Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in starlitwishes' LiveJournal:

[ << Previous 20 ]

Thursday, May 21st, 2009
10:07 am	Update I realized I haven't updated this since I first talked about my 5 weeks in the hospital and paralysis. So I figured in case anyone might be interested I'd give an update. I've come a very long way since this first happened on 11-25-08. I've gone from not being able to do anything..including not being able to do simple things like roll over from my back to my side, sit up, scratch my own face, feed myself, dress myself, clean myself, take care of myself in the bathroom etc etc....to now being able to do most of those things somehow or another. Being completely dependent on others was very tough for me. I've never liked to ask for help...it's always made me very uncomfortable, I always felt like I was bothering people if I did something even simple like ask for the time. I sometimes wonder if this isn't one of the reasons God chose to put me through this ordeal....when you can't move and you suddenly have to be okay with asking strangers (hospital staff)to feed you, dress you, wipe your butt, change your maxi pad, wash you etc... Well I am still not a big fan of asking for help but suddenly asking for the time seems somehow easier. Like I said I've come a long way since my 5 weeks in the hospital, and even from my first month or so at home. For these things I am exceedingly grateful. Its taken a lot of time and work...I generally don't mind the work too much though...therapy reminds me a lot of my days on sports teams...so it was a good fit for me. In alot of ways they are similar not the least of which is the idea of the harder you work the better you get....I like that. I can walk fairly normally now, including doing most stairs. I still get tired more easily than I used to...but I'm working on that too. ?My mid section is still fairly numb but the muscles are working close to normal now with both movement and strength (though I still sneeze like a mouse). My right arm moves fairly normally now and has gotten a fair amount of strength back. My right hand has some movement (though far from normal)but it has little strength. I am hoping it will improve more...I'd think any additional movement or strength would make life quite a lot easier. My left shoulder & back are starting to get stronger. My left tricept seems to have a tiny bit of movement now, though no strength. (For the record when I say it has no strength that generally means I can't even hold it/move it against gravity.) My wrists moves a little now with some limited strength....but my left hand remains completely paralyzed with no sign of improvement. I fear that it won't get any better. I oscillate between being exceedingly grateful because I have improved much more than most people thought I would....and being very frustrated. I'm grateful I can feed myself (though I can't cut my own food which is kind of embarrassing), I can take care of cleaning myself, I can even shave my own legs for the most part...though my husband still has to help with my under arms...which is of course even more embarrassing than asking him to cut my meat along with our 3 year old. I can dress myself with the exception of buttons, zippers, and bra clasps. I am loving the warm weather so I don't have to get in line with my 3 yr old to have my shoes tied...God bless the flip-flops! I've even started doing some cooking again, though it is painfully frustrating most times. I try to remember that I am grateful to be able to do it at all, even though it takes me more than triple the amount of time it used to. I am really missing doing my turnbullcreations business(wreaths, wedding favors, brooms etc)...my husband keeps telling me he can help me get back to it....but I hate to add another thing to his plate. The worst part of it all is that live with the constant fear that this will happen again. Since they can't tell me for sure what caused it, they can't tell me whether or not it will happen again. So every time I get a pain near my back or neck I am terrified. Being constantly afraid that you will once again wake-up paralyzed is no way to live life, let me tell ya! I guess all I can do is pray and hope I've learned all the lessons God was trying to teach me and that He'll bless me with good health from here on out. Speaking of health I've officially lost 32 pounds now....which is a nice little side effect of eating being a pain in the butt! When this all happened hubby and I were trying for our (likely last) baby. Obviously I didn't get pregnant, which is good...wouldn't wanna be pregnant while going through that! But it is currently killin' me because I really want another child. I am hoping I improve enough soon that we can revisit that idea. My next grand adventure (most likely this weekend) is figuring out if I can drive. Shuttling the kids around this summer depends on it, so keep your fingers crossed for me....all you lucky people who can still cross your fingers!! ;) And yeah for what it is worth I find myself watching people use their hands for everyday tasks...and find myself wondering if they have any idea how lucky they are to be able to effortlessly do those things. So anyway that is where I am at....hope you all are doing well! (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, January 19th, 2009
