Wow!

I haven't posted in decades.

I can't remember everything that has happened since my last post, but the most important thing is that my sweet niece, Lorelai, arrived on Friday. She is soooo cute! Karen had a rough delivery via C-section - I won't go into detail. She can do that on her own blog. Lorelai Ann Blackwood was born on 8/21 at 2:40pm weighing 6lbs, 9oz and 19 inches long. She is totally adorable. So far, she doesn't cry much. She makes this sweet little whimper sound when she is hungry. I'm sure she will find her voice soon enough. I am anxious to see how my canine nephews, Jake and Copper, react to her. Copper is pretty chill and probably won't even notice. Jake, on the other hand, is pretty high-strung. He will probably flip out. Caleb just loves her. He said, "I'm an uncle!" I said, "no, babe, you're a cousin." He was a little disappointed but that quickly faded when he met her. He wanted to hold her forever. He didn't want to leave the hospital. So sweet.

I am back at work today after a long weekend. It's always hard to come back. Today has gone by quickly so far. Have a great day!!

Back From Vacation

Mom and I had fun in Winston-Salem. Caleb went to the National Young Scholars Program at Wake Forest. He had fun, but says that he won't go back. He had never been away from home with people he doesn't know and he got a little homesick on the second night. Thanks for all the prayers - he did much better the last few nights.

While Caleb was at WFU, Mom and I went to Biltmore House in Asheville. If you have never been there, it's worth the drive to go. The house and gardens are beautiful. I had been there years ago and I could go again and again. I love how the people who work there call it "the house" like it's no big deal. It's actually the largest private residence in the US. It's huge. The tour of the house itself takes more than an hour and you don't even tour half of it. The other half is either on the "rooftop tour," which costs extra, or it's part of the house that has not yet been restored. It's unreal. Then you walk through the gardens and conservatory and that can take more than an hour to do as well. We spent most of the day there. We also went to Old Salem adn toured the old buildings and looked at antiques.

We picked Caleb up on Friday evening and drove back to the Boro. He told us all about the CSI stuff he learned. He knows more about fingerprint and handwriting analysis than I ever will. He also did a presentation on chromatography. Seriously. He said that he had fun, but the kids there were "nerds" and they didn't want to play ball with him at recreation time, they just wanted to read. Ha!!

I am back at work today and exhausted. I should know better than to go back to work on a Monday. I am not back in the swing of things just yet, but it will get better.

Have a great day!

Catching Up

Let's see...

This past weekend was Karen's shower. There were so many people there and she got a lot of really nice things. It was really, really hot. Thank goodness for the industrial fan, or we would have roasted! We ate chicken wings and socialized. The kids played on the playground. I think everyone had a good time.

Sunday was church, good as usual.

I have a short work-week because I am off on Friday for the July 4th holiday and I am off the whole next week. I don't think I've taken that much time off before. We are leaving on the 4th to take Caleb to Wake Forest for his CSI camp. He is really excited. Mom and I are going to wander around North Carolina while he is at camp. It should be fun. I hope it's cooler there than it is here! I still have so much packing and cleaning to do. I want to get the house clean before I leave. I can't stand to come home to a dirty house.

I don't think I will get to post again before I leave, so happy 4th and everyone have a great weekend!

Big Prayer Request

I have a friend at work, her name is Ashley. Please lift Ashley in prayer. I believe that the Lord can heal her completely! Thank you, Lord, for your healing, and thank you all for your prayers.

I Really Need to Pee...

...but I can't leave my desk right now. So I'm blogging, trying to take my mind off the fact that I have not peed since 8am.

Today has been crazy. Seriously. We have been overbooked and slammed since this morning. I have been running around and I am starting to sweat and I feel gross. Also, I have to pee, but I am waiting for a phone call, so I can't leave my desk.

This weekend I am going to clean out my closet. Caleb has a birthday party tomorrow night.

Phone is ringing. Yes!!!! Holla!

Uneventful, Really.

