A "hand" full of a week

I don't know about the rest of you, but these 2:
suuuuure did enjoy a few snow days at home! I think we all learned the true meaning of the phrase "absence makes the heart grow fonder" and will highly benefit from some time away from each other this coming week, along with our budget benefiting from going back to normal hours at work!

Do you ever feel like you are wandering through life with a giant target at your back, and the rest of the world has their weapons of mass destruction aimed right at you? I feel like that a lot. Or, maybe it's just my kids that are out to get me? I don't know about the rest of you, but so far 2011 hasn't been exactly been a year full of sunshine and happiness. And I'm not even talking about all the snow, which I actually happen to love. I am convinced I must have been a penguin in a former life, as I certainly have the same body shape as a penguin, and I happen to love the cold and snow.

Enough of my rambling, and back to my Target. The happenings of the past week were actually set in motion weeks ago. For awhile now, I've had this painful bump in my left hand. At a routine appointment with my rheumatologist, I asked him about it. He sent me to a surgeon, who wasn't sure what it was, but concurred that it needed to come out. We scheduled the Surgery for Tuesday of this past week, the 8th. We had everything all set up, and ready to go, until the surgery center decided that it would be way too easy on me for things to go smoothly, and changed the time of the surgery at the last minute. Oh, sure, I can just change my whole schedule around, including getting my children shuffled here and there. Yeah, no problem! Thankfully, I have some awesome friends and family who were willing to help us get everyone taken care of. It turned out to be a benign tumor in my hand, and they were able to remove it successfully. I have had my hand in a sling for most of the week, and will have my stitches for another week then should be back on the road to normal! I am so thankful for all the wonderful people in our life to help us through difficult times. My father, with his generous heart, who always seems to step in and make sure we are taken care of financially. My mom, who's always willing to help with the girls. My friends, who offered well wishes, helped with the girls, and kept us fed all week. I honestly don't know what I've done in my life to deserve such wonderful friends and family. I am blessed beyond measure!

So, just as my heart was overflowing with joy, my children decided they better reign me back in to humility. Starting this morning, when I woke to a crashing sound, and a lot of yelling. I went into the kitchen to find the whole floor totally covered in what Jaycee called a "food celebration!!" They took every single piece of play food, dishes etc and threw it all over. And they didn't leave out the ceramic tea set, oh no, they threw it all over as well, shattering every piece in the floor and leaving tiny slivers behind. I should have taken a picture, but I had to leave the room as soon as I saw it, and I walked away angrily proclaiming that when I came back in the kitchen it better all be cleaned up. I retreated to my room and tried to concentrate on getting ready for church, as I'm pretty sure there's some sort of commandment somewhere in the bible about not dismembering children on Sundays. After I managed to dress myself, as I'm walking through the small space between the end of our bed and the dresser, the bottom of the shirt I'm wearing (that just happens to be my favorite) catches on the drawer knob and rips. At this point, I'm running so late I don't have time to even think about changing, so I go on about my day hoping that no one will really notice :/

We did finally manage to make it to church, bandaged hand and all. Both children were whiny and clingy, driving me nuts of course. Like I didn't have anything to do. Since I was cooped up in the house all week, I wasn't able to make it up to the church to get things prepared for my 2's classes this morning, so I'm running around like a crazy person trying to get everything set up before all of the children arrive. Thankfully, everything went smoothly, and I think some of the kids may have actually learned something.

I was relieved we all made it home roughly in one piece, and needed more than anything just to lay down for a bit and rest. My hand hadn't gone so long unelevated all week, and was throbbing heavily. Somehow though, between the time we got home and the time I fed them lunch, they managed to shatter the large piece of glass covering the top of the furniture in their room. This furniture was mine as a child, and has been moved more times than I can count, each time taking very good care not to break this glass. I didn't hear, or see the glass break. But when I went to check and make sure they were getting their church clothes off, I noticed the glass. According to Jaycee "I climbed up there to get a ball down and knocked that (jewelry box) down and it broke it." !!!!!! I was seriously about to lose it at this point.

