I am Sixteen, Going on Seventeen

I've been married 16 years today, that is.  Wow.  That seems like a really long time. And how are we spending this 16th anniversary?  DH is getting a colonoscopy. Fun! He's only 36 (50 is usually when they recommend that you start getting colonoscopies), but he is now only 10 years younger than his mom was when she was first diagnosed.  She was stage IV at her initial diagnosis--and the doctors waited too long to do that first colonoscopy because of her age. She had to push to have it done, but she knew something wasn't right with her body.  So, we aren't messing around with DH.  I demanded that he have this procedure done, even though it's about the last thing in the world he wants to do.  Happy anniversary, baby!

In other news, my four days of bliss were indeed blissful but Tuesday was back to the grind.  Work was steady and then my brother decided to make a last-minute trip here to visit our mother, and then they finally discharged her from the hospital to a new rehab facility at 7:00 Tuesday night. Unfortunately, this new facility is not at all convenient for me to get to--in the opposite direction of my home and office and requiring a trek through multiple highways and heavy traffic.  I've already warned her that my visits will be much fewer.

And at work I somehow managed to get roped into preparing an annual survey of my state's law in my practice area for a national survey put together the relevant ABA section forum. When I agreed to this, I was told the deadline was in the spring.  It's actually the end of this year. Oh boy.  I started gathering materials yesterday.  My state generates a huge body of case law, so there is a lot to sort through. We've also got several substantial legislative updates, but my firm helped draft most of them so at least I'm up to speed on those. And my biggest challenge will be tailoring this down.  It's only supposed to be a couple of pages with a few short paragraphs. What I've drafted so far is more like a law review article.

Meanwhile, we're heading to Hometown either this afternoon or tomorrow (depending on how DH feels after being Roto-Rooted). We made reservations to kennel Bob, but we completely forgot about Stefanie, the guinea pig. The kennel doesn't take rodents. We could throw her in the car, but she stresses easily and I don't think she will handle it well.  We could ask a neighbor to check in on her, but I feel like they are always helping us out and we never reciprocate (not because we aren't willing, but because they never ask). I guess I better figure this out.

Down Time

I have the next four days off of work. And no company--not even any family parties to attend because everyone else will be out of town.  This may sound sad to some, but it sounds absolutely wonderful to me because I am in desperate need of down time. There is nothing that I have to do and nowhere that I have to be over the next four days--and that's the best gift Santa could bring.

My mother is still in the hospital, so that requires daily visits.  Work has been particularly busy for December with lots of deadlines and two hearings this week.  And the kids have had concerts and plays and Girl Scout events. There has hardly been a night where I've been home before 9:00 p.m. lately.

I'm planning to spend my four days of bliss curled up with a book and a cup of coffee (Santa brought us a Keurig a few days early!), watching Christmas movies, and playing the Wii with the kids. Today we might venture out to see Hugo (we've been dying to see this movie but simply haven't had time) and may even go ice skating.

And I'm copping out and going easy for Christmas dinner. I'm going to put together a baked ziti today that we can just pop in the oven on Christmas. And I'm making making Overnight Pecan Praline Baked French Toast for Christmas morning. (I made this at Thanksgiving and it is really yummy, but 6 eggs are plenty and be sure to cut your bread thick or it will be soggy.)

We'll head to Hometown next weekend to see our families. It will be fun, but not nearly as relaxing as my four days at home (did I mention how excited I am about this?)

Finally!

My mother finally had the second half of her hip replacement surgery today. The first half was August 25--we've been waiting almost 4 months. Meanwhile, she's been in a rehab facility here--400 miles from home--where I am pretty much the only person available to check in on her. (Her husband can't stay here with her because he is receiving chemotherapy treatments in Hometown.) So it was a huge relief to finally have this surgery.

Of course, it did not go as smoothly as planned.  After the surgeon opened her up, he came out to tell us that he would have to replace her femur because there wasn't enough bone left to attach the hip.  And in the end, she ended up getting a new knee, too, because the new femur couldn't attach to the artificial knee that was already there.

