Very important question

Do $300 Jimmy Choos or Manolo Blanik's make your feet hurt by the end of the evening the same way that $20 Metro 7 by Wal-Mart do? Is the $280 difference just the name or do Jimmy and Manolo have a secret way to make high heels less painful?

I don't actually know anyone with a pair of Choos or Manolo's so it is only with the help of my more shoe conscious readers that I will ever have an answer to this burning question.

Soccer mom's day

Today i am a soccer mom extraordinare!

Here's the schedule
10:45 - pictures for the oldest.
11:45 - pictures for the two younger girls
Noon - oldest soccer game
1:15 - two youngest soccer game.

It is nice that it doesn't drag on all day with a game in the morning and a game in the afternoon but it is going to be a wirlwind couple hours!

And quite a contrast from society Ball to suburban soccer mom.

Turned into a pumpkin

Well, the Ball was lots of fun but as with all Balls eventually you turn into a pumpkin. That's when your heels are making your feet hurt so badly you would seriously ride home in a pumpkin just to take your shoes off. We were sadly outbid on the week long sailboat trip in Belize. It went for over $8000! We did win two family four packs of passes to go Ice Skating ($11 each pack) and four tickets to the Health Museum ($13). Since my children fancy themselves after characters in the Disney Movie Ice Princess, the ice skating will be a fun diversion on day this summer when it is 150 degrees out. And you, my dear readers, already know my obsession with medical stuff so the health museum will be fun. And even though i can't conceive of spending Eight grand at a charity auction, it was for a really really good cause. Some of the kids that do after school stuff at the Center were there (thus, the boat went for $8000 and not $7000, those sweet faces are perfect for bringing in an extra $1000) and talked about what a difference the programs have made for them and their entire families. So that's pretty cool!



And there are no pictures. We just didn't have time as we were trying to get kids out the door to go to grandmas and get ourselves dressed, I just could say "WAIT! The blog world wants pictures!" But here's a picture of my dress from the website of the store where I got it. Honestly, I look almost exactly like that! HA!

Off to the Ball

So tonight we are off to a charity Gala at a swanky country club complete with "cocktail attire." I love dressing up. Love it! Love it!!!!!! I even got a new dress. Perhaps i'll post a picture.

The funny thing to me is that this charity event is for a ministry that our church helped start. We are expected to be there. Which is totally fine. But reality is that if we didn't get our tickets comped or have someone invite us to sit at their table there's no way we could afford it. Tix are $150 EACH! That just gets you dinner, then you have to fork out at least something on the auction. Last time we went I got a violet in a pot painted by a child who attends the after school program. It is still alive and thriving thank you very much! This represents a very real victory for the black thumb that I possess. Anyway, I'm off to the ball tonight! (In the pick up truck, just keeping it real.)

Hair Hair Everywhere

We did it! We got her hair done in an acceptable manner. If course it is pouring down rain so I'm sure she will come home a bog frizz ball and probably crying but WE GOT IT DONE! Here's a picture of the finished product.

to get up or not to get up....

My alarm went off at 5:30. I planned to get up and run 4 miles this morning. I was pretty awake when the alarm went off. Ready to get up. I hit snooze as I always do so I can stretch a little and pnder getting out of bed when I heard sheets of rain start beating the roof. I am a pretty fair weather runner and pouring down rain sent me back to the alarm clock for a 6:30 reset. Re-woke up at 6:30. Big mistake. I am so groggy I can barely think straight. The extra hour of sleep was hardly worth it. So i'm trying to wake up looking outside where it is wet but not raining and probably a great day for a run, but I missed it. Bummer.

