Long time no blog.

I'm feeling a bit blah about blogging. More people are communicating via Facebook than reading my blog. Which is good. I started this thing hoping that my friends in GA would be able to keep up with us. FB sure makes that easy. It's one-stop shopping, the Wal-Mart Super Center of communication. The dismantling of my blog is under consideration. I'm going to give it some time and thought and see what I want to do. In the meantime . . . a long overdue blog post . . .

We've taken a few trips since I last posted. PNW was gorgeous. I can definitely understand the "pull" people feel toward the area. Mike would never survive the cold, the rain and the liberals, though. :) I would love the cold and the rain. And I'm much more tolerant of liberalism than my husband. :)

Our last trip was to the Midwest again. Visiting family and going to Cincinnati Children's for Thomas's medical stuff. Thomas got to spend Halloween with his cousins and trick-or-treated in the neighborhood I grew up in. Talk about a trip down memory lane. I even ran into a childhood pal roving through the old 'hood. Good times.

Remember Thomas's 'flowchart' for his Halloween costume last year? I couldn't talk him into being anything really new this year. I swear the kid is 8 going on 38. The *only* thing he mentioned other than re-vamping last year's costume was wearing all black and being a spy. So I jumped online and started the search for a trenchcoat and maybe a fedora. He saw me and said "Nooooooooo. I just want to wear REGULAR black clothes and be a spy." I nixed the idea for safety reasons. I knew he'd have a hissy about using reflective tape or something so he'd be able to be seen. So, no spy. In the end, we used last year's jetpack (glad I saved that!), and changed the front. Last year he fell down and could not get up because his 'armor' would not let him bend at the waist. So we found a catcher's chest guard and spray painted it silver. Added some starburst glitter Christmas ornaments to be "gravity grenades", some duct tape and the letters S.P. and voila -- Space Police costume.

The trip to Cincinnati Children's was more eventful than usual. Long story. We've been taking Thomas there for over 4 years now and feel like old pros when it comes to routine endoscopies there. We don't really feel anxious about it now. Thomas doesn't get nervous or upset. We've really become comfortable with the whole thing and have come to trust the staff there. So I have to say, we were utterly shocked when something did not go well. It is minor in the grand scheme of things and no lasting harm was done. Here's the e-mail I felt compelled to send to the hospital's Patient Advocates after the incident. I did take the Dr's names out. I don't want my blog coming up if someone googles them.

Yesterday (Tuesday, October 27, 2009) my son, Thomas, was seen by Dr. "X" for an upper endoscopy in Same Day Surgery and Dr. "Y" was the anesthesiologist. After going over Thomas's history with us, an anesthesia assistant or student (I’m not sure which) named Sean (?) asked Thomas if he would rather be induced by mask or IV and Thomas chose IV.

As I discussed with Dr. "Y" in the PACU, if I had been in earshot of the conversation, that would not have happened. From prior experience I know that Thomas's veins are difficult, and prone to "blowing out." I had stepped away from the bedside momentarily (to the section of the room right outside of where the endoscopy takes place, but still inside the doors of the endoscopy room) to get a consent form for research that had accidentally been left in the pre-op room. Though my husband was standing nearby, he could not hear this conversation and did not realize Thomas was being asked this question, or that any decision had been made to do things differently than usual. (Thomas has undergone numerous upper endoscopies at Cincinnati Children's, all with a relatively smooth induction of anesthesia and without incident.) Neither his nor my opinion/input/permission was sought. By the time I returned to the bedside, the IV was being started. It did not go well. Thomas got upset and felt pain when the IV was inserted. It was difficult to get it inserted, but Thomas was "talked through it", being told that it would only hurt for a minute and that it was like "just a bee sting." I regret that I did not stop the induction via IV at this point, but felt torn, thinking that it would be over soon and that Thomas would be "out" in just a moment. The vein blew. Dr. "Y" told the student that the vein had blown, but the student insisted, "No, he's getting it." The propofol was causing him pain and a new IV had to be started after anesthesia was partially induced. At some point, I said "I'm going to step in here and say let's use the mask." The student put a mask on Thomas and said "It's only oxygen." Though Thomas was "out", I could clearly see that he was in physical pain and clearly not completely anesthetized. He moaned, grimaced, pulled his arm away, his entire body stiffened and he lifted his body off of the table as the second IV was started.

I understand that "things happen" and I appreciate Dr. "Y" taking the time to come speak with us in the PACU. Upon further reflection on yesterday's events, I find myself still angry about Thomas being caused needless pain. I am also frustrated that I did not get a chance to speak with the student who made the decision to induce via IV.

