Family Christmas Letter Part I

I wrote the family Christmas letter again this year. It's a tad long (as is most of my writing), so I'm going to post it in parts.

__________________________________________________

Merry Christmas from the Nichols and Anderson’s. I don’t know about you, but in order just to survive this past year, I’ve had to adopt the motto, “one day at a time.” I think my entire family can apply that motto to their lives, as well. Here’s a glimpse into our lives, one family member at a time.

Shannon and Jeff have learned to take it “one day at a time” while raising an energetic toddler. Case turned one in June, and he’s well on his way to being a very grown up little boy. They have found a wonderful Christian daycare for Case to attend, and his teachers, along with the help of Shan and Jeff, teach him sign language. He can say, “Please, thank you, ball, down, apple, help, airplane, more, food, drink, and dog,” all with sign language. He can also speak, “No, mine, up, uh-oh, oh-no, Dido, mommy, daddy, and help.” His favorites are NO and MINE, much to his parents’ dismay, and he’s adopted a very stubborn attitude. Wonder who he got that from?

Sometimes I don’t think Case likes me very much. If I touch him, he’ll shout out, “NO, NO, NO,” and he’ll start hitting himself where I touched him as if wiping off Aunt Dido’s germs. Sometimes he runs away screaming if I look at him, and I’ve figured out if you’re not mommy then he wants nothing to do with you. Occasionally he’ll go to Grandpa Doug and Uncle Collin, and he LOVES his cousins. Well, I guess I should make that singular and say Case LOVES his cousin. His cousin being Carson. Case could probably do without Kyler in the picture, but I think the same can be said for Kye. Those two younger boys haven’t quite figured out how to share with each other, but Carson loves to play with Case and those two get along very well.

Shannon and Jeff went on an Alaskan cruise in July, so Collin and Katie watched Case for the week. Mom called Collin one afternoon to find out how things were going with three little boys in the house. Mom could hear Case crying in the background. She asked what was going on, and Collin said Kye had locked Case in the bedroom and was pounding on the door with a plastic hammer. All three boys survived the week together. Rather, I should say, Collin and Katie survived the week with three little monsters. Shan and Jeff had not a concern in the world while they sailed across the ocean blue. Actually, they were on a ship going from Seattle to Alaska with two very dear friends. They saw a whale, a few bears, wild salmon and some bald eagles. They had a wonderful trip.

As if that wasn’t enough for one year, Shan surprised Jeff with a trip to Vegas in October. They took a helicopter ride over the city, which was the highlight of their trip, and Jeff even won some money playing poker (he wants to go pro now). They celebrated their three year anniversary in August, and I haven’t heard them have an argument yet. Shan is in her third year of teaching at Goddard Middle School (her 10th year teaching overall), and she’s looking into getting her Master’s degree during this upcoming year. Jeff is still at Digitech Systems. He’s been promoted a time or two, so he must be pretty good at his job. All I know is his phone buzzes a lot, and sometimes he’s very serious while working on his laptop.

__________________________________________

Watch for more to come tomorrow...

Siblings

For some reason, I can't find pictures of Carson right now, but here's a side by side comparison of Kyler and Corinne. I'll post a picture of Carson when I can find one.

CorinneKyler

My Niece

I am happy to introduce to you Corinne Kennedy Louise Nichols. She was born this morning at 7:47am. She weighed 7 pounds and was 19.5 inches long. She has dark hair, and she looks like Carson but has Kye's round face. I'll post more pictures as I get them, but for now, here's a sneak peak.

To give you an idea of how Kye's feels about his new sister, the pictures speak for themselves. However, as Collin placed Corinne between the two boys, Kye shouted, "I don't like her!"

This is Corinne's first glimpse into technology. We called Aunt Angie so she could see her new niece. Carson was happy to join in, but Kye ran away and turned his back.

Wiping the Slate Clean

Have you ever had one of those moments that you totally regret? Where you'd go back and re-do the situation if you could? I had one of those moments this year. If I could, I would go back and change it. I'm sure you're dying of curiosity to know what I did, but I'm sorry, I'm not going to tell. It was not a high point in my life, and I do not wish to re-tell the story. It's my blog and I can say or NOT say what I wish.

