Our Holidays

We had a truly amazing Christmas.  It was so nice.  The boys got spoiled beyond rotten once again!  I must admit I got a bit spoiled too!  It took FOREVER to get everything home daily, unloaded out of the van, dishes from all the meals cleaned up, presents opened out of wrappers and boxes, and batteries inserted in things, and then delivered to the correct new "home" for them all.  At one point in time our kitchen and dining room table was overflowing with presents to sort, open and put away.  I finally managed to get it all totally organized yesterday and the very last of it all done and put up in place by yesterday morning.  It felt good to get it all finally sorted out.  The boys rooms are pretty clean. It makes me happy to have it all put up and no messes finally.

We are hosting a New years Eve game night here at our house.  Soups and finger snacks for all.  We can't wait to have lots of laughs and fun with our friends and family! 

Danny called on Christmas.  He sounded really good.  He was outdoors, which he LOVES and he had gotten to make a couple phone calls and wish people a Merry Christmas.  I am so happy it turned out Christmas was on his Sunday phone day!  I didn't hear from him Wednesday, so I am assuming they are on lock down because of the holidays and people taking time off work.  When they are short staff they lock down to keep everyone safe, but it sucks for us.  Finding out that his letters are getting to him about two weeks behind.  That makes me angry.  There are over 2,000 prisoners there, you can't tell me there aren't "SOME" that are decent enough to work in the mail room and help get them caught up and the mail on time to everyone.  It's sad.  Letters and mail are their only communication with the outside world.  It breaks my heart that he's so behind on things.  He mails us letters and they are usually here within 3 days, but once in awhile it takes 5 or 6 days.  Depends on how soon they get them sent out I guess?  He was supposed to get to go to the "store" and get more write outs and a few things before the first of the year.  If not, then the rumor is they won't get to the store at all again till Feb.  That will suck for a lot of them.  They have to buy their own TP and  toiletries and things and they should be allowed to go to the store at least once a month.  That's only fair.  There's just so much about this place that pisses me off to no end.  I realize it's not supposed to be a vacation, but I also think it's a tad ridiculous that they have to sleep with tp in their ears so the cockroaches don't get in their ears. (He mentioned the roaches, but didn't tell me this, I read this off of the prison talk website and one of the prisoners told his mom that's what they have to do there... gross)  Nice huh?  I also think it's not nice they only get one shower a week.  They also only get our of their cell for two 30 minute meals a day unless they are on lock down and then they are in their cell with their cellie for 24 hours a day.  Danny's cellie is a HUGE muscular guy who is in there for holding a woman hostage and abusing her and assaulting her.  He's been in prison for over 14 years so far.  He's gotten so depressed lately that Danny said he finally got on some Prozac and now all he does is sleep all day and when he is up, he's cranky and mean.  No fun.  I just hope that Danny can bite his tongue and ride this out till May when he can finally request a transfer.  I just keep praying for that transfer to be granted.  I've heard that if he is a model prisoner, they will WANT him out of there, and make room for the higher need prisoners.  They dont' want the good ones in there.  They want the bad ones in there so they can never let their guard down.  Praying he gets closer to home, especially for his brother and parents  and grandparents.  It would be so nice for them to get to visit him.  Right now it's scary to drive the over 4 hours there  and take the chance that something will happen and they will go on lock down and then no visitors when that happens.  It's sad.  You can't plan for anything.  It just makes me so sad for them all.   He misses his parents so bad and I know they too miss him. 

I get to go out with the girls tomorrow night for my belated birthday celebration.  We are going to Mexican for supper and then Karaoke at the Peacock.  Simple, but fun for us!  I can't wait.  I am looking forward to it.  I have been cooped up in this house with these kids all week long.  I am looking forward to a small break before the weekend!  I need it.  I am getting cabin fever and hate that.

I slept in bed all night long last night and didn't wake up once.  I paid for it today most of the day.  My damn back hurt so bad.  I couldn't move much till about 4 today.  I had ice on it and took some Tylenol and thought about taking a Vicodan but didn't want to be in a drug induced coma again today!  I love the way they relax me a bit, but hate the sleepiness and weird feeling I get when I take them.  I just feel funny!

