Finding Krissi

Summer is zooming. This weekend is the 4th of July which means an entire month of summer will be gone. WHAT!! Life use to slow down during the summer. Long hot days with little to nothing to do. I'm missing those days. Someday, I'm going to be bored and wondering why I ever thought being bored was a good thing. As for our busy summer, mostly it is just the same ole same ole. Work, school, kids... and repeat. Meanwhile, Lazy Sue or should I say Lazy Krissi has climbed her rear back upon the bike. I kind of kept my mouth shut about it for a couple weeks because we all know how fast I give up on exercise. I am the queen of exercise excuses. I say that but really my only excuse is sleep. I like sleep. Sleep is good. Sleep is wonderful! Okay, you get the point. However, through sure grit, determination, and a lot of self bribery I am on my third week of exercise. Hey, where are my balloons and streamers? It should so work that way. I exercise and instantly loose 80 pounds. So not fa...

Yesterday was my first day back in the water. I have to admit that I approached going back to the pool with a little bit of dread. Being in the water working with kids for four hours makes me feel old. by the time I get out I am starving and tired. I came home yesterday ate lunch and took a nap. GEESH! You would think I was 90. However, by the time my first class was over I was reminded how dang cute the kids are. Not to mention how rewarding it is to gain all the little one's trust and teach them a new skill. I really do enjoy it. You are all going to reminded me I said that over the next few weeks, RIGHT? As for the rest of the family. They are doing good we are having a lazy summer as we take it easy and let S. recover. She is doing good. Her pain is way down and only when she does to much does she start hurting. She and Brent have started walks. She is trying to keep in shape the best she can with only one arm. Yesterday there walk lasted over an hour so she must be on the...

It is that time of the year where I try to update the kid's pictures. I wanted to have S.'s pictures taken before her surgery since I wasn't exactly sure how she would feel after the surgery. We attended the 80th birthday party of my Grandma on the 5th and I took the girl's pictures shortly before we left. Now I just have to grab the boy's pictures on a day they both are clean and spiffy. Not always an easy task. This is not S.'s favorite but it happens to be mine. Probably because this is the face that I always get. Especially, when I say something intelligent. Because you know that she thinks everything I say is smart and witty. I bet if you looked in the mirror right now you are making the same face. This was actually my second favorite one of Al. The first one she had her glasses on and there was a reflection I can't get rid of. I can't believe how grown up she is looking in this picture. A reminder that all of the little ones are growing up. Does a...

Sunday night at dinner, Al asked if we could get a goat. A GOAT? “Ummm, why do you want a goat?” I asked. “Because they are cute!” she replied. “Probably not?” I responded. “But Why?” she asked. Oh boy, how I hate these conversations, because if she understood the why’s she would not be asking me for a goat to begin with. Besides that I was tired and I really didn’t want to have the conversation, “Why we should not get a goat.” So tired and not in the mood to argue I said, “Tell you what if you can go the entire summer without fighting with anyone then we will get a goat.” “Really, I can get my very own goat if I don’t fight with anyone all summer.” “Yup.” In my mind, I was thinking it is not ever going to happen. Seriously, I don’t even remember the last time we made it 6 hours without someone fighting with someone. The whole summer! No goat for us and no long conversation. It was a total win, win conversation. Then A. popped in. “I don’t want a goat I want an Xbox 360.” It was at...

There use to be this blog that I read daily. The blog was cute, witty, and fun. The writer of the blog was a mom of three boys, christen and had built her dream house. I liked the blog. I enjoyed reading the blog. Then one day the blog became a .com. At first I wasn’t crazy about the new format because I don’t do change. However, after a little bit I adjusted and continued to read. Except for the tone of the blog/.com was changing. It wasn’t nearly as cute and witty. Also, it was definitely moving away from fun. I kept reading because sometimes a writer just has a bad streak. One day the cute, witty, fun writer would return. Except that one day dawned and she became an atheist. I read her a few days more after she became an atheist. I kind of understood where she was coming from. Bad things happen and it is hard not to question God. Faith in a greater deity should protect us from all the horrific things that happen. Only it doesn’t. It is the whole faith, freedom to choose, and balan...

We are three days post op and S. is doing great. Her pain is mellowing out and she is in great spirits. We found out this week that she is looking at 12 months before she can expect to be 100%. During the surgery the surgeon used scopes and we were able to have pictures of what was going on in her shoulder. It was nice because after lots of speculation about what happened to her shoulder we were able to see that swimming happened to her shoulder. It was kind of a good news bad news moment. Turns out that S. is just super flexible the surgeon told us that all of her joints have lots of flexibility. Which makes her a great swimmer. However, given that she is already flexible swimming worked to stretch her out even more. Leading to the muscles in her shoulder becoming too loose to hold her shoulder in place. Obviously, I am concerned that continuing to swim will cause more damage. When I asked the surgeon about this he feels that we should worry about it when we need to worry about it. Th...

Yesterday was the last day of school. The three youngest kids came home with their report cards and the name of next years teachers. I am finding it hard to believe that I will have a second, fifth, sixth, and eighth grader. I don't know where the time keeps going. We have a pretty busy first week of summer and then things calm down considerably. Well as calmed down as life gets with four growing children. Brent and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary the other day. I had to laugh as the celebrating didn't take place until 8 o'clock at night due to kid's activities. It is times like those I like to remind myself that one day our time and attention will not be in as much demand. I find myself doing that a lot lately reminding myself... Reminding myself the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. Reminding myself that there are people who are worse off than I. Reminding myself that life does not progress on my time table. So much reminding and I get ...

We were two kids, really nothing more than two, really young, naïve, kids. Then time began to march. Today it is 15 years. No longer two young kids.  We are a little older, a tiny bit wiser, and a bit more round. However, it seems like just yesterday that he said, “Will ya?” and I said, “Sure”.

This morning Myself and Me had a long conversation. Myself, is a little irked at Me. Because Me has not been getting herself out of bed and getting her growing rear to the gym. Me claims sleep is way more important than workouts. Me says, “Sleep good, Sweat BAD!” Myself has had about enough of lazy ME. Several threats later and Me was begrudgingly on her way to the gym. Stupid gym! At the gym, up the stairs, iPod powered on, and on to the elliptical Me went. Me was not happy as her legs began to move. Then suddenly one of Me’s favorite songs came on. Then Me boogied. Me moved her rear and Me felt great. Oh endorphins! Endorphins are way better than chocolate. Except for the whole getting out of bed, getting to the gym, and moving quickly. Myself is not saying I told you so but you know she is thinking it. Meanwhile, Me is wondering what other people think when they see her at the gym with her IPOD. Turns out that when she puts her earphones in she forgets that she isn’t a rock star. S...