First off my sis in law has her first photo shoots this week. She's operating under the name of Square Root Photography. I'm really proud of Janelle that she has found something that she likes and is working on it. Especially since she has great potential and a natural nack for photography. All we have to do is get her a great camera and I know she will take care of the rest! :) You go girl!!!
Second... lol... I'm laughing just thinking about it. It's a video that some folks in New York made. They are spoofing Twilight, and the Young Single Adult program in our church. If you know one or the other you'll enjoy it. Have fun!
So I've been a total slacker and haven't posted in about two months. What a couple of months we've had.
Fred- Is working like a mad man. Papa Johns had 5 drive quit all in one week and as they started to hire more drivers they started getting busy on a daily basis. Which means lots of shifts for Fred. So the guy wakes up around 6am goes to Insight works there until about 5 then goes straight to Papa Johns and delievers pizza until 11-11:30 at night. Comes home spends a little time with me and heads off to bed around 1am. He is such a trooper :) I try to meet up with him in between the two jobs, take him dinner if he wants it. But a chance to see him and break up my day is nice. At home he still does anything he can to help out. He vacuums, does dishes, and will even help with laundry :)
Me- Like I said I've been a slacker. I wanted to have the house is much better shape than it is. I'm not going to make my January 1st listing date. I really want to get the house listed, well of course it's kind of essential to selling a house but also spring is right around the corner and I don't want to miss it. I have gotten some things done. The basement is really close to being done. We need to put the new tiles in and finish laying the baseboards and door trims. Then we can move all the furniture around and have that room ready to show. I've also gotten back to my photography. I actually had TWO shoots yesterday. It was nice to have the work, but I need to be doing curls with my camera or something because my shoulder is a little stiff this morning. Oh the shoulder, it's doing great. I have 90% range of motion. I still have a really hard time getting behind my back but it does go there. That will take time as long as I keep working it. And strength will come back slowly. But honesty for 11 weeks out of surgery I'm doing great. Sadly I'm done with PT. I really liked my physical therapy office, not to mention those appointments helped me remember what day it was. But it is nice to know that I'm functioning well enough that I don't have to be there.
Well I'm sure I'm forgetting something but oh well I'm sure it will come up later if it's important enough. Hope you all had a good Thanksgiving and are preparing for a fantastic Christmas.
Doesn't the blog look great for winter? I would sit here and write a blog about the last couple months but sadly I don't not have the time nor energy. Hopefully tonight after I steal Fred's laptop. But don't worry we are alive and kicking :)
Thursday was my birthday and it was a blast. Since I know I lead such an interesting life that you all are just dying to have, so here is the play by play. After only about 3 hours sleep (no I wasn't sleeping due to excitement) I went upstairs to hang out with Fred. Who had generously taken Thursday and Friday off to help me with everything. Fred was so very excited about my gift that he made me open it first thing. I slowly opened the small box that had been sitting on our piano for almost the last month. Upon opening I fully understood his excitement. Fred managed to find my dream music box. I have loved music boxes since I was a very small child but I am extremely picky about the quality of the music and how the box is made. Hence why I never owned any. Until my birthday :) And what was the song that my box plays? My favorite lullaby "Hushabye Mountain". That song comes from the movie "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" which if you've never seen it you need to. The box its self is maple with a daisy like flower on top. Officially the flower is Edelweiss but it's part of the same family. And one thing that made it really cool was the fact that Fred thought of it all on his own based on a comment I made months ago. He knew I loved music boxes but that I was really picky about them too. Then back in May when we saw Chitty Chitty Bang Bang on stage (wonderful play by the way) I leaned over at one point and said "The would perfect. A real music box that played Hushabye Mountain." That was it. Never mentioned or brought up again. It took Fred a lot of work to find it, eventually he found it at Music Box World, UK. What a sweet husband!
Next was a bunch of errands. There were a couple of last minute things to pick up for the party. Can you believe that I almost forgot the
chips for the dip? Fred also took me out to lunch at Subway :) Ahh birthdays on a budget. But I really do like Subway and very rarely get it especially with no complaint from Fred about going there. Once home we had to start setting up for the party! And if you haven't figured it
out it was a Frog Themed Party. Mom asked if people thought I was sickly obsessed with frogs. First off what do I care? Secondly, I've liked frogs since I was 9 years old why stop now? Mom laughed and went back to whatever she was doing. But yes there were frogs all over the place. Earlier in the week I had scoured some coloring books for frogs. Colored the pictures I found and mounted them on poster board. I think they came out pretty good looking, especially since they were coloring books from the dollar store. Honestly I can't take credit for thinking of doing that. One of my nieces sent me a coloring page of frogs that she did, and I wanted to put it up for my party. Then I got to thinking why not do a whole bunch of them. 6 year olds can be so inspirational. One of the pieces I was particularly proud of was the sign we put on the door. I used coloring pages for the bugs and frog. Then I printed the message I wanted off the computer so I knew the size was right. Then I traced the letters and filled the poster letters in with marker. Yup it was stinking awesome! Sad that I had that much time to put into it but awesome out come.
