Happy Anniversary!

My internet was down yesterday, so I didn't get to post.

Yesterday was the one-year anniversary of my open-heart surgery. As my husband put it, the one-year anniversary of the day they brought me back to life. They had to stop my heart in order to correct the structural problem.

So here's my Friday Fave Five, Gratitude of an Anniversary Style:

1. I'm thankful for a primary care doc who was aggressive in getting my heart murmur investigated. His insistence that I get an echo 18 months ago saved my heart valves from permanent damage.

2. I'm thankful for a sister who works (indirectly) for the best acute-care hospital and for the best surgeon in the western states. Oh the irony ... she lives in North Carolina. But she's the one who got me the name of my surgeon.

3. I'm thankful for my surgeon (and his staff). He had the experience and the knowledge to take care of my anomaly without too much fanfare -- and without making me feel like I was an idiot for insisting on seeing him even though my former cardiologist kept saying, "I don't think you need that surgery." The surgeon and my new cardiologist proved him wrong and got me taken care of. And the staff in the office has answered all my questions and called in pain killers without question when I need them (they are NOT narcotics, so don't go thinking I have a problem here!) Along that line, I'm also thankful for the cardiologists who found the problem, and for the ones who are now my once-a-year best friends.

4. I'm thankful for the staff at LDS Hospital and the insurance that paid for a chunk of the cost of the care I received there.

5. I'm thankful hubby stood by me and stayed with me during my hospital stay, only going home to do homework and have a shower. He even slept on cramped couches the one night I spent in the ICU. I didn't really get it, that he really loved me until later after hearing about that night. Apparently, when they wheeled me out of surgery, he came and hugged me and said something about wanting to go home to clean up and I asked him to stay. So he did. Even after I threw up on him multiple times due to the morphine they kept pumping in me (it's now on my list of allergies to medications). The nurses were all going gaga over him and his devotion to me, and he was so oblivious and just in love with me and worried about me ... I think most of his gray hairs showed up that week. And lemme just say, spending the night with him (and no kids) last night was a whole helluva lot more fun than the nights spent in the hospital and at home last year. Woooooo! hahahahahaha. I sure love that guy. And I'm grateful CC and DisGrace and all the other wonderful people who knew I was struggling so hard with loving him helped me so much during our courtship. hehehehe.

(I'm also thankful that I've recovered to the extent that I have -- I still get some musculoskeletal pain and fatigue, but the dizziness and the palpitations, even if I'm running on caffeine, and flutters in my throat are gone!)

The kids were at each other's throats yesterday, so I took the short one away and left Small Fry to fend for herself for a little while -- mostly to protect Small Fry from Munchkin's abuse. The errand took longer than expected, but I left Munchkin at a neighbor's for a while and hubby and I spent some two-on-one time with Small Fry. Then Munchkin came home and started terrorizing everyone again, and then Demented showed up to get the girls and take them home for a sleepover. Dizzy was playing shy, but man she's cute. Alas, our date was interrupted by a few phone calls with reports of the girls arguing and being dramatic and NOT very good guests.

Hubby is going to make them clean the house later.

Alas, I'm going to have to have a talk with the short one and let her know if she's going to keep acting like a baby, she's going to get treated like one. No TV, no videogames, no pixters ... no big kid toys. at all. I was extremely upset with her yesterday -- I don't think I've ever been so angry with her in her short life.

Anyway. The internet is up and I need to work like 15 hours. So I'm off to do so.

More randomness

I didn't really post yesterday any thoughts about freedom or what the day stands for. I didn't really talk about how my in-laws came here illegally, but are now legal immigrants, hubby a legal resident alien with an official card and everything, and how grateful they are to be here in this country, even though the country itself isn't perfect. I didn't really talk about how one year ago, I was checking into a hospital for a surgery that will affect me the rest of my life in both good AND bad ways and that I had insurance which covered a huge portion of that hospital stay. I didn't talk about how grateful I am that my doctors caught the problem before it destroyed my heart valves -- thank heaven for adequate healthcare and talented doctors. I didn't talk about members of my church were able to come to the hospital and provide me Priesthood blessings and the opportunity to partake of the sacrament on my last day in the hospital. I didn't talk about how the hospital provided a cot and meals to my fiance (now husband) and snacks for my parents without charging me or the insurance for it (I checked the bill).

So ... First, I post some humor. It's funny, whether or not I agree with the overall message. Then a post someone sent me which I agree with, whether or not Mr. Leno really said it.



"Jay Leno. . . Hits the Nail on the Head"

The other day I was reading Newsweek magazine and came across some poll data I found rather hard to believe. It must be true given the source, right?