Brody's had a croupy cough off and on this week.  He's had a green thick snot nose.  He's been on this bath kick lately.  Today he took 3 baths.  He will get bored, come out and ask me to change him and say "bath please" and so I strip him down, and plop him in the tub to play!  He will play in there for over an hour till the water gets so cold I don't know how he stands it?  He will holler "DONE" when he's all done and I go get him out and dressed and he's fine till he wants another Bath Please!  Yesterday he took 4 today was only 3.  He ought to be super clean!

Cole's been pretty good.  He's played a LOT of board games with me.  He also has a bunch of new Wii games from Christmas and so he's played that a lot and drew on his new dry erase board.  He's been really really good with Brody this Christmas break.  He's been super helpful with me too and doing a damn good job of keeping his room clean and his stuff put away and organized.  I keep after him every day at least once a day we do a room sweep and tidy up and then he's off playing again.  I think I might miss him when school starts back up! 

Well I better attempt to go to sleep.  Morning will be here before I know it and I have a lot of errands to run tomorrow and some soup to cook!  Getting things prepared for Sat night! I love game nights!!!

Cleaning Fairy, wrapping fairy!

What a morning so far!  It's almost 3 and I've gotten 5 loads of laundry washed, dried, folded, hung and put away.  I have the last load in the drier now.  I have cleaned out Cole's toy box, marked the "garage sale" stuff, pitched the rest and then cleaned out his desk, and closet, then we swept and mopped his room.  His room is spotless and ready for Christmas Presents to make their appearances.  He now has a clean canvas to put everything, and quite a bit more room after de cluttering the toy box and book shelves. 
I scrubbed down the bathroom, swept and mopped in there, and the hallways and kitchen too.  Then I swept the dining room, vacuumed the area rug, mopped the wood floors and then went on to vacuum the living room.  I mopped the entry way to the front door.  Then Brody decided to wake up.  I entered the "danger zone"  I went through his toy box.  Pitched some, marked the garage sale stuff and put everything back in place.  I swept, vacuumed the area rug and mopped his floor.  Then I put away the "garage sale" tote and took out the huge bag of trash from the bedrooms.  I then moved on to our room.  Swept, mopped and now I am taking a break!  It's been so productive.  I have been going non stop since 7:30 this morning.  I am so proud and happy that I got all this crap accomplished that I have had to put off since hurting my back.  I just went all out today.  Tomorrow I see the chiropractor in Kahoka again and then Friday I go see Jeff so if I screw it up bad, then I am covered after today!  I just wanted to get this shit all done up before Christmas got here.  It's been REALLY bugging me bad!  I hate all the filth.  I am happy to finally have it all done and looking sharp for the season!
Last night I made two HUGE pots of veggie soup.  I had a bunch of roast leftover for meat and wanted to get it used up, so I decided to get the soups made for Christmas with the Frakes and our New Years party.  I made it up and got it all in my storage containers and in the freezer.  That's one less thing I will have to do next week. 
Tomorrow I have to go to Kahoka, like I said.  I plan on taking presents and folding chairs into my moms while I go in and then I have my support group meeting from 6:30-8 p.m. tomorrow night.  Then I got to get home and get boys to bed and up first thing Friday morning for my appointment with Jeff.  Then we will head to Carthage.  We will be getting things ready for Christmas with Mom and Dennis Friday night!  It's also my birthday, so a little celebrating of that will be going on too I'm sure! 
Saturday neither of us have plans with either set of families, so we have decided to make our own little Christmas Eve dinner.  I have a turkey I am cooking and making home made stuffing, mashed taters and noodles.  Just a simple little family dinner with my boys.  I am looking forward to that.  We also got the boys an early gift to open that night, which is pajamas.  Then I got Cole a new game, so I thought after supper we could clean up and have a little family game night and then early to bed, cause Santa is coming! 
Christmas morning I always make cinnamon rolls.  I will get up and get them in the oven.  When they are cooking I will start getting the guys up.  We will do stockings while cinnamon rolls are finishing cooking, then we eat, then start in with the presents!  Cole is so excited.  I am so happy for him.  I remember the excitement of the season.  I remember it well.  I want to make such good memories for my boys, so I hope that we have started some traditions that stick with them growing up for their own families.  After gifts are open, then daddy usually hangs around, puts things together and then heads off to chore.  I get the boys dressed, loaded up for Grandma Jeans and we head out to Ferris.  We spend the day with Grandma Jean and have a blast.  The kids run around playing we eat a nice meal visit with everyone and then it's "game on" with Grandma or Gramps usually whooping our butts in Shit on your neighbor!  We spend the afternoon playing games, visiting, the kids playing and then we usually have leftovers and then head home for the day. 
The day after Christmas we have nothing to do, so the boys will get to put their things away, and play with their new stuff.  The 27th we have Christmas with the Frakes in at Jenny and Anna's house.  We won't go there till evening so we will have all day the 27th to enjoy our new things too, which will be fun for the boys.  I am hoping they both love their new things.  Santa was pretty good to them both this year.  I know some grandma's who have been pretty good to them too from what I hear, so I think they will both be pretty darned happy boys this next week!  Frakes' Christmas wraps up our holidays until New Years eve, when we are hosting a little game night at our house.  It's just soup, and finger snacky foods and then we will all play games and the kids can play.  It will be a fun night for all I hope! 
I still have a few presents to get wrapped up today.  I forgot one of Coles that I had hidden in my dresser drawer and then Bill's stuff needs wrapped that we bought on Sunday.  Other than that, I think we are pretty good and done with it all.
I have some pork chops thawed out that I have rubbed with some smoky applewood rub and plan on baking those tonight and then making up some scalloped taters for supper.  I am in the mood for some BBQ meat, so I thought pork chops sounded pretty darned good. 
Bill came home at lunch and got Cole to go help him at work today.  Cole was happy to go with his daddy!  He even got his long handles on and his rubber boots.  They must be planning on working pretty hard, there were even a hunt for his gloves!
I'm going to wrap the presents, and then work on my kitchen a bit.  Things could use some major wiping down in there.  It needs done.  I have some things I could go through and organize in my office too, so who knows what the rest of this day will bring, all I know is, it's been super productive and I am happy I was able to get it all done so far!  I will enjoy the season MUCH MUCH better with a clean slate!
Well time to go load up the van for tomorrow and hunt for the wrapping fairy again... I don't know why she keeps leaving, I just keep dragging her back here!

