What a weekend

This past weekend was a busy one for us. First on Wednesday we were informed of a last minute Karate training for the boys Saturday afternoon. It was important that we be there as Michael had to pretest for permission from our region to test for his second black belt.Robby also had a chance to test for a half belt,which is what is usually done for children. He did achieve this 1/2 belt and will hopefully test for the next half (a purple belt) in June. Luckily this training was close to home as Mike had an eye doctor appointment which we expected to end with him having a sty removed. Well as Murphy's law would have it...... There was a glitch at the eye doctor's( whomever scheduled him scheduled for a yearly eye exam instead of medical exam )and well they almost sent us home but thanks to my unleashing a tiny bit of my pent up anger.... They decided that they could probably fit him in. Anyway, as we were "fit in" we were last to be called . So I had to leave Mike and get the boys to karate.Unfortunately when I got back, the doors were locked as they were officially closed and the reception workers had already left. I called Mike and the doctor sent his assistant to come and get me as he finished the exam. I thought this was odd but when I got to the room he announced that Mike needed surgery. Not sty removal but cataract removal. I guess that Mike had some kind of eye surgery back before we met and it left massive scar tissue, which I guess has been an issue since the surgery. Anyway the body's defense to this is to form a cataract for it's own protection, which it did. Soooooo I found myself setting next to Mike in a cold dimly lit exam room as we were told the risks and benefits. It was like a bad dream come to life. Well it all ended as we left through the back door ( the alarms were set in front) and we headed to the karate event where we spent another couple hours. After the event we headed home, changed clothes and headed to Saturday evening Mass.This pretty much rounded out our Saturday and the next thing we knew it was Sunday. Sunday started with Passion practice ( our parish does a dramatization of the Passion every palm Sunday) After practice I came home cooked dinner,ate, and caught a forty five minute nap before time to go back to church for the mission which featured Sara Hart( http://www.sarahhartmusic.com/fanfare.htm)After mission it was home and to bed. Yes it was quite a weekend, and yes it was a typical Lenten weekend and no it doesn't look like it will be letting up until Easter weekend, but when I actually look at things isn't it all appropriate ?

Have picture....... need something to put it on !

Last December I posted a picture of Robby at an advanced karate training where he was chosen by Sensei Okazaki, the very man who trained under Sensei Funakoshi who started Shotokan karate in Okinawa . After training under Master Funakoshi, Sensei Okazaki was sent to the United States to bring us Shotokan. Sensei Okazaki did one better than bring us Shotokan karate though, he also started the ISKF (International Shotokan karate federation)Even though Sensei Okazaki is getting up in age, he still does a few of these trainings. The last training that he did in our region was in December when he picked Robby to assist him in a demonstration. Luckily Mike got a snap shot of them bowing to each other before the demonstration. I have prized this shot since I seen it taken and wanted to have it put on something special for Robby. The problem is that Robby has no use for a coffee mug ( he does not drink hot beverages) he has no interest in playing cards nor puzzles , I am looking for longer lasting than a T shirt, and a "magazine cover" cheapens the authenticity of the whole shot. What does that leave me with ? Not much ! I could get a poster done or even a clock for his room but I wanted something more usable. perhaps a planner for next school year, but his school supplies him with one. Perhaps a clock for his room, but that still isn't what I had in mind. After months of thought I had it. A water bottle would be ideal. He could use it and it would be special and it was perfect.It was settled I was going to order a water bottle for Easter, but guess what ? The photo places at Wal Mart, Walgreen's, Rite aid, etc. don't carry water bottles anymore ! OK I thought there is always E bay but unless I want to spend $30 once shipping is added there are none to be found. Grrrrr I guess it is back to the drawing board.

The boys karate picture

Robby is the first on the left in the first row. Michael is the second from left in back row

Thanks to the Thirty fourty something Church group that Mike and I belong to.....

we were able to sponsor a needy family for Easter. We made Easter baskets for the children as well as one for Mom and Dad, complete with a restaurant gift certificate. We also were able to provide a grocery gift card . The goal was to collect enough money to cover their Easter dinner but our member's overwhelming generosity provided enough to cover a couple weeks dinners, plus. I am so proud of the generosity of this group of friends that I wanted to post the basket pictures here and say Thank you to all !

