Tina's surgery

John FINALLY called me tonite. Hospitals are so slow getting someone in a room. Tina made it though her surgery just fine and they didn't have to do as much as they expected so that is good. She has a tube down her throat and some up her nose, so he said she is not too happy about that. Otherwise so far so good. He said he would call me back and give me another update. I think he was finally relieved himself. Said he got her there at 8:00 a.m. and didn't get to see her until 7:25 p.m. Poor fella!

Chance's Dad's family had a birthday party for me and Dave last nite. All went well and we had a great dinner. Got a lot of stuff I've been wanting...I'm going to smell good. Chance surprised me and got "us" Sirius satellite radio for my birthday. He was off yesterday and used our casino winnings to get it. It's pretty cool. I never thought I'd have a remote control in my car but now I do. We've spent a lot of time setting it up and I listened to it at work when I wasn't in interviews. Won't get to tomorrow as we interview all day but we are listening right now on the internet.

Well don't have much to chat about. I am trying to wind down - should be working but well...not really in the mood. Two more working days and I am officially on vacation. Oh yeah that's way cool.

If you haven't checked your email or Sara's blog...do so. They have really great family pics on it.

Well adios for now. Going to go kick back.

Yeah Baby!

One more week until our vacation. WOOOOOO HOOOOOOO! I don't have time to write much but just wanted to drop a note about our weekend. Friday was uneventful but Saturday we had a date night because Karin (my mother in law) came over to spend the nite. She was letting Chad (Chance's cousin) have the house to himself as he had a houseguest. So she said to take advantage of her and go out. We did.

Saw the Omen - definitely makes you jump out of your skin a couple of times. And I have to say that this time, Chance jumped a bit more than me. That was funny. Then we decided for the first time ever to go to the casino. We didn't have to hurry home for the baby sitter so we thought what the heck. We've always been way too conservative to go (or just flat out too broke to go) but it seems like everyone we know goes and wins hundreds of dollars at a time. We have some money put back for our vacation so we got into it. We felt so dumb when we got there because we weren't sure where to start or how to get the little money card. We finally figured it out and tried to find just the right machine. I was being conservative and playing 10 cent bets but Chance liked to do the dollar ones. We found these two machines in the back corner and played a while. Chance decided to start betting 2 dollars at a time and then lo and behold! He won $800!!!!!!! We were pretty extatic. (Not sure if that's how you spell that word.) So we switched machines and he won another $150 and had almost $1000 on his card. Then I won around $70 or $80 and I had over $100 on my card. We were sitting on a thousand dollars. But then the gambling bug got us and we kept going like fools. Next time we will leave if we are that lucky again. But we left there with $660 in our pocket so we definitely came out ahead. So another big Woo Hoo! Today I began the shopping for our trip. Had to get some shoes and clothes of course!

Tristan had a great time being spoiled by his Mamaw. He was ready to go to her house today but we have to plan it another time. And Leia liked being spoiled by Mamaw too. She probably will be so spoiled by her after our vacation that she will be sad when we return. On Wednesday, Chance's dad's side of the family is having a birthday party for me and Dave (Chance's step brother). So that will be fun. We have another family function on Saturday with Chance's mom's side of the family. And of course I will be on vacation for the most part. I do have to work on the 3rd but then I will be off until July 17. Yeah baby!

On a sad note, Chance's partner James' father is in the hospital and it doesn't look good. He called us earlier and is on his way back to the hospital. Please keep them in your prayers. He is having trouble breathing and has been indicating to the family that he thinks his time has come. I hope not for James' (and his mother's) sake. We will have to have strong shoulders for James if it comes to that. And I'm really sweating it because I feel I need to be there if it does happen as he is like family but I'm on that interview committee at work and the interviews will be scheduled this week. I have to be at both places. I guess I don't have to worry about it yet but I don't know how much they will frown on me for needing to be with James since he is is not blood family. Sometimes I just hate that I have to work. I will be praying for him tonite. We told him to call no matter what time it is if something happens. I hope the phone stays quiet.

On a brighter note, Karin and Tristan found the tiniest frog (OK TOAD) I've ever seen. He's the size of my finger tip. Guess the tadpoles are all grown up. We haven't seen any more. He sure is cute.

Well gotta run and wind down for work. I am supposed to be actually working. Maybe I'll get a little bit done.

Catch ya on the flip side.

June Bugs

I hate june bugs. They are disgusting. I never invited them to my backyard but they showed up anyway. EWWWWWW.

Not the Pox

Woo Hoo! Tristan doesn't have chicken pox. He had a "classic" rosatia rash caused by the viral infection. I am so glad we don't have to quarantine ourselves, although it would be nice to get it over with before he starts school.

Ashley is coming over to spend the nite tonite so we have to prepare for her arrival. I have no clue what I'm feeding them but they can entertain themselves in the pool.

Cya l8r.

