Finally, Plaque other than on my teeth!

Sorry, I'm sure the title grossed you out but I always like to find something whimsical to lighten the mood.

Today was my third 5K of the year (probably my last due to busy schedules). Although I had my worst time of the year, I received a plaque for finishing 9th in the women's walking division. I moved things around on the buffet in our dining room so my plaque can be displayed with Jon's IPDA plaque and Jonnie's science fair certificate. I have barely exercised in the past month so I wasn't in good shape plus I got a phone call from work and I was trying to walk and talk at the same time. I almost walked into a very large deer on the trail. I can't recall if it was a doe or a buck but it was big and would have made for a lot of good eating!

My husband is slumbering through the NASCAR Busch race. Jonnie is watching TV in his room. I'm took a few minutes to write up a quick post but I had been eating bruchetta and sipping red wine in the kitchen and flipping through a magazine while watching the race in the family room.

Anyhow, I wanted to share the excitement about my plaque. If I had a digital camera, I would have someone take a picture so I could post a picture of me holding the plaque. I have a camera on my cell phone but I can't get the pictures off my phone! Unfortunately, my hubby has never grasped the hint of my wanting a digital camera so I might have to save up some money and buy one. I'd like to find one that can work with like the cameras he bought for his Dad and his brother but he bought the cameras so long ago that the technology has probably changed too much.

I'd better get back to the race. It will be time to make dinner soon. I could be eating alone if Jon doesn't wake up. It's frustrating, my husband and I finally get a chance to spend time in the same room with Jonnie in another room and he goes to sleep. I cannot even carry on a conversation with him, thus, I am reading a magazine. It's sad when you get lonely in your own house!

Have a wonderful weekend. If you get the 4th of July holiday off work, have a great day. We have the day off and since I'm in night class on the 3rd, we don't have to drive out of town this year. Last year Jon and Jonnie had to go to a party at Jon's Dad's house and I had to work. Jon opted not to do that this year.

What on Earth is going on at my workplace??!!!

Some of my co-workers and I are getting a little nervous about our work place. Let me explain.

Our Operations Manager has had unexplained health issues for the past couple of months that have included him being taken the ER by co-workers during the work day. Doctors cannot find a cause for the spells he's been having. This past weekend, his wife had a minor heart attack so he has been at the hospital with her yesterday and today. She should go home today.

One of our Optical Engineers, who reports to our Operations Manager, was taken to the hospital with chest pains this morning. We do not have a status on him at this point. Our Ops Mgr was going over to see his wife and was going to try and find our co-worker, too.

Since we have no idea what has caused these issues, no one really has good information about how we can protect ourselves. All I know is that I've let my weight creep up so I immediately signed up for Weight Watches Online (again). I know that extra weight can cause heart related issues so I decided to stop goofing around given what has been going on around me.

I'm a member of our Operations Management Team (OMT) here at work along and all of us have been given additional projects over the past couple of months. I'm working on a new overlay phone system for my department. I am also the lead documentation writer for a state-wide networking initative with another state organization. Combine this with my regular job duties and an excess of meetings and my four 9.5 hour days and my one 8.5 hour day per week hardly give me enough time to accomplish it all. Nine times out of ten, I work through my lunch break except when Jon & I plan lunch together or if I reach a breaking point and need to go outside for some fresh air to clear my head. All of us on the are on call 24x7 as well.

Things are a bit scary here at the office today with recent happenings. I have put in more prayer requests in the past 2 days than I have in the past 2 months, I think.

Well, I'd better get back to work, my quickie break is over. In a few minutes, I attend one of three meetings today squeezing lunch in between.

I was tagged so here is my 4x4 meme

My friend Sarah tagged me to respond to a 4x4 meme where I reflect on 4 things new to me in the past 4 years and 4 things that I hope to do in the next 4 years. I read her meme before church so I've been thinking about this all day. I hope I come up with something as insightful as what she wrote!

