"Girl, Put Some Makeup On!"

My steri strips came off this morning! Yay...kind of...I like having the gash somewhat covered, but now it's just swimmin' in neosporin. Hey, thyroidless sisters, got any wound care tips for me? The doc told me what to do, but it was just a few hours after surgery, so yeah, like I remember that...! Anyway, here I am fresh from the shower at 9am: From below (so puffy! check out my awesome Elrey jowls!)
From above...a pearly pink neck smile!

***
My peeps have all gone- the girls to hang out with Grandma and cousins Rosie and Hannah, and the boys to the gun show in Bozeman (yes, we are armed and dangerous now, and I missed hunter safety last weekend! I'll catch the next one and you can just call me Calamity Jane!) I am taking a wicked sweet nap today! I am getting excited to visit AZ, to snuggle Owen, to hang with Sam, Kris, and Lisa, to meet up with my valley girlz in Mesa, to catch the Easter Pageant at the AZ Temple, to celebrate Papa's 84th birthday...what great timing for a trip, and for less than $100! THIS song has been on my mind...it's perfect for spring fever and daydreaming of AZ sun! Have a great weekend and SING ALONG...

Three little birds, sat on my window.
And they told me I don't need to worry. [love the bob marley reference!]
Summer came like cinnamon
So sweet,
Little girls double-dutch on the concrete.

Maybe sometimes, we've got it wrong, but it's alright
The more things seem to change, the more they stay the same
Oh, don't you hesitate.

Girl, put your records on, tell me your favourite song
You go ahead, let your hair down
Sapphire and faded jeans, I hope you get your dreams,
Just go ahead, let your hair down.

You're gonna find yourself somewhere, somehow.

Blue as the sky, sunburnt and lonely,
Sipping tea in the bar by the roadside,
(just relax, just relax)
Don't you let those other boys fool you,
Got to love that afro hair do.

Maybe sometimes, we feel afraid, but it's alright
The more you stay the same, the more they seem to change.
Don't you think it's strange?

Girl, put your records on, tell me your favourite song
You go ahead, let your hair down
Sapphire and faded jeans, I hope you get your dreams,
Just go ahead, let your hair down.

You're gonna find yourself somewhere, somehow.

'Twas more than I could take, pity for pity's sake
Some nights kept me awake, I thought that I was stronger
When you gonna realise, that you don't even have to try any longer?
Do what you want to...

Four Poster Dull Torpor

I am gettin' sick-n- tired of bein' sick-n-tired, as the Red Hot Chili Peppers once put it--seriously sick of my room and not being able to open the windows and get glorious fresh air. Why? Because, while it is deceptively sunny out there, and it is indeed mid-March, the low today was minus ten! MINUS TEN, people. Shiver in my bones just thinkin' about the weather. It's such a long time since my better days...

however... THIS gorgeous post just lit up my life in so many ways, not the least of which is to make me feel the warmth of the African sun AND the Holy Spirit all in one shot. Joh, I love you so very much.

***

PS: bruises are gone...life is good...

WARNING: Scary Thyroidectomy Images Comin' Right Up...

These look horrific...I am sorry, I didn't realize how gross they are, but this is how I'm lookin' today! Too bad it's not Halloween! (Lisa A., did yours look gnarley like this? I am told it's a little worse than usual becaus the thyroid was enlarged, but...ew!). I got adjusted at the chiro today--couldn't stand layin' in bed anymore, even though I am exhausted now from going out. It's freezing cold and super snowy, so I'm happy to sleep it off. My SIL, Amie, just came from Helena and brought me a basket of bath goodies and took all the little boys to swim at Chico (Heidi and Addie are at school). So I am hoping Jill can take a little nap now...poor thing! I'm gonna go join her. All is well...XOXO

What was that?

I had my thyroid removed early Friday morning. I did pretty well in the hospital and came home yesterday, but I feel way worse than I thought I would at this point. Rich and Jill are taking good care of me, but I am sore and loopy.

Today

Here are some recent pictures...this one is actually Sunday night... Addie and I made Chocolate-Peanut butter Rice Krispy Treats for her class snack on Monday.

***

Monday afternoon, I got a package in the mail from Oregon. Jessica in NC ordered it for me off etsy.com "from one thyroid-less girl to another"--it's a butterfly, shaped like a thyroid--get it?

Beautiful! Thanks, Jess!

Here I am wearing my necklace and driving my awesome minivan.
(My right eye still looks buggy, and it has been running non-stop today)

Looking to the right is way better than looking to the left because I have this weird, slow-healing owie on my nose. It errupted on 2/21, just after I started anti-biotics for sinus infection. It used to be red and bulbous, causing the kids to sing, "Mommy, the red-nosed reindeer." Now Rich just calls it "nose cancer."

James and I took a walk down by Heidi's school is the cool spring rain...

He wore the new "Lightnin' McQueen" shoes Daddy bought for him, and I wore my crocs, too--they are so great in the rain!

