Long Time, No Post - Sorry!

Well, hello there!  I’m sorry – it has been a long time with no post and I’ve gotten a few people frustrated with me! 

It has been an incredibly busy few months at the Williamson house.  I’ll just give some of the highlights:

1)      My new job is exciting and also keeps me busy.  I started part-time at Overstock.com in mid-June while still teaching 3 classes for the U of U summer semester.  After that, in the first of August, I began full-time at Overstock and then immediately went on a business trip to San Francisco and LA to meet with partners.  I’m managing the Emerging Businesses at Overstock which includes Cars, Travel, and Insurance.  So, here’s my shameless plug…if you need a new or used car, a good deal on flights, hotels, car rentals, vacation condos, etc. or if you would like a quote for home and auto insurance, I know a great website for you to visit!      

Sidenote:  I can manage web pages for a Billion dollar online company, but I cannot figure out Blogger and get pictures to post where I want them to!  They are all above their explanation, not below!  Oh well.

2)      U of U football!  The season has been a bit of a bummer, but we are undefeated in tailgating this year, so that is a plus!  


 

3)      Troy ran the Huntsville & South Jordan marathons.

 

4)      In October, my sisters Kristy, Liz, and Hilary and I all met up in San Francisco for the Nike Women’s Marathon!  It was all 3 sisters’ first marathon AND we all finished!!  It is a super cool marathon with 30,000+ runners.  Plus, it raises money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society!  At the end, instead of a medal, you are awarded a Tiffany necklace on a silver platter by a fireman in a tuxedo!  How’s that for awesome?!? 

5)      Right after the marathon, I headed to Las Vegas for a JD Power online Automobile convention. 

6)      Fras got his wisdom teeth out and E got braces. 

7)      Miss S has made 3 trips to the Emergency room for asthma.  We’ve had two 3-day extended stays at Primary Children’s Hospital.  I keep telling her she could have picked a nice hotel in Hawaii for as much as we’ve paid out in medical!  She’s worth it, but in all seriousness….HOLY CRAP we’ve had an expensive medical year.  We have good insurance but we have still paid OUT OF POCKET more than $6,000 in medical expenses this year.  So, my financial tip of the day is…whenever possible have insurance and a good emergency savings fund built up.  We had one, adopted a baby and depleted it, built it up a bit, then along came 2012.  So, we are working to build it again.  But, had we not had savings, we would be in bad debt at this point.  I’m grateful that we have been able to survive this year in both health and financial aspects and know it is because we’ve always tried to be smart with our money, we’ve always given to our church and to charity (even when things are tough) and we’ve always tried to save for times when we need to spend.

 

8)      Halloween – need I say more? 

9)      IT SNOWED!!  Bring on ski season!!

 

10)      We are now starting to decorate for Christmas!  If you didn’t know this about me…Christmas is my favorite holiday and I go a bit overboard!  I decorate THE ENTIRE house; every single room!  It takes about a week to do and I admit that I have a problem, but I collect nativities and have about 75 that get set out all over the house.  So far, I’ve got 2 new ones this year.  Yay!!  My next tip has to do with holidays:  I love them and I go all out for them.  Decorations are all over.  It is a lot of work and sometimes I wonder if it is worth it.  But, the other night I went to Enrichment meeting (a meeting of ladies in my church) and it was all about the holidays.  How to wrap presents, cheap present ideas, how to invite Christ into Christmas, etc.  It was wonderful!  They talked about how the holidays “kill” moms and are exhausting, but they also talked about how worth it it really is!  Sometimes in this cruel world, the only place our kids feel safe and loved is at home.  If you make home fun and special, they will always know they are loved, they will feel the spirit of the Lord, and they will want to keep coming home for the holidays.  Remember the immortal words of Karen Carpenter: “Oh, there’s no place like home for the holidays!”  It was so inspirational and also renewed my holiday vigor!  So, watch out!  The living room is done.  The rest of the house is left to go, but the Christmas bomb has begun to explode!

And now, for a big announcement and the Cancer update…. 

I am really enjoying my Overstock job, but I admit that I also really miss teaching!  More than I even thought I would!  So, imagine my excitement when I was given the most amazing opportunity!  My former boss at the U contacted me and told me about a study abroad program in June 2013 in Paris.  The best of the best business students go for 8 weeks, and take a couple of 3 week intensive business courses, plus do cultural excursions, business visits, etc.  The asked ME (can you believe it!?!) to go to Paris for 3 weeks and teach one of the courses!  At first I thought there was no way I could make it work, but Troy said go for it and my Overstock boss said I could do it…so, I will be heading to Paris in June!!!  I will arrive back home just in time for the Coeur d’ Alene Ironman that Troy and I are signed up for. 

I am so excited!  There is no way I could do this without the support of my awesome, ROCKSTAR husband who told me to go for it!  He is the best!!  And might I add, really cute, and super helpful with the kids and the housework!  People ask me how I do everything I do and the answer is I have the most amazing support crew – my hubby and kids – to make it all happen.  They are incredible!

On that note, I will be gone from the kiddos for 3 weeks, which will be hard, but at the same time, I am the type person that wants my kids to go, and do, and achieve, and experience!  I think that one of the best ways to teach them to do that is to also go, and do, and achieve, and experience.  It is the biggest falsehood out there that parenthood = boring, repressed life!  Plus, who wouldn’t take an all expenses paid 3 week trip to Paris?  I mean…c’mon! :)  P.S.  I wish flights were cheap enough for the whole family, but Troy will be coming for a week to visit.  

 Somewhere in the midst of all our happenings, I have had two Huntsman appointments.  The truth is, while I was really busy, I was also a little down and wasn’t really excited to post after my doctor’s appointment two months ago.  My counts had gone up and it was actually harder on me than I thought it would be to get that news.  How up?  Well, not much, I could have them go up each visit at that rate and treatment would still be a long time off (they say “when”, and I say “if”) but still, I wanted an appointment where they went down!  So, I promise, I won’t not post again after an appointment, but I just had to digest the info for a bit.  

I did have another appointment last week as well.  At that one, my white blood cell numbers stayed stable AND it was a good appointment where my red counts actually went up a bit and (it was probably just hiding) but one of my enlarged nodes in my armpit was “missing”.  They couldn’t find it to measure it.  So, I realize they won’t all be good appointments, but they won’t all be bad appointments either.   I really am doing soooo good!  Every time I head to Hunstman, I see other patients and am reminded how blessed I am!  I pray for them.  Some people are in pretty bad shape, so please keep them and their loved ones in your prayers too.

All in all, life is good.  We are really busy which is exactly how I like it.  I still think about cancer multiple times daily, but I have gotten to the point where it isn’t consuming.  I can function and my mind wanders to other things for hours sometimes.  I’m so grateful for that!  And, so far I have the energy to keep on keeping on, so that is a huge blessing.  I hope you are all well!  

I think that’s about it for this post.  Rock on!