Olympics, Surgery, and Coffee (of course!)

August 1, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

So if we’re being honest, it’s hard for me to think about anything but the Olympics right now.

Maybe because it’s going in the background? As it always is every night from about 8-11.

We might be slightly pathetic.

Or, possibly, extremely devoted fans.

Take your pick. :)

The Fab 5 was awesome last night. That was fun to watch…crazy to think that it’s been sixteen years since the U.S. women took the gold. That was almost half my life ago, and I remember that night in ’96 very well. Time flies.

More like travels on a high-speed jet.

So it’s been awhile since we’ve just chatted, and words just come easier when there’s caffeine involved. :)

Especially since it was an early-ish morning.

Dr. appointment.

7:30 a.m.

I didn’t even know that kind of thing existed.

Sorta like 7:00 a.m. college classes…they only existed at my college. True. (I think.)

Anyway, my new doctor confirmed what I almost would have bet the farm on…

Buh-Bye, Gall Bladder. It’s been fun.

Or not.

I meet with a surgeon on Tuesday, and hopefully it will all be over with soon after that. Not a fan of hospitals or anesthetic or horribly revealing hospital gowns…so you kinda get where I’m goin’ with this. It IS interesting how I remember that pain from the other night, though…and I remember it enough to be willing to go through with this. I’m even a little more willing after this afternoon when I got to experience it all over again…thankfully for a much shorter time period. But still.

Ok, way too much info for you all, I’m sure.

Whoever knew a (just about completely useless) random organ in the body could cause so much trouble?

That might be one of the first things I ask God when I get to heaven. :)

So Mae’s vocabulary has been completely exploding lately. She’s been pretty good with complete sentences for awhile, but she threw us a shocker the other night. She was watching an episode of Strawberry Shortcake (yes, yes, judge me now…) on Netflix, and one of the characters said, We have to go to rehearsal. She looked at Tobin and said, Daddy, they have to go practice!

Say, WHAT?!?!

So not only do I have a girl I can chit-chat with all day long, I now have a walking, two-year old thesaurus.

Wowsers.

I have to admit that watching her grow and learn and become the coolest little girl is totally FUN. Best time in my life ever.

She is just such JOY, and my life is blessed beyond measure simply because I have the privilege to call her my daughter.

And, speaking of that daughter, I need to head upstairs, turn off the lights, and tell her it’s time for bed.

She stayed up, with the light on, reading.

:)

G’nite, friends. Thanks for being here. :)

Sig

Filed Under: being mommy, blessings, coffee, Maelie, random, where I am

Little Blessings (Pt. 45)

July 31, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

:) Olympics!!! Love me some gymnastics. (And swimming and diving and water polo and volleyball and…)

:) Almond Joy coffee creamer. Mmmmm…

:) Complete-sentence conversations with my girl.

:) Coffee drinking and playtime in the backyard in the morning.

:) Time (and motivation) to work on my book. Thinkin’ there was some progress yesterday!

:) A stinkin’ scary moment that turned into something we could laugh about a few minutes later.

:) Truth spoken in love.

:) Guitar-strumming and tune-belting.

:) Bedtime giggles, songs, and prayers with my favorite little girl. Hearing her say, Amen, is the best part.

:) Ten years on Friday.

Sig

Filed Under: blessings, just life, Maelie, marriage, Tobin, where I am

Monday Musings

July 30, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

Which could be conveniently renamed Monday Confessions of a Stay-at-Home-Momma…

So, though I’m trying to lessen the frequency that she eats these, when I give Mae fruit snacks, I sometimes steal the orange ones out first. Really, I’m a sucker for anything citrus…the lime and lemon are equally yummy. I know, I know…

My poor child is going to grow up never knowing that there are actually citrus flavored fruit snacks in those packets. Parenting fail?

I also almost always sneak a drink of her chocolate milk before I give it to her in the morning.

