YOWZERS!

My man keeps getting older and older.

Mick's double stack, enough-for-leftovers, cake.

I first met Mick when he was just a young 22 years of age.
The longer I know him, the more I love him and think he's super handsome in more ways than one.

Of course, you can see well where his heart lies. I'm up against some serious competition!

No, I have not died and gone to heaven...

Although I must confess that over the past two weeks I was certain my time was near.

Nauseated, sickly, body aches, cold chills and sweats, no energy, super tired, contractions of the kidney, sharp hip and lower back pain. You name it, I felt it. If Doctor C. had not been positive I had a kidney stone, I might have thought I was dying from some terrible disease; or I was pregnant.

In the mean time, I did enjoy chilling at the live Aggie victory over BYU. The best part being when a massively huge, fire-in-his-eye Polynesian asked Mick if he wanted a piece of him. Mr. Polynesian was donning a BYU shirt no less. Mick being the stand up Aggie fan that he is said "bring it on!", just as an officer arrived on the scene.

Sometimes football can be so sweet.

GO AGGIES!

But back to my original story,

How a tiny crystal can cause so much pain and trouble is beyond me. Thankfully a little visitor put an end to the pregnancy speculation (I like to plan those surprises!), but I was still required to "deliver" my baby sugar crystal via the ureter. According to everyone I spoke with, passing the stone baby would produce pain similar to delivering a child, minus an epidural.

Fun. I could hardly contain my excitement. Nothing like the thought of holding a little tiny crystal in the palm of your hand after all the pain of delivery...

So far, the worst is over and I have no idea if I've delivered little Sugar or not. One output had a slight stinging sensation, but the pain was nowhere near delivering a 10cm+ child.

Today marks the first day I feel like myself again. Energy is finally returning. Threat of death, evading.
Fresh plum (free!) jam is in the freezer, life is good.

Me and my three REAL babies

Oh, and did I mention USU killed BYU on ESPN?
Really, does it get much sweeter?

And, I'm kidding, Mick told the bully to settle down and that the game was a violence free area. He's a good man, and smart, cause that guy was FREAKY!

No Pictures on This Post: for obvious reasons.

I need to hurry and post something new before Mick is once again reminded of my last post and proceeds to pinpoint all of my household flaws. I must keep some flaws a surprise.

Mick, the lucky man, now has a years worth of FHE ideas he wants to give tutorials on... to me. I confess, I'm not perfect. And after all this time, I was playing my cards so well. Darn, exposure is not so self assuring.

He adamantly denies the accusation that he does not change or know how to change a toilet paper roll. For the record, I want to clarify that I never accused him of such things, merely suggested he might need a brush up.  Proof is in the new rolls I find sitting on the back of the toilet (a mere twelve inches away from the TP dispenser).

But that is all I'm going to say about that.

This morning I received a serious crusty when, upon leaving a new package of TP on the kitchen counter in the mornings haste, Mick had to retrieve it, from the bathroom... in his birthday suit.

Abbie thought it was funny and gave a response too hilarious to actually write.

Once again, I will reiterate the importance of TP installation tutorial #3.

FOR YOU MICK:

While blog surfing I ran across this post by the Boob Nazi (yeah- I don't much like her name either, but you have to hand her some creativity credit)

 -----

Monday, August 30, 2010

Dear Comcast:

Thank you for raping me with your prices.    

However, thank you for the hottest cable man I've ever seen. The cable guy was supposed to come from 10 to 12 on Saturday. I went down to do the laundry at 9:50. Someone knocked on the door while I was in my garage. I had my laundry in hand, my hair was down and looked like rats had been playing it, and my mascara was smudged from the night before. I was looking super cute. When I opened the door, I was speechless. He was just so beautiful. I just stood there blinking for like, 5 seconds. He was explaining all these things about moving the cables inside my garage, and I just kept nodding my head.     

He was then inside my house putting the cable stuff in. He was like, "Wow, you have great movies! Little Miss Sunshine, was that good? Oooo Moulin Rouge. Great movie."

