ribs, weather, burning , taxes and my Mom

As many of you know, I broke a couple of ribs in January. I then dislocated several ribs end of Feb/begining March. The MD says that I tore the cartilage that secures the ribs...which is very slow to heal. So, I have been on restriction for the last 2 months. No twisting, lifting, driving, exercise....nothing that may aggravate or inflame my rib cage and it's supporting muscles. At first, I was in so much pain that it was fairly easy to comply. But, now that my muscles are calming down and I can move easier...and the weather is gorgeous...I am finding it harder to stay down. As of last week, I am now allowed to take walks :) The natural consequence of this restriction is that Jan has had to pick up my load...driving the kids and I to MDs, therapy, groceries etc. It has been chaotic!! I am doing much better, and following the rules....so hopefully, I will be allowed to resume driving and light exercise soon.

The weather here has been gorgeous!! 60's & 70's most days with occasional rain or snow (but it doesn't stick). It was 79 F Sunday, light breeze, perfect!!! We've been able to open the windows and doors. I am just dying to go riding!!!

We have had a large pile of wood, scraps and brush in our upper pasture area since we purchased the property. We have added to it over the winter and spring as we try to clean out some of the dead trees, brush etc on our property. Well, burning season has arrived and so, we burned our pile on Sunday. We also burned some of the tall dead grass/weeds in our pasture so that the new grass could grow easier. It was scary fun. I was allowed to man the hose!! It was great fun and soooo HOT!! Who knew fire would put off such heat :) We still need to burn the dead debris along our side of Spring Hill Dr. and haul our smaller piles up for burning. We also need to get a metal detector to get all the wire, nails, screws and other crap that the previous owner dumped into the pile when "cleaning up" the property to sell. Realistically, we have a couple of years of work to get the property into shape. But, we are very excited about the potential and are enjoying the work.

Whew! I finally finished the taxes...74 pages via Turbo Tax. What a bunch of work that was!! Thank goodness I had Davie to help with some of the more confusing issues (like rental property depreciation schedules :) Thank You Davie!!!!

My mom was laid off last week. She has been a well respected Title Officer in Vegas for decades and loyal to her company. However, the housing and general economy being as it is, all the title companies are downsizing and out sourcing to India. No one is hiring; nor planning to in the next year or so. As she is will not be able to afford to live in Vegas without her job, she has decided to rent her home in Vegas and move into one of the apartments at Tammy's house (in Montana). It is a win/win for Tammy and for Mom, and I support the idea wholeheartedly :) (At least as a starting point). She is tentatively planning to load the Uhaul and head up the end of May (next month).

Auri's activities, grades and phone issues :)

Auri has been keeping excessively busy. She tried out for MCT's Suessical production along with 75 other kids for a total of 5 roles....tough competition!! She was quite disappointed with her audition performance, as she feels she did not do her best (she was VERY nervous). She is still taking voice lessons, but has finished dance for now. She is currently helping the school track team as a manager. As a manager she goes to all the practices and meets....basically after school everyday til 6pm and some Saturdays. She travels to the games with them. However, I have forbidden her to miss school on chemistry days, as that class is very hard and she missed so much last quarter that it really effected her grade. I am such a mean mother :)

Auri is currently out of town with the school band/choir. They are traveling to Washington to perform in a music festival and work with a well know director there, as well as making several stops along the way to perform at local venues. She will return Sunday night, and has a choir concert at FHS on Monday night.

I am proud of how well she is blossoming here in Frenchtown, but have had to remind her that school is top priority and she can not let her grades fall due to her social calendar. On that note, her grades are as follows:

Spanish 2 A
Geometry B+
World Hist. (H) B
Health A-
Choir A
Band A
English (H) A
Chemisrtry (H) C pleasure to have in class

In the 3 classes where she did not get A's, she had missing and late assignments (especially in Chemistry).


Auri and her phone.....the continuing saga. Auri has ruined another phone. She lost it at her friends last week and now none of the buttons work. So she can not make calls or read messages. I know that you are all aware of the frequency of this dilema. Jan and I refuse to buy another phone for her and I do not believe that her buying another phone is the answer either. So, I had a discussion with her about phones and personal responsibility. After much contemplation, she accepted her role in this problem and how she can avoid it in the future. She has decided to treat it like her ipod (which is always charged, working and on her person or in her purse). Her alternate choice is a kiddie phone with 4 preset numbers and no texting.... :) needless to say, she is not excited about this option :)

Jamie- MRI, NFT & school

MRI & meds


Jamie's repeat MRI was mid March. We went to the MD, 3/28/08 and received the results.... Good News!!! The MRI came back as very stable, next MRI in 2 years!! Yeah!! We also got Jamie's drug level (for his seizure med) which were very low...as he had not been taking them. Jamie was supposed to start this med in mid-January, but he didn't like the side effects and was afraid it would make his grades fall (he was very proud of his grades). The MD told us it may make him feel "foggy" and a bit mentally slow at the beginning til he adjusts. So, he stopped shortly after starting (without our knowledge). The MD made it very clear that Jamie needed to be on this med. So, after the MD explained it throughly, Jamie agreed with the need to take it and has been complaint since then.


NFT

Jamie is finally completed his series of NFT. Thank goodness!! We were all exhausted!! To finish up his series before the approved time ran out, he was also attending daily NFT (each session being like an extra full day of school for the brain). He had daily sessions Monday, 3/24/08, through Tuesday, 4/1/08.
We were so happy to be finished! He has one more CPT appt, 4/15. Then, we will follow up with the neurobehavioralist in May. When I asked jamie if he felt the NFT had helped him do better in his classes by having better focus and attention. He said, "not only in class!!! but with my friends too!!" He said it is easier to follow conversations and that he thinks more quickly. He states that he is better able to come back and be witty/funny. He seems very pleased.

