I'm a Little Slow (Okay, A Lot)

It finally occurred to me today why there is a major tree trimming project going on along the major highway that we travel into town regularly.  It's more than tree trimming, they are cutting them down completely.  A lot of them. I hadn't thought much about it other than - "I wonder why they are cutting those down...." until Sean asked me what those men were doing at Wendy's.  I looked to see and explained that they had cut all those trees down and were now raking the tiny limbs.

That is when the light bulb went off.  My ah-ha moment.  All of those trees, the ones by Kroger, the ones by homes, and many more are coming down to make room for the major widening of the road. 

I am not looking forward to this major pain in the neck road construction project.  However, I know, because we drive it often, that it is much needed.  I think I read that they will start on the other end of town so we will still have some time before we deal with the traffic issues. 

Speaking of cutting down trees, Jeff spent this afternoon working on one in our backyard.   It is in a bad spot and last year a limb out of it did some damage to our gutter and roof during a storm so it's time for it to go.  He has most of the limbs off of it and I was noticing how much lighter it is in that direction and how much more of the interstate we can see.  Things should improve once the tree near it gets some leaves. 

I Had A Dream...

I had a dream that the kids were playing a CD.  I made them take it out and hand it to me so I could put it in the refrigerator.  I knew the play quality of the CD would not be good because the CD was too melted.  Putting it in the refrigerator would chill it so that it would play correctly. 

In the dream, I did not take a bite of the CD but I sure have been thinking of it a lot since then.  I have no idea why I dreamt this but could it be all the Easter candy that I see in the stores? 

The CD closely resembled these: 

Spring or Not?

Spring break began with warm weather, fun playing outside with new friends. 

Then it got cold again.  Although 40s isn't really cold, it feels like it after it's been 70 for a few days. 

Money Making Chores

Sean and Sierra decided to try to earn some money over the weekend.  They unloaded the dishwasher.  Then they decided to clean the mirror in the dining room. 

With disinfectant wipes.

How Do You Get To Heaven

Yesterday out of the blue, Sierra asked me, "How do you get to heaven?"

Oh the pressure.  So I start to explain how you have to ask Jesus in your heart... and so on.  She looked at me again like I was talking over her head which I'm sure I was. 

Then she says, "How do you get there?  Do you fly?   'Cause God is in the sky." 

GOD's Promises

I was delighted to look out the window on Sunday and see this rainbow.  When I first saw it, it was vivid and bright.  By the time I showed it to Sean and Sierra, grabbed my camera and ran outside, it was fading in and out.  I was glad to be able to catch a glimpse of it with the camera but the image I captured in my mind is so much more memorable.

Cake Decorating Fun

Callie has been working on her cake decorating badge for American Heritage Girls.  In a couple of our meetings, the girls learned to use some tips.  They  had to decorate a cake for a ceremony.  She is really starting to enjoy it.  Tonight she learned how to bake a cake.  Before decorating the cake, she practiced with the tips.   Wax paper is a good way to practice without needing a cake. 

Since this was her first attempt at decorating, she kept the design simple.   

  

Short Post

I did not want to miss posting this weekend, but I will make it short.  We had a very nice weekend.  I have pictures to share later - hopefully enough to make several posts.   Today I have spent hours and hours uploading photos to Walgreens so I can print them for 10 cents each.  I haven't uploaded, edited, or printed any in 3 months so it takes forever to catch up.  It's not that I'm printing that many, but I have to select them, upload them, fix them (if needed) and zoom and crop them, and then trim down my order to the very favorites.

One quick story. 

On Saturday, I asked Sean to throw the old spinach leaves out in the garden spot. 

Later I went out to toss a banana peel and found this. 

 

 

 

I guess I should have been more specific.  

Sierra's 1 week Checkup

Dr. W said that Sierra's eyes look like they should.  We have to keep putting ointment in them at bedtime though and go back in 3 weeks.  The ointment is not her favorite thing, to say the least. 

He said she has no restrictions so she went outside and played when we got home.  That wind is brisk.

On the way home, we stopped by the optometrist's office that dispensed her glasses to get them adjusted.  Dr. C wanted to take a look at Sierra after he heard she'd had surgery so he talked to her for a minute.  He's very nice and friendly. 

Her eyes look really good.  They had gotten even redder (bloody) after those first few days but now they look mostly pinkish. 

Taking Turns?

The kids were talking last night about dying for whatever reason.  Sierra seemed upset and I said that they need to talk about something else. 

Sierra says with all seriousness, "I dreamed that we were taking turns dying!" 

Sean laughed. 

Sierra looked at him angrily with big tears in her eyes and said, "It's NOT funny!  I go'ed first!" 

Gotta love those kind of dreams. 

That Guy We Know

 

Last night, Sean was telling Daddy about our day.  Then he came downstairs to get clarification from me on something. 

"Whose birthday is it tomorrow?"  Yikes, did I forget to get a gift for someone?  What is tomorrow.... think think think.... March 5?  I don't recognize that date. 

Sean went on to say, "You know, that guy that we know.... the one that writes books." 

More thinking... what did we do today?  What is he talking about? 

Me:  "Do you mean Dr. Seuss?"  "Yeah!" 

We had went to the library earlier yesterday and had signed a pledge to "Pull the Plug" today in honor of Dr. Seuss' birthday.  (I don't think his birthday is actually today.) We had agreed to give up t.v. and look at books instead.  I didn't know we knew the man personally.  I'm sure glad he won't notice when I don't send him a card. 

 

The pledge came with an opportunity to win a prize in a drawing.  While I was filling it out, Sean was trying to decide if this was something we should do.  "What are the prizes?"  I told him.  He said, "I want the gift card."  He thought that sounded better than books and the other items.  I told him we do not get to choose what we win IF we win. 

