Wow! It's Been a While!

Two years since I blogged anything!  I could give a plethora of excuses, but that gets us nowhere.  Here's a rundown of the major events in my life in the last two years and 5 days...

June 2011

Hubby and I celebrated our 15th anniversary.  What a fantastic milestone for us!  

July 2011

1.  Took some time off to be with my Mom for surgery during the first part of the month.
2.  At the end of the month we went to Savannah to celebrate those 15 years together and Loved it!
3.  Hurried home to help Mom out with Daddy because he was having some issues with his Alzheimer's.

August 2011

Daddy passed away on August 11, 2011.  It was the hardest loss I've suffered so far.  My Daddy was my world and it felt like my world was crumbling around me for a while.  It's getting better, one day at a time.  

September - December 2011

The rest of the year was kind of a hazy blur for me.  There was work, there was helping Mama get everything situated after Daddy's passing, there was depression, there was home and Hubby and the kitties.  Holidays were practically non existent for us.  I did realize that I have the BEST, most caring, Hubby, friends and co-workers in the world during this time!  They had a lot to put up with me and my moodiness, and they were there no matter what.  I will forever be thankful for each and every one of them!

2012

I slowly climbed back into life again, and continued to help Mama try to do the same.  The anger and depression faded, the moodiness evened back out, Hubby finally told me that he was glad to see that his Wife was coming back.  (That meant the world to me by the way)  We all found a new routine and got stronger again.  Mom learned that she was pretty good at living on her own, and has even begun to ask for help when she needs it.  That in itself has been an amazing feat!  :)  The holidays were easier this time around.  We still weren't really in the mood for celebrating, but we did it anyway.  

It's definitely been a time of change for me and mine, but we're hanging in there!  I'm hoping that 2013 will keep looking up.  It's been pretty good to us so far!

HUGS!

Still Here...

Still here at the hospital with Daddy... He's disconnected from everything, but was having problems with the post catheter voiding so we're still here. I've read my book... I've twiddled my thumbs, I've played online... Thanks for the free internet Marshall South!



And now we wait until morning... again... His pain is minimal, thanks to a dose of Lasix, voiding is now good, he's a lot more stable on his feet too now that the pain isn't so evident so I'll sit like this...



One More Night...

Simply Amazing

Yanno, sometimes I'm just amazed at what modern medicine can accomplish! I've been a nurse for 12+ years and I have seen/heard of quite a lot of way cool things that can be done these days. Well, Today, I was amazed again...

Some of you may already know that I've been sitting with my Daddy in the hospital this weekend. He's a young man of 82 and he tries to stay pretty active. Loves yard work, loves to piddle around with stuff and tinker with anything mechanical (comes from being a retired mechanic yanno). He also has a touch of Alzheimer's and tends to be somewhat unstable on his feet at times. I can't count the number of times I've gotten a call from my Mom saying, "Well, Your Daddy's fell in the ditch again. Came to the house covered in mud and I had to spray him off with the water hose before he came in!" Did I also mention that he's incredibly lucky? So far, he's not done any permanent damage to himself, a bump here, a bruise there, a soaked wallet, mud in his socks and no matter what we say or do, he simply will Not stay away from that ditch! Anyway, on Tuesday night, he fell... Twice... in the bathroom. Stubborn man that he is, decided that he was just "stove up" and didn't need to go to the hospital. Finally, on Friday morning, he caved, went to the ER and was admitted. Daddy doesn't do well in hospitals. Out of his element sometimes equals "out of his head", and the last time, he tried to escape multiple times. Bed alarms, staying round the clock, very little sleep and when I did try I had to sleep with one eye open or he'd get sneaky. I learned a lot about how devious he could be the last time.
Anyway, after rounds of X-Rays, CT Scans, and three days in the hospital, this morning's MRI showed something. Not one, but TWO Compression fractures in his vertebra. One in his L1 Lumbar vertebra and one at the top of his Sacrum (S1 I believe). So He had a procedure called Kyphoplasty done. Ya'll, After this seemingly simple and Way Quick procedure, Daddy's nearly pain free! Thank You Lord! It pained me soo much to see him hurting to the point that he couldn't sit, stand, lay, and especially Move without excruciating pain. Well, that was Yesterday. He sat up with ease (Read NO PAIN!) this evening, on his own no less, and ate his dinner with me. I am truly amazed! He's in such better spirits this evening, has gotten more sleep today than he's probably gotten all week long in one stretch, and is singing the praises of his procedure! Granted, tomorrow is another day, and we'll see what it brings. But for tonight, I think that he and I both may get a decent night's sleep. Umm... well, He will anyway. Can you call sleeping in a lumpy, bumpy recliner decent in any terms? LOL!
Thank You Soooo Much to those of you adding him to your prayers! I'm soo blessed to have friends like y'all! I'll post more when I know more!

