Bob, Trivia Night and Other Stuff

Hello All!  Sorry it has been so long since my last post.  I have been running the roads, hard and fast these days and just haven't had a minute to gather my thoughts.  I am stopping this morning to do that...even though my work computer is dinging like crazy with email messages.  I am just going to shut the lid and tune it out for a couple of minutes.

We have so much to cover, so let's get to it!

Bob is home, recovering, going through the hell that is physical therapy and trying to poop while on excessive doses of pain medication.  Apparently, pooping and pain relief do not go well together.  I won't go into the details of the measures he has taken to relieve that situation but I will tell you that I was on a call with Bob, Lana and my sister and I was howling with laughter as they recounted their afternoon antics.  It was a story for the ages.

So when Bob was not strapped into his knee machine or being tortured by physical therapist he managed to put out a 70 picture album of his knee replacement journey.  Lana took over camera duties during his surgery and did an outstanding job.  I felt like I was there!  I thought I would cull through the 70 pictures and give you the highlights.  

Bob arrives and gets situated.

Leg is shaved and iodined all over.  He gets to surgery about an hour later than scheduled.

It is over.  He is disoriented, queasy, draining blood from his incision like a son of a gun and in lots of pain.

Same day they strap him into this knee machine that moves his knee.  His range of motion is practically zilch.

Then they get him up and walking!  Holy Moly!  He said it hurt something fierce.

The next day he is put through several rounds with the physical therapist and strapped into the knee machine for hours.  Gets his appetite back and starts talking everyone who walks into the room to get a picture taken with him.

There were 70 pictures in the album he sent out and half of them were with his people.  This is Mable.  He liked Mable.

Then we get to the good stuff.  The incision.  Oh yeah, I am impressed.  That is a big cut!  Oh and look at that nasty drainage tube sticking out of his leg.  Barf.

Swollen and painful, but it is done. 

He is home now and Lana has him set up in the living room with everything within arms reach.  He has a physical therapist coming to the house about 4 days a week.  He stopped taking his prescription pain medicine Monday night and is now on just Tylenol. Recovery is underway.  Go Bob...hang in there, Lana!

In other news....

The Cross Country Trivia Night Fundraiser was this past weekend!  It was a blast and raised $2600 for the Cross Country Team.

Here are some pictures from the event.

I made this poster with my Cricut Machine.  Which is awesome by the way...the Cricut machine, not the poster. 

It cuts out beautiful letters.  But here's is the downside...you have to glue each individual letter in place.  UGH!  I went through so many glue sticks making these and the centerpieces.

Check in table to pick up your packets.  The balloons were tied to a basket of "Smarties" and a box of "Ding Dongs".

Smarties Basket for the table that was in the lead through the ten rounds of questions.  NOTE:  The Smarties Basket never made it to Table 11.  That was my table.

The table in last place after each round had a box of Ding Dongs to identify their status.  NOTE:  THANKFULLY, Table 11 never had the Ding Dongs, either!

The Booster Club provided bags of popcorn, pretzels and sodas and water.  Pretty cheap event to host!

We had 14 tables of 8 people.  Here is the giant super automated screen on the stage where the questions were posted. 

I made a centerpiece for each table, made out of spray painted running shoes, a wooden dowel and a picture sign with the table number.  Each centerpiece and a front and back so it could be seen from all angles.  Two 5 X 7 pictures that were double matted on card stock.  Then my handy, dandy Cricut machine cut out the words "Table" and the numbers. 

Each letter was hand glued on by yours truly.  It took a long, long time.   I thought they turned out pretty cute.

I also had to make little signs for the Cell Phone baskets that were in the center of each table.  No cell phones could be used so all participants at the table had to put the phones in the basket for the evening.  Cute idea and worked like a charm.

The evening went well, with the exception that the questions were really, really HARD!  I am not sure I have ever felt so inadequate.  I think the only question out of a hundred that I knew for sure was a movie line out of the movie "Field of Dreams".  Thank goodness I had some smart folks at my table.  Every single person contributed, but my girl Beth's hubby Tony was a rock star at trivia.  We got 76 out of a 100 correct and came in 4th place.  I think everyone had fun and would do it again! 

Hubby won a $30 movie pass for winning the "Heads" or "Tails" game during a break between sessions.  Pretty easy money for putting your hands on your butt for three flips of a coin and then putting them on your head when no one else did!

So glad that event is behind us.  Now I just have to clean up my craft room because it is COVERED up in scraps of paper and this and that.  Disaster area of the highest order.

Also cranking up around here is baseball season. 

Chip's team is the Braves this year.  He looks so sharp in his uniform.  Hubby is managing the team again and I think they are going to have a good season.

Opening ceremonies at the Dell Diamond. 

Some of the cutie, patootie Braves!  They won their first game 10 - 5.  Last night, they had an 8:00 game (stupid late for 9 year olds!) and they lost 10 - 8.  Chip mowed down three batters with some awesome pitching in the 4th inning.  He likes being a closer.

