Not Yet

Things for Jon are still on the downturn.  The ulcers in his mouth are increasing and I am assuming the ones in his throat are too as he is complaining of increased pain there as well.

Jon rarely complains so I know this is real...well, that and the fact that you can SEE the many lesions in his mouth - ouch!

The "magic mouthwash" works...but only short term.  It numbs his mouth for about a half hour and he can only take it four times a day.  This means he spend the other 22 hours a day miserable.

He is taking 4 ibuprofen at a time and the doctor has prescribed some kind of pain medication that I've never heard of before. I need to go pick it up soon.

Hopefully, things will start getting better for him soon...I absolutely hate seeing him this way.

Viral Stomatitis

Jon woke up on Sunday with swollen gums and pain on the left side of his mouth.  We thought he was possibly getting his wisdom teeth but to rule out any type of infection he was put on an antibiotic.

By yesterday afternoon, he was in a fair amount of pain and complaining of sores in his mouth and his throat hurting so I took him into the doctor.

Diagnosis: Viral Stomatitis.  Poor guy has ulcers all over his mouth and a couple down his throat as well. 

Oh...and also his wisdom tooth on the bottom left is attempting to make an appearance.

The combination of the two has made him a bit miserable.  The doctor prescribed him some "magic mouthwash."  Basically a numbing agent that you can gargle and spit out. And hopefully he'll be good as new in a few days.

And we'll have to check about getting those wisdom teeth out.

At the Start of Another School Year

Is retreat time again. 

This year it was held at yet another new facility - Northland International University, which is a Baptist University in Northern Wisconsin. 

Due to our (most likely) impending move to Florida next year, I gave up my discipleship group this year.  I only had 1 girl returning and the rest were going to be new so I decided to pass them on to a new leader this year to bond with them from the start.

Because of this, I did not really have to go to the retreat...but I really wanted to go.  It provides a great opportunity to have fun and bond with the Middle School kids. 

The problem was...they didn't have enough space for me to sleep at the University.  So, I came up with my own plan.

Since my parent's house was only 20 minutes north of the retreat facilities, Jon, Zack, and I drove up there Saturday...spent the weekend...then I drove Zack down to the University on Monday and I stayed for the day...went back to my parent's house to sleep...and then picked Zack up at 5:30 yesterday and drove home.

The place was beautiful.

And Monday was a beautiful day.  A bit hot...but perfect for swimming and water play.

After swimming the students had the option to try a zip line, or a swing type ride.  There was a rock wall too but it was so hot the "rocks" were burning the kid's hands.

The only one to try the rock wall.  She only made it half way up before giving up because the handles were too hot

Swing ride.

It was funny to watch the different personalities of the kids trying the zip line.

Some wouldn't try at all (Zack)!

Some jumped right off, screaming with excitement, waving their hands in the air.

And some got all hooked up and then got nervous about letting go and jumping off.

trying to muster the nerve to try the zip line

When that happened, it was neat to hear everyone watching shouting encouraging things to them

shouting encouragement to a nervous school mate

As I said, there was not enough room for me to sleep overnight, but the cabins looked pretty nice.

There were more beds upstairs and a bathroom with two stalls and two showers on the left.

Another great start to the school year.

No Title

Just pictures of an adorable dog

He finally got a haircut the other day. 

Oh Tomatoes...

...you look so yummy


But the are still very much green.

They are also HUGE.  Hubby and I had to put stakes in the ground and tie them up.

First Day of School

Zack started 8th grade today.

I am really praying that he can continue to build on the academic success he had last year.

I guess he had a good day.  Truthfully, the first day of school is all about being with your friends again so that makes it fun.

 
I, on the other hand, did not have fun today. It seems every year there are bugs to be worked out in the Computer Room...and today definitely was full of bugs!

Our school enrollment has boomed...and that is a great thing!!!! Unless you are a computer teacher with 17 working computers trying to teach a class of 21-23 students. 

