Reunited

He finally made it home! It was 2 am, but he made it back! Bridget was so happy to see him. She was jumping up and down, and when he picked her up she laid her head on his shoulder...it was SO precious!

Now we are completing all of the post-deployment activities that seem like second nature. There are piles of laundry, mountains of mail, cooking all of the favorite foods and catching up with all of his friends. I am so happy to have him home again!

This pic is of a quilt from the Houston International Quilt Show 2009. I think it is beautiful and it expresses so much love and joy.

This is the Marie Osmond I remember from my childhood. She had big eyes and big white teeth...always smiling, always happy. She has had a lot of emotional ups and downs in her life, but overall her image has remained the same...cheesy.

But about 10 years ago I saw her in an interview and she was talking about her 8 children, 5 of which are adopted. The VERY rude reporter asked her, "so tell me which ones of your children are adopted?" The cheesy smile was gone and a serious look came over her that was a little startling. Her response has forever changed my opinion of her. She said, " I don't remember."

One of her children committed suicide yesterday and that interview immediately came to mind. I am so sad for her. What a tragic loss for a Mother.

Getting lucky?

Is today the day I have been waiting for? Is today the day that the hubs returns home from saving Haiti? He has spent almost a WEEK trying to make his way back home! He has been on a ship, a boat, a helicopter, in an Irish bar in Cuba (okay that didn't get him any closer to home but it did get him a beer which he desperately needed) and now he is searching for a plane...commercial, parcel or military transport! Why is this so hard? They got him down there fast enough? Can't somebody help a brother out?

Anyway, your guess is as good as mine. He might be home today, maybe tomorrow, maybe next week. Dear Magic 8 Ball, will my beloved make it home today??? Lets pray for a "definitely, YES!"

Death on a plate!

Doesn't this look delicious? It was my Valentine's lunch from the California Pizza Kitchen. It is pasta with spinach, artichokes and shrimp in a lemon butter sauce... one of the many fine eats that is evidently death on a plate.

When we are not busy saving lives in the ER, we like to look up our favorite restaurants on the website "Eat this, Not that" to torture ourselves with the nutritional counts of their food.

I have learned that the following restaurants are the Devil's playground: Applebee's, Chili's, Macaroni Grill, P.F. Chang's and the most offensive of all...The Cheesecake Factory. Don't even look directly at The Cheesecake Factory because you will turn into a jiggling tower of fat and cholesterol. There is one SALAD there that has 4 times the recommended daily allowance of sodium!

But don't get me wrong...I ate the whole thing and it was delicious. But in the car on the way home, during one of those quiet moments, I think I heard my arteries slamming shut!

Good times...

HAPPY FAT TUESDAY!

Someday he'll come along...the man I love...

Because my husband is not here to celebrate Valentine's Day, I will be marking the occasion by going out to lunch and seeing the movie "Valentine's Day" with my friend Vivian, whose husband is in Iraq. Isn't that pitiful? HA!

In the meantime, I would like to count my blessings and list a few things that I love in no particular order: my husband and dog, my parents, flannel sheets, sweet tea, handbags, hot showers, TV, orange kittens, trauma codes, yoga pants, Auburn, southern accents, summer nights, blog visitors, laughing, reading blogs, diamonds, going to bed early, clean kitchens, bluebirds, the sun on my face, fluffy sofas and military homecomings.

❤Happy Valentine's Day to you and yours ❤

Girls who eat their feelings...

I had a pretty rough night at work last night, and then I had to go to the grocery store this morning as well. Normally I would try to get a nice variety of items to try and balance out my pitiful diet. However, that is not what happened today.

The list consisted of, but was not limited to:

chocolate milk

Velveeta cheese slices

white bread

french fries

bacon

Entemann's Cheese danish

and Country Crock mashed potatoes

It looks like a carb overload weekend kids, lets eat away those bad feelings!

Sacrifice and Sonic

I used to go to Sonic every day...and by that I mean EVERY DAY! I would get off work and on my way home I would wheel through the drive-thru and get a toaster BLT, fries and a Route 44 sweet tea. So good! Until I went to the Dr. for a regular check up and found out that my cholesterol was high and I had gained 10 lbs in 6 months! What???

It couldn't be that I was throwing down >1000 calories for breakfast alone could it?

This was over a year ago, so I decided to give up Sonic for Lent. I figured I could do it for a limited time and that I would go back the day after Easter...but I didn't, and I have not been back in a year. I weigh 15lbs less and my cholesterol went down 30 points without doing anything different than quitting the most beloved and delicious habit of my life.

I am not giving up anything for Lent this year...I'm not even Catholic! What is something in your life that you loved but had to let go?

Just a thought...

I was just thinking that when I was younger I thought that doing more and more things would make me happy...going out, buying things, meeting new people...but it has occured to me that I am happier with simplicity...enjoying my home, doing things for others and laughing with old friends. I love saying the phrase, "we have been friends for 20 years," and I am grateful to know that it applies to more than one person in my life...just a thought.

I am a REAL Mother!

My baby is sick. She threw up in the bed and then spent the next 4 hours power drinking water and hurling under the kitchen table! I couldn't go to work because I could not leave her here vomiting, but I felt REALLY guilty. I think people will judge me because she is "just a dog."

After much suffering, the culprit was identified as a partially digested corn cob from the bird feeder. She must have found it in the yard and eaten it. She is feeling so much better...and so am I. I have spent the last few hours sitting on the couch, catching up on the blogs, and rubbing my baby's tummy. I don't feel guilty any more. She is my REAL baby, and I am her REAL Mother...and my baby comes first!

p.s. I know her nose looks really dry, but I have tried many ointments and remedies but she uses her super-long bionic tongue and licks them off. The vet said it won't hurt her even though it looks gross :o(

Lay-zee!

It has been a lazy day! I have done nothing but lay on the couch with this little sweetie and read blogs all day! My eyes are seriously burning and I think I may be getting a pressure ulcer on my left hip, but who cares! I did take a shower :o)

It has been quite a challenge not to eat everything in the house or shop online with reckless abandon, but I have refrained from both...I read all 276 entries on my Google reader. Now that I am caught up with everybody I might get motivated to do something tomorrow...or not!

I sent this pic to my husband in Haiti with the caption, " I miss you Daddy!" I know it was a low blow, but it is ridiculous how much he loves her :o)

No way!

I feel like it is Groundhog Day...AGAIN! We are in for another snow and ice storm of epic proportions! This makes for long boring days of being trapped in the house. I can only be entertained by laundry for so long.

I have a feeling the cable bill is going to be outrageous this month...I am going to have to go on a pay-per-view frenzy just to keep from going nuts! Stay sane and warm :o)

Snap, crackle and pop!

Luckily it was not busy last night in the ER, but almost every patient we had was a result of someone falling on the ice! This type of injury scares me because I am a lot further away from the ground then when I was a kid. I can just see me landing on my tailbone or breaking my wrist. I would end up having to sit on a blow-up donut for 8 weeks.

I felt particularly bad for this one fellow who was leaving for work early to make extra money and slipped down the stairs...HE BROKE HIS HIP! He probably won't be able to go back to work for months.

So let's all be careful out there...protect those hips, wrists and ankles...and don't forget the tailbone!