Yeah, yeah…maybe I just need to adopt the diet of a toddler. :)

While we’re talkin’ about food, I might as well confess that if I open a bag of these, they’ll be gone. It’s the honey mustard…totally addicting. I can seriously eat an entire bag in one sitting. Not so good. And, yet, SOOOOO good.

Yeah…and on Amazon? You can order them by the box. Holy cow, I should NEVER do that!

I’m a blog stalker. Sorta. I have a few I regularly read and love, but I need to be better about leaving comments. One of the blog writers I read alerted me to this site. Goodness, I’m not so sure this was a good discovery. (I already sent Tobin an idea for Christmas. Hey, it IS July. ;))

So today I was actually feeling somewhat better…enough to play outside with Mae for about an hour this morning and keep up with her for the rest of the day. I even did half of a workout tonight, though I didn’t put the effort into it that I usually do…I’m just pretty wiped out.

And while I could keep confessing, I’ll just end it with this one.

I have total Olympic Fever. I can’t get enough.

Swimming is on…and totally calling my name. :)

G’nite!

Sig

Filed Under: being mommy, just life, Maelie, random, where I am

That Post Where I Talk About My Gall Bladder

July 28, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

Seriously.

This time, I’m not kidding.

Which is kind of a bummer.

So it’s been a strange couple of days.

I think I’m usually pretty good at rolling with the punches…I’ve learned that in the multiple, multiple times that life has thrown me curve balls. You just kinda go with it.

And yesterday was no exception.

For the past few weeks, I’ve felt a little off. I had some issues I wasn’t particularly worried about but were still present. (And annoying.) Nausea (mostly), some abdominal/back pain. A couple times it was bad, but you know…it went away.

Thursday was especially rough. It was really hard to smile and be myself when I just felt like crap. Which was pretty much an accurate description. That night I came home from Praise Team practice around 9:15, and I was hungry. That’s not abnormal…I kinda like to eat. Hence the reason I run. 😉 I had a cookie, a glass of milk, took a few minutes to blog, and went to bed.

I had kind of an ache in my chest and was hoping I’d sleep it off. I fell asleep for a few but woke up around 11:30 with the most pain I’d ever felt in my life…back/chest pain that brought me to tears. I tossed and turned for awhile before waking up Tobin. I got up, walked around, and at one point decided to lie down on the floor (THAT actually helped) before going downstairs and lying on the couch. Around 2:30 the pain subsided somewhat, and I was able to fall asleep.

I woke up around 6:30 feeling…ok. Definitely not great and still in pain, but I wasn’t sure what to do. I had some things I needed to get done, and being a very I-don’t-go-to-the-doctor-unless-it’s-absolutely-necessary person, I had a hard time choosing that over what I felt was more important. But after several minutes of going back and forth with Tobin in an, I-don’t-know-what-we-should-do-do-you conversation, we decided I needed to get checked out. I made a phone call, got Maelie up, and we took her to a sitter before heading to the hospital, (in)conveniently located way too far from our house.

Thankfully the ER was empty…I do not handle places like that well. I also learned that when you walk into one and say the words, chest pain, almost immediately you are hooked up to an EKG machine. That was a first for me. Thankfully, that came back clear.

But I still spent several hours in a room in the ER in one of those horrible, flash-the-world hospital gowns, hooked up to a heart monitor and I.V. while the doctor asked me questions, ordered a chest X-ray, asked more questions, and finally ordered an ultrasound to check out my gall bladder and a few other organs, but the gall bladder was the suspect.

And the doctor was right.

A nasty gallstone.

UGH.

It does explain the nausea and pain I’d been experiencing for awhile, though. In all honesty, I was thankful to finally have an answer even if I’m not excited about what that means.

I’ll have a follow-up with my regular doctor this week and then will probably meet with a surgeon.

Really, I’m frustrated, but I’m kind of at the whatever point…let’s just get this taken care of so I can get on with life. (And feel better.)

