Hmmm....where do I start? This month has gone by rather quickly and I'm sure the next month will whiz by as well. The big event of January was the snow storm we received last week. Two days of snow and rain and no school for the kids. We woke Thursday to A LOT of snow outside and knew that school was to be cancelled. The forecast called for rain later in the day and so I grabbed the kids, stuffed them into their newly acquired snow clothes and got outside. We borrowed the red ATV from mom and dad and drove around and played in the beautiful snow. It was gorgeous. And then it started raining, really hard. Wet, heavy nasty snow in just a few minutes - it was a great day to stay inside and play. Sophie came over for the day and stayed the night - since school was already cancelled for the next day. Sue took the kids on Friday and they played at her house all day. Ahhh....it is so nice to have a niece so close in age and a sister who likes her niece and nephew. Reason #2 for why we moved here.
Meanwhile Balin's work has picked up so he spent the last week, including Saturday and Sunday, meeting his deadline before he headed south for his next assignment. He's currently in Columbia for the next 20-25 days doing exploration for a mine. I talked to him tonight and he made it safely and is doing well. He said there is one person who speaks English, but she's not available for translating so it's up to Balin to work on his Spanish. After 3 weeks of only speaking Spanish he should be somewhat able to communicate.
Unfortunately Balin had to leave on my birthday, but it didn't much matter as I had my day planned and he would've been working the whole day regardless if he was here or in South America. So I called my lovely babysitter Ashley and enjoyed my day. It started out with my brother, who's in town from Seattle for the week, taking Balin to the shuttle and coming into my house at 6:15am. The dogs, especially Stretch, went bizerk and woke up the whole house. Sam started crying because Balin didn't say good bye to him and Perrin came out fully dressed with a big hug for Uncle Dan. I suggested, in order to alleviate Sam's disappointment and distract the children, that Dan take them to Grandma's for breakfast; it was my birthday after all and what a great gift it would be to have a quiet morning. So off they went and I went to make a yummy cup of tea and spend some time in prayer and reading. Lovely.
From there my sister took the kids while I went to the market for some groceries and when I came home Ashley arrived to take care of the 3 kids. Sue and I headed off to Bin 239 for a quiet lunch, where unexpectedly my brother and dad joined us for lunch. Sue and I headed off for a wonderful facial and a cup of coffee afterward. I hung out with the kids until it was time to go to dinner at my parents house and to open presents. It was a great day and I wish that Balin could have been there but...oh well. Next year. At least maybe next year I'll get to be somewhere warm and sunny.
Oh, one detail I forgot to mention, that while I was sitting and having a quiet morning I called up and ordered my plans for my combination greenhouse/chicken coop. I am so looking forward to this experiment. Supposedly, due to the chickens housed in the same building, though separated, no additional source of heat other than solar is needed. The design was first used in Martha's Vineyard with great success and the author was confident that I would have no trouble with heating/cooling here in Northern Arizona. I have to say that I am very excited as our the kids. I told them they could have a pet rabbit and chicken when the time comes. I've been waiting a long time to have a greenhouse again. I really do miss it though I have been baffled at what the best design would be here where it gets so hot and so cold. I'll keep you posted in regards to the progress. Balin is hoping to build it this summer but....maybe when he's gone it'll magically appear.
As I talked about in my previous blog, getting out and excercising has proven to be something of a challenge with the cold weather. The last couple of weeks I thought I had solved the problem by taking spin classes at the YMCA - but the class starts at 8:30am and the kid's school starts at 9am. So with Balin gone I'm back to trying to figure out a schedule that works. The other effect of Balin's absence is that I have to be very protective of my energy. I find that I can't/don't want to really push myself in exercising because if I get tired, I get cranky. If I get cranky the kids get the short end of the stick and that's not fun for anyone. So I've got to figure out a balance that is life giving. Veremos.
I went to a counselor the other day. Yeah. I didn't think that I really needed a counselor until I started thinking about my dad's health, some marriages that are struggling around me and some issues that I have but have never really resolved them. It was really good. His name is George Pritchard and he's from Grants Pass. We know mutual people, which was kind of fun. It was so refreshing to sit and talk about....all sorts of things and have someone actively listen. And I didn't feel bad for not asking him a ton of questions - I was fully aware that I was paying for this time and I wanted to capitalize on it. Part of me acknowledges that I need some help working through some of my issues but the other part of me wanted to go to counseling to say to friends and acquaintances that it's okay, actually it's good, to go to counseling. It takes a lot of courage I think to say I can't do it on my own and that the issues I have won't get any better if I just ignore them. Get over it friends and get some help. It's work but I would much rather do the work when I'm in a good place than when I'm in crisis. Think about it.