Finally, I started seeing a Personal Trainer last Friday.  His name is Chad and he is an absolute encyclopedia of knowledge about the body and how it works and what foods do to your blood and insulin and thyroid issues and blood pressure and heart rate and nutrition and clean eating.  I am on information overload, but I am trying to be a sponge to learn everything he is telling me. He believes 150% in The Zone diet and so I am embracing that philosophy and changing my eating habits.  It has meant a lot of shopping, cooking, slicing and dicing.  He summed it up this way "If it is man made...do not eat it.  If it taste good...spit it out."  The second half was a joke.  But maybe not really. So I am eating Ezekiel bread and egg whites and apples and fat free cheese and taking a multivitamin and logging all my food, what I eat, when I eat it.  I am eating every 2 1/2 to 3 hours and now I understand why that makes sense.  He checks my food log and makes comments and recommendations on ways to improve it. Oh, and we are also exercising.  He thinks I am a rock star in the gym.  I think he may be setting me up.  Taking it easy on me and then he is going to go all Bob Harper and bust my chops.  So far it has been amazing on every single level AND I have lost weight!  GO CHAD, GO CHAD...it's working, it's working! 

Good Stuff.

Next time, I will tell you how much my boys are enjoying the switch to brown rice and whole wheat pasta.  It will be a short story.  In fact, so short I will just tell you now.  They are not digging it.  They are eating it, but cautiously, with much hesitation, and without much gusto.  They will come around.

On the horizon for the next couple of weeks....my next Lakeside visit is fast approaching, company is coming over Spring Break, Harry is turning sixteen in about 30 days (AAAAHHHHHH), I have to make a quick trip to Alabama for a training class, more baseball and of course my continued journey to better health.  March is going to ROCK!  Bring it on!

Bionic Bob

Bob's knee replacement surgery went perfectly.  No complications, no surprises, no problems.  But now comes the hard part....the recovery.

I talked to him last night about 8:00 when he was about six or so hours post-op. He sounded awful.  He had been real disoriented and couldn't remember why he was in the hospital.  His voice was real groggy and he said he was nauseous and his knee was really hurting.  I was so glad I wasn't there to see him, because that would have been difficult.  When I got off the phone with him and sent an email to my brother and sister.  "Dad sounds super groggy and is in pain.  Also, they brought him dinner and when they uncovered the plate, he barfed.  That is a first.  Bob throwing up at the sight of food?  Unheard of."  He does not barf and especially over food.   Food poisoning, west nile virus, Lyme disease...yes he might barf, but just smelling food...never.  

This morning I called and he sounded a little better.  Still tired and as anyone who has been in the hospital can tell you, he did not get any rest.  They were in and out of his room a million times at night, taking vitals, checking his fluids, etc.  He said his IV had run out and he had bled so much out of his drainage tube that blood had gone all over the floor.  Gross.  He did say that when they brought breakfast in that he scarfed it down.  Waffles, scrambled eggs and sausage.  Oh, and they brought him lots of coffee.  He was a happy camper.  He also had gotten up out of bed and tried walking with his walker.  He almost buckled under the pain, but the big strapping Physical Therapist caught him.  He had been strapped into the knee moving machine for several hours and it wasn't too bad.  Definitely an improvement.

Finally, I talked to him this evening and it was like a party was going on in his room.  He was filling me in on his events of the day.  Talking to "Ms. Rita", his nurse, at the same time he was talking to me.  He did four more hours in the knee moving machine, had three physical therapy sessions, had his IV removed, the morphine was taken away, and had a sponge bath given by three young UAH nursing students.  Rita was leaving for her shift and he asked her to please run get him some pain medicine before the shift change so he wouldn't be left hanging.  He also yelled after her "Be sure and warn Jessica about me so she knows what to expect."  He knew all the folks by name, even the ones he hadn't met yet.  He said that his doctor came in this afternoon and asked him how he was doing.   Bob said "My knee hurts.  Bad."  Dr. Tindle says "It's only been 24 hours."  Bob says "I know.  I didn't think it was going to hurt this bad."  Tindle says "Apparently, you didn't read the pamphlet."  He also told me that their was a young nurse at the nurses station and when he was shuffling by on his walker he said "You want to race?"  Told me how nice everyone had been. Then he told me that he had fried chicken, mashed potatoes and apple crisp for lunch.  He said, I don't know what people are talking about when they complain about hospital food...it is delicious.

Yep, he's on his way back!

Way to go Dad!  Keep working hard and feeling better!

For all of you sweet souls who have worried about Lana, let me tell you she is doing fine as well.  She spent all the live long day at the hospital yesterday and got out for a bit today to a doctors appointment.  Dad said he told her to go home and get some sleep tonight.  I bet she will sleep like a rock.  

He is expected to head home Friday afternoon, so keep saying prayers for his continued success with the recovery.

Bob's Bionic Knee

Bob is having knee replacement surgery this morning.  Please say a prayer for him. 

He is the Best Dad Ever.  No really...he wins. Hands down.

He is also an amazing family man and Grandpa.  These are his major life accomplishments.  Even without a knee he would continue to be great at these.

