The Aftermath of Christmas

The buildup to Christmas seems like it takes a long time. Once the holiday ends its like it happened so long ago. Unfortunately, I came down with a cold on Christmas Eve and have been pretty miserable ever since. I can't seem to get rid of the cold no matter what I do. I even woke up with a sore throat this morning. I am ready for it to be over.

Our neighbors are here from England for two weeks. So Colton has been spending the majority of his time at their house. Also, his friend Kyle across the street has a new jet ski so they spend most of the day wake skating.

Hayley has been playing her Wii around the clock and has all ready beaten the Super smash brothers game. They have one more week off of school.

Today I will be using my gift certificate for a massage that Chris got me for Christmas. I have an easy work schedule this week. I only have to work Tuesday all day and Wednesday we close at 3:00pm. I won't know what to do with all my time. I will probably spend it getting my hair cut, grocery shopping, walking the dog, taking the dog to the dog park, taking care of end of the year forms for our business, and preparing for taxes.

Seaplane Crash

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orange/orl-planecrash2108dec21,0,7764559.story

Here's the story of our neighbors plane crash. He is having surgery on his broken ankle this morning. We are thankful that he will be okay.

Prayers Needed

This afternoon our neighbor across the street from us crashed his seaplane into a lake where he had been working on a dock for his dock company. It looks like he will be okay with a broken leg and some lacerations. He's currently in the hospital. Please pray for him.

Also, this little girl lost her mother to cancer a few years ago and she now has an incurable brain tumor. For Christmas, Hannah wants to see how many cards she can get to add to her growing collection. http://www.caringbridge.org/cb/viewHome.do Her address is Hannah Garman 704 Orchard Rd Lititz, PA 17543.

Caylee Anthony

It's sadly official. The remains that they found last Thursday was found to be those of Caylee Anthony. How a mother could do that to their child is beyond imagination. We in Orlando have lived with this since July. It is always on the news. It has been a three ring circus. How the grandparents could stand by their daughters side is unbelieveable. After the remains were found and they returned from taping Larry King Live they flew back from California last Thursday and stayed at the Ritz Carlton hotel. Not that their is a shortage of hotel rooms in Orlando. They had to stay at the top of the line hotel. Then through their attorney the grandparents asked for immunity from misleading statements that they have made during the investigation. Shame on them. That little girl needed someone to protect her. If the mother wouldn't the grandparents should have. It sure makes me want to squeeze my kids extra tight tonight.

Illness hath invaded

Today is the last day of school before the Christmas break. I am off today and Colton wakes me up at 6:30 to tell me that he has a sore throat and he wants to stay home from school. He tells me that he couldn't sleep last night. Since they will only be playing games or watching movies at school I let him stay home with a warning of no XBox will be played today.
I have a serious canker sore underneath my tongue and it is extremly painful to say the least. I can barely talk and the thought of food makes me naseous because of the pain each bite will cause. I am thankful to say the least that I am home today and I will be gargling salt water all day. I do need to get a manicure and hair cut today even though I feel like just climbing back into bed. Our dog last night was restless and I had to get up twice to let her outside. I felt bad for Chris as I kept waking him up and he had to work today.
Chris and I will be working nonstop until Christmas. One of us will be there every day to ensure that we are maximizing revenue. It is pretty depressing how much our business is going to be down over last year. All we can do is make sure that we are catching every rental possible. We have partnered with a repair shop that is on the same property as we are. Their salesperson will be promoting us to rent cars and trucks as they do sales calls. We are hoping that will give us some decent business starting in January.
Lots of kids right now are suffering from their cancer. I also read on another blog that corporate america has pretty much stopped donating to these organizations. That means fewer kids having treatment options and fewer new treatment options. Here is a link to the boy that I help support. Praying for continued good news on his latest scans. http://www.jackbrownappeal.org/updatesonjack.asp

The Medical Student

Wednesday night I went running into Hayleys room to look for something. She is a typical teenager and had things strewn all over the floor. I ran smack into a five pound weight and now my toe looks like this. Hayley in her sports medicine class has been learning how to use Ace bandages to wrap injuries. She looked over my foot pretty much squeezing it from side to side and declared that I would be fine. She asked identifying questions such as does it hurt when I do this and informed me that little pools of blood were forming under my skin. I told her that her bedside manner needed some improvement. When an injury occurs she might want to carefully feel the patients toe instead of ripping it from one side to the other. I then informed her that this was the third time that I had stubbed my toe on those weights and its not like she is lifting weights and to kindly remove them from her bedroom floor before my toe needed an amputation. I think she felt badly but I don't believe the weights are gone from the room.

The good news is that she has a babysitting job tonight. I am all for her earning some money. She blows through it like water and is really into shopping at the mall with her friend Lindsay. Luckily she shops on the sale racks and only spends about $20 when she does go with her.