This past week was really boring. Caleb went to Jacksonville with Mom so it was really quiet around my house. I went to a party at Jenny's house on Friday night. Karen and I went shopping on Saturday. I needed new sneakers because my old ones were hurting my feet. I had a coupon at Dick's for $10 off and I found some really cute and comfy shoes there. We did some baby shopping, too. We found this really cute baby store at the Avenue and we bought some lullaby versions of ACDC, The Eagles, and Johnny Cash. We also hit a huge sale at Carter's. Sunday was church, which was great, then I went home and took a nap. Caleb will be home today. I have missed him so much! I can't wait to see him! I called mom earlier and they were just outside of Atlanta and they had stopped at the speedway to buy souvenirs.

See? Uneventful, just as I promised.

The Evil Swingset

On the day before Good Friday, Caleb fell of the swingset at Jenny's house and sustained a buckle fracture (broken wrist). Jenny calls me yesterday and tells me that David (her not-quite-two-year-old) fell off the swingset and also has a buckle fracture of the wrist. Same swingset, same injury. Coincidence? I don't think so ;)

It suddenly got all dark and rainy out here in Franklin. Yuck. When I got here this morning I had 4 patients checked in already. This is the first time I've been able to sit since 8:00, so I thought I'd take a minute to check in with y'all.

Have a great day!

Red Sox 12, Tigers 4

Way to go Red Sox!! It was a great game. Caleb played very well. He had several great hits to drive in runs when we really needed them. Caleb said, "I'm glad I didn't go on vacation!" They got their championship trophies and t-shirts. After the game we had our banquet. There was a ton of barbecue and everyone just sat around and ate and talked. It was fun.

Mom left for Jacksonville yesterday. She took Caleb and his friend, Daniel, with her. They will have fun. I think she is going to take them to Universal and the Zoo. Should be fun. They will be back next week.

Sunday was relaxing. I got up and went to church, then came home to wait for the cable guy to come. I got DirecTV a couple of months ago but the Comcast people hadn't come to disconnect the cable and take the boxes. They said that they would be there "sometime Sunday." I waited and waited. I finally called at 3:45 and was told that they had been there while I was at church. Now I have to go drop of the boxes sometime. Sheesh. Then I worked out with my Wii and had a healthy supper of salmon and veggies. Yummy.

I guess that's it. Have a great Monday.

Good Luck, Red Sox!!

Caleb's baseball team is playing in their division championship game tomorrow. I really hope they win! They played really well in their last game, so now it's on to the Tigers. We have won one and lost one this season to the Tigers. We really need to be on our game to win tomorrow. I have no doubt that they can pull it off. Go Red Sox!!

Booooooring.

I am soooooo bored. Matt is off this week and I am here at work handling clinic by myself. This is going to be a really long week.

This weekend was pretty good. I bought the new EA Active game for the Wii. It's a workout game. It gives me a personal trainer and a personalized workout routine. It is fun and rewarding, but on Sunday I could hardly stand to move around. Saturday's workout was mostly lower body and there were many lunges involved. I was so sore! It was hard to get up and down, so moving around in heels at church proved to be most painful. My hard work is paying off, though, because I've lost 8.5 pounds! Yay! My mom bought me this Weight Watchers cookbook and we have made a few recipes out of it. They have been healthy and yummy.

This week we have baseball tournament. We thought that we would have to face the White Sox in the first round, but they lost to the Cardinals. We have already won twice against the Cardinals this season, so hopefully we can make it three and go on to the championship game later this week. Good luck, Red Sox!

Karen is having a rough week so far (check out her blog - I have a link). Today she broke her iPhone. She slipped and fell and caught herself on her phone and it destroyed the pixels in the screen, so it won't work at all. She cried on the phone with the Apple people and they took pity on her and agreed to replace it if she would pay $79 for the replacement plan. She's playing this pregnancy thing for all it's worth ;)

That's it for now - have a great day!

