A Good FB Post

You never know how popular you are until you place a good post on Facebook. What is my amazing post, you ask? Well, I dropped the bomb about our moving back to WI. We received a pretty positive response, although a few here are mourning our move. And really, this is part of my new effort to embrace the move and see the positive side of it.

I am now viewing this change as my ticket to re-write my life. What do I want to do with life? How do I want to spend my free time? Who do I want to hang out with? To be brutally honest, I currently have few friends and little interests besides work and school. I have no hobbies, unless you include my compulsive loom knitting effort to use up all my current yarn collection before we move. I have some people I like but no one I speak to or hang out with more than a couple times each month.

I am still in the process of contemplating who I want to become in my "new" life in WI. I am looking for work, which could determine a lot of my path. I would really like to score some writing jobs from home, but I don't feel very qualified to do so. Part of my interest is to be writing in general, which is partially why I am writing this post right now. I figure, the more I practice and get used to writing on a regular basis, the more likely I am to feel confident with my writing abilities and get scooped up for some freelance writing telecommuting.

While I have been feeling a little weary about how long I have left in school until I can actually use my degree, I do feel like God is giving me some direction as to what area in counseling I would like to pursue. I am developing a heart for crisis pregnancies, especially with teen mothers. There's a program through a school in Kenosha that serves teen moms, helping them through their pregnancy and teaching them how to be good mothers while helping them finishing their high school diplomas. I am really hoping that I can do my internship with them and possibly start a job with them in the future.

As for the rest of what to expect, I don't know yet. I am open to possibilities. I would like to get involved with music and hope to start learning more on my bass from Gordon. If I could work with the band at GLC, that would be great. I'd also like to get plugged into a small group right away so we can develop some Christian friendships with other couples.

As far a health matters, we're going to have a pool and a gym at our disposal when we move, so that seems like a given. I am currently on a "Slow-Carb Diet" on my own and seem to be doing well. I would love to be down to my goal weight before we leave CO. We'll see. I plan to continue eating better when we move. We're not taking much food with us, if any, so I will be starting with a clean slate with groceries. That should be kind of fun, if not a little expensive right off the bat.

We can't forget that we will be closer than we've been in years to family and old friends, so that alone should keep us busy, at least initially. Really, it will be a good thing to reconnect like that, and it is a primary goal in our moving that we be closer to family to be more available. How that all plays out, we shall see.

More Dinnertime Conservations

So tonight we're eating Chinese after a hard day's work around the house, and Obie busts out with the comment,"Daddy is not Santa. Santa is fat, and he's a stalker."

A Look on the Inside

So I finally had my endoscopy today.  What a ride that was, although I haven't quite exited the park yet.

I couldn't eat after midnight last night, so I had eaten some almonds and peanut butter around 10 pm.  I was willing to stay up until 12, but Bob and I were both falling asleep before 11. 

So this morning I was allowed to drink clear liquids until 9:30 am.  My goal was to drink as much water as possible to keep me hydrated for the FOUR hours I had to go without.  I started out well, drinking 16 oz and some grapefruit protein drink.  I had to go to a different doctor's appointment at 7:45, so I grabbed a refill of water and the rest of my grapefruit drink and drove to my appointment.

I finished up there by 8:25 am, so I headed to the grocery store to pick up a few things.  I finished my drink and left nothing but ice in my water cup.  I ran into the store, but as often is the case, it took a little longer than I expected.  I got back out to the car to head home, and I had less than 10 minutes before 9:30 am!  I sucked up what had melted from the ice and started driving home.  How many stoplights can you hit on the way home when you're in a hurry?!  Pretty much all of them...

I started chewing the ice at the lights.  I was getting desperate.  I turned onto my street at 9:27 am...and my phone rang.  Ack!  It was the doctor's office with lab results.  I really wanted to hear the results, but I really wanted to get into my house and drink some more water!  I got off the phone with her at 9:30, after I had been drinking 16 oz while talking on the phone.  I quickly refilled my glass and sucked it down as fast as I could.

The next hour and a half went by uneventfully, and I started work.  I tried not to think about my daughter gulping down water or my son running upstairs for another snack.  At 12:22 pm, I got a call on my phone.  It's the surgery center, and they're asking me to come in early.  Okay...

So I finish up work.  Bob comes home.  We head off for the center.  We wait around for about an hour before it gets underway, with the usual paperwork, blue gown, IV, etc.  They take me away, situate me, and without even counting backwards, I am heading into the blank yellow room...

Waking up is never fun, but at least the anesthesiologist was kind enough to give me anti-nausea medicine before I went into my "deep sleep."  I could barely keep my eyes open, but they were sitting me up and shoving a can of juice in my hand.  I drowsily put my shirt back on, and they went and told Bob to pull the car around.  The nurse helped my wobble my way to the door, helped me into the car, and homeward we went.  I felt a little like they were running late to lunch, but there was another guy in there who still had not awakened.

Bob drove me home 4 1/2 hours ago, and I still feel a little groggy in the head.  I still can't quite swallow right, and I still have a lot of gurgling in my stomach.  But there's good news—everything looks normal.  In fact, I saw pictures for myself.  They literally sent us home with 8 pictures of the inside of my esophagus, etc.  It's surprisingly clean and cool-looking, in a weird, science-y kind of way.  They've declared my having a severe case of acid reflux.  This is a good thing, but it seems a bit crazy to think that my horrible abdominal pain is just acid reflux.  For now, I am back on my meds...and my lab rat diet plan.  I'll tell you about that later.

Dinnertime Conversation

Tonight we're sitting at the dining room table, and our cat Sugar was sitting in the window.  He kept turning his head toward our conversation with a pensive look on his furry little face.  We were taking turns interpreting the looks when Obie chimed in with the following suggestion:

Sugie (pronounced, "Shoogie," with the "oo"s like in "book") says,

 "Are you making hot tea, because I like hot tea."

What was he thinking?!

So Obie announced tonight that he would be getting a tattoo, and this is what it would read:

Ghostes are not real, but sometimes pirates have to kill zombies and ghostes.

Note: I know how to spell ghosts.  it's just that's how he says it.  And really, is the spelling of ghosts my greatest worry here?

Out of the mouths of Babes

My three children have each said some great things over the years that I knew I should write down.  Did I?  of course not.  Stupid me.  Well, the last one has prompted me to get writing these down before they don't say funny things anymore.  (I'm pretty much out of luck on the older two.)  Here's today's best:

Obie learned a new song at church this morning.  He started singing it to me:

Hallelu, hallelu, hallelu, hallelujah!

And then he sang the reply:

Crazy, the Lord!

Another one he pulled on me a few months back but was quite memorable, even though it's actually a quote from a cartoon:

Smell my barbarian pits!

My Hilarious Son

So we got a little nostalgic with our Netflix choice tonight and decided to watch a few episodes of Woody the Woodpecker.  This was Obie's first exposure to this new character.  As he talked about him while getting ready for bed, he referred to him as "Woody the Pecker."