The Newsweek poll alleges that 67 percent of Americans are unhappy with the direction the country is headed and 69 percent of the country is unhappy with the performance of the president. In essence 2/3 of the citizenry just ain't happy and want a change.

So being the knuckle dragger I am, I started thinking. "What are we so unhappy about?" Is it that we have electricity and running water 24 hours a day, 7 days a week? Is our unhappiness the result of having air conditioning in the summer ad heating in the winter? Could it be that 95.4 percent of these unhappy folks have a job? Maybe it is the ability to walk into a grocery store at any time and see more food in moments than Darfur has seen in the pat year? Is it the ability to drive from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean without having to present identification papers as we move through each state? Or possibly the hundreds of clean and safe motels we would find along the way that can provide temporary shelter? I guess having thousands of restaurants with varying cuisine from around the world is just not good enough. Or could it be that when we wreck our car, emergency workers show up and provide services to help all and even send a helicopter to take you to the hospital.

Perhaps you are one of the 70 percent of Americans who own a home. You may be upset with knowing that in the unfortunate case of a fire, a group of trained firefighters will appear in moments and use top notch equipment to extinguish the flames thus saving you, your family and your belongings.

Or if, while at home watching one of your many flat screen TVs, a burglar or prowler intrudes, an office equipped wi a gun and a bullet-proof vest will come to defend you and your family against attack or loss.

This all in the backdrop of a neighborhood free of bombs or militias raping ad pillaging the residents. Neighborhoods where 90 percent of teenagers own cell phones and computers.

How about the complete religious, social and political freedoms we enjoy that are the envy of everyone in the world? Maybe that is what has 67 percent of you folks unhappy.

Fact is, we are the largest group of ungrateful, spoiled brats the world has ever seen. No wonder the world loves the U.S., yet has a great disdain for its citizens. They see us for what we are. The most blessed people in the world who do nothing but complain about what we don't have, and what we hate about the country instead of thanking the good Lord we live here.

I know, I know. What about the president who took us to into war and has no plan to get us out? The president who has a measly 31 percent approval rating? Is this the same president who guided the nation in the dark days after 9/11? The president that cut taxes to bring an economy out of recession? Could this be the same guy who has been called every name in the book for succeeding in keeping all the spoiled ungrateful brats safe from terrorist attacks?

The commander in chief of an all-volunteer army that is out there defending you and me? Did you hear how bad the president is on the news or talk shows? Did this news affect you so much, make you so unhappy you couldn't take a look around for yourself and see all the good things and be glad?

Think about it. . . . . are you upset at the President because he actually caused you personal pain OR is it because the "Media" told you he was failing to kiss your sorry ungrateful Ass every day.

Make no mistake about. The troops in Iraq and Afghanistan have volunteered to serve, and in many cases may have died for your freedom. There is currently no draft in this country. They didn't have to go. They are able to refuse to go and end up with either a "general" discharge, an "other than honorable" discharge or, worst case scenario, a "dishonorable" discharge after a few days in the brig.

So why then the flat-out discontentment in the minds of 69 percent of Americans? Say what you want but I blame it on the media. If it bleeds it leads ad they specialize in bad news. Everybody will watch a car crash wi blood and guts. How many will watch kids selling lemonade at the corner?

The media knows this ad media outlets are for-profit corporations. They offer what sells, and when criticized, try to defend their actions by "justifying" them in one way or another. Just ask why they tried to allow a murderer like O.J. Simpson to write a book about how he didn't kill his wife, but if he did he would have done it this way. . .. Insane!

Stop buying the negativism you are fed everyday by the media. Shut off the TV, burn Newsweek, and use the New York Times for the bottom of your bird cage. Then start being grateful for all we have as a country. There is exponentially more good than bad.

We are among the most blessed people on Earth and should thank God several times a day, or at least be thankful and appreciative.

"With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks, "Are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?"

*****

I did NOT edit for typos or content or anything. And I've since learned Jay Leno only wrote the closing paragraph --Craig ... something ... wrote the rest.

But I do agree that we do live in the most blessed nation on earth. President Bush may have made mistakes; he's human. I don't agree with everything he's done. But whining about something only makes people mad and doesn't solve anything. My kids know this. So should all of the adult citizens of this country.

I think if people spent as much energy looking for solutions as they do complaining about life and the president in general, we'd have a lot fewer problems than we do as a country.

God Bless America.

4th of July Random Thoughts

Happy Independence Day. The girls wanted to go to a parade this morning but I was trying to work and they weren't letting me. We're supposed to do fireworks and see their grandparents and hubby wants to go see Transformers, but none of them have let me work yet (they're leaving me alone right this second though, but I'm posting instead of working????). *sigh* Speaking of Transformers, we saw this guy all dressed up for the Transformers premiere Monday -- we saw him pull into Sonic, where we were grabbing dinner the other night before we saw Ratatouille, and he posed quite nicely for us. He has red contacts, which you could only tell outside. When we got back over to the theater, he was there with a friend of his who was NOT dressed up. Too funny.


