{source}

We skipped ice skating lessons this morning. Alex had a headache and I needed the extra sleep after the stress and sadness of these last 2 weeks. (Sorry coach!) I am still in shock that Kari died from a stroke. Everyone says, “she was so young!” Yes, she was young, but stroke knows no age boundaries. If I think about it too long I cry. We shared an office. I won’t see her sitting at her desk anymore. And now I am doing her job too (or trying to fake my way through it). {sigh.}

So, it was retail therapy today. A trip to Party City for Alex’s 10th birthday party next weekend. $70 in party decorations. I NEVER spend that much on throwaway party items. Ever. But, it’s cheaper than real therapy right now. Thinking about budget and saying “no” makes my brain hurt too. It’s a Monster High Doll/Pirates of the Caribbean theme. I know, weird.

Acupuncture treatment for stress, hormones and this pesky sinus pressure. Four needles in my face and viola…my sinus headache is gone!

Out to lunch with a friend who moved from ‘just down the street’ to an hour away. At 3 Margaritas, my treat. Yummy.

Walmart for birthday presents, pillows, & curtains. Therapy.

Am I any happier? Not really. But I have pretty pillows to lay my head on and cry, if I need too.

I read once that when someone leaves your life it just means that their chapter in your book has ended. 

I think I am in the anger stage of grief because I am mad about her story ending.

Thor’s new handmade bling collar; a gift from Kathleen. Thanks Kathleen!

Using Thor as a pillow to watch TV. Yes, it’s winter and, yes, she is wearing a swimsuit!

Working on her sit spin. She learned another jump today.

Little sister’s skating lessons. Love the cupcake hat! She has to dress like big sis; even borrowing her old skate dress and an old pair of over the boot tights.

My life has once again been turned upside down. Earlier this week my friend suffered a massive stroke. She is my boss’ wife, my co-worker, more importantly, my friend. We share an office. We share girl-talk. I spend more time with her on a weekday than I do my own husband.

And she had a stroke.

Life is making less sense to me right now.

She had the stroke right in front of me. One second we are talking and the next second she is having a stroke. I will not discuss her medical information (because that is private) except to say that she is in ICU and in critical condition.

Although I knew at the time she was having a stroke, I didn’t dare say out loud. But what I didn’t know was the early warning signs of a stroke.

Do you?

Did you know?

• Strokes are the leading cause of disability in the U.S.
• Strokes are the 3rd leading cause of death
• There are many different types of strokes

From the National Stroke Association:

• Sudden numbness or weakness of face, arm or leg — especially on one side of the body
• Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding
• Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes
• Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination
• Sudden severe headache with no known cause

Women may report unique stroke symptoms:

• sudden face and limb pain
• sudden hiccups
• sudden nausea
• sudden general weakness
• sudden chest pain
• sudden shortness of breath
• sudden palpitations

• NOTE THE TIME WHEN ANY SYMPTOMS FIRST APPEAR. If given within three hours of the first symptom, there is an FDA-approved clot-buster medication that may reduce long-term disability for the most common type of stroke.Learn as many stroke symptoms as possible so you can recognize stroke as FAST as possible.

Source: Learn more at the National Stroke Association

Even one of the above symptoms could be a sign of stroke. Don’t hesitate. Better to look silly in the ER than risk not taking action for a stroke. Time is the enemy in this case! I once thought I was having a stroke and went to the ER. Turned out it was a severe case of anxiety. I felt foolish then, but now, I am thankful I didn’t “wait it out”. What if it had not been anxiety?

What makes this event even more confusing? She did everything right. She was not in the risk category. She didn’t take birth control, didn’t smoke, didn’t drink, she exercised, ate healthy, had low cholesterol, was a healthy weight and wasn’t diabetic. It doesn’t make sense to me.

Even though her score would have been low risk, she is not the norm. Get your Stroke Risk Scorecard here to see what you can do to reduce your risk of a stroke.

I used Laura Calder’s version (from the Cooking Channel). And because I can’t leave any recipe alone, I had to make my own modifications. I left out the creme fraiche because Target doesn’t carry it and I didn’t want to go through the hassle of making it from scratch…somewhere a Frenchman is crying right now. Instead of Madeira I used a Robert Mondavi Cabernet.

I was in the kitchen dicing 1 pound of mushrooms when my five-year-old Parker came into the kitchen. Curious, she asked what I was cutting up.

“Mushrooms.”

Real serious she informs me, “You know those things will killed you. They’re poisonous.”

I suppressed my laughter. “Well, I bought these at Target so I am pretty sure they’re not the poisonous kind.”

“That’s good.” And she runs off to do something else.

Cooking roast at high altitude can be tricking. It always seems to take longer than the recipe calls for. In fact, turkeys take longer to roast too. And it was the case here; 25 minutes longer! {sigh.} And that was a little too long because the beef came out more than medium. Oh, well. It was still good but not excellent. Laura makes it look soooo easy. But realistically I should just stick with what I do well which is chili, pulled pork, lasagna, and red beans with rice.

This just proves that I will never be a French cook. I didn’t even take a picture of the finished product. It wasn’t pretty.

************

Cooking Lessons with My Almost-Ten-Year-Old…

Alex not liking the hot oven

Adding the sauce

Finished Pizza Quesadillas

Alex is now old enough to start making more than just popcorn in the microwave. Tonight we made Rachael Ray’s Quesadilla Pizza. And we altered this recipe too. The girls don’t like green olives, scallions, or salsa, so we used pizza sauce, black olives and no scallions instead. Yummy!

Now, Rachael Ray is more my speed.

We made these simple s'mores

Hello Moon

 I gave it my best shot (pardon the pun) in capturing the moon from the back patio.

