Freezing, hoping for Spring

Snow came way too early this year. Which means, it's too dang cold and there are ugly mounds of dirty snow/ice all over the place! If you aren't careful you can total your car parking too close to one of these icebergs!

Snow is pretty to look at through my windows. I don't mind walking through it wearing boots and having absolutely no where to go. But, if I'm in a hurry and need to get to work... I hate it!

I'm looking forward to Spring. Green grass, trees, flowers popping up everywhere, Spring. Cool temps, not hot. Perfect weather for me is Spring and Fall temperatures. Everything else is too hot or too cold.

I figured since I haven't posted anything in a very long time, I should post something. It's late and I'm a bit of an insomniac, so complaining seemed to be the thing to do. Here are some pictures to help prove my point.

(Some of the pictures are cut off, click on them to see the whole pic.)

BBQ anyone?

Simply, too much snow!

Seriously?

Norma likes Spring too!

Spring flowers, inside and out

Magnolia!

Corner tree in the Fall

I LOVE THIS PLACE!

Can you smell the Fall air? Perfection!

Yep, Spring and Fall are the best seasons of the year.

Summer-ized

Summer goes by much to fast! I had so many plans and didn't get to most of them! I was able to get most of the yard work done such as, weeding, hedging, trimming trees, but, there is so much more! 

Gene and I have gone on lots of evening drives in the Triumph too. But, it's been too hot to go anywhere very far. We'd talked about driving to all of the Utah Temples and haven't been able to find the time. 

We've been to Idaho twice. Once for a "quickie" family reunion. Gene and I and his adorable sister, Patrese, met up with their cousins on the Stosich side at the Idaho Falls Chuck-o-Rama for lunch. Stayed with his sister Myra and her husband Lynn or one  night and came home.

A few weeks later, we headed back up to Idaho Falls for the funeral of Gene's Uncle Albon. What an amazing man he was! 

Albon L. Smith

This time we stayed with Gene's brother Harland and his wife Donna. Patrese was with us for this trip too (she's a great traveling companion). 

These quick trips give us a chance to catch up, a little, with family if nothing else.

One of the greatest experiences I've had was on June 23, 2013

Gene and I were able to be part of the largest choir ever! We attended 2 practices and then the last one on the day of the broadcast for a wonderful meeting. 

It was so fun to be part of this choir! Over 2,000 voices! 

Most of them were the missionaries from the Missionary Training Center (MTC). We filled one whole side of the Marriott Center! This was a broadcast from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and was broadcast worldwide! It was wonderful! The announcements about the future of missionary work and the call to the members to do their part was so inspiring! 

Times are definitely changing and the work of the Lord is moving forward! 

Special Broadcast: The Work of Salvation

My view of the broadcast. From the choir seats!

Of course we (my dad, Gene and I) have been to our usual summer concerts in the park. The one we attend most often is on Monday nights at the American Fork Amphitheater. They are almost always the best!

There is so much variety and great talent!

One of my favorites is when the American Fork Symphony performs.They're fantastic! They play mostly patriotic music and later the American Fork Marching Band plays for us! 

They are award winning and so fun to watch!

The color guard is led by Kevin Boughton.
He was a teacher at Joaquin Elementary School and is awesome! 



American Fork Symphony during Steel Days.

One of my most favorite friends in the whole world is Gladys! I LOVE this woman!

She is one of my dearest friends. I try to stop by and visit with her every week. If I don't stop by in person I give her a call. She just simply makes me happy. She is 93 years old and loves to be busy.

I help her with a few things, but mostly we just chat.



Gladys needed a picture taken for the ward website.
I took this and texted it to the brother that was entering the picture on the site. Isn't she awesome!

I Love Gladys! 

My friend, Teri, told me about the Temple to Temple 5k that was going
to take place on Pioneer Day this year.

It's the first one ever and it started at the Provo Temple and ended 

at the Provo Tabernacle which is being remodeled to become 

the Provo City Center Temple (2015).

With the help of my friend, Georgia, we pushed Gladys in a wheelchair!
She loved it!

The race started at the Provo Temple.
(I gave Gladys a US flag and a Utah flag to wave, which she did very enthusiastically!)

The actually starting point was at the NE corner of the temple. We started up the hill, and figured it was a silly thing to do. We were just going to come back down! So, we waited for the mob (over 5,000 people) to come back down and jumped in when there was an opening! We're no dummies!

This is about where we joined the race! Look at all of those people!
Some are still hiking up the hill to get into the starting crowd!

About 2 miles into the race, Gladys wanted to walk. 

She walked until she was tired, 2/10 of a mile!

