Drug dealers at the door...

Yep, you guessed it. My thanks-for-giving virus pushed me over the edge.  I am on IV's once again but no lengthy check-in at the Denver Bed and Breakfast. Yippee!  Instead I get to spend three lovely weeks of home confinement treatment doing 4 antibiotics round the clock.  It seems I'm either dripping fluids into my body, setting out fluids to warm so as to not shock my body, or eliminating fluids from my body.  My poor body.

My sinuses are full, my lungs are full, and my stomach is unsettled.  My lung function was down to 25% with lots of crackles and wheezes for added excitement.  Yesterday I had to bounce my prednisone up to 32 mg because I couldn't stop the twitchy coughing.  Each cough finished with a high-pitched squeak, which not only sounded but felt a bit disconcerting.  That part has improved today thank goodness.

But there are silver linings to this black cloud.  I'm grateful I caught a cold BEFORE a round of IV's and not after just finishing one.  The only thing worse than having to do three weeks of IV's is to have done it all for nothing.  I'm thankful I will be feeling better in time for Christmas and an important wedding coming up afterwards. I'm grateful my deductible is met.  I'm hopeful I will be able to keep up a good lung function into the first week of February when I will be seen again at Duke.

So when the doorbell rings and my dealer law-abiding delivery man drops off drugs, I will count my blessings...drop by drop.

Tis better to give than receive...

Twas the day after Thanksgiving when I landed on the receiving end of a cold kindly given to me by my son or one of the myriads who have been sick lately.  As I type, I can feel a pulsing heartbeat behind my cheekbones there is so much pressure in my sinuses.  For a person who is already filled to the brim with mucus, to get a cold is adding insult to injury.  As soon as I felt the first inkling of invasion, I went on the attack with copious amounts of water, essential oils, Emergen-c, and positive thinking but it refused to remain at bay. Luckily I have managed to out-maneuver cold germs for the past several years with this strategy, but this one must be a survivor because it has outwitted, outplayed, and outlasted me.

I already had a scheduled appointment for Monday at clinic so that turned out to be good timing.  I have been noticing its been harder to exercise the past couple of weeks so I wanted to check my lung function.  Now they can see me tomorrow in all my germy glory.

Some exciting news to share happened November 21st, the day before Thanksgiving.  My daughter, Christina, decided to join the Navy!  She scored high on her preliminary tests and so the Navy was anxious to get her.  The recruiter helped her jump through a couple hurdles that sped up the process and she ships off to basic training on the 12th of December.  Yes, in a little less than three weeks she will fly to Illinois and begin her 4 year enlistment with the Navy.  I am so proud of her because I know she is fearful about some things but it hasn't stopped her from making the commitment and moving forward.  Every time I think about her, I start singing In The Navy in my head.  I am a product of the 80's so I can't make it stop!

We had a nice Thanksgiving dinner the night before with the Larson family.  Since Mary Anne had to work on Thanksgiving, we decided to celebrate early.  But Josh stayed at home sick and Christina took longer at the Navy office than she planned so our feasting numbers were down.  Then on Thanksgiving afternoon with no big meal to eat, Rheid, Christina, and I decided to see Rise of the Guardians.  What a darling movie.  Never been a big fan of Jack Frost but now he's the  man!

Baby Teeth, Jack Frost, Easter Bunny and Sandman.

Another memorable day this month honored our Uncle Edwin who passed away.  His funeral was on Monday the 5th in Golden, Colorado.  It was a beautiful service made special by the memories shared from each grandchild. When we moved to Colorado, Rheid's aunt and uncle were the only people we knew in the whole state--and I didn't know them that well.  We have grown to love them and I will miss being able to joke with him.

Grandson pallbearers at the graveside.

Earlier we had an unseasonably warm Halloween which made it fun for our two favorite trick-or-treaters.

Cutest witch and fireman ever!

We took Maggie to see Josh who was volunteering at the
Otterbox house at Treatsylvania.  

What I deal with every Fall--Tucker plays in the
leaves and then drags them in the house.

What a picture is worth...