Sooooo...tomorrow I do not have any classes and will work with the powers that be on a viable solution to this wonderful problem. 

Random Stuff

School starts on Wednesday...bring it on!!!!  I am so excited about another school year starting.  This year my day off is Tuesday.  I don't have a first or second hour class this year either so that will be a weird feeling for me.  I am so fortunate to love my job.


Tonight I picked eight more zucchini and fourteen more cucumbers from our garden. I finally found one tomato that was a light red color - the rest are still all green.  And there are a ton of them!

Zack found Ollie's old Santa costume and held a mini photo session.  Here are two of the best ones.

The rest were pretty blurry.  A photog he is not.

We've been enjoying evening walks at our usual place.  We've trained Ollie this year to stop when he sees people walking towards us.  He is an ultra friendly dog and makes the mistake of thinking everyone loves him.  So now, he just stops and sits until they pass us.  He really is a good dog and listens well.

And finally, wheels are in motion for a return to Florida next year.  Plans are still very much in the beginning stages but it looks like the percentages are pretty high for us to be moving back there.  I will be pursuing any and all teaching jobs between St. Augustine and Orlando. 

As I contemplate this move I keep thinking of the song "Help Me Find It" by Sidewalk Prophets.

If there's a road I should walk
Help me find it
If I need to be still
Give me peace for the moment
Whatever Your will
Whatever Your will
Help me find it

I will be looking for any sign that Gods wants me to bloom where I am planted.  But right now all signs say the opposite to me. 

And that's it for right now.

Fuddruckers

I can't believe CJ has been gone for only two days and I already miss him so much. 

One of our traditions while he is here is to go eat at Fuddruckers.  The last time he was here we ended up not being able to go because of the crazy weather.

This time we did not have any snow or ice to contend with thank goodness.  So we went Saturday night.

No need for my boys to look at the menu - it's always chicken tenders and French fries for them.

CJ is the one who pays so I usually end up ordering from the kids menu to save him money. 

We had another great time again.  And did I mention I miss him already?

They are not big fans of having their picture taken - especially in a restaurant.

Well...it bears repeating.

Someone Needs a Haircut

Zack got one yesterday - now it's Ollie's turn!

Garden

I love having a garden in the summer.  Even though I don't actually do any of the planting - that's hubby's job - I do all of the watering, weeding, and upkeep of the garden.

There's only one problem...hubby tends to plant way!too!much!!!!

Here is a pictorial example:

This is what I have picked the past two days alone.

These are the cucumbers:

34 of them to be exact.  And hubby doesn't even eat cucumbers.

Then we have the zucchini:

14 of them (if you include the 2 I cut up and froze and the one I used to make zucchini bread). And hubby doesn't eat zucchini.  He won't even touch the zucchini bread.  I tried putting chocolate chips in it to entice him but it was still a no go.

And finally, the peppers.

Two different kinds - hot and mild. Hubby doesn't eat these either.  But I have plans to use them for salsa.

We still have tomato plants and cantaloupe that haven't produced anything yet...but they're close to being ripe (the tomatoes anyway).

And guess what??? Hubby doesn't eat those two things either.

Are You Ready For Some ----FOOTBALL???

WooHoo!!!  It's preseason...which means "regular" football is right around the corner!

The Packers started off their preseason last night - on a terrible note I may add - against the Arizona Cardinals.

C.J. and I were on hand to witness the slaughter first hand.

Green Bay is about an hour north of us...we planned to stop at the mall in Appleton so we left about 4:00. 

We hit traffic right away!!!  In fact, 90% of our drive looked exactly like this:

And our speed probably averaged about this:

Seriously...I was riding the brakes just about the whole way.

We finally got there about 6:20.  The game started at 7:00.

Legendary Lambeau Field

The recent addition to Lambeau Field which added an additional 7,000 seats.

Upper Seat additions. 

Probably only in Green Bay would 76,000+ people show up for a preseason game.

Scoreboard.  A lot of World Championships!  But only 2 in the last 35+ years.

