First Christmas Gathering

Last night was our first Christmas gathering with my parents, brothers, their wives and families. All of my kids were there including my daughters' boyfriends. My parents went overboard, as always. They just love everyone so much and love giving to those they love. We received some amazing presents, Santa shouldn't even bother coming to our house but I know he will anyway.

My favorite present was one large and two small framed beautiful needlework pieces of ART that my mother worked laboriously over when I was a teenager and she had a full-time job and an aging mother living with her, not to mention two other teenage boys and a husband and a home. She started it because it matched my room but I grew up and moved away and she continued with it. Now it is mine and it is beautiful and the pattern is so intricate and I am blown away that she gave it to me.

I recently started collecting needlework. I've done a lot of it myself but I usually do it as a gift. If I go to an estate sale I buy any halfway decent needlework, particularly those that are already framed. I visualize someone sitting and concentrating hard on making it, never knowing the ultimate fate but lovingly stitching away....What were they thinking or feeling? How much time did they put into it? Did they watch their children play as I do, sitting outside or inside, chatting away while counting or keeping track of the pattern? I know some people feel this way about quilts and honestly, I do, too, but there is something even more special about needlework of any kind to me. Mostly it is the idea of time. It takes time and dedication to make a beautiful picture and it takes commitment and persistence. That is the truth of so many things though, isn't it?

Not Me! Monday!

I DID NOT WAIT A WHOLE WEEK TO BLOG! I am not that lazy!

But since I did not do it, here is what I have NOT been up to:

I did NOT go on a trip with my husband so that I could lie around in our 400.00 per night (not out of our pockets, thank goodness) hotel room reading Eclipse and spending time with him when he skipped his classes. I did NOT join the group just long enough to eat the great meals and drink a glass (or two) of wine and then return to the room to take a long, luxurious bath.

During one of the meals with the other eight hundred or so attorneys I did not give one that was sitting at our table the EVIL eye for talking on his cell phone while a famous speaker was talking. I did not give him an evil, disgusted eye since not only was he talking on his cell phone loudly while the speaker was SPEAKING but he was also cramming his face full of food and talking with his mouth full!

AND afterward my husband did NOT ask me why that man kept looking at me. I did NOT tell him that I was giving him evil, wicked, vampire stares because I was reading the Twilight Series of books by Stephenie Meyers constantly and have begun thinking like a vampire!

I did NOT decide yesterday that I was feeling good enough to act normally and clean ... a LOT...Today I am not having muscle cramps from what I did not do.

I did NOT call UAB and ask them to move my appointment so I could go in sooner (they couldn't-they're booked). I did NOT google my symptoms again. I am not that impatient....

I did NOT go postal on my husband yesterday because of PMS and tell him to get OUT of the kitchen. I did NOT then proceed to continue with the vampire theme and threaten his mortal existence if he did not remove himself from the kitchen.

Lastly, I did NOT eat too much girl scout candy! I certainly did NOT eat the candy I bought to give to friends and reason it with the idea that I could make them homemade fudge and cookies and put it in the tins I did NOT eat out of :)

Do we see a common theme here?? :)

Thanks for stopping by!!!!

This past week I did not DECORATE FOR CHRISTMAS ON MY BIRTHDAY! This is way too early, right? Due to my physical issues right now decorating one tree took all day and I needed help. I certainly would NOT be planning to put up and decorate 2 more!

I did not get annoyed with my daughter because she kept calling me upstairs to get her water, another kiss, etc. Surely I have more patience than that!

And I would not go ahead and show my older pregnant daughter the clothes I bought for my granddaughter for Christmas although my granddaughter isn't even here yet and won't be here until March! I would not show Em the present and then plan to wrap it and put it under the tree just because I'm excited!

I did not receive several prank calls yesterday and my husband did NOT tell the guy to report to the police station for making harassing phone calls and he did not give him our friend's name who is a private investigator. This did not happen because we certainly did not want to scare the weirdo but if it had then it would have stopped those calls :)

And lastly I did not talk my dad into going with me to my grandfather's attic to look for my old barbies, barbie house and barbie clothes and then I did not SCREAM about a falling piece of insulation because I thought it was a giant spider when my almost 70 year old father was helping me and almost gave us both a heart attack! I am a reasonable person after all who lives in an old house and is used to strange things in houses. This also did NOT happen right after I told him I would only be afraid of a snake!

thanks for reading and i would love to hear who you are and where you are from!

a picture is priceless

We have lived here over four years and today I finally hung pictures. The walls still aren't really ready but I couldn't help it-I HAD to do it. I have already hung at least thirty of the kids' pictures and am only half finished!!! I realized a few things as I did this.

