Bleepin' Blizzards, Batman!

Some of my newer blog sisters don't know that my family is traveling to Texas (from Nebraska) early, early Tuesday morning. This surprise turn in weather is a tad bit upsetting. We already have our hotel booked and a sturdy itinerary. Lee is defending his doctoral dissertation this week, so we hope this doesn't mess with our plans too much.

From the National Weather Service

... BLIZZARD WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 9 AM MONDAY TO 6 AM MDT TUESDAY...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CHEYENNE HAS ISSUED A BLIZZARD WARNING... WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 9 AM MONDAY TO 6 AM MDT TUESDAY.

A STRONG SPRING STORM WILL ROAR INTO THE AREA LATE TONIGHT AND CONTINUE INTO TUESDAY BRINGING SIGNIFICANT SNOWFALL AND VERY STRONG NORTH WINDS. BLIZZARD CONDITIONS CAN BE EXPECTED IN PORTIONS OF SOUTHEAST WYOMING AND THE WESTERN NEBRASKA PANHANDLE CREATING HAZARDOUS CONDITIONS FOR TRAVEL.

HEAVY SNOW IS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP MONDAY MORNING AND WILL CONTINUE INTO EARLY TUESDAY. ACCUMULATIONS OF 6 TO 10 INCHES CAN BE EXPECTED WITH NORTH WINDS GUSTING 45 TO 50 MPH. THE COMBINATION OF HEAVY SNOW AND STRONG WINDS WILL CREATE BLIZZARD CONDITIONS ACROSS THE AREA.

A BLIZZARD WARNING MEANS SEVERE WINTER WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED OR OCCURRING. FALLING AND BLOWING SNOW WITH STRONG WINDS AND POOR VISIBILITIES ARE LIKELY. THIS WILL LEAD TO WHITEOUT CONDITIONS... MAKING TRAVEL EXTREMELY DANGEROUS. DO NOT TRAVEL. IF YOU MUST... HAVE A WINTER SURVIVAL KIT WITH YOU. IF YOU GET STRANDED... STAY WITH YOUR VEHICLE. FOR SPECIFIC ROAD AND TRAVEL CONDITIONS IN WYOMING AND NEBRASKA... PLEASE DIAL 5 1 1.

Wonderful, Wonderful, Wonderful, and MOST Wonderful!

My husband likes to send me sweet love messages each week--especially after difficult parenting nights of no sleep, stressful days of having too much to do and too little time, or on mornings after he leaves the house when things already looked disastrous. He recognizes those to be my most challenging days.

He's right.

Sometimes his message is a video clip, sometimes it's an audio clip, or sometimes it's a thoughtful love letter he wrote during the only free 5 minutes he had at work that day. It's a lovely reminder that the messiness of life doesn't affect his love for me. In reality, experiencing those difficult days actually brings a deeply in-love couple even closer together, if anything. Don't you think?

Today's message was a video clip he sought on YouTube.

His attached note read, simply: just thinkin' of you, honey...

...and that's all it needed to read. :swoon: I love that man. Madly.

For some reason, it isn't allowing me to embed the video so you have to actually visit the link. It's very short: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KN8lH1xo5k4

A few things to note:

1) The explanation of how we act when we're first falling for someone--how, no matter how stupid the stuff we talk about might be, inside we're only thinking, and I quote: "Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, and most wonderful, and, yet again, wonderful!"

2) I love how they turn into children half way through...innocent and full of all the potential and joy of new companionship. The high heels shot is precious.

3) I'll always have a soft spot for Enya. She provides unexpected emotional release through soulful music.

4) I love how the statues (lions) bow in their presence.

Am I the only one with chills, here?!

Phase Seven, Time's Up!

(Pictures of me waking up at 2 years old...)

Happy Friday! I had a particularly difficult time waking up this morning. It doesn't really matter what day of the week it is, I've always struggled with mornings. I recently asked my parents for a picture of me waking up when I was little only to uncover a crazy number of childhood pictures of me sleeping, yawning, and sporting my bedhead with an unhappy dontyoudaretalktome frownie. I could probably count on my hands (and maybe toes) the number of days I've woken up feeling well-rested, rejuvenated and excited about jumping out of bed. Most days I can't peel my eyelids open and the idea of planting my feet on the floor is about the equivalent of fingernails on a chalkboard for me. NOT pleasant.