Has it been 5 months already????

Wow. I guess that's what you would call a "Blog Break" huh? I've still got my christmas colors flying... Hey, at least I did try to be a little holiday-ish. No worries, I'll fix that soon enough. Throw up my springtime flowers or something equally cute and move right along. Soooo... what's been happening you ask? Wellllllllllll... let's see...
Work.... Halloween... Work... Thanksgiving... Black Friday shopping... Christmas (good times!)... New Year... Birthday... Diet... Valentine's Day... Did I mention Work?... Sitting here in the Hospital listening to daddy sleep. And that's about it. Seriously. Life... It happens... nothing terribly blog worthy. Nothing much done crafty. Nothing much accomplished lately except for, well, Life. :o)

Oh... I finally bit the bullet and opened me a Facebook account, so look me up. Be my friend. Another friend told Hubby that Facebook will suck your soul out your eyeballs. I guess we'll see. LOL! Please let me know if you notice my voice deepening or my eyes bleeding. :o)

Also... And this one is IMPORTANT! Jerri and I are doing a scrapbooking Retreat in Springville in April. Come play with us! Check it all out HERE! We're having a Croppin' Chickadee Carnival! Too much fun! JOIN US!

Got me a New Look!

While I was out tinkering about in blogland this morning, I ran across this to die for site for cute, crafty, scrapbooky blog templates. Do ya like the new look? If you're looking to change things up a little for Your blog, head on over to Leelou's and see what I'm talking about!

Open House Pics

I promised you pics... I've got pics!

1. That's our Girl "Reliving The Day" so she could have a pic of her all decked out for a
signature frame.
2. The Rib Production Line the day before the party. It was a three day process and they were WELL Worth the wait!
3. Boys and their toys... My two New Brothers finding out that drunken trampolining is quite the work out! LOL!
4. LightHouse Place Outlet Mall in Michigan City, IN
5. Round Barn Winery in Union Pier, MI
6. St. Julian Winery right next door to the Round Barn winery
7. Wide shot of the crowd... Notice Hubby coming off the porch with a plate full of goodies :o)
8. Hubby being all contemplative after his meal. Probably contemplating his next plate of ribs!
9. The Happy Parents, my Big Bro and Sis-in-law
10. Nana shaking it up with the girls on party night
11. Our Girl all grown up and ready for the world!


Did I mention how PROUD I am of her?!?!?!? Yeah... maybe I did... :o)

OOOHH You BADDD BLOGGER!!!

I can't believe that it's been a whole THREE MONTHS since I posted on here! Y'all, I humbly beg your forgiveness, and have absolutely no excuse. There has been plenty of Busy happening around the homestead though so I'll take it a month at a time...

May
If you've known me or have been reading the blog in the last year then you know a bit about the stubbornness that is Mama. She's had some health issues that she and I haven't exactly seen eye to eye on. Good news, is that after another light stroke she FINALLY decided to have the surgery to open the blood flow in her Right Carotid Artery. I'm quite happy to report that she's doing Very Well with her recovery thus far! She's still complaining about the "whooshing noise" she's hearing on that side... "Mama, blood is actually Moving in that side of your neck now. Let the thing whoosh all it wants!" Y'all, I saw her Carotid Ultrasound when they did it. The plaque looked like a bird's head in there and was whistling Dixie. Blood flow to the brain is a Good Thing! :o) Of course, the surgeon wants to do the left side now, and so here we go again with the stubbornness of not wanting surgery again. I'm trying way hard to be happy with what she Will do and not sweat the stubbornness. Y'all pray.

