Todnem.com (beta)

Apparently, I need a more permanent fix for my wrist. Any more juice in that wand?

Jeff made a correlation the other day when my wrist started feeling a little sore again...I had also mentioned that my hips were feeling achy that day. Maybe it's my joints that are having some problems. Will have to look into that. I know joints have always been an Enzler issue...thanks, Mom!

Anyways, I'm back to wearing the brace at work. It makes typing, shall we say, "interesting"? I'll deal with it though as it does seem to alleviate the soreness in the evenings.

Speaking of Miss Mary Sunshine, I hope she's feeling back on the top of her game. A little early in the season to be getting the crud - unless you're just trying to get it out of the way before the holidays roll in.

Here's to a happy (and very safe) Halloween night to all. We are staying late tonight and going to our old church for their Autumn Fest. We already took Kadie trick-or-treating at the zoo, but this is a chance for her to see her old daycare buddies. Between tonight and a Monday evening b-day party earlier, we've moved our schedules around a bit this week to accommodate Kadie (and me) sleeping in a little. Hopefully, with that and the upcoming Daylight Savings Time, we won't be too out of whack next week.

Kadie is doing well in her classes. She has made several new friends and, aside from a few mornings when I think she's dealing more with being a little tired than anything else, she very much looks forward to going. None of the "normal" first-year jitters here. She is getting better at elaborating on what she's been doing during the day and has been sharing several of the songs they've taught her (complete with minimal sign language). I'm torn between which type of class might benefit her more - a dance or gymnastics one for her incessant need for movement or a music one for her apparent love of all things musical. If I could just find a class where they sang and played instruments while they danced...

I'm going to a class this week - it's supposed to help me further my abilities at my current job. Of course, I used my lunch hour yesterday to call the head hunter and begin my search for a new job. I'm hoping my current employer doesn't have any rules regarding having to either stay at the job for a year or pay back the funds if you leave after taking a class. It's not something I remember them talking about when I started with them but I doubt it's one of those "most talked about" subjects during the interview process. I've done some top-level scratching at the surface and haven't found anything. If I dig much further I might raise suspicions as to my intentions so I may have to wait until I have another offer to consider before I risk damaging myself.

I'm beginning to wonder if God's not trying to force my hand into changing careers. Unfortunately, if He is, then He's thinking of something non-computer related. About 6 or 7 years ago, I was diagnosed with ulnar (or cubital) tunnel syndrome (akin to carpal tunnel syndrome except that, instead of the affected nerve being the one that runs through your wrist, it's the main one that runs down your arm - aka your funny bone). That was in my left arm and, while I've managed to keep it at a "tolerable" level, I still deal with it on a daily basis. About 2 or 3 weeks ago, however, my right wrist started to hurt. I don't remember doing anything to it but I was hoping that it was a sprain resulting from cleaning the house, carrying groceries or taking care of Kadie. I started to wrap it with the newest heat packs that come designed to be worn on the wrist. They provided 12 hours of heat and limited my movement (not a lot, but I was hoping they would do the trick).

Unfortunately, the pain has only gotten worse. This last weekend I broke down and bought a rigid support brace - one that doesn't allow me to move my wrist at all. I wear that at night and while I'm typing. I try to take it off and gently stretch the wrist at least once an hour or so. I would think total immobilization would be worse for it. I remember how my elbow felt after 6 weeks spent in a cast at a 90 degree angle, and all the stuff I've been reading on carpal tunnel says that there's no real proof that more than 12 hours of splinting (out of every 24) gave any greater benefit. Still, there have been several times this past few weeks where I've woken up because my hands were numb - that's mainly to do with the ulnar nerve but the only solution for that is to brace my entire arm in a straight position. Can't see myself sleeping well like that. Unfortunately, it's not like I can take a two-week vacation to fully "rest" my nerves. I have the ergo equipment that's supposed to help and I've been diligently doing the recommended stretches, but 8 hours a day at a keyboard is taking its toll. Maybe I should look into that voice recognition typing software.

Anyways, all my internet research hasn't provided me with any relief so I'm thinking that I'll be going to the doctor's next week to see if there's anything else I can do ("options", at this point, do NOT include cortisone shots or surgery). Way too much pain from the first (if it's anything like the shot I got for my heel) and way too many horror stories heard from the second.

On a brighter note, the weather here, this week, has been absolutely beautiful. Sunny and upper 70s - and that's expected to last for, at least, a couple of more days. If we're lucky, Kadie will be able to go trick-or-treating this weekend w/o a coat over her costume.

If I remember correctly, today is the day Mom and Grandma head up north to Aunt Lois' (or they did that yesterday and, today, they're all flying to Alaska). I'll be thinking about you all and praying for a safe journey.

Class is starting, so I gotta go. I hope everyone is having a great week. Love and hugs to all.

We're here. I know, I know. But flogging is against the law, so there.

Actually, my unclass machine at work went belly-up on me about 3 weeks ago (if you look at the blogs, you'll find it an interesting timing coincidence). You see, unlike my husband, I cannot stand the sight of a computer once I get home. After 8 hours of dealing with them at work, I'd sooner throw my personal one out the window than spend more time in front of it. I used to get to work and, amidst checking out news headlines, etc., I'd catch up on the blogs and try to write out something quick. Without that access at work, I've trailed off in my duties…

Here are the basics:

Weather...
We've had some great weather around here. Several days in a row of Indian-summer type stuff, intermixed with some more "normal" temps and a little rain and then back to high 60's / low 70's and sun. It's been so crazy that I've yet to pack away the short-sleeved shirts for Kadie as I've been having to use them frequently.