It makes days like today hard when I carry Maelie up the stairs and am so exhausted I just want to crawl into bed. When the sun is shining and it’s a gorgeous day and I’d rather lie on the couch. Granted, the Olympics ARE on. Thankful for that. :)

Funny story from when I was in the ER yesterday. I seriously couldn’t stop thinking about the opening ceremonies and how much I wanted to watch them NOT in a hospital room. I guess I should have been more worried about my health, but admittedly, that thought raced back and forth through my brain the entire time. :)

I am thankful, though.

Very.

The real reason we went in is because I was worried it was my heart. I kept telling myself, There’s no way it can be your heart, Mel. You’re healthy, in shape…you’re fine. But the pain I was feeling suggested otherwise, and I was scared.

If I had heart issues, it would have meant a huge life-change. (There’s definitely a spiritual parallel there…maybe I’ll touch that again another time.) :)

Gall bladder? Definitely inconvenient, but it can be dealt with. I’ll get my energy back. I’ll still be able to run. Chase my daughter. Laugh with her. Share ice cream sundaes with her. Be my old self. :)

I’d appreciate your prayers over the next couple of weeks…hopefully it’ll only take that long. :)

God is Good.

Sig

Filed Under: adventures, blessings, just life, Maelie, Tobin, where I am

Little Blessings (Pt. 44)

July 25, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

:) Singing and dancing with my girl.

:) Flip flop shopping. (FYI…should you be a sucker for a good deal, Target has some uber cute ones on clearance right now…)

:) Starbucks gift cards. (Thanks, mom!)

:) A swimming pool in the backyard for those days that teeter around 100. TOO. HOT.

:) Chats with a good friend.

:) Making new friends.

:) This. Hop over and watch my two best friends sing their hearts out. They’re amazing, and I’m not just saying that. Should you want to vote for them, if they win they’ll be singing the National Anthem to open the Iowa State Fair. Awesome. :) (And, you can vote five times a day!)

:) Chocolate peanut butter cupcakes. AND having friends/neighbors willing to take most of them off my hands so I’m not forced to eat them all. :)

:) A good pace during my run this morning.

:) Coffee and some time with my Father this morning. He’s Good.

Sig

Filed Under: blessings, friends, just life, Maelie, where I am

The ABC’s of Mel’s Brain

July 24, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

It’s definitely time for me to sit down and have some quality time with the blog.

It isn’t like I haven’t been here the last few weeks, but I haven’t been here.

I guess life is just like that sometimes.

So…in 26, if-I-make-it-that-long, bullet points…here’s life.

Sorta.

And by the way, I wrote part of this on a Sunday…I think I reference that once or twice. :)

  • Andre is my dog…my nine year-old boy. I love him. He puts a smile on my face even when I don’t feel like smiling.
  • Hearts that break are opportunities for God to do some major healing. That’s what I’ve been learning lately.
  • I love to create. My brain is awesome at dreaming up ideas…the following through is hard. Ish. Really enjoying painting lately and almost ready to pull out the sewing machine and learn how to use it.
  • I still want to learn to play the djembe. Really play it. Thinking about blowing the rest of my birthday money on one since it’s cheaper than a plane ticket to Africa so I can buy one in a market there. :)
  • Epic moments have made up life lately. Nothing huge, just important. I feel like I’m finally comfortable with being who I am…and not caring (as much) what other people think. Took me awhile to even get to that point.
  • F is for big failure. Feeling like that in a lot of ways. A friend said something today about Satan attacking ferociously on Sundays. I have to agree…feeling really down today.
  • Good memories. Really trying to focus on the blessings that God has placed in my life. There are so many…and I’m thankful for each of them.
  • Happiness is this picture I bought for myself a few weeks ago with some of my birthday money. I love it. I can’t think of a better thing to hang in our kitchen on our green wall. :)