"To members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, temples are houses of the Lord, the most sacred places on earth. Temple services bind families together forever, teach the purpose of life and explain God’s plan of salvation. Temple attendance strengthens Latter-day Saints’ commitment to living Christian principles, emphasizes personal spiritual growth and increases devotion to family."    mormontemples.org

Today they released the artist rendering of the new temple to be built in Fort Collins.  Isn't it beautiful??!!  Words just can't express how blessed I feel to have a temple come here.  It was announced in April of 2011 and once started, hopefully this spring, will take two years to complete.  I can hardly wait.

Knock on a pumpkin...

Wow, I am half-way through October and knock on a pumpkin, I'm still staying relatively healthy.  Since October tends to be my bewitching month, I hate to get too excited yet but I'm trying to remain cautiously optimistic.  Last year at this point I was staring down the front end of a three week hospital stay--no fun.

So far this month can be summed up in mostly two words: exercise and apples.  I am still dedicated to keeping these wind bags of mine as healthy as possible so I go workout 5 days a week.  I wish I could say I enjoy it, but I can't.  It's too hard and frustrating to apply the word "enjoy" with any bit of credibility.  Tolerate would be a better description.  Thankfully a variety of podcasts help keep my mind off of what feels like my eminent demise.  What does feel good, however, is that I keep at it even though it's hard--it gives me a sense of accomplishment.  I just wish the sense of exhaustion didn't follow so close on its heels.  It's hard to stay motivated to accomplish anything else the rest of the day, sigh.

Our little apple tree produced a bumper crop of the juiciest, yummy apples.  Combined with some apples from a friend, I've managed to do 7 batches of dehydrated apples and put up 20 pints and 10 quarts of applesauce.  Not only that but I made a dee-licious apple struesel and a tasty applecrisp dessert as well.  The very pores of our house exude the smell of baked apples.  That being said, I am sooo done with apples for awhile--as much as I love them, I have apple overload.  

Yesterday we got to celebrate the 2nd birthday of my youngest nephew.  Max was as thrilled with the balloons and wrapping paper as he was with his presents.  What a cutie pie!

Max and Maggie with his
Special Agent Oso cake.

Not much labor going on...

I had a wonderful Labor Day weekend.  Nothing big, but got to hang out with the family.  Christina came down from Colorado Springs so we were all together.

Monday morning Christina and I headed over to Charming Charlie's to do some retail therapy.  She is a baaaad influence on her mother; I ended up buying a fun new purse with a buckle and bling to boot.  Feeling very hip!  She got a fun hat along with a few other things she couldn't live without.

Later, we met up with the boys for lunch at Applebee's.  I ordered a 7 oz sirloin steak (right here may I just add I should be able to count this as a medical meal since the doctors have pummeled me with the need to boost my iron and protein intake--look at me being a good and compliant patient) with garlic mashed potatoes on the side.  My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

Once we rolled out of Applebees, we were off to our nearest bowling alley, Chipper Lanes.  Now I don't know about the rest of you, but I always count it as a good omen if I can actually find a ball that doesn't suction your fingers into the holes, dislocating said digits in the process of throwing it.  Is there a law stating bowling balls weighing less than sixty pounds shall have miniature finger holes--I ask you.  Note to bowling ball driller:  Change it up a bit. Some of us would really appreciate a lighter ball with larger holes.  Thank you for your attention to this important matter.  Drill, baby, drill.  We teamed up--Josh and me against Dad and Christina.  May I say that our team rocked the first game.  But we evidently used up all our bowling mojo and were soundly beaten in game two.

Next, we met up with two friends, Ben & Jerry, at the grocery store and invited them to join us watching Hunger Games.  I'm pretty sure the irony of our movie choice was lost on them, however.  We each selected a different flavor (ones we would never consider buying a gallon of) and headed for home.  There is something about eating right from the carton which makes ice cream taste even more delicious. And eating it was a labor of love!

Are we having fun yet??  This picture makes me laugh hysterically.
What a pair to pick from--my boys.

The other team poses for a victory shot.

Riding in Christina's new car coming back with a new silver
 purse for me and a new hat for her. Doesn't she look cute!

Got our Ben and Jerry's in hand--let the Hunger Games begin.

Made a Fresh Peach pie this weekend--it was dee lish us!