Are we exchanging cards this year?

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1982

 

Well, it's time for another anniversary.  Paul and I have been married for 26 years.  Can I just say... we were incredibly freaking young.. what were we thinking?  LOL.

 

 2005

Maybe we were inspired by the Robert Browning poem:

Grow old along with me!
The best is yet to be,
The last of life, for which the first was made:
Our times are in His hand
Who saith "A whole I planned,
Youth shows but half; trust God: see all, nor be afraid!"

So here we are.... older, hopefully wiser, definitely still happy.  Who could ask  for anything more?

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Tags: Anniversary,

The Blind Leading The Blind

...Or how one person should always carry a set of reading glasses.

 

Paul and I went out for dinner tonight. Now obviously by my subtitle, we use reading glasses.

Typically, I wear glasses to see (in general) and when I have to read something out in public, I lift up my glasses and bring the item much closer to my face.  When I am wearing contacts, I need to use reading glasses. Paul has excellent vision, except when he has to read something. Now that we are in our forties, he also needs reading glasses.

On Tuesday, I left my glasses on my bed. I couldn't see them (I'm that blind) and had forgotten them, so when clamoring up on my bed to put on my socks and shoes, I managed to smash them with my knee. Bent beyond repair. I've been wearing my contacts ever since... which is fine, except I can't read without reading glasses.

So, we go to our favorite pizza joint, Mellow Mushroom.  We are so used to their menus, neither of us thought about bringing along our reading glasses.  They had new menus tonight, and new items and I had to try to read all of this without benefit of my glasses, not being able to take out my contacts to read (without a wetting solution, they'll never go back in).  

Our server had to come around three times before we were finally able to decipher enough of the menu to be able to make selections. 

We've decided that we need to get another couple of pairs of reading glasses to keep in our cars at all times.

preconceived notions

I am struggling with some preconceived notions that I have about health care. We have been so incredibly lucky up to this point when it has come to Kendra's health care needs. We've had good, solid surgeons and pediatricians to help us along the way.

But Tricare (our insurance carrier) has changed the way business is done in medical health care.  Some of it, I am sure is just fine for the average patient.  But I think it's not so great for those of us with special needs members. 

In the past, no matter where we' ve been stationed, the Army has sent Kendra to WRAMC for her urology care when it's required revamping, surgery, etc.  The routine stuff can most definitely be handled by the local docs, but we've been so lucky to have "continuity of care" with her surgeries.  Each surgeon has had a "second" to pass the torch on to with respect to Kendra.

Now with tricare and the revamping, they are making us use a local surgeon for the next series of surgeries that Kendra needs (the ones that she postponed from last summer). Our surgeon, Dr. Cartwright, at WRAMC is totally ready to have us come to her next summer to take care of these surgeries... but the new "cost saving" attitudes of tricare insist that we try to find a local surgeon to do her next surgeries.

I've been trying to be fair and not freak out about all this. Today I started doing research on the urology surgeon they have referred us to.  He was trained in Columbia. He went to medical school in Columbia. Here is where my preconceptions are causing me to stumble. Are the medical schools there any good?  He did further "education" at the University of New Mexico Hospital.  Plus a few other places I've never heard of and not sure if they are even in the states.  Biased?  Yeup... when it comes to Kendra (or any of the kids) ... I am. 

Even Paul is asking what options we have (not many) if we are not happy with this doctor.  I'm going to call the 800 number tomorrow and discuss this with the rep.  On the plus side, I couldn't find  (nor could the site I used) any negative reports and/or law suits against this doctor.

Am I being too paranoid?   Comments, thoughts, viewpoints?

Thanks.

Tags: doctors, columbia, biases

The Highs and the Lows of it

This past weekend Kendra, Kim and I were in Las Vegas.  We went for a family wedding, but also managed to take in a Cirque Du Soleil performance at Treasure Island.

The weather was hot!  The wedding was in a very nice chapel, followed by a reception at a park. Did I mention the weather was hot!?  Kendra developed a heat headache during the afternoon.

I have pictures, I just haven't had them developed yet so I can post them here.  I have finally asked for a digital camera for my birthday (next month), so that I can post pictures much faster.

So, that was the high.. a great weekend with my daughters.

The low is that we are going to be finding a new home for Miley.  Bless her heart, she wants to be a good dog, but she keeps missing the mark.  And even that wouldn't be enough for us to want to get rid of her, she really has wormed her way into our hearts. And I know that with proper training (for us and her) she'd be a great dog.

Nope, the problem lies in the fact that Mac (the boy that wanted the dog) has developed allergies to her.  He is congested and wheezy all day. I was taken aback to discover this because we've had the cat forever and he isn't like this with the cat.... neither am I for that matter, but I have also been suffering with Miley in the house.  All in all, I find this development frustrating because I really did want this to work out. UGH.

I've contacted our lady at the pet rescue (we signed a contract that requires us to contact her first) to see how she would like to proceed.

 

Tags: allergies, Las Vegas, pet rescue

Kid doing me proud

 

I'm not exactly sure if I'm talented enough to make this work... but if it does work.. this is a video Kendra made for an english class.  All the photos shot in Baltimore (Baltimore Harbor to be specific) were shot by Kendra.