Halloween…
We took Kadie to the Baltimore zoo for trick-or-treating this year. She went as Strawberry Shortcake. It was a one piece costume that allowed her to wear real clothes underneath, but we didn't have to pad her too much as it was fairly warm that day. They had booths set up around the zoo that handed out candy to the kids and she got to see some animals intermixed in the festivities (it's "trick-or-treaking" by the way). Unfortunately, the zoo had closed several exhibits to accommodate the decorations (there were several cemetery-type scenes), so we'll be going back for more animals at a later date. It's fairly close and parking is free, so I figured it was worth buying a yearly member pass - only, next time, I'll pack a picnic lunch for everyone. 3 bucks for a lousy hotdog encased in a slightly crusty bun that looked like someone had just crumpled it up for a quick game of field hockey was a bit of a shock.

Injuries…
So far, the east coast Todnems are winning the war on living the longest - no one's gone off any embankments, messed with any large equipment, dangled over any pit toilets, embarked on any nefarious Jeep trips, or adopted any bossy felines out to get the rest of the family. Kadie has a bit of a head cold right now, but it only provides her ample opportunity to bless us with the gift of boogers. Nothing says love like, "Here, Mommy. I got something for you… (squish)."

Work…
Overworked. 'Nuf said, right? I'm up to my eyeballs in work. They've decided to start throwing me to the wolves with the database development stuff - as in, "here's something you can try out" - sink or swim, baby! So far I've only gulped a few mouthfuls of water and I'm still dog-paddling, but I'm working on it. I spent all of last week in a software course. Great! Now they'll expect me to know more, right? We have another deployment coming up on the 15th of December and I was picked as one of the test managers again. With only five of us to choose from, it doesn't take long for your turn to come 'round again, but it wasn't the best timing as I'm still the only one doing the help desk queue while trying to learn the development part as well. Anyway, enough complaining. I have a job and it's fairly secure right now (though what's gonna happen now that Democrats are ruling the houses remains unclear - don't get me started on the recent elections).

I actually had a thought a couple of weeks ago that would have been go great, had it been probable: a Starbucks franchise. There isn't one in Westminster where we currently live and it does great business in this area of IT geeks that need to keep the gears grinding into the wee hours of the night (or, with us, the morning). I wouldn't mind giving up the commute and 8-hour days in a windowless environment for running a coffee shop, but Starbucks doesn't offer its name for a franchise. You can purchase a license from them if you already have a "qualified high volume/high traffic retail or foodservice operation", so I guess that leaves us out. Oh, well. It was nice dreaming of spending my mornings surrounded by the sweet smell of coffee. Ah! Though I've tried to swear off caffeine, I've had to bend that rule on a few mornings. There are days when I seriously have to wonder why I made that decision to begin with.

Schooling…
Kadie is learning so much! It's a terrific age and Jeff and I are both impressed (and entertained) as she regales us with what she's learned for that day at preschool. I've recently started sitting down with her in front of my computer (I know - but she's touching it, not me) with preschool games and we're working on manipulating the mouse. She's getting the hang of it, but it's slow-going right now. We also found some books at Costco that are "full curriculum" books (one for each year, up to 4th grade). I bought one of each and plan to use those as the core for our schooling, adding additional stuff that I find along the way and/or look up on the internet. I'm putting together some animal facts (habitats, diets, physical features, etc.) right now for our next trip to the zoo.

The holidays…
As we have a standing invitation to Dean's every Thanksgiving, I'm sure that's where we'll be in a few weeks. Kadie's been asking to see "silly boy" (her name for Dean) for months now and is excited to be going. I'm excited to not have to cook, though I'll probably make a full-course meal sometime that weekend so that we'll have leftovers to pick from. I've already got the ingredients; it's just nice to not have the stress of getting it done on a particular day at a particular time for a houseful of guests.

We're throwing another birthday party for Jesus this year. It'll be on the 16th - the day after I pull an all-nighter for our deployment at work, but it's the only day that worked for the majority of our guests. We've adopted a little girl that lives out in California for the kids to buy gifts for (www.hugsandhope.org) and we're doing the normal cake, games and crafts thing.

Unfortunately, we won't be able to come home for Christmas this year. It's been a bad year for retaining leave. We used up what we had the first part of the year for our move and when the parents came out. The second half of our leave was spent on various illnesses (both our family and daycare's) and surgeries (Jeff's wisdom teeth extraction). Right now, I have 2 days on the books - one of which will be used for the day after Thanksgiving since I don't have daycare. Even with the leave, we're a bit financially dry from our houses. We're still paying off that stupid water heater from the old house and the appliance suite for our new house. I'd love to come home to see everyone, but I'm afraid we'll be looking at a springtime visit at the earliest.

Mom…
You should have received (then again, since it's Powers, you may receive shortly) a package from Amazon. I picked out gifts for all the kids (for Christmas and birthdays - it was so nice of you guys to arrange them all so close together) and had them sent to you for distribution. I sent labels with them, but they should be pretty self-explanatory if the labels don't go separately with each gift. If it works out well, you'll get the package while Lisa is there and can send Z's and Bri's home with them. They didn't offer any holiday wrapping paper though so I'm afraid I have to defer that chore off on the parents.

Lisa…
Since you've been talking about Z's work with learning his letters, etc., I just wanted to make special mention of a series of DVDs that we've discovered that are great. It's the Leapfrog series on ABCs, words, and math (they're at WalMart for about 10 bucks a pop). Kadie just loves them and is starting to learn to read using them. We pop them in on our way to daycare and back each day and she hasn't tired of them yet.

Well, that about brings you all up to date on us. I don't know if my computer at work has been fixed yet or not, but I'll try to get on at least once this next week at home if it isn't. Love and hugs to all. Everyone have a great holiday season this year!