Saturday, December 25, 2010
Merry Christmas!
I've been a bit of a slacker with trying to keep up with my December Daily project! I've been taking a fair amount of photos each day; I've been carrying my camera in my purse and snapping pictures of "every-day" things like a big nerd (such as the heavy snow fall out my car windows as I sat in the Starbuck's drive-through yesterday! Ha!). Also, Ive been keeping a small collection of mementos from the month (movie ticket stubs, the bulletin from our church's Christmas Eve service, etc...). But, I haven't been doing very good about blogging/recording the little memories to add to the scrapbook. Speaking of which, I havent even started the book....at all! I hope to have a bit of time to devote to that this week :).
Here's a few highlights from the last few days...
Monday, December 20
I worked a somewhat long/busy day. The workday started at 7:30am with a meeting at High Road school, where I see 3 students. I got to learn a bit about a AAC app available on the iPad, which was kind of neat. I saw a bunch of kids throughout the day, and as usual didn't have enough time to quite get all of my documentation completed....and then actually left at 5:15 (a rare occurence for me!) to go finish up some Christmas shopping.
Later, I spoke with my friend Jillian....who was going in to the hospital to be induced at 9! Sooooo excited/anxious for her!
Tuesday, December 21
I waited on pins and needles for news of my friend Jillian's baby's birth! She called me at 9am...no baby yet, but she was in labor! That was the first time I spoke with a woman who was in labor! ;)
A little after 1:30, I received a text with adorable photo....Oliver Alexander McGriff had arrived safely at 12:24pm!
That night I went over to the McGriff's house to get a few things (Cheese-it crackers and the boppy pillow!) and then went to the hospital. I brought a balloon, gift (outfit from Old Navy), and some bright flowers. Tears came to my eyes as I hurried through the quiet hospital corridors.
He was beautiful.....and holding him felt amazing! Nothing in the world quite compares to the miracle of a newborn.
Jeremy and I met for dinner around 8 at Herradura, our favorite Mexican restaurant.
After dinner....we went home. I actually went to bed shortly after 9 because I was so exhausted and felt like the exhaustion might actually be making me physically sick as well. This time of year is just crazy with all of the hustle and bustle!
Wednesday, Dec 22
This was my LAST work day before eleven consecutive days off! It was a busy, but good, day.
We ordered Firehouse pizza for lunch....it is one of my favorites. They have some AWESOME gluten free pizza there!
Thursday, Dec 23.
Jeremy and I both had the day off and spent most of the day running separate Christmas errands.
Thursday night we went to Peoria to meet our good friend Aaron and Katie for dinner to celebrate Aaron's 29th birthday! It's always a lot of fun spening time with them :).
On the way back, we (just J and I) decided to stop at Starplex Cinemas and went to the 10:25 showing of Tron. It was AWFUL! I really didn't like it at all! I'm sure it didnt help matters that I was super tired....but man, was it BORING!!
Friday, December 24
We slept in to about 10! Since we'd gotten home late (thanks to that awful movie Tron!!), we didnt get to bed til close to 2. So, really, we didn't sleep a TON more than usual! ;)
We went to the gym in the afternoon...and then I went to the grocery store and Starbucks, while Jeremy went to Lowe's, Menard's, and Home Depot (he is working on finishing a few things in our basement).
I made a cheesy potato caserole to bring over to his parents' for dinner. After cleaning up from the gym, we headed over shortly after 5. It had snowed excessively, so the drive that usually takes 12 or so minutes took close to a half hour!
After a delicious dinner, we went to the 9pm candlelight Christmas Eve service at our church. It was great...and nice to see some of our friends
Saturday, December 25
Merry Christmas!
We started the day off "right" again by sleeping in until around 9. After getting ready for the day...we opened our presents to one another. As usual, Jeremy outdid me with his thoughtfulness :). He's a great gift-giver!
We headed over to his parents' house around 10 and ate some hors d'ovres and opened/exchanged more gifts.
Highlights include a digital camcorder to J and me from Jer's brother Jon (AWESOME!), and a large frame/shadow box with a bunch of my race medals displayed really nicely inside from J's parents! It was one of my favorite gifts, ever, and I can't wait to display it in our home!
Posted by Rachelyn via Blogaway
Posted by Rachelyn via Blogaway
Saturday, December 18, 2010
december daily project, con't...
Day 11--Saturday, December 11 through Day 14--Tuesday, December 14th...whoops! Should probably go back through my camera and see if I can scrounge up a few memories from these days ;).
Day 15--Wednesday, December 15
Day 15--Wednesday, December 15
- Today was Jillian's last day of work, pre-baby!! :)
Day 16--Thursday, December 16 - I got up at 4:30 am to go to a spinning class at the gym...it had snowed a lot that past evening/early morning so I got to "blaze a trail" to the gym through unplowed streets!
- a stop at Starbucks on my way to work helped jump-start my day
- It was a busy day of lots of therapy sessions....but it went well
- My 4pm kiddo was video-taped by WMBD for footage for an Easter Seals case statement DVD that is being produced for our upcoming 2011 Telethon...this was sprung on me very last-minute, so I somewhat panicked! I had worn some "scrubby-looking" clothes that day and didn't feel very "TV-ready"...but I made do!
