D.U.H. Photo Shoot

Check out my Flickr account to see some of the photos from today’s shoot.  D.U.H. is a group from SCTC, and it stands for Defying Ugly Habits.  It’s a group of four teenage girls who tour elementary schools with the purpose of teaching young kids to make the right decisions.

Being the official photographer for SCTC is helping me gain more experience.  Sara is urging me to turn this into something monetarily rewarding, and I’m starting to think maybe I should.  I have enough photos to put together a website, a brochure, and flyers.  The only real issue is fitting it in somewhere!  Could I possibly wear one more hat in addition to a full-time job (with its fairly steady overtime), serving on the board of directors and as photographer for SCTC, serving on a worship team at church, and being a wife, mother, and home manager?  I would most definitely have to utilize my Outlook Calendar to its fullest potential and schedule my time wisely!  I do use it now, but I usually don’t have to rely on it heavily to get me through my weeks.

First Day Blues & Brotherly Love

Technically, it was the second day of school but with a block schedule, it was another first for high school.  Ali took a wrong turn before her last class, and it took a bit longer to get to class.  They now have attendance stations before the hallways, and if they see that there is limited time left, they will stop students and require them to get a tardy slip before continuing to class.  Well, Ali got caught up in that sweep, which took far more time than had she just gone on to class.  So the attendance had already been taken, and she was marked absent.

Now the school calls the parents during the period the child is marked absent to see if it is an excused absence.  I got a call and freaked out a little.  I expressed my concern that this is not something Ali would do and that I knew if she were lost, she would be in tears somewhere.  They said they would track her down and call me back.  She was in class, of course.  Thank God!

The teacher of that class called me after school as well and said she had spoken with Ali at the end of class to let her know everything is okay, and there would be no consequences for new students this first week of school.  She told me at that point, Ali burst into tears.  I was misting up as the teacher told me this, too.  So when she walked in the door, I grabbed her, and we both hugged and cried.

The most poignant moment, though, was when Jason walked up and saw us standing there hugging and crying, and he rubbed her back briefly to comfort her, too!  My kids really do love one another!!!  This is one of those moments I will never forget!

Pain Easing

The nauseating pain has subsided, but there is still some residual neck and shoulder pain lingering along with some dizziness.  Ibuprofen and BioFreeze have been my very close friends lately.  Today is also my last day on the prednisone, so hopefully if these have been side effects, they will be gone when I wake up tomorrow!

Nauseating Pain

Have you ever felt pain so bad that you felt like you might throw up?  When will this all work it’s way out of my system?

It was exactly a week ago Saturday that I woke up hurting all over.  The next day, either side of the base of my skull felt bruised to the touch.  Slowly, all week, that has been working it’s way down my neck, and is now settled across my shoulders and shooting pain down my right arm.  It aches deep inside.  This is so frustrating!  Tonight, I have another headache.  I wonder if this is the kind of pain people with fibromyalgia deal with all the time.  It’s downright depressing because I want to do everything I would normally do, but I can’t.  I’m taking 600 mg of ibuprofen at a time just so I can function.

My hair dryer fried this morning.   In the middle of drying my hair, it shorted out and died.

I did manage to get out today and get Miranda new shoes for school.  One can only live in flip-flops for so long, and those summer days are rapidly approaching their end here in Colorado.  Of course, I couldn’t resist the cutest pair of flats for myself – a steal at $2.99 at Payless!  I am so glad leggings and longer, flowy tops are coming back.  Finally, I can be comfortable again.

Greg has to work nights this week and will be crashing in Jason’s room in the basement during the day.  I’m facing some overtime this week.  Some glitch happened that prevented a few hundred email from uploading the week before last, and we have some catching up to do.  Being on vacation last week was actually a blessing.  I wouldn’t have been able to work overtime anyway.  It sucks that I had to spend my vacation recuperating from that allergic reaction, but at least I was able to rest.

