The past few weeks at work have been chaos for me as I try and get our clients' year-end financial reports completed before month's end. This is a long and tiring process which includes looking at numbers (small typesetting too) on statements, plugging them into computer programs, staring at computer screens all day long (not good on the eyes at all) and making many revisions until the report is perfect. UGH! On top of that for eight/nine hours a day our nights included this...

- Monday night was dance class for two hours followed by one hour of homework for Jade and two for me.

- Tuesday night was a haircut for me and homework for both Jade and me again.

- Wednesday night, I had to attend a CFA Forecast Dinner as one of the men (Jeff) in our office was receiving his designation that evening. The dinner was nice, and I enjoyed being there for Jeff; however, being there meant sitting through two and a half hours of speeches given by two very boring financial analysts and I was just way too tired ... I left after the first guy tried his darnedest to lull me to sleep.

- Thursday night, Jade had a haircut (I got mine cut a bit more too because I was unhappy with the first attempt), Shawn came over for a bit and later I studied some more.

- Friday, we threw caution to the wind and decided not to do any homework and went bowling. Everyone was mentally exhausted and wanted to do something fun. Jade is an excellent bowler for an 8 year old. She bowled 145 the first game and 129 the second game. She has a lot of fun doing it and wants to join the children's bowling league this year. I think that is a great idea and am willing to let her try it. She will have to give up a couple of dance classes in order to do that and that is okay, it is about time she tries something else. I bowled 189, not bad for someone with no technique whatsoever.

- Saturday morning, Jade had swimming which we missed because I had such a headache I could not even pick my head up off the pillow and it made me throw up when I tried. Eventually the Tylenol Ones did the trick (four of them later). Jade was very excited because today was the day she was going to her best friend Brooke's house for a sleepover. Jade has been on sleepovers twice before but I have ended picking her up at 2:00 a.m. because she wanted to come home. However this time was different. She is very comfortable with Brooke's family as we have literally been with each other every second day or so for the past four years because of dance. She said to me "Mom, this time I will try my hardest to stay the entire night." She did it too. I received four calls from her that were just to say she loved me and let me know what she was doing. I loved hearing her little voice as she excitedly told me about their kitten, the games they were playing and the movie Sarah was taking them to see and oh, can I stay till after supper on Sunday? It was quiet time for me to study and work on my assignment and clean house ... no rest even when the opportunity presents itself. Saturday night I ended up with another killer headache that lasted for hours and made me so darned sick. It was just awful.

Speaking of headaches I finally found out the results of my CAT scan and MRI last week. The CAT scan came back negative but the MRI found what they call an "artifact" on the left lobe of my brain. The doctor was very vague about what an "artifact" was, stating that it could be a smear from moving during the procedure or that it was something else of a medical nature (he wouldn't state what that could be) but they felt there was enough concern to schedule a second MRI. Am I scared? Yeah, a little bit (I'm hoping for a smear) but all I can do is wait and see what happens.

Jade has been healthy except for a few really bad stomach aches over the past few days. Hard to determine if it is anxiety or gas. She has her annual doctor's appointment coming up on the 3rd of February, so the good doctor will check everything out then.

We found out the dates of her Jazz and Tap exams and workshops. They are tentatively scheduled for February 24th and 25th. The Manitoba Dance Festival is scheduled from May 11th - 27th. This is the time of year dance really heats up. You end up going to class five out of seven days a week! Oh well, as long as Jade wants to do it and is having fun, it is all worth it in the end.

Wishing you all a great week filled with love, happiness and sanity....

Leanne