Monday, November 29, 2010

Hello

Hello again, my old friend. It's been brought to my attention that I have neglected you lately so I will visit you again today and post something of importance. I promise. Well, maybe I shouldn't promise that. Britney has been keeper of the desktop this month. That's where she's been writing her novel. That's also where all of my pictures are located. Perhaps tonight...or tomorrow.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

2nd Annual Thanksgiving Lunch @ Cathy's

Cathy invited the group over today for our 2nd Annual Thanksgiving Lunch! She prepared a fantastic meal with turkey, ham, dressing, and her famous blueberry danish...YUM! Plus everyone brought something to share...green bean casserole, chicken divan, fresh homemade bread, rolls, and a chocolate chess pie. Mmmm... But the best part was hanging out with most of our best friends! Heather's kiddos were sick so they couldn't make it:( They were definitely missed and we really wished our hubbies could have shared the day with us.

The kids gettin' their grub on.



Best buddies



Um...we broke out in a chorus line.

I swear, our poor kids can't take us anywhere!



I am so very thankful for the people in my life who support and love me. I have the best friends in the world! I love you guys!!!

Community Coffee

Bobby and I love coffee. I suppose we're addicts, but I won't tell if you don't. When I saw Gretta had a coffee review and giveaway, I immediately entered to win. Free coffee?! Heck ya! Go check out Gretta's blog for information about Community Coffee as well as find out how to enter for your chance at free, hot, yummy flavored goodness!

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

50 Little Known Facts

Gretta did this on her blog, so I decided to give it a shot. Honestly, I'm not sure if I can come up with that many:)

  1. I am completely blessed and unbelievably happy with my life.
  2. I was born in Downer's Grove, IL which is a suburb of Chicago.
  3. I'm terrified of heights.
  4. I've never been on an airplane. Our helicopter ride in PCB this year was my first time in the air.
  5. My grandfather's surgery to put his pacemaker in was scheduled for March 14, 2001. My mom jokingly told me I could have Cody on any other day. Cody was born by emergency c-section that afternoon.
  6. Cody's c-section was the worst physical pain I've ever experienced.
  7. I gave birth to Britney exactly one month before I turned 17.
  8. I passed my driver's test the first time.
  9. I have two tattoos, one of which matches Bobby's - Dolphin on our right shoulders.
  10. I was a step-grandmother by the age of 21.
  11. I've never been pulled over by a police officer.
  12. I started playing city softball when I was 9 years old. I made all stars my first year.
  13. I can only make myself go about waist deep in the ocean. Anything past that and I can literally hear the Jaws theme song.
  14. I think flowers are one of the silliest gifts to give someone you love. I mean...they're dead when you get them and turn black in a week.
  15. That being said, lilies are my favorite flower.
  16. It was 10 years between incidents, but I've jumped off of two different horses to avoid being hurt by trees. FYI-the ground hurts, too!
  17. I've never broken a bone.
  18. The c-section was the only surgery I've ever had, so I've never been put under before.
  19. I've recently discovered that I really enjoy baking.
  20. I get my hair cut about once a year.
  21. Our dream is to be able to buy a house in the country with lots of land.
  22. I want to learn how to can foods.
  23. I can't stand the taste of licorice.
  24. My parents divorced when I was 8 years old.
  25. I've never been farther west than the outskirts of Dallas, TX. Oh, how I want to go out west.
  26. I've never been on a cruise.
  27. I always wanted green eyes. They were hazel while I was growing up and now, the older I get, the greener my eyes are.
  28. I've never had a manicure or a pedicure.
  29. Where we live now, is the longest I've ever lived in one place since my parents divorced.
  30. I had attended 7 different schools by the time I graduated 8th grade.
  31. I've never been able to pick a favorite color.
  32. I was a catcher in high school. My knees have hurt ever since.
  33. We raised sheep when I was little. I remember my Dad shearing them in the basement, and when Maria gave birth to her twins, one white and one black.
  34. I drink coffee, unsweetened tea, and water. I very rarely drink carbonated drinks.
  35. My brother and I were sliding down a hill next to our house when I was about five or so. It was my turn, I started to slide and my brother snagged my fingers just in time to stop me. I was SO mad at him, but then I saw why he had stopped me. There was a HUGE rattlesnake right where I was about to land.
  36. I quit smoking 7 years ago.
  37. I received a writing award in high school.
  38. I ran away when I was 14. I was gone about 12 hours.
  39. I've always wanted a 1964 1/2 Mustang convertible. RED!
  40. My favorite new/current cartoon is Phineas and Ferb.
  41. The first play I ever watched was Oklahoma at North East Community College when I was 8 or 9. When I spell the word Oklahoma, I still sing the song in my head.
  42. I'd like to dye my hair purple. Not all over, just like highlights. Wait is that actually low lights?
  43. I think I would kick ass in roller derby.
  44. I never wore braces.
  45. I have three half brothers.
  46. I was three feet away from Train in 1998. I went to visit Lauren at Birmingham Southern's Halloween shindig. I heard them play Meet Virginia in person before I ever heard it on the radio.
  47. I've always wanted to learn how to play an instrument.
  48. When I was younger, I was very blond.
  49. I hated my name growing up because it was so uncommon. Now I love it for that very reason.
  50. I would absolutely love to go to Italy and Greece...and about a hundred other places, but those are my first picks.
Okay, I'm done. I can't believe I actually came up 50 things!

