A cold, cold night!

Oh, my goodness IT'S COLD!!! I'm sitting here at midnight surfing the web and checking my email and why not? Let's blog :) I am hoping I have more time now to blog more often. Things are settling down a little at work which is nice. Ashlie finished the outpatient alcohol treatment and now has 4-6 months of Aftercare. I'm really quite proud of her! She learned a lot about addiction and herself :) Tia and Macy are doing alright these days. Grades have slipped at mid-term I think because there has been SO much attention on Ashlie lately. BUT they are both determined to do great things by the time the quarter is done. Poor Jamey and I, all we do is work, work, and sometimes sleep! He's actually got a nasty cough/cold right now. I spent the day making cookies and fudge and cleaning house. Tomorrow is peanut brittle, more cookies, and some rice krispy treats! And, my mom's birthday party. She's going to find out that all of us kids and a few others have pitched in to give her a trolley ride next weekend to look at Christmas lights. It's the same day as the annual gingerbread building at my house! This season is just so FULL!!! I love Christmas!

Rockefeller Center Tree

I almost forgot! My mom got an article in the mail from her brother in New Jersey. It's about the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center this year. It just happens to be from the yard of a dear family friend! I remember visiting the Varanyak family many years ago. Mary was practically family all of my mother's life and was a very interesting lady. VERY interesting! We loved hearing about her outdoor plumbing and the stump she had out back for slaughtering chickens. Her twin sons allowed the tree to be cut down for Rockefeller Center because Mary had always said the tree would end up in New York City. It started it's life with the Varanyak's as a potted Christmas tree and Mary planted it in the yard over 70 years ago. The twins are 74 and I believe the tree is 80. Mary died about 10 years ago but one of her sons says there has a been a bluebird hanging around and landing on top of the tree for some time now. He believes it's his mother and I think I believe him :)

My month

Oh my goodness, been almost a month since I blogged. Too darn tired these days. My daughter started alcohol treatment a few weeks ago, just 2 days before I had to go to California for training on a new CT machine. THAT has been very difficult for me. I feel like I might have failed her somehow. I know I haven't, but it's tough to see. So, I go to California for a week and learn a lot of really great stuff and I met some neat people too! One of the guys in my class, Steve, works for BIDMC in Boston and I just HAPPEN to follow the CEO's blog! Creepy, huh? Steve was one of my favorite people out there. Very intelligent and quite funny! We had dinner over beers at the sports bar most nights and it was just nice to have someone to chat with. There was a guy one night with a shirt on that said THE GREEN MONSTAH and we just knew he had to have been to Boston. It was cool :) So, I get home on Friday night from Califonia and my husband leaves on Sunday afternoon for Denver. Another week without eachother! That week I worked 8's for apps training and actually worked closer to 10 or 11 hours each day. My hubby got back that Friday and I spent the weekend on call. I had to work Saturday night and finally had Sunday off. I worked my ass off again this week in apps and got the entire weekend off! YAY ME!!! Now, I just gotta get my daughter's senior pics ordered, grad announcements ordered, cap n gown ordered... Oh, and I have two other kids to worry about! Sheesh! We found out this last week that our daughter (who is 17) has a 23 year old boyfriend... I'm not gonna ask what more I can take, but really???

Mom of the Year

So, I get to be Mom of the Year and there's nothing any of you can do about it! For anyone who doesn't know, AJ got 2 Minor In Possession tickets within 26 days. One time, her dad took her down in handcuffs, the next time, I'M the one that turned her in at school. I really feel like we are doing the right thing to help her but THIS SUCKS! I had her do a chemical dependency eval and we got the results today. She definately has a problem and I signed her up for treatment. They actually wanted to put her into Inpatient Treatment, but since we are so involved, they agreed to Outpatient Treatment. She spends half her day in school then goes to treatment for the rest of her day. At least 5-7 weeks of it. She is NOT happy but willing to listen and be open to it. I think I'm dealing pretty well but it's all just happening around me at this point. I hope she gets that we are all doing this to save her and not just to be assholes. Anyhow, great thing is I leave for California in 4 days and will miss a whole week of her treatment, Sissy's parent/teacher conference, Bing's 1st basketball game and first band concert. So, bitches, I get the award :)

Montana Winter

I am absolutely THRILLED with the snowfall we got this weekend! Just in my yard we got damn near 18 inches. I miss this kind of storm. We used to get snow like this all the time when I was a kid, but they say it's been almost 15 years since a doozy like this. This weather is what gave Montana it's reputation as a snow-covered state back in the day. I LOVE IT!!! Funny thing is, it can go from 32 degrees to 70 within a day around here. We really have a motto in Montana... Don't like the weather? Wait 20 minutes. :) The only thing I am not loving about this weather is how many branches we lost. This snow is soooooo heavy and there are still a ton of leaves on the trees... CRASH!!! It's gonna suck to clean all this up, but one really good thing came from the snow today. I got a new snow-blower! I am the one in my family that takes care of the yard and I am so psyched that I got this new toy! It's huge and BADASS! But, it didn't like the slush that's buried under all this snow. Oh, well! Still had a blast with it! By next weekend, everything will be green and ready for another snowfall. But, I have a feeling that I won't be using my new toy until much later this season. Bummer...

A few minutes to myself

Well, I SHOULD be in California right now studying my ass off, but they cancelled the trip. I didn't get to go see WICKED but I got a really cool WICKED tote from Barnes & Noble the other night:) My hubby got it for me on our 15th anniversary. Yeah, 15 years! WOW! Pretty impressive for "kids our age" I keep hearing. What I'm having trouble accepting is that my daughter is graduating this year!!! Seems like it's true what people say... Feels like I dropped her off at Kindergarten and I'm just now picking her up as a Senior. What will I ever do if this kid leaves me and lives the rest of her life? I will be so proud! She is having a rough start to her senior year, but hopefully she's over most of the being so ornery. I got her senior pics just yesterday on disc and I LOVE THEM! She is just so beautiful! She convinced me to get a picture with her even though I had no makeup on and my hair wasn't fixed. It was clean, but just tucked behind the ears lookin' like a mullet!!! Geez! Oh well, I guess :) Well, off to learn a new recipe for my vegetarian 12 year old!

Damn Healthcare B.S.

You know, I hate the bull***t involved with healthcare! My hospital bought two new CT machines last year. One is a 64-slice, one is a 320-slice. Our 320 would be number 7 in the WORLD! Big time advanced technology. At the last minute, and I mean LAST, the Sisters of Charity decide maybe we shouldn't have it. Maybe our hospital won't use it enough to justify having it. ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? We are THE medical hub in Montana and basically Wyoming also. Whatever. They couldn't decide this like a month or TEN ago? Gotta wait til we have the damn thing here in town ready to install? SO now I don't go to California for a week of training, which is fine, I will go some other time. But, my sister just booked a flight to meet me there for the weekend. Her flight plans have to change. I get that that's the risk you take mixing business with pleasure, but I think the whole thing is a bunch of crap. IF they decide we get the machine, we can't have it installed until God-knows-when. In the meantime, I am (supposedly) going to go to Vitrea Vital Images training in Minneapolis. Yeah, I will believe that when I land...

By the way, yes... I am bitter :)