Connie's Birthday

Connie decided that for her birthday she wanted to go to the Melting Pot with her girlfriends. So in return we celebrated Connie's 30th, had tons of laughs, ate interesting food and got a few good pictures. We also had the best waiter ever, referred to as Fondue Zach. We all had a great time conversing with him and another not-so-loved waiter we refer to as Chuck, who attempted to guess the age of everyone at the table (only after being asked to) and did a horrendous job. Can't really blame him though, we did ask and he is only 20 years old...he did not know any better...poor Chuck. Fondue Zach was much more wise and did not attempt the feat of guessing ladies ages.

Old, but good

These are videoes from couple of weeks ago. They were too funny not to share though. This was about at 9:30 PM and all the girls were WILD!! Take a look for yourself and you will see what I mean.

Stinkin' Garage!

Well, I just THOUGHT that I had my garage clean. Chris entered our garage this past week and realized that more of the ceiling had caved in and this time a BIG chunk! So now I will post pictures of before and after having cleaned it twice since the ceiling decided to give way.

BEFORE PICTURES: (oh the mess!)

AND AFTER PICTURES: (better but not fabulous)

Oh yeah! And in case you are wondering why my washer and dryer are at an angle, my sweet husband put them this way for me since their doors open the opposite directions it was VERY difficult for me to toss a load from the washer to the dryer. Now I can toss a load very easily. He is so smart! Why didn't I think of that?!

Prickly Pear Cactus

I absolutely despise mistakingly getting into cacti. They have these little tiny needles that you don't even notice off hand and you think you have passed without getting into them, but yet you feel a sharp pain in your leg and you go to try to remove it and it breaks off into your skin. These particular needles are more like little hairs rather than needles, but nonetheless they hurt.

I was out and about yesterday at the EM Park and took some great pictures of the cacti as they were blooming. When they bloom they really are a pretty sight. Their flowers are so intricate and beautiful. I am amazed that God can allow something so beautiful to grow on something so ugly and hurtful. I guess that is the way he makes people too. Even the ones we think of being so mean and hurtful can turn out to be real "beauties" in the eyes of God.

Just a thought to Ponder! Happy Friday!

Cochlear Implant

For those of you who may not have already heard, my dad has his initial consultation appointment with a cochlear implant specialist yesterday.

After his appointment he sent me a text message that read: "I am good to go for the next step, MRI, then surgery. They will submit to insurance to see if they will pay. Dr. said this should really help me. This is a long process and may take a while. Overall I'm totally encouraged."

If you would like to learn more about a cochlear implant, because maybe this process with my dad has peaked your interest visit the website that is linked to the title of this blog (hopefully this will work by clicking on my blog title) and watch the video on the left hand side, it is very informative.

Our only concern at this point is the recovery time that will take place after the surgery. The healing time is usually around a month and that is a long time for my Daddy to be off of work. Please pray that BNSF is compassionate and understanding during this time of healing and recovery for my Dad. Also, he basically has to retrain his ear/brain to hear. The doctor is encouraged that since he lost his hearing recently that this should not be a long process and is expecting a 3-6 month rehabilitation process.

Whether or not the insurance decides to pay is really not a contributing factor at this point, my parents have decided that no matter the cost, they ARE going to have this done. It will improve my dad's overall life by just being able to hear again. He will FINALLY be able to understand what our little girlie girls (Mia, Jules and Atlee) are saying when they talk to their Papa instead of always needing an interpretation.

My mom, sister and I went to a seminar put on by the Fort Worth Cochlear Implant Support Group a few weeks ago and got to speak with several cochlear implant wearers which encouraged us that this would be a great thing for my dad and that his rehabilitation process would be the "hardest" time for him because frustration can occur if you do not have patience. Please pray that this time will go smoothly as well for my dad and that he will be patient in re-learning all sounds.

I will let you know when he has scheduled his surgery so that you (my prayer warrior friends) can be praying for him on that day as well.

Praise God for researchers and doctors who have come up with such a wonderful miracle for those who have lost their hearing and that my dad is a candidate for just such a miracle.

Spring Cleaning

So I got the bright idea last week that I was going to take Friday off because Chris also had the day off and we were going to tackle the task of cleaning out our garage.

For those of you who do not know, my garage is an eyesore...not so much because of the stuff that is in there, but more so because of the condition. The ceiling is falling down and there are numerous holes and cracks in the walls. Needless to say, the next BIG (and I mean BIG) remodel project we will undertake will be redoing the sheet rock (including the ceiling) of the garage. We also hope to extend our kitchen slightly and separate the laundry area from the garage by giving it a wall and a door to make it have its very own room!

Those plans are far from being accomplished because they require a thing called money and a lot of it, so back to the original point of this blog...we CLEANED out the garage. It only took us 3-4 hours and we had everything separated, vacuumed, dusted, hung up and ready to throw away. My garage is now divided neatly into sections of:

• Laundry items
• Camping/recreational items
• Christmas decorations
• House remodeling supplies
• Chris' tools
• Garage Sale items
• Paint

You have absolutely no idea how good this makes me feel. I still feel like our garage looks ugly, but at least I can go out there and not want to pull my hair out now. It is a great feeling. Chris spent a while hanging up some of his posters around my laundry "room" so that I wouldn't have to look at the ugly walls quite as much. He is so sweet.

Also a special thanks to my lovely friend, Rebecca, who allowed us to use her truck both Thursday and Saturday to haul off all of our junk! She is the best!

We hauled off the pool and all the trash in the garage, including two (yes TWO!) boxes and six (SIX!!) five gallon buckets of paint and chemicals. None of which were ours, the wonderful previous owners of our home left them there for us to dispose of. And no I did not throw away the paint and chemicals...I am saving them to dispose of properly when the Crud Cruiser comes out to the EM cleanup this weekend.

The evening was rounded out with wonderful dinner and dessert with Connie and the girls. We love them so much! Connie made homemade ice cream and Jules fascinated us all with her beautiful dancing abilities (oh how I wish I had not forgotten my camera).

In conclusion I would like to say it feels great to have a clean garage and I hope that I may have inspired some of you to do the same if necessary. Happy Spring Cleaning to you all!

I would post pictures, but I am not sure if I want to expose the clean ugliness of my garage.