Rain and Hail Today!

We woke up to a wet newspaper as it rained sometime in the night or morning. We didn't hear a thing but found some hail or ice in the truck bed this morning. The mountain above our house got some snow even! Its getting a bit cold at night but the house is staying warm with the fireplace. We haven't even ran the heater and our goal is not to. Rainy day relaxing before we get out all the Christmas decorations.

Our 1st Christmas Tree at our House

Well after date night! Yes we had a date night as Michelle left for 2 days with Grandma Eleanor to visit other family in California. After our movie we went and bought our Christmas Tree. We went to a small lot but of course their ATM was down. Who carries cash?! We were ready to spend 57.00 on a tree. We decided to check Walmart and surprise surprise 32.00 with tax. A nice savings and you know me I am all about the best price! We put it in the stand last night and watered it and let the branches come down over night. I trimmed about 3 branches and Lloyd put the lights on. We will wait to decorate until Michelle gets home so we can do it as a family.

Table was set

The table was set all ready for a grand feast. Lloyd was busy cooking a turkey, ham, green beans, mashed potatoes and gravy, yams, sweet carrots, stuffing and so much more!

Grandma Eleanor, Michelle, Crystal
Crystal, Cliff, Brittany above

Lloyd and Eleanor to the left.

Me well I was taking the picture.

We all ate until we were so full we couldn't eat anymore!

Thanksgiving Day Morning

Lloyd was all ready with his Packer apron!

My hair was curled by Michelle so it could look nice for the day. It even looked good the next day! Curls don't usually last that long but some mousse and hair spray seemed to do the trick!

Tamale Making

Today I learned how to make the red sauce for Tamales from the California Red Chili's. Just in time for the holidays. I cooked 2 tri tip roasts in the crock pot Tuesday Nov 24 and went on my way to Gloria's. She taught me how to make the sauce and when I got home Lloyd shredded the meat for me. I mixed in the sauce and put in the refrig until the next day. We had family coming in for dinner so I thought this would be perfect. Michelle and I made them and started cooking them in some small tamale steamers. It should of only taken a hour to cook but mine were a bit over two hours for some reason and I still microwaved them for a minute before serving them. They were delicious everyone enjoyed them!!!

Nov 18 Tape off Michelle's stitches

Well this was just a few days past one week after the surgery. They took the tape off of the incision and checked it out. The stitches are still in and should come out Monday November 30th. In the pictures it is still a bit swollen and red. It is much smaller than it used to be. Before it was about the size of a baseball and puffed out. Now its only about 1/2 by 3 and almost flat. I think in a couple more weeks it is really going to look good. We have been battling trying to keep the stitches from pulling so its been bandages and socks. It will be a lot better after Monday we wont have to deal with those knots at each end.

Wedding Pictures

We had a couple collages up in the living room but I had wanted to put some actual pictures of Lloyd and I up also. I finally sat down one night a couple weeks ago and ordered some. Lloyd and I were going to do this together but never seemed to get this done so I ordered them and surprised him. I already had picture frames and put them together and he hung them all in time for Thanksgiving with the family.

Guest Bathroom

Well we finally decided what we wanted in the guest bathroom. Originally I wanted a turquoise blue and fish pattern but of course when I went back to get it it was discontinued. Now we decided to go red and black. It really looks nice with Christmas decorations in there!

our 1st Fire!

OK it was in the fireplace... It was totally amazing and wonderful to sit on the couch and have the fireplace going right next to me. Oh how I love winter nights. You all know my husband is set on hot all the time so for him to build me a fire it was wonderful. Of course he had his fan on.

Michelle's Surgery 11/12/09

Michelle was born with a strawberry angioma. It was blood red but over the years skin grew over it and it became flesh color. Exactly what the doctors said it would do. This unfortunately was about 3 inches and a lot of people stare at it. She has wanted it taken off for along time. Last time she was here we were checking into it but the doctors didn't seem to want to do anything. We got a hold of a great plastic surgeon this time and he said he would work on it. Probably would take 2 surgeries to complete it.

This is her coming out of being put under. Gotta love that anesthesia. Ok she started vomiting and was sooo nauseous after coming out we had to stay for a extra 2 hours.

She was finally starting to feel a little better and thought it might finally be time to leave the hospital. Ok surgery was at 7:30am and this is at 1:30pm.

