Hunger Games

The book group book for this month is The Hunger Games. I have it on hold at the library but there are 474 holds before me. The girl who chose the book had a copy from the library and which is due Friday. She offered to lend it out if anyone thought they could finish it in time. I read quickly and because of the surgery I am not doing much so have time on my hands. I borrowed it from her on Wednesday, started it at about 9:00 that night and finished it at 3:00 on Thursday afternoon. It was a fast read and I couldn't put it down! It was a great book with some kind of horrifying plots and I think there will be much to talk about in book group.

Gallbladder Surgery

After 18 months of gallbladder attacks I finally had my gallbladder removed on Wednesday Oct 28th.

Mom spent a few days with us and she was such a lifesaver! She got up with Max so many times during the night and even spent an hour playing trains with him at 3 in the morning. The surgery was quick and pretty minor. Mom and I were at the hospital at 6:30 am and home by 11:30. I slept most of the first two days and I am very grateful for pain pills. I ate very little and threw most of it up. The ward brought in dinner for the first few days, which is always helpful and I am excited about getting recipes for new meals. A week later I have four little incisions which are a bit sore and I tire easily but I am mostly back to normal. I am so grateful that I will never have a gallbladder attack again!

My Neighbor Totoro

We picked up several movies from the library hoping Max would give something besides Monsters Inc. a try. We thought he would like Cars because of his love of vehicles. Funny enough, the movie he has really taken to is the strange little Japanese film My Neighbor Totoro. It is cute, a little strange and he loves it.

Dinner With Mara

I met Mara for dinner at Noodles and Co. It was fun to eat at a "girl" place and talk for hours.

Flowers!!!

I just got a delivery of FLOWERS!

They are beautiful and brightened my day.
I'm such a girl. :)
Thank you so much Jake, Jessica and Kylee!

Fall Pickup

Max and I just spent an hour following the tractors and trucks around the neighborhood. We sat in our swing while they picked up the trash in our cul-de-sac and then put on our shoes and jackets. We would walk for a bit and then sit down on the cold sidewalk watching. Max waved to all the vehicles and the drivers waved back at us.

Back In The Kitchen Again

I hurt tonight. More than I really have since the first day of surgery. Probably because I did too much. But I had to! My house was falling down around me. OK, not really...I just couldn't stand it anymore. I did the shopping that has been on my mind for a week, the dishes, cleaned up the kitchen, vacuumed and made dinner. I felt like me again. I am generally a good housekeeper (if we leave out the kitchen floor) and I am pretty good at feeding my family. But the dishes were growing mold, the floor was growing food and tonight was the first night we ate at the table in weeks. Max screamed the entire time. How quickly they forget.

I did hurt. But it was so wonderful to walk through my clean house after enjoying a meal I prepared. I still get tired easily and I have more recovering to do, but I also want to get back to my normal life. And the house should stay clean for at least a day or two.

The ward brought in meals for a few nights. Which was wonderful! Not as many nights as I was told they would, which worked fine because we had left-overs. It was just that we waited around for dinner instead of just throwing something together. And the truth is what I really would have appreciated was someone doing my dishes or cleaning my floors. I want to remember that the next time someone is in need. Do they really need food or is there some better way that I can help them?