Spring Break ends

The weather is miserable outside and the last day of vacation ends on a downer. I decided I can sit here and feel sorry for myself or I can post some pictures to remind me of the beauty around me and what I have to look forward to when the weather clears up and I can get back out and work in the garden again.

I have Binky Patrol today which will get me out of the house and give me a break from being a nurse to my recovering husband. He had hernia surgery on Thursday and is not a very good patient. He cannot see the progress he has made in recovering. Tomorrow I go back to work and the kids back to school so he will be home alone all day to fend for himself. I know he will be fine, but he is a little worried.

I know we will look back on this and laugh, but just not today.

So, I have been working in the garden this week, enjoying the mostly gorgeous weather and the ability to get outside and make things look better around here.

I had a load of dirt delivered for my raised vegetable garden that my husband and I put together last summer. We think that might be where the hernia came from, lifting and moving all of the bricks and stones and bark from the landscaping. At least the dirt isn't as heavy to move. And, I got a wheelbarrow which makes moving things so much easier! Who would have thunk it?

I had grand plans this vacation to get some quilting done, but alas, all I did was start a memory quilt for a friend whose daughter was hit and killed by a car when rollerblading. Making memory quilts is very difficult, not because the quilt is so hard, but because you are taking something that belonged to a loved one and turning it into something a mother can hold onto for a long time. It is emotionally draining to work on and I can only work on it for small amounts of time.

I also had grand plans of getting all of my grading caught up, but I haven't even touched one paper yet. I was going to work for 15 minutes each day and I knew that I could be done early in the week, but since I haven't started, I probably have a good 2-3 hours of work to do today. Here it is after 11:00am and I haven't started yet. I doubt I will get it all done and in the computer. Oh, well, that's what the work week is for right? I didn't give my students any homework so they can't expect me to do any work either right?

Happy Easter

Family tradition at my house. Coloring Easter Eggs. And now we have to eat 5 dozen boiled eggs before they go bad. Good thing the kids like deviled eggs and egg salad sandwiches.

Easter Break

Finally, a chance to rest, rejuvinate, relax.

Yesterday, I had a migraine and a stomach ache. Great way to start off the break. And it was raining. I guess it was a good day to be home and sick.

Today, I woke up feeling good and decided to start off the vacation doing some fun things. The kids and I tackled the chores early and we all headed out to a new found hiking spot along Putah Creek. We went there last weekend and had to throw rocks and sticks in the water. There is just something about throwing rocks in water that is good therapy. We went back today and it was freezing outside. We didn't stay as long, but getting out and running in the fresh air felt good.

We came home, had some lunch and I decided it was a good day to start tackling the jungle in the backyard. Last summer we all worked really hard to make the backyard a nice place to be. My husband and I worked for hours each day pulling weeds and putting in bark all around the edges of the lawn. We laid down miles of weed cloth and fixed it up really nice.

From the pictures here, you can see what 6 months of neglect will do. The places we worked on look great still. I have gone out a couple of times and hit the weeds that did manage to sneak through with some weed killer and the borders of the lawn look great still. But, you can't see them because the lawn is 4 feet tall.

I tried to get it with the electric weed whacker. The lawn just laughed and killed the whacker about 20 times before I gave up. I am now using the lawn mower, but the problem is, there are so many land mines in the tall grass that the mower keeps dying too. I am wearing safety goggles and going slowly, but I have hit tennis balls and the sprinkler and a digging fork and some bricks. Luckily I haven't killed the mower or myself yet. I am walking the area first, kicking and picking up things I find, but there are still some things that escape my hunt.

I am about 1/3 of the way done after a day's work on it. I'd say I've put in a good 2 hours so far. It is supposed to rain tomorrow and Monday so I hope to be able to finish by the end of the week.

My friend bought a rototiller, but first I have to get all of these weeds out of here. I'd love to have a real lawn, not just a weed patch in the backyard. But, then I would have to take care of it year round. Maybe I should get a goat.

