Birthdays, Schools, and Fall

The days just seem to zoom by! It feels like I have accomplished nothing in the last many many days.  Once I sit back and think of the day I feel as if I got nothing accomplished. It was as if I had just woken up and the day is over.  I know it takes me a bit to wake up in the morning but dang!

Within the last many weeks, Dan, Cayla and I celebrated our birthdays.   Since Cayla turned 21, Tyler and some of his friends took her downtown to celebrate.  Cayla found herself saying “I will never do that again!” As Dan and I reassured her, She will!  My birthday was one of the best ones that I have had in a very long time.  I had many surprises.  The kids bought me a Kindle, My sister sent me flowers with balloons attached, I received many calls and when I came home from the grocery store I was surprised by a cake and note that we were having pizza from the Pizza Palace for supper.  The day was amazing. 

Dan has had an MRI on his hip which ended with a referral to the orthopedic surgeon.  We had met with him last week (or was it the week before) and found out that the pain that Dan is having is related to his hip.  He has degenerated arthritis (thank you Judy, NOT) along with a cyst.  As a result he will be having hip surgery on the 8^th of November.  All I will say about that.  Don’t need any stress/anxiety tonight.  As they say “outta mind, outta sight”.  For me it is Not in thoughts, not in the mind=no anxiety/stress. 

School is going good.  There is one class I absolutely hate.  Sociology.  Absolutely a HUGE waste of time.  I am sure the teacher has a ton to do with my feeling of this but it is needed to complete that degree (unsure what it has to do with IT but whatever).  Other than that all is well.  I anticipate on being on the dean’s list again this semester.   I got an invite to be a sorority due to my GPA.  I think I would feel a little weird there.  For me that is like on those shows were the kids right out of high school and fresh into college try getting into.  I am no spring chicken these days.  Will just focus on getting these classes done and be done with it.  Even though I feel like I just might need to go down a few classes so that maybe I can find a part-time job since Dan will be off for a few months.  There is no way I want to lose my home!  We will see what I decide when it is time to register for classes later this month.  I find that the classes that I feel I was going to get out of the way this year are not fun ones.  They are pretty much the gen eds and really have nothing to do with my degrees.  But life is life and I gotta do them.  I tried doing an internet course.  Talk about becoming overwhelmed and having anxiety! I dropped it and will take it next semester. 

Anyway that is about it in the Rawlings home.  Just staying warm on these cool days/nights J  and hanging out between school/work/home.  BTW, have I mentioned how I love this weather! I LOVE FALL!!!!! 

Enjoy the colors,

Til next time….

~T

This weeks learnings…..

This weeks learnings:  Never, NEVER under estimate the power of a phone call.  Whether you are making it or you are receiving it.  Sit back and think of a call that you get on a regular basis, be it daily, monthly or even yearly.  Now think of missing it just once.  Now you can gather a little of what that power is.  A simple two second phone call can mean the world to someone!

Faith and being tested

I do believe that God is testing me to see if my faith is still in tack and to see if I am still strong.  The answer God, Yes it is and yes I am.  With you at my side and guiding me I will be able to survive anything. 

The end of this week has become an interesting one.  First Dan’s mom found out she has breast cancer.  She has an appointment Monday and I will find out more.  Friday my grandpa was admitted into the hospital.  He apparently has had some mini strokes and a mild heart attack.  There is other stuff going on due to the pain being in his stomach and his legs being very weak.  They continue to do more tests but always run into some obstical due to trying to protect his kidneys, heart to weak ect…So in the meantime we wait and pray they find something out and get it taken care of.  In the meantime, it is my long week/weekend at work.  My cousin came over today and did the brakes on both the vehicles, tomorrow (Sunday) we are going to Waupaca for a family gathering with Dan’s mom’s brother and his family.  I hope the weather is decent for at least the couple hours we will be there.  I think I might go see grandpa in the morning.  I know he is tired and having a big family doesn’t give you much time to sleep/relax with all the commotion.  I just pray they find answers so we really know what it is that we are dealing with.  Same with Judy, hoping that the doctor that we see Monday will be straight forward and tell us what is what so that we can really understand where we are at with the whole thing. 

Then…Tyler’s girlfriend has been dealing with migraines and getting pretty sick from them and all and after going to a few doctors and not getting many answers Tyler took her to the ER tonight because she had them again and it was affecting her sight even more.  To find out she was diagnosed with Pseudotumor Cerebri.  It pretty much is to much fluid in the brain area that is adding pressure.  From what I read up on it they should be just trying out a few medications to see if that will relieve the pressure and take care of things.  If it doesn’t then they would have to put a shunt in so the fluid would not build up.  So I am thankful they finally found out what has been wrong for the last two weeks.  Tyler has been awesome and I know some day he will make a wonderful husband and dad.  He is such an attentive male.  But I know he is emotionally and physically drained.  Hopefully he will be able to get the much deserved rest within the next couple days. 

