I made this plaque this evening. We got this rub-on transfer sheets at work and I've been itchin to try them! I am VERY pleased with how it turned out! The picture is terrible - I took with my cell phone (sorry dav, my cell phone pics suck! LOL!) We've been wanting to do a tile for Buster for a while now, to put in the back yard! Carl suggested we see if it would work to do a picture! As you can see it did. Little Davis is the company that puts out the blank rub-on sheets and you can create you're own rub-ons! I LOVE it! I am anxious to do more projects with it!

My mom and Michelle, Annabelle and Gabe are on their way here, they should be here tomorrow. I wanted to show this really before it got crazy this week! I bought the tiles at Home Depot. They were only about $.49 for each. I was really excited the photo worked and I could rub it on to. I might have to invest in the Digi-Decal Rub-Ons!

The pool is now open for the season!! It was broken in this week with the cousins! It's cold when you first get in - then after that it's not bad at all! I even jumped in it myself the 2nd day they were over swimming. I gave them a house key so they could come over during the day while I'm at work.

Carl started therapy with Tom today. He was my therapist for many many months! I didn't even go with him. He even filled out his own paper work. He said it was good. Not a lot of pain, discomfort but not pain. In fact he hasn't taken a pain pill yet today. I told him it's going to get a lot better. And it will be a different pain but not a bad pain, just the muscles learning how to do things over again.

I got a lot accomplished the last few days. I have been doing lots more yard work. I have found the best time to do it is about a 1/2 hr before the sunsets. Then I have to stop when it gets dark, which is good cause I'm tired by then. There are some things I still can't do with my knees but like I told Carl it makes a world of difference in the pain.

We think Maggie might have some allergies. She has a vet appt next week. She keeps rubbing her nose in the carpet. Today she did it till it was raw, I kept trying to distract her, so I think it might be something's bugging her. She goes in on Friday. She's been very energetic and playful. Even Bilko is starting to warm up to her. It's just a matter of time before he's sleeping next to her.

Other than that, it's been really long week. I had to work 6 days this week to make up for some time I took off last week. My mom called this evening and said that her and Michelle, Annabelle and Gabe are going to drive down in the morning!! YEAH! I'm excited for that! So it will be another fun week!

I have much more to post but it will have to wait! I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter! Lots of chocolates, eggs, spiritual stuff, family stuff and more. We have the cousins in town! They went swimming today! Can you believe it?! I don't have many pictures yet but I did get some of the neice and nephews in Utah. I miss ya all! Want to give a shout out to my sister Kait- in Scotland. I spoke to her this morning, she had just landed in London! Crazy girl answers her cell phone! I was just going to leave her a message, but it was fun to talk for a minute! She's going to be over there for few months! Have a blast Kait!! The kids are so cute at Easter! Love all of it! It was fun weekend. We did even make it to church, Carl in a sling and all!

1. Carl's allergic to latex. The bleeding and the yellow discharge from his shoulder was normal. The Dr said sometimes wounds do that a week or so after surgery. But the redness and bumps are an allergic reaction to the band-aides we had over the gauze. Carl did mention that his arms get red bumps when they did his blood and it itches when they put that band-aide over it.

2. I learned how to shift the car. Carl has started driving again but he has trouble shifting. He has to stretch across, so if I'm in the car - I do it for him! I've gotten better at it. Maybe it will help me get more motivated to drive!

3. I also learned how to pump gas. Yes, I've done it before but it's been a long time and it's not something I do very often or not often enough. I know these little things seem silly!

4. I put together a push mower and mowed the front and back lawn today. It was a bit of a pain to assemble the lawn mower but once I got it together I was pretty happy with how it worked. Why a push mower and not an electric one? We have a friend that comes and does it but they are out of town for the Spring Break so this is our back up. And we couldn't find one for under $300!!

5.It's amazing the things you can't do without using your other hand. With knee surgery like mine, I just couldn't walk. With Carls, he's had to relearn how to do most simple tasks with hand.

I stole this from Dawn! I've wanted to do more of these!
What I was doing 10 years ago:
I was 25. Living in Salt Lake City, Utah working for Bayer Diabetic Meters. Carl and I had only been married a few years. We might have had our first house then. I don't remember the exact year.

