Christmas.... yes, it's been 6 months

So, I haven't posted in 6 months. Crazy isn't it. Sorry about that.

Life has been whizzing along even without my blogging.

I just haven't been in the blogging mood for awhile now. Haven't felt so good. Come to find out, there is a good reason for all of it.

First, I was diagnosed with Diabetes (Type 2) a few weeks back. Now I know why I've been so extremely tired and lots of other symptoms. My blood sugar has been pretty high for quite awhile it seems >240+. For those with the big D, my A1C was 9.7. For those who don't know what that means, normal is 6 or below. A1C is kind of a running 3 month indicator.

Several of my symptoms I've had for at least 2 years, but thought they were other things even seeing doctors for their treatment, like my recurring eye issues. The supposed best corneal specialist in the city is my eye doctor and he's looked at my eyes for the past couple of years and never once mentioned my issue could be diabetes related. Well... now that my BS are in the normal ranges, my eye issues have all but gone away. So... who knew? We (he and I) thought it was related to an injury to my eye 10 years ago. Good news... since he's been looking at my eyes so frequently, I probably haven't developed retinopathy, which is a permanent diabetes eye complication. That's good.

I found out I have diabetes through trying to find a solution to other symptoms that acted and looked like hormonal problems - thyroid, etc. My hair was falling out, hot flashes and other temperature issues, etc. I decided to go see a doctor to help figure out my hormonal issues especially given I was also about to have the Big H (hysterectomy) which was last Friday, 12/10. While doing all the lab work for the hormonal discussion, found my BS to be 240. And.. that was a fasting BS. Not good. Normal is 120 or below.

The blood work did show my hormones are all out of whack as well, but the first thing to get under control is my BS. In fact, my Gyn would not do the Big H surgery without my BS being under control so she sent me to a internist immediately to be seen (2 weeks before surgery date). Was put on a daily injection med called Victoza. It's not insulin, but rather stimulates the pancreas beta cells to make more insulin as I need it. The shot doesn't hurt... just still have to get over the psychology of giving myself a shot every day.

The other thing I did immediately (even before seeing the internist) was remove all sugar and all the simple carbs (think white... starches, bread, potatoes, corn, rice... boo hoo) out of my diet and began eating a very low carb diet. Trying to learn a new way of eating at the moment and how to live this way forever.

Victoza is also supposed to help you lose weight as it slows down digestion of food through your system so you feel full all the time. It certainly does that for me. I lost 10 pounds in a week and half between it and the low carb diet.

The combo of the two was dropping my BS like a rock. I felt a little lightheaded here and there during this period as it was changing quite a bit so quickly. But.. Dr. was quite impressed that I had my fasting BS down to 100 within a week of starting the meds combined w/low carb. Yea.. I'm an overachiever and had a goal in mind. I needed to have the Big H on 12/10 and just didn't have time to mess around.

So... had the Big H on 12/10 and it went very well. Enlarged uterus, lots of fibroids and excessive bleeding = hysterectomy. Was at Woman's Hospital for a few days where the care was pretty good but the food is absolutely AWFUL. Did I saw AWFUL? I meant ATROCIOUS! Ridiculously BAD. I don't know how they get away with serving food so bad.

Came home after 3 days and am now just healing up at home for the next several weeks. My bed is so much more comfortable then the hospital!! Mom came and stayed for a few days this past week and that was great having someone around to help me. I can move around some, but get tired really easily and of course, am very, very sore. Lots of recorded TV to keep me company right now.

It's Christmas!! I did a lot of preplanning at least to have most all of our presents bought before surgery so just had the wrapping to do. Between my doing some of it in spurts and Rachel helping as well, most all of the presents are wrapped now. YAY!

The kids are going to spend the week with their Dad for Christmas and we'll see them on Christmas Day for dinner! This is the very first year since they were born I won't be spending Christmas Eve and Christmas morning with my children. It's going to be strange and I'm sure.. a little emotional. I'm just not going to think about it too much today.

Mom, Dad are coming in for Christmas and Laila, Justin, Ariane and Stephen are coming on Christmas Eve for dinner. I'll be excited to see everyone!! Love the holidays!

