I'm a Scrapbooking Fool! *snick*

It's been a day, let me tell ya!

It started out good - me and the girls met my best friends, Tabitha and Tammy and their kids, Austin, Natalie and Reece, for lunch. We hadn't been able to get together for some time, so it was nice to have lunch and catch up with them (thanks, ladies...let's do it again soon!). Of course, my girls' behavior left little to be desired at the restaurant. It only got worse after that!

I decided since I was near it, that I would stop by Mountains of Memories, a scrapbooking store in town. There is so much there to look at, but Maddie and Mackenzie just kept RUNNING through the store, and no matter what I did to try to correct them, it just got worse and worse. Needless to say, I didn't get to stay very long. I did wind up leaving with $28 worth of stuff, though, somehow...heehee!

I'm feeling really *tired* today. My arms are feeling somewhat weak again, and it's been difficult trying to type or do tedious things with my hands. Pretty frustrating, but what can I do? Trying to carry Mackenzie around was difficult, too, which is mainly why she was running around the store to begin with. *sigh*

BUT...in better news...I did finish my SECOND scrapbook page, which is quite a bit better than the first page was. Here it is:


Of course, I still have lots to learn, but it's a start. I thought it turned out pretty cute anyway...

Oh, and since I couldn't upload it on my last entry, here's the picture of Maddie and her new Dora motorized ATV:

Finally, I got a letter in the mail saying that my next appointment with Dr. Fee set up - it's January 24th at 10:00 AM. Please just pray that he will be able to see first hand what's been going on with me so that we can finally come up with a game plan.

That's it from here...I hope that you all have a wonderful, safe New Years Eve! I truly hope that 2006 brings wonderful things to all of you, my dear family and friends!

'Twas the Week After Christmas...

...and all through the house, everything was a such a mess that there was not even room for a mouse!

We had a VERY nice Christmas! Hope yours was just as wonderful.

On Christmas Eve, we had Phil's mother's side of the family over to our house for finger foods and gift opening. On Christmas morning, we opened our presents together as a family. Then my Mom and Dad came over for breakfast, and we opened presents with them. Next we went to my Aunt Jane's house to have lunch with my Mom's side. Finally, we went to Phil's Dad's side for dinner. It was a VERY busy two days, but we had a really good time with everything.

Santa was very good to Maddie and Mackenzie this year! (A little too good if you ask me...)

This was Maddie's loot from Santa (a Disney Princess TV and DVD player and telephone, a Bella Dancerella set, a Cold Nose Puppy, a Bratz Big Baby doll, a Cinderella doll, the Littlest Pet Shop, and some Bratz Fashion Plates):



This was Mackenzie's stuff (a Learning Toolbench, a Boohbah, a Wiggles Accordian, a Little Touch Leap Pad, a Little Mommy baby doll, and some creepy Barbie animal set):


Other things the girls got were clothes, Weeble Treehouse playset, Elefun game, a crocodile piano, dolls, Barbies, Legos, books, etc. But THIS was Maddie's big gift from Grammy and Papa Bill (Phil's mom and step-dad) - OK...can't get the stinking picture to upload!! Grrr...anyway, it's a Dora motorized ATV that Maddie and Mackenzie can ride on. It's pretty cool, but Maddie isn't too sure about it yet.

I also had a really good Christmas! Phil got me a sealbelt handbag (the dark brown clutch that I wanted), some CD's, a carrying case and optical mouse for my new laptop, some clothes, and lots of scrapbooking stuff.

I've been wanting to get into scrapbooking for awhile now, but I just haven't had the time or the know-how to do it. He got me a starter kit, an album, some extra album pages and some other accessories (tape, pens, etc.). I did my first page the night before last and I realized that I'm HORRIBLE at it! (I guess it's not TOO bad for my first try, but I have a lot of work to do!)

I think I'm not very good at it because, #1, I'm not all that creative, and, #2, my hand/eye coordination isn't what it should be. Makes it kind of frustrating when I'm trying to cut little circles out of paper...oh well...maybe I'll get the hang of it soon.

