Happy Birthday to a wonderful Dad+G'pa!

Happy Birthday dad! I wish I could be there - maybe one of these days. Hope you have a wonderful day :: We'll be thinking of you! ::
Love you!!

Today I am...

... reading blogs. I need some book recommendations...

... watching Weeds on my laptop. Season1. Can you say way behind. lol. {I think they are currently on S05 or 06}

... drinking water. Trying to drink more of it.

... making progress on the laundry. again.

... waiting for Bri to return from Ohio.

... wondering how the heck it got to be August already.

... wanting to be there for dad's birthday tomorrow but can't.

... needing to sew Madysen's curtains.

Happy Birthday to me! :)

Another year has gone by and many will ask 'what did you do?' + 'what did everyone get you?' lol. And I might say 'nothing' + 'a few things' which won't be completely true really. I've received tangible things that mean a lot to me; mom + dad sent me a lovely card + CD that made me cry + I got several nice tops from them when they were here {she knows I don't buy things for myself like that. lol}, Rhonda + fam sent me a card - Bri is getting veggie rolls from the most $$ restaurant in town on Monday (she has a coupon of course!). lol. They really are yummy. Bri + Jer got me a Shark Hand Vac thing which is great! {no, seriously - I underestimated how much Haku hair would be all over everything when I decided to let him be inside much of the time. Imagine that. lol.} + I'll get to see Kayleigh, Mady, + Rob on Thursday. All are appreciated and loved.
But the most treasured gifts are the gifts I receive every day I am allowed to wake up in the morning. {okay, afternoon!} The blessings of family. My mom calls frequently, Kayleigh calls me on some of her breaks at work + on her way home from work (+ we text often) and I love that! Bri is here of course + does things that I greatly appreciate, like stopping by to pick up things here and there on her way home from work for example, + helping me focus on getting this straightened up around here. Not to mention the countless hours she spends finding deals + coupons for us, her, + Kayleigh. Sometimes I talk at Mady on the phone. :) She's such a joy, I can't even tell you! And knowing that I can drive 30 min. and see her is priceless! Jer... puts up with me. lol. I'm not *that* difficult but I have my moments. :) No matter what he's here offering support and love - all these years.
Some people may be far away geographically, but I'm surrounded by love all the time just the same. Every day. And that's the most blessed and treasured gift I could ever ask for.
I love you all tremendously!

Mady's first piggie tails!

I've been waiting forever to be able to put pig-tails in Madysen's hair and on the 4th of July someone finally did! Yay! lol. We weren't able to attend the annual 4th of July shin-dig over at Rob & Kayleigh's b/c of Bri's surgery recovery, but Kayleigh sent me these pictures. Rob's sister, Ryan, put these cute little piggy tails in Mady's hair for her. :) Also, last year Madysen fell asleep before the fireworks (she was only 6 months old) but this year Kayleigh says she loved them! This could be good or bad depending since I don't think that girl fears anything. lol.

RIP Elroy

Sadly, Kayleigh, Rob & Madysen lost their dog Elroy the other day. Elroy was a Red Tick Hound that they'd rescued from the pound several months ago... the day before he was to be put down by the pound actually. Over the 4th of July weekend Elroy became lethargic and wasn't eating. At the vet the prognosis wasn't good: he had a twisted intestine/stomach and massive infection. They could have operated but these things tend to reoccur. So, the hard decision was made to let him go. To be in peace.
Kayleigh & Rob gave him a wonderful several months that he wouldn't have otherwise had. :)
Elroy was laid to rest on Rob's dad's property with other critters that went before him.
I'm not going to copy the Rainbow Bridge poem here because it always makes me cry (you've been warned.) but click on the link to go there if you wish.

