Merry Christmas!!

Christmas traditions are really important to our little family.  Not surprisingly, current events have altered some of our usual traditions.  Decorating the Christmas tree has been my responsibility, but I wasn't really up to it this year.  Emerson stayed up long nights to get the tree up this time.  I usually enjoy running around with Emerson to shop for or make gifts.  I did most of my shopping online this year.  We always go to midnight mass at the Catholic church to celebrate Christ's birth as a family, but my foot hurt too much last night and we decided to stay home.  Despite these changes, I feel like we pulled together as a family to have a great Christmas.  Times were leaner and we had to be more thoughtful and careful about our gifts, but I think that made each and every gift even more appreciated.

Dwayne got the dressy wool coat he wanted.  Dexter got a gift card for Converse so he could design his own shoes. They each got a good winter coat and shoes and some other wonderful clothes. Dwayne was also thrilled to get a new pair of shoes to replace his favorites that got worn out.  Emerson was delighted to get the entire set of NCIS dvds (his favorite tv series).  The looks on their faces as they opened the gifts was wonderful!  All the worries I had about this year being a smaller Christmas were dispelled.  What they received was love and there was plenty of it.  The shoes Dwayne got were exactly the same kind he got from his Grandpa Loren a couple of years ago.  He wore them out in Chicago trying to sell security systems and didn't expect to get a replacement pair from Santa.  Dexter's missing copy of "Sweeney Todd" turned up as a present under the tree as well as the poster from his last play - nicely framed and including two photos that his dad took during the play.

As for me, I found love in my gifts as well.  Santa gave me an Alvin and the Chipmunks set of stuffed animals.  I know it sounds silly to most people, but I have a soft spot for the chipmunks.  I grew up dancing around my grandparents' living room to a Chipmunks album.  That was such a happy memory for me and it was fun to experience it again.  Emerson took the time to work with my dog, Shadow, to take a really nice picture of him and put it in a frame (not the picture here).  It was so sweet!! I've been trying for the longest time to get him to sit still so I could get a good picture of him and I never could do it.  The next surprise was the biggest.  Lately I've been thinking about rings.  When we got married, we couldn't afford rings, so I got married using my mom's wedding and engagement rings. Mom wanted Rick to be able to have the rings, so I returned them and Grandma Myers gave me her wedding rings (she was using her mother's rings).  Unfortunately, as I got chubbier, my fingers did too.  Those rings didn't fit anymore.  On our tenth anniversary, I got a storyteller band-type ring with a Navajo man and woman by the campfire.  It was wonderful!  But I continued to expand and that ring no longer fits.  I've been wearing a silver and turquoise ring Emerson's grandma gave me years ago, but I've been wanting something more romantic.  Emerson's gift to me today was a beatiful silver and diamond ring!  It's exactly the style I like and I can't wait to get it sized to fit my finger!

I've had some time to reflect today about family. We've had such a rough year - losing my dad, family struggles, Emerson's job loss, and my accident with resulting injury.  In every instance, Emerson's mom, brothers, sister, cousin, uncle, and their families have been the first to call and offer their support.  Dwayne posted information on Facebook about my accident and we were getting calls from Tapahes before I even made it to the hospital!  They have never wavered in their support and devotion and I can never thank them enough.   One of the things I admire most about the Tapahe family is how they value family.  Even when one person is mad at another, they still rush to each other's aid in times of  need.  I'm so glad I married into this family!  The phone calls from my brothers have also been nice.  Both moved to new homes this month and they are very busy, but I'm glad they have time to talk to their big sister.  I've also noticed how our Heavenly Father provides us with other members of our family.  I can count as my sisters two amazing women I work with, my dear visiting teaching companion, my powwow sister Angela, and my brothers' wonderful wives.  I don't know what I would do without them!  Of course, I still miss my mom, dad, and grandparents, but God has provided me with others who lift me up.  Emerson has done so much for me, especially with my injury, and I can't imagine life without him.  I'm so glad to have him by my side as well.

George Family Gift Exchange

Since nobody asked, I hadn't put together the list of who to send gifts to.  I'm listing the schedule below so you can see how it works and plan ahead:

Sender's family     Recipient family- 
                            2006     2007      2008        2009
Karen................. Rick      Kathy      Bill           Rick
Kathy................. Bill        Rick         Karen      Bill
Bill..................... Kathy    Karen       Rick        Kathy
Rick..................  Karen    Bill           Kathy      Karen

Almost Christmas Surprise

Here it is, the last weekend before Christmas.  Yesterday was my first day with my injured foot back in a shoe.  I was really looking foward to it, but it was somewhat anticlimactic since the only shoe I could squeeze my swollen foot into was my Crocs and they were still super tight.  My muscle strength and stamina need to be built back up again, so I still resort to a wheelchair for long bouts of walking and shopping.  Using a cane still helps me take some of the weight off my foot.  Dexter is now on his Christmas break and learning songs for his next big role as El Gallo in "The Fantasticks."  Performances will be around mid-February.  This will be Dexter's final high school theatrical production.  Dwayne is working through a temporary service and has a good chance of being hired on permanently.  The bad news is he will have to work on Christmas day.  Emerson is still job hunting, but he is also preparing his materials for the class he will be teaching at Utah Valley University beginning in January.  He has come very close on a couple of jobs and we're still waiting to hear on one more.

Emerson's brother, Gene, is heading out of town on vacation with his family for Christmas.  They came over last night to exchange presents.  They brought a gift basket with assorted items - cookies, kitchen items, cocoa mix, etc.  Also in the basket were orange cards for Emerson, Dwayne, and Dexter.  They contained tickets to the Jan. 3rd Denver Broncos football game!!!  The guys were so excited and it really revived the holiday spirit around here.  Once again, I just have to say how amazing the Tapahe family is and how they seem to know just how to lift each other up.  It looks like our Christmas gifts to the rest of the family will be mailed kind of late.  Better late than never?  We have yet to hear from my side of the family other than from Aunt Marti, so who knows what's happening over there.

