Sunday, November 9, 2008

Wow!!

It has been a long time since I have been on here. A LOT has went on. Right now we are dealing with Mike's dad being in the hospital after having a stroke on Wednesday 11/5/08. He is doing ok. The stroke affected the back lower portion around the brainstem. He has garbled speech and his right arm is a little lacking with coordination. Both are improving day by day.

On 10/29/2008, mike had his wisdom teeth removed. That went ok. He had a couple days of swelling but then on Sunday after that, he started having pain again when he shouldn't have. I took him into the doctor on Tuesday and he ended up having another tooth pulled. That was a busy day because we had to vote (in Hoopeston), get the kids out of school early and be back in champaign for the tooth pulling by 2 p.m.

The voting went ok even though McCain lost. I think this country is doomed now. The only good thing that I see is that gas is down now to around $1.95 per gallon. Just 6 months ago, it was over $4.00 per gallon. But that is just the beginning. I absolutely do not like Obama. This country is in for a world of hurt. The black population has resented the whites for so long and now they have managed to get one of them into the white house. I don't think it will be too long till the white americans are slaves just out of spite. How can we have a president with the name of Barack Hussein Obama. It doesn't get any more anti-American than just his name.

Anyways, what's done is done there. With this whole thing with his dad, Mike's sister has decided to become miss goody two shoes and I can't take it. I am not buying it. She is playing the victim here all the while she is still lying. She is blaming my kids for things and me for things that I have not done. Sure, I vent once in awhile because she aggravates the H___ out of me but she thinks that we can drop everything where it is and just start over and be best friends. IT AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN!!! She is too much of a manipulative witch in all of this.

Well, that is all for now. I will type more later.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Just me



Well, it has been a couple of weeks since I have been on here. Not a whole lot has went on but there was one major milestone. We got a new truck after we finally received Mikey's social security disability back payment. We went from a 1980 Ford Bronco (first picture) which needed some help to a 2006 Dodge Durango (second picture). We have had the durango for about a week now and I love it!! My poor car has needed a break for a little while. It is a 2005 Aveo and already has 60,000 miles. The Durango has less than 25,000 right now.
Other things on my mind. My best friend Jenn. I think I have made her mad. She has a baby due in 9 days and yes I am excited for her and Bill but for some reason she hasn't seemed like she has really wante to talk to me recently. I don't know. Maybe I am just thinking too much. She is probably busy with getting ready for her baby and unpacking from their move. When she called me a few weeks ago when her and Bill were fighting, I told her something that I probably should have kept to myself that involved Bill. She probably hates me now. Which I would not blame her. I feel horrible. But I also hated keeping things from her. I have known her since kindergarten and would hate to lose her as a friend. She is like a sister to me. Sometimes, I just have no clue when to keep my big mouth shut. She is one of my very few friends and I don't want to lose her friendship.
Also, last week, I had to take Mike into the ER because he got a migraine that even a pain pill would not touch. That made for a long night since we did not get to the ER til 10:00 p.m.
So far this week has been pretty quiet. Tonight is the Vice Presidential Debate and tomorrow we go to champaign for a checkup for Mike after his ER visit. Well, that's about it for now.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Busy and somewhat disappointing week.

This week has been busy and a littl disappointing. The good news is that I have made it 14 days without smoking!!! The bad news is that we are going to probably have to spend a lot of money on fixing our basement. We had one of Mike's cousins come out to look at the walls in the basemnt to see if he could tuckpoint them. He thought he could and was going to start yesterday. That was until we took down a board off the wall and found that the wall is really bowed and cracked more than we thought. We had him come back and look at it and he thinks that the whole basement wall is going to have to be replaced. That is not good. We don't have that type of money and we really need to do it before winter.

My weeks can prove to be busy just getting the kids to school and working but I also had to go to the church business meeting on Wednesday and we went grocery shopping Friday. All mixed in with mowing the yard and house cleaning yesterday. I can't complain too much. After all, I did make it through it.

Mike is slowly losing his energy more and more. He is back to having to take naps during the day. That didn't happen very much until recently again.

