A Prairie View

Mostly sunny. Highs around 78. Lows around 46. South winds 5 to 10 mph.

We couldn’t have asked for a better day. Esp. after all the storms that have been rolling through here, and Missori and Arkansas. The sun was shining. No wind. A perfect spring day. David’s brother called and invited us over for a BBQ. David had a meeting at 7:30, and Ethan had Quartet practice at 7:30, so getting together at 6:00 was just the right time. They have a really nice deck, and we just sat around and chatted, while the guys grilled the steak.

Because of the 2 meetings, we did leave by 7:30. My middle son is moving from Emporia back to here, so I had called him earlier to see if he wanted to come over and eat. Ethan had bought 3 huge steaks (this BBQ was a last minute thing — David called me at 4:50 telling me about the plans, and we didn’t have any steak or hamburger, and I really didn’t have time to run to the grocery store. However… since Ethan works at said grocery store, I just gave him a call, and he picked up what we needed). Anyway, I knew Matt might not have everything moved down yet, so if he wanted to eat part of our steak, that would be great. He wanted to keep unloading the truck, so he didn’t come over. I put what steak I didn’t eat on a paper plate, and dished him up some other stuff, and after dropping Ethan and David off at the church, I stopped by his house to give him his food. He had a friend there helping him, so I didn’t stay long. I’ll go see his house laster this week.

I am at the end of my rope. I am not in a good place, and I need to find my way out , whether it be on my own, with the help of products such as Leptovox or resorting to see my doctor. This goes beyond uncomfortable. I am miserable. I am not functioning through day to day life in a normal manner. I cannot keep going like this. There has to be an answer out there for me in some form. Something that will work for me, and get me back to a reasonable way of life. I can’t keep going like this!!!

Going into the month of May, it makes we realize that we need to start getting plans into place for going to Branson, if we decide to go in the fall. Time will get away from us if we aren’t careful. Since it is less than a day’s drive to get there, checking into flight deals isn’t on my list of things to do. But there are room reservations to be made, literature to look through and kind of have an idea of what we will do while there. I don’t want to have a strict “to the minute” agenda going, but I also don’t want to fly into the weekend blind, not having a clue to what we do or what we’ll see. Which is usually what we do. I do know there is a blogging friend I want to meet up with that lives in that area. We also have friends who live in KC who said they would meet us there for an evening — and go to this Mexican restraurant that they know that is really really good. I also have to get serious about my physical health, or there is no point in even planning. If David were to say “pack your bags, we’re going today” … I could not do it. That is where my main focus needs to be. I’ll focus on the physical, and David can get the rest of our weekend plans put in place.

When Brett came out to the office Thursday, and told us of some weather stuff he had been listening to, I knew it wasn’t going to be a good deal. We ended up getting some “weird” weather, but nothing too damaging. He was headed home and I called David and told him we had hail. He told me I was smoking something. He was only a mile or so from town, and the sun was shining. He got into town, still no indication of rain — which was also weird. The first time it hailed (we got two doses of it), it hailed but there was just a sprinkling of rain, and then when it was actually hailing, there was no rain with it. When he got just a couple blocks from our house, he said he could smell rain, and the sidewalks looked damp. It rained and hailed (pea size) a bit more, and that was pretty much it.

During the middle of the night though, it was frightening listening to the TV. We left it on our local channel just in case we needed to be alerted to other storms. Hearing “funnel on the ground” in counties adjoining ours, was a bit unnerving. But, the storm was headed more north, so again, we escaped any major damage.

But yesterday and today, other parts of the country haven’t been so lucky. From the news reports. many towns have been hit pretty hard. I am counting my blessings that we yet again escaped major damage.

David and I got married when we were in our 20’s. We brought 4 children to the marriage. He had 2 daughters and I had 2 sons. As time went along, I came to the conclusion that we wouldn’t have any more children once I turned 30. We had 4 children already, so having another wasn’t on a high priority list for us. Although in the back of my mind, I couldn’t help but wish that “we” had a child.

For my 30th birthday, David bought me a Mother’s ring, with 2 large stones — his and mine, and 4 small stones with our kid’s birthstones. Something similiar to this …  only the kids stone were smaller and there were 4 of them.

2 years later … surprise, surprise. “We” had a child. Of course, then, I made him get me another Mother’s ring to display ALL of our children. That child is now 17 years old, and I still wear that ring.

Somewhere along the line, I would like to get a Grandmother’s ring.  Lifetime Mothers has a nice selection of rings, as well as other personalized jewelry.  Mother’s Day is just around the corner, and something from their website would make a great gift if you are looking for a  mother’s ring for your wife, or mother.  It is an easy to navigate site, and they still have inventory guaranteed in time for that special day.    Most of their rings can be personalized with my choice of birthstones and can be personally engraved with the names of your children.  Mother’s Day.  Birthday. Christmas.  Just because you want to show your love to that special person, mother of your children, or even your own mother.  Lifetime Mothers can do just that.

