The day came and looked like a very bad stormy day but the weather held until after our ceremony, at which point it poured buckets. I had told Chad’s sister Nealy that I wanted it super short and she did not blink when I gave her what amounted to just the vows. I did a great job until I saw that Chad was misty eyed and then speaking my vows was very tough. No matter though, Nealy cried too so I didn’t feel alone. The ceremony was very touching and surreal. I love this man with all my heart and I am looking forward to our future together! Chad’s mom asked us why we got married so quickly (I won’t even joke about pregnancy, *shudder*) and I told her “July 12th is the day we met in real life three years ago”. She laughed and said what, was it fantasy life before that? So I told her “yep, we met on the internet a few weeks before that and the 12th was our first date”. I am pretty sure she was the last to know we met on a internet dating site, hahahahahahaha.

From Reception slide show

We decided to have a reception three months later since we had such a busy summer planned. Less than a week after the wedding, I had a Program Director’s annual meeting which was being held in New Orleans. We decided to make that our honeymoon trip and it was a lot of fun. Chad was supposed to have gone the next weekend to take his State Troopers test however they cancelled it so we ended up flying from New Orleans to Chicago anyway as part two of our honeymoon. We went up to see the new sky boxes in the Sears Tower (not actually called that anymore), then hung out on the Navy Pier and then went on an awesome dinner cruise of the Chicago skyline.

We went horseback riding up in Champaign with a friend of Chad’s (Jeff Porter).

I introduced Chad to an annual party called Bash on the Bluff with some longtime friends of mine.

Chad went on a fishing trip with his dad.

Then we all went on a canoe trip down the Spring River in Arkansas with Sarah and Chris Omer (cousins) and Jake, Lisa, Eli and Morgan Wirtes. This is a trip we do every year with the boys but the first time we have had others come with us. We had a lot of fun. Except Chris who drank too much river water and didn’t feel good.

Then in September, we went on a massive road trip to Florida for my nephew’s wedding. We stopped in Destin (not exactly on the way to Gainesville but worth it!). The boys were awed by the ocean and we swam all day and then had some fantastic seafood. We stayed in a hotel in Gainesville so we could have access to the swimming pool and believe me, it did not go unused. The wedding was really sweet and was a family reunion too. I had not seen my mother in 7 years and probably longer than that for my sister Susanne. The next day we went to Fanning Springs for the boys’ first spring experience. BRRRRRR. That water is dadgum cold! It was actually a bigger hit than the beach since the water was not salty. It was clear as glass. Chad had bought an Olympus stylus water proof camera the day before for me so we tried out the underwater function with glee. The drive back was insanely long and now I remember why I like to fly.

Our reception was on October 17th. As stressful (and expensive) as the planning was, the party was fantastic! We had about 60 friends and family come out to Great Boars of Fire lodge in Cobden and have good old barbecue. Nothing fancy about it. The DJ was from Memory Lane Music Service (yes I am plugging them because they are totally worth it). His name was James and he did a great job. He even played the requests of the kids (who danced nearly all night). We did all the usual party line dances, even did the hokey pokey. It was fun to see the dance floor full all night long. At ten pm, most people were gone and we were still wound up. We dropped the kids off and being that we were pretty rowdy at this point, went to the local biker bar. And nearly got kicked out. Apparently, that was the night they chose to have an artsy fartsy coffee house type chick playing acoustic guitar who wanted her audience to just listen to her. She became more rude and bizarre to us in the hour we were there so we beat a hasty path over to Palace Pizzeria (yes, I am also plugging them). They are famous for pizza and great blues/rock live bands. Should have started there. It was midnight by then so Chad and his buddies paid the band (The Natives) to play another hour and we stood, kissing distance from them and whooped and hollered as they played one great old rock hit after another. I apologized in advance for our behavior and they laughed and said they liked having their own interactive audience.

So that is how we got married. That is how our whole life is as a matter of fact. Always busy and almost always fun. So when we tell you about our next planned trip and ask you to come – you should take us up on it!

Forgot: Since October we have started basketball season, went to the Omers for four wheeling fun and had our first marching band competition in Pinckneyville (Eli plays saxophone). The two middle boys are sitting in hunter safety class at this moment and Chad and Eli are up in Wayne County bow hunting. Next weekend, Chad and I are attending a marriage workshop in St Louis (price of being married by his sister). Christmas is coming and New Years, not to mention birthdays every month – Eli will be 15 on Monday! Then will be our annual ski trip we take for Chad’s birthday.

Click on the links below for pictures (comments WELCOME!!). Note, in order to leave a comment you have to sign up for FREE for the Picassa gallery. If you have a Gmail account already, just use that log in. You don’t need to sign in to just see the pictures though. Click on the first one and then hit the arrow keys at the top. The first album was actually a slide show I put together for the reception showing some of the highlights of our three years together.

Reception slide show

People at the reception

Pictures of some of the other stuff from this summer coming soon!

He picked me up after work on Friday and I see my two spinning wheels (Ashford Traveller and Louet S10) lovingly seat belted into the back seat of his truck with my spinning basket and a weird assortment of fiber. What the hay? We drove five hours, stopping for the night near Kansas City (we are from the very Southern tip of Illinois). ?what, is there a fiber festival I didn’t know about? Is there a workshop I didn’t know about? Is there a major yarn shop that mustn’t be missed? WHAT?

While we were driving, I had to laugh and finally told Chad, “I need to know the rationale for the fiber you chose to bring so I can see how your brain works”. He said, he didn’t know what I would need so he just brought a little bit of everything. He had three skeins of finished yarn, what I was currently spinning, and some yucky fiber that I had gotten from the woman I just bought the Louet S10 from two weeks ago - the S10 that he hurriedly oiled, polished the chrome, balanced the wheel and changed the flyer hooks on THE NIGHT BEFORE WE LEFT.

The next morning, we eat breakfast and mosey on out around 9:40am...

To a rural neighborhood in the middle of farmland…

We pull up to a big brick house…

Knocked on the door…

And met JACEY BOGGS!!!

She actually introduced herself to me as I stood there stammering. (Chad later asked me if I knew who she was, LOL – are you kidding? How could you NOT know? She is a rock star!). I had ordered her DVD several months ago to learn how to make art yarn and fell in love. Chad watched the video with me twice! About a month ago, he asked me where the video was and to my horror, I couldn’t find it. I should have known something was up then.

Apparently Chad made an email presentation to Jacey to convince her that she should give me a PRIVATE workshop. Yes, you read that right. My birthday present was a private, seven hour long, workshop. He showed me the emails back and forth after we left her house and oh, they make me want to cry with all the planning that went on!

