Ho ho ho, Merry Christmas! I'm probably breaking some sort of etiquette rule but I'm going to skip the christmas letter and do a christmas blog instead. This way I can write, delete, write, delete, save drafts, etc and no one will be any the wiser! It is, after all, pretty hard to sum up a year and every year I tell myself I'll keep a running list of all the good memories, and every year at this time, I wish I would've listened to myself! Fortunately my wise friend Jessica introduced me to journaling, so I might be able to piece something together.... January: My resolution was to stop chewing my nails. I was successful at times, but failed other times. As the year draws to a close, they're actually a decent length (translation: long enough to show white but short enough that I don't draw my own blood with them), so I'll consider it a success. February: My Valentines Day was spent with my two little sweethearts, Bowdrie & Carson, up in Coeur d...
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According to Bowdrie, Jen's still at the hospital on the 'doctor board' (bed) and the doctor cut her tummy with scissors and took the baby out. :-) I'm utterly biased, no doubt, but isn't she just precious? I just wonder what she's thinking. I wish these people would go home? Why does that guy keep taking pictures? Well yes, as a matter of fact, I WAS born yesterday!
I love Thanksgiving! This year, I am thankful for a lot of things. 1. Health-related things ... like the fact that I still have my mind and my memory, I have a fully functional nervous system and messages get from my brain to my toes. I don't have nerve pain, I don't have Shingles or Post-shingles pain, I don't really have any pain at all. Aside from the occasional cold or headache, I haven't been sick at all. No hanta virus, no septic shock, no flesh-eating bacteria, no major traumas involving broken bones, etc. I'm guilty of not liking my body because my stomach isn't totally toned or I may have gained an extra pound here and there, but ultimately, it's functioning perfectly and I need to be more thankful for that! After seeing several young, previously healthy people die this year due to freakish things ... it just makes you feel more thankful for good health. So I am thankful for my good health :) 2. Home. I found the most perfect house ever -- it...
You've simply gotta love a guy named Gus. (That's the name of Mom's neurosurgeon) Mom had her surgery this morning, so we got to the hospital bright and early ... well, dark and early (5:30) and got her all checked in. She got to put on the lovely gown and tin foil shower cap, get an IV and her vitals done, and then once she was pretty much squared away, I headed upstairs to work. I told her it was somewhat like a trip to the dayspa --- you put on their robe, put your clothes and belongings in a bag that will be locked up while you're on your excursion, you start out in "the sanctuary" (snort) and they gave her nice warm blankets! Fast forward to 11:30 AM. I was done with ICU stuff and so I headed upstairs to see if she was back yet. I pulled a couple strings in the morning with a friend who was the shift coordinator on the floor Mom was going to, so she got a private room with a lovely room and a wonderful nurse. I got there just after she was wheeled i...
Mom update: She's scheduled for surgery on Wednesday with Dr. Varnavas here in Yakima. It will be a resection of the L5/S1 area of her spine. He thinks he can help her by doing some more of that rotor-rooting in there to give her nerves more room, and maybe work some magic with those discs in there too. She's lost pretty much all feeling in her left foot and leg plus some on the right side. It's pretty scary watching how little she can do and how unstable she is on her feet, due to not being able to feel the floor. I wish I could get a better handle on her mood but I think it's one of resignation. Now that it's a reality, perhaps it's making her more nervous ... wondering how she'll feel this time when she wakes up. Last time she wasn't very nervous and things didn't go so well, so ... I just hope hope hope things go well. I have complete faith in this surgeon and his PA so I'm actually planning to go ahead and work that morning rather t...
A disappointing epiphany or two.... So are these post-30 blues normal or are they a result of a recent visit from my brother?! Nice of him to get right down to the heart of the matter and have me wind up admitting that indeed, nobody (young male and single) is interested in me. I've been having a great week as I'm sure you can imagine, self-reflecting and being all introspective. I've come to a couple conclusions and they're not all that fun. One of them is that I can't control love/relationships/male-people and that's very frustrating for me. I can't force things to happen nor put it into a tidy little equation to get my head around it, nor can I put my mind to making it happen. I can find solutions to so many things and solve countless problems in every other aspect of my life except this one. Aargh. I guess I am a control freak after all :-) The second one- I haven't figured out how to put it into words just yet. I'm trying to keep it blan...