Sometime this fall, I am hoping, David and I are going to head off for a 4 day vacation in Branson. There are several things I am looking forward to, besides the actual trip. There is a chance we will get to meet a fellow blogger who lives in that area. And also, we have really good friends who live in Kansas City, and they said when we went they would meet us down there for a day, to take us to some of their favorite places to go. We love being around this family, so that will be a fun thing to do. When we do this — getting away — its going to take some major planning, in several different areas. With David’s job, just the simple act of getting away will be nothing short of a miracle. Also, because we are getting away, and it will be a special “Just for us” kind of time away, I would like to pack a chemise or two, and just make some special time for David as well. Not that I don’t make him feel special here at home; but getting away, for those, if we go this fall, we will be celebrating 25 years of marriage, so it could be considered a 2nd honeymoon of sorts. Its all in the planning.

David should be home pretty soon. He is out helping his dad with a water line. I don’t know if its clogged, or if it is just leaking. But it seems like they have spent an awful lot of time on it. Too bad its not as easy as doing a some of those things we can do when our bodies sometimes get clogged. The way I have been feeling this weekend, I’m not sure that maybe I need to find a pharmacy for a liver cleanse. I know I am badly in need of detoxing myself of bad eating and poor food choices. I am feeling so sluggish and just down these days. And I just can’t find that right combination of things to turn things around. But, I’ll keep trying. You can’t ever give up.

I wonder what they did with the exercise equipment? The after-prom activities were at the rec center. I know alot of the activities went on in the gym, but there were other things going on, and I am sure they used the other rooms that the rec center has. I wonder if they had to work around the equipment, or just made do with everything in the gym and the main area. When they move the pool table and the other game tables, I suppose there would be a lot of room there. Course, with several hundred juniors and seniors running around, I would think they use every space available. I’ll have to ask Ethan when he comes back to the life of the living. He is still snoozing away. Hoperfully, he’ll still be able to sleep tonight. School day — and work night tomorrow. He’s got to get back in the regular rhythm of sleeping so he can cope with the rest of the week. The play is over, so he’s back to working several evenings, and of course, school every day. Hard to believe they only have a month of school left. And then my baby is senior. Can’t be possible!

Too bad Ethanis sleeping the day away — it was a beautiful spring day — the temps are in the 70’s, no wind, no rain. A. perfect. day. A good day to get out your boardshorts and tank tops, and just soak up the wonderful spring day that has been given to us. However. When you don’t get home until 8:00 … a.m. … well, choices have to be made, and sleeping is his choice of preference today. Which, I can’t say I blame him. He’s a good kid. Staying out late — let alone staying out all night, is just something he doesn’t do. But, it was a special night, and I trust him. To be responsible, and do responsible things. And he didn’t let me down. So, I don’t have a problem letting him sleep all day. It was a big night — and there will be other nice spring days. There will only be one (ok, well two) prom nights.

I was going through some boxes the other day, in my effort to continue decluttering, and the boxes I was going through were from my aunt’s apartment that we boxed up after she passed away. Its hard to get rid of things that you identify with someone so much. I will probably hang on to her magnifiers — she was legally blind, but not in the “only seeing darkness” sense. She could read with a magnifying glass, or with a special computer system that she had, but to be able to read pill bottle or insulin syringes, that print was way to small and out of her realm of being able to read it. I know part of decluttering is getting rid of things you don’t use; but those simple pieces of glass were so much a part of her … well, I think I will hang on to them for awhile longer.

With a big sigh of relief, we do not have to contact our car insurance agent. Last night was prom night. Lots of teenagers. Late hours. Hopefully, no alchol was involved — that was the plan, and the school did what they could (after-prom activities) to intice the kids not to drink, and yet, they could still have lots of fun. Ethan is one tired puppy today, but I know he had a good time. And everything went smooth as silk. No accidents. No flat tires. This is a good thing. Ethan had 3 accidents within the first year of having his driver’s license. But, hopefully, he has learned from the mistakes he made with those accidents, and he will remain accident free for some time to come!

There are so many things we will need to be looking into this next year. The obvious one is student loan’s and everything that will be involved with sending Ethan to college. Something that is not quite so obvious is looking at our life insurance policy, and seeing what we need to change there. When we wrote it, it was centered around providing for Ethan, as a child, and what that all involved. But, once he becomes an adult, then we probably need to go back and rewrite it — to either lower the beneficiary amount, or to at least equal it out between all the children. It also wouldn’t hurt for Ethan to look into
life insurance quotes for himself. I know he’s young and he thinks he will live forever. But, he has also been through the loss of loved ones in his young life, so he knows that isn’t always the case. So many things to think of — so many things to consider.

