I hope everyone in the Florence’s path is okay! That hurricane/storm is looking very serious. If you are able to stop by, it’s Friday and that means it’s time to list five random things about our week. Here’s mine:

1. I got my nails done for the first time in months yesterday. Only a family wedding would inspire me to do this as it’s uncomfortable for me to sit in that position. But on the upside, Baby Slayer and his parents are coming over to go with us to the wedding, and they’ll stay the night here again!
2. The spin cycle on my washing machine is acting up. I can use it, I just have to fight with it about 40% of the time to get it to spin. We decided that rather than having it fixed, we’d invest in a new set. This should be easy, right? Bwhahaha! The biggest problem is that we have a smallish laundry room so when we find a set with the features we like, it’s too big. I’ve already paired my desired features down to the bare bones, things like a top loading washer with a laundry softener dispenser (Why would they sell them without one????), and a gas dryer with a door that opens down rather than swings to the side due to space limitations. That’s about it. We found one set online that hit the boxes, I tried ordering it–and it’s on backorder. Why does something so simple turn into a major pain-in-the-butt that eats up hours and hours of our time? I may rethink having my washing machine fixed and hope it hangs in there for a while.
3. The other day, I came out of the doctor’s office to find a twenty something man trying to open my car door and looking perplexed. He noticed me and said, “Oh, is this your car?” I nodded, and he grinned sheepishly, “I thought it was mine. Sorry.” Then he walked one row over, waved at me and got in a Toyota Camry that looked exactly like mine.  I cracked up in relief–for once it wasn’t me publicly embarrassing myself, and my second thought, of course, was that’s a great Meet Cute scenario for a romantic comedy if I amped it up a little bit
4. So after seeing two surgeons, and the follow-up consultation with the second one, I’ve decided to have the two level ACD&F surgery. It’s a pretty dramatic surgery, and it was not an easy decision. But I’ve done everything else, so it’s the only chance I have at improved quality of life. If I don’t do anything, the chances for things to get worse are pretty high. Now that I’ve decided, I’d like to get it done this year and move on. Also, I’m going to go into this with a positive attitude and confidence that it will be successful and I’ll have a full recovery.
5. I think I’m going stop even trying to write, at least through this weekend. Then I’m going to re-evaluate where I am in the book, and in my head, to see if I can find a way to draft the rest of the book before I have surgery. Trust me, I’m the one who’s gotten in my own way on this. Yes the pain and physical limitations are some of it, but I’ve also written an easy six or seven hundred pages (sadly, I’m not exaggerating but I’m trying to be honest), then I keep deleting scenes because nothing is good enough. This is a classic case of getting in my own way!

That’s my five, now I’d love to hear five things about your week! I hope everyone has a safe, good weekend!

It’s hump day and you know what that means! Here’s our candidate:

So what do you think, is he worthy?

My weekend was unexciting, and I’ll take it. Wizard and I have found a one story house we love. And we liked the area too! Now if only we could find the money to buy the house :-). It’s out of our reach at the moment. Which makes me angry at myself because I can’t work much right now, but that’s just stupid. Yes I get that, really I do. I understand intellectually I can’t control this disk/nerve crap.

My emotions are just a little slower to catch on.

On the other hand, we are danged lucky to have our home with how close that fire came, so we have a lot to be thankful for. We are still getting ash in the pool and tracked into the house every single day as a stark reminder. Plus every morning Maggie and I see the devastation on our walks. So gratefulness trumps our new house envy.

Otherwise, my weekend was trying to work a little, and doing boring stuff.

How was yours?

