NEVER lend your belongings...not even to family

I apologize, but this is going to end up being a LONG story. As some of you know, I thoroughly enjoyed reading the Twilight series of books. Well, for the longest time I wasn't able to read the fourth book because the libraries were always out of copies of it and I couldn't afford to buy my own copy. My daughters knew how very badly I wanted to read the book, so they did yard work for my parents to earn enough money to buy the book for me as a Christmas gift. They were so excited and proud to present me with this gift on Christmas morning that they INSISTED on giving it to me before anyone else was allowed to open their gifts (my siblings and I gather with our families for gift opening at my parents' house). I was happy to receive the book, but what made me even more happy was the look on my daughters' faces as they saw how excited I was to receive it.

Fast forward to the beginning of February. One of the Clydesdales at my sister's house had a foal, so my daughters and I went up for the day. I took the book with me. I had already read it, but I wanted to read it a second time. We ended up staying quite a bit longer than planned, because the baby horse was having a rough time, so I helped out with tube feeding, medicating, and encouraging her to get up and walk around. While we were there, my niece commented that she had not yet gotten to read the book and asked if she could borrow it. I agreed, as long as she PROMISED to take good care of it. She swore to me that she would keep it in the same pristine condition it was in (it was in almost brand-new condition). I kept the dust jacket at home so it wouldn't get torn.

Now fast forward to yesterday. My brother-in-law's b-day is next weekend, but my mother will be in Ohio, so we all got together at my sister and brother-in-law's house for his birthday dinner yesterday evening. Several times my daughters and I asked my niece for my book and she kept trying to get me to allow her to keep it until Easter, because she was almost done reading it for the sixth time. I told her I really wanted to have the book back, because I had only gotten to read it one time and it was a Christmas gift from my kids. Finally, as we were about to leave, I told her I needed her to give me the book. She reached under their coffee table (about a 3-inch space) and pulled out a book with the dust jacket on it from the third book in the series. She took off the dust jacket and handed me the book, saying "Remember, you told me you knew it was like this when you dropped it off." HUH??? Here's what my book now looks like:

The spine is broken and the cover is peeling off:




The pages are badly damaged and MOLDY!!!


Look closely - can you tell where they "tried" to clean it up with either White-Out or some kind of bleach cleaner?

More of the damage to the spine. Now, to be truthful, this area of the spine had a TINY tear in it when I loaned the book to my niece. However, the tear was NOT this bad.

My book now looks like it's more than 20 years old!!! It has obviously been dropped in water. The spine is broken, the hard cover is peeling off in several places, and the ENTIRE exposed edge of the pages is warped and MOLDY! To top it off, it appears that they TRIED to clean it with something (there are white streaks, as if they tried to use some kind of bleach cleaner on it). I was getting frustrated, but then I REALLY lost it when my sister even chimed in saying that the book was in such deplorable condition when I "dropped it off"!!! WHAT?!?!?! I had been there doing them a favor, helping with the sick baby horse when my niece ASKED if she could borrow the book!! No WONDER she wanted to keep it until Easter! She was trying to buy time to go get a replacement copy. Okay, fine...it's just a book...but it was more than that. It was a Christmas gift from my kids that they worked HARD to earn. Now it's trash. The least my sister and niece could have done is own up to accidentally ruining it and offered to buy a new one, right?

What can I do? I can't afford to replace the book and my daughters are devastated. Theresa cried herself to sleep last night. Thanks a lot, dear sister and niece.

~Twilight

More Sadness

Dearest Family and Friends,

We had another sad morning today. Theresa was one of the first to get up and, upon entering the living room, she discovered that Mulgarath, the young raven we rescued last summer, had died sometime during the night. As we had only had Mulgarath for about 7-8 months, the loss isn't as painful as when O.B. passed away, but it's still sad. I think Theresa's the most devastated by it, possibly because she's the one who discovered him. I explained to her that sometimes mama birds will push their babies out of their nests because there is something wrong with them. Perhaps this is why Mulgarath was out of his nest when he shouldn't have been (we found him as a very young bird, not yet able to fly). I told Theresa that possibly something was just not right with him inside and his Mama knew that, but since we found him, we were able to give him a few more months of life than he would have had in the natural world. He brought something special into our house, so we will miss him very much. It's a nice mental image, though - him and O.B. flying around at the Rainbow Bridge together...happy, healthy, and FREE!

~Twilight

All Better!

Theresa had a followup visit with the surgeon this morning, 10 days after surgery to remove her appendix. Of course, that meant yet another long trip to the town where his office is, almost 1-1/2 hours from our home. Thankfully, though, the weather was cooperative this time! All we hit was a little bit of fog on the way there, but nothing to be worried about.

