December---January 2009 Yay!

Hello out there and in there everybody!

Updates...December was a packed full month as per our norm I suppose. We started it off with having Tang Soo Do kids in the snowflake parade downtown Kfalls. Vince fired off one of the buses (which we need to sell-as we don't use them much) and loaded it full of kids...and then some. Several of our students jogged/ran/did forms and weapon techniques in front of bus. Monica made front page of the local newspaper snapping her fans about, which is a HUGE astonishing feat because they pretty much avoid taking pictures or even covering our studio, probably because self-development may not be as exciting news as the Olympics. A few parents were razzing me about not being "on the bus with my hubby" (as usual I was playing photographer). I had to retaliate by asking why they weren't on the bus with their darling child. Next year, Vince will wear earplugs or maybe a fullpiece soundproof suit. The volume and energy was what would happen if one took 35-40 screaming kids put them in a in a tin can and told them to yell Merry Christmas from Tang Soo Do for 2 hours down Main Street. It was just one loud constant noise eminating from the decorated bus. I was surprised the rivets holding the bus panels didn't pop from the energy. Too much chaos for me. Monica made front page of the paper though.

The next weekend we had 4 hr test for 12 yr old overachieving student phenom, Jocelyn, she earned her red belt. She kicked some serious butt, she is another one of those brilliant insightful kids that sucks up every lesson taught and can apply it to her own life. Vince had the black belt club meeting the following weekend and that went really well. The students are starting to understand control dramas better, who is in charge when reacting to them (nobody) and apply them to their lives, even a few of the kids were really clicking with the information. The snow flew like nuts all month and we plowed nearly every day in December, we thought we were in for it again. Plus it got cold...even below zero a few times, yes I know you WI-ites are saying that'd be heat wave. Man I don't miss those Wisconsin temps. It sure was warm all January though.

Christmas arrived way too fast, I cooked our free buzzard I was saving, and it turned out pretty awesome...we had a gluten and dairy free full turkey dinner & all the fixin's (spelt bread dressing) and nobody noticed anything missing...damn I'm good at substituting tastey stuff. Vince, Monica and I went sledding on our hill for several hours, and that was a load of fun, it was tough packing down the sled run. Our neighbors, Jerry & Leah (and Lily-she is 2.5) were suppose to have people over to come play with us, but when I went and knocked to find out where they were, they didn't show. Leah then twisted our arms to get off the hill and visit because "we have all these homemade pies, cocoa, coffee, hot toddies we need to get rid of, come in". Gee that was a horrible fate to have to succumb to. At least we worked a lot of calories off in the snow.

The "boys" and their new presents from Amanda. The toys were promptly gutted and used as tug ropes.

After Christmas, Bree and Travis were the only ones going to make it up to the house in the days right after, and I told a few people oh B&T are stopping by, and then suddenly for whatever universal alignment occured a pile of our black belts filtered in (back for the holidays) until we had party going on!! It was fun, we played games and got to catch up with the Mooney girls and others.

Bree and Vince toasting sake from Caty Mooney

Monica stuffed dollars in Tyler's new tool belt, as he modeled in summer construction-wear.

New Years eve we invited a ton of people up to the house to sled, play games, have drinks. We cleaned the house and I started the pulled chicken cooking while Vince went into town to get basics. The temperatures really climbed so I thought looking out the window, that our sled run looked like it might be a bit melty and slow, so I thought I'd take the zippy fast new tube down it. Yeh, slow. This was one of my many more dim-witted moments in life. So I leapt onto the tube and go FLYING down the hill, 1000x faster than I expected (it was slick ice-we are on the north side of the hill). Well I was going to bail off like any experienced sledder would do, but that strategy failed and backfired miserably and the tube shot me right into 2 big pine trees. In those painfully long slow moments, milliseconds before impact, I figured my forearm and shin would be the best places to hit because those are brutally tough on me from all the years of martial arts. I have to say it was still the best decision to hit rather than soft fleshy parts. The arm survived fine and my shin bones didn't visibly break, but I couldn't walk/stand (just fell over) or even army crawl, and pain was nauseating. Neighbor Jerry was out plowing his driveway and I waved but he thought I was waving hello of course. Oh the cuss words were aplenty. Thankfully, Alex showed up early to our party and ended up helping me up the hill. Leah took me to the ER, even though Vince was sure I couldn't break my shins because they are just too tough and solid, if I could've even limped I would not have gone. The ER doc was probably all of 25 yrs old, who said "nothing's broke you can go home, want some pain meds?". I chewed him out for offering me pain meds that would probably cost $500 and screw with my liver and inhibit healing, why not just push regular ibuprofen and some new years drinks. Hey it worked great. Walking was still not even possible (I hopped), so that kind of irked me, but I was glad to hear they thought the xrays were clear, even though they wouldn't let me see them. When we got back to the house, Vince (being the sweetie he is) had a tall mudslide drink ready for me, which I drank the entire night, and a friend gave me one of her painkillers and soon I was feeling quite alright...still couldn't walk, but the pain eased a little.

