Will someone please just make a waterproof cell phone already

I bet you can tell what happened to me today...  I thought yesterday was supposed to be the unlucky day, not today.  And if the cell phone wasn't enough, well this morning my car window rolled down, but not back up...  Thankfully my very wonderful Dad was able to help me get it rolled back up again.  Now I just have to remember to never, ever roll it down again, or at least until I can have the mechanic look at it.

The Fergusons are coming to Greeley!

For anyone who hasn't heard yet, we are coming to visit!  We will be in Greeley the evening of October 10th through mid afternoon on the 14th.  We are trying to put together a schedule so that we don't miss anyone, so if you want to see us, please let us know when and where you will be available.

Also in case you haven't heard, we did put an offer in on a house that was accepted but since it is a short sale, we are waiting for their lender to agree.  Once we know more, we will let you know...

Warning! Contents highly addictive

Hello, my name is Melissa and I am an addict.  I blame my mother, for years I had resisted the pull when all of my peers told me how good it was.  I knew that if I ever succumbed, I would get sucked in for sure and it would be too late for me.  But Saturday afternoon, I happened to witness her using it and I thought that I would just try a little.  Now that I have made eye contact, I think it's too late for me...

Wondering what I am referring to?   After having tons of people tell me how great Pinterest is, I have finally experienced it for myself and I love it.  I will spare you the gory details, but simply say it is like following a million rabbit trails while loving every minute of it.  I now have a ton of amazing ideas and can't wait to get more. 

Happy Monday!

New car

Well, new to us. 

It is a 99 Honda Civic that we bought from my sister who lives in Seattle.  It is different to be driving a car again after driving the minivan so long, but I am remembering how much I like driving cars instead of vans.  The 30+ mpg is nice also!

Hooray! He is finally free!

Pat attended the final hearing (via conference call) yesterday to terminate the conservatorship that governs his finances.  Simple put: The guardianship was over his physical affairs, the conservatorship was over his financial affairs.  We have been working on this since before we moved to Idaho almost a year ago. 

We are VERY pleased to report that Patrick's request was granted and in a few weeks, we will be managing the money left from his trust fund from the accident in 1993.  This means that we can get serious about house hunting very soon (huge sigh of relief).

Pat's conservator and his former therapist both attended the conference call and gave very glowing testimonies of the growth and progress they have seen in him since he started to take an interest in managing his own life in 2006.  He has come so far in every aspect of his life.  But nothing compared to the light in his eyes today.  He truly is his own man now, and you can tell he knows it. 

We were keeping everything very quiet because there are some members of Pat's family who are opposed to the steps he is taking to get back on his feet.  We were afraid that if we talked about things too much, that they might try to fight things.  It wouldn't have stopped things from going through, but would have delayed the process even more and made Pat very upset.  Thankfully, if they did cause any commotion, we didn't hear anything from it. 

So last night we got to celebrate Pat's independence by going to Flying Pie pizza with some of our family and my aunt and cousins who are visiting from South Carolina.  The pizza was SO good and we all ate so much that we almost couldn't walk.  After that we went swimming and had a great time. 

Yeah Pat, we are SO proud of you.  Words can't even express how much you have grown.

Real Estate School

I am so pleased to say that I made it through a very intense two weeks of Real Estate School.  As part of my job as Training Specialist at the Idaho Real Estate Commission, I get to work with all of the instructors in Idaho who provide instruction for real estate licensees.  So my boss asked me to attend our two week salesperson pre-license courses (the education anyone must take to get a real estate license in Idaho).  The classes are each a week long and are 45 hours of classroom instruction/field trips, etc.

It was very fun, but very challenging as a lot of new information was crammed into my brain very quickly.  A few of the really fun things we got to do was to actually go and measure a house with tape measures, etc. to determine the square footage.  It was a challenge.  :)  We also got to visit a title company and see all of the tract books dating back to the beginning of Idaho and see some very, very old land deeds.  A little scary, but very entertaining was the lecture from a home inspector.  I have learned more about mold, dry rot, etc. than anyone every wants to (very terrifying actually) and then heard a couple of poems as he was also a cowboy poet.  The really funny thing was that the home inspector happened to be my old bishop who prepared me to go on a mission. 

