A letter

Dear Glee,

I love you.  I cannot wait for you to return.  Thinking about you makes me smile.  Hearing all of your voices singing such great renditions of well-loved songs makes me swoon.  OK OK...maybe not swoon, but very nearly.  Hearing my children belt out bits and pieces of their favorite Glee songs fills me with such joy and pride.  You make my good days great and my bad days better.  I will always love you, even when you go on for four seasons longer than you should.  I promise!  Once a Gleek, always a Gleek.  See you soon!!

Forever Yours,

Jamie

Random-ish

Here I am, once again frustrated that I haven't had the time to write.  Not that I've had anything really interesting to say...I just hate when I don't get to write.  I feel like I'm missing something.  And I'm barely able to get to my Google reader more than once a week, which is also frustrating.  I had really thought that once school started it would be easier.  Not so much...

Random thoughts for the night:

~I love the Allstate commercials.
~I love haring my kids scream "Bird parade!  Bird parade!" whenever they see a grouping of birds outside.  Silly kids-where do they come up with this stuff?
~Glee is AWESOME (as always-even when it's not on!) and I'm so happy that Jane Lynch won an Emmy!!
~I don't usually watch the Emmy's but Glee made it worthwhile!
~I love Master Chef!

Tomorrow my son turns 9.  Tomorrow begins a LONG, expensive time in the lives of the Bishops.  Birthdays/Events occurring in the next 6 months:

~Kaleb's birthday (Aug. 30)
~Olivia's birthday (Sept. 15)
~Katherine's birthday (Oct. 12)
~Abbey's birthday (Oct. 17)
~Halloween
~Thanksgiving
~Christmas
~Kris' birthday (Jan. 12)
~My birthday (Feb. 2)
~Valentine's Day

We should have timed all of this better!  What were we thinking?

*sigh*

Ready for life to slow down!!

Dreams...can they come true?

Don't you just wish everything in life came easy?  Marriage, parenting, fulfilling your goals and dreams?

I went on a tour of the St. Louis branch of Le Cordon Bleu today.  I fell in love.  It excited me.  I found myself wanting to dive right in and say 'Screw the money, screw the time.  Let's do this!'  Of course, I don't live in fantasy land, no matter how much I'd like to.  It's almost $20,000 for their 9 month culinary program.  Sigh...

I have two other schools to look at in my area before I accept my fate.  But the more I thought about it today, the more I realized that I can just take the courses I want at the community college, without being in a program, and later, when time and money allow, then I can go through a culinary program.  Right now, I just want to learn.  I just want the knowledge and the skills and I can get that locally for under $100/credit hour.  At least, I assume it's still under $100.  Maybe I'll spend some time tonight looking up that information.

24 hours after my deep tissue massage, I feel like someone brutalized my back!!!  I keep expecting to see it all bruised up, but alas, it is not!  Overall though, my neck has felt better, though still some tightness.  Hey does anyone out there know if massages can count as a medical expense for FSA/HSA purposes?

I can't figure out what people see in Alton Brown.  I get so irritated when I am planning to spend the evening with The Food Network on in the background and find that Alton Brown is on.  Seriously people.  What is the appeal??? I can't get past the stupidity of how his show begins to even begin to gain any knowledge from his actual show.  Every time I hear/see it, I can't help but wonder what were they thinking???  Why him?  What was so appealing about him?  He's not funny.  What am I missing?

For those of you Alton Brown lovers out there...seriously...what is it about him that you like?

Fall is coming...

I woke up to a pleasant surprise this morning...cool weather!  Not quite cool enough to scream fall...but a reminder that fall is fast approaching.  I bought a sweater today, to prepare my wardrobe for fall.  If only I could afford to buy a cute pair of brown boots too!  Maybe next paycheck...

I have an appointment tomorrow at a local culinary school here in St. Louis.  I am pretty sure it will be too expensive and it's nowhere near my house, but I'm going to check it out anyway.  Oh and it's completely unrealistic...the way the program is set up-I should add that it is completely unrealistic FOR ME, RIGHT NOW.  It's 3 hours a day, Monday through Friday, for 12 months.  Let's see...if maybe I didn't work full-time I may be able to consider something like that...oh or if I didn't have kids that needed their momma!  That's a pretty big sacrifice for both me and my family but I want to know what my options are, and so I will go and check out the school anyway.  I'm hoping next week to get in to see Le Ecole Culinaire, so that I can also rule that out before I face the fact that I will most likely wind up completing the culinary program at the local community college.  And really, I'm OK with that.  It allows me to do it at my pace, and it's going to be much easier to afford.

I'm watching my husband work presently.  He's just typing a bunch of letters and numbers...and then staring at the screen.  Yeah, I'd be staring at the screen too if I just typed random nonsense and expected it to look like a specific form or database.  This is what people pay my husband the big bucks for.  Staring at the computer and hoping it will all just magically turn into some sort of functioning database.  All joking aside, his work amazes me.  Confuses me more than I'd like to admit, but amazes me.  He's self-taught, which makes me even more proud of everything he knows how to do.  He's a really smart guy...that Kris is...I just wish programming didn't take so much time...