A win and an update

The above goodie... I won one! When Rhonda was here she was asking me a bit about giveaways and she was saying that it seems that I win a lot of things... but in relation to the amount of giveaways that I enter (and the time it takes) I don't win that many of them. Just every now and then. This little goodie is a photo back up USB device. I believe I just plug it in and it will locate all the photos on my hard drive and copy them to the USB back up automatically. No fussing. Very cool & this will be perfect for me to keep all those photos of Madysen backed up and safe! Thanks to Dee over at Two of a Kind Working on a Full House!

Many of you I'm in touch with over email or Facebook... but I think there are a few of you who are just readers of this blog. Brianna had a few sinus procedures + her tonsils removed a few days ago. She's doing as well as can be expected for such painful procedures. We are 3 days post-op and are hoping for more dramatic improvement in the days ahead. She's still in a lot of pain and taking pain meds every 4 hours. It's very difficult for her to eat, as you might imagine, & I think this impacts her recovery too. Hopefully soon she'll be able to eat more easily.

Everyone else is doing well. Kayleigh has been doing a fab job in her new job and her boss is giving her some new responsibilities soon - that will shake things up a bit and keep her from getting too bored. lol. We are quite proud of her! Going to school, keeping up with Madysen, and holding down a job. Rob is great with watching Madysen while Kayleigh is at work.

Jerry is looking into taking a Welding program at our Community College. He needs to go in and see which classes are available but he'll either start in late Aug. or (more likely) in January 2010. He's always wanted to weld so this will be good for him... I'm excited that he will finally be doing something for him after all these years.

I think that's all for now. :)
Happy + safe 4th of July everyone!

Welcome Goldie!

Mom has been wanting to rescue a small doggie for awhile now - Just waiting for the right fur-kid, and today Goldie was welcomed to the family by mom, dad, and Chris & Gypsy (Rhonda's 2 fur-kids mom & dad are babysitting)! 2-year old Goldie is a Chihuahua mix who was found roaming the streets. Mom says she's holding her own with Rhonda's much larger doggies and likes to cuddle. Perfect. :)

What a nice weekend!

An eventful weekend for us anyway. More so than usual. Jer's birfday is today (Happy Birthday hon!! Love you!) but we celebrated Sunday by gathering the masses and heading over to Colton's Steakhouse for some grub. Good food and company. We were going to BBQ but it was supposed to rain so we changed our minds; of course it didn't rain all day. That's okay tho'.
Saturday Kayleigh brought Miss M to us for the weekend. Rob has been doing some septic work at the house and she had to go to work so... yay! :) She's so much fun. We gave her back to them on Sunday at lunch. I'll try and post some new pics/video on flickr soon. The little Princess has her Children's Mercy Dr. appt. this thursday to see if she's a candidate for tubes... so keep that in prayers and happy thoughts that the docs will decide on the right course of action for her. She's had several ear infections as did Kayleigh when she was a baby; we don't want Madysen to go through the troubles that Kayleigh did because of not being able to hear well in those early years.
Speaking of rain... we've been getting storms almost daily (much to Haku's horror!) or nightly as the case is usually... hard to sleep with a fairly good size dog hyperventilating over your head. But we love a good storm even if he doesn't.
Lets see... my garden is coming along. I'll have to get some pics... I have 2 tomato plants I'm not sure will make it but have 4 others that are doing fine, along with zucchini, and green peppers and my cilantro is trying to make a comeback from last year. If this year goes well next year I'll have a lot more! It's a gradual thing.

Bri went to the ENT today and her Rooto-Rooter face surgery is on the 30th of June! Pretty fast and she's pretty nervous, as is expected... but they will open up her sinus' a bit, remove scar tissue (chronic sinus infections), reduce terbinites, straighten her slightly deviated septum, AND remove her beat up tonsils. It's that last one that will be troublesome after the fact... but she'll get lots of ice cream and we'll keep her in slushies. Should be fine and hopefully this will make years of being ill a distant memory. She is also going to get allergy drops (like shots only not) and that will hopefully get her asthma managed. Yay! The doc is a different doc that fixed Kayleigh's deviated septum about 3 years ago, but he's in the same practice and really a nice guy far as we can tell lol. (Kayleigh's doc moved from the area)
I think that about updates you on the randomness around here. And it's late and I need to get to bed so... take care everyone and 'night!