- I picked up Jillian's parents from the airport for her at 6:40...they flew into town to attend her Peoria Area Civic Chorale concerts this weekend (she and her husband were at a dress rehearsal and were unable to go pick them up...so I volunteered!)
- I stopped by our friends Josh and Laura's home to drop off a Christmas card...and talked to them for a while. They were having a bit of a rough day due to a pipe exploding in their home. At 7:45pm when I was there, a cleaning company was there helping them out. Ugh!!
- We got a late dinner at Chili's with our friends Steve and Jamie after Jeremy and Steve played racquetball together at the gym
- I went to Peoria with two co-workers/friends, Jamie and Kristin for the Ray LaHood Center for Cerebral Palsy grand opening at the Peoria Easter Seals center
- Jamie and I got some yummy Chipotle for lunch on our way back to work
- I went to see one kiddo in his home for a final evaluation before his third birthday
- I taught a piano lesson and a kiddo's home
- Jeremy and I went to a retirement party for his father at the home of his father's successor. It was actually a great time! I saw my friend/co-worker Dawn there (her husband Scott works in the law department at State Farm, which is where Jeremy's dad worked)
- Jon (Jeremy's brother), Jeremy, and I went to Shoe Carnival after the party to shoe shop (Jeremy has two friends who work there...and they were having a "friends and family" sale)
- Jeremy worked...he will get this coming Wednesday off in exchange for working today! (in addition to Thursday and Friday off for Christmas!)
- I went to the gym and cleaned/did laundry
- I picked Jeremy up at 1:30 and we went to Steak and Shake for lunch on his lunch break
- I went Christmas shopping...the crowds were INSANE!!
- We had dinner at Famous Dave's with our friends Paul and Lisa and sat and talked for 2 hours...Lisa and I "bonded" over apparently similar ideas about child-rearing someday (coming from two women who don't have kids yet ;))
- Jeremy and I watched Toy Store 3 in the "man cave" :)
Friday, December 10, 2010
December rolls on!
Oh, this December Daily project is exciting me so :).
I do so love the Christmas season...which you wouldn't know if you visited our home right now :). We have minimal Christmas decorations displayed...our powder room has a Christmas-y monogrammed 'B' hand towel, our stove has a snowman towel hanging from it (yeah, I'm partial to themed towels...one of my quirks. I buy many towels throughout the year. LOVE themed towels! HA!), and I put out my "12 Days of Christmas" scrapbook from last December (that still isn't completely finished).
Tree? Nope.
Stockings? Nah.
Snowmen? None in sight.
Wreath? What?!
Nativity? Not yet.
I told my good friend Brooke via text last weekend that I hadn't gotten my decorations out yet...her response?
YOU SCROOGE!
Harumph. Maybe so, Brookie. Sorry!!! ;)
Regardless...I DO kind of feel like a failure of a woman/wife right now since I haven't decorated our home all cutesy for the holidays yet...but Jeremy just looked at me as if I am truly crazy when I asked him if he cares. He doesn't. Ha!
So, this year, I just might not do it.
I have been looking for ways of cutting back on "unnecessary" stressors, and honestly right now the thought of decorating my home stresses me out. So, I am not going to deal with it. Today is December 10th. Christmas is 15 days away. If I decide at some point in the next 14 days or so that I really NEED some Christmas decorations...perhaps I'll put some out.
But again, maybe not. ;)
Now, when we have children...I will definitely decorate. I wouldn't deprive my children of the fun of a home full of Christmas cheer just because I don't FEEL like decorating. But at this point in our lives? Meh, we're good. HA!
Ok...all of that being said...let's carry on with the rest of my December Daily project!
Day 4-December 4th, 2010.
(Continued from previous post)
On Saturday night, Jeremy and I went to Chili's for dinner (one of our "standards") and then home for a movie. We put in "Law Abiding Citizen"...and I only lasted about 30 minutes. It was kind of disturbing...and made me feel sick (maybe I'm just a big wimp ;)). So, Jeremy and Izzy watched the movie with out me....
Jeremy polished some of his work shoes while we watched...
...and I worked on writing messages in our Christmas cards!
Christmas cards!
Jeremy decided to give our little Izzy a tuna treat :). She goes NUTS!
Here she is, all stretched out and anxious to get her treat!
Day 6-Monday, December 6
View from my therapy room window...snowy Bloomington, IL.
One view of my cluttered, too-full therapy room...lots of toys and books!
One of my Monday kiddos putting together a Mickey Mouse puzzle while we worked on his speech targets...clearly for privacy reasons, I cannot take a picture of kiddos' faces!
A common sight of mine....Raintree! Raintree is our electronic documentation system at Easter Seals. Many an hour is spent documenting therapy and evaluations in this system.
Day 7-Tuesday, December 7th
Ahhhh...my latest issue of Runner's World!
Day 8-Wednesday, December 8
Here's the lovely Col :).
Tonight after work, Jeremy and I attended a retirement party for his father at Biaggi's, hosted by Ed and Sally Rust (the CEO of State Farm and his wife). It was an awesome dinner and a great time.
