It happened at Kohl's...

The word of the day: disturbing. Thanks to Kohl's liberal return policy, I left my duty as nurse to take back a set of sheets Rheid purchased there on Saturday. My crazy, flailing, night legs wore clear through our old ones. (Can you say sleep study?) Not liking the feeling of "new," Rheid sent them through the wash and then put them on the bed. They looked beautiful but that's about the only thing you could say positive about them. Irritating and flesh-crawly are much more accurate adjectives to describe these sheets. Who knew sheets could be so obnoxious? After two less than stellar nights, off they came.

Unsuccessfully trying to reinsert said sheets back into their original packaging, I finally gave up the impossible task, shoved the whole mess into a Sunflower Market bag and called it good. Time to assert my consumer rights.

After hearing my tale of woe, the customer service gal gladly refunded my money. Woot woot for Kohl's! So off to the sheet section I went, ready to purchase 2,000 thread count sheets if that's what it took to put my bed and I back into a harmonious relationship. Searching and pondering, I finally found a set that should do nicely and headed for the checkouts. *Insert foreboding music here*

Cheerfully placing my newly acquired sheets on the checkout counter, I made small talk while she rang up my purchase. As I went for my debit card, I heard these disturbing words, "You don't happen to be over 55?" What??!! (Don't get me wrong but I don't have a lot of patience with people who go into a deep funk about growing older or complain about another birthday. Come on people--get a perspective here! Would you prefer the alternative???)

Gathering up my crumbling dignity, I nicely answered, "No, but some days I feel like it." I know she didn't mean to be unkind. Good thing I had put on make-up and my hair was done or maybe she wouldn't have even asked politely. Then I would have had to explain the situation and watch while the 20% discount was reapplied to the total. Stupid Oxygen!

Note to self: Avoid shopping at Kohl's on Senior Citizen Wednesdays--at least for the next ten years.

Not so fun day - ouchy

Days should just not start at 5:45 a.m.--for any reason if you ask me. But the good doctors at the Orthopedic Center of the Rockies didn't think so when they scheduled Rheid for arthroscopic surgery this morning. Argh. Time to repair a torn tendon from a January snowboarding mishap where Josh, my son, said, "Mom, I saw him crash and I thought Dad was dead!" So I guess it could be worse, right? They will also clean up some scar tissue from two previous broken collarbone incidents...one where his mom said something at the time like, "Come slide on this hill instead, it will be safer." Oops! Hopefully it will clear up some numbing issues he's been experiencing in his hand. They also planned to reduce a bone spur forming at the tip--a smaller version of what he had operated on nearly two years ago on the other side. Poor guy!

It's such a different experience being the caretaker-type person instead of the invalid-type person. Both really stink in their own way. It is never fun to be the miserable one, feeling so awful. But its not exactly a fun fest watching someone else feel miserable and not being able to do much to make things better. Horrible or helpless??? My vote is neither one--thank you very much.

I managed to get both him and his therapy chair in the house in one piece which was no small feat. They wanted him to start in the chair as soon as possible...can you say barbaric? Come on, the guy's countenance still has a tinge of off-gray--but we are nothing if but compliant to doctor's orders. It's a bad habit we've developed over the years. So I help him get his dead-arm into the contraption all the while praying my sleep deprived brain remembers all the instructions the tech gave me on how to operate it. Then to get him out of the sling/harness--can you say velcro gone wild??? Not as easy as it looks. All this while supposedly keeping his shoulder completely relaxed...rrrrright. Then repeat this 50 minute procedure 5 more times during the course of the day and pump him full of pain medicine every 4 hours around the clock. Are we having fun yet??? Well at least this merriment only lasts for three weeks then he goes to PT twice a week for I can't remember how many months. But ten months from now he will be cured and we can look back at all the fond memories we've made.

We are so blessed to live at a time when doctors have the ability to make things good as new. Rheid's doctor is top-notch and it will all be worth it in the end. The surgery went well and my prayers were answered. Cool technology will also help Rheid be able to do his computer work. He talks into a microphone and basically bosses his computer around. Open Firefox. Close Word. You get the idea. It's awesome.

Well it's time to go do my nursely duties so off I go.