Living with pain

No one should have to live with pain.  I'm so tired of hurting all the time.  I'm tired of the constant pain and stiffness in my neck.  The meds they gave me at the ER last weekend for my back worked wonders on my neck.  My pain level stayed right around a 2, instead of the usual 4-5.  The last three days though, having been out of the ER meds for a few days, my neck pain has increased to about a 7-8.  I broke down and called my doctor today.  I almost burst into tears telling her that I've tried everything and I just don't know what to do anymore.  I've done 3 rounds of physical therapy, met with a neurologist, neurosurgeon, pain management doctor and am now on my third chiropractor, finally getting acupuncture.  And after two years, the pain is still there.  Today I couldn't even focus on work because my neck hurt so bad.  So, I told my doctor that percocet is the only thing I've taken that has ever dulled the pain in my neck.  She filled the prescription, as well as a prescription for ibuprofen and more Robaxin (muscle relaxer).  She gave me specific instructions for taking them and made sure I understood that the percocet was a last resort.  Now, in order to try to retrain my neck muscles, I will be taking ibuprofen every day, 3 times a day.  I'll take a muscle relaxer if the ibuprofen doesn't seem to help, and then, from there, if I am still feeling bad, I can take the percocet.  I plan to follow this, especially since I only have 30 percocet and likely will not be able to get any more.

But here is what my doctor told me.  She told me that she didn't want me to be in pain, which is why she was giving me the prescriptions.  But what she really wanted me to understand is that it is stress and me NOT relaxing that is causing me so much trouble.  She didn't think that the bulging discs in my neck are actually causing the pain.  She believes that it is stress and tension.  She believes that all my problems presently are muscular and relaxing is the only way to relieve the pain.  So she told me about this Yoga for Beginners DVD that focuses on poses that will promote deep relaxation.  She also told me that I needed to have a deep tissue massage once/month, twice if we could afford it.  Imagine my delight in telling Kris that my doctor said I needed to get a massage!!!  I ordered the DVD and scheduled a massage for tomorrow night.  I've been trying to get one for two weeks now and I am probably going to have a mental breakdown if another trip to the ER interferes with my plans for a massage!  I will try this and see what happens...I've tried so many different things over the last two years, but hopefully this will be it.

So, now that you've read through all of that boring medical nonsense...how is YOUR week going?  Anything exciting happening?  How many of you still have kids that haven't started school yet?

Don't forget to check out my daughter's blog:  Take a Look at This Book!

So my kid has a blog...

          ...and I worry it might be better than mine!

But that's OK.  I love that Katherine wants to write a blog.  She's passionate about reading and thus she plans to read books and blog about what she has read.  She watched Julie and Julia with me yesterday and I wonder if that summoned something in her...a desire to do something and then write about it.  So she chose what she loves.  I mean sure, she COULD have chosen to eat my awesome cooking and then write about it...but I'll forgive her for choosing books over food.  I'd love for her to find comfort in books instead of food like her mama!  Truly, of course I'd love for her to find her comfort in God, but that's another blog for another day.

I could have given her the next year punishment free for her awesome plug for my blog in her first post (though I won't-sorry girl you don't get off THAT easily!).  I truly love that kid!!

So, without further ado, please PLEASE go check out her blog and her first post, and remember, she's only 9 (almost 10).  Give her some love and if you are interested at all or just want to show her some support, please follow her.  Who knows...she could be the #1 blogger in America in 10-15 years!  Won't it be cool when you can say, "I've been reading her since she was 9!"?  The answer to that question is Yes.  Yes it will be very cool.

Take a Look at This Book!

Readers abound

My kids love to read.  It makes me so proud and so very grateful that they love reading.  Katherine is probably the biggest bookworm right now, though I suspect the older everyone gets, the more "into" books they will become.  Kaleb is picky about his books but when he finds one he is interested in, he will read it from start to finish without stopping, if allowed.  Abbey's skills are improving every day and she is trying her hand at some chapter books now too.  Livvy, while she can't read the letters, loves book and loves having them read to her.  I know that once she is able to read them herself she will thrive as well in the literary world.

Katherine is currently reading through book 3 of the Harry Potter series.  As I write this, she has probably already finished it.  She spent most of the weekend nearing the end, so if she hasn't finished as of right now, I am sure she will be ready for book 4 tonight.  With her ER visit, we baby-ed her and let her pick out a movie to watch while she and I rested in bed and we also bought her book 4 in the Harry Potter series.  She is very excited about it and has loved the previous three books.

I've asked Katherine before if she would write a "guest post" sometime for my blog. She's always told me no.  When I realized what the real reason was for her outright rejection of me and my blog kind refusal, I discovered that she isn't confident in her typing skills and thinks it would take her too long.  I gave her a simple solution.  Write down what you want to say, and then I will type it.  She pondered this and I hadn't really brought it up to her again (this was about a month ago).

Today though, she surprised me by telling us on the way to school that she wanted to start a blog.  It was like Christmas for me!!!  And she is going to call it "Take a Look at this Book!"  Isn't that cute?  Everything done on this blog will be her.  I am not editing (well maybe spell check because I am after all a spelling/grammar freak) or adding or taking away.  It's her blog-I'm just typing it for her.  You are going to be in for a real treat!

When she is ready, I am hoping that some of you will take an interest in the thoughts and musings of my awesome not-quite-ten-year-old writing gal!  It made me so happy and proud that she said she wanted to start her own blog!  She's an excellent writer, though I'm not sure she'll be sharing her awesome stories here-her focus is going to be on books.  She also is just like me has just a slight touch of her mother's sarcasm, so I'm interested to read what she has to say and I think you might be too!

Emergencies abound

We're a freakin' mess right now.  My efforts to go get a massage keep getting thwarted...two weeks in a row!!  The Little Bishops are out of commission...two of them anyway.  First it was me at the ER last weekend with my back.  This weekend looked to be a relaxing, CALM weekend.  I guess my first mistake was being optimistic.  You see, I live quite comfortably in pessimism.  I would prefer to be pleasantly surprised after thinking the worst would happen than be disappointed because I hoped something good would happen.  It's flawed thinking...but it's what I do.