The kids have been okay. School is taking its toll on Zach. He isn't used to going to school full day. Even preschool was half day. Well, they get out early on Wednesday so that should help.

Well, that is about it for now.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

I'm back

OK. This day has been interesting to say the least. Earlier this week there was a hurricane named Ike that hit the gulf coast of Texas as I am sure everyone is aware of. Well, Ike finally made its way up to Illinois and guess what? We got 4 flippin inches of rain in about 4 hours from it. Our basement has water everywhere and I was afraid that the poor sump pump would blow up from being over worked. Mike was able to make it to church and back today but there is a bridge that we have to go under that he made his way under but right after that a police officer stopped and blocked the road. So we get to have calm evening at home tonight.



Lets see.....Other things on my mind:







1. I LOVE MY HUSBAND!!!!! He is awesome. We celebrate our 11th anniversary next month and I can't wait. He is caring and lovng and just perfect.















2. My Kids. I hope and pray that they make it through this life as easily and problem free as possible. I hope that they grow up to be smart, healthy, and full of life. I love them so much.













3. The rest of my family. They are interesting. Can be a pain sometimes. But are pretty cool. Lord knows they have helped us in big ways and I am very grateful.








4. This silly presidential election. For the first time in my life I have registered to vote. And it is all because I think Barack Obama doesn't have any clue what is going on. At least McCain has his head on straight and it's not in the clouds. Sarah Palin is awesome too. The things that she has shown she can accomplish just by being governor of Alaska has shown that she could make some big differences in the country. And we all know that something has to be done with the government. They have gotten out of control. Gas prices are outrageous. The cost of living is almost out of our means. A gallon of milk is considered on sale when it is $2.50? What is up with that? It's not like the cows are charging to make it. Why can't we have the prices of the 1950s and make what we do today? There wouldn't be as much poverty. Not as much stress. I don't understand why the prices of items has to go up and that goes for anything including the machines and materials used to make it. To me, there is no need for price increases. America was just fine back then and there is no need to increase the price of anything. Taxes are way too high. Everything is just out of control. The government needs to treat everyone equally but does it? NO!!!! I am ashamed that I have to ask for my kids to ask for free lunches at school because we are so poor. And don't even get me started on health insurance and the healthcare system. Well, lets just suffice it to say that I don't believe that Mr. Obama would have any clue of how to fix any of this. John McCain has at least a little idea. He may not be able to fix all of the problems but I know that both him and Sarah Palin will try their darnedest. Has anyone else other than me notice how similar Obama Biden looks like Osama Bin Laden?


5. Friends. I don't have many friends but the ones that I do have I cherish. My best friend, Jenn (middle), is pregnant and due with her first baby on our anniversary 10/11/08. That is sooooo cool. She was also my maid of honor in my wedding. Weird coincidence huh? LOL!!! Recently her husband and her had a difficult bout and she called me. I tried to give her advice that I would use myself and I hope it worked. She said that they are better now. I think it is just stress with the baby coming soon and the fact that they had to move recently. Not to mention, her husband is a hot head and doesn't know when to shut up! He was still yelling at her while I was on the phone with her. RUDE!!! Anyways, Melissa (left) is another one of my best friends. Melissa, Jenn and I grew up in the same neighborhood and when we were kids, you couldn't see one without the other 2 or at least one of them. I have been friends with them since kindergarten. Geeezzzz, that was like 26 years. That makes me feel old. Another one of my friends (not pictured) is Lisa. She used to go to our church. She has 4 kids and a husband that has no clue what being married means. Yes, another marital issue but I don't mind helping my friends get thru them. That is what friends are for. I would donate a part of my body for any of those 3. They are about all I have other than my family. I have other friends but not ones that I have shared so much with. These 3 have gotten me through some pretty rough times. And I hope I have helped them too.

