Deer Camp Tails

School is Back in Session

2011-09-09T22:23:00.002-05:00

Well, I have had a few weeks of my new semester, this begins the formal focusing on my new career as a Respiratory Therapist. Not only am I going to school for 16 credit hours (a normal full class load is 12), I am also working a job that is sucking the life out of me. I will not go into specifics other than to say I am looking for a new job and I have only been employed since the middle of July. As for my personal lung issues, I still have not been given an answer, now I am being told that the nodule in my lungs is still there, it is still the same size and is most likely scar tissue, not very comforting.

Well, that's about it for now.

Follow ups

2011-06-03T12:43:00.002-05:00

Four Down completely, I ended my 4th semester with 2 B-s and 2 A-s. One of the B-s was bogus, the instructor's final exam covered stuff she never mentioned in class, and I don't under stand how getting A-s on all the quizzes, a very high B on the paper and midterm could equal a B at the end of the semester. On the Job hunt side, I finally heard back and I didn't get the job, but I have been putting in applications all over, so....we'll see.

Well, the Piranhas at the pump are going to continue to eat at my check book, the car I was looking at was far from spectacular and the dealer was not willing to give me what I wanted for my Jeep. So, the hard top came off and the soft and bikini tops went on.

Possibilities haven't heard anything back, so that is more than likely not going to happen.

Motivation...I still need it.

Expanding my horizons Due to our move to a different town I could no longer go to the EMT trainings and meetings in my former small town. I am hoping to possibly start up here, but because I don't know anyone, I doubt it will happen.

Four down more to go.

2011-05-11T10:03:00.002-05:00

Well, almost four, I have final exams for my fourth semester next week. I only have three finals to take as I took one this week already and passed (with flying colors I might add). Next week I have my finals for Microbiology, Phlebotomy, and Nutrition. Of the three I am really worried about the first one, this is the class that if I do not get a C or better can screw up my whole plan.

In the mean time I was officially accepted into the Respiratory program at RVC and will be starting the real classes in the fall. I am super excited, but also scared.

The job hunt has had a few possibilities, I interviewed recently but have not yet heard anything back. I have been calling but unfortunately no one is returning my calls. I hope I get the job, I could really use the income.

Piranhas at the pump

2011-05-11T09:47:00.005-05:00

Due to the rising cost of gas and the gas mileage of my jeep I may be trading it in. (Cross your fingers) I am looking at a VW Convertible it is considerably less than what I paid for the jeep and my jeep still has about 2 years left on the warranty so I am hoping to get a little extra cash in my pocket as well as a more fuel efficient fun to drive, riding around with my top down car.

ooh the possibilites

2011-04-28T23:52:00.002-05:00

A few months ago, I bought a new mouth guard from Protech Dent Mouth Guards
let me just say I will never go back tot he cheap or expensive mouth guards from a sporting goods department or store. With my new mouth guard I can remold it as many times as I need to to get the proper fit, I can speak clearly, and even drink with it in bonus: they are Germ Free. I have found myself even wearing it home from practice because I forgot to take it out of my mouth.

Well, I just signed up to become an affiliate, so I will hopefully have a link on my blog in the near future and start earning money for any sales generated from people who click through from my blog.

Cross your fingers for me.

motivation

2011-04-21T13:54:00.002-05:00

I need it. It's hard when so much needs to get done and your the one doing what seems like most of it, or if it seems that your the only one worried about it.

So, if anyone has any motivation lying around somewhere that they don't need...send it my way.

Kthanks!

April 18th 2011

2011-04-18T22:23:00.003-05:00

I learned:
I have been accepted into the Respiratory program at my college.
My husband and I will be moving by the end of the month.
My brother and his family will be traveling to Indiana in June.
I really, really dislike my microbiology and nutrition classes.
Other people can see I have lost weight, but I can not.

April 11th, 2011

2011-04-11T11:36:00.002-05:00

What I have learned, well, it has been over 2 weeks since my last post. I honestly don't know what I have learned.

I should expect my letter of acceptance or denial for the respiratory program this week.
Jake's family lost Grandma Wagner last week.
We found a decent apartment that we are going to put an application in for, very small so we will probably be having a huge garage sale.
need to start looking for boxes so we can start packing.
I am getting tired of school and can not wait for summer break.
Hope to have at least 1 part time job by the end of the week.

March 28th 2011

2011-03-28T21:45:00.002-05:00

What I learned today...

I have raised my microbiology grade a full letter from the last exam we had.
I got a B on my Nutrition Mid-term exam and my nutritional analysis report, both are worth 25% of my grade.

When one part of your life comes together, another falls apart. If it's not your mind going down the drain, it's your body.

One step in my becoming an EMT is attending training classes. Saturday the class was fire rehab. Where we watch the emergency response personnel for signs of stress and fatigue to fight preventable injuries. One of the things the EMTs did was practice taking vitals. Because I have not yet been trained I was used as a guinea pig. The most interesting part was when they could tell me which lung and which part (upper vs lower) of my lung was the affected part. According to what they heard I still have some fluid in there. Hopefully it will sort itself out in the next couple of months.

March 22 2011

2011-03-22T21:45:00.002-05:00

Well, spring break is over, I have been to most of my classes again. My first class, first aid and cpr was canceled on Monday. I had mixed feelings about that, one I was happy because I hurt my knee in my roller derby bout on Saturday and I am using crutches to walk since I walk so far at school, but two, I was upset cause I could have slept in later, but oh well, such is life.

What I have learned so far this week:
I passed my phlebotomy mid-term with flying colors, we will not need to draw blood in front of our instructor for the final, and this semester is my instructors last semester teaching.

In Microbiology....well, I got a higher score on my mid-term exam than the first exam. The section I thought I did better on, I didn't. I did however get a much better score on my short answer and essay questions so I am pretty happy about that. I learned that I need to find a better way than flash cards to memorize the 20 microbes assigned to us at the beginning of class.

In Nutrition, we didn't get our scores back yet for the mid-term because our instructor was out of town for medical reasons and she still had a few students who needed to take the test. In class we learned all about antioxidants, and how they work.

I also learned that the committee that reviews the applications for the respiratory program has not even met or started the process yet. When I called last month I was told to expect my letter around the end of March, now we are being told to expect them around the second week of April. This is very frustrating. I know I do not have to take any classes this summer, I will have all my pre-requirements done at the end of this semester, but I would like to know what I am going to be doing in the fall.

March 14th 2011

2011-03-15T21:49:00.002-05:00

My adventures in expanding my horizons.

Before we left Yuma I had flirted with the idea of taking an EMT course. Shortly after we moved to small town Illinois I went to the local community college and asked about their EMT course, cause in Arizona that's where the EMTs went, to AWC. I was told that they did not offer the course at the college and to approach my local fire department. I went down-village (cause I don't live in a town) and knocked on the fire house door. I must have come at a time when there were only firefighters there because no one there could answer my question about how to become an EMT.

Now it has been a few years and I had kind of given up on the idea and focused on becoming a respiratory therapist. Then I met an amazing woman who very quickly became an amazing friend. She introduced me to her fellow EMTs, she invited me to come along to a training meeting. On March 14th I filled out my application to become a member of the Local Fire Protection Service. If accepted I will be starting out as a driver and running calls. I won't actually work on the patient, but act as the gofer for the EMTs fetching items and helping where I can. Hopefully in the near future a class will be held and I will start the learning process to become a licensed EMT.

Thank you Goldie Rocks, for rocking my world into a direction I have been trying to find for a while.

A project

2011-03-12T17:11:00.002-06:00

Well, the only suggestion I have had for my blog is to write about what I learned in school today. Well, today, is Saturday, yesterday I had only one class, first aid and cpr. We practiced our rescue breathing. This past week was dedicated to mid-term exams.

This coming up week is dedicated to spring break. I have 2 assignments due the Monday we come back. One is my lab-report and the other is a report on one week of my food intake, for nutrition class.

So, I will actually have to do homework during my time off.

Gloomy

2011-03-10T01:25:00.002-06:00

This winter just seems to drag on forever, every time we get a glimpse of spring, the gray clouds move in to ruin it.

This week is week 8 of my 16 week semester, next week is spring break. I hope the weather got the notice. I hope to find out if I am accepted to the respiratory program this month, I am skating in St Louis in 2 weeks, and I am going to be lifting a weight off my shoulders shortly...I hope.

Ok, gotta get off my butt

2011-03-03T17:37:00.003-06:00

Well, it is now the third month of 2011, what have I accomplished? Absolutely nothing. Okay, I take it back. I have gotten into an accident, skated in my first WFTDA sanctioned bout, broken the plate on one of my skates, drawn blood successfully from a live person (not a fake arm) and passed my CPR exam with flying colors.

This year has gotten off to a very busy start. My new roller derby league has been skating in bouts about twice a month, and so I have been skating about twice a month. My endurance has improved, but I am still not up to what I would like.

As for my lung condition, I still do not have an answer. I will be returning to Madison on Tuesday and hopefully I will have some good news, or at least some news.

Well, that's about all I have to say for now, so I will let you all go. I promise I will try and update this blog more often. I need a task so that I can not get out of this blog. If you come up with any ideas shoot them my way and I will see if it is possible.

So, how have you been?

2011-02-16T15:55:00.002-06:00

Life is a funny, funny thing.

In October I had a bout of bronchitis and 2 rounds of antibiotics, the sickness went away. In December, the Monday before my birthday it came back, I went to the walk in clinic and was given an x-ray. "It looks surprisingly clear." more antibiotics and away you go....

Thursday December 9th, my birthday. I get a call but my phone didn't ring so while I am out for a few drinks I notice I have a voice mail. My surprisingly clear lungs are not so clear. I have a density in my right upper lobe. CT scans are in order, in the mean time, here, have some more antibiotics.

My CT scan rules out fluid, what ever is in there is definitely a mass of some sort. I need a PET scan. A PET scan will tell the doctors if what ever is in my lungs has a metabolism. And low and behold it glows in the dark along with one of my lymph nodes. Now it's time to have a biopsy.

Well, it has been 3 weeks since my biopsy and so far...it's not cancer, it's not bacterial, the test for a fungal infection takes 28 days to grow. The latest x-rays and CT scan shows that what used to be a denseness about the size of a quarter is now more like a wispy cloud taking up a great deal of space, the doctors are saying it looks like pneumonia now, but it didn't look like it backin December. So now I am on SUPER antibiotics, the ones that kill off all your natural bacteria.

I am set for another CT scan in just over a week and another trip to UW Madison the second week of March. We will see if they have any clue as to what is going on then.

2011

2011-01-03T10:55:00.002-06:00

Alright, so this is a couple days late but I don't have internet access every day. 2010 ended with a lot of questions and no answers. A few highs but many lows. I am not going to focus on the lows.

