Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!

I had bought Tim some tickets to the Vikings/Dolphins game for his birthday, so we headed up to Minneapolis yesterday. In hindsight, I wished I had made hotel reservations for Saturday night, but didn't realize at the time I bought them that there would be a Vikings, Twins and Gophers game all in the same weekend. So no go on the hotel room by the time I decided to try and reserve one.

We got up to Minneapolis and went to the 28th Avenue park and ride station by Mall of America, as we decided to ride the light rail. Despite it being a little crowded (standing room only) it was fun and beat the traffic, price of parking downtown and the argument that probably would have ensued if we had tried to find a lot. Got to the Metrodome around 10:00 or 10:30 am and walked around the fan zone, which was already very crowded, but interesting.

At around 11:00 am we get a little hungry so we go to the food booths and get a couple of bacon cheeseburgers. Its at that time that we realize that we had brought all of Tim's diabetes testing equipment, but not his actual insulin. Yikes. So we proceed to try and find the nearest first aid station or medic to see if they could be of any help. They weren't (basically told us we were on our own), so we decide to wing it, find our seats and watch the game, but keep an eye on his blood sugars.

At halftime, Tim's blood sugars had kept rising, so much so that they weren't reading on his meter anymore. So we tried to walk around the stadium, which didn't go well as everyone was out and about and it was very crowded, so we decided to just come back home. So we left during the 3rd quarter and came back home. All in all, it was a fun event, just cut short a little.

I will try and post more pictures later, as Blogger isn't being cooperative in this manner right now.

Gourley Reunion - August 2010

This past weekend, we had one of the Gourley reunions here in Clear Lake. We had a great surprise too, because Tim's brother Jeff and his wife, Jennifer came up from Austin, TX to join us for it, which we weren't expecting. They made it into town on Thursday evening and we had a chance to catch up and chat for a while, just family.

On Friday, the Gourley gals and family started coming into town. All were staying at the Best Western Holiday Lodge here in Clear Lake. We headed over there on Friday afternoon and caught up with some of the family. We then caravaned out to Dick and Genie Johnson's house in Tanglefoot on the lake. They had a GREAT spread of food and we all enjoyed each other's company that evening.

Saturday morning, the guys all headed to the lake for a boat ride and then The Other Place for lunch, while the gals went to the Rose Cottage Tea Room. The gals then went to Mason City to the Frank Lloyd Wright house and did some other shopping, before our big cookout. I was able to keep my surprise a secret and pulled off Tim's surprise 50th birthday, with 50 decorated cupcakes in the shape of 50. He was completely surprised and vowed to get me back..ha ha.

I think I counted over 50 members of the family in the Gourley portrait (thanks to Jeff for his photography all weekend) and that wasn't counting everyone that was there. The evening, I think, was a great hit and fun was had by all, especially Tori's boys who discovered the fireworks in our garage.

Sunday morning, everyone headed to Phyllis's house for coffee, rolls and doughnuts before heading back home. It was a terrific weekend and I was sorry that not everyone could make it, but those who did I think had a great time.

Updates to the blog

Since my last post, there have been quite a few changes in the Entner Family. We have now added one wonderful daughter in law, Jessica, to the family. Alexis isn't living at home anymore, but in Ames, which means that now all the kids live in Ames, IA. And we've added to our furry family, with the addition of Bella Mocha on June 15, 2010. She's a rambunctious, friendly and loving puppy (who also just happens to be the niece of our other cocker spaniel, Raven).

Our summer has gone by quick but we've been busy with lots of activities. Upcoming next week is RAGBRAI, which is a huge bike ride through the state of Iowa. This year, they are making a stop in our town next Tuesday, which coincidentally is Tim's birthday. So we'll see what kinds of activities and entertainment we'll get to enjoy then.