Ok never mind, I'll just keep my blog here since I've already got mom's bookmark tab set up for this one, and I don't feel like remaking all those gadgets. :-) So for those of you who have already reached and passed this milestone and still remember it --- did anyone have the blues shortly after the high? That's where I'm at right now. According to CNN, all major organ systems in the body start to decline after 30, and I'll start losing muscle mass. I think I'm even detecting vertical ridges in my fingernails! I bought a book called "How Not To Be A Little Old Lady" and was horrified to see that I am already do several of the things they say to avoid! Aaack!
Today I zipped home from work to pick up Mom and take her to see the neurosurgeon I work with here in Yakima. She had surgery June 23rd and woke up feeling like they broke her ankles during surgery or something, and since then she's just had horrendous pain, making sitting a very painful activity, and then yesterday her leg gave out and she fell...again.... drat - that's why she had the surgery in the first place! It was incredible to see the extent of the nerve damage she's experienced somewhere along the line since Jan 1st when this all started. She has no feeling in her feet, nerve messages don't make it down to her toes and feet so when the PA asked her to raise her toes and raise her feet, nothing happened! She also wasn't able to rock back on her heels nor up on her toes. How insane is that?! She had to close her eyes for one part of the exam and the PA used a 2-sided tool (one side smooth, one side pin-pricky) and she had to say whether she felt "dull...
This birthday was the best one in recent memory! The past few years we've all gone down to Portland for the Pharmacy Girls Shopping Getaway and shopped ourself into exhaustion. This year due to mom's health and work schedules, it didn't work out to go for that, so I took a few days off and went to Seattle with Velva. I was deliciously lazy. I went to Ummelina Day Spa in downtown Seattle for 4 decadent hours of indulgence and pampering. ( www.ummelina.com ) Aaaah. It was better than shopping! I called my aunt to apologize for taking so long getting done but it was fine with her because she hadn't really gotten up and going yet either! So I picked up some Starbucks for her on my way back to the hotel and then we both took naps until sometime around 3PM, when we started shopping/walking our way to Pike's Place market for supper at 5. :-) I like life at this pace! haha The next day I did this and that, and then went to Beth & Troy's for supper. I got ...
I think I may have just discovered the fountain of good looks when it comes to choosing clothes! I'm really not even sure how I stumbled upon this website, but ladies, you have to try it! www.myshape.com I put in all my measurements, preferences, and its calculator figures out your shape, which is either letter M-Y-S-H-A-P- or E. Not only that, somehow it has a database of things that will look good on you and then it picks clothes and you can buy them. The odd thing is that I'm having a hard time finding these same clothes online at Macys and other stores, so I'm not really sure what's up with that, but still - how awesome is that!? Let me know what you think. I already see a coat, a jacket, and a dress that would probably be really flattering. Does anyone else wind up being an S-shape? And what do they mean by saying I have soft shoulders? hmmph.
Human Growth & Development, as it applies to me... I've cooked for guests three times already, since getting my dining room table! Mom and dad were my first guests/victims, then I had two retired couples over after meeting 2 weekends ago, and then I had a single college girl over this past weekend :-) I'd like to think I'm getting less and less scatterbrained, and I think I've mastered the use of my can opener - finally!! Halloween News: Bowdrie is going to be an Astronaut for halloween and Carson is going to be a doctor. Bowdrie decided that one for him apparently. Must be nice to be the older brother who gets to make all the important decisions! hah Future hobby: The leaves on my jumbo tree are just starting to turn colors so I will probably have a new hobby called raking leaves in a few weeks :-) Feel free to come visit around that time! hah
On this date in history? I'm not sure how to title this entry so you'll just have to read it and decide if you're interested! Today was a very special day for me - one of those life milestones, I suppose. Today, for the very first time, my Mom got to see my house in person! :-) She hasn't been over to Yakima since probably before April, so... several months ago. It was like a coming of age party, giving her the grand tour inside, showing her my flowers outside, and how I've decorated things. The grand finale was dinner, which I cooked. Ok so that wasn't 'just like momma fixed it', but everyone said it was good and it smelled heavenly. (Mexican Lasagne) I set the table with the fancy dishes, red tablecloth, and the silverware I got from my grandma and aunt for my high school graduation (only 10+ yrs ago).... it was as I said before, a very special day. Bottom line - mom approved! Hooray! Whew!
A fun weekend: I went to the west side for a couple birthday parties (Danny turned 1 and Cameron turned 30) and I also got together for lunch with some ladies from the Europe tour. It was lots of fun to see all of these people again. It motivated me to put up pictures from my time in Paris, so head back over to when you get a chance.