I simply cannot believe that it is Cincinnati Childrens' procedure to ask an 8 year-old, without any parental involvement, to make the decision as to how anesthesia will be induced. Thomas has, thankfully, forgotten the experiences he has had with IV placement prior to yesterday and had no idea what that decision would involve. I know that he does not like the mask and would likely have chosen any alternative offered to that. On previous occasions, I have helped hold him still so that the mask could be held in place. Many times, with great success, the mask has been forgone in favor of holding the anesthesia tube close to his face. What I am getting at is this: though I know that he may not "like" the mask, I know that it causes him no physical pain. Based upon prior experience, I would not have opted for an IV induction. I would have guided Thomas toward choosing to be induced via gas. I feel as though my opportunity to advocate for my child was taken away in yesterday's situation.

What I would like to see happen is that today's incident be used as a teaching point to the student (Sean??) in regards to what age it is /is not appropriate for a child to make healthcare decisions without parental input and about making sure parents are at least aware of healthcare decisions their child is being asked to make.

So, what say you, people of the internet? Am I asking too much to think that my 8 year-old should not get to make that kind of a decision without my input?? I was just stunned. And downright pissed!

OTHERWISE, everything went really smoothly as far as the endoscopy goes. Though Thomas did fail his wheat trial rather spectacularly. Dr. X's first words to us in the conference room were "NO MORE WHEAT!" Well, that's pretty emphatic. His esophagus was in bad shape with exudates & furrowing showing up again. It was so bad that Dr. X said "I'm not even going to call you with the biopsy results. Unless, of course, they are not what I expect. If you don't hear from me by the end of Thursday, just go ahead with our plan." Honestly, it is easier if he fails, that it is a clear failure. No having to continue trials to see what happens. No notion that his next few trials may be colored by continuing a food that is "iffy". So now we wait 6 weeks for his esophagus to have time to heal and then we move on to new food trials. That means that our next trip to Cincinnati will be a ways out. Maybe that will prove to be some incentive for my parents to come visit.

Dr. X did lay out a plan for the next several food trials. If Thomas passes foods on the next 3 or 4 endoscopies, he should have a pretty healthy dietary variety. And then we'll start moving toward getting rid of his feeding tube. Which is a good thing. But it is also slightly unnerving. Thomas started out life below 3rd percentile in size (preemie). He moved up to around 25th %ile in his first year. Then in his 2nd year, he dropped back to 3rd %ile because he was so sick with (what turned out to be) eosinophilic esophagitis. Since he got his feeding tube and we've been able to get him nutrition even when he can't or won't eat well, he's moved up to 50th %ile. Possibly that's still below where his genes would take him without a medical condition, since Mike is 6'5" and no small fry and I'm *not* a petite flower myself. But, plain old average is GOOD. He's healthy because he is getting proper and adequate nutrition. I'm just concerned about what his growth might do when we drop the tube. I'm sure it will be a gradual thing. I'm sure we'll keep it in for a time even if we don't use it just to keep an eye on his growth. But it is still something that gives me a case of the "what ifs".

In other news . . . my best friend has set a wedding date!! WooHoo! I am so excited for her and her future hubs. Congratulations, Carrie!

Lookie what came today

As I mentioned earlier, our old Kodak was having a problem with the shutter sticking. So, rather than repair a 4 year-old camera, we shopped around for a new one. We found a great deal on this one for right around $200. 10 MP, 20X optical zoom and way more gizmos than our old camera. I shot a few photos in the backyard today. We need to get an xD card so we can use the panorama mode, but otherwise I am very pleased so far. It works great in auto, has tons of 'scene' modes and can go completely manual if I can ever get confident enough to use that! Very exciting, indeed.

This stuff is like crack!

I picked up a bag of the buffalo cheddar flavor last week. Thomas and I had movie night both Friday and Saturday because Mike was out of town. I ate the whole stinkin' bag over the course fo those 2 nights. Yummy! I think I'll pick up a bag for our camping trip this weekend. Because junk food consumed in the great outdoors doesn't count, right?

Thanks, Jose!

I am still not altogether sure whether this was a good plan or a bad plan. Yesterday I was feeling crummy from sinus/cold/allergy junk and had a pounding headache all day. I went to the grocery while Thomas was at Cub Scouts (because, believe me, otherwise I was NOT leaving the house yesterday). The avocados looked particularly good, so I picked one up to make guacamole last night. Just sounded good. And when I went in the fridge to get a lime for the guac, I saw the bottle o' margaritas leftover from last Mom's Night sitting there all innocent-like. So, yeah, my dinner consisted of some really good guacamole, chips and a couple of margaritas . . . followed by more benadryl and tylenol. Let's just say that I fell asleep really fast and early.

bad car-ma

Friday the 20th we went to Indy to visit family and for Thomas's scope in Cincinnati. I was so proud of us -- we picked Mike up from work almost 30 minutes earlier than we normally leave for the airport. The past few times we've headed to Las Vegas the traffic has been horrible and I've been sweating making it to the airport early enough. My paranoia stems from one really bad Atlanta airport experience with security lines nearly snaked outside the building and missing our flight. Not fun.