From the Past Four Years:

1. Motherhood - Sorry, Sarah, don't mean to seem like I'm copying you! If Jonnie had not been born 4 years ago, I would never experienced taking care of an infant including the tarry poop when they're first born, seeing him in the lightbox wearing a diaper and goggles to cure jaundice, and the nasty smell of formula. There would not have been the joy of seeing him crawl or walk along with the agony of ER visits because of falls that included being busted open above the eyebrow and a fractured arm. There would not have been the joys and agonies associated with potty training. There would not have been the joys and agonies of birthday parties. The agonies have been all the times that I've given into my bossy in-laws and did what they told me to do instead of standing up for myself. The joys have been recent with Jonnie attending birthday parties of his classmates for the very first time.

2. Conversion - Never in a million years did I think I would join the Catholic faith. My husband explained to me the importance of church after we encountered some marital problems within a few short months of being married. In his eyes, the only church is the Catholic church and everything else is "wacko". I attended mass because it was what we had to do every Sunday morning. It was not until Jon was asked to start the K of C in Plain City that I felt joy in attending mass and met people who were genuine. I felt so welcome in the community that I knew joining the church was what I wanted to do and I don't regret it for a minute.

3. Spiritual Growth - Although my spiritual growth occurred when we moved to Plain City and joined St. Joe's, I see it as something separate from my conversion. Before St. Joe's, I felt prayer and Bible study where things that my 95-year-old Grandma Woodruff did because she had nothing else better to do. WRONG! I learned that young people pray, too. I no longer felt embarrassed to express my faith for fear of acting like an old person. My life has been blessed by Eucharistic Adoration, Cum Christo, Marriage Encounter, the Women's Ministry, and the Hospitality Ministry just to name a few.

4. Depression, Part I - I never imagined moodiness manifesting itself into such an ugly beast so horrible that it took someone outside my family pulling me aside and talking to me to make me realize that something clearly was not right. I didn't listen to Jon because I figured his comments were fueled by gripes he heard from his family. My parents blamed my in-laws for pushing me too hard and disrespecting me. My co-worker Tony pulled me aside back in January 2006 to talk with me. He told me what he was seeing and it hit me like a ton of bricks. I trust Tony and have the upmost respect for him so I went online and started seeking out help. I took several questionnaires on depression and the warning signs were clearly there so I went to see my doctor. On my birthday, she wrote me a script for an anti-depressant and I am still on it to this day. Stay tuned because I want to say more on this.

The Next Four Years:

1. Depression, Part II - I told you to stay tuned! My hope is that will be able to cease the antidepressant medication within the next 4 years. My doctor and I decreased my dosage about a week ago. I'm taking half the amount I was taking previously. Just like when I was diagnosed, I did not notice a change until someone said something. My husband said he was concerned about whether it was right to decrease the dose. Now that he's said that, I'm trying to be more careful about my moods, etc. I am hoping that the pressure of this past week also being my first week of decrease just caused a temporary lapse.

2. School - Our son Jon will start public school in a couple of years. Schools don't have hours of 7 AM to 6 PM like daycare centers do. I have no clue how to enroll my son in school. Heck, I'm still completely confused about getting him proper religious training so he can get confirmed and receive Communion on time. I have no clue how we're going to deal with the whole school animal because Jon and I each have to work. Someone is going to have to get him to school and get him from school. Thankfully my workplace is putting together a telecommuting policy that I might be able to use if it comes down to it.

3. Friends over Family - I know this sounds completely opposite of what it should be so let me explain. Jon and I have no family in the area. We knew that when we moved down years ago but we've established ourselves in a home and town we love, jobs we love, and a church we love. We're not going to uproot that just because our family wants nothing to do with Plain City. My parents used to visit regularly but with their declines in health, it's just not possible for them to come down to see us. Jon and I both understand that. What angers us is that family members who are still in good health, able-bodied do not seem to understand to comprehend that highways are bi-directional. They feel the only way is for us to drive their way. Jon and I both have had enough. Jon's van already needs replacing before it's paid off because we've run up so many miles driving north not to mention all of the gas money we've spent over the years. Don't get me started on the birthday party that I catered back in May with a couple hundred dollars in food that had to travel for 3 hours.