Next was a bunch of errands. There were a couple of last minute things to pick up for the party. Can you believe that I almost forgot the
chips for the dip? Fred also took me out to lunch at Subway :) Ahh birthdays on a budget. But I really do like Subway and very rarely g
et it especially with no complaint from Fred about going there. Once home we had to start setting up for the party! And if you haven't figured it out it was a Frog Themed Party. Mom asked if people thought I was sickly obsessed with frogs. First off what do I care? Secondly, I've liked frogs since I was 9 years old why stop now? Mom laughed and went back to whatever she was doing. But yes there were frogs all over the place. Earlier in the week I had scoured some coloring books for frogs. Colored the pictures I found and mounted them on poster board. I think they came out pretty good looking, especially since they were coloring books from the dollar store. Honestly I can't take credit for thinking of doing that. One of my nieces sent me a coloring page of frogs that she did, and I wanted to put it up for my party. Then I got to thinking why not do a whole bunch of them. 6 year olds can be so inspirational. One of the pieces I was particularly proud of was the sign we put on the door. I used coloring pages for the bugs and frog. Then I printed the message I wanted off the computer so I knew the size was right. Then I traced the letters and filled the poster letters in with marker. Yup it was stinking awesome! Sad that I had that much time to put into it but awesome out come.
We of course played games too. The first one was a matching game. I had typed out about 16 things having to do with frogs ie "This is the only place frogs don't live" then on the walls were little frog cut outs with the answers. Once you found the answer you wrote it down on the piece of paper. In this case the answer was "Antarctica". It was fun to learn some off the wall facts about frogs. I think my favorite thing that I learned was frogs can only see moving things. The second game was what Fred and I called 25 Questions. Fred and I had come up with 25 statements about us. We read the statements to everyone and our guests had to decide whether it was Fred, Me or both of us. Some were obvious and other were very difficult. It was a lot of fun.
The rest of the night we spent talking, laughing and eating our hearts out. Our last guest left around 10:30pm. I was passed out by 12am. Which if you know me is early. Not only did I fall asleep quickly I stayed asleep too. 12 hours baby! I woke up in time for PT. Which they told me unless I'm going to be in super crowded areas or at risk of people grabbing my shoulder I don't have to wear my sling. Wahoo! After PT Fred and I went out to get my free birthday ice cream at Bruster's Real Ice Cream. I received the coupon in my e-mail from 102.3 The Max (I'm signed up as one of their loyal). It was for up to four 5oz ice creams. Since it was just Fred and I we figured they would only give us two but nope we got all four. They make their ice cream so there were some fun flavors. I had Pumpkin Cheese Cake and Peanut Butter Cookie Dough; Fred had Stick in the Mud and Carmel Apple. Yummy in the tummy all the way around.
First off let me show you the surgical photos. The first one is of my bone spur. Each of those little bumps is a spur, which had to be ground off. The second picture is the fluid that was in my shoulder. That nasty stuff they suctioned out so clean fluid could move in. That's what the third picture is. As for the complications: Of course I can't do anything the easy way. That's what got me into this predicament in the first place. I had to have complications with the surgery. Nothing too major. But not exactly fun. The first one wasn't really what you would call a complication more of an annoyance. When I went in for surgery they put a nerve block in my shoulder so I wouldn't feel my arm after the surgery. This cuts down on the pain, but sadly since I'm thin and healthy it only last about 12 hours instead of the anticipate 18-24 hours. I felt very jipped. On top of that the prescription that they gave me wasn't strong enough without using my Cryocuff 24hours a day. At least the pain kept me from moving around too much. Saturday Fred and I went over to my parents to see Janelle and Julie while they were visiting. We also had the opportunity watch General Conference as a family. Okay I slept through most of it but I did try to stay awake. Here is where the first complication showed up. In the form of a rash. I was starting to itch around my bandages and then the rash complete with lesions and bumps showed up all up and down my arm. So we took off the surgical bandage, only to see that indeed I was reacting to the adhesive. And the betadine they used to clean my skin for surgery had soaked into my skin and my body did not like that. Janelle and Mom scrubbed down my arm best that we could with alcohol. Fred had to work that night so I stayed over with my parents just so everyone else felt I was secure. Around 1am the itching was unbearable so Mom spent the next hour scrubbing my arm with alcohol and dove soap. We also lined my sling with some cotton fabric so my natural movements weren't rubbing against the rough fabric of the sling. Sunday during the day was rather uneventful. Fred came back over after second session, originally the