... If it's not okay, it's not the end. (author unknown)
As 2011 comes to an end, I look to this quote to help me realize a brighter future.
2011 has been a tough year for us. Tougher than the usual tough. Hubby's subcontracting job was slow to produce jobs for him and his dad. I quit one job in order to gain more hours (more "mom friendly" hours, that is) elsewhere - but now those hours aren't producing themselves either. And Sweetie continues to struggle with the aftermath of her treatment for Lyme Disease this past summer.
And I am realizing that I've been living with adrenal fatigue. Shocker, huh? I'm not stressed at all! My life is beautiful and calm and perfect in every way. Ommmmm....
HA!
But...
A new year is upon us and, with that, a new outlook of greatness for all!
Hubby and his dad are currently busy again with their subcontracting job, as well as side projects. We have no current reason to suspect anything but continued regularity and new jobs by the brimful...
Hubby is also newly installed as one of the latest artisans at Mountainside Gallery and Gifts. He's selling his beautiful wine bottle stoppers and pens, all lovingly handcrafted out of exotic and beautiful woods. He's so talented! Some sales have already been made and we expect more great things to come from this!
Now that the holiday season is on its way out, I suspect that students and parents alike will get back to the grindstone and start enrolling for tutoring sessions again. Gotta ace those ACTS and SATS! Soon I will be up to my eyeballs in students in need, I just know it!
(And, I have to say, whereas the lack of income from not tutoring has been trying, I have otherwise enjoyed having my late afternoons and evenings even more free to spend time with my family.)
As we struggled with finances, I simultaneously feel so incredibly blessed to have the family and friends that we do. Friends who have bartered with us and donated to us. Family who has helped us out in all sorts of wonderful ways. Yes, we didn't have the financial income this year that we continue to hope for. But yet, in some ways, I still feel like one of the richest women in the world...
Sweetie is back to a strict probiotic regimen, accompanied by immune boosting supplements and a mindfulness about the amount of gluten and processed foods that enter her body. Her most recent bout of stomach upset she experienced just yesterday morning produced only one episode of vomiting, as opposed to a half a day or more of ickiness during her previous 2 episodes since the beginning of November. So, all things considered, I think things are improving for her as well. Still - keeping track/watching the pattern, considering future steps needed to help her along. Her attitude of optimism remains as unflappable as ever!
And I am taking better care of myself as well. Regular vitamins and adrenal support supplements. A better diet. More rest when I can get it. Hubby is my number one supporter, making sure I'm eating more fruits and veggies every day and cooking as many vitamin and mineral rich yummy dinners as ever to keep me on track to getting my system back into shape. I am thankful that my ears have been open enough to hear about adrenal fatigue from trusted, knowledgeable sources and that I was able to recognize the symptoms in myself when I did. I am open to the course of treatment I'm on being the right one for me or, if not, being able to likewise recognize this and move on to a different course of action or even the possibility of a different diagnosis.
I will be healthier in the coming year, and beyond...
Sweetie will be healthier in the coming year, and beyond...
We will have enough financial income to pay for the necessities of life as well as just a few fun additions...
We recognize that only we can make effective changes... changes don't just happen upon us...
Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end.
Friday, December 30, 2011
Monday, December 26, 2011
This Christmas
A week ago we took you to the mall. It was our annual pilgrimage, your yearly visit with Old St. Nick for your birthday. It was Monday evening - the day before your 9th birthday -and, even with it being only days away from Christmas, the mall really wasn't so badly crowded as it could have been.
We waited in line and I took out the comb and hair clip I'd slipped in my pocket before leaving home - something I'd forgotten in years past, making it necessary for Daddy to run off to the drug store to purchase emergency hair-taming apparatus. But this year I was prepared, reaching up - UP! - further than ever before, to tease the snarls out of your tresses and clip a thick strand away from your pretty face.
I wonder if we'll be visiting the Old Man next year or if, by 10 years old, you will find our tradition silly. I wonder, if we do go next December, will I be able to reach to style your hair at all.
And now, we've just had Christmas. It was a pretty great day, I must admit. Starting with Daddy and I being awakened before 6:30 a.m. by your singing to yourself in your room. You weren't supposed to wake us up until 7:00 a.m. - and that's precisely when you came in. You crawled into our bed, settled between us (as much as She-Who-Cannot-Stop-Moving-Ever can settle, that is) and that's how we all stayed for another good half hour or so, playing a rousing edition of Christmas cattails (pick a theme and say a word. Whatever that word ends in, the next person has to say a word that begins with that same letter.)
Eventually we made our way downstairs, starting with stockings, then breakfast of homemade cinnamon buns, and then finally the opening of presents, starting at close to 9:00 a.m. As much as I sometimes regret that you won't have siblings to grow up with, I do believe that Christmas morning with just the 3 of us is pretty much ideal. You aren't egged on by nor egging on a brother or sister, seeing who can be the most excited, the most hyped up, the most hysterically crazed about getting to and opening presents as soon as humanly possible. No. We three take our time, enjoy the morning, and appreciate the gifts (both material and not) before us. Love it!
This year I'd say you were the most laid back I'd seen you on Christmas morning. I thought there were at least a few gifts you'd go absolutely wild over, and I was excited for you to unwrap them. Instead, you were calmly, honestly, politely pleased and grateful. Not the big rush of pure joy I was expecting from you, but still pretty great in the end.
