Saturday, July 31, 2010

July Re-cap

The final day of July brings me getting ready for a party we are throwing for some friends.  It will be good to finish this not-so-great-month with laughter.  There are a lot of things that have happened this month that I did not blog about. 

The first thing being my grandma.  At the beginning of this month - July 2nd - she was in the woods clearing a fallen tree when she fell and broke her hip.  My uncle was with her and took her to the hospital.  I've written a few posts about my grandma, but no where near as many as I could.  She is such an amazing person - I love and admire her so much!  One day soon I will tell you more about her.  She had to have hip replacement surgery on July 3rd - my birthday.  She made it through the surgery, thank God, and is still in therapy.  She is doing well, though. 

Then I had my surgery - and a horribly painful recovery.  I am so glad the worst of that is over.  I went for my follow up yesterday and he said I"m 99% healed.  And the mass they removed was benign - a result of chronic infections - so that is good news.  :)

Then Allie wrecked my car on her way home from work.  As a result of that there were frustrating dealings with my insurance company and searching for another vehicle.  It all got settled in the last two days.  I got another car on Thursday night and settled the insurance Friday. 

One of the bunnies Allie brought home from school for the summer had babies - 6 of them!  So we now have 2 adult bunnies, 6 babies, and one Chinchilla.  Anyone want a baby bunny?  They are really cute, I'll share pictures soon!  They will all go back to the school soon - less than a month - and we will be back to just a one dog family.  :) 

In the mist of all of this we are trying to pack and move, sell a lot of our bigger items on Craig's list, and get ready for a garage sale too.  We had to find someone to move our shed - that was a little stressful, but turned out great after it was done. 

We also had several parties.  One for my birthday, one for Allie's birthday, and one for Barb's birthday.  Then the one today!  Yes, I do have pictures to share, but haven't had the time to do it.  Yes, I could be doing that now instead of this post, but it's so much easier to just write instead of editing pictures and posting them! 

So, it has been quite the busy month here.  I'm hoping for a much calmer, quieter August. 

Now I have to get started on the desserts for the party!  Hope everyone is having a great weekend! 

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Boys are so different!

Having 2 teenage girls has not prepared me for a little boy.  Tonight we went car shopping and he went with us.  He had opinions about everything, of course.  Pointing out all the cars he liked, and he has expensive taste!  He's certainly not shy either, he talked up the sales guy a lot.  Asking him his favorite drink, show, all kinds of stuff.  Right before we left he told the sales guy, "If you were a kid, you would be a good friend."

I don't think he stopped talking all night.

What I didn't anticipate, and apparently it's a new thing he has picked up from somewhere... Jeff and I were standing outside talking and Conor said, "There's a fart coming... here it comes... (he farted) I didn't even hear it!"  Then he proceeded to fan it towards us. 

I don't remember either of the girls ever did anything similar to that. 

Friday, July 23, 2010

The call you don't want to get

A little after midnight I got a call from Alli - crying, telling me she was in an accident.  On her way home from work, an animal ran in front of her and she swerved.  She ran into a parked car.  She was driving my car since I have been banned from driving for 2 weeks because of my surgery.  Although I'm OK to drive, I haven't needed to. 

Both air bags deployed, but she is OK.  That is the most important thing, and I thank God for that.  The car is replaceable, she is not.  I also appreciate the two policemen who responded to the crash for their kindness and patience.  They were very nice, explained everything, answered all of my questions and made sure Alli was OK and understood what to expect when she goes to court. 

There were also two guys who stood outside their houses and as we left they called out, "Glad you're OK honey," to Alli.  The car she hit was that of her friend's uncle - who is currently on vacation somewhere. 

I haven't called my insurance company yet, I think I'll just wait until tomorrow to deal with that.

Update to add pictures:

My car:


The air bags:

The other car - the blue one in front of the Jeep:


I went to the tow yard to take the pictures of my car - one thing that bothers me is that the car is sitting there, unlocked, for anyone to take anything out of it.  I took stuff from it and no one ever came out to see what I was doing.  I realized that I need to go back because I forgot to empty the glove compartment and the console in the middle of the seats.  I don't know what is in there, but I do know there is stuff in there.  I won't get the word on whether it will be totaled until Monday or Tuesday. 

