Monthly Archives: February 2016

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Leap Day is the best day ever!

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Ever since I was a little kid leap day has always been my favorite day of the year. There are several reasons for this but the biggest one is it’s special because it only happens once every four years. Also it was the year of the Olympics because they use to do the summer and winter Olympics in the same year. I can’t remember when they moved the winter Olympics to the non leap even year but they did!

Seven leap years ago Brian called me and proposed to me over the phone. I was at school (Deaconess College of Nursing) and I think he maybe came to visit me three or four times the entire time I was there. In his defense I came home every weekend because no one stayed there and everyone went home. I said yes and couldn’t wait to go ring shopping. He quickly informed me he wasn’t buying a ring at this time. I finally got him to part with the money for an engagement ring three months later on my birthday. We originally planned to get married on February 29, 1992 as it even fell on a Saturday. However, in August (1988) I moved to Edwardsville to get my bachelors degree in nursing. I moved in with my best friend Gena. I was also working as a nurse at Deaconess and was scheduled Labor Day weekend. I was crazy busy and did not call him for three days. Brian was convinced I had met someone else and the next thing I knew he wanted to move the date up. He will deny this but it was not my idea. I wanted to be finished with my degree before I got married. I was slated to finish school in March of 1990. (Back in those days SIUE was on weird trimesters). We decided we wanted to get married in October. Our first (and blind) date was on October 11 so I wanted to get married on the 13 but Brian refused. He said our anniversary would fall on a Friday from time to time and that would be bad luck. So we settled on October 20, 1990 and the rest is history.

Since I ended up not getting married on leap day, I tried to have my two oldest kids on leap day. I missed it by three months both times. Allyson was not born in a leap year so I was really off with her. I worked with a nurse on Women’s Health whose birthday was leap day but she has since retired. Last leap day I made a cake and brought it in for her. She was really touched an surprised. Who knows maybe I will have a grand baby on leap day! I cannot believe I just said that! I am not old enough for that nonsense.

 

Mole Moral~Leap Day will always be the best day ever!

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Late night with Andy Stanley

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I haven’t been up past eleven o’clock in a long time. Last night I was working on Emily’s laundry and actually made it up past Saturday Night Live. I was in for a bit of surprise when talking points with Andy Stanley came on channel 5. For those of you that have no clue who I am talking about, Andy is the pastor of Northpoint Community Church outside of Atlanta. I visited there once as they are the church that writes Kid Stuf. The place is huge and has like 25,000 members. He was really interesting but then again he always is.

Andy was talking about how if you live your life as if your days are numbered, you will gain a heart of wisdom. Too many people go through life as if they have all the time in the world and often find themselves at the end of life not where they wanted to be. He quoted a nurse who worked hospice who asked her patients what their biggest regret was. Almost every single man’s response was working too much when the kids were little and missing out on their childhood and spending time with their spouse. The second response was not living the life the person wanted but the life others expected them to live. Of course I received validation for something I have said for a long long time. Anytime Brian harasses me about the house being messy and asks why I don’t keep it spotless my response has always been on my deathbed I will not say “I wish I kept the house cleaner.” It will be  “I wish I helped others more, made gifts for others and made time for people.”

I certainly feel i am living the life I wanted except for being married and having kids. I swore when I was younger I was never getting married or having kids. However both of those turned into a huge blessing, I never dreamed possible in my younger years. I always knew I would be a nurse and I wanted to be a burn nurse. I did that for ten years and lived my dream. And now on Women’s Health I have felt it is the place God wants me to be. I have tried to leave a couple times when things were really rough and he told me no. I am glad I stayed because I really do enjoy it 99% of the time. It’s hard to believe in a little over a year I will be fifty. I remember when Brian’s dad turned fifty and I gave him a coffee cup that said “how the hell did I get this old”. Oh that is so fitting and every time I think of it, I smile. Time goes by so fast, too fast and their is no slowing it down. So my goal is to try and follow the two greatest commandments. Love God with all my heart, soul and mind and love my neighbors as myself.

 

Mole moral~ If you stop by my house, it is most likely to be a mess but I will invite you in and we will have a lot of fun. And when I’m gone you will say that girl had the messiest house ever but she sure was a lot of fun!

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Facebook and Gluten Free

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I guess its been close to a month since I decided to remove the Facebook app from my phone. I just felt like I was wasting too much time reading it. I also was tired of all the political mumbo jumbo and everything else. I can indeed pull Facebook up via the safari browser but I have found myself rarely doing that. Before Christmas I had an eczema flare start that will not go away. I had it once before many years ago for a month or so. It started behind my knees both times. This time it has gotten out of control and to the point I wanted to claw my skin off! There have been times my skin felt like it was on fire. So i am either going crazy or just my usual hot mess.

So I decided I would try gluten free even though I do not have celiac disease and have never had digestive type issues. Gluten can trigger eczema. I rarely cook or grocery shop. I have zero interest and I swore I had no time. Well since I have cut Facebook down to a bare minimum I have done both. We have tried all kinds of crazy recipes and I started making my own gluten free bread and crackers. I am just going to say that when one has to make their own crackers, one is less likely to binge and eat them all at once because there is no running to the store for more. My first attempt at the bread was hysterical. It looked beautiful when I took it out of the oven, but two hours later when I was back from running it has fallen to midget size. I had not cooked it near long enough. I haven’t made that mistake since.

The kids are not too keen on it but then again if its not fast food they aren’t keen on anything. I have given up on trying to make food they like. Actually I am to the point as long as I like it everyone else can make what they like. Brian has enjoyed the new recipes and not cooking so much although I do find him often wondering around the kitchen looking for ways to help.

 

Mole moral ~ I have found social medial to be a bigger waste of time than I had realized. However I am not cutting it totally out of my life, as that would be crazy!