And now, you and I have some time off together. You had a fun day today, moving from new activity to new activity. I love the games we tend to get you/you tend to be given! Building and crafting toys and activities that can be done again and again and again, with you only being limited by your own imagination. An imagination, it seems to me, which is pretty darn limitless. This year seemed to be the year of the Choose Your Own Adventure Book. You've gotten 5 traditional versions of this style of book this birthday and Christmas combined, and one more super cool (if I do say so myself!) graphic comic book version called Meanwhile. You'd never seen CYOA books before, but have quickly developed a great love for them, and I am excited for you that you're happy to dive into these adventurous new worlds of your own making.
Yes, this Christmas may have been a financial challenge for us - as it usually is, actually - but we pulled it off pretty well, I'd say. I love how you appreciate the little gifts as much as the bigs one - sometimes more! I love that you can be given a gift handmade with love and be more thrilled with it than the more expensive and store-purchased popular game of the hour. This year's gift of the season for you? A hand-knit "dead fish hat," made by your Auntie. So awesome! You have learned well, I know, that it's the thought behind a gift that counts the most. And you are genuinely appreciative, always.
Merry Christmas, Sweetie. And Happy 9th birthday too! Your last single digit year. Next Christmas may be a whole different situation. You may be too big - literally and figuratively - to submit yourself to the true meaning of the season. But for now - this Christmas, and all the Christmases we've been honored enough to have you as a part of our lives - have been completely and utterly as magical, mystical and marvelous as any Christmas ought to be.
You like to say that Daddy is Awesome, I'm The Best, and you're always Great. I say you are all three wrapped up into one and that, without you, I can't even imagine how life would be at all.
We waited in line and I took out the comb and hair clip I'd slipped in my pocket before leaving home - something I'd forgotten in years past, making it necessary for Daddy to run off to the drug store to purchase emergency hair-taming apparatus. But this year I was prepared, reaching up - UP! - further than ever before, to tease the snarls out of your tresses and clip a thick strand away from your pretty face.
I wonder if we'll be visiting the Old Man next year or if, by 10 years old, you will find our tradition silly. I wonder, if we do go next December, will I be able to reach to style your hair at all.
And now, we've just had Christmas. It was a pretty great day, I must admit. Starting with Daddy and I being awakened before 6:30 a.m. by your singing to yourself in your room. You weren't supposed to wake us up until 7:00 a.m. - and that's precisely when you came in. You crawled into our bed, settled between us (as much as She-Who-Cannot-Stop-Moving-Ever can settle, that is) and that's how we all stayed for another good half hour or so, playing a rousing edition of Christmas cattails (pick a theme and say a word. Whatever that word ends in, the next person has to say a word that begins with that same letter.)
Eventually we made our way downstairs, starting with stockings, then breakfast of homemade cinnamon buns, and then finally the opening of presents, starting at close to 9:00 a.m. As much as I sometimes regret that you won't have siblings to grow up with, I do believe that Christmas morning with just the 3 of us is pretty much ideal. You aren't egged on by nor egging on a brother or sister, seeing who can be the most excited, the most hyped up, the most hysterically crazed about getting to and opening presents as soon as humanly possible. No. We three take our time, enjoy the morning, and appreciate the gifts (both material and not) before us. Love it!
This year I'd say you were the most laid back I'd seen you on Christmas morning. I thought there were at least a few gifts you'd go absolutely wild over, and I was excited for you to unwrap them. Instead, you were calmly, honestly, politely pleased and grateful. Not the big rush of pure joy I was expecting from you, but still pretty great in the end.
And now, you and I have some time off together. You had a fun day today, moving from new activity to new activity. I love the games we tend to get you/you tend to be given! Building and crafting toys and activities that can be done again and again and again, with you only being limited by your own imagination. An imagination, it seems to me, which is pretty darn limitless. This year seemed to be the year of the Choose Your Own Adventure Book. You've gotten 5 traditional versions of this style of book this birthday and Christmas combined, and one more super cool (if I do say so myself!) graphic comic book version called Meanwhile. You'd never seen CYOA books before, but have quickly developed a great love for them, and I am excited for you that you're happy to dive into these adventurous new worlds of your own making.
Yes, this Christmas may have been a financial challenge for us - as it usually is, actually - but we pulled it off pretty well, I'd say. I love how you appreciate the little gifts as much as the bigs one - sometimes more! I love that you can be given a gift handmade with love and be more thrilled with it than the more expensive and store-purchased popular game of the hour. This year's gift of the season for you? A hand-knit "dead fish hat," made by your Auntie. So awesome! You have learned well, I know, that it's the thought behind a gift that counts the most. And you are genuinely appreciative, always.
Merry Christmas, Sweetie. And Happy 9th birthday too! Your last single digit year. Next Christmas may be a whole different situation. You may be too big - literally and figuratively - to submit yourself to the true meaning of the season. But for now - this Christmas, and all the Christmases we've been honored enough to have you as a part of our lives - have been completely and utterly as magical, mystical and marvelous as any Christmas ought to be.
You like to say that Daddy is Awesome, I'm The Best, and you're always Great. I say you are all three wrapped up into one and that, without you, I can't even imagine how life would be at all.
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