More to come! Need a nap!

MA

Crested Butte & Taylor Park Pics

Well, we are nearing the end of our time in this beautiful part of the country. It's been so nice and cool and I've enjoyed every single stinkin minute of it! I really wish we didn't have to come back to hot and humid Texas right now... really. Wish I was one of the fortunate ones that could just come and stay here all summer long. Oh well... life is what it is! Luckily, while we will start making our way back to Texas tomorrow, I still have another week of vacation so all is well!!

Here are some pictures of the last couple of days. Thursday we went into Crested Butte and wandered around. Pretty little town.

Yesterday, we went back to the area Travis took us too and had a great time! I caught and released 5 brookies and Dad caught more than that and kept 5. John didn't have quite as much luck as we did yesterday but we think he is at a disadvantage as the fish can see him coming a lot easier! :-) We had a lovely picnic lunch along the river and it was nice and cool. Gotta love it!

Here are the composites of the pictures I took yesterday! Enjoy!

We are going to have a big ole fish fry tonight!! YAY!

Later!

Fishing... Fishing and more fishing....

We've been fishing! That's what we've been doing.

Our first day was at Spring Creek and while it was beautiful there, we were not successful in catching any fish. However, we did have a lovely trout dinner from some of the fish the boys caught earlier at Quarter Circle Circle Ranch. Yummy stuff!!

Pictures from Spring Creek:

Yesterday, we had our fishing day with Travis. He's the owner of High Mountain Drifter Guide Service. My parents and Perry have been using his guide service for the last couple of years and he's a really nice, cute and good guide!

We wanted to do a walk/fish trip vs a float trip because we wanted to keep some of the fish for eating. Floating around here on either the Taylor or Gunnison Rivers is fun, but is catch & release only so no keeping and eating! So.. Travis took us WAY WAY far up in Taylor Park and probably more north out of Taylor Park really. We think we finally stopped at about 10,500 elevation where there were some absolutely beautiful creeks and beaver ponds and the fishing was excellent.

We all caught a ton of fish. Many were really small and we put them back, but we ended up keeping 19 of them, mostly brookies and one cutthroat. I caught the largest of all!

There was a lot of walking, climbing, maneuvering around holes and creeks, walking through dense areas of willow and who knows what else. I kept having to remind myself there are no poisonous snakes this high up in Colorado because you really couldn't see a lot of what you were walking on or through. Just kept praying there would be no bear just pop up his head while I'm out there. :-)

We are a bit on the tired side today from yesterday's adventure, so we are going to wander our way into Crested Butte to do a little shopping. Later!

Here are some pics from yesterday:

Day 1 - Harmel's here we come!

This was our (well, my!) first full day in Colorado and let me say, it was quite nice. I can't recall if I mentioned what we did last night (Sunday), but we went to Garlic Mike's for dinner which was really good! Italian (if you couldn't guess) and sitting right on the Gunnison River. Was nice!

This morning, we lazily got up, had some breakfast at the great Holiday Inn Express breakfast bar and packed up. Even gave some lessons on Facebook to my dad AND helped him to set up an account. He's a cool facebooking 72 year now! LOL

Once packed, we hit Gene Taylor's Fly shop to get my fishing license, then the grocery store for provisions, and then made our way to Harmels. We got here about 1 pm and our cabin was ready! This is quite a nice place - not luxurious - but nice. Our cabin is facing the Taylor river, you can hear the river sitting on the porch. It was a bit on the hot side again today at about 87 degrees or so. That's pretty hot up here and remember, there is no AC, so we sat outside in the shade under the porch. By about 4:30, we got our fishing gear on and took the few steps to the Taylor River in front of us. Dad hung out with me to give me some lessons and I had one strike. Nothing else, but I did get some good practicing and I sure did look good! So did John.

Dinner tonight was care of the very popular Harmel's BBQ - steak/crab night cookout. Lots of other folks in a nice clearing with a accordion musician and polka music. Was a fun time! John ate TONS of crab. His portion, mine and Dad's since we only had steak. Picture below of the damage!

After dinner... Dad wanted to learn more about Facebook, so we had a few more lessons and even a funny conversation with my sister, Stacey!

