Right on schedule

How to recover from major surgery:

Days 3-9: Spend most of it in pain, and calling for help every time you need to move. Try to remember why you left the hospital where the nice, nice nurses kept you drugged up on demerol. Begin to wish that you brought one of those movable beds with you. That would have made life so much easier.

Day 10: Spike a fever and end up in the ER for two hours only to have them tell you it is something "viral" which means one of two things: (1) they have no idea what is wrong and they won't give out any drugs or (2) They don't believe you had a fever and they won't give out any drugs. Either way, nobody's getting drugs!

Day 15: Become allergic to the pain meds. Have your feet feel like they are on fire and you want to scratch them off. Spend the night awake wishing there was some way to detach your feet then reattach them when the itching and burning stops. Call the pharmacist and have her tell you that ibuprofen cannot be causing the itching. "Maybe it's a new pair of socks" she says. Hang up on stupid pharmacist and call another pharmacist. Other pharmacist says "Uh oh!" when you tell her the problem. Have smart pharmacist confirm the allergic reaction. Call the doctor. Get Benadryl. Buy Aleve to help with the pain because Advil has ibuprofen, the thing that you are now allergic to, and Tylenol has acetaminophen. Acetaminophen makes you vomit, and vomiting with an 8-inch incision really, really hurts. Take Benadryl and hope it stops the itching. Take Aleve and hope it stops the pain.

Looks like my recovery is right on schedule!

Celebrations

Our tree! I FINALLY found a tree topper that I like!

Guess what I am going to be doing this summer! Wish me luck!

We have graduated from using knives to using letter openers. Maybe next year we will use scissors! (Don't you just love Husband's "Christmas" shirt?)






Why waste wrapping paper? Just combine pieces of different papers, and don't wrap the back. No one sees that part anyway. Will someone PLEASE teach Husband how to wrap a gift?!?

Of course Gary had to join us for our celebrations!

Our Christmas Eve dinner. Usually, we make our own pizzas on Christmas Eve, but given my recent surgery, I wasn't really feeling up to getting everything together to make pizzas. So we ordered instead. This Christmas was about me doing as little as possible so I didn't tear my incision open. This, along with some root beer, was also our Christmas Day breakfast. Let's just say, that is not a tradition we will adopting anytime soon.

The turkey. It did not get eaten on Christmas day because we were still recovering from our pizza and root beer breakfast. Have I mentioned that was a very, very, very bad idea?

My beautiful book on grain elevators that Husband got me for my birthday. I absolutely love grain elevators. I'm not really sure why; I guess it's the prairie girl in me. I wish I could show you the amazing pictures inside, but I am pretty sure that is a violation of the copyright, and I don't want to end up in jail. I hear they don't allow grain elevator books in jail!

Sisterly Love

This is my sisters response to my post yesterday about her stealing my week:

Dear Sister who feels so neglected in her life,

I have been thinking and I feel that it is unnecessary for me to apologize about your week being stolen for the following 3 reasons:

A) Rolling my car was not intentional, if you want to blame someone blame mother nature. She caused it to happen.

2) It was my week before it ...was not yours because it was my birthday. So technically it has been my week for the last 24 years. It was NEVER yours. You just intentionally planned your surgery then so that you could steal my week in the first place. So maybe Mother Nature was giving us a gentle reminder that weeks can't be stolen so she caused it to happen so that my week was given back to me. Mother Nature set things back into its proper order. Get over it.

D) This just furthermore proves my point that I am the most loved sibling. I can't help the fact that the family was more concerned about me than you. Man, I am loved aren't I?