In January I started my first semester of college to become a respiratory therapist. In March I was lucky enough to get a new to me Jeep. In April I received my settlement check from the accident and bought a replacement bike and we paid off quite a few bills. In August I got to fly back to Arizona to meet my nieces for the first time.

Upon my return to Illinois I joined a new roller derby team, I have skated in 2 bouts since and have another one this coming weekend. I turned 35 and for the first time in my life I got all A's in school.

Well 2011, I have high hopes for you, I hope you can live up to them, starting with the answers I need to all those questions 2010 left me with.

35 and counting

2010-12-09T12:39:00.003-06:00

Well, today is my 35th birthday.
Wow.
To celebrate I am took an exam in my psychology class. Got a B on the test and ended up with an A for the course. I had perfect attendance so I do not have to take the final. (yea!)
I am now studying (can't you tell?) for my anatomy and physiology exams. I have 2 of them today. One is a lab test and one is a lecture test. As of right now I have a B in the course and it is the only class keeping me from a 4.0 for the semester. If I don't get it, I won't be heart broken, as long as I maintain my B I will be extremely happy.

In Illinois you have to renew your driver's license every 4 years, this year I had to take the written exams for both my motorcycle and regular license, I passed both with flying colors, so you guys can stop screaming and running when I come driving down your sidewalks, and the picture is the best driver's license/i.d. card picture I have ever taken.

Well, that's about all for now.
Talk to everyone later.

December

2010-12-02T13:09:00.002-06:00

Well, today is the second day of December 2010. I have less than two weeks of classes for my third semester of college. Tomorrow I go and pick up the payment voucher for my fourth semester. Next month I will have been in college for a full year. Right now I am one class shy of all my prerequisites for the respiratory therapy program. The good news is I am number three on the wait list which means as soon as registration reopens after payment due day I have to get my butt in gear and register. I also have to get my butt in gear and fill out the application for the program.

A few milestones... yesterday, December 1st was Lyndi's second birthday. Next Wednesday the eighth is my parents 37th wedding anniversary and the day after will be my 35th birthday.

On December 11th I will be playing in my second bout as a Rockford Rage skater, I will be playing in the debut bout of the Rag Dolls. I am super excited.

That's all for now.

Really?

2010-11-02T11:16:00.002-05:00

Today is election day 2010, a day when our publicly elected officials will find out if they have a job next year. I know this is going to sound really spiteful, and I do not blame any one politician or political group, but how does it feel, not knowing if you will have a job in the near future? For those that do not win re-election, now you truly will know how a great many of your constitutes feel.

But I digress, what I really wanted to know is, when was election day termed a holiday? I had to stop by the unemployment office today to drop off some paper work and when I arrived there was a large note taped to the door. "IDES Offices will be closed today 11/2/10 because of election day."
REALLY? luckily the paperwork I needed to drop off simply goes in a mail slot and I don't have to actually hand it to someone.

Sitting

2010-10-28T10:13:00.003-05:00

This semester has been filled with sitting, I wake up and sit in my jeep on the drive to class. I sit in class for 50 minutes to 165 minutes. I sit between classes for 6 hours, trying to study but mostly playing games or stalking my friends on facebook. Then I get back into my jeep and sit as I drive home.

Today I'm sitting in a car dealership between classes waiting for a new radiator to be installed.

I think I need to get moving, but I feel like even though I am spending a lot of time sitting, not going anywhere, I am never home and constantly on the move.

Second thoughts

2010-10-26T14:01:00.002-05:00

I have been having second thoughts lately. I guess I will eventually have to make a decision. It sucks, but I have to do something. I do not like where I am right now. We will see what happens in the next 2 months.

Gone

2010-10-12T13:31:00.002-05:00

Another weekend has come and gone. I tried very hard to be lazy, but failed miserably. On Saturday I studied went grocery shopping and spent the afternoon making chili for Jake's work potluck. I wanted my chili to be somewhat healthy so along with regular chili beans (not kidneys, blech) I added garbanzo beans, hominy, and for color carrots. I thought it looked good and it tasted even better.

Apparently I was the only one who thought so. Hardly anyone ate it because of the carrots. Those that did said it was good, sweet with a kick that snuck up on you. One person even told me I should have served it over egg noodles because it was more like a stew than a chili. Oh-well.

Sunday I got up early and drove to Batavia, IL. I joined 3 of my new teammates as we helped a local ABATE chapter with their annual toy and food run. Toy runs are one thing I miss from Yuma, but they are not the same here. There is no tri-tip, they have burgers and brats instead. *shakes head* what are they thinking? Toy Runs should have either tri-tip or chorrizo and egg breakfasts, duh....

Oh well, it was a good time anyway, and the weather, beautiful, it was in the 80s all weekend, I drove around with the top down. I should have left the skates at home and taken the bike, maybe next year.

Making memories

2010-10-05T11:21:00.003-05:00

I don't know if I said it here or not, but one of my fondest memories from childhood was my family's trips to the apple orchard. I know we didn't go every year, but all the pick your own places we went to were so much fun. We would pick peaches, blueberries, cherries, and of course apples.

Well since we have moved to Illinois we have been going to a local apple orchard every year. We have yet to pick our own apples. (insert pouty face here) we always have a good time though. This past weekend we took our friends from the Quad Cities and their kids to the orchard. (Note to self, NEVER go on a weekend!!) Usually when we go we drive up before 10 in the morning during the week, they are relatively slow and have taste testers for all the dips and mixes that they sell. There is hardly ever a line and you can just relax, take your time, and taste everything. Well on the weekend there are no samples, huge lines, and unbelievable crowds.

We started in the store, hoping for samples because we were hungry and the line for the cider doughnuts downstairs was long. Ha, were we in for a shock when we got inside and there were none. I figured it was because they wouldn't be able to keep up with the crowds, which makes sense. So we went in and found the line for the fresh doughnuts by the dozen, about 10 minutes in line for warm apple cider doughnuts, while Jake and friends held our place in line I took one of the kids and snuck over to where they had the apple tasting, where you could sample the apples before you decided what to buy. We brought a slice back to tide us over until we got our doughnuts.

12 doughnuts and 6 people didn't last too long so we chose our apples and stood in line to check out...ah yes, more lines. This line wound through the store. They were counting people leaving the store so they would know how many to let in the store at the entrance. It was that crazy.

Once we got outside it was better, the kids could run and play in the farm area, they even had a maze of fencing up for the kids to get lost in. We climbed over tractors, a boat, a train, and even in a small house. Once we ran off some steam and had a caramel apple and warm apple cider we went on a wagon ride through the orchard.

It was windy and cold, but it was a great time. We ended our time at the orchard by picking our own pumpkins.
Next year, we are going to take the kids out of school on a Friday when we go, that way we can have the full adventure.

Depression hurts

2010-09-29T14:23:00.002-05:00

Wow, intense title huh? the sad part is I am feeling really depressed today. It is a beautiful sunny day and all I can do is try not to cry. I don't know why. I am doing good in school, but it feels like that is the only thing I have going for me right now.

I still enjoy roller derby, but I just can't keep up with my with my new team. I feel like I am letting everyone down.

I feel like I am letting Jake down, this past spring my unemployment got cut in half, yes we got the settlement from my accident, but we used it to pay bills and replace my car that was falling apart, and the bike I lost. Now that money is gone and we are back to living paycheck to paycheck.

I just feel like I am less than I was when I was working. I feel like I am no longer productive. I feel like I am a shallow shell of a person.

Why is it I can read about what others are doing, feeling, seeing, or interpreting in the events and happenings in their life and only wish I could see the same things. I have a friend who is so intuitive that she can see her life's story in songs. She can feel the emotions that the artist was feeling at the time. When I hear a song, I hear the words. The music is nice, but it's the words that I focus on.

Others can see deep meaning in a photograph or painting. What do I see? I see what the picture or painting is, a house, a tree, or a landscape. I can not see what the artist felt. I don't understand what they are trying to convey, other than it's an eye appealing picture.

And this makes me sad. I want so much to see the beauty around me, I want to feel like I can appreciate everyone I love. I want my friends and family to be proud of me because of what I do, not just because they have to or because it is socially acceptable. I am going to school and everyone is so proud of me, but why? There is no sense of accomplishment for me. In order to get a decent job, I have to go to school. I don't know, I guess the bare bones of this rant is I just feel so useless right now.

Fall

2010-09-21T14:18:00.002-05:00

This is my favorite time of year. I love the cooler weather, the colors of the leaves are changing, and the apple orchard is open. I can't wait. One of my fondest memories as a child is going to the apple orchard with my family. We would go and pick our own have fresh apple cider and just have a great time outside. Well we have been lucky to find a really nice place close to us and Jake and I go every year with his mom and Bob. We go and wander around the store tasting dip samples eating apple cider doughnuts, drinking hot apple cider. Then we go to the barrels and pick up a couple of bags of apples. Not exactly the way I remember it, but it works. This year though I have conspired to bring back at least a little of that memory and hopefully I can create a new one for our god-children. In a couple of weeks our friends from the Quad Cities will be making a day trip up and we are going to take them to the orchard. We are going to pet goats, taste dip samples, eat apple cider doughnuts, pick a pumpkin or two and hopefully, just maybe, we will take a trip into the trees themselves and bring home a few apples of our choosing.

Plans bare fruit part 2

2010-09-09T13:41:00.003-05:00

My trip started out getting on a bus in Rockford. Typical bus ride, nothing too exciting, except, this time I was flying solo. This is the first time I have taken public transportation without anyone else around. I arrived at the airport, made it through security and to my designated terminal without any help. no one held my hand and I made it safe and sound.

While sitting there waiting for the plane to arrive I saw a familiar face, though at first I couldn't place him. He was tall and lean and had very unique facial features. After I stewed for a while I finally figured out who he was, Randy Johnson. That was my celebrity sighting for the trip, and yes he got on the same flight I was on to Phoenix.

I landed in Phoenix safely then caught a puddle jumper to Yuma. The flight was uneventful, except they stuck the one person on the plane who got motion sickness right next to me. I spent the part of the flight over telegraph pass and landing trying not to hear her gagging. I have a sympathetic gag reflex and if she would have barfed, so would have I.

Once we landed I got my luggage and walked across the street to wait for my rental car. (Hint, if you want to rent a car with out paying the airport taxes, walk across the street to a gas station, or fast food joint and have the car company pick you up there.) Once I had my car I headed for mom and dad's.

From there it was a whirl wind tour of the southern part of the state, I went from Yuma to Mesa to Tucson, back to Yuma, back to Mesa, down to Tempe, then Back to Yuma. Saturday found us at the newest casino in the Yuma area. It all happened so fast and there was so much driving, it is one big sandy blur.

