Fun and Games

On Thursday, Gary and I both went back to work. No more lounging around the house together. It's quite sad.




One weekday last week, we both went to Meijer at 1:0o in the afternoon. Whenever I have a day off during the work week, I am always shocked to see how many people are out doing errands. I always wonder what kind of jobs they must have to have daytimes free, or wonder if they work at all. So what must people have thought about the two of us, dressed in sweats and old t-shirts, shopping at 1:00, buying three board games and six frozen pizzas?

We spent the beginning of this past week playing our newly-purchased Sorry, Trouble, and Connect Four games. Now we finally have some games at our house! The new Connect Four is so much fancier than the Connect Four from childhood. I liked that the checkers all stay inside the ring when you empty the board. Gary liked that the board wasn't as shaky. Does anyone have any favorite childhood games?

While I am happy to start the school year, I DO wish I could keep sleeping late and having the whole day to myself!

Next weekend, we have Abby's first birthday party, and the other three days of the long weekend, we are attacking the countertops and staining the cabinets! Yay!

10 Years

Friday night was my ten year reunion. Scary how old I am and how quickly time passes. I was quite surprised how many people were there that I COULD NOT remember for the life of me who they were. And of course our poorly planned renunion did not include nametags. Amazingly, I had quite a bit of fun. It was pretty funny how, at first, people were standing around in the same groups as in high school. Later, when a lot of people started to leave, the crowd mixed. It is a weird time for a reunion, because a few people are married with kids, a few people are married with no kids yet, a ton of people are single, and two people said they were divorced. I stayed until after 1:00 a.m. (WAY past my bedtime) and enjoyed talking with some old friends. I may even "get back together with" my high school best friend, with whom I stopped keeping in touch with after a few years of college.

Gary went with me, but ended up leaving for my parents' house because his feet couldn't take all the standing. He took this photo of his feet on Saturday morning. Another doctor's visit on Monday! He's getting sick of me babying him, but look at those incisions!!

Today is my dad's 58th birthday!! Happy birthday, Dad!! We're headed over to my parents' to go out to dinner.

Check out Angie's blog (college friend) later today for an exciting announcement.

Ratones con alas

The title is credited to Meredith, I think, and it means "mice with wings." We use this phrase to describe two things: seagulls and bats.


Now, no one tell Grandma Doris this, because my parents aren't, but my mom and dad had a bat get into the house the other night.


Mom was downstairs on the computer. She saw the bat flying around the basement. She swore. The bat flew upstairs. My dad, sleeping in the recliner, awoke to a bat swooping over his head and my mom shouting. My dad screamed.

Now, Angie, Meredith, and Carrie remember our own bat-in-the house experience in college. Our parents were full of wise advice like "Bats won't hurt you" and comments like, "It couldn't have been the size of an eagle." And some of them laughed! Imagine this guy flapping circles over YOUR head!

The tables were turned!! Here's how it went when my parents told me the story yesterday:

Parents: It was HUGE! It's wings were THIS far apart!!!
Me: It only looks bigger inside in your environment than outside in the night sky.
Parents: It was SO scary.
Me: It was more scared of you that you were of it.

Not so helpful, huh, mom and dad?? Dad played the role of Carrie. Carrie got our bat out by steering it out the front door with a broom--Dad used a tennis racket, covered in a garbage bag, just in case he squashed the bat, he wouldn't get guts on his tennis racket. I'm not sure if my mom screamed as much as Angie and I did, though. At one point, we wondered why our upstairs neighbors didn't call the police. Our whole saga inspired the sample memoir I wrote as a model for my students when they had to write a memoir of their own. The class laughed so hard. Maybe I'll make it a picture book!

Couch Potato

We are not doing much this week. Gary can't wait to get off the couch, and I have been busy with the end of the semester grad class work. He goes to the doctor on Monday the 13th and most likely will lose his stitches that day and be able to shower! He is dreaming of a three-hour-shower!!

We have a TON of veggies and fruit coming out of the garden. I went out to pick beans for dinner on Wednesday, and persuaded Gary to come ouside with me. Here's what we ended up picking. Keep in mind that Gary was the foreman and I was the picker.

Besides the beans, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, zucchini, and cantalope, you will notice that we have temporary countertops! Actually, it's the first layer (wood) and when Gary's back on his feet, we'll install the backer board and tile. Do you love the vinyl tablecloth that is currently protecting the untreated wood? It fits my big buffet card table and I thought it would be the perfect (vinyl) addition to a picnic.

When I went to Bath and Body Works to buy more handsoap, I learned that they no longer make our scent. Here is our new one. There have been quite a few jokes about the name, since I am friends with an Amber. Amber, your ears should be ringing!

It's hard to read, but the scent is Sensual Amber. Try the soap. You will like it!!!

Bilateral Bunionectomy with Double Osteotomy with Internal Screw and Staple Fixation

Sounds pretty scary, huh? When the surgical nurses asked Gary in pre-op for the millionth time what his name was and what procedure he was in for, he rattled that off with only one pause in it. You would of thought it was a test, and if he failed it, he would have to keep his painful bunions!

Gary's surgery went very well on Wednesday--thanks to everyone who called to check on him. Beaumont is quite the hospital. It was a pleasant experience for us both. Everyone was really nice and the procedures were quite seamless.

His surgery lasted for about 70 minutes and went very well. The doctor said that his bones cooperated very nicely. The doctor took some chunks out of the bones and put in a staple on the top pink bone and a screw on the bottom pink bone. Now Gary has titanium in both of his feet for the rest of his life, but it won't set off the metal detectors at airports.

I will admit that I was slightly nervous about Gary going under the anesthesia, but not as much as Gary thought I was. He was a riot waking up, though, very funny behavior and small pupils. As strange and doped-up as he was acting, the nurses asked him pretty quickly if he was ready to go home. Gary was DETERMINED to overcome the sleepy effects of the medicine that was still in his bloodstream and defy medical science. Fortunately, his reactions were still slow, he didn't answer, and I said he should stay for 15 more minutes. By then, he was back to his normal self and I wasn't afraid to take him home.


Gary says his feet hurt, but he is able to walk 5 minutes per hour. The painkiller seems to be doing its job. He is on an ice regimen, his feet are all wrapped up in bandages, and he has to wear some lovely surgical shoes for the next few weeks. He can't drive for at least a month and we get to have a temporary handicap pass. We'll see how long he will be off work--his note says 4-6 weeks!


We will see the first glimpse of his feet when we go to the doctor's office on Saturday morning. The doctor said it will be bruised, swollen, and pretty nasty looking. He says that a lot of patients don't even look that day. We both want to see them.


Just in case you were curious, if you Google "bunion" you will see some scary photos!