I realized through all of the work that the real estate licensees have to do and how detailed and complicated the process can be that I am extremely grateful to have the job that I do instead of being on the other end.  I am learning from the inside out how the home buying process works so I will be really prepared to buy my first house (Pat's second) very soon. 

April sightings

Since we haven't really had any April showers, we decided to post about a few of the fun(funny) things we have seen recently. 

Funny sighting number one - Hershey has been barking his head off the last few days in the morning and we could not figure out why.  I honestly thought he must have heard the toaster or my cereal being poured into the bowl and wanted some, but I finally figured it out.  One day last week, I happened to look out the window when he was barking like mad.  To my big surprise, there was a wild turkey in the neighbor's driveway.  I think he was either trying to warn it off of our property, inviting it to come play, or letting it know his plans to eat it.  Mystery solved.

Fun sighting number two - The very next morning as I was driving into the parking lot at work, I happened to notice the deer crossing sign.  And I thought to myself, I know we are close to the river, but surely the deer won't get this close to people and buildings.  And then I saw five mule deer in the parking lot.  I got to watch them for a few minutes before I went into work as they mowed the lawn and chomped on some weeds.

Funny sighting number three - Pat walking down the hall with his pants around his ankles.  This is a pretty common occurance and is really quite amazing because it shows how much more confident he is getting.

Pretty darn amazing sighting - Pat standing in front of his chair swinging his walker to and fro in the air.  I really can't do this one justice, but it is awesome.  We are thinking about having a picture of him holding his walker in the air over his head for next Christmas.  :)

Melissa got a job!

I start work as a Training Specialist for the Idaho Real Estate Commission on April 15th.  Yup, that's right, I'm branching out of the medical field!  I am really excited to try something new, but I know there will be a big learning curve.  Thankfully it is not housed with most of the other state offices at the Capitol Complex but it will be quite a long commute from Emmett. I am hoping to be able to join a vanpool to save some money and the headache of driving every day.  Because it is a government job, we will have state benefits and it does pay more than my last job, so I am also very happy about that.  I am not sure yet exactly what I will be doing as it is a new position which is always something that I really enjoy.  Pat is excited because I am excited, but I think he will be going through withdrawl for the first few weeks at least since I haven't worked for the last 9 months.  Wow, time surely flies.

Pat here, we are doing great.  Just trying to wait patiently until we can pick out our new house.  Hershey is doing great.  My walking is going good.  I am changing one of my medications, whenever I have to increase the dose, it throws me for a loop for a while, but it is all good in the long run.  Lately, I have been playing a lot of Monopoloy and every time I get Free Parking or a big payout, I stand up and lift my walker in the air.  Kind of like the endzone dance, but better.  My physical therapist keeps kicking my butt, but it is really helping, so I just try to endure it. Okay, that's it for now.

Thoughts for today

"Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds." – Albert Einstein

"Try not to be a person of success, but rather a person of virtue." – Albert Einstein

"Change is not merely necessary to life – it is life." - Alvin Toffler

"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world." – Anne Frank

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit." – Aristotle

"The only way of finding the limits of the possible is by going beyond them into the impossible." – Arthur C. Clarke

"Experience is the child of thought, and thought is the child of action." – Benjamin Disraeli

"Attitude is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than what people do or say. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill." – Charles Swindoll

"Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising every time we fall." – Confucius

"Don’t take yourself too seriously. And don’t be too serious about not taking yourself too seriously." – Howard Ogden

"Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.” – Buddha

"Time is the coin of life. Only you can determine how it will be spent." – Carl Sandburg