On the way there, as we were driving through the mountains, I glanced up at one of the hillsides and saw three deer grazing with some cattle! I quickly pointed them out to Theresa and she was able to see them before we passed them by. This was the first time she had ever seen deer in the wild, so it was really cool for her! As we were coming out of the mountains, we also saw a field of bright orange California Poppies mixed in with some lighter orange-yellow flowers and purple lupine flowers. It was SO beautiful!

We ended up getting to the surgeon's office almost an hour before our appointment time, but thankfully we didn't have to wait very long to see him. In fact, after we were done and we were driving out of the parking lot, I noticed that it was just barely our appointment time! The surgeon said everything looked good on the pathology report and that they got the stone out along with the appendix, so she shouldn't have any further troubles from it. He said her incisions were just about completely healed and even commented that her belly button was one of the best belly buttons he'd seen in a long time LOL. For those of you unfamiliar with laparoscopic appendectomies, they make an incision inside the belly button, which they insert a camera through. Then they make a much smaller incision almost directly over top of the appendix, which they insert the surgical instruments through. Everything is done through these two tiny holes and the patient is left with just one tiny visible scar, because the second scar is hidden inside the belly button.

Since we got done early, Theresa asked if we could stop off at a Farmer's Market type place that's on the way home. They have a petting zoo with about 20 of these beautiful creatures:

Isn't he handsome!!!

They also have a kids' fun zone area where kids can play. In this area is a kiddie pool filled with kernels of dried corn...kind of like a sandbox, but MUCH easier to clean out of shoes, hair, and clothing! As you can see, Theresa had a blast in the corn-box:

She was actually trying to bury herself completely, except for her face, but she couldn't get enough corn on top of her. I still think she did a pretty good job, don't you?


After Theresa finished wearing herself out in the play area, we looked around in the store for a little while, sampling all the yummy fruits, nuts, and jams they had available for sale. Since I only had a few dollars, we were only able to treat ourselves to a giant chocolate chip cookie, which we shared on the way home. Overall, it was a good day!

Thanks again to everyone who prayed for Theresa's safe surgery and quick recovery! She's back to her normal ornery self, driving me and her sister nuts and running and playing just like she did before her surgery.

God bless!

~Twilight

Stones in the appendix? Yep, it can happen!

My goodness! I have certainly been neglecting this blog, haven't I? To any of you who might check it on a regular basis, I do apologize.

As most of you know, Theresa came to me about 4 weeks ago complaining of pain in the lower right side of her abdomen. Of course, my mind leaped immediately to appendicits, so we went straight to the ER. They did blood work, urinalysis twice, and a CAT scan with IV and oral contrast. They told us that everything looked good...no appendicitis, no ovarian cysts, nothing at all appearing to be wrong. They said she could have had a very tiny kidney stone that she had passed or that it even could have been a virus. The next morning, Theresa woke up screaming that her side was hurting much worse, so back to the ER we went, where they stuck us in "The Annex", which is a building where they put the patients when they want to forget about them. I'm not exaggerating. We were there for almost 6 hours and all they did was a urinalysis (AGAIN). We saw a doctor when we first arrived and then didn't see so much as a nurse or medical assistant until I went asking what the heck was taking so long and they sent someone to discharge her. They still said everything was fine and she should take Motrin for the pain.

A couple of days later, Theresa seemed to be feeling better, so we figured the ER staff had been correct in assuming it had been a virus or a small kidney stone. However, when we went for a followup visit with her pediatrician and he obtained a copy of the CAT scan report, he said it showed an "appendicolith", or a stone in her appendix. He said he wanted to refer her to a surgeon, because often they will want to remove the appendix when there is a stone in it. The reason for this is because, if it is not removed, it can potentially cause a blockage, which in turn causes appendicitis and possibly a ruptured appendix.

We went last Friday (February 13, 2009) to see the surgeon and, sure enough, he scheduled her for surgery in his next "elective surgery" slot - this morning at 7:30 a.m.

The hospital and surgeon's office are on the opposite side of a mountain range from our home and a BIG snowstorm was due to blow through Monday afternoon and evening. Because of this, my parents offered to rent us a hotel room near the hospital so we could beat the storm over the mountains. We made it ahead of the bulk of the snow and spent the afternoon with my parents cruising the local mall and having dinner at our favorite fast food joint - Arby's. I had to call the hospital after 6 p.m. to find out what time we needed to arrive the next morning for Theresa's surgery. They said to be there at 5:30 a.m.!!! YIKES! I was SO glad we had ended up staying the night close to the hospital rather than trying to drive up there this morning. We would have needed to leave home no later than 4 a.m. to get there in time!

