What do you say???

What do you say when you are bopping around in your nice comfy little world and it all of the sudden comes to a screeching hault?? What do you say when everything worldly you have suddenly is put in question?? What do you say when you have to, by no choice of your own put your pride in your back pocket and ask people, you swore you would never have anything to do with, to help you and your family survive???

I have absolutely no idea!!!

For the past 15 years Kelley and I have enjoyed the comforts of a secure carreer, really good income and, often taken advantage of, fantastic benefits!

Sunday evening everything changed!! Kelley came home mid-shift with news that he had been laid off. I can't say I was surprised because there was no good news coming out of the copper industry, but I can say I was shocked and confused. Shocked because this is something I never expected to happen to ME( but who does) and confused because I had no idea what to do next. Sooo I called my mom, threw up, cried and sat in the corner of my couch twirling my hair(something I do when I am nervous or stressed)

Monday I called off work to figure out which was up and, like I said before, put my pride in my back pocket and get all the assistance the government has semi-readily available for families like mine. Kelley went to the emergency room because his blood sugar was through the roof(I wonder why!!!??)
Tuesday I went back to work....and my husband went about the task of finding another job/career. ..a few job offers in other states
Wednsday.....same thing...some decent feedback
Thursday......same thing, called the bank and told them to come get the second car
Friday......same thing...some possibly good leads!!!


The end of the worst week i can think of in recent history and this is what I have to say.....

When this is all said and done which is hopefully sooner than later

I will not remember

• how many times I cried,
• how many resumes I compiled, emailed and faxed
• or how I felt the day they came to get my STUFF.
• how many days I went to work on a wing and a prayer

I will, however, remember

• the way the people I care about cared about me
• the way the STUFF did not matter
• the fact that noone let myself or my children go without
• the loving encouragement we got from who we thought were just aquaintances
• gentle reminders of love and encouragement from those around us
• My wise children and their knowledge that their father in heaven would take care of what needed to be taken care of.
• My family(enough said)
• The members of my ward who always managed to see when my heart is heavy and when I need....................
• the caring nature of those I work with

No Kelley hasn't found a job yet and yes I am scared. But at the same time I am OK and we will be too.

Soooo that's what you say

Some 2008 tagging fun

Four Favorite Memories from 2008

1. talking to my kids while driving to and from school
2. Connor(my little caboose) starting Kindergarten(bitter sweet) and my oldest starting high school(also bitter sweet)
3. visiting with mom and dad on some Saturday
4. Taking Madalyn to girls camp for the first time


Four Favorite Movies or T.V. shows Watched

1. The office
2. Bones
3.gilmore girls
4. Greys anatomy


Four Favorite Foods in 2008

1. In n out cheeseburger animal style
2. casa sanchez chimi
3. Cyndi Dip made by dad
4. anything deep fried or fattening!!


Four Places I Loved in 2008

1. Starbucks
2. anything MHS sport related
3. mom and dads
4. My bed on Saturday morning


Four Events I Loved in 2008

1. The first day of school!!
2. New Years with the fam.
3. Black Friday!!!
4. The King and I (Tyler was the star!!!)

Four Things I Liked in 2008

1. spinning class(love hate relationship)
2. Starbucks
3. Hanging out with my kids
4. Blogging (http://www.nicolds6.blogspot.com/)


Things I am Looking Forward to in 2009

1. a half marathon in Nashville in April
2. Summer!!
3. going back to school
4. The chaotic bliss that comes with having 4 busy children!!

If you haven't been tagged yet or need something to write about I am tagging you.

2009 New Years Revolution!!!

Ok so.... Its 2009 and I have made my what I call my New Years Revolutions so I figured I would put them out there so everyone knows what my mind is up to these days.

Now at first glance you may say " whatever!! Just 2?? Thats super easy!!" .. but if you disect these two they can go on for days.