Love, Mandy

P.S. Stuff that in your little blog and spread it

Scene Stealer

I love my youngest sister, but sometimes she can be a bit selfish. Last Tuesday, I went into the hospital for surgery. It was a somewhat major surgery. I had to spend two nights in the hospital and I came home with a wonderful 8 inch incision going across my abdomen. For the first 4 days I couldn't get in or out of bed without help. The first night home, I couldn't even get into the bed and I had to sleep on the couch. The recovery is pretty long: no housework, shopping, or driving for two weeks. I can't go back to work for 4 weeks. And has anyone tried sneezing with an 8 inch incision across the bottom of their abdomen? It really, really hurts! Sneezes are my worst enemy. Anyway, I digress. Back to my selfish sister. As I mentioned, my surgery was on Tuesday. Well, three days later my sister was driving home from school in Idaho when she hit some ice and rolled her car in the middle of nowhere Montana (okay let's be honest here: all of Montana is in the middle of nowhere!). Thankfully she and her 2 passengers were not hurt. This incident led to numerous phone calls and emails that went back and forth amongst my family, everyone wondering how my sister was doing, and wondering what they could do to help. Posts were made on her Facebook wall. Everyone wanted to be updated. Siblings who hadn't even contacted me to see how I was doing were trying to contact my sister to make sure she was okay. My mother sent out emails updating everyone on how my sister was doing. Where were the emails about how I was doing? I was the one who had the surgery! I was the one who can't even use the bathroom without it hurting. All my selfish sister did was roll her car and walk away from it. She didn't have her insides cut open. She didn't need help getting in and out of bed. And yet, everyone was all concerned about her: "Oh dear! I hope she's okay." "I know I just called her, but I am going to call again, just to make sure." Meanwhile, I'm tossed aside, my surgery forgotten. Who cares how I am doing when selfish, scene stealing sister is taking center-stage? This was supposed to be my week for that! I want my week back! My sister says I can have my week back, but it's too late. The damage has been done. It's okay family. I forgive you. Next time I want your attention, I'll just roll my car and walk away from it instead of getting surgery. It will be less painful for me anyway.

We really need a pet

Meet Gary. We found him a few weeks ago in Ikea. Husband picked him up, felt how soft and cuddly he was, and immediately wanted to buy him and bring him home. So we did. Now Gary is a part of our everyday life. He will join us at the dinner table. He will sit with us while we watch TV. He will crawl into bed with us at night. We talk to him, but he doesn't talk back... yet. Husband says Gary freaks him out because of his eyes: Husband feels that Gary's eyes are searching his soul. I think his eyes are beautiful.

Having Gary in our home these past few weeks has led us to make the following conclusions:
1) We really need a pet and
2) Talking to a stuff animal is one step away from the loony bin!

I wonder if they let stuffed animals in those padded rooms?

Nice knowing you

Sometimes I wish this blog was anonymous, and no one knew that I was the writer. Today I had the most embarrassing moment of my life; serious, utter embarrassment. If this was an anonymous blog, I would write all about it. But, since everyone who reads this knows who I am, I think I will just crawl under a rock and die now. Nice knowing you. Send your condolences to Husband. I am sure he will be heartbroken.

Why I wear a Poppy

If you visit Canada in the days between Halloween and November 11th, you will find people wearing plastic poppies. Even though I live in the States, I still wear my poppy every year, and I wear it with pride. Many people think it is just an accesory, but if they take the time to ask about it, I tell them what it means to me. I tell them about the poem written by John McCrae. I tell them about the sacrifices made by those who fought and often died for our freedom and protection. I tell them about how earlier this year, Husband and I stood at the grave of a fallen Soldier and watched as they took the flag that draped his coffin and gave it to his mother. I tell them how we continued to stand there as they played taps and then gave the 21 gun salute. I tell them about the gratitude that filled my heart as I thought of this Soldier and his sacrifice. I tell them that wearing a poppy is my way of saying thank you to all those who have given so much so that we may be free. I tell them there are not many veterans from the World Wars left. I fear that their sacrifices and the sacrifices of those who lost their lives will soon be forgotten. As each veteran dies, that is one less tangible reminder of what happened. I don't want them to ever be forgotten. And, so I tell those who ask about my poppy that I wear it to remind myself that we must never forget! For as long as I am alive, I will wear a poppy and I will remember.

Happy Halloween!

I know you are all are waiting to see pictures of this year's pumpkin creations, so without further ado: Ta-da!

Husband's pumpkin

My pumpkin: He is very happy!

Date night gets crafty

For our weekly date night we got in touch with our artistic sides and decorated mini pumpkins.

Husband was the paint mixer master (say that fast 5 times!)