We met her very sweet husband and awesomely beautiful son and heartbreakingly adorable daughter before they went off to a skateboard contest for the day. Chad parked himself on the couch in front of us, took pictures and chatted while Jacey walked me through her entire two day workshop. I had immediately felt nervous upon meeting her about my spinning skills because I am mostly self taught. She put me at ease and as easy as she makes it look on the video is how easy a teacher she is. I was able to pick up on most of the techniques (beehives still kick my butt). She is truly as nice and funny in real life as she is online and on her video!

The three of us kept a running conversation about everything under the sun. Jacey even fed us a really yummy lunch (we need to know what the salad dressing was) that was almost all grown in her fabulous garden.

Toward the end of the day, I realized that I had become spun out. What an awesome day! We called it a day but not before we got a tour of her “square foot” garden (who knew a pumpkin plant could grow 5 feet tall?!) I also got a fast and very helpful discussion on how Jacey dyes her fiber (she felt sorry for me after I explained what happened with my first hand paint a few months ago).

More pictures of the day in the gallery, click on this sentence!

Before we had left for the trip, Chad told me that half of his plans had fallen through but he would not tell me what they were. After we left Jacey’s, I asked him what it was. He showed me the emails between Jacey and him. Then he gave me a handwritten letter.

Debbie,

Deborah Lynn Codding, I Love You! Will you marry me?

He told me that he had to write me a letter because he would never be able to say what he wanted to say without crying. Too bad. We both ended up crying. Saturday was the most awesome day ever. It wasn’t until the next day that I realized I didn’t even answer him. (I said yes, of course) As for the plans that fell through, he had ordered the Lendrum (my dream spinning wheel) from The Woolery and had hoped to have it for me to spin on at Jacey’s but it is on back order for a few weeks.

I cannot wait to marry this man. He is truly my soul mate and I love him with all my heart!

* The last few years have been dadgum hot with rain the first year and 80 degree temps at 2am last year so we decided to take our camper so we could have air conditioning (we is gud campers). This year, we ended up turning on the HEATER because it was in the low 50's. Moral of the story, if you want good weather bring your camper.

* Last year, they added a group of guys that played bluegrass. Their payment was beer and food and they played all night long. They are awesome! This year, the pickers were back, bringing another guy and they were more awesome. But added to this year's mix was a DJ to play music for the younger crowd later in the night after the pickers were done. Except that the DJ was drunker than most of the party goers. He started and stopped songs randomly to shout out dedications that no one had made. Moral of the story, pay the DJ with ice tea instead.

* There was a slightly ill advised jeep trip way after dark and beer with several people who had never gone riding in the dark. We took a trail called the back bone that straddles two hollers where the drop on each side is at least a hundred feet STRAIGHT down. Did I mention the trail is the width of a jeep? One of the jeeps bobbled a bit causing the twin girls riding along to scream classic girl style. Good thing it was dark and they couldn't see why they had a right to scream. Then Chris's jeep broke down causing Steve to rack up a personal best - eight people in one jeep.

*Steve Piney owns the little jeep that could! On the last day, we went for one last trail ride on fairly muddy trails which left the jeeps scrabbling to get up some of the leafy muddy trails. They did alright until the last big hill where Steve got stuck. He very calmly winched his jeep to a tree near the top and hauled his ass up. To illustrate how scary this was, Sarah, who grew up on ATV's and Jeeps, bailed out of his jeep and walked up.

I will let the pictures tell the rest of the story - click on the pig to go to the photo album.

On Friday, May 8th, we had a weather system come through that included severe (golf ball sized) hail overnight. When we woke up, it looked rainy but not bad. I looked at the radar for my area to see what was going on and saw a nasty cell coming that was angry yellow/orange and red with pink in the center (that means more hail). I had a full group of patients but the storm wasn’t predicted to hit us until two or so, well after everybody would be home again.

Around 10am, it became apparent that the storm was going to be violent and extremely dangerous. We were glued to the weather reports. Multiple tornadoes were touching down. The first side of the storm came through around 11am and was just lightening, pounding rain and wind. Whew. No problem. Around 12:45 pm, the patients were ready to go home so the driver loaded them up as usual. After she left, another patient who normally drives herself, came in to say that a tornado just touched down about 15 min southwest of the hospital and that I should get the van back. I said, no problem, we have been given the all clear. As soon as I said that, the tornado siren went off and we lost power. With my heart in my mouth, I called the van back. I had visions of the van being blown off the road. She was only five minutes away but that was the longest five minutes imaginable.

They made it back and we went to the center of the hospital with everyone else. The winds had picked up so much that it looked exactly like the hurricanes and typhoons I have been through. We actually had people streaming in from the nearby trailer park and from cars who had been on the road at the time. We ended up in the hallway for about an hour before it was deemed safe for us to leave. Looking outside did nothing to relieve the fear we were feeling because the devastation was amazing. Huge trees were snapped in half all around the hospital. At that time, we had no way of knowing the scale of what had happened.

In the meantime, Chad was thirty miles away in Marion, at his house when he went through the exact same thing about half an hour later. The storm traveled in a near perfect straight line and devastated (I will say that word a lot because there is no other way to describe this) everything in its path. He took shelter in his basement and watched as a HUGE oak tree fell in his back yard completely blocking the windows. When he went upstairs, he said that the tree fell from one side of his yard to the other, crushing the boys’ two story clubhouse. It crossed over into his neighbor’s yard with the tree top lying on their roof. Our pontoon boat is underneath one section of this tree but Chad is not sure if it is destroyed because it is mostly hidden. Chad said that several trees fell across the road in front of his house which he and a couple of neighbors quickly cut up and out of the way of traffic.

Around two pm, I finally felt comfortable enough to let the driver get back on the road to get our patients home. Not a good situation but what can you do? The driver called me almost two hours later to tell me that she was still only 15 miles away and had not dropped anyone off yet. She ended up getting back two hours after quitting time. I finally got on the road myself and felt like throwing up when I saw all that had happened. I think the two most shocking things I saw was a house trailer with wheels up to the sky and someone’s front porch that had been completely crushed by a tree that was eight foot in diameter. I was not able to go my usual route because it was blocked by power lines and trees.

Amazingly enough, once I got about ten miles south of the line of the storm, all was fine. My town was not involved in the storm beyond wind and rain. I lost power for about four hours. I was one of the lucky ones. My personal damage is limited to my car which was in Marion for an oil change and had its windows blown out (the dealership’s sign broke in half and crushed eight new cars on the lot). Chad did not get so lucky. He still has no power, a tree fell through his pole barn and another tree is across the backyard. People have lost their homes, cars were crushed, we had one fatality and many, many injuries. 48 hours after the storm, 68,000 homes and businesses were still without power. Now, that number has probably been cut in half but at least fifty percent of six counties are still without power six days later.

