Ken Update

News and other trivial pieces of information:

* Ken is recovery "nicely" from his blood clot. I just think that means he's not upset or too worried about it. That's my job . . . to be worried about it. The Dr. gave him permission to fly to his job interviews in WA.
* Ken left Wed. afternoon to fly to WA for interviews with 3 different companies. He said they all went good, and is expecting at least 1 job offer as a result. Even if/ when Ken gets a job offer, we still won't know when we're moving, because he's still waiting for the state of WA to give him permission to take the board exam - silly application process.
* Ken has another job interview on Monday . . . in WA. Would've been great if he could have just stayed up there, but the company he has an interview with wouldn't pay his airfare if he was interviewing with another company.
* He was supposed to get home Sat. at 4:30pm, but his flight got cancelled and he's not even leaving Seattle until 5:30pm, which means he gets home around 10pm and leaves for WA on Sunday at 11am - yuck.
* I've missed Ken, and all he does to help me and Amelia.

Just for Fun

Today I had a few minutes before church, so I decided to take some pictures of Amelia, just for fun. I love having a black couch - it's a perfect back drop for pictures.

Amelia "discovered" her tongue this week. She makes the funniest faces as she moves her tongue around.

"Mom, is my dress supposed to be this big?"

My favorite

What keeps me going

This is what keeps me going . . . and smiling, even when things seem yucky.

I just have to figure out new things . . . but I can do it.

And of course, I couldn't do it without prayer - yours and mine. Thanks for all the prayers sent my way. I definitely felt strengthened this week.

Worried and Discouraged

WARNING . . . I am writing this as an outlet for my emotions and it may not be pretty.

I have looked forward to Ken graduating and getting a real, good-paying job for 3 years. But when we started looking at our finances, even a great paying job is going to make our budget tight.

* We bought a condo in a market that has nearly collapsed, and now we're stuck with it, and therefore, the mortgage, for at least 10 years, probably longer because there is no way we can sell it without losing every penny and then some that we put into it.

* Now we have to hire someone to manage our property because apparently it's against AZ law to manage it ourselves, since we'll be out of the state. Not that I want to manage it ourselves, because I don't want to be a landlord, but now we have to pay someone else to do it.

* Now I have to be concerned about having enough money to cover our mortgage AND rent or another mortgage wherever we end up.

* It's frustrating - we bought so that we wouldn't have to "throw away" rent for 3 years while we were in Flagstaff, but now we'll have to "throw away" rent indefinitely until we can sell our property or save enough money for a down-payment.

I hate financial issues. I hate having barely enough to live on. I hate whining about a lack of money, because hey, we've managed okay for the last 3 years, and there are more important things than money, right? Like our health, right?

Right, so that brings me to my next worry. Today Ken was diagnosed with his 2nd blood clot. Yep, 2nd one in less than a year. The irony:

* His Dr. told him the likelihood of him getting another blood clot was slim.

* Ken's insurance ended Friday - 5 days ago. So the emergency room visit, $800 prescription drugs, more Dr. visits - it's all coming out of our wallet. Yee-ha. We're hoping Ken qualifies for ACCHS - the state's insurance - that would be a silver lining in this rather damp cloud.

* The results of his blood test from Friday came back today - turns out he has a genetic issue - Activated protein C resistance. I don't really know what that means, but it means he gets blood clots easier than most. And so the factors surrounding us - higher elevation, diet, lack of movement - could have caused the blood clot, only because Ken is pre-disposed to getting them.

* I'm frightened that something will happen to Ken. I'm afraid that he won't be able to work and I'll be stuck working for the rest of my life. I'm probably being paranoid and emotional, but I'm tired and emotional and so tired of working. I just want to be home with my baby.

Okay, I feel better - sort of - now it's time to put on a smile, go grocery shopping, do laundry, prepare for work tomorrow, and pray that I have the mental and physical energy I need to take it one day at a time.

Oh, and did I mention we're in the middle of trying to figure out what job Ken should take, finding a new place to live, who's going to watch Amelia while I'm working and Ken is out of state at job interviews, which property manager we should choose to manage our condo, should we/ can we refinance now with all-time low mortgage rates . . . but I'll have to blog about that "fun" later. I've got work to do.

