We Don't Want To Go Home!

I'm not much of the camping type, which is to say that I haven't been camping since I was a teenager. The accommodations in the picture above were far from a tent, sleeping bag and bug spray, but still it wasn't my bed.

The boys seemed to like getting away and sleeping in their new "Cars" sleeping bags, but for me it was just another house to clean. However, it did take far less time.

A few of Tommy's friends from high school planned this camping trip. I feel guilty calling this camping, so I will just call it a getaway. We all met in a quaint little town southwest of here called Fredericksburg. The town is of German decent and is full of antique stores. In fact, the tourists flock to the streets year round for shopping.

I wasn't able to partake in the shopping due to the fact that I had to work Saturday. I drove from said getaway to work, a total of 1.5 hrs each way, on Friday night and twice on Saturday. I didn't miss too much though...the visited a museum in the morning followed by an afternoon of playing dominos.

I did manage to throw around the football with the boys, play volleyball with Amanda, sit in the hot tub, drink some beer with a few new friends and just enjoy getting out of the house. Of course the boys had a blast...so much so that they didn't want to go home!

No, It's Not Dinosaur Remains

In just a little over a week, this is what my lower back will look like. Today was my pre-op appointment with the surgeon and he took new x-rays of the "area". I had an MRI done a few weeks ago but it's been a few years since my last set of x-rays. In comparing the two x-rays....2 years ago I had only 50% of my L5 disk left. Today, I don't even have enough disk left to measure and it's mostly bone on bone. And, from the pain I have been in, I can't say that I'm surprised.

So the plan is to extract bone from my spine instead of my hip. No reason to make another incision and I couldn't agree more. I guess you could say that I'm ready, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't scared. I have only been in the hospital 3 times ever....2 c-sections (which I was wide awake) and a colonoscopy. I always fear that I might not wake up, but I guess that's due to too many movies.

On a brighter note, we are only 52 days away from vacation. The kids and I...which is mostly me, are counting down the days. I am keeping my fingers crossed that my back will be as good as new by then or at least good enough to avoid a walker or wheel chair. We plan to drive to Mickey Mouse Land in Florida (that's DW for those who aren't with me) and spending 5 days wondering aimlessly to catch a glimpse of Mickey. Then we are headed north to spend the second week recuperating in a beach side condo in Dustin, Florida, where I plan to veg in the sun everyday with my sunglasses, I-pod and miller lite.

Good thing we aren't flying...not sure I could get through security with that contraption above!

Viva Las Vegas, Baby!

This past weekend my hubby and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary. I had to ponder for a bit when I remembered that my previous marriage lasted just over 9 years. Wow, what a different place I am in my life now. It's amazing how one can't recognize how unhappy you actually are until you find happiness again. So for the record....there is absolutely no comparison!

Anyway, we flew to Vegas on Thursday after sending the kids off to school. Thank goodness for my Mom and BFF, Karri, who is always willing to hold down the fort while we are gone. It had been 3 years since I had been to Vegas and 14 years for Tommy who was last there on his honeymoon with his previous wife. I was glad to see Vegas still hoppin especially with the state our economy is in right now.

We had a room booked at the Imperial Palace. It is an older hotel but we choose it because it wasn't outrageously expensive and also because it is a prime location on the strip. I enjoyed the impersonator dealers which were always a hoot to watch including Billy Idol's fabulous performance. The down side to the hotel was the food literally sucked...(I can cook better than that) and the wait for the elevator was just ridiculous. Seriously, waiting 15 minutes for an elevator that wasn't full became a big thorn in our side. Enough so that we opted to take our lazy asses up the stairs most of the time. Needless to say, for those two reasons alone, we will stay somewhere else next time.

On the first night, I had surprised Tommy with a Limo that took us all over Vegas. We got to see many of the water and light shows without all the walking and crowds. It also took us to the "Welcome to Las Vegas" sign and Fremont Street all in the comfort of a stretch limo stocked with champagne and beer. It doesn't get much better than that and we had a blast!

