Plane flight, 3 (new) rules, Calming

There is something to be said about flying. You never know who you are going to meet (not that i particularly like meeting people) or what you are going to see for that matter. I have seen more damned leggings in the last 4 hours then is humanly necessary...

Anywhoo, i have this bum shoulder i have been dealing with on and off for the last 2 years. Some days it hurts like a sonofabitch...some days its fine. I tried to make sure i got seats on the flights on the right side of the plane so i wouldnt have anyone hit it....well no such luck. Needless to say its going to be a painful weekend. I found that my little ipod Brenda filled up for me is really calming. So the fidgety dude next to me who seems to have Tourettes and the kid screaming 3 rows back is sort of blocked out. I feel bad for the momma of that baby...its a rough road flying with an infant and this one sounds in pain. Ears are a finicky thing.

On to what i really want to write about. So i was noticing at work what people wear. You know, what do you think business attire is? I would assume it does not include seeing any kind of under garments. Or vaginal space for that matter. Maybe i am a prude? Maybe i just have some semblance of modesty? Maybe i am wrong, maybe vaginas should be seen? I mean if you are an Ob/GYN that makes total sense...but i work in an billing office people.

So i was walking by a co worker, whom i do not know very well, she was leaning on a desk and not bending at the knees....side bar- if you are wearing a short dress please for the love of all that is good bend at the knees...its more becoming of a lady- and i definitely saw London and France and the whole of her underpants...sad thing was others could as well. What ever do you do in that moment? I slowly walked by and got her attention and did the distraction thing so she would smooth out her dress...it worked. I was a bit dumbfounded and let it go, someone else didnt and she had to be talked to abut the length of her dress.

So because of this i have come up with yet 3 new rules
1. If your dress is not longer than your underwear please do not wear it to work.
2. If your dress is short remember the person next to you when you flip your chair around to talk to them...panty shows are not attractive at any age.
3. If all else fails wear a long-er dress with some pantaloons...thats what mormons do and we tend to be safe.

My girl who sits close to me came up with these rules with me. We were really talking about how we would rather be in pajamas all day and not see any grossness...we just want to go to work do our jobs and go home. She and I are not much for drama so when drama appears we disappear, and quickly.

Sometimes i get really bad anxiety. This trip has created quite a bit of it for me. Shane was dropping me off at the airport this morning, i was telling him how uncomfortable this trip was feeling for me, he was reassuring and kind. I know lots of people dont think he can be like that but he is...thats what 3 daughters will do to ya. He told me nothing matters until i come home to him. That he loves me, every part of me the way i am. Made me feel so much better. Still makes me tear up...even next to Mr. Fidgety...whom i am going to punch if he swears one more time...its nice to have support like that. I even got a message from one of my girls giving me some kind words. Its nice that when you think you are alone and a weirdo you really arent. I suppose that is the way it is with Heavenly Father. He is always there no matter who, what, where or how we are. Its a bit of a calming that enters for me. (Great fidgety guy is drinking vodka and oj) ....

Hair, Subway, Family

In the previous blog i wrote that the great ladies at work gave me a gift card to get my hair done. I thought about it a lot before i really decided to take the steps to make a change. You have seen photos of me before but if not well here is a before

My hair is kind of blah...over the years i have gone from the beautiful strawberry blonde to sort of a muddled blonde with sliver. Now i dont mind silver but its not all silver....so here is the after 

the top photo is from work. I had to see it under the lights. It is fun. The other 2 are in my bathroom at home with different light. The cut is really nice. I like it A LOT. So now its a matter of keeping up with it. I am hoping to be able too. So we shall see it looks exciting.

In other news this girl FINALLY got a job and she is so happy. She is working at Subway close to the house. She can ride her bike to work and will be getting her license soon. I am so proud of her. She has been struggling these last few months or year or so really with some medical crap that is hard to deal with. I wont say much about it because its her privacy but needless to say she is a trooper. Some days i know its hard for her to take another step, another movement. But she keeps going. She wants to serve the Lord on a mission and i am so excited she wants to do that. She struggles but will be amazing...she will make it through.

other times my kids are all at the house, including the married ones. Its so nice to have them there. Skyler is such a great addition to our family. On this day he was so tired but came anyway. He has great views of the gospel the discussions with the family now are even better. 

everyone knows our house gets wild but in the end they all love each other and want to be together. It is an absolute pleasure to be their mother,...on most days. 

 Look at Jakes face, that kid cracks me up. My mother in law is in the hospital with a surgery and there was a threat of mersa....so there was the complete joy of getting dressed to be in the room.....The boys always take it one step too far but hey they are boys. My mother in law will be fine, it has been a tough long ride with her, but my sister in law is amazing and taking care of all of the hard facts of medical stuff, while shane and i take care of the liquidation of the assets. It has been a trial and a half but....we have funny kids.....i mean look at that kid

Photos, John (sick again), Content

Since my father in law died we have been working on cleaning out the house. My mother in law is currently residing at a rehab facility as she had some surgery and needs quite a bit of rehab. In turn we have been spending quite a bit of extra time cleaning and sorting. Shane came across this collage, above, and thought i would like it. Of course it brought so many memories. i couldnt believe how little they were and how much i want to pinch some cheeks. Brenda said how fat she looked and Jake was in awe at how small he was. Laura is laura and John well he is my little one in that photo. Funny how they grow before our eyes and sometimes we dont see it until we are reminded that they were once babies.

I have found that i love having photos done of my kids. I love the time the photographer puts into editing and showing their personalities. i am not a fan of my own photos but i try to be in some. I know its important to the kids to have me in them.