Go Gladys!

Seriously, she is the best!

We did it! So much fun!

Georgia, Gladys and I in front of the Provo City Center Temple!

This is site such an amazing undertaking! 

Here is a link to a blog that tells all about this building.

Provo City Center Temple

Georgia, Gladys and I in front of the Provo City Center Temple!

Gene and I have also had some fun times tending this cute little bug!

Summer is way too short! 

School starts in a few weeks and I still want to do all of the things we haven't done!

Rats!

Springing!

 

This last Saturday the weather wasn't really very warm, but I needed to get out and do something outside!

My usual Saturday routine includes housecleaning, laundry and errands. I put them off long enough to plant a few plants in a pot and hose off the deck a bit.

I was at Macey's on Friday and noticed the new plants

 by the front door. 

 

Ranunculus!

 

There is a place in Carlsbad, California that grows every color of Ranunculus.

It's called The Flower Fields and it is beautiful!

 

I knew I wouldn't have time to do any yard work this weekend and the weather wasn't going to be cooperative either, but I bought three plants anyway. I would plant them in a pot.

 

Which I did. It made me happy. 

 

 



My beautiful Ranunculus.  :)



 

When I came inside, wet, dirt under my fingernails, I felt such joy at having been outside and planting something.  I then realized that I was wearing my hoodie that a friend from high school had made.  Seriously?

Why haven't I been back to Southern California?!

I really miss the green and the color! 

 

Utah winters can definitely be depressing.

 
 

 

Thanks Dave! Wearing my hoodie makes me happy!

 

Part of my California obsession grows in a corner of our kitchen.  A Bougainvillea that I bought 20 years ago. It's in full bloom right now and this morning, with the morning sun shining through the window it looked amazing!  It also helped to have our flowering apple/pear tree blooming on the other side of the glass.

 

 

A little bit of Spring inside!  :)

Sunday Dinner

Sunday Dinners are always fun!
 

The family gathers every Sunday for dinner at our house. They travel from the southern end of the county (Spanish Fork) and the northern end (Lehi) to eat, laugh and catch up on each other's lives.  It's most definitely the best day of the week! Our sweet Lola always keeps us entertained and amazes the grown ups with her growing vocabulary. 

She struggles with some of her letter sounds,

 "S" and "L" are tough ones.

One of her favorite tv shows is "Shaun the Sheep." 

She says, "Juan the Weep." 

Today she proclaimed that I am "Gwamma Wowwy."

YES!

I LOVE being Gwamma Wowwy!



After Six Weeks...

So, when I first learned about Cellulitis I was told it would be a six week ordeal. Wouldn't ya know it, that's about what it was too.  What the heck!  Then I heard from several people I know, who have had this, that it can come back, more than once!  Seriously?!
 This has been the most horrible thing I've ever had to deal with!

But, now that it's over, I want to thank all of you that have called, visited, sent me sweet words of encouragement and prayed for my recovery.  I have such an appreciation for good health!  I also feel I have a better understanding for those who have been sent to bed for weeks, months, or longer because of illness or pregnancy (I am so sorry!). 

Boredom is just a little of the pain one deals with.  Feeling frustrated that you can't do any of the things you normally do is a huge issue!  Then of course there is the actual physical pain and discomfort that is woven into the situation.  Not a fun time.

Earlier I posted pictures of my leg at various stages.  Yeah, I have some more.  I ended with week #3.  So, let's do a speedy look through weeks 4 through 6.




Dr. says this is looking great!
The dead skin is sluffing off
 and all of the red I can see is new skin.







Dead skin is gone, new skin is growing!

Almost looking normal!



Scabby, but looking (and feeling) so much better!


Finally, after taking 6 weeks off from work, the doctor felt I could resume my normal life. I started back to school where I was welcomed by a classroom full of 5 year olds wanting to give me hugs and tell me that they had missed me.  Almost heaven.  I told them that if any of them were swinging their cute little legs under the table and kicked my sore leg, they'd see me curl up in a ball on the floor and cry.  Then I'd never come back.  They've done amazingly well controlling their legs!

The doctor told me that the infection seemed to have started in a vein that had stopped pumping the blood back to the heart.  Poor circulation.  He told me to get the veins stripped on this leg.  I had my left leg stripped two years ago, but didn't get around to doing the right leg because I wasn't sure that it had made a difference.  Dang it.  Guess I'll be getting that done soon.  Doc told me I should because there's a good chance I'd get cellulitis again if I don't.

