Weather or Not?

The weather has been absolutely crazy here lately. 75 one day snowing and high of 40 the next, then a high of 60. UGH!! Today's high is 68, but we are starting off with a balmy 27. Good grief. It no wonder we are all getting sick. Tomorrow's high is supposed to be 75 and then Thursday it should be 62. See what I mean. Temperature's are all over the place. Anna woke up with a hacking cough again yesterday and I attributed it to allergies, but with the weather all over the place, now I have a sore throat and chest. BLAH!! Can we get some consistent weather already? Good grief. Can't wait till we hold steady in the 70s for a week. Then, maybe then we can all get some much needed relief. LOL!! I know, we have no control over the weather. Just venting. I better go for now. Have a good day in our crazy weather all.

Medical Bills

If you come here to read my funny stories of family, you may not want to read this post. This is something very hard for me to write and it is my life right now.

The medical bills are coming. I have this lovely appointment with a specialist on the 11th of May and I am not sure how in the world to pay for it. We have had to live and that required buying food and such. We have dug into that money so much that we are almost out. By the time we pay my car repair bills, I won't have near the amount they told me to have for just the initial visit. (No, my car is not done yet...maybe by tomorrow, who knows.) Anyhow, with this mounting scare, I am at a complete loss. We are some of those working lower middle class Americans that just do not qualify for any help. If we wait and put me on my husband's insurance, it will be another year or so before I can get in to the specialist. We can't wait that long. I would never make it. We would also lose a lot of money in the process that we count on for income. We may not have a choice though. I may have to be added on over the summer open enrollment. Right now I need to figure out where to get the rest of the money, or most of it for this initial visit in 6 and a half weeks. I can only figure up a way to get about half of what they said to have. Half. Yes, that is still alot of money, but half is not going to work. I need to have all of it, so they can get me diagnosed (or re-diagnosed) and get this show on the road. I live with daily pain and it takes a toll on anyone who has to live with it on a daily basis. I have listed things for sale that I never dreamed I would sell, just to try and raise some of this money. I am not sure what else to do. I guess this is more a vent of frustration that we may not be able to keep my much needed doctor's appointment. I don't know what it is, but surely there is something that someone can do. I need this appointment.

I guess all I can ask is that if you are a praying person, please pray that God steps in and intervenes. I don't see how it will happen any other way. We need a substantial amount of money to make this appointment work. That's all. Sorry to be so down, but this is hard for me. Thanks for any and all prayers. God bless.

UPDATE: Please continue to pray. I am better now and not so discouraged, but please continue to pray that God provides the needed means to make this doctor's appointment happen. Thank you all.

House Cleaning

Well, my days on my beloved medicine are numbered. My primary care doctor allowed me two weeks of Prednisone to get a little bit of control out of my pain and swelling from the "probable rheumatoid arthritis." No probable about it, but he just isn't too willing to do much until after my very expensive rheumatologist appointment in May. Can't get in any sooner and now we are trying to make sure we have enough money for the appointment. (Having no insurance sucks!) (I was diagnosed Juvenile as a teenager and it never really was bad, so it is definitely more than likely Rheumatoid Arthritis.)

Anyhow, like I said my days are numbered. I have taken full advantage of the not being in pain 24 hours a day by cleaning house. I vacuumed, cleaned my bathroom top to bottom, dishes are done, laundry is mostly done, and today I have plans to sweep and mop the kitchen. This is basic household things that usually take me forever to get done, but when I am on the Prednisone, I feel almost normal. Yes, I can feel like I'm not turning 82. ;-) My house looks good, but I am dreading coming off the medicine that helps me get so much done. Only 7 more weeks to go and I will be in to the specialist and we can get this show on the road. Maybe he will let me have my wonder drug. LOL!! My primary care doctor did allow me two weeks worth, so I guess two weeks of freedom is better than nothing, but oh how I wish I could be on it until after I see the specialist. My primary care doctor said he didn't want me on it full time due to the side effects, but it works. I go back to him the first week of April and then the second week of May is my appointment with the specialist. I can do it. I can do it.