Proud Mom

I am very proud of Caleb. Anyone who know us know this. Last night, however, he made me very proud. Last summer he went on vacaction with another family to the Alabama gulf area. He had that same opportunity again this year. He had a blast last time. The have a huge home there and live down the road from a yacht club with pools and waterslides. They have a boat and take the kids out tubing and stuff. He loved it. This year it conflicts with his ball tournament. He had already made plans to go to Alabama but the tournament was schedule right in the middle of that same week. His ball team finished first in the regular season and has a chance to win it all. He had a very big decision to make. He told me last night that he could not let his team down because they were counting on him and he had made a commitment to the team and would not miss the tournament so he could go on vacation. I told him that it was up to him and it didn't matter to me one way or the other, but that if his decision was to back out of the trip, he would have to tell Matt himself. I sent Matt a text ahead of time asking him to call me. When he did, Caleb took the phone and went in his room. I tried to resist the urge to listen because he obviously wanted his privacy, but I couldn't help it. He told Matt the situation and the last thing he said was, "I'm really sorry, and thank you for inviting me." When he got off the phone he said, "Mom, that was the hardest thing I've ever done." He really wanted to go and did not want to dissapoint Matt. I told him that I knew it would be hard, but that's why I made him do it. I am so proud of him for putting what he wanted aside for the good of his team. I am glad he has that sense of resposibility. He really, really wanted to go but he just kept saying, "I can't let them down, Mom. They are counting on me. I can go on vacation anytime." What a great kid!!

Shut Up, Sara! Nobody Asked You!

Let's see if I can make this post worth your time.

Caleb and I had a fun weekend. We went to Big Eddie's for a cookout. It wasn't his usual blowout because it was too muddy down by the creek because of all the rain. He cooked wings on the grill. They were good, but not as good as when he smokes them in the pit all day. We had fun, though. Mandy and Chris, Brian and Jen, all the Mitchells, and the Tuckers were there. Caleb got to play with Madison, Emily, and Tyler all day long. They climbed trees and played kickball. The adults sat around and ate and talked. Big Eddie and I even sang a few duets. Too funny!

I have been on a diet / exercise program for a little over a week now. Mom bought us a Wii and a balance board, so I have been doing Wii Fit every day. It is so much fun and I have lost three pounds since I started. I have never found any kind of exercise that I like to do until now. I like it so much that after being at the Mitchells for nine hours on Saturday and getting back at 9:30, I still did almost an hour of Wii Fit after I got home. I love it! It's kickin my butt, but I love it!

Everyone have a good day!!

Memorial Day

I hope that everyone enjoys this long Memorial Day weekend! I know I will. I love three day weekends!

Love y'all!!

Mother's Day

I hope all of you had a fantastic mother's day. I know I did. Caleb got me a Vera Bradley bag with matching umbrella. It is so cute. Also, when I woke up on Sunday, he had made me breakfast in bed. He woke me up around 7:30 and said, "Happy mother's day, Mom! I made breakfast." I looked on my nightstand and there was a bowl of Crunchberries cereal and a Minute Maid juice box. Sweet boy!

Today has been a busy day at work. My doc was out on Friday so we are playing catch up. I'd better get back to it. Have a great day!

Good Game

Caleb's baseball team had a great game last night. They came from behind to beat the Cardinals 8-7. Caleb hit a home run! It was awesome and he was so proud. All of the kids played really well.

Today has been boring so far. Matt was supposed to have nursing home rounds this am but he ended up not going because none of his patients were due for visits. So he is in his office researching hybrid vehicles because he has finally decided to get rid of his old ragged BMW. He was looking at a Vue Hybrid but the reviews were terrible.

I hope that I get to leave work early tonight. I would like to get home and get dinner ready and get to bed early. We shall see.

I hope everyone has a great day!

Back to the Land of the Living

I have been sick since Monday. I missed three days of work due to this illness, something I have NEVER done. I hardly ever call out sick and when I do it's never more than a day. I actually tried to come in on Wednesday, but they sent me home. My flu tests were negative, PTL. I just felt horrible. Body aches, fever, and a horrible cough. The cough hasn't completely gone away, but I am feeling soooo much better. My final trip to the doctor was yesterday and they started me on antibiotics and some really good cough syrup for nighttime. A good night's sleep was exactly what I needed. The cough had kept me up for days.

I came back to work today to almost 30 messages and 95 emails, 50% of them about H1N1 flu. All I can say is that everyone needs to stay calm and wash hands. If you're sick, stay home.

Caleb started coughing last night. I hope he doesn't get what I had. It's awful. His cast comes off on Monday and he cannot wait. Neither can I because it's starting to smell.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Sick

I am sooo sick today, but I will get back to that in a minute.

