Saturday, November 29, 2008

Happy 25th!

Happy Birthday to Craig! This isn't how we had planned spending Craig's birthday with a broken leg, but I hope today is a happy, pain-free day!

Craig did not take any pain medication for most of the day yesterday. He said his leg felt fine until he had to stand and then he could really feel the blood rush in and it hurt. He has been doing a great job staying off his leg and keeping it elevated. Yesterday he was finally awake long enough to look at some homework. He has two projects due this coming week and then he needs to study for finals.

I have been taking his blood pressure and unfortunately it is still very elevated. His doctor recommended no caffeine and low sodium diet. Craig hasn't drank pop for almost two years, but Craig enjoys coffee VERY much! I am amazed that he hasn't had coffee for a week! It is also hard to believe that it has already been a week since he fell.

Usually for our birthdays we like to enjoy an event rather than getting a material possession. One year we went to the symphony and last year we went to a concert. This year for Craig's birthday I hope I can make it special enough because I don't have anything for him and we won't be going anywhere special!

I am very thankful for Craig and I love him very much. I hope he has a great birthday!

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just a very quick note to say that Craig is doing ok. His pain is staying under control with medication. We ended up staying a second night because his blood pressure went way high. They finally decided that it was elevated due to pain and the stress of being in the hospital. We have an appointment with his surgeon Monday and an appt. with his family doctor on Tuesday to follow up on the blood pressure!

Hope everyone is enjoying their family and food!

Monday, November 24, 2008

Uh-Oh!

Craig broke his leg!!!

Craig stepped out the door and the mat slipped out from under him on Saturday morning. After a trip to the ER, we were told that he had a fracture. After a trip to an orthopaedic surgeon this morning, Craig is scheduled for surgery this evening.

Of course Craig is not happy, but he has a great attitude as always. We are praying for his pain to be under control and for the healing to be quick!

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Flurries!

It has been snowing off and on this week! Actually only spotted flurries. I guess when it gets this cold, it is a little easier to believe that Christmas is on the way!



I put off writing my paper all week. I finally sat down last night and wrote the whole thing. The paper is about my relationship with God. It has made me realize just how evident God has been in my life and how thankful I should be. Even though there are things that I would change about my past, I know that God has a reason and lesson for each event.

Working out at the gym is going well...so far. Usually I stay motivated for at least a week before I try coming up with excuses for not wanting to work out. Any excuse will do..."I don't feel like it."..."It's Thursday."..."I should go home and do the dishes/laundry/wash my hair, ect." I have found that my ipod is very essential to working out in the gym because I don't have the changing scenery to distract me from my discomfort.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Ramblings

This has been quite a week, but it ended with a good, relaxing weekend. I really let work stress me out at the beginning of the week. I had a very busy schedule the first half of the week and I wasn't happy with how I handled my attitude through it. My schedule fell apart Thursday and I actually had time to remember why I like my job. An 8 year old made my week on Thursday afternoon. Unfortunately she had never had a dental exam and her mouth was full of decay. This situation doesn't happen very often because the state requires a dental exam before kids can enter public school for kindergarten. She attends a private school and was a lot of fun to work with, however, she has a lot of dental work ahead of her.

Another stress happened Tuesday night when I managed to tick my English professor off. We have required chats to discuss topics and one of my questions to the professor was misunderstood. I really didn't mean any harm, but I wrote an apology email and when she replied, she said that she had felt challenged by my question and therefore ticked. Not a good thing. Fortunately, only one more essay and a final exam left for the class.

This week I realized that I had only ran twice in the month since the marathon. I'm not really a cold weather runner, so I decided that I needed to get a gym membership. I went back to my old gym at Union Hospital and got signed up again. Since I am "new" I get four free personal training sessions. I met with a trainer, Chad, on Friday after work and got a good full body workout. One of the areas that I knew would enhance my running and was highly recommended was doing cross training to strengthen other muscles and to reduce injury. However, I never really made the time to get those workouts in. So even though I felt like I was in shape, I knew that I was going to be sore after lifting weights.

I enjoyed Chad's knowledge and the workout, however he isn't very good at listening. I told him that I had just run a marathon, but he still made the comment that I should start feeling like I have more energy once I start working out. Hello - I have been working out!! At the end of the session, I was asking him a question about how often to weight train vs. cardio. He told me that I could do cardio three to five times a week because "You don't need to lose that much weight." Now if I had told him that it was goal of mine to lose weight, I would have appreciated the comment. However, I don't feel like I need to lose weight (and if I do, I am happy to be in denial!) So that has been the running joke this weekend, that I don't need to lose THAT much weight! Actually Chad did a body fat assessment and after pinching me three times, he assessed that my percentage was average. So anyway, my goal is to work out 5 days a week, with weights 3 times weekly. Also, I don't think I'll be going back to Chad!

I'm officially in the Christmas mood after I watched "Elf" this weekend. I already have the Christmas CDs in the car. We attempted to get our Christmas shopping started today, but didn't find anything. (I did find a pair of sunglasses for 90% off!!! You can't beat a pair of sunglasses for $2.60!!!)

Today was one of the weeks that I work in the nursery at church. On an average Sunday, we might have one or two babies for the two of us. However, today we had six kids with three of them needing constant attention! It was a workout!

This will hopefully be a better week. I have a paper due Friday and Craig has a second interview on Thursday.

Monday, November 10, 2008

Bedford 08

We were invited to Bedford for the weekend to a friend's family farm. We have been there several times, but less over the past couple years due to being busy with school. It was a cold weekend, but it was nice to get away for a night.This is some of the old mining equipment that drowned when they hit the water table.





















Craig and Chase enjoy some cookie and crumb time together


This is from one of the highest points in the quarry

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

ACS pictures

I got an email today posting some more pictures that were taken at the ACS tent after the race. This is where I met up with Sarah, Eric, and Craig after the race. I really don't know how I got from the finish line to this point besides following someone in a blue ACS shirt.
We were given the option of filling out a "In Memory" or "In Honor of" card. It is neat and sad at the same time at the number of cards that were filled out.

One of the perks of being an ACS charity runner was a free 5 minute massage after the race. There was also food, a changing area, ice, and the tent to hang out in. Craig tried his best to get me to eat, but my stomach was really upset and everything sounded gross. My main goal was to just leave and start walking back to the hotel. They were definitely prepared to be very accommodating to the runners even though I really didn't take advantage of any it!

I had the opportunity to talk to my co-worker, Tana, who is back to work after her husband's death. One of the first things she told me was that she framed the ribbon with Warren's name on it that I wore during the marathon. That really meant a lot to me because I know it meant a lot to her. I think Tana is doing as well as she can. She said the nights are the worst right now and that she's not sure her loss has fully hit her yet. Her family definitely needs our continued prayers.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Happy Election Day


We heard all the buzz that election lines were going to be long, so we got up early to make sure that we could vote before work/school. We made it to City Hall (12 blocks from our house) by 6:10 and were home by 6:20! We were about the 15th or 16th to vote. I did have some selfish motives today. #1) I wanted a "I voted sticker" to wear...no such luck. #2) Since we were up so early, I was aching for a cinnamon roll from our favorite coffee shop...no such luck. So by the time I got to work this morning, I was hungry and realizing how tired I was. Everyone I talked to today was very enthusiastic about voting! I also heard several comments about how "this is one of the most important elections I will ever vote in." I hope people took it seriously and made informed votes!

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Halloween 08

Hawaiian Hula girl meets sexy construction worker!



Craig's friend - Blake "Sweeney Todd"