 Let me just tell you, in Katherine's words, what happened this weekend while I was out to lunch with my mother-in-law.

"We were at the park and Daddy was pushing me too hard and I fell on my back."  At least, that's what she told the ER doctor.  It is SORT OF what happened...I was afraid they would call child services on us!  Apparently, Kris took the kids to the park for a picnic.  They were having a wonderful time.  Kris had pushed Kaleb and Kat on this zip line type thing.  Kat had gone twice, and the third time Kris pushed her harder.  When it got towards the end and "skipped" Kat lost her grip and fell hard, landing on her back.

Poor Kris was pretty upset about it.  I got a call from him saying he thought Kat needed to go to the ER.  He and I met at his mom's and we took Katherine over to Missouri Baptist, since I had had such a good experience there last weekend (despite the circumstances).  They were incredibly quick...from start to finish we were there for maybe only 45 minutes!  No x-rays were needed and Kat just has some muscle tightness/strain.  Doctor said she'd probably be in more pain tomorrow, but nothing broken, no external bruising and except for laying on her side or bending all the way over, she isn't even in pain.  That girl is going to extremes in an effort to be like her mother...of all things to hurt she hurts her back?  Not her leg or her arm.  HER BACK.  What's next?  Arthritis in her neck?

So...we finally get back home after picking up the younger kids from Kris' mom's house.  Things are going well.  We have Kat settled in and we are watching movies in bed when we hear this screaming and wailing coming from the living room.  Kris went in there and when the screaming didn't stop, I jumped up and ran in there.  Livvy was apparently sitting on top of laundry baskets full of clothes (a constant in my house-at least they were clean!) and fell, face first into a plastic table that was set up in there.  She pointed to her cheek and it looked a little red but she seemed OK.  I held her to me for a few minutes comforting her.  When I looked at her again, she had this bluish, purple blister on the corner of her mouth.  It looked awful.  Poor baby!  So she walked around icing her mouth while Kat is in my bed laying on a pack of frozen corn (we improvise around here!).

So...here's to hoping for a CALMER week!  And no ER visits...

End in sight

I'm glad this week is over.  It wasn't BAD...it was just CRAZY!  Work, kids, school, etc...

My kids made me smile on the way home tonight, along with a little help from GLEE.  The first song on the Volume 3 CD is Hello, Goodbye.  Hearing them sing along to some of my favorite songs from GLEE puts a smile on my face every time!  They're so cute.  And somewhere in the middle of all of this Livvy is back there saying "I love you Hydrangea!"  (if you're just tuning in, Hydrangea is our van)

So, I have something I need to get off of my chest...my van has this gauge on it to track the miles per gallon.  Kris is convinced that it will help him drive better.  He is dying to get the best gas mileage he can and has been obsessed with monitoring the MPG, as well as adjusting how he drives (trying to be better).  He was thrilled when it got to 15 MPG, especially considering that our driving always alternates evenly between city and highway driving.  He claimed that after I drove it for 3 minutes yesterday that I dropped the MPG from 15.3 to 15.2.  He was not correct.  And today, though I know I should really boost his ego instead of bragging about my own awesomeness, I just have to share that after being the ONLY one driving our van last night and three different times today the MPG went from 15.3 to 15.6.  TAKE THAT KRIS!!  Who's the better driver??? Oh that would be me!  Leave it to me and I'll have to to 16 by tomorrow!!

I'm pretty bummed that our Back to School Picnic got cancelled due to rain I'm not sure we're going to get.  I put a lot of time, energy, AND money into it, and found out by email just hours before it was scheduled that they were cancelling it.  There is more I could say, but shouldn't.  And so I will just say that I am bummed and frustrated.  I'll get over it...

Follow Me...

...Chickadee!!






I was so sad to miss FMC last week.  My back was a mess and I spent most of the day in the ER.  After three consecutive days of acupuncture (and 6 days of Percocet, Toradol and Robaxin I think), I am actually feeling about 85% better.  I'm not 100% yet, but the pain in my back has finally decreased enough to remind me that the two degenerated discs in my neck are still degenerated!  Yep...still painful!  BUT...through this experience, I finally found a pain pill (after all the different ones prescribed over the last 2 years) that dulls the pain in my neck (besides Dilaudid through an IV)...Percocet.  Too bad I'm out and it's addicting.  Because I could so learn to function with it!!!  I want to re-emphasize here that ACUPUNCTURE WORKS!!  For all the nay sayers out there, I truly believe that my back would be in awful shape and I'd be at my doctor begging for more pain pills if it weren't for acupuncture.  Yesterday I had 11 needles sticking out of my body in various places.  I have NO idea how it works (nor am I looking for an explanation) but it does work.  It's really weird though.  And they say it doesn't hurt.  Well...while that is MOSTLY true, sometimes it does.  The ones on the side of my palm have hurt and the ones in my ears have been uncomfortable.  Most of them I barely feel go in though and once they're in you really don't feel them.

I am SO looking forward to a pedicure and massage this weekend!!  Both are long overdue...

What else can I tell you?  Friday Funnies are temporarily on hold...at least until I can get back into some sort of routine with school and work and blogging...

Is anyone out there watching MasterChef?  LOVE IT!

I know I've been much quieter than usual lately.  I have been really busy...but I also can't write and then post something that doesn't "feel" right.  I can't explain it.  But I'm not going to write just for the sake of writing or having a blog post.  It's just not how I roll.  :-)  So, when I have something to say, I will.  Maybe I'm in a funk.   A writing funk, not a "I'm so depressed" kind of funk.  I'm doing OK on that front right now, and am still doing so un-medicated for the time being.  I think that because fall is approaching, I am feeling more hopeful and able to deal with the normal craziness of life.