Jon and I had friends over yesterday for the first time in ages. It was so much fun that we're already planning another party at the end of July that will include some different friends. It's been our friends that have been there for us. Deacon Tony & Elaine took Jon for a weekend so that we could attend Marriage Encounter several years ago just as one example. My female friends will host "girls night" and we'll arrange for a couple of young ladies from the church to watch our kids in another room so we can get a break without always dumping the kids on our husbands. Friends pray for one another. I feel so ashamed that we have pushed our friends away all of these years because the van has driven on auto-pilot back and forth to parts up north. Our son has so much fun last night playing with the kids that came to our party. We've got to focus on our friends now. Family is still important and we know that we will still have to make long drives up north but no more catered parties and trying to find someone who has a bed for us so we don't have to get a hotel room.

4. Jon and Jodi Santini the couple - I want to strengthen the bond with my husband. We are so busy leading our separate lives or the live of Jon's Mommy and Jon's Daddy that we hardly have any time as Jon and Jodi Santini, husband & wife. Some of our friends are blessed with family who will take the child(ren) for a few hours, a night, or weekend. We are blessed with wonderful young ladies in our church that Jonnie adores being with for an evening so we can go out to dinner but these young ladies don't work for free nor do I expect them to do so.

We started something today that I hope we will continue. My husband has a membership to the RPAC which is the main recreation center at Ohio State. RPAC has family hours and we decided to try it out today. We dropped off Jonnie in the babysitting area and he was the only one there today. It only costs $2 an hour with a max of two hours. Jon and I hit the cardio machines. Jon had a great workout but I fumbled around on 3 machines trying to find something I liked. We walked the indoor track for a while together and then I said I wanted to use the rowing machines. I rowed while Jon finished walking his mile. We walked around RPAC some more to see what else is there for our next visit. We picked up Jonnie and headed to the pool area. There is a family pool area with a slide, basketball, and some other fun stuff. Next to that are a couple of lap pools. I went to one the lap pools and did swam a lane back and forth. Oh dear God, thank you for letting me survive. I am horribly out of shape! I went back and swam more with the guys. I sat in the hot tub area for a while but started falling asleep so I decided to get out of the pool. Jonnie was still splashing a way but Jon looked like he was going to drop. We finally convinced Jonnie it was time to go and that we'd come back later.

I know an hour at the gym might not seem like much but it still gave Jon and I some time together and it got us exercising which both of us need to do. I'd been doing so well but completely fell off the bandwagon. We also try to have lunch together once or twice a month as my schedule permits. Jon regularly takes a lunch break but it's a bit more difficult for me because I only get 30 minutes so I have to make up whatever time I go over, and I need another supervisor available during the time that I'm gone.

I am sure that I've offended someone, shocked someone, missed praising someone, etc. in what I've written. Like I said, I've been thinking about this all day long since I read Sarah's email shortly after 6 AM this morning. Granted, it took a pot of coffee to get the gears a turning but once they started turning, they did not stop until I put the keyboard to the blog!

Hair Today, Gone Today

It took me two years but I finally reached my goal of having an 8-inch pony tail that I could have cut off to send away to the Pantene Beautiful Lengths program. Pantene partnered with HairUWear to collect hair to make wigs and hair pieces for cancer patients who need them. I read about the program in a magazine and went to the web site and requested a packet 2 years ago. Every month or so, I would have Jon measure my hair. It seemed to take forever. Part of it was, too, that I opted to pull my pony tail further down my neck so my hair would not be quite as short when I got it cut.

