It's a new year!!

Happy New Year!

I brought in the new year the best way possible.  Exhausted from flying around in a helicopter transporting those patients having a really bad day.   I had an awesome pilot and a kick ass medic.  Together we had a pretty great time despite being in the air for over 5 hours.  

But what about everything else?  

I finally have a few minutes to think about it.  If anything I am the master of putting things off.  Even thinking about the new year.  More then resolutions I love to reflect.  I have a lot to reflect on.

2014 - Reflections of a Year Indescribed.

Last year I felt shitty.  Physically I was good but mentally I was a huge mess. (See here) I considered therapy many times but just didn't want to do it.  What I really wanted is just to "let it go" so to say.  The smartest thing I did was allow me to feel.  It is OK when I'm mad or sad or even just depressed.  I did lots and lots of reading and research.  Watched all the documentaries I could find.  Then I was super pissed because MY personal experience with someone who is first a lying sack of shit and second a Transgender gave me negative feelings towards all transpersons and that is not what I'm about.  Being aware is the most important.  I had some bad days where I thought I would be depressed forever. But mostly I was just stuck.  I think I am still, but just a tiny bit.  It's a slow process.  

I bring it up first because I'm waiting for at least one day when I don't think about it.  I did make a great step when I went to his friends house to return his guitar to him through them.  They had moved.  Wow. Weird.  The guitar is in the basement.  Done worrying about it.  I don't know how I'll get it back to him and I'm not caring about it today.  

And ENOUGH about that!  I move forward and I feel SO much better as this year starts and I'm excited about that!

Running - It was an OK year.  Lots of problems with my left leg and lots of visits to my Physical Therapist and Massage Therapist.  Ton's of core work and even lots of running.  I think I found the right shoes and my feet don't hurt at all.  Still working on the leg.  I have 2 HUGE goals for this year.  Ragnar Del Sol Ultra  Relay Race in February and the Ogden Marathon in May.  I've committed to decrease my OT and work more on my running.  Weather and some crazy work days have interfered a bit but overall I think I'll make it!!!  ::Fingers crossed:::

My last run of the year!

Family -   All kids - all amazing.  Sami moved back in to go to nursing schools so for 1 week out of 3 I have 3 kids at home.  It's good.  They are awesome and I love them.  They are working hard and they are such great people.  My parents are suffering the effects of old age and I hate that but they are still doing great.  

My kids are top notch!

My nephew Charlie hanging with me on Christmas Eve.

Work - It's great.  Then it's not.  I'm a little burned out with the ICU but I know it will pass.  Flying is amazing but then I have long weeks of not flying.  Then I have another amazing day of transporting and BOOM!  Love it.  I think that's what a career is about.  The ups and downs.  Helps keep you appreciate of the great days.  

Taking a kid for a bucket list ride.  

Stupid Cancer.

Thumbs up for a great time!

Work fun times and great new friends!

After my last flights of the year I played the game - who got what med.  Then I ate Oreos and I was able to properly think.  

Friends - Have them, love them and without them I would be a huge huge mess!!

My favorite pic with so many great friends!!  

LOVE LOVE LOVE

All the other silly things I love.  My house is still a mess but the office is somewhat done and the basement is in chaos.  It's clean but cluttered.  My house looks like we are in a constant remodel/rearrangement.  We lost Zoe this year but we still have Ted.  He's old and amazing! 


2015

YEAH BUDDY!

I'm excited, really excited!!  A little chunky but I won't let that get me down. 

I don't have any real resolutions.  Just plans.

*Stay on my running schedule

*Try not to get hurt
*Work and get better at what I do
*Organize my house and PURGE all the stupid shit
*Work to stay close to my friends
*Enjoy my new friends
*Watch Breaking Bad from beginning to end
*Ultra Relay
*First Marathon
*BALI in September
*Finish getting shit paid off 
*Go on a date without immediately thinking about ways to keep them separate from my life.  i.e. trust
*Botox - heaven in a needle

Is that enough?  Will it keep me busy until September?  

ANYTHING can happen this year!!!!  ANYTHING!  My options are endless!  I love it and I love the way things are moving along. 

 Classy Attitude.  

hehe

Love my new tattoos

Now the big question.
What am I going to do with this blog?

I don't know.  

Does that help?    