Christina and Ali, 13, 20 ~ America's Got Talent 2010, auditions Portland

A friend shared this clip with me and I thought it was wonderful. Just wanted to share!

Genealogy and milestones

Spent today at the 2nd annual Colorado Family History Expo in Loveland. Listened to several experts tell me more and better ways to find my long-past relatives. I can't believe how much more confident I feel in my abilities compared to a year ago when I attended the first conference. I've worked hard and learned a lot, even though I've made mistakes, hit brick walls, and even done things the hard way a few times...and yet, I've still managed to add over 1,000 people to my family tree.

Spent time during my breaks today reflecting on this past year. A day before last years conference I left the hospital (for the 5th time in 6 months) carrying oxygen over my shoulder--determined to feel good enough to attend the first expo, since I'd been lucky enough to win a free ticket to the event. Entering the conference center marked the first day I ever had to wear oxygen in public. I pasted a smile on my predisone-puffed face and moved my shaky legs forward to my new kind of "normal."

Wearing oxygen among my mostly geriatric genealogy friends (yes, I am one of the few young'uns in the bunch) should have helped me to fit right in...but I couldn't have felt more conspicuous if I'd been wearing a purple polyester jumpsuit with hair to match. The few people who knew my situation were kind and gracious but I still hated explaining why the oxygen. I had almost convinced myself, after a day of explanations, that my O2 accessory was only a temporary thing until the antibiotics killed the MRSA for good. I desperately wanted to believe it.

A year later I am still wearing my O2 accessory--however, a much more stylin' model w/backpack, and I am much more confident in my abilities. I've hit some brick walls (stupid MRSA won't take the hint and leave); I've made some mistakes (wore the cannula upside down for the first month or so because Rheid swears that's how the oxygen delivery guy explained it to him); I've learned a lot (I can do difficult things); and I've worked hard to keep my faith strong (I believe Heavenly Father has a plan for my life). I have managed to add another year--and it feels good.

Too much of a good thing for these 45 year old bones

Just got home last night from a fast--if you can call 16 hours of round-trip driving fast--visit to see family in Utah. The purpose of the trip, initially, was to attend my nephew Steven's missionary farewell on Sunday. He will be leaving on June 23rd to begin an LDS mission in Paraguay. Since I won't be able to see him for the two years he will serve, I felt it was important to be there to not only wish him well but to hug the stuffing out of him. I am so proud of the decision he made and although his mission will not be easy, he will grow and become an amazing young man in the process.

An added bonus to the trip was to be able to spend my birthday, Saturday, with all my extended family. My parents (who by the way, celebrated their 48th wedding anniversary this weekend as well--woot woot!) came down from Idaho to be a part of the festivities. Anymore, I don't often get to celebrate my birthday with my twin sister, Terri, so being together to celebrate our middle-age-dom was awesome. It's funny how as a kid I sometimes wished I didn't have to share my birthday--getting presents (from well meaning gift-givers) to "share with your sister" I found to be extremely annoying. But now I love having a day to share with my sis. We didn't do anything spectacular (unless you can count shopping at Wal-Mart as an amazing experience) but it was just nice spending the day together.

With Father's Day landing on this weekend, I was able to be with my dad too. I'm sure just getting to see his Colorado daughter was such a treat that any gift I could have thought to purchase for him would have paled in comparison. So I'm glad I didn't even try :) I love you Dad.

I didn't get to see much of Rheid's family this trip except for staying at the Schloss Hotel in Heber. It's totally impossible to see everyone in basically a day and a half so we will have to "Schloss it" on our next Utah extravaganza.

All I know is these old bones are tired. This morning I woke up early twice and was able to convince myself both times that since there was absolutely nothing on my calendar, it made no sense to get up. So with my bladder sending up a white flag of surrender, I finally drug myself out of bed about 10:00. After doing breathing treatments for the required hour and a half and eating breakfast, I decided the couch was looking rather inviting. Yep, you guessed it, I sacked out there until just after 3 o'clock this afternoon. To my credit, once I decided it was time to stay vertical and conscious, I did manage to accomplish a few important things and even get dinner on the table before Rheid came home from work.

I think there is something to be said for getting too much of a good thing. So I have decided to put away my traveling shoes and bask in my normal routine for awhile--I am officially grounding myself.