Another Surgery

Donald needs another surgery. Just when things seemed to be calming down a bit, it's discovered that Donald's abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) has grown from about 4.2 cm to 4.8 cm in less than a year; more than the average AAA grows in that time. The vascular surgeon, Dr. Sayler, doesn't like to see the AAA's get any bigger than 5 cm. before he does corrective surgery. Given the option of going ahead with surgery now or waiting six months or a year, we decided that the sooner the better. So, Friday, November 7th at 8:00 a.m., Donald will go into surgery again. He's expected to be in the hospital for six days "give or take a day" Dr. Sayler says. He also said that recovery will be about four weeks, maybe six, once Donald gets home from the hospital. This surgery is something we wanted to avoid; hoping that Donald was a candidate for the less-invasive procedure where they can put in graphs by going through the groin area. Why can't Donald ever do things the easy way? Anyway, is there a grandma or aunt nearby who would like to babysit that morning? Ours live too far away. :-(

So Many Things to Blog About

With all the exciting (NOT) things going on, I haven't had time to blog about them! Let's see...went to the Melting Pot on October 11th to celebrate my birthday, Don's birthday, our anniversary, and anything else that needed celebrating to justify going to the Melting Pot and spending so much money. I figured with the economy the way it is, this might be our last chance to go there. It was great FUN. I could live there! Here are a few pictures of the outing:

Donald, looking forward to dippin' some steak!


Nicholas loved the ballooons!

Our dessert tray (to be dipped in melted
dark chocolate Cherries Jubilee) Yum!!

On October 18th, we went to Sever's Corn Maze in Shakopee and, once again, had lots of fun winding our way through the maze, finding the letters A-Z, and spotting the picture of Sever on six of the posters. This year's theme was "Vote '08" and each poster had fun facts about the White House. We made it through the maze in about an hour and 15 minutes, Nicholas leading the way!

Donald and Nicholas going down the big slide


An aerial view of this year's corn maze & festival grounds

Asher

Yesterday, my aunt Wendy had to put their beloved dog, Raleigh, to sleep. He was 12 years old, the same age as Asher when he went to Heaven. Yesterday was also the three-month mark from when we had to make that gut-wrenching decision to let Asher go. I know he's in a happy place now, but I miss him so much sometimes that it hurts. I wrote a poem many years ago about Asher, and I thought I'd share it today:

"Asher"
He may not always listen to me
Sometimes, he even talks back
He constantly wants my attention,
Especially when I'm the most busy.

He takes up most of the bed
And he snores sometimes, it's true.
He tracks in mud between his toes
And when I call his name,
He often runs in the other direction;
He thinks that I'm ready for play.
And when he gets a drink of water,
He spills most of it onto the floor.

I know that he's not perfect,
But he has the most beautiful face
And when I come home
At the end of my day,
Or I return from a long, long trip,
He's the one who greets me.
He makes me smile, and when I'm sad
He licks the tears from my cheeks

And I know then right at that moment
That no matter how down I may be
No matter what problems I'm facing today,
Or what loneliness has caused me to frown,
Asher is here and he loves me.
There's nothing else he lives for,
but to show me unconditional love.

Melissa Anne Morse
April 14, 1997

Below is a poem that I shared with my aunt Wendy yesterday. It was shared with me by Patty Keller. She received it from her father when their dog was hit by a car 30 years ago:

Decluttering Results - The Kitchen!

"Before" Photos:

Above are "before" pictures of the cluttered and disorganized kitchen. Below are the "after" pictures: so much neater, organized, and a pleasure to cook in! Not that I cook much, but I'm working on it! I got a new "kitchen center" to replace the two microwave/kitchen carts in the corner. With the over-the-range microwave we got a month ago, we don't need a microwave cart anyway! Granted, this is not the way it looks every day. Once Donald gets home and plops his stuff on the counter, we bring in the mail & newspaper, and I start preparing dinner, it gets a little cluttering-looking. But, for the most part, this is the way it looks most days!

"After" Photos:

Happy Birthday to Me

Well, I'm feeling old and crappy. This has got to be the most disappointing birthday ever. It was raining all day. I spent most of my afternoon in the car, driving from Eagan to Shakopee and back (more on that in a moment). I got no flowers, no gifts, no cake, no ice cream. My husband and our son went out at 10:00 this morning to buy two birthday cards and get my favorite ice cream from Cold Stone Creamery (they don't open until 11:00; so no ice cream for me). The card Nicholas picked out was geared toward a mom of grown children and said "Our wish to mother." He picked it out because it was pink and that's my favorite color. Isn't that sweet? I did however get a lovely hand-made card from my little man, Nicholas. He wrote I love you and put an "x" in the middle, meaning "kiss" and then he wanted to kiss me as I read it. That was the best part of my day.

As for driving up to Eagan and back, Donald had a colonoscopy today. Yes, of all days, he picked my birthday to have that done! He originally had our anniversary date picked out, but I asked him to reschedule and he picked my birthday. So, after putting Nicholas on the school bus at 11:30 a.m. I drove Donald up to Eagan. Then I had to drive about 30 minutes southwest to Shakopee where I was supposed to walk two doggies. My cell phone died yesterday and I haven't been able to get phone calls, check my email, or get notices that my business phone has a message, while I'm out and about. So, I had my old T-Mobile phone with pay-as-you-go with me - but I had no minutes left! So I had to call in and buy some minutes and then I was able to call my home office phone and check messages. Wouldn't you know it? There's a message from my client (whose development I am literally driving into as I listen) saying that she doesn't need me to walk the dogs today because she stayed home to wait for the DirectTV guy to show (he didn't show) and now she's just going to work from home the rest of the day. Annoyed, disgruntled, and ready to scream/cry, I turn the car around and drive all the way back to Eagan. Get there just in time to sit with Donald as he's recovering, and play the waiting game until they say he's ready to go home. We get home just in time to get inside the house before we have to walk down the street in the rain to meet Nicholas' school bus - once again, the best part of my day.

So, as far as birthdays go - this one sucked. I turned 39 today. I think next year I'll start counting backwards and I'll be 38....

Bird Seed & The Critters Who Live in My Car!

The bird food has been moved, the critters are being caught and released into a new location, yet I still have evidence that something is possibly living in my car! Two nights ago, something chewed a hole in the sandwich bag holding some soft training treats for Gracie; then, when I was looking in my trunk to make sure nothing was in there, I find one of those treats in another bag that I forgot to zip closed. Ewww! I think the critters are living in my car!!

Donald put the 'live' trap (with a cracker & some peanut butter in it) in the trunk last night and caught two little critters; one of which had "expired" as he puts it. Poor thing. But I'm at the point where I'm thinking "one less critter to worry about." I asked him why he thought the little guy had expired and Donald's answer was, "I don't know...maybe he has an allergy to peanut butter." I have been parking in the driveway until we get the garage cleared of critters; however, it doesn't seem to matter where I park if the things are living in there!

Hopefully we (meaning Don) have caught the fellas that have been living in my car and maybe things will return to normal. I will make sure I don't have any food in my car from now on, that's for sure, whether it's for me or the dogs!