Another snow storm to celebrate the first day of spring.

For Christmas, Bill got an alien pizza kit.  If you didn’t know, Bill believes he was abducted by aliens so this pizza kit is right up his alley.  The boys helped him make the pizza with a green crust and purple sauce.  Unfortunately, I was in the hospital so didn’t get to taste the creation but heard it was good. The boys had a really good time helping dad in the kitchen.

Where do I begin? I have been through the trenches the past two weeks.  On January 28th, I went in for a balloon dilation to help the strictures I have and ended up being admitted to the hospital due to complications. I stayed for a day and was released to go home.  I got home and still had pain.  On Monday, February 1st, I went in for a CT Scan to find out the source of the pain.  I had a perforated bowel.  I was admitted to the hospital again with the possibility of emergency surgery.  I had a nasal gastric tube and a feeding tube inserted through a PICC line.  This is major stuff.  I was miserable the first few days.  I couldn’t eat and was only allowed ice chips.  I have a great surgeon taking care of me and he treated me conservatively with antibiotics and allowed my bowels to rest.  After a few days, I got to eat clear liquids. I never knew I could get so excited about broth and Jell-O.  It tasted so good after no food at all.  I have realized that there are a lot of food commercials on TV.  Too many especially when you can’t eat.  I craved mashed potatoes.  I saw one too many KFC commercials.  After a couple of days, I was allowed to eat a soft diet.  The tomato cream soup was so good.  Then I moved to the entree and there were mashed potatoes. I was in heaven.  They were so good.  I was finally released on Wednesday, the 10th and am now back home.  It was tough being in the hospital for so long. This is the longest I have ever stayed.  The longest was when I had Billy and I was in the hospital for four days.  This time was ten days.  A very long time to be away from my family.  Bill took care of me and made sure I had everything I needed to survive.  I missed Billy and Baden so much.  It was hard to be away from them. They sent pictures to me and when I got home I got the best hugs and kisses.  I am also thankful for my mother in law who extended her stay to help out.  I really appreciate that.  I am not out of the woods yet.  In about six weeks, I will have surgery to repair the damaged strictures.  It is a long road, but one that will be worth it.

We’ve had some great snow falls so Bill and the boys took advantage of the snow and headed to the Sandia Mountains. They are a hop, skip and a jump from our house.  They had a lot of fun.

For the last two days I have been on a liquid diet.  It’s really no fun.  I can have any clear beverage of my choosing, broth, jello, popsicles, hard candy and that’s about it.   I am enduring this diet because I found out today I have a partial bowel obstruction.  That’s really no fun.  In fact, it’s down right miserable.  So for now I am on a liquid diet until well who knows when.  I have basically one day to let my body do the work or it’s off to the hospital for a stay.  My body has until Thursday to do its thing.  I am not feeling very confident.  The last time I was on a liquid diet I was preparing for the dreaded colonoscopy.  But then I couldn’t eat red strawberry jello or anything that was red. This time I can.  So I guess there is an upside, but not really.  I also find myself watching an insane amount of Food Network.  Everything looks so good.  Even things that I might not even want to try look and probably smell delicious.  Yesterday after getting labs and x-rays, we had to run to Costco.  It was around lunch time so Bill got a quick bite to eat.  Being the sweet guy he is, he asked me if it was okay. Of course, I can’t deny him the luxury of eating solid food.  He only got a hot dog and he put sauerkraut on that hot dog and I don’t like sauerkraut, but it looked so good.  I could have downed that hot dog faster than the guy who won the hot dog eating contest at Coney Island.  Being on a liquid diet this time around is really testing my well power.  I am already thinking about my “first” meal after this is all over.  I don’t know what I want because at this point I want everything.  Maybe Food Network will give me some inspiration or just make me drool.  Guess I better go find out.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

We traveled to Oklahoma for Christmas this year. After watching the weather, we decided to go ahead and leave on Wednesday, the 23rd and thought we would be okay.  As we got further east, the snow started coming down.  We made it safely through the panhandle of Texas and it was dry into Oklahoma.  Then about midnight, it started to rain and then by morning it was snowing in Altus. This is a rarity.  We had blizzard conditions.  Oklahoma City (about two hours away) got 14 inches of snow, a new record. The governor closed all the interstates, state highways and the turnpike border to border. We were stuck. 🙂  The boys had a great time baking cookies with Bebe, opening presents, playing with new toys and making a snowman with Grandpa.  We loved our White Christmas in Oklahoma!

While living in Waldorf, Maryland, red light traffic cameras were put in place.  I thought it was a great idea because people were always running red lights.  I was always careful because going through a yellow light could sometimes trigger a snap of the camera.  So now we live in New Mexico and there are red light cameras in Albuquerque, too.  I am not a red light runner and I always go slow in school zones when the lights are flashing.  So imagine my surprise, when I opened up an envelope and right there was a picture of my van.  Apparently, my van was going 22 mph in a 15 mph school zone.  Now I don’t remember any lights flashing, but apparently my van didn’t slow down.  There were no cameras attached anywhere.  No Albuquerque is a little more sneaky.  Inside a van, there was a police officer taking pictures.  At first, I didn’t even remember being on that road, but then I thought back to the location.  Right around the corner is a Sonic and before heading back up the mountain, I stopped for a cherry limeade.  It’s usually always my last stop before I head home from a doctor’s appointment or a day shopping.  So I am blaming my cherry limeade for my seven miles over the posted speed limit.  I’ve been in New Mexico six months now and am already a lawbreaker.

For the first time in 15 years of marriage, we hosted Thanksgiving dinner.  Bill’s sister and her family plus Bill’s mom and Alice came down from Utah to help celebrate Thanksgiving.  We had a great time.  The kids got along great and loved watching movies, jumping on the trampoline, playing in the loft and just being together.  We had great food and fun times at the zoo and the aquarium.  I am so thankful for our family.  We are truly blessed.  We are thankful to be living back in the southwest where we can have these opportunities to visit more often with our loved ones.  Moving to New Mexico is a dream come true for me.  I love being able to hop in the car and see family in the same day.  No airports needed.  Happy Thanksgiving!