Recovering...

I know I haven't posted much in the last couple months. First I was getting ready to have surgery; now I'm trying to recover. I'm so grateful to Amy for being here to help out. Nate has a been a huge help too.

I'm feeling better everyday. The swelling is going down. The bruising is fading, I'm gaining more feeling in my face, the pain is lessening, a bit. (Thank goodness for pain killers.) My eye is still lazy and my smile is still crooked. But I hope they will wake up soon. Without my eye, it's hard to read, watch tv, drive, sew, everything basically.

Thank you to everyone who has sent well wishes, cards, flowers (Karl you are awesome!), smoothies, and friends who let my kids come and play at their house, and substitute for my primary class.

Anyway, thought I would leave you with a new self portrait:The big metal thing is the new piece of hardware I had installed. You can see all the screws (57) and plates and wires that my head carries around. I know, it's beautiful.

Jake thinks I should blow it up and have it framed and hung on my living room wall.

Maybe for Halloween.

Becoming the Bionic Woman

I had surgery on Thursday. Things went well. I am back home. This ice pack is my best friend for the next few days.

Thanks to Nate for taking me on a great date the day before the surgery: good food, temple, more good food, a double feature, and a super nice hotel. Thanks especially for staying with me in the hospital on that very hard "bed" to help me.Thanks to Amy for taking care of us this past week and for the next few weeks while I recover. She has been a life saver. I am just wiped out and sore. I know she is tired too. 8 kids and all the cooking, cleaning, laundry, referreeing, and bedtimes for everyone is a daunting task. Amy does it with a smile! I'm very grateful she came.

I am now the proud owner of a bionic artificial titanium jaw joint (just kidding on the bionic part). Lots less pain than the last time (I was very worried about it - I don't deal well with pain). The numbness is nearly gone. But I still have a bunch of swelling. I always wondered what I would look like with a round face. My smile doesn't work too well because of the swelling.The nerve at the top of my face is still asleep, so I can't close my eye on my own or lift my eyebrows/forehead: Looks like BOTOX gone wrong. I really hope that is temporary.
There are incisions next to my ear, under my neck and on my belly (fat graph for the joint). The scars will be very hidden when they heal. The other marks are pen marks. Purple ink on my jaw to show them where the bone was. Hurts to much to scrub off so I'll just leave it for now.

That's all for now. I've got to go do my jaw re-hab exercises.

High Adventure. . .

This year for high adventure, Toby's troop did the Cavalry program at Buffalo Trails Scout Reservation in west Texas. I went along as one of the adult leaders. We were up on top of Mount Forbidden at our own camp. They provided uniforms and the tents that the cavalry would have used in the 1800's. They based everything on the 9th cavalry, which was based at nearby Fort Davis, which we visited on Friday.

The flag represents the states that were protected by the cavalry at that time.We learned to crack bullwhips.

There was a swimming hole with little fish that liked to nip at the swimmers.
We shot some black powder.

We had horses (and one mule) at our camp all week. This is Toby on Dr. Pepper, the mule. The boys took care of the horses, and went riding a few of the days.
We also had a rattlesnake wander through camp--the highlight of the week, if you ask Toby.

Hazel's Birthday Carnival

For Hazel's fourth birthday we threw a carnival. It was a ton of fun.

Hazel and all her friends.

The cotton candy fizzled in the humidity and heat.

But the snow cones were a hit. (It was in the 90's.)

There were lots of games. The kids won tickets to get prizes at the prize booth.

We had a Kerplunko game (kind of like Plinko from Price is Right.)

A bounce house.

Bean bag toss.

Shoot-the-ball-off-the-peg-with-a-water-gun game.

Sponge toss at Isaac. (I think he was the only non-sweaty-and hot person in attendance.) He LOVED this job and was a really good sport. Other games were clothespin drop, tattoos, and knock over the tin cans.

Aspen and her friends were a big help. The kids loved picking prizes.

Hazel's cake was fun. I made her a smaller one and gave all the guests cupcakes (it was easier than having the kids try to eat cake on a plate with a fork on a blanket in the grass).

This was the funniest part of the day:

I set the cake on the table after she blew out the candles. But it melted and all the frosting started sliding down before I could get it in the house. It was still yummy.

Other notes: all the fabrics were samples from the As-Is bin at IKEA and I got them dirt cheap! Best bargain ever. And really helped contribute to the carnival atmosphere in the back yard.

Thanks to great friends for lending me the snow cone machine, cotton candy machine, bounce house, kerplunko, bean bag toss, and the shade canopy. They really hooked us up!

Also thanks to Nate, my kids, Aspen's friends, and my friends, Keri and Leslie, for helping out during the party. I couldn't have done this without all their help.

More Sky Photos

Ever since I took the photos of the moon and Venus, I have been watching the sky.  Here are a couple photos I have taken over the past week.

The morning sky a few days ago:

Storm clouds and the moon last night:

Once thing about Texas, the weather certainly changes from day to day.

Scenic Drive

The way we were trying to go:


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The way we ended up going:

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How did we miss a major interstate turn off?
How did we not know we were going the wrong way for nearly 40 miles?

garden guest

The kids found this guy in the back yard the other day:

I can't figure out how he managed to even get in the yard. We have a wrought iron fence and the openings are nowhere near big enough for the turtle to get through. And there isn't anywhere along the fence to slide under either. I guess it will just be one of those mysteries never to be solved.
Isaac was feeding it different things and tried a stick. The turtle snapped it off with its strong jaws. Good thing it wasn't anyone's finger. I've heard they don't let go once they clamp onto something.