Day 10--Friday, December 10
I had a busy morning consisting of two kids and one meeting...and then a work lunch at Herradura that I helped organize. It was nice to sit down and relax over some yummy food with some of my fun co-workers! Christina, Veronica, Jamie, Kathi, Gretchen, Kristin, and Kristin's adorable 2-year-old daughter Ellie joined me. It was a great time!
After the pampering, I went to teach a piano lesson :). It was the second lesson for my newest student and went very well. After the lesson, I went back to work where I worked on getting my documentation up to date.
Neither of us ever eats all of our nachos...so we combine the leftovers at the end, and Jeremy gets to have the big pile of goo sometime later during the week :).
Mmmmm....Moe's sweet tea is one of my favorite things in the entire world!
When we got home, we were SUPER pumped to find this in our mailbox....
One of the most anticipated parts of Christmas! The "Christmas card" from our friends, the Lentz's!
This year they made an ADVENT CALENDAR! How cool is that?! We can't open the 1st door until Dec. 13th...can't wait!
December....so far, so great!
I do so love the Christmas season...which you wouldn't know if you visited our home right now :). We have minimal Christmas decorations displayed...our powder room has a Christmas-y monogrammed 'B' hand towel, our stove has a snowman towel hanging from it (yeah, I'm partial to themed towels...one of my quirks. I buy many towels throughout the year. LOVE themed towels! HA!), and I put out my "12 Days of Christmas" scrapbook from last December (that still isn't completely finished).
Tree? Nope.
Stockings? Nah.
Snowmen? None in sight.
Wreath? What?!
Nativity? Not yet.
I told my good friend Brooke via text last weekend that I hadn't gotten my decorations out yet...her response?
YOU SCROOGE!
Harumph. Maybe so, Brookie. Sorry!!! ;)
Regardless...I DO kind of feel like a failure of a woman/wife right now since I haven't decorated our home all cutesy for the holidays yet...but Jeremy just looked at me as if I am truly crazy when I asked him if he cares. He doesn't. Ha!
So, this year, I just might not do it.
I have been looking for ways of cutting back on "unnecessary" stressors, and honestly right now the thought of decorating my home stresses me out. So, I am not going to deal with it. Today is December 10th. Christmas is 15 days away. If I decide at some point in the next 14 days or so that I really NEED some Christmas decorations...perhaps I'll put some out.
But again, maybe not. ;)
Now, when we have children...I will definitely decorate. I wouldn't deprive my children of the fun of a home full of Christmas cheer just because I don't FEEL like decorating. But at this point in our lives? Meh, we're good. HA!
Ok...all of that being said...let's carry on with the rest of my December Daily project!
Day 4-December 4th, 2010.
(Continued from previous post)
On Saturday night, Jeremy and I went to Chili's for dinner (one of our "standards") and then home for a movie. We put in "Law Abiding Citizen"...and I only lasted about 30 minutes. It was kind of disturbing...and made me feel sick (maybe I'm just a big wimp ;)). So, Jeremy and Izzy watched the movie with out me....
Day 5-Sunday, December 5th
I went up to Peoria with Jillian to help her teach her final scrapbooking class at Scrapadoodle....well, her final class before baby McG makes his grand debut, anyway! She asked me to go up to help her out...so I did! It was a lot of fun. The project today was a canvas tote bag. It was really cute!
Here she is in all of her teaching glory :). She is a great teacher :).
Me and the teacher :).
Oh, you're such a fun, cute pregnant gal Jillian!
Sunday evening after we helped out at the high school youth group Sunday fellowship (Jeremy and I are youth leaders), we vegged out a bit at home and got ready for the week.
We watched SNL on our DVR from the night before...and "What's up with that?" one of our FAVORITE re-curring skits was on. HA!
Jeremy polished some of his work shoes while we watched...
...and I worked on writing messages in our Christmas cards!
Jeremy made a pretty darn creative Christmas card for us to send out this year (not to everyone...clearly these weren't cheap! He made cd's with some of our favorite non-traditional Christmas songs, along with custom designed labels and album insterts. Love his creativity!
My contribution was writing personal messages in each :).
Christmas cards!
Jeremy decided to give our little Izzy a tuna treat :). She goes NUTS!
Here she is, all stretched out and anxious to get her treat!
YUM! ;)
Day 6-Monday, December 6
So my therapy room at Easter Seals is SO COLD!
Jillian lent me her awesome space heater...truly amazing :).
View from my therapy room window...snowy Bloomington, IL.
One view of my cluttered, too-full therapy room...lots of toys and books!
One of my Monday kiddos putting together a Mickey Mouse puzzle while we worked on his speech targets...clearly for privacy reasons, I cannot take a picture of kiddos' faces!
A common sight of mine....Raintree! Raintree is our electronic documentation system at Easter Seals. Many an hour is spent documenting therapy and evaluations in this system.
Day 7-Tuesday, December 7th
After work, we had our friends Steve and Jamie over to watch Inception! Inception was just released on DVD today, so Jeremy went to Blockbuster right after work to rent it. He had suggested yesterday that we start a Tuesday-night movie night...