The stylist cut off the pony tail and we put it into the zippered baggie while she worked to make my hair into a stacked bob. My hair is shorter in the back than the front and sides which sounds a bit weird but I really like it. My head feels so much lighter.

After my hair cut, I went to Kroger and bought groceries, and then stopped at the post office to put my hair in the mail. I got home and when I talked in the door, Jonnie ran in the kitchen and told me my hair cut was beautiful. My husband scowled and said it's better than he thought it would be but he doesn't like short hair.

Tomorrow we're having some folks over for a cook out. I think it's the simplest party I've ever planned. I went to Sam's the other day and bought most of the food plus wine and beer. I bought veggies and dip at the grocery tonight to throw together a veggie tray. Jon is in charge of the meat because he doesn't want me to burn everything to a crisp. While I'm feeling relaxed and totally looking forward to tomorrow, my husband has been cleaning frantically. He told me he spent an hour scrubbing the burners on the stove clean. You need sunglasses in the kitchen when the light shines off them now. Jon typically only cleans like this when his Mom is coming to visit but her last few visits were last minute because of circumstances beyond her control so she saw the house in its true form. I thought I was helping by sweeping the kitchen floor. Jon mumbled that I should scrub and mop it.

We have some family time planned for Sunday. I asked Jon what he wanted me to make him for breakfast on Father's Day and he said he'd appreciate it if I didn't try to cook anything for him. I bought a tray of cinnamon rolls from the Kroger bakery. We are going to go over to the RPAC (recreation center) over at OSU Sunday afternoon. They offer babysitting for $2 an hour. Jon and I are going to take an hour to ourselves to work out and then we're all going to go swim in one of the pools. We're taking a bit of a risk here by going out on a Sunday afternoon. Jon's Dad calls every Saturday and Sunday to make sure we've dropped everything to watch the race. I asked Jon if it would be a problem for us not to be home and he said he would take care of it. I have always been afraid to be away from the house because I didn't want Jon to get in trouble with his Dad by not watching the race.

I'd better close. Jonnie just pooped in the potty (second time today, yeah!) but he has not put his bottoms back on. I guess that means it's a good time to give him a bath.

Have a great weekend!

My life revolves around toilets

I almost wrote "my life is in the toilet" but that really isn't true. When someone makes that statement, it means life is flat out crummy. Life is busy but just fine.

Why do I say my life revolves around toilets? Let me explain.

Potty training continues with our son who is skilled at peeing in the potty but pooping has been a different story. My husband finally had enough of cleaning up poop and washing out underwear so he began to take things away from Jonnie every time he pooped in his underpants. We thought taking one bucket of trains away would be enough to make him poop in the toilet. Wrong. We collected wooden trains, metal trains, plastic trains as well as "Cars" die cast vehicles, play tools, "Cars" plastic vehicles and had containers & buckets sitting on top of the frig and on the buffet. The other night Jon said to me "Lock the movie cabinet and put away the key". Jonnie cried for a while that night but moved on to other things.

Yesterday afternoon Jonnie asked me if he could watch a movie. I had to tell him he couldn't because his movies are locked up until he started pooping in the potty instead of his pants. He fussed and cried. I told him that I couldn't sit and listen to his crying because I had a trunkful of stuff from Sam's Club including frozen food that was melting and wine that was going to turn into mulled wine with the heat. After 3 trips, I got everything into the house. On the last trip, Jonnie called for me. He was standing in the doorway of the half bath with his pants and underwear at his ankles pointing to the potty telling me he did it. I walk in the bathroom and, sure enough, he pooped in the potty. I told him I was proud of him and checked for any messes (there were none). He looks at me asks "Can I watch my movie now?". He had all of his toys back before Dad got home, too.