Is Anybody Out There?

I've been trying to be good about posting updates so our families know what's going on with us, but I'm starting to wonder if we're out here in cyberspace alone...
Rick and Holly have posted some, but it seems like the rest of the family has disappeared.  Are you guys out there?  What's up? How are you doing?  Everything okay?  Blog, email, call, or something to let us know how you're doing....

Joy to the world, my pins are out!!!

The past few days my foot has been itching furiously in a very annoying and somewhat painful way.  I finally gave in and took off the bandages to see what was going on.  The top of my foot had broken out in hives and the incisions were weepy with clear liquid.  Emerson took me to the doctor and he told me I was having an allergic reaction to the betadine they used to clean my foot for surgery (only because it was left on my foot so long and never got washed off).  That led to an infection in the top layer of my skin.  He prescribed antibiotics and an antibiotic cream.  Since I was already there, he also pulled the pins out of my foot (be glad I am skipping a description of that and pictures).  A quick round of xrays showed sufficient healing and I now have permission to walk....very carefully and slowly.  I have to keep the big plastic boot on when walking for the next week, then I can remove the boot and switch to hard soled shoes for a few more weeks.  One more okie dokie from the doctor at that point will allow me to be deemed "fully healed."

The nonjoyous news of the day was finding out I didn't get my dream job at UVU.

We have spirit, Yes we do!

I awoke this morning to find that an elf had put up a Christmas tree in our living room.  It looks like we will have some Christmas spirit in our house after all...

Christmas Spirit?

With Emerson still job hunting and me still hobbling around on crutches, there's not a lot of Christmas spirit in our house.  There are a few presents that the Tapahe side of the family dropped off early and we still watch almost every Christmas movie to be seen on satellite tv.  Our usual spot for putting up our tree in the living room displaces our dogs' beds.  That causes a bigger problem this year since I need the room to get through the living room on crutches.  I'm thinking of doing a small table top sized tree or go with a paper tree on the wall like Gene and Sharon did when they were in their tiny little BYU apartment years ago.

Yesterday, we visited the Festival of Trees up in Sandy. This is our yearly tradition and it's awesome to see so many trees lit up and decorated and the fanciest gingerbread houses known to man.  Add in children's groups dancing and singing on the stage and a wonderful assortment of sweets, scones, and cinnamon rolls, and it's hard to avoid feeling the Christmas spirit.  Emerson's brothers and their families joined us at the festival and we later went out to dinner and then to Gene's house to play games.  It was the most enjoyable time I've had in a long time.  There's something absolutely amazing about Navajo families.  Sure, we've had our ups and downs and squabbles over the years, but when it really counts, they are always there for you.  Family really means something to them and they would do anything for their family.  I feel so blessed to have married not only the love of my life, but also his family.  It's wonderful to be part of this family and have the love, respect, and support of the entire family.  Our Christmas celebration may reflect the lean times we are going through, but we will find ourselves warmed by the love of the Tapahe family.

November Pain

These aren't the prettiest of pictures, but this is my foot now that I got my cast off.  I had an appointment the morning of Nov. 30 and was happy to have the cast removed.  The bones seem to be healing well and I may get to have the pins/rods removed in a couple of weeks.  It will be the best Christmas present ever!!  You may notice some writing on my foot.  They had me write "yes" and my initials on the foot to be operated on so there wouldn't be any mistakes.  The doctor put me back in my original boot with some modifications to keep the pins from pressing into the bottom of the boot.

The better part of the day came later.  I had my interview as a finalist for the Assistant Dean position at Utah Valley University.  First, I went to lunch with the Dean, Associate Dean, and Library Director.  Some chitchat and informal interviewing during the lunch.  Next, I gave a 30 minute presentation on my amazing skills and experience and how I'm the best person for the job to the faculty of University College (formerly the School of General Academics).  A question and answer session followed.  The last step was meeting privately with the Dean and Associate Dean for the next hour.  It was a fun experience and I feel good about it.  Fortunately, my foot didn't bother me during the 4 hour experience.  On the way home, the pain was unbearable and we had to make a stop by the doctor's office for help.  A few more modifications to the boot made things better.  Now I have to wait about 2 weeks to find out if I get the job.  It's an amazing opportunity and I will be absolutely crushed if I'm not selected.

Emerson's continuing his job search.  The jobs in his field just aren't showing up anywhere.  He's been taking great care of me in the mean time.  I just hope something will turn up for him soon.  He's preparing for teaching a course at UVU next semester.  It's only one class and adjunct pay isn't great, but we're pretty excited about it.  If I get the UVU job, he could go for his master's degree and possibly teach more classes.

Dexter is King!

Dexter finished his reign on Monday as King Henry V in Provo High School's production of Henry V.  Although I am his mom and would brag on him anyway, I can honestly say he was absolutely wonderful.  Everyone else said so too!  If you have access to Facebook, you may be able to watch some of the video clips here:    St. Crispian's Day speech      King Henry woos Princess Catherine

I was fortunate that the director allowed us to come to the final dress rehearsal/preview performance since I was obligated to working at the powwow that weekend.  The powwow was actually very fun and everyone took great care of me including giving me a comfy chair to sit in and running errands for me.  A friend took some pictures while I was trying to lay down more and keep my foot more elevated and I ended up looking like a corpse at a viewing.  So if you ever wondered what I would look like at my own funeral, here it is....