Anyway, it was a fun time for us all. I have continued to feel pretty decent except for Christmas Eve and Day...I guess where I was on my feet and made myself so overtired, I was very stiff for those few days. Getting to rest a lot on Monday helped quite a bit to get me back on my feet again, thankfully. My left eye has been giving me trouble and has been really jumpy for about 2 weeks now. I saw an Optometrist (should have went to see an Opthamologist...oh well), and she said that my eyes looked fine and that the jumpiness could be from just being tired, but I've had plenty of rest for the most part over the last couple of weeks, but it just continues...guess if it keeps on for another week or so, I'll go get it looked at by an Opthamologist. It's incredibly annoying!!!

Well that's it from here. HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL!!!!

It's Almost "The Big Day!"

Oh, I have so much to do!!! Finish wrapping gifts, get the girls' toys out of layaway, go food shopping, clean the house, make the food, etc., etc.

We're having Phil's Mom's side of the family over to our house on Christmas Eve. I'm hoping that I will be fully up to it after I volunteered to host! I've been having MANY very good days in a row for a little over a week now, so I guess everything will turn out well.

Yes, so apparently, this exacerbation is over and done with - YAY! I still have quite a few "glitches in my system," but they are all very managable.

My DUH story for this week is that I woke up yesterday morning, and my eyes were flashing! (Flashing in the eyes can be a symptom of MS.) I became very upset because I thought that something else was happening after I had been feeling so well...I kept opening and closing my eyes and squeezing them tight trying to get it to stop, but the flashing continued. I was just getting ready to turn over and ask Phil if he saw it, too, or if it was just my eyes, and suddenly, I heard the school bus pull away from the street behind our house (the buses have those stinking flashing lights on them...). DUH! In one respect, I was elated to realize that it wasn't my eyes at all causing that, but in a different respect, I felt SO completly idiotic...I just have to laugh, though.

Anyway, things are just busy as ever with Christmas literally peeking into the door. My Mom hosted my Dad's side of the family at her house this past Sunday for a Christmas get-together...that was strange. (We do not talk to that side much anymore due to something that happened many years ago...however, my Dad still loves his family even though they treat him like crap! I was SO happy for his sake and my Grandmother's sake that everyone showed up and got along.) My cousin on that same side of the family came over to our house on Monday night with her two kids - Dustin (3) and Savannah (1) - so that the kids could play together and open their gifts together. That was really nice, and it was great to catch up with Elizabeth after having not seen her for a long time.

So fast forward on to now...just getting things done and looking forward to my kids having a very wonderful Christmas! Hopefully their old Mom can keep up this go-round...

The Comments Section is Fixed

Hey! A few of you have tried to send comments...(I got the ones that were e-mailed to me - THANKS, Rhonda and Melissa)...anyway, it should be fixed now. Somehow the setting got changed...don't know why.

As always, thank you all for checking in on me! I really appreciate everyone's concern and support!!

Love to you all!

I Have a New Neurologist...

...and I love him! I actually saw Dr. Fee along with a student doctor, Dr. Chambers. They are at the University of Kentucky clinic - it's a teaching practice, which is why Dr. Chambers was in there with us.

Dr. Fee started out by going through lots of questions asking me if I had certain symptoms. I appreciated this because I have a difficult time trying to remember everything to tell him. We talked a lot about the things that have been going on with me lately. He performed the clinical exam (pushing on muscles, pricking feet with needles, etc.), and everything seemed OK except for that cruddy numbness in my foot. It would figure that I went into this appointment feeling much better than I have been. My symptoms have seemed to be remitting over the last week or so.

He said that it was OK...that happens, but he told me to come back in 6 weeks to see how I was doing at that point. He also asked me to go ahead and see an Opthamologist to have my eyes checked. I haven't had my eyes checked for a year or two, so he wanted me to have that done (an Opthamologist can look for Optic Neuritis which is somewhat common in MS patients).

He sent me to the lab to have bloodwork done and to do a 2 hour Glucose test for Diabetes. The reasoning for that is that a normal stick test checking blood sugar isn't as reliable as the Glucose Tolerance Test, and he wanted to be able to rule Diabetes out completely.

One thing that was strange is that he said that Dr. Hutchinson had asked him to check me for ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease). I was surprised that he even asked him to do that. Of course, the doctor said that I DEFINITELY do not have that! He said that he could NOT rule out MS, though, but that he could not definitively say that it is MS until we get further testing pointing to it. Right now, it will be a wait and see game to be determined when I go back (if I'm feeling better, worse, etc.).

