For those who participate in Black Friday

Well kids, here is a list my husband sent me in an email...no he did not create it, he just shared it with me because when he read it he could actually see me doing list item #13.

Things to do at Wal-Mart while your spouse/partner/friend is taking their sweet time:

1. Get 24 boxes of condoms and randomly put them in peoples' carts when they aren't looking.
2. Set all the alarm clocks in Housewares to go off at 5-minute intervals.
3. Make a trail of tomato juice on the floor leading to the rest rooms.
4. Walk up to an employee and tell him/her in an official tone, 'Code 3' in housewares and see what happens.
5. Go to the Service Desk and ask to put a bag of M&M's on lay away.
6. Move a 'CAUTION - WET FLOOR' sign to a carpeted area.
7. Set up a tent in the camping department and tell other shoppers you'll invite them in if they'll bring in pillows from the bedding department.
8. When a clerk asks if they can help you, begin to cry and ask 'Why can't you people just leave me alone?'
9. Look right into the security camera; use it as a mirror, and pick your nose.
10. While handling guns in the hunting department, ask the clerk if he knows where the anti- depressants are.
11. Dart around the store suspiciously loudly humming the Mission Impossible theme.
12. In the auto department, practice your Madonna look using different size funnels.
13. Hide in a clothing rack; when people browse through, say PICK ME!
14. When an announcement comes over the loudspeaker, assume the fetal position and scream "NO! NO! It's those voices again!!!!
15. Go into a fitting room and shut the door and wait a while; and then yell, very loudly, "There is no toilet paper in here!"

Update on Dad's Open Heart Surgery

Well, Pops had his surgery yesterday morning. We were all pretty scared when he went in and at the same time trying to be positive. I must say, it is nice having a nurse come out every hour to tell you all is going as scheduled and he is doing fine.

Surgery was over sometime between 11 a.m. and noon. We were able to see him by 12:30. It was hard to see him like that. My 17yr old niece barely walked into the room and started crying. She could not look at him. I must say it was diffiucult to see "Superman" hooked up to so much equipment. I did not want my kids or my younger niece to have the same issue that the other one had so I took a picture and shot some video to help prepare them and make an informed decision about going in to see grampa. Kimmie chose not to go. I do not know if the video link will work so here is a picture to give you an idea:

So, his nurses Open Heart Recovery are of the Nazi type....I kid, I kid.... they are just very dedicated to doing their job and sticking to the rules. There are only 4 times a day when you can visit him and that is 8 a.m., 11:30 a.m. , 4:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. and only for 30 minutes each time, only 2 visitors at a time and no children under the age of 12. So, today I had to video tape Paige in the waiting room blowing kisses and waving and he was up and feeling better and sent her a video wave back. So, if you have not guessed by now he is off the ventilator, all tubes are out of his throat and the chest tube has been removed. He will probably be back to the Heart and Vascular center tomorrow evening. I can not say enough about the nurses up there...lovely people who treat their patients like family. And treats the patients family just as well. So, that is the good news of the day.

Happy Birthday Breanna

Our day began at 6:30 a.m. where I strolled into Breanna's room and lay down next to her sleeping self. In a Gilmore-esq way I began reciting the story which was a historical retelling of the day she was born that started something like: "At this time, 15 years ago I was on my way to the hospital to be induced...."
She whined about being awakened and at one point during the whining I recall referring to the stretch marks that she gave me as a gift 15 years ago... which she counted. Anyway, she received jammies and a kick-butt bath/spa set and the best of all a bag filled with tic-tacs, gum, altoids, and deodorant. Attached to the deodorant was a ribbon with different denominations of money tied to it - total of which will not be disclosed. Also, reminding her that she is going to be sent to Chicago on an overnight shopping trip next weekend with the kids from the the GCC high school ministry LIFELINE http://www.gccwired.com/listTemplate.asp?pageid=26 (someday I will figure out how to make the link and the word all one entry)

So, now we are off to visit her grandfather in the hospital and do a mini celebration with him.

