Saturday, April 23, 2011

Please pray for my Dad...

Early this week, Dad has surgery to replace the mandibular plates in his sternum with actual sternal plates that had to be flewn in from Florida.  Poor Dad spent days fasting 24hrs until they finally managed to get him in to an operating room.  It has been so frustrating because Dad is a big man and has diabetes.  Neither are working in his favor. 

Yesterday, Dad sneezed and the new plates came apart!  So now...Dad is left with a broken sternum and no uppoer body support...being sent back to square one to repeat yet another surgery with no known recovery date or time.  To make matters worse, Dad drives truck so every day spent recovering is another day without an income...and he's the sole income for Mom & Dad.  Plus - Dad is alot like me and doesn't do sitting still very well so all of this is incredibly hard for him.  He's so discouraged and frustrated - I have never seen him like this before and it is driving me mad that I can't do anything to help. 

Please - If you have any prayers to offer - we will gladly take whatever you have to give. 

Friday, April 22, 2011

Yay-Ugh-Yay-Ugh-Yay-Ugh-ugh

I got to sleep in alot today!  YAY! 
Cept I slept till almost 1pm cuz we didn't get to bed till after 3am!  UGH!
I also got to use my clothes line for the first time this year!!  YAY! 
But realized how much of a mess the back yard is in - dog poo! UGH!
But it's perfectly beautiful outside and so nice to feel warm-ish-ness from the sun!  Yay!  And...tomorrow...my oldest kiddo turns 13...Ugh!
I'm too young to be the Mom of a teenager...double ugh!  She is crazy excited though.  I have trying to remember my transition to teen-ager and the memories evade me.  Oh well - I'm sure she will leave me with enough tomorrow. :)

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Life in the fast lane





I'm not sure when my life took off like a tournado but holy crap on a cracker!  The last couple of weeks have been a crazy mad blur and I can't seem to get 2 seconds to come up for air!  Here's how my days have been spent. 

In February - Dad had a heart attack, followed by a quadrupal bypass.  When the surgeon opened him up, he cut his sternum too far to one side (Dad - as big as he is - has a narrow sternum) so they couln't use the wire to hold it together for fear that it would crush through the thin side (which is incredibly very ultra bad-bad-bad!) so - they used mandibular plates and screws.  Ok - great!  As I sat listening to the surgeon (back in February) explaining that the plates are the same as what is used on a jaw I remember thinking...Hmmm...A jaw is a fixed bone that moves...not a moving bone like a split sternum...but hey - what do I know?  Well...turns out my thought had a point cuz guess what - Dads sternum came un-done and he had a plate and screws floating loose in his chest!  (Insert multiple prayers here)  Fast forward to last tuesday.  Dad is admitted to the Saint John hospital and made to fast as of 10pm because he is scheduled for surgery at 11:30 Wednesday morning.  He's diabetic too - so his sugars were bound to be a little wonky from it...
Wednesday morning - I'm in the car with Mom at 7am and we head to Saint John.  We get to Dads room and wait...and wait...and wait..during that time, I worked on and managed to finish making a pattern for a doll!  It even has toes!!  Can't wait to get it typed up so that I can set it loose for some trial runs :)  At 3:30 in the afternoon (yes - his surgery was supposed to happen 4 hours ago) the surgeon comes in and says that he'll try to fit Dad in before 10pm...but if he can't, Dad can eat at 10:00pm - and then fast again as of midnight and they will put him on a priority list for the next day...guess what - 10pm came and went.  Poor Dad was starving hungry by that point and very little could be found in their "cafeteria" at that hour.  We hung out with Dad and drove home in the awful rainy roads, through the back 40 of hell - trying to watch for moose and other critters - with transport truck headlights beating in through the back window.  It was awful - but we made it home by midnight.
Thursday morning - I'm in the car with Mom at 7am and we head to Saint John. On our way - I dug out some grey yarn to start a monkey hat and Mom puts in a request for an owl toilet paper cover!  (??!)  Oh well - who am I to say no to Mom??  He was done (mostly) before we left the hospital :)  As for Dad...Remember the story from yesterday?  Well...ditto for today!  They left him waiting again for hours and nagged at him when his sugars were out of whack!  DUH!  you didn't give him his insulin or sugar pills - made him fast all day - let him eat at 10pm and fast again??  Too bad it's illegal for me to hit you with a big stick!  We were all frustrated! Dad ate at 10pm, and we were in the car headed home by 10:20, bu the roads were clear and I was home in bed by midnight.
Friday morning - I went to work...but had to pick my aunts up at the airport.  They flew home from Cuba at 4:00...I met them off the plane and was home by 5pm...(side note - they discharged Dad for the weekend and wanted him back at the hospital first thing Monday morning to start the same exhausting waiting game all over again - ugh!)  where was I??  Oh yeah - just got home and whipped up a super quick dinner and shot back in town to pick up a couple of things before heading to the play house with oldest kiddo to see "Les Miserables".  A boy from her class was in the play so we HAD to go!  $35. later we were not seated together...but she got to see "him".  They all did a really great job.  It was the first time I had ever seen it.  I didn't really like the play itself - it was too complicated to follow...but the actors all were great :) and it was fun to watch.  The play started at 8pm, but didn't finish till after 11pm.  Did I mention that I had to deliver a cake at 2:00 tomorrow...and hadn't even started it yet?? Ugh!  So - 11:20 and we're off to Sobeys!  Pickup stuff to bake a cake and went hom to do just that!
Saturday morning - up at the cr
ack of dawn (Oh - today is DH's birthday!)  I'm mixing and whipping frosting and making various colors - assembling the skirt and all is going well.  Littlest kiddo woke up and made a rice krispie squire cake for her Dad's birthday.  She spent over 2 hours decorating it and it turned out terrific!  I was so proud of her!  I managed to finish the cake by noon...which is when

 hubby woke up :)  We sang happy birthday to him and shared his cake.  I delivered the Barbie cake, then back home to bake another one...oh right - did I mention that kiddo's BFF's birthday party is tomorrow and I have to decorate a tiger face cake for her??  yeah - WTH was I thinking??  (In my defense - I hadn't planned the Saint John trips when I agreed to make the cakes). Mom took the girls so hubby and I could go see a movie - went to the cheap theatre to see source code.  Good movie!  Home after midnight (we stopped for cheese cake on teh way) then turned in for the night. 




