Ring Pillow and Wedding

I promised a ring pillow for the wedding....way back when they became engaged last year. I knew I would have time this summer....but after my chaotic summer, the pillow had not been sewn. Nor had the fabric been purchased. Time kept ticking until 3 days before the wedding.

I spent Tuesday night on the embroidery. Wednesday night sewing the pillow together and Thursday night sewing on the "diamonds" and ribbons. The wedding was Friday at 5:00.

I left work at 11:30, got home and got the car loaded and we were on the road before noon. AND we hit traffic...lots of it....I was sooooo tired from the first week of school and no sleep and sewing...and all the work I do since The Captain cannot. It was about 130 miles to Forest Hill...near Auburn. 

But the pillow was sewn....and we arrived at 3:50. I think it turned out lovely and so was the wedding.

The ribbon on the back was for the ring bearer to slip his hands through to hold the pillow. The little "diamonds," ($28 worth,) were sewn by hand and a loop of thread went around each and every one. This is around the 6th one I have sewn but is by far my favorite.

*LIVESTRONG*LOVESTRONGER*LAUGH HARDER*ENJOY A WEDDING*

Grants and Obstacles

It was like Christmas!!

The Biologist and I got up at 6 a.m. to drive to a Target store up the peninsula....we arrived early so there was time to fool around....see, we got up early on a Saturday to receive a $200 gift card to target for teaching supplies! We both applied and we both got accepted! PLUS...the bonus was it was all tax free!

And they even had a food truck that made breakfast for us! (Don't my shorts look funny full of my keys and glasses....all pokey-outie!)

Here's all the stuff I bought!! I only spent $3.47 of my own money...I am so excited about all those books :)

BUT there's more...as soon as we got home we changed into our ROC Race running gear and headed to San Jose...to the Santa Clara Fairgrounds. There we had an 11a.m. wave to do this.....

It is a 5K obstacle course run....there are slides and monkey bars, silly big balls that knock you into a pool of water...and just plain silliness.

Here are 4 of us beforehand....

I wore my GO Pro and haven't gotten it uploaded yet....
Here we are after...there were 9 of us ....

 My daughter and her friends...I cannot convince their moms to participate...so I am the only "old" person tagging along...BUT I had a BLAST! And actually ran ahead of them so I could get them on the GO PRO as they went through the obstacles...AND...my PR...I made it across the monkey bars without dropping...so did the Biologist!

*LIVESTRONG*LOVESTRONGER*LAUGH HARDER*ROC THE RACE*

Thank goodness for dentists....

This morning I dropped The Captain off at the dentist....kind of like daycare.....I was able to run to the bank and take the dog to a local park and run 2x around it. I did have to stop 2 times to pick up after her...but no matter as I was sucking wind after about 50 feet. I haven't run since I ran to work July 2....and then my world changed.

Summer is gone. I have a class next week and then it is back to work. This week is filled with Dr appointments and therapy. The kids are all back in their respective countries, states and apartments....and it is back to just us and the Coach here....and now that it is volleyball season for Stanford we see very little of him. 

Today we met with the cardiac surgeon...I love that guy...so nice, and of course, so skilled. We got to see The Captain's CT scan prior to the emergency surgery. He showed us what he used to repair the aorta and checked on The Captain's healing. He gave us the name of another surgeon for the gall bladder and also told us the stone may dissolve on its own...something the other surgeon did not tell us was an option. Did I say I love this guy?

Things are getting more back to normal....every day is a day we wouldn't have had :)

*LIVESTRONG*LOVESTRONGER*LAUGH HARDER*KISS YOUR SPOUSE*

Seriously....

I have GONE CRACKERS......

My friend gave me these crackers...she thought it was funny...seriously funny...but I didn't....you know why? It is true...if you saw my Facebook post you already know.

We have been having a good time recuperating at home...enjoying the few days of summer that I have had this year....and then....just because it was 2 weeks since we had been to the E.R, I guess The Captain was feeling a little homesick and we went for a visit at 3:30 a.m. today. Seems he now has some gall stones...and that gall bladder will need to come out- soon...just as soon as the heart heals. We just need to eat light and hope that it doesn't flare up again....because it just wasn't fun for anyone.

 At least we know everyone there now. At least I feel okay enough to go to the thing that doubles as a cafeteria while the real one is under construction to buy a banana, a Kind Bar and a chocolate milk while we waitwaitwaitwaitwait  for the next procedure. We left E.R. at 11, with a card to make an appointment with the surgeon on Monday. Just because Monday was free on the calendar...

But in the meantime, I am crackers...GONE CRACKERS for sure. I will go outside, close my eyes and pretend I am on vacation in Tahiti. I have always wanted to go there....and stay in those huts out on the water where you can jump into the warm water whenever you want...and watch the fish from the glass floors.

*LIVESTRONG*LOVESTRONGER*LAUGH HARDER*GONE TO TAHITI*

She is now a resident....

of New Zealand....N. Zed as the locals call it....

We parked and walked into SFO with her...after one month here, I was so sad to see her go.

At the check in counter, her bag was weighed and it was 7 kilos too heavy. She had her boarding pass so we went out of line to sort the bags and redistribute the weight....she has a big interview on Monday so she really needed her botany books and notes....we stuffed them into her carry on. But still...it just wasn't working. We weighed the bag at home but somehow she had the wrong weight limit.

So we went back to the Air New Zealand counter and planned to drop $150 for a small bag...there really wasn't anything else we could do. This time we were with a different clerk and she could see we were definitely teary-eyed and stressed. The clerk opened the zippered bag to see the text books and spiral notebooks. She asked if the botanist was traveling alone...she looked to the next counter to make sure no one else was listening and said, "We will gate check this bag. There is no charge." We both started to cry....it was just too much. Then the sweet clerk looked at the seat the botanist was assigned- mid plane, middle of the row- and she asked if the Botanist would like a window seat....OF COURSE!! So she gave her a window seat with no one in the middle seat...and a nice young girl in the aisle seat. An 11 hour flight is much nicer when someone isn't snoring and leaning on you :)

We said Goodbye at the security gate...and shed some tears....and watched our Kiwi Botanist head back to N Zed where she is now a resident. I know I couldn't have made this past month without her....she asked the Dr's good questions, helped with therapy homework and made me laugh. 

*LIVESTRONG*LOVESTRONGER*LAUGH HARDER*LOVE YOUR KIDS*

One Month

One month post emergency open heart surgery for the ruptured aortic aneurysm, stroke, 13 day ICU stint and 23 total days of hospitalization/rehab was celebrated with 4 good friends at the Bone Bash XV concert at Shoreline.

I got the tickets from my district's big fundraiser in the silent auction back in April. Up until a few days before I was still unsure we would be able to go...just navigating the crowds was my fear and The Captain was anxious about it too....but we made it. Boston, The Doobies and a guy from the Eagles entertained us well.

Now my mother-in-law has left after a week's visit, friends are all back home and it is just a few days until The Botanist returns to N. Zed.....I will miss her dearly.

Then Back to School for me....I officially had 2 days of summer vacation before the Sh#@T hit the fan.

*LIVESTRONG*LOVESTRONGER*LAUGH HARDER*ONE MONTH OUT AND LIFE IS GOOD*