So God, with all that I have on my plate with finances, still adjusting with a dramatic income drop, Judy and her cancer and everything that comes along with that and now grandpa, I can handle anything. After all you have prepped me to be strong!  And you have given me Dan to lean on when I feel weak 🙂

Hugs to you all

~T

Best of Years

Tonight is a slow night at work even working a 12 hour shift.  A volunteer brought in some books to share with staff and other volunteers today.  One caught my eye and I began to read it tonight.  It is called “The Last Chapter” Gene Amole on Dying.  The book is pretty much a diary of his experiences while he is dying. I know, not interesting to most but to use that work in hospice it is a little intriguing.  Almost half way into the book a statement hit home, something that I have been saying about my life and made me think.  He was writing about when he called a good friend whom he had been friends with for over a half a century to let her know he was dying and to say good bye.  During their conversation as he describes she says to Gene “You know, Gene, I am so happy we lived in our time.  Even with that terrible war, we had the best of years to live.”  To me that was like forever ago, way beyond my time and if those people thought that the time there were living in was the best years to live and I think my 14-30somethings years were the best (actually when I get over the 40s those will be included in t here also).  I think everyone has a certain time in their life that they feel was the best ever.  If you can share those times and experiences with fond memories then consider yourself blessed.  I feel bad for those that say they don’t have any.  I always have said, I wish my kids could grow up when I did.  Gosh I was and am still blessed!

The Mind

Ever wonder why the mind thinks what it does and why it does and why it doesn’t come with an off button.  Tonight my mind has been fluttering all over tonight.  Went to bed early (9:00), thank goodness.  Got a call about 11ish that a deer hit Brooke’s car.  Cayla was with her.  Well being the mom I got up to wait to see what was what and all that jazz.  They got home, went to see what damage was done and to make sure the girls were okay. (They were)  So after this the girls and Logan went to bed, Dan had already left for work and there I sat….can’t sleep!  So I played a game on the computer.  Paying the game with my mind just randomly thinking of other things.  At one point I felt tears falling down my cheeks.  I was thinking of a specific person/persons that have been very instrumental in me keeping my sanity and keeping it all together.  Knowing that these people would help  me no matter what with no questions asked.  Unbelievable!  God blessed me big time!!! I continued to play the game for a little big longer and thought I should really go try to sleep.  Went to let the dogs out, thought oh what a nice night it is, let the dogs in, went to go lie down, thought dang I am friggin hot!, tossed and turned a bit, thought to self, I should go to the bathroom, went back to bed and the mind is just a moving, Thought…WHY will it not turn off? After all, everything that is going through my mind will still be there to worry about in the morning!  Think I need a drink of water, oh I think I will check something on the computer real quick, Dang  self, you really need to get some sleep, well it is so late at night, early in the morning….should I just stay awake now?  Are you nuts?!  Good night (I hope at least for a couple hours)

Witness protection program

Yup! I just might have to join the witness protection program.  Got a call tonight from Sargent someone at the APD.  Had to share with him what exactly I saw last night so he could finish up his report.  It ended up that they arrested the man a few blocks from St Vinny’s due to us getting his license plate number and they recovered what he took. ::::::Sigh:::::: They went to the store today to pick up the video.  After talking to the police officer it sounds like the gentleman lied a little. (The police officer had to get a translator due to the gentleman not being able to speak english very well) He told them that some woman came and told him that he could help himself and take whatever he wanted.  :::::mmmmm, can you say DUMB ASS?!?!::::::::   We will see where this goes from here.

Another week down

I am getting a little excited.  Fall is just around the corner.  One more week and it is August.  The start of another school year.  After this up coming semester I will be half done.  Whew!  I have registered for classes and It should be interesting.  I took a full load at school and since our new facility at wok opened I changed my FTE to a .8 but have been working more like a .9 or a 1 .  With some staff changes I am now also doing the schedule for work.  But that is all okay.  I can handle it.  I can handle anything God gives me.   After the experiences the last year and half I decided there was no other attitude to have.  A positive one with your head held up high is the only way.  It doesn’t pay to be down or to complain about it.  Nothing you can do about certain things.  All you can do is learn to deal with it.  Now is the whole world would take that into consideration. 

Logan is driving and is doing an awesome job.  I don’t think he will have any problems when he does go for his license.  He can’t go until January so that will give him a ton more practice which will make him a much better driver.  I am proud of him.  He has actually suprised me I must admit!

