A Few of My Favorite Things

I was thinking about a few of my favorite things lately:

1. The smells of Christmas; pine trees, spiced apple cider, baking cookie (all), candy making (and friends that volunteer their house for these projects!)
2. My kids; Lauren's joy over it being both Christmas and her birthday (26th), Tylor's subtle gift suggestions (random comments made at odd times - not when asked directly!), Connor's not so subtle gift suggestions ("Hey, Mom you need a new phone - this company has a 2 for 1 deal!" - plays on my frugal side!)
3. My home. I love being here more than anywhere else.
4. My sisters and dad and Frankie ... and brothers. I love that they are there for me always.
5. Christmas movies. I am such a sap! I love the old classics and the goofy ones too. I cry at all the appropriate places!
6. My husband. I was telling someone that he was shopping without me then going home to make dinner and they wanted to know where they could get one like that. Sorry I got the only one!
7. The Gospel spirit. I love going to church during the weeks before Christmas because you can feel the warmth (and our chapel freezing right now!) of the Gospel everywhere.

I am thankful for all those who make my life great and possible.

Clown Car

There are lots of things that doctors fail to tell you when you are having 'work' done. I have come up with a handy list of questions I'm going to use if I ever find myself in the position of needing surgery again:

1. Will you be pulling anything akin to a dozen clowns out of a bodily cavity? (answer: Yes.)

2. When I eat for the first time will I be stunned for any reason? (answer: Yes, your eyes will bleed and, as in every apocolyptic movie, you will die shortly thereafter...dramatically.)

3. Will there be swelling? (answer: Yes, you will feel like you are drowning because of said swelling so be sure to stay awake for the first 24 hours. See above for potential outcome.)

4. Any unexpected side effects? (answer: Yes, you won't be able to see well or wear your glasses since you have a cast so forget about catching up on any reading.)

5. Will I be able to rest? (answer: No. You have children, they don't make enough drugs for this)

6. What will it/I smell like? (answer: You don't want to know.)

7. When will I feel normal again? (answer: HA! HA! HA! (tear wiping involved) HA!)

I'm sure I will feel normal again but for now I will sniff and try not to gag.

Let's See....

So in the last two weeks since my last post the following things have conspired to make me not post:
1. Ward Christmas party preparation - how did I get roped into doing 40 goodie bags & gallons
of hot chocolate, 2 dozen cookies, costumes and 4 gingerbread train center pieces?
2. Connor sick (2 days), Tylor sick (2 days), Lauren sick (2 days), Jim sick (7 days) and me sick,
am I over it yet? You'd think I could have squeaked out one post in there but no.
3. Almost hit our neighbor's dog and child - they ran into the street at night
4. Multiple trips to Costco because no one else has a Costco card
5. Thanksgiving - lovely but busy as usual
6. Work
7. Going to the court house not once but twice in one day - long story but the witness protection
program isn't part of it ... yet.
8. Serious annoyance over Jim calling saying, "I'm taking a walk down a beach....".

I'm sure there's more but my addled brain can't remember what. And now there's Christmas shopping to throw in the mix, and three parties to throw at school and surgery and cards to mail.

Is it over yet?

13

At 9:38 pm November 17, 2009 I will have a teenager. Let me say that again. I will have a teenager. I haven't seen my only toe-headed toddler for years but I miss him right now as my 5'4" teenager leans over to hug me.

Happy Birthday Connor!

Time Traveler's Wife

I am a time traveler's wife. "How so?", you ask incredulously. Well, Jim is leaving leaving China on Friday at 10 a.m. to get home to San Francisco at 8:25 a.m. on Friday. He has obviously overcome the time/distance issue so why can't he .... uh, I was going to find something slightly pithy to say here, but, I got nothin'. Nice thing to have me be stumped on! I'm just ever so happy he will be home! And now we dance to "12 minutes of Silence by Raymond Wornton". Hum along if you must!

Breathing 101

For the last few years I have noticed that breathing through my nose has been getting worse with each successive year. I had a doctor tell me, I don't know, 10+ years ago I had a 'bit of a problem'. Well, in the last few months it has blossomed into a full problem.

I went to see a friend of my in-laws, go figure she's an ENT, Dr. Freeling. She said I was a deviant, no wait, erase that, go back. That I had an S curve in my septum, weak nasal valves (is this from Mom or Dad's side?) and, here's the kicker, a drooping tip that were all conspiring to make me wake up gasping and/or with a headache each morning. Nice. She said sitting up I am at 40% capacity, laying down with my head on a pillow with one side squashed into the pillow and the other collapsing (remember those weak valves?) I was barely breathing at all. The good news? No apnea. Whew.

So, she is going to fix me right up. I asked about fixing the valve issue - it involves harvesting (never a good term for surgical related issues) cartlidge from my ear (yeah, there's where I want to have scarring!) and rebuild the values and oh, by the way, your nose will be wider. "What do you mean wider?", I asked. "Think Michael Jackson the teenage years.", she says with one glove on. Yikes! So, I have opted for less wide but still breathing. She is going to straighten out my septum - no nose breaking here at all thank goodness! And, this is sort of funny, lift my tip. HUH? She is going to (turn away if you are squeamish) separate the skin from the bump in my nose and sew the skin from the inside up about 1/16th of an inch higher so I will have "more nostril" when I look in the mirror. By doing this it takes pressure off my weak valves allowing me to breath at about 90% capacity.

So now I am walking around pulling the skin from the bump in my nose up just a little bit and boy can I tell the difference. I am a little concerned about the bump though. With those stitches my bump will be about 1/64 higher for about three weeks until the stitches dissolve. No pics during that time..... ;-)

I am going in on December 9th for my nose job.... I don't think wishing me luck would be appropriate. How about sending a nice card to my ENT so she feels good about herself that day?

An Actively Sweet Musical Halloween

Well, we had quite the mix this year. Lauren wanted to be a candy corn while a friend of hers was a banana. I was going to make the costume but when I found it at Oriental Trading for $9.99 I bought it!

Connor wanted to be George Harrison from the cover of Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club album - I think I did great! We borrowed the jacket and I embellished (a lot!) He is so cool.

Tylor is a member of the Mexican National Soccer Team. (Meaning he grabbed this at the 11th hour so I would let him go trick-or-treating.)