Nothing Significant

This post has nothing significant in it but thought I should update my page.

So far 2011 has not been remarkable in any oustanding way. Just the standard way, which I am totally grateful for.

Today was a good day. I believe today is the first day since the beginning of the year that we have not had any one in the family ill due to flu or other malady of that sort. Alexander was sick because he stayed out and "partied" too much last night. Other than that we didn't have any puking, gagging, coughing (other than standard allergy stuff), diarrhea, crankiness, fever, rust to the urgent care, flooping, or any other of the myriad of things we have been experiencing the last two weeks. It was really nice. I actually got about an hour nap. My family always knows when I am over the line on tiredness because they take one look and I start tearing up or outright crying. That has been my way lately. But, I am good now and life is happy again.

I love my family very much. I forgot what it is like to be the mother of several young people who can't take care of themselves. Funny how a year ago I would just hop in the shower and think nothing of it. Now, I have to get a babysitter (one of the sibs since Orey and I seem to be on separate schedules and hardly see each other) just to take a shower. They are fewer now adays and totally appreciated when they happen! Just thought I would throw that TMI out there for you :)

WEll, in spite of all of that my 2011 is really off to a good start and I do appreciate the blessings that have come my way.

RIP 2010, Welcome 2011

Dear 2010,

Rest in Peace. You deserve it after working sooo hard. I say good riddance to the bad, thank you to the good, and here's to hope for the future!

2010 brought many wonderful events and people into the Crounk family life. We have truly been blessed and I cannot imagine it being even more so in 2011. However, the Lord has a way of of making me feel like each year that has just passed has been the best to date. I hope the pattern continues.

To you and yours, I hope so many good things happen to you that that you are so tickled pink that it makes you laugh so hard you wet your pants!

Best Christmas Present EVER!!

Okay, knowing me you are probably expecting some profound, sappy post about some wonderful, emotional present that embodies spirit and happiness. Well, this is not it.

I got plenty of Christmas presents this year like that such as all of my wonderful kids home for an early celebration. However, one of the BEST presents of the season is not even one that was given to me! It was given to Gabriel. He got a little personal "pup" tent that is shaped like a puppy dog. He loves it so much that we put it on his bed for a night to let him sleep in it...for fun. An amazing thing happened, he slept through the whole night AND did not wake up until late morning. We thought it might be a fluke because he had not been feeling well. So, we kept the tent up. Amazingly, this has been the pattern every night since then! I am soooooo excited! For anyone who does not know, Gabriel does not sleep very well and will get up several time during the night and walk around or get his sister up or wake us up. It is a symptom of his disability. So, needless to say, this has truly been wonderful, and the best part is that he seems to be more rested and not so emotional throughout the day.

I would have to say this constitutes as one of the Best Christmas Presents EVER in my book. Now, let's hope the pattern continues :)

Don't leave home without it!!

Marina and I went to Las Vegas on Monday. I had some stuff at work I needed to take care of so I worked for about 5 or 6 hours and then we headed out. I ran home and unloaded the vehicle because we always have junk..uh, I mean stuff, that needs to be taken out of the cars. I could have sworn that I left my purse in the car because we were going to leave really soon. Well, as luck would have it, I did NOT leave my purse in the car and did not find out until we were about 200 miles away from home when I stopped to get gas. That is when I found out that I was sans purse. Lucky for me, I had filled the tank up before leaving town and had put the ATM card in my coat pocket instead of my purse. However, I did not have any ID with me and we needed to check into a hotel. That would not have been a big deal because Marina and I have the same name, however, you have to be 21 to check in. I also left my cell phone with my purse. This was sooo going down hill. The final problem was that I had to have a hold put on my ATM card that would have normally been put on my credit card....if I had my purse.

It all turned out fine though. We got to LV, I realized I had my Prison employee ID (thank goodness I went to work that morning because I did not plan too) so was able to check in, my parents were in LV so they gave me some emergency money until the hold was taken off my debit card plus a little something for fun, Orey worked his magic and came up with an emergency stash of money for gas for the trip home. Marina and I got to hang out together and enjoy each other's company. We had dinner with my parents, ran into an ex-client of mine who is doing REALLY great right now with a new job and car, and generally had a good time. The weather was awesome too since it was rainy and foggy which is some of my favorite patterns.

Anyway, the moral of the story is to make sure you have what you NEED when you leave on a trip! Either that or have an awesome support system in place :)

When is Christmas exactly?

Last week we had Christmas! Yepperoo, you heard correctly, we celebrated Christmas on the 5th of December. All of my kids were home for the holiday so we had the Mexican Christmas with a billion kids, generations of family, good friends, lots of tamales and other Mexican food, all wrapped up in a ton of love!

I learned many, many years ago that Christmas is not a day, it is a time. A time for family and love. So over the years I think we have celebrated Christmas on the calendar day just as many times as we have celebrated it on a non-traditional day. However, we always have fun. Of course, Santa always comes in the night of December 24th.

Whatever day you are celebrating the "Reason for the Season", the birth of the Christ Child, I hope your heart is filled with love and hope.

Merry Christmas!

What family am I thankful for?

Thanksgiving is fast approaching and so I give thought to things I am thankful for. Let get the important but standard ones on the table first. If course there is family. I am talking about my parents, husband, kids and sisters. However, I want to go much further than that. I am talking about my cousins whom we grew up with like siblings. Their friendship helped shape my childhood. My grandparents who helped define my heritage and the way I celebrate things. My grandparents for generations past who had no idea that the choices they made would impact me. If my distant grandparents on my dad's side had not fled Mexico then eventually my parents would not have met and had.....me. If my grandmother on my mother's side had chosen to stay in Ireland when her husband died suddenly right before immigrating, again, my parents would not have met and had...me. You see the pattern here? I am grateful for generations of grandparents who loved me even though they did not know me here on earth. I know that I am the link in my descendents lines and I don't know them yet. However, I hope some of the choices I make now will effect them in a positive way years down the road. I mean, shoot, if we would not have moved back to Carson City, Eric would not be a Crounk and neither would his siblings be on their way to becoming (legally) Crounks.

I remember Deborah gave a talk in church one time about her ancestors. I remember listening to it and thinking how much I liked it. I could not tell you right now what the whole talk consisted of but there is one part that impacted me greatly. She said when she looked in the mirror she would wonder where she got her features. Which grandparent (and how far back) did she get her eyebrows from, or the color of her eyes or the shape of her lips or nose. She could look at her parents or grandparents and pretty much figure it out, but her parents and grandparents had to get them from someone too. And then she thanked them because if it weren't for them, she would not look like and be the person she was now (or then). Mind you that was not verbatim but I am sure you got the idea. I did.

So yes, I am thankful for family. I am thankful that all those names on my family tree were actual people who did the best they could and I hope that they are proud of me as their granddaughter no matter how many generations back they go.

The most AMAZING husband EVER!

I have not been sleeping well for the last several weeks. Don't know why but there it is. Yesterday I came home from work, fed the family and then asked Orey if he would mind if I laid down for a few. The was 5:20pm. He had church meetings at 6:45 and Wednesday is his double shift at work. He asked if I was taking a nap. I told him no, I was probably just going to read for an hour-ish for some "me" time.

The next thing I know it is 3:15am! I asked Orey (in the morning) if he went to his meetings. He said no, he called and told them he would not be at church meetings and then called and got someone else to take his second shift. He said that I did not look well last night and he knew I needed the sleep. He is sooooo good to me!