Clutz on a Crutch

I'm still here, laying on the couch, waiting for my broken bones to heal.  It has been an adventure so far.  Some days I am determined to do things for myself.  Those experiences usually end with me losing my balance, bumping my cast on something, falling off the couch, getting dizzy, and/or landing on my broken foot.  Emerson catches/rescues me most of the time.....and reminds me that I should be waiting for him to help me.  A couple of days ago I had a job interview for a wonderful job at UVU.  It was my first panel interview and my first time being interviewed while being impaired.  The weirdest thing was when the head of the committee interviewing me pushed me in my wheelchair to get to the dean's office so I could meet her. 

I've been working from home a little bit now and finding it difficult to do much typing while laying down. I can't see the keys well enough and have to fix a lot of typos.  Tonight we went to the preview performance of Henry V starring our very own Dexter.  Being at the preview (last dress rehearsal) meant a smaller audience and I was able to keep my foot propped up during the show.  This weekend is the UVU powwow and I will once again be keeping scores for the dance contests.  The only difference this year is that I will be finding a comfy place to set up with my leg up and there will be runners bringing me the judging forms and assisting with other needs.

Our next thing is to gear up for Thanksgiving.  Emerson's mom was going to try to come up and I was really looking forward to having her help in the kitchen since I wouldn't be able to do much.  Unfortunately, she won't be able to be here.  It looks like we are on our own and I am working on generating a shopping list for the guys and a plan for directing everybody in the kitchen to get our meal done on Thanksgiving. 

Surgery Update

I had my surgery last Thursday and things went well.  The bone that was shattered took more creativity to repair - plates, screws, and a pin.  Emerson has been devoted in caring for me.  I had no idea how much my foot would hurt afterward.  It feels like someone is driving chisels in between my toes.

Today was my postop checkup. I have 3-4 more weeks in this cast to look forward to.  It will be about 6 weeks before the pins come out of my toes. I have had problems with muscle spasms that lead to even more pain, so now I am taking muscle relaxers.

The doctor said that the break in the smaller toe (fixed with just a pin) is the one that concerns him.  It broke very close to the head of the bone and may be interfering with the blood supply to the bone.  If the blood supply is impacted, it may lead to the bone dying and the doctor  wouldn't say what would happen next.  Let's just hope things heal nicely.

I have another week off of work according to the doctor's orders. After that, I still can't put any weight on my foot.  For now, I get to have a handicapped parking sticker for the next three months. I'm still waiting to see if Heritage sets me up to work from home.

Uncle Bob

I heard from Aunt Twyla yesterday that Uncle Bob has been in the hospital.  She says that he is now off the ventilator but the doctors still haven't figured out what is wrong with him.  I have no other details.  Twyla is going to keep me updated.  She says he is 74 years old and has been in poor health.  I'm sure that things have been tough since his mom died and his sweet wife, Linda, passed away.  Please keep him in your prayers.

Surgery

I was able to get in to see the foot surgeon today and here is what is happening:
The weirdest thing was when the doctor called in a student to look at my really cool xrays.  Apparently I am quite talented when it comes to breaking bones....  He also pointed out that I had previously broken my big toe (I thought I did that once in the middle of the night, but didn't want to seem wimpy).
No other options available....I have to have surgery.  Fortunately, it is outpatient.  I go in on Thursday, November 5.  They will use screws and plates to fix two of the breaks. The third break is on a bone that's too small, so they have to use a pin.  The medical student insists it feels kind of "cool" when the pin is removed from your toe.  I'm pretty sure that's not how I'll feel about it.  I will be in a cast for the first three weeks and then back in my beautiful air cushioned boot for 3-4 weeks after that.  The doctor will not allow me to stand or walk on my foot for at least 8 weeks, so the holidays will be extra special this year!  He says it will be about 12 weeks before I'm back to full activity and swelling will last for about 9 months.

Yes, I'm scared. The pain, the risks (even though they are small), the inconvenience......
Emerson is trying to keep me going and is making sure I behave myself.  If I don't keep my foot iced and elevated for the next week, I could end up delaying the surgery if my foot is too swollen.  I'm so blessed having such a devoted husband to take care of me.  I really wish I could say the same about my kids.  Dexter isn't home much, so he doesn't help much around here.  He does make some effort to help me out, though.  Dwayne is in some funk that leads him to be inconsiderate many times (leaving obstacles all over, taking over my foot rest, bumping my foot) and not helpful most of the time.  We get lucky from time to time and he will help with some tasks, but we mostly get the teenage grumble when we ask him to do something.  He doesn't have a job, doesn't seem to be trying much to get one, seems to have abandoned any effort at serving a mission, sleeps most of the day, stays up all night playing on his computer.....  Don't be surprised if you get a call from him soon asking for a place to stay.

What has been nice is the support from my closest friends, my inlaws, and my brothers and their wives.  I never know what to say when people offer to help.  The biggest help right now would be food....and that's not possible for everyone.  Emerson is running himself ragged taking care of me and having some lunches or dinners brought in would make all the difference.  One of my friends sent over homemade pizzas tonight and they were marvelous!  The only other thing I can think of is having someone "watch" me for a bit and give Emerson a break.  It almost feels like I'm an old lady having to rely on people so much for help. I guess that's probably the only way the Lord could get me to slow down and accept help from others. Maybe I should learn to listen to Him more....

OUCH!!