10:21 am	My 5 week hospital stay and paralysis As some of you already know on 11-25-08 I woke up with a pain in my back, within 30 minutes my hands, arms, and torso lost feeling and the ability to move. Shortly thereafter while in the ER I lost the ability to walk and sit up. After many many test, many doctors and stays at 3 different hospitals they are still unable to tell me exactly what caused this or if it will happen again. All we know is that I had sever swelling starting at my c-5 vertebra, a small amount of bleeding, and several spinal cord lesions. They are not able to tell me how much of my damage will be permanent. But after 5 plus weeks in the hospital and lots of hard core rehabilitation I am now able to sit up and walk on my own (though i get tired very quickly)...my right arm has regained its movement and some of its strength. My right hand has regained some very limited movement but no strength. Left triceps still has little or no movement, and the left hand is still completely paralyzed. One of the weirdest parts of this is that I can not feel temperature below my shoulders...in extreme temps I can feel pain to alert me to an issue...but I can't tell you if hot or cold is causing it. I've actually had to ask my husband or kids to touch my feet to tell me if they are hot or cold so I could know what to do to try to relieve the pain. People keep telling me how lucky i am i can walk...and that my hand paralysis is not that big a deal in the grand scheme. Now don't get me wrong...I am eternally thankful for having the use of my legs. I literally thank God everyday for it. But losing the use of you hands is no small issue. my therapists all say hand issues are far more difficult to live with. The world has an understanding of wheel chairs and made accommodations for them. Not so much for people with hand issues. Plus i can't tell you how many times i've tried to explain to someone that i can't do x,y,or z because I can't move my hands and they say "just try" or "just do the best you can". Would you tell someone in a wheel chair to just try to walk? or sit them in front of a flight if stairs and say "just do the best you can"? And lets talk about all the things I can't do...open most doors, clean/wash myself, go to the bathroom by myself efficiently, clean myself after a bathroom trip, cut my own food (feeding myself is a recently learned trick), cook, clean, run my business, change a diaper, put on my own bra, write, hold a hand rail, drive, brush my hair, etc, etc etc. I am very grateful i can walk...but my hands are a big deal. My husband is a saint. All those things I can't do for myself and my kids he does for us. Plus works and takes me to therapy, and the twins to swimming etc etc. I feel so terrible that currently there is nothing i can do to help. He never complains...though I know he is waaaay stressed...like i said..saint. (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, November 5th, 2008
12:19 pm	Halloween 2008 (Comment on this)
Tuesday, September 9th, 2008
11:07 am	Your results: You are An Expendable Character (Redshirt) An Expendable Character (Redshirt) 90% Spock 89% Beverly Crusher 75% Geordi LaForge 65% Leonard McCoy (Bones) 50% Deanna Troi 50% Data 46% Worf 45% James T. Kirk (Captain) 40% Chekov 35% Will Riker 35% Jean-Luc Picard 30% Mr. Scott 20% Uhura 15% Mr. Sulu 5% Since your accomplishments are seldom noticed, and you are rarely thought of, you are expendable. That doesn't mean your job isn't important but if you were in Star Trek you would be killed off in the first episode you appeared in. Click here to take the "Which Star Trek character are you?" quiz... (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, August 6th, 2008
12:20 am	Championships So the twins had their last swim meet of the summer this past weekend. It was their Rec League championships. As expected they did very well. Hope took 4th in the 100 free knocking like 4 seconds off her previous best time!! She also got a second place in a relay, and improved her IM time by like 3 seconds, earning her 8th place. I was a little annoyed that they put her in the IM instead of the 50 free or the 50 back as she would have easily placed in the top 3 of either of those and likely would have won...and they didn't even really have anyone else in those events from our team either. I can never tell what those coaches are thinking....my guess is that they don't think much about it at all. Anyway...Will got 2 firsts and 2 seconds. Again those seconds would have been firsts if they had put him in any events other than what they did...(IM and Fly are not his best events, but they always put him in those because no one else on the team even comes close to swimming them well...so in their eyes Will is great at them). But it was okay...it made him focus on some of his weaknesses during the season and improve. He and one other kid in the league (the guy who beat him...nicked named "Butterfly Boy") were head and shoulders above the rest of the field. And it was really nice to see that he and Will got along really well outside of the pool. They were talking and laughing before and after each race. I was a little pissed though. In one of their relay's Will's team was the second seed..."Butterfly Boy's" team was the first seed. It was an AMAZING race. Both teams were far ahead of the rest of the field, in a close race with each other. When the anchor of Will's team got in he was about a body length behind. He swam an amazing leg, and ended up beating "butterfly boy's" team by this |------------------| much. Both the first and second team were out of the pool cheering and congratulating each other before the third place team finished (Thats how far ahead they both were). Will's team got the heat ribbon...meaning they wont he race. So what am I pissed about you ask? Well the results get posted and they claim that Will's team not only didn't win the race...but they came in 3rd place!! FOURTEEN SECONDS behind first place (The team that actually came in 3rd) and 8 seconds behind Butterfly boy's team. Mind you there wasn't even 8 TENTHS of a second between those two teams. Clearly the timing system that they had been having fits with all day had malfunctioned again. So I pointed the problem out to one of our coaches, and he was very upset, because he (and others) remembered that race very clearly because it was so exciting. He argued with the officials...and they kept saying that "well that is what we have in the computer"...Grrrr. Ask anyone in the stands...they will tell you how wrong the computer is. I guess the coach pointed out that their infallible computer also put one of our swimmers in 4th place incorrectly....you see it would have been hard for her to take 4th WHEN SHE DIDN'T EVEN COME TO THE MEET! Funny thing is they held Champs at the same facility last year with the same crappy timing system...and Will swam the backstroke in another close race between 1st and 2nd..where he just out touched second place...and 1st and 2nd were more than a body length ahead of 3rd....results then were posted and they had Will in 3rd. Not a freakin chance that could have been right! But all in all it was a most excellent meet for the twins...the crappy timing system not withstanding. Now we all get a break from swimming until the end of September when fall/winter season starts up again. (Comment on this)