However, he also has some lesser known skills, like being an awesome photographer (have you seen his zoom stance?  It's epic.), handyman, dancer, marksman and most notably the Fayetteville county Ping Pong Champion and two time Texas Driveway Basketball Champion.  He needs his knee to continue to build his portfolio of accomplishments.

I will be praying hard for you Dad!  I love you!   And seriously, I can't wait to see what you can do with some bionic parts! 

My Sister

Happy Birthday to my sweet, strong, smart, beautiful sister.  Otherwise known as "The Nice One".

I wish you were here to spend a marathon day in the garden with me. 
After which, we would drink frozen whiskey sours and talk about how sore our arms were.

I wish I was there to spend a marathon day painting with you.
After which, we would drink a giant bloody mary with a full course salad in it and consider it diet food.

I wish you were here to spend a night cooking with me, trying out a new fabulous recipe.
After which, we would drink a big glass of wine and laugh our heads off.

I wish I was there to take a long walk with you and spill our guts to each other about all the hard stuff.
After which, we would mix up some Texas size margaritas and realize we were going to be okay.

Apparently, I love you and and I love drinking.  Mostly, I love you.

You are so precious to me.

I hope your day is filled with love, joy, peace and happiness.
You deserve that, and so much more.

Shoe Question

I got tons of questions about why Chip was spray painting tennis shoes the other day when he was spray painting the shoe boxes for his ATM Machine.  "Tons of questions" might be a bit of an overstatement....I actually just got one question.  It was from Ms. Tennessee. 

Dear Ms. Tennessee - Thank you so much for the great question and for reading my blog closely enough to give a rip to even ask a question.  I sincerely appreciate that.  Sincerely.  Really.   So, about those shoes!  I am making the centerpieces for the Cross Country Trivia Night Fundraiser.  We are hoping to have about 20 teams, which means there will be 20 tables.  The centerpieces are going to be a pair of silver spray painted tennis shoes with a wooden dowel in them, topped with a 12X12 sign that has a 5X7 black and white picture of our runners and then Table 1, Table 2, Table 3, etc. below the picture. The signs are double sided so they can be seen from any angle.  I have made a sample, but haven't taken any pictures.  I will do that soon so you can get a visual for how the shoes are going to look.  I have about 9 more days to whip up 19 more of those suckers.  I have also got to make 20 little signs that say "Cell Phone Basket" where everyone will put their cell phones in the center of the table for the night.  No Googling for the trivia answers!   Also have some other signs to make and it is starting to make me antsy!  Must get busy!  Lots to do and not enough hours in the day! 

Anyway, thank you again for the great question.   Keep them coming!

Have a terrific Thursday!

 

Tweezers

Yesterday afternoon, Harry came in from school in his normal dramatic fashion.  Sloughed his backpack off his shoulders like it was filled with boulders, slammed it into a chair, deep exhausted sigh as he falls into a hug as though it took every ounce of his strength to drag himself through the day.  Then just as quickly, he is rejuvenated.  He is heading to the pantry for the first of two pudding cups, giving me the run down on his day.  I get the highlights and the low lights (damn Math!). We go over  what he has to get done for homework, etc.

After scarfing his pudding cups, he is milling around the kitchen while I putter around in there too.  I am wiping off the kitchen counters or something and turn around and he has picked up some tweezers that were by the kitchen sink and is squeezing his bottom lip with them.

I say "Harry, I wouldn't do that.  I used those tweezers to pull dead crickets out of their cage today."

Eyes bulge open.  Gasping.  Pulling his lower lip out from him face.  He is in immediate distress.

Harry:  "AHHHHH,  what do I do???  OMG????  Help me.  Dead crickets."

He dashes to the sink, scalding water blasting on his face.

I assure him that I rinsed the tweezers off after "Operation Dead Cricket Removal" so I am sure he is not going to die or anything.  No reason to panic.  Just don't put tweezers in your mouth.  You'll be fine.

He wasn't so sure.  Not sure he will touch of pair of tweezers again.

I laughed so hard.

I love my Harry!

ATM Machine

Chip is the proud creator, designer and owner of a sweet ATM Valentine's Box. 

Over the weekend, he got to spray paint for the first time.  

He shook that can of paint like a pro.

His eyes lit up when I told him I needed him to paint these two boxes and a pair of shoes?  Really?  Yep. 

He sprayed a nice thin coat on everything and then we did that about five more times.  Who knew it would take so many coats of paint to cover a shoe box!

Then it was off to the computer to print out some words to bring this machine to life.  A little gluing, a little cutting and waaa  laaaa.... Chip's Bank.  Please note that to protect the identity of my children from their grandparents (holla, Mer and Grandpa!) and the four other close personal friends who read this blog, I have erased Chip's real name from this picture.  I am very smart, am I not?

He was very proud of his ATM Machine as he trotted off to school this morning. 

Can't wait to go through his "Deposits" after school and see the cute Valentine's Cards he gets.

Hope your day is giving you lots to smile about!