plan was to take me home. But I still had a very bad rash and needed lots of help doing things. Since Fred had to return to work Monday morning it was decided that it would be best for me to stay with mom and dad a few days more. Which turned out to be a great idea considering we ended up in the Emergency Room that night. My chest had started hurting in the late afternoon, I didn't think much of it because I have a history with this type of pain. As the evening progressed I got worse and worse. Eventually it interfered with my breathing. At about 10pm I couldn't take it anymore and the ER was my only choice that that time. After a full battery of tests it was concluded that I had a Chest Wall inflammation and the rash was a mild reaction to the betadine. I was sent home with a much stronger pain medication, an anti-histamine, and a cream for the rash. Boy oh boy did I sleep well that night. Monday Mom took me to my PT appointment and to the house so I would have clean clothes while I was at their house. My physical therapist said that I can come out of the sling while I'm at home for a few hours a day when a I'm not really doing anything. To help build my muscles back up. But in public I have to be in the sling to just make sure I don't try to use it just yet and so everyone else knows that they can't touch it. Over the next 6 weeks I'll work my way out of it. But I was given the okay to shower. Showering is difficult and painful but nice to scrub clean. Today was sleep day. Monday I did way too much and I spent today sleeping it off. I've been up for about for almost 5 hours and I'm ready to go back to bed. It's kind of sad. My rash is looking much better. It's stopped getting worse and it's no longer red. There is still some itching but not nearly as bad. All in all I'm still rather wosy and wobbly. I will probably remain under the watchful care of my parents for a couple more days. I told mom that she didn't have to do all this and her response was "Just take care of me when I no longer can." I love my parents :) And of course my husband. It's hard on him to have me away, but he is keeping it together like a trooper. Well that is the end of any coherent thoughts for now. Until next time...
Hey all, it's the frog prince here. It's 12:11 pm today on the day of Crys' surgery and everything went extremely well. She even has pictures from the scope, which she was of course thrilled about!
They went in and cut the bicep tendon and then tacked it back on. There was some fluid, Crys could tell you what kind, but I don't know, it was on top, that was inflamed that they removed. They also filed down a bone spur, so the main things that were causing her pain should be gone and the re-attachment of the tendon should help the healing process.
Now for all of you medicine/health inclined types, I have lots of fun technical terms for you. First there was the decompression of bursae and spur and bicep tenodesis, which for those of you like me who don't have a clue about anything, that means they cut the tendon and then tacked it to the humerous bone. They reattached it by a single screw and some stitches. That's all the technical stuff.
Poor Crys had to get stuck 4 different times for her IV, her veins kept rolling out of the way once the needle entered the skin. I felt so bad for her. She entered surgery at 7:24 am and was done by 8:19 am. She has a really neat apparatus that wraps all the way around her shoulder and hooks up to a machine filled with ice water that keeps her shoulder iced. She actually recovered from the medicine they gave her really quickly, she still cannot move or even feel her arm at the moment though. They intabated her for her surgery to monitor her breathing, which means that they had to stick a tube down her throat and it has given her a terrible sore throat. My thoughtful mother prepared some home made vegetable soup for us and so she had some of that which is helping.
So there you have it. Our day began at 4:00 am this morning and while Crys has a fun day of sleep ahead of her, for a little change of pace, I will be playing the part of the nurse maid this time. She's a good patient though. But we are doing ok.
Last week something happened that I will probably never happen again. Every other day someone I knew had a baby. No JOKE!! And get this two were girls and two were boys.
Monday 21st: Bradley came in at 6lbs 12oz and 20 inches.
Wednesday 23rd: Little Miss (I forgot the details)
Friday 25th: Olivia weighed in at 3lbs 15oz and 17 inches.
Sunday 27th: Tristan he was 8lbs and 20 inches (I may be a little off I forgot to write it down.)
Also we attended our nephew's baby bless on Sunday morning. Oh and don't forget that I have three more friends due in the next three weeks. What wonderful blessings all around! :)
So I was out running errands today. And what a day it was. That is a whole other story. Anyway... I was on my way home from my parents and I saw one of the funniest things I've seen in a long time.
Yes folks this is a real picture. No editing what so ever. That is the rack of an Elk on the roof of a SUV. I could not tell you how happy I was I had my camera it was such a fun moment. And I know that so many of you would get a kick out of it.
The rack was just so stinkin' HUGE!!! Then to see it on top of a car. It was just too classic to pass up. Also If you are wondering the SUV has Michigan plates.
