Toilet Paper Rationing Coming Soon to Our Household

We had a minor flood in the basement today. Our girls, one in particular, use gobs of TP.

We have a sump pump that the water from the bathroom downstairs goes into and it fills until the pump comes on and sucks it outside to our septic system. Because of the way this is set up, the water and TP other things I won't mention shoot out from the pipe and land on top of the pump.Whoever put this together to begin with didn't choose the best way.

When one's children are using a whole tree each time they take a poo, it causes the pump to malfunction. The pump doesn't go off and the basement fills with poo/pee water.

Believe me when I say it's just a lovely thing to see and smell. We had to empty the storage room of, well, all the things stored in there. Then, with the aid of the shop vac we pulled back the carpet in a portion of the basement and sucked up the water.

Dan put an elbow into the system so the TP wouldn't plop on top of the pump. I give the big guy major kudos because I wouldn't want to stick my hand down it that hole.

Then, we laid the carpet back down. We shampooed the carpet. We put everything back into the storage room.

It was all just so much more than I ever wanted to know about plumbing.

I was thinking that I might have to start rationing toilet paper.Besides, the flooding problem, toilet paper is darn expensive these days. I could have the kids come to me each time they needed to go. I would have all the toilet paper and I would ask them what kind of business they need to tend to.

"You've got to go pee. Here's your two squares."

Or, "Needin' to do a poo job? 4 squares for you".

That would be sorta fun for about two minutes and then it would get really old. :) Maybe the new elbow thingy will do the trick and these floods will be in the past.

If the waters rise again you'll be the first to know.

Getting Flushed Today

I'm in ambulatory services waiting to get my monthly port flushing. The place is extremely busy today, every chair filled. I'm sitting in a folding chair in the walkway until one of the nurses gets a free moment to take care of me.
I see new faces mostly older but one or two younger people. I did this for one whole year and coming back here reminds me how much I do not miss this place.

I joke with the nurses that it would be kind of them to set up a drive thru service for quick jobs like me.  I wouldn't even have to get out of my car to have my port flushed.

At the same time last year, I looked like this.

I can't even explain how good this year feels compared to last.

I'm not a fixture here anymore and for that I'm so thankful.

Ahoy Mateys!

I'm sitting outside in the sunshine while I type this. I downloaded a new app for my iPhone from blogger that allows me to blog on the go easier. I love it!

All of our snow has melted with the past 3-4 days of 60 plus degrees. An early spring on the heels of an odd winter. We'll take it since we haven't had as much snow this year to play in.

I'm now having a problem with sand coming into the house since our driveway is unpaved. I posted this sign on the door hoping to keep some of the dirt in the garage.

Maybe the pirate talk will help them remember. Nah, probably not!

Some of the birds have returned already and I hear a woodpecker whacking on a tree nearby.

Aah, I'm loving this... sand or no sand.

A Pet Peeve of Mine

I know that this really isn't that big of a deal in the grand scheme of life but a  pet peeve of mine concerns the use of apostrophes.
It is said that the apostrophe is one of the simplest yet most frequently misused punctuation marks in the English language. My beef comes with the way people use the apostrophe to make a word plural. One of the rules of the English language is that generally we don't use an apostrophe to make a word plural.
So, how do people goof this one up?

• There is an establishment here in town that had a banner outside for quite awhile that read, "taco's and burrito's tonight".  That one bugged me every time I drove by it! :)
• I noticed that many people when addressing their Christmas cards use an apostrophe in a family's name, like on the outside of the envelope. 

If you are one of those dorks that use the apostrophe wrong, click here to get a quick lesson. :)

I'm so glad now that I can get on with my life since I've gotten that off my chest. 

What is a pet peeve of yours?

The Carpenter at Work Again

My sweet man has been building book shelves downstairs for us. They are across from our home school table. One whole section is for our home school curriculum and books. The other three sections are for our many, many books.

We had most of them in storage because we had no place to keep them. It's so fun to be able to browse the titles again.

He's not quite finished yet. The bottom portion of each shelving unit will have doors so we can hide things like our many games.

Little by little, we are making our house more home.

Reconstructive DIEP Flap Surgery

After visiting three plastic surgeons with three different opinions about my best options, I have finally made a decision. I will be having a DIEP flap surgery with a surgeon out of St. Cloud on April 24.

This surgery takes my stomach fat and makes breasts out of it for me. It will involve an incision from hip to hip. The surgery itself will take 8 - 10 hours with 6 weeks of recovery. My hospital stay will be anywhere from 2 -5 days.

I'm not looking forward to this. I don't want to go under the knife again but I would like to have breasts again and that is the only way to get them. This surgery is hard up front - long surgery, long recovery but it gets me breasts made out of my own tissue. There will be nothing foreign in my body like an implant that can later  develop a leak. It also gets me a bit of a tummy tuck.

Hmmm, after two pregnancies and one that birthed three children at once, I could use a little help in the tummy area.

Many times this surgery is done at the same time as the mastectomy but in cases where radiation is needed, the reconstruction is delayed. My surgeon said that he would like to have me wait six months before we proceeded with the surgery. I had thought originally that I would get breast implants and that would be that. But after getting my three opinions from three different surgeons I'm really convinced that this is the best way.

If I had gone with implants alone, the chance that the breast on the right side would be lopsided or develop scar tissue and have to be removed and replaced would be great. My right side had the radiation. Radiation makes skin tough and leathery and very hard to work with.

This information has made me believe that this is the best route for me.

Please pray for me and the surgery. Pray for

• no complications or infections
• pray for quick healing and recovery
• pray that all will go smooth on the home front with care for the kids etc.
• I have a blood clotting disorder called Factor 5. Pray that I will not develop any blood clots during or after surgery.
• Pray that if this is not the right decision for me that I would have clear understanding of that.

I can't wait to feel like a complete woman again. The body that cancer took away is being reconstructed little by little again. 

White Schmuck on the Ceiling

Someone opened the refrigerator door and out flew the sour cream container. It splattered everywhere and Dan and I quickly cleaned up the splotches of the white stuff. We moved on to something else when I began to laugh out loud. My eyes glanced to the ceiling where I saw this.

Quick, make some tacos and we'll scrape that stuff off the ceiling! :)

Can I Really Have a 13 Year Old?

Shelby got her hair cut and layered yesterday. Sometimes, I look at her and I'm confused. How did I get here; old enough to have a 13 year old daughter. Actually, I could have a much older child but still... she's my eldest. 

I see her growing and maturing. She's a beauty on the outside but what counts even more is what's on the inside. She has a love for God that astounds and humbles me sometimes. I'm so thankful that God gave her to her daddy and I for these few, short years. I realized a few days ago that in five years, she will be 18. Where has the time gone?

Life just goes so quickly, made up of thousands of moments like these.

Playing in the Great Outdoors

A fun skating/sledding day at the pond with several other home school families.

Macy is laying in the middle of the ice with Kylie on the side in the snow. 

Levi is off sledding down the hill with a bunch of other boys. 3 of my 4 children ended up hurting themselves this day. Macy sledded into a post, Levi sledded into a tree and Kylie hit her head on the ice. Just another great day in the great outdoors! :)