Back on Schedule

The past few weeks here have been torture with all the sickness going on! About 10 days ago, Alex got to not feeling to well- he started with a stuffed nose and dry throat and it moved on to a runny nose, fever, major deep cough and a hard time of breathing- three antibiotics and an inhaler later- not to mention the past 7 days off from school- and I think he's finally on the mend though! He could have went to school today, but I kept him home one more day just to be sure. He still has a cough, although not as bad as what it was, and I'm told that can last a long time still. He's down to using the inhaler only a couple of times a day and this last antibiotic seems to have done the job! So back to school tomorrow for him and hopefully all will go well!

On another note, Meg decided a few days ago she was going to get the flu out of the blue- we really don't know why- she hadn't really been around anyone to get it even- but she had a really rough 24 hours or so- went to the doctor's and got medicine and rebounded pretty fast, only to develop a cough and temp! Nothing to serious though and hopefully she will be completely better by next week when her college classes start back up!

Speaking of college - she starts Monday and work starts that week as well- she is looking forward to going back for the most part, but will be much happier if she can get into this one art class she needs to take before she can take any other studio art classes. She is currently wait listed for the class, but has talked to the professor and she has told Megan to come to class the first day- so hopefully that is a good sign that she will be able to get into it.

My classes have started this week - thankfully it's just a preview week though and they actually don't start until next Monday because the books I ordered on the 10th still haven't gotten here! I called about them Tuesday morning and they were going to ship them out, so I'm hoping UPS is going to show up with them yet today!

So, hopefully the sickness is gone from the house and everyone will be back on a schedule within the next week!

Dad's New Blog

For those of you who might have noticed- my father's blog is gone that he has been writing on the past few years. However, he has a new blog and the link to the new one is on the right hand side of this page.

Time to Wrap up the Year

Keeda being innocent under the tree!

She is now almost 8 months old and we've had her nearly 6 months!

As this blog sits here waiting for me each day, life seems to be passing by before I get a chance to update this as often as I would like to - so I thought I'd do another recap of what's been going on the past few months and sign out for another year!

Megan has made it through her first semester of college at St. Lawrence University. I believe it was a wake up call for her in the fact it wasn't everything she had been dreaming it would be- she didn't like the dorm life at all and was very thankful for living just 15 or so minutes away from home so she had to spend very little time in the dorm sleeping and while she had some challenges with her classes not being what she wanted, she made it through those as well and got a lot of requirements out of the way for graduation- paving the way to a happier future there (hopefully)! Just waiting on her final grades to be released in January and enjoying her break- she doesn't return to studies until near the end of January.

Alex is doing much better in school this year and although we have our challenging days it's better than it was last year. My goal is to still get him through this year ( 10th grade ) and then into BOCES where I think he will be much happier for half of the day. His grades are better, he's doing his homework and at least trying this year, so I can't complain to much about that. A few weeks ago he started playing indoor soccer at the Boys & Girls club again- he used to play sports there all the time, but had given it up- I'm glad to see him out and about doing something again! He also still enjoys playing Dart Baseball on Friday nights with his great-uncle and cousins team. He is on vacation until January 3rd and glad of it! He technically has school today and tomorrow but I told him he could take the two days off- it's hard enough to get him to go on regular days, let alone when they are watching movies and having xbox tournaments and such in school- I mean seriously- why bother having school- oh, I know why- that little thing called State Aid the school needs!

As for myself, I have also finished up another semester of college- I won't have a 4.0 average like last time, but still did well considering everything. I know I will get an A in English Lit 102- I have a B+ in Accounting ( not bad considering I honestly learned nothing in that class! ), and B+'s or A's in my business classes- final grades haven't come out for those yet and still missing to many assignment grades to know for sure yet. Over all, I'm just glad to have this semester done with- hopefully Meg will be more settled with school in the Spring, therefore allowing me to be more settled as well with my own studies. I am enjoying the classes though and it keeps the mind working and that is a good thing.