Friday, July 25th, 2008
1:44 pm	Will comes home from summer camp today and I can not wait! We saw him at parents night on Wednesday, and he was having a great time...and thats great! But I still miss him...so i am happy he is coming home soon. Don't know what I will do when he and his sister go off to college in a few years! yikes! Took him out on Tuesday for a swim meet. Both he and Hope did really well. Will won all 4 of his events quite impressively, and Hope took two second places and one third. Below are some pictures of the swim meet. It may look like I favored Will over Hope in the picture taking...but I didn't, Hope swam all freestyle at this meet, which does not make for good pictures. If you can't see the pictures just click on the square and they should open up for you. (Comment on this)
Thursday, July 17th, 2008
11:51 am	Facebook I've created a Facebook page...which is really cool because I've found a fewq HS friends that I've been wanting to catch up with. My friends list on there could use some fattening up though, so if anyone wants to be on my friends list there too just let me know, or just look up Becky Turnbull. Hope you all are having a great day....mine has been good so far...way too hot, but good nonetheless. (Comment on this)
Thursday, July 10th, 2008
10:35 am	People who Piss Me off! There are a lot of them...but this morning's winner was a 12 year old kid. The twins swim on two swim teams. A USA long course serious team, and a Rec league team which is not nearly as serious. Because they swim on more serious teams throughout the year they know how to have and take care of their equipment properly. Many of the other kids on the rec team do not. Like other days before rec practice I ask the twins "Got your caps, goggles, towels?"...and they say yes. Today Will goes to get in the water and tells me "Mom I know I had my goggles but now they are not in my bag". Me knowing my son is a bit scatter brained I figure they are in the car....so I told him to go ahead and swim and I would track them down. I tear apart my car...and his other swimming bag...all his other stuff was there, kick boards,leg bowie (sp??), flippers etc etc...but no goggles. So I start to get pissed at Will that he lost an expensive pair of goggles. I consider going home to see if they were there, knowing the chlorine tends to really irritate his eyes, but I was too annoyed at Will for forgetting his goggles even after I reminded him...so I decided his eyes could just get irritated. So he swims goggle-less...except when he can con his sister into letting him wear hers for a bit. Practice ends, and some kid from Will's practice group comes over and drops a pair of goggles on the ground that look suspiciously like my son's...which are somewhat unique, especially on this team. But I had not proof so I didn't say anything...then he leaves them on the deck and his friend says "Don't forget your goggles" and he says.."Those aren't mine, I just found them"....GRRR! That was it....little ol' me who doesn't usually say anything to anyone popped up and snatched them from in front of the kid. Told him that those were my son's, and in the future he shouldn't take things that aren't his. He looked like deer in the headlights, and said he didn't know whose they were....and I pointed out that Perhaps them being in SOMEONE ELSE'S BAG should have been his first clue that they were someone else's, and not just random equipment left laying about for his convenience! So my son's eyes are all irritated now...while this kid wore his goggles...and this kid is such a poor swimmer he doesn't even put his face the water half the dang time. Man oh man, and to think I almost drove across town, to tear Will's room apart, where I wouldn't have found them anyway. Funny thing is, they ran races at the end of practice, and this kid just so happened to swim against Will on every stroke...and Will beat him every time by over half a lap....even while the other kid wore his goggles. I don't know why I am surprised someone would do this though...it is typical crap from this area. I guess part of me is surprised that the kid didn't claim them as his own at the end of practice too. My guess is that he was nervous because he saw me watching him and eying up the goggles, after I had made a big deal with Will having gone out to the car to look for them. I hate this town, I really do. (Comment on this)
Tuesday, July 8th, 2008
10:30 am	Best 4th of July Ever! We had the best Fourth of July!! If you are not seeing the above pictures, but would like to, just click on the little square and they should come up for you. Usually most holidays are spent either trying to get some people together for a nice little picnic or whatever at our house, or we are traveling all over creation attending events that we would usually rather not. Basically we usually allow others to control our day....not this time though! Earlier in the week, I had been a little bummed because I wasn't sure what we were going to do with our holiday...kinda wanted to have a to-do, but didn't want to deal with the inevidable drama that comes with dealing with friends and family. Then it dawned on me...this is on of the reasons why Keith and I want a big family...so we can have "big" parties of our own. So I started planning "Turnbull Family Fun Day". So for the 