Anyhow, so if you actually want to see my place clean and see me with some energy, now's the time. You have a few more days left and I will melt to pieces after that. LOL! That's a good description of it. I feel about that way with the pain and swelling I usually encounter every day.

OK, I will get off my soap box. Just liking having energy and a clean house. I can't wait till this appointment thing is over. 7 more weeks, 7 more weeks. And then just maybe I will get some more permanent type of relief.

Spring Break

WARNING: LONG and LOTS of PICTURES!!!!

Ok, now I finally have time to sit down and record the details of our fun trip. We left on Sunday, the 15th for Dallas via plane. It was to be Anna's first plane ride, so I of course kept the camera handy. She was a little nervous, but did fine. Here is a picture of her waiting for the plane: (watching the Smurfs in a little kiddie area...Thank you Lubbock!)

And now another picture of her waiting to take off:

She was a little nervous and as we were leaving the ground she went "WOE, WOOOOE!" LOL! The other passengers around us were tickled by it. It was kind of cute and it wasn't too loud, just loud enough for a few rows of passengers to hear.

She asked me why her ears had to pop a few times, and we read a book of hers to distract and other than that, she watched out the window. It was a good flight and the landing was perfect into Dallas. She also went "WOE, WOOOE" on the landing and again tickled the passengers. It was a very good first flight for her and the flight attendant on the way out gave her a package of wings. YES, an entire package. (They are mostly still roaming the house somewhere too.)

Monday we went to the zoo. Anna's first trip to the Zoo. She had a great time and boy was she excited about it when we got there. She was flying off the zoo walls. LOL! It was VERY hot and humid on Monday, so I am glad we only went for half a day. She got to see everything she wanted except the lions. The lion exhibit was being repaired, so no lions. Exciting none-the-less and she loved it. She also couldn't believe how big the elephants really were. Now here's a few zoo pictures:

Tuesday was a little bit of shopping day and kill time. I got Anna some cute clothes for a dollar a piece at "Once Upon a Child." The one down from my sister is really good. We also got a bunch of books for school, which really weighed down my suitcase coming home. That was about it for the day as my sister had a root canal done Tuesday afternoon. OUCH!!

Wednesday we went shopping to Grapevine Mills mall. I absolutely love to shop at that mall. Their "Children's Place" is one of my favorite stores to shop for Anna. She has a bunch of their clothes, but they all look so good and wear so well. The best part is mostly they are cheap, usually under $3 an item!! You can't beat that for brand new clothes. I did splurge and buy Anna two super cute outfits at $7 a piece, but she looks so cute in them. I couldn't resist and my child needed the clothes. She wore one of them to church Sunday and got lots of compliments, so it was WELL worth it to me. Oh yeah, between the books and shopping, we filled our large suitcase to bring home with new stuff. :-) Glad I borrowed a second one for this trip. The girls also went on the carousel and Anna of course picked a black horse. My sister put Graciela on for her first ride, so here are a few pictures from that as well.

Anna loved the carousel and I am pretty sure Graciela did too.

Thursday we were to head home. Here's is where the real adventure began!! LOL!! Since we had an early flight out, we went ahead and went to the airport early enough to get checked through security and have some breakfast, which in turn would leave us about an hour to kill before our scheduled departure time. Airport arrival was about 7am. Not too bad. I was impressed. We got our luggage checked and got our tickets and proceeded through the mess called security screening and went to McDonald's for breakfast. Not too bad so far and all is well. After breakfast, we sit and play on the DS and I do crosswords. Nothing is ever said of our flight being delayed until after 9:30am. Our flight was supposed to leave at 9:25am, so I knew it was going to be late, but how late. At 9:30, we find out that there is zero visibility in Houston and our flight is going to Houston before coming to Dallas, so we will be delayed about 45 minutes. Okay, not so bad, so we just sit and color and I continue crosswords. About 15 minutes later they decided to go ahead and cancel the flight we should have been on. YES, CANCEL!!! AACK!! This isn't in the plans, but they plan to get us all on other planes, via standby throughout the day, so we are told to sit and wait. OK, sitting and waiting is easy when your old enough to not care, but my poor 7 years old was afraid we were never going home and that we had missed the plane and that was the end of it. Despite how many times I told her no. About 11am, they sent us all over to another gate to wait and see if we couldn't get on that plane via standby. When I got to that gate, they said that we would have to wait until 1pm at the earliest to even find out if we would make it. OK, so far from 7am to 11am is 4 hours in one airport for a very active 7 year old. UGH!! Starting to be a long wait, so we went to Chili's for lunch. I let Anna have french fries and tell her that if the wait is going to be more than an hour after lunch, that we will go by the Barbie she saw in the gift shop. A Southwest Authentic Barbie. UGH!! Lunch didn't take but about 45 minutes, so off we go to buy the very expensive Barbie, that has shoes that don't go on and her own rolling suitcase. Here's a picture:

About 45 minutes later I ask the lady at the counter if there are really any chances of us getting on the plane that about 75 other people are also waiting on and she says no, but that the next plane that was supposed to leave at 1:55pm, we could definitely get on it, but it too was delayed. She gave us new tickets for the 1:55pm plane and we make out way off the floor to the new gate. YES, we have been to three different gates now. At the new gate, there are a couple of pilots there by about 2pm, so I get the brilliant idea to ask if they would take a picture with Anna. Why not, we are still in a wait and see pattern. So, here is the said picture:

Steve (bald guy) and Danny, our actual pilots for our flight home from Dallas to Lubbock. They were both very nice and Steve told Anna that if she waited around when we got to Lubbock, that he would let her sit in the cockpit!! YES!! Of Course we will stick around!! You don't get that opportunity very often and we aren't flying again anytime soon. The flight home was uneventful. Anna did well and didn't "freak out" as she calls it. She was ready to be home and out of all airports, so it was a relatively easy flight. We left Dallas around 3:00pm ish (after being there since 7am-YES, almost 8 hours spent in an airport-it would have taken less time to drive home) and arrived home around 4:15pm. We did indeed get a picture from the cockpit once we returned to Lubbock!! It was great!

Anna had one more surprise when we returned home and that was a new pet bird. Here is a picture of that bird, who she named Tim.

Jeremy has all the details of the bird on his blog, so i will let you all read that if you want to. I guess that's it. You all are finally clued in to the details of my trip. Sorry so long and all, but I wanted to make sure it got posted. I hope you enjoyed and have a great week. We are back to school today, so it is time to get moving and ready. Take care and God bless.

Been Back...

Since Thursday. LOL!! I have had a few people comment that I have yet to post details of my trip, and I promise its coming. Right now, I have been busy doing other things. I worked and the laundry and lesson plans and basic housekeeping was a enough to keep me busy. Anna's new bird as well. What?! You didn't know Anna got a new bird? You can keep up with that issue over at my husband's blog. Now, I am trying to syke myself up for a new week and going back to school in the morning. The lesson plans are done and we have modified the school week to 4 days with just a little work on Fridays. I will let you know how it goes. I guess that's all for now. Stay tuned for trip info coming soon. Take care and love ya all!!

Leaving Tomorrow

Ok, so this is a late post and I probably will not post until after our trip, sometime next weekend, but we are leaving tomorrow. Yes, I know it is REALLY late, but I went out with my mom tonight. I just got started on packing my stuff for tomorrow at 11:oopm. I have to switch the laundry over one more time and then I can work on going to bed. Sometime before 1:00am sounds good. Anyhow, hope you all have a good week and I will be back with lots of pictures of our trip. (It may take several posts over several days.) Better get back to packing. Take care and God bless.

3 Days

3 Days and still counting down. :-) On the upside, I may have some much needed clothes for Anna courtesy of a fellow freecycler. I go over there at 1pm today and I will update you all when we get back. I am praying that this is what God has in mind for her for the next little bit as she has really out-grown a lot of her clothes. We have gotten some nice things from Freecycle before, they helped us get through last summer and the summer before, so here's to hoping and praying. :-)

Update: They were almost all WAY too big. I'm taking them to the church clothing closet on Sunday. I kept maybe 5 things out of two bags of clothes and even those she has to grow into. It was nice of the offer though.

