Chiropractors are weird.

or crazy.

or whatever....

So, when I had that awful cold I mentioned it to my chiropractor during one of my visits to fix my neck the guy pulled my ears.

I mean, he literally pulled on my ears.

He said something about how it'll open up my sinuses to help them drain better.

My friend thought that maybe he was pulling my legs instead of my ears. Ha!

But it did seem to help. I mean, my ears were popping all day long.

And then today when I mentioned that my left knee hurts all the time you'll never guess what he did.

Yes. Just look at that picture up there. Go ahead. Click on it to really get a good look.

He claims that my knees hurts because whatever that muscle is called on the side of my leg is very tight. Oh, that, and because I wear flip flops all the time. But anyway, so he did some "treatment" on my leg. A treatment he said I could do to my husband when he was really pissing me off. Right. So it hurt. But not that bad. But now? Ouch. It hurts.

But, my knee does feel better.

And actually - it all does make sense - as he was doing this "treatment" on my leg I could feel the pain shoot down to my knee. I told myself I could handle the pain and then he said, "you do need to tell me when it hurts too much, otherwise I'll just push harder and harder." So yeah.

Also - one of the trainer's at my fancy shmancy gym told me my knee will always hurt because I'm not flexible.

My chiropractor told me that's a crock - and that knee pain is caused by weak quads - so he told me to build those muscles.

And to stop wearing flip flops.

And to let him bruise me up real good every once in awhile.

There's a name for this. And next time I see him I'm going to ask him what it was called again. I remember it sounding like something I should eat. Like ganish - almost a danish, but not really, but I don't think that's what it's called.

This is an interesting journey I'm taking with this chiropractor.

bad brakes, scarey fish, s'mores, cousins, faulty jumper cables, tow trucks - Our First Family Camping Trip

Our weekend started out just fine. Mike called me while I was on my way home from work. His brakes went out and he needed to be pick him up at the grocery store where he was picking up a few last minutes items for our easy camping trip. One night. About an hour away. Our first one as a family.

That's okay. No big deal - we were planning on taking my car anyway - so we had his truck towed to a local garage and went on with our plans.

Our first day of camping was great! Quinn and Liam (and my brother and his family) helped Mike set up the tent. When Quinn got bored with that, my brother offered to teach Quinn to ride a two-wheeler with No Training Wheels! Quinn did really well - and even went a few feet all by himself and laughed whenever he fell - well except for that one time, when he did actually cry, but he got right back on and tried again.

After we were all set we headed to the I&M canal for some fishing. I was both surprised and appalled that the fish were actually biting. Liam enjoyed fishing until his line caught a big hunk of seaweed - then he was done and went and sat on his grandma's lap and dined on potato chips while I watch his line. I don't know how many fish we caught - but I didn't really enjoy the actual act of pulling the fish out of the water and then letting it go again. Bull-heads seemed to be the most popular catch, though Mike did catch a Bass. I mean Liam. It was Liam's line that caught the Bass. Mike doesn't have a fishing license.

Finally, we were back at the campsite where the grown-ups cooked (not me, of course!) and the kids played at the playground. That's one thing I remember loving about camping - there were always a ton of kids around to play with. Of course, Quinn and Liam had their cousins plus more friends!

Dinner, S'Mores, and a beautiful sunset - then it was time for bed.

To make a very long story short - I think I got a total of 2 hours of sleep. I think. I remember thinking, "Please just let it be morning so I can just get up," many times. Quinn fell asleep like a champ. Liam? Not so much. It took over an hour to get him settled and then every time he woke up a little bit in the night he couldn't get comfortable again. I'd wake up from my very light sleep to him either off his sleeping bag and on the tent floor, pushing me off my pillow, or climbing onto me. His favorite sleep position ended up being laying right on top of me while I lay on my back. And honestly? That was my favorite too. Or when he'd lay right next to me on my pillow and smile and say, "hi momma." Yes, even in the middle of the night, "Hi momma," gets me every time. Finally, the morning was welcomed with the very loud lowing of the cows and Liam running to the tent door to see the cows. "Cows? Where are you????"

That was at 5:30am. We figured why fight it any longer - fed the boys breakfast, I took them for a walk around the campsite while Mike packed up the car. We were fed, packed, and ready to go by 8:30.

Then my car wouldn't start.

Right.

I believe that when your car doesn't start the morning after a full night's sleep you can deal with it.

I know when your car doesn't start after two hours of sleep you cannot deal with it.

At least I can't. Thank goodness for my husband and brother and all the very friendly people at the campsite. We had a Vietnam vet and some guy from southern Illinois helping us out...

After trying for over an hour to jump it and keep it running - we gave in. Called a tow truck and squeezed into my brother's mini-van.

Of course... there are pictures....

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

So really - besides the entire two hours of sleep and being home now with zero cars in our driveway - I did have fun. I miss camping.

Of course - this is turning out to be the most expensive "easy" weekend trip we've ever had...

Heading Out

We're taking the boys and their ridiculously ugly sleeping bags camping today.

One night.

One and one half hour away.

We'll do great, I'm sure.

If not - Liam's eyes will do their magic and make me laugh in the middle of the night when nobody is sleeping....

