Seanna (n. shaw-nuh)

Life is better with this guy in it

Here he is dancing. 

Man cooks chicken:

And a classic that never seems to get old:

More Cowbell

He has to be one of the more fascinating humans currently populating the planet, yes?  I think the Twitter stuff is my current favorite.  It seems to be a sort of Walkenesque distillation.  At one point he calls some of the people who leave Twitter comments "batsh*t crazy."  Hahahahaha.

On the Paige Front:  She is better but still in pain.  We are hoping today is a better day for her.  Keeping her pretty well medicated, which makes her spacy and disconnected and well, weird.  Poor thing.  We go back to the doc Thursday a.m. and I think they are going to remove the splint/cast, check her surgical sites, and put on a new cast.  That sounds like an event for which we should probably dope her up. 

So the hospital is nice...

So we are here in the hospital room.  Paige has to spend the night, but they think they are going to release her tomorrow.  She is doing pretty well.  The room currently has eight people in it, plus Paige.  We could probably hold a few more.  Really, really nice room.  They are all brand new. 

I think the plan is for me to stay here tonight. All the rooms have couches that turn into beds.  There are also little pods on each floor where visitors can get comfortable.  AND they obviously have wifi, also cool!

Look who made it back from NYC!

Update on Paige: Surgery is on for tomorrow

Hi!  I figured I can call her by name since only nice people read my blog, right?  Right!  Anyway, the head anesthesiologist called this morning.  It has been my experience that anesthesiologists are often worried about little things that you didn't think were that important.  That's the case this time.  He read in her history about some syncopal (fainting) episodes she has had over the past few years, and so he wants to put in an arterial catheter to monitor her blood pressure with each heartbeat rather than that cuff they usually use that automatically puffs up every few minutes or so.  She has had the episodes checked out at Vanderbilt and the pediatric cardiology docs actually did not think it was heart related, but this doc seems to think it is and had a big long explanation of what he thinks happens.  Suffice it to say that she's getting the arterial catheter and I'm reassured by their thoroughness.  When she had her tonsils removed last year, it was not nearly as big a deal as it seems to be this time.  I guess they only have to keep them under for a short while for the tonsillectomy but this will be a longer surgery.  Poor thing!  Thanks so much for all the prayers and good wishes and thoughts.  She will probably get on here tonight and read my blog again, so I'm sure it will make her feel nice to read all the comments you guys left!

She had a much better night last night.  No screaming, sobbing, groaning.  Right now she is sleeping.  I'm sure she's still exhausted.  Her baseline pain level is 3-4.  That can't be too much fun.  It's better than the 7-8 (with spikes to the max level, I'm sure) she had the other night, though. 

I think we are all set for tomorrow.  I have to work on site today, and then tomorrow is my regular day off anyway.  We'll just need to snag a wheelchair at the entrance to the hospital and we'll be as mobile as we possibly can be.  We wheeled that child all over the place yesterday, even outside the hospital and across to the orthopedist's office.  Very helpful (except for the bumps, ouch).  She slept in it on and off for 5 hours.  Sleep = no screaming = VERY GOOD.   I'll try to update when I can.

P likes to break things during fall and spring breaks

Last fall break, she broke this.  The fall break before that, she broke her tonsils, so they had to be removed.  It's spring break this week and next, and she managed to outdo herself, I think.  She broke three things.  Three bones in her leg and ankle.  Surgery is scheduled for Friday afternoon.  Rods and plates and screws.  Yup.  Three bones.  She was hiking at Fall Creek Falls and slipped on a rock.  It took them over an hour to get her to a place where she could be evacuated out.  They had to basically carry her for almost 2 miles, up nearly vertical rock faces and across steep trails.  Her boyfriend, her sister, and her sister's boyfriend were pretty much heroes.  You should be glad, reading this, that there are good kids out there getting ready to become adults.  There was also a Good Samaritan who stepped in and helped take care of my child.  And a tiny little ER in a tiny little county hospital, where the doctor sat on one of the chairs in her room in the ER for more than 30 minutes and talked to her, and us, and took direction from the Army nurse who was in charge of things.  It was bad, but it was also very good to see these good things come from the bad.

