Awesomeness

Whew hoooo....we had an awesome storm tonight! It started with small thunder and it was so hot and sunny and humid. Then I let the dog out and started getting sprinkled....before we could make it to the door we had a downpour! My dad called a minute later to tell me to look out the window and we had hail...and the hail kept getting bigger and bigger until it was chunks of ice!

The winds were insane! Let's just say my front garden I have worked so hard on all spring has been ripped out by the roots and flowers are laying on the sidewalk. The neighbors grill is laying flat in his back yard and trashcans are everywhere! Then the tornado sirens started going...so we were prepared to head to the basement bathroom. Biggest concern was the cars - ours were fine but my friend about a mile from me has hail damage.

The glass that used to be in that table was damaged from the last storm.

Then wha la....the sun was out - humid as ever and a beautiful rainbow! Awesome night. So glad I wasn't stuck on the freeway tonight.

Flowers.......

Well...I should probably take photos of the flowers before 8:30 PM......but when do I do it normal!

These were my Mother's Day gift....I'm not a flower in a vase girl...they just die! I love plants!

These are blooming amazingly after only having them in the ground for one day. Let's hope this strange cold weather and severe winds don't hurt them!


These are my Rhododendron.

Gardening...is it done yet?

Everytime someone asks me what my hobbies are or what I like to do I just can't answer. I don't have a clue....you become a mom with a sick child and really you don't think about what YOU like to do anymore.....it's all about your child......

But then after another round of yard work and gardening I realized....I like to garden! I am constantly out there with my dad planting flowers, trees, digging holes...or something of the sort. So there - that's my hobby! I love gardening thanks to my grandpa and my dad....both love to do it. I'm also a freak and love to mow the lawn....


So Haven and I started a garden about two years ago. It was a small garden of randomness. Then she got really sick and we lived at the hospital for a long time. Last summer I never even looked at the garden...it just became an overgrown jungle of mess. So last weekend I decided it was time to bring it back to life.

I spent almost 7 hours out in the dirt on Sunday with lots of digging to do. The above used to be grass......so I had to take all that off and make a dirtbed.



Then Haven and I went to the store and picked out lots of pretty flowers. She prefers the annuals - which is fine they are only a dollar. But I'm not doing this every year...so we mixed perennial with annual. She helped with picking the spots she wanted the flowers in and I planted them.


Then we had the other side to do....my mom and Haven helped with this side. Haven even got in there and dug out the grass. I really wanted Bleeding Hearts - so those are planted in the middle (naked area). Next year these should look beautiful.

So now I have my cherry tree blooming, peach tree blooming, and a bunch of flowers in the front. Need to figure out what else I can dig up!

Foot

I can't believe I'm still dealing with my foot!!!! So I go to the doctor and get my latest x-rays. Shows that the bone is FINALLY healed but there is a lot of calcium deposit around it. I also inform her that during my workouts at about 15 minutes my foot goes completely numb and by 20 minutes I can't even stand on it.

Well.....the toe that was broken and then rebroken has shrunk. Actually the bone in the toe is shorter....so now I have been fitted for thingys to go in my shoe. I'm hungry so I don't know the word. Those will take 3 weeks as they have to send them up to NY to be made...then I go in and try them out. I really just want this to be done.

I have also decided to try my 7th doctor here in MD. The doctors for Haven are awesome...I just can't find one to figure me out. So I go and then I get pissed off at their stupid guesses and wait a few months, find another doctor and try again. I have had sooooo many mammograms, ultrasounds, MRIs, lab work it's ridiculous....and all they can say is "I don't know"......two have told me to get pregnant (as if that's the miracle cure) ....and one blamed my migraine medication but forgot to ask me how long I'd been taking it and when I informed her she came back with "I don't know".....well....we're going on 2 years now and I would like to hear something other than "I don't know".....

Locks of Love

WHAT IS LOCKS OF LOVE?

Locks of Love is a public non-profit organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children in the United States and Canada under age 21 suffering from long-term medical hair loss from any diagnosis.

I am excited because we did our 6 month check on our hair length today! I'm now at 12" of hair available to donate! We don't donate until October.....so guess I'll get back to taking my Biotin!

Spring Time

Finally Spring...I'm loving this weather and look at my beautiful peach tree. I was sure this tree would die since all the other trees I tried didn't work but it is blossoming beautifully. Guess I can actually plant something that will live! Now time to work on the rest of the flowers.

My wonderful foot is still broke and sandals don't fit on it yet....which is driving me crazy with this warm weather. I hope it is healed by summer.

I'm actually excited it's time to start mowing the grass...after 3 blizzards I'm ready for the sun!

X-rays for the foot

Did the doctor thing yesterday from 7:30 am - 5pm ---- ran to have dinner at mom and dad's and completely blacked out by 6:30pm with an extreme migraine. I woke up around 11pm and didn't even remember coming home!