Since my last post, Caleb had the best baseball game he has ever played. He started out at third base. He batted well ( a base hit and a double) and had multiple stolen bases. Then in the third inning he went in as relief pitcher. He struck out four batters and only gave up one run. It was awesome. He got the game ball. I was so proud and he was proud of himself.

Saturday night I went out to eat at Mikado's with Karen, Jay, Jake, Trish, and Taylor. It was so good.

I woke up Sunday morning soooo sick. I am pretty sure I have a raging sinus infection. I am at work today and miserable. I don't have a fever so I'm sure it's viral. I keep telling my doctor that I have the swine flu but he's not buying it. Tylenol cold is not cutting it. I gotta get better!

You Go, Girl!

I am so proud of Miss California USA for standing up for what she believes. More people should be able to go on national television and say exactly what they think. Good for her. I hate that she is getting trashed by the pageant and the media (except, of course, for Fox News).

Today is going to be a busy day. After I leave work I have to go to Caleb's game, then home, cook dinner, and get everything ready for tomorrow. I have to be at a meeting in Franklin at 6am on Wednesday (which, by the way is absolutely ridiculous and I hope you read my blog - you know who you are!), so Karen is coming to spend the night so she can take Caleb to school on Wednesday morning. Getting to work at 6 am means a 12 hour day for me. Yuck.

I hope everyone has a wonderful day!!

Good Weekend!

What a great weekend! I had so much fun seeing some old friends and meeting new ones on Friday at Kim's house. I hope to see all of you again soon.

Caleb had ball games on Friday and Saturday - they won both of them. We are off to a 5-0 start! Go Red Sox!!

Sunday was rainy and gloomy. I cleaned my house and shopped for groceries.

Today is a typical busy Monday. I have lots to do, so I should probably get off here.

Have a great day!

Go Red Sox!!

Caleb's baseball team won BIG last night! The final score was 16-8. It was sooooo cold. I was worried that they wouldn't play well because in the past they have not played well in the cold but they did great!

Not much happening today at work. It's just the same old stuff. I think Karen is having a stressful day and I hope it gets better for her.

The tree people came and got the tree off my deck yesterday, so that's a good thing. I haven't heard anything about repairs to my deck or siding yet.

Let's see.... baseball tomorrow night and Vic's party, baseball pictures and then a game on Saturday morning, then Caleb goes to Matt and Kami's to spend the night. Have a great day!!

Wednesday

Yep, that's as creative as I get today.

Today is my late night, which means I don't get off until six, which means I will miss most of Caleb's game. He is playing injured and I'm a little nervous about not being there to see it. Karen will be there and that makes me feel better.

I hope dude came and mowed my yard today because it needed it badly. I call him dude because I don't know his name. He's somebody Jay knows.

*Side note* If you are a medical professional and you accompany a family member to another medical professional's office, please be aware that when you start throwing around your medical lingo and using your big doctor words, we are going to make fun of you when you leave. We get it. You're a doctor, too. For your sake, I really wish I was more impressed, but I'm not. After being in this field for this long, it takes more than that to impress me. Thanks.

Sorry about that. This is what happens when I work and blog at the same time.

Y'all have a wonderful day!!

Five Houses and a Creek

That's all that separated my home from destruction. I'll get back to that in a bit...

