Delusions of... Everything

Lab Vs. Raccoon

Scout, our yellow lab, has always been a winner when going up against the nasty, annoying raccoons who visit our backyard.  His barking, grunting and general badass attitude have scared off many a raccoon over the years.

Maybe you remember this story?  I’ve been angry at those critters ever since they ate the heads off every one of the gold fish in our pond.  They continue to make a mess of our pond, uprooting plants, throwing rocks and eating tadpoles.  We’ve been able to relocate a couple we’ve caught in a trap to a rural location, but they continue to harass us with their destruction.

Yesterday morning was the final straw in my mostly gentle attitude toward those little beasts.  As is normal every morning Handy Man let Scout outside to do his business.  We can always tell if we’ve had or are currently having a visit from a raccoon because Scout starts making grunting noises and runs back and forth between the pond and the gate sniffing like crazy.  That did not happen yesterday.  What happened instead was the scariest and creepiest howling and crying I’ve ever heard come from my dog’s mouth.

Handy Man ran outside and kicked the raccoon who had attached it’s mouth to Scout’s leg and was refusing to let go.  The raccoon escaped over the fence and Handy Man brought Scout in the house.  After an inspection blood was found and it was decided HM would take Scout to the vet when it opened.

The vet said the raccoon basically “corn cobbed” his leg leaving multiple lacerations requiring 15 stitches, a rabies shot and 3 different medications.  On top of the injuries on his leg, the raccoon also got a claw or tooth in one of his ears, where the vet also discovered he had an ear infection (totally unrelated to the raccoon attack).  The vet also said the raccoon just missed severing a tendon which would have required surgery and 12 weeks in a cast.  Anyone with a lab knows what a nightmare that would have been.

It’s truly amazing how much destruction one little animal caused in a manner of seconds.  Please send healing thoughts to my puppy, he needs them!

Pain beyond belief

About a week ago I was happily getting ready for work.  Handy Man happened to be home because we were having a new refrigerator delivered.  I had drank about half my smoothie, went to rouse Dancing Daughter out of bed when the most excruciating stomach pains had me doubling over.

At first I thought it was gas even though the pains were very high, so I laid down on my stomach on the floor (weird I know but that sometimes helps me relieve gas pain).  Not one bit of relief.  I crawled on to the sofa and told Handy Man there was something very wrong with me.  I was doing "labor breathing" (anyone who has given birth knows what I'm talking about) and trying very hard not to moan or cry out in pain.  That didn't help either.  And I did end up moaning and crying.

It became evident very quickly that I needed to go to the ER.  DD found a ride to school and Handy Man took me to the hospital, which is luckily very, very close to our house.  They took one look at me, got a wheel chair and took me to a room, triaging me on the way.  They hooked me up, asked me a bunch of questions, gave me some pain meds, which did not work, gave me an EKG and had me try to go pee, which I couldn't do.

All this time I felt like I was dying... Oh and Handy Man had to run home so the refrigerator could be delivered.

Finally they brought me this GI "cocktail" which tasted horrible, but I was very thankful for because it took my pain away immediately.  My blood work came back and they said everything looked fine, it wasn't my heart, liver, kidneys or gall bladder.  Because of how I responeded to the GI cocktail the ER Doc said he suspected an ulcer, prescribed prilosec, told me to go see my Dr asap and I was on my way.

My Dr scheduled me for an ultrasound where they found lots of gall "gunk" and a gallstone.  So is it gall bladder disease, an ulcer or both?  Gah!

Now I'm scheduled to see a GI Dr next week, meanwhile I'm not eating anything that might bother my gall bladder or an ulcer, which is interesting because aside from nuts and alcohol (mostly just wine on the weekends) I haven't been eating anything that should have made my gall bladder angry.  Handy Man and I have still been following the Detox diet.

After doing some research I found out that millions of people have gall bladder disease without knowing it, they never have symptoms or an attack.  I also learned that losing weight too fast can trigger an attack.  Being that I lost 15 pounds in 3 weeks I'm guessing that if it is my gall bladder, that's what caused it.

I can tell you that I hope I never feel that pain again.  It was truly the most pain I've felt since being in labor.  Not a good time.

The Transfromation (or how to install a fountain)

A few weeks ago I made a post about how we were planning to put in some kind of water feature in our front yard.

First some trees needed to be cut down.

Handy Man cut the trees down the day after we got back from spring break in San Diego.  I was at work so there are no pictures showing the cutting.  But here is after they were cut down.

 

We decided to install a fountain which required a lot of digging.

I might have missed out on getting a shot of the tree cutting but I did get a shot of Handy Man cutting a root left by one of the trees.