Pictures - most are on my Flickr website HERE and a few below!

Ok - we're getting ready to hit the creeks again today.. fish beware!!

"Stinky Boys" Trip - a few pics

This is apparently the "mountain" they climbed down to get to the creek where they fished one day!


THIS, my friends, is why I don't go on the Stinky Boys Trip!


These are the fish the Great Fishermen caught!


Our cabin at Harmels


This is right in front of our cabin practically!


Great pic of my Dad!


Yea.. that's my man!


Look at me!!


The fishing couple!


Captured these faces last night! Crazy boys.


John's Pile O Crab last night!!


Dancing last night!

Check out the rest of the pics in Flickr! Click HERE!!

Travel Day to Gunnison!

After a long day of washing clothes, packing, packing and packing, paying bills and doing Band stuff, I went to bed around midnight. Alarm went off at 4 am!! Yea... that's early and 4 hours is really not enough sleep. Up and ready.. off to the airport by 4:30 ish for my 6:15 am flight out of the Big Airport (IAH). Little Embraer plane (really not a fan of small planes) and 2 hours later, I'm in Denver where I'm writing this at the moment.

Waiting for my next flight on an even smaller airplane over to Gunnison. Oh - how I love little planes. Praying for a calm flight with little turbulence.

Just for the record, the temps here in Denver are pretty much the same as in Houston.... forecasted to be 98 - 100 degrees today. Yuck!! Gunnison - luckily, is not quite so hot at about 86 today and getting a bit cooler the rest of the week, with Almont (where we'll be) another 4/5 degrees cooler then that. Thank goodness... hate it when I'm trying to escape heat and just transfer myself from one hot place to another!! Our cabin in Almont doesn't have A/C (I didn't realize this btw) which is not a problem during most of the day and evening when the lows are in the 40's with highs around 80. We'll probably be outside most of the days, so probably not an issue.

Excited to see my husband and dad in just a bit and catch up with the survivalists and see if they managed to catch any fish.

Later!

VACATION 2010!!!

Finally... vacation has begun! Colorado here we come. Will keep the blog updated with pictures and info along the way.

John and Dad left earlier this week to go to Quarter Circle Circle Ranch for some ultra rustic man time fishing and cooking over coals.

I am joining them early Sunday via airplane for more fun at Harmel's Ranch Resort in Almont, CO.

The kids are not able to join us this time. We're going to miss them on this trip.

Packing... packing.. packing... :-)

More to come!

MA

Wisdom Teeth & Growth Hormone

Hi all -

Well the little chipmunk has survived the wisdom teeth surgery as did her parents. Although - barely! Just kidding. She did great. Round the clock ice and pain pills for about 48 hours but she's feeling better and more like a human again as of yesterday - 2 days out. Still resembles a chipmunk somewhat though and can't eat anything that isn't mushy yet, but she's getting there. Lots of salt water rinsing, etc going on. All is well and we're on our to passing this mini milestone of life now for her.

Stephen hit a milestone of his own on Tuesday night in the midst of the wisdom teeth recovery. He received his first injection of growth hormone! YAY!! He did VERY well and remarked "That's it?" after the first injection. Whew!! It's a tiny little needle like insulin needles and is given in the fat and not in the muscles. We have to rotate the injection each day to one of 8 different spots on his body. Some he can reach and will eventually be able to do himself, the others are probably more difficult for him to do and will need one of us to help with.

Just a refresher but we've been moving down this path for the last couple of years as his growth has slowed and slowed and slowed, becoming almost non existent. Just for the record, he is 13 years old, 4 foot 8 inches and 79 pounds currently. He's been about that same height/weight for the last maybe 3 years, growing no more than about 3.3 cm/year at this point. Blood work was done and his IGF-1 factor is 120 and a boy in puberty should be around 600. Other tests were involved like bone age scans and growth hormone stimulation testing, all of which shows he's very delayed. The reason... probably a combination of the side effects from the medication he takes plus just a general low production of growth hormone which could be genetic.

