Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Another snow day...what to do?

We could always make a run for it...


Don't worry about the storm trooper...I've heard they're lousy shots.


Of course, there's always a member of the ground crew that thinks their way is better than the cinematography director...


With temperatures barely in the double digits, reenacting the entire film was cut short.  
It was way more fun to plan it all out over hot chocolate anyway. 

Monday, January 27, 2014

Renewal...

Re-new
      1. To make new or as if new again; restore
      2. To regain or restore the physical or mental vigor of; revive

If last year could be summed up in one word it would be Survival. We found ourselves attacked on all sides, dodging slings and arrows, surviving.

PTSD

Broken, not broken, we-have-no-idea-what-the-hell's-going-on-but-keep-it-immobilized-anyway ankle.

2nd grade bullies, incompetent principal and school superintendent.

Broken sewer lines.

Cantankerous 12-year-old vehicle.

Gluten intolerance discovered too late to save the gallbladder.

Learning how each and every one fit in our lives; surviving.

But we've come through all of that. In December Himself and I celebrated our 15th anniversary.  It was a Big Deal. Not just because, against enormous odds, we'd made it to 15 but because back in January? We both were Done. But we didn't quit.  Because, somehow, we managed to remember why we started. We survived.

While as heavy, heart wrenching and life changing the PTS diagnosis was...it was also a relief. Because the tension, the rift, the crap that was about to cause our marriage to implode? It wasn't Us. It was hi-jacked, jacked up wiring in his head.  That didn't make me blameless by any means.  But it gave us a Reason.  And we learned how to survive with this newly labeled demon in our lives...the demon wasn't new, we just never realized it was one we needed to fight together.  We learned how to ask the right questions.  How to give honest answers.  How to regroup when we failed.  How to survive.

I learned the value of being a part of a community--no matter how small.  I learned how to reach out and ask for Help.  And to accept the offer of Help.  It's sad that it took it all falling apart to teach me that vital Life Lesson. But I learned I have people in my life who will not only move mountains for me,  they'll even take my children for the afternoon just so I can Breath.  And I survived.

And now? We've learned those survival skills.  We've earned our stripes. I'm ready to rebuild.  To regain.  To revive.  I'm declaring this to be the year of Renewal.

He hasn't really mentioned it, but he graduates from college in a few months.  And we're headed to Tanzania this summer.  Even with living with a burned out fan motor on our heat pump for the first week and a half (during Polar Vortex 2014, non-the-less!), as well as a mini plague epidemic, it's already a better year than it's predecessor.  But even if we do continue to be attacked, we've got our boots on now.  We're ready.

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Overheard in our house...

The Boy:  Why are there so many models of ships in our house?

Himself: Because your mother dreams of sailing away in tropical waters on a tall ship.  And the models are reminders of that dream. 

TB: Not because we're related to Blackbeard?

HS: And because she has pirate blood coursing through her veins. 

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

First blizzard of 2014...and by "blizzard" I mean "Snow spit"...

When we went to bed last night schools were cancelled and we were right in the middle of the "holy crap" snow forecast bullseye.

This morning? Snow amounts continued to be downgraded. They can't un-cancel school.  So kiddos and I enjoyed a very relaxed no-snow snow day. 

Until 5ish, when the snow finally decided to show up...



 I rounded them up long enough to eat supper.  But then it was suiting up and right back outside.


Yeah...we haven't gotten a lot of snow around these parts in the past few years...



Schools are closed again tomorrow.  I'm overjoyed that these two weirdos are old enough to get their snow clothes on by themselves.  Because they're going to be out there at daybreak.  

Pretty sure I was adopted.  No way do these two share my tropical blood.