Five Di's plus one

Because six di's (dianthus) doesn't really have the same ring to it.

Their friends the Purple Ladies are gone (fungus). Trying to water and will my girls through the brutal next two months.

Happy First Birthday

There is so much to write about when my neck and shoulder heal. But first things first.

This happy redheaded darling turns one today. She is our little peanut. What she lacks in size, she makes up for in personality!  Her big sister cried when Mommy gave her birthday cake. Pretty sure this one will shove it in with both little fists. Happy birthday, Alyssa Jane! Aunt Sarah loves you so much. Hugs and kisses from "far, far away". 

Well, helloooooooooooo......

 So, the reason why I've been away from here, is because my arms and shoulders and neck are still painful from the accidents. But, I wanted to give you a couple of pictures from my recent trip to California with my mom to take care of a little redheads while their parents went on an anniversary getaway.

A redhead selfie (two were sleeping): one current redhead, one former redhead, and one redhead want to be. :)

This Little gal was this happy most of the time, when those pesky teeth weren't bothering her. Unfortunately, The first night that granny and aunt Sarah had the girls by ourselves, Miss Alyssa decided that she liked granny but not me. So, my poor mother was the one that had get up two or three times per night with the baby. 

Three-year-old Kaelynn and I spent a lot of time together. She is growing up and trying to understand things. One of the most precious parts of the visit was at the beginning, when mommy, granny, and aunt Sarah went to pick her up from school. As soon as she saw me, Kaelynn ran to me, and said "I've waited so long for you!" I didn't want to upset her by crying, so I just whispered as I hugged her, "me too, baby, me too." :)

Hopefully, I'll be able to update you on the rest of our trip, and post some more pictures. It really is not fun to not be able to write with both of my arms now being so uncomfortable. It could've been a lot worse, and I'm thankful for good medical care. I'm ready, however, for some little elves to come in and do all the paperwork for me! The paperwork to get the medical bills reimbursed unfortunately involves all the areas that are injured. Sometimes, I just stare out my window, and look at these pretties. It makes everything better.

Purple ladies

About a month ago, my cleaning lady surprised me by planting purple petunias in my backyard. This is the first time I've ever had anything growing back there except weeds!

I can't tell you how much difference it's made to walk through and see these flowers, whom I call my Purple Ladies, each time I come and go from the carport to the house. 

Today, nearly four years after purchasing my house, I sat outside for the first time, just because!  :)

Positive messages

I been meaning to post this for a long time. The last time I had to order jeans (yes, a bigger size) I ordered my typical Lee jeans. I have always worn their jeans, and I also wear their twill pants to work. They just fit me. You know what will help a girl's low self esteem about getting a bigger pair of jeans? These messages on the inside, where only she can see. Boy, is it powerful! I may be ordering more jeans soon, (this time in a smaller size), and I need to tell them how much these affirming words have really made a difference. For all the bad retailer stories we hear out there, and they are well-founded, this one makes up for it, at least in my tiny corner of the planet. :) 

My littlest sunshine

It's been a hard week so far (yes, I know, first world problems)...finding out I sprained my neck in accident and perhaps pinched a nerve and being told by doctor to go down to 30 hrs/wk (from 45-55). Lots of pain from overdoing it the past three days.

Then I found out the guy that caused the accident was not insured. He took out a policy, but didn't make a payment so it was cancelled. This is actually good because my benefits under State Farm are better than they would have been under his. But my car is still not fixed because they keep missing spots and it's been over two weeks that they have had it for minor work.

And then when I got home yesterday after my first 6 hrs day turned into 7.5 hrs and counting, this was waiting for me. Suddenly all the other stuff just faded away, and I remembered its all about joy. I dare you to look at my littlest sunshine, Alyssa Jane, now 8 months, and not smile!

You're welcome. 

Crash, slide, crash!

So, I have always said when we get our "inclement weather" here that it doesn't matter if you personally know how to drive in it or not...it's all the crazy yahoos that don't.

In their defense, they don't get much practice as this happens maybe once a year. But all us northern folk know the number one rule: fight your instinct and do NOT slam on your brakes. Ruben V in his red car didn't get the message and slid right into me. I'm just VERY glad I was in the left most lane and so I didn't slide into another car, I hit the guardrail.