Back in 1995 my newly married husband, Lee, was met with one of his greatest and most difficult tasks--he was charged with the duty of waking his bride up every single morning and helping get her to class. On time, preferably. Before that year, it was the duty of some diligent roommates (sorry Kathryn, Anita, Laurie, Leslie, Kara, Kristy, and Christy), and before that it was a parent's job (sorry dad! You still have the best morning wake-up trumpet I know of.). I tried everything from pushing my clock forward a few minutes (which crept up to 30 minutes and then all the way up to an hour) to using the snooze to having TWO alarms. Nothing worked.

Lee was beside himself some mornings. After turning on the lights, pulling all covers off the bed, and blasting rock and roll music (and even bringing an ice pack to the bed one morning), he learned quickly that he had met his match in hard-headedness. But if you know anything about Lee, you know he's not one to ever succumb to defeat. This man is ALWAYS up to the task. So he accepted the challenge and devised seven phases that were built into our morning wake-up routine throughout the week. I'll list them below as closely as I can remember (I was usually asleep through half of them, at least):

Lee's Seven Phases to Get His Woman Out of Bed Each Morning

Phase 1: Alarm goes off and he gently reminds her that the sun is up, class/work is starting soon, and it's time to get going.

Phase 2: He turns the lights on or opens the blinds. The room is bright but that doesn't matter so much because she tucks her head deeply under the blankets.

Phase 3: He pulls the blankets off the bed. She lays there in her skimpy lingerie PJs pretending she's not cold (or blinded).

Phase 4: He blasts some of their favorite music into the room. In those early years, it was probably U2 (which I could STILL wake up to every morning and beyond), or Dave Matthew's Band, or something else along those lines. She mouths the words, but her eyes are still closed.

Phase 5: He begins pulling and prodding her from the bed. She playfully slaps and pushes his hands away, leaving him with little else to do...

Phase 6: He begins slowly and carefully removing her night clothes. She may even help (admitting defeat). By now she's at least coherent, though usually feisty. Honestly, phase six is just a leeway to phase seven because if we made it this far, there's no stopping this train. ;)

Phase 7: By now it's been close to 20 minutes. He gives her one final warning, "Phase Seven, Time's UP!" Seeing her motionless, he matter-of-factly begins removing his own clothing, reminding her that "you only brought this on yourself." She (now fully awake) begins giggling. She's been awake since phase four (music helps), but WHY get out of bed when there's a 7th phase on its way?

Now, I could have just climbed out of bed each morning, stumbled to the shower, down to breakfast, and out the door. Highly unlikely, but at least possible. However, then you would have never read this blog post...and what fun would that have been? With the seven phases, I actually began waking up on phase one--only to decided if we really and truly had enough time to properly carry out phase seven. There is a time factor, ya know. And hubby, well, he began making it through the seven phases more quickly each morning. Noticeably so.

Today we no longer use the same phases--especially since we have an eleven-month-old who still co-sleeps. But for close to a decade it was just the two of us. It still will often take Lee two or three visits to the bedroom each morning reminding me that we "do have two other children to take care of (just in case you forgot)." And some mornings, when we're lucky enough to have all three children nestled sleepily in their beds, we still jump straight to phase seven.

YEEES!

By the way, I'm completely aware of the fact that my teenage children will ask me to remove this post one day. I can already hear it..."Oh Mooo-oooom, gross. My friends read this blog!"

Wait, who am I kidding??? What TEEN would enjoy reading their friend's mom's blog?

I can sure...

D
R
E
A
M

can't I?!

(Until phase seven, that is.)

Recipe: Homemade Fruit & Nut Bars

Oh my. Pardon me while I salivate over my keyboard. We just made the most delicious fruit bars last night and it took all of about 10 minutes. I couldn't wait to document the recipe and share it with my cyberspace friends. Just a minute...let me swallow.

:GULP:

Okay, first you must know the story behind the bars. I guess you don't HAVE to know the story, but since I'm in charge of this here blog, the story will come first. Neener, neener.

Last year, just about this exact same time of March, I was pregnant with Brighton. We had been running all over the place looking for an OB who would allow me to have a natural birth after having had two previous cesareans. If you've already read our home birth story then you know what happened during that crazy search and you'd probably like me to just get to the point. Patience, darlings. So...I ended up having a very short labor and an amazing home birth yada, yada, yada. You just have to know that these fruit bars are linked, in my mind, to this amazing experience. M'k?

Part of our home birth agreement was to attend the Hypnobirthing class in Rapid City. We only had like two weeks before my estimated due date. Therefore, the instructor, Treese DeBoer, allowed us to do the entire class in one very, very, very long Saturday and helped arrange childcare. While there, she served us bottled water and these delicious, healthy fruit and nut bars. I ate more than my fair share. Mmmm. Then, somehow, I completely forgot all about them until THIS March. It must be a seasonal thing. So I emailed her and she sent me the recipe in, like, just a few hours. And since I'm such a good virtual friend, I'm sharing it with YOU!

