Going Private

I have decided to once again make my blog private.

If you would like an invitation to view my blog please leave me a comment and somehow get me your email address and I will hook you up with an invitation. 

 I don't mind you reading if I don't necessarily know you, but I got a creepy comment from some other country from someone who had absolutely no ties to me a while back and I feel like this is the best way to protect my pictures and whatnot from all of the creepies out there.  

I will wait until February 1st to make the big switcheroo...that should give me a few days to figure out how to do it again!

My Old Lady Hip

Apparently my Cookie Pants post got somebody thinking that I didn't have it all that bad, 

so of course things got worse!  

I am blaming Jillian Michaels and her 30 Day Shred, but I can't prove anything.

Saturday morning I was walking around just fine, but as the day wore on I started to feel a stabbing pain in my right side near my hip bone.  I didn't think much of it since I have had a pain there for the last few years, but it gradually got worse and by Sunday morning I was limping around while I scrambled to get everyone ready for church.  

I limped around at church doing my Primary duties but by the time I limped out of there I couldn't hold the tears back any longer.  When Chad got home we decided to ask my dad to come and help him give me a blessing.  My parents were prepared to stay with the kids while Chad took me to the ER, but I stubbornly refused, thinking I would just get in to see my doctor on Monday morning. 

 I took some Advil and tried not to move or think too much.  

Chad was a super awesome husband and took care of the kids and made sure we all had food to eat.

On Monday morning Chad had to pack for an overnight trip to Memphis and while he did that I got the boys out the door and said goodbye to him and took a shower so that I would be dressed just in case the doctor wanted me to come in right away.  

As luck would have it, I called the doctor's office and the scheduler said that he didn't have anything available, but would I like to see a nurse practitioner?  Now, I have nothing against nurse practitioners if I have a cold or something, but the fact that I was in as much pain as I was and the fact that I was going to have to pay through the nose for this appointment since we hadn't met our deductible yet made me refuse to see one.  I told the woman no, and asked if there were any more options.  She said she'd send a message down to his office and see if they would fit me in somewhere.  (Gee, thanks Lady!) 

I waited over an hour for her phone call and finally decided that I was in too much pain to wait any longer.  After consulting with Chad and my parents we decided that since they were most likely going to send me to the ER we may as well just head over there so we wouldn't have to pay for a doctor visit on top of it.  My mom came and got Kade and Sophie and I and we headed over to drop them off with my sister at the YMCA.  Chad met us at the hospital.  His boss told him that he would cover the Memphis trip and to take the rest of the day off to take care of me. 

They got me right in since there was nobody there when we got there.  We had to wait for a few minutes for the doctor to come in and check me, but altogether it wasn't too bad.  After checking me and asking questions the doctor decided to do a CT scan to rule out appendicitis and a few other things.  It was hard to tell exactly where the pain was coming from at that point, it just hurt around my hip, so it could have been many different things.  They gave me a shot in the rear for the pain (which hurt so bad it helped take my mind off the other pain) and took me for the scan.

After an hour or so of waiting (I can't tell you for sure because the pain shot kicked in and I was not all that concerned about the time it was taking) the doctor came back in and looked at me like I was faking it and said that there was nothing wrong with my appendix or colon or ovaries, other than a few little cysts.  He told me to follow up with my doctor (yeah, good luck with that) and sent me home.  

When we got home we learned that my doctor had decided to put me in with the on-call doctor that day, but I no longer need to see him since I had been to the ER.  I was finally able to get hold of someone in his office who was able to get me in with my normal doctor at 8:45 the next morning.  I was still in pain, but I wasn't as freaked out since I knew my appendix wasn't ready to rupture.

Tuesday morning I went in to see Dr. Scott and he felt around my hip and was able to figure out that it hurt the most in the hip joint itself.  He sent me down for x-rays to make sure that I hadn't broken it somehow and told me to come right back up when they were done.  

There was nothing on the x-rays so Dr. S decided to give me a steroid shot (yay. Another shot in the hiney.) and pretty much narrowed the cause of the pain down to some kind of tendonitis.  He decided to put me on steroids for a few days and if they didn't help he would bring me back in for an MRI to see if there is damage to the hip socket or something.

I am happy to say that the steroids are doing their job and I can mostly walk without limping. 

 I have been staying off of it as much as I can and it is feeling much better.  I am concerned that this is going to be with me forever since I have been dealing with tendonitis in my left hand since I was a teenager.  It would almost have been better news if it was my appendix.  But, if I am careful and don't let Jillian Michaels tempt me into doing jumping jacks again anytime soon I should be able to manage it. 

 I will just have to stick to the elliptical at the gym since it is easier on my joints.  

So there you have it.

I have the hip of an 80 year old woman. 

 This makes me wonder what else is going to fall apart on my body in the next 50 years, but for now I am grateful that I can once again keep up with my hoodlums.

Cookie Pants

January is a depressing month. 

It is cold.  

It is gray.  

It seems like life just gets put on hold while everyone plays catch up from the holidays and hunkers down for the cold weather.

