Just RK

I can't even fathom going through the details right now, but I need to for good record keeping. It will have to wait. I left the house at 8:03am and returned home at 7:05 pm. And I don't live 3 hours away anymore!! These days usually go so smoothly...but the honeymoon is over. This will be the last day we do the full day of visits. We moved here to be close, so we'll not do more than 2 or maybe 3 on the same day from here on out. Today's accomplishments: ENT--Check DS specialist--Check Cardiology--Check Echocardiogram--Check Eye center--Check GI--Check Audiology--Check Lab--Check Braska did marvelously, with some understandable rough spots. But she was great overall. And thank God that my mother-in-law came along... what a day. Details later, probably on Braska's blog in the next few days. Ahhh! And I still haven't talked about our good day yesterday... I'll get there. Sometime soon.

We've had a rough couple nights. Braska's birthday party went well. I'll get to that later, but soon I hope. But last night, Braska went to bed at 8pm (quite early, and without full feeds for the day) and I hit the pillow at about 8:45pm. M came in then too, because none of us have had good regular sleep for a bit. He was out in 2 seconds. I laid there til about 10 before falling asleep, but still. I expected Braska to wake up super early since it was an early to bed, but she slept til just after 7:15am and I slept till right around then. Not a bad deal. I'm up with visions of grandeur for things to accomplish today... we'll see. Tomorrow is a crazy busy day, 7 appointments at Children's DS Center and various specialists, from 8:45am til about 4pm. Thank goodness for my mother-in-law coming along to help occupy and be extra hands through the day!

I didn't get to the store, but I did get some work done on the house tonight. We did venture out long enough to run through a drive-thru for lunch. That's something... Tomorrow's a big day. I keep feeling like I should have all these wonderful things to say. But I don't. I don't feel bad about it. Maybe something will hit me later, but for now...yay, she's 2! Now to get the cake made, the pictures scheduled, and the rest of the house cleaned up...

It's Thursday. I've not been out of the house since Sunday afternoon. Like not even to the garage. Not even to get the mail. I need to go to the store...badly. Maybe I'll get to it this afternoon. I guess I have to, actually. Tomorrow is Braska's birthday and some of the fam is coming by for cake and ice cream. We've been out of milk for two days. Pathetic. I've been fighting off a cold with a nasty lingering cough for a week now. Thankfully Braska hasn't had anything more than a runny nose here or there for an hour or so. She's been great about playing this week, but she's getting bored, I think, and we've read all her books a zillion times. This kid could read books all day! Surprise, surprise...just like her dad once again. At least Kinlee's been behaving. Doing her jigs throughout the day. That is, except in the morning when I'm hacking up a lung. She does not care for such things at all. But can you blame her. What must...

Slowly we're getting Kinlee's room together. Everyone likes to ask if we're "ready" and such. Will they share a room? What's the theme? Do you have colors picked out? Are you moving Braska to a toddler bed? They're typical questions. No, they won't share a room. No way. Braska is a good sleeper, and I'm not taking any chances on jeopardizing that. Theme? Colors? Nope. Not really. Well the room was half white and half green when we moved in with Noah's ark border, so I figured we'd make that work. I didn't like it, but we didn't have anything else really, and I wasn't going to go spend money on a whole new decor. Then as I was trying to clean out the room that had become the main floor storage area after we moved in, I saw a corner of the border was barely peeling, so I thought I'd give it a tug. Whatta ya know?!? Two walls came off in one sheet! It was amazing! I took it as a sign and started making plans. What made it easie...

(Woo Hoo... a new RQ logo!) Random Questions, Fall 08: #5 Hot or Cold? The Random Questions process ~Choose one or all of the questions to answer. ~Either respond with a comment to this post with your answer or put up a post on your own blog for a full response. ~Don't forget to include any funny or interesting story to illustrate your answer in action. ~Be sure to leave a comment on this post to let us know where to find your post so we can come check it out! 1. What do you set your thermostat on in the winter? A toasty 78, chilly 62, or somewhere in between? Is it different from night to daytime? 2. Has this changed over the years? Are you adjusting your heat use this year due to heat costs/financial frugality? 3. If you have kids, are they cooperative with dressing warmer for the chilly times or do they still prefer to be in the least clothing possible? 4. What is your favorite item of cold-weather clothing? _____________________________________________ 1. We have our thermosta...