Writer's Workshop - Dear Mommy...

Dear Mommy,

I'm hungry.  If you don't give me candy, I will not be your friend.  If you yell at me again, I will be sad forever.  You told me no when I asked you for a snack.  Now I am sad forever.  I don't know what whining is.  All I know is that when you tell me all day long to stop whining, it just makes me cry.  And sad forever.  And hungry.

Love,

Olivia (age 4)

-----

Dear Mommy,

You are the best mommy I've ever had.  I love you so much and I am SOOO glad you are my mommy.  If I had a different Mommy and we saw you walking down the street I would ask my mom if you could be my mommy.  I love God.  And I love me.  And I love you.  I love everyone.  But Satan.  I don't love Satan.  I am going to be a Godly singer when I grow up.  I am going to make up a new song now.  It will have the word love in it.  Hearing this song makes me interested in learning the guitar.  I love you!

Love,

Abbey Rose (age 7)

-----

Dear Mommy,

Do I HAVE to take a shower?  No!  I don't want to.  Why?  But why?  That's not fair.  Can I PLEASE...nevermind.  You'll just say no anyway.  Well, I was just going to ask if I could play the Wii.  See?  I told you you'd say no.  Can I play the computer?  WHY NOT?  I'm sorry for all of my sins.  I love you.  Can I clean the bathroom now?  Can I use Clorox wipes?  YES!

Love,

Kaleb (age 8)

-----

Dear Momma,

I want to be just like you, now and when I grow up.  Therefore, I will sarcastically roll my eyes whenever Daddy says ANYTHING and will act annoyed when he tries to be funny.  You are a great role model.  Everything I ever wanted to know about sarcasm I learned from you.  Yes, like I've already told you a million and a half times, I will still be your friend when I am a teenager.  You're so much funnier than Daddy!

Love,

Katherine (age 9)

More boring van updates?

No.  Well, maybe one.  The rear hatch is fixed and was under the still existing Hyundai warranty!  What a relief!!  The brakes are mostly quiet, unless it rains.  I'm going to pretend that means all is well...

Kris and I are a little obsessed with keeping the new van clean.  We haven't let the kids take any food or drink in the van at all.  We're not sure how long until we break that rule, but for now, we're holding steady.  We're very hardcore right now.  We found a small piece of a leaf and a dried piece of grass and were discussing it on the way to pick up the kids.  Oh let me back up just to say that Kris is not funny as witty as I am.  That being said, when he does say something funny, it's pretty good!  So, we're discussing the kids and how careless they have been in our new van.  And we were joking around about giving the kids a hard time for getting the van dirty when Kris says "I'm going to put one of their heads right next to it and say 'Look at that!'"

My back is finally feeling better tonight.  I had acupuncture yesterday and today and finally this evening I have felt relief.  I expected to feel the same intense pain when I moved after the medicine wore off.  But it wasn't there.  There is still pain and a pull if I try to bend over, and there is still annoying pain shooting down through my right thigh and knee but overall I feel a LOT better!  I'm going back to the chiropractor tomorrow and we'll see what happens.  I'm hoping I'm over the worst of it, because I'm running out of pain pills and I don't want to have to A. Do without or B. Ask my doctor for more.

School has started!!  Two days in and overall things are going well.  The kids love their teachers.  I asked Livvy if she liked her teacher and she said yes.  Then she thought about it, and said "I don't like her mean voice!"  I asked her if the teacher used her mean voice on HER and she assured me that she was using it on someone else and not her!  Abbey likes her teacher (who just got married a couple months ago) because "Sometimes she forgets her new name!"  Of course Abbey would love that about her teacher!  Kaleb is in third grade, and Kat in fourth!  So hard to believe...where does the time go?

Van troubles...already

You hope that when you get a new vehicle, even if it is used, that it will be some time before you have to put money into it.  Right?

Yesterday while driving our beloved Hydrangea we started to hear squealing...when we tried to brake.  Great...we really want to sock hundred of dollars in to repair the brakes.  We knew that at some point we would have to replace them.  It's inevitable.  But WE JUST BOUGHT IT!  Barely 3 days ago.  And if that weren't enough, today while driving to the library, Kris said the rear hatch came up.  And now it will not latch shut!  Is this some sort of test?  Or punishment/consequence?  We do not feel as if we made an unwise decision in buying the van.  We shopped around.  We did our research.  Kris even checked out the ACV on the van to make sure we weren't getting screwed over.  In everything he could find, we were purchasing the van for LESS than what it is actually worth.  One of the reasons we decided to purchase a new one is because we didn't really want to put any more money into an old vehicle.  Putting more money up front into a newer vehicle isn't ideal.  But we can't second guess ourselves.  It is what it is.  We just have to suck it up and deal with it.  Doesn't make it NOT frustrating though!

I'm still spending most of my time in bed resting my back.  I have to go back to work tomorrow so I have to make the most of every second I have to relax.  I'm not looking forward to sitting in an uncomfortable chair for 8 hours.  I'll definitely be taking my heating pad and pain pills with me!

Only 3 hours and 12 minutes until the Next Food Network Star!  Who else is excited?  Oh, just me?  Yeah well...I've got nothing else to do...

And here she is!

It's hard to believe that Clifford the Big Red Van is finally out of my life.  With all his hatred (of me) and poor treatment, I was beyond ready to say goodbye.  Some days I never thought we'd really let him go.  Despite all the problems, he was good to us.  He lasted for several years...longer than he should have probably.  Several years ago, he was totaled when we were rear-ended.  We gave the van up to Kris' dad, who pulled the bumper out and made it drivable again.  A few months later, we reacquired Clifford and drove him several more years.  Longer than I wanted.  So, I have a hard time believing that Clifford really is out of our lives.  I keep expecting to turn around and see him following me.  I feel that I should add that while MOST vehicles are named after girls (and I am not into naming cars), Kris insisted that HIS van was going to have a masculine name.  In case you were wondering...