Two years ago this week I found out that baby #4 no longer had a heartbeat and I had to have a D&C.  

I try not to dwell on it, and in fact I didn't even realize that such a dreary anniversary was upon me until today. When I did notice I couldn't help but feel a little sad.

I don't think I mentioned it on here, but for the past eight months we have been waiting for Chad to be offered a position in Chattanooga.  

In December he received the offer, but they didn't know if TVA would pick up the cost of our relocation.  They told us to wait until the person who handles that came back from vacation.  

Almost a month went by and then last week we heard (unofficially) that they most likely will rescind the job offer due to major budget cuts by way of a hiring freeze.  

Since they haven't formally done this yet, we are still in limbo, but we are pretty sure the move won't be happening until next year when they (hopefully) lift the freeze. 

 That will mean that Chad has to re-apply and interview for the position again and wait for months for the offer to come in...which is just a hassle all around. 

On one hand this is good news.  

The boys like their school, we are in a good ward, 

we are close to family who helps us out on a regular basis, etc.

However.

 I can't help but feel a bit robbed since this means we will have to stay in this tiny house for another year.  We can't justify buying something bigger here with the possibility of moving to Chattanooga still out there.

 I was looking forward to a bit of change.  

Also, since TVA is enacting budget cuts all around, Chad and his boss have been scrambling to make a case as to why they should even keep his department together.  All of the analysis they have done has shown them that his department is five years ahead of it's time...meaning they can't justify the cost of having them for at least five years.  They have a few paying contracts that will hopefully serve to keep them on, but Chad may have to start looking elsewhere for work anyway.

Things have such a great way of being beyond our control, don't they?!

So, adding that to a few other rocks that are weighing my subconscious down

 the past few days have left me feeling a bit decidedly uncheerful.

I went to work out at the gym this morning, and that helped a bit. 

 I was pretty nervous to get on the elliptical because I did Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred at home yesterday and it left me a little stiff and sore.  It wasn't too bad though.  I can walk without crying anyway.

    

After running errands we came home and put Sophie down for a nap and decided that it was time to make some cookies. 

 I pulled out some butter to soften yesterday so I was actually prepared for once (go me!).  

I put on sweats (aka cookie pants) and Kade sat at the kitchen table and played with Play Doh while I made the cookies.  

I don't bake very often anymore.  

I love to do it, but I am trying to eat healthier these days and I just can't do that and have wonderful cookies and cupcakes at my disposal.  

It is a rare treat for my kids to see my Kitchen Aid come out of the corner on the counter where it mocks them with memories of delicious treats.  

I have to say, it was fairly therapeutic this time around.  

I didn't have any particular reason for making cookies other than just needing to bake something. 

 It was nice not to have to make sure they were perfect because they were going to some function other than just making my kids (and myself) happy.  

I even threw in a bag of M&Ms that I got for free a few weeks ago.  

Yes, that is green scrapbook paper behind them...look at me getting all fancy with my food shots!

I am pretty sure that cookies made with M&Ms are the happiest cookies you can make.  

I got a big thumbs up from this guy:

See?

He really enjoyed them, and told me several times that I am the best mom ever.  

This is not unusual for him...he says it at least four times a day, but today I actually believed him.  

It will be a sad day when he realizes that I am not the best mom ever...

let's just hope it doesn't happen for at least thirty years.

So I ate a cookie (and I'm eyeing a second one) and things have been feeling a little lighter. 

 I am pretty sure that Jillian Michaels will look out from my t.v. screen tomorrow morning and judge me for eating cookies, but Rome wasn't built in a day my friends.  

I hope that your day is going well, and if it isn't...there's always cookie pants ;-)!

Playing Dress Up

When I was a little girl I used to love playing dress up with my sisters.  

We were constantly raiding my mom's wardrobe and prancing around like divas or princesses or whatever the mood called for.  There is even a story of how my dad came home from work early one day to find Karen and I dressed in my mom's lingerie(!) out in the front yard.  

Sorry for the heart attack Dad!  

I wonder what we were trying to be that day? ;-)! 

This morning I was pulling all of the laundry baskets into my room to begin my weekly sorting/washing ritual and I left the room for a moment.
Chad called me back in to show me this:

Apparently Sophie really likes the shirt that I wore yesterday. 

 What can I say?  She has good taste.

Kade is never one to miss a photo op with the biggest celebrity around here.

She was pretty pleased with herself.

We were pretty impressed that she managed to get it on and off by herself.
I hope this doesn't mean that she will enter the "I'd rather be naked" phase soon.  

At one point we took it away from her when we thought she'd lost interest,

 but she went right back to it and put it back on.  

I know your weekend wouldn't be complete without a little video of our resident diva, so here ya go:

Please excuse the sidewaysness (totally a word) of my camera...I am still getting used to shooting video.

In case you were worried, my (super awesome) dresser has a secret drawer for lingerie. 

So hopefully Chad won't come home to find Sophie parading around in the front yard in it in

 a few weeks years.

I know you were wondering.

Happy Friday!