Overall, I'm very pleased. I'm happy that he took me very seriously, he did not downplay any of my symptoms, and he was a very good listener. He even got a kick out of the STRESS thing...I told him that Dr. Cooper (the former Neuro) had told me that my symptoms were probably caused by stress, and he laughed and told Dr. Chambers, "If there is one thing I want you to learn today, it is this...EVERYONE has stress...boys, girls, men and women. I wish that doctors would quit calling everything stress related because if every symptoms we have is stress related, then we're ALL in big trouble!" I was so glad to hear that! That means that he 's not going to brush me off and say that I'm too stressed (which I'm certainly not).

One thing that happened to me today...I was sitting in the lab waiting to have my blood drawn for the 2 hour Glucose test, and this woman wheeled this little boy in this wheelchair and sat down by me. The little boy was wearing a helmet, and I immediately assumed that he had Spina Bifida or something like that. The little boy was SO friendly and kept saying hello to everyone who passed. I started talking to him and was asking him about what he wanted for Christmas. After talking to him for a bit, the Mom told me that he had been hit by a car while Trick or Treating back in October. I remembered seeing the story many times on the news...at the time, I remembered praying for the little boy and hoping that he would make a full recovery. And here he was sitting next to me! I felt SO blessed to be able to meet this boy, not only because of seeing his story on the news, but also because he was just such a bright, shining light! He was SO happy! He just talked and laughed, and you could tell that this little 6 year old boy who had just a few months ago been running around with his little friends and now sat still in a wheelchair was SO full of life and love and peace. I feel like I received a very special gift from God today...to know that no matter what I go through there are a thousand little Hunter White's out there who go through something far worse and have such a perfect, wonderful outlook on life still.

His Mom told me that he will get to leave Cardinal Hill (the rehabilitation hospital) and be home just in time for Christmas! I truly hope that he will go on to live a very long, happy and wonderful life. Will you please pray for this little boy? He has touched my heart more than I can even express here.

Weird Day!!

Yesterday was one of the strangest days I've had in a long, long time.

First of all, I got to Ms. Madden's house, and there was no electricity. Add to that, all of the stoplights for a two mile stretch were out...the gas stations were roped off and closed...the restaurants were closed. Someone had hit a electrical pole and knocked out the electricity to the whole area. I got to her house at 9:30, and I finally left at 2:00 because it was so freezing cold in her house! It was almost like Armaggedon or something...just a strange occurance.

Before I left, her Carbon Monoxide detector started going crazy...I would assume it was because the battery was running out, but I couldn't be certain. THEN my Mom calls and says that there is heavy smoke in my garage and my fire alarm is going off! Apparently, something got caught in the dryer...that's my only guess, at least. Everything was OK with that after she turned off the dryer and opened the garage door (our dryer vent comes out in the garage).

Just strange...every minute of the whole day!

Maddie and Mackenzie are both sick with colds and have not slept well the last 3-4 days, except for last night. I guess that they were so tired from being awake the last few nights that they slept right through last night. I woke up at 5:00 am, realized that I hadn't heard from either of them, and got up to check to see if they were OK. At least I finally got some much needed rest...we'll see what tonight holds.

Merry Christmas?? Bah-Humbug!

We had a decent weekend. Stayed home and relaxed on Friday night...as much as I love to run around, it sure has been helpful to me to just stay in and rest as much as possible.

Saturday night, we took the girls to Southern Lights - a big Christmas light display that the KY Horse Park puts on every year. The girls really enjoyed it, and so did the grownups...UNTIL...

They had an indoor display after you drove through the lights. There was a craft fair, entertainment (singers), a toy train display, Santa, etc. Well, it was a MESS - there were hundreds if not thousands of people stacked one on top of the other in this place. That event made me realize that this world has become SO incredibly MEAN!