4th we started with going to the parade in the morning. Then when we got home we started getting ready for our fun day. We decorated some, did some cooking, made a flag cake, that turned out just perfect! Etc etc....we had lunch which consisted of Dad's famous burgers, fruit salad, baked beans, potato salad, and fresh squeezed lemonade. Ate outside (which I usually hate, but the kids love). Then it was off to the T-Games (so named by Will). The included relay races, water games, patriotic games, etc etc. The hit of the day was where I duct taped crape paper to everyone's back, gave everyone a spray bottle, and set everyone off to drench everyone else....object of the game was to wet the crape paper enough to make it fall off...the one with the most paper left on their back won...and of course dad won. I'd of had a chance but half way though I blew out a flip-flop...and the husband has no problem attacking when someone is down! heh Then it was time to start on dinner. Will requested Steaks, and so it was. Will even made mashed potatoes to go with it all by himself...he also managed to get outside long enough to learn how to grill the steaks. Meanwhile I made cornbread (from scratch!), corn on the cob, and various other goodies. After dinner we did some poppers, and sparklers, and it was finally time to sit down and rest and have some of the famous flag cake. The rest of the weekend was full of good food, games, and even a Turnbull family Casino night, (which Hope won). All in all it was a pretty darn goo weekend! And now, from hence forth is has been decreed that this is now a tradition and every July 4th will be a Turnbull family fun day! (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, May 21st, 2008
2:31 pm	I can't believe I haven't updated this thing since January.  I read my friends list several times a week, but I guess I've just not been all that inspired to post recently.    Some new stuff in the Turnbull house.    I've started homeschooling the kids.  I never thought I would say that.  I used to be one of those people who thought homeschoolers were just crazy.  And some of them are.  But I am now understanding where the sane ones are coming from.  I just couldn't stand that school anymore.  My list of complaint is long and it is not in me to go into full on rant mode today about it...I am sure sometimes soon I will though.  But for now I'll say that I am homeschooling Keith (4 yrs old) and Will and Hope (5th grade) and so far it is going really well.  I will continue to do this until either the twins are in 7th grade, or we move out of this God forsaken town. We are gearing up for summer...which is always exciting.  Twins will be on two swim teams.  Which means 2- 3 days a week I will have to drive them to Akron University for USA long course practice.  Which is a stretch for me...I usually avoid driving on the freeway like the plague...but it is good for the kids.  The other days of the week they will be practicing with the local rec team.  They are also going to a swim camp for a week..and Will is going to Boy Scout summer camp.  No baseball or softall this year though.  We just couldn't face another season with the Bedford Rec.  It will be nice to not spend every single evening of the summer at a baseball diamond.  I will also continue to home school the kids during the summer.  It is really the only way I see to get them caught up on things to my standard.  That school they were in taught them crap!   Turnbull Creations is doing well.  Wedding Season is always fun.  I've even managed to get some new products out.  Check it out is you re bored www.TrunbullCreations.com Ummm...let's see....I think that is all for now.  Hopefully I will be updating a bit more frequently again...and hopefully not always with run of the mill boring everyday stuff like this. (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, January 14th, 2008
1:23 pm	Updates Been busy lately, so I've been neglecting my journal writing.  So I am going to make an update.. *  Kids had a swim meet yesterday.  They did pretty well.  Will won his first medal of the year.  he and his relay took 3rd in the 200 Medaly relay.  Will had an fantastic swim, he anchored with the free, and he swam his best time of the year so far.  Very exciting stuff.  Hope also got her first heat ribbon.  There are TONS of girls in her age group, so getting place ribbons is tough.  So she was really thrilled with the hear ribbon for her 50 back. * Got the Christmas Tree down this weekend, thus leaving my record of laziness in tact.  Worst I've ever been was when the twins were about 2 years old and I left the tree up until March.   I could use all the excuses, single mom of 2 year old twins, putting myself through school, yadda yadda...but the bottom line was I was just too lazy to take it down that year.  I did get it down before Easter though!  Course last year I left the winter village out until September..taking it down just in time for Luke's Bday party.  I'm on the ball this year though. the villiage didn't go up until Christmas Eve, and it was down before New Years.  It came down so far because Keith and Luke had decided it was a good town for their action figures to try and take over.  Last thing my Christmas village needs is Bobba Fet and Yoda hanging out in the the town Chapel. *  Christmas was hectic and crazy as predicted. But we managed to squeeze everything in we wanted to do this year.  I just wish family was a little more understanding and respectful of the fact that we in our selves are a family too, who want and deserve some family time of our own around Christmas.  Having Christmas be a mad dash from place to place dragging 4 kids behind us is really exhausting, and doesn't leave much time for our own traditions.  And even with doing all that, people were still not happy, since we didn't live up to their every whim. Heck I made dinner for the whole family on Xmas eve, at my uncle's house (which I hate doing), and not a single person (other than my husband) even thanked me for my effort, or offered an ounce of help.  