Once the area was all prepared it was time to bring up the pieces of the concrete fountain.

Luckily Handy Man had some rockers to help him.  He estimated the largest peice weighed close to 300 lbs.

Here are the peices parts.

Here is a tired Handy Man!

Putting it all together and finding that it works!

Adding rocks.  Rocks we collected around our yard.  And we thought we'd have to buy rocks, haha!  The rocks went right on top of the grating.  It's a pretty cool set up!

Once we planted it it looked very nice.  Oh yeah, Handy Man also built a climbing trellis for roses.  I can't wait to see if covered with blooms.

Let's recap...  Before:

After:

Before:

After:

I love it and really appreciate all the hard work Handy Man put in to completing it.  I'm thinking by the end of summer (assuming we have a summer) The plants will be filled in and looking gorgeous!  If you're coming to Blog Fest West you'll get to see it in person!

The Self Portrait

While in San Diego Handy Man and I were on the beach early one morning while the kids were still sleeping.  Here is what transpired...

Me:  Let's take a self portrait of "us".

HM - (looking around very puzzled) There's nowhere to set the camera.

Me:  We can do it like this...

HM: .... ok.  Can you get us both in the shot?

Me:.....

HM:  It's not a very good picture.

Me:  You have to get closer to me!! *sigh*

Don't you just love the look on HM's face?!  It says, this is the dumbest idea ever, this picture will never turnout.

Later he took a self portrait with Dancing Daughter.

I guess he learned something that morning on the beach!

Sky Watch Friday

Where the sky meets the sea.

San Diego, CA

Photo by Handy Man

Wow

I bet your wondering where I've been the place couple weeks.  I already told you about my sprained knee, which is getting better, but on top of that I got sick and I'm not really sure how it happened.

During the last 4 years our family has gone through many changes... Buying a new house, moving, being broke, renting out a house we couldn't sell, being broke, remodelling the new house, being broke, being turned down for a refinance on the new house, losing my job, being even more broke, job searching for almost 5 months and being broke.  Through all of this stress Handy Man and I managed to stay fairly healthy.  Nothing more than sniffles and maybe some stomach issues, but generally we stayed healthy during a long stretch of heavy stress.

Now things are much better for us, if fact I would say we are very comfortable with where we are in our lives right now.  We are no longer stressed about mortgages, rentals, refinancing, etc.  We are planning a vacation in a couple weeks, we are in a great place.

So why then did Handy Man and I both end up getting the flu this year?  I haven't been this sick since I had the flu that turned into pneumonia when Dancing Daughter was 1, that was 15 years ago.  For a couple years after that I got both the flu and pneumonia shot, but haven't gotten either since.  I just don't get sick anymore.  I learned how to say no more often.  I learned to rest when I was tired.  I learned how to meditate and do things I love for enjoyment.

Not sure what happened this time.  All I can say is I find it amazing that we can go through 4 years of such heavy stress with no serious illness and during this time of prosperity we both get knocked on our asses.

Wow, just wow!

I'm going to work today, even though I want to rest some more.  I have no PTO time to spare, I was out 3 days last week and can't afford to miss more work.

It is really hard for me to listen to myself complain while the people in Japan are digging out from horrible devastation.  While concentrating on healing thoughts for myself, I'm sending out healing thoughts to the victims, families, rescue workers and leaders for a fast recovery. 

Life in Hawaii

After my 19 year old self, married 19 year old Handy Man we hopped a plane to Hawaii where we would live for the next 4 years. 

I had delusions dreams of Hawaii being romantic and fun for newlyweds.  I had delusions dreams of walking hand in hand on the beach, drinking Mai Tai's in the sun, sightseeing and island hopping.  What was I thinking?

Handy Man was in the Navy Seabees as an equipment operator.  That made me a Navy wife.  A roll that I embraced once we moved on base.  Before that I was alone everyday while Handy Man went off to work in the only car we owned over 30 minutes away.  We lived in Waianae at the Makaha Valley Towers on the 14th floor.  The views were amazing.  On the weekends we went to Yokohama Beach where we were usually alone, except for a surfer or two.  This is where I lost my wedding ring while body surfing.  The current and undertow was very strong on this beach.  Every time we went to the beach we would search for the ring, but we never found it. 

Although we were living in paradise, I was lonely.  I was only 19 and I had never lived on my own.  I went from my parents home to a home with my husband 3,000 miles and an ocean away.  Handy Man had already been on his own for almost a year.  He would tell me about all the fun stuff he did with his friends.  Hanging out at the beach, going to the club on base, seeing bands play, sightseeing.  I was so excited to get there and do all that stuff too. 