Before we turned Clifford over to the dealership, I made Katherine and Kaleb say goodbye, one final time:

And just WHAT did we say hello to?  Only my favorite van ever!  I should preface this by saying that about 3 years ago, my mother-in-law bought a new van.  We had always loved the Hyundai Sonata, but it just isn't practical for a family of 6.  When Hyundai designed a mini-van, my mother-in-law bought it.  We have always loved it.  So for several years we have lived vicariously through her and her blue Hyundai Entourage, even borrowing it (she's super generous!) to take the trips home to see my family, which we could not have done in our van.  After looking at several different vans, we wound up buying the first van we looked at, which happened to be a blue 2007 Hyundai Entourage.  Yes, that's right.  We bought the exact same van.  Same color, though I hold that it is just a shade darker.  And ours doesn't have a dent in the right rear corner!  This is the NEWEST vehicle we have ever had...and...IT HAS WORKING A/C!  We all love it.  It has just under 60,000 miles on it too and APPEARS to be in good condition.  When we get in it, Abbey always says "I love this van!"  She insisted that we name it.  Kat wanted to know a name for a blue flower.  I told them that I thought hydrangeas were blue.  Though only the younger girls agreed with the name, our new van will henceforth and forevermore be known as Hydrangea.  It's funny to hear Livvy and Abbey try to pronounce the word!  Anyway...here she is:

I'm only 31!

I'm too young for all this pain.  Aren't I?  Shouldn't I be able to enjoy my kids and play with them?  Instead, I will be spending the weekend in bed, allowing my back time to heal, which is going to drive me crazy because I can't stand that my work is piling up and there are things to do to finish getting ready for school to start.  The good news is that the doctor does not believe I have any herniated discs in my back, which is great since I already have two in my neck.

I LOVED my experience at Missouri Baptist.  It was by far the best ER experience I have had.  If we ever have to take Livvy back to the ER for her allergies/asthma, I would take her there.  The staff was so friendly and did their best to update us regularly on when the doctor would be in.  Normally you just sit there for hours...waiting...so while we had to wait a long time, we were constantly informed and they didn't wait until the doctor saw me to give me pain medication either.

Shortly after we got there, they took me back for X-Rays.  A little while later, they took me to a different waiting room inside the ER, where they put an I.V. in and sat me down in a recliner.  Next they came in with FOUR needles.  I'm thinking "What are they going to do to me??"  They gave me Zofran (to prevent nausea), then Toradol (anti-inflammatory), Dilaudid (hands down my favorite pain medication), and a muscle relaxer all through the I.V.  Within minutes, I was able to move and sit up without searing pain in my back and legs.  It allowed me to get through the next 4 hours of waiting for the doctor without tears.  After seeing the doctor, they gave me another dose of Toradol and Dilaudid before they released me.  This was much different than my experience at Depaul where I had to wait in excruciating pain for 4 hours, then have the doctor come in and say "What do you want me to do?" and then only reluctantly give me a shot of Toradol.  He treated me as if I were a junkie just looking for a quick fix.

They took my pain seriously and gave me something to ease it as soon as possible at Missouri Baptist.  I was impressed and should the need arise, I will go back there.  It was the first time where I really felt like they cared about the people that came in there.  That's HUGE and something you just don't see very often.  Many times it seems like the ER staff are annoyed that you are there making them do their job and they are anything but helpful.  Not so at Missouri Baptist.

Well...the meds are kicking in so I will be back later when I can keep my eyes open to tell you all about our new van!  And at some point today, I'll have to get through my Google reader...it must be done....

Time to write

I've been feeling lately as if I will never have time again to sit and write.  Something in me just doesn't feel right when I don't have time to blog.  I had intended to write this morning before going to work.  Instead, I drove (IN MY NEW VAN-post to come late!) to pick up new insurance cards and get some groceries so we are ready for school lunches next week.  I came home and decided to quickly clean out the fridge before heading to work. As I was leaning down to pick up some sour cream, I felt this horrible "twinge" in my lower back.  I'm not sure how else to describe it.  Immediately, the muscles began spasming, and haven't stopped.  Sitting is painful and any movement of my legs sends searing pain through my back.  Nice.  So, instead of going to work, I took a muscle relaxer and some ibuprofen and am laying in bed watching The Food Network.  I got up a few minutes ago.  Mistake.  All that to say...hey now I have some time to write...I just wish the circumstances were better.

For this first post to get me back into the swing of things, I thought I would share with you a conversation Katherine and I had on Google Talk (chat) the other day.  I was at work and Kris set her up to chat with me.



katherine.bishop: hi! :-)


 me: hey chica


2:45 PM katherine.bishop: madre is it?


 me: yes


2:46 PM that's a formal way of saying it "mama" with an accent on the last a is informal - madre would be Mother and mama would be more like mom or mommy


2:47 PM katherine.bishop: ok then


 me: is this still you kat?
  sounds kinda like daddy
  but daddy is busy
  so it must be you


2:51 PM katherine.bishop: oh no!!!!!i've been spending too much time with daddy!!!!!!!!!!save me!!!!!!!!!!!!!


She cracks me up!

In need...

...of a new van...

