Google+ thing.  Personally, I think it's obnoxious, but they seem to be funneling everyone into being a member of it.  I am a member (friend me if you want, but I won't be offended if you don't), but it's just not that relevant to me.  Maybe it will be in the future, but right now it just irritates me.

Anyway, on to more serious stuff.  I want to write a bit about the drama here in Utah.  Actually, it's mostly in Washington, but it's all over Utah news, because it started here.  This is a good timeline of what happened.  Susan Cox Powell (no relation) disappeared from their home in West Valley City in December 2009.  From the beginning, the whole thing was suspicious.  Why would Josh Powell (her husband) take their kids for a "late night camping trip" in the cold desert in winter?  Those kids would have been ages 2 and 5 at the time.  How does that make sense to anyone? That was his story, and that's why he was the only real person-of-interest in the case.  Unfortunately, nothing could be pinned to him, so he was never officially charged with anything.

Then the drama started, between Susan's family and Josh's family.  There were nasty words exchanged, accusations, and even a confession on the part of Josh's father that he was in love with Susan (but that's a whole other story; the dad is currently in jail for voyeurism and possession of child pornography).  Josh took his kids and moved to Washington state to live with his creep-o father, but there was a raid on the house they lived in, which lead to the father's incarceration and the removal of his kids from his custody.  They were placed with Susan's parents here in Utah.

Last week, as Josh was still trying to regain custody of his children, a judge ordered him to undergo a "psychosexual evaluation."  I don't know what happened between that point and today, but his children were given a supervised visitation today (Sunday).  The social worker who brought the children to his house in Washington said that the kids left the car and ran up to the door before she could get there.  By the time she got to the front door, Josh had locked her out, and she said she smelled gas.  Shortly thereafter, the house blew up.    Apparently, he used some kind of accelerant to make the house burn faster, and ten minutes before the explosion, he sent an e-mail to his attorney, saying "I'm sorry, goodbye." 

How could you do that to your kids? I can't imagine the scrutiny Josh has gone through over the past couple of years, and having his kids taken away must have been terrible for him, but how can you feel bad for this guy?  How selfish and cowardly can a person be, to kill himself and his innocent children?  It breaks my heart.  Truly.  It sounds like a Lifetime movie, but one without a happy ending. 

I certainly don't know what was in Josh Powell's heart today, but I hope he suffers for what he has done.

Time Keeps Ticking Away

8pm on a Saturday.  What am I doing?  Sitting at the Surgery front desk, blogging.  There is only one room going right now, and Ann Marie is scrubbing.  *sigh*  I should offer her a break, but I'm hoping they'll be done soon.  Dr. Larcom isn't one to spend more time than necessary in surgery.

I am getting excited for our cruise--only 3 weeks until we sail!  Aaah!  Here's the rub: we don't have our passports yet.  I have been putting it off too long, so now we have to do the expedited and overnight shipping thing.  For an extra charge of $60.  Grr.  We got our federal tax refund back today, so at least we can afford to do it now.  I also need to take my car in to the dealer--it smells like gas in the cabin, so I always have to have a window cracked.  Allen says it's something about the air intake valve . . . whatever.  I also had a rattling, which I believe was part of a panel cover on the bottom of my car.  I think it broke when I hit something a few weeks ago (I'm pretty sure it was a cat, who came out of nowhere on a very dark night, though I never did find a carcass).  Anyway, it would tap-tap-tap when I would drive more than 30mph, until I was on I-15 one day and I think it broke off.  I don't think there's a problem, but I should probably get it checked out anyway.

(Update: 30min later, and the surgery is done.  I went in to help clean up, and now I'm back here at the front desk.  Now I just have to hang out until 11pm.  Not my favorite, but hey--getting paid to blog is pretty sweet.)

I meant to do a month-by-month recap of 2011.  We'll see how well I remember last year.

January: I had my tonsils out in late December (by cute Dr. Dahl . . . LOVE HIM!), so I took a few days off in the beginning of the year.  I turned 32, and Benjamin was diagnosed with Autism.  Worked full-time at PCMC-Riverton.

February: Benjamin turned 3.  He started preschool at Upland Terrace Elementary.  Worked full-time @ PC-R.  Released as Primary Chorister, called as Relief Society Pianist.

March: Allen turned 38.  Worked full-time @ PC-R.

April: Easter.  I can't remember much else.

