Wednesday--Surgery and Death

Wow-- did that headline get your attention or what?! I had surgery on Wednesday to remove the screws from the bones in my ankle. Obviously, it went well because I'm typing this entry. I'll get to the death part in a second. The surgery was a simple one, a small incision, find the screw heads and back them out with a tool. I guess I concentrated on the word simple too much becuase I wasn't expecting the recovery to be this painful. I'm kind of a wuss by nature when it comes to pain. Maybe it's the holes left in the bones that are giving me fits. Anyway, yeah for good pain meds!! The good news is that I can start putting some weight on my foot as soon as I would like to. I'm feeling a little wussy about that, too, so we'll just take it slow. It's been 3 months so walking will take a bit of work. Here's a picture of the screws before and after they were taken out...and sterilized, of course! The metal plate that you see above the screws will stay forever, or until the resurrection, at least, said Dr. Stewart! Should be fun going through airport security from now on!



Now to Wednesday's death. My kids have been "pet crazy" for the past few weeks. The only pet we've had so far has been fish and as far as I'm concerned, that was a lot of work. Well, the kids have been getting an allowance and talking about saving their own money to buy a pet. (Thinking that I would be so much more happy about it if I didn't have to pay for the pet. Nice thought but, wrong!) Pearce talked nonstop about buying fish with his money. Nothing fancy, just a couple of inexpensive fish to put in a bowl that we already had. So Trevor took him to the pet store on Monday and he came home with 2 tiger barbs which he named Stripes and Fabio. He did a good job of taking care of them but called us while we were at the hospital with "an emergency" wanting to talk to me. Trevor explained that I couldn't talk because I was in surgery and Pearce said "But it's an emergency." Turns out the Stripes the fish died while we were at the hospital. He was pretty sad but it was okay becuase they had a nice funeral before flushing it down the toilet. We lost Fabio later that same day. He's not sure if he's going to try again with more fish. I guess he has learned a lesson about "money down the drain."

More to come: Parker wants to buy a leopard gecko

Fun on the Swings

I'm taking a minute to brag about my awesome husband. The kids were out swinging awhile ago (before it was so hot that you would melt to the swing) and he grabbed the camera and took these amazing shots. I think he must have put himself directly in the line of fire to get them. Thanks honey!!

One More Question

--Why don't the Boy Scouts offer a "Cleaning Up After Yourself" merit badge?

Some Random Questions

I'm not necessarily looking for answers but it gives me some satisfaction in just asking the questions!


--If they can make a self-cleaning oven why not a self-cleaning microwave or a self-cleaning toilet or self-cleaning children?


--Why do grocery stores build 25 checkout lanes but only open 2 or 3 at a time?


--Just where exactly are Max and Ruby's parents?


--Why is it so hard to get along with our children that are so much like us in personality? You would think that would make it easier but we really seem to butt heads all of the time.


--Is is a bad thing to let your 3-year-old eat 20 Otter Pops a day?


--Why don't the Costco-sized cereal boxes come with 2 box tops? If they have 2 bags of cereal in them isn't that the same thing as buying 2 boxes?

--Why don't we have Daylight Savings Time in Arizona in the winter? Wouldn't it be nice to have more daylight when the weather is so great?

--When did summer vacation get to be 2 months instead of 3?

--What does a giraffe say? Ethan asked me the other day and I didn't have an answer for him. Any ideas?

Scrap Happy!

So I've started scrapbooking again. I haven't done anything since Ethan was born and he is almost four. Holy Cow! That's a long time for me! I've gone back and forth during the last four years trying to decide if I really had the time to scrapbook. Well, let me say...What was I thinking? I love it. It is in my blood. I love photos. I love the colored paper. I love the little sticky tabs you use to stick the pictures to the page. I love love love the feeling of looking at a completed page. So I spent a week organizing photos and organizing supplies before even starting a page. Yes, very neurotic, but that's me! So if you want to stop by I'll show you my pages.

ok- here's a tip, whether or not you're a scrapbooker. Take those ultrasound pictures that are printed at the doctor's office on thermal paper and make color copies of the images on archival quality paper. Or scan them and print them on photo paper. I was looking at my oldest child's ultrasound pictures and they are fading. So sad!!

God Is Love (and so are his children!)

I love flower gardens. When we designed our front yard landscaping we set aside a place for a flower garden. This spot has become my project. After 6 years here, I've got it down to a planting schedule that is successful every year. I plant twice a year. Winter flowers are planted in mid-October and summer flowers are planted in mid-May. This May, however, I was unable to plant due to my injury. The boys pulled out all of the dead winter flowers and I decided that it would be ok to skip the summer planting this year. Well, my visiting teacher noticed that I didn't have anything planted and came and trimmed and weeded and planted summer flowers and did amazing job. She was out there for hours. Would I have survived with just dirt there through the summer? Yes. Am I absolutely delighted that she planted them for me? Definitely yes.

There is a hymn that goes like this:
"Earth, with her ten thousand flowers
Air, with all its beams and showers
Heaven's infinite expanse
Sea's resplendent countenance
All around and all above
Bear this record-- God is love."

I think of this hymn every time I see those beautiful flowers that she planted. There is really something to be said about this way of caring for other people. While it is so important that we see that others' most immediate needs are met, someone who is in tune to the Spirit sees beyond those needs. Life would have gone on without summer flowers planted out front but she knew that they were important to me. This is the loving, personal service that we all need every once in a while. Someone recognizing what is important to us and then going the extra mile to do it.

We have been on the receiving end of so many acts of service over the past little while. Words cannot adequately express my gratitude for even the smallest act. It is hard to not be able to take care of your family the way you would like to. Not being able to drive has been one of the hardest parts. Trevor is out of town this week at Scout Camp and Aubrey needed to see a doctor today. A dear friend gave us a ride to the doctor and then to the pharmacy. She will say that it wasn't a big deal but to me it was such a big help. Thank You!

I think people in general don't get enough credit in our society. The news rarely reports anything positive and yet there are so many good people in this world. Yes, there is plenty of bad stuff around but there is also so much good. I feel so blessed to be surrounded by so many of the good ones!

Just turn it off!

Aubrey was bored on Saturday. No matter what I suggested that she do she just didn't "feel like" doing anything. As a result, she spent way too much time watching TV. I guess we all need a mental-down-day every once in awhile. This was definitely one for her. However, she came to chat with me in the evening and the conversation began like this:
"Mom, would you rather spend thousands of dollars on a beautiful garden of flowers or would you rather spend just $19.95 for that same beautiful garden?"

"Well, of course I would rather spend $19.95."

"Then we should call today and order Roll and Grow. If we call today we can get a bonus flower pot garden absolutely free."

Conversation later that evening while she was doing her hair:
"Mom, this used to take me hours to finish. But now I can do it in half the time. You know, if we ordered the Magic Bullet, we could make dinner in half the time, too."

Seriously, way too many commercials for that girl. Just turn the TV off!!