It has been quite a crazy weekend. Let me backtrack to Thursday. When I picked Caleb up from the Bradford's, he complained that his wrist hurt. He was trying to put his shoes on and couldn't even move his hand. He had not said anything to Jenny before I got there but told me that he was trying to jump off the swing, changed his mind too late, then tried to grab on again and missed, flew out of the swing backward and fell on his left arm. I took him to the walk in and they x-rayed and the nurse practitioner said that she didn't see any obvious fracture but she would send it to the radiologist for an overread and call me on Friday. Caleb was out of school on Good Friday, so he got to stay with his favorite cousin, Sara. She lives in the Blackman area. I made arrangements with her so that if I found out his arm was broken, she could meet me in Triune so I could take him to his orthopaedist in Cool Springs. I got a call from the nurse practitioner around 10:30 telling me that his arm was, in fact, broken. I called ortho and got him in at 3. I called Sara to let her know. We planned to meet at 2:15 at Triune. Around 12 we were all told to go to the basement to take cover for a tornado warning. We were all in the basement of our building huddled around our computers watching the coverage. When they said that there was a tornado on the ground in Murfreesboro, I started praying. I called my mom to tell her to pray. Then they said it was on Fortress Blvd. Sara lives just off Fortress. I almost lost it. I just prayed, pleading for protection for my family. I was able to speak to Sara several times during the storm and she assured me that they were fine. I was also trying to call people on my street to find out if I still had a house. I live on the north side of town and I heard there was another tornado there. I couldn't get anyone to answer. We were given the all-clear in our building and we went back to work. I left around 2 to meet Sara, but she called me and said that she couldn't get to me. I called ortho and told them that Caleb wouldn't make it, so they told me to come to the office and pick up a splint to get him through the weekend and when he came in on Monday they would cast it. I headed home. It took me quite a while to get to Sara's house. When I arrived they had no power. We went walking through their neighborhood. Just behind their condo complex are homes that were completely destroyed. It was awful, but no one was hurt. People were already pitching in to help clean up. We stayed at Sara's for a while and then went home. I had gotten a call from my bro-in-law, Jay, saying that our house was OK. When we got home I found that a tree had fallen on my deck and my gutters were down, but otherwise everything was OK. At the house on the corner of my street the trees were ripped out, roots and all. Across the creek was where the worst damage was done. Total devastation and a young mother and baby were killed. It was just terrible.

On Saturday Caleb had a baseball game at 8am. I had planned on sleeping in because of his broken arm, but Caleb wouldn't hear of it. He said that he had to go support his team, even if her couldn't play. When we got there it was cold and misty and we were short several players. We had one player on the way, but only seven players on the field, and we needed eight to start the game. The coach asked if he could put Caleb in the outfield to avoid a forfeit. I said yes, so Caleb put on the coach's glove and went out to center field. He actually had to field a couple of balls, then the other player showed up so he didn't play the rest of the game.

Sunday was Easter. It was a nice day. We went to see Monsters vs. Aliens. It was really funny.

Yesterday Caleb had an appointment with the orthopaedist. He said that he wanted to put Caleb in a cast so he could continue to play ball as long as he promised not to slide. He doesn't want him falling on that arm again. Caleb was so excited. He gave Caleb a red and blue cast to match his Red Sox uniform. Then we had to go by my office so he could show off his cast to Matt and Jamie. Then we went home to wait for the insurance people and the tree surgeon. The tree surgeon didn't get there until late so he is coming back today to remove the tree. I'm hoping I can get a new deck and siding. We shall see.

Please continue to pray for the families touched by the storms this past weekend. It will be a long rebuilding process for everyone.

Prayer Requests and Pie

First of all, my thoughts and prayers go out to Karen and Mackenzie Miller and the rest of Dan Miller's family and friends. I have watched him on the news for so long. It will be strange to see Demetria without Dan.

Second, please pray for my best friend Mandy and her family. Her Grandma is in the hospital with pneumonia and her Aunt Annie is also in the hospital.

Third, I want to thank Sara for the caramel pie. It is sooooooo good.

Live... In HD!

Yesterday the Direct TV man came and installed my dish. I don't know how I've lived without it. Backtracking a bit - when I came home from vacation, Mom and Daddy had bought me and Caleb a new 42 inch LCD HDTV. Karen and Jay had installed it while I was away. Great surprise, huh? So I decided that I needed a new HD receiver for it. I decided to go with Direct because it's half the price of Comcast. So the guy came and installed it and he did so in time for me to order Wrestlemania 25 in HD. Caleb was thrilled! I have to say, HD is quite impressive. In fact, after four hours of HD wrestling, It was kinda shocking to go back to my bedroom TV. It looked fuzzy and out of focus. I have so many channels now that I am a bit overwhelmed by it all. Plus, the channel numbers are different than Comcast so it's hard to remember where everything is, but I will get used to it.

OK, I just got distracted. My friend at work, Rebekah, has a grandson named Jackson. He's three and absolutely hilarious. He and Rebekah's husband, Jim, came to visit. Jackson just said, "Hey, Mimi, let's play origami." Rebekah said, "What's origami?" He looked at her like she was completely stupid and said, "Uh, the Japanese art of paper folding." HE'S THREE! Bwahahaha! I lost it. Sheesh. That child!!

