just some thoughts

Totally wish I could be writing about things more exciting but this week has been pretty rough! 


My husband’s grandmother in the hospital underwent her surgery to have the pacemaker put in.  The surgery went well, but that night her heart rate dropped extremely low.  She had to be admitted into the CCU, and the ran a wire through her neck to her heart to regulate the rate.  Once stable over night, she had a corrective surgery the next day and is doing great now! It was definitely a big scare though!
My husbands other grandparents are getting adjusted to the changes they have faced. They are not exactly happy about the arrangement, but it’s for the best I suppose.


Work and school have been quite stressful as well.  There are a lot of changes happening at work.  Haven’t decided if they are for better or for worse, so I am just hanging on for the ride and throwing my input in where necessary.  And as for school, well.. legal citations are going to be he death of me! As soon as I think I get it, BAM! Back to square one!  Ha. So if I start posting pics of my missing hair, well, I pulled it all out frustrated! Just saying! Haha.


So I didn't get post all the cool things I wanted to this week… maybe next week will be better.  However, I would like to wrap this week up on a happy note, so here’s some silly pics from the doughnut shop I took last night...

keep in mind going out for doughnuts is NOT a normal thing for us! lol  Nate has been a very good boy lately and asked for a green doughnut (totally random!) 

Hoping for happier days ahead!

I am feeling pretty sad today.  We keep getting bad news from family.  This summer was supposed to be filled with joy and excitement from graduations, marriages, and births; however, sadness keeps creeping around.

My husband and I are very close to his family.  He has a very large family, but they are very close knit.  His grandfather on his dad’s side was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease over a year ago and had progressively gone down hill.  It has gotten to the point were he must have around the clock care.  My husband’s grandmother has tried her hardest to continue to care for while continuing to run their small business (keep in mind they are in their 70’s).  Well, a couple of weeks ago she fell while trying to help him get up and broke her leg.  Needless to say she is no longer able to care for him.  The family has been working in shifts to care for both of them and keep the business up and running.  Obviously this puts a lot of strain on everyone including the grandparents.  They have always been very independent, so this is a huge adjustment for them as well.  

Everyone (including the grandparents) decided it would be best if the grandfather went to a local home where he can get the care he needs.  Unfortunately, his grandmother can not go with him, so now they will be separated for the first time in over 50 years!  This is very heartbreaking to everyone.  Today was his first day at the new place. 

I just wish this was the end of saddening news for this family… Monday we received word that my husbands other grandmother (on his mom’s side) had a mini stroke and was admitted into the hospital.  She had a pretty major stroke many years ago that still affects her health today so even a mini stroke is detrimental to her.  She is scheduled this morning to have a pace maker put in.  The doctors feel this is the best option for her to keep her heart beat regular.  

This woman is one of the strongest people I know.  She has been through so much in her life but has remained steadfast in her faith and faced adversity head on!

I’m really not a fan of writing about the sad things in life but felt like I needed to get it all out.  Any prayers would be appreciated. 

Hoping for happier days ahead! 

My Weekend…

Well Friday I came closed to break my record of being awake for 36 hours straight.  I was up for 34 hours!  Ugh! Slept like a rock that when I finally went to sleep.
We went out of town to see my brother in law graduate college.  He received his Associates Degree and is now Physical Therapy Assistant.  I am so proud of him.  He has overcome a lot of obstacles to get where he is.  I will say though, it is a little discouraging for me that he has graduated with his Associate’s and going straight to work making a whole lot more money than me, and I have a Bachelor’s Degree.  Definitely did not go into the field I am in to make money! LOL!  


Saturday was ZOO day! I am such a big kid when it comes to zoos and aquariums! I literally woke up skipping around the room singing, “We’re going to the zoo today!”  Which resulted in me being whacked by a pillow by the sleeping husband! HaHa!
The zoo totally rocked! It was super hot, but everyone had a blast! Nate’s favorite parts were feeding the Lorikeets and Flamingos, snakes, lion, and giraffes. 
After the zoo the whole family went out to eat at on of my favorite bbq places.  Then we drove home late Saturday night.

