What a year

2011 was quite the roller coaster ride. Hopeful that 2012 will be a wildly successful year and that everyone stays happy and healthy.

Let's see what we did in 2011:

January:

• The year started out nice and calm.  Make a good bit of resolutions so I kept and some went by the wayside.
• Maddy went to Monster Jam with her boyfriend and did really well with the LOUD noises.  It was an "anything for love" outing for her.

February:

• This was the month of dr. appointments.  Those yearly check-ups, never much fun but a necessary evil.
• Maddy started in Special Olympics in January.  She was on the track team and loved going to practice each week.
• We managed to get everything done including Girl Scout events, church events and arranging time for the boyfriend.

March:

• What a whirlwind month this was.  Every day on the calendar was full.  
• Track practices and her very first Special Olympics tournament. She did great and medal-ed in every event.
• Maddy begin a bible study of the basic Tenants of Faith
• The month closed out with a trip to Vegas.  Always so very thankful for my Mother who comes to my house to keep watch over the child and dog.

April:

• Track practice, and tournaments continued
• The prom was on the 9th.  Maddy and the boyfriend had a fabulous time
• We attended a special charity event for Special Olympics and Maddy was able to mix and mingle with the Houston Astros.

May:

• In May we made the drive to meet my aunt for lunch and a wonderful time was had by all.  It is nice to reconnect with family.
• Maddy completed her bible study and was baptized on the 10th
• The church held a special service for all the kiddos that completed the bible study and they were all confirmed.  We had a table full of family in attendance, it was an amazing day.

June:

• The month started with my family reunion.  The weekend was filled with love, laughter and family stories.
• Maddy began Special Olympics swim team.  
• For the first time EVER Maddy went away to camp for 5 days.
• While Maddy was at camp we began the preparations to retain Guardianship for when she turned 18
• The day Maddy left for camp my Mom fell and hurt herself.  We would not find out until a week later that she had burst her L1 vertebra
• Mother begin the long journey of recovery.  We had hallucinations, a stay in a Houston hospital and then a move to a rehab facility in her home town.

July:

• Maddy had her first swim tournament and medal-ed in every event.  She loves the tournaments!
• Most of my month was taken up by driving to check on my Mom once a week and helping her with her long journey of recovery.  She was fitted for a brace that would be on her for several months.

August:

•  This is a rinse and repeat month.  Look at what I did in July and that is August.
• The highlight of the month was Mom going home on the 12th.

September:

• Maddy was thrilled as the Fright Night remake came to theaters.  She loved it so much she managed to convince enough people to take her she saw it 5 times at the movies.
• Maddy had a swim tournament in town and Mark went with us.  He was there to see her receive her very first gold medal.
• Mother was making more and more progress towards being independent again
• Maddy broke up with her boyfriend of over a year.  It was a traumatic day for all involved.

October:

• Maddy turned 18 and for 4 days she was a legal adult. 
• Mark and I became parents again.  We are official legal guardians
• Oct. 7th was a huge milestone for us.  Maddy had gone one year seizure free!  (Thank goodness we are still seizure free)
• Maddy had her wisdom teeth removed.  She was quite the Chipmunk Cheeks.

November:

• The SaveOnBrew business was in full swing with some great press both locally and nationally.  My new duties included some PR work as well as Database Management.
• Thanksgiving was a big milestone for Mom, she drove herself to my house for Thanksgiving.

December:

• SaveOnBrew continued to get great press
• My niece and my best friend both graduated college. One a BA and one a Masters
• We celebrated a calm, small Christmas and were all very thankful for health and all the personal and business milestone that the year brought us.

I am definitely ready for out with the old and in with the new.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to Everyone!

Enjoy our E-card

How to be a PR Guru from home

Since I only mention it all the time you know that the husband and I are running a small business from home.  Things have really been on the upswing here for us with SaveonBrew .  Recently I have moved to try to do some more PR work as well as tend to the day to day data.  When you basically have 3 people running a company while working full time jobs (mine is Maddy of course) everyone has to do a lot of everything.

I am constantly amazed at the Internet because of the ability to reach people.  In my learning how to do PR for the company I learned of HARO.  This is short for Help a Report Out.  This site places reporters of all mediums with sources for their articles.  Many times you submit a pitch, they ask for more information and the next thing you know you are in publications.

This happened to us today.  A couple of weeks ago, I found a pitch on HARO about small business owners.  I sent it to the hubby to complete and that evening the reporter send an online interview. Today we received notice that this was being published.

http://businessinfoguide.com/entrepreneur-interview-mark-davidson-saveonbrew/

I would ramble on and on about other things that are happening for us, but I have a HUGE pile of data work that needs to be done.

Post in Pictures

They say a picture is worth 1000 words so here are some pictures showing what we have been up to.

 Maddy and her best friend have started volunteering at church.  Here is the day the got their badges.

 Maddy is helping our neighbor with her stained glass.  Maddy earns money and loves having a job.

 When my mom broke her back she was hallucinating spiders for weeks and weeks.  She had a little visitor waiting for her when she came to my house for the first time since the injury.  Don't even give me that look, my Mom gives as good as she gets.

 I got a new car.  We loved having paid for cars but it was time for a new one.  It is a Hyundai Vera Cruz.  We love it!!

 Our neighbors dogs got out and they were gone for a few days so I became the neighborhood kennel.  This is Maso and Flash.  I like them much better when I get to just play with them and send them home!
 

 Part of Maddy's 18th birthday was a room make over.  She got new bedding, new bath stuff and then we also re-painted her room. 

This is Maddy hard at work on Mark's computer.  He has been showing her all he does when she has problems or issues with her Ipad.  This is the first morning of trying to do it on her own.  She was a very happy and successful girl that morning.

Car Conversations today

After school work Maddy and I ran a few errands today.  The following are statements or conversations that happened during our quick outing today.

When looking for her wallet and could not find it.  "Dude I am totally freaking out right now!"

"I don't think the Hulk should be a super hero.  He did not have a whole city to watch after like Spider man does." 

"Man I really miss my Spider man T-shirt."

"Ostriches are creepy.  They just look funny.  I am glad I am not an ostrich because then I would creep myself out."

We survived the summer

Living in Texas the summer lasts until about now or later since we are still in the 80's this week. 

Around here we are hoping that the change of the season will continue to bring better news.  The roller coaster of summer just about wore all of us out.

Maddy had a great summer, she loved swimming for Special Olympics.  She is loving the volunteer work at the church each Sunday.  We survived the removal of her wisdom teeth and glad to have that behind us.

Mark and I are now official Guardians of Maddy and we are in the process of getting SSI for her.  We are doing all the right things for all the right reasons.  The Save on Brew business is doing well and we have had some good things happen with that lately. 

Mom is now out of her back brace and can see the light at the end of the tunnel.  She is gaining more and more independence each day. 


Wishing a quiet, calm fall and winter for all!

One year

This Friday Oct. 7th we had a huge milestone.  Maddy has now gone one full year without a seizure.


Three Cheers for One Year!!