Happy Birthday Diane!

Boy, you're earning your wings this year!

We love you so very much! Georgia, Maggie and Logan are some lucky grandchildren.

And Bryn, Dana and I are some lucky daughter-in-laws!

Vacation and Maggie Turned Five!

Once again I've let too much time pass before posting. Let's get caught up.

We went to the Smokies for vacation in July. Wayne and Diane were able to come with us for a few days. We had a great time with them! The girls really enjoy Dollywood. Georgia, who's very cautious at home, will ride almost any ride there. Maggie, who's fearless at home, wants nothing to do with rides.

I, on the other hand, do like the rides. But not this year. Couldn't get in and out of them with the bum foot. I did get a sweet motorized ride there.

We headed to the Dixie Stampede again. We LOVE this place! It's so much fun, and the food is great. Maggie got to be in the chicken race. Georgia wasn't happy that she was too old. Maggie's chicken came in third. I guess they don't like being chased around too much.

By the fifth day there my leg was swollen pretty bad. On the plus side, the trip really kickstarted me getting back on my feet since I didn't take the wheelchair. I sure did miss it though! When we got home, it was the first place I went.

Maggie turned five on July 22nd. She was so excited all day and picked the Golden Corral for her birthday dinner (gag, huh?). She's a fan of their orange soft serve. A buffet isn't the easiest place to maneuver when walking with a crutch. I seem to always hate myself after eating there. Why have meatloaf, chicken, BBQ and spaghetti at one sitting??

So now I sit sweating as a new air unit is being installed. We've managed to put this off for three years, but I'm glad the day is finally here. Enough worrying about it.

Georgia starts 3rd grade in 8 days! It doesn't feel like we've had much of a summer, although I am ready to get back to my class as well. Maggie just goes wherever I take her.

Making Progress S L O W L Y

Going to therapy 3 times a week for range of motion. It's slow-go. I really hope to get some movement back by my July 2nd appt. Want to hear "You can drive!" - by a doctor, that is, not just anybody.

Happy Birthday Poppy!

The best wishes and lots of love to my father-in-law, Wayne! I love you like a father and am so glad the girls have such a wonderful Poppy! You fill our lives with such joy - you make our hearts smile - we love you!!

What's Grosser Than Gross?

Yes - I did just post pics of my nasty foot.

Look how dry and scaly the bottom is - UGH!

I've been loving on my leg since I got my cast off. I've been bad to my ankles and hope to treat them better from now on. Seriously - I gently caress my leg and foot, letting it know I'm sorry for putting it through all this. If it'll just heal and let me walk again I'll treat it right. No running down stairs, no walking blindly on uneven ground, no crappy shoes, and lots of lotion and relaxation. Just give me another chance!

Until then, I'll have to keep it safe in my new 35 pound (not really) boot.

Four more weeks until walking. Lots of physical therapy and forgiveness till then. And yes, open sore on the outside, I'll take good care of you too.

Speaking of Facebook

A friend of mine posted a picture of a cake she made recently. How cool is this??? I want this cake! It's surrounded by Kit Kats (yum) and has a bag of M&M's on top (super yum).

That Blasted Facebook!

Facebook has taken my time away from this blog, but no more! Dad has called me out.

You all know that I slipped on the stairs on April 22nd and dislocated and broke my foot. That completely sucked. I have a cast until June 4th with high hopes of walking sometime mid-June. If I could just drive I'd hit up every drive-thru operation in town - cleaners, sweet tea, convenience stores, sweet tea, etc.

I've been a bit of a whiny baby throughout this process. I HATE being down. My foot doesn't hurt anymore, thank goodness, so I can vacuum, sweep, dust, haul things up and down the stairs and actually get into the bathtub! I wasn't so confident about getting out, but thankfully no neighbors had to be called. The swelling has gone down in my foot enough for me to really feel the hardware in there. I do not like that at all.

We've been through Easter and the end of school. The girls had great fun Easter egg hunting at Granny Di and Poppy's.

