Hmmm, I wondered why I felt bad

We just finished what will go down in history as one of the most amazing weekends of our lives. We were all a part of a historical event. All five of us. Our town, church, and school all turn 100 this year. I've blogged about our churches celebration already. Our school has two events and the 100 years of music was this Saturday. I was a part of the alumni choir and got to be in two ensembles. The ensembles were WAY out of my comfort zone. I'd never held a microphone and sung in front of a crowd before. Let alone the 1700 people that were in the audience! But the biggest part of the event was my girls singing in a three part harmony trio. I know I'm biased, but it was amazing. I have received so many sweet words from friends and strangers telling me how good they were. And a few sweet words about me!

But that's not what this post is about. But soon there will be one with pictures and hopefully a little video!

Because of the six weeks of rehearsals three nights a week, and then two days of almost non-stop practice, I was worn down. Add that to the stress and nervousness for the concert and for McKinley being in a Talent Show Friday and I was a mess. Yesterday after church and a celebration lunch I came home and settled in on the couch to renew our friendship. I soon was in bed with a horrible earache. Both ears. Shawn got me some Advil but even after those and a four hour nap, I still was in quite a bit of pain.

After getting everyone off to school and work this morning I sat down and realized I'd been really dizzy. That was it, I called my doctor. I told the nurse I thought I had a double ear infection. Imagine my surprise when I was told I not only had that but also strep throat and a sinus infection. Yee-haw. I've always been an overachiever. Just always in the wrong areas.

So here I sit. Incredibly dizzy, which makes me nauseous, which makes me not want to eat, ears still throbbing, and a very sore throat. I'm willing the Z Pack to start working faster. Luckily the weather is miserable outside to match my mood. More on that later also.

Sure hope I remember to!

Remind me, will you?

Thanks:c)

And good night.

I have a hot date with my pillow.

Can You Feel The Love?

With Valentine's Day fast approaching I need to ask Shawn if we're doing anything. We don't always exchange gifts and I don't want flowers. We also rarely go out and do something. We spend the evening with our girls and get gifts for them. Boy, we're a bundle of romance, aren't we?

A few days ago I stumbled into the bathroom and in the dim light saw what I thought was a little love note left for me. I knew it wasn't Valentine's yet, but maybe he was starting early.So, can you feel the love??

What I Learned While Sledding

Or actually, not sledding. Because as we already know, I don't sled. I might sled, but my tailbone does not sled. How many more times do you think I can say sled before this post is over? In all the years that Shawn has been taking the girls we've never owned sleds. We do have an old fashioned one that they tried once but the runners just bent in whenever weight was placed on it. It is now purely decorative.

Since Brenda and her family have plenty we've always been covered. We don't have a lot of fun unless they're involved. Even though they didn't go the last two of four times that we went last week they still let us borrow sleds. Aren't you jealous that she's mine??

I had considered what we'd do if we couldn't borrow them though. I made over 10 phone calls and found out that only one of the 7 places I called actually carried them. And the four that I called were all out. One person actually laughed at me when I asked. Good customer service, don't you think? When we got to the hill I started noticing what other people used.

There were the typical things, like what we'd borrowed.They were the perfect size and really could move down that hill.

Oh, and of course the wheelbarrow.It is the only one we saw over all four days.

We did see that sleds do have a time limit though.I watched it shatter under his weight. I laughed so hard I fogged up my sunglasses.

He might need to consider one of the other options we saw.

A skateboard minus the wheels.A swimming pool. It did seat quite a few.The lid to a Rubbermaid container. It worked well for that size tushie.A pool float. (Which I actually considered. We did have a few survive the summer.)We saw tons of boxes. They didn't last long.We even saw some of the old fashioned types. These really are designed well because you can steer them without throwing your body off.And why not just a huge sheet of plastic? It's suitable for one...or eight.It's really quite versatile.Now this one...it's obviously skies but with what on top of it??Now this guy. He obviously is the reason I could not find one Ace Hardware with sleds for sale. And he road down every time like this. They must be attached. Maybe he's cushioning a broken tailbone. Maybe I should have offered him money right there for a few.But even if you have the appropriate sled, it doesn't always work out for you. But you sure do have a blast anyway.

Sledding!

I have discovered something new. Sledding! I have always let Shawn take the girls and I have stayed home, where it's warm, and had the hot chocolate ready when they got back. Always. For years. I've heard the stories, I've seen the pictures and never felt like I was missing anything. I, after all, was the smart one. The warm one.

Well, things have changed.

Saturday Shawn had taken the girls earlier and as per tradition, I'd stayed here. He had a soccer game that afternoon and since I'd been in my jammies for two and a half days I felt like that was a good reason to shower, get dressed, and leave the house. But our neighbors called and said they were going sledding again. I couldn't send my three children with her and since she had her four. That's scary math. I decided to layer up and just go with them. After all, with my new camera and new telephoto lens (!!!) I could consider it a lesson time.

429 and the loss of 10 toes later? I had a blast!! I didn't sled. The camera plus the still sore tailbone 8 months later made that decision easy.

We went to a local college just half a mile away and hit 'Holy Hill'. It's a religious college. And to some it looked like it was a religious experience!

I will not bore you with 429 pictures. You're thanking God right now, aren't you? In my defense, the action setting means continuous shooting is enabled. So that could mean that on one run down the hill I got 15 pictures. For my personal folders, I love that. For my faithful blog readers, I'll hit the highlights.

I love you guys:c) And don't want you to leave me!

When you take beautiful girls and meet a bunch of friends, how can the day be bad?

A bump had been built up and my girls had no fear going over it. They successfully made it almost every time but it was the crashes that I just loved. Good parenting, don't you think?I'm not sure, but I think McKinley is having a good time.I loved the trains. Especially the trains that stayed together. This was very rare.Our friend Bob came and his daughter Paige never left McKinley's side. Blake on the other hand didn't want to leave his dad. Bob is 62 and went down that hill over and over again. Such an awesome dad! I of course just took pictures. Hey, we all have our callings.Another successful train. But since the first three girls were holding there hands out for stability McKinley was getting slammed in the face with snow. Her facial expressions cracked me up!Much like the train, the tower was quite popular. These never lasted. But the crashes were hilarious!I didn't always get their heads in the shot but this one speaks to me. I can just imagine McKinley's face.They held it together though. Who would have guessed after that last picture.They came to a stop and then were laughing so hard that they fell over on each other.Another one where I didn't get the full shot but the point is coming across.I don't know who this little boy is and I probably took too many pictures of him...but no one complained. Every time he came down he would land, lay there for about a minute, and then collect his sled, and head back up. If he landed face down, he took his minute and then went again. So entertaining!When we got to the hill Sherri Pat (Pitty Pat if you're special:c) was there. We were with her sister-in-law and nieces and nephew so I wasn't surprised. But then I found out she'd gone because she is just a big ol' kid. She is the most fun grown up I have ever known. Last time we were with her we were at her house doing this. See, she's a blast!And just because we're in Yoklahoma...a wheel less wheelbarrow. This goes back three years. Shawn took the girls sledding behind the car in the church parking lot. He found a family there with a dad on a riding lawnmower pulling his son in a broken wheelbarrow. Luckily Shawn videoed it because, of course, I was at home where it was warm! Our neighbors were there also and now they own their very own Redneck Sled. Yee-haw!The wheelbarrow usually won though. Much better on flat surfaces. But the results were hilarious!

So there you have it. The reason I lost feeling in my toes and tushie. If fat freezes first I'm really feeling sorry for my toes.