So, I set the girls up with some lunch and a movie in their room. They looked tired, and I was sure they would watch the movie and rest while I just lay down for a minute, rest my eyes and my hurting hand. Well. Of course that's not what they did! And of course, as I should have known I would, I fell asleep. Yes, that's right, I fully admit my part in all of this. About an hour later, I awoke to a loud banging sound. Justin, who was also in bed asleep after working 14 hours overnight, jumped up to see what was going on. He comes back into the bedroom, and tells me "the police are here, they want to talk to you." I'm freaking out of course. What is going on??? I run to the door, and sure enough 2 of greenwood's finest are standing there waiting on us. Apparently, my children just thought it was too nice of a day to stay inside and watch a movie, so they dressed themselves in ill-fitting non matched clothing, and proceeded to go outside and play while we were resting. Apparently, the next door neighbor is either a highly paranoid individual, or just is out to destroy me, and decided to call the police and report that my children were outside playing by themselves. According to Jaycee, she told the lady that "my mommy and daddy are named Jasmin and Justin and they are tired and we wanted to play outside." At any rate, we received a stern lecture about how they are too young to be out by themselves, and were told we really should get a deadbolt lock for the door. Heh, um, yes sir, we actually have a deadbolt installed at the top of the door, my hard-headed child stacks up toys and furniture and climbs up and unlocks it. Which is exactly what she did today. They probably think I'm crazy, b/c I was trying really hard to stifle giggle throughout the whole ordeal. First of all, the kids were in the yard, not wandering around town unsupervised. Second, anyone who knows us well, knows we are far from "neglectful" or "uncaring" parents. No, I'm not perfect and I make mistakes, but my kids are my life. Kids in general are my life! My strength in life is loving and taking care of children, and keeping them safe. I know, I know, these men were just doing their job, and didn't know a thing about me. Still, it makes me giggle when I replay the whole scenario in my head!

At this point, since it was about time to get back to church, I proceeded to dress the girls in clothing suitable for public. As I'm looking closely at Joslyn, I noticed something looked sort of funny. I asked Justin if he thought her hair looked funny, he said no. But I could just tell it wasn't right. We were in a hurry, so I didn't have much time to deal with it. A few minutes later as the girls and I are in the car on the way to church, Justin calls to tell me that he found chunks of red hair in the trash can. I knew she cut her hair! Sure enough, I asked her and she admitted it right to me. Somehow, she managed to get the scissors off the top of the bakers rack, and cut her hair.

It's actually not nearly as bad as it could be. It's hard to tell in the pic, but she took a good chunk off each side. I asked her to stand still so I could get a picture of her hair, and she posed like this. She looks like she really feels bad about it, doesn't she?? Hopefully this week we can try to get a cut so it will look somewhat normal.....

After church tonight, the first thing I did was call my mother. My first words to her were "I bet no matter how bad your day was, mine was probably worse!" And upon telling her everything, she fully agreed that I win the mega award for bad days. Which, essentially, is why one of the first thoughts that came to my mind after all this, was that I wanted to blog about it. B/c ya know what?? Your day could always be worse. There is always someone out there, somewhere, who is enduring something far more difficult than you. And, even though this day made me feel like I aged at least 10 years, now that it's all said and done, I'm pretty lucky. We are all here, safe and healthy, cozy, fed, and happy. Somewhere today, someone lost someone they loved, was in a terrible accident, or received some sort of devastating news. Hmm, yup. I got it pretty good.

My therapist (yes, I fully admit to seeing a therapist, most people with lupus do in order to learn ways to deal with the feelings and emotions that come with being diagnosed with chronic illness) once told me that she is totally amazed at the outlook I have on life and the struggles it presents me. She says I have a wonderful sense of humor. I see it as a huge blessing to be able to look at struggles and hardships and be able to laugh, or smile, or find the good somewhere. When God made me, he surely knew I would need such a disposition, and I think my job is to spread it around. Just call me Pollyanna!

I encourage you all, to have an absolutely wonderful week, and remember to give thanks for all of the blessings in your life.