Plans bare fruit part 1

2010-08-31T13:32:00.004-05:00

Well I have told you that I had plans in the works. My plans were simple, yet long overdue. I planned a surprise trip to Arizona. I wanted to keep it a secret from friends and family alike, but as always happens, not everything falls into place. I had to tell my mother I was coming. Then she spilled the beans to my sister in-law. Oh well. It was still a good trip, and I hope I surprised my dad for his birthday.

I also had wanted to make a surprise trip to Tucson to cheer up a friend who left Illinois a few months ago. I texted her and asked her when would be a good time to call her on the Wednesday I would be in AZ. Only she didn't know I was going to be in AZ. She gave me a time and I made the plans, tentative on when my newest niece would make her grand entrance into the world. Needless to say I couldn't just show up, she wanted to get some labs done after class and asked if I could call her later in the evening. so I had to break the news. She was so excited to see me, and I her. I missed her friendly and supportive face.

I didn't really have time to visit everyone I wanted to, or everyone that mattered. But I did make the most important visit of all. I got to see the two most important girls in my family's life. Lyndi and her sister Adyson.

It's a gray day

2010-08-31T11:30:00.006-05:00

Last week we opened up the house. The humidity went away, the temperature dropped to the mid 70s during the day and the low 50s at night. It was a beautiful week. Friday the humidity and heat came back. Only it wasn't so bad.

The soybeans are starting to turn yellow. The corn cobs are starting to droop while their stalks turn brown. The buckeye trees down the road are starting to loose their leaves. It's a gray day today, but fall is in the air. I am hoping for a strong thunderstorm with lots of lightning tonight. It's a gray day today, but the apple orchard opened this past weekend and everything is going to be alright.

First week of school

2010-08-26T09:55:00.002-05:00

As I begin my 3rd semester at Rock Valley, I read about friends and family sending their kids off to school, and I think, hey, that's me putting on my backpack and walking out the door.

I have a full schedule this semester. I have a Career planning class, a Psychology class, an Anatomy and Physiology class, and lastly a Biology of Human Disease class. When I look at that list I can't help but think, "what was I thinking?!?" this is going to be a very tough semester for me. I am going to have a lot of reading to do in at least 2 of the classes. My human disease class not so much. The Teacher doesn't like the book we have for the class and won't be following it, however the material in the book will be helpful to study with.

So far the only class that is scaring me is the A&P. I'm not to sure about how I feel about the teach, on a side note, both my A&P and human disease teachers are younger than me.

Ok, enough fiddle farting around here, I have to go read a few chapters.

Summer Break

2010-08-04T10:31:00.002-05:00

Ahhh, it's August and I have 19 days until school starts again. I plan on doing as little as possible, I mowed the yard on Sunday. Today is Wednesday and you can't tell I touched it. I have gone from 5 loads of dirty laundry to one in the dryer, one put away and 3 laundry baskets of clean clothes. All the junk mail that was on the living room floor has been picked up and thrown away, now I just need to take all the cardboard to the recycling dumpster. So much for doing as little as possible.

Well I got my official grades yesterday. I ended up getting an A in chemistry instead of the B I thought I was getting so I was extremely surprised. My GPA for 2 semesters is an average 3.667! I was so afraid I did so bad this semester that A really made me feel better.

So where are they now...

2010-08-02T13:54:00.003-05:00

Hello friends and family,
I have just finished my second semester of school. My first semester I did really well. I was a few credits shy of being full time and I had an A in 2 classes and a B in the third.

This semester I had 3 classes, and was a full time student. I liked my Chem class, but did lousy on the tests. Luckily the homework and lab work made up for that and I came out of the class with a B. I had an A in another class and unfortunately I had a really hard time in my Algebra II class. The teacher expected us to know everything he taught already. During one class he used an equation from geometry and I asked him, "How were we supposed to know this if we have never taken geometry?" His answer, "Well, I guess you are outta luck then." yeah, hated this class. I luckily passed with a C so I don't have to re-take it, but it brought my average down. To get into my Respiratory program I need to have a high average in order to compete for the open seats.

I am already registered for a full course load for the Fall. I have 3 weeks before classes start on the 23rd of Aug. It is going to be a heavy load, but hopefully I can do it. I am interested in the classes so that should make it easier.

The way I dealt with frustration last year became the source of frustration this year. I left my roller derby team this past June. I have now been off skates for over 2 months and I hate it. I thought that the reason I left the team had been taken care of, unfortunately, it wasn't. Shortly after I left the team I was approached by several friends from other leagues, one even joked about when were we going to move so we could join them.

After weeks of beating myself up for even thinking about what I considered a traitorous act I made a decision. I realized that what I had been considering my team no longer was my team. Sure I had friends and girls I considered family on the league, but they were and are no longer a team. So, I am going to be stepping up my game, even though I really don't care about the competitiveness of the sport, I still want to play. I am going to be attending practices and skating with the closest WFTDA league.

More to come in the near future, I promise, the next post won't be too far behind. I said it before I have plans in the works, multiple plans, this is only one...stay tuned for the fruits of my labors.

Just treading water

2010-07-04T23:11:00.004-05:00

I was discouraged, I was brought low. I have been accused of hurtful things. My name has been drug through the mud.

I have been lifted, honored, and supported.

There will be a 90 day waiting period to see if there are any changes. If there are, I can return, if the change does not happen, I will follow a different fork in my path.

Thank you to all who have supported me, knowing you love me and are behind me means much. Thank you to those who have honored me with offers of acceptance. You are are the ones who are keeping my head above water while I swim through the rapids.

Small but forgotten facts and 1 huge reason

2010-06-09T14:25:00.004-05:00

In 2007 I joined a roller derby team...Fact

In 2008 a few skaters left, some due to relocation, others due to the actions and accusations of a single skater...Fact (ask the skaters who left.)

In 2009 more skaters left, again due to relocation and the actions, and accusations of the same skater who caused the discord the previous year.

Now it is 2010 and I am leaving the team. It was my turn to be targeted by this skater. I have been accused of intentionally trying to hurt my teammates on the track.
I have been lied to about quite a few things. When I confronted the person who lied to me along with the people she named as sources, or people she told the lie to, I was told I was a bully who needed an audience to perform in front of.
I was told that the only reason no one else would tell me they thought I tried to hurt someone on the track is because they were afraid I would try and hurt them next.

Even after the accusations were thrown at me I continued to skate, to skate my heart out, but I was not having fun any more. How can you have fun when with every hit you deliver, every hip check that sends someone off their skates you have to see someone shaking their head and muttering under their breath. Who else is she telling these lies to? Who else is she lying about because they pose some imagined threat to her?

How can I skate with someone who does not trust me? How can I skate with someone who thinks I am going to intentionally hurt her? How can I skate with someone who is telling my teammates that the only reason I am leaving is because I am against her and that I do not want to see her or the league succeed?

The joke of it is, if I truly wanted to see her or the league fail, I would stay and point out every lie, every wrong action. I however can not do that. At the start of the season the team did not have enough money in the bank to hold a home bout. I made the decision that what the team needed and still needs is someone who lives close, someone who can approach sponsors, and someone who has raised large amounts of money for the team. That person is not and was not me. I live over an hour from where we play so I could not make the rounds. I am a good teacher, a good skater, and a good player, but what good is being able to teach others if we do not have the place to teach or play.

So contrary to what this skater said recently, she IS the reason I am leaving. There are other smaller reasons as well, but the biggest influence in my decision to leave the sport that has taken over my life for the past three years is one paranoid person who can not seem to see past herself.

May 8th

2010-05-10T19:34:00.003-05:00

May 8th is a day that will be forever be marked by the scars on my face, hand and thigh. One year ago this past weekend I was on my way to Beloit on my motorcycle when an older gentleman pulled out in front of me. I was lucky. Because I saw the accident coming I was able to slow down enough to be able to walk away. I was one of the lucky ones that weekend.

May 8th 2009, Mother's Day weekend 2009, there were 4 motorcycle accidents. only 2 of us lived to tell our stories.
April 8th 2010, 11 months to the day I buy a new bike. One more step in the healing process. My body is mostly healed, I will never be 100% but unless you knew, you would not guess that I had been in an accident. The hardest step of the healing process however is mental. Many people who are involved in a motorcycle accident do not ride again. The most common question I was asked after the fact was "Are you gonna ride again." To which I always answered, Yes. Deep in my subconscious however was a needle of doubt. I buried that needle when I bought my bike. I rode it home in the snow. I have taken 2 rides with friends, I have ridden to school twice. None of these short trips, however compare to this past weekend.May 8th, 2010. One year later. Jake has to work, but I need to continue to heal. I need to be on my bike. A friend and I take off around 7:45am and head south. We rode to Davenport to help support an injured Marine. It was a good day, but it was also a scary day.

The first stop was at the Greenville/Colona American Legion. We had been at the hall for about 20 minutes, standing outside in the parking lot just chatting. A group of bikes were coming down the road a block away, and started to make the turn to come our direction. I saw the lead bikes then heard the squealing tires. It happend so fast, yet in slow motion. I watched helplessly as a red bike tipped over spilling the rider. I watched him hit the ground and roll. When he came to a stop he didn't move. Some of us ran to the intersection while others went inside telling the people in the bar to dial 911.

As I went towards the intersection, I felt sick to my stomach, not today, why today. Then the shakes started as I relived my own accident.

After the cops and ambulance arrived we found out that everyone was fine. The rider who went down limped away, got on his bike and finished the run.

I did the same. I got on my bike and finished my run. I put over 250 miles on my bike. I am still not completely recovered. Even just driving down the road in a car, truck, jeep, and especially a motorcycle, if I come to an intersection where another vehicle is supposed to come to a stop, I cringe, I hesitate. Are they going to stop this time? Each time they do stop, but that doesn't stop my heart from jumping every time.

I will heal. I will not give up. I am stronger than that truck.

Who moved my cheese

2010-04-29T00:24:00.002-05:00

Or was the title of the book, Someone moved my cheese. I really don't recall. All I know is it was on the recommended reading list from a former employer. When all was said and read, the story boiled down to change. Even if it is not what you want you must be ready for change.

After 3 wonderful years I am making a major change in my life. I, sadly, am leaving roller derby. My heart is breaking just thinking about it. I have grown so much because of this sport. Three years ago my life was spent going to work and coming home, half of the time Jake was here, the other half he was at work. My days melted into one another, the sides of the rut I was in stretched above my head for what seemed like an eternity.

