Merry Merry

Here's the obligatory Christmas morning post. I know you'll all just skip the witty commentary for the pictures, so have at it.





We had Michelle and her kids here the night we set up the tree. They loved the dog, and had I known we'd be moving in a week after this picture was taken, I would have gladly wrapped up that dog and sent her home with them.


Um, okay. He does like the Bears, can you tell? And bears like trees, so I guess this is acceptable behavior.


Hope yours was as Merry as ours.

12 Years

Well, my wedding dress is officially wwaaayyy out of style, my body has gone to Hell, and my mind is crazy with voices and stresses of everyday life.

But 12 years ago Sean agreed to love me no matter what.

Sucker.

Love you, Sugar Daddy.

Don't worry, there will be no divorce papers today.

That Creepy Fat Guy That Breaks In Every Year

He arrived, left his booty, and disappeared into the night.

Pictures to follow.

When What To My Wondering Eyes Should Appear

Well, not much if you're Sugar Daddy.

He's having some trouble.

Not the whole unemployment, moving in 2 weeks, 4 days post-op, kind of trouble, either.

It's more serious than that. He's been having some trouble with his vision for the last few weeks. Okay, a few months, but he used to have a job that kept him busy 12 hours a day, thereby hindering the time he had to see a doctor about it.

Do I sound bitter? I'm not. I promise.

So he saw a doctor to get new glasses. He told her about his light sensitivity and his blurry spots. She didn't care enough to "see" anything, and sent him on his merry way. Three days later, he was still fed up, and got a referral to an ophthalmologist, one he had seen before for an eye infection. After seeing him yesterday, the new doc made him an immediate appointment to a cornea specialist in Chicago. I was worried. I still am.

Turns out, what that first doctor didn't "see" could have cost Sean his sight. He still needs to undergo a battery of tests to figure out just exactly what is going on, but for now it's some sort of Keratitis. He has blood vessels growing through his cornea, and that's not good, folks.

So amidst all of our upheaval and challenges, we have this to deal with, too. Because you know, we needed one more thing to worry about.

Merry Christmas.

Twas the night before the night before Christmas

My kids are currently watching the Battle of the Nutcrackers on Ovation TV.

I've never even heard of Ovation TV until tonight.

When I saw the Bolshoi Ballet Nutcracker was on, I turned it on just to show the kids how beautiful the ballet is. Now they're hooked. They're on their third version, currently with the Royal Ballet's version. It is a beautiful, if a little creepy, story, regardless of which ballet is performing it.

I'm just glad I can rest easy tonight knowing my kids have had some sort of culture, other than listening to dad order from Taco Bell in Spanish.

Christmas Spirit

Well, today has been a good day. I realize I've been MIA the last few days, but there has been a lot going on .

I'll recap.

Sean had surgery yesterday, and for those of you that follow me on Facebook, you understand when I tell you all is back to normal. Wink, wink. His hernia is hereby fixed, and he is in good spirits, and moving around like a regular person.

We have started finalizing our move to Utah. Luckily, most of our stuff was in boxes. Unluckily, most of the stuff in boxes needs to be reorganized as store/do not store stuff. A totally different way of packing. But Sean has had lots of free time on his hands, so he made a very decent dent in that situation.

Gretta had her 3 year check up. She's 30 pounds, and smart as a whip. In fact, the doctor said she's so smart, she's too smart for diapers. Gretta took this to heart, and when she woke up the next morning, she refused to put on a diaper, because she's "too mart, mom". So she's potty trained. Seriously, like 1 day, and it was done. Who knew?

It snowed pretty good today. The good kind of snow where it's not too cold outside, and the kids want to go out and play. We went to the local sledding hill, after buying an extra sled for $30! I'm sooooo tempted to return it now that we're done with it. Would that be dishonest? Yeah, I thought so too. So we sledded, and the kids had a blast. Then we went to Liz's house, and met the elusive husband. He works evening shifts, and so none of us have ever met him. We started doubting his existence at all. But I'll bear witness, he does exist, and he's very nice. We approve, Liz. ;)

Christmas is knocking at the door, and I can't believe it! I hope we're ready. I think we are, but you know how the doubt starts seeping in when it gets down the wire? Yeah, I'm at that stage. I plan on starting wrapping tonight, so we'll see if I'm in full blown crazy mom mode tomorrow, or if I can just sit back and relax.

I've been pondering a lot on the things I'll miss about Illinois. There are so many things, that I think I'll have to do a bunch of separate posts just for them individually. I'm sure that will be so boring for most of you, but I need to write it down so I don't forget this time we've spent here. It dawned on us the other day that we'll most likely be driving back to Utah 2 years to the day from when we left. It's like we had a little mission out here. I think that warrants a homecoming party, don't you?