Five things on my To Do List today:
1. Call Carls Dr to check bleeding on his shoulder
2. depending on what the DR says go to work
3. finish some cards
4. weed the backyard after work
5. buy plastic Easter Eggs for hunt for the kids tomorrow

Snacks I enjoy:
honey Chex cereal just plain. Oreos. (not much of a snacker)

Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
Take a REALLY REALLY LONG vacation.
Buy a vacation home on the Oregon Coast.
Give some to family for helping us out over the years
Buy both parents a house, so they wouldn't have payments anymore.
Put TONS of it into secured accounts

Three of my bad habits:
1. Having to know what the plan is ... I used to be really good at flying by the seat of my
pants. I must be getting old!
2. Biting my nails when I'm nervous. I don't have any left.
3. Being to scared to drive and being stubborn about it.

Five places I have lived:
1. Salt Lake City, Utah
2. Mesa, Arizona (back twice)
3. Tucson, Arizona (very briefly)
4. Most of Washington State Pennisula
5.. Anehiem, California ( just spent several summers there)

Five jobs I've had:
1. a family owned deli in Salt Lake-my first job! loved it!)
2. Mervyns -varies positions including managment, that was probably my longest job next to where I am now.
3. Bayer -trouble shooting Diabetic meters, did that for a few years, liked it for the most part worked late nights while Carl was in school.
4. JC Penneys Photography- probably my shortest lasting job. I decided I'm not a kids person!
5.ZCMI - now owned by Macys
(mostly retail and varies levels of managment and the reason my knees don't work anymore)

Current position:
Scrapbook Barn -

no tagging. if you want to play along, consider yourself tagged. and let me know so i can check out your answers!

and other stuff...

Well, he did it! He went to work today! I think he wanted to prove to himself that he could do it. He had trouble doing a few things, getting dressed. But he managed. In the am he did okay. But towards the afternoon he struggled with the pain. The Ibprofren 800 just wasn't cutting it like he thought and hoped. He'll stay home tomorrow and just take it one day at a time. I assured him that I have been there and I fully understand his frustration. It's nice because I have been there at the same time I don't like seeing him in the pain he's in - I know what that feels like too.

Maggie has calmed down now that she sees him up and moving around. She hasn't tried to jump on him or anything. Even Bilko hasn't tried to jump on the bed. Did I mention Maggie ate two pairs of my shoes?! Now it's my socks, she seems to like!! It's not Carls JUST mine!! Oh boy!

Tomorrow I am going shopping with Inger and Holly. We're planning Easter. Jared and Rachel and the kids are coming down to stay for a week and Julie is coming too. (cousins) so Julie and Zane are going to stay at our house and Jared and Rachel and the kids will stay with Inger and Holly. But they will all come over to swim. They are from Idaho, so it will be warm enough for them to swim. It will be nice that somone can finally use the pool!! We are also going to have a big Easter Egg hunt in the backyard! That will be fun! Especially with Maggie! I hope she doesn't find them all!

poor guy...

it's been a rough couple of days. The first few days are difficult after any surgery. We talked to the nurse yesterday. Hopefully we can clean his arm up today. He was really naseuated this morning and threw up a few times. I am glad I took the day off. I was planning on working today depending on his condition. He can't get up by himself. Janet came to stay yesterday to help but she can't lift him up. Last night he did sleep most of the night and we got the meds figured out. But they make him really sick to his stomach.I think the trick is not to let them wear off.

That's about all that's going on right now. Except that Maggie is having fits. She gets really hyper and nervous in the morning if she can't see him. We've had to have her sleep in the living room and had to block off the bedroom, because she wants to jump on the bed.In the morning she seems to be really nervous, then she calms down, but the morning she ate through one of my tennis shoes. Fortunately it wasn't one of my good ones and my slip on sandals. It just seems to be my stuff she's chewing on. So maybe she thinks I did this to Carl! Ha Ha! So I guess I get to go buy new shoes!

update...

we checked Carl in at 6am this morning. It went very well. It only took about 45mins. It took him longer to wake up. He was a little out of it with the all the antistetics? (SP!?) however ya spell that word. It always makes ya a little sick to your stomach - it did him too. He'll probably sleep for a a few days. Shoulders are painful surgeries. The cool thing is they gave him a medicine pack that is attatched to him through an cathedere pump.He only has to take one pill. He also get a new treatment. It's called "game ready". It's a wrap that produces cold like an ice wrap and pressure.
He will be in a sling for two weeks at least. The medicine pouch will stay on for three days. The ice wrap he can take on and off, but he has to have it on 24/7 for the first three days. It's a new treatment that they use for sports patients and other surgeries. It's supposed to help the healing time and lessen the pain. He may be down for two weeks. We'll see how it goes.
Otherwise everythings okay and he will be on the road to recovery. I keep telling him that it is definately worth it. He'll feel much better soon.

already...