  • Ice cream cake. It’s worth turning a year older for…to be sure. A week and some later, we’re still working on it. Which could speak volumes about our self control…or the fact that I sorta forgot it was in the freezer! :)
  • Goofy, but I love toast with jelly. So does Mae.
  • Mae is still talking about chasing kitties on the farm. Golly, I love her…and that she had such a good time there.
  • I am so thankful that I am loved. By friends, by my family, by my Father. So good.
  • Mae lights up my life. Every single day. What a blessing she is.
  • Thankful for a Father who never gives up on me, even on those days when I’m sure everyone else has.
  • I’ve been overtired lately…too many late nights and too much early-morning running. Headed to bed soon, thankfully.
  • Poofy pigtails on my princess of a girl. Her cutest look so far, I think.
  • Been a week full of questions. I’m more convinced than ever that some things, there will be no answers for, until I can ask my Father face to face.
  • Reunions with sweet friends…always fun. Always hard to say goodbye, too. Still worth the hello.
  • I love my Sammy, too…I never thought we’d bring home an Indo souvenir like the one we’ve got living in our house. He’s one-of-a-kind.
  • Sometimes you just gotta cry big, fat tears. Letting them fall helps. And letting my two year-old daughter hug them away teaches the beauty of compassion.
  • Sometimes we just need people who love us unconditionally. Thankful for that this week.
  • I was thinking of learning to play the violin. Just kidding. :)
  • I found this bottle of wine a week or so ago. Seriously. I thought we had topped it with Barefoot wine, but this? Fantastic.

  • X…seriously? Who can come up with anything related to it in daily life? I don’t play the xylophone and I haven’t broken any bones lately, so this one may just have to stay blank.
  • Ever feel like life is a ride on a yoyo?
  • We haven’t been to the zoo yet this summer. We talked about hitting the one in Omaha with some of my family later in August. We’ll see.

If you stuck around long enough to read all of this…thanks.

You’re a blessing, friends. :)

Sig

Filed Under: barefoot, being mommy, blessings, dogs, family, friends, just life, Maelie, random, Tobin, what I'm learning, where I am

Pickle Juice, Anyone?

July 23, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

Ok, so pardon me while I get to the point of the title…the long way.

:)

There’s coffee involved tonight, so I guess we can just consider this a coffee date-ish chat. That means I can be as random as I want to be…it’s always fun to see what comes out in these posts.

It is Monday, and considering I was forced to go without blogging for TWO. WHOLE. DAYS…well, I have a mighty mongo amount of words that need to be used up tonight…

Kidding.

Well, maybe.

I just finished my Monday night workout. (Well, I did take time to shower. Gosh that would be gross if I just sat down all sweaty and stinky and started typing.) It was a sparse turnout…it’s July and people are on vacation. It’s summer and people are busy. It’s hot and people don’t feel like it. (I didn’t…I just did it anyway.) Take your pick. :)

But there were a few friends who joined, and it was a decent workout. The first part is just run or walk or whatever, and we were kind of all at different paces tonight. I did three miles of sprints because that’s what I do when I’ve already run once in a day.

So I’m trotting along…kinda bored, but not too bad. (Running is never fun alone without an iPod. Just sayin’. :)) Thinkin’ about how hungry I am…because as of two weeks ago, I DON’T eat dinner before I work out. Really wanting that burger I know is waiting for me at home.

That kind of bored.

And out of nowhere…seriously. I. Want. Pickle. Juice.

You know, the juice that comes in a jar of dill pickle chips? Yeah, that stuff!

I couldn’t believe how utterly AMAZING it sounded. And how strange I’m sounding right now…

I just wanted to drink a glass of it.

Ok, so here’s the thing. I really DO like pickle juice, so it’s not like this craving came out of nowhere. It was just odd to want it so badly during a workout. Yeah.

At least the thought made me smile. :)

And when I came home, I ate my burger (with pickles) and even drank a little of the juice. True. (And it was good, just in case you were wondering. :))

And I might be a little strange for just telling you that story.