Boy, its been awhile

As you can see, I am not the biggest person on posting

It has been almost a year since my last post. I am horrible at this blogging thing obviously. A lot has gone on since my last post. The main thing being, WE ARE FINALLY FREE!!!! We have moved out of my parents house on 7/19/2008 and to Hoopeston, IL. We found a nice 3 bedroom ranch house in a really quiet neighborhood. We have a bunch of older people living around us so we don't have to worry about the hoodlums that live basically on the west side of town. The kids seem to be liking the new schools and mommy is trying to adjust to the new school district. There are some aspects that have peeved me a little to say the least. We still have a butt load of boxes crammed into the garage and crawl space that need to be gone through but that will be done with time. Jamey loves having his own room and Zach is adjusting to have his own.

In January this year, I lost my job at AT&T but to me that was no great loss. I hated it there. I now work for an at home medical transcription company called DTS America. That has worked out ok and would be better if I could get myself on a regular schedule.

All was fine and dandy until the end of February when my husbands grandfather went into the hospital because his legs were giving out. (Dont ever send anyone to the VA Medical Center in Danville) Basically, he was stuck into the nursing home part and then basically forgotten about until family came around. All he did was sit. He developed a blood clot in his leg which meant he had to be transferred to Carle here in Urbana. When, we weren’t sure if he wasn’t going to make it thru this surgery (which he did) and spent most of that night up there. Mike and I took turns for 4 days going up to be with him day and night since we are the only ones in town. That was perfectly fine with me. I didn’t mind. The following Saturday, Carle decided that he was stable enough to be transferred back to the VA (BIG MISTAKE). I followed the ambulance there and got him all admitted and comfy. He was in awesome spirits when I left him. Later that week, his health started failing. They decided that he had an infection with his bowel movements which meant we had to wear a gown when we went to see him. OK........ Mike and I could only go to see him once a week while he was in danville but his dad did a good job of keeping us updated. Later on, they found that his incision from the surgery had gotten infected. UGH!!!! The day after that, it was a urinary tract infection. That was enough!! Mike and I made a trip to see him on March 18 which was our normal Tuesday to go see him. When we dropped our kids off, the VA called his dad who had me get on the phone as well. They said that he had rectal bleeding and they needed to do an endoscopy and colonoscopy the following morning to see where the bleeding was coming from but they had to put in an NG tube to prepare him. I explained what all of this meant and Mike’s dad agreed. After getting off the phone, Mike and I went up to the hospital only to find Leonard surrounded by several nurses and a doctor. They waived us in the room (without the gown and gloves) only to show us that when they put the NG tube in, they got 200 mL of pure blood out of his stomach. I also noticed that his bleeding was not right at that point and the fact that Leonard was not responsive at all. I called Mike’s dad and told him what was going on and we decided it would be best for him to get to the hospital. Mike left so I could stay and explain medical terms to his dad plus the fact that he did not feel good from everything he was going thru. (I’ll explain this in a minute) So, there I was. Alone with Leonard in a critical state. I sat down in the chair beside him to wait for Mike’s dad to show up. I said a prayer and then decided to play a game on my phone. I thought as long as I could hear him breathing (even if it wasn’t right) that I was and he was ok. WRONG!!! After awhile, his breathing got slower and slower and then got more shallow, then there became pauses between breaths. When the pauses got to be around 10-15 seconds between, I got the nurse who came in and tried to get his attention. When, that didn’t work, then she went and got the doctor. After awhile, there were about 4 nurses and 3 doctors around him and me in the hallway pacing the hall like a mad lady. I called Mike to make sure his dad had left but he hadn’t left yet. I told him that he needed to leave NOW!!! I then called Mike’s aunt Nancy (Leonard’s daughter) to let her know what was going on. I feel really bad because she kept telling me that she could not go up there and watch her dad die. At this point, I could see between the nurses at him and see that he was not breathing. I saw the doctor adjusting her stethoscope trying to get a heart beat and then they asked for an EKG machine. I started pacing again. I was still talking to Nancy when the nurse called me into the room to tell me that Leonard had passed away. I completely lost it. But I quickly got myself semi-calmed down because I knew that I had his daughter on the phone that I had to tell her her dad was gone and that his son was on his way up. What a predicament. I decided that since I was just an in-law that I could give myself time to grieve later but that I had to be there for his family which was really good because when Mike’s dad got up there, he lost it. After I made sure he was going to be ok, I left the room to have time with his dad and went outside to call Nancy back to make sure she was ok. Also, in the middle of all of this mess, I also called Mike, his sister and several other relatives. Well, I stayed at the hospital with Mike’s dad, going to the admitting office to get final arrangements done with the hospital and calling the funeral home to pick him up. I then drove mike’s dad home because he was in no shape to drive himself. I got him home, went over to see Leonards wife, Shirley and then back to Mike’s dad’s house to watch the kids.
In the midst of all of this happening, Mike got a kidney stone requiring an ER visit. He has had to have 2 procedures to have that removed and is still in pain from the stone and the 2 stents he had put in with the last one being done on Tuesday, March 25. I feel bad because he is trying so hard to help me and do so much but cant because of all of this. He was even a pall bearer for his grandfather and really shouldn’t have been lifting. With his crohns and everything, he tries so hard to keep up with everything but just cant and I am not sure what it is going to take to get that threw his head sometimes but I appreciate him all the same.