I had Mackenzie in her small umbrella stroller, and I was trying so hard not to run over anyone. Every time I did run into someone, I always tried to apologize, and most people were very gracious about it. Well, there was this one lady who walked right out in front of me, and I ran into the side of her leg. I was getting ready to apologize to her, and she says, "Oh excuse me...no wait...excuse YOU!" OH....MY....GOSH! I have NEVER in my life been so appalled!!! Of course, I didn't say excuse me to her after that. I actually had a few other choice words for her but decided not to use them since my kids were right there. ; )

And THEN...we finally made our way to the elevators to go downstairs. When the doors opened, there were a lot of people blocking the way, so it made it difficult for us to get out of the doors. There was an older woman waiting to get on the elevator, and she looks at us and says, "Well, are you gonna get off or what!" There was no where for us to go!!!! RUDE! Just RUDE people everywhere! I've never been so disheartened in my whole life!! It was like a whole room full of Scrooges. We only stayed about 10 minutes before deciding that it was not any fun...and that was 10 minutes too long.

Sad...very sad...I remember when people used to be happy and excited about Christmas coming. People used to smile at other people, and everyone was nice to everyone. Maybe it was just my naivety as a child?? I like to think not...

Oh well...Maddie is really sick right now. She has a really bad cold that makes her cough and cough. The coughing, in turn, makes her throw up. Poor thing... Mackenzie stayed awake literally all night talking to herself. Not sure what that was about. She would sleep for 1/2 hour, talk to her self for 1/2 hour, sleep for 1/2 hour, talk to herself for 1/2 hour, etc. I'm very serious! It's funny now, but it wasn't at the time. I guess she must be getting ready to hit another milestone.

Yesterday, I felt really, really good! Energetic, good mood...I almost hate to tell about it because I always jinx myself when I do. It was nice to feel good again, though. We'll see what tomorrow holds...

It's Been a "Fun" Few Days

So you should know that I'm being completely sarcastic when I say this. It all started on Tuesday. Over the course of the day, I began having this sharp pain in my lower right side. It did not go away, and of course, I woke up with it on Wednesday as well. Over the course of the day on Wednesday, it continued to get worse and worse. By Wednesday evening, my pain level was at a 9, so I headed for the Emergency Room.

I didn't think that it would end up being anything very serious, but I wanted to be sure that it wasn't Appendicitis or something like that. At the ER, they gave me a shot of Demerol, took blood and did x-rays. My blood work showed a slightly elevated white blood cell level, which the doctor said really wasn't of any concern. My x-rays, however, showed a bowel blockage...wonderful. At first, I was like HOW IN THE WORLD because I hadn't been having any problems in "THAT" respect. But then, I remembered that bowel disfunction is a symptom of MS, so I mentioned to the doctor that I had been undergoing testing for MS. He responded with, "Ohhhh...that makes sense." He said that he, of course, was not diagnosing me, but he said that he sees this kind of thing quite often with MS patients, and he went on to explain how the brain in an MS patient messes this stuff up, basically. Anyway, I was not very pleased when he sent me home with a bottle full of Magnesium Citrine to drink, but I am "pleased" (for lack of a better word) that I will be able to add this to my list of symptoms to present to my new Neurologist next week.

So here's my "stupid" story for the week. Yesterday, I stayed home partially because of my ER visit the previous night, and partially because there was ice/snow that fell. I decided that I'd better get some food into the house, so me and the girls went to the grocery store first thing yesterday morning. We get back home, eat lunch, and it was time for Mackenzie to take a nap. Guess what - no pacifier!

I looked all over the house and in the car before I realized that she had it at Kroger. SO...I packed the girls up in the car, drove them BACK to the store (in the ice storm, mind you), and proceeded to retrace our steps looking for the stinking thing, asking every employee that I saw along the way if they'd seen it. Of course, no pacifier anywhere.

To make a long story short, I'm the worst Mom ever! I let my child lose her pacifier because my brain does not process itself enough to even think that she might not have it and I'd better find it because she won't sleep otherwise. I brought them back home and put Mackenzie down for her nap...she picked up every stuffed animal in her crib looking for it, and every time she would pick one up and Pi-Pi wasn't there, she would pucker up and look at me as if to say, "HOW COULD YOU!!!" I cried. I was sad. More than that, though, I was TIRED after two trips to the grocery store. I'm paying for THAT today.

