Surgery today

My dad had another bout of bad chest pains, and ended up readmitted, and then transferred to two different hospitals in a 24 hour period.

Today he is having a minimum of triple bypass open heart surgery. Please keep my sweet dad, Vince in your prayers.

A tough one

This week was one for the books. I am exhausted mentally and physically. I don't even know where or how to start.

My dad was taken by ambulance to the hospital with chest pains, and now we're looking at him needing triple bypass surgery...if the surgeon is willing to attempt it, due to his other health concerns and the locations of the blockages. He is home on medication now, and will meet with the surgeon on Tuesday to discuss his options.

Shannon was a counselor this week at Girl Scout camp, and on Wednesday slipped and fell on her foot. We thought it might be broken, but luckily an xray showed "just" soft-tissue damage. With a well wrapped foot she was able to finish her week at camp.

We had another major snafu this week with P's disability and a doctor's office, but it's way too detailed to rehash. We're pretty confident that it's all on the way to working out now, but it took a lot of miles and phone calls (and worry).

I'm not even going to go into the whole debt ceiling thing...and lack of guarantee of the disbursement of social security/disability checks in August. I can't control that, so at this point, I just have to pray and have faith.

I've got enough other stuff on my plate that this point.

I swear I've aged 20 years this week!

Blur

My gosh, this week passed in a blur.

When I left off, Shan had piano lessons...and then she offered to help prep crafts for next week's Girl Scout camp. (And proud mom alert...she was the ONLY counselor that offered to help or showed up.)

That night, Patrick and I went out on a date. We went out for sushi...and I was SO brave. I ate EEL! Anyway, then we went to see Larry Crowne and enjoyed it a lot! It's just a nice story. No big drama, just a story. T'was fun.



Thursday, we took Shannon out to Rome, GA to see Berry College. I think we might have a top contender on her list now. Not only is it strong academically, has a small student population, and just feels *right*...Shannon thought it looked like Hogwarts, lol. In fact, as we walked around, she kept the Harry Potter soundtrack playing on her iPod and had one earbud in. Hahahaha!





That night, she and I went over to my bestie's house (who has a daughter a few years younger than Shan) for a sleepover. Oh my stars, we had so MUCH fun. "What happens at Vegas stays in Vegas" type of fun, lol!!! We went to sleep at 5 am.



And THEN, we got up at 9:30 to drop Shannon off for a counselor team building outing. They went to this cool thing called Dialog in the Dark, down in Atlanta. It's an exhibit that takes place in complete darkness, that forces you to rely on all of your other senses. She LOVED it.



At 5:30 when we picked her up, I expected her to be exhausted. Instead, she said "Hey mom! K is having her bible study tonight...well, right now. Can I go?" So instead of bringing her home and putting her to bed, I dropped her off at the neighbors.

Today has at least been spent at home, but we shampooed all the carpets and then went to the pool while they dried. Patrick grilled us steaks for dinner while my mom and I did asparagus and salt crusted baked potatoes. Yummmmm-o!!!

So anyway! The summer fun continues! Shannon's got open house for GS camp tomorrow, and then camp is all next week.

Adding to the list of fun

So, Shannon got home safe and sound from her mission trip to Appalachia. Once again she LOVED it, although I swear to you, I think that every bug in TN and KY bit her legs. Good grief. Anyway, she got home on Friday afternoon, and basically ate, showered, and went to bed for 12+ hours! Doing home repair in the summer heat is HARD work.

On Saturday afternoon, my friend Tricia invited Shan and I up to TN (lol! Back to TN for Shan) for an impromptu quickie visit while they did some work at the IL's house. We threw our toothbrushes in the car, and hit the road! We ate dinner with Tricia and her family, and then went next door to their aunt's house for a night swim. We saw lots of fireflies, bats, and satellites from the pool. SO fun. After the kids went to bed, Tricia and I sat up talking into the night. We headed home around lunchtime on Sunday.