 
















 Sunday:  For the most part we were lazy! Nate and I hit up the pool for a lil bit and had a blast.  Swimming wears that little kid faster than anything else. As soon as I got him changed out of his bathing suite he was asleep OUT!

This week in school is going to be a challenging.  My entire college career up until now all of my papers have been written in MLA format, now that I am in grad school they want all of our papers written in APA plus we will be doing legal citations. So it is definitely an adjustment for me.  And legal citations are like a math equations… And I am not good in math! Lol  Wish me Luck! =) 

Hoping to get some pretty interesting stuff posted this week... stay tuned!

Birthday Party Ideas

Well it's been a busy week and haven't had much time to write between work, school, and catching up on sleep! I am going out of town today for my brother in law's college graduation! Big Conrats to him! We are staying the night and taking Nate to the zoo Saturday! Should be a fun weekend and will have an awesome weekend recap Monday! =)

But for today I want to talk about Nate's birthday party.  He will be 3 in June and want to have an awesome party for him.  He had a huge 1 year birthday bash, but last for the 2nd birthday we did a little pool party but it RAINED! The fam grilled burgers under umbrellas (see below).  So this year it should totally rock!

I have narrowed it down to having it at the local botanical gardens. Now for the theme... for boys they offer "Frogs and Bug", "Pirates", and "Dinosaurs"  Naturally, when I asked him which one he wants he replies, "Dinosaurs, Pirates, and Frogs, I want all of them!" really?! LOL  So we will be talking about more this week and see if we can narrow it down.  

Concerns:  

• rain (its indoor/ outdoor)
• that not many people will come ... but we will still have a super time! 
• and well I guess that's about it 

Excitements:

• my lil man will 3!! AAAHHHH! 
• the CAKE! my mom is going to rock the cake, just saying! love her! 
• venue - the gardens are beautiful and have an awesome children's garden

                     

                1st BIRTHDAY!

2nd BIRTHDAY!

cake! 

                                           Grilling in the Rain! 

Yum! 

Talk to ya'll after the weekend! =) 

A Lil Bit Overwhelmed

Well I started graduate school today pursuing a Master’s Degree in Justice Administration.  I never intended to go past getting a Bachelor’s Degree in college but after graduating I just asked myself “why not?” I really enjoy going to school.  I really do not see myself as the nerdy brainy type with my nose always in a book.  In fact, I am quite opposite, but I do enjoy challenging myself and learning new things especially in the area of criminal justice.

Now for the OVERWHELMED part!  For some reason I have been super nervous about starting back to school which is totally weird for me! School has always been my comfort zone.  And it’s not like I have been out of school forever; I graduated with my undergraduate degree in August.  I think it’s just thought of GRADUATE SCHOOL! Kinda intimidating to me! Alas here I am! 

The entire program in online and up until now I have been telling myself once I log on and start I will see there is nothing to worry about, then… everyone is doing there intro on the discussion board and realize I am way out of my element. My fellow classmates are well established in their careers in criminal justice, and I am only 4 years into being a dispatcher.  I have advanced in my job as a supervisor but am worried I will not be able to offer much insight as everyone else.  On the up side though, I will be able to learn a lot from my classmates! =)

On another bright note, throughout my college career I have always been intimidating about posting on the discussion board (what will people think, will I sound like an idiot) ya know, the normal self conscious stuff… well, thanks to my BFF Amanda for talking me into this blog the discussion board is not so intimidating anymore! LOL

One last thought about life and school and I will be done blabbing on … tonight when I was trying to type my intro for class, my wonderful, full of energy toddler son Nate decided it was time for us to start a marching band! There is no way I could say no to that cute lil kid holding a spoon and bowl drum.  So off we go with homemade instruments in hand marching around the house singing none other than RING OF FIRE by Johnny Cash (see previous blog! Lol)  Needless to say from now on homework be done during nap time! 

here is a parting pic for the day...

Nate dancing in the car waiting for preschool to start this morning!

My Weekend Recap

Welcome back to my blog!

I had a pretty exciting weekend.  First, ya’ll ( from the South so yes, “ya’ll” is a word!) should know that I work 3^rd shift and off on the weekends.  So I really don’t sleep much.  A lot of my family and friends stay on me about not getting enough sleep; however I really enjoy being able to enjoy the day to do whatever!