Time has just been flying. It probably doesn't help that I have been doing everything and anything all day long. Today I think will be the first day in two weeks that I haven't done anything to get ready for the surgery. I spend my days cleaning the house, cooking meals for after the surgery and finishing up any renovations I can. I did spend some time in Tennessee hanging out with my family and taking dress pictures. I took pictures of about 65 wedding dress. Most of them with trains that needed their own photos. I did most of the photos at night while everyone was asleep and during the day I hung out with Bre and the kids. That was a lot of fun. The day after I returned to Kentucky I had a photo shoot. We had a perfect day for it. Not too hot or cold, the flowers were still in bloom and the family was just adorable to begin with. I finished editing and uploading photos about 5 minutes before Matt and Bethany showed up for their shoot. They wanted some Maternity photos which was nice to experiment with. Thank goodness we didn't wait to take them. Their little girl Aurora DeLuna Mussman was born this morning. Wednesday I had to get my teeth cleaned, they found a few cavities, I have to back in next week to get those fixed. After the dentist I went and had an adjustment. Boy oh boy did that hurt. My shoulder was not very happy, but I am sleeping much better. Which is fantastic because I was really starting to run on fumes. I was getting 10 hours of sleep but it was so poor that I would be dead on my feet in a couple of hours. The last couple nights have gone much better. Yesterday was cooking day. I spent 6 hours in my kitchen. I roasted a chicken and pealed it, made enchiladas for dinner, hamburger helpers to put in the freezer for later, food for the party and don't forget the cheesecake for grandmother's b-day dinner. (Still need an entree idea but I have desert). For the next two weeks I should be able to slow down. I have a couple more rooms to clean and a few things to make for my b-day party. I have to have that all done by next Saturday. Next Saturday I have a full hour shoot in the early morning, and then at 10 we start our "Day at the Temple" shoot. Where people can come and for $10 I'll take their photos for 10 minutes. They also get to walk away with their CD of photos. That will end around 2pm. That will be a long day. Oh and Eli's b-day is on the 29th so I'll be taking pictures then too. It's photo mania!!!!! Whats funny is no one is trying to tell me to slow down. It is wonderful to not hear that. I know it's because everyone know that once I have the surgery I will be at a dead stop, and I will get any rest I'm missing out on. But it's still nice to not have to hear "Slow down, you'll hurt yourself" or "It will wait" or "It doesn't really have to be done." It reminds me of the good ole days when I didn't hear that. ;)
Yes folks I am happy today. Which honestly I'm usually pretty happy but life has just been a little rough lately. My car had to go to the shop, almost all the computers around me needed work or new parts. The house is still a mess because we've been remodeling and poor Fred has just been busy as busy can be. My biggest issue has been my WONDERFUL shoulder (can't you just smell the sarcasm). My cortisone shot wore off and all my progress was gone. I have a constant burning in my shoulder no matter how much physical therapy I do. I'm just kind of stuck with limited mobility and even more limited strength . Well today was my three month follow up with my Orthopedist. He was glad to see that I had descent range of motion and strength but it's not where it should be after three months of therapy. So he did a few pressure tests to see how the core pain was doing. Oh yeah not fun for me at all. He told me I had two options we could keep with the physical therapy but it will be a very long road. Or I could have surgery, or course surgery is not without it's risks and there is no guarantee that it will work but it's a shot at a fuller and quicker recover. Well Folks Surgery it is. Now before you start going all sad say, "you poor thing" or "oh no" please know and understand that I am stinkin' excited about this. Like I've said it is a terrible being limited right now. And my heart leaps that there is something else to try. It gives me hope and then if it doesn't work at least I know that I have done all I can do. That I can live with it. The sadistic and masochistic side of me is not only am I having surgery I'm have cool surgery. ;) First of course they are going to do a Shoulder Arthroscopy. Which is when they take the scope and insert it into my should and do all the repairs that way. Although the MRI showed that everything was in tact it could have missed something or there could be new damage. Also my doctor said he'll scrape off any bone spurs or calcification. The whole point is to repair and widen the space in my shoulder so it has the space it needs to heal. Then he is going to go into another part of my arm with the scope and do a Biceps Tenodesis. This is really cool to me. The Bicep Tendon usually attaches in the shoulder cavity well since we are trying to create space he will cut the tendon and pin it to my Humerus bone. My arm and shoulder will still work just fine but when I flex my massive muscle (ha!) I won't feel the tendon pull into my shoulder. That's the news folks. My surgery will be October 1st at 9am. I get to be at the new hospital, it's only 2.77 miles from our house, at 7am and will be home later that day. After-wards I'm looking at about 6 weeks in a sling. So yup I'm excited, and I laugh about it too. In talking to my doctor and doing some research I found that this type of surgery is usually done on people who are serious throwing athletes, major accident victims or people that are in their 40s. I fall into none of those categories I was getting into a car. I am talented!!!! Don't you all wish you could be like me? LOL!