So yesterday we stopped in the Dells on the way home from the family reunion. We had lunch with some of the extended family…all fun people. :) It was only the second time I’ve ever been there…kinda sad considering I lived in Wisconsin Rapids for a year and spent two summers working at Camp Fairwood…neither of which are that far away.

However, just driving through the main stretch on a Sunday afternoon made me decide that I don’t so much care if I go back anytime soon. (Other than to go to Noah’s Ark…I’ve always wanted to go there. Kinda hard now with a small child so it may be a while until it happens.)

As Lauren said yesterday, The Dells has two things going for it…Noah’s Ark and saltwater taffy.

I may not have partied it up on the water slides, but we did manage to snag a bag of saltwater taffy before we headed home. So, for the time being, life is complete.

At least until the taffy is gone.

:)

One fabulous discovery we made this weekend was this. (Actually there was another, but that’s another post for another day.)

Truly this thing is the best invention ever. At least for the mom of a two year-old. The. Bucket. Doesn’t. Spill. Genius! Three. Kids. Can. Blow. Bubbles. At. The. Same. Time. More genius! Three. Kids. Can. Blow. Bubbles. Together. WithOUT. Spilling! I think I’ve died and gone to Toddler Toy Heaven. Between this and the other discovery, which we will eventually order from Amazon…I’m a happy momma. Mae’s a happy kiddo.

We’re just all happy. 😀

AND…Target clearanced a lot of the summer toys already. We snagged this and a 100 oz. bottle of bubble solution for under $10. That’s a deal and a good use of some of Mae’s birthday money! :)

Well, it’s late, the coffee mug is empty, and I’ve shared enough random with you all for one night.

Thanks for reading. :)

Sig

Filed Under: being mommy, coffee, family, friends, just life, Maelie, running

Without a Connection

July 22, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

Tobin, Maelie and I spent the last few days up in small-town, out-in-the-middle-of-nowhere, Wisconsin.

The pros: fun people, games, good talks, (way too much) good food, coffee, beautiful house and location, laughs, new friends and old, too, 15-2 Brew…the list could really go on. Lotsa good. :)

The cons: not enough bathrooms, flies, an over-abundance of indoor taxidermy, and almost. zero. internet. 

For about a day, I thought a few of us, Miss Blogger Extraordinaire included, might die. Or at least suffer mentally. (I really hate to miss blogging, especially when I haven’t mentally prepared to actually NOT do it. I know I’m strange…get over it.) 😉

Eventually I had to wrap my mind around the idea that we WEREN’T going to have internet, that if I HAD to get in touch with someone, I’d have to call or text (cell reception was also extremely iffy…did I mention that?), and that if I NEEDED to blog, I’d just have to wait.

You know, that thing I do So. Extremely. Well.

Eventually I (and a lot of other people) had to get over the fact that, for the most part, life outside would have to wait.

I found myself thinking about it less and less by Friday (even though I did have time to blog during the window we actually HAD a connection), and time was spent doing a lot of other things that were more fun. Cribbage playing, catch-up talks, cookie-devouring, horseshoe games (though I just watched), bocce ball, a late-night in-law chat (but there were out-laws there, too. ;))

It was SO good…kinda to the point where I thought, hmmm…what if I try to use the internet less?

Like, a LOT less?

I honestly don’t know what that looks like. As it stands, I’m currently organizing a 5k with someone who’s in another time zone, so I can’t stay disconnected completely. But all that facebooking that I think is so necessary?

I’m thinkin’ not.

In fact, I’m gonna try something…like staying off the internet in the mornings. That’s the chunk of my day that is concentrated most on Mae. I wonder what life will look like if I focus fully on her instead of dividing my attention between her and whatever thoughts are begging to be blogged or the magnetic pull online life seems to have on me.

I don’t know how it’s gonna go.