On Thursday the 9th, I started having terrible ear pain in my left ear. Now mind you I have chronic ENT problems, so I really didn't think much of it. I started taking my Cipro that I have several refills on and figured it would go away. However, by early Sunday evening, I was in such pain I could no longer take it anymore- the pain was not only in my ear, but the back of my head and the bone area around my skull- truly one of the most painful things I've experienced- I went to the ER room and they guessed I had a middle ear infection although they couldn't see anything. They gave me drops to instill in my ear for the pain, a percoset for the pain ( which did nothing ) and told me to switch to the Amoxicillian that I had and to follow up with the ENT if it didn't improve in a few days. All sounded well, although I was still in a lot of pain, I continued to just figure it would get better- after all I've been going through this for at least the past 16 years. Tuesday morning, I woke up at 6:15 to get Alex up for school- had a bowl of cereal and was able to eat just fine- an hour later, I went to brush my teeth and when I went to spit, I couldn't spit- it just went everyplace and I felt like my mouth was frozen on the left side like I'd been to the dentist and had it numbed. After getting the toothpaste out of my mouth, I made some facial expressions in the mirror that completely alarmed me and made me think I was having a stroke- it really was what it looked like. I started going through my "ABC's" and "123's", names of family, etc. and the "brain" seemed to be functioning fine- so I was just unsure what was going on. I went ahead and showered and got dressed, and then woke up Ben and told him I thought I'd had a small stroke or was having a bad reaction to the medicine I had been given. We went to the ER and after doing a CT scan, they determined I did not have a stroke and everything looked great on the CT scan. Apparently the inflammation in my cheek and around my ear had gotten so bad that it was pinching on the facial nerves and muscles causing Bell's Palsy to happen- this was very frightening, but looking back at it and I've said it daily since- it could have been a LOT worse even for Bell's Palsy. Most people who develop Bell's don't have any control of their nerves/muscles and it looks just like they have had a stroke- some - most are not even able to close their eye, blink or anything else. I was mostly affected around the mouth area- I'm assuming because it was brought on my the otic nerves / ear problems. I was given Predisone to reduce the inflammation and told to follow up with the ENT. I spent the next couple of days researching everything I could about my new condition and each time I read about it and saw photos, continued to say this is bad, but I could have it a lot worse- thankfully I don't- even if it never improved, It wasn't very disfiguring or confining and I could live with it certainly. Thursday the 16th I went to see my ENT and he put me on Valtrex as well as the prednisone. Valtex is an Anti-Viral medication used to treat viral infections- which they think I have, which caused the inflammation to flair up, etc. - since starting to take that, I have terrible hot flashes/fevers, but I'm going to assume it's working in fighting the infection. The Bell's continues to improve a little each day- as silly as it sounds, I have much more control over "spitting" than I did that first day and while It's not 100%, I'm still seeing improvements each day, so I'm still hopeful for a full recovery. My smile is almost back to normal, I have pretty much the full tastes of foods back and no more pain on the left side at all. Now, I've developed pressure/fluid build up in my right ear though and it hurts to move my jaw - and waiting to talk with the ENT after he is out of surgery to see what to do about that. My right ear has been very sensitive since all of this has happened- noises seem ten times louder to me in the right ear and there has been a lot of popping- it may just be the imbalance between the ears causing the pain- but I'm not going to take a chance and let it go! I don't want Bell's happening on the right side!

With all of this going on, it's hard to believe Christmas is in just a few more days- I've been enjoying the decorations of the season for the past month and will be sad to see them packed away for another year! Christmas day itself is not celebrated out of religious views for my family and I- but it's a time of celebration and giving to those you love- a day set aside to let people know you care- but I have to admit, it was a lot more fun when the kids were little and believed in Santa and Rudolph and we would track the slay and such- although I enjoy the seasonal decorations- December 25th is just another day to me anymore- then again, the older I get, most holidays are like that- I suppose they will be until I have some grandkids to share them with and witness the innocent magic of the holidays with!

I'm thankful for all of my family each and everyday and I believe they know that and that is the most important thing. To everyone in the blogging world- I wish you health and happiness and hope you have a wonderful 2011!!

Cutting Board For Grandma

In school this year, Alex is taking a woodworking class- it's one of the classes he enjoys a lot. His first project of the year was to make a cutting board as seen in this photo:

The board is made of several pieces of wood that are glued together - I don't know exactly everything he did, but it started out as just raw pieces of wood and he had to cut, sand, plain, shape stain, etc. - I do know he got to use several tools and enjoyed the project a lot. He was pretty proud of his work on this and he should be as it turned out terrific!

The cutting board he gave to his grandma Lawton as a gift!

Yesterday Ben and I went for a drive to view the beauty of the season- it was a mostly sunny day and we had a terrific drive up through Colton, Tupper Lake, Saranac Lake, St. Regis Falls and then back home again.