I am not sure if we will really keep it up EVERY Tuesday night, but it was a great first "movie night" and it was fun to have Steve and Jamie as our first guests!
We had fun visiting, eating snacks, and watching an awesome movie. Steve and Jamie hadn't seen it before...and they loved it!
Jeremy and I had seen it a few months prior in the theater...and couldn't wait to see it again.
Ahhhh...my latest issue of Runner's World!
Day 8-Wednesday, December 8
After a very busy day at work...I headed to my favorite salon in town, Girl Friday!
The lovely Colleen hooked me up with a cut and color that I love.
Here I am under the dryer :).
Here's the lovely Col :).
Day 9-Thursday, December 9
Tonight after work, Jeremy and I attended a retirement party for his father at Biaggi's, hosted by Ed and Sally Rust (the CEO of State Farm and his wife). It was an awesome dinner and a great time.
Day 10--Friday, December 10
Here's my very messy therapy room table...where I often camp out to work on various work projects. It was looking extra-cluttered today! We're under the gun at Easter Seals. Surveyors from CARF, our accreditation agency, are coming on Monday and Tuesday of next week so we have to ensure that each and every one of our t's are crossed and i's are dotted!
I had a busy morning consisting of two kids and one meeting...and then a work lunch at Herradura that I helped organize. It was nice to sit down and relax over some yummy food with some of my fun co-workers! Christina, Veronica, Jamie, Kathi, Gretchen, Kristin, and Kristin's adorable 2-year-old daughter Ellie joined me. It was a great time!
After lunch, I headed over to Girl Friday for the second time this week! I had made an appointment for a pedicure and shellac manicure...my friends Jamie and Jillian had given me a gift card for my birthday that I was all too excited to use! It was relaxing and awesome...
I wore skinny jeans (my new obsession)...and got the darn jeans stuck over my calves! I had rolled them up (no easy feat...those puppies are TIGHT!) for the pedicure and had quite a bit of difficulty getting them down! I felt like a freak show!
Both Nikki (the nail tech) and Colleen had to work at them with me to get them down! Here is Colleen...I snapped this picture right as she got my second pant leg down FINALLY! haha!!!
After the pampering, I went to teach a piano lesson :). It was the second lesson for my newest student and went very well. After the lesson, I went back to work where I worked on getting my documentation up to date.
Jeremy picked me up at 7 and we headed across town to one of our favorite dinner spots..Moe's! We each got some delicious vegetarian nachos (our favorite).
The Bulls game was on...so naturally Jeremy tended to stare at the nearest TV screen ;).
Neither of us ever eats all of our nachos...so we combine the leftovers at the end, and Jeremy gets to have the big pile of goo sometime later during the week :).
Mmmmm....Moe's sweet tea is one of my favorite things in the entire world!
When we got home, we were SUPER pumped to find this in our mailbox....
One of the most anticipated parts of Christmas! The "Christmas card" from our friends, the Lentz's!
Here it is, hanging on our fridge...
This year they made an ADVENT CALENDAR! How cool is that?! We can't open the 1st door until Dec. 13th...can't wait!
December....so far, so great!
Saturday, December 4, 2010
December Daily/Celebrating Every Day
So, my good friend Jillian is a big fan of Ali Edwards. Basically, Ali is a scrapbooking goddess. Jillian is a pretty fantastic scrapper herself :). Me? I enjoy it, but I am a poser :). Not nearly as talented as my good friend Jillian!
However, this year...this December...I've decided to try a new project. For the past few years, Jillian has participated in making a December Daily scrapbook...inspired by Ali Edwards. Last year Jillian tried to convince me to do it with her...but I didn't. I did make a "12 Days of Christmas" album at a class Jillian taught last December...and ended up getting it mostly filled with pictures/mementos, but I still have a few things I need to add to it to have it really finished. Yeah, I'm kind of behind.
(seems to be a common theme for my life right now...but I digress...)
Speaking of behind (quick tangent)...I still haven't finished our wedding scrapbook. What, we've been married for almost 39 months you say?! Well...I've been busy. Ha!
Anyway....
Jillian and I hung out for a while last night....first working on a few things around their home to continue to get ready for Baby McG...then we went down to Uptown normal for dinner...and then to a movie. It will surely be one of her last nights out before her little one makes his appearance, which made it extra-special to share that night with her.
I made up my night last night, after seeing how excited she was for her December Daily scrapbook project, that I am going to participate this year :).
Never mind that yesterday was December third and I should've, therefore, been THREE days into the project. I'm starting from behind...but I'll catch up :). My camera battery is charging right now so I'll have it at the ready to capture the every-day-moments throughout this busy, bustling, beautiful December.
I decided that (since I do know myself, more or less!) I should blog as a way to keep track of everything...in case I don't have the time/interest/energy for scrapbooking every single day this month. I might just wait until later this month (when I have an entire, glorious WEEK off!) to put everything together...
So...here's just some basic "journaling" to get my mind on track for the project....