On the other hand, I had a very proud moment this year, too. In fact, I had several proud moments this year, including riding the MS150 for my dad, but in this particular instance, standing up for what I believed in cost me something that I wanted oh-so bad. This situation involved a guy I really liked, but in the end, our morals and beliefs didn't quite equal the same. I wasn't willing to compromise on a certain issue, so we both walked away even though we both wanted it to work out. In the end, however, walking away was the best thing I could have done. He didn't end up being the person I thought he was, and I did not get hurt. I was quite proud to stand up for my personal beliefs.

As the year comes to a close, I reflect back over the past year. I'm not the same person I was a year ago. A year ago, I was dating Allen and I THOUGHT he had everything I wanted in a guy. We broke up, and while he's bounced in and out of my life over the past eight months, I realize now that Allen never was the right one for me. In fact, I'm not even the same girl he thought I was. While it was very tough to do, when he wanted me back in his life, I told him NO and walked away. That was also a very proud moment.

I've had a fabulous year, but it's also been one of the toughest years of my life. I've learned more about myself than I ever have before, I've gone in debt to pursue my dream of being a teacher, I've cried, I've laughed, I've had good times with friends, I've had bad times with friends, I've seen April fight for her life and WIN, I've mourned the loss of a niece or nephew, I've attemped a few relationships, I've cut off some unhealthy relationships, I've renewed friendships from years ago, I've nurtured relationships that are most precious to me, I've finished my Master's degree, I've changed careers, I've been unemployed for five months, I've ridden mile after mile on a bike for a passion very dear to my heart, I've loved God and I've cursed God.

Tomorrow, I welcome my first niece to the world. You have no idea how excited I am. It's like waiting for Christmas morning as we wait to see what she looks like and what her name will be. Just like the birth of my niece, 2009 is a brand new year where I can start anew. The slate is wiped cleaned, and it's my year to do what I please. I have big things in store for 2009, and I'm so glad you're here to share the journey with me. As you continue to read my blog, you'll share happy moments, funny moments, sorrowful moments and hard moments with me, but I hope you reflect upon your own moments, too, as you read along. I love to get comments, so share your story with me or even start your own blog. The point is, we all get to start fresh in two days. Make the most of it!

I'm not the best Christian in the world. As you read above, I have moments that I'm not proud of and would even change if I could, but what I do know is that Christ forgives. I am so thankful for His forgiveness and love. I know that my slate has already been wiped clean without having to start a new year to do it.

Christmas Traditions

Favorite Christmas Traditions:

On Christmas Eve, my family heads to the church where I "grew up." Typically, this is my favorite thing to do because I usually see old friends that I haven't seen in years. After the hour long service, it's time to catch up, fill in and say, "You sure do look good." This year, I didn't know a soul at the church. I've been away from Kearney for way too long, but I'm not complaining!

Once church service is over, the family heads home to eat a delicious prime rib dinner prepared by mom and dad. The more mushrooms the better, says I, and the best part is walking in the house and smelling the wonderful meat cooking away. We have potatoes, salad, bread and dessert.

Once everyone has stuffed themselves full of prime rib and other goodies, we head to the living room to watch The Muppet Christmas Carol, which we have watched for years. A few years ago, I introduced Elf to the tradition, and this year we watched Chevy Chase Christmas Vacation.

We NEVER get to open a gift on Christmas Eve. We always have to wait, but when we wake up on Christmas Day, our stockings are spread out throughout the livingroom stuffed full of goodies. The stocking is my favorite part of the morning. It always has fun stuff in it. We take turns opening our stocking, and then we open one gift at at time in a circle until everyone is out of gifts.

We eat breakfast and lounge about for the rest of the day. Usually mom talks us all into playing a card game or dominos. The past few years, I've met my friends at Cunningham's, our favorite bar, on Christmas night to have a chill night of hanging. This is usually one of my favorite times because it's with old high school friends and my closest friends just having fun. This year was no exception.

Collin, Katie and the boys weren't able to join us this year because they are having their little baby girl in a few days. Collin called up on his computer, so we were able to see him and show off our presents. I made sure to zoom into my prime rib so he could drool over my meal. We'll celebrate Christmas with them in a few days after baby Nichols is born.