St. Regis Falls has terrific memories for me as we did a lot of camping there when I was growing up and made a lot of good memories with great friends. One of my favorite sounds in the entire world is to listen to the falls. I remember growing up, laying in the top bunk of the camper going to sleep and just listening to them and enjoying the sound- when we'd leave- I'd truely miss them - today sitting beside them brought back all of those memories. I could have stayed there for hours just listening and looking at the falls. Now, 25 years later, my father takes my son there fishing- hopefully one day, my son will take his kids there as well.

I have to admit though, the campground certainly has changed since we used to go there in a lot of ways- a new bridge has been installed across the water and there seems to be a lot of seasonal campers set up there- as there were satelites attached to trees to receive cable service and the campers had mini decks with lawn furniture on them and lots of yard decorations- certainly not what we saw when camping there lol -

Here are a few photos that we took while at the campground and in the village of St. Regis -

Here are a few taken along the route in Colton NY :

And a Few in Tupper Lake NY- we had fun feeding the 4 mallards and even the seagulls -

Catching up on life!

Wow-- this summer is really cruising by- I never meant to go this long without updating this blog, but somehow, I find it easier to send a quick message every so often on Facebook than to sit and write about things!

Since Megan graduated the end of June, she has been enjoying her summer with her friends and busily getting ready for college. I can't believe it's just a few short weeks now and she will over to SLU in the dorm room and not at home all the time anymore! We are really excited for her though and looking forward to this next chapter in her life!

Speaking of chapter's in her life- Meg is now an AVON representative- http://mroyce.avonrepresentative.com/  - that is her AVON website- you can order right offline from her and orders of $30 or more gets FREE Shipping!  She thought this would be a fun new way to meet people over at college and I agree. It' only cost her $20 to join and will be a good source of some extra income hopefully too!

On top of that, she also got a job working in the Government section of the ODY library on campus - she starts work Monday for some paid training and works everyday except for Tuesday- then I don't think she knows anything after that yet.

SO-- lots of things happening with Meg!

Here are a few photos of her summer!

 

and a few of the artwork pieces she's drawn this summer:

Alex has been enjoying his summer as well - it was a BIG relief that he ended up passing every one of his classes at school and he will be entering into the 10th grade the beginning of September. I think ( I hope ) he's learned his lesson in the fact that he needs to do homework next year!

For a few years, Alex has been wanting and wanting a puppy - but I kept saying NO because he never wants to do anything except what he wants when he wants- which doesn't work well with a puppy- well, I was so happy he passed all his classes, I have into him and we drove to Booneville back on July 2nd and picked up a 8 week old Beagle puppy we've named Keeda. She is ADORABLE- and I have to say I've fallen in love with her just as much as everyone else- she's sweet and for the most part a really good puppy- she of course likes to chew, but if she has toys out or a rawhide bone - she's pretty good about not messing with anything else. She loves to play, and is pretty much potty trained- she hasn't had an accident in the house in days now, but you have to be attentive to her and take her out all the time- she occasionally goes to the door and sits to go out, but not often. She whines still when things don't go her way- and only barks at the cats when they won't play with her- then she looks around and wonders where the barking noise is coming from-- it's very cute! Alex is just in love with her and is taking good care of her and being attentive to taking her out- even at 2 in the morning! Here are some photos:

I love this above photo - we put a gate in the hallway to keep her from going places we don't want her too and she doesn't think this is fair at all! LOL

and this is a pic of her today ( the others were right after we got her at 8 weeks old) - she is 12 weeks here- she's about 9 pounds and growing- but not to fast and hopefully she won't get to big either- I'd rather she stay as small as possible!

Next are a couple of photos with Alex holding a baby for the first time- he even asked to hold her- he wasn't prompted at all- he was so cute with her-- the baby is my husband's niece's daughter Lillian born early June.

 

We've just been enjoying the summer- it's been a really hot one as some of you know, so haven't been out as much as I'd have liked to have been. My father and I made a couple of trips to the Watertown area doing genealogy research, but not as many as I'd hoped for- it's just been to hot to be outside walking much. Hopefully we will get in a few more trips before the weather turns cold though.

This time of year is my favorite time- from now until the end of October- there is a cooler, crispness to the air at night ( it's only 59 degrees right now) and I have the windows open- during the day, it just is beautiful weather- just needs to get a little cooler. I love the change of the leaves and noticed yesterday on the way home from shopping with mom that some of the trees in a field of Burt Carr's were already turning colors- to which I was surprised at!

Megan has graduated!

 

 

I still don't really have words for the graduation experience at this point- other than to say it was wonderful - but will share some photos of her for now --