Train Weekend-stuff to do at the cabin

They have a great fire pit and provide the wood.  You can see the benches and a picnic table.  They even had heavy duty two-pronged metal whatchamacallit sticks  in the cabin to use to roast marshmallows/hot dogs/etc.

Emu
Feeding the deer
Family portrait on the porch
And again.

Train Weekend-cabin

There are two cabins onsite.  We stayed in the slightly smaller cabin meant to sleep 4.  It had 1 set of bunks and a queen bed.  The other cabin has 2 sets of bunks and a queen futon to sleep 6.  It would be so much fun to get some friends/family to go together for a long weekend!  (Hint, hint!!)

We LOVED the rustic feel and had everything we needed.  There was a sink, stove/oven, microwave, coffee maker, small fridge as well as all of the plates/utensils/pans/etc that one would need to make a normal meal.  Here are photos we took before we left but you can see a few more on their web site.  

Kitchen sink area

Microwave, stove etc on the other side as well as the dining table
The kids loved sleeping in the bunks.  After they climbed them for a couple of hours while we were getting dinner ready!  Such a novelty for them!
There was a tv with a dvd/vcr combo as well as a few family friendly movies.  The book shelf was also full of paperback books.  They suggested that if you took a book you leave on in its place.  There was a deck of cards too.  Lots of fun, no technology needed, stuff to do for a weekend.
Queen bed with bathroom beyond.  The bathroom had a toilet, sink and a shower.
We loved it!

Train Weekend-Animals

Since the photos are in high resolution, blogger will only let me upload 5 at a time.  I could change the resolution but I'm just too lazy.  So, I will break up the post to upload all of the photos I thought you'd all like to see.

We headed up north to the Rusk, TX area this past weekend for a quick family getaway.  We stayed at a cabin located on the property of Cherokee Trace Drive Thru Safari.  The area was just beautiful.  As a guest of the property, we had full access to the safari even during the hours that it was closed to the public.  The only request that they have is that you stay out of the fenced area after dark so neither the guest nor the animals get injured.  We arrived too late on Saturday evening to drive through so we planned on driving around on Sunday morning.  However, an incredible thunderstorm came through overnight with lots of rain and high winds not to mention lightening and loud thunder!  The kids slept through it.  C slept more than I did.  I was up about every hour or so.  I enjoyed the storm but I was beat!

Sunday morning we were unable to drive through the safari because some of the roads were flooded!  However, quite a number of animals came to the fence so we were able to see them and feed them.  There was a tree limb down nearby and the camel devoured the leaves.  She wasn't interested in the pellets we had!  We didn't get to see her up close but she was cool to see anyway.

You can see the camel pretty clearly here along with a few deer.  To the camel's left by the blue barrels is an emu!
Emu now on camel's right.

April Birthdays

We celebrated April birthdays over a week ago but I'm just getting around to posting it.  M still has some face paint from a b-day party on her face if you are wondering!  We actually celebrated on the 26th which is my sis' (TV) b-day so I was looking for the numbers to make 39 in her honor.  I found a 3 and decided we could use that in the tens column then we had a 4 and a 5 in the ones column!  Then I realized I put them backwards so that the 3 was in the ones column and the 4 and 5 were in the tens column.  Oh, well.  They still lit and blew out nicely just like candles should!  

Happy Birthday to our April loved ones

Blood Relatives:

Traci V--my sis

Cousin Dana F

Cousin Susan P

Cousin Bobbie M

Cousin Dahlia M

New Babies:

Nicholas B--neighbor/friend

Jaliina H--good friend

Serafina R--good friend

Friends:

Pam S

DeAnna D

Conner R

Brandon W

Jack S

Juniper J

Time Off

Yeah, I know.  I'm way behind in blogging.  I periodically update my status on Facebook and feel like I've done my part to reach out to the world.  I forget that not all of you are on Facebook to see these status updates.  So, I should get you updated.

I'm sure there was a lot going on at one time in the past 2+ weeks since my last post.  But, I'll just hit the highlights.  Maybe once I get going I'll remember more.

I got through my finals and feel pretty good about the whole thing.  My student loan came through and the paperwork is all in order.  I've registered for classes and have a week left to relax a bit before I hit the books again.

O is doing so well with the herbs and acupuncture for his bedwetting that last night was his last treatment.  We have enough herbs to get us through the week and then we are done with those.  I'll just take him periodically to have "maintenance" treatments.  He started out being wet at least 3-5 nights/week and ended up being wet only 1 time this past week.  He is really proud and everyone goes on and on about how brave he is to get acupuncture.

M Is doing well in dace class.  They have been working on their dance for the recital at the end of May.  The girls are too cute.  It will be fun to watch them and see how they react to their debut in front of a live audience.

C is going a little nuts at work which is becoming the norm.  There are so many things about it that he loves and so many things he hates.  I guess that is the way most people feel about their job.

We've had tons of rain over the past couple of weeks.  C's car sunroof leaked so now his car is in the garage and mine is in the driveway.  It should be repaired before the end of the week.  We just spend each morning checking the weather to see if it is safe to have his car out of the garage or not.  Otherwise we are splitting time with my car.  It is working fine this week since I am on a school break.  