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

About Mel Gibson

I may be blasted for this opinion, but... I'm still going to post it!  I will say I have NOT listened to any of the audio, nor have I read many articles about it.  Why not?  Because the people writing those articles have no idea what is going on in his personal life.  They do not live with him, they do not know him personally, they are speculating.  And that audio?  I'm sure that whatever it is, it is only a portion of the conversation.  Who knows what the person recording it was saying to him to get him to say what he was saying.  People do make mistakes, and when you are emotional you can SAY a lot of things that you don't really mean - out of frustration and anger.  From what little I have read - headlines, small blurbs - this is a girlfriend trying to keep him from seeing his child?  Or use the child  to get money from him?  I don't know. 

People may think that I'm naive, but I don't assume the worst in people based on people feeding stuff to the media.  Who knows what was edited out?  His ex-wife, who probably has more reason to resent him than anyone, is sticking up for him.  Knee jerk reactions... people need to not jump to conclusions when they do not have all the facts.  And unless you know these people personally, you do not have all the facts.  Not only that, but it is not my place to judge him.  He is an entertainer, I like his movies.  That's the only opinion I have about Mel Gibson.  The rest is not for me to determine.

Just my thoughts and opinion. 

Another knee-jerk reaction?  Forcing someone to resign based on an edited video from 24 years ago posted on the Internet!  You would think that they would do a LITTLE more research into it before asking someone to leave their job. 

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

A Few of My Favorite Books

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole is one book I have to list as a favorite.  I like to actually read books, but Jeff likes to listen to books on CD or an iPod.  I believe that comes from his many years of being an over the road truck driver.  He would go to the library and get books on tape or CD and listen to them as he drove.  He is the one who introduced me to this book, and he had me listen to it.  Thus, I must recommend that you listen to it if you have the choice.  The narrator does an amazing job of changing his voice for the different characters in the book.  You will laugh at the characters and the entire story line.  






Many of you know that I am a huge fan of John Grisham, and really - I love all of his books.  Playing for Pizza is one of my favorites because the setting of the book is in Italy, and Italy is one place I would like to go before I die.  Grisham took me to Italy in this book, but I still want to see the real thing!  It is about football, but you don't have to love football to love the book. 









Southern Fried Divorce is another book that I listened to rather than read.  I must say, at first, the narrator's voice was a tad irritating but it grew on me and I grew to love it.  The book will make you laugh out loud, and it also has a few good recipes in it, so have a paper and pen ready if you listen to it because some of them sound so good you may want to make them!  I'm not sure what I was expecting when I read this - but it was nothing like what I expected.  It was better.   








This was also a way for me to test out the new and fancy linking from Amazon!  Hmmmm, I may have to do some give aways of the books I have but need to find a new home for since I need the space!  Stay tuned.  :)

Sunday, July 18, 2010

I thought I was through with these posts!

Today was a pretty good day - after a pretty slow start this morning, I was lying in bed and decided to do a mind over matter thing and get up and DO stuff.  So.  We sold Conor's bed so we went out to the garage to get it all ready.  After that we went to our other house, watered plants, cleaned a bit, then went home because I felt I needed to rest.  I took a small nap - my sister came by and it woke me up, so we discussed dinner.  Now, today is the first day I have eaten anything solid for a while.  Over the week I did try to eat a few things with very unsuccessful results.  I could eat a 1/4 of a sandwich if I tried - then my mouth and jaw would start hurting and my throat wouldn't be able to take anymore.

So, we got Cracker Barrel - I got mashed potatoes and dumplings.  The mashed potatoes didn't taste right to me, but I'm expecting food not to taste right for a while.  The dumplings were good, though, so I ate maybe 1/2 of those and a biscuit.  It wasn't a horrible experience - getting better at swallowing. 