Roller derby was the ramp to the light. I rearranged my work schedule so I could learn this sport, so I could make friends that had nothing to do with my husband or work. Within a year it consumed me. I was having a blast and taking names. Heck, I even gave myself a new one.

The team is in it's third season now, only four of the girls are still there from when I started back in 2007. I have seen so many women leave, some relocated, others just left. Now it is my turn to step away. My life is now turning toward a new direction. I need to focus on school, finding a new source of income, and finding a place where I do not feel the need to explain myself, or defend myself.

I wish I was the type of person who didn't care what others thought of me. I wish I was strong enough to let the hurt run off my back like water on a duck. I'm not. And so I will be the smart mouse who has her sneakers tied and draped over her shoulders. I will be the bigger person and embrace the change. I will move on with my life and leave. Know this though, when the cheese disappears, or becomes moldy, I will have found a new plate to dine from.

Not quite a year

2010-04-12T13:43:00.005-05:00

11 months to the day after my accident, I was able to pay for the replacement for my bike. I was lucky enough to find a very reasonably priced Heritage Softail.

I am very proud to say I have ridden my new bike 3 times, including through the intersection where I had my collision. With the floor boards I am a little iffy on the corners I have already drug the left side once, but I am slowly getting used to the wider set up of my new wheels.

Just an FYI

2010-04-03T10:44:00.002-05:00

Many of you might wonder what is going on with my blog. Well under some advice from a friend I removed all of my blogs that mentioned my motorcycle accident because we were going through negotiations with the insurance company of the gentleman who hit me. Well everything has been finalized and so now I feel I can put everything back up. Soon I will be adding a post with pictures of my new bike. Jake and I put a down payment on a 1996 Heritage Softail on 4/2/10 and we will be picking it up on Thursday!

Going topless

2010-04-01T17:08:00.004-05:00

My new wheels:

This and That

2010-03-23T14:49:00.003-05:00

As of today, March 23 2010 I have been married for 14 years. It doesn't seem like it though.

Today was my third algebra class and so far it is going pretty good. I have turned in all my homework assignments ahead of time, it is really strange. I have to do my homework on a website.

I had a quiz in biology last night and was very proud of myself. I got a 100%. Tonight I have my weekly quiz in medical terminology, this class is kicking my butt. Up until last week I was doing real good getting low A's on the quizzes, and a B on the midterm. Last week I bombed my quiz with a D. It is just really frustrating the class is nothing but memorization, but not having a means to use it is what is killing me.

We signed the paper work for my accident and sent it back to the lawyer about a week and a half ago. With the promise of the settlement money I was able to buy myself a Jeep Wrangler. I have wanted a Wrangler since I got out of high school and my former boss had a beautiful blue one.

Once we get the check from our lawyer we will finally be able to pay off some bills and start trying to buy a house. I can not wait!

Where's the towel?

2010-02-24T18:11:00.003-06:00

I am ready to throw it in. I feel as if I am running myself ragged. I am going to school, I start my 3rd class after spring break and haven't really taken the time to properly study for the 2 I am in now. Luckily you can not tell this by my grades.

Now what used to be my outlet is becoming my bane. I still love the sport and will always be apart of it, but I am tired of the people who always need to be in the spotlight throwing their insecurities at me, and making me doubt myself. News flash people, I do not care anymore.

What does home look like?

2010-02-23T16:05:00.002-06:00

I wish I could tell you. These past two weeks have been so hectic. The Divas held our first home bout this past Saturday, and as usual, we sold out, had a great time, and enjoyed the company of fellow derby people.

But the worst part of the bout is what goes on behind the scenes, the communication, or lack there of between multiple parties. I assisted in producing the program, we sent out deadlines, but those were ignored. Thank you so much to Mike the printer guy, who always goes above and beyond for all of his customers.

So, in the past two weeks I have not been home for 24 hours straight. I arrive home late at night, watch a little of the Olympics, then close my eyes. My cat shadow has decided 8:30 is when I need to be out of her spot on the bed, this is not going well and she needs to learn to wait her turn.

I have been trying so hard to sleep in till at least 10 since I don't usually hit the hay till after 1 or 2 am. Then it is shower, change, maybe a little email reading and it's off to run more errands, babysit, or off to a class I haven't had time to study for. Luckily I am a person who is fairly good at absorbing what I hear and write down in class, but it is coming to that portion in the semester where it's going to get harder. Hopefully I can finally find the time to do what I should have been doing since January.

Well, I have once again avoided studying by updating the world wide web with needless information, and it is 15 minutes until my next medical terminology quiz. Wish me luck!

If you build it they will come

2010-02-01T12:45:00.003-06:00

Picture Courtesy of Doug McGinness www.thestudiobeloit.com

The Sirens built the ad campaign, sold the tickets and rented the venue. The fans came out, and DD Hunter made her return as a Diva. This past weekend I returned to the flat track after my May 8th motorcycle accident. I had a blast, got in some good hits, and skated my bottom off.

The cold I have been fighting for the last few weeks saw what a fighter I truly am so kicked it into high gear to take me down. Hopefully I can come from behind and show it the door.

Things that make me laugh

2009-12-29T00:51:00.002-06:00

Everyone needs a good laugh every once on a while. I even have a bookmark folder on my browser entitled, Things that make me laugh, I thought I'd share them with you.

Hope you get a good laugh too.

http://itmademyday.com/

http://thereifixedit.com/

http://www.peopleofwalmart.com/

http://epicwinftw.com/

P.S. Some of you may recognize these links from your own blogs, I just wanna thank you for sharing these with me.

looking for inspiration

2009-12-18T20:12:00.002-06:00

I have the need to write, but no idea what to type.

I want to say something witty and inspirational, but only come up with drivel.

So now it ends with one last sentence,

Happy RamaHanaQuanzMas!

Facebook works

2009-12-15T12:53:00.003-06:00

When facebook is working, it works well. I was browsing through it yesterday. If you added your high school information, you can click on it and search through your class mates.

Well I was bored yesterday before Jake went to work I was searching through my high school and found an old friend. We sat next to each other on graduation night. And now we live close enough to meet up. So this Saturday we are going to meet in Huntley and catch up on the last 15 years. When I find my grad pic I will post it here along with an updated one.

One more year has passed

2009-12-09T20:19:00.003-06:00

Well, here it is. December 9th. 34 years ago my mother brought me into the world. It's hard to believe, but it's the truth. Now how old does that make you feel?

Where were you in December of 1975?

Numbers

2009-11-04T18:32:00.001-06:00

11 months ago I became an aunt.

8 months ago I was laid off

6 months ago I was in a motorcycle accident and Jake ruptured his ACL

4 months ago Jake got into the VA clinic for his knee

1 month ago I met with my dislocated worker program counselor and finally got the ball rolling for my future in a health care field.

2 weeks ago I had a job another job interview that went no where

1 day ago my roller derby team started the 2010 season, the third season for the league.

Trying

2009-10-13T21:45:00.003-05:00

I hate that most of my blogs have started with trying to explain that it has been a month since my last post.

Jake and I have been busy doing nothing. My temp job came to an end. I was accepted to the dislocated worker program, had my first interview yesterday. I have class to go to the last week of Oct. Jake is doing much better in therapy than his therapist expected. Hopefully that will mean he can go back to work sooner than the doctors say.
This is Jake's knee 3 days after surgery.

I have been completely released by my doctor to return to my normal roller derby activities, with no restrictions.

An update on the Extreme Home Make Over, the show I helped out on will air on Nov 11th.

That is all I really have for now.

Be Extreme

2009-09-14T11:57:00.002-05:00

Well, for those of you who don't know, Extreme Home Makeover is in Northwest Illinois. They surprised a local family on 09/09/09 and the demolition and build got on the way while the family was whisked away.

Our friend Bret and his son Josh were called in as contractors to help build the roof. I was lucky enough to get a spot on the volunteer roster and will be working from 12am to 8 am Tuesday 9/15. I doubt I will see any air time, but this is a once in a lifetime event that I am proud to be apart of. As soon as I know the air date I will update you.

Always running, but getting no where

2009-09-04T19:17:00.002-05:00

Hello everyone, I hate to say it again, but I am sorry I have been away so long.

We have been running in all different directions lately and at the same time it seems as if we have done nothing.

Since Aug 3rd, (the date of my last post) Jake has had his knee surgery and has started physical therapy. I have been continuing my own therapy for both my hand and my knee. I have been given permission from my doctor to start skating again, though I have not yet been released to start my fall drills. I am glad to be back on skates, but I feel as if I am starting over from the beginning. I have not yet been able to participate in a full practice and I hate myself for it. I feel as if I am letting my team down. I am one of the veteran skaters on our league and I can not even set the right example for the newbies. The only thing I have going for me is the fact that even though I have not been able to skate, I have made more practices as a retired/injured skater than a lot of our active and bouting skaters.

Last weekend my Divas hosted the last home bout of our 2009 season and now we start the training for our last away game against the formidable Chicago Outfit's B team. I won't be skating, but will be available to do stats or whatever the girls need me to do.

Two weeks before, Aug 15th, our local ALR chapter hosted our first ever car and bike show. Jake and I got up and were down at the Forreston grade school before 6am to start the set up. A great time was had by all, we learned a lot and hope to be able to do it again next year.

On a more personal note, the job hunt is still going, and we are fighting with Jake's retirement for the disability pay that they approved over 3 weeks ago. One can only hope something starts falling into place for us soon.

Where has all the time gone?

2009-08-03T20:52:00.002-05:00

Remember as a kid time took forever? School stretched on and seemed to never end, then one day it was suddenly summer. Summer was always fun, though it did get boring and you couldn't wait for school to start again?

Well this year has flown by so quickly. It is hard to believe that eight months ago I was given notice of my pending job termination, then in March I was given a two week notice. Well, I have now been unemployed for 4 months. It has gone by so fast, yet so slow. All the job possibilities that were passed on to me I did not get. ( I have a suspicion it is because of the numerous doctor appointments and physical therapy sessions I am currently going through.)

I had a life altering motorcycle accident, then twenty days later Jake ruptured his ACL. So since May we have been in each others company pretty much non-stop. Now I am currently getting 9 hours a week away from home, my former employer has called a few people back to deal with a busy mail season, with the promise of termination in three to four months. I just hope something better comes along soon. All this togetherness is starting to wear thin on both of our tempers.

Bike update

2009-07-19T19:22:00.002-05:00

Well, unfortunately, I have no idea what insurance is for. You pay your rate so that if something were to happen you would be covered and able to replace what you had. Well in my case that isn't the way it's going. I am not able to find anything that even compares to my old bike for the amount of money my insurance company is willing to pay me. So as of right now, I am going to be bikeless until I can find something I like for a reasonable price.

