Humdrum...

I haven't posted in a very long time because, quite frankly, I have nothing to say. I have been having non-creative bouts of insomnia, but am trying to ween myself off of the use of sleeping pills. Its hard... very very hard, but I hope it will prove to be worth it in the end.

Work is okay I suppose... its work. I got half of the raise I asked for. I know in this economy, that's a tough thing to do... but I did feel a bit slighted, I have to admit, because I am doing SO much work, and they only felt it was worth half? *sigh* oh well, I am truly blessed in my life, so I'm trying not to "sweat the small stuff".

Our Red Raiders aren't doing so hot lately, but I am hoping that will turn around...

And I have some super awesome news I want to share when I get the green light :)

For now... off to try and sleep for a few hours. I have been up all night, kind of sick to my stomach, but can't NOT go in to work, because no one else knows how to do to GE. Fun times, fun times...

LET US ALWAYS REMEMBER...

Do you remember where you were and what you were doing the day the towers fell? I do... Do you remember how you felt when you heard the news that it was a terrorist attack on our own soil? I do... The body count kept going up... the videos kept coming in... the tears of the people that were there and couldn't find their loved ones...

I was at work at a suicide/crisis hot line. We were all glued to the television. Our callers were sad, scared, heart-broken. Some had loved ones unaccounted for and didn't know how to handle it. We even had a volunteer who's son was at a meeting in one of the towers and he couldn't reach him. (side note: he was okay. they got out before any planes hit)

My sister was in the Army at the time and I frantically tried to reach her once the word "WAR" crept in. She was stationed in Hawaii at the time, so she hadn't heard or seen anything about it. I called, told her what was happening and she started describing the scene on base. It was a long line of cars trying to get in and it was taking forever, because they were searching EVERYONE. She was doing life guard training at the time, so she was in her bathing suit. Once she finally got in, they closed off the base. No one in or OUT... but she was not in her uniform, so she couldn't really do anything. So she just sat around and watched all the heavily armed guards walk around, wondering what was going on.

Our biggest fear of course was that a war would start and she would be deployed. By the grace of God, she wasn't. Eventually her future husband was... but he had to have knee surgery, and could not deploy. He was upset, but we were really happy he didn't go over there.

So it's been 8 years. The war is still on. MANY soldiers lives have been lost and changed forever. Families shattered, both here and over there. Osama is still hiding out somewhere, but I truly believe we have to support our men and women over there. They risk their lives every second they are there. My cousin, Tyler, is actually serving over there right now. I pray every day that he is okay and will come home, once again, safely.

THANK YOU TO ALL OF YOU MEN AND WOMEN - PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE (like Tyler's little brother, Hunter who just joined) - WHO CHOOSE TO SERVE AND RISK THEIR LIVES FOR ALL OF US. YOU ARE TRUE HEROES.

GOD BLESS YOU ALL AND KEEP YOU SAFE

LONELY WEEKEND

So Brendan went to Lake Alan Henry with his uncle and some friends this weekend. They left Friday afternoon and are staying until tonight some time... Needless to say Jack and I have been very lonely with out him...

Jack gets really solemn and depressed when his Daddy's not here

And finally... since he is the "man of the house" this weekend, he couldn't be bothered to sleep in bed with Momma...

HURRY HOME DADDY! WE MISS YOU!!

One Year...

We lost my Aunt Christi a year ago. Its been hard for my mom. Christi was her oldest sister, and friend. I think about here every single day. At first with many many many regrets, but as time has started to heal my heart, I only look back at the fond memories. I will always miss her, but am happy we had the time together that we did have.

I love you very much, my dear, sweet aunt. You will always be in our hearts.

LONG Night...

So Brendan had been complaining for a couple of days of a very personal boy problem ;-) one that I couldn't understand. He kept thinking the pain would subside, or go away on its own. Then he started doing on-line research... which is a bad idea! Yesterday morning he woke up and the pain was way worse. Every little movement hurt. So last night he keeps talking about how he's not sure how long he could handle it, and wondering if it was really something bad and the longer he waited, the worse the problem would be.

So about 10pm last night we head up to UMC ER. The place was PACKED. You truly see some odd and unusual people in the county hospital emergency room on a Friday night. I busted out the hand sanitizer numerous times to say the least. Especially after the little girl sitting by us starting coughing loudly, without covering her mouth, and then proceeded to burp in her sisters face. Nice huh? I was anticipating a VERY long and annoying wait.

After all of my issues, I have to admit, I was not used to not being an immediate priority, and being rushed back in to a room. So I was in a weird position... I was used to being the one who felt like crap! After about 20 minutes, they called him in to triage. Then, 5 minutes later, they call me in there and took us right back. I was shocked! Apparently when someone comes in with an issue pertaining to any limb, or organ (in this case) they take it very seriously, and try to get that person seen ASAP. Who knew?

So we get in to a room, and they bring B a sexy hospital gown. He was not very comfortable showing off his backside to the world, so he leaves everything on and just puts the gown on over it. Quite a funny site! So the barrage of questions begins... Our nurse, Barbee, was awesome. She's young, enthusiastic and has a great sense of humor, which you need with us lol. She tells B she isn't all that comfortable seeing, or looking at the problem area, that she was going to leave that to the doctor. She mainly didn't want to cause him any unnecessary pain, by touching them.