That was when I hypothesized that he was gay. 

Anyway, we chatted a little bit. He had gone to Utah in May and June, so he asked me where I'd lived and yada yada yada. After he was done, he told me he left his phone number on the receipt if I had any questions. I stopped myself from making a bad joke about calling him.

All in all, Comcast, I'm somewhat surprised by you. Your technician showed up EARLY!!! And he was hot. That almost makes up for the cost.

Love,

The Boob Nazi

(Also, this means I will be back to commenting on blogs again!!! It's been almost a month. I've been dying. I've mostly been reading everyone's blogs, but I couldn't click over because the connection was so slow. I'm back! But I'm still rearranging my house and all, so we'll see. Must. Be. Productive.)

-----

I particularly liked this post considering I'm married to a hot cable guy who does great work. Right babe?
One of her last comments from ComcastCares1 is hilarious! Mick, you now know who you can refer customers problems to in the future. Since they_can_help.

ComcastCares1 said...

Hello there! I am glad our tech was able to take care of your cable. If you need further assistance in the future, please feel free to contact our team. For those of you who are experiencing any problems with your service, please feel free to contact us! :) Mark Casem Comcast Corp. National Customer Operations We_can_help@cable.comcast.com

Mr. Pincer

If you haven't seen this post, please make note.
Now on to this freaky thing.

One night while gassing up at the station, Mick heard a big thud hit the lights, then looked down to discover

 a Giant Water Bug, better known as a Toe Biter. 

Knowing Liberty's fascination with bugs, Mick collected this critter in a nearby bag and brought it home to live in our Dollar Store bug box until morning.

Peacefully off in dreamland with no threat of wild creatures inhabiting my slumber, Mick woke me up to show me his cool new find. Next he proceeded to place it on my pillow.
"Sick! I squealed in protest, "get that thing away from me, I've got to go back to bed and I don't want nightmares!"

Watching our new pet trying to escape his Plexiglas home while he sat on my pillow gave me the heebie jeebies. "What if it gets out?" I asked as it's pincers pined repetitively at the sliding door.
 "He won't get out", Mick tried to assure me.
"Tape that door... just in case." I demanded.
Contented with an agreement to use tape I fell fast asleep.

With the box taped and lying on the counter, Mick fell asleep with our bug tightly secured. In the middle of the night Mick awoke to a noise, and then saw a flash of something fly across the room toward the television screen that had been left on. Halfway asleep, he remembered Mr. Pincer and jumped into action to find and recapture it. Sure enough, Mr. Pincer was discovered crawling on Liberty. Bugs must know who love them. Mick coerced Mr. Pincer back into the box, this time to be secured with several strips of duct tape. It wasn't until after we had done research to find what type of species Mr. Pincer was, that I was happy to see all of Lib's ten toes unharmed.

Later that day, poor Water Bug was beginning to show signs of distress and dying. Since we didn't have small frogs or fish to feed him, we needed to send him flying freely back to his wetland home. We let him go and all he wanted to do was burrow in the grass. In fear of having my toes bitten unexpectedly while working in the yard, I made Mick send him down steam with the irrigation water.

Good riddance to Mr. Pincer.

Side note: 

Mick's sleep talk dialogue he had with me the evening after letting Mr. Pincer go:

Mick-   "that wasn't there yesterday."
Jen-      "what wasn't?"
Mick-   "That blue box over there."
Jen-      "oh yeah, what's in it?"
Mick-   "Bugs."
Jen-      "Huge water bugs?"
Mick-   "Yeah, big ones!"

As I took a break from a blog post...

I returned to my last entry to find this written at the end:

"Mick is the awesomest, most totally rad husband in the history of the universe and he is so freaking hot he makes me sweat when he stands next to me.
I am the luckiest lady in the history of luck ladies that I am married to such a freaking stud of a man. He is comical and such a sweetie."

I laughed myself silly. Apparently someone is in need of a little blogging love.

I love you Mick. You are quite comical. You'd never know how much you make me sweat from all your hotness! Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Isn't He Lucky?