December Daily...Day 1
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Today was a busy day at work. I arrived around 7:45 to get ready for an evaluation that was scheduled at 8am. Kathi, a developmental therapist, and I performed a re-evaluation on a little cutie that we've been seeing for approximately six months. It was so exciting to have objective data as evidence of all of the progress he has made over the past six months. This little 2 year old came to us six months ago with less than five words...and now his expressive vocabulary is over fifty words, plus he is starting to put some words into phrases. Talk about some quick, fun progress to note!
After that, I had a "free" hour of unscheduled time (a rare luxury!) during which I hurriedly typed up the evaluation report from the aforementioned evaluation. It's not often I have the time to write the report immediately following the evaluation, but it is absolutely WONDERFUL when I do! After I completed that, I hopped in my car to drive approximately 45 minutes away to an IEP meeting for a little one who is turning three soon and staring preschool next week. It was a very FULL meeting...many Early Intervention therapists were involved in this sweet little one's care, and all but one of us were able to attend. Many teachers and therapists from the school were present, in addition to his parents. This particular school was very accommodating and seems to have a good plan in place for this new student. I'm so excited to learn about the ways in which he will grow this year.
The afternoon was busy...but pretty good as far as an afternoon at work goes! I had appointments from 2-6 pm back-to-back.
Christina, one of the OT's at Easter Seals as well as a good friend of mine, and I co-treated from 3-4, 4-5, and from 5-6. Wednesday afternoons are a lot of fun...it's such a wonderful treat to be able to co-treat with Christina. She is a fabulous therapist who has a few more years of experience than I do and is great with the kids...she teaches me a lot! For some of our kiddos, co-treating speech and OT really seems to work well.
From 5-6 pm every other Wednesday, Christina and I have an OT/ST group comprised of 4 kiddos who are all working on social skills/goals among other things. This is truly one of the highlights of our job, we love it! This particular week, we only had 2 of our usual kiddos...so they were able to get a bit more individual attention. We were able to observe some wonderful conversations between the two kiddos who were there...it's so exciting to see them begin to carry over some of the skills we've been targeting!
I ended up staying at work until 8:45pm Wednesday night. I was hoping to go to the gym, but didn't make it. It was a very long day...I've been getting backed up with many reports/documentation/etc. that I need to complete and it's been somewhat stressing me out.
After I got home, I vegged in front of the tv for a little while...and then hit the sack around 11:30
December Daily...Day 2
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Today I woke up early...my alarm went off at 4:30am! Since I didn't work out last night, I felt like I really needed to get up and go to a 5:15am "hour of power" spinning class at Four Seasons 2. I've been going to this class on Tuesdays for the past couple of weeks. However, I am DEFINITELY not a morning person, and felt that ONE early morning a week was MORE than enough. When the alarm went off, I sat up in bed and just sat there for a few minutes pondering if I'd actually get up and go.
Well, I did.
It was a decent class...and it felt great to start off the day with a workout, as it always does (when the workout is OVER, at least!).
After the class, I showered/got ready for work at the gym...which is not really one of my favorite things to do, but it is a necessary evil as it really saves a lot of time. I went to Starbucks after getting ready and was to work by 7:20am.
Thursday was another fairly busy day...but I was able to meet Jeremy at one of our favorite restaurants, Meat Head's for a late lunch at 1:15. It is always nice to get together during the week to have lunch together. We try to do it once a week, but it doesn't always work out due to my crazy schedule.
Unfortunately, today was the second day I was at work until 8:45. Seriously. I think I might have a problem. I was the last person at the office 4 days this week and the first person to the office two days this week. Ugh.
December Daily...Day 3
Friday, December 3, 2010
I worked 8-1:30 today...which was somewhat of a Friday "record" of sorts for me. I am technically off at noon on Fridays, but never seem to be able to actually get out of there by that time. In fact, I usually end up being at work til closer to 4 or 5 on most Fridays.
Today, however, I had to get to a music store to buy some piano books and had to get home for a quick lunch...before going over to a kiddo's home to teach piano lessons :). I now officially have two students. This was the first lesson for my second student. It was a lot of fun, she is a sweet girl who has a sweet family. Teaching piano is something I truly love to do and would love to have more time for. It's a wonderful little outlet/hobby for me and I am thankful to now have two students!
At 3:30 I taught the lesson....and then afterwards, I pumped some gas (one of my least favorite things to do in the entire world) and then headed over to Jillian's.
We spent some time checking out the nursery (I hadn't seen it since it had been painted and the crib/changing table had been assembled! It is SO cute...they've chosen a really fun nautical theme. Love it!), organizing a few things, and then headed out for dinner and a movie.
When we walked out her front door...we were stunned to see SNOW..and lots of it! When I walked into her house at 6pm, it wasn't snowing at all. When we walked out around 6pm., it was snowing proFUSEly and there was already a lot of accumulation! Crazy, crazy!
We went to the Garlic Press in normal for some delicious food (I had some GF tomato/basil/goat cheese quiche, fruit salad, and hot spiced cider) and then went to Starplex Cinema to see Due Date! It was a pretty funny movie :).
Afterwards we braved the snow and un-plowed roads to go over to Easter Seals so Jillian could get her car (she had left it there the day before)...