So she now has an incision from her hip to mid-calf and will be on bedrest for 7 days to allow it to hear. She'll be in the hospital for at least 10 days, instead of the originally planned 3-4.  And then rehab starts all over again. We were hoping she could go home by mid-January, but who knows how long recovery will take now.

And she will eventually have to come back to have the other hip done.

This was a big step, but it still feels like a never-ending nightmare.

Finally went to the doctor today

Totally not embarrassed at all when I found out I would be getting a steroid shot in my butt from a very young male nurse and I was wearing see-through purple lace undies.

Rule for life in LC's house--the sexier the undies, the longer it's been since laundry was done. I guess I should be glad it hadn't been a few more days.

Holiday Madness

DH and I are cuddled up on the sofa this morning snorting and sniffling and piling up the snotty Kleenexes. How romantic!

We have been crazy busy since before Thanksgiving  and there is no end in sight. Thanksgiving was great, but we had lots of company which meant little downtime.  And every weekend through the end of the year is booked. 

Yesterday we finally got our Christmas tree and put up outdoor lights. Until then we had not a single decoration up (kind of funny, since we had Halloween decorations up for 6 weeks thanks to PS's late-September party).  It has become a yearly tradition to cut our own tree at a local tree farm, and the kids refused to give it up even it it meant waiting a while to get a tree.  I'm glad we stuck with our tradition, though--it was a beautiful day yesterday and we had a great time.

But the tree is still sitting in a bucket in the garage.  The twins had Caroling for Cans with their Girl Scout troop last night and DH and I attended his work party where I wore the very short dress and had a fabulous mashed potato martini (the most awesome martini evah for a carb lover). I guess today we'll be decorating indoors today.

This week the twins have their first orchestra concert, PS has a play and my mother (finger's crossed!) has her surgery. And I have about 5 work deadlines on Friday, but I think I have them all under control. And then we have symphony tickets next weekend, and more work parties and I still have some serious baking and shopping to do.  Oh boy!

In other news, our family pics turned out great--especially considering that we only had about a 20 minute window to work with.  In fact, we got so many good ones that I am now considering doing photo books instead of just a framed family photo for the grandparents for Christmas. Anybody have any recommendations for where to order?  It looks like I can order from just about anywhere, but I have no idea how the quality among the various retailers compares.  I'm also planning to order canvases, if anyone has ordered those before and can testify to the quality of a particular place.

I wish I could share them, but that would kinda kill the whole anony-blogger thing.  So you just get the rear view. (DH hates this pic--he says it looks like we're off the see the Wizard.)

The best laid plans...

For weeks we had our family pictures scheduled for yesterday. We wanted them before Christmas, and this was just about the only weekend we've had open since mid-October. So I had the photographer booked, scouted the perfect outdoor location, arranged to have my hair done, and shopped for coordinated but not matchy-matchy outfits.

And then I started feeling crappy.  A handful of drugs and a steamy shower allowed me to feel semi-humanoid.

And then the weather turned ugly.  Windy and misty--the perfect weather to ruin the fabulous hair that my stylist had just given me. My hair is naturally curly/frizzy--it does not agree with humidity.

But I already had everything booked, so we went forward. The photographer loved the location that I chose, and we were about 20 minutes in and getting great shots when the skies opened up and we all got poured on.  That was the end of our session because we looked like a family of drowned rats.

She said she got some good shots, but she didn't know if there was a good family shot. Kind of a bummer since the family pic was supposed to be our Christmas gifts to our parents and grandparents.
We never got to a grouping of just the kids, but she got lots of individual pics of each.

She sent me 4 pics tonight--the group shots weren't great (it's always a challenge getting 5 people to look good at the same time), but there was a good one of DH and me and she said there were several more really good couple shots.  So I guess not all is lost.  I hate having my picture made, so there are very few pictures of me in existence, and DH and I haven't had a picture together since we were engaged--so over 16 years ago!

I can't wait to see the rest. Hopefully she got some good individual shots of the kids.