More blood work

Well the thirteen tubes of blood that I donated to the lab a month ago didn't yield any answers but did yield a few more symptoms. First the thyroid enzyme test who's norm is a result in the single digits came back with my level being in the 1800's. Yep a tad high I would say. The doctor has ordered it redone and five or six other thyroid tests to accompany it.From what I understand this is a classic autoimmune symptom, but other than the Rheumatoid arthritis, which does not attack the thyroid, all of my tests have come back negative....Sigh !Anyway in addition to this my vitamin D count is off the bottom of the charts low, which is also an autoimmune sign not caused by RA, so you tell me . Anyway I went for this additional blood work today only to find out that after three unsuccessful tries to draw blood, the supervisor found a vein and all we needed was two vials of blood so we would have been set, except that due to my anemia, the vein only produced 1/2 of one vial. Praise God that the supervisor was able to do two more sticks which produced a bit more blood each so we were just short of the two vials, but we are sending them to the lab anyway hoping that it will be enough.But the good news is that the enzymes produced from the RA are down significantly so the medicine that I am taking ( the one with minimal side effects)is working.Oh if only I came with a manual !

It all just comes down to caring

Since Cindy is in nursing school and has been working at a nursing home as a Nurse's aid for over a year now, her future has been on her mind. Yesterday while we were talking she mentioned that a friend had applied for a nurses aid job at the local children's hospital. The friend was supposedly told that they didn't use nurse's aids not to look for even an interview. My first response was shock , then disbelief. It just so happens that a friend from church is a supervising nurse at this very hospital so I stated that i would have to ask if this was really so. Cindy nodded but then said, I don't think I would want to work there anyway. Hmmmmm, OK I didn't suggest that she should I was just saying, however I was intrigued, why not I asked? Well, she replied.Parents of sick children don't seem to realize that there child is not the only child in the hospital and sometimes they need non emergency assistance and another has more urgent needs so they have to wait and from what I hear they don't take too well to waiting. These words brought me back to when Robby was an infant and some of our stays at the hospital with him.Yes, I remember having to wait sometimes for simple things. To her credit I also remember in all my stress being annoyed at this situation at times. But honestly what stuck in my mind was not the waiting but one wonderful nurse that he had. Now this nurse did make us wait from time to time , yes but that was never mentioned when I wrote a letter to the Hospital's CEO. What was mentioned was how this nurse brought me a pillow and blanket when I was spending several nights in a recliner, usually with Robby in my arms. I mentioned how thankful I was when this nurse brought in a turkey sandwich and bowl of chicken broth one afternoon when Robby was having a bad day and I would not leave his side, knowing that Mike would not be able to come in until after work to bring me lunch. Yes this nurse cared. Though she was not super nurse nor wonder woman she cared and it showed. Cindy understood. She told of how she tried to care even though they were always short of help and she really didn't have time to chat with residents no matter how lonely she seen they were, sometimes the best she could do is a smile and nice words as she took care of their needs before running to take care of an other's needs. With usually twenty patients per aid, she strives to do her best.As we talked further we discussed how it isn't so much quantity of time spent as quality. If you care people will see it. yes stress may cause less than sweet greetings but in the end people will appreciate that extra mile that you went.
In life we should all take this lesson ,don't we all get frustrated waiting in line at the market ? Do we automatically blame the cashier ? Does she ever get her head bit off? of course she does . Maybe if we all looked more at how she smiles and asks how we are instead of jumping her for our wait ( which she can't help anyway ) Maybe we could see past our annoyance and smile back,possibly even asking how she is !If only we all cared, though it would not reduce life's annoyances, life would be so much happier.

Happy St. Patrick's Day !

May God give you...
For every storm, a rainbow,
For every tear, a smile,
For every care, a promise,
And a blessing in each trial.
For every problem life sends,
A faithful friend to share,
For every sigh, a sweet song,
And an answer for each prayer

Why is it that......

If I drink forty two ounces of Pepsi Max in the evening, it will have me up all night. However the same forty two ounces plus in the morning does nothing for me ?

A church ?