Sunday am - up before the sun to decorate a freakin Tiger cake!  violin lessons are at 11:00 and the party starts at 1:00...oh and we don't ahve a gift yet! AUGH!  I was a whirling vortex of life-force sucking hell...but the tiger face turned out awesome!  I finished it at 10:20 - took a 2 minute shower and had the cake in the trunk and kiddo at violin lessons by 11:00 sharp!  11:30 and we were on our way to Walmart - got our gift, hit the drive through at McD's, hit the dollar store for a 9 candle and matches...then to the hotel for a pool party.  Party was fun - ran from 1 to 4...at the end - I was sacked!  My camera battery died half way through - AUGH!  helped tidy up a little - loaded tired kiddo in the car and then took her home....just in time to head back in town for groceries!!  AUGH!  Back home by 6pm, made dinner, packed lunches, hit laundry, tried to tidy...and on...and on...and on...
Monday was nuts at work and nutser at home...Youngest kiddo came home from school sick.  Monday night I got to wake at 3am...(*note - chocolate pudding tastes the same in both directions.  Zesty cheese dorito's...not so much!)
Tuesday - had to go in to the office for a couple of quick things, but was back out by 9:30am - headed home sick, with laptop in hand so that I could work from home for the day...laptop worked like crap and I fell asleep at 4pm...adn woke up at 11pm!  AUGH!  still tired but too awake to sleep and I felt totally barfy!  On a Dad note - they finally got Dad into an OR at 9pm and he got out after 11pm. Surgery went well, but Dad is to be on total bed rest for at least 3 weeks - no moving no using his arms...nothing! He's a big man and that's gonna be super hard for him! As always - we'll take whatever prayers you've got!

I took a Gravol which leads me to...
Wednesday morning - Thanks to Gravol, I slept through my alarm and woke up when the front door slammed shut - oldest kiddo (Gawd love her) got up and ready for school, and put herself on the bus!  who knew such things only took 13 years to figure out! :)  But other kiddo had a crazy temp so I had to scoot in town to grab more tylenol and run it back home to her...where DH had also picked up our flu...I bought her a cheapo webkinz too to entertain her until hubby joined the world of the living...and then I headed to the office.  She called me at work about a dozen times with Webkinz questions - augh!  Nutzo day at work, then off to pick up more cough syrup and something for dinner...and somehow managed to whip up some fun treasure filled soaps for kiddo's class mates - but honestly, the rest of the night has been a blur...And to be honest - I've left soooo much out I could easily fill the pages of a novel!

I am sincerely hoping that things calm down soon cuz I can't keep up with this!  My brain feels like it has been rolled in sand and I haven't had a sensible thought in days!  Anyhoo - if you see me floating in a zombified haze...poke me with something sharp and point me in the right direction - m'kay? :)  As for life in the fast lane...screw it!  I wanna car-pool!

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Monkey Hat Winner!!!

I rolled the dice, and #5 is the lucky Monkey hat getter!!  A.K.A. Cathy W!!  Yay!  I hope you enjoy it! :)

Friday, April 8, 2011

Getting excited

Tomorrow, I get to hang with a group of my gal-pals!  We're headed to a local hotel to (Bow-chicka-wow-wow) CROP!!!  I can't wait! Even if I'm totally lacking in mo-jo...not having to answer to the namem "Mommy" for an entire afternoon will be lovely! :)

I've been surfing a little this morning, trying to come up with a plan or two to work on tomorrow.  Accidentilly - I happened upon THIS AWESOME IDEA!!!  It's a paint and fresco technique on a cuttlebug folder.  I don't have the lantern folder - BUT - I do have a ton of other folders that I'm anxious to try!!

I've also ear-marked a few card ideas too - I figure I should probably get around to my birthday and thank you cards...and maybe even get a jump on Christmas??  (Dare I dream??)  and if that doesn't work out...I'll crochet! :)  (A turtle...since I still haven't found Mommy!)

I'll post pics of whatever I do come up with.  

Oh - and don't forget...if you haven't posted a comment on the feebie monkey hat post - there's still time! :)

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Anybody wanna freebie?? - Crochet Give away

I was in between projects the other night (yes I have pretty much finished all of my in progress crochet projects! WOOT!)  and decided to whip up a sock monkey hat.  I made the pattern up as I went, and instead of the typical white on top with the stripe etc - I made it all grey and made the rim white and red.  The little ears are my fave, though! :) I'm super happy with it...but realized that it now needs a little head to rest on cuz it just doesn't look right on dear Koby Kade (although I'm very thankful that he was kind enough to agree to model it for my blog)  Can you think of anyone who would look super cute in it??  :)

So - if you'd like to have a monkey hat...please leave a comment :)  I'll draw from all the names that post and if that person is you - congrats!  you win a monkey hat...and I got to meet all the super sweet folks who are kind enough to read my blog! :) 
You have until Friday - April 8th to leave your comment - I'll announce the lucky monkey-hat getter on Saturday morning! :)  Happy commenting and I hope you were lucky enough to stay out of all that NB snow! :)

And for what it's worth - it will fit a real person head much better then it fits a cabbage patch kid head. :)