Case talking to Uncle Collin via Skype

Christmas Break Half Over

It's so good to be home. As of this upcoming February, I will have been in Denver for five years. Oh how time flies. When I first moved to Denver, I was going home almost every month. It wasn't because I hated Denver but it was because some of my best friends lived in Kearney. As the years have gone by, life has gotten busy, gas has gotten expensive and time has gotten short. I have only been home to NE about four times this year, so it's good to be able to spend a week at home with those I love. Sadly, Collin, Katie, Carson, Kye and unborn baby are not here with us this year. Katie is having unborn baby girl in six days, and they didn't want to risk being so far away from the hospital. We miss our bro, sis-in-law and little boys, but we will celebrate Christmas with them in just a few short days.

Shan and I started our week long trip to NE in North Platte with my mom's side of the family. We had a good time at Aunt Janelle's house, and we got to spend some time with my cousin's whom we don't see very often. They had a little boy two days before Case was born, and this was the first time we had meet him. Case and Aiden had so much fun playing together.

My Aunt Janelle, my mom's sister.

My Aunt Lisa, my mom's youngest sister.

From left to right, back row then front row:

Shannon, Janelle, Sally, Lisa, Me

Briana, Grandma Van, Kaela.

------------------------------------------------------

I've been spending time with April since I arrived in Kearney. She's doing great, and she's now been cancer free for about ten months. Her hair has grown back fast, and she looks great. We're having our girls' Christmas in a few days, so I'll post pictures of us. Last night, I went to our favorite bar, Cunningham's, to spend some time with some old high school friends. It was great to see some dear friends like Bill, Mike, Chase, Ben, Adam, Jarvis, and Katie, but I was also able to see high school classmates that I haven't seen in almost ten years.

Katie and I were lucky enough to be the only girls. We had a blast with the guys.

Mike can never take a serious picture.

Back in high school, I spent most of my time with Bill and Mike. They are great guys! Katie is now part of the gang.

Bill also has a hard time taking a serious picture. This is try three...

I'm a total butt girl, and Bill has a nice butt!

It's a Jarvis sandwich.

My Last Day

Well, today was officially my last at Columbine. I packed up my desk this morning, cleared off my bulletin board, and said my goodbyes. It was a little hard, but I managed to keep my emotions in check. It was hardest saying goodbye to Tiffany, my cooperating teacher, but I know that I have developed a friendship with her that will last for a long time. She's an amazing woman, and I am so lucky to have worked with her this semester.

Both my English classes signed a card for me, and they brought snacks. After everyone was done with their final, we had a little mini party. I had written a note to every single student, so I took that time to hand them out. Most of them read them silently and didn't say a word to me, but a few told me thanks and said they appreciated the note. While they didn't say much, I hope it meant a lot to them. Here's what a few of them had to say to me:

*"I hope you teach here next year. It would be great to see you again."

*"Thanks for being such a great teacher. Good luck at getting a job at CHS next year."

*"Thank you for being such a sick teacher."

*"You better not get attached to those CHAT-RATS. Ha, ha." (Chat Rats is what Columbine students call Chatfield students)

*"You are an awesome teacher. You are my favorite teacher I have ever had. Have fun at Chatfield and we're all going to come visit you wearing Columbine clothes and colors."

*"CSH sucks."

*"I love you. You were my favorite teacher EVER!!!"

*"I had so much fun when you were here. Thanks for everything."

My journalism students also signed a card right in front of my face and I never even saw them doing it. They are good. I was teaching while they were signing a card. Here's what a few of them said:

*"Coolest teacher ever."

*"This class was soooo much fun with you and you were one of my favorites. We are going to miss you. You will do great."

*"Chatfield is lame. CHS is better. Thanks for being our teacher."

Last but not least, my newspaper students also gave me a card. They said:

*" Thank you so much for all your help. You made this semester a lot less stressful."

*"You've been a great help and it was fun trying to figure out Photoshop together."

I'm so mad at myself, though. I forgot my camera, so I wasn't able to take a picture of my students. Stupid me! It was the most amazing students, and Tiffany told me I'll always remember my first class. I am leaving with very fond memories of my first semester of teaching, and while I didn't get paid a cent to do it, it was well worth the time and effort. I'm finally doing what I want to be doing. I'm pretty good at it, too, which makes it that much better.

28 and Falling Apart

I am a complete disaster. I really AM a product of my mother. Not only have I inherited a whole slew of medical problems from my mother, but I've got a list of issues myself. Here's my list of medical issues:

*Two ACL surgeries on my right knee.

