Goodbye to Pate and 2008

Today I say goodbye to two very good things...

one of the greatest years of my life so far....

and one of the greatest jobs I've ever had....

Today was my last day at Pate Rehabilitation, where I have been the Nurse Educator for over 3 years. I began working there when we moved back to this side of the state after living in Lubbock. Although it cost me alot of blood, sweat, tears and fears at times (quite literally... along with causing lots more gray hair)... it has been full of experiences and opportunities that I would not trade for anything else. Pate is a post-acute brain injury rehabilitation facility. They serve the segment of the population with acquired brain injuries, from the very mild to the catastrophic. And miracles are a part of every day life there. I HATED the "neuro" part of nursing and medicine prior to starting work there, but it became a passion as I learned about the rehabilitation process and began to see daily forward progress in our patients.

One of the most valuable lessons I learned there is that accidents and illness truly do not discriminate. Its a sobering lesson to learn... but if you can, learn it before the accident or illness happens to you or someone you dearly love. Life is precious. Life is fragile. Life is short. And any one of us, at any time, could be the next patient.

The other thing I wish I could pass on to everyone... is the extra compassion I learned to give to my fellow human beings. The guy who is ranting and raving in the customer service department at Walmart, the woman talking too loudly in the movies behind you, the people you see on the street everyday with all sorts of unusual or "creepy looking" physical defects, the person who is having trouble ringing you up accurately at the grocery store... might not be what they appear. Your brain IS who you are. It controls your personality, judgement, inhibitions, memory, emotions, movements, speech, development, behavior patterns... EVERYTHING that makes you who you are. And the slightest insult to the delicate, intricate organ that God created can change you, often not by any fault of your own. I'm not saying I excuse all bad human behavior by assuming that a brain injury is the cause, but when you've seen the "before and after" like we have, it makes you pause and offer even a shred more patience and compassion than you might have before.

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Pate is a wonderful place. I hope you never have to utilize their services, but if you need to, you'll be so glad they are there, working so hard, researching every day and staying on the cutting edge. They do let a few nuts work there (one fewer now, of course) but for the most part it is a fabulous group of dedicated, hard-working, brilliant team members that I was so privileged to work with.

Today we also end a year that will certainly go down in history. Politically, socially and economically this has been a remarkable year for our country and our world. It will be interesting to see the effects of 2008 in the coming years. Personally... its been pretty remarkable for us as a family too. We've lost some friends and family. We've gained some friends and family. We made career moves and changes. We worked, and worked, and worked some more. We started and finished some household projects. We started and gave up on some. :) We tried new things. We developed new interests and hobbies and obsessions. We created a new little Curley girl that we are anxious to meet in the new year. We celebrated 5 years of marriage! (And 10 years of being out of High School... uuuug.) Beans turned 2. We turned 28. Kevin and I agree that we have learned more valuable lessons this year than perhaps any other year in our lives. For your viewing pleasure, here are just a few of the other things from Curley 2008.

Kevin skied WITH me for the first time.

Kevin learned that we did NOT win the Battle of the Alamo.

I had tea at the Plaza.

I saw this guy on Jones Beach in NY - in 60 degrees.

We did a little travelling.

My sister and I acquired some new body embellishments.

Beans and her dad decided she was now allowed on the couch, and Beans found a new favorite spot! How precious.

I bought this duck butt for my husband for Christmas.

(That's for you Brandie)

Goodbye Pate! Goodbye 2008!