My minute as a restaurant critic.

I just had to share this with everyone. David and I both have Fridays off of work and we like to go to breakfast on those days if possible. Well, today we tried a place recommended to us by his parents. A little place called Carol's Cafe over on 4th Street in Mishawaka. This place is tiny - REAL tiny. We are talking 4 booths and the counter and all cooking is done behind the counter. The staff knew everyone who walked in and called them by their first name. It appears to be run by a family. What made me want to blog about this place is the fact that, not only was the food we ordered good, the servings were HUGE. I can not stress this enough. HUGE. I ordered the "German Special" which is potatoes, eggs, sausage, peppers, onions, cheese and a zesty sauce all fried together and served with toast. This could have served Dave and I both and still have enough to bring home for leftovers tomorrow. However, Dave had the "Bridget omelet" which could have easily fed two grown men or 3 grown women. I felt rather full and barely cleaned off a quarter of my plate and the "to-go" box was FULL. Dave made it through half the omelet and there is plenty for him to warm up for a meal tomorrow morning. I highly recommend this place if you are into the little diner/greasy spoon atmosphere and only if you are NOT on a healthy diet. I also want to send a shout out to Paula, our waitress who was very nice and provided excellent service and kept my coffee mug full. A bonus feature: on the tables is assorted flavored creamers for your coffee - I enjoyed the butter pecan.

Coming Soon:

A picture of Breanna dressed as a nun blowing out candles on a twinkie cake... check back next week for this and other interesting tid bits...until then, enjoy an eyball picture

This is the ONLY picture I have of a RIGHT eye. And of course who else would it be than the one and only, Mr Right himself - my husband David. (The other 65 eyeball pics I have are of the left eye. If you are willing, and I haven't taken your eyball picture before I would love to add you to my collection, or if you were not happy with your last one - please let me know)

The Drama of the Nose

Well, as some of you know, Paige has had the unfortunate privilege of having had her nose broken twice within a six month period. The first time happened defending the honor of a friend. A boy at her afterschool daycare pushed down her friend, so Paige pushed him down, and he got up and punched Paige in the face. After surgery I was not 100% happy with the correction they did but it was a great improvement (I can't seem to locate the BEFORE surgery picture of the first broken nose)

Six months later....she was at a friends house down the street playing on their trampoline and apparently she fell onto the springs and her knees flew into her face and broke her nose AGAIN. It was not quite as obvious to look at unless you looked at the x-ray but I do have a picture of her before surgery this time:


















This is after Surgery # 1 - I could still see the bridge of her nose is pushed to the right of her face a little bit but I think that only I, as her mother, could see it.





After Surgery # 2 I was MUCH happier

You probably can not see what I am talking about but I joked that her second broken nose was because God wasn't happy with the first one either and it was His way of saying "Do it right this time!"

As a precaution her doctor decided that it might be a good idea to have one of those masks made that the pro basketball players wear. So, here is Paige showing you what $600.00 worth of specially molded plastic looks like:

Amazing Paige

So I am just going to give you a glimpse at her doing something great! Climbing a rockwall all the way to the top - barefoot. This happened in June 2005 - many of the boys and the Army personnell running this rockwall were amazed and embarrassed by her speed and strength - wish I had videotaped it.







Here she is ringing the bell at the top (I have NO IDEA why the sun looks like that in pictures I take with my phone.)



And then - since she likes climbing so much....




She started climbing back DOWN - until we told her that it was okay to let go and let the harnesses do the work for her.

