Chad's Idea of Fun

The 'ol Buick has been needing a bit of work done, so Chad decided today was the day!  The car needed new bearings and struts, so he got busy taking things apart.  He's like a kid in a candy store when he gets to do things like this, and considers it a very successful project if he knocks the skin off of at least one knuckle.  So, I was not surprised when he happily showed me a very dirty and bleeding knuckle about an hour into the project!

There were a lot more parts spread around earlier, but he got them put back on before I got the picture taken.  He's actually finishing up here.

I am glad he's mechanically inclined.  It's all like a giant tinker toy to him.  There isn't much he can't fix on our vehicles, and I'm sure it saves us a ton of money, as well as gives him an afternoon of what he considers fun.

Drive Safe 'n Sanitary

My family has a tradition that goes back to my great-grandfather Mackey; when leaving on a trip, we say "Drive (or sometimes travel) safe and sanitary!"  This often leads to very interesting and funny discussions about all the ways one could try to be unsanitary while traveling!

This sign is around either
Basin or Greybull, Wyoming

Yesterday was Christmas, and we went upstairs to my mom's (she has a very nice apartment attached to our house), to open gifts and have brunch after.  One of the gifts my mom gave to my husband, Chad, was a book titled The Jumbo Duct Tape Book.  On the cover, it says, "The Gigantic, Exhaustive, Really Thick, Ultra Informative, Mother-of-em-all Book by Jim and Tim, The Duct Tape Guys". It also says, "wacky and tacky".  And it is a very thick book!

Chad was kind of randomly flipping through it and reading the interesting tidbits about duct tape (who knew there were so many!), and he quickly came across this little gem:

Travel Toilet Hygiene

Are you going to trust your hygiene to those flimsy tissue toilet-seat covers? Heck no! Do what we do: before you travel anywhere, cover your entire backside with duct tape! You'll be safe and sanitary for the whole trip.

Hmmm, perfectly logical, of course!  So, there you go.  One more way to travel safe and sanitary!

This sign was for sale in an antique store in Cody, Wyoming

 

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to one and all!  I pray that you will all be richly blessed today, and in the coming year.

Luke 2 (KJV)

⁸ And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

⁹ And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

¹⁰ And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

¹¹ For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

Thank you, Lord, for sending us your Son, our Savior; a gift none of us deserves, thank you for your love, mercy and grace.

Thank you, Lord Jesus, for coming to earth, born a sweet babe that would grow into the man who gave his life on the cross for MY sins, so that I may live with you in eternity!  A debt I can never repay, a gift I humbly accept.  I love you!  As we celebrate your holy birth, I thank you for your many, many blessings, and for forgiving my sins. 

Thank you, Holy Spirit, for dwelling within me; for being my guide, counselor and comforter.

Come, Lord Jesus!  Amen.

Christmas Eve



I don't know who to credit for this beautiful picture, but I love it. I found it in Google Images.

Christmas Eve is here, and I am continuing to heal after my surgery.  The recovery has taken longer than I'd anticipated, and I had more pain than I was ready for, but I am feeling so much better without my gallbladder. 



Due to having three incisions right on my waistline, including a fairly large one, I have yet to wear anything other than sweats. I haven't been able to leave the house much. Sitting in the car is still uncomfortable, but I was determined to ride around last night with my husband and daughter to see the Christmas lights.  I was more than ready to get out of the car when we'd finished, but the quick tour was well worth the discomfort I felt. We saw so many beautiful displays!



Today, I am looking forward to doing some preparing for our Christmas Eve plans this evening, and getting things ready for Christmas Morning! Lots of gifts to wrap, and a couple of quick recipes to throw together. We will be having a fairly simple meal tonight, as I am not up to a ton of cooking yet.  My mom will be handling most of it, but I think I will put together a "Watergate Salad" from my Grandma Rose's recipe. 

I don't know if I will feel well enough to attend the Christmas Eve service at church, but I am looking forward to one of my very favorite family traditions; listening to my mother read the story of Jesus' birth from Luke chapter 2, in the King James version.  Normally I read NIV or NLT, but for the Christmas story, I love the poetic KJV, and no other version sounds right.  It wouldn't be Christmas Eve without hearing mom read the story!



I hope you have some wonderful family traditions that you will be enjoying tonight.

May your Christmas Eve be blessed!

So Long! Buh Bye!

Yesterday was surgery day, and now I am minus one gallbladder!  Hopefully after recovery, I will be feeling much better without my stony friend.

