December 2015

Its almost Christmas, WOW!  My boys get out of school tomorrow for the rest of the year!  LOL!  I can't believe that I have let this whole year go by without posting anything.  So much for my posting every month plan.  I should be sewing on the skirt for the tag I picked off my ward's Angel tree, but I came online to looks at soemthing, then decided to peep in here to see when I last posted... OOPS!

Lets see if I can remember enough to do a month-by-month recap... my memory isn't so good... more on that later.

JANUARY-- I turned 40 on my birthday (Jackson turn 39, Ellynn turned 2), and I remember thinking that I thought I was doing pretty good for being the age I was.  Jackson teased me about being middle-aged, I think that my reply was along the lines of "I'll be middle-aged when I'm 50 or 55, because I still feel young!"
I continued to knit on the dishcloth pattern that Emalie Jones-Peel (Daddy's 2nd wife) taught me to do on Nov 8-9th 2014.  I'm finding that my day seems to go better if I can knit some each day too. Perhaps its just my imagination? I do like to knit though.  ;)
Also in January, I discovered Norwex, and bought my first Household package (Enviro-cloth, Window cloth, and Dusting mitt).  Jackson was working in Holden & Delta (Utah) during the week then, and I pretty well pretty well turned those cloths almost black from using them so much, I think I cleaned on my house between 2-6 hours each night. I was hooked!!
Sometime in very early January, I realized that I needed to cut sugar out of my life.  It made me sooo sick, even a small piece of candy the size of a Spanish peanut.  It didn't hurt me any that my ward's R.S. was having a health challenge along this time, and you'd get points per day if you didn't eat sugar... good for me.  ;)  I kind of struggled at first, but skipping the gut-ache and all-night-on-toilet-diarrhea that came with eating candy or having a single teaspoon of sugar in my mint tea, well all that mess is so much better avoided.  I decided to learn about alternative forms of sweetener, I think that Agave nectar and Coconut Palm sugar are my favorites, though molasses and honey are sometimes fine too (honey still kind of makes me a bit ill if I have it straight, but in a baked good its okay).
I also had my first mammogram (I'm writing all this stuff down, as more of journal entries for me, than trying to catch up each little detail) in January; it wasn't as bad as I've always heard -- certainly not a fun thing, but not like the "being slammed in a door" that I'd always heard it called. Maybe its in how the technician does it? This lady was very gentle.  I did have the mammogram because of an email that I received from my sister Amelia in Dec-early Jan, because of some suspicious spots she'd found in her first mammogram.


FEBRUARY -- Coping with having my hubby gone 5 days of each week had begun to turn into a trial almost, so I began to go to the Vernal LDS Temple each week, either on Wednesday or Thursday nights, and alternating the ordinances I did as well.  That seemed to give me enough of a spiritual boost to help me get through my week until hubby came home on Friday nights, and I got a another "spiritual jolt" on Sundays.  Because of him being gone, Valentine's Day was just another day to me, and I chose not to be upset by it. I'm just grateful that he had work.

MARCH--  Taw had his 7th's birthday on the 7th; that really tickled his fancy, and he went around the house singing that he was turning 7 on the 7th.  I tried not to grumble over the incessant noise (sometimes his happy cheerful sounds border on annoying), because I remember turning 12 on the 12th on what seems not-too-many-years-ago.
 I celebrated my 15th wedding Anniversary this month, on the 11th. Sometimes it seems as if we just got married, and sometimes it seems like we've been together soooooooo much longer. ;)
I also joined with Norwex this month, it was Free Sign-up Month, so I did.  ;) I've not been sorry yet that I joined either, tho I've stressed over it some.  If you are curious about what Norwex is, go here to check it out:  www.gaylejackson.norwex.biz   -- I give a 15% family and friends discount.  ;)
I went to a baby shower for Kacia, Robert's wife (my nephew), at Sarah's (Robert's sister) house in Kaysville I think? I stayed the weekend with Emalie, and we drove up there together.
I noticed this month that Ellynn has been growing a lot.  She seemed to really pack on the weight, but I think it wasn't really that much (maybe 3-5 pounds), in just a few months. She did go from a size 2 diaper to a size 4, and seemed to jump from 6-9 and 12 months clothes into 18 months clothes for a short while (then right into 24 mos/2T clothes by June).