We drive a 1993 Ford Explorer and a 1998 Chevy Astro Van.  Both have been good to us, though we've put several thousand dollars into both over the years.  I've had many a ranting post about my Ugly Red Van and the fact that the A/C and heat only work when I am NOT in it!  It's pathetic and I am not really even exaggerating...much...  The van itself functions and really has treated us well...HOWEVER, the fact that the passenger side window doesn't roll down and the fact that there is only A/C up front, that only works at random intervals and doesn't really blow out at full force when it does is frustrating.  So, Kris drives the van, because it hates me and I it.   Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that there is something perpetually wrong with the brakes, even after replacing them.  They are way more "jerky" than they need to be and sometimes the van will just lurch forward, just for  the heck of it.  While it runs, if definitely has issues and it is only "comfortable" for about 3 months out of the year in the Midwest.

My Explorer has been a friend to me.  We have had it for about 3 years now and I love it.  It looks pathetic has so much charm!  I love driving it and while it is technically "illegal" (or maybe "unlawful"?), Katherine rides up front and so me and all the kids can fit in it.  Let's talk for a moment about some of its charm, shall we?  The ceiling is...well, I'm not sure WHAT it is.  It looks like someone took a knife to it and proceeded to stab it over and over again.  Like maybe the previous owner used to use the Explorer as his way of coping with stress...fight with the wife?  Go stab the roof of the car.  It's the only logical choice!  Of course, you also have to consider that if they were fighting, they may have also had to make up at some point, and so perhaps the scratches could have been caused some other way...


And then there's the door.  My driver's side door.  The handle cover broke a year or so ago.  At first, it was still attached.  I just had to be careful when I shut the door, so that it didn't come unattached.  And then one day, it just broke off completely.  Now, the easiest way to shut the door is to roll the window down and pull with all my might!  I usually just grab the inside and pull, at great risk to my own safety I might add...some of the plastic is cracked and I could totally slice my arm open.  I have this sticky residue on my hand after shutting my door because of the adhesive something or other that is worn off along some sort of cable inside the door.  I'm so technical...and I am not even going to broach the subject of the passenger side window not going down, or more often than not, not going back UP after you accidentally roll it down because you forgot it wouldn't go back up!

And last year, the A/C decided to function at half capacity.  I made it through the summer without MUCH complaining (yeah right)...and then it struck this year. Summer that is.  And my poor Explorer just can't keep up.  When it idles, it switches from A/C to heat.  OK...not quite that bad...but it's not cool air that blows out.  At. All.  And these 100+ degree days do not help!  I know I should be grateful that I am not driving my van...but well...I just want A/C that works...


But that's not why we are looking for a new van.  We recently took our Explorer in for an oil change.  By recently I mean yesterday.  I'm not sure why I phrased it the way I did initially and instead of changing it, you are getting the thoughts straight from my crazy head.  Our mechanic (who is very trustworthy) told us that there are three problems with the brakes, an issue with the exhaust, and one of the tires needs to be replaced immediately.  Oh and he didn't tell us this, but my car dies frequently right after I start it.  Even after revving the engine...it's quite embarrassing.  In addition to the other problems with it, the mechanic told us that now may be a good time to consider NOT putting any more money into.  So...when your mechanic who wants your money tells you to consider NOT wasting any more money on it, you wonder one of two things.  #1.  Is he just a really great guy who has his customers' best interest at heart OR #2.  Is he starting to feel guilty about all the thousands of dollars we have already given him?  I'll choose option #1 please!

So here we are...not knowing where to go. We already had no clue where to come up with the extra $300/month we would need to cover the raise in tuition at Grace.  God provided the exact amount we needed there, so I have no doubts he will do it again.  Kris even met with a loan officer today to see if we could make it work.  The good news is that it will only cost us about $200 extra/month.  The bad news is that we don't have an extra $200/month!!  We kept talking about giving up our Y membership to try to make up the tuition money but it turned out that we didn't have to.  So we committed to going back to the Y next week after school starts.  NOW...we WILL give it up to make a van payment and we are almost halfway to our needed additional income.  If we shave off $50/paycheck from our grocery money (which I hate but am willing to make work), there is another $100/month.  So we'll still have to try to figure out where the rest will come from but we are hoping to go this week to test drive some used vans and maybe come home with a new-to-us one by the weekend.  If we don't, we'll probably have to sock another $200 into the Explorer just to make it safe to drive.  HOPEFULLY it will run without blowing out the tire until we can replace it.

Oh I didn't mention that we are going to attempt to become a one vehicle household again.  We're hoping to trade in BOTH of our vehicles and maybe get about $500 for the trade-in.  I'd love for $1000, but seeing as how our van is a previous total loss (oh did I not mention that?), and my car is so old with so many problems, I don't think we will get much.  BUT...God does amazing things sometimes and you never know...so there will be more to come on that as it develops!

Breaking...

I've been such a slacker lately with blogging.  It isn't for a lack of wanting to write....it's time.  I'm telling myself that it is because the summer is winding down and our schedules are chaotic.  The reality is that I've been having a great time with my second love: bridge. My first love being blogging Kris of course!  Don't worry, I'm not going to go into a really long, boring post all about bridge all over again.  And really...that's impossible, because bridge is ANYTHING BUT BORING!!!  I say that anyone who gives me a hard time about it is just too scared to learn!  Chickens...

This is our last week of crazy with work.  Kris and I were able to find a sitter (THANKS JENNIFER!) for today so we could both be in the office.  We are training a new employee.  By WE I mean that Kris got her computer set up and I pretty much did everything else.  I'm spending the week training her, so tomorrow and Wednesday Kris is going to TRY to work from home with all four kids, so that I can be in the office.  Better him than me I say!  Thursday and Friday I will stay home with the kids in the morning, then meet Kris at work at noon and switch places.  And then?  I'm getting a massage on Saturday!