Speaking of my kids. This last few weeks has been a horrible road for us. Sometimes i wonder why things go so smoothly then BAM crap hits the fan. So John had not been feeling well for a bit. He stayed home from school last friday (weekend of Labor day). There was some throw up and fever and poo...yucky poo. I noticed that he would feel better then get yucky again. By monday he seemed to be fine until monday night and it all came back. He went to school the next day and went home and on Wednesday i took him to the dr. The dr sent us directly to the ER. He was excited to get his first IV, i told him that it certain ly was not his first.

Turns out he had been in quite a bit of pain level 8 for days. The dr gave him ibuprofen super strength, but it didnt touch the pain. So he got some morphine. Needless to say he loved it. Made him feel really good. They did an ultra sound and found nothing going on in his gut. So a CT scan it was. The result was that he has either a bacterial or viral infection of his lymphs on the right side of his body which is creating infection in the gut, hence throw up, cramping and poo....So it is probably rotovirus or some other crappy virus. He has a medication for cramps, one for nausea, and our favorite Prednisone (steroid) for the swelling. So he is now recovering and we are in cleaning mode. Cleaning and disinfecting everything and i mean EVERYTHING. He will be fine but it has been tiring. I think everyone in the house has had some form of the poo thing. I know too much information, but bleach is a good friend.

So my sleep is not that great, Shane has been trying to get himself back in a groove after the heath of his father and all of the work that entails. In the mean time Laura has been looking for a job and had not had much luck when finally she got a job. Here is to hoping she starts next week. Between Shane and I there has not been much sleep and we have been working hard on not getting at each others throats. It has been difficult but we are doing great. He has been a great support to me over the last 20 years. I am glad to have him with me. 

So today i finally have some down time and i am just sitting watching shows and enjoying being here. We have a wedding to go to tonight so an easy afternoon is nice. I am pretty content right at this very moment. What about you? Are you content? and what do you do when you arent...when life brings you piles of poo what do you do? 

CHOOSE Not to be a Miserable Cow

Lately at work I havent had to be on the phones. In fact the phone aspect of my job has been moved to another part of the company. Frankly that is awesome. It certainly helps me get more work done then originally anticipated. In return i can plug into my headphones and just work. My job has become busier over the last few days as well. Now onto a, sort of, explanation of what I do. I bill Commercial, Liability, Managed Care and Blue Cross insurance in behalf of the patients who go visit any of the Saint Alphonsus Clinics. For reasons of HIPAA (look it up if you dont know what that is cause you need to know) I will not tell you what clinics i bill for but they are in the Boise Valley. So yes i have seen some names which are familiar to me and just do the billing and move on.

If you arent sure of what billing is, short story, You go to the doctor give them the insurance card, they send a notice to me to say you were there, I send a claim to the insurance company, I send the left over bill the insurance has not paid to you. Then I hope you pay the bill with in a certain amount of time so I dont have to send you to collection.

I started listening to Pod casts. I found a couple of apps to put on my phone that have various pod casts and i am enjoying them. I have always liked Dr Laura so I listen to some of her stuff then move to some other ones on history, crime, Dr Drew Pinsky. There is a wide range. Often times i listen to Pandora and make up a station of music to listen too. It has been fun. I tend to take time in the beginning of the day to listen to some church stuff as well.

This comes to the photo above. I have noticed that I choose how to I am going to behave. Dealing with all different kinds of people has created a really jaded side of me and i thought i had put that away years ago. Apparently not. There are a few people i work with who have made my adjustment to this new job quite easy. There are some who have made it hard (though they do not realize it I am sure) But in the end I CHOOSE how i am going to feel or be that day. I have found the more i smile and laugh the more amazing things happen to me.

I will let you in on one....I have had quite an amazing summer. First i got an amazing new job which paid more money and gave more options to grow. Then I got to watch my daughter get married to a great guy, I then got to go and visit family in a completely different country on the other side of the world. (missing breakfast and dinners with them) Then I cam home settled in a bit and then had to bury my father in law. So many amazing opportunities with in those 4 months and only 1 really good hair cut...HAIR CUT you say??? Yup... I had a really great cut before Brendas wedding then a small trim before my Britain Trip. Now it is the beginning of September and my hair is disgustingly not shaped and the ends are split and catching on everything. So i was saying something to my Homie at work, i complain to her a lot but she understands. I got to work on monday and in a moment of quiet 3 ladies (including my Homie) came up to me with a gift card for a sweet little shop to get my hair done. They had all gone in on a card to do something nice for me. I was so overwhelmed. I actually think i told them to all go away because i started crying. I know for a fact i turned around and hugged my Homie and cried on her for like 5 mins...ok maybe a couple but it seemed like forever. My gratitude for them and humility is something i cannot express.

What they may not have know was that morning i fought with my hair, i struggled with my damned mascara, I couldnt find anything that felt good to wear and my kids had a bit of a tough morning as well. I was done by the time i got to work. I didnt want to face anything I had to do but I didnt want to be a MISERABLE COW, so i sucked it up and thought of the funny things my kids do and moved on. So amazing things DO happen if you arent a miserable cow.

The other thing that happens is the above, mostly when i am at work. My Homie and I often send instant messages to each other with just the lines of music we are listening too. We both are a fan of 80s hair bands and 70s rock and of course Journey fits into that. One of the joys of my days is listening to music and chattin it up with my Homie. 

Needless to say life is one roller coaster of excitement. There is always something happening, good or bad, all the time. But at the end of the day its nice to come home to my own house, my own bed and be with my hubs. It is nice to come home and not be a miserable cow and be amazed at what i have. Grateful to be able to have such great opportunities.

So what are you doing to not be a miserable cow?