I find myself unable to sleep so I thought I would share with you all the final harvest from my garden. Due to my second job and Crys' injury, we are unable to keep up with the garden any longer so we decided to glean what we could from it and prepare the soil for next year. Anyway, I spent about 30 minutes yesterday harvesting what I could from the garden and thought I would share with those of you that read my earlier posts about the garden. All in all it wasn't a bad year. I learned some valuable lessons and was able to get some very tasty vegetables, peppers, salsa and bread out of this years garden. Hopefully next year will be better with the lessons I have learned. Anyway, here they are, the pictures of my final harvest. Don't drool all over your keyboard!
So I've learned to can salsa and pickles. Fred is working a second job. We are remolding the basement. I've found some at home work. I'm off my medication (WAHOO) I'm sure there is a bunch of stuff I'm missing but I wanted to keep you all updated.
Oh what a day, and what a project. I finally was able to re-do the guest bathroom. My shoulder was feeling pretty good after my treatment today and I had all the materials I needed. So here are the before shots:
And the after.....
You can't tell that it really is a different color paint, but the color is more of a slate blue than bright blue it was. I also wish that I had taken pictures of the cabinet because re-painting that was huge! Alright I've still got a few things to do and food to eat :)
Army in the news. Now this is a combat video from the helicopter's camera. Although it was edited for time, and the camera shoots in b&w infrared it is still a little graphic. But if you still want to watch here is the link.
If you don't watch it just know that the reason they were showing this video was to prove that our Army isn't shooting everything they see. They are trying to avoid collateral damage. The pilots in this video check 6 times before firing, and then they mention moving to avoid excess damage. Overall the completed the mission with no US loss of life and no structures were damaged.
There has been so much that has been happening. I kept telling myself, as soon as these pictures are loaded I'll blog. But then for some reason when I was done with photos it was 1 am or later and I would actually be falling asleep. So here is the low down.
June 18-21st I went and spent the day at cub camp helping out at the "Pixie" Cabin. These were all the kids whose parents where involved in the program but couldn't go to camp, like Brandon. It was quite the day. Filled with 21 kids running around a small cabin, awful rain storms, thunder, lightening, an inflatable water slide, and lots of messes. If you can't tell it was a blast. A long day, but a blast. That night J&B and kids all came up for the weekend. J is home on R&R so it was a treat to see him. But it was a ton of fun to have all the kids and Bre up here. We did the usual stuff. Playing, running, swimming, fireworks, movies, and oh so much food. J&B even got to go to the temple :) Fathers Day was great. We had Dad, J and Fred all there. Ben, Shawn and Dave you were all missed. Most places for Fathers Day the wife cooks a special meal, well at my parents house it is my Dad's day to cook. He is aloud to cook whatever he wants, how he wants and as much as he wants. So we had Rib racks, fresh green beans (from Dad's garden) and the best dessert ever!!! Dad's very special 4th of July pie. Which consists of crepes, blue berries, raspberries, whipped cream and a whipped cream cheese filling. It's so heavy but light at the same moment. It's the perfect balance. After dinner J&B and kids headed home taking Brandon too so that they can spend as much time as a whole family. Then I packed up and came back home. It was crazy, I didn't realize how much I missed Fred until I got home.
June 22-24 Most of this was spent with my parents. You'd think I'd be sick of them after spending the whole weekend together, but with Fred working a second job I go a little stir crazy at home. I'm still getting used to him being gone that extra 4 hours a night. Which this week it was great for Eli because he was missing Brandon. So I would go and hang out with him and play games. Eli has grown so much in the last year, I'm really proud of him.
June 25 A friend of ours (who used to be an electrician) came and installed our new lights. We now have a ceiling fan in our bedroom. New lights in both hallways, and a new chandelier in the dinning room. Another step towards a finished home. They are such great lights! Thanks J&B and Mom and Dad for your contributions :) That night we went down to the Audubon Country Club with Rick, Stuart, and of course Grandmother. She occasionally takes us for dinner down there. Grandmother is a wonderful lady, she has some of the Southern Propriety in her but she still can enjoy a younger crowd. Dinner was great, as always. And I got to have peppermint ice cream for desert. It was also the only night that Fred had off from work so we got to come home and talk.
