Major Dilemma

So, I have a major dilemma and need some advice. On May 20th I have two things happening and I am going to have to choose bewteen them. About a month ago I bought a ticket to go see Stephenie Meyer in Portland. She is going to be leading a discussion about her new book, The Host, doing a Q&A and signing The Host and up to 2 Twilight books. I am going with a bunch of girlfriends and I was REALLY looking forward to it. (Not to mention I spent $26 on the ticket)

On this same night we are having our last parent meeting at school. Every month we have a parent meeting where all the families are invited to the school and we have speakers, activities, etc. for the families to be involved with. Our last parent meeting is always at the park and we have a BBQ, magician, music, games, etc. It is actually really fun and we usually have really great attendance. I'm sure I could get out of it, but I don't know if I want to. I love my families and it is fun to take pictures with them and have a good time together.

What to do, what to do?

Realizations

Things I've come to realize: (Sorry it is really long!)

1.I've come to realize that my family... is everything to me. That includes my hubby and my immediate family. I would do anything for them and I love having fun with them.
2.I've come to realize that when I talk... I say "K", as in okay a lot. I am trying to stop.
3.I've come to realize that I need... alone time. I enjoy being on my own quite often. I love my husband, family and friends, but I am a person who needs to be alone sometimes.

4. I've come to realize that I have lost... the dust jacket to Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

5. I've come to realize that I hate it when... kids (as in my small students!) copy bad behaviors. It really pushes my buttons when a child is doing something they aren’t supposed to be doing and then another child starts to copy them. AHHHH! It drives me crazy.

6. I've come to realize that when I'm hungry... I want to eat candy, ice cream or other yummy sugary foods. I am trying to quit.

7. I've come to realize that money... is EVIL!! I hate money. I don't have a lot and it is quite annoying. I can't wait for the day that I can go to the grocery store and buy whatever I want!

8. I've come to realize that people... are interesting. I work with a lot of different people. By June 5^th I will have completed 152 home visits and if you combine that with lasts years visits that is 304 home visits in the past two years. I see a lot of interesting things in these homes. I’ve seen cockroaches, kitchens in garages, cigarette resin covering walls, families dancing and singing, playing with play dough, reading stories and playing games with their children.
9. I've come to realize that I'll always be... somewhat introverted. 10. I've come to realize that I'm hopelessly in love with... Harry Potter! I just love Harry Potter. I’ve have always been “obsessed” with something and I think it will probably be Harry Potter until I have kids. When I was a tween I was obsessed with the Beatles. I was obsessed with boyfriends in high school and then I was obsessed with Dan. I am still hopelessly in love with my Danny Boy, but Harry Potter will always have a special place in my heart!

11. I've come to realize that my cell phone... is not necessary. We didn’t have cell phones for quite some time and I got along just fine. In fact it was kind of nice to be unavailable at times.
12. I've come to realize that when I woke up this morning... I was tired, as usual. It doesn’t matter what time I go to bed. I never want to get up. I have been this way forever. I set the alarm for way earlier than I need to get up and then I press snooze as many times as I can.
13. I've come to realize that right before I go to sleep at night... I am continuously listening to the same part of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and I am never going to get to the end.

14. I've come to realize that right now I'm thinking about...

15. I've come to realize that babies... are adorable. I love my baby nephew Dawson. I think he is the cutest, sweetest, funniest most adorable little boy on the planet. I NEVER wanted a baby boy before I met Dawson and now I REALLY hope that I have a boy first. He has converted me to loving baby boys.

16. I've come to realize that when I blog... I wonder who will read what I post and I always worry about grammar and spelling since I am releasing my writing to the masses.

17. I've come to realize that today I will... teach 19 children for 3 ½ hours, go on two home visits, run by Fred Meyer and then come home at 7:00 pm.

18. I've come to realize that tonight I will... have to clean up the pigsty that I live in. How can 730 square feet be so cluttered and messy when there are 2 perfectly capable adults occupying it.

19. I've come to realize that tomorrow I will... Go to Kaiser with Dan to get his staples removed and find out more about the “mistake” on his arm.

20. I've come to realize that I really want to... go to Disneyland. Dan has never really been and I want to go in June more than anything. I really want to go before we have kids because I am planning on life ending when the children come, at least for a little while.

This list of realizations is a tag. I don’t really feel like tagging anyone in particular, but if you think this sounds like fun go for it!

Recovery....WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT!