All this running around and trying to be everything to everyone really knocked the Christmas spirit out of Keith and I, which is a shame because it is generally our favorite time of year.  Next year I think we will make some stringent boundaries on all sides to leave more room for our own not-so-little family. *  Keith and I had our 5th Wedding Anniversary on Dec. 27th.  We celebrated by attending Will and Hope's swim camp, then going to dinner at Bahamma Breeze.  Keith wanted to take me to a movie during the swim camp, but I wanted to stay and watch, so we ended up going to the movie the next day.   It has been a most excellent 5 years.   * Keith got our old Xbox modified so that it is connected to our computer somehow or another..and now we use it to watch movies.  He is currently working on putting all of our DVDs onto a hard drive so that we can watch them through the Xbox.  It is actually really cool because first of all the kids destroy our DVD's like it is their job...so this solves that problem.  Plus anytime we want to watch anything all we need is the remote...no more hunting for a DVD and hoping it is not too scratched up to watch.  I've most recently have been re-watching the first season of Lost.  That is such a good show!!!  I forgot how much I loved the first season!  And it is so much more enjoyable to watch when you don't have to wait weeks or months between episodes. *  I've been seriously considering Homeschooling the twins next year unless we are able to move before next school year starts.  The schools are driving me batty.  And they are NOT teaching them what I think they should need to know. For example, 5th grade you are supposed to do American History.  I remember when I was in 5th grade I LOVED the american history we got.  My kids aren't learning anything!  They haven't gotten past the first explorers and Indians in American history yet.    They have a progress book thing where you can look up the kids assingments on line.  My son has gotten exactly ONE 10 point assignment in social studies the entire second quarter.  Are you kidding me?  What crap!  At very least I am currently looking for a history text book, and i will teach it to them myself  starting when swimming is over.  We will see how that goes, and then I will make my decision on homeschooling all the subjects next year.     Little Keith is all excited about it too, because we are going to set up a little classroom in the basement and I am going to have "school" with him an hour or two each day. He is on our butts to finish up the school everyday.   Well i think that is all...now I am off to plan a Cub Scout meeting. (Comment on this)
Thursday, January 10th, 2008
12:07 pm	2007 in Review My year in review...a little late. Please forgive the crazy ass formating.   I'm not sure what happened there. Year in Review 1. What did you do in 2007 that you’d never done before? Had a team I coached win a championship 2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? * Not as much as I would have liked I don't have much in the way of resolutions this year. Some goals, but not really resolutions. 3. Did anyone close to you give birth? My neice Jenna was born. 4. Did anyone close to you die? Thankfully no one close to me died. 5. What countries did you visit? None 6. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007?  * A new house in a better town. *A more organized house. *Either more respect from my mother, or an additional bedroom available in my house that she has vacated. 7. What date(s) from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? No specific dates...but some events.. * The girls softball team winning their championship. * Will winning virtually every race he swam during the summer season. 8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? *Getting my credit score back to something somewhat respectable. 9. What was your biggest failure? *Not getting the house organized and cleaned as much as I need to. 10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Fortunatly nothing serious. 11. What was the best thing you bought? *New Stove 12. Whose behavior merited celebration? * My husband, for being the kind, loving, caring, hard working man that he is.  *My husband for being a great dad to all the kids. *Hope for reading the entire Harry Potter Series in near record time. *Will for getting his grade in school back up inspite of his idiot teacher. And fro having an outstanding year in swimming, *Keith & Luke for just being so darn cute. 13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? *Whiney self centered people. *My mother for not working a single day this year. *My mother for constantly lying, and blatently breaking our rules. * Keith's job for expecting way too much from him (he still delivers quite impressivly, but it is terribly unfair to ask it of him) *Will's teacher for being a lazy bitch and a terrible teacher. * The City fo Bedford, for pissing me off so much as a whole that I can't wait to move to a new town. 14. Where did most of your money go? Bills, Bills, Bills 15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? *The twins sports. * Moving * The idea of homeschooling..for a little while at least. * Our new Web-business ideas. 16. What song will always remind you of 2007? That “I'm so much cooler on-line” song...it cracks me up. 17. Compared to this time last year, are you: happier or sadder? - Happier thinner or fatter? - about the same richer or poorer? - Richer - WOHOO! 18. What do you wish you’d done more of? *Working out *Working on the house *Cleaning 19. What do you wish you’d done less of? Procrastinating on things that really needed to be done. 20. How will you be spending Christmas? Christmas Eve with my side of the family, and Christmas Day with Keith's 21. What did you grow tired of in 2007? * My mother's laziness, bad attitude, and lying. * Extended family trying to manipulate my husband and I into doing crap we don't want to do. * The twin's not listening to what I tell them to do. * The twins getting attitude with me when I tell them to do something (like take a shower, Take our the garbage...etc etc. * My town getting more and more Ghetto by the minute. 