Trick or Treating

The kids went trick or treating for the first time ever tonight. They were so excited...especially Alexa. The plan had been to go by Grandpa and Grandma's and then go to the 'Trunk or Treat' at the Methodist church in town. Well, we did that, but then we went over to a friend's house and ended up walking their whole neighborhood (they live in the "new" housing addition in town). That was the place to be....we ran into a lot of friends....and the kids got a huge haul of candy. Alexa ended up with 2 Wal-Mart sacks full of candy, soda, and other snacks. Mike and Andrew tuckered out, so Dana and I took our girls to the fire station and a few streets in town. They went through 2 "haunted garages". I think I have started something that I am going to have a hard time getting out of next year.

Alexa had the best time. She was running around from house to house pumped up on the excitement of the whole deal. She was very polite throughout, though, so I was okay with they craziness.

"Trick or Treat, Grandpa"

Uncle Shaun takes the kids round to the neighbors

EMT test

Allow me to brag for a moment, if you will. Not that you have much of a choice, other than not reading this, but if you are still following along............

...last night was our Module II exam....and I got a 94%!!! I am so relieved and so happy. I think it was a tough module and I am glad it is over. I also think I now have the highest GPA in the class. My friend got a 91% - she did have the highest GPA - beating me by .1 (that is .1, not 1, note the ".") but since I did better on this test, I might have pulled ahead. (not that we are competitive or anything...lol) I am just happy that I did well on the test. Granted it is a bit lower percentage than my last test, but I am just happy for the A. I know a lot of people don't make it past this module because it is kind of hard. If you don't get a C on the test, you get another shot at the test and if you don't get a 70% you are outta there. This next module should be fairly easy (she says confidently) since it is about medical emergencies and I know my medical stuff better than trauma. Medical - lots of practice; Trauma - not so much.

What do I want to be when I grow up?

I am still asking this question! I thought I had made a decision last year and now I am questioning if that is what I am supposed to be doing. Seriously, I need a sign, God. And then I need a sign to tell me that was the sign! I have been talking to the kids, and a couple of adults, about following their passion for what they want to do with their lives. I'm not sure if medicine is my passion. It has come fairly easily to me - other than this ever-so-frustrating EMT class. And it has come easily, but I'm not sure I'm diggin' it. Ya know? It could be that I am just that smart that I can do the work. I'm just not smart enough to figure out what I want to be when I grow up.

I really should have followed that whole "marry the first time for love, the second time for money" theory. LOL - I didn't do it right either time! Had I married for money the second time I could do anything I wanted and not have to worry about what will bring in the cash! I would probably just stay home with the kids and be a mama.....

I am perplexed. It simply isn't right that these decisions come so easily to some and the rest of us just can't figure it out. Such is life I suppose.

I came up with a pretty good analogy today - at least I think it's good - lol. Let me set the scene. I am supposed to be driving a pretty new bus; however, it continually breaks down so I have only driven it a total of 2 weeks this school year - that's accumulative, not straight time. So today, as I was washing one of the sub busses that I am returning (so I can drive another sub bus) it occured to me that sometimes in life we have to drive a sub bus for awhile because the one we really want to drive isn't quite ready for us. Eventually it will be, and when it is, we will be more appreciative of it. In the meantime, we are getting to experience a different ride with a different view. Pretty good, right?

Star Wars party

Andrew putting a choke hold on Alexa using the force

Queen Amidalah

Jedi, Sith, future Darth Maul

The same day that I had lunch with Kim, we went to a Star Wars themed party for Mike's friend, Joe. I had fun because my "peeps" were there...as Mike calls them. Alexa had fun because she is a social butterfly. Andrew...not so much. There were zero boys in attendance, other than my poor son. I know, right? And since he "doesn't like girls" (at least to play with), he refused to play with the girls who were there.

Andrew went as some guy that was a Jedi, became a Sith and then became Darth Maul. I don't remember the guy's actual name, but I am sure no one but Andrew cares anyway (bad mom). Alexa went as Queen Amidalah in her rogue fighting costume, not the elaborate "queen" costume. They looked so cute.

Old friends are definitely gold

Last Friday I had lunch with my "big sis". It was so fabulous. Of course, me being me, there has to be "more to the story" than just going and meeting her for lunch. I got lost. Not lost lost, but 'temporarily unable to find my location' lost. I thought I knew exactly where I was going - that should have been clue number one! I "knew" where the Applebee's was...except I was a town off. I was thinking of the one in Park City and when I got there, I realized I wasn't in NEWTON! Needless to say, I was 30 minutes late because once I got to Newton, I had no clue where the Applebee's was. I do now, if anyone is going and needs directions. Turns out, had I not gotten off on the first exit, I would have been fine - it was at the second exit.



Bless Kim's heart, she was still there...patiently waiting. We had a fabulous lunch...for 4 hours. It is hard to catch up in one sitting, but we gave it a whirl. I am so glad that we have gotten back in touch. I have missed her and thought of her a lot over the years.



I don't know if I mentioned this before, but she named not one, but two, characters after me in a trilogy that she wrote! I guess technically she named one, and then the other character was named for the first character. And, yes, that's why I will never be a published author - I write convoluted sentences.