Chad got called by a local tool store called Matrix at 10:30pm to haul generators at 6:30am on Saturday morning. He is longtime friends with the owners and they know he has a 30ft gooseneck trailer. He made the trip to St. Louis, picked up 60 generators (there was another truck that picked up 48 more) that were all sold before they pulled back into town. So off to St. Louis they went for another load. A very, very good day to be a tool store owner (not to speak of the roofers, electricians, landscaping, etc companies!).

Illinois Governor Pat Quinn was here yesterday to see the damage in preparation for requesting federal disaster declaration (state disaster has already been declared). He flew over the area and ended up adding a couple of extra counties to bring the tally up to six counties. The county I work in was absolutely leveled. It has been identified as the hardest hit (see the Paducah weather link I listed below for pictures). I can’t even describe how bad it is. People have been awesome though. The electric companies have brought in armies of trucks and have been working 24/7 for the last five days. Neighbors are getting out and helping each other clear trees off houses. The local radio station that runs five different channels, "River Radio" went on disaster mode and has broadcast across all channels nothing but disaster information for the last five days. They let mayors and police and other personnel get on and give current information as well as take calls from citizens asking questions. Very cool idea. Red Cross has been hugely helpful as well as the local churches. While folks are starting to get downright grumpy (gubment conspiracy and all), the overall attitude has been very positive, roll up the sleeves and gitterdun. Chad, the boys and I spent two hours last night clearing trees from his friend’s property in Carbondale. I am including pictures in the gallery (too many to put in post – would take forever to load).

So what the hell happened? We don’t know. Some are calling it an “inland hurricane” as it had a very hurricane like shape”(see the picture in the weather service link below), some are calling it a “derecho” and some are calling it a “microburst”.

I had never heard of a derecho before but I will be gol-danged if we didn’t make it into Wikipedia over it!

Here is the page devoted to it on the National Weather Service Paducah (be sure to scroll all the way down to see pictures of storm damage)

Here is an awesome YouTube video someone made (there are many more about this storm!) Toward the middle/end of the video, you can see the car dealership where my car was - they are showing the sign that snapped and crushed the cars. You can get lost in the youtube videos related to this storm.

Couple of newspaper articles:

Storm article

Another storm article

Oh, and horrifyingly enough, we are expecting a similar storm to come back in tonight. Somebody hold me.

Update: The storm system for tonight seems to have passed and was not as bad as expected!

5/14/09 Updated update: That was a wicked storm that blew through around two - three last night. I can't believe there wasn't hail and tornadoes! Lots more branches down and we got little sleep but all seems to be alright this morning. The radio has gone back to regular programming which is a very good sign.

Here is the link to my photo gallery with storm pictures.

This year, Chad’s friend Dave and his fiance’ Jen went with us. I am going to save the folks with a short attention span some trouble and tell you that the trip was a blast – good time had by all. The rest of the story is a true Deb travel story (remember my trip to Greece?) that now Chad gets to experience.

We all played hookey from work on Friday, January 23rd. I had never met Jen and Dave before so had no idea what to expect which could have been frightening given that they were riding up in my Altima with us – seven hours one way. They pulled up in a truck that also held two little dogs. Oh boy, this should be interesting. Fortunately, the dogs went to grandma’s for dog sitting. We made quick introductions and then fit their luggage in the car logic puzzle style.
As we headed down the road, Jen and I discovered that we actually had a bit in common. She is a pharmaceutical representative (whew that is a mouthful – we just call them drug reps) and goes frequently to the family practice that I worked for the first two years I was here. We chatted about doctors, nurses and drugs. Jen is a sweetie and after this ski trip, I am glad to call her friend. Dave and Chad grew up together and are a lot alike. They are good people.

Not even thirty minutes down the road, we realized that this was going to be an adventure when Chad got pulled over for going 80 in a 65. The sad thing was that a friend of Dave’s, who is a motorcycle cop, had someone pulled over 3 minutes ahead of us (speed trap). Uh, yah. We got the by-the-book guy.

Jen quickly figured out that Chad must have the bladder of a camel and the stomach of a bird as the hours passed without stopping. I have adapted to this over the years but I took pity on Jen and suggested a stop. Got back on the road and by the next exit down, Jen realizes she forgot her purse at Subway. See, now everyone is sharing in the adventure. “I never do that!” says Jen (pssst, Jen – you do now). We turned around, found the purse and all was right (again) with our trip.

We got to the resort just at night skiing was getting underway. Chad and I love night skiing because most of the yahoos have gone away. Jen, who had never skied before, got booted up and strapped in. We then threw her down the bunny slope. I love to teach people to ski (just not my own children) but it can be a little dicey when the person does not have a positive attitude about it. This was not a problem for Jen. She cheerfully attempted to do all the things three different people were yelling at her. And fortunately for her, the tow rope has been improved since the time I learned. It no longer jerks your arms out of their sockets. It will however, drag you as long as you hold on, as Jen learned.

Chad and I quickly discovered that Dave was way out of both of our leagues. This isn’t a bad thing for us. His presence pushed us past our nice safe skiing and we had a blast. Towards the end of the night (after Jen had gone in to warm up), we even did a black diamond trail! Chad did really well and managed to make it down no trouble the first time but the second time, he wiped out at the bottom. He jerked his shoulder out and unfortunately, it is still a problem right now (getting better though).

Saturday turned out to be an absolutely gorgeous day with none of the wicked wind chill of the night before. It was, however, -2 degrees. We watched the ice sculptures get underway at breakfast and then got back out to ski. Jen improved noticeably every single time she went down. She quickly got out of the snow plow but would ski incredibly fast down the green trail, so fast that we mere mortals could not keep up. By dinner time, I had her starting out on a blue trail that turned into a green. I skied behind her saying “OH! Good save!” each time she practiced her weebles wobble routine.

Towards the end of Jen’s night, the four of us lined up to get on the chair lift, chair went by, we shuffled up and… sat on some guy who had not been there five seconds before! We all looked around dumbfounded – what do we do now? I swear in 25 years of skiing, this has never happened to me. The guy had apparently walked up, carrying his skis and hopped on as our butts were poised to hit the chair. And he was not budging. He just sat there staring at us like “what’s the problem?” We shuffled to the side and then had a good belly laugh about it. Not more than an hour later, I sat in Chad’s lap exactly the same way. Hey, I couldn’t help it, they grabbed the chair when I wasn’t ready/looking so I lunged for it!