Anywho, I'm hoping Caleb's baseball game gets rained out. It's just too stinkin cold to be sitting on metal bleachers. They won their first game 17-4. The other team just didn't have a pitcher, bless their hearts. Caleb walked every single at-bat.

I hope everyone has a wonderful day! Love y'all!

Friday

Yay for Friday!!

We have a busy weekend. Tomorrow starts baseball season, so we will spend the majority of tomorrow at the ball park. Then I have to clean my house because the Direct TV people are coming Sunday afternoon to install my dish. I have to dust and sweep behind all the TVs. No fun, but it will be worth it. My doc is going to NY this weekend and will be gone Monday and Tuesday, so those will be easy days for me.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!

Back at Work

I hate going back to work after vacation.

It's only Tuesday and it has already been a very frustrating week. I will spare you all the boring details. To make a long story short, our practice implemented a new process for doing labs and it has been a nightmare. My head is ready to explode.

We found out the sex of Karen's baby today, but since she has not posted it yet, I won't tell you. Ha!! All I will say is that I was right, as always. I have a sixth sense about that. I always have. I am very rarely wrong.

Caleb and I had a fantastic vacation. We went to Sea World and Aquatica, which is the coolest water park I have ever visited. I love water slides. They have one where the slide takes you through the dolphin tank. It slows you down so you can see the dolphins swimming around you. Very cool. The weather was perfect. We went to the Jacksonville Zoo with Mom, Dad, and Caleb's dad, his half-sister, and two step-siblings. It was nice. Everyone got along and nobody got hurt.

I hope everyone has a fantastic week! Love y'all!!

Y'all Will Never Guess What Happened...

Ok, so I wasn't going to blog while I am on vacation, but my first day was so bizaare that I just had to tell you about it.

Caleb and I arrived at the Nashville airport at 6:30am for our 8am flight to Jacksonville (personal note to Karen: when I typed flight, I accidentally typed fright. I thought of you.). Calebs half-sister, Emma, and step-sibs Jordan and David were on the same flight. Caleb's and Emma's dad is training in Jax for a new job, so they came to visit for spring break, too. We board the plane. As we take off, the cabin fills with a terrible burning smell. No smoke, just the burning smell. We, the passengers, started to look around at each other, puzzled by the odor. I then turned to the lady across the aisle and said, "do you smell that?" She said that she did. About two minutes later the captain says, "Attention passengers, this is the captain. I'm sure you have noticed the burning smell in the cabin. We aren't sure what that is, so we are going back to Nashville to investigate." Great. David starts to freak out, so I tried to calm him down. Now, I have already prayed a fiery hedge of protection around the plane, so I'm not really worried, in fact I kinda hoped that's what the smell was (ha!), but the human in me is wondering if maybe it's my time. We land safely. The captain says that the ground crew is telling him that our plane had a "bird strike" yesterday and that the burning smell is probably leftover bird carcass in the engine and the safety crew is going to check it out. We sit and wait for about 10 minutes and the captain tells us we have to deplane so they can back the plane out of the gate and rev the engines to see if they removed all of the remaining bird parts. Goody. So we get out and wait at the gait for about 30 minutes. During this time, I am entertained by Emma, who is eating hash browns dipped in cinnamon bun icing singing "Baby Got Back." She's five! Hilarious!! We get back on the plane and take off sans burning smell and safely made it to Jacksonville. Thank you, Lord.

I will now commence with the restful portion of my trip.

Love y'all!!

Vacation

I am leaving on Sunday to go to Florida. Yay! I do have a lot to do before I leave. I need to pack, buy some sunscreen and razor blades, you know, that last minute stuff. Caleb has baseball practice tonite and tomorrow evening, then we will go to Isabella's birthday party, then home to sleep a little before we go to the airport. I can't wait! I really need a week off.

I will post pics when I get back! See you later!

Please...

...If you are going to your doctor's office for a physical, TAKE A BATH!!