After returning to the motel Monday evening, Theresa mentioned she had a bad headache. She gets migraines occasionally, so I thought "Oh great!" I gave her a Tylenol, because that was all I was allowed to give her so close to surgery time. She promptly threw up the Tylenol along with everything she had eaten for dinner. I feel SO bad for the hotel housekeeping staff member that had to clean our room! Fortunately, she had thrown up in the bathroom and I was able to clean it up with the towels, but poor Housekeeping had to deal with those nasty towels. Theresa's migraine continued through the night and into the next morning, with her waking up at regular intervals with dry heaves because she had nothing left in her tummy to throw up. I felt so helpless, because all I could do for her was keep a cool cloth available for her to put over her face.

After we arrived, the nurse escorted us into the prep and holding area, where they got Theresa changed into a hospital gown (they close better in the back now!) and took her vital signs. OH NO! She had a temperature of 100.7, so now they were worried that maybe the surgeon would want to postpone the surgery. I mentioned that she had a migraine and also that she has always been very hot when she sleeps, ever since she was a baby. They started an IV and ran some fluids into her, which brought her temperature down a tiny bit, but not much. Thankfully, though, the surgeon felt the risk of leaving her appendix in there any longer was greater than the risk of doing surgery while she had a low-grade fever. FINALLY, after we had been there for almost two hours, they were able to give her some medication for pain and something to relax her (fentanyl and Versed). My parents and I followed her up to the second floor, where they directed us into a waiting room while she went into the OR.

Oh yes, I forgot to mention, my parents bought her a HUGE stuffed dog, which they gave her last night, and explained to her that it was to be used to cushion her tummy if she needed to cough after surgery. My father had his gallbladder removed several years ago and he remembered that they gave him a "Charlie pillow" for this very use, so that's why they bought her the dog. They told her it's name was "Charlie". The anesthesiologist was so nice. He let her take the stuffed dog into the OR with her and hold onto it until she was asleep. Then they made sure it was tucked right next to her when she woke up in Recovery.

The surgery took about 40-50 minutes and the surgeon came out to let us know everything went well and that Theresa was in Recovery. A little over an hour later, a medical assistant came out to let me know I could go in to see Theresa. Just as I was getting into the holding area outside of Recovery, a nurse was handing Theresa an orange Popsicle. Poor baby, she would take a little lick of it and then start to fall asleep, and then kind of jolt awake and take another little lick. I finally told her she could bite it if she wanted to, so she took a couple bites and then said she was done. The nurse came in and said I could help Theresa get dressed and then she could be discharged! WOW! That was fast!! We had gone shopping on Sunday for some new extra-big jammies for her to wear after her surgery so she wouldn't have anything pushing too tightly on her tummy. She picked a cute pair of High School Musical pajamas that were black with different shades of pink and a picture of the main cast members on the shirt. I helped her into her new "going home outfit", noticing that she had only two small incisions...so small that they are covered up by regular Band-Aids. After she was all dressed and had her jacket on, they brought a wheelchair to take her out to the car. She slept most of the way home, waking up only long enough to ask me "Where are we?" two or three times. Because I needed to fill a prescription for her pain medication and go pick up Michaela at her friend's house, we went to my parents' house for a while, so Theresa could just rest while I did the necessary errands. We got home at about 5:00 this evening and she immediately went to bed. I don't think she's going to be bouncing off the walls for a few days!

I want to thank everyone for your wonderful thoughts and all your prayers for Theresa's safe surgery. Please continue to pray that she will have a swift recovery and be back to her normal self quickly.

God Bless!!

~Twilight

Black Friday Tragedy

They call it Black Friday. Well, today that name took on a whole new meaning. Three minutes after the Valley Stream, NY, WalMart opened it's doors this morning, chaos reined. No, I don't mean the chaos of shoppers rushing for the best deals in town. I mean people getting injured...and one man DYING! In the rush to get to ridiculously small quantities of low-priced items available for only a few hours, people knocked fellow shoppers to the ground and caused a 34-year-old TEMPORARY employee to die. Wow, now that's what I call "the Holiday Spirit".

Are you horrified yet? Well, wait...it gets better! After the incident, the store closed its doors to incoming shoppers. But, what about the customers already inside? Well, they were allowed to continue their shopping, make their purchases, and then were escorted out of the store! WHAT?!?!? People were getting injured and even DYING, and the store continued to conduct business?!?!? I have been a loyal WalMart customer for more years than I can remember, but I refuse to continue to be loyal to a corporation that places profits higher than someone's life on their list of priorities.