Tyler is still in the running for a job tha the has applied for at TCAH as a delivery/warehouse something.  I don’t remember what the position is called.  he had an interview last week and he called the guy back Friday and he was told he had one more interview left to do and should hear something next week.  Tyler is hoping that he will hear by the middle of the week, if not Monday. 

Thats it for now… Until next time,

~T

Really!

Saw something tonight that I never would have imagined I would.  Logan and I went to St Vinnys to drop off stuff left over from the rummage sale that we no longer want.  When we pulled up there was this smaller brown car backed in.  I thought…Oh someone else is dropping something off.  WRONG!  This guy was going through what people had donated and taking what he wanted.  UNBELIEVEABLE!  He didn’t even stop of hesitate while we were there.  I wanted to say something to him like “You may be able to do something like that in Mexico, but here in the U.S we call that stealing.” But I didn’t.  I drove slowly away while Logan wrote down the license plate down and I called the police.  Lets see if he will feel free helping himself to stuff people are giving to an organization for a reason.  Which is not for people to just help themselves!  UGH can you believe it!!!  Some people!

Catching up….

Lets see, Oh where to begin….Tyler: Had his last football game for this season yesterday. They won 17-0 and was a good fast game.  Dan and I won the 50/50 raffle…$49 and 2 $50 gift cards to badger sports park.  He has applied at ThedaCare at Home to work in their warehouse and and deliver their durable medical equipment.  He has gotten through all the application/hiring areas and his application is currently on the manager’s desk.  We are praying that he gets this job.  Cayla and Brooke are still going to school and working as much as they can. Logan….Well he got his temps last Thursday. First try on the test and he passed! WooHoo!  I have started my new position with ThedaCare at Home at their new Hospice Residency (ThedaCare Hospice Residence) . I love it there.  Miss some of the people that I use to work with though 😦    I am also a aunt to another nephew.  Tara and Eric had their baby.  An adorable little boy, Elliot.  I can’t wait to meet him.

This past week Cayla and I went thru the attic and coal room down in the basement and decided to have a rummage sale.  We started yesterday and it turned out to be a nice day along with a good turn out.  Even though we didn’t make a ton of money we got rid of a ton of things.  That was the point, mark everything low and get rid of it.  After the rain this morning all the kids helped put it out again today and here Cayla and I sit, waiting.  We have had a few people stop so far and await for more. Wonder if more will stop when they leave the car show later this afternoon.  Lets hope 🙂  Whatever doesn’t sell, to St Vinnys it will go.  Not going back in the house! No way, no how!!!

As for an update on Dan and the pain he has been enduring…..He has not gone back to the doctor since last update.  Don’t see why waste the co-pay until there is a real reason and the doc can actually do something.  But when Dan was there the last time he gave him an additional medication to try.  Dan took it and as I searched a little on that medication and looked in my med book I looked up the drug to see a few things. I had Dan change when he took the med and how much and all and I think between the both of us we found what might work for Dan for the time being.  Now we just have to call the doctor’s office and chat with the nurse and let them know how we need the script refilled.  So life is getting a little (tiny) better on that subject.  Until next time,

Enjoy your day,

~T

Nuttin Honey

What is going on in the Rawlings life?  Mmmmmmm….Nuttin Honey!  Nothing new that is.

The kids are gearing up to go to Country USA.  The girls are going to surprise Logan and take him this year.  He so badly wants to see Toby Keith.  He will be so excited!  I am only worried for him because he isn’t all that keen on crowds.  I am thinking that the whole Toby Keith thing will out weight it all.

Tyler and Logan helped Linzy move the last couple days.  I am so proud of them all !!!

Brooke continues training for management at McDonalds.  She should just be about done.

Cayla continues to work as many hours as she can and goes to school in the evening in hopes to advance to her gen eds.

Dan is still looking for a full time job that will allow him to be home with family majority of the week.  He is currently working at Dunham and working about 30 hours a week.  Not all that great of pay and hours but it is something.

I am starting at the new Thedacare Hospice Residence starting tomorrow night.  Our first patient should arrive tomorrow some time.  Kind of excited for the new “adventure”.  I sure hope I like it.  I like where I currently am and love working with the gal that I work with.  I hate to give that up but at the same time I know it is time for a change.  We will see if my gut is right this time.

That is about it for the Rawlings stuff.

Oh for all of you that read this if Dan and I could ask a favor from you.  We would so appreciate prayers for a dad of one of Dan’s good friends.  He is battling stage 4 cancer that metastasized to his brain.  He continues to keep hope and a great attitude.  Thanks!

Til next time

~T