I'm sure some of you are thinking, "Amanda, doesn't that go without saying?" No, it doesn't. Some people (privacy laws prohibit me from mentioning you by name) think it is perfectly acceptable to roll in here all stanky. Maybe they are unaware of their own stank. I don't know. What I do know is that it is no fun to clean up after it or to have to hook your stanky self up to an EKG machine. Seriously. Bathe.

Thanks for letting me get that off my chest.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to my sister, Karen. She is 29 years old today.

Love you, sis!!

Are You Happy Now?

My sister told me to post because I have not done so in a while. I didn't realize it had been so long. Not much is new with me. I started Lupron injections to treat endometriosis. I read some nasty horror stories about it online so I was nervous. I prayed about it because I didn't want the horrific side effects. Three weeks in I have only had a couple of hot flashes, so praise the Lord!

Caleb has his first baseball practice of the season on Saturday. I am taking him tonight to buy new cleats. He has outgrown the ones he has now. He wore them for three seasons so I think I got my money's worth. I saw some on sale at Dick's and I have a $10 gift card there so I should be able to get a good pair at a good price.

I was super glad to have the beautiful snow over the weekend. I love it when the weatherman says we won't get much and then I wake up to a lovely blanket of snow. We built a snowman. It was fun.

This one is short and sweet. Happy, Karen?

Thursday

I know the title is a little boring. I couldn't think of anything more interesting.

Today in the office has been brutal. People can be so rude. We are overbooked - WAY overbooked - and people are still demanding to be seen. We can only do so much. I might cry today.

Life has been pretty boring lately. Caleb is starting to get the hang of his contacts. I had my hair colored dark red. I'm still not sure if I like it yet. Caleb hates it.

Hope all is well with everyone. Have a great day!

Stressful Saturday

Caleb got his contact lenses today. He was so excited when he got up this morning. He has terrible vision and he hates wearing glasses especially when he plays sports. His opthamologist told him he could get them when he turned nine. It did not go smoothly. It took him a very long time to get them in and he got very frustrated. I excused myself and went into the bathroom and prayed for him. I knew it would embarrass him if I did it in front of everyone. When he finally did get them in he was so happy. Then we got home and he rubbed his eye and one of them came out. It took another 45 minutes to get it back in and I ended up putting it in for him. We fought and I yelled at him. I felt terrible about that because I hardly ever yell at him. I apologized but the damage was done. He was so upset. He didn't speak to me for almost an hour. Please pray for Caleb. I don't want him to be discouraged. I hate to see him so frustrated and there isn't much I can do about it except pray for him and continue to encourage him. I know it will get easier in time and with practice. I have never worn contacts so I have no clue how to make it easier for him. Jay offered to come over and show him. I hope it helps.

Happy Friday

Today was so beautiful! I didn't want to go back to work after I went out for lunch.

I just signed Caleb up for baseball. I feel like fall ball just ended. I can't believe it's that time again. Luckily his coach is reserving him as a protected player this season so he won't have to try out and go through the draft. Because I work full time in Franklin it's really hard for me to get him to practice and games. He stays with the Bradfords after school. He has played football and baseball with Daniel Bradford since he started playing when he was five. Since Caleb stays with them he can ride to practice with them. This gets complicated at draft time. See, the kids have to try out for a baseball team. The coaches watch all the players on tryout day and then draw numbers to determine the picking order for the draft. Not to toot his horn (ok, I totally am), but Caleb is really good. He always makes a great showing at tryouts, therefore he gets drafted really high. If his coach - the only spring coach he has ever played for - doesn't get one of the first few picks, Caleb gets snatched by another team. Then I have to call the league and cause a fuss to get him moved, trades have to be arranged between Russ (his coach) and the coach that drafted him. It's a big ol' mess. So this season he will be a "protected player." The last time he was "protected" I had to sign a contract. I mean a real, legal contract stating that he would only play for his coach and that he couldn't be cut without my consent and the league's consent, blah, blah, blah. It's crazy. He's nine.

Anywho, I think I have about 2 more sports-free weeks before practice starts and then it's baseball almost immediately followed by football. He took a year off from football but has decided he wants to play again. So goes the life of a sports mom. Don't let this rambling post fool you. I love every minute of it.

Gotta go to the store and stock up on Shout Advance Gel. Those white practice pants aren't going to stay white on their own!