Snapped this picture of Small Fry as soon as she jumped in the car the day I picked her up. She's so gorgeous.


This is Lace's oldest daughter, The Princess. She was showing off her gaposis. We were at dinner with all the family who lives in Utah since my parents were here, closing on their new house, which is near DisGrace and family.

At the restaurant, Dizzy, my niece who is 20 months old, wanted to come say hi and sit in my lap (and eat my food). But hubby startles her every time she sees him (she needs to spend more time with him) and he was sitting in between us. So when she finally got there, I needed to do something for Munchkin, so I plopper my niece right in his lap and he held her like, "AAAAAAAAAa, a baby!!!!" and she just wouldn't even look at him. Then I got done with Munchkin and Dizzy started reaching for me. I turned her back to hubby and started rubbing her back. She snuggled up to him, but was more than happy when I took her back a couple minutes later. So was he. Wish I'd taken a picture of that, but owell.

This is Dizzy's Daddy and my hubby -- Dizzy's Daddy is the one who hooked us up. This was at our family reunion last summer. He looks a little strange, but he's a great guy, one of my favorites.

So, there you have it. Hubby may or may not get to see the movie, but I am going to get work done so we can go see his parents (they haven't seen us since Small fry got here) and do fireworks at some point. Yahoo.

hehehe ... awesome.

You Are Bert

Extremely serious and a little eccentric, people find you loveable - even if you don't love them! You are usually feeling: Logical - you rarely let your emotions rule you You are famous for: Being smart, a total neat freak, and maybe just a little evil How you life your life: With passion, even if your odd passions (like bottle caps and pigeons) are baffling to others

The Sesame Street Personality Quiz

Yay for therapy

So, we have this family therapist. She is really great. Munchkin saw her for about 5 or 6 months last year. Hubby and I saw her together once in May and Munchkin got mad we went without her. lol. I went again by myself in May, and hubby decided while I was in Cali that he needed to go see her. He couldn't remember where her office was, so he followed us over there last night (it was on our way to the movie; see below) and Munchkin asked if she could go in, too. hahahahaha. Too funny.

The good part is she's helping hubby.

The not so good part is Small Fry asked if she could go see her on her own because "I'm missing something" (which I thought she meant missing out since the rest of us have seen her). She clarified, "I'm missing part of me inside," but her biological mom doesn't believe in therapy. I'd actually brought it up to hubby a few days ago -- he said he didn't want to get in trouble with the ex, which I understand (since she's slightly crazy and her mother is more so). I may bring it up to her mom, but I might just take her and let it slide.

So ... yeah. We saw Ratatouille last night with the fam -- us girls plus my folks and DisGrace and her family and Lace and his family. Little Dizzy came and snuggled with me ... and ate half a tub of popcorn. Man, I love that kid.

I'm getting baby hungry, which I need to not be yet. Still have two weeks before my eye surgery! Ack! Hope my period comes this week ....

BUT, here is our newest family member. Mamabear's Baby Bear arrived almost two weeks ago. She's in North Carolina, so this is as much as I'm going to get to see her for quite some time. Can't wait for my baby brother to get here this month with his wife and their little one (who is nearly one year old now!). Lurve babies!!!


And a little gem Small Fry shared with me about her mom. "My mom says you and dad make $60/hour put together." Gasp. Astonishment. Horror. No wonder she thinks we're an ATM. "Honey, that's not even close to being true." Then I explained how I'm not paid a dollar amount per hour -- I'm paid solely on production. If I'm typing or editing reports, I'm making money. If I'm not, I don't get money. End of story. She doesn't get it, but she may eventually. Later on in the day money came up again, and I said, "[Small Fry], if your mom brings up how much money we make, I expect you to tell her she has no idea how much we make. And, in my opinion, it is none of her business how much money we make. We don't discuss our finances with her or you kids." I guess I was kind of rude, but it really isn't anyone's business but ours (and the banks' I suppose since they really own the house) how much money we make, how much money we have, or how we use it or anything like that. Oh my gosh ... I was just ... floored. And next time the ex talks about money and how broke she is, I will tell her straight up I don't appreciate her talking to our child about how much money we make since she has no clue about it, she is not correct, and it isn't her business. She gets her child support and we help out when we can with other things, but we are not an ATM and she'd better get that out of her head ASAP. *bashes head into wall* Stoopid.

STRESS. That's what I'm feeling. STRESS.