Dan is doing pretty well. He is taking less and less pain medication everyday and is improving all the time. We have had an interesting 5 days. I get to help him take a bath, wash his hair and face, button his pants and other assorted tasks that are practically impossible with one hand. We've watched a lot of TV and movies and I know he is getting sick of it. My sister came over on Saturday and we went to the park with the family. It was good to get out of the house and enjoy the nice weather. The funnest part of the past 5 days was changing the dressing on the wound!! So, I slowly peel back the many layers of gauze and cotton stuff and first I see the "mistake" the surgeon made. (side note: When the surgeon talked to me after the surgery he told me that one of the instruments malfunctioned and burned the side of Dan's arm. I wasn't very concerned about this at the time. I was more interested in how the surgery went, etc. I imagined it would be a small burn, nothing to be concerned about.) This mistake is HUGE! I will display pictures below. Then I see the incision. It is about five inches long. It still had one piece of gauze on it and it kind of looked like it was stuck. So, I called the doctor's office and they told me to remove it and that there would be some staples in his skin. HOLY SMOKES....there are 21 staples! It is one of the most disgusting things I have ever seen. It looks like something out of a horror movie. You are more than welcome to view the beautiful pictures below. It looks worse in real life!

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count 'em......21 staples
















The "malfunction"....many people have recommended we sue, what do you think?















The high, I mean, happy patient!

Surgery

Dan had his shoulder surgery today. We are home and everything went well. His shoulder has been chronically dislocating for years. He had a capsule repair which means they tighten the tendon around the shoulder capsule so it will no longer dislocate. We arrived at the hospital at 8 am and left at 5:30 pm. He was in surgery for 2 hours and recovery for almost 3 hours. He was feeling pretty nauseous and very tired so he stayed a little longer than normal. You can see his lovely packing material on his shoulder. I get to take that off in 3 days and redress the wound (Sherri I might be calling you for advice!). He has to wear an immobilizer for awhile and he obviously won't been doing much for a couple weeks. The nurses and Doctors were very nice at Kaiser and we had a really good experience. As I sat doing my crocheting in the waiting room a huge group of about 25 people came in. They were all there to support a woman who has colon cancer and is having her second surgery. She was going to be in surgery for 8 hours. They all gathered around before they took her back and said a prayer together. It was very touching. It made me grateful that I was not in that waiting room for that purpose. I'm so glad that Dan is doing pretty well and that he has lots of happy pain pills so I can keep that smile on his face. Thank you for your prayers and thoughts. We will keep you updated on his progress.

Two Lips

We had a beautiful spring day in Oregon on Thursday. I can't even describe the beauty!! Especially since it has been cold and rainy as of late. So, I skipped out of work early and we went to the tulip festival in Woodburn. One of the glorious things about Oregon is that is surrounded by farming communities. You don't have to drive very far to feel like you are in a very rural area. It also happened to be my sisters birthday and when I told her Dan and I were going to the tulip festival she wanted to come to. We had a lot of fun and I'm glad we got outside because now it is rainy and cold again.























Dawson pondering in the flowers










Our three cutie pies.



















I have to admit the most exciting part of the tulip festival was riding in the wooden shoe. Seriously!

Hot Pockets

Spring Break

This is what most of our spring break consisted of. Relaxing, being lazy, watching TV, reading, watching movies, etc. For Dan it was well deserved. After a BRUTAL quarter, boards and finals he was ready for some rest.





















We went to the Japanese Garden in Portland. There were a couple sun breaks that day, so it was nice to get out of the house and be outdoors.














































We went to my sisters house for a few days toward the end of the week and one day we went with them to Out of This World. It's a brand new play place for kids with bouncy houses, climbing structures, climbing wall and other assorted fun kids things. Jenna is having her birthday party there later this month. We had a lot of fun staying with the Daley's. It was definitely the funnest part of the break.




















Of course it SNOWED over spring break. I thought that it only snowed in Utah over spring break. We actually experienced, showers, rain, mist, light rain, few showers, hail, snow and our new favorite precipitation term, graupel. When we were reading the Oregonian on Friday it said to expect graupel. This is the definition from Wikipedia(The best thing ever! according to Michael Scott)

Graupel (also called snow pellets) refers to precipitation that forms when supercooled droplets of water condense on a snowflake, forming a 2–5 mm ball of rime ice; the snowflake acts as a nucleus of condensation in this process. The term is derived from German Graupel meaning the same. Graupel does not include other frozen precipitation such as snow or diamond dust.

We had a great spring break! It went by way too quickly and I was very sad on Sunday night when I had to prepare to return to work. It's hard to go to work when I know Dan is at home. I guess I have to get used to it because he is going to be home for the next 14 weeks. He is having shoulder surgery next month so he has to take the quarter off. He has been reading Twilight this week and I will give him props for doing some laundry!