The funeral was Saturday, March 22nd and was very nice. We got a pastor from our church to officiate and I made up picture boards of Leonard and also read tributes and memories of him from family members during the service. (That was a little rough).

The kids are doing well. Zach has started this thing of being mean to mommy which can really drive me insane but everyone just says its a phase. I sure hope so. He will yell at me, kick me, hit me, tell me what to do and then turn around and tell me not to tell him what to do. He screams. Boy, if he had been the first, there would not have been a second. Jamey is awesome. He has been a really good kid. He has even started using his manners which I am not sure is sincere or throwing it in my face sometimes but at least he is trying.

This year has gone by so fast. It is hard to believe. Mike and I are doing ok. There were times when I wasn't so sure but I think it was just the stress of having to find a house so quickly and things just not going the way they are supposed to at times. But we seem to be doing better now. Mike has gotten into a much better mood since we moved out of mom and dad's. Me on the other hand, I still have some issues with moodiness but I think it is slowly going away. I have also stopped smoking since 9/8/08. I have been 7 days without a cigarette. YEAH!! The patch really helps. It also helps curb the eating that usually happens and I am actually eating less now than when I was smoking. That is a VERY good thing. Maybe now I can lose some weight. I don't like being 160 pounds at all.

Well, I better go for now. I have to get some work done and since it is already 9:30 and I was supposed to have started working by 7:00, I think it is time to get my butt in gear. I'll type more later if I have time.

Friday, October 5, 2007

It's Me Again Lord!!!!

Thought I would tell you something about myself. I am 30 years old and graduated from Champaign Centennial High School in 1995. In 1996, I met the most wonderful guy in the world and we got married in 1997.

I attend Pennsylvania Avenue Baptist Church in Urbana, IL and am a Sunday school teacher there for 4-5 yr olds. I also help out with the extended session during church in the nursery and 2-3 yr ols when needed. If it weren't for Pastor Richard Gregory and God I would probably have went insane with everything that has went on. There are some people there that have been interesting to say the least but for the most part, everyone has been nice. I am also the church clerk which means I take the minutes at the business meetings for the church. We actively go to church on Sunday morning, sunday evening and Wednesday evening for prayer meeting although I have not went recently since my surgery. I am also trying to start up the TeamKID program for school age kids and preschoolers on Sunday evenings which is proving to be more of a challenge than I thought it would be. Pastor wants me to have everything ready so that we can promote it at our Harvest Festival on Halloween. The issue that I am having with this is that the curriculum that I am wanting to use is from 1995 and Lifeway does not make the activity books for the kids anymore for this one. I am hoping to get another meeting with pastor about this soon. I hope this all works out because I really do want to do this for the kids. I feel that this is what God is calling me to do at this moment. I see a lot of churches around town that are starting the Awana program but that costs so much money and you need so many people to do it that our little church would not be able to. There was another program that I saw called Worship: Kid Style that looks neat but we already have about 8 yrs worth of TeamKid stuff so I would rather do that to try to save the church some money. We will see how this goes.

