Ok, so apparently people read my blogs...

I have been informed via email that people do in fact read my blogs. :) I didn't think anyone would. Yes, I think you actually have to be a member of eblogger in order to post or I have to open my blog for comments from anyone who comes across it. I'd rather not have that just in case some crazy on the internet googles something and finds me and posts craz....ok, maybe none of that would ever happen and I should open up my blog for comments... I'll think about it.

I just wanted to get on one more time tonight and brag about my students. Not about their talent or about their voices or about our wonderful relationships, but about how impressed I continue to be with their understanding of life in general and their deep thoughts and actual connection to life. I heard it said on the radio that the only people who really needed blogs were people who had so much creativity in their world that they couldn't express it all without having somewhere random to put all the extra creativity that they didn't use and that was what blogging was for. I have to say that for me, that is definately NOT the case! I am not really that creative and my blogs are actually quite boring and it's my damn journal! :) No, I am not creative enough to need a blog as somewhere to put my "extra" creativity, but my students sure are. They all talk about very impressive things. Their views on life are amazing and views that I would have never thought to take. One student (yes, I read my student's blogs...one of them left theirs up on my computer one day and they all like to each other's so...) was just blogging about life and the way we look at it. She told a story of a little girl and her mom who were in the locker room at the gym changing at the same time as my student. The mom asked the little girl to remind her to call someone when they got home. When the girl asked why, the mom said that something had happened and she had wanted to pray for them. The little girl then asked the mom why they didn't just stop and pray right then, so they did. This meant so much to my student and she went on for a while about how caught up we get with what will be that we aren't enjoying what IS. Living in the now and enjoying what we are and what we have instead of hoping for something better and thinking of how much better tomorrow will be. She had such wonderful thoughts and I have been thinking about them all day. Yes, Darcy D., if you read this ever, you mean the world to us and have taught us and continue to teach us very much.

On this, our seventh anniversary of our wedding day, Sam and I had a wonderful time looking back over our scrapbooks. Our first one began the month after our wedding and we had a great time looking over the pictures and talking and remincing about all the wonderful things that we have done and the great opportunities we have had. We just need to remember to keep making those opportunities for ourselves. We have been to Equador, London, had a long distance relationship, explored southern Utah, climbed mountains, hiked miles and miles together. We have done so much and then we had our little boy who has become our entire life. We love little Ethan so much, I never knew that kind of love existed. We discussed tonight how lucky we have been and how blessed we are continually in our lives. To have our adventures, our security, our love, each other, and our little man. It was a great anniversary and we didn't even spend any money. We drank a bottle of wine, visited, had a great time going over our memories of the past 7 years and talked of what is to come. Now, we have just finished watching some TV and I am about to head to bed, but I had to get some of my thoughts down so that I can have them for later.

I have always kept journals in my life. My first one starts when my mom had to write for me. I am glad to find blogging so enjoyable and am glad to have somewhere to write down my thoughts and happy to share them with whomever doesn't get bored after like the first entry. :)

Goodnight.
Jamie

People never cease to amaze me...

Well, we are home from a small vacation packed full of very fun activities. Visiting with family was wonderful, as always. However, I have to say that I could seriously write a soap opera for decades with what is going on with my family. I think every family has serious issues that run through it and because my family is so big, it just escalates everything into giant proportions. The drama will never stop. Between the cheating spouses, the depression, the divorces, the money problems, the drug users, and the troubled teens, it's amazing that Sam and I are doing as well as we are. It was a nice visit, but I am happy to be home. I don't understand people inability to help themselves! I am talking about people who are depressed, I mean seriously depressed! They simply choose not to go get help for themselves. People who complain all the time that their life isn't going anywhere and they never have any money and can never do anything fun who work for minimum wage for the 6th year in a row! Go get a different job. People who are unhappy in their marriage and choose to cheat on their spouse rather than break free and divorce them and allow both people happiness. I just don't understand.

However, I have nothing to complain about...at least, not today. :) Today is Sam and my 7 year anniversary. 7 years ago this morning on the Horn Rapids Golf Course in Richland, Washington, we threw a party and took our vows in front of 200 of our family and close friends. It was a beautiful day then and every day since. We have been through a great deal since that day and our love is different now from what it every was and will continue to be different as we grow and enter different stages of life. We "hooked up" in high school and have been together pretty much ever since. We took a couple of breaks where we dated other people and always ended up coming back to each other because of our strong friendship. I love Sam more now than I ever have and even though our love is different at this point in our lives, it's a better kind of different. It's a comfortable and easy love that allows us to live our lives both independently and as a couple. I can remember those first years when we never did anything without each other. We went out together, we rode to school together, we worked out together, we did our shopping together. We still do most things together because we enjoy the company, but we have also grown into our own definitions of self in the last 7 years and have things that we enjoy doing without each other as well. I am very lucky to have found and married my best friend and we always take time on this day to remember why we married one another.