First snow of the year!
Jillian's little Yaris was snowed in :). Here she is being all goofy while scraping off the car, in her pregnant glory!
Welcome, snow! Welcome, scraping windows!
When I got home around 10, I spent some time talking to Jeremy and watching him put together our awesome Christmas cards. So excited for the big reveal!
December Daily...Day 4
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Originally, we had made plans with our friends Paul and Lisa to go to Springfield today to visit the Lincoln Museum and hang out. We decided, though, that we needed a day at home today and that a full-day trip to Springfield wasn't the best plan. We have so much to do...Christmas cards (Jeremy is making a very special Christmas card surprise for us this year!), present planning/purchasing, decorating for the holidays, and I have work to get done as well for work. I was at the office over 55 hours this week and I am just plain exhausted. However, there is still more to get done before the new weeks begins. So, all things considered, we knew that today would be best spent at home.
Today we woke up to even MORE snow! Here's a view from our kitchen/patio door...lots of snow on our poor patio chairs and grill!
Oh summer...you seem so far away! As a comedian we saw back in November when we were up in Minnesota with our friends Rosalee and Bobby pointed out, though...since we made the choice to live in the midwest, we really have no right to complain about the snow/weather. It's the MIDWEST...snow is a fact of life here! We just have to deal...I guess he has a point!
Here's our little kitty Izzy in one of her typical poses :). Later this month, December 22, will mark the two-year anniversary of Izzy in our lives!
Jeremy had made a "racquetball date" with our friend Josh this morning. The two had planned to meet at Four Season's 1 at 9:30 to play. I said I'd go along with him to get my Saturday workout out of the way!
My husband puts up with so much! ;) He agreed, only moderately reluctantly, to take a photo of me on the eliptical at the gym toward the end of my workout this morning :).
Yeah, I sweat a bit when I work out, I am not ashamed :).
I am still battling a nasty case of Achilles tendinitis, which I gained following my third marathon on Sunday, September 26th. It's been TEN weeks since the marathon...and I haven't been able to really run since that time. It's been a struggle, frankly. Going from running daily, and running miles and miles and miles at once...to NOT being able to run is mentally strange, for lack of a better way of putting things.
When we got home, Jeremy took off his jacket, and put it on the couch. It promptly fell off...and Izzy claimed it. Whenever we put any sort of clothing item down on the ground or on some furniture, she typically takes it over. She LOVES to hide under coats, in particular.
Oh December...I can't wait to see what other adventures you hold for us! :)
However, this year...this December...I've decided to try a new project. For the past few years, Jillian has participated in making a December Daily scrapbook...inspired by Ali Edwards. Last year Jillian tried to convince me to do it with her...but I didn't. I did make a "12 Days of Christmas" album at a class Jillian taught last December...and ended up getting it mostly filled with pictures/mementos, but I still have a few things I need to add to it to have it really finished. Yeah, I'm kind of behind.
(seems to be a common theme for my life right now...but I digress...)
Speaking of behind (quick tangent)...I still haven't finished our wedding scrapbook. What, we've been married for almost 39 months you say?! Well...I've been busy. Ha!
Anyway....
Jillian and I hung out for a while last night....first working on a few things around their home to continue to get ready for Baby McG...then we went down to Uptown normal for dinner...and then to a movie. It will surely be one of her last nights out before her little one makes his appearance, which made it extra-special to share that night with her.
I made up my night last night, after seeing how excited she was for her December Daily scrapbook project, that I am going to participate this year :).
Never mind that yesterday was December third and I should've, therefore, been THREE days into the project. I'm starting from behind...but I'll catch up :). My camera battery is charging right now so I'll have it at the ready to capture the every-day-moments throughout this busy, bustling, beautiful December.
I decided that (since I do know myself, more or less!) I should blog as a way to keep track of everything...in case I don't have the time/interest/energy for scrapbooking every single day this month. I might just wait until later this month (when I have an entire, glorious WEEK off!) to put everything together...
So...here's just some basic "journaling" to get my mind on track for the project....
December Daily...Day 1
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Today was a busy day at work. I arrived around 7:45 to get ready for an evaluation that was scheduled at 8am. Kathi, a developmental therapist, and I performed a re-evaluation on a little cutie that we've been seeing for approximately six months. It was so exciting to have objective data as evidence of all of the progress he has made over the past six months. This little 2 year old came to us six months ago with less than five words...and now his expressive vocabulary is over fifty words, plus he is starting to put some words into phrases. Talk about some quick, fun progress to note!
After that, I had a "free" hour of unscheduled time (a rare luxury!) during which I hurriedly typed up the evaluation report from the aforementioned evaluation. It's not often I have the time to write the report immediately following the evaluation, but it is absolutely WONDERFUL when I do! After I completed that, I hopped in my car to drive approximately 45 minutes away to an IEP meeting for a little one who is turning three soon and staring preschool next week. It was a very FULL meeting...many Early Intervention therapists were involved in this sweet little one's care, and all but one of us were able to attend. Many teachers and therapists from the school were present, in addition to his parents. This particular school was very accommodating and seems to have a good plan in place for this new student. I'm so excited to learn about the ways in which he will grow this year.