The Denver Broncos and QB Tebow made it another nail-biter with their win in OT against Pittsburgh…Sports Authority at Mile High was rocking! Next week, New England who has had Denver’s number this season. We all need to say a little prayer. Not that God really cares about football, but still, it can’t hurt.

55mm, f/5, ISO 1600

making dog treats for the boys last night

dog treats ready for the oven

We bought these dog treats mix at Target on clearance. The dogs didn’t care if it was 1/2 off.

Resolutions are too vague. I’ve read that one-third of us who make a “resolution” for the new year dump it within 2 weeks and 50% of the rest say “forget about it” within 2 months. Besides, you can start a diet any day of the week, or any time of the year. For 4 years now I have chosen “one word” rather than make a resolution.

The idea behind the one little word concept is to give yourself something to focus on throughout the year…”A single word can be a powerful thing. It can be the ripple in the pond that changes everything. It can sharp and biting or rich and soft and slow.”

This concept is totally from Ali Edwards. I have found this works much better for me than resolutions.

In 2009 my one word was “be”, as in “just be in the moment.” I struggled with being in the moment at first. It had to be a conscious decision and I still remind myself of it today. It’s not a trait that comes naturally to me.

In 2010 my one word was “faith”. I think I did pretty well that year. I renewed my faith and continued reading the Bible. I still have many more Books to read but “it’s the journey, not the destination” or “it’s a long road, but the reward is great.” However you want to look at it, I will still be working on faith throughout my life.

In 2011 my one word was “nourish”. Nourish encompassed my whole feeling of what I want in the upcoming year to be. For my mind. For my body. For my soul.

This year my word is “explore”. If I knew then what I know now I would have chosen a different career path. No offense to my current employers, I am thankful for a job with such great bosses, but still, I wish I had been brave enough to have explored the world before settling down. Sure, I thought I was brave moving from small town Missouri to the big city of Denver, knowing only the friend who was moving with me.

At 19, I thought it was going to be an adventure, but it was a controlled adventure. My mom forbid me to move to NYC, so Denver was the alternative. It was the safe adventure.

I dreamed of seeing the world; NYC, Paris, London. As a teenager I had posters of the Eiffel Tower and Big Ben on my walls (next to Duran Duran and other rock stars, of course).

What if I had packed it all up, ignored the naysayers, and hit the road? How different would my life have been?

But, you can’t change your history, only your future.

I am devoting this year to exploring my world, where I am right now.

ex•plo•re - the act of searching or traveling around a terrain for the purpose of discovery of resources or information.

So, what’s your “one little word” for 2012? What do you want to accomplish or focus on in the coming year? I challenge you to create something, anything that will help you focus on your word in the coming year. Maybe I should post my word on the fridge…

Going to the movies is always an adventure.

As a family, we go to a movie theater maybe twice a year. It’s just too expensive between the ticket price of $32 and snacks price of $38. But, since the kids are home from school, we decided to see We Bought a Zoo at AMC on Tuesday.

Parker took this opportunity to throw up in the middle of the 2 hour movie. I told the restroom attendant, “At least she made it to the trash can!” She was a very kind AMC employee, showing care that Parker was okay and letting me know that I could get my money back if we leave the theater. As we left to take our sick kid home, Glenn got passes to come back at a later date.

Then Glenn realized he lost his glasses and is convinced they fell out of his pocket at the movie theater. Instead of turning around while we were still in the neighborhood (as I suggested), be chose to “take care of it later”. Later, he makes several phone calls to the theater and even a return visit to look for the $400 glasses with no luck. This has made this movie visit very expensive, not to mention it has made me a very irritated wife.

So, we tried again on Thursday. This time we took in a few of our own snacks but did buy drinks at the concession stand. (Did you know most theaters are okay with this? Day cares and schools always take in their own food when on field trips.) Parker did not throw up, but she did get very restless.

Based on a true story, We Bought a Zoo is good movie. The little girl who plays Matt Damon’s daughter is a scene stealer. However, Matt Damon’s character lost his wife to illness, so he spends a lot of time crying and missing her. His son acts out, rightly so. It has more serious moments than comedy. It is not a light-hearted romp through owning a zoo.

And apparently watching Matt Damon cry is not very appealing to a five-year-old.

Alex took this opportunity to show me that she is more like her father than I admit by leaving her winter coat in the theater. And she was so kind as to wait until we got all the way home to mention it! Glenn said he would go back and pick it up in the morning. I chose to drive back right then, because I am not making that same mistake twice in one week. He may have lost his glasses but I will not buy a new winter coat.

photo by jstunkard

Giving the gift of technology (to someone who finds a simple cell phone a challenge) can be a health risk. And by health I mean your sanity.

We gave my 83-year-old mother-in-law a Kindle Touch for Christmas. She doesn’t have the internet; never has, so we got the 3G upgrade. She can download books just about anywhere without worrying about finding a WiFi hotspot.

The problem? She has never had internet…so she doesn’t have email. You must have an email address to create an Amazon account and register your Kindle.

“Can’t you just put in a fake email?” she asked.

No.

“Are you sure?”

Yes.

I do it anyway to prove it to her.

I have to bring the Kindle Touch home to use my laptop with WiFi to set up an email account she will never use just so she can download books using gift cards I gave her. Sigh.

Now I am even more convinced if you don’t have internet you will get left behind.

Fast forward 24 hours. She is at our house using her registered Kindle Touch. She loves the feature to enlarge the text so she can read the print. She is even downloading books with little instruction from me. She is playing with the Sudoku book I bought her. I think she likes it.  Now, if an 83-year-old woman can do it, anyone can!

frost on our windows.