2000 1990 1984 1982 1970 1968 1966 1960 1950 Not your average digital makeover I learned about this unique site from Tami's blog so I decided to give it a shot and see how I would've looked back in the day. I've put up a voting section for which look you like best, but I am not committing to adopting it! :-)
iCooked Hooray - I got my cooking project done! It took the better part of the day and I was proud that I only had to make 2 extra trips to the Safeway store down the street! I'll skip the details. Anyhow, over the next month or week or whatever, I'll have lots of food essentially ready for me when I come home! I hope I like how it tastes! It can't help but beat running to the grocery store 2-3+ times a week and wandering around aimlessly until I wind up in the frozen section once again eating stuff I don't really like but settle for due to the fact it takes 8 minutes to heat up. Today I made Mexican Lasagne, White Chicken Chili, Chicken Nuggets, Marinated Flat Iron Steak, Swedish Meatballs, Pork Chops, French Bread Pizza, Texas Skillet, and Chicken Scalloppinne something-or-other. I'll keep you posted on how it all works out.
Big day tomorrow! While signing off a bunch of 'batched' IV orders, I got to thinking ... why can't I do that with food? There must be some way to just cook once and get it over with, and then eat that stuff for a while. So after much googling, I found a website called Cook Once A Month, or something like that. I picked what sounded good and if I wanted a half, full, or multiple batches. Then it gave me a tidy little shopping list, and whatever else, and tomorrow I am going to dedicate the day to cooking. It should be interesting to say the least! Wish me luck and lots of patience! I imagine I'll be dining out tomorrow night!
The Grass is Always Greener... I was having a brief moment of envy towards my friends who are married with families and doing so well and seem so happy. Then I get great reminders of why I should be more thankful for my lifestyle :-) I have to thank Beth for this one and I hope she doesn't mind me telling on her little angels. While we were doing some swimsuit research online, we heard hollering coming from outside. Beth quickly looked outside and started yelling for Joe to stop whatever it was that he was doing. I got up and looked too, out of curiosity ... he had just dumped a ton of sand of Danny's head and Danny went from a cute little blonde baby to a gray-haired baby in the blink of an eye! :-) So I quickly said my goodbyes and headed off to the mall while she had to deal with cleaning up that mess. I think I laughed all the way to the mall!
Mom update: Hard to say if this is good or bad news from the pain doctor she saw on Friday..... (the quick review: June 23rd she had a laminectomy for severe spinal stenosis causing falls at least once a week. Since about 2 weeks after the surgery, she's had excruciating pain, like being stabbed in the foot, leg, thigh, etc, and horrible pressure so she can't bear to sit. Oh yeah, she can't bend either because that hurts too. So she's limited to laying and standing and walking.) ... these post-surgical problems aren't from scar tissue, like the neurosurgeon claimed. She still has fluid around the incision from 3+ months ago (here's hoping that's not an abscess) but otherwise, the MRI shows nothing else wrong. He squirted some sort of contrast material into her nerves to see where that went, and basically her nerves are okay, just angry about being squashed for 15+ years and now they're just plain mad but otherwise healing. She's going to have t...
I made it home to Washington, but I wasn't in any hurry to leave Minnesota. I'm glad I had an extra day after the program ended so I could enjoy the Minneapolis area and the new people I met. It was so fun to spend time with Dave & Debbie again and spend some time with them. Debbie's such an 'upper' - you always feel good about yourself when you're around Debbie! I also was very impressed by all the nice young men I met! There seems to be a high concentration of good guys back there -- makes me wish I was a few years younger! Oh wait, isn't that the trendy thing right now? Hmmm. Anyhow, I was impressed by all of them. Oh shucks, I think I liked pretty much everybody I met! My final day we went walking at a beautiful arboretum near Dave and Debbie's house, and the fall flowers were so beautiful! Unfortunately I didn't have my camera along for that part but the dahlias and mums were spectacular. After that we went through some houses tha...
I better post something to let you know that I'm still alive and well and not out man-shopping! I'm writing this from my cozy little room in Minneapolis. I found a great little place to stay that's quite close to campus, called Wales House. It's not a hotel/motel, but it's not really a bed and breakfast either. I guess the description is that it's a victorian guest house. When I first got to town I was a bit turned off by the fact it's in greek row with sororities and fraternities around, but that hasn't been a big deal because they've been nice and quiet neighbors. I have found some great places to eat, most notably Kafe 421, Loring's Pasta Bar, and Annie's Parlour. Those are all just a few minutes away on foot. I've made great use of the Metro transit system.... I think I prefer light rail to the bus system because that has too many variables. Oh well - I have always made it back "home." My legs are tired from the 1.2 ...