All was going fairly well - stop & go traffic, but not bad and not feeling antsy about making the flight at all. Then the air conditioning stopped working. I looked down and the temp gauge was on the H. Crap. Dang Taurus. We were not even planning to still be driving it - stupid title issues with the new Honda! So we made our way off the interstate with the temp gauge fluctuating between the normal range and hot. We were kinda near the strip, so we dumped the car in a mall parking lot across from the Trump. Mike called the number on a cab that was parked in the lot. The company actually called that driver and he came out and drove us the rest of the way to the airport. We checked our bags and Thomas and I went through security. Mike stayed outside the secure zone hoping to be able to hook up with his aunt who lives in Vegas and hand off keys to her. No dice - she was off work that day and they were off playing somewhere. So Mike arranged for the car to be towed to a dealership and came on through security.

Our flight was late and we got to Indy around 1:30 am. Got our luggage and went down to the car rental place. We had a car reserved with Avis, but they had left. They're *supposed* to stick around until their last flight gets in so they don't leave people stranded. Niiiiice. Fortunatly Thrifty still had agents at the counter and they honored our Avis rate.

Got to my mom's at 2:30 am and were able to sleep in a little the next morning. Mike and I spent some time with our respective best friends and we hung out with my parents a good bit.

My best friend just got engaged so we spent part of our Saturday at a David's bridal flipping through the wedding gowns. Since when did it become impossible to make gowns with sleeves?? Seriously, not even the plus sizes had sleeves. We asked and you can get them with sleeves, but they have none for you to try on with sleeves. What?? How are you supposed to know what it will look like? Who wants to gamble with their wedding dress for crying out loud?!? Whatever!

Carrie and I also went to Cheesecake Factory for dinner that night. We were hovering in the bar area by a column hoping to get a table there so we wouldn't have to wait so long. Nearly got accosted by some women claiming there had been a line for the tables. It was first come, first served, nutters. We let them have the table because, really, not worth it. We got the next table that came available a few minutes later anyway. When we were done with dinner, but waiting for dessert (Dude, I do not go to the CF and not have dessert - that'st just wrong.) stinky-too-much-perfume-wearing-middle-aged-ladies came up asking if we were going to be leaving soon. We said we had just ordered dessert but would be leaving after that. So they stuck around and HOVERED over our table. WHAT?? It got worse. Their socially-inappropriate husbands came over and began admiring our desserts. Seriously, one guy literally stuck his head between us and said "Oooh, that looks good! Is it strawberry shortcake?" with his face 2 inches from Carrie's plate. WHAT??? I had to just put my fork down and wait for them to get the hint. Idiots. When we got up to leave one fo the ladies said "I hope we didn't disturb you too much." CRAZY!!!!!

Thomas's scope was Monday and that went off without a hitch. We got his biopsy results back a few days later and he was all clear. So we get to keep that group of trial foods and re-try a set that had been "iffy" before when he was also off prevacid. Also Monday, Mike fed-ex'd the keys to the dealer so they could work on the Taurus.

Tuesday Mike came back home. The car wasn't ready so he had to take the shuttle from Las Vegas to St. George and get a cab back to the house. Mike worked Wednesday and then drove to Phoenix to stay with his parents and go see Purdue play in the Sweet 16 game. When he passed through Vegas, he picked up the Taurus from the dealer and parked it at the airport so Thomas and I could drive it home Sunday.

Thomas and I went to stay at my sister's and had a good time with the cousins. Thursday Carrie met up with us and took the kids to Krannert pool and to Cracker Barrel for lunch after. Turns out Krannert pool is the Nazi pool - no fun for you! When we walked in and paid we were told no pool noodles. Okay, I can see that - a zillion kids with pool noodles = mayhem. So we took the noodles back to the car and walked in. As we were walking in, one of the lifegaurds saw my niece's swim mask. "You can't use that kind of goggles here." What?? Turns out they won't allow face masks with a nose piece "because we've had some kids go under water and try to breath with those on." Um, okay. Seems like that would be a sort of self-correcting problem. Nose full of water is no fun, so don't do it again, kid. When Carrie asked about that and the noodles, she was told that they could use one of the life vests if they wanted. So she had one and was just holding onto it, floating. "Ma'am, you can't use a life vest like that." And, just so you know, we were the only ones there besides one kid who was there with his physical therapist. Crazy.