Let the adventure begin!

Before I went in, I was told my surgery would take about an hour, and I'd probably spend about another hour in recovery, then I would be able to go home.  I was wheeled into the operating room right at 8 a.m., so imagine my surprise when I woke up in the recovery room at 10:15 a.m.!

Chad was in the room with me, he'd just gotten there after speaking to the doctor, and I asked him why was I so long in surgery.  He said we'd talk about it later. Talk about making my heart jump! I said,  "No, we'll talk about it now!"

I'd had a minor complication.  As the doctor was doing the internal sutures, way down inside, the suture needle broke.  The doctor said he knew there was a problem when only half the needle came back out when he went to complete that stitch.  He had to open up a much larger incision in order to find it and get it out, so instead of four small punctures, I have three small puncturs and one 3" to 4" inch incision; this is what I was told, it's under a dressing I've been ordered not to remove, so I haven't been able to see it for myself (the little ones all look good).  Hunting for the "needle in a haystack"-AKA-my innards, took some time and then the extra large hole had to be closed up, so that's why I was so long in the operating room.

Whew! That's all it was!  I was really worried there for a minute!  Turns out Chad wasn't really trying to soften the blow, he just didn't think I was awake enough to remember anything yet, and he didn't want to have to tell me over and over again.  Turns out, I was plenty awake!

Poor Chad!  During my extended surgery, he was out in the waiting room, really wondering what was going on and why it was taking so long.  After awhile, he started hearing the receptionist calling the other surgical patients on the schedule to tell them to come about 45 minutes later than they were originally told.  Finally, the doctor came out and got Chad, and explained the delay. 

My doctor is a wonderful Christian man, and I know he felt terrible about what happened.  He told Chad he wasn't sure why the needle broke, must have twisted it just right or something, and he was very apologetic about the whole thing.  We could tell he felt badly about it, but I'm not upset in the least.  Of all the possible complications he told me about before my surgery, this was by far preferable to any of those!  Yes, I will have a longer recovery time, and my belly will be more swollen and sore for awhile (I definitely will NOT be doing any sit-ups in the near future, and getting out of bed is not very fun), but all's well that ends well!

I Need More Time!

Long time, no blog!  I have not dropped off the face of the earth, I've just been crazy busy!  Christmas is fast approaching, and I am not ready!  I sort of have an early deadline this year to get gifts I'm making finished, especially the ones that need to go in the mail.  They need to go out tomorrow, or they won't make it to their destinations until after Christmas. I found out a little over a week ago that I'd be having surgery this coming Monday, and I don't exactly know how quickly I will recover from that.  I hope it will be fast, but I will just have to wait and see.  I'm not counting on feeling much like working on Christmas gifts while I recover, so trying my best to get everything done by this weekend.

So far, I've gotten quite a lot accomplished, but I have two more things to finish making before the Post Office closes tomorrow.  A couple of other gifts that will be staying in town I can finish over the weekend.  One thing that I am glad to have all done on time is a project Chad and I worked on together this year.  There is an angel tree in town for veterans living at the VA home in Buffalo, and also at the VA hospital in Sheridan.  This is the first time I have heard of this particular angel tree, but I guess they've been doing it for several years.  Chad being an Air Force veteran, and getting most of his medical work done through the VA, makes this something we both jumped at when we heard about it.  It's kind of funny, I think maybe the Spirit was moving, because we both heard about the tree on the same day.  Chad heard about it on the radio, and I saw a small blurb in the newspaper.  So that evening, almost at the same time, we were telling each other about this tree! 

We happily went and plucked two cards off that tree.  I always pray that God will put the card in my hand belonging to the person needing me most in situations like this.  I chose a veteran with quite an extensive list.  Nothing too expensive, mostly things like some clothing, personal items, puzzle books and Christmas treats.  The other one Chad chose had quite a small list, mostly personal items, clothing and towels.  It was so humbling for both of us to see that of all the things they could have asked for, these men chose such simple things that everyone needs on a daily basis, and to think that they don't have these things, breaks my heart a little bit.  We had a wonderful time shopping for both of these men, and then packaging up their gifts and wrapped rather large boxes for them both.  Before the boxes were sealed, I enclosed a Christmas card for each with just our first names.  I hope they feel the love that we enclosed in the packages with their gifts.  I don't know the names of these two men, but God does, and what their needs are.  They are in our prayers.

So, now back to work with me!  I have a lot to get done today!