June 26 This day was pretty uneventful until about 3pm. I had my MRI for my shoulder. The whole process although, extremely painful, was really cool. Before they could scan me they had to inject a contrast die into my shoulder joint. Well to be nice they injected Novocaine into the joint first. So they inserted the needle with a special end on it so that they don't have to stick you again to inject the dye. But one of the things that made it soooo cool was that it is done with x-rays. The tech takes x-rays every minute or so so that they doctor can see where the needle is. So they can get it where it is needed. The other part that was very cool was I had a young resident doing the procedure so he was being supervised and walked through the procedure by the supervising doctor. So not only did I see what was going on the x-ray screen but I heard what they were doing. I had a giant grin on my face the whole time. The tech said that she had never seen anyone smile during the procedure. There were parts of the procedure that were uncomfortable, like while he was numbing my shoulder he hit the bone. That was a very strange feeling. Then they took me to the scanner. Even though it was a high scanner (the tunnel was four feet tall) I decided to just close my eyes for the whole thing and not worry about it. The nurses and doctors had asked me a billion times if I was closterphobic and I'm not but they got me thinking it was going to be worse than it really was. So I just closed my eyes and listened to the music coming through my headphones. About halfway through I almost broke down in tears it was hurting so bad. I refused to cry because I knew I would move and we'd have to start the squence over. I made it through, it was not pleasant but I did it. Afterwords I went to Mom and Dad's but a soak in the jacuzie tub. Watched a movie with Eli and then came home. As tired, sore, and all the meds I took I still couldn't get to sleep until 4am. urgggg.
June 27 I went and hung out with Lacy and Ryan at their yard sale. I was planning on just stopping by but then I sat down and I got comfortable. So I helped out by keeping my eye on the sale or the kids while they were running around doing things. I can't believe they are moving. :( Off all the way to Idaho!! At least I'm glad the Air Force gave them their first choice, so they are going to a place they want to be. Ryan has been our home teacher for our entire marriage, and Lacy is just a sweetheart I'll miss them greatly.
Till Now As expected I'm reacting to my injections, and all the extra fluids in my shoulder. So I'm not sleeping well, and at odd times. I hurt, all over and I'm getting a sinus infection to boot. Oh well it will pass.
This Week Getting better, follow up with the Othropedist, and Bre and kids are coming up for the 4th. So another weekend of living over in Indiana. Maybe the kids will wear me out so that I get into a regular sleep schedule. One can only hope :)
Someday I will --be pain free --sleep when normal people do --have the strength to lift things with my right arm and not worry if I'll drop it --see all the people I've left behind in all my moves --get a pedicure --lose my talent for incurring injuries in odd ways --not get sinus infections because of the air conditioning --have my house decorated just right (Then I will probably have to move)
but today is not that day.
I will ALWAYS --love my family (even if at times I may not like it :) --strive to be my best --be a hopeless romantic --enjoy a good laugh --be fascinated by all things medical especially when I get to watch --have to be forced to eat --be just a little odd, but like we want that to change
What a day yesterday was for me. It started of with an appointment with the Orthopedist. It was a rather painful experience (she stretched and pulled my are to check motion). But it had a good out come. There is no fracture, not even hair line and she believes that there is no rip in the tendon or ligaments. But she was impressed with how bad the bone bruise is. So on Monday I start physical therapy and if I'm not showing progress in 3 weeks then we will start looking for soft tissue damage. The doctor also gave me a new med so that I don't hurt as much. It's fantastic stuff, I still feel pain but I can move my arm now. She also has my arm out of the sling :) Shortly after getting home and wonderful little box showed up. It was my camera! Home from it's long journey to Texas to be repaired. The Service Center had to replace the CF Drive Deck. Which is the part that writes files, and reads files from the memory card. The whole thing was faulty. So there was no way they could fight the warranty. I'm not sure they would have Sony has been really good during this whole ordeal. The tech even called me the day he finished to let me know it would soon be in the mail. And they sent me the tracking code to follow it home. I am very happy with these guys. Then it was off to the salon to get a hair cut. My arm is out of the sling but I still can't do my hair, the ability to hold my arm over my head just isn't there. So Fred helped me pick out a style online, and I printed out a picture. Took it down to the salon and I had a great stylist we had a great time. We started talking about my photo business and she hired me to do pictures of her girls. :) And she wanted some of my cards so she can help spread the word. So life is pretty good!
