Can you believe it? (I know I can’t….)
A new installment of the Friday Wrap!
May this be the “comeback” I’ve been looking for.

And now…..
This week has been nothing short of a rollercoaster.
I’m serious. It has been up, down, craziness every. single. day.

Tyson and I broke down and purchased a Wii. I didn’t think that we would buy a gaming system until our kids were quite a bit older… but it turns out that my desire to play some of the “old-school” Nintendo games was quite a bit stronger that I thought. Yeah. Within a few days of buying the Wii I downloaded Super Mario Brothers and The Legend of Zelda. (The original one.) Since you already know I’m pathetic, I don’t feel so bad admitting that I feel like I’m twelve years old again. All that’s missing is my little brother at my side while we spend HOURS trying to find the “Magic Sword” on Zelda so we can FINALLY beat Dungeon 8. HA! I laugh at myself… So I guess it’s okay if you are having yourself a laugh at my expense. Aside from my obvious enthusiasm about our newest source of entertainment, the kids are absolutely loving it.

We took the kids to the driving range on Monday night and had quite the time watching the kids.

I love having them there with us because they are the BEST cheerleaders. I’m sure they are too loud for all the other “Night Rangers” (That is what “they” call people who go to the driving range at night…. Clever, innit?) but there is no stomping on their enthusiasm when their Dad bombs one straight at the truck that is picking up all the golf balls.

We had MORE cake in celebration of Helene’s birthday.

And, yes, that piece of work can be credited to yours truly. (So don’t worry… no one got paid for that monstrosity!)

I got a NEW camera! A PINK one! Because I dropped our last camera in a parking lot. Which means that I didn’t get my “dream” camera because I can’t be trusted to actually keep many things in my hands nowadays. In short, the kids have had a BALL getting to know our new camera.

And I like it cuz it’s pink, has pretty fairly high pixel-rate, and the zoom is WAY better than my last camera.

So. There you have it. The part of my week that was happy.
As far as the up/down drama, I am not exactly wanting to write about it now. I will soon. But not now. Sorry. I know that’s lame, but you’ll understand once I do write about it.
Here’s hoping for a drama-free weekend!!!
And MORE Friday Wraps to come!

Over a month and no posting.
Not an easy thing to come back from.
I know some of you are wondering what the hell is going on with the girl who used to regularly post FIVE times a WEEK. I also know that some of you don’t really care. And then there are some who don’t care SO MUCH that they don’t even bother to come on over here anymore.

So, where am I in all of this? I care that I haven’t posted…. but clearly I haven’t cared enough to actually be able to do it. Why? Uh…. Life has gotten in my way. I don’t know how else to say that. Things in and around the home of The Nello have been good but mostly not so good.

Surprise, surprise. I know.
I am wondering where the girl went who used to blog here. Where did THAT girl go? She was reliable, could be counted on being real about MOST of things going on in her life (and the things she couldn’t fully disclose, she just didn’t bother to even mention them.), and every once in a while she posted things that were funny. Well, she thought they were funny anyway.

I look back on the last TWO YEARS and I have changed a lot. And nope…. I’m not so thrilled about the change. I’ve become less happy, even MORE pessimistic, and, depending on the day, I have grown bigger in size by about 15-20 pounds. I honestly do not see any changes in me that I like.

An update on my RSD/CRPS:
I still have it. It still persists in making me crazy in the head and crazy in pain.
However, I am slowly but surely getting off of much of the medications that I have been put on within the last two years. And for that, and that alone, I am proud. Contrary to what appearances my be I do NOT like pill-popping in any degree. So, in order to give myself a much needed “up” I decided to figure out how many different RX’s I was taking versus how many I take now. I have gone from seven different prescriptions to three. And am close to only being on two. And now I ask you to do “the math”. Do you think I feel better by not taking all those chemicals?
I hope you have all answered with a resounding, “YES!”