Time flies too fast...

Dad & Mom came for their second vacation here at the homestead in the woods... Brought here by their new HUGE motorhome. lol. It was quite the sight getting it onto the motorhome pad in the dark. Madysen was here with me watching it with big eyes; I think she thought the mothership had landed. Kayleigh and Rob were sweet to let Madysen stay with us the first several days (and the last several) that dad & mom were here. That time with her I know was extra precious to them. She loved being in the motorhome climbing around and playing with the huge froggie that lives on the dash - she has a similar one of her own. She had a lot of fun with them making lots of wonderful memories.
We all had a wonderful time being together, even tho' Sedalia isn't exactly a jumping place. We managed to go into town for lunch/dinner a few times, and spent a really nice day over at Rob & Kayleigh's and visited with Jo & Jerry too.
I told them they just needed to park the motorhome up there and stay put instead of going back home... but dad is still working, and mom has her things to do back home, and Rhonda, Dean, & the boys are there... So we have to share. It was such a nice visit tho' and, as always, hard to say goodbye.
Now they are hanging out at mom's cousin's for a day or two, in TX, before heading home. I plan on going back to Cali sometime very soon to visit, and flying back home more often than I've been doing. I look forward to that.
Things have resumed here, as they will for mom & dad when they finally arrive back home... but I miss you.
Love you both bunches! Thanks for coming out. :)

Brianna gets to keep her pretty little head! :)

A report after the ENT appointment today...

Back story: Bri went to another ENT about a year ago and he told her her nose was fine, and that she had Vocal Cord Dysfunction and that's why her meds for her asthma weren't working. She was never happy with that or him. But didn't know what to do... everyplace she went just gave her a drug or something and sent her away. She was very extremely frustrated.
She always feels sick, her allergies aren't managed. She keeps getting sinus infections. Her throat is always swollen. Her Lymph Nodes are always swollen and working to fight something; I just could never figure out what.

So... we go today. It's not Kayleigh's doc, Dr. Mc, the guy that undeviated her septum. It's his partner, Dr. H, which is fine, he's nice.

He looks in her nose (mildly deviated septum, prob from the bike accident in '06)... Looks in her throat. Wow. Says her tonsils are toast. They are chronically swollen, a bumpy mess. (They will come out at some point). Now we have the missing piece of that puzzle; why her Lymph Nodes are working overtime... real or imaginary, they are trying to fix the tonsils.
Looked at her allergy report from a year or so ago that she brought... most all grasses and trees are +. Lots of allergies. He's going to redo the tests and go from there. He's getting her a CAT scan of her sinus' to see exactly what they are looking like and if her deviated septum is a problem, if there is scar tissue or weirdness in her sinus'.
He gives a rolls-his-eyes look when I mention the Vocal Cord Dysfunction the dumb ass ENT Dx-ed her with previously. Apparently Dr. H hears that a lot and it's usually wrong. Very wrong.
He listens to her.

He tells her that there are a lot of problems here, but that she's not alone... it won't be fixed overnight. He can't give her a med, send her on her way and everything will be okay. It will take time and some procedures. But they will get there and get her managed b/c right now she's out of control. She said she just about cried when he said these things. She is so happy that someone finally found the problems. Someone is willing to be proactive and get things moving to get her better - she isn't just going crazy. That there is hope. Yay!

So... she has the CAT near the beginning of June. Then we go back and get her allergy tests done, then that day he'll read the allergy tests and the CAT and we will make a plan. A plan to get her well. :) All in all, a very good day.
So... stay tuned.

PS on the title. I told her if the Docs in this practice couldn't help her then all was lost and we'd just have to loose the head. :) I'm glad Dr. H came through. lol.
Oh, and we aren't sure how much her insurance-that-sucks will pay for all this so there is a paypal donation button at the bottom... just kidding. sorta. :)