APRIL-- Signs of spring all around us, and Jackson was able to stay home again during the week come mid-month. YAY!!!
I started planing for my summer garden, but was struggling a bit.  You see, for years now (but the 6-12 months leading up to Spring 2015 were especially rough for me), I'd been struggling with a number of health problems (racing heart, forgetfulness, irritability, coldness in my limbs, depression, hair loss, severe exhaustion, extreme lack of energy, difficulty breathing, insomnia, lack of desire to eat, and a few others that I can't recall [did I mention forgetfulness?] ).  Some days it seemed like all I could do was feed and care for the girls during the day, and get dinner on the table at night.

MAY-- Mother's Day weekend saw me with a fresh supply of yard and garden plants, its kind of my annual Mother's Day gift, only the colors and types of flowers vary.
I got my veggie garden started with some early veggies, though not as much as I would have preferred because it seemed such a hard task just to plant a few seeds.
About the time that the kids got out of school (school ended May 22nd), I called to Roosevelt to Dr Staker's office to find out who he recommended for Internal Medicine (he's the kids' pediatrician but also is a Dr of Internal Medicine but was no longer seeing adult patients), then I got an appointment with the recommended Dr Garcia as soon as I could.  I was tired of being tired and not having any answers about why I felt the way I did.
I also gave blood near the end of May, I felt that I had to do my bit to help others, though I doubted that maybe me feeling ill that maybe I shouldn't have -- I did it because I had a strong feeling that whatever was wrong with me, wasn't hugely life-threatening, at least not an immediate thing.

JUNE-- Kids are out of school, I had planted my tomato plants, beans, first few rows of corn, onions, potatoes (and what else? I cannot recall) last month, now I'd go weed a row or two each morning after Jackson left for work at 5-6 am. I enjoyed being alone with early morning sounds, it felt so good.
I had my first visit with Dr Garcia, then got to undertake a large quantity of blood tests -- the Lab lady pulled out what seemed to be a HUGE amount of blood, but that she said it was really less than 1/4 cup.  There was just so many little tubes she was filling, i'd say 15-20.
Joseph had signed up for summer Marching & Parade band practice during the summer, in the mornings.  I was happy that he was enjoying playing his trombone and wanted to continue to do something with it during the summer.  Near the end of the month, he went up to Oregon to stay for a few weeks, he rode up with Jackson's brother William & Mom "Grandma Ila," to stay until we came up in mid-July.  It was a good experience for him in some ways, and in others...  well he was bit mouthy after that for awhile.
I kept on with my knitting, working in the garden, playing with my children, sewed a little, did housework, worked on my Norwex, enjoyed the warmer weather, took life slowly, napped most afternoons as my energy seemed to wane sharply by 1-2pm, and did what I could to get by -- which some days was very little.
Dr Garcia always seemed to be busy while I was trying to get the results of my blood tests and to get back in to talk to him.  His nurse did call to say that everything came back normal, but I wasn't willing to let everything go quite so easily.  I did finally get an appointment in July with another Dr in his office, a Dr Kent Smith... very nice person, who had returned a few months prior from an LDS mission.  ;) A good starting point right there.
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Okay, I've been typing long enough, 6 months is going to have to be good for now, as I need to feed and myself lunch, then run to town to do some errands.  Then I must WORK ON THE SKIRT -- ;) If I "shout" the words, will I be able to remember better? I hope so.

Thank goodness for leftovers, we had lots of our homemade Mac and Cheese left from last night's dinner, other wise, I'd probably be eating a bowl of quinoa with sliced bananas.  Oh I could make a Kefir smoothie too, its only 24 hours old, just right YUM!

Oh and, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ADREANN today!!!  ;)