Whew, I made it! I am done with my housewarming parties and if anyone ever invites me to anything, I'm totally going to RSVP right away! I had too much food for one, not enough food for the other one. I bought a book called, "How not to be a little old lady" and one of the things it said is that little old ladies expect people to RSVP ... I think I agree with them on that one. Oh well, it was fun to have a house full of friends and loved ones and now it seems awfully quiet.
Hooray! I am done studying and now I can get back to the fun stuff for a week or two! I've been putting up more pictures from my trip so go visit my picasa page. I'll try to embed a slideshow of that to make it easier since I still don't know how to make click-able links. My first housewarming party was a success and I feel so fortunate to have such wonderful friends who take such good care of me! While I was busy playing hostess for the first time (without the help of anyone), someone hung up a picture for me and some others figured out my goofed up sprinkler system, so now my grass won't keep dying! Enjoy these photos - more will come eventually!
It's been another one of those months -- whoosh, it flew by! I am in Montana right now, preparing for an ultra-restful sleep so I'll be energized for my hike tomorrow. My first with the legendary Glacier Lilies! I am so excited :-) I will likely have just enough time to hike and make it back to civilization to catch my flight home! gulp! Incentive to go fast, I suppose. Last time it was the threat of the last boat leaving at 4:30 otherwise we'd have to hike an extra couple miles! My most exciting news this month has been that the next little Krack baby is going to be a GIRL! YAY! I found out the day I was shopping at the Nordstrom sale - how very fortunate! I'm trying not to go too crazy buying her things but oh what cute little things they have for girls! Little frilly dresses, little purses, little pink blankets, little shoes - oh this is going to be so much fun!! Bowdrie continues to refer to her as My Sister Susie, but Jonathan says no way to that name. I...
Ok, now that I've been tagged twice I guess I'm obligated to do this 7 facts about me thing. 1. As I've gotten older and have gone through life stuff, I've become more introverted and private. I sometimes miss my ditzy social butterfly days but I think that's the price we pay for growing up and becoming 'mature' 2. When I was little, I wanted to grow up and sell Icees at K-Mart 3. Like Elaine, I'm a one-on-one person and according to the 5 Languages of Love book (and friends who have read it): I'm a quality time person. That makes sense -- I have so little free time that if I want to spend it with you... it means you're special. 4. I consider Burger King "real food", so when someone once offered me filet mignon, I told them no thanks, I don't like fish. Who knew that fillet and filet were not the same thing!! 5. I'm ultra organized and focused all day long at work, so I'm a bit absent-minded and disorganized at home. Ho...
I've had a great two days off, which gave me a chance to putter around my house! I ache from head to toe and my fingers are started to get calluses -- eew! Sheesh, I sound like I'm 50! I should go get a floppy hat to complete the look! Last night, just for kicks, I slept in one of my guest bedrooms! It felt kind of weird, as if I were somehow intruding! I guess I've never had more than one to choose from! I slept very well and I hope my guests will like it :-) I also did some arts and crafts for the garage. It's not done yet but I will put up some pictures later this week. :-) It's going to be pretty :-)
Exciting news out of Montana! Carson is talking!!! So far he has said "boat", "MINE!", and "Bowdrie" :-) I'm looking forward to finding out what he's been thinking inside that little head of his all this time! I predict that he's going to have loads of personality. I'm heading up there later this month to see those guys and teach him all the words his mommy and daddy don't want him to know (smirk) Congratulations to my cousin Dusty and his wife Audrey who just had a healthy little baby girl! They've experienced enough heartbreak in one lifetime (audreysangels.net) I hope this little girl will be blessed in every possible way - with good health, good fortune, and good luck. She's got gorgeous parents so there's no doubt that she'll have good looks!