Tim and Bryn got quite creative hiding those eggs:

Georgia was pretty quick to find it - the girl was focused.

The best part was checking out their loot. Did eggs have stuff in them when I was little?? I don't think so. As I get older I notice I use that sentence a lot - "When I was little, I had to... or I didn't have..." Geez, enough already.

And now school is out. Maggie had a little graduation ceremony at her preschool. She's coming back next year instead of going to Kindergarten. She's just 3 weeks into 5 before school starts - that's just too young with 6 year olds starting too. So, she's with me again at First Pres., which I love! Maggie's listening and following direction skills definitely need another year too. Georgia is all about following the rules; Maggie doesn't really care what the rules are.

Just to make my Summer a bit brighter, I received a jury summons last week. GREAT. I went ahead and signed up for a panel in November and December just to get it out of the way.

If anyone's on my side of town - I could always go for a tea or better yet - a ride to Target!

Hello? Is Anyone Here?

It's been forever and a day since I posted anything. Let's see what's been going on.

Maggie wore her swashbuckler outfit to a Doctor appt. with me. They loved it, as did she.

We hit the circus, which was pretty cool, if not a bit weird.

I had cookie pick-up like last year. This year was much better, as I was in charge of only half as many troops. I didn't get many pictures, but this one is priceless. Brad shaking his thing with the last few cases left.

I smell of hint of mint from mass thin mint consumption.

Valentine's Day has come and gone. Remember how awesome (yes, it was awesome) it was to give and get those little valentines? You searched for hidden meaning in the 'special' ones - you know you did. Maggie hasn't quite hit that age, but she does love checking out her loot.

Georgia and friends were pushing cookies at Kroger. They really enjoyed these booth sales, and people were quite friendly. No passing counterfeit money or stealing change boxes here! (That's happened elsewhere)

And then the bottom dropped out. I got the stomach bug, Georgia got strep and Maggie currently has the flu.

This brings me to today. Maggie's class Easter party is here on April 3rd. The countdown to clean house and presentable yard has begun. It will take from now until then to make this happen. If you've seen my house and/or my yard, you know what I'm saying.

Maggie's feeling a bit better, so we hung out outside today. While out there, I went ahead and pulled some weeds - about 9,736 of them - or around 30% of those present.

Brad called and asked what I was doing. When I said "pulling weeds" he put on a coat - Hell had frozen over. I documented the day with some photos.

The various weed piles around the house will likely sit until April 2nd-ish. I'm not much on clean-up. Look how much is left! Wonder if I can pay someone to finish??

I try to tell myself it's good excercise and cost effective for me to do it. I just don't like all those little bugs, worms, snails, etc. to touch me. Gross. I can suck it up I guess - at least until April 3rd!

A New Year

And with the new year always comes the "this year I will...".

Let me break some of mine down.

1. This year I will stop biting my nails. No I won't. I never do. It's extremely hard to break a 30+ year habit. Wishful thinking. Moving on.

2. I will lose weight. Almost fantasy at this point really. Although I apparently shape shift, as people insist at times I've lost weight when I've really weighed pretty much the exact same for 3 years. Next.


3. I will organize all my photos rather than leave them lying in boxes. Now this might actually happen. I just need a few hours, or really days, of quiet. Hmmm....put that way, it may not happen. I really want to get this done, so it's in the realm of possibilities for now. It gets an 85% success rating.

4. Maggie will learn all her numbers and letters and rattle them off with ease. Yowsa! This for real needs to happen!

5. I will clean the floors on a regular basis. Although, are clean floors really that important? Big picture.

6. I won't have such high expectations of people. I don't mean that to sound as bad as it does, but what it translates to is I won't take everything so personally. This is a tough one, as I take everything personally!

7. I will read the Bible daily. Now this is probably what should be #1. Surely I can make this happen.

I'll check back on my list in a couple of months and will probably laugh out loud or go "oh yeah" in my head.

The best to you in 2009 and much success on your list.