Troy's Dream Vacation

Well, not exactly a dream vacation. But it was a great trip!

This past weekend, Troy and I went down to Abilene on Saturday and stayed overnight. We got to see Steven two days in a row! Steven was delighted to see us and we were thrilled to see him! We had planned to take him to the zoo but the weather wasn't cooperating so we got to hang out and play rough at his dorm.

Sunday morning, we went downstairs to the hotel lobby for breakfast. We sat beside these nice gentlemen who happen to be helicopter pilots who fight forest fires. These guys live in Oregon, but their company is contracted by the State of Texas to be on call as first responders for a fire. Their job, literally, is to sit in the hangar and be ready to fly as soon as a fire is reported. The only reason they weren't at the hanger when we met with them is because of the rain. It was unlikely that a fire would start in those conditions.

The crew we spoke with included the pilot, maintenance engineer, and fire manager. They told us all sorts of stories about firefighting, answered our millions of questions, and even invited us to come and tour the aircraft.

We didn't have enough time this trip to go on the tour. But, we are planning to tour on our next trip down. Their contract will require them to be there for three months so we are excited to go on the tour!

B

Weather Update

I decided to provide a weather update this morning for those who have been waiting on the edge of their seat.....

It is currently 23 degrees outside with 91% humidity. I keep checking the news hoping that school gets cancelled today. It's not looking too good since there isn't much ice and all the remaining snow is not on the roadways.

But, I'm ever the optimist and keep checking the school website and local news website.

B

Shoulder Labral Repair

We heard from the orthopedic surgeon yesterday and Megan will need shoulder surgery. There is a substantial tear in the labral region of her shoulder. Here is a video of what the surgery will entail.

We are meeting with the surgeon on 1/10 and hope to have her scheduled for 1/13 or 1/14. She is out of school on 1/14 and 1/17 for school scheduled days off and starts the new semester on 1/18. She will be in a sling for 4-6 weeks and then have physical therapy for 4-6 months. She is not going to be allowed to swim during this time. Her coach has invited her to stay on as manager and Megan is glad to stay part of her team.

We'll update you on the surgery date when we know it.

B

Finally Done

Several things are finally done---

Troy's surgeries are finally done! We hope! His most recent procedure was done on 12/29 and he is recovering more quickly than expected. Yahoo! I see great improvements in his mental capacity since his pain level is decreased. I know he is feeling better when he starts asking about when he can go back to work. It will be at least a few more weeks and is dependent on the results of the neuro psych eval results that we should receive this week.

The garage project is now done. Both cars are parked in the garage. Not a lot of room to maneuver, but they are shielded from the ice! This will come in handy tomorrow morning when I return to school bright and early. Or should I say dark and early?

My obsession with the weather has become easier to track! For Christmas, Dad and Bev got us this really cool indoor remote thermometer. There is a device outside that gathers the information about the temps, moon phase, humidity and it shows up automatically on this cool thing on my end table. For anyone interested, it is currently 46 degrees with 30% humidity outside. This morning it was 26 degrees. I might start updating the blog with weather updates just to amuse myself!

The laundry is done, kitchen cleaned, house tidied, and I am ready for a new week tomorrow. I even got all the debris removal stuff outside on the curb way before 6pm!!! I expected a visit from the code enforcement staff again, but so far no one has come by.

It's strange how quickly this two week break went. Normally, I am ready to go back to school on the Wednesday before we actually return. This break has been different. The time flew by and I could use another week off. I think Troy is looking forward to a quiet week around the house without me and Megan coming and going and making noises!

Megan is also not ready to return to school. She said it feels like it should be summer since she knows she is going back in time to take finals. They also get a day off of school after finals before starting the new semester. It's strange how fast her first year of high school is going by.

Steven is totally ready to go back to school. He loves his routines. They moved to a new dorm the week before school break, so he has been experiencing lots of new things. He has a new house, new room, new roommate, dorm style bathroom, and he just wants things to go back to normal. Enough of all the change already! Steven will be happy as a clam to return to regularly scheduled programming tomorrow!