After a late lunch at CB, I took the kids to see my grandparents in the nursing home. It's so depressing. My grandpa looks worse each time I see him. He's the one I'd like to visit with, but between his hearing and my grandmother's constant interruptions, it's hard to have a conversation. My grandmother had saved some Mardi Gras junk from the activities room for the kids - silly hats and beads. Then she proceeded to fuss constantly at the kids about not breaking those beads. Lady, it's plastic fused on a string. If they break it, they won't have a necklace. Lesson learned. At one point, after I had told her this, she actually treatened that if one of the kids broke their necklace she was going to take the rest of them away. Seriously. All of a sudden it got to be time for us to leave.

Friday, I had dinner with some friends from high school. That was fun. Saturday was my sisiter's step kids' birthday party. So lots of family was out at her place and the kids all had a fun time together.

Sunday, Dawnn made a huge breakfast and Thomas and I packed up to come home. Our flight was delayed a bit and it was really, really bumpy. We had a stop in Denver and the next leg of the flight wasn't full, which was nice. The leg from Denver to Las Vegas was even more bumpy, though. They had to stop beverage service twice. Some guy a few rows in front of us was hurling his guts out. My back is still sore from being bounced around so much.

We got to Vegas and found the car just fine. Except that I *just then* realized that Mike had sent my keys to the dealer. Aw crap. Used the handy-dandy keypad code to get in the car, unloaded the luggage and checked the console and the glove box for keys. No dice. Crap. We went over to the edge of the parking garage to use my cell phone. I had bars, but the call wouldn't place. Crap. I've never successfully used my cell phone at the Vegas airport. Went back to the car and though to check under the floormat. Score. The wind was crazy and it made me really nervous driving in that.

Thomas's legs fell asleep from being cooped up so long, so I pulled off the interstate for him to stretch. Mike has me programmed to not turn the car off for a stop like that in the dessert - why risk that the car won't start back up? But when we got back in the car, things were wonky. My ABS and brake light were on and the traction control light said it was off. Weird. I gave the brakes a few test pumps and drove cautiously on. As we were nearing Mesquite, NV the headlights went out. I flipped the knob from 'auto' to 'on' and back to 'auto' and they came back on. Weirness. That happened one more time before I stopped in Mesquite to get a little gas. I was thoroughly freaked out by this point and had decided that if the car was still acting funky that I'd just get a room in Mesquite and wait for Mike to pass through. He was still in Phoenix. Purdue lost the Sweet 16 game, but he had stayed to watch the rest of the games and his boss had given him an assignment to call on a customer in Phoenix Monday before he drove back. But, when I started the car back up, all was fine. I'm thinking it was some electrical weirdness, maybe something blew into a connection from the wind?? Whatever, the Taurus was fine the rest fo the way home and I don't think I've ever been so relieved to be home.

How did I not know this???

My favorite actor from my favorite show has a blog. Dispatches From the Island . Wicked

lazy days

So much of the time it seems our family is dashing from one place to another. Not day-to-day, my-kid's-life-is-overscheduled-school-karate-Monday-scouts-Tuesday-church-Wednesday dashing. We don't do that. Thomas had been activity-less for a long time before we joined Cub Scouts. I'm talking about our constant traveling. We've been staying put since New Year (except for my grandmother's funeral and that was just a few days and just me and I don't think it counts, right?) and I like it. I mentioned this to Mike's mother when they were here Valentine's weekend. Mike gave me a look. So I asked him about the look. It meant he was going stir-crazy and is getting the travel bug. Like a friend said, I think he's part Gypsy.

So we've really just been hanging here at home. So nice. I've been pretty much staying caught up with the laundry and the housework. There are no suitcases in various stages of packing and unpacking littering my bedroom. Things are downright calm. So calm and mundane that I'm not finding much to blog about. Nothing seems really *noteworthy* so the blog had gone without much updating. Sorry folks. I can tell you the mundane things we've been up to. Hold on to your seats, kids . . . ;)

Cub Scouting is going along swimmingly, despite what appeared to be a rather unorganized and haphazard first few den meetings. I think the poor lady running the den is just overwhelmed. I've offered to help, but she's not taking me up on it. Oh well, we'll just truck along and do our thing. Thomas finished his Bobcat stuff and one Wolf requirement after the first week. He finished 2 more Wolf requirements the next week. This week we'll turn in 3 more requirements. Sadly, I think that puts him ahead of a few of the boys in our den.

We went to our first pack meeting last Wednesday (an aside . . . WHY WEDNESDAY?!? Do these people not know LOST is on?? Seriously, it's the only show I really care about on TV.) which happened to be the Blue and Gold Banquet. They asked Mike to be the Cubmaster. Did I mention that it was our FIRST pack meeting?? The guy who is doing it now has been for the past 3 years, I guess and is ready to not be Cubmaster anymore. And they know that Mike is an Eagle Scout. I guess that's all they need to know?? Now, we did mention when we signed Thomas up that we'd be happy to help and asked for adult applications. "Help" and run the whole show seem to be two different things to me, but we'll see.

