I'm not dead yet!

So I must be getting stronger!

Life is so out of whack today, I'm blogging for therapy between batches of chocolate chip cookies.

Where shall I start? It's not good to be in our family this week. It all started Saturday morning with my brother Chris called to let us know that his place of work burned down and he was suddenly jobless. He purchased his first house last March, so he was quite shocked and panicked. So we started praying for him right away. Then on Sunday, my mom called before we left for Sunday School (yes, in fact, we were late) to let me know that my aunt Sandy from Illinois was diagnosed with four brain tumors. The doctors thought they were likely malignant. She's married to my Uncle Bob (mom's brother) who has been fighting cancer for almost two years now. He's finishing up his last chemotherapy session at the end of the month. So she went for a CT scan on Sunday and he went for one on Monday. Talk about a bad situation.

Monday nothing bad happened. Tuesday we find out that Eric's employer (Verizon) will not longer be offering pension benefits. He apparently gets to keep what he's earned so far, but we're not sure of much just yet. So we're going to be put to the screws pretty hard in about 20 or 30 years, thanks to money-hungry management. How nice. I cried. Then I got over it and figured God will take care of us whether we have plenty of money or not.

Wednesday, my step-Dad was taken to the hospital with upper-GI bleeding. Come to find out his heart is only ejecting at 15%. That's not good at all and they had to put him on coagulants to stop the bleeding, so that stressed his heart even more.

Thursday we found out that the doctors are saying my Aunt Sandy has probably less than six months remaining. So my other aunt (Marlene) and my Grandma are going up to Illinois to spend Christmas with that part of the family. My mom may go, too. I'm pretty sure this would be the first Christmas I'd spend without seeing my mother, but I'm perfectly fine with that. At this point, a lot of her decsion depends on how well Chuck is doing. She's praying about it. I'm praying that she has peace with her decision because it's a very tough call.

This morning (Friday) Eric took our mouse Henry to the vet. Spent $150 to get all the medicine necessary to fix the darn thing. And has to take him back in two weeks for another $30 shot to rid him of this mites that are causing him to scratch holes in his skin. How lovely. Mind you, we don't have money to spend on this mouse, so Eric has donated money out of his 'New Bike Fund' which makes me very sad, but it's necessary at this point. I'm hoping to be able to reimburse his fund when he gets his bonus in April. I will never again take in a 'free' pet.

I like the fish better, but our red betta (actually, Ethan's red betta) was found deceased this morning. We told him (Ethan) last night that Tooey (the fish) wasn't long for this world. He accepted it pretty well. He didn't notice before he went to school, and we didn't tell him, that he had actually died in the night.

So anyway, the good news is that my batch of cookies are turning out beautifully this morning and the bad news is that Seth just noticed that I'm making chocolate chip cookies, so I need to sign off and go guard my goods.

Thanks for being interested enough to read this entire entry. I feel like the Grinch, but the truth is that Jesus is still the Reason for the Season and, as my Grandma Reese always says, this too shall pass.

PS: Happy Birthday (tomorrow) to my seminary friend, Gil!

Well, I was right...

We managed to get everything done last weekend and even squeaked in a fondue dinner at Randy and Twila's house on Saturday evening after Ethan's dress rehearsal. Speaking of Ethan's dress rehearsal, Seth had a cameo appearance. He cracked the whole place up! Before the show started, one of the directors had given Seth a streamer stick (there were a few extra after handing them out to the cast), so when the time came at the end of the show to use the streamers, my covert little daredevil weaseled his way past the six of us adults who were all sitting in a cluster together, and made a bee-line for the stage, streamer in hand. He wormed his way around the 15 or so performers who were on stage and placed himself right next to his favorite friend (Mark Fernandez), who is 11 years old, and joined in (in a rather dramatic fashion) with the streamer twirling. It was an absolute riot to watch. It was all black-light on the stage and it was just so darned cute that we couldn't yank him off the stage. When the lights came up for the big finale song, he started wandering around the stage and that's when I sent Eric up to yank him. That will definitely be one of the stories that gets re-told throughout the years at our house! It was precious!

Sunday was so very relaxing. It was really nice and just what I needed to finish off a very busy weekend. I was sorry to miss Ethan's performance, but am grateful that we were able to see the dress rehearsal.

Monday I spent in Zephyrhills doing a little Christmas shopping and having lunch with my Mom, so I didn't exactly get much accomplished. Eric was late getting home from work, and that sort of threw the whole night off, so the whole day (with the exception of getting to see Mom) was pretty much a waste.

Tuesday was Bible Study in the morning. Our children's director hosted a luncheon afterward at her home, which was very nice to just sit around and chat for a while. Then Mary Kay (the children's director) offered to keep Seth while I ran a couple of errands. Do you think I was about to turn her down?! It was really nice being able to shop at Wal-Mart without having to stop every five feet to look at something or make sure Seth was with me. There was a small child in line a couple of registers over when I was checking out. She was just throwing an ugly crying fit and I was extra grateful for Mary Kay's kindness at that point.

I'm going to close and go get some laundry out of the dryer. This will probably be the only post for the rest of this week because we have a simlarly busy weekend this weekend (maybe worse). Friday, I have to figure out how to get a double-batch of chocolate chip cookies made, a birthday cake baked, and a broccoli casserole started, while getting Seth over to Zephyrhills so that Mom and Dad can watch him while I go to Ethan's school and help him with his gingerbread house (an annual Quail Hollow Elementary tradition). Then Saturday, I have to ice the birthday cake, go caroling at the Veteran's Home with Boy Scouts, take the casserole to the potluck that follows, meet my parents back at the house so they can keep the boys overnight while Eric and I attend the CBS Christmas Party in the evening. Sunday, we'll meet back up with the boys at church, go out for a quick bite, then get back to the church to set up for Ethan's 7th birthday party, which is scheduled to last until 3:30. Whew! I'm tired just trying to figure out the logistics!

So anyway...the next time you'll hear from me is Monday....maybe!

All next week, we get to work on Ethan's eel report and visual aid! I can't wait! Anyone who says that stay-at-home moms don't contribute to society needs to be shot.