I was so sure it was getting better!  I went to bed and didn't take a pain killer.  That was a mistake, I woke up about 1AM in pain so I took one and went back to sleep.  Around 2:30 I woke up - sorry for the grossness - and threw up... a lot.  It hurt.  So. Bad.  I made it to the trashcan for the first couple of times, and then ran into the bathroom for the rest.  I was at the sink rinsing my mouth out, and I started getting dry heaves.  Jeff came in the bathroom and wanted to help, but couldn't do anything to help.  I was rinsing my mouth out, tears streaming down my face, I asked, "Why is this happening?!" and in my head I heard the response of a friend of mine "Because of your behavior yo" - and I also thought that Jeff would say it too, because it's just a thing we do... from this skit on Saturday Night Live.  http://www.hulu.com/watch/143263/saturday-night-live-hip-hop-kids-bear-cave

Around the 4 minute mark - that is the part I am referring to right now, but there are a lot of times that different parts of this skit are brought up in conversations.  It's funny, to us at least. 

So, I managed to stop the heaves - I brushed my teeth twice trying to rid my mouth of the taste.  Jeff got me some Sierra Mist to drink, at my request, thinking it would help settle my stomach.  I took a drink and it burned the hell out of my throat.  So now I'm relaxing with a glass of chocolate milk, making sure it's all over before I lay down again.  I'm afraid to take another pain killer - I'm not sure if I threw the other one up or not, and I don't want to take another one so soon after that last one... I think I'll just take some Ibuprofen.  So, I had a horrible ending to a pretty good day.  The best day so far during the recovery was capped by the worst night so far during the recovery!  I'm almost afraid to hope for better tomorrow!  I don't know if I should report this to the doctor or not - my throat was bleeding, so I don't know if that's OK or not.  I pray this does not cause a setback!

Sorry if I grossed you out - just documenting the recovery! 

Friday, July 16, 2010

I've only had one other surgery - long, long ago. I had my gallbladder removed because I had gallstones. I remember the day I came home from the hospital - I was alone at my house. My mom had Alli who was around 3 years old at the time. I was in bed all day, sleeping on and off, watching TV. I believe it's the only other time I've really been on pain killers for an extended amount of time.

The TV show I was watching? QVC. And they were doing specials on quilts that day. The "Today's Special Value" was a quilt, and then they had a few hours throughout the day that showcased quilts. I love quilts. I was on pain killers. Do you know where I'm going with this? Yeah, a few days later I received my NINE quilts via UPS delivery. Yes, I bought 9 quilts. At that point in my life I lived alone with Alli. I had no need for 9 quilts! I ended up sending 6 back and keeping 3. One of them was my favorite quilt of all time, I kept it for years until it fell apart so much that I finally had to let it go.

So tonight, I took a pain killer, and laid down to go to sleep. I turned the TV on to watch until sleep took over and what channel did I end up on? QVC. I have not ordered from QVC for years. I watched a presentation and suddenly I can't imagine NOT getting a really cool cup - spill proof. They come in a variety of colors, and they come in sets of 2. So I kept watching, trying to talk myself out of them. I don't need more cups! I'm getting rid of stuff, not buying stuff! But I really could use them. And since there are 5 of us, I would need to get 3 sets of 2. Should I get all the same color? OR different colors for each person?

I got up, came to the computer to place an order, and remembered the quilts. Instead of ordering the cups, I wrote this post. I will schedule it to post later since I already posted once today... but I need to get back to bed and TURN THE CHANNEL!

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Hey, it's not a post at 3AM!

I spared you my 3AM post last night, mostly because I didn't want to get out of bed. I took a pain killer, rolled over and did my best to go back to sleep.

I got brave last night and asked Jeff to get me a plain hamburger from Wendy's. I thought, "Hey, it's pretty soft, and it sounds good, and I can at least TRY." Wasn't a horrible idea - I did manage to eat a quarter of it - but it was too much work and it wore me out trying to chew and swallow, so I gave up and drank the milkshake he had gotten me as well.

I can't say the pain is better per se, but I believe I reached the peak of the pain and am on my way downhill to being healed. I hope so anyway. It seems a little tiny bit better today.

Something I've gotten to enjoy while being off is Ellen. I have always loved Ellen - I think she is a wonderful human being. Beautiful, kind, generous, funny - I really admire her. Her show is on from 4 to 5 here, so I won't be able to watch it once I go back to work. I think this video is hilarious - Ellen scaring Taylor Swift.