I've known about digital scrapbooking for a while and purposely avoided learning about it. I knew I'd be addicted. I knew it would eat up time. I knew it would become something I'd want to work on forever and re-do and re-do again. I got frustrated today when trying to rework the blogs and their themes, so I decided I'd investigate doing my own. I'm familiar with HTML a tiny bit, I can work my way through a variety of such things, so I thought I could research it and at least come up with something. DANGER, WILL ROBINSON! DANGER! Now, two hours of downloading, arranging, and playing later..... my first digital layout. It's not great, I'm not even sure I like it, but it was fun, and I'm getting a better idea of what I want. I like to have a starting point to look back on... even if it's not good. And the good news is, I have also started to learn enough to do my blogs. Just have to find the time for that....it's not tonight!

We didn't have any actual pictures of us on our wedding day, just us, so this is a crop. (One area where our super-cheap plan went TOO cheap.) 11/11/00 And last night at dinner... of course, Olive Garden. It's kind of our place, plus Braska likes the marinara sauce. 11/11/08 My sister Rachel and her fiance' Patrick joined us for dinner, and we had a nice time. Today we start year 9... one day at a time. Sometimes one hour at a time. Lord, continue to guide us and remind us daily that you are the center of our hope for a future.

Happy Anniversary, M. Go Team! Today's our 8th anniversary. I went back to see what I wrote about our 7th last year, and I didn't even post for a few days around it. But I suppose I'm not surprised after all. The last two anniversaries have not been all that happy, actually a little painful. So the fact that I'm posting is good, I guess, and the day looks promising. Is it about the day itself? No, of course not. This year the achievement is that we've spent the whole year together, as a family, working toward the same goals, and re-learning how to be married in a much healthier way. We've got a long way to go, but we've come SO far from the darkest days. There have been alot of things happening this past year, but we've made it through pretty well. Today we're going to work on the house and go to dinner this evening. M offered to do some honey-do type things that are not his favorite, so that's very helpful. We'll get some things done that n...

Thanks to all of you who commented or emailed to check on me. To answer a few questions... Yes, I'm still here. No, I'm not pouting about the election, though I am trying to order my mind properly. More on that later. For now, I'm continuing to pray often for our leaders and our country as we move forward. Yes, I had a rough week physically and emotionally. No, I didn't go to the OB last Monday due to lack of a last minute Braska-helper, so I go tomorrow morning. No, I didn't hop a plane for Timbuktu. Physically--I'm so sore, and I become really achy super easily without doing much. It's very annoying. There are a few other symptoms as well that we'll keep discreet for now. It's beginning to get in the way of general daily things, so adjustments are being made. This was not at all the case with Braska. It's weird and frustrating, to be honest, but as long as Kinlee's ok through it all, we'll deal. M carries her for me whenever pos...

I've been sitting here for over an hour. It's not that there aren't things to say, it's just that suddenly the blogging thing seems so superficial. For now, my thoughts and prayers will remain largely unpublished. Lord, guide our leaders and light our way.

I assume that you went to vote, either today or earlier if possible. I expect that of you, know that straight up. How long did you wait in line?? And throw in the state you voted in, just for fun. I'm really curious if all areas have a big wait or if it's just the more congested ones. I voted Friday absentee/in person, and we waited about 15 mins or so. It moved VERY fast for a big line. There's just one place in our very populated county to do the absentee/in person voting, and it wasn't bad at all for what I thought it might be. If you haven't, GO VOTE people... again, please just know what you're voting for, either way. You may just have to live with your choice. God Bless America!!

Fair warning...I'm not all that "with it" so who knows if this will be cohesive or not. October went fast. I didn't get the whole post-every-day thing, but I did get in 31 total. Does that count for 31 for 21? I'm not going to stress over it, for sure. I did enjoy all the updates from all of you. But there were a few times when I felt posts were below par for my goals with this space. Not the end of the world, of course, but still... November's going to be a busy one too. Tomorrow's the big day. Election day. I've already voted, thankfully, so that's nice. I can't tell you how happy I will be to not see another campaign ad of any kind. I've been praying often about this whole thing for months. No, that doesn't mean, "God, please don't let him win." That's not it at all. It means asking for peace and patience, as well as understanding that often history shows that nations are given what they ask for, even i...