Trust me...it was packed!  And sitting on a bench for three hours did little to help the pain in my back, neck, and shoulder.  But, I made it through and enjoyed everything except the actual game.

To be fair...Rodgers only played for one possession. And 30% or more of their starting team didn't even suit up.  But it was UGLY!!!

Rodgers leading the opening drive

We left with six minutes left in the game - but then so did everyone else.   It took a little over a half hour to get to the highway (about 1/2 mile away). 

A great night with my son...thank you C.J.

Update

I went to see my primary yesterday morning.  My main reason for the visit was to re-test my blood for liver levels so that I could (hopefully) start taking the Diclofenac again.

The visit turned into a good news/bad news type of deal.

Good News:
I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia.  Yep...that's good news.

Bad news: The medications currently used to treat this are all filtered through the liver and he said would never put me on any of them because of how fast my liver levels spiked last spring.  He said he had never seen a patient go from normal levels to the elevated levels mine were in such a short time.
So...even if my blood tests come back with normal levels, I cannot take the diclofenac as I was taking it before.  He wants me to take it only every other day or every three days. 

He really surprised me when he said that the amount of pain medication I was taking could actually be increasing the sensitivity in my nerve endings thus increasing the pain in my pressure points. 

Tentative plans are to pull way back on the pain medication, start the diclofenac (pending blood tests), and a muscle relaxer at nighttime. 

It may be tricky to find the right balance but...it's a start.  It's an answer.

A Leftover

One of our walks while up north with mom and dad.

It was about 60* out at this time.

Think they spend too much time in Florida?

Too Good to Pass Up

The Brewers stink this year!  I'm talking terrible!

And to compound this stinkiness, their best player has been suspended for the remainder of the season for supposedly using performance enhancing drugs.

Add to this the fact the MLB got frustrated with teams selling tickets for such a cheap price (remember last year when we got our tickets for 75 cents) and set a $5.00 minimum price on all tickets.

Needless to say, with all this, that getting to a Brewers game this year was not high on our bucket list. 


However, desperate to fill seats, the Brewers are giving a $10.00 concession voucher to every ticket purchased. 

$5.00 ticket = $10.00 worth of food.  How could you go wrong?

Food vouchers given to each ticketed person

Then, when we got there and paid $10.00 for parking, I found out the bottom of the parking ticket could be torn off and redeemed for a medium soda!  I honestly don't know how they're making any money.

Once again, we were very fortunate to have great weather.

The game itself was pretty yucky.  Nothing at all to cheer about - no runs with 4 measly hits the whole game.

Bernie was pretty bored this game - no need to go down his slide.

Bernie slides down the yellow slide after each Brewer home run

This is how my boys spent most of the game.

boys texting or on the internet

Really, the highlight of the game was the traditional sausage race.

Our section was not represented

Before each game the boys and I try to guess who will have a home run that game...this was my guy.

Segura - you let me down

Um...yeah...he really came through for me.  Going 0-4 including a strike-out with a man on third and only one out!

It was funny when the sound guy tried to fire the crowd up at the beginning of the bottom of the 9th inning.  It wasn't happening.

But, despite the pathetic game...we had a great time.

Retired Brewers numbers...Rollie Fingers, Jackie Robinson, and Hank Aaron

Other retired numbers...Robin Yount and Paul Molitor. Bob Ueker has been the voice of the Brewers for what seems like forever.

Now for my rant!!!!!!!

People who cannot show up on time for sporting events!!!!!!

This pretty much drives me crazy.

Not only do I think they are rude by showing up in the middle of the game and then distracting everyone and blocking views while they try to find their seats...like these people who showed up at the end of the 1st inning and took a good five minutes to decide who was going to sit where:

They are also inevitably the people who sit directly in front of me!  Like these three who showed up in the 3rd inning.

These rude people are still not in the stadium yet - a whole hour after the game started:

Get your act together people!!!!

Rant over.