This past weekend Mike and I decided to hang some pictures and other decorations. Some of these pictures that we had to hang are almost three years old. It was just one of those things that we wanted to do but never had the screws and anchors when we had a few free moments not to mention that we already had so many photographs and groupings of photographs and decorations on the walls that we were not sure where to put them. This all changed though when we got the new TV, which led to the need for a new entertainment center, which was a new size, which led to a rearrangement of the living room, which led to pictures and decorations needing to be moved as much of it was now behind curios and such. Anyway, last week I bought screws and anchors and yesterday we went at it. We moved some, decided to dispose of some old decorations,and hung many. I think that we are now actually done and I am so proud that everything has a place and I can now reclaim my bench and parts of the floor where things have kind of been setting for a bit. Imagine my surprise today then when Cindy slept yesterday, got up late to go to work the midnight shift, came in this morning , looked around a second and said " So when did our house turn into a church" commenting on all of the angel pictures, wall hangings, and decorative crosses that were hung along with the pictures. A church ? I thought, if only ! Have you ever been in a church with clutter in view ? I sure haven't.But my most sobering thought was;do we always act as is appropriate in church here ? I honestly couldn't say we did. Maybe this is a good goal for us .It surely would make life more peaceful. Just something to think about !

I love this one

Mike and my Birthday's

Mike made me home made hash browns with cheese for breakfast ( gotta love the ketchup heart)


The traditional Parkhurst Birthday picture with the kids( furry and otherwise)


The cake


Mike feeds me my cake


Mike's Birthday

The traditional Birthday picture


The cake is presented ( Mike is relieved that I forgot to get candles)


The kids join in for a cake picture



Finally he gets to take a bite

Happy Happy Birthday to my other half

Mike,
Though our almost twenty years as husband and wife have not always been smooth, I can think of no one better to ride the bumpy road with !
Happy #42
I Love you !!!



Happy Birthday to a Man who even looks good in his Passport photo !

argh !

Since our family's vacation cruise has been booked for awhile now I have been looking for good deals on the flight to get there,hotels to stay in the night before and after the cruise, a car rental to get where we need to be , and so on. The problem is that the airline that I really like to use has not yet posted flights this far in advance . There is an OK deal on another airline but I really am hoping for a better deal or at least an equal deal on my preferred airline.This may prove to be a bad move as once posted the price may not compare and by then the sale on the other may be gone and Oh what to do ?
Not only is this holding me back but did I mention that I can't book the hotels, car rentals, or even dog boarding until the flight times are confirmed. So here I sit and debate. If I book now and miss a better deal with an airline that I would much rather book with, Of course I will wish that I had waited but the same can come around to bite me the other way. Oh eenie meanie minie mo....... what to do i just don't know !

You know that times are getting bad when

While watching TV and simultaneously playing with his PSP ,your twelve year old ,shaking his head,comments " Wow they are really scraping the bottom with today's toys"

Yep they sure are !

Staying out of negativity !

Yesterday was another Adult religious Education session .There have been a few phenomenal sessions in the past few years and yesterday's was one. The subject was "Staying positive even in today's world" Though the subject was great and some good advise was given, none of the advise was anything new to me.As a matter of fact most of it was basic psychology 101 stuff, that I have used in my life for years. As many of you know, I am a worrier. I get it honestly as My wonderful father is the king of all worriers. Even though I have been married and out of his house for almost twenty years now, he still calls if he hears of an accident anywhere in the area surrounding where I live. Usually he can catch me either at home or on my cell phone and then he proceeds to tell me about an accident somewhere that he thought might have been me. Yes he seems to have great faith in my driving :-( Anyway there are those days that I have left my cell phone at home or let the battery run down and he can't reach me. This is when he starts calling Mike, the kids, my brothers , the swat team, and anyone else who he thinks might know where I am. Then everyone starts calling and I come home to a full voice mailbox and everyone reprimanding me for not making myself available when people need me . What???? I am the one to blame ???? OK sure I get it ! Anyway, I get my anxiety honestly. Add to this that Mike has been in several accidents ( never his fault ) on his way home from work and then there is the teenage daughter who drives forty five minutes to school in the snow . Oh and don't forget the teenager who is learning to drive, and Oh anyway you get the point !
So anyway , to remain sane,I have implemented many de stressing ideas in my life. Unfortunately ,though some of these implementations are not easily implemented. For instance the main one is to avoid negative situations. This isn't in itself too hard to do but along with this comes avoiding negative people. Now be honest , we all know those people who we will not even ask how they are doing. As sad as it may be we simply don't have the time or energy to hear about how they had a hang nail that became infected and the infection spread to their vital organs and now they are in so much pain that the doctor is talking about writing them a prescription for medical marijuana( no I don't know who this fictitious doctor is.... Sorry), but it will not alleviate all of the pain anyway and Oh the misery just flows from these people. These people can suck the joy out of a leper who just just found out he was cured ! Unfortunately avoiding these people is nearly impossible as they are so good at guilt trips that they could send that healed leper into depression for being healed before an other's hang nail disappeared.
So what are we to do ? Do we owe the happily depressed the right to dump on us ? Of course not. Sometimes we have to just be as loving as possible and do what we have to. Almost always this is met with resistance which must be handed over to God.
After all, People are like trash trucks. They collect all of the garbage in the world and pile it in until it is overflowing. At this point they must dump. Don't let them dump on you until you get full and must dump on yet another !