We are now trying to get the insurance company to pay for the treatment which, at his current dosage, will cost somewhere in the $50,000 range per year. Likely, that number will be more like $75K or $100K as the dosages are increased for him. Yes... it's a ridiculously expensive medication. If insurance ultimately denies all the appeals, we will have to make some pretty significant life changes to ensure he gets the treatment he needs as this is something effecting his entire life at this point AND we have a short window while he is still in puberty.

Prayers would be especially helpful for all of us... Stephen... the rest of us..... and prayers for the insurance company to do the right thing.

Everyone have a great day! We're off yet to another doctor this morning - Dr. O'Neill - for Rachel's shoulders. One of them is still giving her some problems.

MA

June 14 - Time to Get Back at It!

I had the pleasure of spending another June weekend with some great ladies at a Scrapbooking Retreat. Marybeth, Laurie, Dallas, Beth, Jana, Bridget. All wonderful ladies. We had a great time being creative, eating well, drinking wine and laughing a lot.

Again this year, I felt like I took my entire scrapbook room of stuff with me and I actually didn't take it all this time! Unfortunately, after I carried all that stuff from the car to the house, I did not have any creative motivation hit me this weekend. My brain has been working overtime on various stresses in my life and just kept distracting my brain during this weekend. It's tiring! I'm trying to work through a variety of stressful situations in my life - mostly work related and family medical related. Just couldn't settle my brain enough to organize pictures and make great (or even half way decent) scrapbook pages. So.. I accomplished one page. :-) YEP! ONE page! Good, huh.

Ok, well before you (or I!) go thinking I'm just a total failure, I switched over to my digital project I've been working on for, oh, awhile now. I'm putting together a book of 2009 pictures and journaling from our lives last year. We did a lot... I took a lot of pictures... and I wrote a lot on my blog capturing it. Imagine that! I accomplished EXACTLY what I had set out to do when I started this blog in September 2008. I had jotted down so many things that I have simply forgotten now that it's just truly amazing. I am so glad I did because it was SO FUN going back and reading them. And that's just from the past year!! LOL

Then.... it brought up the fact that I haven't been good at blogging this year at all. Not at all. There have been many distractions, that's for sure. However, there were many last year too. I think I just lost the focus on why I was doing this for awhile. I can tell you, my little weekend away and working on my 2009 project, brought it back to WHY I did this and helped to refocus me to do it more often. 2010 - will be probably a bit lite, but hey, it's better to start now then not capture anything in 2010.

Brings me to today's information - little miss Rachel is having all her wisdom teeth taken out today - in about an hour. Scares me to death. Why? Psychoanalyzing myself.... (not wise, probably) It's because I have a deep down core fear of dentistry. I can handle all sorts of other pains, aches, surgeries, births. But tell me someone has to do something to my teeth and I am scared to death. My fears.. not hers. Don't think she's worried about this in the least. I'm trying really hard not to project my fears on to her so hopefully, it stays that way. (And she doesn't read my blog until afterwards!). I'm sure everything will turn out just fine as well.

I'll update later today probably with how things went and if I'm lucky, a picture or two!

Whew... I've been gone awhile....

Perhaps soon I'll change my blog from Easter to summer... LOL!! Yea... it's been crazy.

Anyway.. what have I been doing? Lots and lots and lots. Maybe I'll be able to blog about it all soon.

First thing's first.... I've been spending a fair amount of time learning to use my Lightroom really well. Just came up with this collage of my little nieces/nephew. I think it looks pretty nice!

In other news.... we had a first around here today. Luckily, no one was hurt! A little shook up though! Rachel was involved in her first car accident today. She and a friend were on their way to Galveston (in my jeep.. unfortunately) and while they were traveling down 61st street towards the Seawall, some dude comes barreling out of a gas station without yielding and sideswipes the right front panel of the Jeep! Luckily she saw him and put her breaks on or who knows where they would have hit the car. Everyone is fine...... The stupid dude sped off at 70 mph so he couldn't be held accountable for his actions! Given his car was already pretty beat up, I would imagine he doesn't have insurance either. Fun stuff. Get to fix my jeep now!

Back again soon... hopefully.

Mother's Day 2010

Happy Mother's Day to all Mom's out there.... my Mom, my sister Stacey and all the other Mom's I know.

I hope everyone had a lovely day!!