I love writing and I love updating my blog.  I've been doing some amazing things with running and trying new products and I love sharing that.  I've found the best information from my favorite running bloggers.  My heart wants me to write and write often.  To share the failures and even the success's!  Ive had some opportunities to try new products and interact with other bloggers and it just hasn't happened.   That last picture of the dog with the PBR cans was amazing and every time I went to update I saw that pic and thought to myself, "that's awesome" and didn't update.  SO I'll limp it along for a while until I make a real not so half ass commitment.  If anything it will be sort of a diary and I'll have a place to put some of my more complicated thoughts.  

What are some of your most exciting memories of last year?

Whats on the plan for this year?

Blog on................

Easter

It was a great Easter Sunday!  All my kids came to lunch and it was the first day off Whole30.  Although I did make a delicious, completely Whole30 meal for everyone.  

No nitrate/nitrite Ham from Trader Joes, Spicy Tuna Cakes, Deviled Eggs, Asparagus and a HUGE salad with all sorts of veggies in it.  

Part of the NOT Whole30 was the Sangria.  I just wanted some booze after 30 days!

My kids and Jake's girlfriend Emily.  

Clockwise:  Austin, Sami, Emily, Jake and Daniel

Me with my kids.  I can't believe they are adults.  It's crazy.  They can't take a serious picture either.  It's all good, I love them madly!

Later when my glass light broke I thought my son's cleaning technique was some good thinking.  While I was off looking for the proper dust pan, I came back to this:

Boom!  They are thinkers!

The Foot!

No pain at all.  Not even ibuprofen.  That is better then before the surgery.  Of course it's in a boot.  I've been diligent about wearing it and even put a shoe cover on it to work outside.  This Friday I can start small amounts of time in my shoe.  I will probably keep using the night splint until I see the podiatrist again.  

Yesterday I went to the gym and it felt fabulous!  I used the recumbent bike for 20 minutes to warm up and then just worked out on the machines.  I'm going again today to just keep my spirits up if nothing else. 

I also started reading this book:

 

Many runners have recommended it.  I figured since I was basically starting fresh then I might as well work on my form a little bit.  I bought the book from Thriftbooks (used books) so I can take it to the gym while I pedal the bike.  So far..LOVE IT.

Tomorrow I'm back to work.  Yeah!  I'm ready to get back to life!

Blog on.................. 

Holiday Ho Ho's!

What a wonderful Christmas day!!  

Mostly because of these little rug rats!  

It started out a little tense.  Out of the 60 hours I put in up at Rock Springs I only flew one time and that was a late flight at 7:15am on Christmas morning.  We tried to fly at midnight but the runway wasn't plowed and of course they got up early and plowed it in time for us to fly her before our shift ended.  That meant that I didn't leave Rock Springs until noon. I also spent the first half of Christmas in my thermals and sweats that I wear under my flight suit.  Which mean that the day culminated in the most refreshing shower ever!

  Arrrrgggghhh!!

I did get to pass off my patient to one of my favorite nurses and the new ride!

It was so nice to be with my kids and my dogs and just RELAX!

Daniel

Jake

Austin

Sami

Weirdos

Ted is ready for his present!

So is Zoe!

Ted is protecting his new squeaky steak!

Merry Christmas!!

Blog on.............

First time for everything.

I'm posting from my iPad. I love it. It was worth saving and planning.

I can't type very fast on it so I am going to sum up today in pictures.

Merry Christmas!

Thankful

Today is Thanksgiving.  

It's the extra holiday for me.  It's been years since my little family has had anything really traditional.  Every other year we go to the family cabin and spend time with my brothers and sister, mom and dad and all the cousins.  This was not that year.  I wasn't feeling like doing anything this year.  

But I bought an all natural, never been frozen turkey.

Then I was asked to pick up a 24 hour shift today.  So I did.  

It's not that I wanted to avoid being with my family, but an OT shift on a holiday??  It's like getting 2 days of work for one.  Matt was a great sport and cooked dinner for all the kids that were in town.  I brought a ham up to the crew apartment and my medic, me and our 2 pilots had dinner.  It was nice.  We even transported a patient before dinner.  Really, it was during dinner but just finished making dinner when we got back.  

I am so thankful for so many things. 




Especially grateful that I don't have to bring headwear to dinner!

Blog on............

Happy 4th of July

Today was a work day for me.  I can't complain, I love my job.  Spent most of the day studying research articles and resting.  I'm still trying to recover from yesterday.  We did get a call to go help package a patient for the rotor team.
Of Course!  Pick me!!