My flowers are pretty though :) The iris are just starting to bloom and the freesia smell good too. They are along the back of the yard, away from the weeks and make a nice view from the kitchen window when I decide to do some dishes.

I love this house!

I can't get anything done

The doctor put me on the crazy pills and I just haven't felt like doing anything worth posting on the blog. I did manage to quilt one quilt last weekend, but then didn't feel like looking for the camera to take a picture. I have about 100 quilt tops waiting for the mood to strike again. I have yards and yards of beautiful fabric waiting for me to feel like cutting into it.

I did clean out a ton of stuff last week for a garage sale through my church. One of my friends has been in a wheelchair for at least 10 years since a jeep accident and keeps getting bedsores from sitting in the wheelchair. His wife was talking about how they were trying to save up to get a special air pillow that inflates and puts pressure on different parts of the body and is supposed to help with the sores, but it costs about $3,000. So the church decided to hold a garage sale to help raise money. What a great chance to clean out some things and help someone at the same time.

Went through a bunch of stuff in the garage and took a whole van, piled full of stuff over for the sale. I'm not sure how much they made, but you can't even tell where the stuff was in the garage. I think about another 50 vans full and I might be able to see the floor in there.

The weather is just beautiful here and I really should want to go outside and play, but I have been so tired lately that I would rather just sit and do nothing.

A weekend is just what the doctor ordered. I have lots of grading to catch up on and maybe a nap or two to take. We have 4 days of school next week and then are off for Easter vacation. Lots of students have been taking early vacation or having spring fever and missing school which makes it really hard to teach and keep things moving along. But, I do what I can and hope they catch something important on the days they are there. I just wish parents would place importance on education.

It's all in my head

So I went back to the doctor again yesterday and I had a feeling they were leaning towards telling me I'm crazy. After running every test out there and not finding anything, what else is there to tell a patient who says a body part hurts?

The doctor said he gave me the medicine to calm the nerves in my stomach, but the pharmacist said the medicine is used to treat anxiety and depression. He asked, what is the doctor giving it to you for? I said IBS. He said, oh, yeah, they use it for that too. (Sure they do!)

So, I came home with my 'happy pills' and took one last night. Knocked me out in about an hour and my stomach still hurt enough to wake me up during the night. The pharmacist said it would take about a week for it to start working. But at least I only have to take the meds once a day.

So, the doctor got rid of me for another week. I'm praying that this will work and that I will finally get some relief and who knows, maybe I do have anxiety? The doctor said some people don't know when they are stressed. I said that I figured when I had my hands around a student's throat I figured that was a pretty good sign. (I don't really strangle students, but some days I wish I could!)

Disney's 1,000,000 Give a Day complete

Disney announced they reached their goal of giving away one million tickets this week. Wow, one million people volunteered 8 hours to get a free ticket to Disneyland or Disney World!

Binky Patrol was 2.4% of those volunteers. That's a lot of blankets!

biopsy results

I got the news yesterday that the biopsy came back normal. I guess I should be happy that there is nothing seriously wrong, but that leaves me wondering what is wrong? Why is my stomach still hurting when the doctor can't find anything? The medicine she gave me for the pain only makes the pain in a different part of my abdomen. And I'm weak and shakey. I'm supposed to take it for 4-6 days to see if things improve. I sometimes think doctors try different things without knowing what they are doing...

Maybe I will get some sewing in today. I haven't done anything for a long time and I have some projects that I would love to start, but just don't have the energy or enthusiasm for. I just want to sit on the couch and feel sorry for myself.

But first I think I will go out and get a couple of scooters for my kids. I need to start walking and they could use some fresh air too. I'm also going to buy another bike pump. Every time we want to go for a bike ride, the tires are flat. I cannot tell you how many bike pumps I have bought in the last 20 years, but I can never find one when I need it. So, I do have plans for today, and maybe I will get something done.

still no answers

Well, after the procedure yesterday, there are more questions than answers. The doctor only found a small hiatal hernia and a couple of pollyps that she biopsied. Nothing that would be causing the pain I am feeling. She said that many people get the hernia and that shouldn't be causing the pain. I'm not having heartburn. She didn't think the pollyps were anything to worry about.