Hiking in Sedona

Sedona waived the need for the "Red Rock" pass this weekend, in honor of school starting soon. So Ken and I took advantage of it, and went for a hike in Sedona today. It was supposed to get up to 95F, so we went in the morning, and were done before 11am.

Amelia loves being outside and is ready for the hike.

She was happy to get out of the snuggli at our break . . . but she had no idea what Mommy was doing (and frankly, neither did Mommy).

We tried to take a picture with the 3 of us, but someone wasn't cooperating.

And then, that someone looked just a little too goofy.

This one is better, but wouldn't it be better if that someone was smiling?

Yeah, it would have been, but I guess she just didn't feel like smiling . . . even when the smiley man offered to take our picture. Oh well, better luck next time.

Just Because . . .

Amelia loves her Daddy and loves to spend time with him.

And she's getting so good at sitting up, but she gets mad when she tips over . . . but then, don't you?

New Skills and Interests

Amelia is 5 months old. She loves new things. The sound of running water makes her stop and listen and she loves to look at herself in a shiny faucet.

And she loves to play with the water as it comes out of the faucet.

Amelia has learned how to hold her own bottle, and she's almost learned how to sit up on her own, but in the meantime, the pillows help her stay mostly upright.

Amelia loves books and trying to turn the pages.

And she loves a happy ending!

Recipe for Disaster

5 years ago I bought the coolest recipe software program for our computer. It came with over 700 recipes, all of which I methodically sorted through, and mostly discarded for one reason or another. I loved the way I could personalize the program and search for recipes by categories I had created. I loved being able to display a recipe on the screen so that I didn't need the cookbook/ recipe on the counter taking up space. And Ken and I became a bit obsessed with taking pictures of our food so that we could add a picture to our favorite recipes. And as a planner, one of my favorite features was the ability to put my menu for a week on a calendar, which then allowed me to see when we had eaten a certain recipe last. I took a bit of pride in knowing that I rarely served a recipe in less than 1-2 months, thanks to my calendaring (I certainly don't have the memory for that).

Over the years I have added my favorite recipes to the collection, recipes from friends, from cookbooks, from online searches. I have personalized many of them, tweeking them to match our desires. And as someone who likes to de-clutter, I began to get rid of recipes written down because I now had them in the computer. I once had a concerned thought about "computer failure" but since we have a back-up hard drive I brushed my concerns away. Until . . .

A few weeks ago, the hard drive on our computer started to fail. Ken bought a new one, and told me to print a few recipes while the computer would be out of commission. Apparently there is more wrong with our computer than the hard drive . . . but that's another story. Meanwhile, I'm running out of printed recipes, so I ask Ken to access the recipe program from our back-up. When he gets into the files on the back-up, all he can find is the 700+ recipes the program came with. Gone are my 150 personalized, mostly not found anywhere else, recipes. And since my memory is horrible, I'll be lucky if I can remember what recipes I had, let alone the ingredients and instructions for said recipes. Ken hasn't given up looking, and I've tried not to despair, just yet, but it's not looking good. From what he's found, it looks like we should have backed-up the recipes separate from the program - weird.

So, I currently have food in my house, bought for recipes, that I only have a vague recollection of. Ken tells me to look at this as an opportunity to try new recipes, but I'm hoping my limited memory can recall at least a few of my favorites. Here's to an unsettled food future.

P.S. I still have access to the recipe program, so I'll start again, and this time, I'll be backing up the recipes.

Family - It's what it's all about!

"Luv is what bwings us togetha today." A few weeks ago we had a family reunion , where all of my siblings and most of their children were there (minus the 2 that are married and 2 that are on missions), for a total of 36 of us - I hope I counted right and didn't forget anyone.

I love getting together with my family, and I always wish it was for longer. This year, my involvement was a little different than most years, due to Amelia. And I didn't take nearly enough pictures (thanks to Cheryl for taking pictures while we were all playing a game). But here are some of my favorites.

All gathered together for the Family Jeopardy game.

A few of us trying to get out of a knot.

Amelia playing with Mitch's cheeks.

Some of the cousins in the pool.

More cousins in the pool.

Amelia with my parents.

And the whole lot of us as we sat in front of the Church History Museum and stopped some poor unsuspecting person to take our picture.

It's not perfect, but it's family ;)