What I've Been Doing While Not Blogging

Here's the post where I explain why I haven't posted much recently.  I wrote a very overdue email to my SIL in CA this week and realized it's the explaination.  (Thanks for helping me write it Angela.:))

"September was a really, really rough month with work stuff. 60 hour weeks don't make for happy families. Both huge projects came off very well though.

1) I was in charge of planning our company's 50th anniversary celebration. 1200 invitations, 700 guests, 4 guest speakers, sit down lunch, a really, really big tent, generator, A/V team and rain. Preceeded by coordinating a corporate meeting for 300 people in the tent.

For reference the main tent was 40 feet and 160 feet wide with 20 foot bump outs on each end and 20x40 add-ons to the long sides.  So, 200 x 80 at the widest parts.

2) Helping develop and edit a 3 day training course on Blast Furnace Hearth refractories and lining designs. 800 powerpoint slides, 175 pages of text (technical paper type), giveaways, publishing a bound book and getting it all to Europe with all of 3 days to spare b/f the course.

#1 was Sept 23. #2 was supposed to be ready Sept 19...it wasn't. I spent that week crazy with both projects and the following 2 weeks getting the course wrapped up and cleaning up from #1.

Then I got sick. No one was surprised. But I got really sick. Terrible cough that bruised/cracked/broke ribs (they didn't x-ray to find out, but doc suspected something of the sort). In trying not to hurt my ribs while continuing to cough, I hurt my back. Horrid spasms. Found a nice chiropractor though! He actually thought I might have a kidney stone given my symptoms. Thankfully I didn't, but a scare I didn't really need at the time. I went back to the regular doc the next day and begged him to make me stop coughing b/c it was causing symptoms 50x worse. He said I was really wheezy, gave me a breathing treatment that gave me the shakes for 2 hours afterward, an inhaler of that stuff and vicodin. I learned that vicodin is a very effective cough suppresent. Who knew! Both the doc and chiropractor wanted to see me again Friday, but I wanted to go home to my parents b/c my Aunt Betty's memorial service was that Saturday. Oh, the Saturday before the 50th (#1) while I was in the office all day working on the course (#2), my Aunt Betty passed away somewhat unexpectedly. She had been in the hospital, but she had a sudden heart attack and died. It's still hard to remember. So upsetting. Aunt Betty was 14 years older than my mom so was more like a 3rd grandmother. sigh. Anyway, after that shock, at least she had chosen cremation so I didn't have to squeeze in a funeral amongst #1 and #2. The memorial was very nice. My brother, his wife and their 2 little girls flew in from NH to attend so it was good to see them. It was as good as could be expected for really a weekend of difficult / sad feelings. That was the weekend of Oct. 15. I'm feeling about 80% now and still coughing, but not as bad or as frequently as the past month. My back is tender, but more like a sore muscle and I think it'll recover in time. My ribs still hurt pretty bad depending on what I do. Sneezing almost brings me to my knees and I can't reach above my head yet. But like the cough and my back, they are slowly (very, very slowly) getting better.

So, that's what I've been up to and why the blog went dormant. I haven't had the motivation recently to sit behind a computer any more than I have to, so it still might be awhile b/f I get back to regular posts. I've been taking lots of pictures and videos though so there's plenty of material!

On the upside of all this, the kids didn't get sick and neither did Chris. They suffered through the long hours, but made it. (broke my heart though when K asked me on a Friday night if I had to go to work the next day...and I did. Never want to hear, "you work too much mommy!" again) Both projects were big successes. I'd do both again, but never again at the same time! Sorry I never got back to so many emails. I had to let a lot of things slide and I'm just starting to get back up to speed. As I told someone yesterday, the hole I had to climb out of was quite deep!"

Here's to hoping you hear from me soon and more frequently!