And a back-ordered-quiver-duck-butt

You have to sing it to the tune of "and a partridge in a pear tree" to get the full holiday effect. So, I finally tried to obey all of the mother-types in my life (including my mother) and not be up on my feet and running around all day and night doing too much working and shopping and this and that.
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I ordered a bunch of Christmas gifts online. I was careful only to hit the "PURCHASE" button on things that clearly said IN STOCK next to them, so I would be sure to have peace about my Christmas shopping. And even paid the extra rush shipping fee on one or two things that I ordered a little late. (Normally I would NOT do that... pay ANYTHING extra... but this little girl is precious and I would like it if she would keep cooking for a few more weeks...7 more to be exact.) Yesterday, much to my chafrown (this is what the word chagrin should actually look like... chagrin sounds so happy!) I received an email from TWO different online stores saying happily "Your order will be arriving on 12/22!" But then as I read further down it says "one or more of your items was out of stock and is now on back order." Ummmm..... then why did it tell me SEVERAL days ago, before I pushed the button and wasted SEVERAL more shopping days, that it was IN STOCK?? Just what am I going to put under the tree in place of my precious husband's quiver duck butt?? And as I say this to myself, I realize that I must have crossed over... long ago and without even noticing... into the land of full-fledged red neckedness.
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I've joked about it before (click what color is my neck? to see a photo), and of course I've always known Kevin is a serious redneck masquerading around downtown Dallas in his suit and tie looking like a serious professional. But it got me thinking today about a few things that made me realize I was no longer just laughing at "You might be a redneck" jokes... I am the joke. You might be a redneck woman...
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1. If you know the difference between a hen and a drake, a buck and a doe, a spike and a fawn... (of course many of you may know the difference between these animals and are beginning to worry that you too may unknowingly be a redneck.... don't worry... this fact alone does not make you one, but if it is combined with one or more of the other facts... you might begin to worry)

2. If you know exactly what happens to a mallard drake's eyeballs when you put a whole one, completely intact, in your deep freeze....

3. If you have a deep freeze (that you gave to your husband as a Christmas gift)

4. If you get upset when your quiver duck butt is not going to be delivered in time for Christmas.

5. If you know what a "bumper dumper" is, and not because you saw one in an email you received with photos making fun of rednecks, but because your husband has one (that he uses OFTEN) and you recommended that he use it as a prop in the upcoming pumpkin carving contest.

6. If you are looking all over town for a onesie for your unborn baby and a matching dog bed in Max4 camouflage pattern and are genuinely upset when you have to settle for Mossy Oak breakup pattern for these items.

7. When you know all the different places to shop for the aforementioned items, and the differences in the two camouflage patterns. (In case you're wondering, this is the pattern I was looking for, for the baby girl and her big sister Beans' new dog bed.... and there are a few green winged teal drakes in Kevin's hand!)
So -- I must begin to accept this fact. I thought I was a strong independent woman with my own identity, but I realize I am just exactly what being married to Kevin has made me. Here is a photo of an 8 point buck (well, just the points I guess... not the buck) that Kevin shot after Thanksgiving. I thought I would throw it into this posting because, whether he likes it or not, this is his blog too.

I still don't know what to do about the duck butt... I guess Kevin will just be getting a belated Christmas present. One last thing, if a company as large as the one that I ordered this product from is COMPLETELY OUT of duck butts at Christmas time, doesn't that mean that there are LOTS of redneck wives and moms like me out there who are buying these bizarre Christmas gifts? That's alot of duck butts!

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas! If you're not feeling it this year remember we're celebrating the birth of Christ our Savior. That's a darn good reason to get in the spirit. Whether you believe it or not, he was born and died for YOU, for no other reason than that He loves you!

Jingle Bell Time is a Swell Time

We had to hop a quick flight to Houston last weekend for Kevin's company Christmas party. On the plane on the way there my hands started to feel just a little bit "overweight." Like after the holidays when you try to put your before-the-holidays-pants on and everything bulges over the top and you say you must have accidentally washed them in hot water... Well, that's how my poor fingers felt about their rings (wedding and Aggie). But it resolved fairly quickly that night and then it happened again on Sunday's flight home. But no more problems after we got home.