22. Did you fall in love in 2005? I fall more in love with my husband every year. 23. How many one-night stands? None! 24. What was your favorite TV program? Can't name just one... * Lost * Big Bang Theory * Jericho 25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? I don't know if I'd say hate...but I really dislike Will's teacher. 26. What was the best book you read? The 7th Harry Potter Book 27. What was your greatest musical discovery? Not sure 28. What did you want and get?  * New Pinewood Derby Track for the Cub Scouts * A thing so we can transfer all our DVD's onto a hard drive. * Psycho Cub Scout Bitch out of the Pack * Furniture for the living room * The twins on a good fall/winter swim team 29. What did you want and not get? * More work on the house done. 30. What was your favorite film of this year? I can't think of all the movies I saw this year but I did see some good movies like.. - National Treasure II - I am Legend -Harry Potter 5 31.What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I was 32 and I don't think I did anything.. 32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? My mother acting like an adult. 33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2006? If it fit I wore it. 34. What kept you sane? My husband 35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? No one really. Though I could tell you who I fancied the least. 36. What political issue stirred you the most? Seeing the wretched hide of scum and villainry that are running for president. Good Lord, you'd think you could find one person worth there weight in shit. Course any of them are better than Obama and Hillary!! Bleck!! 37. Who did you miss? * Michelle 38. Who was the best new person you met? Not really a person...but the twins' new swim team has lots of really nice people on it. 39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007. * not sure that I had any huge “Aha” moments this year. (Comment on this)
Thursday, December 13th, 2007
1:33 am	Boys... So the twins were at swim team practice today.  Wednesdays is the day they have the coach that everyone loves.  He is the area's HS coach, and he works the kids really hard and expects alot of them, but the kids also react very well to it. Well today at the end of practice he was noticing that lots of kids were coughing and looking like they had colds etc.  So picture it...this very large man with a booming voice is lecturing the team about how they have to take care of themselves, and how swimmers are especially susceptible to illness because they are walking around with wet heads in the winter etc  etc...and he is talking at length about how to take care of themselves, and it is their responsibility to take precautions so they don't find themselves sick on the day of the big meet....etc etc   Now look down if you will to the lane that my son is in full of boys age 9-12 years old.  Who are spitting pool water at each other...and my son opens his mouth to talk...and the stream of water from on boys mouth lands square into my son's mouth.   Ummm yeah...I hate to break it to Coach Peter, but washing hands and wearing hats are probably not the only things these kids need to worry about when they are looking to stay healthy.   Boys....*shakes head* (Comment on this)
Thursday, November 1st, 2007
11:16 am	Halloween Halloween was fun.  We did trick or treating.  Will was a Steelers player (and was suffered a lot of good natured harassment from Browns fans for it).  Hope was a Ghost (only non-slutty costume I could find her).  Keith was Clifford, and Luke was Mickey Mouse. After trick or treating I provided the family with a Halloween feast, complete with all halloween themed foods including Mummy Hotdogs Pumpkina and Ghost shaped Taco Tarts Spooky Mac and Cheese Wtiches Brew Red Punch with ice in the shape of a green hand and a teddy bear grave yard jello cake thing. I think this is the first Halloween we weren't running completely behind on everything. Keith Luke and I worked on stuff all day, and had a blast.  The twins came home from  school to find the dining room decorated. Anyway you can see picture of the kids in their costumes on my myspace page www.myspace.com/starlitiwshes (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Friday, October 26th, 2007
12:17 pm	TV Star I forgot to post the most exciting part of whats been going on.   Hope was chosen as one of the "exceptional" 5th graders in the school district to go on the local morning news to play a version of "Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader".   She was completely adorable! (Comment on this)
10:11 am	Remember me... Long time no post. Well it has been busy around the Turnbull house as of late.  I figured I would post a few snippets about whats been going on here. *  We signed the kids up for a swim team in Cuyahoga Falls.  Which means driving the to a practice that is about 30-40 minutes away 5 days a week.   Looks like they are getting some good coaching though, so it seems like it is worth it.   If nothing else they are getting plenty of exercise! *  We coached Will' s football team this year.  It did not go very well at all.  A lot of the kids have really bad attitudes, as do the parents.  The kids won't do what we tell them to.  Most of the time they won't come to practice...and then they wonder why we haven't won a game yet.  Last week of the season is tomorrow.   They get to play on the High School field, which Will is very excited about.  So hopefully that will go well.   I doubt it though.  All i do know is that we will not, under any circumstances be playing football in this town again next year. * We've also decided that our goal is to put the house up for sale by early next year.  Feb/March, if not earlier.   