May:  U2 concert!  There were a couple of live internet broadcasts of other U2 shows that I listened to (and danced around to while Benji destroyed the kitchen).  Memorial Day.  Baby Zeke was born.  I dislocated my right shoulder.  I worked full-time until that incident.  School finished for Benji.

June: Weather was gorgeous--a late Spring.  Spent a night in Coalville.  Had shoulder surgery.  Off work (I couldn't with my injury): short-term disability.  Started watching "Signing Time" videos with the boy.

July:  Lots of family activities, which I was actually able to attend since I was off work.  Granny's 80th Birthday shindig.  Grandmother visited.  Started physical therapy (2x/week).  Final Harry Potter movie.  Off work.

August:  Continued physical therapy.  Took vacation to California on the last week of my leave.  Went back to work @ PC-R on August 15.  Benji started preschool again, this time @ Lincoln Elementary.  Allen would take him to school in the mornings, pick him up, and drop him off at Lynndi's (our babysitter) while he napped.  Allen worked 7pm-4am.  I would pick him up from Lynndi's when I got off work.

September: Continued physical therapy.  Worked full-time @ PC-R.

October:  Completed (graduated from) physical therapy.  Started to sing in BWAS Choir (rehearsals every Sunday).  NFHP in Logan.  Worked full-time @ PC-R.  Applied for and hired for full-time position at IMC.  Martine passed away.

November: Worked full-time @ PC-R until 11/11.  Started full-time at IMC on 11/14, working day-shift (except for holidays).  BWAS Choir Practices, auditioned for solo (rejected, thankfully).  Learned about Cruise @ Mia-punzle's birthday party.  Thanksgiving.  Black Friday shopping with Peggy.

December: Worked full-time days @ IMC, orienting to Neuro, Robot, Spines, etc.  Allen's schedule changed to 4am-1pm mid-month, in anticipation of mine changing at the beginning of the year.  Allen's mother Tollene came out to stay with us while our schedules overlapped.  She slept on the couch and stayed with us from December 11 until January 3.  NFCP.  BWAS Choir Concerts @ Libby Gardner Hall on 12/20 and 12/21.  Christmas.  New Years Party.

Well, that was the year in a nutshell.  I think most of that was covered in individual blog entries, though I know I missed some big events.  I took lots of pictures, but not all of them made it to the blog.

If I had to use one word for the year, it would probably be "painful."  My shoulder hurt, and I had to sleep on the couch all summer.  Physical Therapy hurt.  Losing Martine hurt.  Leaving PC-Riverton hurt.  But there were a lot of good things about 2011 too: spending the summer with my boy (even if lifting him and changing him and bathing him with one arm hurt), spending time with family and friends, singing in the choir, etc. 

There is a lot to be grateful for.  I'm grateful I only had a calling as the R.S. Pianist--anything else would have been too much for me to deal with.  Plus, I can usually keep it together when I'm playing.  If I'm singing, I'm pretty liable to cry (like I did nearly every week in the choir).  I am grateful I have a job where I can get my hours without having to use all my PTO or being sent home early (I have about 90 hours saved up now!  It has been a LONG time since I have had that many!).  I'm grateful Benji is in school at Lincoln--he seems to be learning a lot more with his new teacher.  I'm grateful I get to take a nap while Benji is in school.  I'm grateful Tollene was able and willing to stay with us in December--having her here was so nice.  I'm grateful for all the time I was able to spend with my family.  They are my best friends.

As for the New Year . . . I haven't joined Weight Watchers yet.  I still need to.  We have been doing a "Cruise to Lose" weight-loss challenge as a family, and although I'm certainly not winning, I am down a few pounds.  Most of it came off when I stopped drinking Diet Coke.  I am drinking a lot more water and milk these days, but I still miss it.  A lot.   I think I'll fall off the wagon for the cruise, though I'd rather not go through the withdrawal headaches again.  We'll see.

So here's January's recap: New Years party.  Started working evenings (3-11pm the first week of the pay period, 11am-11pm the second week on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday).  Sent Tollene home.  Benji back in preschool; started taking the school bus.  Craft day with the girls on January 16 (Human Rights Day).  I turned 33.  Read the Hunger Games series.  Birthday dinner with Peggy @ The Mandarin.  Girls nights with Bethany, Brittany and Allison @ Pizza Factory, and sushi with DeLayna.

And now we're into February.  Time really does fly.  I can't believe my baby will be four next week.  I can't believe how much I have to do for this party!  Arrrr!  If only I could bring my sewing machine to work.  Somehow, I don't think Dusty would approve. ;o)