People keep asking me what happened and I really don't have a great answer. It basically boils down to me rear-ending another vehicle on University Ave. near Provo High School.  It happens a lot in that location, so I have added to the statistics.  When I saw how close the other car was, I stomped on the brake and braced myself.  The damage to my truck was instant and ugly.  My first thoughts were about how much my foot hurt, that I had just killed the truck, that I wasn't making it to work, and that Emerson was going to be upset.  I was wrong about Emerson (in a way).  I called him and asked him to come down there and help me.  He reassured me the whole time and tried to get me to stop beating myself up about the situation.  The paramedics looked at me and recommended that I get my foot xrayed since I was in so much pain. I didn't want to pay for an ambulance ride, so they put me on the stretcher and wheeled me across University Ave. to our car, stopping traffic along the way.  It was only then that I could see the amount of damage done to the truck.  We had to go clean out the truck today and it was still shocking to see it and very sad to say goodbye to our little truck.  Because it's from 1990, we won't be getting enough money from the insurance to replace it. We just hope it will be enough to cover the deductible.

At the hospital, we spent a lot of time at the ER since I was a low priority case.  I was beginning to think I was just being wimpy about what would turn out to be a sprain or bruise.  When the xray came back, I was pretty happy to see my foot was broken since it meant I hurt for a reason.  I broke the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th metatarsals in my right foot and the 3rd metatarsal is "shattered."  The ER doctor referred me to a foot surgeon and said it was pretty likely that I would need surgery to fix things.  They outfitted me with a boot and crutches and sent me on my way with a prescription for pain meds.  All this put a pretty big strain on Emerson.  He hadn't eaten at all yet and the anxiety and stress mixed with seeing the xray and thinking about the upcoming surgery and he almost passed out.  Scary moment!

I'm not going to lie and act brave - my foot really, really, really hurts!  Having to rely on everyone for help is tough for me too. Emerson has saved me from falling over a few times and I feel like it's inevitable that my clutziness will lead to some crazy crutch maneuvers.  I am going in to see the foot surgeon tomorrow to see where we go from here.  My new part time job at Sears is kind of on hold.  Heritage is allowing me to use long-term sick leave and trying to figure out how I will be able to work since I can't get up the stairs.  Emerson has been so sweet about taking care of me and he's wearing himself out.  Dexter is helpful when he's actually around.  Dwayne...welll....no comment.  I'm really wishing we had someone to help Emerson with the cooking.
I appreciate everyone's sympathy and good wishes.  It's nice to be loved!  The hard part is not dwelling on how stupid I feel about the whole thing and doing this to my family.

I'm a Bargain Babe!!

Because of our current economic situation, I have been searching for ways to make the most of our money.  Thanks to some tips from people at work, I have been spending time on some great websites with shopping tips, freebies, coupons, giveaways, great deals, etc.  We have already taken advantage of some great deals and I have to admit I'm pretty obsessed now.  These sites are saving our Christmas and allowing us a few treats along the way as well.  Some of the deals have been:  a free snuggie blanket, free guitar picks, $9.00 DVD of Transformers 2, free Fruitista Freeze at Taco Bell. Try to act surprised if any of those end up being your Christmas gift from us... :-)

Some of my favorite sites:  Pinching Your Pennies, That Mama Rocks, Deals to Meals, Woot, A Giveaway Everyday, Giveaway Today, Beat That.  One bit of advice I can offer with some of these sites and deals is to set up an extra email account to use for signing up for these so your regular email inbox doesn't get clogged up with junk mail and offers.  Here's a site for craft projects:  Whipup.net

Work Turmoil

Things at work are getting tense. Because the state of California is cutting back on what it's willing to pay for the treatment and care of its mentally ill teens, Heritage is having to make some huge budget cuts.  The tough part about being a nonprofit is that there's not much of a buffer between what we charge for our services and what it costs to provide them.  Today I learned of four more people who were let go and there are probably more to come. Some people who are retiring or leaving for other jobs aren't being replaced.  That leaves a lot of work for the rest of us to absorb and add to our existing duties.  There are people like Emerson who have been there a long time and make more....some who have experience and skills that demand higher pay....others who are working jobs that someone has figured out a way to blend into someone else's job....  Lots of targets when you're trying to cut a million dollars from the budget. I find it hard to believe the recession is ending when I see this happening and see how few jobs are listed out there. 

We are making it so far.  It's kind of an adventure....seeing how we can save money, cut back, do without, etc.  Dwayne will pitch in when he can, once he takes care of his obligations.  Dexter has even impressed us with his resourcefulness in meeting his needs.  He was able to get help from his Aunt Kathy for his Shakespeare competition and was able to work out something with his drama director to work off his drama fees as well.  I am trying to find ways to make money on the side and we have a boutique coming up at work that I hope Emerson can make some items for that we can sell.

Quirks

I remembered the other day one of the funny little quirks our family has developed.  Whenever we attend a home show, outdoors show, or whatever, we always make sure to get our hand stamped before we leave.  I used to think it was weird that we would get our hands stamped even when we knew we weren't coming back. After awhile, though, it just became some silly thing we did "just in case" we decided to come back.  It's kind of like holding out hope...

Vegas or Bust

When life gives you lemons...run away to Vegas!
Once I survived last week's events, it was time to run away and stop trying to balance things that can't be balanced.  As bad as it was to have Emerson lose his job, it was absolutely surreal to try to go on with one of the craziest weeks at work and act like the play and the parent conference are so wonderful when you're having to deal with the very people who decided to ruin your family's well-being.

With the help of insanely inexpensive hotel rooms (at Hooters!), we were able to afford one last indulgence. Sharon was nice enough to treat us to a tasty dinner at Bahama Breeze.  We even got free tickets to a comedy show.  Sharon also treated us to Frozen Hot Chocolate at Serendipity.  It was definitely one of the more affordable (and delicious) options....they have a dessert that contains real gold and costs $1,000.  Running around the city, checking out the fountains, decorations, and other fun things in town was a great way to escape and forget momentarily why we were trying to run away in the first place. 

