Tumultous Tuesday- What a Day!

Dear Bloggity-ville,

Tuesday is a big day in the family, and I would covet everyone's prayers.

First of all, my mom is having her hip surgery at 7:30am PT and we won't talk to her on the phone til at least the afternoon or evening. Please pray for the surgeons grace and steadiness - as well as a fast, easy recovery.

And, I see the Porter Team for the panel review for transplant candidacy. My bloodwork took a hit, so I'm not really thrilled that this is what they will see right off - like a big F on the first report card of the year. I just don't know if it makes it better or worse. So, I'm stressed. Freaking out- you get the picture.

Most importantly- it's Picture Day at school. Middle school picture day. Goodness, but it's been a flurry of activity around here tonight in preparation. However, for the first year, the sponge rollers have not been seen- so it should make for an interesting new addition to the family wall o'pictures.

I do, however, have the DAY OFF. I may even blog and comment. Stop lurking. Lock the doors - and clear my bloglines.

Wow - have I told you HOW MUCH I miss y'all? Like breath away from my lungs. But, I have to thank all of you that have been emailing and sending love and support. It's been a trying couple of weeks, and the place under my rock is safe -

I'm learning to let go, and ask for help and say "I can't do this alone". And you have taken me on those baby steps.

Smooches to each of you.

I'll see you tomorrow, with good news! I hope.

What I'm Doing On My Bloggity Exile, well, Vacation

Vacations are to be enjoyed. A change of scenery, a fresh perspective ... rest, relaxation.

NOT!

I've been on a fully-forced bloggity vacation for the last week, that honestly may last another week or two. And it's not restful or relaxing ...

Things around here have been crazy, in the how-the-heck-will-I-get-a-shower-in-today-or-tomorrow kind of way. I say back and looks at the last 3 weeks and realize I've clocked over 80 hours a week ... and can't think of anything else that has been going on.

Somewhere in there, J and K both got sick enough to have to stay home (thanks goodness it wasn't strep) ... the puppy decided to "un-potty train" himself .... I have fed my kids grilled cheese for dinner to avoid one more dinner-on-a-crust delivered by the "really-cute-pizza-guy" (says K) ... realized that I do have to get new shelf paper down as the cupboards have been that bear from my lack of time to get groceries bought ... realized that, at my advanced age of 41, I can actually do 80 hours a week and stay somewhat awake ....

and watched the rain fall.

Rain.

It rained, hard and all night long, Saturday night.

And it smelled like rain. I love the smell of rain.

I'll still be pulling massive hours this week, and next ... so things may be a bit quiet from the Montana front.

I just wanted to jump up for air and say HI! I miss all of you ... I've been lurking and reading as I can, but I've not had the strength to put together a coherent enough thought to comment.

See you when vacation is over!

The Day the World Changed

I do not wake up the first time the alarm goes off. Never have.

Once the alarm went off, I grabbed the remote to the TV and turned on the news. Then just rolled over and went back to sleep. I had a horrible dream about a plane crashing the World Trade Center in NY. And then a bomb went off in the garage basement. Was Lisa ok? I Can't find Lisa!!! Mary?? Where are they?

In frantic desperation, I woke myself up. Oh, it was a dream. Ok, time to get up. It was weird, though, I hadn't thought about Lisa and Mary, who worked in the WTC for awhile. I remember the panic I felt when the WTC garage was bombed a few years before. But, that was jsut a yucky memory creeping back up, I guess.

J was in the shower, and the kids weren't up yet. I looked over at hte TV and saw that the rest wasn't a dream. A plane had crashed onto the WTC. An accident. WOW! I yelled for J to get out and come watch the TV. We sat and watched as news unfolded. Being a pilot, he was trying to reconcile how this could happen -- airspace, flight plans, VOR's and whatever. It didn't make any sense.

Then, the second plane hit and we knew. We knew this was way worse than anything we could have ever imagined.

I tried to think of anyone I knew that would be flying today from work. Everyone was in town that I could recall.

Then the first tower fell. I distnctly remember feeling like the wind got knoced out of me. It just didn't make sense. We sat glued to the TV and I cried. J was in a state of shock. We wanted to grab the kids, but they were old enough to understand what they were seeing, and we didn't want them to be a part of this just yet. Not til we understood. How can you understand something like this?

Then the second tower fell. It really seemed like life itself came to a halt. I was paralyzed and just couldn't think. We flipped station to station to see if what they were saying was really true. Like someone would announce "Its just a joke, War of the Worlds all over again". Nothing. Every station struggled to get infomation, everyone seemed incredulous as to what was unfolding.