She's OK...yesterday was kind of rough on her, but today is better. She needed to get rid of that thing anyway. I was just hoping that it wouldn't have to be as TRAUMATIC as it was for her, though. Geez, I feel like a crum...

Just Some Chatter

OK...I don't even know how to start this blog today. I'm tired. I want to go home and crawl onto the couch with some hot tea and a nice blanket to watch Gone With the Wind or something.

But NO! There's too much to do. I have to take Mrs. Madden to the doctor today (in my continue quest to become a Nurse - read this very sarcastically). Nah! I'm being grumpy...I really don't mind helping. I'm just tired. Anyway, I have to take her to the bone doctor to have her foot checked to see if her cast can come off anytime soon. Then I have to take her to pick out her Christmas tree. *sigh* And it's a whopping 25 degrees today!

Phil went to the doctor this morning...he has high blood pressure and is required to start on medicine for it. I think we both need to be taken out back and put out of our misery!

In happier news...it's parents night at Maddie's ballet class tonight! I'm so excited! My Mom and I are going to go...we get to watch them do everything they have learned so far. Should be interesting...I'm taking bets on if Maddie participates or if she stands there with her arms crossed the whole time.

Maddie, recently, has started missing me like crazy during the days when I'm gone. Makes me happy to know that she misses me, but at the same time, it makes me sad that I can't be there with her all of the time. There is a little breakfast song that comes on Nickelodeon in the mornings, and she and I always sing it together before I go to work. Well, yesterday I was already gone when it came on. Mom said that Maddie started to cry and told her that her Mommy needed to be home to sing it with her. Ahhhhh...breaks my soul!

Mackenzie is a handful to beat all handfuls! She's a little monkey, I tell ya! Always climbing, screaming, trying to run, etc. She's fun, but she's LOUD! Recently, whenever she bumps her head on something, she'll come running over to you to kiss her head. And she LOVES her big sister!!! Whatever Maddie does, she wants to do, too. Wherever Maddie goes, she wants to be right with her. It's really sweet!

I'm doing OK...hanging in there. Just looking forward to my appointment with Dr. V next Thursday. I have this feeling, though, that I will end up feeling perfectly fine when I go...it's Newton's law, isn't it? I'm feeling stronger today than I have in the last few days, though.

That's it from here, I guess. Nothing too exciting going on. Of course, tomorrow is another day...

The Saga Continues

I haven't updated this blog in FOUR DAYS! Shame on me!! There's a perfectly "good" reason...I've been down and out - BIG TIME!

I'm not certain if it was the bath I took on Thursday night that may have been a bit too hot or the walk around the mall on Friday (or both), but I have been bad, bad, BAD ever since! Severe arm and leg weakness, dizziness, fatigue, etc., etc. It got so bad that by Saturday night I couldn't even put thoughts together. I would look at something, and it would literally take me 5-10 seconds to register it in my head what I was looking at! Scary stuff, let me tell ya! We stayed in pretty much all weekend, so I took that time to try to rest and get better.

Today, I feel somewhat better, but I am still having a lot of trouble with the weakness. Last night I took a shower, and after the shower, I had sat down on the floor to find something under my sink. Phil had to come and lift me up off of the ground because I couldn't even roll over on my hands and knees to push myself up!

I guess the best way to describe how I've been feeling is - well - you know how you feel after you've been REALLY sick with the flu or something like that for a week or more? You start getting better so you get out of bed for the first time in what seems like forever? You know that "I have to drag myself to the bathroom, yet I'd better sit on the edge of my bed for a minute before getting up so that I don't fall over" feeling you have at that point? THAT's how I have been feeling only multiply it by about 10 times.

I've noticed, too, that my arms and legs "go to sleep" a lot quicker and for no apparent reason lately. You know the expression "pins and needles?" Well, it's more like "daggers and hyperdermics" for me. SOMEBODY PUT ME OUT OF MY MISERY!!!

I just continue to hold out hope that Dr. V is going to be able to help me. He has to! Who else can!?!

I keep trying to remind myself that I cannot do the things that I've been able to do before. I can't walk around the mall for hours at a time anymore. I can't run up and down the stairs 15 times in an hour anymore. I can't take hot baths or showers anymore. Heck, half of the time I can't even THINK anymore.

Something's gotta give.