Husband's pumpkins

My beautiful pumpkins

Canadian Thanksgiving

Before (4pm):

After (10pm):

*Sigh*

"Paid in full"

I just got off the phone with the Student Loan Centre. I phoned them so I could pay off the balance of my student loan! What a great day! Woo-hoo! This is my last loan (when I graduated I had 4 different loans because they changed the loan system half-way through my degree). I've had this loan from the start and it was by far the largest. It has taken me just over 6 years to pay everything off (although I've been graduated for longer than 6 years, I've only been paying the loans for that long). Husband has been most understanding about my loans. He entered the marriage with zero debt, and willingly took on my student loan debt (and believe me when I say it was a lot of debt!) without complaint. At times I felt bad that his pay was going towards MY loan, but he would always remind me that it was OUR debt now (and besides, with my pay it would take me 10 more years to pay it off). Well, now it's no body's debt! It's gone (unless the person I spoke to is incompetent and screwed something up)! What a great feeling to know that my student loans have been "paid in full"!

This beer company ROCKS!

Bet you never thought you would see that title for a post on this blog eh? Well, I have to tell you all...oops! I mean y'all about our trip to Sea World. I am sure most of you have seen the pictures on facebook, so I won't bore you with those. I am adding a couple of videos at the end of this blog because they are fun! Anyway. As the title states, there is one beer company that totally rocks! Thanks to Anheuser-Busch's Here's to the Heroes program, husband and I were able to go to Sea World for free! Not only did we get in for free thus saving the $60 (each) admission price, we received a coupon for 30% off our purchase at any of the "restaurants" in the park. Now anyone who has been to any sort of park like this knows that food prices are out of this world expensive (example: one slice of pizza with a side of fries: $7.50!). With the coupon we saved almost the price of an entire meal. What a wonderful program and what a great way to say thank you to all those who serve in the military! Thank you, Anheuser-Busch! You ROCK!








Sea World video #1: Watch the sea lion on the left. He kept slapping the water, waiting for fish. Now, whenever Husband wants something, he slaps his leg. He thinks he's funny...

Sea World video #2: The sea lions were slipping and sliding like crazy! Right before I took this video, about 10 sea lions slid into the water! So funny to watch!

The Cookie Jar

A couple Christmases ago (Is that how you pluralize "Christmas"?), Husband bought me a snowman cookie jar online. When it was delivered, Husband realized that the jar was broken. He thought he would be funny and wrap it up anyway (When he phoned the company, they said they couldn't send a replacement, and gave him a refund). Christmas morning found me opening up a broken present. To be honest, I thought it was pretty funny, but I pretended to be sad.

My wonderful present

Our own Humpty Dumpty

Over the next few days, Husband painstakingly tried to glue the pieces back together. He spent hours on it. Then, Christmas break was over and he had to go back to work. The cookie jar was put in a box, and Husband promised he would finish it.

Trying to glue it back together (I think he inhaled too many super glue fumes before this picture!)

Fast forward 18 months: We are in the process of clearing out some of the clutter in our apartment. Last night, I came across the cookie jar, still somewhat broken and still in the box (you may recall that we moved about 18 months ago. That means that we hauled a broken cookie jar clear across the country. You may be wondering why we didn't throw it out. Well, I wanted to toss it, but Husband insisted that he would and could put it back together!). I pulled the box out and showed Husband. He started laughing and said "I can still fix it, you know." I gave him "The Look" and said "We are throwing it out." But before I tossed it, I had to get a picture of Husband's hard work from 18 months ago! I think he gets an A for effort.

"I can still fix it, you know!"

I'm not known for my subtlety

The other day I was at the Mall and I decided to have my wedding rings cleaned. While I was waiting, I noticed signs all over the jewelery store advertising a promotion they were having. When I asked about it, the salesman handed me a few fliers to take with me. When I got home I decided to place the fliers around the house so Husband would find them and get the hint that it would make a good gift. I also plan on putting one in his lunch and one in his work bag this week. I guess only time will tell if he gets the hint.

On his laptop.

On his thinking chair.

In his underwear drawer.

Is that a bird nest in my dryer vent?