Friday:

I was awake for over 30 hours! Its was a very long day, but it was so nice to spend the day with my lil man! We went to his great grandmothers.  We went for a ride up in the mountain in the RTV! Nate had a blast! We looked for squirrels, deer, and snakes.  After the ride we helped grandma with some gardening in her green house.  Her tomato plants she raised in the green house are ready to go in the ground! I can not wait for some fried green tomatoes (Southern delicacy!) After spending most the day at grandma’s we headed home and just relaxed the rest of the day. 

Here's some pics from the mountain...

Me, Nate, Grandma 

Four leaf clover for mommy... we found 4 total! extra good luck, right? 

Being silly with Grandma's Gardening Glasses

Saturday:

Saturday was quite a productive day.  I was off work Friday night so I was able to get some sleep that night.  However I was up super early; I went to the grocery store then came home and cooked breakfast for my boys (hubby and Nate) before they woke up.  Once they finally rolled their sleepy booties out of bed we all ate and got ready for Panoply (local arts festival)!  This was Nate’s first time going. He was super excited.  It was so busy there, so he didn’t get to do a lot of the activities. He was ok with that! He mostly liked looking at the fish and ducks in the pond.  After the arts festival we went home for a quick nap then we were out the door again.  Dinner with the boys and a surprise trip to Toys R Us!

Few pics from PANOPLY!

Sunday:

We slept in this morning! Nate and I went to a 3 year birthday party this afternoon.  The party was a lot of fun for mommy too cause there were a lot of my old friends from high school there.  Its sometimes hard to grasp that we have all grown and up and have kids of our own! I didn’t get many pics from the party =(   But my husband got an awesome video of Nate singing “Ring of Fire” by Johnny Cash! So stinkin’ cute!!!! See video below!

singing away 

 On another note, today is my first day back to school! First class up for grad school is Criminal Justice Writing! Wish me luck!

Well that’s a wrap! 

One Year Ago….

Today I would like to reflect on this day 1 year ago….

This is the severe weather predictor for April 27, 2011

I live in the pink high risk area!

 April 27, 2011 will always be remembered where I live.  There was 6 confirmed tornadoes that touched down in my county including a deadly EF5!  Entire communities were destroyed and eight fatalities in my area.

I remember my husband and I sitting at home watching the weather on our off day from work.  The local weather channel was tracking a tornado moving into the area (luckily we were not in the direct line).  The tornado destroyed their radar that was tracking the storm, and they lost coverage.  Because my husband and I both work for local law enforcement agencies, we knew that we would be needed at work ASAP! Without second thought we were headed out in the storm going to help. 

The storm knocked out all of North Alabama’s power from our main utility source.  The power was out for nearly a week in our area.  Many people did not even know the extent of the damage until they were able to get power and see the coverage on t.v.  

The neighborhood was basically wiped out!

 This house was one of many destroyed in another neighborhood.

Now I would like to reflect on how these storms affected me.  Working in law enforcement I was thrown into middle of the hardest hit area.  We were put on 12 hour shifts (normally 8 hour shift) with no off days for 2 weeks.   Looking back on it I wonder how I ever got through those weeks, but at the time I didn’t even think about how hard it was.  I was proud to be doing my part; definitely gave me a sense of pride to be part of the department I work for.  During those weeks we were working out of a command post at the center of the damage.  

 This was the view I had while at work in the mobile command unit. 

Seeing the damage that only took seconds to create is absolutely breathe taking.  I went through so many emotions; it was really hard to accept the fact it really happened.  Growing up I have always heard about the destruction a tornado can create but seeing in first hand where I live was definitely an eye opener.  But at the same time it was so amazing to see the community come together and help each other get through this.  Volunteers came in from so many places to assist in the cleanup and rebuilding.  Truly an amazing experience to be a part of! 

April 27, 2012 - 1 year later…

The effects of the tornadoes are still seen here.  Some houses have been rebuilt and some have not.  The empty lots were houses and stores once stood show the scars that will forever be felt in North Alabama.