Speaking of LOST . . . DANG! It is sooooo good this season. I'm geeking out over it every week. Just about every Thursday I'm ending up spending the morning over at The Fuselage reading what the other geeks are thinking and theorizing. Then my pal Toni and I hole up in a corner at park day on Fridays and talk about it. BEST. SHOW. EVER.

We've been making it to the library regularly again. Regularly enough that we're not paying fines every time we check things out now. I've been having time to read again. So nice. Mike's sister, her husband and I are doing an A-Z challenge over on Goodreads . We're supposed to read books from authors with names beginning with every letter of the alphabet. The group is open to anyone, so if you're a reader and want to participate, you can find me on Goodreads and join in. Right now I'm reading A Prayer for Owen Meany. That would be my 'I' selection. So far, so good. Except that it was seeming really, really familiar to me, yet I knew I hadn't read it. Wikipedia to the rescue. Turns out the movie Simon Burch was loosely based on the first part of the novel. Weird. Why only the first part?

25 Random Things

This has been going around Facebook. And since I'm in a blogging slump, I thought I'd post it here, too. If you read this and you have a blog, consider yourself tagged.

Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you.

1. I felt compelled, nay, duty-bound to correct the open parenthesis in the instructions of this thing.

2. I have a brown streak in my right eye. Mike calls it the sh!t streak.

3. Speaking of sh!t, I used to curse. A lot. It sometimes still trips me up. It's a terrible habit and I hate it about myself.

4. In 4th grade I lost a tooth in music class and got in trouble. I was chewing a Starburst candy when I wasn't supposed to be, which took out my loose tooth.

5. In 4th grade I cried in class one day. I can't remember why. Probably because of the teacher. I hated my teacher that year. What I do remember is the girl sitting behind me making fun of me and calling me a crybaby. I got up, slapped her across the face and said "Who's crying now?" 4th grade was a really bad year for me.

6. I went to Purdue just because Mike was there. I never admitted that to my parents and fed them a bunch of baloney about it being a great school for my chosen major, etc. But really, I was following a boy. Good thing that worked out.

7. I changed my major half-way through college. I decided I did not want to go to graduate school, so why major in psychology? I chose my new major based solely upon what I could still finish 'on time'. Why? Because I knew I wanted to marry Mike and didn't want to wait for that or be separated for school. Kids, I love my husband and my life, but don't do this. I now have a degree in social studies education that I pray I will never have to use.

8. In order to finish 'on time' I had to do some crazy stuff. I took all summer school available and took 21 credit hours + worked the semester before I student taught. Consequently Mike and I got married on a 3-day weekend I had from 'Maymester.'

9. Even though I don't want to do it, I have great respect for good public school teachers. One changed my life and I hope everyone had someone like Mrs. Wade. She saw potential and challenged me to do better than I had been doing in school.

10. The semester I took 21 hours, one of my classes was History of WWII. I think I might have failed it. The first day of class the professor made some sexist remarks. I showed him (ha!) by never returning to lecture and rarely cracking the book. The class had only 2 grades: the mid-term and the final. I got a D on the mid-term. When I checked my grade on the professor's door at the end of the term, he had me down for a B. It was barely mathematically possible, and not highly probable that I had aced the final. Still, I never said anything because I needed the class to graduate. I still feel guilty whenever I think of it.

11. My parakeet and my sister's hamsters all died one Christmas day. My family was heating with a wood-burning stove that winter because we were BROKE. My dad stoked the fire up really high so it would still be warm when we got home from visiting grandparents. It got too hot in the living room and the animals literally roasted.

12. Mike and I had the first fight of our marriage over a pot roast. I bought a roast that I had planned to get 3 meals out of. I didn't know it, but Mike didn't really like roast much. So he ate the *whole thing*. Makes sense, right? He did it so that he wouldn't have to eat it day after day. Mike didn't have a job yet post-college and I was still in school and working part time. We were broke and there was no more grocery money until my next payday.

13. We play card/board games as a family nearly every day. Our favorites are Blokus, Stratego and Apples to Apples Junior.

14. Despite going to nearly every GHS football game in high school, I never understood how the game worked . . . until Mike begged me to play Strat-o-Matic Football with him.

15. Not only was I a nerd in high school, I was a State Champion Nerd (English Academic Bowl senior year). Just because I used the past tense there does not mean I am no longer a nerd.

16. Thomas was born at 27 weeks gestation because I had pre-eclampsia. He weighed 1 lb. 14 oz. and was in the hospital for 2.5 months.

