A new attitude

Have you ever done something and then later been embarrassed by your behavior? That's how I'm feeling about my "2010 FAIL" post (so emarrassed that I won't link to it here).

Of course, we are wholly blessed. Have we hit some bumps in the road, lately? Yep.

But mostly, I can look at my life and see people who not only love me and my family, but who readily step up to help when we need it. I'm sitting in a house that keeps us warm in the winter and cool in the summer, with a fridge and pantry that (most of the times) has plenty of food to offer. I have a job that I enjoy, co-workers who are fun and a boss who understands.

Friends -- both in real life and cyber -- have offered shoulders to cry on, help with the kids, and even to take me out for a much-needed drink. I'm coming to the tail end of an amazing experience in the Better U heart healthy makeover. I have three great kids who make me laugh on a daily basis. I have a husband who loves me, even in my most unlovable moments (most of the time).

And thanks to a friend who sent me this link, I am reminded that I have a God who does not ask me to carry all the crappiness of late by myself, who is just waiting for me to open my mouth and heart and say "help."

(On a practical note: Mike's 2nd surgery should take place sometime in the early afternoon today. Please keep him in your prayers.

And if you came here looking for the Biggest Loser wrap up, sorry, in all the craziness I totally forgot the show was on. But Cheryl (mom to Daris) went home.)

Plan A-1/2

Mike's in recovery now. The surgeon came out and told me they made an incision (so the doc says, I haven't seen him yet) from the bottom of the knee up to about mid-thigh. The doc said the reason he couldn't drain much is that is was really mostly grayish clots of tissue. They are sending that out to pathology. There doesn't look to be infection and his WBC is normal. That's the good news.

The bad news (here's where Plan A-1/2 comes in) is that they only temporarily closed up the leg, are going to keep him in the hospital on IV antibiotics and then on Wednesday take him back to the OR to repeat the procedure.

The surgeon said he can put weight on it as soon as he can tolerate it, but did say because of the length and depth of the incision, he's gonna be hurting for a while. No known cause and no real understanding if it will come back. But they are hoping with the double procedure and the drain he has right now, it won't.

Thanking God it's not Plan B, which involved a PICC line and SIX WEEKS of IV antibiotics at home. And very sorry to my sister Shelley for telling you that Plan B was amputation. Sick and twisted, I know, but in this situation, I'm trying find humor where I can.

2010 FAIL

I try real hard not to come to this blog and whine very often. But, folks, go get some cheese because I'm bringing the whine.

So far, 2010 has been an abysmal year. Here's what we've been greeted with:

1. I paid $160 for vaccinations and tests for a cat that wasn't even mine.
   
2. Mike was downsized from his job.
3. The cat that is mine required a $450 do-or-die surgery.
4. Mike had a grand mal seizure, which earned him an ambulance ride to the hospital.
5. The garbage disposal broke and is still waiting to be replaced.
6. The something something having to do with the brakes on my car went out (another $450).
7. Mike's unemployment claim was denied due to a calculation error on the part of the unemployment office (still trying to straighten that out, but have been delayed by #9, 11).
   
8. Annie fractured her foot and had to miss the rest of the volleyball season.
   
9. Mike hurt his knee playing racquetball.
10. Mike's injury landed us in the emergency room twice, both times to rule out a blood clot.
11. An MRI showed a large pocket of fluid in Mike's thigh.
12. The attempt to drain the thigh was unsuccessful and we're waiting, as I type, for them to come get Mike for surgery to slice open the leg, clean out the fluid and probable infection and flush it with antibiotics.

Plan A for the surgery is that the doc opens up Mike's leg, scoops out all the fluid, flushes the leg with antibiotics and then then keep him overnight on IV antibiotics. I'm not even going to say what Plan B is because I don't even want to entertain the possibility and if I say it (or type it) out loud, the universe might mistake that for a wish and it will come true.

I know that once I hit the "publish post" button, I'll think of all the good things that have happened this year. Maybe I'll even do a counter post later. But I can't right now because I'm in the middle of my little pity party.

Dear Tucson, Arizona

Saw this in my Feedjit journal traffic feed:

Tucson, Arizona arrived from www.google.com on "The Fourth Frog Blog: September 2008" by searching for "mistakenly put icy hot instead of desitin."

22:09:08 -- 1 hour 54 mins ago

Been there. Done that. The kid will survive, but can I suggest you start a psychotherapy fund for them right now?

End of an era

For the past eight years, beginning in mid to late April, you could find me on Saturdays and sometimes Sundays sitting on the sidelines at a soccer game. This year, you won't and I'm a little sad about that.

I love soccer. I enjoyed playing it as a kid, even though I wasn't very good. I've loved watching my kids play, even though watching when they are little and run after a ball like bees to an open can of soda is a little painful. And I have particularly loved watching Charlie play, even when I was frustrated with the coach and the program.

Charlie's been part of a developmental travel league for three years. For the most part, it's been a great experience. The kids on his team are good kids and the parents have been fun to spend weekends with. Up to this point, the travel has been minimal with most of it being within our general metropolitan area and only a handful of games being up to an hour away.

Because he's competitive to the core, Charlie has enjoyed playing. But, unlike his Mom, he doesn't love soccer. He's all about the games, but doesn't really care for the practices, something his effort has reflected.

What Charlie does love is football. He really wants to play on the school team in the fall. In the third grade, we allowed him to sign up for football and soccer. I think God knew that was crazy talking, because the second weekend into that lunacy, Charlie broke his arm (playing soccer) and missed the rest of the football season, though he did get to play a few tournament soccer games.

So, we've decided to let him play football in the fall. Given that, it didn't seem to make a whole lot of sense to spend $500 (league + tournament fees) for him to play soccer in a program that he won't be returning to in the fall, especially since we're basically living on my 3/4-time income right now. It's not like this was a completely economical decision, but I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a big factor in our thought process.

We didn't tell Charlie he couldn't play soccer. We sat down with him and said, "if you could choose, what would you play in the fall -- soccer or football?" We knew what he would say to that.

So, given his choice, we laid out his options for the spring:

1. Play rec soccer
   
2. Join the kids triathalon training team at the community center we recently joined (training once per week)
   
3. Play no organized sports and just enjoy the freedom of being a kid

He picked the kids triathalon.

So, in about 6 weeks when the soccer fields start filling up with players and fans, we won't be there. And while the prospect of free weekends is a bit exciting, I'll admit to being a little sad about the end of the soccer era in this house.

Victorious!

I did it! I fixed it all by myself (with a little bit -- ok, a lot of bit) of help from searching the Blogger Help forums. It was something in the Friday Frags post that made everything go wonky. So I removed the formatting from that post -- haven't looked, probably a total mess on that post right now -- and repasted in all the xml code that I'd saved before.

Woohoo! I feel so smart!

Progress...

Ok, got the sidebar to show up again. I think what messed it up was something in my Friday Frags post. But now I have to figure out how to get the sidebar content back where it belongs.

Have I mentioned that I really don't know what I'm doing? And that I have a bazillion other things I should be doing today?