One more run later, I was frozen and done. We decided to make one more pass down and call it quits. At the top of the trail were two girls holding hands doing circles on skis. Neat, I thought – they must have those short trick skis. Not so neat was what happened at the end of the blue trail that is more like a diamond at the end. La la, la, laaaah, nice run, toes numb, ready for some alkie hall. WHAMMMMM! My skis went out from under me and I tumbled over the top of something squishy and I slid for freakin ever. I had whacked my head on the ground so hard that I heard and saw stars (yes, you can hear stars, they sound buzzy). When we came to a stop, there was a girl apologizing profusely and crying that she didn’t mean to, that she didn’t know it was so steep, that she had never been skiing before. I couldn’t even talk – I felt that if I had let go of the back of my head, my brain may have come flying out. She hit me so hard that the binding sheared off one of my skis. I ended up scooting the rest of the way down on my butt. Good thing that was the last run!

The rest of the trip was fairly uneventful aside from me forcing three non fiber folk into going to a yarn shop : ) And why does it always seem that the trip home is twice as long as the trip up? It was an awesome trip! (A few more pictures are in the Gallery - Click here)

Things we learned:

Chad learned that black diamonds are a wee bit faster than blue squares, which hurts more. Need lessons.

Debbie learned that when she knits new ski hats, she needs to install rearview mirror that say objects in mirror may be closer than they appear.

Jen learned how to ski.

Dave learned that safety razors are not safe.

I figured I better update my blog since I stuck the address in my Christmas cards : )
It probably goes without saying that this is a tighter Christmas than it has been for most people. Even if all is okay, there is still the worry that a perfectly good job will evaporate over night! I have never been a big fan of the Christmas commercialism, so I think this is a good adjustment opportunity to bring the focus of Christmas back to whatever Christmas is supposed to mean to your family and away from how many gifts you get and give and how many dollars are spent.

For me, Christmas is about spending time with family. This is something that I have not been able to do with any regularity since I was a teenager. I am extremely fortunate to have found a life partner in Chad and blend our families together. This past year has been as busy as usual for us but it is all things that we love to do. We have been able to go camping, skiing, canoeing/fishing, ATV riding. The boys have played basketball, baseball and band. We went to three weddings and visited the Omers in Kentucky three times. Chad and Eli hunted deer (got two!) with both bow and shotgun. We have worked our butts off (Chad especially!) on the Cobden property and are pleased to see the 120 year old farm house shaping up. Chad has begun restoring a 1974 convertible superbeetle. So, all in all, a busy, hard worked year. Next year promises the same and I am very much looking forward to it!

Merry Christmas to everyone! I hope that your New Year is filled with opportunity and love.

Thanksgiving was held at my house as it has been for the last three years. The cast of characters changes a little bit each year. This year Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Bill got to visit with artist friends in Peoria which is rare since Uncle Bill is not able to travel easily these days. Chad’s parents, Max and Susan, were there for the first time. They had not met my Dad and Stepmother, nor had they been to my house yet, so that was fun. I think that all would agree that it was a very nice gathering.

Thanksgiving is my favorite, favorite holiday! I love cooking and I love eating. I told Chad that the cabin we are planning to build in Kentucky will have to have a decent kitchen! The kitchen I have now is darn near useless. I have a sad little oven that is not very old but it is extremely low budget and takes a third longer to cook food. It was bought to tide me over until I can renovate the kitchen. Sad to say, that is going to take winning the lottery and I don’t see that happening since I don’t play the lottery. Hopefully I will be able to start it in about two or three years. Right after I redo the bathroom which is higher on the priority list given that the toilet appears to be trying to visit the basement.

I tried all kinds of new recipes this year! Some great, some middling. The pumpkin maple pie and sweet potato recipe are going bye-bye (there really wasn’t anything wrong with what I have done in the past. I should have stuck to tried and true!). The crock pot mashed potatoes; pomegranate sangria and brined turkey were hugely fabulous. Dad and Doris brought Grandma’s cranberry recipe which is always yummy. Steve brought seven layer cookies. Chad made his green beans wrapped in bacon and they were probably the biggest hit of all. No diet food, no how.

I also made pie crust from scratch for the first time. It was a pain in the ass to roll out but turned out pretty good. I had a startling happening with the pie crust though. I thought I was making a variation on pecan pie, so I planned that and a regular old Libby pumpkin pie. When I laid the ingredients out Wednesday night, I discovered that it was actually a variation on PUMPKIN pie which left me with two pumpkin pies (Susan was bringing a pumpkin as well!) Eeeek! Too much pumpkin! Eli had a near conniption fit when he found out. I didn’t even buy any pecans because the variation called for mixed party nuts instead. I found two partial bags of pecans from years past (you don’t even want to know what is in the bottom layer of my deep freeze). Made a regular old Karo pecan pie and all was right in the world. Until I cut it and discovered that the pie crust had floated up and had become the middle layer with the goo on the bottom. Tasted awesome and no one even noticed, hahahahahaha.

So let’s talk turkey. I have always done well with the turkey, having discovered the wonders of baking it in an oven bag years ago. In Italy, I learned about “gia rosta” which is rotisserie chicken with a specific rub on it. This year, I learned about brining the turkey. I will never not brine again. I found a really awesome brine recipe that you bring to a boil and then let cool. Holy cow that smells good without even anything else to it! It calls for orange peel, apple juice, distilled water, bay leaves, pepper corns, rosemary and sea salt. You put the turkey in a giant bag (I used a three gallon ziplock) and pour on the brine. Let it sit overnight and then rinse the turkey off just before roasting. Makes it very tender, juicy and flavorful.

The preparation was not without a little excitement though. No, I did not leave the innards bag in the turkey (although I have done that several times). I was slicing through the top of the orange peel to let the oil out for the brine when my very sharp, very awesome knife from the five dollar garage sale set went right through the web of my thumb. Not through and through, but straight into the web. Did you know you can see right into hand there? It was sort of like watching a movie. I watched the knife go in and thought, hmmm, that sucks. It didn’t hurt and it didn’t bleed although I put pressure on it anyway. It is small enough that I debated whether it needed stitches or whether I could tape it. Pretty busy with preparations, really hate local ER. Calmly discussed with Chad. It is in a bad spot so stitches would at least help it heal faster but it is small so maybe… WHAM! The world went black and I found myself kneeling on the floor. I yelled for Chad and scared the crap out of him and away we went to the ER. The whole experience was not too bad and I now have two pretty blue stitches covered over by a Barbie Band-Aid to show for it. I got home, finished pies and turkey and had two large sloppy kiss martinis as a reward / pain killer.