So I can't exactly tell how old Raek is in human years. There is a little controversy on the how old and 8 month old cat is in human years. According to my calculations and his attitude I'm going with about 5 years old. And this cat is STUBBORN!!! I know that eventually someday our children will exhibit our traits but our cat?! Come on give me a break! Anyway.... But yes Raek is extremely stubborn. He knows that there are things he is not supposed to do. We have trained him with a squirt bottle every time he would do something we didn't like. Well the little stinker goes and does them when we are not home or in the room. And if we hear him all we have to do is yell "Raek" and you hear a thud of him jumping down or he comes running out of a room. I have never seen a cat behave like such a child. Well tonight that cat pushed my button. I had a late dinner and put my plate on the counter. No big do it all the time. Especially when the sink is pretty full like tonight. 20 minutes later CRASH!!!! Raek had gotten up on the counter and knocked off the plate, AND IT BROKE!!!!!! I know dishes don't last forever but I was hoping to keep my complete set for another 10 years or so. Considering the trouble we had to go through to get the whole set of un-broken dishes. A whole month of buying a returning sets with broken pieces, and just as it was being discontinued. So what was I to do? What any good "parent" would. Get upset, clean it up, blog about it and get over it. So that was my excitement for the night, oi! Sorry if this is a little dis-jointed my brain isn't what it used to be... then again that means I had to have a brain :)
I couldn't pick the best title for this blog. So here were the options: Captain Clumsy Strikes Again! Yup I Did That... Oops I Did It Again... How'd You Do That? You Did What!? Believe it or Not... It's A Gift!
Any idea what I'm talking about??? No. Oh I guess I'll tell you. I've busted my right shoulder. To what extent the doctors are still figuring out. We know that there is tendon and ligament damage but the x-ray would come up on the monitor right so they have to wait for the film to develop to see if there is a fracture. Either way I have to go see an Orthopedic Doctor to get checked out. Whether is takes surgery or tons of rehab, we don't know yet. So we will see.
Oh you probably want to know how I 'broke' my shoulder. Well I was getting into the van and smacked my shoulder against the door frame. Snap Crackle Pop. And I get to add another odd occurrence of injuries to my list. You'd think if I was really that breakable that I would break things when most other people would but nope my body has to be strange.
PS- Yes I am right handed and I have keep my arm in a sling for who knows how long.
WARNING!!!!!!!!!!! THERE ARE FAIRLY GRAPHIC PICTURES INCLUDED IN THIS POST!
So today Fred had a sabaceous cyst removed. A sabaceous cyst is a closed sac below the surface of the skin that has a lining that resembles the uppermost part of a hair follicle and filles with fatty white, semi-solid material called sebum. Sbum is produced by sebaceous glads of the epidermis. (according to Wikipedia). Well Fred has had this one for several months, we had an MD friend of ours look at it when it first appeared and he said that unless it starts growing it should be fine. And sometimes they go away on their own. Well a couple of weeks ago this sucker decided to have a growth spurt and cause Fred pain. So Fred saw our primary care doctor and he scheduled a time to remove. Thank-fuly the cyst decrease insize and pain inbetween the original visit and the surgery. So at least Fred was more comfortable. The procedure was pretty simple. Poke a big hole in Fred's face, drain it all out, remove the gland, and stitch him up. The only small complication was the cyst had started to be infected and eating the linning of the gland away. So there was some extra fluid from that. There was also a lot more oil puss than expected. They are sending everything off for biopsy. Just to be safe, there are not expecting there to be a problem. But poor Fred is uncomfortable today. Even though they did give him a numbing agent he still felt a good deal of what was going on. Also he had a cavitiy filled Wednesday which is still a little tender and to top it all off his sinuses have be all out of wack. But overall he his being a real trooper :)
To reall look at the pictures I suggest double clicking the picture so you can see it in it's full size.
I contribute to a blog called Mission 24 (see the blog list). Twice a week we are given a word and asked to take a picture of what it means to us. Today's word was HOT! I just love this picture so I had to share it.
I took this in my kitchen with our wonderful red sauce pot. (which had to be scoured) I put some water in and let it boil. I originally was going for the steam out of the pot but the bubbles looked so cool when I caught them in the camera. In PS I cropped just a little, and boosted the color by saturating it. The red pot just wasn't red enough.
Well, the easy part is over now. I have everything planted. Yesterday afternoon I dug a trench for my asparagus and planted the asparagus. Well, this morning when I woke up something made me look up how to plant asparagus and found that I had planted them upside down! So first thing this morning I dug my asparagus back up and and replanted them the right way. Here's a picture of my new trenches. You can't tell from the picture, but those trenches are about 6 inches deep, 4-5 inches wide and about 9 feet long. And I dug them in only 1 hour! After planting the asparagus the right way, It was time to plant my other plants.
Here you can see my bell pepper plants and cayenne peppers. We have 1 purple pepper, 1 red pepper, 1 golden pepper, 3 green peppers, 3 yellow peppers and 3 cayenne peppers. These plants were planted right next to my onions which are still doing very well. As you may or may not be able to tell, the areas between my onions has been freshly hoed. There are several very small plants growing between the plants. I noticed this morning that just raking my fingers through the soil was enough to pull them. So when Crys and I were out this morning running errands we picked up a metal rake and a combination hoe with two prongs on the end. It works very well and you can see my freshly furrowed rows!