The next day, after sleeping in which we rarely get to do, we explored the big name casino's and enjoyed the beautiful weather. We also took in the Madam Tussuad's Wax Museum. It was so much fun to see the actual size of these famous people. We got to interact with the wax figures even touch them. I played basketball with Shaq, Tommy played golf with Tiger Woods, we rode Evil Knievel's motorcycle plus so much more.

That evening, we had dinner at the Eiffel Tower Restaurant at the Paris Hotel. The atmosphere was so nice and the food was wonderful. We both really enjoy treating ourselves to a fancy dinner each year on our anniversary. Tommy is such the gentleman ordering my dinner and picking out the wine he thinks I will like the best. He knows me so well and always does a wonderful job at picking the best one!!!

Each afternoon we would retreat back to our room for a nap and some relaxation. It was so nice to just relax, which of course is what the trip was all about. On the final night of our stay we took in a Hypnotist show, which I always wish I was brave enough to volunteer, but the fear of humiliation always changes my mind.

It was great to be home and see the kids....we really missed them.

Oh yea, and we didn't win shit! I mean not even $5....so good thing we didn't rely on our winnings to get us home!

A Walker at the Age of 37?

A few weeks ago I had an MRI done on my persistent lower back problem. It has been causing me pain for the last 10 years, but with the help of modern medicine and drugs, it has been manageable. However, with the uncertainty of Tommy's job and our insurance plus the harmful effects these drugs, I have decided to move forward with the surgery.

According to medical terminology, my L4-L5 disc is very degenerated and narrowed. There is a modest predominantly central herniation which indents the thecal sac and impinges upon the L5 roots as the begin to enter their lateral recesses and exit the thecal sac. The L5-S1 disc is also degenerated but not as bad. All of this is considered advanced degeneration of the lumbar spine for my age. Since I have severe arthritis in this area as well, disc replacement is not an option for me. Instead, I will be having lumbar spine fusion.

An incision will be made in my lower back and a bone graft will be taken from my pelvis. The spine will be lifted in the areas of degeneration and the graft will be inserted causing the bony surfaces to grow together.

It's a 5 hour surgery and I'm expected to be in the hospital 3 days. I will be out of work about 10-12 days before I have to get back. I am looking forward to finally being free of this pain. So please keep me in your thoughts on April 30th as I go under the knife.

Note to self: Don't ever go cliff jumping again....it may be fun, but it's dangerous and you could land wrong resulting in a decade of back pain.

Yard Sale Stupidity

This past Saturday was our annual yard sale. Normally, I'm not a big procrastinator, however, yard sales are my least favorite thing to do therefore I tend to put them off as much as possible. I'm sure you wondering, then why do you do it? Well, it has always been a nice source of income for an upcoming vacation, new furniture, or whatever. Typically we make between $600-1200 in one day. This year was no exception; at the end of the day we made $731. As great as this is, I'm not sure if the stupidity we have to put up with is really worth it.

I have to first give credit to my husband who really did 90% of the work in preparation for it. He saved my back days of pain and numerous bottles of Advil.

As soon as the sun breaks the horizon, people are practically knocking on your door. So we drug our tired butts outside at 6am. I like to price things to sell, because if I really wanted them in the first place, they wouldn't be for sale.....but also because it's a game to us to have virtually nothing left. What is left, is boxed up and taken to the thrift store. Good-bye junk

So onto the stupidity part..... we had a men's pair of new/never worn camouflage boots. The price was $5....he wanted to know if we would take $2 because he needed to buy new shoe laces for them. Please! Can people really be that cheep?

Samuel spent the day being the "money collector", a boy after my own heart; while Carter spent the day trying to save every last stuffed animal from being sold to various other children.

At least our garage cleaned out and our shop is free of all that junk, which makes my husband very happy. And we have $731 more to spend in Vegas for our 9th year anniversary later this month. Who knows maybe we can turn that into more and forgo the yard sale next year!

One can only hope!