We got up early this morning, so Carl could go do his pre op stuff for surgery. He had to check in at 7:30. It went really well. His EKG looked good, no worries there. (there weren't any really). We did find out that he could take Tylonol but not Ibprofren or any muscle relaxers before the surgery. The nurse said it drives her crazy that dr's tell their patients not to take ANY medications 10 days before surgery. She said a lot of them really need the meds, like heart medicine or diabetics something like that and don't check with dr. So it's bad communication. But the dr's usually mean not to take any BLOOD thinners before surgery. Makes sense.

We had a nice weekend. I worked most of it. Including the Friday night Crop. So sleep was non exsistent this weekend. However, on Friday - I had an visit from a VERY old friend at work. Her name is Sharla Porter. I have known Sharla since we very first moved down here when I was 12. She was my Beehive advisor. We were very close and stayed close. In fact when I moved back up to Salt Lake- I would come down here every six months or so, I always had to stop in and see Sharla. I cross-stitched her something in her kitchen that says "Sharla's Kitchen" it's never moved!She says there still in the same house. Oh it was sooo good to see her. I got a little choked up. We just kept hugging. I guess she saw me at work a few days ago and I was leaving so she didn't get a chance to talk to me, and she wasn't really sure if it was me or not. She didn't know I had moved back. We talked for a long time. When she was 45 yrs old and started having morning sickness. She went to the dr they thought it was pre-menopause. She was really pregnant!! It was a miracle baby. That baby is now 16!!! I remember when she had it!! It made my whole weekend to see her. Diggin up my past is not fun - but there are some people that are very dear to me that helped me through an awful lot and I've kept in touch some of them off and on over the years. I have treaded cautiously in living here with how much of my past I want to dig up, but she is most definately one of them. At the same time it is wonderful to make some of those old connections again!

I took some pictures of the kids out in the backyard yesterday. I had a very nice relaxing day yesterday. I spent the morning cleaning the house and then the rest of the day hanging out with dogs. It's so nice outside. It's a little breezy- not too hot and beautiful skies!! There's nothing like March and April in Arizona!


(this is one of the MANY toys she's found from the previous owners who also had big dogs, she
has found most of them in the yard and LOVES them, she thinks we had them there for her!)

We'll let her think that! This is a bone that she will chew on for a couple day!

I did want to send our condolences out to Frank and Patrick Moreno, Franks wife died of terminal cancer the night before last. Frank and Patrick worked wonders to get us in this house and became good friends. I wanted them ot know they are in our thoughts and prayers. Our hearts hurt for them.

The End Of A Legend
It is official - it came straight from the horses mouth - so to speak. Brett Favre of the Green Bay Packers has retired and his football era has come to an end. He started football for me. Carl said he cried when John Stockton retired. At first I was very upset about it and a little in denial. They came so close. But after watching the ever so wise, Steve Young interview last night, I felt a little better and almost okay with it. He said something profound. He said Brett Favre did what most of them didn't do... He proved that he could come back and give it one more year ( meaning last year). He got this team back to where it needed to be and that most closer to where they want to be. It may be next year or the year after for Green Bay to see the Super Bowl, but they can get there. I am sad that it won't be with Favre, but he has his ring. He accomplished everything he set out to do and then some.
(the winning photo that will be missed!)

I have been watching Favre almost as long as he's been in Green Bay. 17yrs of a remarkable football - both the good and the bad and the ugly and the amazing. As Ted Thompson said -
..."It's his passion with which he played that made everyone a Brett Favre fan" Brett Favre said himsel f"If I felt like coming back -- and Deanna (Favre's wife) and I talked about this -- the only way for me to be successful would be to win a Super Bowl," Favre told ESPN. "To go to the Super Bowl and lose, would almost be worse than anything else. Anything less than a Super Bowl win would be unsuccessful." That I can be okay with.
Thank you to the NFL for putting a nice tribute for Exit of a Legend.
(one of my favorite pictures of Favre and Driver)

Breaking News...

Yes, I heard the rumors and the reports of Brett Favre. I won't believe it till I hear it straight from the horses mouth- so to speak. Not until it's official. Then I'll cry!

The Weekend

I am so glad it's the weekend! We had a fun night with Nils and Nancy here from Detroit. We had them over with the family last night for Carls BBQUE ribs. We hopefully will get a chance to wind down this weekend. We neeeeeed it! I know I also need to work on my blog. We are just hanging out at home and enjoying the warm weather and peace and quiet!!