Surprising Mick is never an easy feat.

Mick is the budget Nazi. Nothing, and I mean NOTHING financially based gets past him. Even when a pair of new socks is purchased, he has to ask when, why, where, for who, how, and how much- crunching numbers in his head as each question is answered. Nearly always there is a game of 30 questions that ensues after each shopping trip.

Good thing I'm not much of a shopper! But, back to the story...

Which is why when Father's Day approached, and I really wanted to replace our lawn mower that had finally given up the ghost after years of use and a gazillion repairs, I had to get sneaky.

Mick had told me in the past not to go buy and new lawn mower without him. He wanted to see them and DID NOT want a propelled lawn mower. He detests being walked by a lawn mower, besides he thinks they are too hard to back up. I thought he was crazy, because who doesn't want someone, or something else to do all the hard work for you if technology has advanced that far? But what a man wants, he shall get.

Going to handyman stores for other projects, Mick always ventured over to the lawn mower section and dreamed while I stood looking around and doing my research. At their prices, I knew Mr. Budget would not be buying one before I would surprise him with one. As Father's Day approached and in his words, Mick had "fixed the lawn mower for the last time", I knew this was my chance.

With Aspen and Liberty dropped off at Summer Playground, Abbie and I secretly made our way to Home Depot with our no longer-to-be zero balance credit card. Mick called when we were on our way and I had to fib about mine and Abbie's whereabouts just to keep up the secret intention.

I found the oldest salesman I could find to tell me the difference in brands and accessories of the only two mowers that fit Micks qualifications. If age didn't determine the amount of lawn mowers a man could use in a lifetime, I didn't know what else would. After loading the box on a flatbed cart, Abbie rode and I pushed Mick's new baby to the van. Easiest birth ever, in my opinion. In record time I had it unloaded, in my neighbors backyard, assembled, hidden, and all cardboard disposed off with only Abbie as my witness.

Then, for three solid days I worried myself sick wondering if it was a good purchase: We really needed a new one, I rationalized. I hope Mick doesn't freak that I used the credit card! It was a purchase over $25, I hope he doesn't care I didn't talk with him about it first. He wouldn't get the bill for another month, right? By then he should be happy about his new machine and not care one bit about the price!

Saturday before Father's Day arrived, Mick and I had been doing house and yard work. All day he said how he still needed to mow the lawn. I was debating whether to wait until Sunday to surprise him. With the new bright shiny red lawn mower just waiting to be used, I gathered the girls for Mick's surprise a day early.

The girls brought their cards, I tied the bow and we wheeled our new baby to greet Mick. He couldn't believe his eyes. Finally, I had surprised him, and with no adverse reaction to how I purchased it! Quickly the oil was poured in, the gas tank filled and Mick was off cutting to his hearts content.

The surprise went over so well, I'm thinking next year I might surprise him with something even bigger: a tandem bike, a new bathroom, a cruise trip, a different job, a different house...

Happy Father's Day Mick. We loved surprising you, even if you do get to pay off your surprise!

Valentines Day 14

I Love:

Mick

Mick has been waiting to see his name on my love posts. I saved the best for last.

It is fair to say that Mick changed my life for the better. I'm blessed to have him and his example in my life. To adequately describe how much I love him and value him in life, is difficult. I will do my best.

He means the world to me. I'm constantly striving to please him and keep him knowing he is my number one. I fail in comparison to how he does those things in return. We are blessed to experience real life together. Marriage and parenthood, good and hard times.

Mick has been a great support to me. He sees me through the easy and hard. Through my not too attractive moments, and my great ones. Each time I face sorrow, or defeat he picks me up and helps me to see the bigger picture and puts my mind at ease. He's my best friend and confidant. I love him very much.

Happy Valentines Day Mickey. Thanks for being my Valentine!

Happy Birthday Mick!

I will forever remember the first birthday of yours that we shared together.

I won't ever forget your most coveted birthday wish this year.

Good times.

