The holidays....

The whirlwind that are the holidays have left us primarily intact. We spent Friday the 22nd driving through the only snow we saw (a mini-blizzard around Appleton, WI).

Maddy spent her 3rd birthday at her Nana Sue's @ Chez Wood in the midst of early-Xmas Eve celebrations and early Wood-Family Xmas gift-giving. She handled the chaos that are her cousins like a trouper. (I'm uploading pictures to my flickr site. To be cont.)

We arrived back in Green Bay on the 24th in time to change and head to Joe's grandparents house for Xmas eve dinner. We were able to sleep in a bit on Christmas morning and spent much of the day lounging, opening up presents. Joe's parents had all of the kids (Justin & Kris, Zac & Erin, Joe & Karen and Maddy) over for dinner on Christmas night. Then it was off to Boxing Day dinner at Joe's Grandma Betty's for "traditional tacos".

I had to work today (Wednesday); Joe both yesterday and today. Amazingly, we both have Thursday through next Monday off. :D We'll probably go to the cabin, perhaps the cottage, definitely down-sizing the contents of the house. I think we'll celebrate the event called Discardia. MUCH needed.

The Princess dilemma

What's wrong with Cinderella?

A NYT Magazine article for every feminst mom.

Santa!

Justin Timberlake on:

The Gift That Keeps on Giving

Hilarious!

Ramblings...

• I've finished Eragon and am starting Lisey's Story (that I got for Joe for his birthday). I like Eragon and look forward to reading the next in the series. I am a rabid SK fan (thanks to Joe). My favorite SK book is Insomnia, but the Dark Tower series is close behind. I'm getting into the groove of Lisey's Story. Wasn't quite sure at the beginning, but it's pretty bool, I mean cool. :)
  

• We had two fun days of holiday celebrations at work. Tuesday was the college-wide holiday bruncheon and yesterday was our departments 2-hour party. FUN! Did I mention that I love my job? Did I mention that I love the fact that the President of the college allows, nay ENCOURAGE, members of the college to share their musical talents by performing in the faculty & staff band or chorus? Did I mention that I love the fact that despite not being able to finish music school (twice) because of severe chronic tendonitis and fibromyalgia, I am able to continue enjoying my love of music by becoming the band and the chorus conductor?
  

• Today is the last day I work this week, then the next few weeks are going to be wacky.
  
• 22nd: To Madison after Joe is done with work, staying with my folks at Chez Wood
  
• 23rd: In the morning, the Hicks, the Klanns, Paul and Julie are all coming to the house for a "traditional" holiday celebration. This was the best part every year while growing up. The five kids would bring instruments and with Jack on the piano, well it was magic. In the afternoon of the 23rd, we will celebrate MADDY'S 3RD BIRTHDAY. Oh my god, do the years fly! In between all of this chaos, my goal is to ENJOY and remain CALM. :)
  
• 24th: Back to GB - evening to Grandma the Great Parins' house to celebrate with 20+ of the Parins' family.
  
• 25th: MERRY CHRISTMAS at our beautiful house
• 26th: Boxing Day at Grandma Betty's with the Eckbergs
• 27th: Karen to work
  
• 28th til Jan 2nd: Karen off work! Joe has to work a few of those days, but it's going to be quite nice to not have to work! Maddy is looking forward to that too.
  

• Go Packers Go!
  

Holiday greetings to you all!

HA!

You know those things that show up in multiples in your life when you least expect them? They are that tap-on-the-shoulder, the universe's way of standing up and saying "HEY! This is important! Pay attention and NOTICE!" It took me a while to figure this out, but I've figured the latest thing out!

The past few days, this cosmic thing has been laughter.

This time of year has always been so frackin' stressful, this year no different. But then I heard this story on NPR, All Things Considered on my way home from work:

Laughter Yoga: Relaxing, If a Bit Kooky

That got me smiling, appreciative of those kooky southern Californians! And then my fellow cello (-ist) Wendy sent me the Pachelbel Rant. It got Joe and me chortling. It wasn't until my dear sister Amy sent me this video. I opened it at work. It took me only about 30 seconds until I was laughing to the point of crying. Of course I've sent it to my co-workers, and sure enough, soon everyone was laughing.

Hope these make YOUR day. :) Happy Holidays.

Pachelbel Rant

For all of you cellists out there - you know what Rob says is true. PACHELBEL CANON IN D STINKS! Enjoy!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BRYCE!

Bryce Michael Churchill is ONE!

Hope your day is fantastic!

A day in the life of the Eckbergs

I look at the calendar and I'm stunned to see that December 2006, this last month of 2006, the year of "The Elbow", is almost over. I haven't had time to blog much lately. The Eckberg family day-to-day life runs pretty much like this lately:

• 6:20am - Joe gets out of bed
• 6:30am - Karen hits snooze button 2 times
• 6:48am - K gets out of bed, heads downstairs for coffee, check of the weather, and the last ten minutes of Buffy.
• 7am to 8am - M wakes up, K,J, & M get ready and, depending on the day, either J or K takes M to Nana T's or the YWCA daycare
• 8:30am - 4:30pm - K gets to work where she does lots of research, typing (yeah, two hands!), runs rehearsals for the college's Staff & Faculty band & chorus (yeah, music training comes in handy), figures out the new sharepoint blog for the department
• 5pm - pick M up wherever she might be that day and head home
• 5:30pm - start dinner until J comes home and makes it yummier, daily dose of M's movie of the evening (usually a Disney princess movie, but she seems to really like the Wizard of Oz & even The Christmas Story!)
• 6pm - dinner
• 7pm - 8pm - evening activity (sometimes computer games / out for an "adventure" / book reading)
• 8pm - M bedtime
• 8:30pm - 10:30pm - K&J "free-time"

When I write this all down, it looks so boring! It certainly is full.

Our schedule will get a bit different come January. I'm going to start working 5 days a week, 6 hours a day. M will spend 3 days a week @ the YWCA, 2 days w/ her Nana T. I'll be able to have afternoons to run errands, clean house, WORK OUT! I'm very thrilled, actually. The plan is for me to get a pass at the YWCA and use their pools and fitness room. It'll be easier than making plans for the evening!

Scary 'Mary Poppins' Trailer

If you haven't checked out the phenomena called YouTube, there are TONS of videos, some quite amazing. There's a genre where they re-cut movies into a genre quite unlike the original. This particular one is simply creepy. Mary Poppins recut as horror. WOW!

What a difference 60 days makes

60 days ago was my surgery. I had a ton of pain in the elbow itself - weakness - tingling all through the arm - generally owie.

Now, after 4 weeks of therapy, stretching, strenghtening & pain meds, I am able to type properly, eat with my right arm again, wash my hair with my right arm again, and generally use my arm without too much pain. I'm not 100% healed yet. You have to remember this battle has been since February 25, 2006 when I broke my elbow in the first place.

Things I'm looking forward to being able to do by the summer 2007:

• Practice yoga
• Start playing "Quincy" (my cello)
• Get strong enough to be able to use the computer mouse in my right hand

I'm thrilled to say the least! Thanks for supporting me in this journey.....

:) Karen