My weekends for the next few weeks are busy as usual.  Next weekend I have a photo shoot for one of the SCTC groups.  That will be on location in an urban setting.  The following weekend I want to take the girls somewhere to take their portraits to match the boys’.  The next weekend is my scheduled Saturday to work.  The weekend after that I’m singing with a new worship team!

Yep!  I decided it was time to get back into the music ministry.  I won’t be singing with my old team, though.  To do that, I would need to also sing on another team.  I can’t do two teams.  It’s just too much.  In October and November, my team is scheduled to sing the same weekends I’m scheduled to work.  When I work on a Saturday, I only work until 2:00, and rehearsal starts at 3:00.  I actually prefer to sing the same weekend I work.

School starts tomorrow!  I should get to bed so I can get up early enough to make sure all THREE high schoolers are up on time!  Miranda doesn’t have to wake up until an hour after them.

When Will it End?

This whole drug allergy thing stinks!  To get rid of the rash and itching, I was prescribed prednisone.  Yet again, there are side effects.  Constant headaches, sleep disturbances, slight dizziness, and just a general “blah” feeling that I can’t shake.  I wake up in the middle of the night and can’t go back to sleep for an hour or two.  I just want to feel normal again!

One of those Boring Posts

You know the ones … nothing but a run-down on what’s been going on in my life for the past week or two.

I was given a third antibiotic for a persistent UTI.  I started with Macrobid, and then I was put on Cipro.  This time they tried Bactrim.  Just like on the other two antibiotics, I got horrible headaches daily.  On day six, I woke up in pain as if my bones were actually hurting.  I don’t know if that’s truly where the pain was coming from, but that’s the only way to describe it.  It had me in tears.  I had a fever of 100.4 and thought I had a virus on top of it all.  I took one more pill not making the connection yet.  Then the itching started, and that was the end of that bottle of pills!  I barely slept through the night through the itching and woke up with a fever of 101.3 on Sunday.  That was the height of it, though.  Once it broke a couple hours later, it didn’t come back.  I left a message for my doctor Monday morning, and he called back that evening.  Tuesday morning I woke up with a rash from my shoulders to my knees that slowly crept up to my cheeks later in the day.  Doc prescribed prednisone.  The rash is clearing now.

Before all of that came to a head, we had visitors staying with us.  My brother-in-law and his family were here from Monday through Thursday.  My in-laws were also in town, but they stayed with my sister-in-law and her family up north.  We did all get together for dinner at Jim-n-Nick’s one evening.  That went well until the end.  I don’t want to get into details here, but it’s obvious that assumptions have been made and I feel like I’m being made out to be the bad guy again.  Please don’t go looking for reasons that just aren’t there.  The bottom line is that we are all very busy, and life is constantly pulling all of us in many different directions.  There is nothing personal about our lack of time to spend together.  That’s all!  I’m lucky if I have ONE Saturday per month that has nothing planned, and Greg works on Sundays.

Monday, I was still pretty bed ridden, but I managed to get up on Tuesday and work on my calendar.  I made appointments for the boys, Greg, and myself to get eye exams, and I was also able to schedule Jason’s oral surgery.  Josh’s eye exam was yesterday morning.  We waited a few hours for his pupils to get back to normal, then we headed to Cherry Creek State Park for senior photos for the boys and Jason’s girlfriend.  I edited all of those before going to bed last night – three hours of work!

Jason’s surgery was today.  We finally got home about 3:00.  I waited until 3:30 before leaving to get the prescriptions filled for his pain meds and to make a grocery run while waiting for it to be filled.  I wanted to make sure he got the gauze changed first.  Then I still had to take Miranda up to her school’s open house/ice cream social to find out who her teacher is going to be.  We didn’t get home from that until after 6:00, and by then my slight stabbing in my left temple had turned into an all-out headache with tension down my neck.  Three ibuprofen hadn’t made a dent in it, so three hours after those, I took two Tylenol.  It’s tolerable now at 9:30, but I’m definitely ready for bed!