Another thing going on around me as I sleep is sorting / packing / moving. I can't participate much right now, but we are trying to get ready to move - as most of you already know anyway. We are selling a lot of stuff, possibly having a garage sale next weekend - if we can get it together by then. So, everything around here is in varying stages of mess. Some sorted and boxed, some sorted and stacked, some ready to be sorted, and lots left to go through.

Everyone is excited about the move - you've seen pictures of our new back yard in the post about my birthday and we are looking forward to having little parties back there. I love it that we will have trees and space for Teddy to really run.

We are already planning a small party there in just a couple of weeks - Jeff has invited his friend Giselle and her boyfriend David to come over to hang out. We are working on a menu for the party - which will be Hawaiian. We're gonna do chicken and grilled pineapple, and still looking for some recipes. In searching for something to make, I came across a new blog that I really like that I thought I'd share with you. A Cozy Kitchen not only has some great recipes, but the writing and stories that are included are fun to read as well. So go on over there and see what you think! I think you'll love it, I know I do.

I kinda think a Hawaiian theme is a little scary for us to really pull off because David currently lives in Hawaii and will be flying in just to come to our party!! Haha, just kidding - he is coming to visit Giselle, it just happens to be at the same time as our party. Trying to come close to the real thing may be a little lame, but we are going to try!

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

I could never be a vampire

Have you read Twilight or seen the movie? No? I didn't think so. Most of the adults I know who read this blog haven't found the urge to read the vampire mega-hit miniseries. Or to run out to the movies to sit amongst thousands of teenage girls who squeal in delight every time Robert Pattinson or Taylor Lautner appears on screen.

Well, I did read it. Not just IT, but THEM. I read all 4 of the books and I enjoyed them. Yes I will admit it! I first went to see the movie Twilight with Alli - it had been out for a few weeks when we saw it, so we didn't have all the screaming girls in the theater while we were watching it. I hadn't even heard of it before seeing the movie and I had no idea it was based on a book. I love books, I love to read, and given the option I'd rather read a book than watch a movie. I also am aware that no movie will ever do a book justice. There is just so much more a book can tell you than a movie can - if movies were true to books, they would be at least 10 hours long and have a LOT more cost to them. So I do keep this in mind when I watch a movie. They have a time limit and a budget, so they have to cut some things and if the over all gist of the movie is the same, I'll forgive them.

Anyway! I saw Twilight, then bought the books and read them all, and then saw New Moon (2nd book/movie in the series). We made an evening of it - I bought tickets for opening night weeks in advance - Alli, Sara, and I went out to dinner and then to the movies to see it. It was a fun night with the girls, but I didn't like the movie.

All of this is SOOOO beside the point of this post. This is what happens when your sleep is wacky and you are awake and in pain in the middle of the night. You write these long, babbling posts to try to make ONE point. And here it is - THE POINT TO THE MADNESS: In the books, and in the movie, the main vampires are "good" vampires - they don't feed on humans. Thus they have an "ache" in their throats that they just learn to live with - animal blood dulls it, but does not erase it.

Maybe I'm just a big wimp, but having had this pain in my throat for 5 days now and I've come to the conclusion that I'm not cut out for being a vampire - at least not one of the good ones.*

*disclaimer: yes, I do know that vampires do not exist but I am in pain and cannot be held responsible for the thoughts running through my mind or the fact that I come to the Internet to share such thoughts with you. it is supposed to be funny, so just laugh at my pain and move on! even though I'm not laughing yet, I hope to eventually when the pain goes away!

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Almost four days after having my tonsils removed

As I sit here at 3am, waiting for the pain medicine to kick in, I feel like a chewin' tobacco user because I'm dragging around a spit cup. No, I haven't taken up putting tobacco in my mouth and spitting in a cup, but because it HURTS SO BAD TO SWALLOW that I would rather spit in a cup than swallow it. I have to hold my ears every time I do swallow because swallowing causes extreme pain in my ears as well. It is like this every time I wake up - I have to relearn to swallow - it does get a little less painful the more I do it.

Now I have to go back to sleep and start all over in approximately 4 more hours. That is my sleep schedule since the surgery - 4 hour increments. As I don't particularly like taking pain pills, I try not to take them every 4 hours and I substitute Ibuprofen some of the time.

I know I was warned, but I didn't think the pain would be this bad.