What you need (she didn't give measurements so see my notes in parenthesis):

Dried cherries (I picked up a 5oz. bag of these and used the whole bag)
Dates (I picked up an 8oz. box of chopped dates and used maybe a handful)
Walnuts (I used most of an 8oz. bag)
Almonds (I used about a cup or so--I like almonds!)
1 Tbsp of coconut oil (a Tbsp is enough--there's lots of oil in the other nuts)

1) Put the nuts and coconut oil (the oil may be solid, which is fine) in your food processor together.

2) Then add dates one or two at a time (they're very sticky and have ruined food processors before).

3) Add your dried cherries at the end. Keep adding and tasting until you reach your desired sweetness and consistency.

4) Dump the mix into a pan and press/flatten firmly.

5) Cover and refrigerate for a couple hours before cutting. Store in the refrigerator.

They're healthy because:
-Dates are a good source of fiber, iron, and potassium
-Almonds are a good source of fiber, vitamin E, folic acid, and protein
-Coconut Oil is all natural and has 0g of Trans Fat
-Walnuts are a good source of Omega-3 and protein
-Cherries are a good source of vitamin A and carbohydrates

I used salted almonds this time just because that's what I had on hand. It gave the bars a salty-sweet taste. Next time I'll probably use unsalted just to see how different they are.

Also, I wasn't willing to wait a couple hours to cut them, so I popped in the freezer for maybe 45 minutes and they were plenty ready and hard enough to cut into squares.

Thanks to Treese for sharing these!

And here's my shamless plug: If you live in the surrounding area and are planning on having more babies, I HIGHLY suggest her HypnoBirthing class. I felt very knowledgeable about birth BEFORE attending this class, but we still learned SOOOO much about my birthing body, my mind's impact on birth, the spouse's role, and other elements of birth. You get a cool new book and a couple audio CDs when you sign up for the class. I highly recommend it for those who want to gain all of the glorious benefits of a truly natural birth. Needless to say, not all "natural" births are created equal. Why not prepare for the best experience?!

Here's her contact information:

Treese Morford DeBoer, MSW, CSW-PIP, QMHP, HBCE
605-430-7111
Clinical Social Worker-Private Practice
Certified HypnoBirthing Practitioner
Wellness Home Consultant/Certified CA
http://www.TotalMindBodySuccess.com

If you don't want to contact her, but still are curious, feel free to e-mail me at teachertools at gmail dot com if I can help answer any questions.

“There is a secret in our culture. It’s not that birth is painful, it’s that women are strong.” -Laura Stavoe Harm

Wordless Wednesday

St. Patrick's Day: Proposal Anniversary

I hope everyone is having a wonderful St. Patrick's Day. Today is always a special day in the Miller home. Fourteen years ago today, my darling hubby proposed to me. He took me to a park from his home town, snuggled me against his chest, and asked me to be his bride for the rest of his life. I was so excited. ME...married to Lee Miller! Am I the luckiest woman on the face of the earth, or WHAT!?!?

A few specifics that stem from that proposal:

1) When Lee asked for my hand (you know, the whole 'go ask the father' routine), my dad never said "yes" or "no." Lee told him he wanted to marry me and my father sorta clapped his hands together, leaned forward, and said, "Okay, let's talk about a date." I can't be sure, but I think they are the ones who picked the date.

2) We had a fairly short engagement...only five months. That was partially so that we could get married just before the following school year started. But really and truly, after 4 years of friendship and that last 7 months of dating we simply, um, wanted each other. To say we were "hot" for one another is an understatement. We didn't want to have to wait any longer than absolutely necessary to share the goods, guilt-FREE! I totally don't envy other Christians who are currently engaged and struggling with that natural desire. Been there. Done that. Dude, that's harsh. Can I hear an AMEN?!

3) Lee picked out my engagement ring, which I totally love. I like that we didn't go looking together and that it was HIS gift to ME. It was gorgeous and he wouldn't let me actually see the wedding band until our wedding day when he put it on my finger in front of all our friends and family. What a romantic, eh?

Happy proposal anniversary, darling! I'm SO glad you asked me. And I'm SOOOO glad I said, "YES!"