Taking it a step at a time

2009-07-19T19:21:00.002-05:00

Well, yesterday (Friday 5/15/09) was the one week mark from my accident. There are so many people who can not believe that I have been let out of the hospital so soon. All I can say is if I had had my way I would have been out sooner.

The doctor finally let me free at noon on Tuesday. I was so happy, I kept telling the nurses I had to be out by Tuesday afternoon because I had a book signing to go to in Chicago. I made it and saw Sherrilyn Kenyon for the third time in three years. I just love her books.
Thanks Kalysha for driving.

On Wednesday I had the first of 4 followup doctors appointments, this one was with the orthopedic he checked out my knee, heel, shoulder and fingers. We are going to let the swelling go down and see how everything works next week before he decides on MRIs or not. The stitches he decided to leave in my finger for a bit longer and I go back to see him in a week.
On Thursday I saw the optometrist and the plastic surgeon about my eye and face. I broke my left orbital bone (eye socket). My eye is fine, all the muscles work, with my glasses on I have 20/20 in both eyes, the only damage is a small bruise in my eyeball. The plastic surgeon said everything is where it is supposed to be and I still have feeling in my cheek so that's all good. He then had his med student take the stitches out of my face and said unless I have any questions he didn't need to see me again.
My next 2 appointments are both on Wednesday one is with the doctor who attended me while I was in the hospital and the other is with the ortho again.

On Friday I had to take my bike to the doctor, apparently my insurance company wants an estimate on how much it will cost to repair the bike. The shop had to lift the bike off the trailer with a forklift and strap it to a dolly in order to move it into the shop. On a happy note, I found a new patch I am going to sew onto my riding vest, it says "Crashing Sucks"

Live from a hospital near me

2009-07-19T19:19:00.002-05:00

Hello friends, family, and perfect strangers. I am proud to announce that yes, I am indeed blogging live from a local hospital. This weekend has been one heck of a ride. It started out nice enough, I got on my bike Friday afternoon and headed north to run a few errands. It was beautiful out and I wanted to save gas by taking the bike.

I got about 12 miles away from home when an older gentleman pulled up to a stop sign, stopped, then proceeded to turn left...right in front of me.

Yes I was wearing my helmet, and no I was not speeding. I had the right away and he had a stop sign. He stopped, then thinking the road was clear, turned.

I do not remember all of the events during the crash, I know I saw it coming and knew I would not be able to avoid it. I laid about 20 to 25 feet of rubber in a straight skid mark.
If you look in the above picture you can see the stop sign on the right. I hit the truck right in front of the rear driver side wheel. There was no way I could have avoided him. He was driving a huge farm truck. I was not thrown and I remember rolling onto my side and hitting the cut engine on my bike after impact. Then I was surrounded by people. Luckily this corner has 2 houses on it and there were other people out. Usually this intersection is pretty dead.

I was transported by ambulance to the hospital and have been there ever since. At least I am no longer on a liquid diet and I am allowed to get out of bed and walk around.

May is motorcycle awareness month, I know I will not be able to ride, or skate for a while, though this accident will not keep me from riding again. Please, please, watch the road not only for motorcycles, but also for pedestrians and bicycles, we are everywhere. I was lucky, I came out of this looking like I got into a bar fight, I was one of at least 4 motorcycle accidents this weekend two of them were fatal. I know mine could have been avoided if the other guy had truly been watching the road, another was motorcycle vs. deer, he lived as well, he was two rooms down from me all weekend. the other two were reported on the news.

for more pictures of my bike and the accident scene the next day click here.

Just another step

2009-07-19T19:17:00.002-05:00

Well, I am now down to seeing just one doctor. Dr. M who attended me at the hospital looked me over, asked me if I have had any stomach pains or any other troubles, I told him nope. Gave him the updates from the eye doctor, plastic surgeon, and the ortho. He said great, and that he still believes the bruise they saw on the CT scan was a false alarm but because of the seriousness of my accident it was better to err on the side of caution. He advised me that if I wanted to be sure everything inside me is properly healed to wait at least 3 months before I resume my normal physical activity. So if it was only my insides I could be back to full hitting and skating in Aug. But because I am still having knee issues, it is going to be longer.

I also went to see the ortho this afternoon. I now am stitch free, though my finger really looks mangled. It will probably look better after all of the scabs have had a chance to fall off. In the mean time I am still wearing a splint because of the break.

Dr. A also checked out my knee, I do not feel it is stable, it keeps wanting to give out and hyper extending. So I am having an MRI done on Friday. My shoulder is still giving me some troubles but because I can lift my arms above my head I'm good for now. We didn't get a chance to discuss my heel. I will see how that feels for my next appointment.

I request a do over for May

2009-07-19T19:14:00.003-05:00

I would like to hit the reset button for the whole month of May. I have no idea why it has happened but this whole month has been one bad situation after another. Sure it had a few bright points, but this past week capped it all off.

Most of you know that I crashed my bike on the 8th. Well this past week Jake and I made a trip to Ft Wayne/New Haven to see my parents and extended family. It was more to reassure everyone that I was ok and that no one needed to make any unnecessary trips to Illinois any time soon.

We left Sunday morning and had a fairly smooth trip, Jake even found the shirt I have been wanting to get since the accident for me. He found it at a truck stop, and it was even on sale. The first pic is what is written on the left breast of the shirt and the second pic is of the back of the shirt.We got there around 2ish and spent some time with my parents and grandparents before heading over to my aunt and uncle's to stay. They live in the country and have a few Amish families for neighbors. This was the view from our bedroom window.So far seems pretty nice doesn't it? Well on Monday our truck was backed into. Tuesday we got a nail in one of our tires. The jack that came with the truck is a scissor jack and is not tall enough, the base is real small and so the slightest bump can cause the truck to fall off it. Trust us, it happened not once, but twice.

Wednesday was really good.I spent the day with my mother and Jake spent it with my dad before we got together with most of my dad's family to celebrate my grandparents 60th wedding anniversary.

Thursday we headed home. We got home and went to derby practice so Jake and I could get the roster for the team we will be line coaching on Saturday. During practice Jake twisted his knee pretty badly and we took him to the immediate care today, Friday. He is now on crutches and has to go see our primary doctor in 3 days if he is still having trouble.

So if it is in anyone's capability, please...give me a do over, I think I deserve it.

Why do the sucky parts last forever?

2009-07-19T19:12:00.001-05:00

Life is short, so play hard. The only part is that when you hit a speed bump in life it seems to take forever to get over it. Jake and I have been home for a week now and we have been on the go ever since.
I think Sunday is the only day we actually got to stay home all day. We had doctor appointments on Monday. I have a torn ACL and LCL and am now wearing a knee brace and I'm going to start physical therapy. I have to wear the splint on my finger until Monday. My hand and shoulder are still aching and it is hard for me to grip and hold with my left hand.

Tuesday we spent the day with a Veterans Administration representative getting Jake registered in IL. Jake then went to practice and I headed to Naperville to meet another author. Kim Harrison.
Today, Wednesday, Jake finally got to see an ortho and has an MRI scheduled. Each doctor he has seen has told him something different, one says miniscus, one says LCL, and the ortho thinks ACL. Lets hope the MRI sets everyone straight and all he needs is therapy and a brace like me.

Tomorrow we get to take the truck up to have the front end damage looked at and get an estimate, then practice for me and an ALR meeting for Jake.

Friday it's Jake's MRI. All this time I am trying to look for a job and be his chaufer because it's his right knee and he can't drive.

The saddest part is it is only Wednesday and I feel like it should already be Friday.

Le' Sigh

2009-07-19T19:10:00.002-05:00

Well, because we are not able to find a bike that I like or one that even comes close to what we had for the price the insurance is going to give us, we are taking the check and applying it to bills. I am also going to be getting my own lap-top.

Once we get the settlement from the lawyer I hope to have enough money so that we will be debt free, a new motorcycle for me and a down payment on a house. Now obviously that will take a while because court cases do not go as quickly as we like, unless the decision is against us that is.

As of 7/6 I have not yet found a new job, but received a call from my former employer, you know the one that is moving to Florida? Well, they are hiring back some employees to help with the busy mail season, and I was called. So Monday I will be starting back part time, no benefits at all, except for a paycheck, which will probably be more than what I am making on unemployment. (but not much more) At lest this will get me out of the house and away from Jake before we kill each other.

Depressed

2009-07-19T19:09:00.002-05:00

Well yesterday was gloomy, rainy, filled with trips to the local clinic, and both good and bad news.

I had a physical therapy session at 12:30 and Jake had his ortho appointment at 1:30. The Ortho has finally decided he can bend his knee enough to see the surgeon (good news) so he will do that next week. I had an occupational therapy session for my hand at 4 so we drove home to check the mail. When we still did not have our insurance check we called the insurance company. Well our adjustor had told us Monday that the check had been mailed last Friday, he was wrong. According to customer service our check did not mail until the 7th (bad news), Tuesday. So the money we were expecting to go to the Dells on never showed up and we had to cancel our trip.

Well we now have to spend the rest of this weekend staying at home, using as little gas as possible so I can start my part time job on Monday, or until our money finally shows up.

Sorry I have been away

2009-07-19T19:07:00.001-05:00

Well, I am sorry it took so long to return to you, We got the results on Jake's MRI. He has ruptured his ACL and torn his meniscus. The verdict is he will have to have surgery to replace the ACL. The good news though is the knee he injured is the knee he was rated for with the military and we go to the VA clinic this week. Hopefully the VA will pick him up and do the surgery.

I am just getting ready to start my 3rd week of physical therapy and was doing pretty good until this last week, they had me doing a stretch that was hurting too much so they had me stop it. My knee is still unstable but getting better and I go back to my ortho on July 1st.

We have also been arguing with our insurance over the price they are willing to pay us for my bike and what we can buy to replace it with the money the company wants to give us. We have been to so many dealers online and looking for private sales as well with no luck. So yesterday we drove to 3 different shops and found a 94 fatboy, (the picture is not the bike I am looking at but the same year, make and model) it is not my dream bike, but very close. If we can work the deal it could be mine. We just have to try and get the price down a little more.

A Moment in the

2009-07-19T16:45:00.004-05:00

Cracker Barrel

A moment in the life of me...

2009-07-16T23:56:00.003-05:00

Duchess Jane has a regularly occurring theme entitled 'Weather Report' and I thought it was such a fun idea. I now find myself thinking along the same lines, only I didn't want to use her phrasing so I present to you, "A moment in the life of me..."
Little Bistro, Beloit, Wisconsin.

Will wireless wonders never cease

2009-07-15T21:57:00.002-05:00

Ladies and gentlemen, my I present to you, my new toy...