This is the day after. The stitches are on the inside and the tape covers the incision. Doctor will take off this Wednesday the 18th and check it out. By the looks of this I think he really got it a lot smaller than it was. We shall see in a few days. The bruising has now turned a pretty yellow and some slight blood from the operation.

Halloween 2009

Ok the kids loved us this year as we gave away full size candy bars. Well you know me I am the great shopper and had got these for about 25 cents each. We had them in the freezer and would take out a couple and eat the occasionally. To try and cut back our candy consumption we decided to give them away for Halloween this year. It was a hit with the kids and better on us. Plus I didn't have to buy any candy.

Dog House in progress

Ok well this is in the process. He did get the other piece on the roof section. Eventually this will be shingled and have a door on it. For now it is working great.

Big enough for both dogs and room to stand up.

At some point we will start again and you might even see it painted!!

October 26th Call to go to Emergency Room!?

Ok you know there was alot of blood when its in his boot treads.

The blood was going down his leg and into the boot.

They were kind enough to throw them into a plastic bag for me..

A terrific way to kill a new pair of boots.

Ok this is when we just got him home and leg was propped up.

OK have you ever got one of those calls you didn't want to get. This day was just to weird! Ok first off I was going to wash my bus, which I do ever week. I always leave my phone inside the bus so it doesn't get wet. That day I decided to put it in my pocket(Why, well this will tell you). As I am washing my bus I got a call from a local number. I usually don't answer I let it go to voice mail and then check it since I didn't know who was calling. Well instead I said let me just answer and see who it is... Hi Is this Darlene? Yes... I don't want to worry you but we had to take Lloyd to the Hospital. He had a accident and his leg would not stop bleeding!..Ok at this point I am thinking what part got CUT OFF. I know you carpool and he has the car and the keys...I will come get you and take you to the hospital. Tears starting but I held them off. I calmly gave her the address to my work and figured she would be there in 10-15 minutes. Well I guess she didn't leave right away because that half an hour seemed a eternity. I went inside work to get my lunch pail and drink. Then took the lunch pail back as I would not be able to eat at the hospital but took the drink. Everything is better with sweet tea, Right??? Well once I got to the hospital I found out a vein had ruptured and it was gushing out like a juggler had been cut. They couldn't get it stopped with pressure. Lloyd told them to call 911 but instead they loaded him into their car and rushed him to the hospital. Lets just say the inside of the car had blood and the 2nd person who was trying to apply pressure her clothes were filled with blood. Lloyd said he was feeling like he was going to pass out but tried really hard to keep it together and did well. About a week and half before this a small piece of sheet metal had fallen up against his leg and just cut it slightly. No big deal didn't cut the pants just a small scab. Well as it healed there was a vein running up along the skin that it attached to. It was itching and he went to rub it and the scab shot off and so did the blood. They got him all stitched up and dressings on and had him stand to see if he could due to him almost passing out. He immediately bleed through the dressing. Well off came the dressing he had to lie back down and start all over to stop the bleeding. Ok now let me tell you the blood didn't bother me, but Iv's DO. When i saw some blood backing up his tube to the IV my hands got tingly, started to sweat, nauseous feeling. I moved to the sink for a few minutes and then made my way over to the nurse. I asked him to check the IV and please get me a chair. At that point I was done. Well it ended up with Lloyd getting a couple days off to keep his leg elevated. Ok this is harder than it sounds as my man can not just sit and do nothing. The 1st day was ok it kept it elevated all day and pretty much was a chair potato. The 2nd day he was up a bit more, though I wasn't happy he just couldn't sit anymore. 4 more visits to the doctor since it was a work related accident they wanted to see him a couple times a week. By the way he has been taking several ibuprofen, a aspirin and some gout medicine that is like a high powered aspirin and his high blood pressure medicine. Needless to say his blood was thin and not clotting that's what contributed to all of this. He has stopped the aspirin and the gout medicine and slowed down taking the ibuprofen. He needs to continue the high blood pressure medicine until we can get it lowered naturally..IE losing weight(that's a joke since he cooks so many tasty things!) We all know know if it tastes good you are not going to lose weight. Hes all better and now I need to make a appointment for him to see his regular doctor and let her know we stopped all the other pills.

I know I'm Bad

Its been almost a month since my last post! This will be my attempt to update what has happened in the last month. Hold on girls you will have a lot to read! LOL