So I’m going to leave instructions for Greg to give Jason more pills if he needs them at 11:30 because I have to get up early tomorrow to take Ali to the high school for freshmen orientation.

After the last two weeks, I think it will be nice to get back to work next week and have the kids back in school.  I’m exhausted!

Jason’s Senior Photos

Josh’s Senior Photos

What’s it All About?

Today was one of those days where I couldn’t help but wonder what it’s all about.  We go through the motions of our day, go to sleep, get up, and do it all again, and again, and again.  It gets so boring sometimes.  No matter how you slice anything, a lot of it is really done for personal gain.  We work for money.  We play games for personal satisfaction.  We buy things because we think things make us happy.  We try to keep our houses clean for validation and pride.

Changing the subject completely…

Round three of yet another antibiotic for a UTI, and it turns out I’m allergic to it.  I took 11 of 20 pills, too!  The first dose of Bactrim was on Monday.  On Tuesday, I got a headache.  I got a headache on the Macrobid and the Cipro as well, so I just thought it was a side-effect I had to deal with.  On Wednesday, I felt nauseous and actually had to stop working for 30 minutes and lie down because my head hurt so bad.  Excedrin seemed to cut it eventually.  Another headache on Thursday and Friday, but no nausea.  Saturday morning I woke up with every bone in my body aching so badly I was in tears.  I had a fever of 100.4.  So I stayed in bed all day and actually took my morning dose of Bactrim still not putting the two together.  I assumed I was getting some other virus on top of it all.  Then I noticed my right foot itched a little.  Later in the day after washing my hands, I couldn’t stop rubbing my hands in a towel because it felt so good on my itchy hands!  That’s when i decided this has got to be an allergic reaction, and I stopped taking the Bactrim.  That night I kept waking myself up rubbing my feet together because they itched so badly.  Sunday morning I woke up with a fever of 101.3.  Thank goodness it was short lived, and it didn’t come back.  The itching was another story!  I itched and scratched all day Monday.  I called and left a message for my doctor in the morning, and he called me back in the evening.

This morning I woke up with a blotchy, red, raised rash from my shoulders to my knees.  So I placed another call, and they put me straight through to the nurse.  She talked to the doctor, and he decided to prescribe prednisone to get this under control.  The rash is lightening up a little this evening, and I’m taking Benedryl on top of it.  I just climbed into bed and took two (I’ll only take two when going to sleep).

We’re on vacation this week, but the week is off to a slow start because of this.  You can only do so much with makeup, and the rash had spread up my neck and part way up my cheeks.  I really didn’t feel like shopping today, but I did manage to get some things from the grocery store and to pick up a couple of ink cartridges for my printer.  The girls went through their clothes and bagged up everything that doesn’t fit anymore.  We’ll probably shop on Friday.

Josh has an eye exam tomorrow morning and if it doesn’t rain, we’re going to take senior portraits at a state park later in the afternoon.  If it rains, we might try to do it Thursday morning.  On Thursday afternoon, Jason is getting his wisdom teeth removed.  Then Thursday evening is when the class lists will be posted on the doors at the elementary school.  There’s an open house and ice cream social so the kids can meet their teachers and find their classrooms.

The senior portraits can wait a little longer, but once school starts (next Monday), it’s going to be hard to coordinate.  I’m taking the boys’ pictures as well as Jason’s girlfriend’s pictures.  Of course, my work schedule will change a little again with the school year in session.  I start earlier since I have to get up earlier anyway.  So I’m done by 3 or 3:30.  I have to get one or two selections to the school for the yearbook by September 30.

The afternoon has gently passed me by
The evening spreads its sail against the sky
Waiting for tomorrow
Just another day
God bid yesterday goodbye
(from Bring on the Night by The Police)

Denver Water Warning

Seriously?