Coast to coast with an Illinois speed bump

2009-06-20T16:19:00.003-05:00

June 20th 2009.
There is a national organization called the Military Vehicle Preservation Association (follow the link and click on the 2009 convoy link on the left hand side of the page) who are holding a convoy of military vehicles. The convoy started in Washington DC and is traveling the Lincoln Highway to San Francisco, CA.
Along the way they made a stop in the Land of Lincoln. The convoy is being escorted by local veterans as well as Motorcycle riders from all over the states.

Our local American Legion Riders are honored to be apart of the Illinois leg of the convoy. Our riders were supposed to camp out at the airport in Rochelle, IL tonight then set out with the vehicles in the morning. However due to the torrential rain falls we had yesterday the fields are flooded so our riders will leave from Forreston Sunday morning.

In preparation for the ride we hopped in a van and drove down to the airport to see what we could see, knowing that the convoy would not be there, we had hoped to see the vendors and get an idea of what was going to happen.

We arrived just in time to hear the new Governor of Illinois, Pat Quinn speak about his "Portrait of a Soldier" program. We also got to see the display. These are pencil or charcoal portraits of fallen soldiers from all over the state. We also got to see the inside of one of the governor's jets, before he left. It was very cramped inside. Glad I don't have to ride in it.

Unfortunately Jake and I will not be able to make the ride tomorrow so I won't have any pictures, but I bet it will be very cool. I just hope the weather holds.

Long week ahead

2009-05-23T20:12:00.002-05:00

This is going to be a nice long week. Jake is getting off work tonight, 6 hours early so we can leave for Ft Wayne tomorrow morning. (this way he gets some sleep)

I am going to see my parents, and reassure them that I am fine. We are also going to be seeing my grandparents and extended family. Even though times are tough, I really need to get out of town for a while.

I will be coming back home in time for my league's expo bout on the 30th. We have invited individual skaters from all over our area to come down and skate. We threw everyone's name into a bag and pulled out 2 teams. Unfortunately I won't be skating, but Jake and I will be line coaching. So Scream Queens, go easy on me, it's my first time coaching from the bench.

New patch to sew on my vest

2009-05-18T15:42:00.002-05:00

I am impressed

2009-05-08T12:54:00.003-05:00

I would like to congratulate the people at pledge. Very rarely am I impressed with a product from t.v. Sometimes I see the commercial then buy the item and it does the job half as well as the advertisement.

For anyone who has pets that shed I highly recommend Fabric Sweeper (if you click on Fabric Sweeper, you can print off a $2.00 coupon). I saw it at the store and decided $5.00 was not so bad to give it a try. My only disappointment is that it instructs the buyer to throw it away when it is full. The company asks that you do not try to empty the fur. Well that is easily worked around. You can empty the fur out buy using a crochet hook, or even an ink pen, something small enough to get between the rollers and pull the fur out.

Let me tell you the fabric sweeper worked so well, the husband is the only one who has used it. He has cleaned off our couch, love seat, and bedspread. So far the only thing we have not been able to use it on is our wool blankets from Mexico, the sweeper grabs them.

HELLO...Hello...hello... o hell (random rant)

2009-04-30T13:17:00.003-05:00

I am sorry if it seems as if I have fallen off the face of the earth lately, but sometimes I just feel like a huge hole has opened up at my feet. No I did not jump into it, I was pushed. And the worst part is a lot of people around me are being pushed or have proceeded me into this seemingly bottomless pit.

I envy those of you who have thus far only witnessed this recent rash of job losses from a distance. At first I was one of you. I had 2 friends who lost their jobs over a year ago and still haven't been able to find new ones. Then Chrysler started cutting shifts and laying off people, 2 more friends and their husbands went under the ax. Then it was my turn. But I didn't lose my job to a foreign land, I didn't lose my job because my company was loosing money, I lost my job because my company was greedy. They basically wanted to start over where they could pay new people 5 to 8 dollars less than the employees they were paying up here. (You know those annual nickel raises add up over the years.)

Then with in the last three weeks three more of my friends have been blindfolded and pushed over the edge. One friend was graciously given 3 days notice.

My question for the people in charge is, Who is actually going to do the work for you once you have gotten rid of all your employees? Do you honestly think you are safe? With your six figure income, how warm and dry are you in your house on the hill?

Life of a contusion part 2

2009-04-15T17:40:00.015-05:00

This picture was taken Sunday night, about 10 hours after the day 3 picture in the blog post below. You can already see the bruise starting to green up.

Now take a look at Monday, more
green.

Now it is Tuesday and the bruise is only purple on the outer ring. Everyone at practice was impressed with it.

Today is Wednesday, and this will be the final picture I post on my bruise, as it will more than likely be the last day it will show up half way decent on camera. So there you have it folks, one week in the life of a derby bruise.

The life of a contusion

2009-04-11T11:46:00.011-05:00

One badge of honor most derby girls look forward to is their first real bruise. Oh, sure we get little ones here and there, but for me if it didn't show up well on camera it really didn't count. So today I would like to share with you my first note worthy derby bruise. (Almost breaking my elbow in Sept 2007 doesn't count because I did that with only the help of gravity)

Thursday 4/9/09 we had a pretty good practice. We did a few drills before spending most of the evening scrimmaging. I was jamming against Redneck I had made lead jammer and Red was still stuck in the pack. I remember coming around to re-enter the pack for my first scoring pass, we were just about to the jammer start line when someone hit me, sending me into the inside of the track, causing me to fall. Now normally I would have called the jam off right then, but Red had not made it through yet so I had plenty of time to try and score. I jumped up and finished the jam. I didn't feel anything but the usual twinge in my knee. Later, after practice I told a few of my team mates my right thigh really hurt, and was tender. When we got home I was rewarded with discoloration, but it didn't show up well on camera.

This is a picture from Friday morning, less than 15 hours after the knock down.

By Friday evening the color was really starting to show. This next picture was bout 24 hours. In both of these two pictures I used an ink pen to give you something to compare the size.

Here is the most recent Picture which I think really brings out the color, but we haven't yet started to go green.
As the bruise starts to heal I will document the life and we will see just how long it takes for it to disappear from camera view.

Happy Birthday

2009-04-04T13:02:00.003-05:00

Well, this past Thursday was Jacob's birthday, I won't go into numbers but he is a year older now. After our league meeting for the Divas a few of us went out to try and push posters and tickets at local bars. The first bar we went into was dead. I think there were maybe 8 people in it. So we talked to a few of the people, handed out a few fliers and made sure our poster was displayed. No one in our party had eaten since early afternoon, so we called up our usual place for Thursday night after practice cool down. Luckily they still had their fryer on and we were able to head over for food. When we got there and told Abby that it was Jake's birthday she checked his i.d. and then he drank tap beer for free all night and got to keep the huge glass mug.

We stayed there till about 11:30ish before we headed out. We decided to hit our old home location, now under new management and put up posters. That was fun, they had Karaoke and we sang our little hearts out. There was really no one else at the place so no one saw our debacle. All I will say is DD stands for many things.

Friday we spent the evening with friends playing board games, This had become a regular Friday night event a few months ago, but do to holidays, derby, elections, and work we haven't been able to play as often. Well our hosts for the evening have a 5 year old girl, who upon hearing it was Jake's birthday set off to make party hats for everyone. Jake was the first to get his hat, before she got distracted and forgot about everyone else.

Happy Birthday, Jake.

And yes that is his normal facial expression when there is a camera pointed at him.

Week one

2009-04-01T18:48:00.002-05:00

Well, this is Wednesday of my first week of unemployment. All I can say is I really hope I get a job soon. I find I can not stay awake past ten or eleven at night and I am up by nine in the morning. This is very unlike me as I am used to getting to bed after midnight because of my work and practice schedules. Of course I was always up by 8:45 in the morning anyway, so the waking up part is not really a change.

Jacob's birthday is tomorrow, and seeing as how this was his short week at work he took Wed and Thurs off. What this means is that he got off work at 6 am Monday morning and does not have to be to work until 6 pm the following Monday night. So not only do I have a week of constant job hunting and pre-bout frenzy to cope with, add in a husband with pretty much nothing to do.

On the job hunting side things are kind of at a stand still. I am putting in applications everyday through the internet. I have updated my resume on Monster as well as with one of the local hospitals. On the Illinois skills match website (the site all unemployed persons must register with) I continue to match with no jobs.

The only bright side is that I interviewed on March 10th with a company (that found me on Monster) for a security position, another co-worker also interviewed with the same company about a week and a half after I did. Shortly after her interview she received a 'thanks, but no thanks' letter. I have not received any letter, I called the company and received the answer that they are still interviewing for the up coming class and that I will be notified when an decision has been made. So that means I am still int he running. Please keep your fingers crossed for me as this job will help to get rid of a great deal of worries that I currently carry.

Mark Your Calendars!

2009-03-26T09:08:00.006-05:00

Buy Your Tickets Online Now!!

2009-03-23T19:12:00.002-05:00

In this first picture we are doing our Divas! shout just before we take the track for the beginning of our first period.This is my intro lap

Here I am shoving the other team's pivot out of my Jammer's way
If you look at this last picture you can see the score.
Too see more pictures please visit Moosie's Flicker the pictures with the Divas start on page 6.

What a Weekend!

2009-03-23T08:21:00.003-05:00

First of all I want to say a big thank you to the Fox Cityz Foxz. They hosted a wonderful night of derby action.

There were 4 teams playing Saturday night The Pushy Possie, The Paper Dolls, the Rollergirl Regiment (all 3 from the host league) and the Stateline Divas.

We played in a double header, where the Pushy Possie and the Paper Dolls played each other and we played the Rollergirl Regiment. The first two teams played a 20 minute period then we played. After a 10 or fifteen minute half time, the four teams came back to battle it out once more.

It was really great, the spacing out of the periods helped with keeping us fresh. I won't even pretend to remember the details of the games except to say there were some awesome jammers on all the teams, I have at least two bruises and I spent no time in the penalty box. I remember that the Paper dolls continued their undefeated status and the Divas won a very well matched game. The score was really tight through both periods with a final score 64 to 65. The final Jam was a nail biter we needed 3 points to tie and 4 to win. The Regiment lost their jammer to the penalty box giving us the advantage to get the job done.

As soon as I get pictures I will post a few.

Once again...why must you lie?

2009-03-16T14:27:00.002-05:00

Today I walked into work thinking well, I only have 7 weeks left, but at least I know I have 7 weeks of income.

Well, 3 hours into my shift today I was asked to meet the Customer Service Manager in the conference room, along with about 7 of my co-workers. We all walked in to the room and were greeted by a HR representative and basically given a 2 week notice. Ah I love the feeling of being constantly lied to.