There's also a story about my Dad & toilets. I talked to Mom & Dad on Sunday morning. Dad told me about having lunch with his sisters & my Grandma to celebrate Grandma's 95th birthday. After that, he told me what happened on Saturday night. Mom had gotten some cake at the store and they were each enjoying some cake while watching TV. A little while later, my Dad's stomach got really upset. He went into the bathroom and started to vomit. He finished and shut the lid on the toilet to flush so that he could move on to brushing his teeth to get the nasty taste out of his mouth. He started to brush his teeth when he realized he was missing his top teeth. My Dad has a top row of dentures and his bottom teeth are natural. Apparently my Dad's teeth came out while he was vomiting and went into the toilet which he had since flushed. My Mom put on gloves trying to reach down the trap but couldn't find anything. Several calls were made to plumbers with only one call back. I checked in on Monday and found out that someone finally came out and went through the entire plumbing system and Dad's teeth were gone. The plumber said they might be at the sewage treatment plant in town. My Dad got impressions taken for new dentures on Tuesday.

I don't know why but these toilet stories reminded me of my late Grandpa Woodruff's toilet garden. Many, many years ago when I was a child and my Grandpa was strong enough to work in his gardens, the toilet garden was created. One of the toilets at their house had to be replaced. Grandpa was not one to throw anything away including an old toilet. He removed all of the "mechnicals" from the toilet tank, took off the seat, and the tank lid. He moved the old toilet to the backyard near the shed, filled the toilet bowl & tank with potting soil, and planted plants. Thus, the toilet garden was born. My Grandpa has been gone for 7 years and I believe the toilet garden was removed from the yard a few months after he died when the weather warmed up.

Now that you probably think I'm totally weird. At least I ended my posting on a fun note regarding my Grandpa's toilet garden. I love Grandpa but the toilet garden is not something I will replicate in my landscaping.

Blessings for a wonderful weekend!

11 Years Ago today

at 2 o'clock in the afternoon at the Clintonville Women's Club, I married Jon Arthur Santini, Jr. It's hard to believe that it's been 11 years; the time has flown by. Although it has not always been easy, we've managed to live through our wedding vows so far! We've gone through the richer and poorer with Jon being laid off twice, my promotions, household projects. We've been through "sickness and health" with Jon's hernia operation and the blood pressure scare, and my depression treatment in the last year alone. This can be extended to health concerns we've had with Jonnie during the 4 years he's been in our lives and also my parents health issues a few months ago. I think we grapple with "better and worse" on a regular basis because each of us (mostly me) can have bad days, get stressed out, and otherwise not be as understanding toward one another as we should be.

Jon and I are celebrating today by having lunch at the Happy Greek Restaurant at the South Campus Gateway. Jon's Mom took Jonnie for an evening last month while we were in the Salem area for Jonnie's birthday and my SIL's graduation which allowed us to have a night out early for our anniversary. Unfortunately, we shot our babysitting budget with overlapping meetings in April and May that required us to have babysitters 3 weeks in a row.

Since I'm taking a lunch break today, I'd better get back to work! I wanted to take a few minutes to share the joy of this day. I hope to blog about many more wedding anniversaries in the future!

Blessings to all for a wonderful weekend!

Walking the path to forgiveness

As I wrote in my long post yesterday about our new neighbors, I said that I needed to revisit the issue of forgiveness. My bitter feelings toward them were consuming me which made me an angry person who could not say a nice word about them when my husband would mention them.

The truth is that I don't know why the complaint was filed against my yard and my husband points out that perhaps a comment made in passing was taking out of context by the realtor and turned into a formal complaint. This is a good point and another reason why it is wrong for me to hold bitter feelings toward this new couple.

During my Adoration hour last night, I prayed and I prayed. I scrounged around my purse for money to put in the collection box so I could light a candle under the Mary statue. I chose Mary because the new woman next door is quite pregnant and I suspect that she will be due anytime. It seemed appropriate to look to Jesus' mother to help me with my forgiveness issues. Aside from forgiveness, I asked for strength to be a good neighbor and even, perhaps, a friend. I asked to be a good example for my son and to help teach tolerance.

