Rough times...

"Pain is your friend; it is your ally. Pain reminds you to finish the job and get the hell home. Pain tells you when you have been seriously wounded. And you know what the best thing about pain is? It tells you you're not dead yet!" -G.I.Jane-


Well let's just say that the end of 2010 and the beginning of 2011 have been extremely crappy to say the least. My bro is going through some drama and is now pretty much a single dad.We've all been trying to pick up on the slack and help out as much as we can, but it's not easy and I believe the situation is going to get uglier in the near future.All I can do is help my brother out to the best of my abilities and fight to the death to make sure that my adorable and gorgeous niece stays with him and he gets full custody.So if all of that weren't bad enough to deal with a couple of days after Christmas...There was more!Also allow we to just vent really quick about what really burns my ass:I spent an obscene amount of money on the now ex-girlfriend of my brother for Christmas and really tried to make sure that she had a nice Christmas.Well she sat in my house on Christmas morning opening up all those presents that everyone bought her knowing that she was going to to peace-ing out in a couple of days.The cojones on this broad!!! If only I would've been allowed some choice words for her face-to-face!!! But then someone would've been bailing my ass out of jail! LOL! And I also know that it doesn't help the situation any at all so I resisted the temptation to mess her up! LOL!So on to some more drama...

Two weeks ago we had to rush my Dad to the ER because he was having a gall bladder attack that we couldn't control.It was finally time for that sucker to come out.Unfortunately there was no getting around it this time, it had to come out.We were supposed to go to Cali that weekend for a martial arts seminar so that trip was cancelled which was a HUGE bummer, but obviously my Dad's health is most important.So he had a procedure done first which removed 10 gall stones and nicked a muscle near his liver that allowed the stones to escape freely.Then the next day he actually had his gall bladder removed.All in all, both procedures went very well and he was out of the hospital before the weekend.Fortunately for me I had already requested those days off from work because of the trip so I could make sure I took care of him.It's been a rocky road for sure.There's been a lot of things we've had to figure out and deal with: hospital bills, transportation, babysitting, etc...

He's home now though and slowly working his way back.We have a follow up appointment tomorrow with his surgeon to make sure everything is where it needs to be.Hopefully we can start introducing some more things into his diet.Right now he' surviving on my homemade sourdough bread, homemade pretzels, applesauce, Jell-O and oatmeal.He's dying for a Little Debbie brownie and would probably rape (not really, j/k) someone for a big bowl of spaghetti.And I know he's starting to get stir crazy not being able to train, but I'm trying to rule with an iron fist there and not letting him go out or do anything strenuous!We'll see how long that lasts.I give it a couple more days.

So while Christmas itself was AWESOME, New Years was quiet, but then after that the shit really hit the fan!It's so stressful trying to deal with the huge bomb dropped on us that my brother is now a single dad and trying to help him out with that as much as possible and then dealing with my Dad's health has not been fun at all!I've been trying to be the strong one, the rock, in the family and it's worked so far, but I'm just waiting for my nervous breakdown.At this point I really don't think I can take much more, but the attitude I have right now is BRING IT ON!!! There's no bringing me down right now!I'm invincible!As Denzel Washington said in Training Day, "King Kong ain't got nothing on me!"

So I hope that the worst is over and that the year doesn't get any worse, because I found out the most distressing news the other day: My hairdresser told me I have a couple of gray hairs!!!!Can you believe that? Well if not spend one day in my shoes and you'll be surprised that my whole head isn't covered in gray!I mean no shit I have gray hair!The stress I have been through is enough for me to start binge eating and showing up on that show Heavy.That's what I do when I'm stressed out is EAT!Thankfully enough I work out and have an excellent metabolism (that I think is going to start gradually declining) so that's the only thing in my favor right now.

Just though I'd put a somewhat humorous spin on all this because that's pretty much all I have left now!So if you share any similar experiences and your year hasn't been the best so far either then feel free to leave a comment and tell me all about it.BITCH IT OUT and just let it all out!You can do that here!No one's going to judge you!We're all in this together!

So here's to hoping that the rest of 2011 isn't as shitty, because I'm not sure how much more I can handle! Also if it continues I think I'm going to bankrupt Little Debbie by the incredible amount of brownies that I will consume!Let's make the rest of the year a great year, PLEASE!!!

Until next time all my Stace-ettes,

<3 Stacey <3

"Take these broken wings, and learn to fly again!"