We have a lot of pain pills to cope with what must be very terrible pain.  She was up all night, screaming and crying and groaning.  Horrible.  As long as the anesthesiologists clear her for surgery (she has some heart issues), Friday is the day.

Yay! It's Monday!!

I have been off since Friday morning and don't have to work again until tomorrow evening, yay!  Well just my part-time thing.  The washing machine repairman is here to replace a faulty part FINALLY.  The thing only broke in JANUARY.  We were 24 hours away from the warranty people/retailer giving us a new washer but the repair guy called and miraculously had the part that was apparently needed.  Now, if it doesn't fix the problem?  New washer.   but hopefully it will, and then hopefully it will work for a good 10+ more years.  Figure the odds, though, with the way it's been going.... (odds = not good).

We were in Atlanta until yesterday sometime.  I will post photos but two lucky girls got to see Elton John and Billy Joel on Saturday night.  Even though I had informed them that they had fab seats, they still called after they reached the seats to tell me how fantastic the seats were.  Yeah...anyway.  Didn't feel right about using the tickets for my fab husband and me, so some 16-year-olds got to see BJ and EJ.  Apparently BJ was favored by one and possibly EJ was favored by the other, who was amazed that she got to hear Candle in the Wind live.  We also made our customary Atlanta Ikea pilgrimage, but this time I spent less than half the amount I spent last time.  Yay!  We got this new system for the laundry room.  I hope it works.  We're all about the laundry now that we actually have something to do it in, right?

This morning started early with a 6:30 wake-up call for our little Austrian, who is on her way to Manhattan as I write this.  She got all ready last night and had lots of black and gray things to wear.  She should fit right in.  She will be back on Friday.  The other two 16-year-olds are currently at track practice.  I have to call the vet before noon and then do my part-time thing and hopefully conclude the business part of my Monday fairly early and get to the fun stuff.  I bought some of those DVD boxes at Ikea Like these, hope I can fit 2 more in there and then some other, similar, boxes for my little studio.  Also some DVD/Wii boxes for the Cave upstairs.  And 3 square photo frames to collect dust for a few years until I finally put something in them.  And some cool jars and canisters.  I do love containers.  Ikea is container heaven, is it not?

Oooh the washer guy seems to be wrapping it up.  Gotta run.  I CAN DO LAUNDRY??!?!?!  Hey.  That's not supposed to be a thrill.

I did not see a pig fly today

But what I did see was so cool that I didn't even know I should put it on my list to hope to see one day. 

I saw

A pig

head-butting

A cow.

Yes, I did.  I really did.  I saw a pig head-butting a cow and they both knew what they were doing.  The cow was mostly the buttee but there was a bit of head-down forward motion on her part, too.  

I'm sorry you missed it.  I really am.  I'm sorry the world missed it, because it was remarkable and I clapped.  I clapped even though I was driving at the time.

You would have, too.

Expected high temp today: 80 degrees

That is an abomination.  It is not even spring yet.  Fortunately, things are supposed to cool off after today.  That's more like it. 

I have an update on Steve from my last post.  He was in a bad motorcycle accident and was airlifted to Erlanger in Chattanooga last week.  He is still in the hospital, having had several surgeries, but he is doing better. I think my daughter and her boyfriend are going to visit him tomorrow night, so I should have more info then.  Poor guy is having a very rough time, as is his family, but I think he is more in recovery mode now than survival mode, which is a great thing in the big picture. 

So I thought I was done going on site for a while but it turns out I have probably four weeks of it ahead of me.  I will be there Tuesdays-Thursdays to train a new lady. Then there will be another new one after that, hopefully soon after that because we are BUSY. 

I do, however, have a few days off next week.  Yay!  Looking forward to those.  We are also still scheduled to go to Atlanta for the Face-to-Face concert on Saturday  night.  Looking forward to that, too. 

I don't think I mentioned it, but my little kitty, Sam, got out weekend before last and was gone for TWO WHOLE DAYS.  It was somewhat traumatizing because he is my little shadow and follows me around everywhere, day and night.  In fact, he just moseyed on over and settled down for a nap on my foot just now.  Anyway, he somehow got out on a Friday evening and then on Sunday night at about midnight, he showed back up, yowling and freaked out.  He would not let me out of his sight for about 2 days after that but now he is back to normal and just is my little shadow kitty and not my little velcro kitty.  I think he got beaten up a little while he was gone, poor thing.