KIDS. Small Fry and I are both still sick. But hey, I'm back down to 240 today after the traveling and the eating not so good. Need to start exercising but that's hard to do when I feel like this. I know sex burns calories, but I don't usually like to count that as "exercise," not even when I'm sick. Too bad for hubby, he's been kissing me so much since I got home from Cali (he missed me ... and vice versa), he's going to get the bug eventually.

Munchkin and I have a pretty open and honest relationship. And I'm grateful for it. But lately, she's been asking me some uncomfortable questions. Lately, We've had discussions about underarm odor (she is now wearing deodorant to combat this -- she's 7 for Pete's sake), periods, hair growing in funny spots (armpits and down below), and ... her clitoris. Oy. Mostly she just wanted to know what it was called, not what it was FOR.

So yesterday, in my semi-delirious state of being sick, she asked me what the mark on my neck was from.

"Daddy bit me." WHAT??? Why did I SAY that???

She was horrified. "Why did daddy bite you?"

"Y'know how we like to kiss?" WHY did I say THAT????

"EWWWW".

End of discussion.

Some day, probably in the near future, she is going to ask me about sex in a not-so-roundabout way. Her body is changing and she's probably going to start developing and get her period in a couple years. Small Fry *just* started wearing bras. It'll be interesting, to say the least, to see what happens from here on out with both girls and their puberty and all that ... at least right now, the conversations are open and honest and not that embarrassing, just a tad uncomfortable at times. *sigh*

And hubby still wants four more kids. Probably because he's not the one dealing with these discussions.

Sadly, being pregnant that many times will probably not help my goal of getting in shape, but will help my goal of having a semi-large family. Yay!

I may not be the wicked witch after all

At least, according to Small Fry.

She's eaten the food I've made the last couple of days. Dinner Saturday night was ham-fried rice and shrimp and sweet/sour chicken (not deep fried and made from scratch by me TYVM) and stir fried veggies. She said, "this reminds me of Chinese food, which is my favorite food."

Score.

Breakfast yesterday was pancakes (my own recipe, TYVM). She ate one, said "that was very filling and good." And then didn't ask for anything else until lunchtime, when the girls ate the leftover rice and chicken.

Dinner last night? Pan-seared chicken breasts, then roasted in the cast iron skillet, boiled new potatoes (with parsley, salt, butter), and a lovely salad. She ate it ALL, declaring it quite delicious.

Okay, so I know her eating my food shouldn't make me feel soooooooo much better, but that's not all. I am PMSing in a major way and ended up getting mad at hubby yesterday for something he didn't even do yet. Then about 10 minutes later, I just started crying and apologized for being a witch (only said a different word) and he just got up and hugged me for a while. Small Fry noticed and came over and hugged me, too, and then Munchkin. It was sweet.

And even though she's been calling me Mom since I picked her up, she now sounds like she means it. Or maybe I'm more used to it. lol.

The girls are getting along somewhat better, but I'm still sick and so is Small Fry. Think I'm calling the doctor in 45 minutes when they're open -- might have strep. BAD sore throats. And if we do, we need to get on antibiotics ASAP and prophylactic drugs for hubby and Munchkin so they don't get it, too.

On another note ... after watching this movie (thanks kip!), I remembered a conversation I had with Munchkin yesterday.

Usually, I'm grateful for our open and honest relationship. But lately, she's been asking me some uncomfortable questions. Lately, We've had discussions about underarm odor (she is now wearing deodorant to combat this -- she's 7 for Pete's sake), periods, hair growing in funny spots (armpits and down below), and ... her clitoris. Oy. Mostly she just wanted to know what it was called, not what it was FOR.

So yesterday, in my semi-delirious state of being sick, she asked me what the mark on my neck was from.

"Daddy bit me." WHAT??? Why did I SAY that???

She was horrified. "Why did daddy bite you?"

"Y'know how we like to kiss?" WHY did I say THAT????

"EWWWW".

End of discussion.

Some day, probably in the near future, she is going to ask me about sex in a not-so-roundabout way. Her body is changing and she's probably going to start developing and get her period in a couple years. Small Fry *just* started wearing bras. It'll be interesting, to say the least, to see what happens from here on out with both girls and their puberty and all that ... at least right now, the conversations are open and honest and not that embarrassing, just a tad uncomfortable at times. *sigh*

Hubby still wants four more kids. Probably because he's not the one dealing with these discussions. Right now, we're not even trying to get pregnant, but we have been "practicing" a whole heckuvalot. I know sex burns calories, but I don't usually like to count that as "exercise," not even when I'm sick. (and too bad for hubby, he's been kissing me so much since I got home from Cali (he missed me ... and vice versa), he's going to get the bug eventually).

annnnnnnnnnnnnd ... This post bumped my rating from G to PG. At least I'm not NC17 like someone I know ...

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