As You Wish

No thanks to mother nature I was able to take a picture earlier this week when we were on a walk by the golf course in town.

So far I have been really enjoying the challenges for Exposaroonie. I find it quite interesting trying to come up with ideas for each weeks topics.

My entry for Nature's Softer Side:


If you like my picture you should go vote for me here. Please and thank you!

Dearest Mother Nature,

Let me start off by saying you’re so beautiful. I am in awe of the existence that is you. In my book you’re pretty awesome (my book doesn’t count for much, but still). Thank you for the wonderful sunsets, sunrises, rainbows, and cute little bunnies.

Now that the pleasantries are out of the way I can move on to the real reason for this letter.

It is now May 22 of 2008. May. Not January. It’s snowing. Not cool.

Yesterday it was cold and raining.

Two days ago the wind was blowing so hard you couldn’t see five feet in front of you because the sky was filled with dust.

What happened to the clear skies and 90 degree weather we just had about three days ago?

I would complain about the fact that we went straight from winter to summer skipping spring altogether, but I would prefer warm weather to snow any day.

Then there is this contest I like to compete in every week. You may have heard of it it’s called the Exposaroonie Challenge. If you haven’t heard of it you should definitely check it out. Ashley and Emily did a fantastic job creating it.

The fact that you are being all schizo and changing the weather all the time is making it difficult for me to take my challenge photo. The challenge this week is to take a picture of nature’s softer side and because I’m such a procrastinator I haven’t been able to take a picture of you being soft. The photo is due tonight. TONIGHT. Do you think you could hold off on your PMS for a couple of days, so I can take a decent picture of you and do some yard work? Even if it’s only long enough to take a picture I can handle that, yard work isn’t my favorite anyway.

I don’t know if you’re just having a bad month or your boyfriend broke up with you, but it’ll be alright. You’re better than him (or her, I don’t know what your preference is) and the pain will go away. Don’t take your anger out on us.

Pretty please with a great big cherry tree on top stop this bad weather nonsense. I along with many others would really appreciate it.

Much love and many thanks,

Allison

On Saturday at around 7:00 am we were both sound asleep; both in our own little dream lands. Let me just start off by saying that the only time I remember the dreams I have had are the ones that are super strange. The dream I had Saturday wouldn't really be considered strange, but the fact that I remember it is a little strange.

I guess I was probably at work in an office setting. I wasn't at the place I work now though because there were several women around and in my office I'm the only female. There was this one particular woman who decided it would be fun to hack into my computer and use my account information to buy herself some airline tickets. I'm sure we all know that flying isn't cheap and I was furious. I yelled at her and decided it was a good idea to punch her in the face. What was her reaction? I have no idea because at the moment I swung to punch her in the face I woke up to punching Andrew a few inches below his face. Needless to say he did not appreciate it. He now fears for his life sleeping in the same bed with me.

We both agree we need to upgrade to a king size bed (or california king would be even better). I am a bed hog and I steal the covers. He had no idea what he was getting himself into when he started letting me stay over. Not only do I take up 3/4 of the bed, the entire blanket, and I grind my teeth, he now has to wear a suit of armour to protect himself from my violent women bashing dreams.

The name will make sense I promise. Keep reading.

It came to my attention a few weeks ago that my dad has been reading my blog and he commented to Andrew that I never write about him. Dad - I apologize for not writing more about you, this post is just for you. I will keep my eyes open from now on for blogworthy material pertaining to you. I don’t know if you will find that a blessing or a curse, but just remember that you brought it on yourself.

This is long overdue and I apologize for the amount of time it has taken me to do this.

A couple of months ago my Dad had a doctor’s appointment and he found out he would need surgery to remove his thyroid. I was told by my sister, Amy, who has had a similar surgery that my other sister, Amber, who is a nurse told her doctors don’t usually like to remove the entire thyroid. (Got that?) In our Dad’s case the doctor was worried about some nodules that were found and there was a possibility that it could be cancerous. When he was younger he worked for several years in a uranium mine and this worried the doctor. Apparently the only logical answer was to remove the entire thing and start my Dad on medication to treat the cancer if it came to that.

After my Dad’s doctor’s appointment in Reno Andrew and I joined my parents for lunch and as if it were any other conversation they explained to me what was going to happen. It didn’t faze me one bit that he could possibly have cancer. They were so calm in telling me it was almost like this is an everyday occurrence…no big deal. Right? About a week later I received an email from my sister, Amy, which went something like the following:

This is my home, cell, and work number. Call me ASAP.

What the heck is going on? You might think I’m a bad sister, but we don’t usually talk very often, so it was a little strange that she gave me every possible way to reach her. (I’ll blog about that later, no big deal.) After reading her email I immediately picked up the phone and called her at work. She asked how I was doing and I told her I was fine.

Amy - Fine good, fine bad, fine what?
Me – Fine good I guess. Why?
Amy – Well we heard about Dad and I just wanted to make sure you were ok. Amber and I are going to come out for his surgery.