Here we are in the restaurant...I am so unphotogenic it isn't even funny. My hair had looked pretty good earlier, and apparently I need to wear more makeup because you can't see it at all, but you sure can't tell from this photo...But Kim looks great!

Check out her blogspot...she is posting there along with Tracie Peterson, Lori Copeland, Robin Lee Hatcher and Tamera Alexander. They each post one day a week. An "inside look" at 5 Christian authors...pretty fun. I am linking her over in my friends column....it is Writes of Passage

The things that happen to me!!

It has been a while since I posted one of those embarrasing stories about myself...so here goes. It isn't too bad - just those things that always seem to happen to me. The first one is more Mike's fault - I think we all can agree on that.

A week ago from last Friday (did that make sense?) I decided it was a good day to take pictures of the kids so off we go on our merry little way. We got about 2 miles from home when I realized that the road wasn't completely messed up, I had a flat tire. When you live on a bad dirt road sometimes it is hard to tell the difference. Well..... I went to change the flat - and shredded - tire, but couldn't find how to lower the spare from under the car. I finally got the owner's manual out and discovered that the jack handle was under the rear passenger seat and you were supposed to use that to get the spare down. WHAT THE HECK?? You were supposed to shove the handle into this little tiny hole on the bumper behind the rear door, engage some little turn-y thing and lower the tire. Problem was ---- the jack handle was MIA. Of course, Mike was at training in Western Kansas and couldn't be reached.

The kids and I start hoofing it back home. About that time Mike called me back and told me to limp the car home at 5 mph....so I did. I periodically stopped the car, looked out to make sure that I wasn't riding on the wheel yet, then continued another 100 feet or so. It took forever to get home.

Here is how it isn't my fault. First, I had a bulge in the sidewall from the edge of the tire to the wheel...so it was irreperable to begin with. I had told Mike about said bulge. Second, he saw that the tire was flat that morning but didn't bother to tell me. He says he didn't have time, but he had a 45 minute drive out to the police shooting range, so had plenty of time to leave me a message! Also, I had been cursed the night before when my lab instructor (Matt) said, "hey, you have a bulge in your tire...you better get that fixed before it blows out on the highway".
I will upload a picture of the tire - I totally shredded it...

The second thing that I did was at the wedding we went to on Saturday. As Mike and I were walking through the lovely arboretum, I started feeling a weird "flapping" on my shoe. I looked down and my left shoe sole had come almost completely off and was flapping with each step. So...we stop....I pull out a couple of pieces of gum, chew them up to get them sticky and stick them between the layers of my shoe. Needless to say --- it doesn't hold. Nice. THEN as if that isn't bad enough, after the wedding, as we are walking back through the whole stinkin' arboretum, the right shoe starts flapping!!! Now both shoes are flapping in the wind. And I have no more gum. But that's okay, I didn't need it. As we were almost exiting, the entire sole came off of my right shoe. When we got to the car, I ripped the left one off and then prayed like crazy that the bottom of my shoes would hold out until we got home from the reception. Fortunately for me, they did. No photo of the shoes - they went immediately into the trash can!

Saturdays

Saturdays are my favorite day of the week. Last Saturday we went Butterfly tagging and then the kids went to their friend Hayley's house while Hayley's mom and I went to an agro-guard meeting. This Saturday we went to the Rushing Water festival in town. I wish we would have gone sooner, but we were waiting for Mike to finish working on the truck - and even ended up going without him (although he joined us later). So we missed the parade, and the carriage rides. Alexa and I are planning for next year so that we can go early and hit the pancake breakfast and see the parade - although I hate parades. Alexa had a blast! She was running around like a crazy person, buying everything she could. She took all of the cash she has saved - almost $22 and spent ALL of it. Crazy kid.

Monday I go to Wesley ER for my next clinicals....pretty excited about that. I am really glad to have the nursing home over and done with. I am a little nervous about the ambulance clinicals....I might have to see if I can pull some strings and make sure I get a good paramedic to ride with.

I totally took today off - no school work at all today - which is very bizarre for me. I tried to get everything ready for Crop Camp in a few weeks, but I have absolutely got to go shopping. I did watch 3 movies between last night and today - Sex in the City, the movie; Forgetting Sarah Marshall (very naughty); and The Ultimate Gift (very good movie, but have lots of tissues). Tomorrow it is back to the grindstone. I think we will have a pop quiz on Tuesday about lifting and packaging patients - so I must be prepared!

My friend Kim, who is a writer, sent me a copy of her trilogy that is all bound together! I am so excited to have received it. She has 10 books that she has written so I have a collection to acquire. I just found out that she had written all these books a couple of months ago, so I have only read a few of them so far. She was my big sister when I was a kid (not a Big Brothers/Big Sister)....but we lost contact and now we are back in touch. I am thrilled about that.

And speaking of Saturdays - next Saturday we have more big plans as Mike's office partner is getting married and we are going to her wedding....and by the way, Satin, if you are reading this....they took the rain out of the forecast for next weekend...so stop worrying!!!