Oh, yeah! Happy Birthday to my wonderful "cousin" Brian. He will be 35 tomorrow and although he probably won't read this: Happy Birthday, Brian! I am so proud of you and love you. Have a wonderful day.

Yuck

My boss called out sick today. He's actually not sick but his wife and daughters are.

My day will be long and boring. So far I have done all of my regular work and played so much solitare that I am about to go blind. I have caught up reading all my blogs. I am waiting for lunch now so I can eat my leftover chili and then come back for another four hours of nothing at all.

Let's see... what's going on lately? Caleb is getting his contact lens exam on Saturday. He has been begging for contacts for two years. I wanted to make sure he was mature enough to handle them, and I think he is. With all the sports he plays, it just makes sense for him to have contacts. Glasses get in the way. They fall off and get broken. They are also hard to wear under a football helmet. He is so excited.

That's about it, I guess. I hope everyone has a wonderful day! Love y'all!

Back to the Land of the Living

Sorry it's taken me so long to post.

My surgery went well. The surgeon found lots of endometriosis, which we expected, and adhesions (scar tissue). He was able to get most of it but still wants me to take Lupron injections for 6 months to take care of the rest. These injections will put me in menopause temporarily. Good times.

Today is my first day back at work. It has been pretty slow so far because the weather is yucky and people are calling to cancel. I'm still a little sore and tired so it's fine with me.

Mom went back to Florida yesterday. Caleb had to get two fillings at the dentist. He fell asleep during his fillings. Crazy. I hate the dentist and there is no way I could nap while in the chair. He just dozed off then he jumped and it scared all of us to death. It was funny.

I hope everyone has a great day!

Surgery Tomorrow

I am having surgery tomorrow. The procedure will start around 1pm. Prayers appreciated.

Great Idea, Tam!

Things I love (in no particular order):
Jesus
Caleb
Karen
My family
my job
my house
pedicures
fleece pajama pants
Sara
a baby's laugh
funny movies
cheesecake
the Vols
The Predators

Things I don't like:
sin
snot
earwax
midgets
birds
alligators
the Ravens
the Red Wings
puck bunnies
pap smears (doing them OR getting them)
when Caleb is sick or sad

That was fun! You should try it!

Another Year Older

I'm 32 today. When am I going to outgrow zits? Seriously, I am having the worst breakout around my mouth.

This past weekend Caleb and I were two of the unfortunate 68,000 who froze our butts off just to watch the Titans lose. It was so sad. And cold. And wet.

Not too much going on this week. I am in surgery countdown mode - one week from tomorrow! Mom and Dad are coming in on Monday. Dad has to be in town on business and Mom is coming to take care of me and Caleb. I really need to clean my house.

Gotta run - big boss just walked in (Ellen).

Still Employed

I still have my job... ha, ha!

Today I am officially back to my normal routine. Mom left this morning to go back to Florida. She will be back here in two weeks because that is when I am having my surgery. January 21st to be exact.

Today has been a busy day at work. All of the doctors have completely full schedules and people are still walking in to be seen. Thankfully we have an extra doctor today to take care of the overflow. It's crazy here!

After work I will pick up Caleb and then go home and cook supper. We will probably have some kind of chicken or maybe mexican food. We shall see.

Have a great day!

Rainy Monday

It's raining and cold. Yuck. I'm glad I work inside.

I played a practical joke on my boss (Matt) today. He doesn't know it yet. We have a sweet little patient who always brings us bags of microwave popcorn(already popped) when he comes in for his appointments. Matt hates the smell of buttered popcorn. It makes him sick. I ususally just throw it away after the patient leaves but today I thought I would do something fun. When Matt went into a room to see another patient, I took his car keys off his desk and took the popcorn out to his car. It will have been shut up in the car for a good 2 hours before he leaves tonight. He is going to kill me :)

I'll let you know if I still have a job tomorrow.

New Year

Happy New Year!

New Year's Eve was fun. I went to Dugger's with Karen, Jay, Trish, and Jake. We sang karaoke. Good times. Last night Caleb and I went to see the Preds play. They lost. We still had a good time, though. Work has been slow today. That's weird because the day after a holiday is usually crazy busy. Not too much going on other than that.

Have a great day!