I finally had to get up an get to work. I threw my hair up in a clip, grabbed what I could and just drove. I still don't remember the drive. I didn't even put on makeup.

At the time, I Was the Director of CS for a cable company. We had TV's throughout our department on adn runnign all the time. I knew my staff would be in shock. We all were. I arrived and found my morning crew in tears. They were huddled around the TV's and watching what was unfolding.

We immediately cancelled all rebuild for the day that were cause service outages. We knew that people would want to be able to watch what was unfolding.

The senior staff gathered and sat in the conference room watching the TV waiting for our CEO to arrive. When he did, he looked haggard. Frankly, we all had the look of shell shock, but his was different.

We discovered that his brother-in-law worked at the Pentagon. No one had been able to reach him at that point, but his wife had confirned he had gone to work, and was due to be there all day.

So, we sat, watched, comforted and prayed. We actually all held hands and our CEO prayed. ALthough I was the only female in the room, I was not the only one who cried.

Hours later, we learned his brother-in-law was safe - hurt doing rescue - but safe.

The rest of the day was spent just tlkaing people thorugh one moment at the time. Phones were slow, so we rotated people as they needed to talk, cry, walk around or whatever. It was triage for days after, really.

The hardest part what talking to my kids about what had happened. we had kept them home that day, and John called in to be with them. We kept them away from the TV as much as possible to prevent overload with them. We knew that if we couldn't process what had happened, that it would be impossible. Regardless, J had nightmares for weeks, and started sleeping with us again. K did, too, for quite awhile - and it was fine.

It was a time that we all needed to feel safe, cocooned in the love of family.

Within 24 hours, our town was decked in flags. Cars, businesses, homes, fences ... everywhere.

The kids asked that we go to the Candlelight Vigil one night, and we did. Hundreds of people lined the main street in town with flags, candles, signs of support - they prayed, sang God Bless America over and over.

It was an amazing show of solidarity that we would survive.

God Bless America
Land that I Love
Stand Beside Her
and Guide Her
Through the Night
WIth a Light From Above.

From the Mountains
To the Prairies
To The Ocean
White with Foam.

God Bless America
My Home Sweet Home.

Well ... I NEVER! (ok, so I did)

Barb posted about some of her most embarrassing moments ... and invited us to the Grand Party of Humiliation Honest Acceptance and Reflection of That Which Makes Us Unique and Special.

Although my life has been one continual faux pas, the two that come to mind right at the top would be:

1. In 1982, I went to Europe with Teen Missions. Our goal was to do drama and singing evangelism throughout Scotland, Ireland, Wales and England while living on a long boat. We're talking 30 teenagers on 2 boats 6 feet wide and 42 feet long on canals just as wide. Kindof like a teenage poorboy sandwich.

Well, the group before us broke the onboard sanitation system. You know, they irreparably plugged up the septic. So, for 6 weeks, no onboard, privatized potty facilities. Did I mention we were on canals I the middle of nowhere? This was resolved by the old-fashioned camping "Spotter/Squatter" method. I know you're thinking THIS is the embarrassing part. Oh no.

In Scotland, on a beautiful c-l-e-a-r morning, I was, well, not the "Spotter". And you know, once you start ... well .... We were under a bridge, thinking we were safe. Until the local rowing crew came down the bank to launch their boat. They were college boys. I was 18. It was, humiliating. My "Spotter" --- she thought it was hysterical. I tried to fake as much high school French as I could, like I thought it would less embarrasing if they thought I was French. But, we're talking pressure here. When all was said and done (and I mean when everything was done) not only did they think it was cool that we were "American girls", but they took pictures with us. So, it's recorded for posterity. Yes, it is.

2. When Kati was born, I stayed home for 3 months. I was still actively nursing her, and pumping through the day. After awhile I thought I had adjusted my milk to come in in the morning, then at night when I got home. HA!

My office was small, and my (female - thank Goodness) boss was standing over my desk looking at a report. I had grabbed the only clean thing I owned to wear that day- a dark green silk shirt.

Are you with me on this? Milk + Silk Shirt + Useless Nursing Pads.

I stood up to get something out of a file and brushed against her as I did. Within about 30 seconds, I was soaked top to bottom and was actually d.r.i.p.p.i.n.g milk from the hem of my shirt. Laughing made it worse, but she was gracious enough to dive over the desk and slam my door shut.

For years, we talked about how she went and got her jacket and let me sidle out behjin her to the car to go home and change. I prayed harder that I wouldn't get pulled over, more than any other time in my life.

So, that's me. In a Nutshell.