First, I remember every second of their childhoods. I cannot honestly say that about anything else in my life. I just loved every minute and only one is really still considered "a child" now.

Second, the group shots started with Lindsey and Emily and then one more with each birth until SEVEN beautiful and amazing children but now it is going backwards. I cannot bare it so I usually wait until they are all here. I cannot stand it without all of them in the picture. Of course I do a couple of kids together here, a few there but for group shots, I really want them all in on it!!!

Third, they say time flies. Oh. my. That is the biggest understatement. I am now looking forward to my first grandchild, a granddaughter and I hope my daughter realizes how incredibly fast this time will pass and relishes every single moment. I hope you do, too.

They don't know.

They know my brain is okay (hahahahaha)....and they know I am testing positive for rheumatoid arthritis (and those numbers are going UP, which is not good) but they still think it's neurological or neuro-muscular so I have to wait. I have to wait until TWO DAYS BEFORE CHRISTMAS when the specialist, the big dog of neuro-muscular disorders can see me.

Not me, no way on NOT ME! Monday!

I am so glad I did NOT cut a piece off of John's birthday cake (picture above) because I was dying for chocolate and then try to cover the spot with icing. The icing was a little hard so I did NOT stick the ENTIRE cake in the microwave! Then the icing started melting in one spot so I did NOT hurry and try to spread the frosting around to the missing piece and did not mess it all up. It was the yummiest yet ugliest cake that was NOT destroyed by me so I did NOT decide to let Rachel cover it in sprinkles so I could NOT say it was decorated by her and luckily she was happy to oblige. Then she accidentally dumped the sprinkles on the cake and then I did not try to spread it around. This still did not cover the bad spot so we dumped more sprinkles around and deemed it a "rainbow cake".

I am horrified but glad I did not do that. And here is a picture of the cake that I did NOT destroy out of gluttony.

And the doctor said it might be WHAT???

I had one guess. If that shows how many people visit my blog, this is sad...haha...but that one guess was good...my hip pain is horrible and I'm at a place where I may have to do something!

But fibromyalgia hasn't even been mentioned because of some other problems. Myasthenia Gravis and Multiple Sclerosis have been ruled out....So far my doctor has speculated about "something on my brain" which isn't surprising to me, I knew something wasn't quite right there ;) and Primary Lateral Sclerosis (PLS) (which is in the same family with Lou Gehrig's disease (ALS) and Alzheimer's!!!!) OR a form of another muscle disease. Have you noticed that NOT ONE OF THOSE SOUNDS GOOD???

BUT we are just speculating at this point and waiting for test results to come back. Each night I think that maybe I'll wake up the next morning and this will all be a bad dream and my old yet normal body will have returned. How I miss that body! And I took it for granted! Pathetic. If you are reading this and you have been postponing exercising and eating right for another day or time, please don't. Please realize that you have a healthy body and treat it with respect!

On to cheerier topics. I'm wondering if cheerier is actually a word since spell check didn't do anything. I'll have to look that up after this. I LOVE dictionary.com!

Last night all of my kids and their boyfriends and several of their friends came over. It was my son John's seventeenth birthday. He is over six feet tall!!! We all had the best time. Emily's fiancee made dinner and I loved it! I'm thinking this should be mandatory for anyone who wants to marry into the family. I told Lindsey's boyfriend Sean that he is next. He seemed to take it pretty well.

I'm hoping we'll be doing another "Not Me Monday" so check back later if you are interested in the very unacceptable thing I did just yesterday. I'm actually embarrassed to admit it but I will if we do "not me" Monday.

Have a great Monday and remember that each day is a gift-that's why they call it the "present".

Doctor _______________________, what is the diagnosis?

It's just after six in the morning and my legs are already hurting.

If you are reading this and you have ever considered being a doctor then here is your chance to diagnose someone. I'm taking the weekend off but will check back on Monday morning to see if anyone wants to give it a shot AND I'll tell you what the doctor has speculated about so far but these are only his speculations so YOU have the chance to diagnose me first.