Watiki Mini-Vacation

We had a fabulous mini-vacation in Rapid City this last week for mid-term break. We booked the Presidential Suite at the Watiki Indoor Water park for less than the price they were quoting for a standard room (probably because, first, we simply asked and, second, it was mid-week and no one else had booked it). It was SUCH A blast! I narrowed down our TONS of pictures to the 9 you see below. You're welcome. :)

Although it was in the single digits when we left our house, it was VERY warm inside the park. And aside from the stomach bug I caught while there, we had a blast. Enjoy the pix and videos!










Now for a few short video clips. This first one is a video of the water park from our balcony.



This next one is the entrance room of the suite. I believe we counted 20 chairs for people to sit in for this one suite.


This is a shot of the big tidal wave happening when Brandon wasn't expecting it. Heehee!



In this shot, Brighton wasn't expecting it either.



I guess that's enough for now. Hope you enjoyed!

We Covet Your Prayers: Brandon

Dear Friends and Family,

I want you to know how important your thoughts and prayers are at all times. Today I ask for your prayers on behalf of Brandon. Many of you know a little of his history. Basically he's had ongoing blood issues. His hemoglobin hit a low of 7.2 about 18 months ago which spiraled into multiple other blood tests in an attempt to discover a reason for his anemia. Nothing turned up--his iron levels were fine, his folic acid was fine, they tested for lead poisoning--negative, and even checked for genetic conditions. At one point there was mention of possible early signs of leukemia. But after a quick sed rate test, our doctor felt things looked good enough to not worry about that at this time.

Last summer he began giving low platelets readings. I believe his platelets count was low a couple years ago, but the first shocking reading was 120 (we were told it should be between 250 and 700). So he tested again and it was better at either 160 or 180, but still lower than they'd like. However, there were no definitive answers.

Our doctor consulted with another doctor and today we heard more possibilities. Our local clinic believes Brandon may have an enlarged spleen. Apparently this could be what's eating up his platelets. From a quick internet search, we also found that it could also be resulting in his continual abdominal pains, his lack of hunger, and a few other symptoms that he's shown for the last couple years.

Brandon goes in for some more detailed blood work and physical exam on Friday. He's also supposed to have an ultrasound on his abdomen this week to look at all his organs and, more importantly, his spleen. Our doctors are also looking into doing an immediate referral to the Children's Hospital either in Omaha or Denver.

I'm not sure what prayers to ask for, exactly. Certainly, we'd prefer this be something like a treatable enlarged spleen over a childhood cancer like leukemia. But we'd really just prefer that it be nothing huge at all. Please pray that health, peace, comfort and happiness abound in the Miller home throughout this process. We'll let you know once we know more.

Thanks all!

De-cluttering: DVDs

Just wait 'til you see what we did to our house this weekend. It's shocking. I don't know why it seems to take us 3 years to get settled into a house, but I'm really liking our new arrangement (even though we basically overhauled every room in our house in two days). In the long process I got broken glass in my finger and Lee got a sewing needle shoved up between his toes. OUCH!

The really exciting thing about this project is that it's forcing us to go through everything--all our books, clothes, movies, kids toys, etc. We were planning on having a huge garage sale in the coming weeks. Nevermind on that. For now every thing's going fast on swapshop and our "stuff" pile is getting smaller and smaller. YIPPEE!

Today I figured I'd go ahead and let my local blog readers know which DVDs we're getting rid of before I list them on swapshop. If you're interested, leave a message or drop me an email (teachertools at gmail dot com). The list of titles is below (and the pictures are above). They're all used except a couple that are still in the packaging (WHY did we buy movies and not even open them???).

There are 39 DVDs in all. I'm asking $4 each or a discounted $130 for the whole batch. Let me know if you're interested. I plan to start listing them on swapshop tomorrow (Tuesday) if there are no takers. I hope to list all of our VHS tapes on our blog tomorrow and then list them on swapshop by Wednesday. There are even more of them. Ick!

13 Going on 30
Atlantis: The Lost Empire
Big Fish
The Bodyguard
Bring it On
Cut Throat Island
The Cutting Edge
A Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More
The Good, The Bad and the Ugly and Hang ‘em High
Gross Anatomy
A Knight’s Tale
A Knight’s Tale (Yes, there are two. Shut up! It’s not nice to laugh.)
How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
Men in Black II: Back in Black
Miss Congeniality
Pearl Harbor
Meet the Fockers
Meet the Parents
The Mummy
The Mummy Returns
My Dog Skip
The Neverending Story & The Neverending Story II
Phenomenon
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Open Range
Remember the Titans
Return to Me
Rob Roy
The Rookie
Seabiscuit
The Secret
Signs
Spider-man
Starman
Sweet Home Alabama
Their Eyes were Watching God
Two Weeks Notice
What Women Want
Wild Wild West

Hope to hear from you!