December 2009

Ok... so this all started the beginning of November. I had such horrible ear pain. I took myself to the nearest Walgreens Clinic. Found that I had a bulging ear infection. Gave me antibiotics and was on my way... three weeks later, I went back since the pain was back. This time it was an infection in the ear canal (swimmers ear)... funny, I don't go swimming, no hot tubs, no baths, and I don't even like standing under the shower - I hate water in my ears.



Anyways... on to today... now in my right ear, I'm having massive pain. I already have a call in to my doctor. I figure I'll go in next week and get a referral to an ENT. I've never had an ear infection until now... what is going on? ARGH!



On to positive things... here is our family Christmas picture...

December 2009

Ok... so right now I am an absolutely HORRIBLE blogger... I can't believe I haven't posted in such a long time... I have been reading everyone else's blog but haven't had much time to respond or to post myself. Things are so hectic - with three kids, teaching, and running a house... leaves no time for anything else.

Anyways... we have been pushing the limits this past week with safety issue. Tuesday morning, I had the HVAC people come by just to do routine maintenance on our heating units. He came and got me about 45 minutes later - said "minor problem, your builder never sealed the gas pipe that goes to your upstairs heating unit so it's been leaking gas for two years." I just about freaked. We have a carbon monoxide detector and it has never registered anything. He said he had the stuff to fix it and would do so for me. About ten minutes later, he comes back downstairs and says, "Ok, problem #2. I can't turn off the gas to fix the problem. Your builder put the shut off valve on the wrong pipe." I guess he could tell by the look on my face that I had no idea what to do next. He tried to calm me down and gave me step by step instructions. So I called the builder. Amazingly, they had a plumber here by 1 o'clock. Guess they realized the severity of the issue... Plumber fixed it (or so we thought). That night when the unit came on, we had a horribly high pitched squealing sound coming from the unit. I called the builder back on Wednesday afternoon and he rescheduled the plumber to come back out and worked around our schedule. He got him here Friday afternoon and fixed that problem... so far so good.

On my way home from school on Friday, I came to a stop at an intersection but heard a very loud grinding sound coming from the back right wheel well... omg... brakes... but the back brakes are fairly new... anyways... Chad took it for me to Brakes Plus. They put it on the rack... ended up that the right back brake pad broke in half. He said sometimes it happens but my brake springs were corroding so that might have added to it. My front brakes (which we knew would have to be replaced this month) were starting to wear into the red warning line so we had the back and front brakes replaced and the back springs and the windshield wipes and they threw in an oil change. Tough for the holiday season when presents need to be purchased but at least I don't have any car payments...

Sick Child...

Well... three weeks into school and I'm taking my first sick day. Jon woke up in the middle of the night with a headache and he was warm everywhere... temp only read 99 but he sure felt warmer than that. You could tell by his demeaner that he just didn't feel well. So I called in for a substitute at school. We drove down and dropped off Matt at school and Chris at daycare and then headed back home. He has been on the couch all day so far. He even fell asleep for a bit. I'm trying to get him to drink and eat something.

He just keeps complaining of a headache. Maybe his body is really trying to fight off this cold... not sure...

Weird Week...

Okay... I am so glad today is almost over. We did not have any A/C in school today - not good for a 100+ day here in Phoenix - plus with 30 sweaty sixth grade bodies in the room, it got quite warm.

Well, the week started off great with my 13th wedding anniversary to my wonderful husband, Chad. Check out his latest post which was a poem he wrote me as a present.

Hope tomorrow is better than today. We have plans to paint our master bedroom and master bath. I'll post pics of the family Chad did while we were on vacation.

Back to school...

Well, we have survived the first couple days of school... boys are now officially kindergarteners. They are so excited each and every day - tomorrow they are choosing to eat the school's lunch - pizza!

I'm making a new school year resolution - post more often - I want to get my readers back... I seemed to have lost most of you.

TT4N... (ta ta for now)

Juls

Vacation Pics...

Vacation pics as promised...

1st one as from my mother's camp... Jim took the boys fishing for the first time... and the twins were successful. Chris, however, has his first story of the fish that got away... lol

This one is of my father and stepmom down at the beach on a very windy day...

My stepdad knows the deputy chief of the fire department in Erie. Therefore, he set up a private tour of the fire station downtown... it was awesome.

My brother has been working the last couple of years on a garden railroad... the boys absolutely love spending time out there...

My best friends, Heather who now lives in New York City, and Beth, who lives north of Philadelhia, both happened to be in Erie the same time I was. We spent one of the mornings together at the zoo and then out to lunch. This is a picture of the three of us with our kids...

Then the best for last... we had a very good time at my brother's wedding.

VACATION OVER...

Well, I arrived back in Phoenix late last night. I don't have any pictures yet since they are loaded on Chad's computer and he's still in Erie. He will be leaving tonight via the train.

It is so good to be home... three weeks is a long time to be away but it was so worth it. We did so many things while in Pennsylvania. And the wedding was just beautiful. My brother didn't look nervous at all. Plus the twins were super great as ring bearers...they did a super job.

Well, now that you know I'm okay and back online, check back for pictures!