Surgery

Had my surgery this morning. Now I'm home just trying to relax. I'm not in any real pain, but am puking my guts out due to the pain meds they gave me at the surgical center. No word on what they found because the Doc got called into another surgery before I woke up. So hopefully she'll call tonight. Can't be too bad though because I'm home, with a follow up in 3 weeks.

Chelsea is at her second day of tryouts for the high school soccer team, so any prayers/good thoughts/good vibes would be appreciated.

Expensive few days

I went to Home Depot yesterday to buy all the rest of the stuff needed to finish the basement. When I got home we discovered there was quite a few things that I wasn't charged for. A part of me wanted to just say "oh, well, not my problem" and just enjoy the savings. But the other part of me won out and I went today and paid for those things. It added up to almost $400! My wallet is much lighter and so is my heart. Chelsea said "God is looking down on you right now and he thinks you rock!" I have such a good kid!

On top of that we bought paint for the new bathroom, a bright yellow. Not what I'd pick but I did tell Chelsea she could paint it any color she wanted. My mistake! :)

We also bought primer and paint for Eline's room. The bottom half of the room is currently painted a dark, flat blue. We will be painting two walls firecracker red (yes, I let Eline chose the color!) and two walls white. So that was another $120!

Actually Chelsea will be doing the painting. She asked to have this as her project, so I'll help out where needed and otherwise stay out of the way. I hate painting anyway so this works out well for both of us.

Oh well, I think most of the really expensive stuff is out of the way now. And it sure will be nice to have everything done before school starts!

Update

I've been pretty neglectful of my blog lately. Guess I've been preoccupied with other things.

We had our ice cream party last week and it went great. We met several neighbors we hadn't known before and had some other friends come by too. In the end we only had about 1 container of ice cream left. Not too bad.

The basement bathroom is coming along. I went today and bought pretty much all the odds and ends to finish it up. The guys say they'll be done by next weekend. I sure hope so. My basement is filthy and I want to do a deep cleaning before our exchange student comes. She should be here in two weeks.

I'm so proud of Chelsea. She's taken on the redecorating of the spare room all her own. She has stripped wall paper, sanded and will be painting as soon as Eline lets us know what color she wants. She called this morning but I wasn't home (I was out running) so hope she calls back again soon.

Last night we went to dinner at a friends house. They adopted a little boy two years ago and I am his Godmother. Some other friends from church were there also. We had a nice time, I just love that boy!

Chelsea has a party to go to this evening so I think I'll relax and do some scrapbooking. Next week Chelsea has soccer tryouts for High School. I sure hope she makes it. She is a great player and has really put a lot of work into this sport so hopefully it will pay off.

I am having my surgery sometime on Tuesday and then plan on taking it easy for the next few days. Then Chelsea is off to camp for a week, so I'll have a little "me" time again before school starts.

Praise God! Jon Francis' remains found!

I know many of you followed the story of our missing youth director, Jon Francis. He went missing in the Sawtooth Mountains in July of 2006. His remains were found yesterday. This finally brings peace to his family, friends and the kids he touched every day.

Our local CBS station came out to the church this evening and did an interview with some of the kids and one of the searchers. Chelsea was among those interviewed and I was so proud of how she handled herself. This is a tough day for her.

Thanks for all the prayers. Mary

I finally did some scrapbooking!

I had a great time last night scrapbooking with old and new friends! And I even got two 2-page layouts done! Right now my whole scrapbooking area is covered with sheets which are covered with concrete dust and soon to be covered with sheetrock dust and sawdust!

My friend, Michelle, who has recently started Weight Watchers, asked me to post this recipe. It's a favorite and I've served this many times for company. Chelsea loves it! So here it is:


Spaghetti with Parmesan and Bacon

The eggs and milk create a rich, creamy sauce that coats the pasta. The key to the creaminess is tempering the eggs - heating them gently so they don't cook too fast and curdle. Do this by slowly whisking in the hot water in which the pasta cooked.

1 pound uncooked spaghetti
12 bacon slices, chopped (I use Oscar Meyer Center cut bacon which is only 25 calories a slice)
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup 2% reduced-fat milk (I use 1% milk)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 large eggs
1 cup frozen petite green peas, thawed
1 1/2 cups (6 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain in a colander over a bowl, reserving 1/2 cup hot cooking liquid.