Wednesday, July 07, 2010

Cool Art

So after all my travels recently, I have been exploring new art...well, new to me.
I have seen some Native art in Alaska and Hawai'i as well as Oaxacan art in the San Diego International Airport (a temporary display called "Hecho en México: Mexican Folk Art").
There are so many things I could describe but pictures are better sometimes.



















http://priscillakibbee.blogspot.com/2010/01/trip-to-oaxaca-what-did-i-buy-alebrijes.html








http://www.vivaoaxacafolkart.com/woodcarvings/woodcarving_pages/040p-oaxacan-animals.html

Artist: Armando Jimenez


http://www.vivaoaxacafolkart.com/Gallery6_oaxacan-carvings-armandojimenez.html
Artist: Armando Jimenez

http://tundramedicinedreams.blogspot.com/2008/01/yupik-eskimo-crafts.html
Tundra Medicine Dreams

http://www.litsite.org/gallery/index.cfm?fa=post-photo&photo=1093&contentid=2656
University of Alaska

http://www.longagoandfaraway.com/denise_and_wally.htm
Artist:Denise Wallace

http://www.susanmdailey.com/penguin_pattern.htm
Artist: Susan M. Dailey
I found this awesome pattern and Conor and I made this penguin with all these influences in mind. We will be painting the wolves soon!



The Yup'ik/ Oaxacan Penguin by Jeff and Conor




















Welcome to the Woodshop
















Conor and Gage making Wolves












"It's going to be a mask...like this grrrr!"














A satisfied customer - Happy Birthday Allie














Sunday, July 04, 2010

Katie's Birthday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATIE

Allie made a cake

Have a seat

The fire is ready







Friends and Family are here




This year Katie got an ice cream/ frozen yogurt maker for those hot summer days.
Conor and I will be trying our best to fix up some things around the new house and to plant some flowers.



















































My Grandma

On Friday, my grandma fell and broke her left hip. How did she do this? She was back in the woods with my uncle cutting a fallen tree up for wood. She said she was pulling on one of the limbs of the tree, walking backwards and she tripped over something and fell. Mark tried to pick her up to carry her home, but it was too painful for her, so he sat her back down. A neighbor saw them and realized what was happening and ran over. He stayed with Grandma while Mark went to get his truck. They took her back to the house and called my aunt Betty at work. She came home and they made her go to the hospital.

Grandma never feels the need to go see doctors for anything. She has broken finger and toes, and she just puts them back in place and lets them heal. As a result of that, she has some crooked fingers and toes.

So going to the hospital was not her choice, but she did go. They weren't sure if it was broken or fractured or just dislocated, but after finding out it was broken we found out she had to have surgery.

I couldn't say for certain, but I'm not sure if the hospital has ever had so many people visiting a patient all at once. My Grandma has 8 kids, plus 1 nephew that she raised. Six of them are married, and 6 of them have kids. Some of those kids have kids, so needless to say - there are a lot of us. There were 13 people there when I was there on Friday, the number fluctuated as some people went home and more came. I left for a couple of hours and went back and there were even more people there then.

She wouldn't take anything for pain, and when I was there the first time on Friday the nurse asked her to give a number to her pain from 1-10 with 10 being the worst pain she has ever felt. She answered 0. Having never taken anything other than a baby aspirin for pain, she did not want any other kind. She said she was fine as long as she didn't move.

The doctors didn't have great statistics for surviving a surgery, and everyone was scared. I know it was hard for me to hold the tears while I was with her, and that feeling was mirrored in every face there. Her surgery was scheduled for the next morning - Saturday, July 3rd at 8am.

I went home for a hour or so to make room for the others visiting, and give her a small amount of privacy to eat, and when I went back there were even more people there. I walked around for a little while, giving them a little time to clear out. When I went into her room, I went to the side of her bed and held her hand.

The next morning, I was there before she left for surgery.  My aunts and uncles were all there as well, and we all walked along with her to the surgery wing.  It was my birthday.  We all waited in the waiting room together.  It seemed like forever, but it was only a couple of hours.  Everything went well and the dr. came out to tell us she was in recovery and doing fine.  I was so very relieved.  She's recovering well and will be home sooner than anyone wants her to be, I'm sure.  She doesn't like hospitals and doesn't want to be there.