Orginally we were going to stick it out for at least one more year...but the people in this town just drive me freakin' batty.   Not to mention we've already started butting heads with lazy teachers again this year.   I am ready to choke Will's teacher. *  We've also been doing cub Scouts again of course.  This is Will's last year as a cub scout....hard to believe he is so old already!  In scout news, two of the moms that I could not stand, including the famed Psycho Cub Scout Bitch, have trnasfered to other packs.   So that is great news....bad news is Psycho Cub Scout bitch apparently has moved to the town we are hoping to move to.  Why do I have a feeling that she will find a way to annoy me even in a new town!   Oh wait she already has...she called me yesterday morning and was bitching at me.  Shocking I know.   In other cub scout news we are selling popcorn.   Anyone wanna buy some? *  I was really sick recently.  Normally I don't go to a doctor unless I am pregnant.  Matter of fact I can't remember the last sick visit to a doctor I had...so long ago I don't even have a primary care doctor...unless you count my old room mate who is currently starting her residency, who I get free advice from every now and again.   Anwyay...I had sore throat and nasty cough and fever for like a week and a half.  I kept hoping it would just go away.  Then I had to go to a Cub scout thing where I was supposed to give a talk on Boy Behavior for leaders.  I went but Keith had to do the talking for me.  Before we left I noticed I had a rash on my legs...not having time to deal with it I just ignored it, and went on out to my meeting.  Got home and the rash was gone...sweet!  Laid down and within 30 minutes I broke out in the same rash everywhere, and even my tongue and throat started to swell.  My throat swelled enough that I couldn't talk at all...but not enough to effect my breathing.   Not wanting to make Keith sit up with me all night at the emergency room..I did my best to suck it up....I didn't get much sleep because part of me was afraid to go to sleep in case my throat closed more...I'd hate to wake up dead. So by the time keith got up for work at 4:30am...I'd had it...the rash was worse...and although my throat came down enough I could talk again..>I was positivly miserable.  So keith said he would go in for a couple of hours, then come home to take the kids to school (I usually drive them), then he would take me to a doctor.  So I ended up going to the emergency room, full well thinking they would think i was a hypocondriac for coming in.  Next thing I know I end up with and IV, and a doctor convinced that I had pnemonia.   As it turned out I didn't.  he has no explanation for the rash...but eventually sent me on my way with antibiotics, and steroids.   I took the antibiotics, and decided against the steroids.  By that time my rash was mostly gone...and it was well into the afternoon...so Keith and I decided to grab something to eat...next thing I knew I could barely walk becasue my feet broke out in the rash..including the soles of my feet...my lips swelled up....I was completely  miserable again.   So we got some benadryl which eventually took care of the rash...and I took my antibiotics...and I am feeling much better now, more than a week later.  Though still not completely back to my old self.    Being sick really sucked though.  I got sooo behind on everything.  My poor family was darn near completely out of clean clothes...my husband had to take to doing his own work laundry.  They ate entirely too much fast food while i was too sick to cook.  And the house looks like a bomb hit it.   Course that is not all that unusual.    But on the bright side I made a kick ass meal yesterday...and i did about 6 loads of laundry...and I am doing more today.  So I am starting to get caught back up on stuff.   Well that is about all for now speaking of getting caught back up.  I've got lots of ideas I want to write about...but for the moment this will have to do. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Monday, August 6th, 2007
11:26 am	Turnbull Champions So the summer sports seasons have come to an end in impressive fashion.  Swimming:      Will dominated the pool this year.  He was undefeated in the backstroke and freestyle this year in the regular season. Bloeing away his competition over and over again.  This weekend was the league championship, and he continued his domination.  He won his freestyle event handily, beating the next closest racer by 2 seconds (which is a lot considering it was only a 25 meter race).              The backstroke event was full of drama .  They did not ahve starting blocks there (why the league championships were allowed to be held there is beyond me).  But bottom line was he had to start with his hands int he gutter below water level (not good).  He tried to do a proper start anyway and slipped at the start....putting him in last place a quarter of the way through the race.  He swam hard and came back, and finished in what looked to me to be first place.  It was a very close finish between first and second. Then the officials starting yelling "who won, who won??" and messing with the timing system.  The timing system had malfunctioned for the bazllionth time that day, and apparently it was not timed correctly.  Somehow my son ended up in third place, and they claimed someone in the pool swam 3 seconds faster than him....ummmm NO, that didn't happen.  Then they claimed another kid edged him out by 0.22 seconds.  Maybe, but I REALLY don't think so.  Interestingly, a kid from the home team managed to "beat" him.   Everyone I've talked to was shocked by the so called result.  So far as I am concerned my kid won that race.  If only they had had starting bocks there wouldn't have even been a doubt.  Oh well.       I've had several people (some people I don't even know) come up to me and talking about what an amazing swimmer Will is.  I must admit it makes me grin.       Hope also had a good season.  