REvOLUTION # 1 ---- Be ready for the "pop in"

Now before I get into the meat of this revolution let me give you a little background. This past year my house was in a constant state of third world type turmoil(meaning it looked like it had been shaken like a snowglobe), as one of my best friends puts it I spent alot of time "resurrecting" the thing. When friends came over it was a gigantic embarrasment to even let them in the house!! To make matters a little worse Madalyn and Tyler are always griping about how uncool our house is compared to "everyone elses". I have to admit, I am sooo not the decorating type and our house has always looked like we just moved in a week ago and still haven't unpacked the house decorations. So my REVOLUTION is to be ready for when people just "pop in" unannounced by not only making sure there is not an eternal pile of laundry on my couch and it somewhat in order, but also working on the "looking cool" aspect of it. I just might have to call in the big guns(Melissa,Mary,Mom,be ready!!)

REVOLUTION #2-----Be ready for the picture!!(this will be a rough one)

During Christmas 2008 my mother put together this Christmas slide show type Christmas card to email to members of our family far away. Well she was able to find pictures of every single family member except me!! I do a wonderful job hiding from the camera, always have. I always find some excuse i.e " my hair isn't done, i don't have make up on, i look chubby, etc." so this year i am going to work on all those things so I will be ready when there is a camera around. I figure whoever is doing my family history work fifty years from now will appreciate this!! This includes not leaving my house without being "ready for the day", making sure I work out and eat right, and all those little things that go with taking care of myself.

Sooooo super long story short?? I resolve to take better care of my house and myself in 2009. Will it work??? Who knows, but at least I have a plan!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009!!!!!!!!!!!!

A PICTURE IS WORTH A GAZILLION WORDS!!

CHRISTMAS 2008

Ok so I have absolutely dreaded this post just because it soooo is a typical Christmas in our family. I have sworn that I will try really hard to "keep it real" on this blog so here goes......First of all let me say that Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were absolutely awesome so I expound on that in a minute.
The season itself started out great, the weather was crisp and cool( ok so 72 degrees, but in Tucson thats cool!!) We did our shopping and got most of it taken care of by about the fifteenth,thankfully because that is about when the bottom fell out!!! Most families have wonderful Christmas traditions that include caroling, baking and so on...... Well here in my family our traditions include but are not limited to drama and Emergency room visits. Now I thought that we were safe because of all our illnesses and crud that took place in late November, holy CRAP was I wrong!!!

About the tenth of December Kelley's company decided that "due to the recent economic downturn" they were going to cut their workforce by 5 percent. They missed Kelley by one person, but as a consolation prize they moved him to being a Supervisor on straight nights. Well anyone who knows me knows how much I hate night shifts. Not because I don't like sleeping alone,but because I hate knowing Kelley is in the other room sleeping while I am awake and want to play!! While we are way thankful that he HAS a job we are still bummed that he has to be on this shift for the time being.
Thought that was enough?????
On about the fourteenth of December I get a phone call from Kelley at around noon. He says he is having some chest pain. Well super long story, and a fire department visit later we ended up in the Emergency room for the next 7 hours.

The outcome?? Chronic Hypertention,Type II Diabetes andHypothyroidism.... Boy do I know how to pick em!!

We now have a slew of new meds and directions to enjoy for the new year.He has lost 12 pounds in the last 2 weeks which I think is way sexy!!!



But wait there's more!!!!!!!!!
Three days before Christmas I get a phone call at 630 am. My father has been up all night with upper abdominal pain and my mother is frantically driving him to the emergency room. Diagnosis- Gallbladder-----Treatment- Emergency surgery. So a 3 day hospital stay later and we headed home to spend Christmas recovering in our PJ's. I am soo thankful I live here in the same town as my parents though! I was able to be the mom to them for a change.
Which brings us to Christmas itself. We had an absolute blast. We stayed home on Christmas eve, ate like champs and went to bed early. My kids were up at the crack of dawn to see what Santa had been able to find for them(Santa does not shop well last minute!!) He was actually very generous if I do say so myself. We lounged till about 1 and headed over to my moms for another celebration which was pretty slow moving because my dad was still trying to recover but we all scored!!!
So there you have it. If you made it all the way through this post congrats and Happy New Year!!