*Large Cell Bone Tumor removed from my right wrist. They had to "borrow" bone from my hip to put in my wrist, so I have a big scar on my right hip as well as a huge scar on my wrist. People ask me if I tried to commit suicide.

*Factor V Leiden Mutation. Basically, I have a large risk for blood clots.

*As of April, the left side of my face has been numb. I've been seeking medical advice for the past four months, with no answers. I saw a neurologist this week, and she thinks it's from a viral infection that I had in April that resulted in nerve damage. She said it may or may not get better, so for now, I live with a numb face.

*My hands have been tingling for a few months. When I saw the neurologist this week, she discovered I have carpel tunnel. I have to wear braces on my hands while I sleep for the next eight weeks.

*I have back problems. I've been seeing a chiropractor for three weeks now.

*I have a gluten sensitivity. I'm supposed to avoid gluten, which is SO HARD!

That's all I can think of right now. I'm only 28 for goodness sakes. I blame my mother. It's all her fault I'm a mess.

Dinner Party

I hosted a dinner party Tuesday night. Some of my dearest friends came over for dinner, wine, dessert and an ornament exchange, and we had a great evening of laughter and fun. I made egg rolls and rice for the main course. For dessert, I've been baking up a storm for the past two weeks. I made mint chocolate ganache, which I put in chocolate cups. Chocolate covered pretzels. Peanut butter blossoms. Peanut brittle. Homemade peanut butter cups. Santa's surprise cookies. Chocolate truffles. Needless to say, there was plenty for dessert. And best of all, we polished off three bottles of wine. Here are some pictures.

Me, Sonya, Kari, Tiffany, Kelly, Amanda and Shannon

A Long Nutshell

I've neglected my blog recently, and I apologize for those of you who are frequent readers. It's been a crazy, busy, stressful past few weeks. I almost had a panic attack the other night. In order to be officially hired for the teacher job at Chatfield, I have to have my teaching license. As soon as I finished classes in November, I started the long process of filling out the paper work. First, I had to fill out a bunch of forms for my University in order for them to send me transcripts and diploma. I had to pay an extra fee to get my stuff expedited. In the meantime, I had a huge packet to fill out for Colorado Department of Education (CDE). However, I can't turn in the packet to CDE until I get my transcripts. I can't get hired by Jeffco County until I turn in my packet to CDE. So this entire process has been dependent on getting my transcripts. I paid an extra $45 to get my transcripts within 10 days. That paperwork was done before Thanksgiving. As of this past week, I was still waiting for my transcripts and I was starting to get nervous.

To make a long story short, I called my advisor and she thought I would get my transcripts on Thursday. I came home Thursday to find that we had received our neighbors mail rather than our own. Jeff walked over to see if they had our mail. They did not. He came back to tell me the bad news: no mail. That's when my panic attack about started. Thankfully, though, my transcripts arrived Friday, so I am turning in my packet to CDE on Monday (I have to drive all the way over to Colfax and I76), and then I can officially be hired to teach at Chatfield next semester.

In the meantime, I've been getting ready for finals, which are this upcoming week. I've been reviewing with my students, and I have to create the tests today. Making a test is hard work, and it takes a lot of time. It's not very easy to come up with multiple choice questions because you have to think of three wrong answers and one right one.

I told my students last week that I wouldn't be their teacher next semester, and they were shocked. Some sat there in silence while others asked, "WHAT? WHY? Who is going to be our teacher then?" I explained to them that Ms. Wilson was going to take great care of them. I had a job at Chatfield (since Chatfield is their rival school, they moaned at that news). They asked if I would ever teach at Columbine, and I told them if I could get a job next fall, I would LOVE to teach at Columbine. They all promised to come visit my classroom if that was the case. One student said, "Ms. N. We sure are going to miss you. You're a pretty cool teacher." Ms. Wilson took over the classroom for a day so she could plan a special thing with the students, but I don't know what she planned for me. The students are doing a good job of keeping a secret. I sure am going to miss them. I, also, am planning something special for my students. I'll let you know how Wednesday goes, which is my last day with them.

I also had my last day at Enterprise on Wednesday. I had to do an exit interview, where I had to fill out a 6 page questionnaire regarding why I'm leaving, what would have made me stay, how did I view the company, would I ever work there again, would I ever recommend my friends to work there, how did I view management, etc. That took about an hour. I will miss Enterprise and the friends I've made there, but I certainly won't miss the work I was doing there. This once again reiterates that becoming a teacher was the perfect decision for me.