I had a great day here in Houston with my family!! Slept late which is always a luxury!

John cooked a nice brunch for me today - eggs, sausage and biscuits. It was yummy with my coffee!!

I spent the rest of the day playing on my computer with pictures I took yesterday of Rachel and Kayla. I'll be posting them soon and I happen to like several of them!

All the kids made sent their Mother's Day wishes!! Ariane texted, Laila called and sent a neat card with our pictures on it from the Dallas Cowboy game last Thanksgiving, Rachel made a pretty card, got some yummy chocolate covered strawberries and flowers, and Stephen made a neat card too.

I feel so loved!!

John then made a special dinner meal for us. What did I request?? The same fantastic meal we had last weekend when we visited San Antonio for Perry's wedding shower - Lamb, potatoes, and brussel sprouts and also a pineapple upside down cake. He added a tomato/mushroom salad and homemade rosemary and garlic biscuits. Boy... was it all absolutely wonderful! I've never been a brussel sprouts lover but I tell ya, John cooks them so well that I absolutely love them. It must be the bacon!! :-) The lamb was just cooked perfectly... and the pineapple upside cake was truly probably one of the best I've ever had!!

I'm stuffed!!! and very loved!!

Here are a few pictures of course!!

Wonderful Cards!!

Beautiful Pictures

Fantastic Lamb cooked by my fantastic husband!

Love mashed potatoes!!!

Tomato & mushroom in vinaigrette dressing

Rosemary & garlic biscuits

Beautiful & Fantastic Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Happy 13th Birthday Stephen!

THIS young man is now 13 years old today!!! YES... I said 13!! Teenager.

Where has the time gone! You can't possibly be 13 years old!! Stephen - I remember very clearly the night you were born at 10:29 pm after a long, long day. Your entry into the world came with fanfare and excitement and every day since has been filled with it as well. You are a wonderfully bright, very creative, happy, loving, kind and caring young man! I love you so very much and am so very, very proud of all that you have accomplished and continue to accomplish each and every day!!


Another picture of the Birthday Boy!!



Hope your birthday is wonderful love!!

Love,
Mom

Commuting

Can I just say YUCK! Double Yuck!!
I'm typing this on my blackberry as I sit in this awful Houston commute into downtown this morning! 52 minutes is the expectation this am which is just the freeway part. Add 20-30 for getting to the freeway and then getting off and parking and I should be in my office sometime around lunch time today!!!!

Yes - I know I should not be using my blackberry while I'm driving but seriously - we're sitting perfectly still. Then we inch up a few feet and halt again. If I end u in a wreck, those of you who are just dying to say "I Told You So" have my permission to say it all day long!! I know.. I know ... Not a great model for the kids. DON'T DO THIS KIDS!! They are smarter about it then me apparently, but then, they are happily in school while I'm siting in the commute from H. E. double hockey sticks!!

I think best when driving in each morning - what else are you going to do?? I listen to my favorite radio station - KSBJ 89.3 - and think about stuff. Problem - I forget what I thought about once I hit the office. Can't call too many people this early in the am. All that is left I'd thinking!

Oh goodie - a second wreck on the freeway - now 56 min.

BillBoard Reading -

+ Texas Lottery game is at 191 Million. Drawing is tonight - can't win if you don't play! Go get a ticket or two or three. Please share with your enabler if you win!! What would you do with $191 Millions? (Hint - better hide it quick before the government decides to take 98% of it).

+Tattoo Expo - Houston May 21-23 Reliant Center. www.Bodyartexpo.com. Seriously?? I probably wouldn't be able to stop laughing from thinking about what these tattoos will look on "aged" skin?? Hey honey, that butterfly on your chest isn't going to be in the same place in a few years or even resemble its original form!! People forget these things!! Hmmm. Maybe I should skip my sister's wedding to go see this carnival show! Ha! JK!

KSBJ is talking about proper marital arguing!! Hmmmm ..... Maybe I should listen. :-) t

Later!
MA

April 14, 2010

Oh man... it's that time again!! Tax time. I hate it. Hate having to give soooo much of the money I work so hard to earn to the government!! I never am one to get any back so I'm usually writing a large check on April 15th. Double darn it!!