17. I totally believe that happened so that God would be glorified in his life. See John 9:1-3.

18. http://www.biblegateway.com/ and http://www.apologeticsindex.com/ are 2 of my favorite websites. And, um, FB if that's not painfully obvious by now.

19. I should be ordering homeschool curriculum *right now*. I promised Thomas we would do chemistry after we finished his astronomy text. There are only a few lessons left of that.

20. I didn't want to homeschool Thomas when we first started. I thought it was the best among some not-great options we had at the time. I love it now and cannot imagine doing anything else!

21. Sometimes I laugh so hard that I get tunnel vision and feel like I might pass out. This is usually Carrie's doing.

22. People who have known me awhile don't believe that I am an introvert. Really. Myers-Briggs even says so - INFJ for those who know the lingo. I am terrible at small talk and get incredibly nervous being around new people. I rarely make the first move in a new friendship. I often come across as self-centered because I am too nervous to ask people questions about themselves. I'm working on it, though.

23. I speak fluent Sarcese.

24. I went to 10 National Parks in 2008.

25. Mike and I were the Phi Kappa Theta Disco Dance Champions of 1990. Seriously.

fa la la la la la la la la la

Is that even the right number of "la"s?? I kind of got lost there.



We started our christmas celebrations in earnest last night. We went to the live nativity at Tuacahn. Nice, but man was it frigid!



Mike's parents will be here in a few hours. We'll have our big dinner and play games tonight. On the menu:

standing rib roast with homemade horseradish stuff and pinot noir sage jus
Pioneer Woman's hot crash potatoes
Pioneer Woman's whiskey glazed carrots - We had them at Thanksgiving and they were da bomb!
green beans
bread from the machine
gingerbread cake and fresh whipped cream
chocolate pie for Mike because he doesn't do gingerbread


Then the jolly dude in the red suit will come. We'll open presents in the morning and eat cinnamon rolls with cream cheese icing.


Happy Christmas!

thankful

Thomas & Aunt Christie

We had a great Thanksgiving, spent with family. Mike's parents and his aunt & her husband were able to come here to celebrate with us. The menu went off without a hitch. I got my ego stroked quite a bit by having it declared the best Thanksgiving meal *ever*. We played games, visited & ate too much. Those are the makings of a great day in my book.

just a few of the many things I'm thankful for:
my awesome husband
Thomas's improved eating
making good friends here
friends from GA who still keep in touch with us
a new church to call home
family who loves us

eye exams for everyone

Last week before the trip to San Diego, we all went to the eye doctor. When I called to make the appointment for Thomas, the receptionist asked if anyone else in my family needed to be seen. So I put myself on the schedule. When I told Mike he asked me to call and see if they could get him in as well. So, we all went at the same time.

Turns out Thomas does not need glasses! Yeah, those ones he's been wearing for 2 years that we've been fussing at him about wearing? Big waste of time and money. It all started out with his occupational therapist in GA trying some prism goggles on him in therapy one day. He immediately stopped toe-walking. So we made an appointment with the developmental optometrist they recommended. He got glasses with prism in them and a little prescription for farsightedness. The whole prism thing turned out to be a bit of a bust - it definitely wasn't the magic answer we had hoped for toe-walking. Last year when we had his eyes checked, the doctor had him do the chart with his glasses & didn't see any need to change the prescription. Lately, though, we'd been finding Thomas not wanting to wear his glasses & we had to keep after him or we'd find that he'd taken them off in the middle of the day. The doctor we saw last week had him do the chart with and without glasses. Turned out he could see better without the glasses!

Mike had a change in prescription, which we expected. He spent longer than I did picking out frames, which was kind of funny. The people in the office kept having him try on all these outlandish things. Dude, we all know you're going to get the conservative ones, so let's cut to the chase, eh? There was one retro, throw-back to the 50s pair that looked surprisingly good on Mike. He hemmed and hawed about those for a bit, but in the end, went with something really similar to what he already has. Hopefully these frames will hold up a bit better than those.

I went in with the hopes of getting contacts. The last time I had been to the eye doctor, it was a very frustrating experience. I got glasses all fine and dandy, but had really wanted to switch to contacts. The office never seemed to have the right contacts in for a trial and the doctor kept having me try some that weren't quite right and come back. Finally, after about 6 weeks of back and forth, I gave up. I stopped wearing my glasses because I didn't like the way they looked and I could see "good enough" without them. Lately, though, I had been getting frustrated with reading signs on the road and anything that involved reading on the television. I could do it, but I had to really concentrate to get things to come into focus.