Out of the mouths of babes

It seems I take too long between postings and then I want to write a novel. We've had lots of stuff going on. One of my funnies for work the other day was that I admitted a guy who lived on Nathan Lane. I don't know why that struck me as so funny but I guess it's because I adore him. I pictured him with a family on him like those commercials where the people are walking around with a person on their back. Weird for you guys...comical for me. Sorry to put you through that.

Our at home funny happened just yesterday. I was home with Tristan again...his fever keeps coming back. Didn't get much of an answer from the fill-in doctor yesterday but we discovered why tonite. Think he's getting the chicken pox. Poor little guy has spots all over him. So, it will be back to the doctor tomorrow for verification. Pray for me...I'm not sure I have the strength and stamina to go through this. He's fully vaccinated so hopefully it will be a mild case - but he's got them everywhere. Back to the funny...

Chance and his partner have decided to get an ad in the Feist/Yellow book directory again. They had one when they first started their business but they didn't get as much business from it as they do from the SWB yellow pages. And they've decided to try again. They've been dealing with this salesman that they say is a really weird guy. They had an initial meeting a week or so ago and agreed on pricing and content. The man needed a down payment and an ad draft yesterday and Chance was out on jobs. So he told the guy he would leave a folder on our porch for him to pick up. I was home with Tristan so we kept the door closed as if we weren't home for the day. (I usually do that anyway because I don't like all the solicitors that come by during the day.) Chance got home early ... close to 3:00 and the man still hadn't come. He really didn't want to talk to the guy so we decided to pretend we weren't home when he arrived. He did show up, get the folder and he sat in his car with it for about 45 minutes. We told Tristan that we were pretending and had to be quiet becuz we didn't want the man to know we were home. He couldn't figure that out and kept looking out the window at him. We were really wanting him to go as we didn't want to be trapped in our house forever. So the guy eventually comes back to the door and knocks. (We told Tristan he couldn't bark with the dog or get on to her. Yes, my son barks with the dog when people come over.) So the dog is going beserk, the man is knocking. He sees Chance's truck so I'm sure he thought we were home. He finally leaves. Later I found the folder with his comments and notes in it. Chance returned a call to him later that evening and they discovered they needed to meet again today to rehash the agreement. Chance had already planned to stay home with Tristan as he of course is not 100% yet. This is a long story for the funny.. but basically when the man arrived today, Tristan told him that we were looking at him out of our window yesterday. Needless to say, Chance was a wee bit mortified. The guy never said anything and neither did Chance. He certainly couldn't wait for the guy to leave tho! Out of the mouths of babes...

What else has happened since I last wrote...one of our new fish died. We think the nitrites in the water killed him...they got really high in the danger zone. The other 3 are getting big and fat and are finally used to us. They actually come up sometimes when we feed them. The water is staying clear so we can see them all the time now. Our lily pads keep dying - not sure why that's happening. The toads are still around. We have zillions of tad poles swimming in the water now. So... not sure if we will be overrun. If so, Chance plans to take many of them to the cow pasture or creek near our housing edition. My 3 main toads still live in the garden and while they were mating, absolutely didn't want me to "save" them from drowning. Now that that is over, they are friendly again. The other nite, two of them were swimming when I went to feed the fish. The one, swam right over to me and began hopping or bouncing as high as he could to tell me he was trying to get out. (The water level was low at the time.) So I reached down and he got in my hand and let me take him out. The other one let me too but he didn't "tell" me like the first one did. I know I'm weird but I really think I'm bonding with that little toad. He was out there tonite and didn't even run from me. I just talk to him like I do the other pets. Gosh, I'm turning into a toad lady. What's happening?

Taylor had a funny the other day. We were talking about concerts and she brought up nosebleed seats. Evidently she's been thinking they are the "mosh pit" section seats since people get hurt when they mosh. So after laughing hard, we told her what they are.

She also came home with a not so funny on Sunday. During the summer, she spends one week with us and one with her mom. We go back and forth all summer like that. Her mom goes to what I call a strange church. In my opinion, it is not my place to say one religion is better than another because ultimately everyone is worshiping God in their own way. I don't have to like certain things about certain religions, and I don't have to condemn someone because they believe differently than I do. In this church, they are very animated and sing and dance and pretty much try to make it a "fun" time for all. But I did witness some hands on "healing" and that makes me very weary of it. We can't prevent her mom from taking her there because that is a positive thing they do together, but I don't have to like what goes on there. Anyway, she came home Sunday nite telling us that their pastor was talking about "dead" churches. We asked what in the world is a dead church. And she said that it was churches who don't have a good time such as the singing, music and dancing they do. This man told his congregation that God doesn't even show up to churches that don't have this "fun". I so got on my soap box and proceeded to tell her that God is everywhere, especially any place that people are coming together to worship Him. I told her that I wanted her to understand that and know that what that man said was so untrue and unkind to other religions. She said she understood what I was saying and was just "repeating" what he said. Chance said that she was doing what he wanted, to go out and spread the word about dead churches. So, hopefully we got through to her, but it makes me so angry that she is being taken to listen to such crap. Again, these people are still trying to worship in their own way so I can respect that. But holy cow! That is so unbelievable a so-called man of God would say such a thing!

