Josh and Becca Thrap and Family

My cat died.

Home again, home again. I was released from the hospital Monday late morning and have been recouperating here at home. Today is my first real day on my own and back at the computer. I had a follow-up appointment with the surgeon yesterday who said that my wounds appear to be healing well and I should be able to take the tape off in about a week. My blood still had elevated toxin (bellirubin sp?!) levels, but he said they were definately coming down so they’ll check again in a week but he expects all is well. I had been instructed to get up and moving as much as possible because they were concerned about blood clots forming in my legs and moving to my heart so Tuesday I went up to Ames with Josh and while he worked at the Hy-Vee construction site there I wandered for two hours in the nearby Hobby Lobby! Actually, I think I was stalked! I noticed a young man perusing the scrapbooking aisles with me, and at first I didn’t really notice him or pay him any mind, but he walked past me once to leave the aisle we were in and then he came right back and went back and forth a couple times so I became aware of him and my purse etc. After a few minutes I moved into the next aisle and a few moments later there he was too. Now, he was looking at stuff all the while, so I was still thinking little of his presence because you know, I was lingering there and have been known to go back to double check on things or try to make decisions so his behavior wasn’t ALL that extraordinary, but even so, I decided to move on to the clearance section several aisles away. Within 2 minutes, there he was again. And the clearance stuff is all against the back corner of the store but the aisle next to it is kid craft stuff like coloring books and foam blocks etc. and he pretendended to be looking at stuff there and not the clearance scrap stuff. And he did the same thing about passing me a couple times and leaving the aisle and coming back so I started to get paranoid and thought maybe he was leaving to make sure the surrounding areas were clear before he attacked me and (give me a break, I was on some strong narcotics!) so I pulled out my cell phone and called Kate. She didn’t answer! So I called her home phone, screw the minutes! I kept her on the line as long as possible! Once the guy saw me on the phone he left, but I wasn’t sure how far he’d gone so I talked till I left the store! After that I met my sister and her husband (who works at a bank and just the day before had been robbed at his teller window!) (Also may help explain my paranoia.) and one of her coworkers and we lunched at Panera and then they took me back to the Garden with them. Nice people from church have been bringing us dinners and baked goodies. I killed some time yesterday before my appointment trying to make some thank you cards. I just don’t think they look very pretty. Here now, I’m gonna get graphic again. Unfortunately, the original problem of being “bound up” did not get taken care of with the sugery, and apparently constipation can be a side effect of the narcotics they’ve had me on for the pain, so at my appointment yesterday I complained to the doc that it had literally been three weeks now with this problem and a full week since there’d been ANY movement of ANY kind. And I’d told him about all the loverly crud I’d had to try over Mother’s day. My prescription? UGH!!! To go home and take two Dulcolax tablets, a bottle of Fleets phospho-soda (NASTY!!!!!), AND a Dulcolax suppository! Ewww And of course drink lots of water. So, last night I spent LITERALLY 3 1/2 HOURS on the toilet, and just when I was so tired and sore that I decided to try to go to bed, I made one more run! Today, I’m taking Tylenol for my pain to try to get me off the narcotics so that the problem doesn’t continue and so that I can drive! So, today is a bit of a transitional day for me. I’m in a bit more pain, but I’m not feeling as knocked out and don’t seem to be having the hot sweaty sleepy dizzy flashes, and I had a bowl of Cocoa Pebbles (they have a good amount of fiber for a breakfast cereal!) for breakfast to see if things are still moving. I’m still trying to finalize our plans for the weekend which is a bit frustrating cause I just want everything to run smoothly and be fun, and today is the kids’ last day of school–and of course its an early release, but not only that, they want parents to come and join the kids for lunch and mingle a bit which would normally be fine, except that I’m in this pain and it was supposed to be outside but now because its rainy it’ll be inside which means the WHOLE school AND everyone’s parents plus teachers admin etc will be in the general lunch area all at once!!! So I’m stressing just a bit. And to top it all off, I got into an arguement with Josh this morning and he’s feeling unappreciated and I’m feeling misunderstood and not just a little depressed about having to mark all of these things off of my mental list of stuff I was always gratefull I’d never had to deal with… Ok, 29 is going out with a bang, 30…BRING IT ON!!!

Over the weekend I got into some of my parent’s old cassette tapes and pulled a few that I remember listening to a LOT. No, they weren’t books on tape, Kitaro/Tenku, Hearts of Space or even Simon & Garfunkel. Their titles are: I Can Make Peace, Please Freeze, and Celebrate Shalom. Basically peacemonger propaganda tapes. I made Josh listen to some of them on our drive home. The kids liked the song Celebrate Shalom, but weren’t as excited about the more folksy sounding songs that followed. Josh said that it was difficult to try to listen to the words and catch the meanings while he was driving, but the music spurred a rather long discussion about war and politics and beliefs and stuff that I usually try NOT to comment on. It’s not that I don’t have opinions, but…I find it difficult to express myself well enough which frustrates me and I don’t have much to back myself up with. I guess I’m a closet peacemonger.

But…what is with Max &Ruby?!!! I seriously cannot stand that show! For anyone reading this who does not have a toddler, you are not going to know what I’m talking about, and just consider yourself better off for it. First of all, what little girl acts like that? Second, why does she have to sound so know-it-all and condescending all the time? I mean, I get that a lot of the humor is based on that, but it’s not funny, it’s just annoying! And third, WHERE are their parents?! Cameron is watching an episode at this very moment and Ruby is making Max take a bath. I wouldn’t put Elise in charge of giving Cameron a bath! Or let Cameron give Elena a bath. Good grief! Now she’s putting him to bed. Is she his legal guardian? Sometimes their grandma comes to visit, but that just means that she obviously isn’t the one at home with them.