Well, I am sure that I might find some more time this evening to vent onto this blog (since I don't think anyone reads it...) but for now, I'd better get back to work...
Jamie

However

I need a vacation...

Well, we are packing up today and unpacking at the same time. I have moved all my food into my new kitchen and am in the process of moving in the dishes and unpacking and getting everything exactly where I want it. It's been fun to do. At the same time, we are packing to go on vacation for a week. We are headed out tomorrow morning to go to Seattle and see a Mariner's game. We will be taking my sister home after her 5 week visit which we have all enjoyed very much. We will be hanging out up north and visiting with family until Sam's conference on the 26th. Then, I will take him to his conference and head back up to my mom's until I pick him up from Tacoma on the 29th. I think the entire family (or as many as mom can convince) will be going to Six Flags that day and then we will probably be headed home. I am looking forward to getting out of our construction zone home, but I wish we were further along so that we could come back to a more finished kitchen. When we worked out our time line we didn't figure in mistakes or the fact that Miller's cut our countertop wrong and had to reorder a whole new sheet that took a week to get. Nor did we figure in the heat. As of about 3 or 4 in the afternoon, it's over 90 (over 100 today!) and we are unable to work in the shop. Being that our old house doesn't have AC, we aren't really able to work much inside either. So, we lay around sweating like a bunch of lizards and wait for it to cool off.

I just have to say how much I absolutely love teaching voice! I only have a few students this summer and I can't wait for the fall when I will have my whole studio up and running. I absolutely love every minute of it. Hearing the difference and watching the change in the singers is a true joy. I have to say, I will really miss my seniors who graduated last year. They were a great joy to teach and all of them have come really far in their voices. I am very happy with my job! :)

Ok, I will stop rambling. I am off to run errands and finish getting ready to go.
I probably won't post until we get back and then I will tell you all about it. Not that anyone reads these but me, but you know....whatever. I keep thinking that I should let Jeff know that I have a blog. He is the student that was so surprised that I read his. Maybe it's only fair to let him know I have one. One student posted on my computer and going through the history one day, I found it. From there, everyone else is linked to everyone, so I just followed the chain. I figure, if you don't want people to read it, you shouldn't put it on a blog, right? :)

Ok, off I go.
Jamie

Sisters are the best

My sister Anna has been staying with us for the summer. I am the oldest and she is the youngest of 9 kids. We are 15 years apart. She came to stay 5 weeks and I really can't believe that 5 weeks has come and gone so quickly! It has been so great to have her here. She is a sweetheart and has been such a big help with construction. She has been watching Ethan, cleaning the house, and helping wherever she can. It's been great to have her. I told her that next summer she should come and stay with us again and we could pay her to be Ethan's nanny for the summer. I would love to have her again if she isn't too busy with her friends, boyfriends, and other social life by then.

Construction is slowing down a bit but only because we aren't doing major jobs that cause and big change in the outlook. We are plugging along and hopefully all will be done before we leave for the Seattle area on Saturday. We are partially up and running in there and partially moved in, but not all the way. Sam is busy putting together doors for cabinets today.

I have been thinking a lot about what to do for a sitter for Ethan for this coming school year. I will be talking with Sarah to see if she can watch him while I work at the University, but I don't know if I can afford to pay to keep Mollie on as his permanent nanny. I would love to find a student to trade lessons with. I would love to find someone perfect who is perfect with my son and is maybe in need of some assistance financially in order to take lessons. It would also be perfect if I could find someone a little younger who we could keep for a couple of years in a row. We'll see what happens. I just can't believe that the summer has gone so fast! We are close to being done with construction and then we head up for Sam's conference up north and then it's our anniversary and then we come and get ready for school to start. Just before school starts, we head up for a week with my family at our family reunion. Where did the summer go? :) It's been a lot of fun though. We have had some good times.

Yesterday we headed to The Rock Bowling and fun center. We had a lot of fun and I think that Sam and I are going to make it a permanent thing to go there on Tuesday nights for date night. We are headed there again today to escape the heat of the afternoon.

Well, I have rambled. Off I go to continue with my duties.

more tomorrow.
Jamie

A book club is a very good thing

I just got home from book club and may I say that a book club is a very good thing for so many reasons. Life can pass you by while you aren't even looking if you aren't careful. Having something to read and discuss once a month with friends is so important to me. I have really enjoyed all our titles and have loved getting out once a month for 2 hours without baby and getting together for coffee with my small book group. This month we read a memoir that was written by a friend of Cathy's (in the bookclub...pretty much started it anyway.) named Rachel. It was a great memoir and for bookclub, we met at had a conference call with the author and then went for coffee. It's my turn to choose the book we read and I have chosen "Digging to America" by Anne Tyler. It was a great book and has lots to discuss, so it will be perfect!