I feel much better about the whole situation.

Blessings,

Jodi

New Neighbors

"Did you see the for sale sign is out of the yard next door" asked my husband one early last week. I hadn't noticed and looked out the laundry room windows and, sure enough, it was gone.

A day or two after that, I came home to find a little white SUV parked out front of the house. Jon and I both noticed the "WA" tag which is a "West Campus A" parking pass for OSU and the same pass that I have for my car. Later that evening, horror set in when Jon and I went out for a walk. The couple who filed the complaint about my backyard through their realtor bought the house next door. When Jonnie and I got back from our walk, I told Jon the bad news. He told me not to worry about it because we were not and still are not violating any deed restrictions for the neighborhood.

A shipment of 12 plants arrived on Friday so Jonnie and I planted them. The verbenium didn't seem to do as well during shipping as the dark coleus. I hope some plant food and some time in moist soil resolve that issue. Later that night I went grocery shopping and picked up some orange mums because I realized my planter by the mailbox was still empty. I don't want to give the new neighbors anything else to complain about. I planted the mums when I got home.

I spent 4-5 hours on Saturday in the back area pulling out poison ivy, some other vine and various other yuck that accumulated in this back area over the years. I was amazed at the amount of building supply pieces that must have gotten tossed back there during building. I filled 3 of the large paper yard waste bags and a black garbage bag with debris. I am going to have to bring the wheel barrow back to get everything to put it at the curb for the waste collection. I was concerned that the new neighbors might report me for having these bags sitting in the back so I asked Jon if I should put them in the garage and park my car in the driveway. He told me not to worry about it. Easy for him to say!

When Jon came back from getting his hair done and going to the gun shop, he was surprised to still find me out back. He started laughing when he saw me trying to level a small stump with the band saw. I told him that I kept tripping over them. I then brought up the issue of the fence. There was a wire fence erected between our property and the property behind us many, many years ago. It was so long ago that we have trees that flattened the fence in spots as they grew and a couple that have become one with the fence. I mumbled about cutting the fence down and putting up something new. Jon showed me where the actual property line was. I had spent hours working and a large portion of the area isn't even mine! Jon also said that putting in a new fence is not feasible. I thought about buying some clematis to climb the fence to make a natural screen. Hmm.

I took a drive to London yesterday and went shopping at the Big K. I found some cheap shorts for me and bought Jonnie the water shoes he needs for school next week when they start water play. Of course, I ended up in the garden center. I found white and pink hydrangea bushes, a dogwood, and a lilac bush. I also found some other plant with little blue flowers but I don't know what it's called; the label just said "periennial". I bought 2 and put them out front to fill in the dead rose bush I yanked out yesterday. The bushes were all planted out back in hopes of them creating a natural screen to block the ugly fence.

As I pulled thorns out of my shoes after planting the new bushes out back, it dawned on me that I'm broke. I think I spent more on landscaping this year than I ever have in the past and that was even with Rose of Sharon that my FIL gave to me! Part of the expense, granted, was the rubber mulch which I used out front and would never have bought if I'd known that I was going to have to speed up my backyard project so quickly. We have not yet installed any edging material and I don't know if we are going to get to that until later this summer. Between my landscaping project and Jon's basement project, we have spent a ton of money in the past 2 months.

I feel defeated. I look at my back yard and know that I've done the best that I can but I cannot make the plants grow faster. The edging has to wait until Jon and I get some other materials paid off UNLESS.....the new neighbors file a complaint. ARGH!

I had to be at church early yesterday because I ushered. I prayed for patience not only for myself but from our new neighbors. I prayed for strength to roll with the punches that might come my way as they get settled into their new home. I prayed that I could forgive them and the complaint they filed in April against my property and that I can forgive any future complaints they might file against me. As I told my hubby in an email earlier today, I need to revisit all of these issues again during my Adoration hour tonight.

God's Peace and Blessings be with you this week.