A few weeks ago, I noticed that the dryer was taking an extremely long time to dry clothes. After making sure everything was attached properly, I determined that something was blocking our outside vent. Because we live on the second floor of an apartment building, our dryer vent is about 7000 million feet above ground. I called maintenance to have them come and blow out our vent. One week and 3 phone calls later, they finally show up, blow air through the vent and out pops a HUGE bird nest! But instead of pulling the vent flap (or whatever that thing is called) back down, they left it open, and guess what! The birds came back and rebuilt that nest! We could see them flying in and out of the vent while we sat in our living room. I think they were taunting me: "We are building a nest and there is nothing you can do about it". Stupid birds! Once again, I placed a call to maintenance, because not only was the nest making it next to impossible for our clothes to get dry, it was also a fire hazard. And I knew if our apartment caught on fire, a bird nest would be the least of our problems. After numerous phone calls over the span of 10 days (and one threat about calling the fire department to take care of the nest!), maintenance FINALLY showed up to remove the nest. Instead of using the blower thingy, they used a very tall ladder and their hands to remove the nest...bare hands! No gloves! I don't even want to think about what type of rash that guy may develop. Birds are dirty creatures.

What's the point?

I hate pumping my own gas...hate, hate, HATE it! I will do everything possible to avoid it. Thankfully, my car can go about 420 miles (675 km) on a tank of gas (thank you Toyota for making such a fuel efficient car!), so I don't have to fill it very often. However, I have come up with a few clever ways to avoid pumping my own gas. My favourite trick is this: When Husband and I have to go somewhere and I know my car is low on gas, I will convince him to take my car. Once in the car and driving, I will casually look over to the gas gauge and exclaim in surprise "Oh, looks like we will have to stop for gas". I am sure he knows my little trick by now (I've done it enough times!), but he just sighs and heads for the gas station. After he pulls up to the pump I always look at him sweetly (while batting my eyelashes) and say "Would you like me to pump it?" He, of course, always says "No, I'll do it" and gets out and does it (If he ever answers "yes" to my question, I'll send him divorce papers!). Well, yesterday, I took Husband's car to run a couple of errands and I noticed that he was low on gas, so low that he would have to stop on his way to work (at 6am) to get gas in order to make it. I thought I would be a nice wife and get gas for him. Now that you all know how much I hate to pump gas, you can understand that it is a big deal for me to stop and do this for Husband. This is definitely going above and beyond my wifely duties, but he has been working long and hard hours and I wanted to let him know I appreciated all his hard work. So, I stop, fill his tank (in 100 degree heat) and then go home. Later that evening, we get in his car to go out, and I am sitting there, hoping that he will notice the gas gauge is on F. He doesn't notice. I was a bit disappointed, but I didn't say anything. The next morning (Sunday), he had to go to work. After he left, I waited about 20 minutes (I figured that was enough time for him to notice his tank was full! Have I ever mentioned I'm not very patient?), but he didn't call me, so I called him. I say "I left you a surprise in your car". He says "Where? I don't see anything." I tell him to look at the instrument panel, and finally, he says "Oh, you put gas in the car....thanks." That was it. No mention of how great I am, or how I am a wonderful wife and he is so happy/lucky he is married to someone who is willing to make sacrifices and to go above and beyond the expected wifely duties. That's the last time I do something nice for him! If I have to tell Husband when I do nice things and make huge sacrifices, what's the point in doing them?

Mystery seed update

It's been almost 2 months since I planted my mystery seeds. I guess it's safe to say that no marijuana plants appeared. In fact, hardly any plants appeared. After weeks of watering and sunning the pots, this is what grew: One pretty yellow flower and some green thing that looks like the start of a bush. I was excited about the flower and hoped more would grow, but it didn't happen. I should also mention that the flower died about a week after it bloomed. I shouldn't be too disappointed: At least the mystery seeds didn't land me in jail!

Husband's mid-life crisis

A few weeks ago, Husband started ordering LEGO off of Ebay. I don't know if it was an attempt to recapture his youth or if he was bored, but regardless of the reason, my house has been overrun with LEGO creations! Pirate ships everywhere: on our bookshelves, on our sofa table, on our kitchen table, in our bathroom. Wherever he could find room, there was some sort of LEGO masterpiece. During his buying spree, in attempt to save us some money, I found someone on freecycle who was giving away a ton of LEGO! Three big boxes of LEGO pieces. Husband was in little boy heaven! He has been sorting and organizing LEGO every night. He keeps promising me that one day I will have my house back, but to be honest, I see no end in sight to the LEGO take-over. *Sigh*

Some of his creations. I want to have a big pirate battle with them!