So that's all for now. I'll be writing more this week as Christmas nears, and my anxiety peaks at code red.

Daily Update

Well, I have to say, I think I have the bestest readers in the world. I received so many positive emails and comments, I think I may just make it through all this.

But I should probably give a little update so you all know what's going on in this head of mine.

First, Sean is scheduled to have his hernia surgery on Monday. The 21st. Like 4 days before Christmas. Sounds like bad timing, but it's a blessing really. Pray that it all goes well, and that he recovers quickly.

Second, despite looking for a job here in Illinois, there is this gaping hole on Sugar Daddy's resume. See, he never finished college. I know! But he was too busy working is way up through the company, and now here we are. So thanks to the help of our families, he will be starting school in January or March, depending on...

Third, we will be moving back to Utah as soon as Sean is healed and ready. He'll be starting school full time there. We're shooting for just after the New Year, but we'll see how that goes. His health and safety are most important, so that is the determining factor.

Fourth, there was a big post coming about our new house, with pictures and everything, but now that we'll be moving, it doesn't seem post-worthy. It's too bad, too, because we really love it. But it's just a thing, and things come and go.

So there you have it. Pretty much our life in a nutshell for today. I'm so grateful for the positive and uplifting thoughts and prayers. We truly know how blessed we are. I'll be posting daily, and hopefully not just about this, but mostly about this, because this is my life, and I have to write this stuff down, or my brain hurts.

Fun For Friday, Sort Of, But Not Really

So yesterday will forever rank up there as one of the worst days of my adult life.

#1 being the day my mom died.

#2 being yesterday.

Yep, that bad.

We were completely blindsided and our lives changed course forever.

Lets just say Sugar Daddy left for work at his usual time, and appeared back home a couple of hours later, pale, distraught, and befuddled. In his back pocket was stuffed a big yellow envelope. With his walking papers.

Yep, he was let go yesterday. After 16 years. 2 weeks before Christmas. And 6 days after we moved into a new house. Life is good.

So now we regroup, reevaluate, and reexamine our lives to decide what this means for us. In the meantime, Christmas was taken care of early this year, thank goodness, and we have stopped unpacking any remaining boxes because odds are we won't be here long. Life is good, indeed.

Oh, we also lose our health insurance next month, he needs surgery to fix his hernia (acquired at work, go figure), and I need my happy pills to survive. Life is wonderful.

So please excuse me when I say, Merry Freaking Christmas!

Speechless, Part 3

Sunday we woke up to even colder temperatures, which is hard to believe, this being December in Chicago and all. But we muddled through, and managed to down a delicious breakfast at a teeny tiny restaurant next to our hotel. We then decided it was time to head back home, and took a little drive along the lake so we could get a good view of the skyline, and also Oprah's house. It's the important things, right?


Meg and Jill enjoying the bitter wind.


We arrived home to a pot roast dinner, courtesy of Sugar Daddy. He's so domestic like that. Then it was a quick photo shoot with the kids and the sisters, and then the tears started. I hated to see them leave! I do okay being here without my family, until I see them. When they come and go, it makes it so hard! But I love them, and I will definitely take the tears of sadness to enjoy a couple of days of total fun.


Yep, that's a Hummer pulling a trailer. It parked itself right outside our hotel.



And for some reason there was a firetruck parked outside as well. I had to get a shot of it because I'm like a reporter what with my cell phone camera and all.


So that was our weekend. I love my sisters. I love my family. I love that Sugar Daddy let me take off for a fun night out despite the fact that our house is covered in boxes needing to be unpacked. He's the bomb.

Next time it is my turn to do the surprising. Now I just need to start planning my attack.

Love you girls!

Speechless, Part 2

So after a night of major surprise, toilet facebooking, and yummy French Onion soup, we headed home to enjoy our evening together. Jill and Meg brought Christmas gifts with them for the girls, and for me, so we opened up gifts, stayed up late talking, and finally hit the hay when I could take no more.

Then next morning, we woke up, chated for a couple of hours in the kitchen over Cokes and M&M's, and then headed out to the city for our evening. After getting a little car sick on the way there, we checked in to our room, which only had one bed, thankyouverymuch, and no fan in the bathroom. With Meg's intolerance to cream sauce, and our intended culinary destinations, this worried us.

We set off for Petterino's, our fave Theater District haunt. We were lucky enough to have found this place when we all went to see Wicked 2 years ago. We had an hour or so to kill before the play started, so our tour guide (another story, another day) suggested it. My mom loved this place. It had delicious home cooking sort of snooty food, and the walls are covered in Caricatures of famous Chicagoans.