I am so delighted - I have had my first guests at my 'home'! Is it normal for it to seem really really quiet once everyone else has gone? Maybe it was because 2 of my guests were under age 3! Anyhow, we barbequed steak and chicken, and had corn on the cob, and some drinks and desserts from El Salvador for some ethnic flair, and we just hung out on my deck and enjoyed summer. Little Hannah and Emma were just darling in their red/white/blue dresses. Both of them were born here so they're little Miss Americas :-) I'll try to get pictures from Jessica (their mom)~
In other exciting news ... I am now officially out of my apartment! While I'm happy because that's one less thing on this insane list of deadlines I have, I leave with a touch of sadness. That apartment was good to me and I'm sure I will miss it from time to time, like when I'm paying the bills for this place! haha So for those of you who planned to send me lots of cards and mail ... you'll just need to hold off until my cute little address stamp shows up and I mail you my new one! :-) And one last bit of good news: Mom's surgery went well yesterday! She was up walking around last night and went home this morning. She says her leg feels a bit better, but now she just has some surgery pain to get through. I guess having them use a roto-rooter on your spine isn't the most fun thing in the world, but it will take care of far worse pain so I imagine she'll tell me it was worth it.
Happy Birthday to Carson! It was yesterday (23rd) but I'm slipping in my aunt duties. I didn't even make it up there for his birthday! I shall miss his "ornery ones" and look forward to the terrible twos! haha He's a little stinker and I absolutely love him for it. I imagine somewhere in the next few months he will pass up Bowdrie in size!
Disregard my earlier statement that now would be a great time to meet the love of my life. Once I got all my clothes and coats moved over, I didn't have nearly as much extra closet space as I thought I would! So never mind :-) My apologies to you very excited matchmakers out there. In other news, I loved the report from Montana about Jonathan's Father's Day. Bowdrie and Carson got to go take him a donut and wake him up -- oh boy, that's fun stuff in their little worlds! And so they did, but then after they gave him the donut they stood there staring at him with such sad/expectant little faces that he wound up giving the donut back to them to share. The kids were happy, the Dad wound up getting nothing more than a good laugh out of it, and that seems to be the way it goes for dads! So 3 cheers for Dads :-) I guess I'm not much better than the little darlings - aside from a couple shirts, my present to him was letting him putter around and help me on things wi...
Moving is fun! It makes you appreciate order .... like today when I discovered that I hadn't moved over the shower curtain yet so I had to come home to the apartment to shower. Fine except I had moved all my towels to the house! Aargh! Luckily my aunt had brought over some ugly towel that had been in my hopeless chest and smells strongly of cedar, so I at least had a towel to use! Oh the fun continues :-) I'm delighted with the great job the painters did on my place and the carpet is lovely, and I'm just as happy as can be with how everything is coming together. It will take me a while to sort through all the stuff I've accumulated in the past 6 years here and figure out what I still want and what I won't miss. There seems to be more and more falling under the latter category! Off to work~
Hello from HOME! Yes, we made it! I'm in Puyallup this morning and mom even had some mountain dew in the refrigerator for me in case I was in total withdrawl. Thanks to the magic of the world wide web, I was able to email her from one of those countries and let her know that we were going to need massage appointments this morning, so those are already scheduled!! I can't say I'd be sorry if I never saw that backpack again (now that it's empty)!! I was carrying 1/3 my body weight as luggage yesterday -- I don't recommend that! I can't claim one favorite memory or place because there are so many different wonderful memories that can't be compared to one another. So here is a list of the first 10 that come to mind: 1. Seeing the David, in Florence. To think that he was carved from one block of marble, and to see the detail in his ribs and chest muscles and his veins and even the detail of crinkles in the side of his hand that was holding the stones --- I...
I have lost count of how many loads I've taken over to the new place! I had a productive 24 hours - I bought a bedroom set, a red leather chair, the guest bed mattresses, and a mattress for me. Whew! Best of all, it's all going to be delivered and set up by people much stronger than me! Oh what fun! I have super nice neighbors and already gave the one lady the grand tour. She's lived next door for years but has never seen this house empty. She thinks my dishes are cute :-) Anyhow, I continue to be delighted with my purchase~
Oh my aching hands! I got this bright idea I'd save money by tearing out my own carpet and burn off a little energy that way. I kept thinking to myself how proud I'd be that I did something with my own hands and all that stuff. That lasted for about an hour or so, and then my hands and legs were absolutely killing me and I wasn't very far into what I thought should be an easy project. After booking a massage appointment, I realized that if I got a massage for every 1 hour of work I put in, I wasn't going to be saving much money after all! And my hands - oh those poor little things are just as red and raw as can be, and I was even wearing gloves! So - phooey on do-it-myself-ing and hooray for hiring it done! In other happy news, I was finally able to decide on paint colors today with the help of an interior design lady and the painting and carpeting should be done before I get back. Woo hoo! I even picked out a type and a color of carpet! I've had my first mea...