We hope everyone is enjoying the first few days of the new year. So far, our 2011 is much better than 2010 was! We hope that is true for you as well.

Bets

A new adventure every day

I love my school breaks. I am so productive and get things done around the house that I normally avoid....

I have been especially productive this week. Along with reading a book, playing scrabble, watching TV and taking naps, I have been able to clean out the fridges, take down the outdoor Christmas decor, put away all the Christmas stuff from inside and outside the house, wash/fold/put away all the laundry, and even mulched all of the leaves that had covered the backyard.

Since I have been so productive, we have generated a lot of trash. The town's code violation lady came by yesterday. We haven't seen her since shortly after we moved in so we thought our ranking in the neighborhood had risen. Alas, we are still the "bad neighbors". We got a warning violation for having trash in our dumpsters that prevent the lid from being closed completely.

Really? Someone actually wrote an ordinance about the aesthetic requirements of our trash dumpster?

We have until 1/6 to remedy the situation. I have decided to take no action at all until Monday, January 3. This is the day the debris removal people come through the neighborhood. I am going to pile all of our trash on the curb the night before (after 6pm per the ordinance). There will be boxes from Christmas gifts, bags of trash, huge bags of leaves from the backyard and maybe even some branches if I get around to trimming those. That should piss off whatever neighbor it is that calls to complain about our trash dumpster. Ooooh, maybe I should paint flowers or some other aesthetically pleasing picture on the dumpsters!

I still haven't found any help on the attic so I guess I will tackle that one box at a time today. I'm going to try and generate more trash on this project just so I can piss off a neighbor.

Cranky Betsy today. Need more coffee. And prozac.

Flowers in the Attic

Years ago, I read a book titled Flowers in the Attic. It disturbed me and I have never been a fan of investigating attics. In my mind, an attic is just a rodent infested hotel with pink fluff, wires, and air conditioning ducts.

However, I had to face my fears recently. We now have two vehicles that fit in the garage. But, we have so much crap in the garage....I mean treasures in the garage, that we have room for only one vehicle to park in there. This was never a big deal because Troy's monster truck was too long to fit in a standard garage. It's freezing cold here and it takes a while for the ice to melt off the windshields. So, I decided to tackle the treasures and store them in the attic. (I was reminded by a certain man in the house that he ALREADY has gotten rid of enough treasures and he could not part with anything else.)

I went to Home Depot and got plywood and had them cut it in half lengthwise.
I went into the dreaded attic.
I scared away the rodents (at least I never saw any!)
I raked that pink fluff all over to even out the insulation.
I hauled that plywood up to the attic.
I screwed the plywood onto the trusses and made a storage platform.

I did all this while teetering on the beams so I didn't fall through the drywall ceiling and land on my butt inside the house. I even have a blister!!!

The attic is now ready for our treasures to be stored up there.

I did not, however, consider how I would get those treasures up into the attic by myself. It turns out you cannot carry a box up the little attic ladder safely.

Now, I am left in limbo.
I can't park in the garage because there are boxes all over.
I can't carry those boxes up to the attic alone.
Troy and Megan are both unable to help with lifting.

Megan's swim coach is going to send over a few boys from the team to help me finish moving those boxes up to the attic. If they don't show up........

Maybe I should have just planted flowers in the attic?

Merry Christmas

I didn't realize how long it has been since I last posted. We are getting ready to head to Abilene to see Steven for a few days and spend Christmas with him. It will be so nice to have all 4 of us together.

We've been keeping busy with the medical issues for Troy and Megan. Every day is a new adventure, but we are hopeful 2011 will be a much easier year for our family. Troy's next surgery (and hopefully the last!) is scheduled for 12/29. The recovery for this one is really rough so he will be out of commission for at least two weeks.

Megan and I are enjoying our school break. It gives me time to get caught up on things around the house that never get done when I'm teaching....exciting stuff like cleaning out the pantry, organizing the garage, cleaning out closets. I enjoy doing those things when I have the time.

We hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas! We'll post pictures after we return from our trip!

Love,
The Fishgods