Then... after a few good meals in a row made up of hot wings, more hot wings (the baby girl is really craving alot of hot wings), french fries and then chicken nachos followed by baby-shower-cake.... I began to feel this amazing stinging and burning pain in my tootsies this afternoon. I'm so dense that I thought for a moment that I must have put my shoes on the wrong feet! Why is THIS the first thing to pop into my head? I have NEVER done that! It doesn't even make sense! I really thought it must be the shoes. It never occurred to me that it would be due to my sudden Gigantism disorder. I finally took my shoes off when I couldn't take it any more and my feet looked like they were getting ready to burst open at the seams. (the seams, that is, of my little trouser socks which had made these deep indentations all over my poor tired dogs) Man... it really hurts! So... I'm gonna actually have to start eating right again. I mean, I haven't been that bad (until these last few meals) but I ain't been real good. I know better and I should have been eating a little healthier all along, but when for 3 months all you CAN eat are Bean and Cheese burritos and Jolly Ranchers... it makes you so excited to be able to eat everything again... I mean everything... and a side of wing sauce please!

Big Belly Chronicles - Volume 30w

30 weeks, 3 days down... So much is going on, including the little girl's first trip to the hair salon for mamma's much needed haircut, (that's right, I haven't had a haircut in 8 months... don't judge me!) first baby shower and first hiccups on Sunday! I'll have to post a few pics of my sweet friends at the shower later this week.

As seems to be the common thread in my life right now... things that should be progressing at a certain rate, are going a little... bit... slow... EVERYONE thinks my tummy isn't quite big enough to be 2 months away from delivery. I think it's huge! And most importantly my doctor thinks its just fine and the baby girl is smack dab in the middle of the growth charts. (Its a chart that I never fit on... from my birth at nearly 10 lbs, until I was grown... I think the affectionate term was "off the charts.") Our little girl weighs approximately 3 lbs based on her measurements! Here's a pic of my tummy. And the rest of my tired body. I'm still getting over this nasty cold we had last week... and last night was the first time in a week that I slept through the night without even one coughing fit! But I still feel SO EXHAUSTED! Shout out to Target for these great lounge pants that I wear every night when I get home from work. So flattering I know...

No, I haven't been back to that CVS yet either. I intended to go back to buy some more cough drops and just have them double it, but I found some more in my cabinet, and haven't needed to go back. But, I will.

Here are pics of my SLOOOOW knitting progress

as well. You can't tell, but the white thing is my baby's first blanket... almost. Well, actually there is QUITE a bit to go, and I haven't picked it up since Thanksgiving, but I will get back on the horse soon. My green scarf, the original project, has taken a weird turn. I was using it to practice my different stitches, but then lost track of what I had done, so there is NO pattern at all. Just a bunch of weirdness. You can bet I'll wear it proudly anyway.

Last thing..... Little Curley's room. The blue tape is still up, but the painting is complete. Kevin did such a good job. I know it doesn't look like a little girl's room to you all yet... but I promise it will. The colors are "Heart's of Palm" green and Snoop Dogg's "Grizzle Grey." Open your minds... I think it's going to be so fun! I get lots of weird looks when I try to describe it so I won't even

bother, you'll just have to see it. Just as long as she keeps on cooking for 2 more months, we'll make it.... she will have a bed and everything! ONLY TWO MONTHS!!!!!!!! :-O

A thief in the night

Its kind of pitiful when you look at my archives and see the downward spiral of my # of postings each month. I'm going to vow to be a little better in December. Maybe if I say less, I'll post more... Which will be easy tonight, because I am sick... really really sick. (Feeling at least a little better, because I have not even wanted to pick up my head, let alone my computer)

I was NOT going to get sick this winter while being pregnant! I have been washing my hands like crazy, eating right (mostly), taking vitamins, drinking water, thinking positive thoughts, staying away from sick people.... oops except for ALL the sick people in my family over Thanksgiving, and all the sick people who walk around in the hospital and clinics where I work. Hmmmmm. My mom has always told me the road to hell is paved with good intentions.....