I got the keys this morning! I've already done the big important things -- put my magnets on the refrigerator, some ziplock bags in the pantry cupboards, some mountain dew inside the fridge and I hung a towel through the handle on the refrigerator door. They left the house pretty clean but just to put my own touch on it, I dusted and cleaned again - just for fun. I opened the garage door and it's very empty compared to when I last saw it! They even left me a broom! :-) So - I have made the first two trips. I plan to set up the kitchen first so I can eat there while moving other stuff in. I hardly know what to do first! I'm loving all the storage space!
Signing Day! Well it's not exactly the NFL draft, but tomorrow I go sign all the closing papers and I will officially be a homeowner! Gulp! I've been testing my various pens tonight and I believe I've chosen the one with the best ink, so I'm set. My brain is quite nearly on overload. I am trying to decide betwen 60+ shades of blue paint, looking for just the right one, and then once I have that figured out, I have to decide between eggshell vs flat vs satin vs semigloss vs ??? And that's just for one room! I still have two different greens to choose and a red and a khaki. Don't even get me started on choosing carpet! I will be so relieved when the paperwork is done and I can finally order those new address labels I've been eyeing... ;-) Ok ok, I'm excited about painting and decorating too.
It's been enlightening to open rarely-used drawers and see what I've accumulated in the past 5 years! While I know better than to promise that I'll never buy any of the following things again ... I really should avoid any aisles that sell: sticky note pads (I've counted over 20 so far) Lotions and soaps Hair products (I'm not even admitting this number) Chapstick/lip gloss/ lip balm pens and markers boxes of cute little cards cleaning supplies - 5 nearly-full bottles of Windex says it all! Skinny magnetic tablets - nearly tied with number of sticky note pads Ugh! Friday - And to that list, add candles! Tealights, jar candles, in-between candles oh boy! I'm almost afraid to label the outside of these boxes for fear that those kind people who have volunteered to help me move will change their minds!! I can't help but think that if anyone were to break in and see all these drug boxes, they might think they're really going to get something good!! Won...
Welcome to the world, little Miss Emma Elizabeth! My friend and I had plans to meet for lunch after her doctor's appointment but apparently the baby decided she felt like having today as her birthday instead, so I quickly unreserved the table and headed to the store to buy flowers and a magazine for mom and a princess coloring book for the big sister, and then headed up to the hospital. Emma is just perfect and is already showing signs of having pretty hair like her mom and sister! Yay - another excuse to buy girl clothes!
Ok - here's the big news: I bought a house! Yes, I have made the brave jump from the carefree, irresponsible life of a renter and am in the process of becoming a homeowner! It still has to be inspected and there are rumored to be a ridiculous number of papers to sign, but once that's all over .... it's mine! Woo hoo! So yes, that means I'm staying in Yakima. I like the sunshine, I like the fruit, I love my job, I love the food at the hospital most of the time, I like my Safeway store, I like my dentist, I like my doctor, I like my coworkers - basically I pretty much love my life! The location is perfect. I can (theoretically) walk to work, although we'll see about that. I'm near a fantastic park, a pool, my gym, and a few restaurants. The inside is cottage style, which really appeals to me. It's a 1940's house but appears to have been re-done on the inside. It had all the things I wanted when I made my "What my dream house looks like"...
I just got back from a very fun weekend in Edmonton. I have never seen so much snow in one afternoon like I did on Friday afternoon-evening-night! It made it quite beautiful, especially when the sun came out as I was leaving today. The weekend started with a very fun twist -- a semi-blind date! A ticket to a hockey game (how great is that?!) was dropped off at Kirk and Shannon's house Friday morning. Shannon picked me up in the afternoon and I had some time to get a quick review of my date's winning qualities from Ayva. I had a slight advantage because I knew who the date was - Kirk's brother Jeff - , but it was still pretty suspenseful because I had never met him and the plan was that we would meet when we reached our seats! Pretty cool, huh? Shannon and Ayva were both pretty excited about the whole thing, so much so that Jeff apparently offered to buy them tickets a few rows back so they could be there to watch. smirk~ I didn't take any pictures, silly me, but ...
