The Magic Room book review.

I was recently given "Jeffrey Zaslow's The Magic Room: A Story About the Love We Wish for Our Daughters" in exchange for my review of the book. Having a daughter myself I was excited to read this book, and it did not disappoint.


The book centers around a room in a bridal shop called The Magic Room. It is a room in the store that is a bank vault converted into this magical room  with a pedestal, soft lighting and lots of mirrors. It is the room that makes every bride look good. Where mother's and brides put aside their differences and arguments about wedding planning and where the reality of my baby is getting married sets in.


The book tells several stories of these women that come into the bridal shop. You learn a back story for each of the brides. Each story touches your heart in a different place, I laughed and cried with this one.
It also tells the story of the owners of the bridal shop, the Becker family.  From the founder to four generations later, the ups and downs that come with running a business and making it work with family. 


As I was reading this book I thought wow Jeffery Zaslow has a great imagination, I would have thought this book was written by a woman with all the emotion and detail about buying a wedding dress. It wasn't until the end of the book that I read it was all based on true stories. Some how that makes it even more heartfelt. 
If you are a woman that has ever been married, thought of getting married or had a daughter get married I think you will like this book. It is very well written and even though it tells the story of so many it flows nicely from each one and you don't feel lost.


Check out more reviews of the book and an ongoing discussion about it at http://www.blogher.com/bookclub/now-reading-magic-room.

Taking a break

We are child free for almost 2 weeks. This is something that has happened for many years with Hannah and Elijah quickly picked up the habit too. You see they are lucky enough to have grandparents who love them and want to spend as much time with them as possible, (which is never enough). To the kids it is a time to be spoiled, not with things although a trip to the store yielded a new toy yesterday, but with love and giggles too.
I still worry about Elijah being so far away for so many days. We talk on the phone several times while he is gone and we are going to try to use Skype this time around. I know I shouldn't worry too much as we were leaving on Sunday he started telling me "nanana you have to go to work and I get to go on special field trips with Papa and you don't" Yeah the kid already has it all figured out.

Hannah has taken several trips with my parents over the years. She has seen some really cool things and got to meet people in our family that she might not have had the chance to otherwise. She has great memories of these trips and people. It has helped to mold her into the great traveler she is and part of the reason I let her go to Costa Rica last summer. I know she has some travel smarts thanks to many trips. Although Elijah won't be taking any long trips with my folks, because they are kinda tied to the house with Grandma. He is still getting the Independence of being away from Mom & Dad. He is showered in hugs and kisses. He doesn't have to worry about hurting me when he is climbing around. And although I do feel some guilt about him being gone for almost two weeks. It takes away some of the guilt when I just can't cook dinner after being at work all day.
When it starts to get close to the time for them to come home I seem to really be missing them. But for these first days, sure I miss them. But I am enjoying watching a show without stopping it 4-100 times during. Going to the bathroom alone, ok except for the dog sticking her paws under the door. :-) No matter how much I am enjoying some down time, the need of just one more kiss and hug far out weighs it. I know I will be recharged when they come home and be a better mommy for a while then I was when I left them.

Thanks again to my parents for loving me and my children so much! You are just truly awesome people!!
(I mean who else do I get that from right?) LOL

Buried deep inside

Are you an explosive person or a lock it away personality?
I am a lock it away and store it up type. I am starting to think that this lovely trait may contribute to my Fibro pain. I know it is not the cause. That is due to faulty misfires in the brain. A friend of mine was recently diagnosed with Fibro also, she is a nurse and has started her own that helps explain in lay terms some of the things that happen with Fibro. You can check that out here, http://yourfibroquestionsanswered.wordpress.com/
Her and I have become  kindred spirits in this battle. Yes every person deals with and feels different symptoms of the same disease. No two people are alike.
I have tried real hard not to keep complaining about the pain. My family gets the brunt of it, which really don't we all give our families the worst sometimes The run down stressed out us? They are the ones that see me come home from work and lay in the bed. They see the pain on my face, hear the moans and groans when I move. All of my health problems are not just mine alone. They are also those of my family. No they haven't been diagnosed with them, they just carry the load. My kids have had to learn way to early in life what someone who is chronically ill deals with. My 3 year old has heard one too many times don't wiggle while I am holding you it hurts too bad. He often asks me if I am sick again. He just doesn't understand, yet he does.