AND...SCHOOL STARTS ON MONDAY!!!!

It's been great having the kids home.  The normal stress is actually somewhat comforting.  I was looking at them tonight, doing their usual "eat pizza and watch a show while mom and dad ignore you and play bridge instead of watching your stupid cartoon".  And I started thinking about how comforted I was to have them home finally.  I don't feel as empty when they are here.  Funny how they can totally stress you out and drive you crazy, but then when they aren't there, your life just doesn't feel full.  I love my kids!

Photo Scavenger Hunt

I'm not sure how many of you remember my anger and bitterness over the fact that my team "Pink Lightning" lost our first ever Bishop family scavenger hunt back in March.  You can read more about that here.  I explained how we found out about a photo scavenger hunt and how our first one went.  I thought I would just direct you to that, instead of forcing you to sit through an almost identical post!  I posted about today's adventure on Facebook and some of my friends were asking for details so I thought I would go ahead and share that here.  I will say that the first scavenger hunt was such a big hit with all of us that we have been eager for spring break next year just so that we can have another one!

Today, when faced with the chance to go to the Morgan County Fair (and subsequent thoughts of the crowds and cost), we decided quite spontaneously to take the kids to Nashville, IN for another hunt.  My nieces Kayla and Jacey have been enjoying time with their cousins and so we decided we would introduce them to this wonderful experience too.  We piled in the van and off we went, armed with a new list and two digital cameras.  We divided into teams before we left.  The kids have basically split into two groups (by age) and so we decided it would be best to stick with those.  I had Kayla, Katherine and Kaleb on my team and Kris took Jacey, Livvy and Abbey.  He definitely had the harder job, trying to trudge through crowds and little shops with a 4, 6 and 7 year old!  My team came up with the name "The Four Musketeers" while the younger ones chose "Basket Flowers" due to a love for basketball and flowers.  Here are the teams:

The Four Musketeers

Basket Flowers

Before I explain what we did, I'll just say that we had SO MUCH FUN!  What great memories for all of us!  I'm so glad that we got to include Kayla and Jacey in it too.  I highly recommend this to anyone who is looking for an activity to do with the family.  It inspires creativity and helps your kids work as a team.  You don't have to split into teams though--especially if you only have one or two kids.

Some of you may remember voting on our pictures.  My husband developed the Facebook Scavenger Hunt app and did a great job if I might add!  It's simple, but was very helpful.  We posted our pictures, along with a caption for each one, and people voted on which picture best represented the item we were tasked with finding.  The best representation.  And we had a LOT of people vote.  Hopefully we'll have even more this time around.  The pictures and their respective captions will be posted side by side, and you will click which one you think is best.  Then you will move on to the next pair of pictures.  We enlisted our friends and family on Facebook to vote and ended up with almost 2000 VOTES in March!!  We will be doing that again, so stay tuned for your opportunity to take part in judging today's scavenger hunt photos.  We were only going to have 15 items this time around (as opposed to 25), but Katherine talked me into 5 more.  So we wound up with 20 pictures each (team, not individual!) and all in all, it was just a great day.

If you would like to do this with you own family, it is really simple and quite cheap, if you have a digital camera.  If you don't have a digital camera, you can just do a regular hunt, without pictures.  You just need a list (which you can find online, or you can use my suggestions below or make up your own) and a place to hunt.  My kids aren't shy at all either about going up to complete strangers and asking to take their picture and people have always just been such good sports and willing to play along.  I cannot emphasize enough how firmly I believe that everyone with kids should do this!

The first list you will see is what we hunted for today.  The second list is what we used back in March.  I'll let you know when voting for today's scavenger hunt will begin.  Keep in mind that some of the items in the list are open to interpretation.  For instance, "blade".  It could be a blade of grass, the blade from a fan or a knife.  Each team chooses what they think is the most creative picture of a "blade" and then our voters decide which team had the best picture/idea.  Also, I'd just like to throw this out there-IF you do this and want to use the Facebook app to have your friends and family vote, my husband can make it available to you for your own use!  How cool is that?!?

List #1

1.  Flowers
2.  Bird
3.  A large family (cannot be related to you)
4.  A long beard
5.  Something cute
6.  A guy with black hair
7.  Unique book title
8.  Something scary
9.  Something funny
10.  Cross
11.  Blade
12.  Something unusual
13.  Orange car
14.  Funny sign
15.  Ring
16.  Something yellow
17.  A Christian shirt
18.  Small house
19.  Something old
20.  Something new

List #2

1.  Something that represents your team name
2.  "Bishop" - obviously you don't have to use this-we chose this due to our name
3.  Coin older than 1980
4.  A blade
5.  A horse
6.  Someone with a long beard/mustache
7.  Tall building
8.  Y-shaped twig
9.  Piece of jewelry
10.  Animal
11.  Flag
12.  A feather
13.  Moss
14.  Water running in a creek/river (we knew we'd be near water)
15.  Unusual shaped leaf
16.  Something soft
17.  Something white
18.  Old Shoe
19.  Something that floats
20.  Something funny
21.  Something unusual
22.  Something more than 200 years old
23.  Glasses
24.  Hotel
25.  Noise maker

Thrift stores

Like any mom without unlimited amounts of money to spend on my children, I love a good thrift store.  You can find so many great treasures there.  It's like a garage sale, only air-conditioned!  And more organized.  OK, OK maybe SOME of you have very organized garage sales.  I was not trying to step on any toes.  All I'm trying to say is that I LOVE the thrift store.  Not for my own clothes mind you.  If I were skinny and young, I'm sure I could find wonderful clothes that would look great on me.  Maybe someone should open up a thrift store that specializes in larger women.  Maybe then I could find clothes that didn't look like curtains...someone get on that!  But I love stocking up on summer clothes or finding uniform clothes for my kids at the thrift store.  Just last week, I had to hunt for tennis shoes for the kids.  They have their new school shoes, but I didn't want to send them to my parents with the new shoes and everyone has outgrown or worn out their shoes to the point of needing an alternative.  I found all four kids tennis shoes (AND two outfits each) and only spent $25.