I spent my morning today not going to the gym and working out and then having Spanish lessons as I had planned. Instead I sat in a room in the hospital with my dad as he went through another battery of tests. He's becoming very weak and we're not sure what the cause of it is. The doctor said the other day that his heart is trying to die but the devices he has won't let it. They're trying some medications as they believe that another surgery is not an option at this point - he's just too weak - but the outcome of those medications is questionable. Uck. Again we are so thankful that we are down here in Prescott so that I can sit in the hospital room for 3 hours and it's not a big deal. I got a chance to read pretty much the whole book Living Abroad in Mexico. That subject is the topic for another blog as I have to get my tea and crawl into bed. Blessings and hopefully I'll be posting the mundane and interesting in the next 25 days as it's a great way for Balin to keep up on what's going on at home.
Meanwhile Balin's work has picked up so he spent the last week, including Saturday and Sunday, meeting his deadline before he headed south for his next assignment. He's currently in Columbia for the next 20-25 days doing exploration for a mine. I talked to him tonight and he made it safely and is doing well. He said there is one person who speaks English, but she's not available for translating so it's up to Balin to work on his Spanish. After 3 weeks of only speaking Spanish he should be somewhat able to communicate.
Unfortunately Balin had to leave on my birthday, but it didn't much matter as I had my day planned and he would've been working the whole day regardless if he was here or in South America. So I called my lovely babysitter Ashley and enjoyed my day. It started out with my brother, who's in town from Seattle for the week, taking Balin to the shuttle and coming into my house at 6:15am. The dogs, especially Stretch, went bizerk and woke up the whole house. Sam started crying because Balin didn't say good bye to him and Perrin came out fully dressed with a big hug for Uncle Dan. I suggested, in order to alleviate Sam's disappointment and distract the children, that Dan take them to Grandma's for breakfast; it was my birthday after all and what a great gift it would be to have a quiet morning. So off they went and I went to make a yummy cup of tea and spend some time in prayer and reading. Lovely.
From there my sister took the kids while I went to the market for some groceries and when I came home Ashley arrived to take care of the 3 kids. Sue and I headed off to Bin 239 for a quiet lunch, where unexpectedly my brother and dad joined us for lunch. Sue and I headed off for a wonderful facial and a cup of coffee afterward. I hung out with the kids until it was time to go to dinner at my parents house and to open presents. It was a great day and I wish that Balin could have been there but...oh well. Next year. At least maybe next year I'll get to be somewhere warm and sunny.
Oh, one detail I forgot to mention, that while I was sitting and having a quiet morning I called up and ordered my plans for my combination greenhouse/chicken coop. I am so looking forward to this experiment. Supposedly, due to the chickens housed in the same building, though separated, no additional source of heat other than solar is needed. The design was first used in Martha's Vineyard with great success and the author was confident that I would have no trouble with heating/cooling here in Northern Arizona. I have to say that I am very excited as our the kids. I told them they could have a pet rabbit and chicken when the time comes. I've been waiting a long time to have a greenhouse again. I really do miss it though I have been baffled at what the best design would be here where it gets so hot and so cold. I'll keep you posted in regards to the progress. Balin is hoping to build it this summer but....maybe when he's gone it'll magically appear.
As I talked about in my previous blog, getting out and excercising has proven to be something of a challenge with the cold weather. The last couple of weeks I thought I had solved the problem by taking spin classes at the YMCA - but the class starts at 8:30am and the kid's school starts at 9am. So with Balin gone I'm back to trying to figure out a schedule that works. The other effect of Balin's absence is that I have to be very protective of my energy. I find that I can't/don't want to really push myself in exercising because if I get tired, I get cranky. If I get cranky the kids get the short end of the stick and that's not fun for anyone. So I've got to figure out a balance that is life giving. Veremos.
I went to a counselor the other day. Yeah. I didn't think that I really needed a counselor until I started thinking about my dad's health, some marriages that are struggling around me and some issues that I have but have never really resolved them. It was really good. His name is George Pritchard and he's from Grants Pass. We know mutual people, which was kind of fun. It was so refreshing to sit and talk about....all sorts of things and have someone actively listen. And I didn't feel bad for not asking him a ton of questions - I was fully aware that I was paying for this time and I wanted to capitalize on it. Part of me acknowledges that I need some help working through some of my issues but the other part of me wanted to go to counseling to say to friends and acquaintances that it's okay, actually it's good, to go to counseling. It takes a lot of courage I think to say I can't do it on my own and that the issues I have won't get any better if I just ignore them. Get over it friends and get some help. It's work but I would much rather do the work when I'm in a good place than when I'm in crisis. Think about it.
I spent my morning today not going to the gym and working out and then having Spanish lessons as I had planned. Instead I sat in a room in the hospital with my dad as he went through another battery of tests. He's becoming very weak and we're not sure what the cause of it is. The doctor said the other day that his heart is trying to die but the devices he has won't let it. They're trying some medications as they believe that another surgery is not an option at this point - he's just too weak - but the outcome of those medications is questionable. Uck. Again we are so thankful that we are down here in Prescott so that I can sit in the hospital room for 3 hours and it's not a big deal. I got a chance to read pretty much the whole book Living Abroad in Mexico. That subject is the topic for another blog as I have to get my tea and crawl into bed. Blessings and hopefully I'll be posting the mundane and interesting in the next 25 days as it's a great way for Balin to keep up on what's going on at home.
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