I need to update my blog design as Easter has come and gone. Perhaps I'll have a moment to work on that this weekend.

A few notes from the recent happenings around here:

***Living and Dying by Baseball.... that's going to be my memories of these years with Stephen. Playing on two teams is really one too many!! Note to self... don't do that again next year!! Quite literally this week there is a baseball game every single night and in some cases, a practice on Team B after a baseball game for Team A! NUTSO!! Yep.. that's us. Needless to say, keeping up with the homework or cooked meals or anything normal is somewhat scattered at the moment. I'm trying to remember to just enjoy this though because it really won't last that long in the whole scheme of life. I've come to really like sunflower seeds at baseball games though! Seems to be my staple.

***Sick Doggy.... we have a sick puppy. Sugar, our 6 year old Golden, isn't feeling too well. Not really sure what it is at the moment. Thinking good thoughts that it is something treatable but the vet hasn't figured it out quite yet.

*** Stephen's growth - we're still on the trail of making sure we're getting Stephen any necessary treatments to help his growth. He's currently 4' 8 and 79 pounds and just about to turn 13!

Last week we went for a second opinion at UT Medical here in Houston with a pediatric endocrinologist. I have to say, I think it's really interesting (and a little scary) that two doctors can look at the same information and have two totally different ideas of problems and treatments. UT took the same information that Tx Children's had and pretty much said they feel the data indicated he should probably have been on growth hormone treatment a year ago. Texas Children's said he wasn't a candidate. Geez..... very frustrating indeed.

UT took more blood last week and ran some more tests. Everything was normal (thyroid, liver, etc.) except for his IGF-1 (Insulin-like Growth Factor) hormone level which is a mirror hormone for growth hormone (HGH). If it's low, odds are strong the HGH levels are going to be low causing deficient growth. Well, Stephen's was 106 a year ago and is 120 now. It should be somewhere north of 267 all the way up to 359 I'm told. Clearly... he's deficient. What should have happened 18 months ago when the test was first run at Tx Childrens and what will now happen in early May is a Growth Hormone Stimulation Test will be performed on Stephen. This is a 4 hour IV based test where they inject some drugs to try to stimulate and measure his production of HGH over a period of time. If that test shows he's deficient, which we fully expect it probably will, the doctor will recommend he start a growth hormone therapy. This is a daily injectable therapy and will help him grow!! YAY!!! So.. our prayers are that the next test goes well and clearly shows that he either definitely needs the treatment or that he definitely does not need the treatment. We need it to be pretty cut and dry in order to hopefully have it covered by insurance if he does need it. We do not want a borderline situation. It's a really expensive therapy costing between $40,000 - 70,000 a year, so odds of us being able to do it without insurance is pretty slim.

That's it for today! sleep time...

End of March 2010

I am just having a difficult time believing it's the end of March already! Amazing how time just goes faster and faster right now.

Right now we are spending A LOT of time at baseball fields!! Stephen normally plays on the Little League team in the Spring which he is doing again this year. He also made the middle school team so he's playing on both teams right now. Practice every day after school until 5:30 unless there is a middle school game and then there are a couple of little league games each week, so we are spending 3 - 4 afternoons or evenings a week at one baseball field or another. We have probably about 3 or 4 weeks to go with this kind of pace and then it'll drop to just little league games through about half of May, and more if they make the playoffs. He loves to play and I'm happy he's building these memories, but my goodness..... tough on the parents.

I'm hoping to get my tomatoes planted this weekend. We have to do a little clearing out of the garden area first. We found that some animal had dug a little house into one the beds. Not sure what it might have been though. Would a raccoon do this? We have a neighborhood raccoon that visits our back yard along with several others on a consistent basis. We've come across it a few times and it's a little bit of a shock each time. Wonder if he's living in that garden.

Well.. I'm off to bed now but just wanted to drop in a mid week update!

MA

I love Fridays!!

Why... o why... do I love thee Fridays? Let me count the ways......

1) Is it because I know it'll mean longer sleep tomorrow morning?

(Um.. well, maybe depending on either a child/dog waking me up too early, but hey, the CHANCE is there and even if I'm not sleeping, I don't have to be anywhere else either so I can lounge in my pjs)

2) Is it because I know work may not be so crazy today?