In 25 minutes I have to wake up my 10 year old. She got her hair cut yesterday and it looked so great, long layers with side swept bangs. She was so pleased. By the time we got hme from church though, the houston humidity had done a number on her and she was pretty frizzy. We had a post traumatic haircut reaction. (See my post below for some symptoms). It wasn't pretty. So I promised her I would get her up a little earlier this morning and would help her try and do her hair. I am really really scared. I am never able to do her hair to her satisfaction. And this morning there's a lot riding on it....SCHOOL! She's only 10 but it is times like this that really make me fear the teen years.

I finished my Government class yesterday. Believe it or not, in Texas, in order to get a BSN, I have to take 6 credits of government. So when I'm working on that catheter for you, feel free to ask me about elections, the constitution and political parties. This summer I have to take the other government class and probably American history. Both are on the internet so it isn't that bad, it is just an annoying waste of time. However, since it is done, i have a few weeks to read fun books until I have to gt started with the summer school books. I'm starting with A Midwife's Story per Teri's recomendation. I'm sure it will be great an inspiring, perhaps even give me some insight into the utility of government in a Midwife's career.

Off to heat the flat iron...

Trauma Reactions

So my last post was obviously fired off while dealing with the stress of sudden shock. It has allieviated but I still get a lump in my throat when I think about what that family is going through.

(For those that are clueless about what I'm talking about - just over a year ago a very close friend was killed when his F/A-18 malfunctioned during a training mission.)

In a previous life, I was a psych major. That's good and bad when dealing with your own personal psychological issues. When our friend died, it took me a while to realize that in addition to incredible grief, I was dealing with trauma reactions. Not so much post traumatic stress disorder (a disorder is abnormal, it is pathological and destructive) but post traumatic stress reactions (this is normative, what you would expect to happen, not necessarily good but usually not destructive in the long run.) And reading about the latest crash brought all those feelings of trauma flooding back. The sadness, the disorientation, the horror at the physical aspects of a crash...ugh...that lump is growing again. The moment our friend crashed we were at church getting ready to leave our Wednesday night programming, visiting with some good friends while the kids played. We laughed a lot and the kids were having a great time together. It was one of those evenings where you keep talking about going home and bedtimes but everyone is having so much fun your just keep entending and extending the evening. I can see us out there oblivious to the chaos about to ensue in the California desert. We got word of the crash three hours later. And our whole lives changed....double ugh....

A year later, the actual date of the year anniversary fell on a Thursday. But that Wednesday at church I was sooooooo aware of where I was and what had happened a year earlier. At one point walking though the halls of the church my legs literally started to shake and my head felt spinny. I knew what it was ( normal trauma reaction) but it was still uncomfortable and disorienting.

And that is what happened tonight when I read about the crash and I felt sick to my stomach. It was the picture that got me. Two minutes before the crash someone got a picture. That is so personal. Reminds me of watching the twin towers come down and realizing you are watching the death of 3,000 people. I can't imagine having a picture of our friend from two minutes before his crash. It would be horrifying to me to have that and in some ways amazing. No, mostly horrifying.

That's enough for tonight. I'm going to bed.

Blue Angels Pilot crashed

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/21/blueangels.crash/index.html?section=cnn_latest

A Blue Angels pilot crashed during an airshow today. He was killed. his name hasn't been released. I feel sick to my stomach. Too many memories. On the page above, there's a picture taken 2 minutes before the crash. Yuck.

Pray for his family and others who have lost pilots....

Just call me Flip flop

So i'm leaning back toward Difficult and Hard but Prestigious for nursing school. I'm coming to the conclusion that nursing school will be difficult no matter where i go and better to just get the BSN now than try and make it minimally easier and have to go back later. My hubby, my parents and my friends have reassurred me that they are willing and ready to pick up the slack with the girls. I'm starting to believe them. Really the thing that terrifies me the most about nursing school is the dual immovable responsibility of the girls and going to class. Neither one can be rescheduled or ignored. As a stay at home mom with a husband who doesn't haev a lot of job flexibility right now, I learned that the best way to deal with that was to stay flexible and don't be disappointed when plans fall through at the last minute. My coping strategy will be shattered when I get to nursing school. But James' job should become more flexible over the next couple months and I think everyone really intends to be available for me. But no illusions here...I'm terrified!!!!!! But pretty excited too!