The weirdest memorable event of the trip was returning to our hotel room on the second day and finding ourselves locked out.  I trekked back from the 12th floor down to the front desk and was told a security guard would meet us at the room to see what was wrong. I went back to the 12th floor and the security guard came up to tell me I needed to talk to someone at the front desk about a problem. Upon returning to the front desk, I was informed that a room was occupied that wasn't supposed to be and there had been a mixup on which room number to lock out. We were issued new key cards and told security would once again meet us at our room.  After another trip to the 12th floor, the security guard let us into our room. That's when we noticed that housekeeping had skipped our room during all of this. That seemed weird since they were hovering outside our door when we left in the morning. I called guest services and asked for the room to be cleaned. The lady who answered seemed shocked that I wanted the room to be cleaned right then.

Alas, the time came to return home. I had gone from suffering with allergies to some sort of cold. The weather had definitely turned chilly at home. Fortunately, I had the rest of the week off to recuperate...

Don't Cry for Me...I'm Crying Enough for Everyone

Big development in our lives today - Emerson lost his job. As tough as this is for anyone to handle, it is made even more awkward by the fact that we both work for the same company and I have to try to continue on with my job as if nothing has happened. Add to that the annual play at Heritage and my huge list of responsibilities with it. It's hard to imagine moving on after Emerson having worked there for 17 years, but that is exactly what we must do. Things will work out.....everything happens for a reason....it's probably for the best....I know, I know...I've heard it all now. It sure doesn't feel any better when you hear it. We're circling the wagons and applying for everything we can find. This may lead to a job change for me as well if Emerson can't find anything locally. I think we saw this coming with the budget cutbacks and other problems at Heritage, but it still was fairly surprising. If you know of any teaching jobs, please let Emerson know ASAP.

September Stress

For those who aren't aware, Heritage (where I work) puts on a musical each year involving our clients.We have found that theater has a great impact on our students and helps them in their treatment at Heritage. My first year at Heritage, my involvement was trying to drum up publicity and selling tickets. Over the years, I was recruited to be more involved and I became the Box Office Manager and a Production Assistant. I still handled publicity, but I spent at least one night a week assisting with the rehearsal.  One year, my boss asked me to type up the rehearsal schedule and get it out to everyone. I wish I had known then what stress that little assignment would lead to.

I have become known on campus as "the Play lady" since I seem to be a central point of knowledge for the play each year. Shortly after last year's play, the production assistant who designed the posters and playbills was laid off and those jobs wandered my way. So....I find myself trying to manage and sell tickets, manage the rehearsal schedule, work one or more rehearsals a week, sell advertising, generate publicity, design the poster, and design the playbill.  To say that my plate is full is an understatement!

To top this madness off, the director of our plays for the past 10 years has now retired from her calling to direct the LDS church productions in Nauvoo, Illinois, and her 79 years on this earth seem to be making her quite cranky. My boss, the CEO, is not as involved in the production as he usually is since he's trying to figure out what to do about the upcoming $1 million budget cut due to California wanting to cut what they pay us to treat their kids (keep in mind that we're a nonprofit). I find myself in the miserable position of basically being a production manager (unofficially) - battling the production people as well as our own staff to find rehearsal schedules that minimize the chaos, coordinating production needs with a boss who I can barely get in to meet with anymore, and panicking because I had only 2 ads for our fancy playbill with only 2 weeks to go before taking it to the printer. When kids are late to rehearsal, the director takes it out on me. When the director feels like we need extra rehearsals to get where we need to be, the rest of campus takes it out on me. Not to mention my own guilt about the lack of ads for the playbill.

I did manage to come up with a solution that has now covered the costs of printing our playbill. Just when I was feeling pretty good about that, our campus was hit with widespread illness, including 3 confirmed swine flu cases. ALL campus activities were called off this last weekend to give everyone a chance to rest and hopefully get past the illnesses. That meant losing 3 rehearsals with our choreographer who comes in from Los Angeles to help us. Coming back to rehearsal today, I was greeted by the grumpy director who was doubting we could be ready for opening night. When group therapy went long and the kids were late to rehearsal, I got chewed on for that too. The director threatened to quit and things pretty much stayed crazy the whole night. I ducked out to avoid crying in front of her. Most of the night I just tried to stay out of her way. I really believe in what we're doing with our performing arts program, but I'm beginning to lose faith in this director. I used to like her so much and now I practically have panic attacks when I think about having to face her. If I survive this year, who knows what the next year will bring.... (picture taken accidentally when scrambling to answer phone during rehearsal)

Clean pups

When I heard that a local career college was having their veterinary techs put on a free dog wash, I jumped at the chance to have someone else wash our doggies. Scout and Shadow don't like going in water and bathing them is a battle.

They got their nails clipped and then got washed and dried. Their reward was the little bandana they got to wear afterwards. When we got home, they were pretty tired from all that wiggling and wrestling with the vet techs. They took a nice nap before going back outside to get dirty again.

My new haircut

With all the stress going on in my life, I decided it was time for a new hairdo. I regularly go to Jordan at MasterCuts and she always tries to give me a "sassy" look. I hadn't had my hair cut for a few months in a half-hearted effort to grow my hair longer. Emerson usually says he likes my hair longer, but this time he made the mistake of telling me that he's happy with whatever makes me happy....

While Emerson and the boys went to see a movie, I paid a visit to Jordan and told her to go crazy and "do whatever" as long as I could still look professional for work. I had no idea the kind of joy this brings to a stylist...
The first snip was in the back and it was significant. "No going back now!" say Jordan with an evil grin. I admit I was a little scared about what I'd gotten myself into.

The end result made my face look longer and slimmer and I loved it! Emerson even told me how much he liked it when he saw me (and he never says anything after I get a hair cut). The cut is a disconnected a-line, so it is longer in the front and shorter in the back. The layers allow me to give it a fun messy look when I want to go a little crazy with it.
I've gotten lots of compliments on the new style and I actually feel pretty again...