A few weeks ago, I went to Case's Christmas program. Obviously he couldn't sing the song, but he did a heck of a job ringing his bell. I went to the Parade of Lights with a few friends, and I saw several of my students playing in the Columbine band. Last Saturday, I went to the Nutcracker Ballet with Sonya and Kari. It was my first ballet, and it was enjoyable. We had dinner first at Osteria Marco, which is a delicious restaurant downtown. I highly recommend this place to anyone, and you should try their pizza. Yummo! Katie C. came over for dinner last Sunday, so it was good to see her. Kari had a dessert and wine part at her house this past week, so we girls ate cookies, drank wine and hot cider and listened to Megan tell us about her adventurous life.

Us girls at The Nutcracker Ballet

Collin and Katie spent this weekend with us. It was great to see the boys, although Carson got sick Saturday night and threw up. Kari and I went skiing yesterday for the first time this season. We had a great day, and I'm a tad sore this morning. We spent the day up at Copper. It snowed for a good chunk of our time up there, but we were lucky enough to miss traffic both on the way up and on the way back. That's a first! We stopped in Idaho Springs to have pizza at Beau Jo's on the way down. Wow, great pizza. When I got home, I went with Collin, Katie and all three boys to Rib City. Shannon and Jeff were at Jeff's Christmas party, so I watched Case for the evening.

Anyways, that's my last few weeks in a nutshell.

When it Snows in Denver

*Stop signs and stop lights don't matter. Even if the light is red, people keep on going through it as if "they can't stop."

*Snow plows take the day off. They figure it will probably melt by the next day, so why bother. Meanwhile, the rest of us have to use our 4WD to get out of the side street.

*The same students who are tardy EVERY SINGLE DAY (whether it's snowing or not) are now excused for their tardy because of the snow. Everyone else, however, seemed to make it to school on time.

*Parking lots are a free for all. Park wherever, whether it's a parking spot or not.

*If you don't have an SUV or truck, the speed limit automatically drops to 10mph. If you do have an SUV or truck, then you're safe from having an accident and you can go as fast as you want.

*The lines at the grocery store become 10 miles long because everyone is afraid it might be the storm of the century and they need to stock up on food.

*When the weather man says it will snow 6 inches, you can either expect no snow at all or 20 inches of snow. They never get it right.

*If you're a weather man, you can say whatever you want (whether you're right or not) because "it's Colorado and the weather changes every five minutes."

*You'll see more people wearing shorts and tank tops almost as much as the summer time.

*Everyone heads to the mountains to go skiing because if it's snowing in Denver it's bound to be snowing at the ski slope.

*Lanes are no longer needed. Drive down the center if you wish.

*Everyone leaves work at 3pm to "beat the rush," along with everyone else.

Cool Like That

FYI (in case you like following the drama of my student, B). She wasn't in class today. The AP came to see if she had come. Since she wasn't there, he said, "Oh goodie. This is going to be fun. I'm going to see if I can find her and embarrass her in front of all her friends." She must be getting smarter because he couldn't find her today. He came to the classroom as class was over and told me he couldn't find her.

When I was leaving school, B was walking in the door as I was walking out. I smiled at her, said hello (she ignored me) and kept on walking. Her skipping my class doesn't bother me any. I'm not the one failing English as a freshman.

Her classmates asked me today why she never comes to class. I said it was because she didn't like me. N said, "Why doesn't she like you? You're pretty cool. Everyone thinks you're a really hard grader, but you also give us chances to re-do our stuff. You're cool like that."

The Missing Shoe

My cooperating teacher has decorated her classroom with pictures of shoes. There is probably over 50 pictures of shoes hanging all over the walls, and all the kid's know that she loves shoes. For her birthday, I ordered online a door stop that looks like a black, high-heeled shoe. Her birthday is tomorrow, but she wanted to open her present today. She LOVED the door stop and was eager to put it to use. We both contemplated whether the shoe would get stolen, but she, being the optimist that she is, decided no one would the shoe (for those English majors, notice the foreshadowing?).

Before school started, several people stopped in our classroom to comment on the shoe. She was so excited. First hour came and went. Second hour bell rang, and as the kids filed in the classroom, all of a sudden the door shut. Tiffany said, "Uh, oh. Where's the shoe?" A kid was walking in the room, and he said, "I just saw someone kicking the shoe down the hall. Then some girl picked it up and took it. I don't know who she is, but I would recognize her if I saw her again."