As an aside, I am seriously considering getting rid of my pretty grape vine covered apron because the last time I wore it, Chad’s oldest boy had to get stitches in his knee. Yes, that is it. It is the apron’s fault. Bad apron.

I have been a good American and have ignored the news pretty much lately, choosing to live in my own little bubble impervious to the Palins of the world State of Alaska (I forgot, she’s never been out of Alaska). This means that I missed the fact that Hurricane Ike was beating a path right towards Southern Illinois. My work’s headquarters are in Houston and they evacuated on Thursday, so I was feeling sympathy for the folks about to be hammered.

Saturday night we started to get a bit windy, but I love a good storm and my bedroom has five foot tall windows for the best night time watching, so I was ready. Three am, the screen door started banging back and forth like we were in Kansas, Toto. It was simply amazing by eight am, so I got out of bed and turned on the weather radio for the first time. They kindly reassured me that we were currently experiencing winds up to 40mph and, not to worry; it would be gone by lunch. LIARS. It was more like 60-70mph and while it was gone by lunch, we will be dealing with it for quite some time.

Immediately after checking the weather radio, the power went out. No problem. Oh, wait, I have about $500 worth of meat and stuff between two freezers. And no generator. Chad convinced me to go to Lowes and buy a 3,500 watt generator. On our way there, we stopped at McDonalds where we learned that half of the area towns were also out of power. We got to Lowes and bought the last small generator they had.

Now, prior to leaving, small branches and a few limbs were down. When we came BACK though – holy crap. My neighbor at the beginning of the street had an entire tree down across his little truck. I came back to see that the post oak in my back yard had lost its entire top – about 20 feet worth. (click here for the before storm picture)

Chad, being the workaholic he is, decided we needed to clean it up right then. Unfortunately, the tree fell against a granite wall with about six huge limbs propping it up in between. It also slid backwards a bit into the V of the tree meaning it wouldn’t just fall down if cut. Did I mention the three other trees it took down along the way?

So, Chad with pole saw and chain saw, cut and cut and cut. Four hours later, it barely looked touched. We kept expecting the limb to roll and fall with each supporting branch cut. No such luck. At the very end, we got a little satisfaction when it fell and replanted itself half way down.

We discovered that the whole tree was hollow which is probably why it broke. What we did not anticipate was that it was a snake nesting site. Chad found a few snake skins hanging from the branches which is not unusual at my house. A little ooky but okay considering they are generally king snakes which keep the rodent population under control. Imagine Chad’s surprise when he cut a limb and two LIVE king snakes fell out from inside! One was about four foot long and the other was about two foot long. They acted stunned for a minute and then slithered away. The biggest one simply crawled into a hole in the bottom of the tree! We were amazed that Chad had not accidently cut them up with the chainsaw. Chunk of the branch can be seen below:

So anyway. We ended up getting power back on at about 8pm. The generator worked like a charm and I am glad to have it in my emergency supplies. We will be doing clean up for the next few weeks. I understand that my Dad’s property looks like a bomb went off as well but I haven’t been over to see it yet. Here is an article from our local paper

Compared to the folks in Texas who were truly devastated by Hurricane Ike, we came out pretty well.

How did everyone else do?

Yep, you read that right and in fact, that is a new sentence that goes on my list of things that shouldn't have to be said. The seven of us just spent an all boy weekend that included a fair, camping, atv'ing (can you use that as a verb?), shooting multiple weapons and airsoft wars. On the hottest weekend imaginable.

We started off at the DuQuoin Fair, which was long promised as we have missed two, more local, fairs due to being out of town both times. It was well worth sucking sounds coming from our wallets! Most of us love roller coasters (Chad's oldest son, not so much), including the six year olds. As a matter of fact, the two six year olds rode the very scariest one at the fair (by MY definition) which was a free fall thing-a-ma-bob. I asked them several times if they were sure and they both said YES! The good thing about this particular nightmare inducing ride is that it only lasts five minutes with the free fall part lasting MAYBE 10 seconds. So I figured at least it would be over quickly (does this sound like a bad mother making excuses for traumatizing small children?). The ride is a giant square pole, probably 50 feet tall (seemed like anyway) with three seats on each side. The ride up takes forever and serves to increase the pending terror, inch by inch. We tried to ride it two times prior to getting on but the carnie kept shutting it down due to a "loose bolt". Smarter people probably turned away and chalked that up as a sign that it was maybe STUPID. But they were not us. We got on and chink-a-chink-a-chink-a'd up the pole. When we were near the top, without warning, WE FELL. It literally rips bad words from your gut. One six year old (Evan) and I decided that we were never, ever, ever doing that again. The rest of the folks decided that it was the best ride ever invented.

Then, Eli and Jake learned about gambling. There was a game that involved dropping five discs onto a paper with a large red circle on it. The object is to cover the circle so that no red shows. The prize in question? A Play Station III. The carnie was funny, nice and very slick. He showed them exactly how it was done. Then Eli promptly lost $15 (five bucks a pop) and Jake lost $10. Each time, the carnie patiently showed them exactly what they did wrong and how to avoid it. They somehow conned me into doing it and I lost $10. We r speshul. I am just very glad that, at that point, we were honestly out of money. Eli was talking about panhandling for a minute there before I got us unmesmerized.

The next day, we loaded up our camping world (a truly ridiculous amount of equipment) and seven ATV's and went to "the farm" which is a local chunk of wooded property a friend of Chad's owns. Very nice especially considering it is free! Chad maintains it by keeping the fallen trees cleared and making sure the owner gets firewood from it each year. He put us to work clearing limbs but we quickly realized it was too frapping hot. So we shot each other instead. For those who aren't familiar with airsoft guns, they are essentially BB guns that shoot soft plastic BB's. That hurt. wahhhh. It is slightly less painful and a whole lot less messy than paintball though. We ran through trees laughing and shooting hysterically. For some reason, my gun cannot be aimed whatsoever. You can watch the BB's curve upward as they leave the weapon. Which means that I couldn't hit a daggum thing. I ran up on Eli and he rapid fired off three shots before I could get out the words "I surrender". One of them hit me in the arm and actually drew blood. Hmmm, new rule, no shooting closer than 20 feet. Eli and Chad are crack shots, so the rest of us quickly decided NOT TO PLAY anymore. Just kidding. There was random drive by shootings for the rest of the weekend.