I'm thankful your mother gave you life and that I was able to meet you so we could share many more birthdays of yours together.

May all your wishes come true.

Happy Birthday Handsome!

I love you.

Among Other Humorous Things...

I came home from work this morning and Mick's first words to me were something like this "If your going to ask me publicly for a Christmas gift, you could at least tell me a size or give me a brand".
Like I'm going to publicly announce my size, you've got another thing coming Santa!

Then he said something like "You know some of the ladies at work read your blog and make comments to me; I don't want to be having conversations about breasts with the ladies at work".

So, Ladies at work, mums the word! Avoid all conversations about body parts from here on out. Also forget you read this, since Mick will likely kill me. 

*

Sometimes I say things that are better left in my head. Whoopsidaisy! This one was funny:

 While running at work this morning an engineer/tech -who had previously wrapped up the ab blade with bubble wrap so we could use it as a thigh master with extra padding- said something like, "You want some WD 40"? I said "Sure, spray a little of that between my thighs so they will just glide right past each other". His response, "I wasn't talking about your thighs, just the belt on the treadmill".

Like I really thought he meant my thighs...

He was a funny, good sport.

But really isn't WD 40 the quick fix for what ails you, kind of like Duct Tape? I know mom would agree.

*

Then, as Abbie was taking a bath she tooted and said "bubbles"! She tooted some more and said "I tooted!" each time after. In fear of what might happen next, I realized I needed to get her out quick. Just as she was washed and lifted out of tub, you can only imagine what came streaming down her leg and plopped right into the hot steamy tub. I held her there for a moment- waiting for the rest of my present- until her lips started to turn purple. Thinking she was done, we made our way to the rug to grap the towel when she remarked "I poopt, I poopt" in a distressed tone. "I poopt wite dare mom", as she stood freezing pointing to the present on the rug. So I held her bum up to the toilet. Big mistake. She FREAKED out and smeared her cute little poop basted cheeks all over the toilet.

Thanks for cleaning the bathroom this morning Mick. Too bad it was a few hours too soon. You would have enjoyed this mess!

*

Oh, and you don't even want to get me started on the dream I remember having ALL NIGHT LONG last night. It was a doozy.

Big Tease

Picture this: Mick was pretending to shoot hoops without a net, and with a soccer ball. Sound familiar family?

Mick is always shooting some sort of ball with an imaginary hoop. His knee is feeling a bit more agile lately. Should be, it's been seven months since surgery! It makes me happy to see him jump and run again. Puts a fire in his eyes that I have missed. Give the guy a ball and he is happy. I hope to see him eighty and shooting hoops with our grandsons or maybe great-grandsons. I can hear the whoosh of his three pointer from his old man chair now. Always a steady aim straight to the hoop.

Later Liberty was playing with the same ball. Mick's a big tease and loves to fill the big brother role for the girls too. I love his dual role because it toughens up the girls a bit. His favorite is stealing balls from their grasp and saying "try and get it from me"! Usually the girls play some good defense and only fun is had, but today as Mick ripped the pink polka-dot soccer ball from Liberty's hands she hung her head and stormed off yelling:

"Your not supposed to steal the ball from humans"!

Meanwhile, Mick went bouncing the ball between his legs and throwing down some tricks.

No stealing balls from humans Mick! Jeez. Go bug the ants or something.
Mick, your a good Daddy...and big brother! Love you!

Busy Bee

So much is happening lately. Besides being summer, having the kids home and keeping up with the daily grind, we have put down money on the kitchen and will start demolishing the old one in the next week or so. We need to install new electrical, plumbing, tear down a whole wall , build it back into an arch, do drywall, texture, paint, lay floor, lay carpet drop some ceilings etc etc. Let's just say I'm looking forward to the next four weeks being over! This remodel is not going to mix well with children, especially Abbie. Thank goodness for sunshine and summertime.

We also have gotten the house scraped, but now it's too hot to paint and our kitchen/living room project is taking precedence. I'm hoping for an Indian summer so we can paint in the fall. I absolutely hate having projects undone- eats at me until completion. If June had not been so rainy, it's likely we would have had our painting done. Soon enough I suppose.