The LEGO we got from freecycle

And then there was one...

My sister, Mandy, returned from her mission for our church on Wednesday! Woo-hoo! I was so excited to talk to her, and have phoned her a million times already...just because I can! Now that leaves one out on a mission, my brother Jon. Only 12 months left until he gets home! Welcome home Babe! Come visit me already!

Babies!!

It's a good week for babies! This week we added two little bundles of joy to our extended family; a niece and a nephew (this is our first niece, by the way, and I am already itching to buy her some cute little clothes! Why is it that girl clothes are so much cuter than boy clothes?). I cannot wait to get my hands on these babies! Being part of two families is great fun when babies are involved!

On Monday, my sister gave birth to Lucy Rose (6lbs 15 oz, 21 inches long). Isn't she beautiful?

In a lot of the pictures I've seen of Lu-lu, she has her hands on the side of her face like this. It it too cute! I love it!

Then on Thursday, Husband's sister had this little guy (6lbs 9oz, 18.75 inches long)! Hello there, Thales Christopher! I absolutely adore this picture. He looks like he is puckering up for a kiss from his favourite Aunt (that would be me, in case you were wondering!).

Oh man! I can't even stand how cute this picture is!

Let the Seduction begin

Saturday night I received a text message from my sister Margaret, who is very, very great with child and about to pop! The message informed me that she was being admitted to the hospital and they were going to induce her. I quickly phoned her to get the details than asked if there was any of the family I needed to phone for her. She had already talked to our Mom so she asked me to call our brother Joe. When I called Joe to tell him, the conversation went something like this:


Me: Hey just calling to let you know Margaret is being induced tonight.

Joe: Yeah, we know. Mom already called. Ron said they were seducing her. Has she been seduced yet?

Husband: Not yet. They are just buying her drinks right now!



My family cracks me up! My sister is being seduced at the hospital. Classic!

"Your face will stay like that!"

When I was a child, I had this habit of putting my fingers in my mouth and stretching my mouth out, horizontal-like. My mother HATED it when I did that. She would always tell me that if I did that enough times, my face would stay like that. I did it anyway. I don't remember the reasons why I did it. Maybe I thought I was being funny. Maybe I knew it drove my mother crazy. Maybe I just liked stretching out my face. Who knows? Anyway. I will never forget the day I stopped doing it. I was 5 years old, and we were in Nebraska, visiting my grandparents. We were sitting in church when my mother leaned over, and whispered "See that man sitting on the back row?" I turned and looked and saw a man in a light green button-down shirt. Then my mother said "Look at his mouth." His mouth was stretched out, horizontal-like, as if he had his fingers in his mouth and was pulling, but his fingers weren't in his mouth! Then my dear, kind-hearted, sweet mother said to me "If you don't stop pulling your mouth, you are going to end up looking like that man!" It terrified me to think that my mother had been right: My mouth would stay stretched out forever! It had happened to that old man, and it would happen to me. Now, many, many years later, the image of that man is still fresh in my mind. And to this day, I have never stuck my fingers in my mouth to stretch it out. I am still afraid that my face will stay like that.

So, on this Mother's Day, I want to say thanks to my mother for taking an everyday situation and using it to scare the crap out of me in order to get me to stop a habit she hated. That is a gift and a talent, and quite frankly, completely messed up!

A day at the races

Every year, a nearby town holds wiener dog races. This year we met up with some friends to watch the action. Despite their stubby legs, some of those dogs sure can move fast. The most entertaining ones were the dogs that didn't leave the gate or ran in circles! Our old friend Jack the wiener dog (the one we pet-sat in December) ran in one of the races. He came in third, which from what I've been told is his best showing to date. I guess last year, he got about half-way down the "track" and then turned and ran back to the starting gates!

The dogs at the starting gate

Run, doggie! Run!