Chad brought out four different guns (I think). I am not a gun person, so I will not name them and be ridiculed for getting them wrong. He used to shoot competition with a .22 and brought that gun. Even I could hit the target nicely with it the gun is so accurate. Chad shot a penny dead center (AT 50 YARDS!) so that the penny collapsed around the bullet and embedded into the wood frame we were using. Now that is some straight shooting, very cool. Eli and Jake, being the junior terrorists they are, loved every minute of it. Eli is actually a very good shot himself. He did not get that from me!

When we got back on Monday, we started work on our newest project. I am buying the property next to mine from my dad because it has a decent basement that Chad wants to use while restoring the VW this fall/winter. Yay! The property has an old trailer on top of a rock face that has a basement blasted into it. At some point (probably next summer), we will figure out how the heck to get the trailer lifted off without damaging the cinderblock walls of the basement. I want to build a workshop on top of the basement that seals the basement off. Right now, the roof of the basement is the floor of the trailer.

In case you are thinking we have plenty of time, our other projects include (I am only listing the projects that want to be done within the next six months!):

Friend's wedding this weekend
Room remodel (50% complete at this point - will have its own post soon)
Finish rebuilding racing truck (Chad's project, obviously)
One last tractor pull in Corydon, IN
Seal trailer basement cracks and see if it can be made dry (looks promising)
Go back to Corydon, IN except this time for a fiber festival - YAY girl time at last!
Rebuild VW

* My boss and I presented at a decent sized conference in Chicago back in April. I have done tons of teaching, including to groups of more than 100 before but this was the first time I have presented at a professional conference. The conference was the 8th Annual Mental Health and Aging Conference Our talk was titled "Eating Disorders, Nutrition and Frailty in the Elderly" and was based on our experiences with a variety of eating difficulties we have encountered in our program and of course tons of digging around in journals, books and the internet. We had a blast and were well enough received that we were invited to give the talk again at a conference in Springfield, IL! Yay! Geeky fun!

* At the end of April we took our boys back out to our favorite place - Swamp Branch, Kentucky (I dare you to find that on a printed map!). Lots of four wheeling, lots of camping and there was a 13 year old, cough, coughELIcough that got to drive a jeep all by himself.

* Remember how I thought baseball would calm down for me when I went back down to two boys playing instead of all three? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHA very funny. This year I have FOUR baseball players and the fifth (Eli) works the concession stand. Yes, we live at one ballfield or another. Last week, we had games four nights in a row. The boys are all doing VERY well though and I can easily see their skills improving. Jake's team (my 11 year old) has only lost two games out of fourteen so far. Chad's oldest son, Connor who is 9 has been able to pitch for three games. His first try at pitching resulted in three strike outs in a row. The two six year olds (Evan and Seth) are playing t-ball and loving it. We are almost up to the ending tournament so relief is in sight!

* My gramma made a brief visit to Southern Illinois in May! I wish that we lived closer together. Of all the people that shaped my life, hers was the greatest influence on me. Her driving personality and ambition set her apart from her peers in the business world in a time where women faced the famed "glass ceiling". I like to think that I got some of that from her. Either that or I am just a plain old pain in the ass. Oh and I missed her birthday in June as usual, Happy Birthday Gramma!

* My ex husband's sister, Susan, was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer at the very young age of 49. She was never a smoker nor did she work around any risky substances so it really caught everyone by surprise. She was just beginning to make plans for her end of life wishes when she suddenly got ill and passed away about six weeks after being diagnosed. She was a very sweet person that ALWAYS sent cards and gifts no matter that she hadn't heard from me or that I was divorced from her brother. Her children (triplets) turned 21 less than a week before she passed away. Very sad, she will be missed very much.

* Our poor, poor pontoon boat. Chad wanted to put new carpet down before getting back on the water this year. We took off the VERY heavy seats and canopy and ripped off the old carpeting to find that the marine plywood under it all was looking very scary. So it sits naked in the backyard of Chad's house waiting for the money fairy to visit us. Soon. Please.

* The first weeks of June brought the end of the school year. Happy to report that Seth did not get expelled from kindergarten despite the rocky start, LOL. Jake had pleaded and begged to trade from the trumpet to the clarinet this year and was allowed to do so under dire threats that he had to catch up to his class who were going to be on band year 2 while he was set back to the beginning. To my great surprise, my son who doesn't take much in life seriously not only caught up but PASSED his classmates and was one of three kids invited to play with the jr high band. YAY Jakey Wakey! Eli also did very well with his saxophone. I am looking forward to marching band getting going again - fun to watch them perform in parades. Eli also stayed on high honors with his grades and the Eagle club was rewarded with a trip to Memphis at the end of the year. I am very, very proud of how they are growing up. So much fun to watch them unfold.

* Chad took the boys and I on a hiking safari to a local State park called "The Little Grand Canyon". It actually looks nothing like the Grand Canyon thanks to all the trees but it is full of tall rocks, burbling streams and little critters that must be touched.

* The first weekend in June saw Chad and I back in Kentucky for the Annual Omer pig roast. This was my second year going and it was just as much fun as the first time.

* I had my 22nd anniversary of my 21st birthday and as a reward for not crying about it, Chad took me on a weekend get away to Cumberland Falls in Kentucky. This is just gorgeous. The falls are actually famous for being one of a handful of places in the WORLD where you can see a "moonbow". He planned it for the weekend of a full moon hoping we would get to see it but unfortunately for us, the full moon had passed enough that the moon rise was pretty late (2am) and it was very cloudy. Just means that we will have to go back, that's all. We are actually looking at going back in October or so to learn to kayak. The river was very low and we ended up paddling most of an 11 mile canoe ride which gave me ahhhhnold arms and meant that the "rapids" were few and far between. Got some awesome pictures - unfortunately I have to figure out how to get the pictures out of the camera because I pushed video each time instead of photo. Damn new fangled technology!

* Chad and I started the slow process of renovating the upstairs to be more family friendly. The previous owner had hung wallboard over top of four layers of wallpaper (including the original layer from the 1890's) in one of the larger bedrooms. This was just hanging off the walls and looked horrible. My goal with this house is to bring each room up to speed so that when I sell it when the boys graduate highschool, someone will actually want to buy a 140 year old house! Unfortunately, the house has been fairly neglected over the last fifty years and needs some serious elbow grease.

* Last but not least, this past weekend we carpooled in the Suburban with five of the Omer clan out to Chad's cousin's wedding in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I have never been to Tulsa before (not sure about the entire state of Oklahoma - I may have driven through it at some point). We arrived to find the entire city under construction which included the hotel we were staying at. The wedding itself was beautiful - the church was just gorgeous. The reception was at a Country Club. I think it is safe to say that we all had a great time and ate lots of fabulous food (who knew you could put lobster, avacado and curry together on a pita triangle?!! OHHHHHHHH so good!). My butt is happy to be out of the car though - seven hours one way, squished in with cousins who fart (SARAH) - just kidding.