Ho ho ho...

My oh my, I really screwed my back up this week.  I was hurting so bad, I had to call in to the Dr.  Crying my eyes out Wednesday morning because I couldn't take it anymore.  He got me right in, and gave me a Toradol shot and send me home on Vicodan.  I am very limited as to what I can take because of my new stomach, and meds causing ulcers are not an option.  I got a bit of relief from that first shot on Wed, and set up an appointment in Kahoka at Dr. Kirshners office on Thursday and Jeff set me up with a series of three Toradol shots for the pain.  I went back to Jeff for another shot on Thurs, then in the afternoon went to Kahoka for a treatment at the chiropractor.  It was well worth the trip.  They are fairly positive that I have a sprained ligament in my lower back, right behind my butt dimple, and it is causing me all this pain and muscle spasms.  Of course my back was out of place in a few places also.  With all this weight loss things just aren't toned up and lined up like they should be.  I am walking and moving totally different than I normally have been, so it's throwing things out of whack.  Kind of like when I got pregnant and would have to go to the chiropractor throughout my pregnancies because of walking different.  I am so sick of sleeping in this recliner just so I don't hurt and hope like hell that these treatments and this wonderful traction belt I have to wear will keep me from sleeping in the chair all the time.  I hope to keep doing my therapy exercises and get my back toned up and fit so it will stay in place on it's own and I will quit spraining that ligament.  All I know is it hurts so bad.  Worse than any pain I've ever felt and I hate it.  Between the spasms and pain I couldn't get comfortable at all, and couldn't sit still.  I was not sleeping because I hurt so bad and the pain meds wiped me out where I was worthless all week long. 