If you never come back, I'll fully understand.

For more human interest stories :) .... visit Mr. Linky at Kristen's So Called Life

WFMW - Keeping Up WIth New Friends

This little button here?

It's saved my life.

When I first starting blogging, I knew nothing! Now, I know not much more :)

But, what I do know is...

When I find a new blog that I just adore, I add them to my Bloglines. Bloglines let me subscribe with just the click of a button, and all new feeds (posts) are searched out all day long and put in a neat little webpage for me every day.

I also installed the Bloglines Notifier, so a nifty little shortcut in on my desktop and let's me know when things are there for the readin'.

And, if you have a Blog, you can add a Subscribe button to your site pretty easily, and folks can add you like that! 1-2-3. Friends forever.

So, hop on over to Bloglines and take a look.

BTW, I may not be an expert, but I'll help anyone set it up :)

Just leave me a comment and I'll get back to you.

For more great Works-For-Me-Wednesday tips, visit Shannon at RocksInMyDryer

Involuntary Lurker

I just wanted to throw up a post to all of my friends on Blogger Beta.

I WANT TO COMMENT!!! I MUST TALK TO YOU!!!!

I've tried, and tried -- but it won't let me.

So, Brenda? Glad you're home and had a great trip. I know you were worried, but it sounds like things worked out a bit. I'm so happy!

However, I'm sorry that ANYONE loses to 'SC. a.n.y.o.n.e.

Laurel? Great post - we always go to the courthouse and vote, in any state or town we live in. They always let the kids go through a practice process as well to know how important it is. They research candidates early and make their own conclusions. It's a great way to prep them for later years when it's real.

I'll keep trying ... darn it, I will.

You will be commented on. You will.

In a Nutshell ....

Boomama posted this meme that Cheryl tagged her for, and invited us to play along. So, I took a stab :)


1. If you make sweet tea, do you use Luzianne, Lipton or _______ whatever your brand is?

Don't make it here in Montana too much anymore, but when we were in Mississippi? Luzinanne and nothin' else.

2. What brand of toilet paper do you buy, and is it the larger rolls or regular?

Whatever brand the kids can decide on where no blood is involved. The fight for control Team work at it's best. Talk about picking your battles.

3. Which brand of bath soap do you use? Is it body wash or bar style?

Before dialysis, it was bar - Camay. But, now? Ugh. Ivory liquid. It's the RULES. Yes, dialysis has RULES on S.O.A.P. Who'd-a-thunk-it?

4. Which cereal do you buy for yourself?

Granola or Grape Nuts. These are the only two that don't get soggy in milk. I practically wave the milk container over my cereal so it doesn't get soggy.

5. What brand of dishwasher detergent do you use and is it liquid or tablets?

Sunlight Lemon liquid. Nothing else works. And nothing smells better :)

6. What is your favorite fruit to eat?

Nectarines and strawberries. Well, that two. I'm sure "fruit" was meant as plural, right?

7. Which brand of clothes detergent do you use?

Whatever J picks out.

He is the (cue full John Williams score for the superhero entrance) Grand Master Laundry Man.

Yes, he is! Big Red L on his chest and a really cool cape. Heck, he looks great in tights!

(Shocked?! - well for pete's sake, we talked about my toilet paper preferences earlier didn't we?)

8. Do you like chocolate?

Only when I'm breathing in and out. Otherwise, I never touch the stuff.

9. Are you right-handed or left-handed?

Left.

10. Do you still write checks or use a debit card?

Pens are for thank you notes and long personal meanderings in my journal. Special things. Plastic is for power shopping.


So, if you'd like to play along, leave a comment and I will stop by!

TAG!

Can you be praying?

My mom will be having replacement hip surgery on September 26th. I had hoped to go out the two weeks she was in the hospital and take care of her animals. That would at least give me a chance to visit her at the hopsital / rehab center.

However, she seems to have things covered on that front, so wouldn't need me to come until she was home. The kicker is, I have a business trip that combined would put me away from home for over a month.

I'm sure she is nervous; I hear it's not an easy recovery. J's dad went through two and it was a struggle. So, please keep her in mind :)

Thanks everyone!

Moms for Modesty

Everyday Mommy has put together a great initiative that every parent needs to read.

Just click here to read more.

Worthwhile MUST Read

Addie, whom I adore, linked over to this MUST READ by Jeana. I won't even waste more of your time. I know it's a holiday weekend, but you gotta go.

Ready? 1 .... 2 .... 3 ...... Click Here Now!

Still here? Get movin' missy :)

Because I Care

Happy Labor Day

See you Tuesday!