At this point is when I started to worry. My sisters were going to fly to Reno for his surgery, he could possibly have cancer, and the doctor is going to slice open his neck to take out his thyroid. What is wrong with me? Why haven’t I been more worried? Have I been in denial? I hadn’t even thought about taking the time off to go be with him. Am I a bad daughter?
I will be the first to admit that I’m not the quickest person ever, but when I do figure out what’s going on I worry. I don’t worry like a normal person would though. When I start to worry I over think everything. I always think of the worst possible outcome and in my mind that’s what’s going to happen (even though it’s pretty likely it won’t). When I’m thinking clearly I’m pretty logical (for the most part), but once I get myself into worry mode any logical thought to be had goes right out the window and is replaced with gloom and doom.

My Mom reassured me that everything would be fine and there was no need to worry. I knew that was just the typical mother response to calm me down because at this point I was sobbing. My Daddy was not ok. This is not ok. This is the perfect time to worry. Right? The answer for me was yes. My Mom was out of town at the time, so she called my Dad and told him he should call me to let me know what was going to happen. I kept myself from crying while we were on the phone, but it was so hard. I wanted so badly to be strong for him and I didn’t want him to know how worried I was. He also reassured me that everything would be fine. I still wasn’t convinced, but I did feel a little better.

The day of his surgery finally came. We were supposed to meet my parents at the hospital around 10:00 because that’s when he was going to check in. My Mom called a couple of hours before we were supposed to meet and she said they were on their way to the hospital because the two surgeries before my Dad had to cancel. They wanted him as soon as he could get there. When we were finally able to get to the hospital he was already in surgery. I admit I was a little upset I didn’t get to see him before he went in, but I just hoped and prayed that everything would turn out ok.

Once the surgery was over the doctor came in and told my Mom it went well; he was in recovery and it would be about an hour before anyone could see him. About the cancer situation it would be at least a day before they would know anything, so at that point it was inconclusive. When we were finally able to see my Dad he told us he felt better than he ever had after surgery. It felt good to hear him say that.

Andrew and I had to leave Reno that night because we both had to work the next day. I really would have liked to stay with my family, but I had to go to Elko for training. It was kind of tough to concentrate on what I was doing the first half of the day because all I could think about was the possibility that he had cancer.

Around lunch time I was walking out the door to go get something to eat and my phone rang. It was my Mom. I took a deep breath, answered the phone, and she said they just got off the phone with the doctor. He said the nodules were benign (non-cancerous), so he could leave the hospital that day to go home. That was a huge relief.

After returning home I figured he would take it easy and milk the situation until he had to go back to work. Oh no, he was driving around the next day like nothing had happened. I kinda think he’s crazy, but I hope he can’t read letters this small.

I was informed that his stitches were removed the day after the surgery and they were replaced with some thin strips of medical tape. I didn’t know it was ok to remove stitches less than 24 hours after being cut open, but the doctor knows more than I do, so there you go. I told my Mom I hope he didn’t have to sneeze. That would be a pain in the neck…I apologize, that was horrible I know. So now being the funny guy he thinks he is, he’s going around calling himself a “zipper neck” because he thinks his neck wound looks like a zipper. All I have to say is eeeeww.

*Thank you for the thoughts and prayers to those of you who knew ahead of time about his surgery. I really appreciate it and I’m sure he does too.

I hope your day is super spectacular because you totally deserve it. By the way you are so freaking cute I can hardly stand it. Happy Birthday Poop!

I have the best Mom ever. I know that there are many people that would argue that their Mom is the best, and those women probably are pretty great, but my Mom truly is the best. I couldn't ask for anything more in a mother.

In the short time I have been alive she has taught me so much and I'm so thankful for each and every day with her. She has always been there for me through the good times and bad. She let me make mistakes and held me while I cried, she was there to watch me dance whenever I had a performance, she very rarely told me no, but when she did she knew it was in my best interest, and she always has the best advice.

I know I'm not perfect, but in my opinion she did a pretty good job raising me. I know I was always the perfect angel it wasn't always easy, but she stayed strong throughout and took the best care of me she knew how.

I don't always show her the appreciation she deserves, but I hope she knows how much she truly means to me.

I want the blogosphere to know on Mother's Day and everyday I love my Mom and I'm so proud she is mine.

Side note: This morning my Mom and I went to breakfast together. When she came to pick me up we were both wearing heels. I came out of the bedroom with a pair of flip flops for when we went shopping after breakfast (sometimes heels are just too much for a Wal-Mart trip). Andrew commented about the fact that I had my flip flops and my Mom chimed in that she did the same thing. Great minds truly do think alike.

Ok, so I know the deadline for the challenge was on Thursday and I did submit my photo on time, but I've been pretty busy lately, so I haven't had a chance to blog until now. As you may know from my previous post I'm now participating in the Exposaroonie challenges each week. I posted the following picture and you should go vote for my entry (that is if you like it).


The challenge for this week was "Bad Habit." I'm sure I have a million and one bad habits, but I wasn't sure which one to choose. I finally narrowed it down to chocolate. I love chocolate. It just tastes so darn good, I can't help but want to eat it. Unfortunately my bootie likes chocolate too, so when I eat it it goes straight to my butt, and holds on for dear life.


Here is my entry:

The runners up...