TGIF!! So…let’s hop right to sharing five random things about our week. Here’s mine:

1. I’m on dress #3 for the wedding. It arrived Wednesday and I think I’ll keep it. For CPA Boy’s wedding, I literally stumbled on the dress. This one has been more challenging because that’s how life works But I love the color of this dress and it’s comfortable, so I’ll just go with it. Maybe…
2. Maggie has a small scratch on her inside thigh and I have no idea how she got it. I routinely check it twice a day to make sure it doesn’t morph into an infection. It’s really a small scratch, but it’s in an odd place that could trap dirt and germs, so I’m being vigilant.
3. A half hour ago I was writing an email to a friend, and for the life of me, I couldn’t think of the word vigilant. But while typing this blog, the word just popped up. But there’s a reason I’m a little off…see #4.
4. Do you all remember the family member in the hospital a couple of weeks ago. He went back in this week, then yesterday, he had a procedure to determine what was going on. I was at the hospital and we were expecting one answer that would require a second, moderate procedure. But PLOT TWIST! Now he’s likely facing pretty major surgery. But, assuming all goes well (and it will!), once he recovers, it should make him feel much better and we’ll all be able to breathe a huge sigh of relief. So the good news is that after a couple of weeks of being in and out of hospitals without a definitive answer, we now have a clear diagnosis and a plan of action.
5. Book? What book? The day I’m able to finish this book will be a huge celebration! And that will happen. This next week I’ll do my follow up with the surgeon, make the decision and probably begin the process of getting approval for surgery.

Ok, so that’s my week. Now it’s turn for you to share five thing about YOUR week. Come on, I love reading about your week!!

I hope everyone has a great weekend filled with laughter!

I’m back! I hope everyone had a great weekend and their week got off to a good start!

We had so much fun having Baby Slayer and his parents stay the night. Baby Slayer is a very good 5 1/2 baby. We all went out to breakfast, then introduced Baby Slayer to the Jacuzzi. He loved it! Overall I think we passed phase 1 of our grandparenting test. They will all be spending the night again in two weeks for a family wedding, which may be phase 2 of grandparent testing

Now for our Wednesday Worthy Candidate.

So what do you think, is he worthy?

Happy Friday! Okay let’s jump right into 5 random things about my Friday, and then you can tell me your 5 things.

1. Last weekend at the shower, my youngest son’s fiance’s mom came (the shower was for middle son’s fiance. Having two sons engaged is very confusing!) She’s a lot of fun and easy to be around. But she was telling me that she had been under the impression that I was “sweet and cute” until she had a pool party at her house. That’s when she saw me jump into the pool, and as she said, “Take the boys down.” By boys, she meant my three sons, and I cracked up. Yeah…I’m not exactly known for being timid. Also the pool has been the only place I can dominate the boys in the last decade
2. Maggie really needs a bath and I didn’t get her in this week. Now it’s a holiday weekend, so we’ll have to wait until next week.
3. I’m making broccoli beef for dinner (actually when you read this, it will be last night’s dinner since I wrote this Thursday afternoon).
4. I had my second opinion on my neck. It was a bit of an ordeal as they sent me to the wrong office. Eventually we were rerouted to the correct office, but it turned into a long day. However, this was the most thorough exam I’ve had. He covered my history, my current symptoms in excruciating detail, did a physical exam, and meticulously went over the MRIs. And the result–he’s making the same recommendation for a two level ACDF (disc removal and fusion) as the first surgeon. He answered every question Wizard and I had. I’ve scheduled some more x-rays, and a follow-up appointment, at which time I’ll make a decision on whether to do the surgery. I’m finally getting over the shock and facing reality. The good news is that we’re getting very consistent advice and recommendations. There’s no perfect answer, all I can do is measure the risks of doing nothing vs doing surgery, and decide what I think has the best chance of allowing me to live the life I want to.
5. It looks like Baby Slayer and his parents will come out Sunday afternoon or evening and spend the night! I think this might be a little grandparenting test. Do you think Wizard and I will pass?

That’s my Friday 5, not it’s your turn!

**Programming Note: I don’t think I’m going to post on Monday, so I’ll see you all again on Wednesday!

This might not be the sexiest candidate, but I admire his strength! And he’s making me jealous since I have very little upper body strength these days with my neck problems

So what do you think, is he worthy?