What I Did and Didn't Do This Summer

So, it's official. With today's weather calling for a high of 83 and high humidity - summer is over.

For me anyway.

Tomorrow begins yet another school year. For some reason I'm really looking forward to this year - not sure why, maybe because I totally re-organized my kitchen play area and am hoping this helps with the clean-up efforts in there. Ah, the kitchen play area - always my least favorite area of my classroom...

Now the block area, oh those blocks, I could play there all day - and cleaning up in there? I love it.

Anyway, as my summer comes to a crashing halt I've been thinking about all those things in May I promised myself I'd get to in the summer.

See, as a teacher, every May I find myself putting things off "until summer". Cleaning the floors, washing windows, organzing pictures, etc. etc. Some things are things I would normally do during the school year, but in May my life is crazy enough with work stuff I feel justified putting things off for a few weeks.

Of course the normal stuff got done - the floors were cleaned, windows washed, etc. But the big projects I had hopes of finishing, or at least starting... well, that's another story.

I didn't organize my pictures, I didn't catch up on my scrapbooks, I didn't get the basement looking good, I didn't redo our bedroom window treatments (though I did my some drapes), I didn't organize our bathroom shelves, I didn't figure out a good system for keeping junk off the kitchen table, and I didn't clear all the junk out of the attic.

That being said, we did accomplish a lot this summer. (as a side note, why is it for the stuff that didn't get done I say "I didn't" and yet for the stuff that did get done, I'm planning on using "we". interesting. Of course, Mike helped with most of this...)

We did have a garage sale and then donated everything that didn't sell. That felt good.

We went green. We got ourselves a compost bin, clothesline dryer, and a new air conditioner to replace our 30+ year old one. Of course, that last one, we had no option - our old one broke.

I relaxed. Naps were late or missed. Bedtimes were almost always later than usual. Lunches and dinners were served outside.

I took the kids to the pool. A lot. Even if just for an hour - we'd go.

I napped. Almost every day.

I found a good summer workout schedule that I'm totally going to miss.

I hurt my neck and found a chiropractor I can trust.

We saw friends.

We saw family.

We vacationed.

We grilled. A lot.

We ate hotdogs over the fire. A lot.

All in all - I'd say it was a pretty good summer. Sure, maybe I didn't get all the productive stuff done, but I can honestly say for the first time in a long time, we really did enjoy our summer.

I Can Run

a mile.

I can run a mile.

I can run a mile without stopping or walking.

I can run a mile without feeling like I'm going to die.


I've done it five times. So I know I can do it again and again.

Then, I'll add another mile and then another mile.


I promised my brother-in-law I'd run a 5K with him.


This is totally doable.

When the kids are sick...

When the kids are sick they get to watch way more tv than normal. Curious George, SuperWhy, Wipe Out, and Sesame Street seem to be constantly running on TiVo lately. And I'm okay with this.

When Liam is sick he rarely naps more than 45 minutes. I've found myself sitting on the couch watching Nemo or WallE as he cuddles up next to me drinking his juicy water. And I'm more than okay with this.

When Quinn is sick he makes me laugh. After every meal and every nap he'll proudly announce, "Well, that worked! I'm better now." Of course, I'm okay with this.

When the kids are sick I make their juicy water with a little bit more juice - in hopes of giving them a few extra vitamins, but mostly because I want them to drink more liquids. It works and so, I'm okay with the extra sugar they might be getting from the juice.

***********

When I'm sick, I treat myself to my favorite ice cream every night. And I don't feel guilty about it at all.

When I'm sick, the house gets just a little messy. Nobody vacuums, laundry piles up, the bathroom counter gets cluttered, and the dishwasher doesn't get emptied first thing in the morning. And I don't feel guilty about it at all.

When I'm sick, my husband takes good care of me. He makes soup, fixes my ice cream, and takes the kids in the basement when he gets home from work. And I don't feel guilty about it at all.

*************

Maybe being sick isn't so bad after all?

My Last Free Week

Well, it's happening again.

Summer is coming to an end.

Of course, the weather is just now starting to warm up, but besides that point.

School officially starts August 16th - which means next week I need to get my butt into my classroom to prepare for the upcoming school year.

Which puts this week as "the last free week."

Although I'd love to have grand plans for the week - here's what's going on:

Monday - doctor appointment for me (everything's fine - just want to have a mole removed)
Tuesday - swim lessons for the boys
Wednesday - doctor appointment for Quinn (school physical and had to get a referral for a second opinion for his feet)
Thursday - chiro appointment for me
Friday - chiro appointment for me

Now, this wouldn't be so bad if Quinn didn't catch a nasty cold over the weekend and if I didn't get that same nasty cold Monday and if Liam wasn't showing signs of the same nasty cold today. We could have easily gone to the doctor's almost every day this week and then gone and done something fun - like the zoo, the museum, or the pool. Oh! What a lovely week for the pool this would have been.

But alas, here we sit - running errands in the morning, getting home in time for lunch and naps and just trying to stay comfortable in the afternoon. Eating oatmeal, soup, and ice cream.

My last free week.

Maybe if I work really hard next week in my classroom I can take Friday off and we'll get a chance to go into the city.

That is, if everyone is feeling better.