Today I discovered a new kind of thrift store.  One that I would be embarrassed to tell you about, if I actually found it impressive or "cool".  The store I am going to introduce you to today though is called Laclede Computer Trading Company.  On the outside, it looks like any other store in a strip mall.  And just so we have the comparison, most thrift stores that I know of are all in similar strip malls.

As soon as we walked in, I took one look around and promptly announced to Kris "It's like a thrift store for geeks!"  Don't believe me?  Check it out:

NEEDLESS TO SAY SOMEONE (DEFINITELY NOT ME!) SAID "I LOVE THIS STORE!"  Boys and their toys...

Hope you're all having a great Friday!  I'm off to Indiana soon to pick up my kids.  They have spent the last 10 days with my parents and I have missed them.  I cannot wait to see them and hear their voices again.  I'm sure by tomorrow morning I'll be back to the usual "My kids are driving me insane!" posts!

It's a conspiracy!

I think that the schools and the major store chains are conspiring against parents everywhere.

Tonight I went shopping for school supplies.  At Target.  I couldn't find graph paper anywhere.  I couldn't find a marble composition notebook.  I couldn't find a GOOD boy's lunch box.  They had these super cute ones for girls and then just plain ugly ones, or Thomas the Tank Engine for boys.  Well, that's fine, except my son isn't quite 20 yet and he's not 4 anymore.  So...those are out.

And what's more?  The school itself is trying to pull the wool over my eyes.  Packages of 200 sheets of paper?  Like I'm so stupid that I don't realize they KNOW that Target only sells packages of 150???  You can't trick me.  I'm not giving you an extra 50 sheets of paper!!  OK...really, I probably will give them the extra paper, but what is up with that?  It's almost as if they went to the stores, found out how many sheets of paper were in the package, and then upped it, just a little.

Needless to say, I did not finish all of the shopping that I needed to do.  I think that the stores come to some sort of a truce when it's back-to-school time.  I think Target carries 1/4 of the supplies, Kmart another 1/4, Walgreens another 1/4, and some other store I'll never get to has the rest.  And I'm the kind of person who only likes to go to one place.  I hate going to more than 1-2 stores at one time.  Especially when it is 175 degrees outside.  I'm a big girl.  And I'm lazy.  And I think I just might be onto something here...

Too busy for bridge

You would think that with the kids being gone and Kris and I working a normal schedule that I would have all kinds of free time to write.  Sadly, this has not been the case.  I'm having to sneak in some writing time over a lunch break just to write this.  But what I have to say is too important NOT to write.

There is a problem sweeping through our generation, through the world, right now.  There are a growing number of children who are growing up without the essentials.  Food, shelter, clothing.  And an understanding of the most beloved card game: BRIDGE.

Yes.  Bridge.  It's a travesty that so many young people these days have never even heard of Bridge, let alone are not being taught how to play.  I believe that it is ESSENTIAL in life.  Now, I didn't always feel this way.  Like you, six years ago, I thought "Isn't that for old people?"  I mean, who HASN'T written a blog post making fun of old people who play bridge?  

I'm here to put an end to this epidemic in our country.  It is a crime to go through life, unable to define such terms as "Jacoby transfer", "Blackwood", and "Gerber".  I know you're skeptical.  I know you're thinking "Who IS this crazy person who won't shut up about bridge?"  You may even move me from "Blogs I love to read" in your precious Google Reader to "Blogs I read because I'm afraid the author will hunt me down and kill me if I don't".  What?  You don't have that one in your reader?  I suggest you add it.  Right away.  I'm watching you.

This really struck me the other night.  I have constantly been teased and harassed because I not only KNOW how to play bridge, but I enjoy it.  Let me correct that.  I don't just ENJOY bridge.  I LOVE it.  Sometimes it consumes me.  I want to be a better player.  I want to learn new conventions and rules that will enhance my ability to master the game.  I want those dearly sought after Master Points.  And, I want everyone around me to understand what a great game bridge is.  You really just don't understand it until you have played it.  It combines so many great card games, to become a game that stands above all the rest.  It takes time and practice, but before long, you find yourself hooked.  I know that this isn't the first time that I have gushed on and on about bridge.  And I'm sure it will not be the last.

Kris and I were driving to our friends' house Friday night.  We were headed to play bridge and instead of talking about our day, or our work, we began a discussion about how to play a hand of bridge.  Instead of the usual conversations people have, Kris and I talked about different bids or conventions or rules and what they mean.  We analyzed hands and discuss how we could have played a hand better.  Yes I know...we have issues!  We even managed to squeeze bridge in Friday night, Saturday night, Sunday night AND Monday night.  That is why I haven't been writing.  I've been too busy honing my skills, and taking advantage of the time we have had to play without the kids.  I've had a blast too!  In fact, I think I may go through a bit of withdrawal tonight since we aren't playing.  But hopefully we can squeeze in one more night of bridge tomorrow before we return to life with 4 crazy kids!

So, if you are in the St. Louis area, my husband and I would love to teach you and your spouse or friend or whomever you'd like to bring along to play bridge.  We need more people to fall in love with this game so that when we grow old, we have someone to play with.