So where'd you go to nursing school?

If you ask a nurse "where'd you go to nursing school" and she answers, "Cheap and Easy U" will you still let her insert your catheter?

Just wonderin....

Talked to Cheap and Easy today. I think that is where I want to go. Feel pretty good about it. Right decision for lots of reasons. Hoping the admissions folks will give me the old, "Oh you're a shoe in! Tell Difficult and Hard but Prestigious to take a hike. We want you!!!!!" And they said, "Well, you look great on paper but we aren't that far along in the admissions process. Haven't even ranked the candidates yet. Would hate for you to give up on Difficult and Hard but Prestigious when you aren't sure about us. Call back next week." I would really like this to be easier please....

Got a plea in the mail for money from a little mission agency called Catholic Relief Services. Not sure how a protestant pastor ended up on that mailing list. Teri thinks maybe they bought th emailing list from Field and Stream. People who hunt are more likely to give money to relief organizations, perhaps? (That's James, dressed and ready to go on the, yes, I'm totally serious, Easter Egg Hunt.) Almost sent them the requested $35 so Karen would have a shot at getting BOTH $12 pop-tarts and $8 marshmallows. (Just kidding! They have an excellent admin to field work funding ratio.)

So that's about all here....I'm going to watch House and fold an enormous pile of laundry. Good night!

A few more photos for Teri's viewing pleasure.

All the girls at Easter looking adorable in their matching dresses. From left: Erin (my friend's daughter), Isabella (mine), Madeline (mine, in back), Abbie (my friend's daughter), Natalie mine).

Random picture of a sunrise i took a couple years ago. I looked out the window of my breakfast room and saw that! WOW! Grabbed my camera and snapped a picture. Within 5 or 10 minutes it was gone. Always loved that picture but never had any thing to do with it!

Easter, Tsunamis and wardrobe malfunctions

Happy Easter! Here we are all dressed in our finery at church on Easter Sunday....

Well, in typical Magan fashion the novelty of the blog wore off and i went 10 days with out a post. In my defense it was Easter and that is a pretty busy time of year for a pastor's family.

I had a wardrobe malfunction that nearly caused me to test the power of the Ressurection with my family on Easter morning. i could go into the whole, this didn't work, that didn't work but honestly you would be bored and I just read a blog ( http://havechildrenwilltravel.blogspot.com/ ) from a woman whose family is living in Banda Aceh, Indonesia doing relief work after the tsunami and reading quotes like this

"As we were driving home, the translator asked me, “Do you feel like throwing up after you cough like that?” I answered yes. She agreed saying, “I remember right after the tsunami crying for hours and that made me want to throw up, too.”

and this

"What do you say in your broken pig Indonesian when you are hanging out in the kitchen and your ‘janitor’ tells you about loosing her six year old child in the wave?"

My wardrobe issues just seem a little petty. But honestly at the time I had significant sympathy for Janet Jackson....Fortunately I took measures to correct mine before getting up to sing the Alleluia Chorus in from of hundreds of people!

In other news, I'm trying to decide whether to go to the Community College and get an associates degree R.N. or go to TWU and get a Bachelor's Degree R.N. There are good reasons for both.

Pros for Associates:

1. Cheaper! $6000 vs $15,000
2. Familiar: I did my prerequisites there and easily made a 4.0 GPA.
3. No summer school this summer. I can take it easy
4. free parking
5. I can get a Bachelor's later with a little effort and probably get whoever I'm working for to pay for it.

Pros for Bachelors

1. Better pay once i'm out but not by a ton.
2. more prestige while I'm in school. That's a pride issue but let's be honest with the pros, ya know!
3. It will be done! I'll have the BSN and be done!

And thoughts, dear readers?