The afternoon was busy...but pretty good as far as an afternoon at work goes! I had appointments from 2-6 pm back-to-back.
Christina, one of the OT's at Easter Seals as well as a good friend of mine, and I co-treated from 3-4, 4-5, and from 5-6. Wednesday afternoons are a lot of fun...it's such a wonderful treat to be able to co-treat with Christina. She is a fabulous therapist who has a few more years of experience than I do and is great with the kids...she teaches me a lot! For some of our kiddos, co-treating speech and OT really seems to work well.
From 5-6 pm every other Wednesday, Christina and I have an OT/ST group comprised of 4 kiddos who are all working on social skills/goals among other things. This is truly one of the highlights of our job, we love it! This particular week, we only had 2 of our usual kiddos...so they were able to get a bit more individual attention. We were able to observe some wonderful conversations between the two kiddos who were there...it's so exciting to see them begin to carry over some of the skills we've been targeting!
I ended up staying at work until 8:45pm Wednesday night. I was hoping to go to the gym, but didn't make it. It was a very long day...I've been getting backed up with many reports/documentation/etc. that I need to complete and it's been somewhat stressing me out.
After I got home, I vegged in front of the tv for a little while...and then hit the sack around 11:30
December Daily...Day 2
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Today I woke up early...my alarm went off at 4:30am! Since I didn't work out last night, I felt like I really needed to get up and go to a 5:15am "hour of power" spinning class at Four Seasons 2. I've been going to this class on Tuesdays for the past couple of weeks. However, I am DEFINITELY not a morning person, and felt that ONE early morning a week was MORE than enough. When the alarm went off, I sat up in bed and just sat there for a few minutes pondering if I'd actually get up and go.
Well, I did.
It was a decent class...and it felt great to start off the day with a workout, as it always does (when the workout is OVER, at least!).
After the class, I showered/got ready for work at the gym...which is not really one of my favorite things to do, but it is a necessary evil as it really saves a lot of time. I went to Starbucks after getting ready and was to work by 7:20am.
Thursday was another fairly busy day...but I was able to meet Jeremy at one of our favorite restaurants, Meat Head's for a late lunch at 1:15. It is always nice to get together during the week to have lunch together. We try to do it once a week, but it doesn't always work out due to my crazy schedule.
Unfortunately, today was the second day I was at work until 8:45. Seriously. I think I might have a problem. I was the last person at the office 4 days this week and the first person to the office two days this week. Ugh.
December Daily...Day 3
Friday, December 3, 2010
I worked 8-1:30 today...which was somewhat of a Friday "record" of sorts for me. I am technically off at noon on Fridays, but never seem to be able to actually get out of there by that time. In fact, I usually end up being at work til closer to 4 or 5 on most Fridays.
Today, however, I had to get to a music store to buy some piano books and had to get home for a quick lunch...before going over to a kiddo's home to teach piano lessons :). I now officially have two students. This was the first lesson for my second student. It was a lot of fun, she is a sweet girl who has a sweet family. Teaching piano is something I truly love to do and would love to have more time for. It's a wonderful little outlet/hobby for me and I am thankful to now have two students!
At 3:30 I taught the lesson....and then afterwards, I pumped some gas (one of my least favorite things to do in the entire world) and then headed over to Jillian's.
We spent some time checking out the nursery (I hadn't seen it since it had been painted and the crib/changing table had been assembled! It is SO cute...they've chosen a really fun nautical theme. Love it!), organizing a few things, and then headed out for dinner and a movie.
When we walked out her front door...we were stunned to see SNOW..and lots of it! When I walked into her house at 6pm, it wasn't snowing at all. When we walked out around 6pm., it was snowing proFUSEly and there was already a lot of accumulation! Crazy, crazy!
We went to the Garlic Press in normal for some delicious food (I had some GF tomato/basil/goat cheese quiche, fruit salad, and hot spiced cider) and then went to Starplex Cinema to see Due Date! It was a pretty funny movie :).
Afterwards we braved the snow and un-plowed roads to go over to Easter Seals so Jillian could get her car (she had left it there the day before)...
First snow of the year!
Jillian's little Yaris was snowed in :). Here she is being all goofy while scraping off the car, in her pregnant glory!
Welcome, snow! Welcome, scraping windows!
When I got home around 10, I spent some time talking to Jeremy and watching him put together our awesome Christmas cards. So excited for the big reveal!
December Daily...Day 4
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Originally, we had made plans with our friends Paul and Lisa to go to Springfield today to visit the Lincoln Museum and hang out. We decided, though, that we needed a day at home today and that a full-day trip to Springfield wasn't the best plan. We have so much to do...Christmas cards (Jeremy is making a very special Christmas card surprise for us this year!), present planning/purchasing, decorating for the holidays, and I have work to get done as well for work. I was at the office over 55 hours this week and I am just plain exhausted. However, there is still more to get done before the new weeks begins. So, all things considered, we knew that today would be best spent at home.
Today we woke up to even MORE snow! Here's a view from our kitchen/patio door...lots of snow on our poor patio chairs and grill!
