vacation

so i haven't posted in over a week. The reason being that I was on vacation. A bona fide vacation. nothing to do, and limited places to be. The kids and I went to AZ to visit family for thanksgiving. It was a good time, mostly. I felt on the periphery of their lives and not really a part of my family, but that, i suppose is probably normal for me. I had one breakdown where i really felt excluded and i had to call the honey, who was in IA with his family and vent. The kids had fun and it was really great seeing my brother and sisters and their respective families. My new niece is just absolutely adorable. I didn't get to spend as much time with her as I would have liked, but she is just a princess. Everytime I called her princess Skylar she would smile huge at me. My baby sister's little girl is just a cutie pie too. Shy though, and got to where she would only let my sister and my daughter (THE princess) hold her. Though at the end of our trip, I got to playing with her and she just giggled and laughed. She is almost 2 and walks around brushing her hair and wanting her nails painted. She loves shoes and has the cutest little pair of fuzzy slippers. Man, the girls in my family are total princesses. I kept telling both my sisters that my daughter is the example of what their little princesses will grow into.... boy, clothes, shoes, makeup, label clothes CRAZY! Me and the kids stayed with my brother and I didn't get a chance to see my best friend from high school. But the kids did get to spend 2 days with their ex-stepmom who was happy as could be to see them. I spent time with my brother and his wife and had a great time. Got to know his wife a bit more as I didn't know her very well. We cooked and shopped and entertained the whole brood. It was good I think. We had a good time, but again, i just kinda felt on the periphery. I also got to spend some time with my nephew who is almost 18. Man, he has grown and is just like his dad used to be. Makes me miss his dad all that much more. I was so happy to see him. I think it had been 8 years or so.

My neck pretty much hurt the whole time and I didn't do much activity wise. We went shopping one day and my knee hurt. Thanksgiving day, I helped cook then drugged up. I couldn't do any of the family activities that we did, ie bowling, whiffle ball, swimming, because of my neck and current treatment. I really didn't want anything to happen or hurt myself any worse than I am already. My neck traveled on the plane pretty well, better than I expected, though the nights after the flights were a bit painful.

Had my MRI on my neck yesterday. It was somewhat relaxing. I just laid there and closed my eyes and meditated. Won't know the results for a week or so on that. I have PT today. I could tell that I missed it last week due to the holiday. I tried to do as many exercises as I could while I was gone, but I didn't have my ball or anything, so only did a few of them. Kept stretching my neck, but I do that all the time anyway. It just wouldn't let up on the stiffness.

The ex-husband called while on vacation. He said he was buying plane tickets. I still haven't seen them. Guess I'll have to call this weekend or something. If he doesn't take the kids, then we'll go skiing. It will be expensive, and sad that they don't get to see their dad or grandparents, but hey, he needs to step up to the plate.

Glad to be home. Looking forward to Xmas with the honey's family. Mine stresses me out.