Sam has the sink installed, the garbage disposal in, the countertop on and by the end of today we will have a functioning kitchen. Fridge goes in, stove goes in, dishwasher in and I won't have to wash my dishes by hand on the porch anymore. YEAH! We are hoping to get the rest of the cabinets hung today as well. We didn't quite finish them yesterday.

So, I am hoping to hit the movies with my sister Anna today or tomorrow as well. We may head to the drive in tonight for the first of the 2 features "The Devil Wears Prada". It looks very funny. I also want to go see Superman and You, Me, and Dupree at the theatre. That's a lot of movie watching though with so much construction to get finished. Hopefully we can be half-way moved in by tomorrow and next week can be devoted to fun since it's Anna's last week here. It's probably been a little boring for her, but we have tried to do some fun stuff in addition to the construction.

Ethan is so much better! He is running around and playing and back to normal. I am not looking forward to the next fever, however, I know that I will be more prepared and ready for a seizure should he have another one. I am glad that I did the research and am not so afraid of them anymore.

Ok, I'm off for now. I am planning our family reunion and have to get the rest of the letters in the mail today and get to helping Sam in the kitchen. Probably more tomorrow.

Jamie

Construction Continues!

Well, we are in the middle of construction. We totally re-did our bedroom and we have finished and moved in to the bedroom. I am hoping that we will be finished with the kitchen by Sunday or Monday. I am so ready for that. I thought it wouldn't be a big deal and I am really quite a flexible person as far as life goes, but I have to admit that I HATE washing my dishes in my canner on the front porch!

I am very proud of Sam. He has done all of this work himself. We did the tear out of the plaster and lathe and all the tear out of the flooring. My brother Nick helped us with the tile. Sam re-wired the entire house and updated the electrical, he put in the carpet, hung the sheetrock, did all the taping and mudding too. We were going to hire a plumber to do the water and gas lines, but Sam learned how and did those himself too. He has saved us a lot of money for this remodel! I can't wait to cook in my new kitchen. One that will actually come clean when you wipe the countertop! Crazy idea, I know. :)

Ethan is doing much much better today. He goes in to see the Dr. at 2:15 and hopefully they will find the reason for the fevers. That was the one concern about the Febrile seizure on Wednesday was that there seemed to be no reason for his body to be fighting anything. He had no ear infection, no strep throat, no flu symptoms, and his white count was normal. So, hopefully, the blood cultures will come back negative for anything serious and all will be well. He isn't acting sick. He is running around and playing and swimming in his little swimming pool.

Ok, I have a lot of work to do to get tons done in my kitchen today, so I'd better get. More tomorrow probably,
Jamie

My first blog...

I am writing today because I have tons of craziness in my life right now and getting it all down on paper is always a healthy way to deal with things (or so my therapist always used to say. :)

Ethan had a Febrile Seizure yesterday. He woke up from his nap with a little low-grade fever. I gave him some medicine and he seemed to be feeling better and off we all went to Walla Walla to pick up some hardwood for our cabinets. He was fine the entire way there and the entire time we were out. As I put him in his seat to go home, I noticed his fever was coming back because he was warm to the touch. We headed home thinking we would just give him meds when we got home. We were about 15 minutes away from Pendleton when poor Anna (my sister is staying with me for a part of the summer and was in the back seat with him) asked us to look at Ethan. He was seizing in his car seat.

I yelled at Sam to pull over and we dove out of the car and had Ethan out of his chair, his chair out of the way and him laying on his side seizing in a matter of seconds. The seizure lasted about 2 or 3 minutes. The car behind us had called an ambulance. Sam asked how long it would take for them to get there. They said 12 minutes, well, we were only 15 minutes from Pendleton, so Sam drove like crazy and got us there safely in under 12 minutes. He was checked out, given antibiotics, ibuprofen, we were educated on Febrile seizures and we all went home. What a day!

I have to say that I have never every in my life had a more terrifying moment. I couldn�ft keep myself under control, but was in control enough to get him out of his chair and laying on his side on the seat. Sam handed me some wipes and I began to cool him down with them and a cup of water. Sam kept his cool the entire time and I was sooooo very happy that I wasn�ft by myself! I am also very glad that my mom had educated me about Febrile seizures before hand or I think I would have been way more terrified than I already was! I had 3 as a baby and stopped having them when I was 3 years old. Unfortunately, I had a feeling the day would come, but I still wasn�ft quite prepared for that. There is nothing like it.

It�fs one thing when terrible things happen to me, but when they happen to Ethan, it�fs a whole other ball game! I can�ft believe the adrenaline rush is was�cmy fear for him. Of course, later I learned that Febrile seizures don�ft do much to him other than break his spiking fever, but man did it ever have an effect on me!

Well, I just wanted to get that experience down somewhere before I had forgotten the details�cnot that I ever will. I will write again soon and hopefully will figure out how to put a real blog on this site.
Jamie