Once we got showered up on Sunday afternoon, we went and helped build a float for our preschool to be in our town's 4th of July parade. It turned out very cute and patriotic. We ran back home, picked up Patrick and my parents, and then headed to see fireworks! What a GREAT show! It was long too...which I love. Probably 20 minutes or so!





Monday found us at one of our local high schools at about 8:45 am...putting finishing touches on our float.



We stood around, then got ready, then walked the parade, advertising our wonderful school.





It was memorable, and super fun. Doing stuff like that, you really feel a part of your community, y'know? Anyway, once we got done, we met up with the fam and had lunch at Chick Fil A. We were BEAT! I think we all came home and took a nap in the air conditioning. For dinner we grilled out hot dogs (while it thundered), and ate corn on the cob, baked beans, and chips. For dessert we had red/white/blue strawberries!



Today, Shan met up with friends to go to the mall, and then see a movie. It's her first time going without a grown up...and whooo...I think that was way harder on me than it was on her! Hahahaha! Now she's sleeping over at her friend's house. My baby's growing up! Tomorrow is piano lesson, and then helping prep some crafts for Girl Scout Daycamp next week.

I'll say one thing...we sure are keeping BUSY this summer! I LOVE IT!

Empty Nest

Well, as empty as it can be with my parents living downstairs, and between us all...FIVE dogs. Anyway, Shannon's out of town...so we're "footloose and fancy free" this week.

We've been getting up everyday and going to the gym. I'm getting ab muscles!!! Not visible ones yet...but I can feel them! Annoyed that the scale only showed a .6 loss this week. Stupid thing. But I saw my BFF today and she said "Wow, you look great! Have you lost weight?" So...maybe I'm tighter or something. Anyway, I'll keep doing what I'm doing.

We went on a bit of a movie bender for a few days, and saw "X-Men: First Class," "Cars 2," and "Green Lantern." Super fun. I love summer movies! We're getting happysadexcited for Harry Potter to come out in July. I can't believe that's the end of it. Wah! I know I will cry.

Like I said earlier, my BFF and I got together today and got pedicures, lunch, and then hung out for about 5 hours and just laughed ourselves silly. Need to do more of that. In fact, we made a date for next week to hang out at our pool. I wish she lived closer. Here's our cute feet, lol!

Keeping busy

Since I last posted, we've been working on giving Shannon's bedroom a make-over. We haven't put any art up on the walls yet, but it looks great so far!!!





Shannon and I spent three days up with friends at their lake house on Lake Hartwell. We spent time jumping off docks, riding waverunners, swimming, going for boat rides, etc. Unfortunately, on our last day there, I got stung by a bee...and spent the next week in a Benadryl coma. I'm fine now, lol.

And now, Shan's leaving tomorrow for a week-long mission trip. We've spent the last couple days getting her ready and packed up!

Oh yeah! We also dyed her hair pink! Ha! Fun!!!

More summer fun!

In keeping up my summer fun list, I have LOTS to add! (Maybe I should do it more often than once every two weeks, huh?)

• Patrick and I took a 6-day trip to Myrtle Beach, just the two of us. Shannon stayed home with my parents and took care of the dogs, etc. We had THE BEST time. We went to the beach every day. We slept in. We drove go-carts, and played mini-golf. We went to a movie (Hangover 2), and ate like kings. We went to the Bodies: Revealed exhibit. Just wonderful!
• The day after we got home, we took Shannon over to Athens, GA and toured the University of Georgia. She had NO trouble envisioning herself going there...loved the classic architecture and history of the campus.
• We went to see the new X-Men movie, and we all (even me!) loved it. It was excellent.
• We broke Shannon's bed. Oops. To be fair, she's had it since she was 20 months old, and it was time for something new. So, we went to IKEA and outfitted her with new bedroom furniture. For the past few days we have been repainting her room from her 8-year-old-girl color choice of lavender...to her 14-year-old-girl color choices of aqua and slate gray!!!
• Shannon went to a soup kitchen in Atlanta today and prepared and packed meals for the needy.