Turns out that I barely have any prescription needed at all. But that if it bothers me, I should definitely correct it. Most people who wear glasses or contacts see so badly that getting close to perfect vision is such a tremendous improvement that they're happy with the results. I have close to perfect vision, but "some people just demand perfection". That cracked me up. Really, anyone who knows me would tell you that I'm a 'good enough' kind of gal. Anyway, this guy told me that I'd have a hard time finding contacts that made it perfect, and would probably end up frustrated with all the effort of contacts, so I should probably stick with glasses. Fine, but I had to find some glasses that worked. That had been my biggest frustration - finding glasses I liked that fit my ginormously wide face and didn't get all splayed out at the arms. The people in his office are good, though. They helped me find a couple of options that I actually thought looked good. Don't tell anyone I wear men's frames, though, okay?

So Monday I picked up my new glasses & went out Tuesday for a haircut. The glasses were definitely too hip for my daily ponytail. Whatchya think?

the car saga concludes (we hope)

So Mike flew to Phoenix Friday after work. Saturday he and the master negotiator found a 2001 Accord for me - black with a cream leather interior. It's the same year as the Taurus we're replacing, but fewer miles and (we hope) no problems. Then on Sunday they managed to find a 2000 Ford Escape for Mike. Yeah - a camping vehicle! It's got 4 wheel drive and a roof rack for when I overpack. ;-) Mike drove the Accord home last night. I haven't driven it yet because the place he bought it from only gave him a 3 day temproary tag. I've never heard of such. Whatever, that just meant that he *had* to go get it titled & tagged today. Now we just have to figure out when we're going to get back to Phoenix to pick up the Escape. Hopefully before the next camping trip, which is sooner than sane people might expect.

car saga continues

So yesterday Mike fixed the secondary flappy door thingy and gave the part back to the mechanics. We *hope* to get the car back this evening, but the whole thing is pretty iffy. Last night we borrowed a vehicle (because we didn't get our act together early enough to get a rental car in this small town) and drove to a Carmax lot in Las Vegas to test out a few vehicles. Seems that we've settled on getting an Accord for me. Though I really did like the Infinity I drove a bit better. There's definitely more to choose from in the Accord market and upkeep/repairs will be less costly on an Accord. So, if the Taurus is ready by this evening, Mike is likely driving to Phoenix to meet with the master negotiator (his dad) and probably buy a used Accord. (Dude, we do NOT buy new cars in this household!) He'll leave the Taurus in Phoenix if his parents are willing to sell it for us.

We're looking to replace Mike's truck as well. It's been a good run, Purpletruck, but after 10 years, we'll be putting you out to pasture, pretty literally. Mike has a great idea. Instead of selling Purpletruck for not much money, he wants to drive it to Indiana and leave it there. Then we'll have a vehicle to drive when we visit without renting one. There Purpletruck can rest easy in the shade with only occasional outings in his golden years, just enough to give the old man some exercise, nothing too strenuous every day.

vacation re-cap day 5 and the car saga

We spent the night at the overpriced Holiday Inn in Bozeman, MT. Did I mention that it was $140? And that it did not include breakfast? Eh. Whatever. We got to take showers! And do laundry! Both things were a definite plus in the middle of the camping vacation. National Park campgrounds often do not have showers. There are usually showers *somewhere* in the park, but not necessarily where you are. Even then, they are coin-operated, which just boggles the mind.

Mike got up early and took the car in. They figured out that (hold up, I'm about to get technical here) this little flappy door thingy that directs the air to either be heated or cooled was stuck and sending all the air to be heated. Great, sounds like an easy fix, right? Well, maybe, if you happen to have one of those little flappy door thingies lying around. Rather than wait 3-5 days for the part to come in, we had them rig it so that the air could only get cooled.

Went to Wal-Mart and grocery shopped for the rest of the trip and then drove up to Glacier. When we got to Glacier it was (surprise!) getting dark. And really windy and threatening rain. Yeeha! We did manage to get the tent up and dinner made before it got too dark. Clean-up took place in the dark and was, honestly, a little half-hearted. I was tired, cold & couldn't see.

The car saga continued after our return from vacation. When we got back home, Mike had our favorite garage order the part. Yes, unfortunately, we have a favorite garage here in town. We took the car in last Wednesday evening to have the part put on Thursday. Ideally it would have been done then so we could go on yet another camping trip. Yes, Mike is part gypsy. The car was not ready by Friday afternoon. In trying to replace the flappy door thingy, they found that another flappy door thingy attached to the original door flappy thingy was broken. Mike is frustrated with our current vehicle situation and has spent the entire labor day weekend online car shopping to replace both our vehicles.