We are looking forward to a quick getaway this coming weekend.  We are taking off Saturday afternoon to head to Rusk, TX to take a train ride on Sunday.  I think we are looking forward to it almost as much as the kids are!  I've been trying to book a night at a nearby B&B.  I've heard back from them once to learn that the room we want to book is available but I can't get them to call back to let us know if we can reserve it or not!  I may have to look at some other places.

Anyway, that is what is going on here in a nutshell.  We did our April b-day celebration over the weekend so I'll upload those couple of photos and post that some day soon.     

Our sweet boy

O was cleaning up his toys in the t.v. room this evening and, as usual, was proud to have me come and look at the completed task.  He specifically pointed out, "I set M's little table and chairs up by the t.v. so she can eat and watch t.v. at the same time.  It makes me feel so good that I did that for her that I want to cry."  He didn't cry but he got a little choked up then as well as later when he was showing dad.  He was just bursting with pride.  What a wonderful feeling for him to feel and for his mom and dad to witness/reinforce.  What a sweet little man he his.  Now I'm all choked up.  He must be his mother's son!

Another marathon post

Yes people, it is another marathon blog post because I can't seem to do it in short posts.  So, take a potty break, grab a snack and the beverage of your choice then come back and read all of the incredibly fascinating details of my thoughts...

VEGAS

I've already made hotel reservations for our annual Vegas trip which is still 6 months away.  I just love having something to look forward to!  Here's a call out to all the gals--let me know if you'd like to join us.  Anyway, this year, DF and I decided to book our stay at Paris instead of our usual Bally's.  We often spend a lot of time in Paris eating and shopping so we figured, why not just stay there?!  The event is scheduled for the weekend of Oct 8-12.  We plan to arrive on Thurs the 8th and leave on Monday the 12th.  Please join us if you can!

SCHOOL

Today marks the last week of classes for my 5th semester.  Finals begin next Weds and finish the following Tues (21st).  That will put me 1/3 of the way through the program.  I planned on taking at least 15 semesters total to complete the program.  It seems like such a long haul but, looking back on the past 5 semesters, it has gone quickly.  

I've done very well paying my tuition etc as I go along but I've opted to take out a student loan starting with the summer semester.  Things are tight now and I know when the tuition goes up and when I get into the clinic where the tuition is a lot higher, it will be too difficult to keep up.  I know that C is not very comfortable with the loan idea but I feel that it will help us out in the long run.  Right now, all the money I make goes straight to school and I can't get ahead on my credit card.  With the student loan I can pay off my credit card and free up some money to help us do some things we want to do:  like travel, house projects, and to just build up our savings.  I feel like it will take a lot of pressure off and I'm confident that I will be able to pay the loan off within 5-7 years of my graduation.  To have the extra funds available now to live and then to be able to pay off the loan fairly quickly after I graduate is a win-win situation to me.  Plus, it might allow me to complete the program a little more quickly if I can take an extra class here and there without worrying how to pay for it.  

Right now I'm taking between 10 and 12 credit hours partly because of the class load but mostly because that is about all I can afford to take each semester.  If I could bump that up to 13-14 credit hours without having to work more to pay for it, then I may save myself a semester or two.  It is a delicate balance right now to take the classes I want to take but also keep up with the prerequisites.  They don't offer ALL of the classes every semester and you have to take them in a certain order to keep up.  If you skip one during the semester that it is offered, you may not be able to take the next level class when it is offered.  You may end up taking fewer hours one semester because you don't have all of your prerequisite classes completed.  It hasn't been too bad to juggle so far but as we get further into the program, more students fall behind or drop out so the higher level classes aren't offered as often.  They watch where the students are in the program and offer what the majority of the students need in a given semester.  It can get tricky to plan.  

For example, next semester they are offering Neuroanatomy on Mondays from 810-1010pm.  While I need Neuroanatomy to graduate, it isn't a prerequisite for any other class.  I'm thinking that I don't want to commute for 90 minutes round trip for a 2 hour class that isn't a prerequisite.  However, it is nagging at me that if I don't take it now, when it is offered again it may conflict with another class that IS a prerequisite and I'll be forced to choose between the two.  Neuro isn't offered every semester so I should take it now while I can.  If I add it to my proposed schedule for next semester, it will bump me up to 13 hours for the semester and 4 days of classes each week.  But, I don't think it will be an easy class and I will be taking my 3rd Herb class next semester.  The classes just get more difficult and I want to keep my work load outside of class manageable so I can have some family time.  Especially since it will be summer and all the fun that goes with that!  On the other hand, if I get it all in now, the sooner I will be finished and we won't have to deal with this huge scheduling conflict in our family.  Maybe I can plan some time to be at school for a few hours each week before classes to study without the usual distractions at home?  All of these thoughts racing through my head.  