Today is proving to be a busy day. I had an appointment to have my blood drawn for my calcium level because it was a little high before my surgery plus I am having liver function tests and thyroid tests done to make sure that my medication for my depression and bipolar are not messing with my systems. I have been really tired recently and I hope that there is nothing that comes back abnormal. It is just probably because I have been off work for so long and I have gotten used to my naps. :-) I also have an appointment at 10:15 for my foot to see how I am doing after surgery. Then I have to come home, get my disability check and go to the bank. I have a little bit of a reprieve before I have to take Zach to school then we have an appointment with the lawyer about Mikey's disability (which I hope is a good sign). After that, we have to go to Sam's to get hot dogs, buns and chips for Mike's multi-church paintball/cookout tomorrow. Jamey gets off the bus around 2:30 from school. Zach gets out of school at 4:30 and then we are going to Mike's moms house to have pizza with them. Needless to say, I will probably be one very tired person tonight.

Well, that is all for now. I have to go to my next appt.

Thursday, October 4, 2007

Day #2 of this Blog

Well, here it is another day and it is way too hot outside. It is supposed to get to around 90 today. Not a lot going on right at the moment just sitting here playing games and staying cool in the basement. Mike isn't feeling that well today. He can't even go to workout like he does in the mornings. Zach is just playing in the TV room and Jamey is at school. Zach goes to school at 1:00 so we have about an hour with no kids. I go back to work on Monday after my surgery on 9/5/07 on my foot for plantar fasciitis. The surgery doesn't seemed to have helped much as my foot is still hurting just as much as it did before. I go to see the doctor tomorrow about it and to see what she says. Mom is sick with the flu which is never any fun. She just went to the doctor yesterday for a physical and ended up with a fever of 101.3 and both her blood pressure and her heart rate were up.

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Hi!!

I am new at this blogging stuff so you will have to bear with me. My name is April Colleen and I'm 30 years old. I have been married for almost 10 years to the most incredible man in the world, Mike. We have 2 kids, Zach and Jamey. Zach is 4 and Jamey is 8. I also have a wonderful step son named Ryan who is 16. Yes, we have them scattered all over. But it is fun when they are all together. Ryan lives in San Diego, CA while we are in Savoy, IL. We get to see him every summer and we just cant wait from one summer to the next.

I have done some really stupid things in the near and distant past that I really regret and wish I could go back and change. Some times I feel that God is punishing me with Mike's illness because of what I have done.

My husband has been sick since October 1998 with Crohn's disease. It is a disease that can basically eat away at your digestive system. His seems to be located in the small and large bowel. He has only had one case where he has had an ulcer on his tongue. We have been dealing with this for about 9 years now. We live with my parents because he has not been able to work since 5/2004 and my income was not going to allow us to keep our house. Unfortunately, we have been here for 3-1/2 years now and it is wearing thin on everyone.

We have been fighting for mike to get Social security disability since we moved here 3 yrs ago and we are just now getting a letter stating that they just need a little more information and then they will try to make a favorable decision without a hearing. We will see about that.

As for me, I have worked at a call center for AT&T Mobility for 3 years now. I hate that job. I can't stand sitting and talking to a bunch of crabby people all day. Everyone wonders why I come home so tired when I have a sit down job and I tell them that it is because of how mentally draining this job is. The only thing that is keeping me there is the bet that my mom made with me that if I can keep this job for 5 years that she will pay for a cruise for me and my family anywhere we wanted to go. I am over half way there. I think and hope I can make it the last 2 years.

Zach just started preschool this year and so far is doing ok. He had a shaky start with some time outs but has done ok so far this week. Jamey is in 3rd grade and also had a shaky start to his year but I think after a few stern talks, we have nipped that in the butt too. I cant believe that they are that old already. Not to mention the fact that I'm 30.

The holidays will be here soon and I can't wait. I am hoping that Grandpa Gillen and I can figure out our finances enough to where we can get some christmas for people but it may just be for the kids this year. I will never let any of them go without christmas from us.

Well, it is getting late so I will continue this another time.