Surgery

Well, no surprise, Mike has to have surgery on his shoulder. It looks like he may be in a sling for our wedding, but I don't care. He has been in a lot of pain for a while and I'm glad it will finally be getting better.

Chelsea faired a little better than Mike. She has Vaso vagal syncope, which basically means she needs more salt than most people and more water. She has to put salt on her food (something I don't do) and drink at least 2 liters of water each day. She has to go back on June 5 to have an echo-cardiogram. They want to check to see if she has thick heart muscles. Apparently this can cause sudden death in athletes if this is the case. When the two pediatric cardiologists were talking to us about this they were really nonchalant about it so I am not going to freak out about it. We'll just go on the 5th and then see what happens.

I have to show you what my (almost) husband gave me the other day, for no apparent reason:



He's so sweet! I think I'll keep him!
















This is the new toy I got today:

I can't wait to get it up and running!

Update

It's about time I update this blog. It seems I am so busy that I don't have time, but I do make time to read about 10 other blogs. Good think I use Google Reader to let me know when others update their blog.

I finally finished all the invitations and response cards for my parents 50th Anniversary. I bought blank invitations/response cards and printed them up on my computer. After doing that I had to print return addresses on all of the envelopes, stamp all of the envelopes and then print out address labels (after spending a couple of hours updating addresses) and then putting them all together and getting them in the mail. 132 done!

I need to work on getting some invites out for our wedding sometime this week.

Eline's mom should be here on Tuesday. I say "should" because she gave the airline her nickname rather than her legal name for her ticket and we'll see if she's able to get on the plane.

Mike goes to the orthopedic surgeon tomorrow to see if he will need surgery on his shoulder and Chelsea has her appt. with the pediatric cardiologist tomorrow afternoon as well.

I had the chance to reconnect with one of my cousins and her husband last night. I hadn't see her since I was about 13 years old, which was a few years ago. :) They came by about 7:30 and left around 12:30 am. Guess we all got along pretty well. They are staying in town about two months while Darvin works on a project for his company. I suspect we'll be seeing a lot of them.

Mike, Chelsea and I are going to Bear Lake for the weekend while Eline and her mom stay at the house and do some sight seeing. Eline's mom isn't much for camping so they decided not to go with us.

School started and I am really excited about this class I am taking. It is about learning how to use the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual to diagnose mental illness. So don't be surprised if I start telling you what illness you have!

Yesterday I got up in the loft in the garage to get down some stuff for the pool. Getting up was easy, it was the getting down that was difficult. I am somewhat afraid of heights, but for some reason yesterday I had a huge panic attack and ended up crying and shaking for several minutes, and that's after I finally got down. Mike was a little freaked out to say the least. So was I because I've never had a panic attack before and I certainly hope never to repeat it. Needless to say I'll never get up there again!

That's about it for now. I will try to update more often but no promises.

Big brag

Okay, so if you don't want to read my brag then nows the time to close this page.

So here goes:

Not only did I get my grades for this semester: Straight A's in all 5 classes! But I also was recognized as the central states AYUSA staff member of the week! How cool is that! It helps that I love school and love my job placing foreign exchange students with families.

So now I'm done bragging.

As the spring starts I have so much going on. Eline's mom will be here on the 20th, with Eline's graduation on the 21st. I start summer classes on the 14th. I really need to think about starting the planning for our wedding. Mike gave away his UGLY couch and love seat. So now I don't have to pretend it's okay in the front living room, and then get rid of it in a few years! We are off to Wendover to see a concert and have a night away from all the kids that are always here. Maybe I'll win tons of money while we are there, you never know!

I ran 4 miles today and the weather was beautiful, as is my new route. I love living in this neighborhood as it is just rural enough to have lots of roads with little traffic and friendly people who wave and say hello.

I am hoping to get some work done in my scrapbooking room today, before we leave. No actual scrapbooking, just arranging so I can eventually scrapbook again.

Train ride, etc.

Chelsea, Eline and 3 of their friends rode with me on the Front Runner train the other day. It was pretty crowded on the way down, but we did get a seat. At least for a little while. I taught the girls some manners concerning public transportation. They now know that they need to give up their seats for elderly and disabled people. They didn't necessarily like it until I pointed out that at some point they would be old, and I also asked them how they'd feel if someone made their grandparents stand on a moving train for an hour. I think they got the message.

The ride itself was very nice and smooth. They used extra long track sections so you don't hear or feel the click-clack like the trains in Europe. The nice thing is the train stops right next to the TRAX (light rail) line in SLC so we got off the train, hopped on the TRAX and were at the mall in just a few minutes.

We went down because Eline's iPod went kaput and we were happy to discover that she had about 20 days left on her warranty so they gave her a new one!

Well, Mike is officially unemployed. The contract he was working under has expired. The gov't mad some mistakes when they re-let the contract so now it will be about two weeks before a new contract is signed. Hopefully he'll be hired because it will most likely go to a new company. Fortunately we are prepared for this and put aside enough money to pay 8 months of house payments. With our military retirement checks we can make the house payment and all of our other living expenses but that leaves no money for anything else. The money I make from my two jobs isn't enough to make a big difference but every little bit helps. If he doesn't get hired on with the new contract he'll look for jobs outside of the government which would be just fine with me.

Mike is enjoying having some time off. He left this morning to go visit his best friend in South Dakota for a few days.

I am doing a re-orientation for the local exchange students this evening, preparing them for the shock of going home. For many kids this is tougher than coming to the US because they often think everything will be the same as they left it. My job is to prepare them for the differences in their family and friends, and to understand how to deal with the changes. We are going to do some required activities, then have Subway for dinner and the kids will play Rock Band. I am giving each of them a small scrapbook so they can put photos in it and give it as a gift for their host families. Should be fun!

Then on Friday I am going to my friends house for a "girls night". We are having fondue and drinks. I am really looking forward to it.

Last night Chelsea, Eline and I went looking for bridesmaids dresses. The girls chose cute, short summer dresses instead of the traditional dressy dresses they had at the bridal store. So now I hope to find a nice white tea length dress to wear as my wedding dress.