I need a rabbit's foot ...

a four-leaf clover, and maybe even a horseshoe. Oh - and after reading this post, you'll understand why the Peterson's might just stay in on Friday. :0)

Getting tired of checking the blog and finding the same old stuff? :) So sorry for the MIA status! We're here! I promise! So much to report on, not sure where to start. Let's see ... the telecommuting is great. Very different routine to get into, but I won't lie ... it's been fantastic. I don't think I've "started" work any later than 7:30 the past couple of weeks, with the exception of my weekly visit to the office. I'm there from 9-1 on Wednesdays and then come home to finish my workday. Cameron will come into the office after skate practice, ask me what time I "logged" on that morning, and be back at exactly the precise moment I should be shutting down. :) He loves it. After a horrific weekend of trying to find the right size desk - my incredibly handy hubby decided to just build one for us. And it is GREAT! The desk goes across the width of the room, cabinets underneath, and enough room for two separate workstations. Makes it nice to keep "work" on one side and "home" on the other. Once he finishes staining the cabinets I'll take a picture.

Let's see ... Skate camp is the greatest thing in the world. At least according to Cam. He's there from 9-2 everyday, and he started his 2nd week already. He's signed up for one more week before we head out for our trip to the Pacific NW, and then is ready to do it again in July. We've cut out his private lessons and depending on how he's feeling, his group lessons, for the summer. Too much and the little guys is just POOPED! But he wouldn't trade it for the world and truly looks forward to it everyday.

We spent last weekend in the pool, trying to beat the 100+ degree heat and just relaxing - trying to decompress from an extremely hectic week. Finally had my court date for my HOV violation ticket on Friday. Not so good for me. I have to constantly remind myself that there is this little thing called karma. And I'll tell you what - it's gonna bite that motorcycle cop in the you know what. He lied in court. Blatantly lied. Based on a conversation I had with our neighbor, who is also a police officer, it was pretty unbelievable that I didn't get it at least reduced because of the "doubt" I presented to the judge. In fact, she had to question his testimony several times because it was either unclear or inconsistent. Don't you think that would have been her first sign that something wasn't right? My argument - among the other factors involved - was that he made a simple mistake and mistook my car for another one that was actually in the carpool lane. Guess that didn't fly because the Maricopa Court system made off with $378. I was furious because knew I was innocent - and it was just a traffic violation. I could only imagine what an innocent person feels like after a conviction of a crime he or she did not commit, and then sentenced to prison or worse, death. Just a thought.

I am currently in my 5th week of class ... cannot believe I only have 12 more days left of school. I guess they really want to work your tail off in that last class of the MSAJS program. My week 4 was from hell. Pure hell. A heavy workload with more papers and participation required than usual, combined with that week's course objectives which I had absolutely no interest in and vaguely understood, made for a really challenging week. I don't think I ever really got ahead, but just kept up, which I cannot stand. I feel like I'm constantly trying to search for that sigh of relief.

The addition of a few other stressful moments during the week prompted my second ever "bizarre-hand-rash-breakout". They are tiny little bumps on my fingers (the tops and sides). When they are bad, they look a bit like tiny water blisters. They're painful - they feel the same way a burn from an iron or the oven does. And they itch. My doctor had said before that it was a form of eczema, and that was about it. No more details - here are some samples of some cortisone cream and call me when you feel like slapping over another copay. That was back in December and through February-ish. And it ended up going away. Well last week was another "flare-up" so I did some more digging and found out exactly what type of "eczema" it is. Now, I'm not saying I've got enough education under my belt to start a walk-in medical clinic. However, I know myself well enough and can research like you wouldn't believe to narrow it down pretty good. So, based on the symptoms and risk factors, here is what my diagnosis is: Dyshidrosis, or dyshidrotic eczema or pompholyx - there are several different names for it. Basically, they are small blisters that appear on my fingers. Many people get it on the palms of their hands, or feet, and it can become so bad that it limits their daily activities or even work. Mine is significantly minor in comparison, thank god. There is no known cause, although there are some risk factors that are associated with it, such as stress, (ding), exposure to certain metals including nickel (ding, ding - I have a horrible skin allergy to nickel that is often found in jewelry, snaps, zippers, bra hooks, etc.), seasonal allergies (ding, ding, ding) and frequent exposure to water (ding, ding, ding, ding - I think I win the prize). I also found that certain times of the year trigger it, like when it's really cold (well it does get cold here Dec-Feb) and when the weather becomes very warm. In my case, it's manageable, more annoying than anything, but I tell you what .. I wouldn't want it to get any worse than it already is. All of these fit to a tee. This link shows you a couple of pictures of what it looks like ... the top right and bottom right pictures could have been taken of my hands it looks so similar. Okay, so I know you probably don't want to hear about this skin condition, but hey - you signed up for this blog thing, remember? :0) And I have to tell you, now that I am 99.9999999% sure that this is what I have, I feel a helluva lot better. And ... the little "vesicles" are slowly going away. Imagine that!

Hmmm - as if that wasn't enough for my hair to turn gray - which it hasn't yet in case you were wondering - my Monday morning started off just peachy as well. Driving Cameron to skate camp, about 4 miles away and I became distracted. I was talking to Cam, looking at something he was pointing out, and hit the median in the road. Now it's not one of those barrier type medians, but rather the planter ones. Well I hit the rounded edged curbing of the beginning of the median with my left front wheel, and then the back one had to follow suit. We were fine, didn't hit anyone, no one hit us, it was a single car collision - with a curb. The curb won. So we pull over into a neighborhood, find out that a piece of my rim had broken off, which essentially let the air out of my tire. My rims looked like the local driving school had used my car for parallel parking practice. And come to find out now that there was some undercarriage, bumper and some front fender damage. Nice. Well I pulled over into a not the greatest neighborhood to begin with, so we got back in the car, and following Bryan's directions that involved driving REALLY slow, hazards on, and waiting until there was no on in the turn lane, drove up the street about 500 feet and parked next to an auto repair shop. To make a REALLY LONG Monday short, we called our collision place (everyone has "their" collision place, right? RIGHT?), Nora called a tow truck for my car, Bryan is out in the boonies working and nowhere close, I called a cab to take us to Cam's skate camp, and Hertz picked me up from there with my rental car. Still have it, will hopefully be able to return it tomorrow. Don't have the dollar amount yet, but I will be sure to let you know what it would have cost, without insurance. Thank heaven for car insurance. When I do finally get back to "work", 3 hours later, I find out that my system locked up and spent another 2 hours on the phone with tech support. I should've just called in sick.

Oh - and Cameron wanted me to be sure and add this to our week from hell because it is right up there with everything else: He dropped his Nintendo DS, and drop number 127 must be the straw that finally breaks the DS' back, because it broke. I have never seen more tears in my life. Not even when he has hurt himself. It was seriously the end of the world. But, thanks to his allowance and the trading of some games he was holding onto for new ones, he bought a new one. He didn't think it was funny when I asked him if he had insurance. I didn't think it was funny when he reminded me on Tuesday morning going to skate camp to "watch out for my curb."

All of this could have been worse. I know this. But sometimes you just have to wonder...

Well - now that my therapy session is over - PHEW! I thought I'd end the blog with a couple of pictures of Cameron at his skate camp. "Talk" to you all soon - I promise!!!

I'm cool - and cute - I know.

I know the feeling, kid ... I know the feeling.

Still smiling ... and back up for more. That's my boy!!!