A Great Friend and the First Ever Female LDS Chaplain

LDS Living

The link above will take you to an article for LDS Living Magazine. My boss asked me to write an article about Heritage Schools' chaplain to submit to the magazine (nice publicity for us if it gets published). The magazine has some pretty strict word limit guidelines for submitting articles and I struggled like crazy to keep it within the limit they had for stories about "making a difference." The first draft I came up with just didn't have enough information about Tami's qualifications and experiences, so I tackled it again and hoped they wouldn't tear it apart. Tami has been our chaplain at Heritage most of the years I have worked there. Her dad was a military chaplain and she wanted to be like him in so many ways. She wanted to be a full time seminary teacher, but they didn't let women do that back when she finished high school (women can do it now if they are done raising their children). A series of very miraculous events lead to her taking over for her dad as chaplain at another treatment center and then coming to work at Heritage even though we never had a full time, let alone paid, chaplain until she came along. The details of the story had me in tears. Tami has become one of my best and dearest friends over the years as well as my chaplain when I am in need. She is the sweetest person you will ever meet - a true angel on this earth. The story pretty much wrote itself.

With the help of a local PR agency, we got the article submitted to LDS Living Magazine, hoping they would be interested in hearing about the first ever (and only) female chaplain who is LDS. It was wonderful to find out today that they published it online. I'm waiting to see if it will be in the magazine as well. The only negative to the whole thing is that they managed to misspell my last name.... My friends are teasing that I should have that as my official pen name.

I won!

A friend of mine showed me this site called GiveAwayToday where they have prizes you can win each day. The businesses who give away the prizes benefit from the extra publicity since lots of people like to try to win free stuff. I actually won something the other day. It wasn't as cool as other prizes I had hoped for, but better than not winning... I won a blog makeover. Once they send me all the details of what I need to do, my blog should be looking extra spiffy in no time.

Don't Freak Out...

Ok....So Dexter spent the past week at Timberline Scout Camp as one of the staff there. It's a leadership training camp for Boy Scouts to develop their leadership skills. Dwayne and Dexter have both attended this camp in past years. They were quite happy to have Dexter join their staff and help teach classes, run things, etc. Emerson went up there on Monday to deliver some supplies and to see the camp. Dexter managed to wear a kilt pretty much the whole week (their Young Men's/Scout leader always wears a kilt and Dexter discovered he likes to wear them too). Although Dexter is quite good at magic, I believe he is juggling the can in the picture, not levitating it...
One of the exercises they did at camp was to have a mock serious injury occur and have the boys figure out how to handle the situation, get help, etc. Dexter was quite proud of the job he did constructing his "wound" and acting out his injury. He came in with a can lid "stuck" in his leg, screaming and dripping "blood." Even those who were in on the exercise had trouble handling the very graphic look of it.

Very proud of his work, Dexter couldn't wait to post the lovely picture on Facebook for all the world to see. His friends reacted and Dexter kept the act going by dancing around their questions and giving true answers that didn't really answer their questions. What he didn't anticipate was reaction of adults who saw the pictures and freaked out. He doesn't feel bad that he fooled his peers, but he does feel bad that he upset some of the grownups in his life as well as some tenderhearted close friends. He's proud of his work in creating the fake injury. Only a few people managed to nice the bottle of fake blood he is holding in his hand in that picture. Don't be too surprised if he pulls something like this again. My advice - don't be afraid to call us directly to find out what's going on. The only damage from this incident was to the shorts Dex was wearing.

Dwayne is Back

Dwayne's job in Chicago took a weird twist and he had to choose between moving to Tampa to finish the summer selling security systems or just go home. He drove back from Chicago and arrived at our house on Friday afternoon, just in time to go on the annual ward campout with us. I decided to bring the dogs camping. Scout went camping with Emerson and Dexter last month, but this was Shadow's first campout. Since I haven't been camping in some time, I was excited to go.

Dexter performed the Elvis classic "Jailhouse Rock" during the talent show. I brought frybread to share for dinner. The dogs seemed to enjoy being out, but my lack of a CPAP machine caused me to keep everyone awake with my snoring.

Dexter is staffing the Timberline Scout camp this week and Dwayne just headed out to Ft. Defiance to visit his grandma. We will have the house to ourselves this week.

In addition to gardening and playing Scrabble against each other online, Emerson and I have been finding other fun things to do. We wander the stores more to find some cool air now that it's so hot. Emerson has been teaching me to ride a scooter and we've had fun riding around and sightseeing.

Once Dwayne gets back to Provo again, he will be looking for work and preparing himself to serve a mission.

Stuff

I don't want to let too much time go by without posting something. I can never remember who knows what is going on with us, so this is usually a good way to catch everyone up. We are keeping fairly busy working on things around the house. Dexter got in trouble for taking a scooter without permission and driving it to the mall (and other places). Since he has no driver's license of any kind, this bit of rebellion is even scarier for us. He is spending the month of July without cell phone and computer access to friends and is limited to activities with family or for church. He has been working on a summertime list of extra projects around the house and yard. Still no job for him. Even the fast food jobs are snatched up fast this summer.

Emerson and I are working on our own relationship. August 20 will be our 21st anniversary and we are realizing how much work marriage can be. You can't stop talking and trying to work things out. This summer has been kind of fun getting to know each other again. Trying to keep the lawn green and our garden growing has been one of biggest focuses.

Dwayne's job in Chicago is coming to an early end. Cheating on the part of a few has ended it for everyone. He could transfer to Tampa and continue working, but Dwayne says he realizes that he doesn't have the personality to make that kind of shift and get to know the personality of that region with so little time left. He's trying to figure out what his next move is. He still has some work to do to repair his relationship with his dad and fix the turmoil that created, so he has ruled out living with us for the time being.