Also, I've been writing songs, or lyrics to songs. It's my newest 'fun' project. Bonnie, a friend from work is a talented singer, songwriter and musician, who even has a recording studio in her home. She and I are collaborating and I'm loving it. Recently I wrote my first song, and to give you all a sneak peak- it's called "Under my Skin"- I think. Maybe "Sliver". Bonnie thinks it has great potential. For me the potential lies in getting it down on paper and attempting to sing it after she has written the music. She has dreams of us having about 3 or 4 songs recorded and performing them at a woman's music festival. I know you are all laughing at this thought- but I'm so in! It's exciting stuff, I just need to learn how to sing now!

It is interesting the people you meet and the creative projects that can evolve. I think song writing will be a good release for me. I have much to get out. Stay tuned.

Still running too. I hope to be up to 8 miles this Saturday. I'm off to get some good quality shoes this next Monday. I hope they make me fly up the road. Dream big. The Top of Utah Half Marathon is August 29th. I' m so excited, but nervous all the same. 13.1 is a long ways to run. Can I do it?

All this and more is keeping me a busy bee. Never mind the garden- oh, the garden. Shoot, I better get out there tomorrow. I bet there are Zucchini the size of pumpkin out there!

Nothing Like a Daddy

Happy Fathers' Day Mick.
We love you and hope you enjoy using your family tree with your new body pillow you wanted.


Here's a few things the girls had to say about you.

What does dad like to do?
A- Play the wii and watch basketball games, and watch football, and play with his girls, take us out for meals.
L- Play with his friends.
A. Da

What is Dad's favorite color?
A-Blue
L-Blue and Black.
A- mmm

What does dad like to cook?
A- Eggs, bacon, BLT's
L- Fries and Chicken.
A- yayayayayay

What do you like to do with dad?
A- Play the Wii. I like to wrestle with him.
L- Play with him with the Wii.
A- Da

Why do you love dad?
A- Because he buys you stuff if you be good. He lets you go up to the corner for five minutes and when he says come in, I come in.
L- Cause I love him.
A- Da

How would you describe your dad to people who don't know him?
A- With respect. I love him, he is fun to play with. He's funny.
L- Mom loves him, he's fun to play with.
A- A da da da ya da

Dear Mick

Before your surgery I stressed about it's aftermath.

I wanted it to be successful. Bad knee turned perfect.
Last minute solo Christmas preparations had to be done by Mrs. Clause because you like to wait for the holiday hoopla associated with shopping, and then the bad knee happened.
I worried about keeping the girls healthy, happy, entertained and you well rested all in the same square footage. A high hurdle in itself.
I Hoped 6 weeks was enough time to recover since that is when the funds ran out. You know just how important that dreaded green stuff is.
And...
I was certain I might go nuts having you home all day for six weeks, and my plan for handling that drove me crazy.

Though I got little accomplished while you were home,
I was pleasantly surprised.

Now that you are back to the daily bread winning,
I find that I miss you.

Our conversations over a hot breakfast of protein pancakes, yours with sugar syrup, mine with berries a top.
Political and current event discussions.
Cuddling on the couch during the middle of the day when we had nothing better to do.
Watching the snow fall and dreaming of our future plans.
Game wars of Othello and Scrabble.

Wish we could grow one of those infamous money trees.

Sleeping In

Didn't go to work this morning. My hours officially got reduced. No more Fridays.
The good news: I got to sleep in.

Thanks Mick for getting Aspen and Liberty off to school and taking care of Abbie until I woke up at 10:00 am!
Wow did it feel great to sleep in (so long) and not have to play mommy til mid morning! What a treat.
If I had a picture it would be of me with my eyes closed peacefully, head smashed against the pillow, unconscious of the circle of drool beneath my cheek. Catch the image.

Tonight I will go to bed at a decent time and quit fiddling around with Facebook. Find me here.