Scarlet O'Terror the Bionic Dog

I am sure you are wondering what the heck that ------>
is. Well, I love my pets. I have four furry ones. Two cats, Cinder and Ash; two dogs, Pity and Scarlet. Scarlet is a red doberman and contrary to popular belief, she is very loving and not so graceful (sort of like me). Well, one day last September she was outside for a few minutes and I heard this AWFUL scream-like sound. I went out and found her hobbling around and so I brought her inside where I examined her leg. To make a long (VERY LONG) story short - she broke her leg. A spiral fracture. There is no facility in the South Bend area to repair this type of injury on a large dog. So we could go to Ft. Wayne or Indy to have it corrected. My husband and I had to take days off work between the surgery and the follow ups to make these fun filled trips to Ft. Wayne with a dog who does not like to ride in cars. She also does not like to wear a cast. She chewed through her cast at least 3 times and of course this meant urgent trips to the vet to have it recasted - OH WHAT FUN. NO, victorian collars do not help. So the above picture is what Scarlet's leg still looks like internally. Metal plates, screws and wires. She is the bionic dog. Here are some more pics of her dramatic experience:


The cast and the cone...she hated them both



This is how her leg looked after they removed the cast and staples....she still has one small area that the hair never grew back...but hey, she is a dog and does not care. Besides, her name is SCARlet

Wasted Time OR Planning Ahead For Next Year

So I took a vacation and realized that I wasted a week. No, actually 10 days. No, a week. Excuse the confusion but let me explain. I wanted to take a vacation because I have not had one 15 months. I had no intention of going anywhere, I just wanted to do two things:
1) Get my Christmas shopping done before the chaos begins and
2) have some ME time.

Well I accomplished the first goal pretty much by the end of day three. When it came down to “ME time” I really was not sure what to do with it. So, this is what I can say I accomplished: I finished crocheting a blanket that I started LAST winter and this evening I began teaching Paige how to crochet (to the best of my abilities –which are limited because I can only do things that are square or rectangular.)

I thought I would spend my days reading or exercising or doing things around the house to get caught up with chores. None of those things appealed to me. I was too darn tired.

My first problem was taking a vacation while everyone else did not. This means I was awakened by Dave’s 4:14 a.m. alarm for work. Then again at 6 a.m. to get the kids up and get them ready and take them to school. Only to return home to decide, do I want to try to get more sleep? I did not. So I puttered around and ran a few errands and did some studying but really nothing worthwhile, well the studying was worthwhile but that should not count when you are supposed to be on vacation. I pretty much spent my days waiting for 2:00 p.m. to roll around so I could go about my normal routine of picking up the kids from school and becoming Mom.

I discovered that I would love to start scrap booking and realized that I did not have the spare money to purchase all of the supplies that I would need to do it properly (yes, I am THAT anal). I discovered that I would love to start making jewelry and had the same problem that I had with scrap booking. I discovered that I would love to hang out with my friends during the day – but guess what? They all work!

What surprised me most, I did NOT want to read. I normally LOVE reading. I didn’t want to do it. Another surprise, I wish I would have gone away somewhere by myself. I wish I would have planned better instead of waiting until my body and brain said “Hey, dude, we need a break.” I realized last night on the way home from church, as I was listening to Bon Jovi on the radio that it has been 16 years since I have seen the ocean. I took it for granted growing up having it so close for so many years. I did not realize until last night that I missed it. I know, I know – there is always Lake Michigan, but those of us who have seen the ocean we know it is not the same. Nothing compares to realizing how small you truly are when you stand at the edge of the shore and know that there is an entirely different world under those waters. Sitting on the sand, with your toes in the water at sunset and letting the sound of the waves hypnotize you…

I guess I will know what to do next year. Scrap booking and jewelry making on the Jersey shore with a friend I have not seen in 13 years. I can start saving for that! Hey, I accomplished something! I came up with a plan for NEXT year. I feel better now!

To Blog or Not to Blog...Why? is the REAL question.

I have tried unsuccessfully for the past week to get a blog up and running. Why? I believe it is because; I took a vacation and found myself wanting a place to publish my most profound ponderings. I do not really know if anything I might say would be truly profound, or even of interest to anyone else. I guess we all dream that we are the great reporters of life. That somewhere deep inside us there is a vast depth of knowledge that only we possess; that somehow it is our responsibility to let the world know some of our great wisdom. In reality, that is all a crock of malarkey. We all just want to be heard.