On the papercrafting, cardmaking, scrapbooking front:  I signed back up for monthly card swaps, so I should have one to show pretty soon.  This month's theme is a great one:  CIRCLES.  I do have lots of those.  That also means I can use any sentiment/greeting I want, yay!  Probably Birthday or Thank You.  Can't get enough of those.  Or Get Well Soon. 

I need to post a few photos, hmmm.  Let's see what I've taken lately.  How about one from The Austrian's basketball tournament?  I can't remember if I've mentioned this but her basketball team has not lost a game in more than TWO YEARS, so we always look forward to watching them soundly thrash the other team when we go to her games.  The score week before last:  40-10 (or was it 30-10?  Ha, what's the difference?).  Last week?  I think it was 32-14.  They are not nail biters, let's just put it that way.  I think I took 5 photos to get this one:

Actually, there is another one that I liked better but this one almost obscures some of her last name so let's go with this one  for blog purposes since I'm not so good with the photoshop blurring thing.

What about this?  This was in Target a few weeks ago.  B and C and I went to a scrapbook store first (Hi to C's parents--you will no doubt see that visit on your upcoming credit card statement but if it helps, I spent more than C did...) and this crew had to wait about an hour for us to meet them at Target.  This is what greeted us when we walked in:

One of these people had a hard time sticking to the program, didn't she?

I guess that's it from here on the hilltop for now.  OH WAIT.  Except that I want to give a special shout out to Miss JOSEPHINE.  There are lots of photos of our home and family, and also the town and maybe even the school.  Look back through and you will find them!!  Looking forward to meeting you this summer!

What day is it, anyway?

Is it Thursday?  I think it's Thursday.  I have been having a weird week.  Last night I was just sitting down to work when P's boyfriend's stepmom called.  His dad was in a very serious accident yesterday and had to be airlifted to Erlanger Medical Center in Chattanooga.  She asked that I go get C at school in Knoxville and drive him down there to be with the family.  So that's what P & I did.  I think we were back by midnight and then I had to try to work, so I called it a night finally at 5:00 a.m.  I've been up for a while and now I have to do my part-time thing and try to put myself back in order.  C's dad is still in pretty rough shape but the last I heard, they were pretty confident he was going to make it.  He was in surgery last night when we left and was still in surgery when P went to bed last night.  Poor guy.  He's going to have a long rehabilitation with all of the injuries he has.  Lots of broken bones and some internal injuries as well, but apparently no head injuries, which is a blessing.  I'm sure the family would appreciate any prayers or good thoughts you could offer.  C's dad's name is Steve.

It's not every day you go to a 90th Birthday Party!

First, the birthday lady, talking to B.  Her name is Rubye.  Doesn't she look beautiful in her red outfit and hat?

I love her corsage, too.  Delightful!

Here she is with Uncle Steve (US):

I love that shot of her with Steve!

It was quite a hotspot yesterday afternoon at the Baptist Healthcare Center, let me tell you.  For some inexplicable reason there was wet paint everywhere and one of the children defaced her new North Face jacket by rubbing up against it, but other than that, no mishaps that I could identify.

 

How about a little Chicken Dance?

This is Lily.  Lily runs her own show.  Lily was not that impressed with Beth.  Can you guess how Beth got her to agree to pose for some photos with her?  "Hey, Lily.  Can we take some pictures of you?  No?  OK, but you can make any face you want."

Where had I seen that face before? Ohhhh.  That's right, here:

Oh, come on.  You know you like my photo best, people.  This was right before Lily's little brother accidentally booted her right in the chops.  Ooops!  It was great to see everybody--there are sure a lot more little ones in the family than the last time I was at a big get-together! 

Now, those are two serious smiles, one twinkling eye almost-grin and a cutie girl!!

I have more photos as always, but I have been trying to get this posted since Sunday, so it's time to let it go, don't you think?  Sorry about that--I know a few people were waiting for photos of the event!