Our neighbor across the street called us this morning to inform us that someone ransacked their cars and broke into their garage and stole some beer last night. The police believes it was kids. Chris and I checked our cars and both our doors were unlatched. This has happened before and someone stole about 10 cds I had in the car. Most of them were hits from the 80's. Not sure what a kid would do with that. Last time they tried to steal my car but the security alarm turned my car off. I love that feature.

Chris and I went on a Christmas parade of boats on the Butler chain of Lakes. It was so so so cold. I haven't been that cold in a long time and I don't want to be again anytime soon. It was nice and holiday like. Everyone had their boats decorated with Christmas lights and our friends Kym and Clive had appetizers and a good time was had by all. Tonight is Chris friend Ken's 40th birthday party. They live about 30 minutes from us. Should be fun as well.

Work, Video Games and Travel

Today is my official day two of being off after working virtually eight days straight. After complaining for eight days that I had to work I am now off and feeling like I don't know what to do with myself. I am restless. The chores that I need to do today I don't want to do. Pedicure, grocery shopping, christmas shopping, folding clothes, cleaning house, cooking dinner. I told Chris I'm not happy when I'm at work and then when I'm finally at home I want to go back to work. What is wrong with me. One thing I know is that I am a creature of habit. So having my schedule so out of whack throws me out of whack. I don't like change.

All video games in this house have been outlawed during the week due to poor grades and bad behavior from one teenage boy. Now he is always bored and whiny during the week. There is nothing to do. I suggested studying his science book since that is the class that he is doing poorly in. Of course it's the teachers fault and I should have him switch teachers. Which I refused. Hayley has not been allowed being on her computer during the week since the first progress report. She has brought her grades up to acceptable levels.

We did book our two free nights to Atlantis in the Bahamas in April. Just Chris and I will be going. I am also looking for Chris and I to go to New York City in June for the weekend. Hopefully using our Hilton honor points to stay at the Waldorf Astoria hotel and my Delta points for free airline tickets. That gives me something to look forward to. In August we will plan a family vacation with the kids at a resort in Florida probably San Destin Florida in the panhandle. Then in October to Wisconsin with Hayley and Colton for my sisters wedding. I had started planning a trip to California with all the kids until the economy tanked and the stock market virtually crashed. It seems like it will be awhile before it stabilizes again.

Coincidences

I'm driving to work on Friday morning and I see two teenage girls jumping over a brick fence (by the way which is very tall 7 feet or so) and one of the girls has blonde hair and a burgundy sweater just like one that my daughter owns. I say to myself as I almost come to a complete stop in the middle of the road "My daughter would never skip school". I continue on but questions abound. I put that thought aside for the day and call home around 5:00 to find out Hayleys progress report. Chris tells me she isn't home yet. Minute after minute passes Hayley is still not home. Chris drives to the bus stop. We call her cell phone repeatedly and it goes right to voicemail. I am at work and feel nauseous with all kind of thoughts running through my head. As Chris is getting ready to drive to her friend Lindsay's house a car pulls into the driveway. Hayley is finally home at 5:35. Her friend Carla's father gave her a ride home because the girls stayed after school to finish their Biology tests. These tests are so hard (biology honors) they can't finish them during class. Her cell phone was in her room not charged and she couldn't just call us from school. I calmed down considerably by the time I got home but good god child call your mother when your going to be late. We worry about you.

After this is over Chris tells me that our dog Molly escaped out the front door at around 4:00 pm and almost got hit by a car. A teenage boy in the neighborhood heard Chris scream and stopped the car in the middle of the street. Then our ferocious dog started running after his car barking at the tires when he tried to go just 5 houses up the street. The poor kid was probably traumatized. I know that Chris was. Not a very relaxing afternoon for him. I think I might have had it easier being at work. I'm counting down the hours until 5:00 when I will be off.

Lunch For Life

I have almost made it through this week. I have to work today 10:00-6:00, Saturday 07:00-5:00 and Monday 09:00-6:00 and then next week is a breeze. I am looking forward to a relaxing week.

Below is a link where you can donate $5 to a childs christmas tree who has been diagnosed with terminal neuroblastoma. With every $5 donated a child will get ornaments on their Christmas tree. I follow alot of these childrens battles and it really puts into perspective how lucky I am and that my troubles that I have are very minor. It could be so much worse.

http://www.lunchforlife.org/

Lunch for Life® is about helping children who have been diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a deadly form of cancer that strikes thousands of infants and toddlers each year.

This fundraising program is a simple but powerful solution: We ask people to donate one day’s lunch money to the Children’s Neuroblastoma Cancer Foundation (CNCF), a public charity dedicated to curing this cancer.

The cost of one lunch, if enough people contribute, will help save lives, fund research for a cure and provide support for families. Please donate your lunch money to the Children's Neuroblastoma Cancer Foundation and help us eradicate this disease.