I was able to pathetically limp over the next few days but the pain was pretty amazingly awful, it felt like my bones were being pulled apart from the inside. I went to work on Monday, hoping I wouldn't fall on my clients and popping anti-inflammatories and ligament builders from Dr. Dan. Dr. Dan (our naturopath I trade with) gave me some natural goodies to help heal. Dr. Jane, one of our chiropractors, said "hey lets look at your bones" because our chiro clinic is linked to hospital xray program. Jane of course noticed right away that the head of my fibula in my shin was dislocated (pulled away from my tibia) , the severe painful bone-pulling feeling was from the membrane between the two bones being tore when I walked. Nice. Gotta love those ER docs. Dorks. Anyways Jane adjusted the bone back in and we taped my leg tight and voila...I could walk without searing pain!! Jane rules!!! So I bought a $10 splint for my shin and I leave it tight when I'm on my feet a lot/sort of working out and I can move fine while it heals even though it has it moments. I think that this definitely is another emergency use for duct tape. Crazy eh? Well it was an appropriate way to get rid of the old year, with a bang!

So the new year should be pretty awesome. My clients are pretty awesome overall. I trade out with several people in several different interests/disciplines, so I feel like I've grown a most fun, healthy and a great networking group.

Construction has oddly enough, picked up for us, however most of contracting friends are starving now. Vince is hiring some of them to help out if he gets too immersed in projects.

We have finally started King Wah restaurant, but we are still waiting on/wrangling with the @^%&! insurance adjuster with the big King Wah project, but it is finally getting closer to resolving. That is just an ongoing saga, I try to remember to breathe-take very deep breaths, not take it the personally, and keep my witty sarcasm in check (biting and swallowing my tongue). This man seems to be communicatively and positive-energy challenged (he is completely devoid of positive energy). I am considering anonymously sending him a copy of the Nonviolent Communication book, so he might be a nicer person to deal with. Hopefully we will be done with him soon or maybe vice versa and we can focus just on remodeling and getting the Chan's restaurant back up and running so we get our chinese food again.

The studio is continuing to grow like mad which is wonderful, and we're getting some pretty awesome fun new students. The energy is really growing. We had our friend's studio, Kocyla Karate over for a sparring night, and that was really fun, he brought a really neat group over. I have to say, I am really enjoying my hubby, as Vince is such an amazing motivating fun instructor to watch and work with, and always continues to amaze me with his insights, awareness and compassion for his students. I've been trying to make to as many of the TSD classes as I can and still teaching , but for now, at the end of the day the leg still gets sore, so those jump kicks will have to wait awhile.

Our Pyro kitty might as well be call Pissant. He apparently thinks he is the cat's meow and boss of the family. The other morning Vince commented, "Just when all was well and settled with the world..." and in struts Pyro. Nose and tail in the air...He has gained a lot of weight (still quite healthy-not fat) and looks like he has grown, he is huge orange kitty now and his lions mane is getting bigger all the time. He struts whereever he goes and tail is always straight up in the air. He tortures Poofy cat, climbs where he isn't suppose to be, steals the dog's beds, races around the house, and plops on my lap while I type, grabbing my hands so typing is nearly impossible. Gunner (our lab) has freaked out because he is sometimes upstaged for attention. It is funny but a cute pathetic with both animals being totally needy, attention-starved and neglected.