Sorry I have strayed

2009-03-09T22:26:00.002-05:00

Alright everyone, I am very sorry I have not been around in a very long time. It seems as if the first two months of the year have flown by. What with me trying to get all my Derby merchandise and uniforms squared away for our first bout of the season and trying to find a new job, I have literally lost track of what day it is.

Each time I look at a calendar I can't believe it is already March. As I write this I can count that I have 10 days until my team plays the Fox Cityz Foxz. I have 7 weeks left at my job unless I land the one I am interviewing for. In that case I have no idea how long I will have at my current one before starting.

I have 6 weeks before our first home bout and we need our posters, tickets, programs and a whole slew of other items to the printer and out in the public eye way to soon for my comfort. All I have to say is when I put my name on the ballot for the creative director, I was conned. I only put my name up because I was asked nicely. Ugh, if I have any hair left at the end of the season it will be a miracle.

February

2009-02-18T22:10:00.004-06:00

Well February is almost over already. The month is flying by so fast I can hardly keep track of the days.

At work it is now more noticeable than ever that we are moving operations. We were sent out an email stating if enough people do not start volunteering for unpaid time off they will start sending us home. That is always a cheerful thought, but the paycheck at the end of the pay period always keeps me coming back.

In my derby life we have a season of bouts set and contracts pending.
Jake's surgery went well, he is making progress faster than expected with his physical therapy and much to his disappointment went back to work today.

That is about all for now, I am still waiting to hear from the latest job testing/interview so keep your fingers and toes crossed for me.

Passion

2009-02-02T18:09:00.002-06:00

Isn't it wonderful that the internet can bring family members together across hundreds of miles?

Recently an uncle of mine started his own blog, in his most recent update he posed the question, "What are you passionate about?"

I have spent the weekend pondering this question. It was rather interesting the times it would pop into my head. The way he describes passion leaves me feeling quite shallow, it makes me wonder why do I get up in the morning?

While I have many things in my life that I do, many people whom I love and support I am really not passionate about much.

At first I thought this was going to be an easier question, but the more I thought it over the harder it was to see a clear answer. I was going to answer my Roller Derby team is what I am passionate bout, but due to the economy I may have to give up the team. If I am unable to find a new job quickly the one thing I do for myself will have to fall by the side of the road. It would be hard to do, but I could live without it.

Then I thought of my husband, I do not know what I would do without him, but he is not what defines me, he is not the reason I get up every morning. After all is said and done, I have discovered there is really no one person, place or thing I am passionate about. I get up every morning because it is my hope that one day I will be givinn a reason to get up. I guess I am passionate about the fact that somewhere along this road, there has to be something better.

Darling, you look marvelous

2009-01-26T21:49:00.003-06:00

After driving home late Friday night from our bout my Diva team mates and I got up early to make an eleven o'clock photo shoot with a local Photographer Tim Speer. He had a slasher/hack 'em up idea running through his head that he wanted to give a derby twist to. He called the Divas. So we all got dressed up and met him in an old factory.

The lighting and set up took up a lot of time but we had a blast talking and watching everything he did. Once he finishes with his touch ups and piecing together multiple pictures to form one complete view I will post an update. In the mean time here is an out-take shot during the light check.

Now those of you who know me. know that I am a big girl. I hate having my picture taken but thought this would be fun. I have also wanted to get a few derbyish pictures taken so that I could send them to my family members to show them how much fun I am having and how being a derby girl has complimented my personality. Well after the gory shoot Tim took the time out of his busy schedule to take a few individual shots for any of the girls who wanted them. I took advantage of the opportunity. All I can say is when I saw the shots just on his camera I almost cried. I have never seen myself as beautiful, but with the lighting and Tim's artful eye I saw myself as a strong, beautiful women this weekend. Once again, As soon as I have the finished product I will be sharing them with you.

Red White and Bruise.

2009-01-25T21:49:00.003-06:00

This past Friday I was privileged to be invited to participate in what is called a red and black scrimmage. Basically girls from different roller derby leagues are invited to play in a hodge-podge game, where you are given a color to wear and that is your team. There is no guarantee you will be playing on the same side as the rest of your own team mates. There were four leagues involved in this game, The Stateline Divas were able to have seven girls play and five of us played for the Red and Fight team while two of our teamates ended up on the Black and Bruise team. The split was really well thought out, we had a good number of all positions on each team as well as a fair distribution of rookie skaters. Three of the Divas we took had never bouted before.

As with the other 2 times I have played the only time I even noticed the score was at the end of the second period when my team, the red team had managed to close the scoring gap to one point. It took us the first period to find out the stratagey that worked best for our group. In the end though the Black and brusie team skated their way to victory.

I can defintly say this game was a whole new experiance for me. I have never intened to be one of the star players, being content to simply do my job as a blocker or pivot. Friday was such a confidence builder. I had several really good blocks and hits, I was approached by many of the black team and told what a good player I was. I even had Val Capone from the Windy City Rollers (She announced for the bout) come up and tell me she hoped she didn't offend me when she made the comment that I should change my name from DD Hunter to Jammer Hunter. It was all so over whelming I am just so used to blending in I still can't get over it all.

This weekend was such a confindence booster for me in a time where I am finding myself more and more depressed everyday. This was just Friday, I will post Saturdays bright spots tomorrow when I have more time, right now it is off to bed so I can get up early for work.

The End

2009-01-19T22:04:00.002-06:00

Well, the finish line is in sight. I was given my letter today telling me my last day of work will be April 24th. I hate to keep saying it but I knew it. When everyone said customer service would be one of the last departments to go I silently shook my head. I told only a few co-workers that once the busy holiday season was over we would be out the door. It's times like these I really hate being right.

Letting out my inner nerd

2009-01-18T14:26:00.002-06:00

Yesterday, while I was pretty much still home bound, I was surfing the net. I came across a video snippet on MSN for The Guild. And I couldn't stop myself from sitting down and watching all of the first season and what has been posted so far of the second.

Now in the past I found Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog and fell in love with it. The creator of The Guild was the love focus of Dr. Horrible (Neil Patrick Harris) I have to admit, these geeky little web shows are very entertaining. Why? I guess it's because they are so human.

Now even though I never was a gamer in the same sense as the cast of The Guild I have had friends who were and still are. Though my friends tend to do more table top games. I do however enjoy a good night of roll playing on line with various fan based worlds inspired by authors.

Even if you don't do the gaming thing stop by and watch one of the two shows linked above, you just might find yourself hooked as I did.

Back in action

2009-01-17T17:38:00.004-06:00

This coming Friday a few of my teammates and I will be traveling to the Quad Cities (Davenport,Betendorf, Iowa, Moline, and Rock Island Illinois) to play in our first game of 2009.

So in between vacuuming the living room and mopping the kitchen I am making my jersey.
I am going to be on the red and white team playing with derby girls from the Rockford Rage, Cedar Rapids Rollergirls, and the Quad City Rollers. This is going to be such a great learning experience, not to mention a great game. I can't wait to get my skate on!

Normal temps today?

2009-01-17T14:12:00.002-06:00

After almost a week of sub-zero temps, Northern Illinois is finally seeing what could be called normal temperatures again. With the air temp in the twenties I went out this afternoon and attempted to once again start my car. The little bugger started up on the first try. While this makes me very happy because I am no longer house bound it angers me that I had to miss out on 8 hours of work on Friday. While normally I would have no problems taking a day off work, it makes me mad that now because my car hasn't started since Wednesday morning I had to pour extra money into it to replace my frozen battery and I lost out on 18 hours of pay.

I just hope I will be able to put in some make up hours this coming week. As much as I hate my job, I do need the money. Oh, and on another note, I have decided, against my better judgment to go ahead and apply for a correctional officer position to work along side the husband. I have no idea if I will be able to pass the physical tests, but it pays almost double what I make now and they are hiring. Wish me luck.

Freeze your nose hairs

2009-01-14T23:58:00.002-06:00

The high temp projected for today, Thursday 1/15/09 is a whopping -7 degrees. I can hardly wait. As it is we had to leave my car at work last night because at 9:30pm the sub-zero temp had sucked the life out of my battery.

At least I can say this is the first year we have had such a problem. I am just very lucky that Jake did not have to work last night and was able to come save my butt. Hopefully we will be able to get a new battery in my car tomorrow so I can go to work, practice, and get home.

May I have this Job?

2009-01-13T09:47:00.002-06:00

Yahoo places little snippets in your inbox. Today I came across Australia Offers "Best Job in the World" I would really love to be chosen. I could really use a vacation, and the six month salary is more than the spouse and I make combined for 2 years. The only down fall would be, I don't see any roller rinks on the island.

A letter

2009-01-12T23:17:00.002-06:00

Dear Mr President and President Elect,

I have read recently on MSNBC News that you are asking congress to release the reaming $350 billion for the bail out. While I have no qualms about releasing money to help the economy my question is, why are you giving the money to the lenders? They will only pass it out to people who will be unable to pay it back because they have lost their jobs.

Why not instead give it to the people who borrowed the money in the first place. If you were to do that the money would still get to the lenders. The tax payers who borrowed the money would use it to pay off their loans, thus giving it back to the banks. The money that is not used to pay off the debit would then be used to...oh my word, buy products, thus stimulating the economy.

So please, before you go handing out the money we were required to pay in taxes, please consider where the real help is needed. The banks would not be in the position they are in now if the working Americans had the money to pay off their loans.

Sincerely,
A soon to be out of a job tax payer.

Disappointment

2009-01-07T22:55:00.002-06:00

This past weekend we rented the latest Narnia flick Prince Caspian I have to say I was extremely disappointed. I really enjoyed the Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe. I watched that and even though I knew the directors had to cut a lot out I didn't really feel it as I watched. Sad to say I could really tell that much of the story for Prince Caspian ended up on the cutting room floor. More than likely even before the movie started filming.

Just the other day I was discussing books made in to movies with a friend, we commented on how much we enjoyed the first two Harry Potter flicks and how they were so true to the stories. The first movie was so captivating it inspired me to purchase all of the books. As the third move premiered, with a different director behind the camera I started to loose my excitement. Much of the story was being left untold.

I can say the same thing about Twilight. I went to see the movie and now I want to read the series, not only because it was recommended to me by someone who follows the same authors as I, but because I want to know exactly what it is that wasn't being portrayed in the movie.

Unfortunately after the first Narnia movie I bought and tried to start reading the whole story, but it was so dry and long winded I just couldn't muddle through it.

The year in review

2008-12-29T22:42:00.004-06:00

2008 has been a whirlwind year. I know pretty much everyone will agree with me on this, as a child we think that the years tick by so slowly, then as we get older they tend to travel in a pretty normal time. Now that we are adults all we can think is , wow where did the time go? It seems like just yesterday we were still trying to remember to date our check with 2008. In just 2 short days we will be in the year 2009.