While pasta cooks, cook bacon in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan, reserving 1 tablespoon drippings in pan. Discard remaining drippings; set bacon aside. Add garlic to drippings in pan; cook 30 seconds, stirring constantly.

Combine milk, salt, pepper, and eggs, stirring with a whisk. Gradually add reserved hot cooking liquid to milk mixture, stirring constantly with a whisk. Add pasta, milk mixture, and peas to skillet; cook over low heat 3 minutes or until sauce thickens. Add bacon and cheese; stir to combine.

Yield: 8 servings (serving size: 1 1/4 cups)

CALORIES 359(28% from fat); FAT 11.2g (sat 5.6g,mono 3.6g,poly 1g); PROTEIN 18.9g; CHOLESTEROL 99mg; CALCIUM 315mg; SODIUM 721mg; FIBER 3.3g; IRON 2.8mg; CARBOHYDRATE 44.6g
Cooking Light, APRIL 2003

Since I use center cut bacon and 1% milk the actual calorie and fat counts are lower. I also use Barilla PLUS pasta, but you can use whole wheat also. I love this stuff. Enjoy and let me know how you like it.

Mary

Thursday

I got up this morning and ran my own private 5K race. I wanted to see how fast I could run it in preparation for my 10K in September. I did pretty well (for me) and averaged 11:05 min. per mile.

I came home, showered and then relaxed on my deck. I read the lessons from the Bible for this coming Sunday, then I finished a novel I've been reading "Predator" by Patricia Cornwell. A little freaky (its a crime novel). I was notified that my Harry Potter book has shipped and I expect it here on Saturday.

I received the cooler with 12 cartons of Dreyers Ice Cream for the block party I won for my neighborhood. It's packed in dry ice and is supposed to stay cool for two more days. I will keep an eye on it so I don't have a bunch of melted ice cream! :)

I got an email from the mother of our foreign exchange student. It is really coming true. Her name is Eline (not sure how to pronounce it) and she is 16. I pretty much have the spare room cleared out and now need to take down the shelves, remove the wall paper border and then I'll have to prime the dark blue paint. I am waiting for an email from Eline to tell me what color she wants it painted. I'm pretty much open to anything except black.

The guys are working on my bathroom again. I think they pretty much have the plumbing done, which is the hard part. Shouldn't be too long before they get busy with framing and drywalling.

Chelsea is having loads of fun in TX and I'm enjoying my break, although I do miss her. She's my baby, after all.

Home alone!

I put my baby on the plane yesterday. At 14 she has traveled all over the world and has been flying by herself since she was 7 years old. It is still hard to see her walk on the plane without me. I know she knows what to do and were to go but it is still hard. And sweetheart that she is, she knows it's hard so she turns and waves and blows me a kiss, even though it isn't cool! She was fine with it all and did just fine. We have this routine down. She waits to get on until quite a few people have boarded. Then she looks for a young woman or a family to sit by. She had a 3 hour layover in Las Vegas (this is the first layover longer than 1/2 hour). She called me as soon as she got there (gotta love cell phones for this reason!), found her gate, then walked around for awhile. She had her iPod and a portable DVD player, teen magazines and her cell phone so she had everything she needed to pass the time. I think we talked at least 3 times during her layover. She had a good flight to TX and is now having loads of fun!

I didn't get much accomplished yesterday, besides a visit to the dentist to get my teeth cleaned, and some yard work in the back. I almost cut my finger off with some new pruners I was using to cut some shrubs that belong to my neighbor. They are growing through my fence and I don't like the looks of that so cut them back. Boy, those pruners are sharp!

My construction guys were here and my house smells like concrete dust! They had to jackhammer the floor in the bathroom so they can re-plumb to make room for the shower and move the location of the toilet. I have drop cloths on everything, but I can see it is going to be a mess! While they were making all that noise I went and bought some stuff for door prizes for the scrapbook night I'm hosting at my church on Friday. Joann's had a great sale and I had some coupons so I didn't end up spending too much. I had planned on using stuff from my stash, but it is all covered and almost impossible to get to. Luckily I haven't unpacked my supplies from my trip home, so I have something to work on Friday night.

Today I am working on finding new homes for all the stuff in our spare room. Chelsea and I are going to paint it and get it ready for our foreign exchange student. We are both excited about that. Well, I'd better get to work before this day gets away from me!