We have been getting more and more involved in playing golf and now I'm determined to be a decent player at this game. I've now got my own clubs and yesterday, had my 2nd lesson, which I think went pretty well. I've gotten a good handle on some of the things I'm doing wrong and can work on to improve my game. Now I just need to remember them when I'm playing, ha ha!

Haven't been updating in a while

so I guess I'll give you a Reader's Digest version of what's been going on. The family is good, we had a great holiday, despite Tim's illness through the Christmas holiday. Mike and Jess and the rest of the family were here for the Christmas weekend and I ended up going to Minneapolis without Tim or Alexis. He was sick; she ended up getting a new job about a week before Christmas and had to work that weekend. It was a nice time and Jess and I were able to get some girl time in; shopping and having some interrupted conversation. Good stuff.

The new year rang in uneventfully at our house. Tim and I went out for supper but were probably in bed before 10:00 pm. It's what happens when you get old, lol. Work has been steady since the holidays at the hospital and I'm averaging some decent hours again each week.

Weight loss is still progressing; albeit not as fast as I'd like to see it. But at least its still coming off. My last weigh in yesterday was at 164, which is lower than I have been in a long, long time. I'm happy to see results, but am still looking at trying to get off another 25 pounds before Memorial Day weekend. Which ironically is the date that Mike and Jess have set for their wedding. Pretty good motivation, now I just need to get the weight loss jump started, as I think I've begun to hit a plateau.

That's about all in our household for now. More to come and I promise to try and update way more often than I have been!

Mini updates

First I'll start this posts by saying that I went to weigh in last Thursday night after having missed the week before. The good news is that I had lost another 2.8 pounds in the 2 weeks, so that put me down a whole 12 pounds! I am currently at 170.2, which I have not been at in quite some time. I still have another 30 pounds to go to get at my ideal weight, but right now I'm focusing on getting to my 10% goal at WW, which is actually the light at the end of the tunnel for me. I think I could get there sooner if I actually exercised more, so I'm trying to really get a schedule going for more of that. It's just that every time I plan to work out in the morning, I end up getting called to the hospital. And right now, a paycheck is much more important than the workout.

In other news, I got my paycheck from the hospital this week and I'm happy to report that I was able to put in enough hours there to make up for my lost paycheck from getting laid off at the travel agency. That made me breathe a little sigh of relief, since I was worried about that. Plus I had gotten a message that there was an "issue" with my unemployment claim, so I knew I wasn't going to see any of that anytime soon. I'm now wondering if the issue is that I'm working too many hours to make the claim. We'll have to see; they are supposed to be sending me some kind of letter with the info on that.

Still trying to push Lexie into getting a different job and getting herself back on track. She did manage to get some babysitting in this weekend which gave her some extra cash. But she can't rely on that all the time; she still needs to actively get out there and look. Sigh. So hard for her to see our points of view, yet I know what I'm telling her is only for her benefits. You try not to make life so hard for your kids, but they end up testing the waters anyway. She's going to find out soon that life isn't a barrel of roses all the time.

That's about all here. It's a completely gorgeous day out and I am going to thoroughly enjoy the next 2 days here, before it turns rainy and cold and (ack) snowy!!

Another weigh in (although its not an official one)

I didn't make it to Weight Watchers last night, but I did manage to weigh in at home. I was mildly surprised when I realized that I had lost yet another 1.8 pounds. I figured with all the stress going on, I wouldn't have been able to take anything off. But I'm glad that I am still losing....it continues to keep me motivated in the right direction anyway.

I think my daughter is trying to put me in an early grave! It's been non stop surprises, none of them good either. I'm not sure where her head is....2 weeks ago she hit a deer, because she was going somewhere with a friend, after telling us that she'd be home. Sigh. So we're dealing with that right now, the repairs from that accident. Two days ago, I found out that she'd gotten a speeding ticket.....20 miles over the limit, yikes! And the way I found out wasn't good either. I found out because she had overdrawn on her account to pay for that ticket. Since my name is on hers as a joint account (she opened it when she was under-age) the debit memo came to both of us. I proceeded to go through her checking account with her and found out that she hadn't been keeping track of her finances for quite some time, despite me getting on her about making sure she knew her balances. And then yesterday, when I went to the bank to take care of the overdrawn amounts and close the accounts (I didn't want my name on them anymore), I was again was surprised by the fact that she had written a check for $258 for a new cell phone, specifically AFTER I had told her not to get it right now. Sigh.