Buh Bye!  Buuhhhh Bye!!

I love being around helicopters even if I don't ride in them just yet.  Just something about them is so "Bad Ass!".  

blog on..............

Crochet

I'm on another crochet extravaganza.

My Christmas challenge this year is to make all if not most gifts a recycled, reused or handmade gift. I am using mostly the things I already have and other things I am buying at Thrift Town. If you haven't been there, it is freaking fantastic!!! It's cleaner and safer then the DI and I have found treasures abundant! I already have ton's of yarn and buckets of craft stuff. I gathered quite a bit when the kids were little and they were always doing things for school, etc. I found some awesome patterns for things I haven't really made before and I could crochet up a STORM!!

So if you are on my Christmas list, don't be surprised by your gift, it will probably be some kind of crocheted cozy that you never knew you needed!! It will be made with love and with supplies that are used, reused, recycled or existing.

Check this out:

This is our Swiffer mop and a crocheted cover for it. It has some netting crocheted into it and Matt tried it out and gave it a two thumbs up!! I need to tweak the pattern a bit, but think about it, I used the yarn and netting I already had and now we just throw it in the washer instead of buying replacements over and over again and throwing them away. I am going to make a couple more to have on hand.

But lets keep this on the down low. Yeah, I have shadows of tree hugger in me but don't forget that awesome princess crown I wear!!!

Blog on..............

Christmas Party at Taylors! Christmas Day!

Merry Christmas!!

This year we had our big Taylor family Christmas on Christmas day. I'd like to thank my family for being flexible with my schedule. My brother, Brad is also a nurse and at times has to work on Christmas too. It's part of the job.

Either way, we had a blast! I love my family and we had a great time, as always!

Me with my cute little nephew, Charlie

Jake and I with Charlie

Xadi! So adorable and sister to Charlie.

Austin, chilling on the massage chair. Relaxation!

My mom and Jake

Matt and I getting ready for the best part! NO, not the food...the PRESENTS!

Austin and Daniel.

Sami and my sister-in-law Christie

My dad puts on a good show and this year he had us SING! YIKES!

Even a nose!

The Taylor family excitement while singing!!

Dave opening Charlie's present. Charlie was hanging out with his mom getting a delicious meal.

All the grand kids open their presents with Grandpa! Here is Xadi kicking off the festivities.

Jack is loving his Legos!

Abby opening her present.

Jove getting his new car track.

Matthew opening up his present.

Katelyn getting her new jacket.

Emily with her present. A new Coach purse, well that's what the guy on Canal street said it was!

Jordan.

Daniel gets another black Guns N' Roses T! Looks like the kids are getting too big to sit on Grandpa's lap!

James.

I think James is gonna take Grandpa down! Hehe

Alec got some nuts and he was happy about that, but luckily there was more to the present!! YES!

Sami! He picture is a little fuzzy, but her cuteness is showing through!

Jack watching Dylan opening his present!

Grandpa gave in and got another chair when Jake came up to sit on his lap! Grand kids are growing!

Sweet gift from Xadi and an even sweeter hug!

Jake was given the wrong gift at first and it had baby stuff in it! Oh the harassment!!

My dad thought it a better idea for him to sit on Austins lap!

Austin.

Thumbs up to a stretchy hose!

Mark and Christie had their gift together. Looks like fun and games at their house!

Melissa.

Cody.

My sister Caroline.

Sister-in-law Cathryn.

Matt and my dad

Matt received some fishing lures.

My turn!

My brother Brad.

Brother Dave. I made him a hat and put together a pic of him and Xadi.

My dads turn!

My mom and dad opening presents.

Matt and Sami

More pics of my mom and dad

Xadi got a digital camera from Grandma and Grandpa. It's the cutest thing ever and I would love to see the pics that she takes! I have a feeling she is going to keep us busy with performances as she gets older!

It was definately a great Christmas this year. Times are tight, but "things" don't matter when you are with family. It was a great dinner and fun times with lots of laughs. Missing from the crowd was my brother Joe and his wife, Marie. Joe was feeling ill that day and they didn't make it. Neither did Rachelle, Chris, Ryder, Corinne and Logan as they were with their other families. We had our chance to celebrate earlier with them.

I'm a lucky lucky girl!

Blog on.......