"Eagles come in all shapes and sizes, but you will recognize them chiefly by their attitudes." – Charles Prestwich Scott

"To talk goodness is not good… only to do it is." – Chinese proverb

"Don’t put a limit on what can be accomplished." – Christopher Reeve

"An optimist is a person who sees a green light everywhere. The pessimist sees only the red light. But the truly wise person is color blind." – Dr. Albert Schweitzer

"The state of your life is nothing more than a reflection of your state of mind." – Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

"A great attitude does much more than turn on the lights in our worlds; it seems to magically connect us to all sorts of serendipitous opportunities that were somehow absent before the change." – Earl Nightingale

"Our attitude toward life determines life’s attitude towards us." – Earl Nightingale

"Character is the result of two things: mental attitude and the way we spend our time." – Elbert Green Hubbard

"Funny is an attitude." – Flip Wilson

"Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything." – George Bernard Shaw

"Take calculated risks. That is quite different from being rash." – George S. Patton

"Adopting the right attitude can convert a negative stress into a positive one." – Hans Selye

"Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadow." – Helen Adams Keller

"If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost. That is where they should be. Now put the foundation under them." – Henry David Thoreau

"When it’s time to die, let us not discover that we have never lived." -Henry David Thoreau

"A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort." – Herm Albright

"It is not the position, but the disposition." – J. E. Dinger

"Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

"Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out." – John Wooden

"Words are plentiful; deeds are precious." – Lech Walesa

"Ability is what you’re capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it." – Lou Holtz

"The real voyage of discovery consists not in making new landscapes but in having new eyes." – Marcel Proust

"The best way to cheer yourself up: Cheer everybody else up." – Mark Twain

"Nothing contributes so much to tranquilize the mind as a steady purpose– a point on which the soul may fix its intellectual eye." – Mary Shelley

"Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness." – Martin Luther King Jr.

“To be a great champion you must believe you are the best. If you’re not, pretend you are.” – Muhammad Ali

"A cynic is a man who knows the price of everything, and the value of nothing." – Oscar Wilde

"You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation." – Plato

"He who hesitates is lost." – Proverb

"Fortune favors the brave." – Publius Terence

"To different minds, the same world is a hell, and a heaven." – Ralph Waldo Emerson

"The best way out is always through." – Robert Frost

"Always look at what you have left.Never look at what you have lost." – Robert H. Schuller

"Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must first be overcome." – Samuel Johnson

"The first key to greatness is to be in reality what we appear to be." - Socrates

"Optimism means expecting the best, but confidence means knowing how to handle the worst. Never make a move if you are merely optimistic." – The Zurich Axioms

"Minds are like parachutes – they only function when open." – Thomas Dewar

". . . Everything can be taken from a man but one thing; the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way." – Victor E. Frankl

"Work spares us from three evils: boredom, vice, and need." – Voltaire

"Mental attitude is more important than mental capacity." – Walter Dill Scott

"It’s great to be great, but its greater to be human." – Will Rogers

"You cannot raise a man up by calling him down." – William Boetcker

"Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact." – William James

"The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind." – William James

"The optimist sees opportunity in every danger; the pessimist sees danger in every opportunity." – Winston Churchill

"We are still masters of our fate. We are still captains of our souls." – Winston Churchill

"Kites rise highest against the wind; not with it." – Winston Churchill

Update from Pat

Pat has worked so hard in the pool that he has worn a hole in his swimming trunks.  He says that it is for ventilation, but we think it is for easier gas propulsion. His therapist requested some smaller ones, his are so baggy, she can't tell if he is bending his knees or if the suit just makes it look that way.  Who would have thought he would wear out his swimming trunks faster than his shoes.  :)

Happy February

We are so grateful that there is sun out now!  But it sure makes lots of mud for Pat to walk through.  :)

We just finished our evaluation appointment with his new physical therapist.  We both like her, she seems very knowledgeable and very interested in helping Pat to be involved with his therapy.  Our next appointment is on Friday morning, in the pool.  So that will be fun for him.  I think he is really excited to show off what he can do.  It makes me smile to see her showing him the same exercises and stretches that I have been trying to get him to do for a long time.  Maybe he will listen to her because while I knew it was a good idea, I just didn't have the scientific reasoning behind why it helps his specific conditions. 