Well I guess I've written enough for tonite. I'm sure there's more I intended to say but I bet your eyes are quite tired by now. I'll drop a note if I remember anything of note.

Looking forward to seeing everyone on the 8th. Until then...

Busy with the pond

Seems like it's been a long time since I last wrote. Time sure flies. We've been busy with the end of school...Taylor will go on to 8th grade...Yeah! I've had to work some late hours as we are open 12 hours a day before the beginning of each semester. Summer classes start next week. Chance gets to be Mr. Mom when I work nights. I have to work late Monday and Tuesday and then it will be all over until August.

Tristan has been his normal self except his allergies got the best of him last week and he had a mild asthma episode. He actually had a fever on and off (he NEVER gets fevers) so I took him to the doctor. He's now having to learn how to use big boy inhalers instead of his nebulizer. He doesn't much like the taste of the albuterol so it has been a fight to get him to use it. I ended up having to stay home with him both Thursday and Friday of last week as he could not stop coughing. I had to have some medicine called in on Friday because we didn't have the right stuff for his cough from our Dr. visit. It was a rough few days but it did turn my 3 day weekend into a 5 day weekend. So that was kind of cool.

We didn't go anywhere for Memorial Day. I think this is the first year we've not had some sort of family food fest to attend. Taylor was visiting her mother and we were dealing with Tristan's cough. Chance finally got the water in the pond to clear and we bought some fish (koi). We got 4 - one for each of us. He even bought a bigger fountain that will put more oxygen in the water. They zoom around and are still a bit afraid of us. I wonder how big they will get - the sign at Petsmart said up to 24". Those will be some big fish. We have spent a lot of time studying our frogs. Dad says they are toads so I guess I should use that terminology. There are actually 4 and I think there's only 1 female. We have discovered that it is mating season...they sure are noisy creatures. I really feel sorry for the little lady. They have been keeping her busy. She has laid a lot of eggs. They are in a tape like substance. It's quite interesting. We had to take some of them out when we changed the fountain. I hope we don't end up with thousands of toads out there. I like them alot but I don't know if I want the noise level to increase. :o) I took some night pictures of the pond but they didn't come out too great. Below is our little lady and one of her men.

Here's a picture I took the next morning. I will take some of how it looks now this weekend. It looks much better with the new fountain and the clearer water.

Chance said he wants to put a waterfall up against the pool to make it look like the water is coming from the pool and to cover the ugly outside. That might be kind of cool but alot of work. I'm happy with my fish and toads.

We have a busy weekend. We have to do lots of shopping for 2 birthday parties and a baby shower. The party Taylor is going to is a sleep over so tomorrow nite will be quiet. Sunday we have the baby shower and Gabe's birthday party back to back.

Our vacation plans have changed dramatically. We have been planning our long-awaited trip to visit Tina in Virginia. We haven't seen each other since our wedding - 7 years. Tristan and Max have never met. I have been on cloud 9 as the days are coming nearer. We were planning to arrive on her doorstep on my birthday (July 7). Tina called me Monday nite to tell me she has to have surgery on June 29. It sounds so awful. Now I'm spending my days worrying about her and of course bummed that I can't see her. She says that we can still come and use her as a hotel, but we can't come there when she will be 2 days out of the hospital. And I want to be able to have some fun with her. I would be sad to see her hurting. Evidently her esophogas is not working and they are going to detach it from her stomach and open it up and do something to fix it. Right now when she eats a bulge is happening on the side of her esophogas and she says it looks like a second stomach on the xrays. They will be going in through her ribs and have told her that hopefully they won't have to break one. Ewww - I hope they don't. She will have trouble moving around for a while after this (of course!) and will be on a liquid diet for some time. Poor thing. I just can't get this out of my head. So we will have to plan our visit for next July. What's one more year after 7? We have decided to go to Colorado and do some things there. We won't stay in CO as long as we planned to stay in VA. I am still taking my extended vacation time I asked for for my special trip. So we'll have some time here at home and then a week in CO. That will be nice. Work will have to deal. I need to get away from that place so bad! Oh and we will now get to go to an outdoor concert with our friends that we were very bummed to miss. That will be lots of fun.

Tina said she would call me this weekend to give me an update. They did some more tests on her this week. I guess that's all that's been going on with us since I last wrote. Nothing too exciting has happened - just some news to keep us praying a little harder. Tristan is passed out in my bed with the dog and Chance is passed out on the couch. Taylor is IMing her friends ... I keep hearing the little blings coming out of her room. She will be going to bed soon as I want her fresh for our shopping tomorrow.

Well I'll catch you dudes later. Ciao.