So, her guess was irritible bowl syndrome. But, I don't have any of the symptoms of that either. She gave me medicine to calm a spastic intestines, but I can't take it during the day because it will make me sleepy and dizzy. I took it last night before going to bed and I don't know if it made be sleepy because I was alseep :)

I woke up this morning feeling fine, but then ate and the pain is back.

Oh, and my husband did end up taking me. It rained right before he had to leave for his tennis match and the other team cancelled the match. It was a good thing because they took down his information about 6 times and made sure he wasn't going anywhere. I wonder if someone has been left behind before at the hospital. We had a good laugh at another man who came out of the surgery room carrying a purse. I told my husband that he was going to have to carry my purse and I'm glad I brought my bright red one.

I asked if I could stay awake and the doctor said I could, but if I had a really bad gag reflex it wasn't a good idea. I did wake up about half way through the procedure so I got to see a little of what they were doing. I think she did that on purpose because I asked to watch or get a video or pictures or something. She said they didn't have a way of giving me pictures even. I asked if they didn't have a printer? She just laughed and said I would have pictures in my chart, but nothing I could take with me. Maybe I will print something out from the internet and take that to school to show the kids. Gotta have something to show for having 2 days off of school right?

my stomach hurts

I have the camera in the stomach today at 2:45 and haven't eaten or drank anything since about 7 last night. My stomach really hurts! I hope they see something that gives the doctor a good idea of how to treat this 6 1/2 week long stomach ache. And boy am I looking forward to dinner tonight. I hope I am awake for it. I am making crock pot mexican chicken and will have one of the kids throw some rice in the cooker. Yummy.

My husband was going to take me, but he is a tennis coach and they have an away match. I had a back up plan just in case. It was raining all night and most of today, but wouldn't you know, the sun is out now and they are scheduled to play right at the time I am having my procedure. I could have rescheduled, but I'd rather go through with this and get it over as quickly as possible. SO, a friend from work is going with me. She is hoping they will let her stay in the procedure room so she can watch. I hope so too, so she can tell me what they said and I hope they give me a video of the whole thing. Lesson plans for tomorrow??

We both teach high school science and think guts are cool!

Delivery Time

Yesterday I took 100 blankets to church to pass along to the ladies who take them to CPS. They were thrilled to get them and I was thrilled to get them out of the house! The problem was, I couldn't tell where they came from. 100 blankets out didn't even make a dent in the pile that was in my daughter's room.

So, last night we decided to count and see how many blankets were left. We bagged up all of the blankets and got a grand total of 300 blankets that were donated due to the Disney Give a Day promotion. Wow, what a response!

My son helped me load another 50 blankets and some small, preemie size blankets and hats and booties into the car so I could deliver those to the hospital today. I have a doctor's appointment again today (different hospital, but have the day off since the appointment is at 10:30) and decided today was the perfect time to get some more blankets out of the house.

It is a good thing because as we were bagging the blankets, the room started to smell funny. When we finally got to the floor, it was soaking wet. When we first bought this house, that room had mushrooms growing out of the wall. We just had a bad rainstorm a couple days ago and the rain gutter overflowed and goes right into the wall and comes out into that bedroom and into the garage. My husband went out and unclogged it and it stopped the leaking, but I forgot about it leaking into that bedroom. Today I'm working on cleaning the carpet and the wall and getting the smell out of the room. Good thing I had the day off!

So, I'm down to 150 blankets in the room now. I'm hoping to get another 100 out next weekend. I'm starting a new habit of packing them into white garbage bags in groups of 5. Much easier to count that way! And they will all be safe in case the floor gets wet again. Only one blanket was at the bottom of a paper bag and needs to be washed because it was damp. Nothing got damaged luckily.