Really.

And I’m not making promises…just talking aloud. :)

But I do know that I’ve got a daughter to love on, and if I let her, she can easily fill up my mornings. Not to mention, our summer days are ticking down quickly, and I’ve still got coffee to drink and friends to chat it up with while Maelie entertains us.

I’m not sure the blog will see less of me in the weeks to come.

But my daughter will definitely see MORE of me.

Because there are other connections I’d like to make besides the internet.

Sig

Filed Under: being mommy, blessings, family, goals, just life, Maelie, travel, where I am, writing

Little Blessings (Pt. 43)

July 13, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

:) My daughter, the unofficial, West Dundee Target greeter. Today we were picking out a birthday card near the front entrance, and as a family walked in, she looked at them and said, “Hi, people!”. With a wave. Golly, I love her. :)

:) Wedding tomorrow and plans to see friends we haven’t in a long time.

:) Coffee and a good chat on the back patio with my dear friend.

:) Family walks up and down the street.

:) My Mac is still going…granted, I haven’t used it much, but I’ll take it! (It’s honestly weird to have my own laptop again. Really.)

:) Cute, $7 white skirts. (Did I just use the words “cute” and “skirt” in the same sentence? As a blessing? WOW, Mel…) 😉

:) Surprise e-mails that make me smile.

:) Early morning running when it’s NOT already 90.

:) Painting…I love my latest one. It’s a gift that I’m really excited to give, but I not-so-secretly want to keep it for myself. Thinkin’ I might try to do another for me. :)

:) The Psalms…I’ve spent some time reading several of them this week. So thankful for the encouragement found there.

Sig

Filed Under: blessings, coffee, family, friends, just life, Maelie, what I'm learning, where I am

Grass that Crunches While I Sing Veggie Tales

July 10, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

No, not really.

I’m just in one of those moods…you’ve been warned.

😉

This barefoot chica experienced a summer-first today. I would rather wear flip flops than go barefoot. Yes, indeed-y, the grass is sooooo very un-rained-upon that running over it barefoot can be compared (almost) to running over needles. OUCH.

So much for barefoot frisbee.

In my mind there are only three…count ’em…ways that raisins are EVER acceptable. 1) Chocolate covered…preferrably dark, but any will do; 2) In trail mix, but only if salty peanuts are also included because the salt coats the raisins, thus making them far more appealing; and 3) in Raisin Bran.

And if you put them in cookies? Shame on you. 😉

Certain items in the Target Dollar Section should be outlawed. Like, packs of Sesame Street Matching cards. How many times have I picked them up in the last two hours?

We won’t go there. Tonight, anyway.

Veggie Tales songs have an unwelcome tendency to stick in my head for, I don’t know, EVER. However, I did sing (perfectly, I think!) the songs, “It’s Laura’s Fault” AND “It’s Lenny’s Fault” from Larry Boy and the Fib from Outer Space.

In Maelie’s mind, I think that made me cool. :) (Should you want to watch a clip, both of the songs are found here.)

Weird, but true, I always have a backup pair of sunglasses. That’s because I break at least one pair a year. I usually buy them on clearance at the end of the season for the next year…just in case. You know, so I have a pass if I actually sit on my currently-being-used pair. Which almost always happens.

My daughter climbs. Like, really climbs. She tries to climb on top of her play kitchen and a few days ago tried to scale the side of the swimming pool. She also jumps. Everywhere she goes. Perhaps my favorite? She hangs from the little kitchen island-counter we have. Yep…can we all shout, Little Future Gymnast, together now? 1, 2, 3…

OY.

One of my favorite things ever is spending the day with a friend and my girl. Got to do that today…I seriously love friends, coffee, chatting, and all things Maelie. T’was wonderful. :)

I love the random of a day.

😀

Sig

Filed Under: barefoot, coffee, friends, just life, Maelie, random, where I am
«Previous Page
Next Page»