The road to hell probably has a bunch of thieves on it too... I am now officially a criminal. (speeding tickets don't count... right?) Kevin and I are both sick and on the way home from the doctor's office tonight we stopped at CVS to get some medicine. I picked up some Ricola sugar free cough drops and we walked back to the pharmacy counter where they keep the "controlled substances" that we needed. Kevin swiped his Driver's License that is required to get any of the good stuff (pseudoephedrine HCL) and signed his name on the contract that stated he would not be using the medicine to make methamphetamines. He paid for the stuff in his hands, and we walked out. When I got home I picked up my cough drops and realized I had just STOLEN them from CVS! I'm so embarrassed! I will go back and pay.... it was $2.49, so probably a misdemeanor right? But why did no one stop me? Kevin said I would have been even more embarrassed if someone had stopped me, but I would rather have been called out (and blamed it on being sick and pregnant) than have to go back in a second time and explain it....

I'm tired, don't feel good and a little grouchy about it all... so that's all for now. One last thing... my criminal offense caused me to have to put this cartoon in. My mom also always says "Ass is not a bad word... it's in the Bible!" Love ya mom!

I scream from the top of my lungs...

Apparently I took a little break from blogging... I didn't even notice so much time has gone by! A few noteworthy things have happened in the last couple of weeks!

1. While cleaning my house last weekend... I found a cheerio... while changing my sheets. It was down between the mattress and the headboard. I admit that I DO eat cheerios! One of my favorite breakfast treats! But NOT in BED! Gross! So, this means that I must have walked around for some length of time with a cheerio on my face or in my hair or on my clothes before it fell off... in bed. So it was yet another indicator that I am definitely a "mom." Right? I mean we have all seen the frazzled mommies with weird cereal pieces or suckers stuck to them... but usually they have like 3 or 4 little ones they are running around after, and everyone completely forgives it. My child isn't even born yet? What is my excuse? I'm just a pregnant slob!!

2. Baby girl Curley demonstrated her love of music... alot like her mom! She is soothed and calmed by it mostly... when she is very active and I turn any kind of music on, she seems to stop (and listen I think) and fall off to sleep for a minute. But for the first time she really jammed out like her momma. We were in the car and a song came on that is quite possibly the GREATEST song of the 1990's and we rocked out to 4 Non Blonds "What's Up." I think she was playing a little air drum as well as doing a little headbanging and lead air guitar. It is one of those songs that just does it to you... you can't help but get worked up when it comes on... and then you sing it.... for days and days after that. And if you don't know the song well, here is a link to the video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXcQGsoDkDk Listen and you might understand why my version of this song, while it is an excellent impression, might drive my husband a little crazy and cause Beans to look at me crooked. I hope my little girl shares my taste for ALL kinds of good music and enjoys singing it from the top of her lungs as much as I do. (Kevin hopes she doesn't)

3. The baby took her first trip to Aggieland! Kevin had some work in Bryan so we took a tiny trip. We got to see cousin Brad (who will graduate in May)... and Professor Houghton! (My very good friend Stephanie from high school completed her PhD in Economics and is now an AGGIE PROFESSOR! Hard to believe!) And Little Curley had her first taste of Wings-n-More..... mmmmmm..... She loved it. I've been craving this for years now and Stephanie and Adam met us there for dinner! What a yummy, prefect way to end our quick trip! Kevin and I wondered if it would be as good as we remembered it... it was... better maybe. I guarantee this will be the first of many trips for our little Curley. (To Aggieland and Wings-n-More)

I know there are VERY FEW people on earth who care anything about the stuff I have written about today... but if you are one, I wrote this for you. And thanks for reading. :)

Last thing... Can someone please tell me how to put music on my blog? I just want a song list that people could click on to hear one or two of my favorites if they want. (Like 4 Non Blonds) But this seems difficult for me for some reason. :)

Big Belly Chronicles - Volume 26 w

So, this was me last week actually.... at 25 weeks. Today I'm 26 weeks and slightly poochier, and finding it seriously difficult to GET UP! If I'm having trouble now... we should all be worried. I have 3 months to go!