The Coop Keeper

I discovered THIS blog while reading Heather's the other day. Good Lord, this chick is my kind of crazy! She just cracks me up!

NaNoWriMo

Britney is participating in the Young Writer's Program. The goal is to write a novel in one month! In the adult contest, the word count is set at 50,000, but children are allowed to set their own word count. However, Brit decided to stick with the 50,000 words. She types about 2,000 words a day and has already written 26,033 words! That just amazes me:)

Great job, Brit!

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Getting in the spirit

We bought this Christmas village many years ago. We've put it out several times, but haven't the last couple of years. It takes up a lot of space, but that didn't deter me tonight. I very spontaneously thought about it, and the next thing I knew Bobby brought it in from the shed for me. He also helped me get the train set put away.

After he left for work, we made hot chocolate, listened to some Christmas music and got the village set up.



Cody's ninja got a little carried away.


The kids are currently watching Polar Express. I'm...not. I'm blogging, then I'm going to clean up the kitchen and maybe get a bath!

B & C



Friday, November 12, 2010

Recap

Let's see...

The kids and I went to Scottsboro last Sunday for our aunt's wake. I hate that it was under those circumstances, but it was so good to see our family.

I've started sewing again.

We took the Halloween decorations down and snapped a couple pictures of the pumpkin we grew. It didn't get very big considering it was the only one, but it was a great experience.


Disassembling the skeleton...this led to song, funny jokes and LOTS of laughter.

Tango is doing very well. I thought Cassie would go berzerk when she smelled/saw him, but she didn't. She once came unglued because of a box turtle invading her territory.




We went to Birmingham on Thursday. We were there the day after Halloween and they were starting to get Christmas decorations out. Thursday, they had over 30 Christmas trees in the lobby! It was beautiful!

The candy tree

The Nutcracker Tree
Cody said the biggest nutcracker looks like the Pringles guy:)



Brit stayed with Karen and Keilee while we went to B'ham. I called them on our way home and Karen said the girls had been raking for hours making this...
How cool!

Cody has been wanting to get the train set out, so he and Bobby hooked it up the other night.

Can we say excited?


Bobby grilled hamburgers (YUM) and mom and David came over to eat with us. After dinner, I made homemade chocolate chip cookies. I hate to toot my own horn, but TOOT! Gina can make some kick butt chocolate chip cookies:)

Yesterday, we looked around Office Depot and BAM. Brit still had some money on her gift cards so she bought herself a couple books as well as a Goosebumps book for Cody. She's such an amazing, generous person:)

Shutterfly Review

Go HERE to check out my Shutterfly review:)

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Friday, November 5, 2010

Today

My great aunt Callie passed away early this morning. There will be a wake tomorrow and Sunday and the funeral will be on Monday. I think the kids and I may be going down tomorrow. I have to figure out gas money. We need to go to Birmingham again next week. Good Lord, all of these trips to Children's Hospital are really adding up.

We were all close when I was younger, but I haven't seen that part of my family in years. Well, I guess since my grandma died and she never met Cody. He's 9 1/2 so it's been a long time. Aunt Callie had a stroke many years ago. I think she had more than one stroke now that I'm thinking about it. Her daughter and grand kids have been taking care of her for some time. I think everyone is at peace with her passing.