We've had some fun visits with family this month. Emerson's family was up for the Independence Day weekend. We barbecued, watched movies, played games, watched the parade, and roasted in the heat. The guys played golf a couple of times. I participated in the Freedom Run 5K by walking and found myself having to walk home from the finish line because the police had so many roads blocked for the parade that Emerson couldn't get through to pick me up. Rick and Holly stopped by for dinner and to bring me some stuff from Dad's apartment. I finally got some of my record albums back that Dad took off with in the divorce. Bill, Tina, Billy, Eliza, Buddy, and Jack stopped by yesterday morning on their way back home. Short visit, but glad we got to see them. We're hoping we get more opportunities to see family this year.

Garden

I love gardening! I'm not terribly good at it, but I love the peace it brings. There is something really wonderful about growing things. It's so cool to see plants grow and develop and sometimes amazing growth seems to happen overnight. We don't have much room for our garden and I tend to forget how much the plants spread out. It didn't look this crowded when I planted it...
We have some anaheim peppers in smaller pots on a shelf next to the garden. Emerson really loves cooking with those anaheims.
Last year I barely got one tiny bell pepper out of the garden. I've already picked a few now and more are on the way. They're not big like the ones in the store, but they taste good.
We got our first zucchini of the summer much earlier than I expected. Next to it is a gypsy pepper. They're very sweet and this is the second one we've picked. The corn is growing well behind the dog pen. It's already looking better than last year. The tomatoes are looking good, we have tiny little cucumbers starting up, and it looks like in a week or two we will have lots of squash to eat. The onions are leftovers from last year that started on their own. The tough part is keeping the dogs from attacking the veggies as I take them from the garden to the house. They always think it's all for them...cute. I started some plants from seed and others we bought starts of, but it doesn't seem to be making much of a difference. All the rain we had got things going and the blazing sun we have right now is boosting the growth. As long as I have my garden to play in, I'm good!

Dwayne's Hair

For those of you who have been following us on Facebook, I'm sure you've noticed a little family tension going on. No, I'm not in favor of a public family argument, but some things end up being hard to ignore. Before you decide to weigh in and judge our parenting, it might be good to know what's going on.

When Dwayne came home from Job Corps, things went really well for awhile. He had a nice full time job and was pretty polite and disciplined. In time, he resented our requests for him to pitch in around the house and rules or curfews. We tried to let him make his own decisions as an adult. He spent his money as he wanted, bought a drove a car wherever he wanted, and spent his days as he wanted. All we asked was that he be in at a decent hour and contribute to the work of the household. One of Dwayne's friends introduced him to the idea of selling home security systems for the summer. I found out after Dwayne had already given notice at work that he was moving to Chicago to sell security systems. His thinking was that it would give him good practice for a mission and he could earn the money he needed to go on the mission. I reminded him that he had not been good about attending church and had been skipping mission prep classes, leading to the Bishop being unwilling to recommend him to serve a mission. Dwayne figured he would take care of that later. He told us the names of a bunch of people he had talked to and that they supported his decision - his boss, his aunt Kathy, his young men's leader and his wife, and other friends and neighbors. We have since discovered that many of them didn't really know what he was asking them about and didn't think it was a good idea. Despite our protests and my warnings about how these summer sales jobs rip off young people, he decided to go. Despite his inexperience with driving, he drove all the way to Chicago.

Since he has been there, we receive regular calls from him about the tough time he is having. Dwayne's personality is not very conducive to sales and he was having a hard time making any sales at all. He was upset to find himself possibly on the chopping block and due to be sent home. We reassured him that there was no shame in coming home. The economy is tough and he had tried hard. He was spared the cut, but they started mentioning that he would need to cut his hair. His managers believed that he would make more sales if he had short hair. Emerson and I talked to him a lot about it and told him that he should just come home - no summer job is worth that kind of sacrifice. We were prepared for him to cut his hair to go on a mission, but not for some temporary job. His manager could only promise that he might be spared for a few more weeks if he cut his hair. If the haircut doesn't improve his sales, he has nothing else to give. In the meantime, they deduct $100 per week for his rent for a shared apartment and he is up against various fines for missing meetings, having a dirty apartment, etc. He continues to push to get the minimum of 20 sales for the summer that will earn his rent money back and give him $1,000 signing bonus. For every sale he makes, he gets a little over $200. This adventure has cost him money....and now his hair. Two months after he finishes this summer job, he may get a "back end" check for remaining money earned ($60 per sale that hasn't been cancelled), but I've heard from people who've worked for them who were cheated out of those checks. Dwayne is determined not to quit and I admire that to an extent. His managers are playing him like salespeople tend to do and he doesn't get it. He's sure they really care and are his friends. We've done everything we can to be there for him when he calls and have made it clear that we disagree with cutting his hair for a job that's only going to last for 6 more weeks. I begged him to come home. We heard from Dexter yesterday about the haircut. He's an adult and there's nothing we can do. We are allowed to be upset and I reminded him that he doesn't get to choose the consequences of his actions. No parent likes to be rejected like this and it truly hurts us right now. We have been clear with him that we support him whether or not he serves a mission - it is his choice to make. Emerson tried so hard to get him to go to church and the mission prep classes and supported him having to cut his hair for the mission. Dwayne is now hurling accusations at us that are just not true. I don't enjoy the public war either. He has said plenty to hurt us in text messages and emails as well. We still love him and want the best for him and hope he somehow makes this worth what he has sacrificed. Those of you with teenagers know much of the pain we are going through. Agree or disagree, it doesn't matter. I just wanted you to know the rest of the story. I love all of my family, but be prepared for me to be unhappy if you sit there and delete my side of the conversation. If you don't want to hear my opinion, don't post about us on Facebook. I reserve the right to explain my side of things.