Skyping With Owen

My first of a zillion webchats with my nephew, Owen

(03.02.09 @ 10PM...Happy One Week Birfday, Wee Man!)

But Wait! There's MORE...

I have so much to say about this message! I wrote about this talk in my journal when it was given because one of the things I have learned in the past two years about nourishing my spirit and warding of negativity, depression, and anxiety is that I need to Create. I am a daughter of my Heavenly Father, THE Creator, and my soul can't be happy unless I let it express somethign that has never existed before. This message from President Uchtdorf means so much to me...GO MAKE SOMETHING!

A Belated Valentine

I just found this on you tube and I was so excited! It comes from a 2000 talk (I saw it live) that was sort of a "remix" of a talk from 1985. The original talk--"Some Things We Have Learned Together"--is one of my all-time favorite messages. I have memorized long sections of it and it's part of my regular mantra. Anyway, along with Elder Ashton's "Leave people better than you found them," and Camilla Kimball's "Never suppress a generous thought", I give you another of my favorite words-to-live-by, Jeffrey R. Holland's "How Do I Love Thee"...

Back in the Day: 03.02.91

From my journal:

32 days until I finish the Book of Mormon again. 32 days until S. boards the plane a returns from the heavenly land of missionary work into Real Life.

Will has a very cool girlfriend named C. I hope he knows how lucky he is.

I am waiting in the [HBL] library for Kevin--he's late and I am done with the research I came to do.

[later] Kevin showed up just before they started playing the closing time music at the library, but he did try to make up for it by bringing me some coffee nips. I still feel kinda yucky about everything, but I am still happy, just not at peace. Perhaps my subconscience is stirring up my soul to awake and arise.

Oh, and the war is over. Saddam Hussein left Kuwait, but he still sucks.

Such a Winter's Day: a photo essay

Friday, February 27th was a sunny winter day, the kind I (and skiiers) love...We did chores all morning, then left home at 1050am to pick up Addie from early release at school. This is what our house looked like as we left.
This is what our street looked like as we pulled out of our driveway.

This is what Park street looked like at about 11:30am.

I promised James he could visit the caboose today, so we trudged through the snow and climbed on the caboose at the Yellowstone Gateway museum.

James, Heidi, & Addie on the caboose.

James even liked looking at the wheels!

Addie had wild ponytails for crazy hair day at school, but she still looked sweet!

We left the caboose, got some hot cocoa, and drove down to Carter's bridge to look at the river...

This is the red house just past the bridge...it's so photogenic!

Here is the barn just past the bridge.

Carter's Bridge, at the opening of Paradise Valley

On the bridge, looking south over the Yellowstone River (YNP is over thos mountains inthe distance).

Coming back into town for lunch, we pass a little local grocery store and bank...

...and don't forget PAMIDA, Livingston's answer to Walmart, a tiny, glorified Big Lots.

Icicles on the Dairy Quessn window (Addie took this)

James & Addie in DQ ready for some hot chili and fries!

Branches outside Daddy's office

(across the street from Dairy Queen, in front of Pamida).

I-90 westbound, heading toward Bozeman

(this is the last photo I took of the day, as I was alone, heading to Belgrade to see the opthamologist--it was a good day, not just because of the gorgeous sunshine, but also because my eyes are totally healthy and NOT swollen!)

Mis Ninos

So lately James has shown signs of being borderline obsessive-compulsive. For example, he rarely enjoys his trains anymore because he spends hours crying hysterically when the tracks don't line up just right (even though the trains drive on them JUST FINE) or when a train derails itself. So while we got dinner ready tonight we were laughing so hard at all the weeping and wailing we heard from downstairs where James was vocalizing his frustration with his tracks. Just now when we called him up for dinner, it went something like this:

Me: Where's my Captain Whiny-Pants?
James: Coming...

***
Also, Addie and I had a super fun date to Billings yesterday, despite driving home in a blizzard. We listened to the Sound of Music twice going and twice coming home. The Captain's guitar version of Edelweiss never ceases to melt me...it's so beautiful (you can imagine that I just about cried while we were hiking around in the forest between Mary's Bridge and Neuschwanstein in Germany and I saw little white flowers!!). When Addie was a baby, I sang all these made-up or altered lullabyes to her, and Edelweiss was one of them. Her version goes like this:

"Adeline, Adeline
Every morning you greet me
Small and white, clean and bright
You look happy to meet me
Blossom of snow may you bloom and grow
Bloom and grow forever
Adeline, Adeline
Bless our family forever."

(I called her "blossom of snow" because she was born on the night of the first snowfall of 2001--I watched it fall through the window as I snuggled her, so it really made an impression). I told her about this, so she made us sing along the right way once, then hit repeat so we could sing it HER way again. On the way home, driving through the snow storm, singing with my Addie is another thing that will always be an impression. I am so lucky to be her mom.