Oh summer...you seem so far away! As a comedian we saw back in November when we were up in Minnesota with our friends Rosalee and Bobby pointed out, though...since we made the choice to live in the midwest, we really have no right to complain about the snow/weather. It's the MIDWEST...snow is a fact of life here! We just have to deal...I guess he has a point!
Here's our little kitty Izzy in one of her typical poses :). Later this month, December 22, will mark the two-year anniversary of Izzy in our lives!
Jeremy had made a "racquetball date" with our friend Josh this morning. The two had planned to meet at Four Season's 1 at 9:30 to play. I said I'd go along with him to get my Saturday workout out of the way!
My husband puts up with so much! ;) He agreed, only moderately reluctantly, to take a photo of me on the eliptical at the gym toward the end of my workout this morning :).
Yeah, I sweat a bit when I work out, I am not ashamed :).
I am still battling a nasty case of Achilles tendinitis, which I gained following my third marathon on Sunday, September 26th. It's been TEN weeks since the marathon...and I haven't been able to really run since that time. It's been a struggle, frankly. Going from running daily, and running miles and miles and miles at once...to NOT being able to run is mentally strange, for lack of a better way of putting things.
When we got home, Jeremy took off his jacket, and put it on the couch. It promptly fell off...and Izzy claimed it. Whenever we put any sort of clothing item down on the ground or on some furniture, she typically takes it over. She LOVES to hide under coats, in particular.
Emerging from her cave...she heard some loud noises from the basement that were freaking her out (Jeremy was down there pounding around looking for some tools/drill/etc.). Jeremy has been working hard this morning on fixing our garage door. Somehow it has broken...hopefully he is successful in his feat!
Well...I'm sure Day 4 will need a continuation later, seeing as it's not even 1 in the afternoon :).
Oh December...I can't wait to see what other adventures you hold for us! :)
Friday, December 3, 2010
This week, by the numbers
So, first of all...I am a major poser of a blogger :).
I do love to write, and love to go back and read old entries...but haven't written anything in almost a month.
Sigh.
Anyway....it has been...a WEEK!
This week, by the numbers.....
1-number of evenings I've made it to the gym (Monday)
1-number of evenings I've actually MADE dinner
1-number of evenings we went out for Mexican food in leiu of cooking/eating leftovers
1-number of kiddos I discharged from therapy services this week
2-number of mornings I was the FIRST person in the building at work
2-number of mornings I woke up at 4:30am to attend a 5:15 "hour of power" spinning class at the gym (Tuesday/Thursday)
2-number of evenings I was at work until 8:45pm (Wednesday/Thursday)
2-number of evenings I allowed myself to watch an hour of television
3-number of evaluations I conducted at work this week
3-number of evaluations waiting in my queue to be typed up
4-number of evenings this week I was the LAST person in the building at work
5-number of mornings I went to Starbucks. I am somewhat ashamed because that means I spent WAY too much money on overpriced coffee. Good thing I am getting a Keurig coffee maker from my parents for Christmas (oh wait, that's supposed to be a "surprise"!)
0.5-miles I have run outside. Seriously. Coming from the girl who did 26.2 THREE TIMES in one year. Ugh. This weekend marks TEN weeks post-last-marathon. Seriously, am I healthy yet?
0-visits to my PT. Yeah, I need to do better next week.
26-kiddos I saw for therapy this week
3-approximate number of times I came close to a nervous breakdown
1-number of times I had lunch with my husband (Thursday)
12-approximate number of times I listened to the new Christmas song, Boots, by the Killers ;)
I do love to write, and love to go back and read old entries...but haven't written anything in almost a month.
Sigh.
Anyway....it has been...a WEEK!
This week, by the numbers.....
1-number of evenings I've made it to the gym (Monday)
1-number of evenings I've actually MADE dinner
1-number of evenings we went out for Mexican food in leiu of cooking/eating leftovers
1-number of kiddos I discharged from therapy services this week
2-number of mornings I was the FIRST person in the building at work
2-number of mornings I woke up at 4:30am to attend a 5:15 "hour of power" spinning class at the gym (Tuesday/Thursday)
2-number of evenings I was at work until 8:45pm (Wednesday/Thursday)
2-number of evenings I allowed myself to watch an hour of television
3-number of evaluations I conducted at work this week
3-number of evaluations waiting in my queue to be typed up
4-number of evenings this week I was the LAST person in the building at work
5-number of mornings I went to Starbucks. I am somewhat ashamed because that means I spent WAY too much money on overpriced coffee. Good thing I am getting a Keurig coffee maker from my parents for Christmas (oh wait, that's supposed to be a "surprise"!)
0.5-miles I have run outside. Seriously. Coming from the girl who did 26.2 THREE TIMES in one year. Ugh. This weekend marks TEN weeks post-last-marathon. Seriously, am I healthy yet?
0-visits to my PT. Yeah, I need to do better next week.
26-kiddos I saw for therapy this week
3-approximate number of times I came close to a nervous breakdown
1-number of times I had lunch with my husband (Thursday)
12-approximate number of times I listened to the new Christmas song, Boots, by the Killers ;)
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