Tiffany and I both ran out into the hallway, but it was filled with over a thousand students. She went one direction, I went the other. No luck. By then, the tardy bell had rung and her classroom was filled with 30 students with no teacher. I told her I would go back to the classroom and she could go tell the secretary and see if she would do an announcement.

She came back a few minutes later, and they would not do an announcement about a missing door stop. Tiffany was pretty upset, and the kids were eager to help her find the missing shoe. The boy who saw the girl told Tiffany to get a yearbook and he would find her. Another girl went to the Commons to see if this girl was walking around. The boy found the girl in the yearbook. Tiffany called the office, and they told Tiffany what room this girl was in.

Tiffany sent the boy to go find the girl. The girl who had gone to the Commons came back and said she had no luck. So we sat and waited. And waited. And waited. Finally, about five minutes later, the boy came back...WITH THE SHOE!!! He had gone into the girl's classroom and asked her if she had the shoe. Sure enough, she had it in her bag.

Tiffany was so excited to have her shoe back. She wrote her name and classroom number on the bottom and decided she wouldn't use it as a doorstop after all. She found a nice little place on her desk to showcase the shoe. Problem solved.

Update!

Remember my student who's been skipping and lying? It's now been six class days since she admitted she'd been lying. She still hasn't come to class!!! Today, the AP came during my class and asked if B was there. I said no, she hasn't been there in 15 days in a row now. He said he'd go find her. About 15 minutes later, the AP came walking into my class with B in tow. He sat her down and left. She glared at me the entire class period, not participating at all. After class, the AP came and told me he's be personally walking her to my class for the rest of the semester. Ha, ha, isn't that going to be fun?

One of Those Days

Today was one of those days. It just seemed like nothing was going to go right. It actually started last night around 10:30. I had been sound asleep for about 30 minutes when my phone awakened me. It was a friend who needed someone to talk to. She had had a terrible, horrible, difficult night. There was nothing I could do or say to make her situation any better, but I comforted her the best I knew how. After I was done talking with her, it took me over an hour to get back to sleep because I couldn't get her off my mind. I finally fell asleep around midnight. In the middle of the night, I had a terrible nightmare. I dreamt a poisonous snake was trying to attack me. Either in my dream or in real life, I was awakened by a tapping on my window at 2:30am. I sat up in bed, trying to figure out if the tapping was real or in my dream. I never did figure that out.

I laid in bed for about 20 minutes, heart thumping, body shaking, listening for the tapping. I had to go to the bathroom, so I finally got enough nerve to run to the bathroom. It took me a while to fall back to sleep after that. My alarm went off at 5am, but rather than hitting snooze, I hit the off button. By the grace of God, I awoke 45 minutes later than usual, only to find my adrenaline racing and my frantic mind trying to figure out how I was going to make it to school on time. I quickly got ready, packed a quick lunch and took off toward the school.

Today, of all days, was the one day I needed to be at school early. I was hoping to be there by 6:30 in order to prepare my lesson for the day. It was 7am, and every single car in Littleton was driving about 20mph because there was snow on the ground. No one knows how to drive in this city. I followed grandpa all the way to school, and finally got to the parking lot to find that I couldn't get out of my car.

Let me explain. My car door handle broke about four months ago. Because I'm unemployed and broke, I haven't fixed it, so in order to get out of my car, I have to unroll the window and open it from the outside. This hasn't been a problem (and I've hidden it quite well) until today because of the snow.

So now, it's 7am, I'm late and I can't get out of my car. I sit in the parking lot until no one was in sight, and then I had to climb over the console and get out of my car through the passenger side door. Did I mention I was wearing a skirt today? I didn't have near enough time to get ready for the students. The bell rang at 7:25, and I didn't have their textbook or worksheet copies made. I was unprepared. I had to take the students for a walk down the hall to the book room to get their books, and then they had to follow me to the copy room to get their worksheets. I barely had enough time to teach any lesson whatsoever.

I was finished teaching at 12:45. I had a doctors appointment at 1pm. I was late for that. I had to be at work by 2pm. I was late for that. It's now about 8:30 and I finally feel settled for the day. It was just one of those days. I hope tomorrow is a little better. And I hope I sleep a little bit better tonight, too.