Random Thoughts

- Since I'm now 30, I thought this morning was a fabulous one to make my very 1st homemade cinnamon rolls! They were actually not difficult at all, just time consuming with making the dough, letting it rise, doing the filling & glaze, and then of course letting it cook. I was even able to roll them real tight so there were lots of real thin layers just the way Justin likes them.

I have to be honest, I was surprised I got these suckers rolled out. Even though I've been on my own for over 10 years, I still do not own a rolling-pin. I mean, c'mon, how often do you use those things. Well, today I needed one but what I did have and worked great, was an unopened jar of queen green olives! Ha! The jar was heavy, smooth and with a little dusting of flour, it worked like a champ. The best part about making the cinnamon rolls is letting it cook because the house fills with the delicious scent of bread, cinnamon and sugar and you know the eating of the yummy, ooey-gooey part is coming soon!!! They were AWESOME!

- I think I spoke way too soon about Jocelyn sleeping better. Don't get me wrong, the weighted blankets have and continue to be a God send as she seems to sleep more deeply, but only after 2-3 days of sleeping-in until after 6am, she is now back at getting up at 4am. You would think after over 2 years she would "grow out" of this, but sadly, it doesn't seem to be happening. Sometimes we let her whine and cry it out for a while, and then other times it just doesn't work because one of us needs some sleep and that needs to be Justin as much as possible with him flying those Blackhawks. Something about flying expensive equipment and how it can be dangerous just makes me seem to think he needs a teeny-tiny bit more sleep than me.

- I've ran nearly 20 miles in a week and pretty thrilled with that number after taking a little hiatus. Next week my goal will be to focus on a different cardio such as Tae-Bo (I love kickboxing) and then I'll switch it up the following week again to keep interested and the body guessing. Sounds like a good plan anyways. :)

- Last Thursday Jocelyn got discharged from Occupational Therapy for at least six months. When we went to therapy on Thursday, that was the last thing from my mind. However, after discussing things with our therapist, she felt we had everything we needed to continue our own OT regimen and that Jocelyn had made enough progress to take a break for a little while. I am all for taking a break from therapies as I think it is good for both the person and the caregiver as long as there is no back-sliding etc. I think this will be a great opportunity to do different things or even actually be able to stick to a more routine schedule at home. I'm pretty excited as this is our first break in therapy so hopefully when we do resume OT, we will have new skills and be set to impress!

- I'm terribly excited for the latter part of August as several of our friends, Justin's co-workers and my girlfriends hubby's are coming home from a long tour from Kuwait!!! It will be so nice seeing my friends have smiles on their faces, and a complete home again with full and happy hearts. We had quite a bit of things going on with Jocelyn, pretty scary and unknown things, so fortunately Justin was granted permission to come home from Kuwait early which was totally unexpected. There are no words that can express my gratitude for the Army allowing Justin to come home to be by my side through everything, and luckily over the last several months all has been okay.

- The Powers' family has a new business now!! I'm sure there will be several as we don't want everything put into one pot, but the business name is JJNA Enterprises, LLC. What does that stand for? Justin, Jocelyn and Angie!!! Might seem silly to some but my heart about exploded when Justin decided that was going to be the name of our first business in honor of us...our family! Justin said I can now add "business owner" or "entrepreneur" to my resume hahaha uhm, you bet!