Which is why I am on the blog, the internet, the computer, even.
I feel better in the sense that I don’t feel so weighed down by side effects. I feel more like myself. Which is HUGE in my world. I don’t feel as tired as I used to, but the trade-off for that feeling has been that I am in just a little more pain than I used to be. And sometimes I am ok with that…. and then there are others that I wonder just what in the hell I was thinking getting off of certain medications against my Doctor’s advice. Regardless, it is nice to feel like a little more like myself again. I would LOVE to be RX free, and that is the goal at this point…. but I have to say that I wonder if I can do it. I am not capable of underestimating my pain levels any longer. I’ve been dealing with this for too long to not know how my foot (and possibly my other foot as well because it is starting to look as if the RSD is “mirroring” in my left foot now) will feel unguarded by pain meds on a regular day where I do all of my “Mom” and “Housewife” duties. I KNOW I would be limping around, at best, on the majority of days. It is those days where I think I would be fine that keep the hope alive that one day in the future I will actually will be able to be RX free.

Enough of my blah blah about RSD. Most of you probably look at my paragraphs about this neurological disease and skim right over them anyway. I only include them in my posts because this is my life. I can’t leave out such a HUGE part of my every day existence and feelings.

The kids are doing great. As usual, they have done a lot of things that make me laugh and they get bigger and more grown up every time I look at them. I still cannot believe that Helene is now FOUR YEARS OLD. FOUR.

Holy moly. She was barely ONE when I started this blog. Now she is no longer baby or toddler. She is little girl in every sense of the phrase.
And Simon? Oh, baby, he is as funny as ever.
Here he is wearing Mommy’s slippers while eating his beloved “peanut butter spoon”.

Even though he didn’t tell me why he was caught in this manner, I can only infer that he was “relaxing”. Hence the slippers and comfort food.

So what on earth have I been up to?
Mainly, I’ve been taking life each day as it comes at me.
Specifically? (And, preferably, in pictures?…)
Simon graduated from pre-school! He wasn’t so hip on the hat however, so he passed that off to his Sister.

Helene started pre-school! And there should be zero surprise in the fact that she skipped into class and dismissed me without even batting an eye.

However, her weepy Mommy was not so strong. I kept it together until I got to the car. It was then that the empty feeling took over and I felt extremely alone. (I did get over that feeling though…. and it only took a few days.)

I’ve been attempting to get better at cake decorating…. You can judge for yourself on how my efforts are proceeding.

I made my very first piece of wearable clothing.

Now… even if you think my skirt is ugly, I don’t really care. Because I am THAT proud of my first try. So proud that I wore it out into PUBLIC within a day of completing it.

I’ve been keeping an ever observant eye on my highly entertaining turtles for just that purpose; Entertainment.

I love when they stack like this. Mostly because when they catch me watching them, they inevitably give me a look as if to ask, “What? What’s with all the staring?” I LOVE their indignation. (Or what I perceive to be indignation….. Yep. I’m a bored freak. I totally give my TURTLES their own inner dialog. Oh man. I am scaring myself….)

And I’ve been trying to keep sane and oxygenated in the nasty smoke blanket that has covered the area in which I live. I have to say that the smoke hasn’t been very bad these last few days, but eight or nine days ago? Holy. Moly. It was like living inside a covered pot and breathing air that felt all used up. It was gross and I thought I was going to go crazy. I am SO glad that the smoke seems to be going away.

Before I go away, I just wanted to say a very public “Hello!” to some long-lost friends who have recently found me on the blogs! You all know who you are because you are ALL related and have known me since, I don’t know, FOREVER! I am SORRY that I haven’t responded to any of you in a timely manner so I am making up for it by posting about you! I’ve missed our friendship over the years and am glad to be reunited, even if it only on the internet!

And to anyone else who is left reading this sadly neglected page, keep coming back… because I promise, one day I will actually start posting regularly again! However, I do understand if you give up on me. I really do realize how very much I’ve changed and how very much of a downer reading this crap can be. I can only hope that things will continue to look up and that I will come out of this dark funk very, very soon!!!

(Oh yes, and one of these days I WILL figure out why my site sets some of your anti-virus programs on fire! I will! I really don’t want my blog to break your computer!!)