School

Jamie did very well 3rd quarter (January-March). He had no referrals for behavior, no detentions, no complaints from teachers. As a matter of fact all of his teachers have mentioned his improvements and several of his teachers state that he is "a pleasure to have in class." He has been keeping all but his science grade at strong (A, B) levels most of the quarter (the first time he ever kept his grades elevated for longer then 1-2 weeks). I was therefore quite surprised when I noticed an abrupt falling of grades in several classes the last week or so of school. This directly coincided with Jamie starting a new med for seizures and daily NFT. I wrote to his teachers and learned he was indeed tired in school, laying his head on his desk. Here is an email I received from his math teacher (also study hall and lunch supervisor):

"From my view his grade and effort has been consistent in math all
quarter. He has days where he is a little more 'bouncy' than normal and
needs more assistance, but nothing that is intolerable. His final test
was done very well and that is consistent with the daily work he did
throughout the quarter.

On another note, I want you to know that I have gained a great amount of
respect for Jamie this quarter. I have discovered that he is a warm
hearted young man who really wants to do the right thing. He sometimes
gets caught up in the moment and will make mistakes or do things that he
knows are wrong, but when he does he does the right thing and apologizes
to people face-to-face and makes a concerted effort changes his
behavior."

Jamie's 3rd quarter grades were:
Learning Lab B
Woods C+ (79%) pleasure to have in class
Pre Algebra B+ (89%)
Kitchen Aid P (pass/fail class would have given an A+++ if possible)
English B+
Science F (missing assignments)
Health/PE A-
Traffic Ed F (pass/fail requires 80% to pass, Jamie has 78%...missing assignments)

missing assignments the last week of school dropped his grades in 4 classes. Such a bummer...leading into the last week of school, Jamie had 4 A's, 3 B's and a D (science).

fingers crossed

Running water, who knew how much we would come to appreciate running water :) It has been about 2 mo's since we had a functional well. After much speculation and testing of our well, we learned that our water table dropped, leaving our water level in the well at 81 ft. Unfortunately for us, our well was only 82 ft deep and the engine to run the pump was as low as it could go, and sucking air at 80 ft. We tried to lower our 30+ yr old well to make room to lower the pump, but, it failed :( leaving no option except digging a new well. Chuck, who dug our original well, is also digging our new well. His rig is a rusted out 1950's relic, not as speedy as the newer rigs, but on all accounts he is good at finding water and creating a good well. The weather has not been helpful. It has alternated between cold, snowy days and warm, muddy days. Neither of which are helpful in getting a vehicle up the slope from our well site.


On Monday, Chuck thought he may have found water at 85 ft (the table has continued to drop and probably will for another month or two til the mountains start to thaw). He had to go to Helena Tuesday. Weds he continued "drilling" to 110 ft and confirmed that we have water at 85-90 ft flowing at least 20 gallons a minute ( a very nice well), with 20 ft of storage (so as not to have the same problem in the future). Thursday, he never showed. Friday it was snowing heavily in the morning and we didn't expect to see him. However, he arrived late morning and started pumping out all the muddy water to clean out the well and make sure it wouldn't collapse. Jan was able to arrange for our neighbors and friends to come by fri night/sat morning and dig the 6ft hole we need to set the well apparatus in so it will not freeze. The Dunlaps, who have been allowing us to shower at their home and use their water for our horses and for in our home, will come by with their tractor to help haul out equip from our well area. The pump person (Bob) will be by to set the pump up late morning (ish) :) soooo, IF everything works out, fingers crossed, we may have water by Sat night!!

When asked what we are doing for Easter, Jan's response...."showering" :) Personally, I have been longing for a nice hot soak :) and am so ready to have water again.

Junior prom '08

As you can see in the previous post, Jamie went to the Junior Prom this year. Although he is only a freshman, he went with a Junior girl named Nikki. They had a great time! They went as a large group of friends to dinner then the dance. There is a tradition here called the grand march. Parents, family and friends all fill the bleachers, camera's ready, to see the participants be formally announced, stroll down the path in a spotlight and strike a pose for pictures before being seated. When all names have been announced, the parents, friends and guests leave the gym so that the dancing/partying may begin :) He looked so dashing and yet so like a my little boy..geesh they sure do grow up fast! The background music is Jan's pun regarding Jamie going with the older girl ;). The march was actually to modern pop music played quietly so as not to be heard over the announcer.

Auri almost went to Prom, however, the guy she wanted to go with was unable to attend as he would be out of town for the weekend. He did invite Auri to go with him, however, upon learning that it was a proselytizing activity for his christian church...she decided that she couldn't miss anymore school :)

Jamie Prom

Jamie looked pretty snazzy. Check it out.

Maid Marion's Maid

The Missoula Children's Theatre is world famous for traveling to various national and international cities and towns, large and small, and putting on a play within a week using local children (k-12). There is even a documentary about it called The Little Red Truck. They set a prearranged location (for us Frenchtown High School) and have try-outs (involving singing and acting); they choose which children will have which roles and start practicing right away (the same night for the larger roles)!!!!

This years MCT Frenchtown play is Robin Hood. Auri tried out Monday afternoon and has one of the top 5 roles :) She will be Maid Marion's Maid, who is much more interesting and has as many lines as maid marion (per Auri)!! So, she will be exceptionally busy this week, as if TAG, dance class, singing lesson, and pep band were not enough things to do in a week! She is so excited and states that the play is going to be so funny. She really shines as she describes her character and how she is going to portray her.

There will be 2 shows on Sat. I am not sure if they will be in our theatre or in at the Missoula Children Theatre, either way, it should be great!!! For those of you who are able to come up, you are more then welcome to stay here...just think of it as indoor camping :)