This Crazy Thing We Call Life

Life has been so crazy lately and I really need to improve my skills.

We have all survived the Winter, if you want to call what we in the Pacific NorthWest called Winter. We watched The Olympic Games from Sochi.
DH and I every night went up to our room to veg out watching the games. We were slightly disappointed in the fact that we never saw any of the medal ceremonies.

Then we rolled right into Girl Scout Cookie Sales. Really don't like these 2 weeks every year, fortunately it is only 2 weeks and not longer. On the plus side DD sold more than 400 boxes of cookies. Very proud of her for reaching the goal she set.

I completed 21 CU's for School this term and the next term starts 5/1/2014. I was going to try to squeeze in one more class but time is my enemy right now.

On March 12th I had a second interview with the Elizabeth Dole Foundation to become the Washington State Caregiver Fellow. At the end of the interview I was invited to become a Fellow and I needed to confirm I would be able to travel to Washington DC in April, hence time is the enemy for school.

My youngest nephew turned 5 on March 17th. Hard to believe he is growing up so fast.

The VA finally determined that my Dear Husband could not live successfully with out the Aid and Attendance of another, this might be our last battle with the VA. I hope!

On the 24th of March the Oldest Child (my step son technically) arrived at home. More chaos with happy children and happy dogs.

So many blessings with all 3 of the kids together now. The Oldest can go to the store, can drive dad around, and loves spending time with the kids. So glad he is here.

A bunch of other things are going on and I will be adding pages to my blog them as well.

Next week, April 7th - 11th I will be traveling to and in Washington DC. I have been officially invited to the White House by Mrs. Obama and Dr. Biden. Scared and excited all at the same time.

Surviving the New Year

Here it is the 12th of January and needless to say we have been plugging right along.

The kids have made it through the first week back to school from the Holidays.

Documenting our lives has started with my new Project Life Album for 2014.

I got a new planner from Erin Condren, and I am in love with it. I will be sharing pictures and ideas.

After 10 long years we have finally found a doctor at the VA willing to listen to what we are saying in regards to DH knee injury. On December 30th we went to Seattle VAMC for an MRI and that night the Dr. called us to confirm what we knew. WOW!! it is like winning something HUGE.

She put in a consult for the orthopedic specialist to take at look, and we will be going back to Seattle VAMC in February.

We have been told that we can go back and file a formal complaint with the ARMY naming the SGT that would not follow the doctors instructions when DH got injured, but I am not sure it is actually worth the effort. On the other hand I would love to see him in a dark alley, zip up my big a$$ purse and beat him with it...again, not sure it is worth the effort.

New Year...Fresh Start

Welcome to 2014

A New Year and a Fresh Start and boy do I need one. I didn't feel like I had anything worth blogging about, but I was wrong.

I looked back through 2013 and realized there was A LOT going on that I could have shared and not all good or bad.

I have a high schooler and a middle schooler this year. Making life interesting to say the least.

Our Dear Friends moved to Salt Lake City making visits more challenging.

We launched David's House on FB on November 11th. Working on fund raising right now.

Survived the first whole year without Debbie.

DH's oldest son came out to visit for 2 very short weeks in September. He wants to move out here to be with us. Kids are loving the idea and DH is waiting not so patiently.

We had a nice Holiday Season and are eager to move on to goals and adventures of the new year.

On December 30th, after 10 years of battling with the Army et al regarding DH's knee injury we actually got confirmation that there is a problem, and it is NOT arthritis. I feel like we won a major battle.

Way Past Due Update

Life has been so crazy that I haven't been able to update during the summer. So here we go:

• DH turned 44 in May
• DD turned 12 in June
• Survived the first anniversary of my sweet sister's passing
• DS turned 14 in July
• We bought a Hi-Lo Travel Trailer to go camping
• We actually got to go camping this year
• DH oldest son contacted us and will be visiting in September

So much going on every where.

I also found out a sweet friend of mine has had to decide to discontinue treatments for cancer and cancer induced illness. This makes me horribly sad and feeling helpless.

I am a natural fixer so I want to make everything right. There are times being a fixer is hard, not everyone wants to be fixed or needs to be fixed or even can be fixed, but this is part of who we are.

Update on Life

Things have been really crazy here.

DH had an appointment with a neuro-psychologist and were were told that any TBI he MAY have had in 2004 has healed so these lasting affects are due to PTSD.

I drove like crazy for the last 10 days or so...drove my brother to the Sea-Tac Airport so he could fly to NM for the sentencing hearing. Then two days later I drove from Lacey to Longview to take DD to meet up with her friends for the weekend...then pick on on Sunday at the same place. Monday had to run to the bank late in the day. Tuesday back to Sea-Tac to pick up my brother. Wednesday was grocery shopping. Then Friday to the VA for DH to get his Vpap machine so he can breathe at night.

We have had a wonderful weekend with 80° weather and sunshine...don't ever let people tell you it only rains in the Pacific Northwest, they have no clue what they are talking about.

The kids have state testing Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of this next week.

Thankfully the kids are feeling better since getting sicky last week.