Here's Jack--the superstar!

They had a petting zoo that had the most adorable baby goat! I want a goat now!

I think this is the fattest chicken I have ever seen!

Here's Jack in his race (with Vance, his owner)

Mystery seeds

On New Year's Eve, husband and I attended a "parade" downtown. I use the term parade loosely as it was more like a bunch of hippies, potheads and environmental crazies walking in groups down the street dressed like hippies, potheads and environmental crazies (The city we live in is for people who belong in Oregon or Vermont but like nicer weather!). One of the groups was encouraging people to beautify their neighbourhoods. They were handing out packages of seeds. I took a couple, brought them home and promptly forgot about them. The other day I was doing a bit of spring cleaning and found the seeds. I decided to plant them. I looked on the package for instructions on how, where and when to plant the seeds, but there were none. Then I noticed that there was no indication as to what type of seeds they were. Hmmm...mystery seeds. I planted them anyway. Three little pots now sit on my balcony, growing the mystery seeds. I have no idea what I planted; I just hope it's nothing illegal!

One down, two more to go!

My brother Ron got home from Peru yesterday (He was on a two year mission for our church)! One of the disadvantages of living so far away is that we were not able to be there to greet him at the airport. Nor will we be able to be there anytime soon to see him. But through the wonderful world of Skype, we were able to chat with him and use web cams to see him! He is thinner, and balder and looks older but he's still Ron! (As a side note he said I looked skinner than I did two years ago! Woo-hoo! He is now my favourite brother! Sorry to my 3 other brothers!) We are so excited to have him home and are now counting down until my sister gets home from her mission to Arizona (on June 23!!). Another brother, Jon, is on a mission in Houston and won't be home for another year, so we won't start that countdown yet.

This is Ron the day he left for his mission.

This is after about 20 months in Peru

Forget Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig or even exercise! I'm moving to Peru to lose some weight!

Out and about

Summers here in Central Texas are hot! Husband and I learned our lesson last year and are spending as much time as we can outside before the heat hits. (Just so you know, spring is pretty hot too. What is considered summer weather in normal land is a typical spring day here). Today we decided to hike to the top of a hill situated in the heart of downtown. It offered us beautiful views of the Colorado River, the city skyline and very, very expensive houses.

The Colorado River and the very, very expensive houses!

Up close and personal with aphids.

These flowers were everywhere on our hike! I think they look like irises so that is what I am calling them. If anyone knows what they are, let me know!

One of the paths we took. Doesn't it look idyllic?

Us!

The city skyline. It looks crooked because I was standing on a very unstable rock when I took this.

If at first you don't succeed...pull out the frozen pizza

This lovely picture is our Easter dinner. Pizza was not the planned entree. Here's the story: In an attempt to cut our grocery bill, we sometimes participate in a program called Angel Food Ministries . Our participation depends on the food offered in a given month and how much of that food we would actually eat. We had a pre-seasoned roast from a recent order and I thought that would make a nice Easter dinner. I would make some mashed potatoes, throw together a salad, maybe make a vegetable of some sort, and we would sit down to a meal on our China dishes (with silver chargers underneath for that added touch of elegance). Fortunately, when it comes to making food, I can be a pessimist, and I was worried about whether or not we would like the roast (I am usually wary of things that come pre-seasoned because they never seem to taste right to me). So just in case, I had a frozen pizza as back-up. A few hours later, when the roast was finished, but before I made anything else, I cut into it and tasted it. I did not like it. I gave a bite to Husband and he didn't like it either. It didn't taste horrible, or even kind of horrible. It just wasn't to our liking. The pizza went into the oven and 25 minutes later, we were eating our Easter pizza on our China dishes. Because it was a special occasion, we ate with knives and forks. Holidays call for elegance, even when eating pizza.

Texas Bluebonnets

Within weeks of moving to Texas last year, we kept seeing these blue flowers everywhere! In ditches; in vacant lots; along the highway; on front lawns. We had no idea what they were. Now that we are a year smarter we know that this little blue flower is a bluebonnet, the official flower of Texas and the first real sign that spring is here. Today we went for a hike and found bluebonnets all along the way. They are beautiful, and I am in love with them.