Extended Vacations...

Well...

It's official.

Phillip will be soon leaving on another extended overseas "vacation".

This life is one Heck of a roller coaster ride. I cried my eyes out all weekend. I knew that there was a high chance of getting the news; the rumors had been floating around for a while. But, it still stings when you get the call saying that there is a meeting planned for a "possible" family separation.

"Possible"? Oh, PLEASE!!! Let's just tell the truth. Oh wait! You don't have all of the answers yet?! You mean...?

There are so many things that go through your mind when you're facing such things. For me, I worry most about my children.

So, as I work myself through the daze and confusion, I will look into an extended vacation of our own to help make the time go faster. Travel is always a battery re-charger for me. The kids and I need to have something positive to look forward to. And spending time back home in Louisiana is definitely in the plans for a good part of the summer.

I think that to make things even more fun, I'll look into flying out to the East coast to see a few friends there before we make our way out to Lafayette (and then on to Gulf Shores for the annual end of summer beach trip for the grand-kids). There's so much that we can see and do! I may be able to mark off seeing the Smithsonian (or part of it) from the Bucket List.

Or maybe, I'll fly us out to Central Texas to see friends and family (and our old house) there, and then drive us the rest of the way into South Louisiana.

Anyone out there have any other ideas for a fun side trip?

Piggy Tails!

I feel that we are so blessed to have the complete set when it comes to children.  

There are benefits to having both a boy and a girl.  Both are so much fun to have around.

This morning, I got to have fun making braided "piggy tails" for the little princess.

The images above were captured using Hipstamatic for Iphone.

There's a hole in the...

...ice.  

Seriously, I didn't know what else to title this post.

Yesterday, Gabe and Phillip went ice fishing with the Cub Scouts at Chena Lake.

They didn't catch anything.

The End.

This is a small reminder that life is precious...

...so go hug someone.

This morning, I dropped Sarah off at daycare. I noticed that the Director was not in her office, and there were signs up saying that she would be out until further notice.

I saw her this past Monday. She was her usual smiling self (I like stopping in, and saying "hi"; she's just got one of those personalities). And about an hour and a half after that, her life changed drastically.

Her 23 year old son was killed that afternoon, along with a friend of his, when the car he was in took a slide on the slick and icy roads near my house.

I couldn't imagine having to bury a child.

I could not imagine going about my day, not knowing what is happening to my loved one until I get that call.

My thoughts and prayers are definitely with her right now...

Janet's List

I really don't have much in the way of news lately.

I'm slowly recovering from surgery, and I've hit another snag along the way, by wound separation. My surgeon's PA is treating it with a strong antibiotic, has informed me that 1 in 10 women have this experience (I'm lucky #10, I guess), and assured me that scar revision can be done in the office.

Oh, and I have a nasty cold. The night time throat tickle that usually accompanies such an illness had me wanting scream bloody murder last night.

So, to brighten the mood a bit, I've decided to work on my "Kick It" list. I consider myself a bit lucky, in that being a military wife, some things on this list are not entirely impossible. We, as a family, sure do get around (on the government's dime at that!).

You will find the tab to the list at the top of this page...

Enjoy!




PS. In your comment, Beth, you must have been talking about my being able to sing like Christina Aguilera. Right?!

A quote for today...

"There is only one way to happiness, and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will." -Epictetus

Shorts to String You Along...Episode 3

I'll keep this one short, because I don't want to totally embarrass a certain little boy that I know.

We can all laugh about it now, including him, but at the time IT WAS NOT FUNNY!

Sometime in the middle of last December, he was walking on the backyard path on his way home from school. I thought that he was singing his "moose song" really loud. It turns out that he was screaming for me. When he got closer, I saw the fear and pain on his face. And then, I saw the blood and freaked out.

Moments of crying and soothing follow. And then he says (the best that he could, with a lisp)...

"I sthuck ma tongue to a fwozen pole to sthee if it's twue! It is! Damn YOU, Cwistmas Sthory!".

Another childhood lesson learned.

(Oh, and if you decide that you want to try it, all you have to do to get your tongue to heal quickly is to saltwater rinse for a few days. Good as new.)

Especially for you, Beth!

Below are two pics of me, one taken at Mardi Gras last year, and one taken this morning.

I was very self-conscious for years, so pictures of me are rare, but we found a great 3/4 view to show you a comparison. I'm still swollen, and will not see the final results until at least 6 months from now, but...

Yup, it was definitely worth the trouble.

So, what's goin' on?

Since we're all adults here, I'll let you on to what's been going on with me since about a week and a half ago.

There's quite a few people who are close to me, that know that I've waited years to have elective surgery to remove excess tissue off of my chest. The reduction was on Thursday, March 3rd.

As for the surgery itself, it was more of a comfort issue than one of vanity. Since Gabe was born, things weren't at all like they had been, and with Sarah coming along, things only got worse. I'd tried to lose lots of weight to try to correct the issue, but then I looked even more ridiculous (kinda like Dolly Parton). I was uncomfortable; I had a list of reasons on why I should get it done. My doctors agreed. It was obvious that I needed surgical intervention.

It was an out-patient type of thing, and I felt just a little sore after the procedure. On Friday, I went into the doctors office to have the drains (yuck, I know) pulled. And that's when things started to get a little crazy...

By dinnertime, I felt really tired and shaky. Phillip had cooked a delicious roast, but all I could do was pick at my food, and then leave the table to rest in bed. Something didn't seem right, but I'd never had surgery before, so I wasn't sure what was going on. By around 9 pm, I was feeling some major discomfort, so I took two Percocet and hoped for the best. Throughout the night, I had trouble sleeping because of the swelling on my right side, and I was getting a bit scared because my heart was racing.

When Phillip woke up on Saturday morning, I felt nauseous. I went into the bathroom and my face and lips were snow white. By then, I knew something was really wrong. I went back into our room, asked Phillip to check things out on my right side, and when he went to touch the area to get a better look, I nearly fainted. It wasn't from pain though; it was almost like a ripple effect on a pond (no blood getting to the brain?). You coulda plucked me, and I would've fallen right over.

To make a long story short, I ended up in the hospital a couple of hours later for emergency surgery to remove a 300 cc (about the size of an orange?) hematoma that had developed on my right side. Now, while this can be expected, it doesn't happen very often. The doctor said that this is only the second time that something like this has happened to him. He told me as we went into the OR that he may have to give me a unit of blood, and at that point, I didn't care. I looked over at the anesthesiologist and asked her to hurry....KNOCK ME OUT! I spent the night in the hospital, for just in case...

So, that's why I haven't been on here lately. I'm finally started to feel a little better. Two surgeries in two days wiped me completely out. All in all, I'm glad that I did it. A friend of mine says that I look like a completely different person; I'll take that.

Cabin fever is really starting to get to me. The weather is beautiful outside, and there's lots to do in Fairbanks this weekend. I wanna go outside and play!

On the bright side, I have a great support system out here. I'm fortunate to have some close friends that I can call if I need to, but except for this past Thursday, when he had to go back to work, Phillip has been by my side through all of it. I must give him lots of credit for taking care of me, the house, and the kids while I'm down. He makes a great nurse.

For the family...

This was taken earlier today, while Sarah was at gymnastics.

If you could have only heard those little squeals in person...

I've posted more pics from this morning in the "Our Story in Pictures" album (photo collection, to your right, Dad).

Enjoy!