Reality was a lot different, Handy Man was tired after work and did not want to go out.  On the weekends he wouldn't want to drive the 30 minutes to go to the club on base.  There was nothing to do in Waianae, it was as small town as you could get on Oahu and the military did not hang out with the locals.  I missed my friends and my family.

In November we had our first visitor from the mainland.  My friend Jude came to stay.  I was beyond excited.  When Handy Man went to work we took the bus to Honolulu.  It was a long ride.  We went to Pearl Harbor, the beach and even a party on base!  I was in heaven.  We also had our first and only Hurricane during her visit.  It hit just before Thanksgiving and we had to shop for food in the dark with flashlights.  What an adventure! The power came on just in time to cook my first ever Thanksgiving dinner.

It was a very sad day when I had to say goodbye to Jude and go back to spending my days alone.

That all changed once we moved on base...

Conversations in the Car

Conversation Handy Man and I had in the car yesterday.

Me:  I know I'm going to jinx myself by saying this out loud, but not having my period for almost 2 months feels amazing.  I feel so good.

HM:  *silent*

Me:  All the depression, anxiety, mood swings, hot flashes, bloating and whatever else I've been having for years months are gone.

HM:  *silent*

Me:  I feel like I've taken some kind of anti-depressant, anti-anxiety, happy pill.

HM:  You mean like Demerol?

Me:  Have you been slipping me drugs when I wasn't looking?

HM:  *silent*

Me:  *silent*

HM:  Well it could come back and go away again, come back and go away again for years, right?

Me:  It's different for everyone.  Some women wake up one day and it's gone forever.  I really hope that's what happened to me!

HM:  *silent*

I woke up this morning, after a very restless night of sleep and found that indeed I jinxed myself.  Handy Man is right, this is probably going to go on for years.  Oh Joy!

Teen Marriage

The Beautiful Blogger award Meg honored me with last week got me thinking about interesting things I'd like to know about people.  This turned into a list of things about myself that I either haven't shared or just mentioned briefly.  What I hope that list turns into is actual posts!  At the very least it turned into this post about being a teenage bride.

I got married while I was still a teenager and am still married after almost 28 years.  I would not recommend it to anyone.  Ever.  Not that I haven't enjoyed being married, but it is HARD, HARD work.  Many times I just wanted to say F**K it and move on, but I didn't.

Ironically Handy Man and I were not high school sweethearts.  We did go to the same high school and hung out with some of the same people, but it wasn't until after graduation that we "got together".

Here's how it went down.  Handy Man asked me to prom.  Neither one of us had a boyfriend or girlfriend and he thought it would be fun to go to prom with a friend.  There wouldn't be any of that awkwardness, plus "I'll be leaving for the Navy in the summer and I don't want to start a long lasting relationship."  Exact quote.

Over the next couple weeks we started hanging out alone, without our friend group.  It was fun.  Handy Man asked me on another "date".  He asked if I wanted to go to a graduation party with him.  I agreed, and that was that.  We fell in love.

We spent all summer together, right up to the day he left for boot camp in San Diego.  We wrote letters every day.  I went to San Diego to watch him graduate from boot camp.  He went to Mississippi for training, then he came home for a month at Christmas.

On New Years Eve, just after I turned 19 and while he was still 18, we got engaged.  He moved to Hawaii where he was stationed.  We planned a July wedding over the phone and through the mail.

We got married on July 24 the same day that both of our maternal grandparents were married.  They had 91 years of marriage between them on the day we got married.  We saw that as a good omen. 

The day after the wedding we left for Hawaii where we lived for the next four years...

This and That Thursday

While doing the dishes this morning I broke my favorite wine glass.  I'm so sad.

Is it possible to "wish-a-way" the monthly visit from Aunt Flo?  She is almost two weeks late!  No, I am NOT pregnant.  Could this be the end of the monthly visit?  Or is the beginning of the big tease?

I really love Chex Mix.  All the salt of potato chips, without all the fat!

While I was away for the weekend scrapbooking Handy Man did the following:

• Treated the hardwood floors making them shiny, slippery and looking brand new
• Scrubbed clean the downstairs bathroom, including the ceiling!
• Kept the house super uber clean

I'm sure he did a bunch of other stuff, but that's the stuff that stood out to me.  I love that man!

My cat has caught two bunnies in the past two days.  Would you like to see?  If you don't like seeing dead bunnies you should probably skip over the photo!

Not only does she catch them, she eats every last bit of them, even the fur.  Gross!  She thinks she's a lioness.

Any random stuff you want to share with me today?