All The Kings Horses

It's been one year and 8 months to the day since my first surgery. Today, I had what will hopefully (emphasis on hopefully) be the final one to put me back together again. There will be a medical tatoo artist step after this, but that is done at the doctor's office.

The surgery started at about 7:30 or so. The doc was talking to Matt 9:10 and we were home at 12:15. I've been hanging out on the couch and enjoying my pain pills. I'm not sure how things turned out because of bandages, so I can't report on the success. I have a doctor appointment on Tuesday, so I'll know more then.

I'm not supposed to make any "big decisions" until 24 hours after the anesthesia, so no online shopping until tomorrow!

Success!

I have a picture for the Christmas cards - hooray! Here it is.....the girls were goofing around with the reindeer headbands and we got this cute picture. Quinn was especially loving it...

We had a great Thanksgiving. We had Matt's parents, my Mom and Steve, Sharon and Dylan, Dave and Sue and the three kids, and Uncle Bob.

Olivia wanted to make this sign for the table - it says "The Thankfulness Table". She also made all the place cards.

I made mashed potatoes and couldn't find the bay leaf I boiled with them. I did end up finding it in the pot - it stuck to the side when I drained them. I thought that I would kill someone by leaving it in....here's what Wikipedia has to say about that....

Facts
Mountain laurel leaves are poisonous to certain livestock and are not sold anywhere as a culinary herb (Britannica). This has led to the mistaken belief that bay leaves should be removed from food after cooking because they might poison humans. Bay leaves are safe to eat. However, a person may accidentally swallow a leaf; and since the leaves remain stiff, even after several hours of cooking, it may cause general injuries in the throat.

I hope everyone else had a great Thanksgiving too.

The Illusive Family Photo

Home project number two -the dining room, is mostly done - we just need some new art work. Here are some pictures...

As you can see, it is quite a change....

I've been starting to thing about Christmas cards and maybe including a photo of all four of us this year. So far, no success. We had Henry's baptism (Anne & Brad's 2nd son) this weekend so we were all looking half decent. We tried to do a family picture, the results were not good. We'll have to try again this weekend....

Look Out Martha Stewart

Over the past month or so I have been doing a lot of work on our kitchen. It started with taking off the old wall paper - time spent, about 15 hours. Then painting, first primer, then two coats - time spent, around 10 hours. Finally, I looked and looked for something for the windows. Everything I found looked like it should be in either a senior apartment or a country style home - of course, this is not the look I was going for. I checked into having some cafe curtains made - the cost was going to be over $600. So, I took a sewing class at the fabric store. I had flashbacks to middle school home ec and Mrs. deLeo (I think that was her name). I remember a fabulous pair of shorts I made in that class. Anyway, I spent this weekend making the curtains - it took about 8 hours just for the cutting, pinning and sewing. We also went through three different curtain rods for the big window. 30 or so hours later, here is the final product (sorry about the mess on the counter, I was too tired to move it)....





I am so thankful that my next project is painting the dining room and not more curtains.

A Barack Ovama for You, A Barack Ovama for Me

We have two magazines with President Elect Barack Obama on the cover. Yesterday, Carina (3) pulled out the magazines and said to her sister, "Here Olivia, a Barack Ovama for you, and a Barack Ovama for me." Good thing there was enough of him to go around.

The girls had a swimming lesson this afternoon. Olivia was swam her first length of the pool - front crawl with breathing to the side an all. She is very excited about her progress.

Before swimming we went to an office building in Wauwatosa that is displaying art from McKinley Elementary. Olivia had a Self Portrait that was chosen to be on display. It is a great picture. When we take Matt to see it I'll take a photograph and post it.

Dog Free to a Good - no Average - Home

It's been busy, busy, busy since I returned from Brussels. The trip was good - it was great to see all my colleagues from around the globe. We had some time to see some landmarks, including the famous statue Mannekin Pis, Grand Place - the central market square, and the Atomium which was built for the1958 World's Fair hosted by Brussels.

Mannekin Pis....

Inside the Atomium - this control panel was right next to the line for the elevator we were standing in. It seemed to operate the elevators and have something to do with security. Not quite something we'd see at home. Don't push those buttons!!!

Looking up at the Atomium...

Now, onto Halloween. The girls went trick-or-treating on Friday night. We had great weather and they had a blast. Both got whole pumpkins full of candy. However, the supply was significantly reduced when the stupid dog helped himself. It was Saturday morning and I had gone to the gym and Matt had taken the girls to gymnastics. I got home around 10:30 and after I was upstairs when Quinn came up with a Kit-Kat in his mouth. I thought - I wonder if this is really the first thing he got. It was like he was confessing to the crime he had committed.

And a crime it was! I looked in the dining room (the pumpkins had been in the middle of the table) and he had turned the floor into a chocolate, sucker, bubble-gum covered disaster. I picked up 30 mini wrappers - that doesn't count those that appeared later. Apparently dogs don't digest wrappers well. Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, Quinn is still with us and no worse for the wear. The carpet cleaners come tomorrow. Bad, bad dog.

Here are some Halloween pictures...I really wish I had a picture of the disaster to show, but unfortunately, no.

Carina and Olivia

Some of the neighborhood gang....

Carina and her best pal Mallory....

Liz - Henry is Anne and Brad's youngest. The hair is completely natural!

Hummm...a Title?? Can't Think of One.

On September 13th I wrote about Chef Kevin and his cancer fight. On Friday, October 10th, Kevin lost his battle. I went into the store on Sunday morning not paying attention to my surroundings in my usual fashion. I was at the deli counter for a minute or so before I noticed the floral arrangement with the chef hat on the corner of the counter...it was almost enough to knock me off my feet. I wonder how many other people cried at the deli counter that day? The Tuesday before I had left a package at Kevin's home with a note and his very own pair of Cancer Sucks socks. Boy, does it ever. The deli won't be the same without you Kevin.

I had thought that I would probably ride in the Scenic Shore 150 ride for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society again next year. Now, I will definitely be riding and it will be for Kevin.

We visited the pumpkin farm last Saturday. Here are the girls....

Olivia wanted to take a picture of me pretending to eat the corn. She was instructing me on exactly what I need to do to make it look like I was REALLY eating the corn.

Olivia and Carina with their cousins Greta and Audrey at their cousin Trevor's 2nd birthday. The ladies played all day and had a blast together!

Olivia with her newest cousin, Henry. Henry is 3 weeks old.

On Monday I leave for my semi-annual conference for work. I'm headed to Brussels, Belgium. I'm really looking forward to seeing my colleagues from around the globe. The girls told me they didn't want me to go. However, now that they know that I'll bring back some chocolate they seem to be fine with it. Like mother, like daughters.