The car doesn't look that bad. My neck/shoulders head are a bit different. Excuse the crude drawing below. This same triangle has been a sore spot for 11-12 years since car accidents back then that never healed right. This time, I re-injured the same area and added a new symptom: tingling fingers. It's very uncomfortable, but I know it could be a lot worse. My medical massage therapist/HHP is helping me and the goal is to get this all under control soon.

After dealing with the body shop and two different rental car companies today, let me just say that customer service is a lost art!

Tonight we are getting freezing precip again, so I know someone that will not be eager to get on the roads for the potential to wreck a car registered to Enterprise!

Be careful out there, everyone!

Day 21

So, it never dawned on me that there would be "an app for that" to fix the issues I was having being unable to post from my iPad!

There is quite a bit to catch up on, but the most significant is this...I have been gluten free for 21 days. After the initial withdrawal symptoms, my headaches have been a lot better. I have been casein (milk protein) free for several months and that has helped as well.

I was inspired to try gluten free because a number of people I know had done it and had found relief from their migraines. The biggest reason is that my HHP recommended it. Also, my cousin (whose migraines land her in the ER because the symptoms are indistuishable from stroke) gave me this book to borrow. This neurologist had migraines and stumbled on this diet that is similar to Paleo and Trim & Healthy Mama, from what I understand. This book helped me understand so much about headaches and how our bodies process food.

Because I am on so many different prescriptions for different things, I am trying to be very scientific about the changes and so my first step in this ancestral diet Dr. Turknett recommends was removing gluten. It has been a big step, but it has been good. The next step will be sugar, but that will be harder and I've learned I need to time the initial withdrawal period so that the reaction happens at a time when missing work wouldn't stress me out a lot. So I'm thinking next month.

In any event, the biggest thing of all is that with this and some other work I'm doing for my overall health, my attitude towards food in general is changing and that is huge! 

This book is a quick read and I recommend it to anyone with headaches!

So, this happened...

OHIO STATE WON THE NATIONAL COLLEGE FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP! 

INSERT REALLY AWESOME GRAPHICS HERE, AND HERE, AND HERE!!!!

http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/

Since my computer - even the Dell - will no longer load any pictures - I cannot show you the very clever graphic of how they have designed "National" so that the capital "A" is an "8" because we (Ohio State) has won in our program's history, now 8 national championships.  However, because this was the first ever College Football Playoff (CFP) National Championship, they are also showing graphic of "OH1O" State where the "I" in Ohio is changed to a "1".

I wish I could load the graphic.  Instead, here are the links to the shirts I ordered.  I always order the morning after the game for maximum availability and then I return the ones I don't like.

http://www.fanatics.com/BCS_Championship_Merchandise/Ohio_State_Buckeyes_2014_College_Football_Playoff_National_Champions_OH1O_Long_Sleeve_T-Shirt_-_Black

"OH1O State"

http://www.fanatics.com/COLLEGE_Ohio_State_Buckeyes_Mens_T-Shirts/Ohio_State_Buckeyes_2014_College_Football_Playoff_National_Champions_Official_Logo_Long_Sleeve_T-Shirt_-_Scarlet

"NATION8L CHAMPIONS"

I also liked this one:

http://www.fanatics.com/COLLEGE_Ohio_State_Buckeyes_Mens_T-Shirts/Ohio_State_Buckeyes_2014_College_Football_Playoff_National_Champions_Game_Over_Tri-Blend_T-Shirt_-_Gray

I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by my team.  We have this uncanny ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, as my father would say!  We turned the ball over to Oregon four times and yet still won.  The number one rule in football is hold on to the ball.  The number two rule is refer to rule number one!  We typically get up on these national stages of huge bowl games or something and then roll over and play dead, or another team comes out in our uniforms (or costumes as a 7 yr old I know calls them!) pretending to be us!

However, we did beat Oregon and we beat them by 21 points, so that is decisive.  And I can't wait until my box of shirts comes so I can pick out the ones(s) I'm going to keep.  This is the one I kept from my Sugar Bowl champs order:

http://www.fanatics.com/catalog/product/Ohio_State_Buckeyes_2015_Sugar_Bowl_Champions_Sugar_High_T-Shirt_-_Scarlet

GO BUCKS!!!!