June
My Brother's youngest daughter graduated (with Honors Yay!) from High School up in Indiana and so Hubby and I headed up for the big Open House shindig. Y'all, this gal's going places! I'm so stinkin PROUD of her! Ever since she's been knee high to a grasshopper she's said that she wanted to be a Doctor and that when she had her own office, I was gonna be her office nurse. LOL! Danged if she's changed her mind either. She heads off to Purdue University in 16 short days for college and to be a member of the Purduettes. It was really nice to spend a few days with my "Yankee Family" and the weather was FABULOUS! Hubby and I took one day to ourselves and headed off to shop in Michigan City and to visit a couple of Wineries (1)(2) in Union Pier, MI. I also "found" two new brothers in my Sis-in-law's two brothers. It was definitely fun to meet and spend time with SIL's extended family. I've got Ton's of pics... I'll post some when I get the chance.

July
This month has actually been fairly normal. Busy, but normal. LOL! Work has been really busy now that Baby Season is in full swing. I've had a new nurse with me for the past few weeks to learn the ropes of L&D, and so I've been in teaching mode. She'll be with me for a few more weeks and then it'll be time for my "Baby Bird" to fly on her own. I SO remember those days! scared to death knowing that I didn't only have one life in my hands, but TWO! Teaching gives me time to reflect on those times and gives me a renewed energy for the job I love. It's truly a wonderful thing to get to do something I love and get paid for it!

So that my dear Blogging friends is what I've been up to since seeing the Nuns at Lowe's. I'll soon have some new pics up for your browsing pleasure and lots of exciting news with my Stampin' Up! business as well! So, I guess you can say......

SHEEEEEE'S BAAAAAAAACK!!!!!

Bad Blogger! Bad Blogger!

Ok, so it's been nearly three months since I've updated my blog. Jerri has been hounding me every chance she got, Vikki's been asking when I'm going to update, and even the Hubby has been wondering if I'm ever going to "put more stuff on my web hickey" so I'm FINALLY updating as I lay here with Charm half hanging on the keyboard begging for attention and Hubby snores. :o) Gotta love a laptop!!! Ok.. here goes...

Life: One word... BUSY! Long version... Parents doing OK at the moment (AKA not telling me that anything's wrong, but we all know how they can be!), DH has been job swapping (and in the dog house, but is getting to see the outside a little now), I've been hitting it hard at work (It's busy baby season yanno) and I just got a new orientee to show the ropes to, I completely missed my neice's birthday (and she made sure to inform me that I Would be making up for that in a big way! LOL!), Money's tight as usual, I need to go back on my diet (AKA Clothes are getting tight again too), and so, life has been a little more crazy than usual. I tend to want to "hibernate" when things get rough and wrap myself into my comfy coccoon until it all blows over. I know it's bad for me, and to those of you who have been affected by it (and most of my friends and family have been lately) I'm terribly sorry. Good news is that THANKFULLY life is settling down nicely at the moment. Either that, or I'm getting used to it which scares me a little. Ahhhh... Mi Vida Loca... What can I say?

There have been a few happy, creative, make me wanna turn the music up loud and dance moments though. Thank you God for those moments! Without them, I'd be toast! :o) I've gotten to spend some quality time with Jerri while getting ready for the 2nd Annual Crop 2 Help Retreat, Mona has bee waaay supportive and has listened to all my whining, so has Jill and Vikki remembers to ask me how things are going frequently as well...to them I'm forever grateful! You girls Rock! I've gotten to play with some friends I've not seen in a while and made some new friends at the retreat. I've met another online friend and got to spend some time getting to know her face to face, I've enjoyed DumpsterVision while celebrating Mona's birthday, got to take Jill out for dinner on her birthday, had lunch a couple of times with my stampyscrappy friends and so I am blessed! Who would have known that just 3-ish years ago when I decided I wanted to start scrapbooking that I would have had this many True friends?!?! I tell ya, Scrapbookers do make the BEST friends! :o)

Ok.. so here are a few pics from the Crop 2 Help Retreat... If you get the chance, you NEED to come to this one next time! We have the Most Fun! And best of all it's for charity! Head on over to the Blog and see what it's all about! Thank You Jerri for allowing me to be a part of this!!! Once again, YOU ROCK!