Doctor Birchfeld comes in finally, asks all the same questions again and finally does a physical exam, which is very painful for Brendan, poor baby. He's concerned about a possible hernia or something worse. So he orders an ultrasound... AWKWARD...! Barbee comes back in and takes blood and puts in an IV line. She then gives Brendan an IV of Demerol and Fenergan (apparently Demerol can make you queasy). It hits B FAST, which begins a hilarious, drug filled adventure for the guy who never gets "high"LOL.

We get wheeled off to ultrasound, and none other than our Uncle Kevin's friend, Melissa, greets us. Melissa is cool. We all went out together a while back AND last summer when I was bleeding to death, she is the one that ended up doing my ultrasound of my girly bits. FUN TIMES! Any way, I thought, man, this lady has seen the most intimate parts of BOTH of us now! CRAZY!! But Melissa is VERY professional, so its no biggie.

Brendan letting the drugs take effect in the ultrasound room...

The ultrasound didn't show a hernia, thank God, and didn't show anything scary or abnormal. WHEW! Off we go back to our room again...

And we wait... and wait... and wait... and wait some more. By this time, Brendan's exhausted and passes out from the drugs, and proceeds to have a snoring contest with snory man in the "room" next to us (room being a large room separated by a thin curtain. Talk about no privacy!) It was hot, and about 12:30am, and all I had was an uncomfortable chair in his room. I was so tired and antsy. We waited forever. Poor Brendan had Cotton mouth from the Demerol, but they wouldn't allow any water, because they didn't know what the ultrasound results would show, and if they needed to rush him in to surgery they didn't want to have to wait because he had some water in his stomach. Makes sense, but my poor baby was not comfortable. His mouth would just stick together as he tried to talk. I felt so bad for him. And I was nervous as hell thinking, what if they need to rush him in to surgery!

FINALLY, Dr. Birchfeld comes in and says he doesn't see a hernia, or anything else suspicious. Just an enlargement that he diagnoses as an infection ON the left testicle (I have NO IDEA how to pronounce the actual diagnosis). OUCH! How he got it, there's no exact way to know, but he said it may have resulted in the sperm duct getting twisted after his vasectomy last year. Again, OUCH! So we left with scripts for pain meds and antibiotics.

WHEW! I hate that he is in pain, but I am so relieved that it wasn't something worse. It is something non-life threatening and very treatable. We finally got discharged and left about 2:30am... first thing Brendan wanted was something to drink! So I took him to the store and we got him taken care of :-) All he wanted was sweet tea and a Sprite! So that's what the patient got.

This whole ordeal made me appreciate Brendan so much more and all he has had to deal with in regards to my illnesses. He has had to rush me to the ER SO many times, in the middle of the night, and in the middle of the day. All times, he was strong and comforting to me. He stayed calm and waited and waited with me, in those uncomfortable little chairs. And he never complained once.

I am so grateful for the love and care God has shown both of us, And I am so grateful that my husband is okay!

WATER, WATER EVERWHERE

My husband went to do a load of laundry right before bed. All of the sudden I hear expletives coming out of Brendan's mouth! He screams "go move your car!!" (We live in a duplex, where you have to park behind one car to fit the other) So I run outside, barefoot, to move my car to the apartment complex parking lot right next door. Brendan jumps in his truck to go around back to turn the water off.

Water is literally pouring out of our house at this point...

Well in his haste, he leaves the front door wide open. Normally Jack is very very good about staying put even when the doors open, but right as Brendan left, a neighbor from the apartments walks over to the mail box. Jack bolts. Here I am, in my pj's, barefoot on a gravel lot, with a side yard full of stickers (thanks to all the rain lately) and my dog is bolting towards some random guy.

Luckily, he is a dog lover :-)

So the guy says, "everything okay? Your front doors wide open you know" (I'm thinking DURH guy) Then he looks at our driveway, which has water pouring down it. He says, "OH NO! Wheres the leak?" I tell him its shooting out of our washer connection. He says, get this, "I'm a plumber. Let me go get my tools and I'll see if I can help"

Does God look after us or what?!

Anyway, Brendan comes back at this point, has the water off, grabs Jack and Tyler goes to get his stuff. I hobble back to the house, because my feet are NOT tough. Tyler comes in and there is water EVERYWHERE. I was SO embarrassed because I hadn't swept in awhile and Jack sheds like crazy. DOG HAIR + WATER = ICKY POO!

I start trowing towels down and trying to keep Jack from having a heart attack because his new found friend is in our house. Brendan does some banging and clanging and viola! No more water. In fact, we are doing a load right now!

So all in all, not a disaster because my man is super handy!! And my dog is super friendly and God sent us a new plumber friend. Not a bad person to have on your side ;-) cuz you just never know when your house is going to turn in to a swimming hole!

They Grow Up So Fast

My nephew, Wyatt has gotten SO big. He will be TWO in November, on his daddy's birthday... I still can't believe it! He's running like a crazy, wild man and talking up a storm... and even though you can't understand EVERYTHING he says, its just amazing to me that I have a 2 year old nephew... he;s awesome. I could watch that kid all day, every day!

Ball?

He was pretending the ball was SO heavy!

Wyatt is such a little silly ham...