I don't know what's going on with her, but I'm done trying to give her advice or do anything for her anymore. I had been going to bat for her so many times with Tim, all the time not knowing that I was being played. So yeah, I'm done. She's going to learn the hard way and now she's pretty much broke and have to start over. I can't get her car transferred in her name (the title is in my name, so they won't take me off her loan), so she's going to have to play by MY rules, or she won't have a car to drive. And if she thinks or wants to move out that's fine....but her car won't go with her while the title is in my name...so yeah, she's pretty much messed her stuff up now.

I can't continue to carry the stress load that I've been carrying, because its going to make me even sicker than it already has. So I'm done worrying about saving her butt and let her make her own mistakes......but not at my cost. Tim and I will do our thing and let her figure out just what it is she wants out of life. We've had the talks, now its time for her to take action. I'd like to see her take some responsibility, get her head out of her butt and really get her head on straight. I know she can do it if she wants to....the question will be whether she really focuses on doing it. Only time will tell.

I can't seem to keep it together emotionally

Since September, I've been having health issues that are related to stress. I had 2 lip breakouts in September, when I found out it was because the virus I have becomes aggravated by the stress levels kept in my body. So since the 10th of this month, when I got laid off from work at the travel agency on my birthday, I have just had a multitude of things happen in succession that have left me with little strength emotionally.

Lexie hit a deer; to that extent we've been battling with her about being responsible. She's gotten so lazy lately and its just been a constant battle at our house, especially between her and Tim. She's only working 1 day a week and even then, its not constant. She doesn't help out at home, and balks when you ask her to do something. We've been on her to find a different job and to start looking for a job that she can do during the Christmas break (she'll be off for a month) but she continues to procrastinate about everything, to the point where it just puts Tim and I in a bad space, between us and with her too.

I filed for unemployment for my job with the travel agency but am continuing to try and seek more hours at the hospital. While there is a need there, there is no set hours or guarantee, so I just bide my time and try to get as many hours as possible. I have to call in to unemployment, actively seek out employment, which isn't easy in the lines of work that I'm in for this town. If I have too many hours at the hospital, they won't pay the unemployment, which doesn't help our situation any.

Yesterday, to put icing on the cake, our basement drain started to back up and we had water in one corner of the basement. We ended up having to drag pails of water out of there so that we could see enough to find out what's causing the problem. I'm waiting for the plumber to get back to us and see if he can come see what the problem is.

So what happens to Sue when all of this falls on her shoulders? My shoulders get tense, it goes right up into the base of my neck, into my head and gives me the worst headaches ever. I wake up this morning with.........you guessed it, yet another breakout on my lip. No hives thank god, but still it means that the daily meds that they've got me on aren't working enough. So now the last resort is to put me on the expensive meds.....the ones that are $10 a pill. With no insurance for me.

I am seriously feeling so down and in a hole that I just want to give up and stay in bed.....for the rest of the week and year. I can't even begin to think about therapy for my stress, because again, I have no flippin insurance. I am missing my best friends, the ones that I can go to and commiserate with, cry with and at the very least, spend an evening away with and make things go away, if only momentarily. But they are 1,600 miles away in Florida.

I just want to crawl under a rock and stay there. I know I said this last week, but its not getting any better. I just don't know how much more I can take emotionally, without completely losing my mind.

For anyone that got through all this, thanks for reading.....I just needed to get it out somewhere, because my family just isn't getting it here. They don't understand why I'm so stressed and why I feel like a complete emotional basketcase.