I have to take a moment and talk about maternity clothes. At first I was determined to just make my regular clothes somehow work throughout this whole thing in order to save money (yes, I'm cheap.... and not that smart I guess). I even had my friend who is a hard core garage-saler scoping out maternity clothes for me at $1 a pop. I went to Target and found a couple of things that my wonderful-but-not-always-so-eloquent husband likened to trash bags. And finally broke down and went to a couple of specialty stores and left feeling SO much better and more comfortable. And I wanted to give a shout out to Michael Stars who made the shirt I have on here. It is the greatest, because it will just keep stretching.....and stretching.... and then when you wash it it returns to its exact perfect original shape. The ladies at the shop said they even have a few of his tops that they wear all the time (not pregnant). And that I will be able to wear it long after the baby comes! Now... they are one size. Do you hear what I'm saying? No sizes... everyone wears the same shirt.... so my fear is being out somewhere with one of these shirts that has made me so happy and then seeing one of those adorable, twiggy, pregnant girls who look like models with basketballs under their shirts, wearing the same shirt as me and looking WAY better in it. (Thanks to my Santa Fe friend for sending me this pic :) Anyway... I'm very happy with the shirts. And wanted to pass it along to all you pregnant girls... check out Michael Stars tops... unless you will look cuter than me in it...

A couple more updates. The baby girl is still a girl... confirmed for the 6th time (3 ultrasounds times 2 people operating the sono). She is still perfect. She weights approximately 2 lbs, measures exactly on target and is strong as an ox! I sometimes wonder... if this is what other people are feeling all day, every day, how come I don't see other pregnant people startled and jumping and grabbing themselves in surprise all day long? She gets stronger by the day. And the other day I actually said these words out loud... "Its like there is a little person in there just kicking the heck out of me!"

Here is my knitting... again, a week ago. I've made a little more progress on the original scarf and the new purple one. And I have knitted one row of our baby's first blanket. I can't wait to show pics of that!!

The next two pictures are of our Little Curley's room. Surely we can find a spot for her. This poor unfortunate room in our house quickly became our "we-don't-have-room-for-this-but-don't-want-to-get-rid-of-it-yet-so-put-it-in-that-room" room. But our pending arrival has caused us to finally clean it out. So this is the "before" picture. The picture actually doesn't do it justice.

I thought I would put all these things the Curley's have in progress, together in one posting.

Deer and duck seasons are also in progress for Kevin.... so I guess I better add a pic of one of the poor little animals he and Beans got on opening weekend. He got a couple of wood ducks and a wigeon. ?? Here is Beans with her daddy's wigeon. I'm going to look into making a Turduckin this holiday season... and I also wanna try to make some duck jerky. I don't know how, but I'm not afraid to try...

Scaaaaaary

In my last entry of October, We are the champions, I promised an explanation of the funny cat in the picture. Last Saturday night, we became pumpkin carving champs (check out our award winning pumpkins if you haven't already)... AND... I discovered that I am SERIOUSLY allergic to cats.

We had a cat during my entire childhood... Grover (aka THE PUSS). I was NOT allergic. He was over 20 years old when he finally got so sick that we had to say goodbye. But he was our "little brother" for our entire lives. His claim to fame was his meow. It never failed that every time someone in our house was on the phone, Grover would let out a loud one, and the person on the other end would say "Is there a baby in your house?" Mr. Puss was loud, and proud. He also had one tooth that grew and grew and grew until it couldn't even fit inside his mouth anymore... it just hung over his bottom lip and made him look really old and slightly evil. He was a great long-toothed puss. And when he died... several years ago... I haven't had an occasion to hold a kitty cat again... Until last weekend.
Matt and Sara's cat is a Ragdoll cat. The SOFTEST coat you've ever felt on any animal, really. They are also not allowed to be outdoor cats, some say this is because they are non-defensive and can not survive because they do not use their claws and have no survival instincts. And some say its because they're too dumb to find their way back home. I haven't gotten a great explanation about the "hair-do" but I'm sure there is a reason they shave the poor dumb animal to look like Simba. One more fun tid-bit, apparently when you pick them up they just do this...