Here are the symptoms:

Pain in left hip for over a year...no real rhyme or reason but best time of day (no pain) is in the morning.

Clonus upon doctor's examination -this is also called hyper reflexia

Pain began in neck approximately three months ago. This grows worse with activity.

Muscle twitches all over, sometimes worse than others. My right leg has the most. This is also called "fasciculations".

A couple of weeks ago my left leg began to feel like a limp cooked noodle with jello for a knee. This grows much worse with any attempt to go to the mall, grocery store or walk around the block :(

Muscle cramps, mostly in legs and sometimes in my arms

The less worrisome "come and go" symptoms are brain fogginess and nausea after I eat but this could be stress related. But then, why would I be stressed just because I cannot walk normally? Hmmmmmmmmm

Oh and send me the bill and the check will be in the mail....oh, should I save that for NOT ME MONDAY??

The future with Obama

You know, I have decided to focus on the positives regarding Barack Obama, our soon to be President.

I was opposed to him mainly because of his abortion stand and concern about a possible reluctance to act in a timely manner in regards to national security. Well, I have a few other minor hesitations but those were my main ones :)

However, there are definitely some great things about him. For one, he is African American. I believe that this is an excellent step for our country!!!

I also think that it is great that we will have a president with young children! He will see, every day, the future in front of him in his children.

I like his wife. I think she is sweet, smart and a loving mother.

Of course I liked Cindy McCain, too.....and Sarah Palin. I hope that we can all focus on the things that we are excited about and move forward.

So my candidate of choice didn't make it, but we do not have a king, we have a president and I am hoping for the very best!!!

I also hope that we can all show our president respect. We may not agree with every decision made but I've heard enough bashing to last a lifetime.

Contention

I have tried hard to avoid the debates in this election. The reason is because usually we debate with people we care about and they (or we) take it personally. I just often wonder if it is truly worth it.

And yet.....I want to stand for what I believe in. That is our right as Americans, isn't it? Freedom of speech.....

When I do share my view I am accused of being intolerant and teaching intolerance to my children. I believe that is a card that is just played when certain things are deemed wrong. I can tolerate practically anyone and their beliefs but that doesn't mean I have to agree.

It would be wonderful if we could simply not become defensive and just respect the other person's viewpoint. But sometimes we simply are defensive which does not allow room for communication and understanding.

Not Me Monday!

Today is NOT ME MONDAY! so I will let you all in on what I did NOT do this week:

I did NOT refresh my browser window repeatedly to see if Stellan was born yet-not me! That could be cyber-stalking!

I did NOT bribe my daughter with fruit snacks if she would do her school work, not me!

I did NOT tell the lady at the doctor's office that she was just jealous and wanted a dress just like mine when she stared at me for walking to the bathroom in one of those flimsy paper gowns.

And I absolutely did NOT fuss at a man for throwing litter in our yard. That might even be dangerous!

Lastly I did not eat some of my daughter's halloween candy although she did tell me I could ;)

The dawn

Updated from below:

The EMG/NCV did NOT hurt. It was just freaky. I have some small information that I will share once some more tests have been done...yes, more...tomorrow.

_______________________________________________________________

The still and dark of the morning time forces me to think. Today is the EMG/NCV (basically a muscle and nerve test). This test is performed with needles and electrical currents and absolutely no anesthesia or pain killers (although I will be taking ibuprofein, tylenol and aleve before leaving the house, haha). Sound fun yet?

But it isn't the test I am concerned about. It's after the test. What is he going to say?

I have become quite gimpy in my left leg....in other words, no more sexy walking these days :) I start out the day just fine and then wham! My knee feels like it's made out of jello and my leg is a cooked noodle. They don't look much better than that either :(

Thankfully, while I do have the muscle twitches (fasisculations) all over and cramps in both legs my right leg is helping to do the walking.

I received two ideas from people last week that I intend to implement: 1. try to remain as positive as possible (that would be my husband) and 2. from my friend Sherry: "we don't have to accept a negative diagnosis". Both things that were said were not taken really well by me at first. As a matter of fact I believe I said something along the lines of "These are MY LEGS giving OUT...not yours!!" but now I am actually thinking that they are right. I have a lot of things to do in this world and I will not accept gimpy legs!

So there we have it. I am going to be positive AND I won't accept anything but hopefulness.

I hope your Monday is wonderful and I plan to come back later and do Not Me Monday! if MckMama is up to it.