We are preparing for the Christmas season around here.  Tonight we went out to Jeremy and Cassie's for supper.  She made some yummy lasagna and the kids exchanged their gifts.  Cole got a transformer remote control car which he LOVES and Brody got some mega building blocks that are like leggos for toddlers.  He is sooo into blocks and things now, so he LOVES that gift a lot!  The kids had a ball playing, all except for Brody, who can't be nice.  He's such a little butt.  He can't share at all and tattles already!  Makes me so mad.  I hope he grows out of this fast, or his preschool teacher will HATE him come next year!  He's such a cry baby.  He's fine as long as people leave him alone and let him do his own thing, but Ally wanted to play with him and he doesn't want to socialize so he's fussy and mean.  He doesn't play well with others unless he's the one initiating the playing.  He is a loner and would rather do his own thing and be left alone, but other kids don't get that.  They want to play and he's just not normal, he doesn't.  Plus it doesn't help that he's here alone with me all day every day and is by himself.  He doesn't really know how to interact with other kids much.  Makes me wonder if I ought to see about babysitting some kids here or something to get him used to kids?  It would be something I could do from home and still be able to jump and run for Bill if I had to.  Kids always like car rides!  We might have to talk about that.  I need something to make him get with other kids and like it!

Our cookie and candy day was a super success last weekend.  We sure spent the whole day baking!  The oven was FULL from 9 a.m. till 4 pm when we took the last batch out of the oven.  We had three 6 foot tables covered in frosted sugar cookies and my deep freeze was covered with cookies and candy too.  Then my shelves were stacked high with candy and so were a few folding chairs.  My garage smelled like a bakery all week!  Yum.  I was able to make up a goodie tray for Diane and Randy and the mail man Ray and the ladies at the Dr's office and Jerry and Donna Payne.  I took a try out to Beth and Tim and the boys and we are still trying to eat up our cookies here at home that we have.  There was plenty and they were good!

Today we are going to Quincy to shop.  Bill is picking out his Christmas presents and I am finishing up on my groceries for the holidays.  I have a few things I need to get for the meals we will be attending.  It's going to be a fun family day for us all.  We haven't spent a nice day together in a LONG time, so it should be FUN!

Tuesday's Coles Christmas party at school. I am in charge of games and so I got to come up with something fun for the kids to do.  Hummmm... better put on my thinking cap for this one! 

I am so excited for the holidays to be here.  I can't wait to celebrate with everyone.  It's going to be a fun stress free year.  I just can't wait to enjoy it all and soak it all in.  I love my family.

Cookie Day...

I am working on finishing up all my Christmas stuff.  I just found out we don't have to host any Christmas family events at our house this year, Jenny wants to host at her and Anna's house, so that means an easier holiday for us.  I am waiting on the last of the mail ordered gifts to trickle in over the next few days so I can wrap up my final things and be DONE.  Looking forward to that BIG FINISH!

This Saturday is our annual cookie bake.  We've skipped a few years... ummm like 8 cause of bad traditions of people dying each year we did it, so this year we are hoping to get past the 7 year curse and really start another fun family tradition.  Everyone is bringing cookie dough and we are doing cut out cookies different candies of their choice.  Then when we are all done we share and everyone takes a bit of everything home, and LOTS of cut out sugar iced cookies of course!  It will be a fun fun day for us all.  Lots of laughs and memories.  I'm looking forward to it!

I am so sore today.  I slept most of the night in bed and that tends to KILL my back.  I am hurting bad.  I go see Jeff on Monday and I am going to tell him about all these issues I've been having.  I know it's because I've lost weight and am more active, but I shouldn't have to live with this chronic pain daily.  It sucks not sleeping in the same bed as my husband.  It really makes me sad.  I hurt so bad in my back, down my leg and through my butt cheeks.  I should have taken care of this years ago, but being fat and less active it didn't hurt every day, I babied it, now that I am up doing more it's so painful.  I hate being in pain till at least noon daily.  It ruins my mornings when I can't even bend over and get something I drop.  Some days I can't even pick Brody up out of bed and it scares me bad.  I do the stretches and exercises I learned through therapy, but they aren't helping at all.  I just want this fixed NOW.  I have a new lease on life and there's no excuses for being lazy, I can't let this get me down daily.  It's going to sabotage everything I have worked so hard to achieve at this point.  I'd rather go through childbirth than suffer with this back pain every day.  I'd rather give birth once a day than deal with this crippling pain.  It's awful.  The spasms and the shooting sharp pain.  The ache and the hurt.  I am soooo OVER IT!

Tonight is Cole's Christmas program at school.  Today I plan on getting groceries for our cookie day.  I am picking up the final things and getting ready for the weekend.  It's going to be a busy day.  I am not looking forward to driving in this snow though.  Ugh. 

Well here I go... bacon's on for breakfast and I gotta get Cole out of bed.