I also planted some green beans, cucumbers, squash and tomato plants. You can't see the squash, green beans or cucumbers but I did take a picture of my tomato plants. Below is a picture of my tomato plants and a side view of the pepper plants. Now that the easy part is done, I get to do the hard part, constantly weeding, watering and praying that my plants actually bloom and my hard work actually pans out. Here's to hoping and praying!
At our wedding we used 'Little Wonders' by Rob Thomas as our song. At the time it was the perfect song describe our relationship. But recently we discovered that our relationship has changed a lot! And this song "Lucky" by Jason Mraz and Colbie Caillat is a beautiful song that we feel really describes our relationship after a year of marriage.
"LUCKY"
Do you hear me, I'm talking to you Across the water across the deep blue ocean Under the open sky oh my, baby I'm trying Boy I hear you in my dreams I feel your whisper across the sea I keep you with me in my heart You make it easier when life gets hard
I'm lucky I'm in love with my best friend Lucky to have been where I have been Lucky to be coming home again Oooohhhhoohhhhohhooohhooohhooohoooh
They don't know how long it takes Waiting for a love like this Every time we say goodbye I wish we had one more kiss I'll wait for you I promise you, I will
I'm lucky I'm in love with my best friend Lucky to have been where I have been Lucky to be coming home again I'm lucky we're in love in every way Lucky to have stayed where we have stayed Lucky to be coming home someday
And so I'm sailing through the sea To an island where we'll meet You'll hear the music, fell the air I'll put a flower in your hair Though the breezes through trees Move so pretty you're all I see As the world keeps spinning round You hold me right here right now
I'm lucky I'm in love with my best friend Lucky to have been where I have been Lucky to be coming home again I'm lucky we're in love in every way Lucky to have stayed where we have stayed Lucky to be coming home someday
It's the happy gardener again. I actually have not been able to work on the garden at all this week since it has been raining every other day this week and it has been very cool and downright cold at times. We actually had snow on Monday night! But today when I was weeding the garden I noticed that the soil was actually very warm so I decided to go ahead and do some planting. I planted 2 rows of carrots, 2-3 rows of peas, 2 rows of snow peas and 2 rows of lettuce. Hopefully in a few weeks I'll be able to post some pictures of my other veggies and show you all my ever growing garden.
I seem to have proven myself a good onion grower though! By my count 99% of the onion bulbs I planted back in March have already sprouted! One of them was even growing underneath one of my stepping stones! I moved the stone and it had sprouted and was growing underneath it but it was white instead of green like the rest. I moved the stone so that it could get the sunlight it needs. If you look in the picture to the left, right in front of the stepping stone, you can see the white onion sprout that was growing underneath it! Some of the sprouts have gotten quite tall already! Enjoy the pics.
Crys and I were able to go to the wedding of one of my employees today. We had a really good time and even got to dance together. It was a great way to spend a Saturday.
I think Crys is rubbing off on me. I'm becoming a sentimental sap and getting all giddy over things that I never would have in years past. The thing I am probably most proud of currently is my garden. Two Friday's ago, Crys' dad came over to help with the tilling of the garden with his power tiller. We had a fun time with it especially when he cut clean through our cable line! :) The following day on Saturday I spent my entire morning lining the garden with red bricks that you see here.
Once I was done with lining the garden I still had over 20 bricks left scattered throughout the yard that had to be stacked up so they didn't kill the lawn. So I spent a good hour or so moving all of those over to our patio. They weighed about 20lbs a piece and since I'm big, fat and out of shape, it really wore me out. :) I then raked the garden since it was still full of rocks, roots, broken garden spades, batteries, toy cars, you name it and I've found it in our garden. I took a break for a few hours and came back out around 5 pm and spent about 2 hours planting 9 rows of onions: 3 rows of red, 3 rows of white and 3 rows of yellow.
I'm sure there have been a few days that didn't fit this mold since then, but it seems like it has literally rained every 2nd day since that Saturday. For sure it has rained every day that I've wanted to work in the garden. And it's not just a light sprinkle. It's a good solid rain, and in the case of last Thursday, we had really severe thunderstorms and tornado warnings. I've actually been pretty worried about my poor little onion plants. Today, before General conference, I was cleaning the house and spent some time in the garden. This is the first chance I've had to weed in the garden since day 1 and grass was trying to take over my precious garden. So I spent a good 30 minutes uprooting grass and other various weeds and I was ecstatic to see almost all of my onions have already taken root and started sending up shoots! I have included some pictures and I hope you can see them ok. That's my finger next to it for comparison. That's about the average size of the plants with some much smaller, and 2 much bigger! I will be planting more veggies as it warms up and will keep you all posted. Here are two more pictures of my yummy onions!
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