Day 272 and Women's Heart Renewal at church

This morning, I went to a women heart renewal at church. We played games, they had the Mary Kay satin hands treatment available, manicures available, and massages. Then they had a table where you could make little sachet bags and another table with paper and pens to write letters to our missionaries in Brazil. I made a bag and got a hand massage, and wrote a letter. Then we had a salad lunch. It was very relaxing and fun and I was just really glad that I went. They also had child care available and Tasha went along with me to help with that.

While I was gone relaxing, Tom discovered that we had a leak under the house. He turned the water off and tried calling a couple of plumbers, but couldn't get any answer. He ended up calling a friend who met him at Lowe's and helped him find what he needed, then drove out with him and fixed it. Thank goodness for friends! Between the parts, the gas Tom put in his vehicle, and the money he accepted, it was $50. We may still end up needing to get a plumber out here, but at least we have water for now.

Day 271 and the chili cook-off

Well, it sounded like the chili cook-off went well today. Tom's chili placed 5th in the judge's choice category. Go Tom! He also said that Linda (Mom Thumb) chili placed 2nd in that category. Go Linda! Sounds like there was lots of yummy chili there.

Oh I am so glad it's Friday night. I am totally fried! Hopefully I can both get some rest and get caught up on some homework this weekend. Have a great weekend everyone!

Day 270 and watch those sizes!

While I was gone on Saturday, Tom did the grocery shopping for me. (Have I mentioned that I have the world's greatest husband?)Anyway, I had bagged salad on the list. Tom noticed that the bag seemed a little bit smaller so he got two just in case. He was right, the bags were 16 oz., now they are 12 oz. Same price, isn't that handy? The size is cut by 25% and the price remained the same, in effect giving themselves a 25% price increase on the product. Now in all fairness, it is a different brand so it could be that they couldn't get the kind they normally do and they'll return to that brand and size when they can. But what do you think the odds are? I'm thinking not good.

I am feeling better everyday, but still pretty wiped out by the end of the day. I have a child care association meeting in Enid tonight so it will probably be a late night.

Day 269 and feeding the good dog

Over and over at conferences and in books I've read the last few years, I've heard different phrases used for the practice of looking for the good in something bad. Re-framing was the term that Denise Ryan used when I heard her speak back in August and "feed your good dog" is the term that Jeff Johnson used in his book and on Saturday. What it basically means is to try to focus on positive aspects or humor in stuff that's happening and not just in the negative. It can be hard and it's a conscious effort to do it. But here's some from recent happenings in my life. I'm down two kids but with not feeling well this week, I've been able to take it a little easier than normal. Another thing: when I lost those two kids after all that drama, I wasn't the one who had to make that choice, the parent made it for me. A few months ago, I had to let a family go and it was very hard for me. I knew in my head I was doing the right thing, but it broke my heart. So I was very glad not to be put in that position again. With being sick, it's given me a chance to relax and let Tom pamper me a little bit, which if you know me at all is VERY hard for me. LOL!

Tom's going to be cooking chili tomorrow night for the big cook-off on Friday. Keep your fingers crossed for him!

Day 268 and well..dangit!

I have bronchitis again. ARGH! Not really surprising, but it sure doesn't make me very happy. Blah...

I've got grades back on one of my classes, A's on all the assignments in there. Yeah! That feels good. We are now in the last two weeks of those classes and then in October (the 20th, I think), I'll be starting two new classes.

Tonight I'm going to try and take it easy and read in my textbooks so I can get to work on my new sets of assignments.

Days 265, 266, and 267

Phew, what a weekend. First off, let me say, it was a wonderful weekend. The only way it could have been better is if I hadn't felt so dang lousy most of it. I started sneezing Friday, little did I know it was the start of a cold. UGH. Silly me, I thought it was allergies (and I still think at least some of it is).

Friday night: I drove to Tulsa, arrived there around 7:00. It wasn't dark yet which was nice since the street on my directions that I was supposed to turn down was blocked off for something going on downtown. After a few nerve-wracking moments, I weaved my way around and found the parking garage for the Crowne Plaza hotel and parked my van. I called the friend that I was meeting, she was already checked in and she met me out in the hallway on our floor. Neither one of us was familiar enough, comfortable enough, or brave enough to get BACK out and drive around Tulsa at night so we decided to eat in the restaurant downstairs at the hotel. Well...let's just say it was fancy. Let's see, the burger I got was around $14.00! It was very good though. And the service was excellent. Get this, they had brought us a plate of bread and after we finished, our waiter guy comes back and with a rolled-up napkins, cleans up all our crumbs. I was thinking "DUDE! You so need to come home with me and follow my little kids around". LOL. Anyway, as far as I was concerned, it was totally worth it not to have to leave the hotel and drive around. Then the room...wow. A bag with ear plugs, a sleep mask, and lavender linen spray, another bag with snacks, a CD to put on while you were trying to go to sleep. Little did we know how badly we would need that stuff in the middle of the night. LOL. There were like 4 pillows on each bed so you could sit up and watch TV on your bed very comfortably. Anyway, we had to get up early so we turned the lights out at about 10:00 and I fell asleep fairly quickly. Around a little after 2:00 a.m., I had to go to the bathroom and started hearing noises in the hall and then next door. Oh my goodness, those people talked and carried on loudly until after 4:00 a.m. They even had food delivered somewhere around 3:30 a.m.! I got so cranky that I beat on the wall and told them to be quiet. I don't think they even heard me over their own ruckus.

Then Saturday. The conference was great, and I got to meet and visit with Jeff Johnson. He was as awesome in person and as a speaker as he seemed in his books and by e-mail. I had a great time. Then I left and made it back to Enid for my cousin's wedding and reception. I was feeling totally wiped out by then, especially because of the whole being awake in the middle of the night and I wasn't feeling too good. So I put in an appearance at the reception and then came home.

Sunday, we got up and went to church. I thought I was feeling somewhat better, but really wasn't. We came home from church and got ready to take Tasha and her friend to the concert. I didn't want Tom to go by himself so I went with him, even thought I wasn't feeling the greatest. We had a really nice time. We ate at a Mexican restaurant downtown, then walked around a little while, then took a ride on one of the water taxis. It was a lot of fun. The girls had a good time at the conference and we got home around 12:30-12:45 a.m. Let me tell you, that alarm went off soon this morning! LOL!

Today I had a fairly light day on kids so that helped and tonight I'm just trying to relax and take it easy. Hope you all had a great weekend!