(yep.. it's just a chance)

3) Is it because the traffic is usually somehow lighter on Fridays as if it knows to give the commuters a break as well? (one can pray right? if I say it before I leave the house, maybe God will have it all straightened out for me when I get to the freeway :-))

4) Is it because it's beautiful here today and the itch to be outside is calling my name?

(time for Jeep driving and gardening)

5) Is it because John and I (mostly John) will be getting the garden ready for planting this weekend and I look forward to the hope of wonderful vegetables?

(can't wait for the tomatoes to grow... grow quick little plants!)

6) Is it because I'll be able to spend quality time with my husband and teenagers this weekend?

(yea, if I can catch up with them)

7) Is it because I need to catch up on a million shows I've DVR'd??

(I'm not sure when I'll ever watch them... truly, I have whole seasons of certain shows I've not even began watching yet!! Don't want to spend time inside when the weather is so beautiful outside!)

8) Is it because I'm looking forward to sipping my coffee and reading a book while sitting on the back porch in this beautiful spring weather this weekend?

(yes, now this will be nice... have to take advantage of these rare days as they come! too soon it will be too hot and humid to be comfortable here even in the mornings)

9) Is it because I may be able to sneak some scrapbooking or photography into the weekend?

(yes, really hoping I can have a little bit of time for the fun stuff this weekend!)

10) Is it because there could be a margarita and mexican food on a Friday night?

(Yep... think that's it!)

Here's to your Friday and whatever makes it special!!

MA

Yea... it's been awhile.....

I'm back.....updated blog look and all.... life got real crazy all the way around for a couple of months. I was so tired at the end of each day that I couldn't even think about blogging!! Just going to sleep and doing it all over again the next day. It has slowed down a little bit lately so I've been able to catch my breath and catch up on a few other things like my blogging.

Let's see... what has happened over the last couple of months!

• The calendar says I turned a year older in February. My family did a great job of making me feel special on Feb 5th !!
• Visited Dallas for our National Sales Conference in February
• Visited Winter Park, Colorado for a company event - found out tubing on a big snow hill is really fun and not as destructive or painful as skiing. :-)
• Working tons and tons... trying to make that sales goal
• Tried to keep up with my band volunteer duties... did not do so well there either, but got it done
• Visited S. Llano River State Park camping for Spring Break - it was beautiful and peaceful (oh.. and just a tad bit cold)
• Attending Baseball practices & games - lots and lots
• Bought a really cool single cup coffee maker - really cool. Love a good cup of coffee!
• Starting to think about colleges for Rachel.... ok... now that's just really scary... don't want to think about it quite yet as I tend to be on the brink of crying each time I think about it already .... two years ahead
• Nursing our 6 year old Golden Retriever recovering from a reaction to some type of bite
• Grieving for a friend who lost their only child in a tragic accident
• Grieving for a work colleague and praying for his family as he lost his battle with an unknown cancer
• Praying for other friends who are battling cancer and other illnesses
• I know God is good even though I often don't understand the outcomes
• Praying for our country right now and praying there will be a wholesale change coming in November that will send clear messages to our representatives that choose to not listen to the people they represent

I'll be posting some pictures soon of some of these things. I've taken them... they just haven't made it off the camera!!

Time for bed...... and to do it all over again tomorrow!! Baseball for the 4th night in a row tomorrow night!!

It's good to be back.

MA

Visit to San Francisco - Meeting Meirambek!!

My friends, Terri & Jim, just brought home their adopted son, Jonah Meirambek, from Kazakhstan a couple of weeks ago. They've been working for the past 5 or 6 months to get him home. Lots of trials and tribulations, ups and downs over this period of time - a truly emotional roller coaster - along with much bureaucracy wrapped all around it. They prevailed and welcomed home their son!!

Family Picture!!

Of course, I had to come meet this new addition to the family and take some pictures for them!! They didn't know I was planning to take pictures until I showed up but I brought the camera just in case we had time/inclination to do so. Here are a few more of our favorites! There are many more really wonderful pictures - they are so happy!!