It may not be apparent in the picture, but the cat was completely relaxed. And I was hysterical! And then... about 10 minutes later... I began coughing just a little, and then reached up and felt little bumps all over my neck, and then my eyes began to itch, and my face felt hot. And I looked a little something like this...

I had to drive us home from the party (over an hour away) and on the way home, my skin began to feel like it was on fire. I had hives on my back, chest, both arms, face and scalp! By the time I got home, I looked like this...Cute huh? It was pretty dramatic. I was actually worried that if I got pulled over on the way home (for driving way too slow because I couldn't see through my watering eyes) that the policeman wouldn't believe my story and was going to think that Kevin had beat me up until I was crying and swollen. But we made it. And I washed the dander off and began to be able to breath again. My face was swollen for 2 days. ;) Scary Halloween!

We are the Champions... my friend...

We may not win Most Intricate or Most Artistic... but we WILL WIN something even if we have to go for funny, thought provoking or vulgar. Its just who we are!
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Some friends of ours had a wonderful pumpkin carvin party last weekend. We entered two pumpkins to improve our odds and walked away with TWO first place pumpkins! We WON two of the categories! Kevin's disgusting (awesome) entry won 1st place for "best use of props and accessories" and mine won for "funniest" (although Kevin insists that he won both and that you could only win one category, so my 2nd place was boosted up to 1st.... I'll let you be the judge....)

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Here are a few pics of the award winning pumpkins! We did help one another with our ideas so the awards are really "ours." Hope you like them!
(ABOVE) Yes, they made us wear name tags... but it was a fun party anyway. ;-) Check out the gynecological-looking pose I'm in with my mama pumpkin... quite unintentional.

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(BELOW) Kevin's entry "the Dumpkin" complete with his bumper-dumper (an actual toilet seat that attaches to your trailer hitch so you can feel at home even when you're miles away from civilization... Kevin's prized possession, especially this time of year), TP (Charmin... only the best for my man and his dumpkin), and a lovely specimen on the ground below.

Kevin won a Chia Shrek... and a NICE gift card! I'm hoping to get the Shrek in my Christmas stocking.

Below you'll find my entry "Where do baby pumpkins come from?" Unfortunately she doesn't photograph well, but if you look closely you can see her mascara, painted toenails and even her tears. Oh what we mothers do for our babies..... ;) There are a couple of angles so you can get the full effect.

ABOVE - My prize! And Lisa and Mandy in the background... what tasted to good on that spoon Mandy?

BELOW - Pics of our friends, Brandon and Lisa, who one 1st and 2nd for best overall pumpkins. A couple of true artists! Lisa's on the left and Brandon's on the right. (I realize that you could probably figure out which one of these humans is Lisa and which is Brandon, but I am referring to the pics of their pumpkins below that...) Although I'm EXTREMELY impressed with these FREE HAND carvings (and quite jealous of their prizes), I believe that if you have a degree in art you should disqualify yourself due to having an unfair, God-given advantage. AM I RIGHT?

I know... they are so good! For anyone who loves this stuff like I do, I'm posting some other pumpkins from the party. There were some really good ones.
Brandon at the mic with his guitar.And our lovely hostess Sarah with her yummy jack-o-lantern cake. I didn't get a single pic of her husband Matt. (So sorry!!) But they are the most gracious hosts. Thanks for everything... great fun... great food... great prizes... great cat! (sort of)

Here is a pic of their cat. An explanation will follow... promise.

And a couple of grown men on a bounce house slide...