What a show !

Last night was the long awaited night. The night that I had tickets for Cirque du Soleil Saltimbanco. I figured that the crowd would be a lot bigger than it was so we arrived an hour before the show was to start. With the help of an usher we found our seats and waited. Even though the cheap seat section was five times as full as the other areas, we were lucky in that there were empty seats next to our family. Once the show was starting we spread out a bit. The show was amazing ! The costumes were outstanding ! The performers had such impressive strength ! I found myself watching and whispering Wow ! And there wasn't even a word of English spoken by the cast. Since Saltimbanco, in Italian, literally means to jump on a bench, I assume that the few words spoken were Italian, though someone in the crowd said they thought it was in French. Either way I didn't understand. It didn't matter though as the language was sparse as to not detract from the acts and it surely didn't. The whole show was one wowing act after another. This show puts the circus to shame ! I was worried that since I had wanted to see one of these shows for twenty years, that I may possibly have too high of expectations and be let down, but that was simply not possible. I could go on and on but here is a link where you can see samples of the acts for yourself (http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/CirqueDuSoleil/en/showstickets/saltimbanco/acts/adagio.htm )Prepare to be wowed. You can also check the tour list and see if it is coming near you. If so I suggest that you go.

I apologise that there are no pictures to share but this performance is very adamant about the no camera thing :-(

Credit due

Have you ever had a period of time where no matter where you go or what you do the same subject seems to be there ? When this happens do you stop to wonder if it is something new , or is it something more prevalent, or is it just that you never really noticed before ?
OK I guess that I have probably lost most of you by now. This time it is me and not too much alcohol either so let me explain.
Lately I have come across so many situations where people are demanding ( OK many are simply asking for or longing for and not necessarily demanding ) credit. It could be credit for doing a good deed, credit for work done, credit for a their artwork or their writings, or whatever just credit. Now don't get me wrong, if Van Gogh never took or demanded credit for his art work where would the art world be ? By the same token, if Mother Theresa never took credit for her accomplishments, the world would again have suffered great loss of teachings. My point is, though that it seems to be epidemic that every common person out there wants a "Brownie button" for their smallest deeds.In the past couple weeks I have sat through people going on and on about how their deed went unacknowledged or unrequited. I have heard people gripe for days about how so and so didn't give credit when showing the photo that they took of so and so's child or explain that it was in fact so and so who made the centerpieces , that were complimented at the banquet. It just seems to me that some people out there need a good course in humility. Now those of you who know me know that I never go around quoting bible verses and I will not start now but don't I recall an Ash Wednesday Gospel reading about how we are instructed to do deeds without earthly rewards and that our true reward is in Heaven ? Perhaps I am the wrong person to take on this subject but I just think that people are going just a bit too far with things.For instance if anyone wants a copy of any recipe that I make, I will share. If you want a copy of a Photograph that I took, just ask. Now if you market my product and make millions, I would surely appreciate a cut but gee whiz other wise I will be honored that you liked what my abilities produced.
Before I go, I would like apologise to anyone who feels that i have not given proper credit to them. There was the steak dinner that I cooked last night which got me many compliments. I simply smiled and said thank you without even thinking of passing credit to The farmer, the butcher, the packing company, the gas and electric company. the companies who made my grill and stove, and microwave, the contractor who put in the appliances and the outlets to run them in. The companies and retailers from which the table plates, etc came from and so on and so on. Now do you see my point ?In the end can everyone really get credit for everything that they do or do some of us just have to take the backstage while center stage goes to another ?
Honestly, I do not mean to offend and I am sure that for some taking a decent photograph is more work and stress than Van Gogh put into famous paintings but don't you think that God knows that ? We people are only human . So next time that you are denied the credit that you feel that you deserve, instead of getting upset, how about smiling because you will receive your due from God and how much better will that be ?