He is finding the increase in his medication a little more difficult expected.  He gets tired a lot more quickly and isn't able to do quite as much on his own as he was before while at the pool.  On the plus side, his calf muscles have almost doubled in size this month, and he is a lot more flexible.  We go to the doctor again next week, he may increase the dosage again, I guess we won't know until then.  Evenually, Pat may move to a Baclofen pump which is much more effective because he would get small doses of Baclofen intrathecally injects at a steady rate instead of taking the medication orally.  He doesn't think he wants to do that, but it sounds like it may be our best option.  He may be more willing once he starts to feel some relief from the pain he is in.

One other item of note, I have a job interview with the State of Idaho in the morning.  I have applied for quite a few things with them, and can see that several different departments are reviewing my application/test scores, but so far only one call.  State run agencies seem to move so slowly when it comes to hiring.  I think their idea of testing is pretty smart though, it is a great way to weed out the serious contenders from the people who try to make themselves look better than they really are.  I think that even if I am offered the position tomorrow, I will decline it though because it doesn't pay enough to make it worthwhile to commute from Emmett.  I am hoping to hear something from a training specialist position, but since it is open for applications until the end of the month, it might be a while still. 

Update on us

Pat got a call from his aunt and was sad to hear that his Grandmother has suffered a heart attack and a clot in her neck on it's way to her brain.  Thankfully they caught it in time.  She has been in the hospital for the last few days for monitoring but seems to be doing better now.  Please keep her in your prayers.

Also, Pat had an appointment with a specialist who works specifically with spasticity due to traumatic brain injuries.  We were afraid that he would tell us that what we have been doing was all wrong, but were pleasantly surprised to find out that he wants to just increase his medication and get him into "real" physical therapy and pool therapy.  I am glad to have a break, because it gets tiring trying to play the dual roles sometimes, but I don't really expect that they will try anything too different than what we have been doing.  Only time will tell.

In other news, Daniel has submitted his papers and we are all anxiously awaiting his mission call.  Everyone has their own idea of where he will go, but he really thinks he will be called to China.  There seems to be a family trend with getting called to places with C in the name.  Chile, Columbia, Colorado, California, etc.  Maybe he will go to Canada (laugh, laugh).  Or Connecticut or the Congo...

But we saved the very best for last!  We got an offer on our house and the closing is scheduled for February 1st.  We have all of our fingers and toes and anything else we can think of crossed that it will go smoothly and we will be able to move out soon. 

Seems like when it rains it pours around here.  :)

Pat's reward

For those of you who are wondering, Pat chose an MP3 player for his substitute reward when his tablet "expired".  Daniel helped him load it up with lots of music and he can lately often be found by following the music to wherever he is.  He loves to sing at the top of his lungs, and has already worn out one set of ear plugs.  But he sure looks happy!

Missing: One laptop, very suspicious circumnstances

Some of you may know about a little mystery that we have.  When we made our first trip to Idaho with the rental truck, there was some debate about what to do with my laptop.  My decision was to leave it in the storage unit because it is outdated and I knew that without wireless internet, we wouldn't be using it much.  Pretty simple, right? 

Well the problem is that everyone who had anything to do with it has a different memory of how we stored it, etc.  And none of those memories really match.  To make a long story short, we have made several unsuccessful fishing expeditions in the storage unit, and we still can't find it. 

We thought we got lucky this last time when I opened up a taped box and found the case.  Sadly, when I opened the case, it was empty.  So we really don't have a clue what happened to it.  But now that we finally broke down and bought a new laptop, we are sure to find it, right?  At any rate, Pat will really love his new computer.  :)