That Dolly is a Huzzy!

What do you do when the water is too high in your yard for your dog to go outside? What the heck?! Did anyone else know we were going to get THIS much rain? I had to park at the mailbox and wade through several inches of rain to get home. Sister's four-pound Yorkie, Jackson, is staying with us while she is at the beach. He would literally have to swim if I let him out, so I'm hoping the water goes down soon! Hold it a little longer Jackson!! And speaking of the beach, my poor sister's family picked the worst week to go. She actually came home yesterday to pick up nephew's TV so he would have something to do. Last time someone in my family rented a beach cabin was September '05, and if you will think for just a second, you will remember what happened that month. Yes, my parents were evacuated from the beach cabin they rented during Hurricane Rita! So I'm thinking maybe we're jinxed...no more renting beach cabins for us. But for now, PLEASE Dolly, go away so Jackson can pee!

Our Patient

Cowboy Man is home resting peacefully (and loudly...he will probably have a sore throat tomorrow from all that snoring!). The surgery went well; hernia is gone! It was a very small hernia, and the surgeon was able to fix it with just a couple of stitches; he didn't even need to use the mesh. Apart from a little nausea, he's had no problems whatsoever. He drank a little chicken broth and had a few crackers to take his pain medication, and I've been in to check on him every half hour or so.

Dr. says the surgery was very easy, and the recovery should be relatively easy as well. He can drive as soon as he no longer needs pain meds, he can stand and walk around as soon as the anesthesia wears off enough, and he can even shower. He has no stitches on the outside; just the dermabond glue stuff. His only restrictions are no swimming for 1 week, and no lifting anything over 10 pounds for 6 weeks.

The member of our family that seems to be doing the worst with all of this is Cookie! She's a nervous wreck. I think she might be a little jealous, too. A minute ago I heard an awful sound and went running toward our bedroom, thinking something terrible had happened to Cowboy Man. What I found instead was Cookie, sitting in front of our bedroom door coughing. Not coughing enough to make me think she had a hairball (she's only had two in the entire year we've had her anyway), but just coughing enough for me to notice. As soon as I picked her up, she stopped. Hmmm....do cats fake coughs? I think ours might.

Thanks so much for all your prayers; God has truly blessed us. If anything else happens, I'll repost, but for now Cowboy Man should just get better and better every day, and will probably be back to work in a week or so! Love you all.

Hooters and Tampons and Thongs, Oh My!

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, but what happens in Kemah goes in a blog for all to see! We had such a wonderful time, and even learned a little (actually, a lot) at the workshop we were there to attend. But of course when there are three women staying in one hotel room for four nights together, there are bound to be some adventures! To name a few, there was a bathing suit contest, a male stripper's very patriotic thong, and a male night receptionist who became easily confused by feminine products.


The bathing suit contest was not quite as adventurous as it seems. Our hotel was right down the street from the local Hooters restaurant. They had a sign wishing good luck to Nicole in her bathing suit contest, so Melissa and Katy took a picture. We were watching for a Congratulations sign, but one never came, so I guess poor Nicole didn't win. We were disappointed, because I wanted a picture of Hooters congratulating me to put on my myspace page! But alas, we cannot always have what we want. :o)



The greatest thing that happened during the entire trip occurred the first night. Melissa almost didn't survive it! I was sitting at the table on the computer, Katy was brushing her teeth in the bathroom, and Melissa had just stretched out in her bed. She very abruptly jumped up and screamed, and started doing the heebie-jeebie dance. I snapped my head around to see what could have caused this behavior, and in the middle of Melissa's bed, I see this:

What is that, you ask? Well it's a pair of shiny red, white, and blue male stripper's thongs! I thought Melissa was going to throw up, because she had touched those nasty things! We were freaking out! I mean, does this hotel even change the sheets between customers? Melissa was just about to call the front desk and demand that our stay there be free, when Katy (God love her) comes tripping out of the bathroom, holding her stomach, tears rolling down her face from laughing at us. She had planted those awful drawers! She says she got them as a gag gift, but we all know they're really Troy's. (Ha Ha Katy, I believe you that they were a gag gift. No really, I do!) Melissa ended up having all kinds of stomach problems for the rest of the night as a result of her daughter's betrayal!

Unfortunately, she wasn't the only one with a problem that night. One member of our trio realized that she had left her feminine products at home, and needed them at the precise moment that she realized this. So, I had the bright idea that we should call down to the front desk. They had this sign that said if you forgot any standard toiletry items you could call and they would give you some for free. Surely a pad would be considered a standard toilety item, right? Turns out, not only is it not standard, but the poor guy at the front desk didn't know what we were talking about. Now, to you, this may not be funny, but this was a source of entertainment for us for several hours. Of course, when we saw the guy, it made perfect sense that he didn't know (bless his heart), and he probably didn't even put two and two together when two girls dressed in PJ's left the hotel two minutes later and came back with a Walgreens bag.