Today we found out that Ford doesn't sell just that part on its own. The assembly needed is about $450. For a car we are looking to trade ASAP. Umno. Mike called some connection in SC who has some material Mike may be able to use to patch the 2nd flappy door thingy and is overnighting it. This should be fun. I'm already tired of the whole thing.

so this is how it's going to go down

I found my first grey hair while we were on vacation. Not growing from my scalp, but from my left *eyebrow*! Twice as long as the rest of my eyebrow hairs, wiry and unruly. Seriously? I'm going to get old man brows??

Meditation Point

( photo lifted from some stranger's blog . . . thanks, Google image search!)

In the dark, somewhere between Yellowstone and Livingston, MT we passed by a little chapel with the sign "Meditation Point". I would have liked to stop, but we went by too fast. Isn't that just the way life is sometimes.

a few words about campsite etiquette

1) Please disarm the car alarm. I can pretty much guarantee you that when it does go off, it's going to be one of your kids or your buddies who forgot you locked the car, not a punk doing a smash and grab. I'm also pretty certain that when it goes off in the middle of the night, you are going to roll over, try to find your keys and hit the button from your cozy bed. But not before you've woken up half the people in the campgrounds.

2) Dude, I know we're all inspired by the olympics. But can you please quit trying to shave time off your bathroom run record and *walk around* my campsite instead of tramping through it. I'm pretty sure the next bathroom run world championships are a ways off anyway.

3) To the couple camped next to us in Yellowstone: next time can you wait until we go to bed? Please? It was really uncomfortable trying to hold a conversation with my husband 5 feet from where you were very obviously gettin' bizzay. I understand. Really. The smell of pine is a known aphrodisiac - that's why they use it for car air fresheners. Or maybe next time you can put your dang tent up just a few feet further from our fire ring? Or use a muzzle? Thanks for at least waiting until my kid was in bed, though. I really am not quite ready to have *that* conversation with him.

on vacations and marriage

Attention all pastors, counselors, therapists! Save the couples you see countless hours of fighting and frustration. Add vacations to your list of pre-marital counseling questions. Sure, we all know you have to be on the same page about money, kids and sex. But I think we've done a disservice to the institution by leaving something as important as vacationing off of the pre-marital counseling checklist.

Mike and I are fundamentally different. This is not news. To anyone. One of our more drastic differences has shown up in how we like to vacation. I'm not even talking about mountains vs. beach, hotel vs. camping, driving vs. flying. No. It's more fundamental than that. It's pace. I found this out on our first real vacation. [Our "honeymoon" was so ridiculous that we can't even count that as our first vacation. (Most of you have heard that story. "WHODAT???")]

The second summer of our marriage we set forth from our apartment in SC for the Outer Banks. Because my car had the air conditioning, we always drove it. The clutch was crazy high in that car and Mike's legs are crazy long. So it was uncomfortable/nearly impossible for him to drive the Dodge Omni. Which meant that *I* always drove. I drove and drove and drove and then I think I might have driven some more. You see, Mike is not happy on vacation unless he is in constant motion. His idea of the perfect trip is one where you have experienced everything there is to see and do in a place. Then, my friends, you can check it off your list and you never have to return. So logical. So Mike. So. Not. Me. Taking naps, chilling, relaxing and chillaxing are all valid forms of recreation for me. Then there's reading a good book, soaking up a good sunset, strolling aimlessly -- all good things. Hit the high spots and take your time. We can always come back, you know. This difference culminated in me crying and begging for a hotel and a nap on the second day of near-constant motion.

Now, things have improved since then. We have a vehicle we both can drive. Mike has learned to slow down a bit. And I've become really adept at napping in the car.

funniest facebook flair - ever!

So several of my friends from high school are hanging out on facebook as of late. I've got others on my friends list & it's been fun connecting with old friends and some of my peeps from Georgia, etc. There is something you can add to your page called 'flair'. (We've all seen Office Space, right?) You can add buttons to your page, send them to friends, etc. Fun little thing. Better than the hatching eggs, puppies, flowers and other junk you can send to people on there.



Last night I went to a friend's profile for the first time and found this on her page:

AWESOME!! I seriously about busted a gut cracking up! Granted, she is married to said pastor. But, way to put it on out there, Sherri.

stuff Christians like

So, I've been reading this blog stuff Christians like and it's been making me think. The writing is funny, sometimes irreverent, sometimes serious and always unblinkingly honest. He's exposing so many foibles in what we've made of Christian culture. Read it. Read all the old posts. Do not miss his post Booty,God,Booty.

One of the things I've been thinking about is how totally conflicted we are. Caught in a tempest of what we want to do, what we know we ought to do and what we end up doing anyway. We do the things we hate and hope no one notices.(Or maybe I should only talk about myself??) So flawed and often so caught up in trying to not show our flaws. Others see it. No matter how we try to hide it. We end up looking hypocritical. Why not let the world see that we are messed up? And then let them see what grace really is.