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All that and a bag of frozen groceries

Miley is nothing if not expressive.  She loves to chew toes and socks. She loves the cat, but the cat is not loving the dog. The cat is downright fierce when Miley is in the back yard looking through the window. Smokey takes these moments to register her serious unhappiness with the dog.  Smokey shadow boxes with Miley.  It's actually kind of funny. When Miley is inside.. the cat is as cool as a cucumber.. making sure there is always plenty of space between her and Miley... . but as soon as the dog is out of doors, Smokey is at the window, batting and hissing. 

In other news, I finally have an upright freezer. I've been wanting one of these things since we first got married.  My parents had a freezer while we were growing up (I think the big thing in the 70's was to buy half a  cow). When Paul and I got married, I had a few shopping trips early on when I forgot that I had to think about the space in the freezer (not much). Anyway, I sold a bunch of stuff on e-bay (homeschooling books, etc) and managed to make enough to buy my freezer.

The freezer we chose is one of the smaller uprights, but even at that I had to rearrange my kitchen (twice) and we had to figure out the best route to get the freezer in from the truck to the kitchen. That route ended up being in the front door down through the living room and around through the doorway between the dining roon and the kitchen.  It was convoluted, but it was the widest way.

and of course, I had to go shopping for freezer items.  I bought tons! It is so cool to be able to buy any frozen thing I want and know, absolutely know that it's gonna fit in the freezer.

Oh yeah... and this whole insane week (new dog, new freezer, new speeding ticket for Kendra) happened with Paul out of the net. He'll be home for the weekend and then he's off again on Monday for another week. June is looking to be more of the same (Paul gone all the time).

The girls and I are heading to Las Vegas next weekend for my niece's wedding. We'll be seeing a lot of family and we are trying to fit in a show(Cirque de Soleil). 

Tags: dogs and cats living together, freezer

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Miley has come to live with us.

Remember the little cutie we went to visit a week ago? Last time at bat  She has come to live with us.  She arrived this afternoon and she is slowly settling in.  She is very happy and lively, without being spastic.  She still naps a lot too. 

Smokey is keeping an eye on Miley and she's being reasonably friendly.  We are keeping a close eye on them. Miley is used to cats, but Smokey is most definitely not used to sharing her humans. 

I will post new pictures as soon as I can.  Miley has grown quite a bit since the pictures we saw on the rescue site.

Tags: dogs, cats

Adventures in Troy Land

Yesterday I met up with Kendra on the University campus to accomplish a few things.  First, we needed to find the right people to fix her transcript from SMC so she can sign up for her classes for next semester. Second, we were going to swing by to take a look at her room for next year so she could plan out her decor.  Finally, I was going to treat her to lunch.

Well... we wandered over to Smith Hall to talk with the head of the English Department to fix the transcript. No light on in the classroom, no office to be found.  Normally I try to stay out of Kendra's education issues.  I see her college years as something her dad should be helping her navigate (and up to now, he has.) So I wasn't clued in to exactly how we ended up in this hallway trying to figure out how to find this person.  I asked Kendra to give me the litany of how she got this name.  After hearing the whole thing, I said.."Let's go back to the Admin office and see if this is something they can deal with."

So.. off to the Admin office. We started back at the  beginning.  The young lady there directed us to a Mrs. McGaugh. What the problem is, is that Kendra's Comp I at SMC did not transfer as a Comp I class, and so she's being blocked from signing up for Comp II.  Mrs. McGaugh gave us the "straight poop" of what and who Kendra needed to see to fix the snafu.  (Fill out a substitution form, provide a copy of the class description from the class she had in Md, take both forms to her advisor, English Dept, and finally to the Dean of Education.) So... game plan is now correct and measurable.  Problem heading towards solution.

Then we went off to see her room for next year.  They are still in the process of building (they were supposed to be done last month), but promise us we'll be able to see the room by the end of next week (doubtful, looking at how much is yet to be done...and the number of workman on the project.).  So.. strike out there.

So, off to lunch we go.  Kendra wanted to eat at a place called Sante Fe Steakhouse.  I parked facing out to the road.  As I was getting out of my van, I noticed that the butt of the van was hanging out the back of the parking space AND I was a bit too close to one of the lines.  So I popped back in the van to re-park it... I had one leg hanging out the van and I'm moving it in this ackward postion.  LMAO... (I can laugh now, scared the sh-t out of me yesterday)... I couldn't find the brake pedal and the van (at about 5 miles an hour) pops over the low curb and starts heading towards the street and Kendra (she had moved to the front of the van to direct me)  She just stands there and watches!! I'm trying to find the brake pedal, I can't stop the van, so I start waving my hands at her to GET OUT OF THE WAY!!!  And she still just stands there.  Finally, when the van is about to hit her, she jumps to the side. Then my foot found the brake and stopped the van before getting to the street.  Now I have to back the van back off this curb/planting area.  My tire gets caught in a deep groove in the dirt and I have to really gun it to get it back down into the parking space.

All ended well and (thankfully) there were no witnesses to my foolishness.  My hands shook for at least 10 minutes afterwards.  Kendra was laughing at me... "Now I can tell my friends my mother actually tried to run me over!" (Peals of laughter when she says this). 

Oh my word! Okay.. so what I learned is that I need to have both legs in the car when I'm going to adjust it. I think the crazy angle I was at is why I had such a hard time finding the brake.