I had x-rays on my broken foot this morning. It has been one month since I started using the growth stimulator and now 5 months since surgery.

It is still broken. Some of it has healed together, so.......back on the bone stimulator for another month and x-rays again on April 27th and no exercise! I'm so not having any more surgeries!

My ridiculous foot

So....here is my foot 90 days after surgery! I went the doctor at the beginning of this week for my check up and it's really been hurting after such a busy last month.

I do my x-rays....and wham....doctor comes in and shows me that my foot is STILL broken in two places. It's a clear break all the way through the bones.


So those two areas are where it is broken and the shape of the break is a V - where the doctor cut the bone. For some reason it is not healing. So next Tuesday I will get a bone stimulator to use on my foot each night for one month. This is to help the bones mend back together. She put me on reduced range of motion - especially after one night of exercising my toe and I felt it slip. I could barely move my body I was in shock and pain. I couldn't even cry it hurt so bad. I just laid there in shock.

Not only is everything still broken but my foot is still swollen where all the soft tissue was cut and the hole where the pin stuck out still hurts. She said this will probably take 8 - 9 months to heal. Funny - no one told me this before having surgery!

Home from Honduras and ready for work

The largest KFC I've ever seen in the middle of town in Honduras.

The group took me out for some major Honduras food --- ha ha --- hamburger and fries and a Cherry Bomb Martini! We had a great time!

Hanging with the girls - Teresa, Kate, and Donna at the Copantl Steak House!!
Bought some pottery on the way back home. Absolutely beautiful - and the little dude on the left. I set up all my shelves with stuff from countries I've been. Love it.

Missing the blizzard!

A few shots flying over to Honduras. The shoreline is sooo cool from the sky!


Thought this was interesting because it looks like half of it is under water!


Little restaurant in the sky we ate at last night. Very good food.

View from the restaurant - the mountains are beautiful!

Well while I'm in Honduras this week it seems that my house has been hit with another blizzard. Work shut down again for a snow day. I can only imagine the pain it's going to be to get home on Friday at midnight! Luckily we have Monday off so I can three days to recover.

View from my room last night over the mountains!

The Slowskys

I love the Slowskys -- this is my favorite commercial!

Blizzard 2010 - thundersnow

Opened the back door to let the puppy out at 7am! It's a super heavy and wet snow that is very very cold. Nothing like our December blizzard!

Back deck - it's up over my knees by 7am and we have another 8 hours of snow to come! Looks like we're hitting 30+ inches for this one. Who knows when we'll be able to get out. Good thing I stood in line for 2 hours at the grocery store the other night!

back deck

Opened the front door - the wind has been blowing so hard the snow has covered all the windows and doors.

The front yard - I don't even know where the street is and probably won't see if for a few days! I have to travel to Honduras on Monday night - we'll have to see how that works out!

Historic Winter Storm

Almost makes a blizzard sound exciting....but then I just spent 2 1/2 hours at the store with everyone else in Maryland! See below............doesn't it sound like fun!!! This is the second one in two months!


ESTIMATED SNOW ARRIVAL TIMES for Friday, Feb 5
Virginia: 7 - 9 AM | Maryland/West Virginia: 11 AM -12 PM
Southern PA: 1 - 2 PM | DelMarVa: 2 - 3 PM | Central PA: 4 PM
Northern PA: 10 PM Friday - 12 AM Saturday

This will be an historic and extremely heavy, wet snowfall of 20 to 26 inches for much of the Northeast I-95 corridor from Virginia to central New Jersey. We urge citizens to heed public safety advisories from local and state authorities as well as the National Weather Service while preparing for this crippling event.

Foot doctor

So yesterday was my 4 week since the last visit - visit! I really thought I was doing pretty well. I stopped taking pain meds after the big snow - it was tough shoveling with a broken foot!

My foot is still swollen and bruised at the incision site and especially where the pin was is very tender. I have been trying to exercise it as much as I can but it really hurts to bend my toe. Even when I walk I push down on it.

With only a couple weeks until Disney I have to be ready to walk for hours every day. The other night I bent it so far and cried through the pain that it even popped. Which felt good but I don't know if it was good.

After X-rays yesterday the doctor came in to ask if I was still in pain. Of course I am but it's tolerable. She put the x-rays up and it seems that my foot is still broke and she showed me the two fractures that aren't healing as they should be. She said it may take about 8 months to be fully back to normal.

I try to keep my shoes on but I don't like wearing shoes in the house for Haven. Doctor said I must always have them on if I want it to heal - I definitely don't want it pinned again.


Other than that I sleep a lot!!!! I barely have time to update Haven's page because I'm most likely sleeping. I've been on medication since October for migraines, foot surgery, eye infections, endometriosis, and insanity.......I'm barely feeling human again!