You can see how complicated it gets.  Plus, all of these thoughts are jumbled in my head as I try to study for finals to complete the semester I am currently in!  Anyway, people ask me a lot about what is going on with school so there it is.  I hope you could follow me on all of that complicated explanation!  

WORK

Work is going well and I'm pleased to say that the current economic state has not affected my income.  However, I started worrying about paying for the upcoming semester (before I pursued the student loan) about 2 1/2 weeks ago so I crammed 5 clients into my work day.  One of those clients was a new client that I hadn't worked with before.  As it turned out, she is very obese and very difficult to work on.  She was as nice as can be and has been dealing with Fibromyalgia symptoms for about 6 years so I really wanted to help her.  Fibromyalgia is a diagnosis where the patient has severe, debilitating pain and a root cause cannot be identified.  She has had every test in the book and even had neck and shoulder surgery with no relief.  She recently was able to get some relief from antidepressants and other medication and has found massage to be helpful as well.  However, massage helps for a very short time and she hadn't had a massage for over 5 months.  It was a tough session for me and I wasn't yet finished for the day!  I was so sore and I felt the muscle ache creeping back during my work week last Saturday as well.  

Since my massage buddy, DD, moved in December, I've tried to work trades with the other massage therapist at work.  But between our two schedules we haven't had much luck scheduling anything.  I'm dying here!  My body needs some TLC too so I can keep working effectively.  So, since I helped myself with the money end of it by getting a student loan, I've scheduled a massage for myself with another therapist and I'm going to pay for the session.  I haven't decided yet if I will tell her that I am also a therapist.  I may just explain that I'm new because my regular therapist moved recently and I'm used to getting a lot of massage then leave it at that.  While I absolutely cherish the friendship that emerged from my weekly sessions with DD, I am so busy right now that it may be better to get massage sessions for myself that stay on the professional level.  I can schedule at my convenience, pay her and not have any other obligation to her.  But, I am such a bad, bad liar (even if it is lying by omission) and if I end up going to her every other week like I plan on doing, I should tell her what I do for a living so she can work on me the way I need to be worked on.  But then that will bring up all of the questions and conversation about work and I just don't want to do that.  I will probably tell her and just let her know up front that this is my time to escape and I don't want to chat at all--especially about work.  She should understand that.  I'll keep you posted.

KIDS

O & M are doing well.  They get more and more mature every day.  M doesn't look like a baby any longer.  I am really enjoying them as they get older.

O has been getting regular acupuncture treatments and taking herbs to help with his bedwetting issue.  He is such a trooper.  Even though he complains about the needles, he takes them just fine and does well.  He is really good at taking his herbs too.  I think it is helping.  He was wetting the bed probably 4-5 times each week on average.  Now he is down to 2-3 times each week after 4 sessions.  He has issues when he is awake where he waits until the last minute to go to the bathroom and it seems to be helping with that too.  

I chose to take him for acupuncture because I know it will treat the root cause which we have determined is a kidney deficiency--- a Chinese medicine diagnosis (his kidneys function fine as far as Western medicine is concerned).  So, the interns are working on tonifying his kidney essence and kidney qi which will help make his kidneys stronger so that he can better control his urination.  In Chinese medicine, the kidney also controls your growth and development.  This is why children often have an issue with bedwetting because they are depleting so much kidney qi to grow.  Older adults have this problem because, as we age, your kidney qi is also depleted through sexual activity as well as wear and tear on your body which your kidney essence tries hard to repair.  

Just a side note here, this is the idea behind tantric sex.  Everyone is born with a certain amount of kidney essence and you can keep it strong by eating well, exercising and taking care of yourself.  But once your kidney essence is lost, it cannot be replaced.  When men ejaculate, it is believed that they lose some of their kidney essence.  The practice of tantric sex helps men achieve orgasm without ejaculating so that they don't lose their kidney essence.  It is much more complicated than that and I'm not sure why I felt the need to mention this!  I just thought you might find it interesting.  Don't bother asking me any questions about it because that is all I know right now!!   

I also chose to use acupuncture to treat O because western medicine doesn't recognize bedwetting as an issue until the child is at least 9 years of age.  Then they treat the symptom but not the root cause.  Plus, I needed to try to determine if he really can control his bladder issues and he is just being lazy.  I figured his issues would improve very quickly and drastically if he is just being lazy about it.  But, since he is well aware why he is getting acupuncture treatments and what the outcome goal is for those treatments then he would probably be able to control it if he actually could.  Anyway, I'll keep you posted as to how he is doing as we go along.

M just received her costume yesterday for her dance recital in May.  She looks like a big, fluffy yellow puff.  She LOVES it.  Plus we found out that there will be a professional videographer there to videotape her recital.  They will not allow any personal photos or video to be taken on the day of the recital.  They said that they do that for the safety and privacy protection of all of the students.  I can kind of understand that I guess.  The professional will offer videos for sale after the show.  I will post the video for you all to see.  Thus the reason they won't allow personal video to be shot!!

Anyhow, are you all bored to tears yet?!  There are a few other minor things I was going to mention but they are not important.  I need to get ready to head to class so I'll stop for now.  Thanks for listening everyone!