Endurance

This has been a long summer.  We moved & we still have a lot to arrange/figure out.  Then a few days after my birthday my mouth started hurting.  I thought it was a sinus infection, a common occurrence in my life, but the pain got worse and worse.  I made an appointment to see my doctor about the sinus infection I was sure was causing the problem.  When he walked into the exam room and I was full out crying - my doctor knew it wasn't a sinus infection. 

It is Trigeminal Neuralgia.  Basically it a chronic pain condition that affects the trigeminal nerve in your face.  There are lots of causes, including Brain Tumors and Multiple Sclerosis, both of which I have family history with.  I had and MRI to make sure those conditions were not the cause, results - no brain tumors or MS.  The pain can be mentally and or physically incapacitating.  The pain is considered to be the worst pain anyone can feel.  While I've never had a ton of pain - this is bad. 

There aren't a lot of treatments that actually solve the problem, mostly because the causes and location of problems with the nerve vary and many times there isn't anything they can do.  Because it's nerve pain, there isn't a magic pill that will stop the pain for very long.  Typical treatment is to take a anti-seizure medication, which I began.  It takes several weeks for the medication to build up enough in your system.

I basically didn't sleep for two weeks (thank goodness the Olympics were on) until I had reached a dosage in my system that dulled or ended the pain.  I can sometimes feel that the nerve is unhappy, but not the pain.   I was able to make it through a week of technology training for work, and I've mostly made it through the first week of school.   Talking a lot makes it really sore (the first week of school is all about talking) and I can't sing very much or sometimes at all  - which is a real problem for me.

I am very blessed that my Doctor knew what Trigeminal Neuralgia is and recognized that it was what was going on.  For most people it takes years and several neurologists to get a diagnosis. (I don't think I could have endured that long).  It is something that can go away for 10 years and then return, get worse, disappear forever.  I'm hoping it will eventually go away or that should it get worse a neurologist will be able to pin point the exact location of the problem and that the problem is able to be corrected with surgery.

Along with this I am teaching an extra period this year - all 9th graders all day.  The extra money will finance my trip to New Zealand next year, a new windshield, tires, and brakes for my car and pay a few things off.  But it's going to be a challenge.

Endurance is the name of the game this year.
Melody

New Place - New Decorating Dilema

Amy and I moved from our townhouse to a house almost two weeks ago.  Amy's loving the yard - which needs lots of work - and I'm loving not hearing neighbors through the wall.  We're still trying to find places for everything - but we do have a decorating dilemma.  It's this wall.  You can see the two sconces that stick out from the wall. We are planning to hang some pictures, but we need something else.  Anything we put there needs to be less than 13 inches deep. Any ideas?

What's Going On

Nothing exciting is going on with us - making it difficult to come up with something to post.  I've got two months left of school.  It will not come soon enough.  For Spring break I went to Oregon.  It rained a lot.  One morning I went on a very short hike to the Salmon River.  Of course as soon as I got there it started pouring.  We've just been doing all the day to day things.  We are looking for a new place to live.  We've been in this townhome for almost four years and Amy wants some land and I'm tired of hearing my neighbors snore.  Our lease is up at the end of June - so we are hoping to find a house to rent by then.

Melody

Steps for planning a trip

I'm hoping to take a trip to New Zealand in 2013, so I've been taking some steps:

1.  Start saving money.
I put all my extra change in my handy dandy New Zealand bank! 
(Thanks Macs!)

2.  Get some travel guides
I probably won't need them because I have my own personal guides!
(That would be the Macs!)

3.  Get a Valid U.S. Passport!
It arrived today
(Thanks City of Issaquah & the U.S. Government)

I still need a lot more money in my bank, but I'm hoping 2013 is the year I fly to the other side of the world!

Snowpocalypse 2012

Remember ages ago this post & this post & this post & don't forget this one

Well it's happened again.  Last week I didn't have to go to work.  Why?

SNOWPOCALYPSE 2012!!!!

So here we go:
1/17/2012 Day 1 - It did't snow at my house until early the next morning, but it did snow in my school district.

1/18/2012 Day 2 - The snow begins

6:30 - my car is the second one from the right

9:00 am our patio railing

9 am beyond the patio

looking out the front door - my car's the first one on the right

11 am - Amy's Car (mine is just barely visible) 

11/19/12 - Day 3 - The worst day of snow & the ice storm

8:30 am - the end of snow and the beginning of the Ice/Snow/Ice again

Can you see the ice beginning to build on Amy's tomato cages?

Ice layer on top of snow and the build up around the top of the pot is ice covered with snow

1/20/12 Day 4:  The snow & ice ends and the warming begins.  It started to rain early morning, but still some ice/snow.  We ventured out to get butter and saw the ice destruction.  Boeing had tons of trees down/ branches broken along the road.  In our complex two fir trees just bent over due to the weight of snow & ice. 