Sean also wanted to make sure that if we "pulled the plug" on the television, we wouldn't have to go buy a new one and replace it.  He probably gets the idea that the world will stop turning if we have no t.v. from his father.   He's not home from work yet and I'm sure he has forgotten what Sean told him about that guy we know and his birthday.  He'll be expecting to turn on the t.v. when he gets home. 

Of course, today Sean has bargained and begged for us to forget the whole thing.  After all, "We don't HAVE to do it!"  I told him that we are leaving the t.v. off.  Period.  

Missing Fish

Once in a while, though very rarely, Sierra will complain of being hungry after she is tucked in bed with lights out.  Since this is not a frequent thing, I will occasionally let her have a small snack, such as goldfish. 

On one of these occasions recently, she had dropped one of her goldfish crackers and was trying to find it and asked Callie to help her.  I came in the room about this time to see Callie searching on the floor until she found Sierra's stuffed Nemo.  She handed it to Sierra who gave her a funny look.  I quickly explained that Sierra had lost her "goldfish" as in cracker, not her "clown fish" as in Nemo. 

 

Donuts

Sierra came into the kitchen and told me she wanted donuts to eat.  I told her we did not have any.  She looked at me a second, apparently trying to decide if I knew what a donut was.  Then she said, "The circle things with white stuff on them."  My reply was still the same.    Unfortunately, we had finished those powdered sugar donut gems a couple of days ago. 

Back to Preschool

Sierra was excited to get back to school but a little apprehensive about the lights.  I gave her some ibuprofen and we found a hat for her to wear to block the light from above. 

Mrs. R was her teacher today because Mrs. J was sick.  Mrs. R sent a note home with her that said Sierra did fine today.  It also said, "I love the way she is unaffected by what others are doing."  I think I know what she means by this but am a little curious too. 

Here are some pics (without flash again). 

       

 

Sierra said I could take Sean's picture with flash.

Sean has been working on his Lego creations.  He says this is a lifeboat.   

Recap of Surgery Day

Bright and early on Friday, I went into Sierra's room and put her slippers on her feet.  She slept in her sweats so she would not have to change clothes.  She woke up and put her feet to the floor and said, "I can't wait." I think we did almost too good with preparing her for this. 

She was looking forward to riding in the elevator until we found that the only ones open were way in the back of the hospital so I talked her into taking the open stairs to the 2nd floor.  It seems that the only elevators that were operational after the flood were the tower elevators in the very back.  The reason for this is the controls for these were up on or near the roof.  The other elevators' controls were in the basement.  Had it not been for the elevators with controls upstairs, the hospital would not have been able to open so soon after the flood.  There was one elevator close to outpatient surgery that was recently re-opened so we were able to take it down when we left. 

When the nurse took us back to prep her for surgery, she was concerned about Sierra hearing a young child or baby that was crying hysterically but Sierra just ignored it or didn't seem bothered by it.   The only time she seemed nervous was when her blood pressure was taken.  But the nurse said that WALL-E (blood pressure machine) was going to give her a hug (blood pressure cuff).  Sierra looked at the machine with a funny expression. 

She chose a gown and she got a handmade doll to keep.  She also took her stuffed dog with her to surgery. 

Dr. W (surgeon) stopped in to say hi.  Then Dr. W2 (anesthesiologist) stopped in for a minute.  When he left, Sierra said, "He's taalll."  He was rather tall.  A few minutes later a nurse came to take her.  She was going to give Sierra a ride in one of the wagons but soon found out that all the wagons had disappeared since the flood.  They were used to transport things around.  So, Sierra got to ride in her bed to the operating room.  She was very brave and didn't cry at all. 

They let her breathe in a mask to go to sleep and then they put her IV in and put the EKG on her.  She wore most of the EKG stickers home but they are all off now. 

About 1 hour and 15 minutes later, we were called to a consultation room where Dr. W came in and told us that things went well, gave us a tube of ointment to put in her eyes and told us he wants to see her back in a week. 

Probably about 45 minutes later, we were called into recovery where two very nice nurses were taking care of Sierra.  She had drank some apple juice and they were holding her hands to make sure she did not rub her eyes.  She never tried to rub her eyes, but her nose was itchy from the medicines and she kept rubbing it.  Her forehead also itched from the foam they used to support her head.  Every so often she would open her eyes but then close them again quickly but she never even whimpered.  She rested quietly and responded with nods when she wanted more to drink. 

They took her back to a private room in outpatient surgery so she could wake up more.  I held her on my lap while she ate a few goldfish.  Then Jeff walked holding her a bit.  They wanted to be sure she was not going to be sick.  Soon after that, we got her dressed and they took her down to the van in a wheelchair.  She could have cared less at this point.  In the van, she did open her eyes a little more often. 

Once we got home, I gave her ibuprofen (she had tylenol in the recovery room) and within an hour, she fell asleep and slept about 5 hours straight.  And daddy and mommy snoozed off and on also. 

Friday night, she slept on the love seat and mommy slept next to her on the couch.  She slept very well.  We continued with pain medicine on Saturday.  She complained most of the light hurting her eyes.  Lights, television, windows, etc.  She says they still hurt when we ask, but she is playing normally and is ready to go to preschool tomorrow. 

Her eyes look very red in the corners but that might last a few weeks.  They are very watery.  We can tell there is significant improvement from the surgery when her glasses are off.  It's hard to tell much with the glasses on because they are so watery and it was hard for us to see the turning in with them on anyway.

 

These were taken today without flash with her as close to the window as I could get her to sit.  The peace sign was because "I want to do it like Callie does."