Another Winter Blast

Well, put away the capris, shorts and flip flops and drag back out the pants, long sleeves, winter jackets and warm socks. We are having another blast of winter. BLAH!!! It went from being in the 70s and 80s to being just 31 this morning. How'd that happen? I was loving our nice warm weather. I like not having to drag out jackets everywhere. I like being able to wear my capris. I like not having to worry what's on my 7 year olds feet. BLAH! More winter. Yuck! I hope this is short lived. I am ready for spring and summer!!

4 Days

As you can see, I can't wait. Four more days till our trip! YEAH!!!

6 Days

Yes, the countdown is still on. 6 days left till we are flying to the big D. I am excited and ready to go. I NEED a break. Too bad I wasn't off the whole week. I'm working Thursday night after I fly home and extra on Friday. UGH! It will be a long day, but so worth it. Plans are Kick back and relax Monday, we may hit a store or two, like Half Price Books, because I am shopping for school books for 2nd grade already and Once Upon a Child, just to look. Sometimes they have really good deals. Other than that, we will be at my sister's house chilling, as far as I know. Tuesday sounds like it will be the zoo day. Anna still does not know. I can't believe that, especially since she is very keen and observant about most things. LOL! Wednesday is our fun girls shopping day at Grapevine Mills Mall. I love that mall. It is fun to shop there. I am hoping to get some good deals on clothes for Anna and hopefully find me a fully covering one piece swimsuit. Sounds like fun, huh?!

Now for the hard part. We still have one week of school until Spring Break. Will I make it through? How will we get done? My focus is off. We need this break. LOL. I am sure that we will figure it out. UGH!! Anyhow, I guess that's all for now. 6 more days and we are on a break!! Yeah!! The countdown continues.

Keep One/Toss One

OK, I know its a weird title, but its what I did to two recipes yesterday. Yesterday I was feeling adventurous, so I sought out two types of recipes. One was for sugar cookies. I have been craving home made sugar cookies for some reason, so I searched online for a recipe and one for cinnamon sticks or rolls. I found an awesome sugar cookie recipe. The batter was even good. Yes, I still eat raw batter after all these years and I'm still alive and kicking. The cinnamon sticks recipe was awful!! They turned hard as a rock within two seconds of taking them out of the oven. They were so gross. Never using that one again and I will still have to keep looking. For anyone that's interested, here is the sugar cookie recipe:

2 3/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. In a small bowl stir together flour, baking soda and baking powder and set to the side.
3. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until smooth. (I melted the butter to make it super easy.) Beat in the egg and vanilla.
4. Gradually mix in the flour mixture.
5. Roll rounded teaspoonfuls into balls and place on ungreased cookie sheets. (I guessed. LOL)
6. Bake for 8-10 minutes in the oven or until golden in color.
7. Let stand on cookie sheet two minutes before removing to cool on wire racks. (I don't have wire racks, so I put out clean towels. It worked.)
8. Enjoy yummy home made cookies.

They were really good. Glad I found that recipe. Now I will still have to find one for cinnamon rolls or sticks that's better than the last one. It was more biscuit type and definitely not appetizing.

On the Mend/13 Days

Well, Anna is recovering well. There has been no fever since some time Saturday afternoon. I have disinfected everything I can think of and even changed out bed sheets. When the cough is gone, I will buy a new toothbrush for her. Glad she is feeling better though. She was a little upset when I said no church yesterday, but she had just not been fever free for 24 hours yet and I didn't want to take the chance of getting others sick. We all actually lounged in pj's all day. I cleaned, but I was still in my pj's all day. That NEVER EVER happens for me. How odd was that? It was nice, but at the same time I woke this morning and the first thing I thought of was please get in the shower. :-)

13 days till we go visit my sister and my daughter gets on her first plane ride. She is excited and scared all at the same time. I told her all would be fine. We will take Dramamine and I fly good with that. I can't wait as we will also be taking her to the zoo for the first time while we are there. (SHHH! Don't tell her, she still doesn't know.) It is going to be a good trip.

OK, better get Anna out of the tub. Take care all and have a good week. God bless.