Because of a heart condition, alot of the diet products and fat burners on the market are off limits to me. I know that if I want to lose weight or get skinnier, I am going to have to do it the “old fashioned” way, with sensible eating and exercise. But what if … I’m just projecting into the future. Wouldn’t it wonderful if they could make a fat burner that worked as simple as lighting a candle — and by breathing in the aroma, it would burn the fat away. Course, I could see some of the down sides to it. I read a book a long time ago, or maybe it was a movie. I think it was called “Thinner”. He got his wish — by doing a certain something, he became thinner…and thinner…and thinner…until there was nothing left of him at all. But I suppose you have the same choices when you take any kind of diet products, and at some point, you do choose to stop taking them because you have reach the goal you wanted. Who knows. With today’s technology, anything is possible.

Everyone is our family is pretty fair complected, but David does have a skin disorder that his dad also has, that only flares up in the summer time. They get huge patches of red. Its not a rash or anything like that, so skin lightening products probably wouldn’t make any difference on it. And it only shows up in the warmer months. It look strange at first, and I worried about him, but now, I just know to expect it. It doesn’t hurt, it just looks …. strange. And its only on their arms and torso. And apparently genetic, because David’s brothers have the same condition as well.

We won’t be packing our luggage this year, but in years past, both David and I have gone away on retreats during April, and the first part of May. Our church supports a college in Missouri, that has an annual Women’s Retreat, and its the last week in April. I went for many years, but haven’t the last few years, for a variety of reasons. When we did go though, I would get home from this retreat Saturday evening, and David would leave for Men’s retreat in Oklahoma on Sunday, and be gone for 3 or 4 days. He really wishes he could go again, but with his job, it proved to be more stressful for him to go - and the whole idea of going was to “get away” and relax and spend time with other Christian men and just get back to nature with God. No cell reception. Keeping 13 drivers rolling down the road requires phone reception. It just wasn’t the same as it was when we worked at the family manufacturing plant, and was able to get away and not worry about what was going on at home, not be responsible for keeping things going. Maybe one of these days, he can get things back to where he can take some days off — like training someone to do what he does (which, we are in the process of doing), but I’m not sure this is the year to do it. It’s a month away …. its worth thinking about, trying to get it into place.

I know that the new “fangled” bathroom vanities that they have now in all the public places like Walmart and shopping malls, the airport, etc, are for sanitary purposes, but is it just me? I feel like a dufus sometimes, waving my hand under the spigot, for the water to start running, and nothing happens. Then I look around to see if anyone was watching me. Its a good idea, but those things just don’t work sometimes like you think they are going to, and sometimes, I just feel like, give me the good old fashioned kind, and I’ll scrub my hands really good.

I’m sure this is TMI, but as I look back over the past few years, regardless of what has gone on with my health and emotional state, I feel fairly certain that I have possible gone through menopause with flying colors. No period, no pms pains, no hot flashes, and yes, I have had some mood swings, but I could see where something else could be causing them, and all in all, the mood swings haven’t been that bad. If this is as bad as it gets (and yes, I realize that I am extremely fortunate), that I didn’t have to take any hormones or supplements or use progesterone creme, I am going to count my blessings, and focus on some of my other health issues, where I haven’t been quite so blessed.

It took having a couple of babies to clear up my acne that I had as a teenager. My mother had acne really really bad. I don’t know if its genetic, but it seemed to be passed down to me (and I’ve passed it down to Ethan). But, after I had my older boys, it seemed to clear up. Possibly my age, or the different hormones with the pregnancy might have been the reason. I didn’t actively follow any kind of acne treatment. But over time, my skin cleared up. Now that I am older (way older), I will have flare ups here and there, but nothing like I did when I was a kid. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone!

When most people get to take the weekend off, David still continues to work. Granted, he’s a workaholic, and it probably wouldn’t matter where he worked, he would still work the weekends … somewhere. But, what he does now — which is dispatching for 10+ trucks, he also has to help with maintenance on them, which means working the weekends when the trucks are home. If its too major, the truck goes to the shop, but simple things like changing tires and such, he does it himself. I know that he would appreciate havingair tools to change out those tires — but he would also like to have a shop to work in. Where they are set up, there is a building there that could be used as one, but its just one of those projects that will get done … “someday”. But, when its 20 degrees outside and the wind is blowing, he sure wishes someday would “someday” would come sooner!

Ever since Ethan was introduced to the weight room at the rec center in middle school (part of PE), he likes to go up and work out on his own. He often looks at the ads forbodybuilding supplements and asks me about them. I don’t know enough about them to say “yay or nay”, but I would say until he is 18 and finished growing, he had just stick to lifting weights and not look at any kind of supplements to help the process along the way. People are often surprised that he never went out for football. He definately could masqurade as linebacker. Whats even more surprising is that his passions lie within drama and singing. He has a wonderful bass voice, and when his barbershop quarter group sings, you can always pick up on that lower bass voice singing. Somehow, bodybuilding and singing just doesn’t seem to go together, but as he leaves home and gets out on his own, who knows?