So our hostess seats us, and to our amazement, she seats us at the exact same table that we sat at with my mom. It was amazing. We all had a moment. So we get settled, which for Jill and Meg includes practically disrobing since they aren't quite used to the Chicago wind chill yet, and as we sit down to peruse the menu, we hear a haunting voice from the past.

"Hey, Ya'll, here's some bread".

We gasped in unison. It was the exact same waiter we had 2 years ago with my mom. I'm sure the look of shock on our faces scared the wits right out of our animated garcon, but after we explained to him the situation, he practically wept along with us. It was total serendipity. He wasn't even supposed to be working that day, and had been called in at the last minute. Small miracles.

After our 3 hour late lunch, we headed back across the street to the German Christmas festival so Jill could score come cute mittens and a hat. We got our pictures taken by the tree in Daley plaza, and shopped up and down Michigan Avenue. We even outshopped Jill. This never happens. She pooped out, and I am still in shock.

We returned to our hotel, had some interesting girls talk, and decided we were hungry again. So we decided on Pizano's, one of Oprah's favorite pizza joints. Gnocchi in pesto sauce with pine nuts and deep dish vegetarian pizza was our late night "snack". It was as delicious as it was calorie laden.

Luckily for us, Sugar Daddy had heard of our one bed situation, and called the hotel to request a rollaway bed for us. I was the lucky one to sleep alone, which ended up being a good thing, because Meg likes to spoon.

Don't you just love my pictures? What? There's no pictures, you say? Oh. Well, I can't find my camera cord just yet, so you'll have to go to Meg's blog and Jill's blog for pics.

Stay tuned for part 3 coming tomorrow.

Speechless

Me being speechless doesn't happen very often. In fact, I can only remember a few times in my life when words have failed me. But Friday night was one of these times, and by far the most memorable.

So here we sit at dinner, we're celebrating Sugar Daddy's 34th birthday, waiting for our 2 extra guests to join us. I thought they were friends of ours we've been trying to meet up with for a while now and our schedules kept evading our connections. We ordered our drinks (diet Cokes and Cokes just to clarify, although for some reason our lack of alcohol consumption brought a little giggle from our waitress), and an appetizer to hold us over for our tardy companions.

We wait. And wait. Finally, I am getting so hungry I decide it's time to order without them. We place our orders and begin our usual round table chatter. I'm chatting away, when Sugar Daddy says "Oh, here they are". I don't even look up, I just finish my animated conversation and glace over my shoulder to nod a hello to our friends.

Only what to my disbelieving eyes would be in the stead of our tardy guests, but my two sisters all the way from Salt Lake and Las Vegas!

My jaw literally fell open, and I was absolutely speechless.

I was certain it was a flashback of some sort, so I didn't immediately respond with the requisite scream or squeal, that would have seemed strange to those not participating in said flashback. So I just stared at them in disbelief. Utter disbelief.

I had no idea they had been planning this trip for over a month. Sugar Daddy knew. His friends knew. My father in law knew, and even Noel knew a little while before they showed up, and no one, naddaone of them, let on that anything was up.

After the round of hugs and kisses and more and more hugs, I was pretty sure I was going to pee my pants after drinking 4 glasses of water on an empty stomach while we waited for them to arrive, so I excused myself and went to the ladies room to do my business. (And also to Facebook about it, because I do that a lot when I'm on the toilet. So do you, don't lie!) When I returned I was still pretty sure it was all a dream. But there they sat, in all their flesh and blood, at my table, there to see me, and to prove that they are the best.sisters.ever.

I love you guys!

More of our fabulous weekend to come!

School At Home

Well, today is the day. The day I make the actual decision.

I'm meeting with a Homeschool resource counselor at our local library. Recently the library was given a $3 million grant to start a resource center devoted strictly to homeschoolers. It has all the curriculum available for use in the library, or to be checked out and taken home. They have microscopes, instruments, puzzles, and all sorts of fun classroom activities that can be used. I'm pretty excited.

And plenty nervous.

The one thing I have going for me is that it's just Kindergarten. Kindergarten isn't required in the state of Illinois, so even going to Kindergarten at all is a step ahead. Maggie is thrilled with the idea of doing school at home, and I think it will suit her better given her anxiety and sensory overload issues. She is plenty smart, that's not a problem, and she is a quick learner, but I know in my heart this is what's best for her. And sometimes being a parent involves making tough choices based on what's best for our kids.

So starting at the first of the year, she'll be homeschooling with me. I can't wait to see how it turns out.