Saying a Final Goodbye

I traveled to San Diego this weekend to join my siblings to spread out dad's ashes over the ocean. Tina's parents live near San Diego and were gracious enough to let us stay at their house and took us out on their boat. Ralph and Abby Dickman have been so wonderful to us. Kathy flew out to Las Vegas, met up with Sharon, and the two of them drove out here with Dad's ashes. Bill, Tina, Billy, and Eliza came out earlier in the week so they could go to Disneyland. I flew out here on Friday and will be heading home tomorrow. We went out on the boat yesterday and it was absolutely fitting that the weather was overcast and it felt like being back in Bandon. The waves were kind of choppy and we laughed and screamed as if we were on a roller coaster ride. Along the way, a bunch of dolphins joined us, swimming along with the boat. It was really fun watching them swim in front of us and around us, jumping out of the water. After we got far enough out on the ocean, Bill said a nice prayer and we spread Dad's ashes in the ocean. Then we headed back to the harbor and had some fish and chips, walked along the pier, and headed back to the Dickman's house. After some games, movies, and some time in the hot tub, the day was over. Sharon and Kathy had to take off this morning and Bill headed home this morning since all of them have work tomorrow. I'm here one more night and then I will be back in Utah. It was a great experience and I'm glad we could get together out here. I wish Rick could have been here. I hope it won't be our last chance to get together as siblings.

Watch Out for the Glass!

The turn signal lightbulb went out on the truck and Emerson went to change the bulb for me. The bulb was really stuck and in the process of pushing it in and turning it, the bulb broke and sliced into his thumb. It took awhile to stop the blood from spurting, but he seems to mostly be okay. He is just inconvenienced by a very sore thumb this week. Today, Dexter managed to trip while walking out of his bedroom and stabilized himself by putting his hand through the glass of the pantry cabinet door. If you really need to see the results, check out Dexter's Facebook page. Of course I didn't want to be left out, so when I came home and tried cleaning up some glass shards the vacuum missed, one of the shards managed to make its way into my thumb. Feeling rather wimpy at this point, I ended up asking Dexter to pull the glass out for me. It's probably a good thing Dwayne isn't here since he's a fainter...

Challenge Over, Life Continues

The 100-Day Heart Challenge is now over and I came in 4th. In addition to losing 25 pounds, I lost about 3% body fat, brought my glucose down from pre-diabetic to normal level, lowered my blood pressure from a scary high level to practically normal, and made dramatic changes to my triglycerides level. I'm so happy to be healthier and I plan on continuing with what I learned during the challenge. We ended things with a 5K and I even sprinted the last 200 yards of that (because a friend challenged me to). I have a lot more weight to lose, but I plan on doing it the proper way. Emerson and I have been going to the gym together and we're both trying to eat healthier. Some of my coworkers go walking with me for a mile or so most days and we're helping keep tabs on each other.

So here is what our little family has been up to lately:
Emerson is finishing his special education certification this summer. His classes are done and now he just needs to pass off his student teaching and pass the Praxis exam. He has been working like a maniac to get our yard ready for July 4th festivities with the family. Dwayne has moved to Chicago to sell home security systems for the summer. It has been tough for him to be so far away from family and sales work has been very tough. Dexter finished his junior year of high school and he's continuing the job search. He has pioneer trek at Martin's Cove coming up on Monday. I have been very busy at work with various fundraising events. I was happy to get our garden in and it's one of my best sources of sanity. I sure do love to watch things grow!

5K

We have a semiannual 5K where I work. It's the one time we can bring our families and get together. Last year, I wore a "Chubby and Dangerous" shirt (Valentine's leftover with picture of a cupid) for the race. I tried running a little at the beginning and that messed me up for the whole thing. I hurt like crazy and didn't think I could make it at all. Because we went to a turnaround point and came back, it was hard to see so many people on their way to finishing the race when I was only 1/3 of the way done. The nice thing was they all cheered me on and gave me encouragement. It took me an hour to finish and I was the very last person. They were already picking up the cones, signs, and water tables.

Last night, I completed the 5K in 40 minutes, 36 seconds and I was not even close to being the last person to finish. I did what Traci taught me - paced myself by walking 5 minutes, jogging one minute. I adjusted as I felt tired by walking 2 minutes then jogging 30-45 seconds. I even jogged across the finish line!! That was an amazing feeling and I can't wait to see if I can get even better for The Race for Red. We only have 10 days left in this Heart Challenge. It's hard to believe this is almost over.

Promenade

The promenade at the prom. It's huge!! It was actually a lot more fun for me than it would have been if I hadn't chaperoned the choir and gotten to know some of the kids. Still, it's a really big high school and it took a long time to get through all the couples. Dexter's group ended up near the end (of course). It rained a bunch today so they changed their plans some and ended up playing hide and seek in the mall, running around the auditorium of their high school, and miniature golfing (?) around the high school lawn.

It took me nearly an hour to do Dexter's hair in three herringbone braids. I'm pretty safe in saying he had the fanciest hair of any guy there.
Dexter made his corsage for his date. It is a fabric rose on a fabric cuff. He even machine embroidered Prom 2009 on the back of the cuff. His friend Colby taught him how to do it.

Dexter's group was extremely good at coordinating the guys' look with the girls' dresses. Colby and his date were with the group, but had wandered off before we could take a picture. They're really a wonderful group of kids! I got to know most of them on the choir tour.

Dexter's date is Jenna King. She's a delightful, yet quiet girl. They made a very handsome couple.