When I was little, I loved that part of my family and have many fond memories of days spent at their house. That's where I first learned how to ride a bike, what an X rated movie is, and where I watched Child's Play for the first time. Chucky freaked me out for years! I enjoyed going 'up on the mountain' to see them. My cousin, Katie, is several years older than me and even when she was too old to want to play with me, she did. I loved playing bank with her, and Barbies. Her brother, Conrad played the drums and I thought he was just the coolest person ever. They have families I've never met. I miss them. It will be nice to see them even under these circumstances.


In other news: I forgot skate day was today. My mind has just been on other things. We needed to see our friends today:(

The Phone Call

While we were out today, I called the house to check messages. I had a call from the ER charge nurse. She wanted me to call her to discuss the results of my CT scan report. I immediately called her. She said that the report shows a thickening of my endometrium wall as well as an area of concern on my right ovary. They were suggesting I followed up with my gynecologist, and then she wished me luck. Well, shit...that doesn't sound good.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

The ER

Yesterday evening around 5:00, Britney and I went to Walmart to pick up some dog food and another couple items. While I was walking around, I started to get a pain in my right lower abdomen. I didn't think much of it, continued shopping, got home to put a pizza in the oven and WHAM! The pain in my abdomen was so strong I had to stop what I was doing and catch my breath.

The pain came and went. If I sat down, or was still it felt better, but when I got up it felt like someone stabbing me. I have had pain on my left side before that I had decided was a cyst on my ovary, but when I went to the doctor in August, he couldn't find anything. But the pain last night was SO much stronger than anything I had felt before.

Of course I was online searching and of course, all symptoms pointed toward my appendix. I called Cathy to ask her what she thought. After the over the phone evaluation, she felt like it was my ovary and not my appendix. That eased my worries a bit, but the pain was strong and was getting worse. By 9:30 I felt like I needed to have it checked out. Mom came over to stay with Brit and Cody and Bobby and I headed to the ER. I have to say here that I DO NOT like going to the doctor for myself and for me to actually say "Let's go" should be a huge indication of how much it hurt.

We got to the ER just before 10:00 and saw the doctor around 10:30. We went over the info that I had already gone over twice with two other nurses, then he started applying pressure to my stomach and lower abdomen. He lightly pushed just over my appendix. HOLY SHIT that hurt! He said the symptoms didn't add up to only one thing...it was either my appendix, kidney stones, or an ovarian cyst. We got the impression he was leaning toward taking my appendix out. I've never been put under before and started to get quite nervous. They immediately hooked me up to an IV, took blood, and brought me two cups of that NASTY contrast stuff to drink for a CT scan. The nurse ate my arm up trying to get blood from the IV site and ended up have to stick me again to get blood. That is going to be a nice bruise. They gave me morphine in my IV and I immediately got nauseous and felt horrible. They gave me something else to counteract the morphine. She laughed and said "You're clearly not an addict"

I've never had a CT scan before. I had to take my pants off for a strange man. The scan itself wasn't bad thankfully and I was soon rolled back to my community ER room. About 30 minutes later, the doctor came in and said "You picked the best one!" I had a cyst rupture on my right ovary. I can't believe that's all it was. That was one of the most painful things I've ever experienced. He said that the CT scan showed a small cyst on there now, but that isn't what the pain was from. He also told me that the scan showed spots on my liver and to follow up with my doctor. Great...now I have that to worry about:(

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Guess what?!

I'm typing from my very own brand new laptop! Okay...it's not brand new. It's Bobby's old one that I thought didn't work anymore. We knew it needed a new battery, but...dang. Have you priced laptop batteries before? You might as well buy a whole new computer. Anyway, Bobby took the battery out and now all the crazy things that were happening (sporadic sound and shutting off) are a thing of the past. It has to be plugged in while I use it, but that doesn't really bother me. I have my very own laptop! Gina's a happy girl :)

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Monday, November 1, 2010

Happy Birthday, Logan!

Logan's birthday is on Halloween and because of all the excitement around here that surrounds that day, I seem to overlook it. Sorry, Lobo.

Happy 3rd birthday my handsome boy!



Where we've been as a family