I sent WalMart's corporate office a nasty e-mail this morning, explaining to them that I understand that news stories can get things wrong, but the basic facts in this story are the same. I told them that I was disgusted at the way the store handled the situation and that I would no longer be a WalMart customer, but would take my business to Target from now on. I demanded that they do NOT reply with the canned "We are very sorry for this tragedy" bullshit they always spout off with whenever something terrible happens. I told them that their Valley Stream store's actions this morning spoke MUCH louder than words ever could.

If you are interested in sending WalMart's corporate office a message regarding your thoughts and feelings about this morning's tragedy, here is a link to their feedback web site:

http://walmartstores.com/contactus/feedback.aspx

Have a blessed day,

Keri

Lifehouse "Everything" Skit

This skit is one of the most powerful dramatizations I have ever seen of the love and protection God provides to us. I wanted to share it with you all. For more amazing videos, visit http://www.godtube.com/ - the Christian answer to YouTube.

Murphy's Law?

I was SO ready to throw in the towel during the last few days. On Sunday, I had dinner cooking in the kitchen and had just thrown a load of laundry in the washing machine. The girls were playing a game in the dining area, being kind to one another for once, and I was sitting here at my computer working away. I suddenly realized the sound of water running into the machine was much louder than it should have been. As there is a wall between my desk and the area of the house where the washing machine is, I asked the girls if they could hear water running somewhere. They both sort of laughed and said, "DUH! It's the washing machine!" I told them that I realized that, but it sounded like the water was pouring into the machine funny. They just kept laughing until I told them it wasn't funny, because I needed to know if we were getting flooded. Suddenly the laughter stopped and they started shrieking, "The whole kitchen's flooded!!" I raced into the kitchen to discover that the washing machine had not stopped filling, so it was overflowing all over the floor. Ordinarily, this kind of thing would just be a nuisance and a mess to clean up, but we live in a mobile home. Mobile homes have pressed wood underneath the carpeting or linoleum...NOT a concrete foundation! After switching off the washing machine, we quickly grabbed the closest thing available to sop up all the water - the girls' blankets, which they had been sitting on while playing their game. When I called my dad for advice, he asked if I had a ShopVac. YES!! I DO!! We used that to suck up most of the water, but the carpet in the hallway was still extremely wet, so I set a fan to blow down the hallway on high. It took three days to dry it out and I am praying that the wood underneath isn't damaged so badly that one of these days we will end up falling through.

The next day, my dad came over to look at the washing machine and try to figure out what was wrong with it. While testing it out, he noticed that water was also leaking out of the bottom of the machine. NOT a good sign! Apparently, the water level regulator has gone bad, but also the seal at the bottom of the washtub is leaking. SO, it would not be cost effective to try to repair this washing machine. Two kids and no washing machine?!?! YIKES!! Fortunately, I was able to go to my parents' house the next day and wash the clothes that had been in the washer as well as washing the girls' blankets. I still had to figure out how I was going to afford a new washing machine, though.

Also on Monday, I noticed that my cell phone wasn't working properly. I rely on my cell phone for most of my telephone communications, as I only have very basic phone service on my landline. Being without my cell phone is not a good thing. It appeared that something was not right with the settings on the phone, because all of the functions were working properly EXCEPT text messaging and making phone calls. Text messages simply would not go through and when I attempted to make a phone call, I would either get a message that said "Emergency calls only" or the phone would appear to be dialing the number, but would disconnect the call before it started ringing. When I went back to my parents' house to collect our clean laundry on Monday evening, I put my SIM card into my dad's phone and it worked perfectly. Oh great. That meant the problem was with my phone and I would probably have to get a new one. I can't afford a new one! Thankfully, I do have an older phone that I can use, but I would still need to figure out how to purchase a new charger for it...not an easy thing to do when you have less than $1.00 in your pocket.

Things have a way of working out for the best when you least expect it, though. I was talking with a friend on Tuesday about my washing machine breaking and the fact that I couldn't afford a new one. She mentioned that she and her fiancee have a washing machine they are not using and that I could have it! Also on Tuesday, I went to the AT&T store to find out if there was anything that could be done to salvage my phone and discovered that they were having intermittent network outages in my area. WHAT??? I had spent 45 minutes on the phone with Customer Care, during which time they told me there were NOT any outages in my area! The salesperson at the AT&T store told me that she had been hearing that from customers that lived in my area all day long and had reported it to upper management at Customer Care. All's well that ends well, and the service seems to be working fine now.

So, as I breathe a huge sigh of relief at my two problems getting resolved and go make myself a cup of coffee, I wish you all a happy and healthy day.

God bless,

~Keri