The month of July is going to be baseball tournaments and NO TRAVELING. Lots of wallpaper scraping, plaster repairing, porch swing sitting and spinning of fabulous yarn. Or else I will cry.

Stay tuned for lots of pictures to go with at least some of the above activities.

Last Friday, I was about a quarter mile from my house on a back road (round here, they are ALL back roads!) rocking the new Amy Winehouse CD (SOOOOOOOOO good) when a deer appeared on the road. No, seriously. One second it was not there and the next second it was. I didn't even have time to register this fact before the Suburban (also known as a freakin TANK) hit the deer HARD! It threw the deer forward and then hit the deer again. Yes, that is right folks. When I hit a deer, I do it right. The deer had about half a second to turn its head and make eye contact with me prior to being hit the second time. It fell and the Suburban drug it about ten feet while it tried to figure out what it was going to do. It finally decided to just run the damn thing over with a lurch and a whump. I wasn't sure what the protocol was for hitting a deer - do you stop and admire your handiwork or do you get the hell out of dodge? The Suburban didn't even shudder so I decided to get the hell out of dodge. I was shaking HARD. I am ecstatic to report that the airbag that I am now deathly afraid of did NOT go off. Yay me. Just as I came around the next corner, three cars passed me. I tried to pretend like nothing happened but once they rounded the corner they no doubt knew me for the murderer I was. I started to smell an odd smell but went the eighth of a mile left to my driveway. I got out of the car and willed the Suburban to be okay. It was not. Red fluid was pouring out of some tank or other (turned out to be a huge hole in the radiator) and the whole left side of the grill cracked, nay, smashed with a buckle in the left quarter panel. There were no lights no how left. Just wires dangling from the eye socket.

Here is the part where I have to admit that the vehicle I wrecked (second one in three weeks) does not actually belong to me. I am driving Chad's Suburban because I totaled my car (see last entry if you missed that). Chad, being the nice guy he is, says it is just a machine, the most important thing is that I am okay. I love him. So I moved onto driving his mother's car for a day. I am happy to report that I did not wreck it.

Yesterday I got my happy butt into my nother new car. Exact same, except I requested this time I want the car that comes with the option of not leaving the road unexpectedly. The salesman thought that was a funny joke. I didn't.

After limping my half dead van along for exactly a year, I researched and settled on a Nissan Altima 2.5 SL. It was gorgeous. Drove exactly like my ex-husband's Nissan 280 ZX. I have never had a non practical car before so the luxury was overwhelmingly GOOD.

Fast forward 2 1/2 weeks later to Saturday March 15th. I was following Chad back to my house from a basketball awards ceremony near his house. It was slightly raining and windy when we got onto the long back country road I use to get home. I was trying to catch up to Chad which put me going way too fast for the road conditions when I went over a bump that also included a slight turn. It felt like my car lifted off the ground (it didn't). I knew the bump was coming - the kids and I call it the yee haw bump because it makes a sick feeling in your stomach when you go over it. I remembered at the last minute and was trying to slow down when I crested the top. My car went into the left lane a little bit and I tried to correct it. It must have slid a little bit and fish tailed a lot. When it hit the gravel on the right hand side of the road, it jerked the car around back the direction I had come. I hit a stump which tore off either the front of the car or the back spinning the car around and then tore off the other end. The car then slid about a 100 feet on its side coming to a rest in a cow pasture. I still have barbed wire wrapped around the tires. When I bought the car I thought that it felt very unsafe because I was so used to being high up off the ground. You would not believe the airbags in that car! It seemed like they came from everywhere. I did not hit my head at all. I am alive because of that car.

My car had come to a rest pointing at the road but down a four foot or so embankment and seconds after I stopped, I saw Chad's truck lights straight up above me. Poor guy! He saw the accident in his rear view mirror. I can only begin to imagine the terror of leaping that fence to find out if the woman you love is dead, mangled or okay. I immediately took stock of everything and decided I fell into the okay category. My mom instincts kicked in and I started calling to Chad that I am okay, calm down, it is okay.

He has OnStar in his truck so police and ambulance were called within seconds of the accident. One of the cars that pulled over happened to be a life flight helicopter pilot/EMT guy and he helped keep everyone calm. They had to wade through a foot of mud to get me out thanks to the rain. The tow truck guy said that is what kept my car from rolling.

My car does not count as a car anymore and I am not sure what all will happen. They actually had to tie the motor back into it. I spent a day in the hospital under observation due to severe chest pain. I felt like my ribs were broken but I have pretty well decided that I have a couple of separated ribs up near my heart. I cannot even describe how much pain that causes. There is not another scratch on me though. I jammed my thumb and separated a few ribs. I am damn lucky.

Chad immediately stepped in as my caregiver in the truest sense of the word. He bathed me, washed my hair and fed me raviolis like I was a little baby. He cried when I cried with the pain of moving. He has alarms set on his cell phone to tell me when to take medicine because I have too little energy to think straight. I love this man with all my heart. I did not need an accident to help me with that though. I am lucky in love.

You can see my beautiful new car in my photo gallery (click on these words).

Middle of May had Chad, Eli, Jake and me in Indianapolis for a car show. We have acquired an old Volkswagen ragtop that Chad wants to help Eli restore to be his first car. (it will actually go to the boy who puts the most work/interest into it). I will do a photo journal of the restoration because it will be very cool. (hey! Stop yawning!). Anyway, the car show was to look at cool restored cars and to maybe pick up some parts. Turned out to be not nearly as good as in years past. Oh well, there will be others.

After seeing what fun we were having with our EIGHT four wheelers (ATV’s), dad bought one of his own. To haul stuff to the barn you know, Doris. We promptly convinced him to bring it to one of our riding spots – Trail Of Tears (TOT). This place is beautiful and has lots of good trails from beginner all the way to nutcase level. The little guys zoom around on little bitty ones that sound like they are hamster powered. We cannot even begin to pry Seth off his. I am fairly certain he would sleep on it, if he was allowed.

Miscellaneous May pictures.