And they said you couldn't predict the future! If the 9-question Facebook quiz I just took is to be believed, I will be getting married in 4 years and 1 month! Who knew?! Would it be sooner if I had chosen a different season as my favorite? Oh well, I think it's a lovely timeline because it will give me time to finish up my goal of visiting the 6 main continents (sorry, Antarctica) before settling down, find an outfit, and whatever else goes into it. In college I saw a picture of a wedding cake with some particularly striking flowers, and I foolishly commented to my best friend about how cool it looked. He patted me on the head and told me not to get my hopes up because those flowers might very well be extinct before I got married. hmmph! Sorry, it doesn't give any info about the future groom. I can only hope he likes silver hairs! ;-)
Opinion time!! Okay - so here's my debate .... daybed vs twin bed. It's for my extra room that's currently an office/sporting good storage/second closet. I hear daybeds are hard to make - any opinions or tips on that? Just thinking that maybe my lack of extra beds is the reason why visitors are so few and far between. If you have any other opinions or ideas as to why that might be - keep those to yourself - this is just open forum on which kind of bed to get! ;-) smirk
So I've been blog-jumping, following links from one friend's blog to another, to another, to another, until I'm looking at blogs of people I don't know, and I was seeing this recurrent theme of "all about the kids." Rather than having my blog be entirely about the wonder-nephews, I'll try to spice it up for those of you who live vicariously through my adventures. So my latest profound discovery about myself ... I hope you're all sitting down .... SHOES AREN'T MY GREATEST WEAKNESS!! Nope, I have come to realize that bags/purses/wristlets/?? are my greatest weakness! I really don't even want to add them all up and put the number out there but ... last week I went into the hospital gift shop for some candy and walked out with a purse instead! Maybe I'll take some pictures of purses and post them :-) Next trip, unless something else comes up before then ... Edmonton!
Greetings from Montana. I enjoyed my first skiing day of the year although I am once again going through this frustrating, painful routine of "Which socks are the ones that don't hurt?" Darn bony legs! Anyhow, it was great to ski with Debbie again and to realize that I didn't forget all the neat stuff she taught me. Day 1 is done, now I need some drugs and some sleep!!! Day 2 and 3 update - the drugs didn't work.... ow... this is so undignified!!
So after all that rah rah be happy stuff ... let me follow up with the details about my best Valentine's Day EVER (so far)! I GOT ALL SORTS OF HUGS AND KISSES from some hot little blonde guys (I think one of them may have had a fever) :-) I got a call from Jonathan telling me they were heading this way and would be in Spokane on Friday. As luck would have it, I had Friday off, so I took off after work, lickity-split, for Spokane and we met up just east of Coeur D'Alene at a timeshare place. It was so fun to see the boys and see how big they've gotten, and hear all the words Bowdrie knows. Over breakfast Bowdrie told me I'm funny, and this afternoon he told me he loved me. Awww ... I am loved!
Musings and thoughts.... It's amazing how many thoughts can go floating through your head while frosting cupcake after cupcake. That's how I spent part of my evening ... thinking about why I love holidays so much and thinking about Valentines Day tomorrow. I had great plans to bake all these cupcakes and then spend some quality time curling my hair with my magic curling iron. Unfortunately I fell asleep while waiting for the cupcakes to cool so I am now out of time for the hair so I have to get up really early tomorrow and get curling. I celebrated Valentines Day a day early ... doing all the self-indulgent things I wanted to do. I'm most delighted with the eyebrow waxing lady I just went to today after work. She's definately an artist! She did a wonderful job and it was a wonderful way to kick off the next few days! One of my thoughts was about holidays and if maybe I missed my calling as, oh I don't know, an elementary school teacher? I just love holidays, ...
Dad update: Dad had surgery today to try to fix the damaged vocal chord and whatever else is causing him to choke so frequently. He made it through surgery just fine and here's mom's update: Jim had his surgery today and the Dr thought he should spend the night but Jim wanted to come home and I think he'll feel better if I'm around. The nurse gave him some juice to see how his swallow was and he choked up and the juice went flying.........so guess things aren't quite fixed yet, but at least we hope for a good recovery. He didn't panic so that was a very good thing. The cut is right in the front of his neck and is probably about two inches long, but it looks great........he has a neck collar on and a little drain which will come out tomorrow when we got up to see the Doctor.........Dr Edmond is a great guy and Jim seems to like him so that is half the battle. Anyway, we hope this will help him with his talking and swallowing and we'll have good things to ...