Stay tuned. More stories of Brother Yarmulke coming on the next Sunday Soapbox.
You have to love Brother Yarmulke, unless he's in your class.

Happy Birthday Mick

I let Aspen and Liberty decorate dad's birthday cake. Guess who ate the remaining frosting.

I thought I was going to be sick watching them.

Above my fridge lies a treasure trove of cake decorating supplies. I placed them on the table for the days event. The girls each chose a color for frosting- Aspen blue, because its dad's favorite color and Liberty Pink. Abbie vicariously chose green. I chose yellow. They each decorated a half of cake with tips, the great divide is obvious. No piece of birthday lore was spared!

I spy:
three species of tree/plant life
1 genie
1 clown
1 fisherman
no lake or fish
two purple princess crowns
a number three
four swirly candles
sprinkles, sprinkles and more sprinkles.

It is the most elaborate cake I've laid eyes on!
Dad loved it!
So did I- it was delicious!!!
I know, I'm on my 'nutrition' plan- but I feel guiltless and love it!

Heavy Heavy hangover was in order, and it was heavy!

Flashback!
Happy 34 Mick!
We love you and hope your day was special despite the age!

8:30 am

I've already done two hours at work, eaten breakfast, gone to the restroom a few times and packed one child off to school. Still all is calm and quiet around here. I'm basking in the stillness that a quiet morning can bring. They are indeed a rarity.

Oh wait... Mick just called my name. He's awake telling me about his nightmare how I divorced him (he has these dreams all the time- a little disconcerting), he asked me once again on Christmas day to marry him, and I turned him down. Supposedly because I only liked him and not loved him. How funny, he woke up terrified and even ventured up the stairs to give me a hug and see if I still loved him. Oh my! Relax honey- I still love you, no plans of divorce -EVER- it's not a word in our house, remember. But I definitely like you too. That is an important part!

Soon Abbie and Libby will be bright eyed and bushy tailed.
I love the peacefulness of my sleeping children. No nightmares about divorce and rejection. Just happy sleep of pouncing sheep and a puffy cloud sky.

Patella is back in line!

Our surgical patient is doing quite well. He does not even want his "addictive" drugs. This makes nurse Jen happy. While on Morphine, he told me , and I quote, that "we should buy a horse for our back yard and he could eat all the apples and grass". We are now sticking to just Ibuprofen.

He (we all) went to Physical Therapy at a snowy 9:00 am. today. Mick got a little queasy and almost passed out upon seeing his knee. When I came back into the room, he was eating ice chips- not his favorite staple. It was a good indicator that he was not feeling well. I had to chuckle a little. He is so sensitive about bodily fluids and 'gross' things.

He's still not supposed to put much weight on his knee. Crutches it is. Mick hates crutches. Should be a long 6 week recovery that Mick is slightly discouraged about. For his sake, I hope it does not take so long.

Dr Larson shaved Mick's leg for surgery, and today the physical therapist gave him some pretty white pantie hose to wear. He's been told to retire from basketball too. What's happening to my manly man! He told me he likes his hose- 'It's comfortable" he said. Okay, he must still be a man because I don't know of one woman who thinks pantie hose are comfortable! This is a good sign.

Micks Big Day

Mick has his scope tomorrow. We are both a little nervous. So far, we have not had to undergo anything as medically serious as surgery in our years together. I believe everything will be fine though. I'm sure he'll hurt for a few good long days. I'm thankful I can take care of him. He always took such great care of me when I was pregnant and sick for 9 months. It's the least I could do.

When it rains it pours, and I now have two sick children as well. The next three days should be long and interesting. I'm planning for soup, soup and more soup. Running up and down stairs and to and from the kitchen. I should have my nursing degree by the time Sunday hits.

The News is In

Mick will definitely be having surgery. December 18th is the big day. I'm nervous for him. I have faith all will go well. I hope he will feel more agile when he's all fixed up. Unfortunately he will be having another one next year. Mick's dad tells me he does not handle surgery well. At least I know what I'm in for. Good luck Mickey!