June:
Back to Kentucky Chad and I went for the long awaited (annual) pig roast. This was an adult affair which is always welcome for Chad and I as couple time. His Aunt Linda’s property holds special memories for us as a new couple. Anyway, romance aside, the pig roast was just damn fun. We arrived late at night and slept in a bit but woke in time to go get the pig from the butcher. When we got there, the butcher informed us that he had just eaten lunch and was going to sit a spell. Okaaaaay. So we sat a spell and learned all the local gossip. I was a little surprised not to hear Dueling Banjos. Finally, his food was digested enough to invite us into the butcher shop – whew! Hold yer nose and don’t think about it too much (hey, ya want the head and hooves?). We hauled the poor pig home where it was roasted to perfection. I think we all ate so much no one could move. And then we did it all over again. And then we had ten more beers. Each. All of the cousins were in that weekend and so the jeeps got broken out for trail riding. Ever hear that redneck joke: What’s the last thing a redneck says before someone has to call 911? “Hold my beer”. Everyone at the party can now easily check that phrase off the list of things to be said, LOL. I would love to show you pictures but SOMEONE forgot to take any. Ah well, probably best left undocumented. Next year there will be evidence – hell someone has to do a photo documentary of the shenanigans called erecting a rain tent. (How many more support lines can fit on that there tarp?)

Later in the month, I went for the second year to The Bash on the Bluff with my good friend Michael. We hung out, floated down the Big Piney River and generally made mischief. There are a few pictures of it in my gallery from last year, nothing really new this year. Once again, I love my friend but I am truly glad we don’t live in the same state. We party way too hard – I am less and less willing to face that hangover that lasts a couple of days later.

P.S. Just so y’all know, I really don’t drink that much normally although reading the above, it sounds like I need some sort of program, hahahahaha.

At the end of June, I had the pleasure of meeting another one of Chad’s Aunts, his Aunt Tali. We went up to a little town North of us to take the boys horseback riding. I have plenty of experience with horses but it was all as a teenager and NONE in about 20 years. She has three beautiful horses. We rode “Gold” who is fairly young and was most displeased with having seven people taking turns riding him. Everyone had fun riding but the highlight of the day for the guys was probably swimming in their hot tub.

Next update will be either Sunday or Tuesday or both! Oh, the excitement!!!

On the day of Kim’s birthday, Chad and his kids were at my house. His oldest son, Connor (8yo), was using one of our sleds to slide on a hill covered with pine needles. Chad had just finished mowing my field (Gads I love that man). I was in the house finishing Kim’s cake when the door bursts open and Connor hops through. I hear with my peripheral mom ear something about blood dripping on the porch. I go out to see Connor, crying, with a rip in his pants over his knee. And a *little* blood. I told him to take off his pants and let me see it. He pulled off his sock and blood starting splattering onto the porch. No problem. I forget now what Chad said but it freaked out Connor! So I put a napkin over it before anyone could see how bad it was to try to calm the situation down. I carefully pulled back the napkin and we all got a load of this four inch long gash so deep we can see muscle definition. Okay, now you have impressed the nurse (my kids will tell you that it takes a lot of blood to get my attention – I have NO sympathy). So we spent the next two hours in the emergency room of the tiny hospital next town over. Connor got 9 stitches on the outside and about five on the inside. I can’t seem to convince him to tell people it was a shark bite though. Turns out that he slid over the cut off end of a bramble in the field – who knew that sledding in April was bad? I would love to say that nobody sleds on non snowy hills but they have all summer, LOL. Oh and the ER bill was accidently doubled – Chad fought it hard and won. The end amount was exactly what my homeowner insurance maximum was for personal injury. YEAH!

All three of my boys were in baseball this year. Seth played T-ball and just loved it. I didn’t get to do T-ball with my older two. What a blast! There were baseball games four or five days of the week for two months straight. They had fun though and that is what counts. Next year will be a little easier because Eli, who is now 13, doesn’t want to play baseball anymore. Not a surprise.

At the end of April, we took the boys to Chad’s Aunt Linda and Uncle Reed’s place out in the far far deep deep woods of Kentucky. Paintsville to be exact. It is about two hours east of Lexington and takes us about 3 DVD movies to get there. This has to be one of my most favorite places in the United States. I fell in love with the Omer family the minute I met them six months earlier. Their property may as well be a nature preserve complete with the most awesome ATV trails. We hauled six of our eight ATV’s out there and had a blast. The boys were nonstop as you can see from the pictures.

Here are a few more pictures that defied category. Enough for today. Look for another installment on Thursday. I have realized that this may take a bit longer to get up to speed than I thought!

The program that I use to display my web pictures (as well as my dad’s and my sister Kim’s) went kerflooey. Six months ago. Hee hee, see, I really don’t spend much time on the computer anymore. My dad threatened me with my life if I didn’t fix his website (no not really) so his gallery and my gallery are fixed. Kim, on the other hand, will be unveiling a HUGE surprise in a month or so.

So, I think I will attack this in month order. Each month will have picture links (highlighted in the post) to the gallery album involved. Hit your back button to get back to the blog. I will do a couple of months at a time so it isn’t so enormous. I know just what you are thinking. That Deb is an evil procrastinating wench. Fear not. I have plenty of alone time coming up in the next weeks – you will have to wait for the last installment to find out WHY!

Just so I can get this off the ground today, I will start with what I am doing work-wise because that doesn’t include pictures. As most of my three readers of this blog know, I had a job as a clinic nurse doing triage in a rural health clinic. I loved it. Did you notice the past tense? Some big changes happened that caused me to move on starting with the loss of my beloved nurse manager over an ethics situation (she was not at fault – she resigned in protest). I loved the convenience of working close to home, I loved the people I worked with, I loved the patients. I did not love the lack of money in my paycheck nor did I love answering 100 phone calls a day (yes, REALLY). I decided I needed a more meaty position. So I started looking for a new job back in May. I tried to get a job with the VA here in Marion and now am thankful not to be part of their horrible woes. I ran across a tiny little ad in the local newspaper put out by a company from Texas for a program that had not even opened yet. When I interviewed with them, they could not even show me the space where I would be working because it was being remodeled.

The Center for Senior Renewal is the name of the program and it got off the ground about two months ago. I was hired on as the only nurse and I have to tell you, I cannot believe they pay me what they do to do something so fun and so rewarding. It is a geriatric psychiatric outpatient counseling program for seniors who are facing depression and anxiety over aging, living situation, grief, loss, etc. We have two full groups going which is testimony to how well received the program was in the community. We have clients from nursing homes, assisted living and independent living – quite a mix. They are so much fun! Hugs are required, kisses with lipstick are optional. As for coworkers, there are two licensed counselors and a mental health tech/driver. Oh, almost forgot, the clinic is based out of St. Joseph’s Memorial Hospital in Murphysboro, Illinois. I will have to tell you about that hospital in another post sometime. It is fantastic.

Stay tuned for ANOTHER post on Tuesday – with pictures. I think there will probably be about four more posts rapid fire and then I will settle back into some sort of routine at-least-once-a-month posting.