I am realizing what I need to do to keep on well keeping on. I need to find a new job. The stress and extra problems here add more weight on my already painful shoulders. I need to start getting things off my chest. Not that I have a lot of complaints per say. I just bottle. I need to release that pressure valve. I have started doing stretching again in the mornings because it hurts so good. I know it hurts while I am doing it, but I know it will make the rest of the day better. I will make alone time, time to chill a priority. I have to. At this point in my life I am lucky to go to the bathroom and not have a dog or kid at the door or coming through the door to join me. Ron has started to help with this. But I need to find a time to let this mind that won't shut off chill without being mom, wife or employee. The only catch is not feeling guilty while I do..........

Been a while

I realized that it has been a while since I have made a post. Time and life seem to get away from me sometimes.
This year in general seems to be a test in endurance. I feel like either me or someone in my house has been sick since December of last year. Although there were a few days of non-sickness that's not really that far from the truth.

Lately I have been in a great deal of pain again. Which has been frustrating and depressing. I thought we had got a handle on it where I could at least function. I went and saw the Rheumy on Wednesday and said "I feel like every since I had my surgery that the pain has just gradually worked it's way back in and now is worse then ever". She (saw the PA) told me that is not that uncommon really. After a surgery or sickness (oh yeah pneumonia  too) you go into a flare and it takes a while to get it back in check often it takes a change up on the dosage or even a change of meds to get you out of it. I LOVE when my doctor makes me feel like I am not crazy or just being a wimp with the pain. So we are trying some different doses on meds (if I can get the insurance to approve one of them, because they said it is over the recommended dose). And added some new ones. One of which I took for the first time last night. And I slept...yes I actually slept from 10pm to 6:30am. I felt like a new woman this morning. If I can get a few more nights of this I might actually become a happy person again. I know my family would like that. I am not a very happy person when I am getting 3 hours of sleep if I am lucky and hurting all the time. It just doesn't work.
I also was given a sleeping pill, but when I went to get it last night the generic form of it was still a 50.00
co-pay so we will wait until payday for that one.

I can not tell you the last day that I didn't have pain. I am not complaining or trying to get you to feel sorry for me. Just to maybe have it make a little more sense to some. Unlike a guy at work who said " you are too young to hurt that bad" or " maybe if you lost more weight it would help". Yes real things that have been said to me. To which I replied "Illness knows no age" and (pardon my language) "Screw you! I have lost 43lbs since January. You take steroids 5 different times get 3 different steroid shots in a year and tell me how easy it is for you to take off that extra weight your carrying around!" "Not to mention I feel lucky to get out of bed and dressed most days, exercise is not the easiest thing to do right now, if you want to pay for my membership at the health plex so I can work out in the water, great!"  OK So it ticked me off a little.

On a brighter note some things I am loving. That my 3yr old has this southern drawl sometimes. I admit to pretend I didn't hear him the first time, just so I can hear him say it again. I enjoy it in the mornings that I take a shower and the mirror fogs up. I only wipe off enough for my face. It gives me that view of my pretty face and nothing else. Like my own little glamour shot LOL. I also like that when I am standing in front of said mirror my puppy dog likes to lay on my feet and keep them warm. To some this may be an annoyance, but to me where the cold hurts so bad it feels nice. Maybe that is why she does it.... they say dogs can sense things in their owners hhhmmmm??  I am so grateful that my teenager is so very loving and thoughtful. She helps cook and clean, helps give her brother a bath. I do not take all these things lightly. I know she could so be a pain in the backside and just give me more pain, but she doesn't. I tell her often how much I appreciate it and how much it helps.

On a random note as I was scrapping off the windows and Ron was doing his. I said why can't they make all the other windows in the car defrost like the back one? It is cleaned off completely by the time I scrape the others. He said they tried it for a while on the Taurus, but something about it took too much juice and the battery wasn't getting recharged. Shucks. So if you know a whiz kid, tell them to invent a way for that to work will ya please? My aching body would love ya forever!