Still Hot!

I went and spent over $1000 today on stuff for my basement bathroom. It is exciting to see things start coming together! Can't wait for it to be done!

Chelsea leaves tomorrow for a few days in TX with her friend, Grace. This is the 6th year they have traveled to spend time together! Grace's family is moving to Alaska in a few weeks so it looks as though another trip up there is in order. We can also visit our friends, the Lange's, who live near Anchorage. They have decided to become permanent residents rather than to move back here. Not surprising since they now have two kids in high school and that is a hard age to move.

It is hard to believe that school is coming soon. With that will be our foreign exchange student. I am excited to meet her. I am planning on a very successful school year! The power of positive thinking and all that!

I still have several projects I need to get done before the summer is over so hopefully I'll do some of it while Chelsea is gone. I am going to try to get the spare room cleared out and ready to paint, but I'm waiting until Chelsea gets back so she can help. She loves painting and I HATE it! If it wasn't costing so much to remodel the bathroom I'd pay someone to paint it! But after the bathroom project I am going to be a very poor girl!

It's hot again!

Yesterday was so nice. Chelsea had soccer games at 8:00 and 3:30. The temp. at the 8:00 game was about 73 degrees, just perfect. And at the 3:30 game it was only about 78 degrees. Today we won't be quite as lucky. Her first game is at 12:30 and the second is at 3:30. Right now it's 10:30 and it is already 78 degrees.

On a different topic, last night I threw out a loaf of bread that had gotten moldy. This morning I went out to my deck to enjoy a cup of tea and read the paper. I looked at my lawn and saw the bread bag, empty. Not good because obviously Scruffy had gotten it out of the garbage in the middle of the night, and ate the whole loaf! It actually was a whole loaf because we get bread without preservatives and it went bad quickly. And, if that isn't bad enough, Scruffy is allergic to wheat, which is why he is on expensive, prescription dog food! So far he looks okay, just a little guilty. I guess I'll be going shopping for a trash can with a lid! Darn dog!

When I posted the other day I realized I'd forgotten a photo of my younger brother! Now how could that be, since he was the one who grilled up all the burgers and dogs on the 4th! So here he is:

My brother, Bruce, the chef!

Interview

No time for a long post today. We are expecting a rep. from the foreign exchange student organization at 2:00 so we want our house to be spic and span! We have selected a young girl from the Netherlands, so as long as everything goes well she should be here in time for school to start next month. Today the guys are coming to start remodeling the basement bathroom. We need another shower in our house, especially since we are adding another teenage girl. When Chelsea gets back from TX we are going to redo the spare bedroom for our guest. I've been using it for an office so will end up moving my school computer to my bedroom. Lots to do so I'd better get started.

Home again, finally!

We sure have done our share of traveling. So far, since May, we've been to Las Vegas, Cedar City, UT, Wash. DC, NYC, and N. Idaho. It is good to be home, even though we've had lots of fun, especially spending time with friends and family.

On our way to N. Idaho we stopped in Idaho Falls and saw this flag procession. According to a woman in the gas station we were stopped at this is a parade of 2000 flags, supposedly the largest of its type in the US. They were taking these flags to a park to display for the 4th. It took several minutes for everyone to pass. There were people from small children to senior citizens carrying flags. It was a beautiful sight and this photo just doesn't do it justice.


On the third of July we went over to my sister's house and her neighbors put on a small fireworks display for us.












On the 4th we went to the parade. Don't these girls look excited?



This picture shows the Perfectionots. This is a group of locals of all ages that play in a marching band. This was started many years ago when the local high school band decided not to march in the parade. If you look closely, near the center, the girl in the pink dress is my niece who plays the flute. As you can see most of the band members dress up and my niece is no exception. She is dressed as a doll, how cute!











One of the crowd favorites is "The Red Hot Momma's" which is a local group of women who dress up and perform. They have even marched in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.


Later we had a BBQ at my brother's house. Here is my sister, mom, sister-in-law and me.













Some of the kids played a mean game of badminton, while some of the older kids played a game of croquet.


































This is my Dad, in the center, my brother in law on the left and nephew on the right.










This is my brother, sister in law and their granddaughter, Dakota.





We had loads of fun and can't wait to see everyone again in December!