Though it was a little frustrating because her best event is the freestyle, and she was by far the best freestyler on the girls team in her age group...but the coaches kept putting her in fly and breast....whcih she is good at but not outstanding.  But she did well this year...I very proud of her! Baseball/ Softball:         Keith and I coached both softball and baseball this year.  Hope's team was amazing this year!   Hope played pitcher and 3rd base.  She was also one of the top hitters on the team.  The team ended up winning the league for the regular season and we also won the championship tournament at the end of the season.   In the championship game we mercied the other team in the minimum number of innings!!  They just dominated throughout the reason!  Hope is going to be a most excellent softball player!       Will's team struggled some.  He was moved up to the next age division up just before the season started.  And it took us a while to get our whole team together.  The improved a lot though over the course of the season, and it was a lot of fun to see them play. Now it is time to get ready for football season, and to figure out where Will and Hope will swim for the indoor season. (Comment on this)
Wednesday, June 27th, 2007
11:42 am	Summer Update So it has been quite a while since I've posted in here.  Lots has been going on...so here is the Cliff Notes version of my life recently.   Sports:     Keith and I are coaching both Hope's softball team and Will's baseball team this year.  It is fun for the most part. although it means we are coaching an average of 7 games a week, which get tiring.  But...the kids like it, and we like to coach so its all good.     Twins are also on the swim team again...and Keith has started taking his first swim lessons!!!  He is so freakin cute!! Attack of the Racoons     We've been battling racoon for the last several months.  First they hit our garbage, then they invaded our garge, now recently they started breaking out our basement windows and sentting up camp down there.    The other morning we woke up to find at least 3 racoons, a chipmunk, and probably some mice in the basement.  Maybe they will base the next disney movie off of our basement, since the only thing that seemed to be missing was the sketch artist from Pixar.     I thnk we have them beat now...after breaking out no less than 3 windows we finally figured out we had to board them all up until we can afford to put block glass in all of them.  Now they seem to be attacking the neighbor's basement.  He's caught 3 of them so far.   Business:     TurnbullCreations is really taking off this year.  Keith updated my website for me and put a better ordering system in, and it seems like it is realyl helping bring more orders in.  It is all very exciting!     I am also very excited that it looks like Keith and I will be going into busienss with my old college roomate/best friend on a new web based business.  I'm not sure how successful it will be, but it certainly does have some great potential!   Annoying Parents:        I'll tell ya what, working with kids is great.  But is never ceases to amaze me how annoying parents can be.  Take for example the mother we dealt with last night.  We had an 8:00 softball game.  At around 7:00 as we were getting ready to walk out the door (nomrally we would have already left but we were running a bit behind) one of our players calls and says her mom didn't wash her uniform shirt, can she wear something else.   Keith explains that you ahve to wear your unform in order to play.   So that was that....few minutes later the kid's mother calls demanding to know why she had to wear the uniform (ummm it is the rules)...then the mother examplain that she hadn't washed the unifom since the last time she was at a game (last Thursdays, this was TUesday) so she either needs us to bring her a brand new shirt to wear, or else she isn't going to come, and will make the team forfeit.   Keith tells her we don't really have time to track down another shirt for her, but she can just wear it dirty this one time.   (It is not like this kid gets very dirty anyway...she basically jsut stands there).  The mother gets an attitute with him saying that HER child CAN NOT wear a dirty shirt she may have sweated in previously...she might break out.  *rolls eyes* what freakin ever, and of course she can't be expected to wash it now.   So apparently she thought that laziness on her part constitutes an emergecy on our part.  Clearly it is the coach's fault she didn't wash her daughter's uniform.     So fine we track one down for her.  And she has the nerve to give Keith the third degree about the condition of the shirt.    I guess it passed her inspection since it hqad never been worn before.  But seriously..if you are that bit of a dirt-aphobe for your child...perhaps they should either not be playing sports, or you should learn how to do your laundry in a timley fashion. (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, May 15th, 2007
1:18 pm	Wow....a big surprise So Keith and I went to the Boy Scout District Dinner last night. This is where there leaders from all of the scout groups in district get together to celebrate the previous scouting year. Originally we were not going to go, because we had just finished our Pack's family camping weekend on Sunday, and a break was in order. Plus we had a coach's meeting for Hope's softball team (which we are coaching again) at the same time as the dinner. But the district executive emailed me saying he would really like it if Keith and I could be there....so we went anyway. So we arrived almost an hour late due to the softball meeting dragging on endlessly. We got there just in time to catch the tail end of dinner. Then it was on to speeches and awards. So around came the award for the "Cub Scouter of the year"...an award given to an outstanding cub scout leader. And much to my surprise, they presented the award to me! Wow, how cool is that?! (Comment on this)
Wednesday, May 2nd, 2007
2:04 pm	Quiz about yours truly... Create your own Friend Quiz here (4 Comments |Comment on this)