The weekend was really just about visiting with him and them! Baby time.... We didn't really do a whole lot else which was just fine and fun! Weather started becoming kind of wet/cool on Saturday evening and as we speak, I'm sitting at the airport with a 3 hour delay to get out because of weather - rain/wind. So..... I had a fabulous time!!

The one place we did manage to go on Saturday was to their local farmer's market which was incredible - see my pictures below - and to get a manicure/pedicure!! I was just amazed at all the wonderful produce at the farmer's market. Wish we had something like this in Houston - I'd be there!!

It was so wonderful meeting you Meirambek!! You are so happy and a joy to be around! Your smiles just light up the room and you are learning to clap and work those fingers to pick up all sorts of things around you. Crawling is quite close.... but you certainly know how to scoot very quickly to what you want!! It was so fun spending the weekend with you!

Terri & Jim - you all are wonderful parents!! This child is well loved and so lucky to have parents like the two of you. There is much to learn as you settle into your new roles and many wonderful experiences to come as he grows. Parents love to give advice and there are many, many pieces of information that could be imparted, but the most important one is to nurture your own relationship as a couple during this time as well. Don't let that go by the wayside as you take on your parenting role. It's very easy to let that slide. Make time for "date night" and reconnecting with each other often. Even set it as a firm date of the week. Get a standing babysitter and go somewhere - dinner, coffee, wine - for time alone together. Happy families and happy children are built on happy marriages!

Thank you so much for allowing me to visit and have fun with you all. I hope to be able to come out again soon! Love to you all!!

Mary-Austin

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! It's 2010!!

Happy New Year to everyone!!

We had a very low key New Year's Eve around the Cox house. John cooked the most incredible dinner for us last night. Rack of Lamb, mashed potatoes, roasted brussel sprouts and roasted butternut squash (I love it). The lamb was absolutely amazing!! I think it may now be my all-time favorite meal and usually, I'm not a huge lamb lover. But.. OMG!! It was incredible. We ate the leftovers for lunch today - was perfect. We rang in the new year out on the back porch under the blue moon with a good fire going in the firepit, drinking champagne and listening to all the fireworks going off around us!! Enjoyed it!

Can you believe it's actually 2010!! I can't. It feels like yesterday when the world was wrapped up in the turn of the century into the Millennium. We all thought the world would end and quickly found out at 12:01 am, 1/1/2000, that the world kept on going, nothing blew up, the lights didn't go out forever and the ATM's didn't start spitting out money! Much to our dismay!

Well... 10 years later.... and my how things have changed in my life.

The Past Decade has brought:

Divorce & happily, a New Love & Marriage (John)

Ten more years of growth for both Rachel (16) and Stephen (12)

Happy, healthy & smart children progressing well through school

Greater love for the simple things in life

Greater love for scrapbooking and memory keeping

Great wine and food!

Wonderful trips and tons of great memories

Two Employers since 2000 - Hanover & Wells Fargo

Great work colleagues

Three vehicles - Sequoia, Honda CRV and Jeep Wrangler

Purchased a house all on my own!

Just a small snippet of life over the past 10 years. So much more... not enough time to write it all!!

Ok - so let's continue.

Christmas 2009 was a wonderful time. I will post several pictures over the next few days, but they are all loaded in my Flickr photostream which you can access from the right sidebar.

We spent our Christmas in Boerne, TX with my parents, sisters, nieces & nephew. It was a lot of fun and a lot of food!! One thing we all know how to do well is cook and eat. And man... we did that quite well this year!! I think we just lived life by the meal. :-) Yummy!! Mom cooked amazing things this year including for Christmas dinner, a beef tenderloin with horseradish sauce that was killer!! Double yum! In addition to the tenderloin, we had cookies on top of cookies, dips and chips, kringle, breakfast casserole, brisket cooked by John, potatoes, pinto beans, lima beans and green beans (I kid you not!), ham, Christmas salad, cheese wafers, oreo cheesecake, pecan pie, apple pie, Cakebreak Cabernets and Vueve Cliquot champagne. Whew!!

I leave you with a picture of our family on Christmas morning!! More to come!

Have a happy day celebrating New Years!!

MA