There of course were countless other adventures, such as Katy cartwheeling across the stage at the workshop, Melissa "squashing Katy's dreams," which we even came up with a hand-motion for, watching a new version of the Wizard of Oz and The Bachelor, and piling six people into The Character Caravan, but I won't bore you with those. I just listed them to be a nice reminder to the three of us who were there. We met new friends, were pampered like we'd never been pampered at a workshop before, and learned all kinds of new things about teaching and each other. And hopefully, we'll get to relive all of it at the alumni workshop next year (minus the thongs maybe)!

(To the rest of the "Buna Bunch," Melissa and Katy: not only did I list, but I also webbed on each part of the list, included a couple of transitions between paragraphs, and could have worked much more on my lexicon! Randi would be so disappointed!!)

Update on Cowboy Man's surgery

Cowboy Man's surgery is at the beginning of next week. I was wrong about the anesthesia; they are using general anesthesia. We've got everything ready, and once he's had the surgery I will update. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers!

Home Alone

I'm finding that leaving for a few days is much more complicated when you're married than it is when you're single. When I was single, I could just pack what I needed and leave. I didn't have to stock up on anything, because I wasn't going to be home to use it anyway. I didn't have to make sure clothes were clean, because I wouldn't be home to wear them. But now it's a whole different story! I'm leaving in the morning for a workshop in Kemah with my good friends Melissa and Katy. I'll be gone until Friday evening, so that's 5 days and 4 nights that I'll be leaving my poor hubby home alone! I've worked harder to get ready to leave than I will at the workshop I think! I've made sure that he has enough clean clothes to last him the week, I've made notes of things that must be done while I'm gone (feed the cat, water the plants, etc.), I've gone on-line to schedule bill payments for this week, and now I'm about to go to the grocery store to stock up on everything he'll need for the next few days, and then I'll cook a few dinners so he can just reheat them. Otherwise he would eat fast food all week. How many of you think he'll eat fast food anyway and not even eat what I leave? I guess I'll discover the answer to that Friday evening. I would like to make sure the house is all spic and span before I leave too, so that when he comes home to an empty house it will at least be wonderfully clean, but that might not happen; we'll see.

All this preparing to leave has made me exhausted...I think I need a vacation! I wonder if Melissa and Katy have had to do all this too?!

My Inner Carrie

"Wednesday, there's a crew of us going to take the kids down to Tugboat Island and play at the new splash park they built in Port Neches. Just wanted to invite you if you have nothing to do!"

That was the message I received inviting me to go for a play date with five of my friends and their kids. I was a little apprehensive, of course. I mean, how pathetic would it be for me to go on a play date? Don't most moms hate going on play dates to public places where kids out-number adults 5 to 1? And I'm not even a mom...I'm going to go on a play date with no kid? Hmmm...I don't know about that. But then, I thought, "What would Carrie do?" Carrie, of course, refers to Carrie Bradshaw of Sex and the City. (Now, all you who have dropped your jaw thinking about the fact that I watch Sex and the City can close your mouths, because I watch the TBS version, which might as well just be called The City. All boobs and major cuss words are cut out.) Carrie would go on a play date with Miranda and Brady, and she would dress fabulously and wear Manolos! So I decided to go, minus the Manolos. I wasn't entirely sure that I could walk on woodchips and wet cement in four-inch heels, so I settled for cute flats instead. And when one of my friends told me "You're not dressed for a play date at a splash park," my inner Carrie smiled and was glad that I didn't have to ruin my cute shoes running after a child.

So after an hour and a half of driving and looking for a new park once we discovered the one we came all the way to Port Neches to see was closed, finally finding a splash park, fighting bird-sized mosquitos, unpacking three vehicles worth of towels, extra clothes, snacks, diapers, toys, bottles, and anything else that children need, and discovering that self-tanner turns your sweat orange, I was glad that I went. I had such a good time with my friends and their sweet babies, and then I went home to my wonderfully quiet house. Now what could be better than that?

Cowboy Man's Surgery

We saw the surgeon today for Cowboy Man's hernia. The hernia is small, and requires just a minor outpatient procedure. They aren't even doing lab work ahead of time, so I'm guessing they'll just be using IV sedation and not general anesthesia. I can't imagine them using GA with no lab work. They are going to schedule the surgery and then let us know the date. I know it won't be next week because I will be at a workshop out of town. I think it will be the week of the 14th. Anyway, it's a very minor procedure; just going in and putting a few stitches. They don't even have to use the mesh since he went to the doctor so early and stopped lifting heavy things. So we are thanking God that it's so minor, and Cowboy Man feels much better now that he knows what they are going to do. Thanks so much for all your prayers, and I'll update everyone once he's had the surgery.