1/21/12 Day 5:  Rain continues - but the snow is still covering roads & our balcony, but my car was snow free

1/22/12 Day 6:  What's left at our house:

When I got to work on Monday - Issaquah still had lots of ice, and trees were down everywhere.  Areas were still without power, but school started again and we had to begin finals today - one week late.

Dinner with Pinterest

Recently, I have joined the many who have been sucked into the pictures and boards of Pinterest.  I love it!  All of it.

About three days into my obsession, my sister shared with me this quote that I believe she found on Pinterest:

Pinterest: A place where women go to plan weddings they'll never have and decorate houses they can't afford. 

Though I laughed along with her at the time, the thought has crossed my mind many times as I've continued my obsession with my many pins and boards.  Last week I made a decision:  That is not going to be me.  I will plan and gather pictures and ideas, but more importantly, I will do them.  My plan for this year is to be more real, do real things, experience real things, have real relationships and complete real projects.  I don't want to collect a bunch of dreams and ideas that I don't do anything with. 

With that in mind, this week is "Cooking with Pinterest" week. 



Recipe 1:  Crockpot Honey Chicken

Link:  http://pinterest.com/pin/83527768058666887/

Super easy recipe, cooks all days in the crockpot, hardly any work.  AND, it was tasty.  I loved it.  Great with rice and broccoli.  Will do it again for sure.

Recipe 2:  Waffle Brownies
Link:  http://pinterest.com/pin/33495590948295626/

Thought this would be so fun!  Any excuse to use one appliance to do multiple things sounds good to me.  However........ it didn't work out so well.  It might be better with a Belgin Waffle maker, but with my flat square one.  Yeah, not so good.  The "waffles" didn't come out of the plates very easily, despite my spraying them with baking spray ahead of time.  I did like the crunchy outsides, but there just didn't seem to be enough substance to it.  Not going to try it again. 






Point of the story.....  I can dream, collect pictures and plan.... but I'm going to do something about it!  This will be the first of many Pinterest posts of my many REAL adventures of the year.  Fun times!  :)

Farewell Papa

On December 30, 2011 our father passed away.  Tomorrow is his funeral.  Here is his obituary:
David Curtis Smith, age 62, passed away peacefully at home surrounded by family on December 30, 2011.

David was born December 23, 1949 in Van Nuys, CA to Curtis Elmer Smith and Frances Dee Chaffin (Deceased). and was the oldest of 8 children. He was active in the Boy Scout program in the wards and stakes in which he lived. He loved hiking, camping, spending time with his brothers, and all things llama; pastimes that continued his entire life. He loved gardening and grew the best tomatoes around. David graduated from Marina High School and attended college at Golden West Community College in Huntington Beach, CA. David served a mission to the New England States from 1969 to 1971. He loved to make up songs, had a great sense of humor, and loved to be on a trail with his llamas in the mountains.

He married Janis Carter Smith on September 8, 1972 in the Los Angeles California temple. They are the proud parents of 7 children; Melody Ann; Annjeanette (Deceased); Amy Louise; Michael David, (Michelle Dalley); Robert Wayne, (Katie Bills); Abigail Frances; Andrew Carter, (Alina Derevnina). They are also the loving grandparents to five perfect grandsons and one granddaughter to come.

David was a hard-working , dedicated employee for all of his life. He and his father owned a janitorial maintenance company for many years. David was also employed by The Fuller Brush Company, Interstate Electronics, and was the facilities manager for the Honda Event Center, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and the Jewish Community Center.

David was baptized into and had a strong testimony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and served in many church callings. His favorite, by far, was being able to serve in the scounting organizations of the church. An avid scouter all of his life, David was proud to be an Eagle Scout. He and his wife were honored to have worked in the Oquirrh Mountain temple.

David has been reunited with his mother, his brother Corey, his daughter and loving grandparents and relatives.

He is survived by his father Curtis, Delta, UT, 4 brothers: Robin (Linda), Hinckley, UT, Russel (Chris), Salt Lake City, UT, Brian (Julie) Spring Creek, NV, Matthew (Jane), Rexburg, ID, and 2 sisters: Wendy Kelly, Orem, UT, and Jennifer (Lou) Pardone, Orem, UT and many nieces and nephews.

Funeral services will be held Thursday, January 5, 2012, 11:00 AM, at the West Jordan, Prairie Stake Center, 5360 West 7000 South West Jordan, UT. A viewing will be held prior to the services beginning at 9:30 am. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the LDS church missionary fund or the Boy Scouts of America.

The family would like to express their gratitude and appreciation to the Intermountain Hospice Care employees and volunteers.

 

Picture taken by Dad's Employer - The Salt Lake Jewish Community Center

Farewell Papa!  We will miss you!