What has the past year brought to my small family? Well in March or April I found out I was going to be an aunt. Also in March Jake and I celebrated our 12 year anniversary.

In May I started bloging, played in my first roller derby bout, and hit a deer.

In June the inaugural season for the Stateline Divas concluded.

In July we found out one of our teammates was heading to Denver and wished her well, only to be left with a feeling of betrayal a few months later when she joined a rival league to spend her last few months in Illinios with. We understood her reasons for doing so, it just didn't make the hurt any easier to deal with.

In August Jake and I traveld to Iowa. The first real motorcycle trip we have taken since moving up here in 2002. We went with my aunt and uncle their friends and our neighbors. We had a great time away from home on the road and look forward to more trips in the future.

In August My roller derby team also started the process of reinventing ourselves with new skaters and a new board of directors.

In October my constant search for a new job was given a boost of urgency with the announcement that my company was going to be relocating to Florida.

November and December came and brought with them falling gas prices, a historical presidential election, a new niece named Lyndi, well as another Illinois govenor arrested on corruption charges. Another revelation brought to me in December was the fact that in just 5 short months I will mark the 15 year anniversary of my high school graduation.

Well that is all that I can honestly remember about 2008, though I am sure there were more events that will come to me later.

Who says the parking lot is full?

2008-12-28T16:38:00.003-06:00

Jake and I went out to eat today. We drove around the parking lot looking for an open space, there was one couple pulling out so we waited. After they had left Jake noticed that they had been taking up two parking spaces. Now I really couldn't fault them as one of the spaces was half filled with the snow the plows had piled up, Jake on the other hand declared "That is what 4-wheel drive is for." and pulled in, climbing the small hill. "There, now if anyone else decides to eat here, they can have front door parking as well."No one parked beside us. I think they were worried we would slide into them from the side, but if you look we are parked inside the lines.

Cabin Fever

2008-12-27T16:34:00.002-06:00

I feel as if I have been stuck in the house for too long. Oh, sure I have gone to work and to the store, but I haven't seen any of my friends in over a week, and we haven't had practice since either the 12th or 15th, it has been so long, I can't even remember. I am feeling trapped. The good news is though that my kitchen counter is no longer a catch all, at least for the next few weeks. Now I have to work on the living room.

On another note, I have slowly been upgrading my wardrobe (if you can call a closet full of t-shirts a wardrobe). I decided that if I am applying to all of these office type positions I had better start dressing the part. I really hate clothes shopping. I can never find what I like in a cut that looks good on me. The hardest part about starting to dress grown up is I am going to have to learn how to do my hair, and make up. I haven't worn make up in so long, the only make up I have really ever worn was eye liner and mascara.

Anyone want to teach a tomboy how to apply make up?

Luck, Smuck!

2008-12-24T17:46:00.002-06:00

I swear, if it weren't for bad luck I'd have no luck at all. Sunday morning, very early Sunday morning I was driving home from staking with a few friends. We were having some really heavy winds and of course a snow storm. I was doing fine, driving down a road that only had one lane open, huge snow drifts the size of my car were in the other lane. I wasn't going fast, but I kept enough speed so my little Accent would not get stuck halfway through one of the drifts. I was just topping a rise when I saw ahead of me a car in the ditch and a squad car on the road with it's lights on. I took my foot off the accelerator, didn't even touch the break. Apparently the loss of momentum was all the evil snow drifts were waiting for. The next drift I hit I bounced off of instead of plowing through. I ended up in the ditch as well, only looking the way I had just came.

It wasn't as bad as it sounds. I was only a foot or so off the road, I got out of the car and cleared a path for my front tires and was able to drive back out onto the road. I got out of the car and took stock. I had what appeared to be a softball sized dent in the front driver's side quarter panel, low, between the wheel well and the door. No biggie, but the door is a bit hard to open. When I get home and look at the damage in the day light it still doesn't look to bad, but every time I open the door it catches on the fender. After opening the door for 3 days it is really bad. I can now only open my door half way and the dent has gotten much worse. Now I have to call the insurance company. I really hate calling the insurance company, that just means I am going to have another bill and be without my car.

An Interview.

2008-12-23T08:52:00.004-06:00

Jane posted this earlier this week and I haven't posted in a while so I thought I'd give it a go.

1.) If you were set for life with money and never had to work for a living again in order to keep the lifestyle you currently have, what would you do? Would you work, and where? If not, what would you do with your free time?
Yes, I would work. Depending on where we ended up living I would work part time in a book store. A mom and pop type of book store where I could put in 20 hours a week and still know when the newest releases came out.

2.) On the motorcycle, for you, personally - helmet or no helmet and why? For everyone else, legislated by the state, helmet law or no helmet law and why?
Personally, Helmet. A couple of reasons. First I bounced my head off the street a few years ago when an idiot with no tail lights stopped right in front of me and the entire driving lane I was in was covered in oil. Secondly, I hate trying to comb my hair out of all the tangles. No matter how well I think I have pulled it back, it still gets all tangled up. I think it should be a personal choice for people over the age of 18 and their families. Just because you are wearing a helmet doesn't mean it's going to save you when the time comes. Maybe your destiny is to be an example for someone else.

3.) Have you ever been in love with a car? If so, what was your first car-love, and did you ever own it?
I don't think you could call it love, but I really like the VW Beatles, especially the convertibles. I haven't ever owned one though. If I never get one, it won't be a big deal either. Now Motorcycles is another story. I Love the Heritage Softail Classic, with the big windshield, three head lights and all that leather. Dream bike that I one day hope to have.

4.) What is the largest city you would feel comfortable living in? What is the smallest town/most rural area you'd feel comfortable living in?
The largest would be something the size of Rockford, and that is even too big really. I don't mind visiting and being close enough that I can run to town, but I am not a big crowd person. Smallest...see that farm house out there as you are driving through the country? The one whose closest neighbour is a half mile away? now see that the nearest town is 10 to 15 miles away. That's what I want. Lots of room to move, no one peeping in my window.

5.) Do you have tattoos? What and where? Do you ever plan on getting one/more?
Nope, no tattoos. I have thought about getting one for many years, something with a dragon in it, but I have never gotten around to getting one, probably won't happen any time soon if ever. If I did get one it would be on my right leg, above my ankle, though.

Bored and looking for ways to pass your day? Care to play along?
1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me."
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

Let it snow, let it snow

2008-12-16T23:49:00.002-06:00

I am not going to say I hate the snow. I actually love how pretty it is, especially when it hasn't been disturbed yet. I don't mind driving in it as long as there isn't much traffic and the drifts are minimal. With that being said it has been snowing since about 2-2:30 and it is now ten till midnight. The projected accumulation is 3 to 5 inches. Of course it will have stopped by the time I have to go to work tomorrow and the roads, major roads that is, will be passably clear. Just in time for another round of freezing rain and snow again on Thursday. The only problem I am currently having with our weather is that it chooses practice days to dump on us.

Well, stay warm and dry everyone.

And mom, I still like four seasons up here better than the two down there. Love you.

Too much to do, too little time.

2008-12-14T12:09:00.002-06:00

Isn't that always the case? First off it didn't help that I spent over an hour and a half at Wal-Mart waiting for a prescription refill, that I was told would only take a half hour. I will say I was able to get all of my Christmas cards addressed, and about half of them stamped before I ran out of postage. I also got one package packed, addressed and sealed All that's left is to take it to the post office on Monday.

Yesterday we had 3 parties we were invited to attend, and of course all of them started at the same time and were in 3 different towns. So we opted to go to the party we had already paid for. Jake's shift party is always fun. We had a great dinner and got to watch lots of drunken karaoke before someone walked into the stand holding the monitor causing the small (thank goodness) T.V. to fall to the ground. Luckily the D.J. wasn't too upset and continued to play dance music the rest of the night.

To day is another day of laundry and dishes. With only two of us and the fact we hardly ever are at home to eat a meal it is pointless to do dishes every day so we end up doing them when we run out of clean ones.

Then I also have to run to the store for food for the week. Yeah the day is already half over and here I sit in my p.j.s blogging. ☺

Not Surprised, but still disapointed

2008-12-10T09:37:00.003-06:00

Yesterday the Governor of Illinois was arrested for trying to auction off a senate seat to the highest bidder. While I am not surprised that he is corrupt it saddens me that the main reason I am so mad at him is that he let one of my friends down.

For the last few months My friend and I have had a difference of opinion about how the Gov was handling a budget crisis. He chose to close several state parks around the state, including 2 just down the road. What he failed to realize is that while some parks he was closing were not making money others were in fact pulling in a profit. I could see the good business practice of closing a park that could not support itself but closing something that was making money just didn't sit right with me. Yes I know it was a political play to get a budget approved by closing parks in one specific area, the area of the party you were fighting against, but come on. There are other areas that could have been cut. Say for instance the money spent flying back and forth to Chicago from Springfield, and how many planes was it reported were at the Governor's beck and call?

No, my friends, I am not sad because yet another Illinois Governor has been arrested what saddens me the most is how he has made my friend feel.

Shame on you Mr. Blagojevich.

Oh Lazy Day

2008-12-07T14:44:00.002-06:00

For the longest time now it seems as if we have been constantly running, all week it's been work and derby, then on the weekends Its been hunting, friends and more roller derby. This weekend I have left the house once. I debated about leaving today to deliver some items to Jake's mother, but decided he could take it to her tomorrow.

Although I really just wanted to stay in bed this whole weekend I have been slowly working my way through a mountain of laundry and playing stupid games on line. I have also been catching up on my writing. I am all caught up on the things I needed to respond to.

I think this is the first weekend I have actually relaxed a bit, the sad part is that because I have relaxed my weekend away Monday is now much closer than is comfortable.

Boo to you Monday, go away.

Harvest Complete

2008-12-05T20:19:00.004-06:00

Well the first day of second season for firearm deer hunting was this past Thursday. Jake was up before dawn and at his mom's house bright and early in a balmy 6 degree temp. The ground was covered in snow. He made his way to the tree stand and before his feet had the chance to get cold he filled his tag. A 2 and a half year old doe.Now we have her at the processor for them to do their magic and turn all that meat into jerky, snack sticks, summer sausage and of course steaks and chops...mmm we will have meat in our freezer!

Correction

2008-12-05T00:38:00.000-06:00

For the record, I would just like to say that I spelled my neice Lyndi's name the way James sent it to me in a text message.

So the correct spelling of James and Nicole's little peanut is Lyndi Jean Thompson. All the other information provided in the previous post is correct to my knowledge.