Well, I'm back to almost normal now.  I wear a compression stocking, to my knee, because I couldn't stand wearing the thigh high one. I'm planning to schedule the vein surgery soon.  Money seems to be the thing keeping me from it right now.  It's always money!   Everything costs too much!  :)  Oh well, retirement has never really been an option for us anyway.  But, I've basically resumed all activity as before.  I went back to the temple yesterday (first time since October) and felt so happy just to be there!

My new scar.
Kinda big, but boy does it feel better now!

Thank you again,

to all of you for your concern and prayers and for keeping me in the loop of life!  

Cellulitis (or Zombie Leg)

Well, I thought I had a flu bug or something, and now I wish I had. From chills and aches and pains on Thursday night. To thinking I had a blood clot on Saturday morning. Only to be told it wasn't a blood clot, after an ultrasound of my leg, but an infection. I was given a shot and started oral antibiotics. 



Saturday October 20, 2012



By Sunday, it was worse. My "rash" was bigger and the lymph node in my upper thigh was red and sore. So, yep, another dr visit on Monday and diagnosis Cellulitis. Double up on antibiotics and sent home with my leg wrapped up and told to keep it elevated above my heart. Seriously?!



Sunday October 21, 2012

  

 How I get to spend the next few weeks.

When I went back to the dr on Wednesday, the dr was really pleased with how my leg was improving. He said it's healing nicely and continue with antibiotics and elevation. I asked him for something to help me sleep and deal with the pain.

He gave me Lortab.

This is my leg on Wednesday October 23, 2012. It's the beginning of the Zombie Leg!

(I hate blogging! The pictures are so dang hard to post!)

So, after 2 nights using Lortab, and having some seriously amazing dreams, I broke out in a head to toe rash. I guess I'm allergic to Lortab. So, now I itch and have this excruciating pain in my leg. 

Speaking of pain, yikes!  This really hurts!  It's started out as feeling like someone was scraping the flesh off my leg down to the bone.  When I go from lying down to hanging my leg off the bed (preparing to stand up) the scraping feeling hits.  Then I gradually put some weight on my leg, wait a bit longer, finally I can stand up and limp into the bathroom.  After I've been up for awhile it doesn't hurt as bad.  But, I have to get back to lying down and elevating my leg, because it does hurt.

As this has progressed the pain changes.  It sometimes feels like I have a huge branding iron going through my leg.  Other times it's more like a vise squishing my leg from front to back.  Anyway you look at it, it hurts like hell!
(I'm totally justified in using that word too!)

Today is November 3, 2012.  The beginning of week #3.  This is the picture I took this morning while changing the bandages.  It's not pretty.

The top layer of skin is just loose and baggy.  there is  yellow liquid draining from small breaks in the loose skin.  It isn't as red or painful as it was a week ago, but it sure is ugly!  I have one more week before I know if I can even go back to work!  Most people that I've talked to about this say it takes about 6 weeks.  Man, I hope not!

I have a wonderful family and great friends that have been praying for me and visiting to cheer me up.  Thank you to everyone!  I appreciate and love you all!

So, I'll keep everyone updated.  Hopefully the pictures will look better soon!



Here's to your health!

I made my annual trek to The Women's Health Fair a couple of weeks ago,  and had a rather not so very routine experience after leaving the Fair.  Because I was fasting ( blood tests) I brought along a protein shake and my handful of vitamins/pills that I take every morning to swallow before I headed to work.  I got in my car, turned it on for air conditioning and music and proceeded to drink and swallow my breakfast.  I wondered what was going on outside of the car that was causing another driver to honk non-stop for a few seconds at a time, but wasn't too concerned.  Suddenly, a young Hispanic woman came to my rear window and angrily shouted at me, "Are you going to leave!"  I was a little stunned.  I looked at her through my rear view mirror and shook my head "no."  She then double fisted, flipped me off and yelled, "YOU STUPID BITCH!" and stomped away.  Yep, I sat there with my mouth open (fortunately I had swallowed my drink first).

She had been honking at me!

She must have seen me get into my car and was waiting for me to pull out so that she could get my parking spot.  I had arrived before 8:00 am and it was a pretty close to the door spot, but really?!  The lot was full, but there was still plenty of parking out on the street.  She even had a small child in her car (poor kid).  So, yes, I shared this story with my family and friends.  They all reacted with amazed looks on their faces and wondered if I had yelled back at her.  Of course I didn't.  I had reached my ripe old age of 57 without ever being yelled at, flipped off and called such names -

I have some self respect! 

Later that night, after serving in the temple...I saw that I had a message on my phone. 

It was from the Health Dept. 

I had won a quilt!  :)  

Can I just say,

"Nanny, Nanny, Nanny!"