"You don't know.

You're not me!"


My wife and I have decided that one of the best phrases that we have heard in the last year has come from our niece, Ashley.

I loved listening to my Brother in Law quote it. He almost sounded like a post-teen-still-living-at-home-girl. In fact, I enjoyed it so much that I have decided to add it to my product list at my cafepress Store.

I have some other stuff over there, and I plan on adding some more in the next couple of days.

Well

Sorry folks.

It was a rough night. She wasn't able to pull through. She was overcome from the thought of eating another cup of lime jello.


Ok. Actually this is in the recovery room. Charity always has her camera with her, and surgeries are no exception. She has some other pictures and experiences to share, and I want to let her do that when she is feeling better, but in the meantime, here are a few to enjoy.

Charity showing her true poise in any situation.


This picture is my fault.


The one pic I captured on the ride home. She really wasn't feeling well at all, so I wasn't much in the picture taking mood.

Who Killed the Electric Car?

I just watched the movie, Who Killed the Electric Car.

I got it in the mail the other day from Blockbuster Online. I had selected it quite a while ago, and had almost forgotten it. Then, when it arrived, I almost decided to skip it, but I am so glad that I didn't. It was very interesting.

I am not big on conspiracy theories (I do believe that we really landed someone on the moon), but I did find many of the facts to be a little on the odd side. Especially the pictures of these cars being crushed, for no reason.

It was also odd to hear politicians speaking of trying to research the manufacture of an electric car, after they had decided to take them off the market. So, on one side of the country they are crushing these workable electric cars and on the other side of the country they are discussing how they could make these things, and funding research to do so. Weird.

Anyway, I thought it was interesting, and wanted to suggest that it was worth the time watching it.

Another Surgery Update

In case you were wondering what happened to my wife, or why she was being operated on, I thought I would let you know. The first procedure was a septoplasty. If you are wondering what that is exactly, here is the Wikipedia article with a brief explanation of what the procedure entails. Here is another more detailed article from answers.com. The other procedure was a tonsillectomy, its article is here, but I think that most of us are a little more familiar with this one.

I had my tonsils out as a child, but I have learned that as an adult, this is a much more painful and difficult to recover from procedure. The doctor told us that it would be very painful and that it would take quite a while to recover. From first hand experience now, I can attest to that.

There have been many people out there that have told me that they have been praying for her. I want you to know that I really appreciate it, more than you know.

Surgery Update

Here is a little surgery update, for those of you who are concerned about my wife. Once she feels up to it, I am sure that she will give a much better update, with all of the fun, interesting details, but for now you will have to be satisfied with my version of what happened.

Charity's parents had come down a couple of days early so that we could spend some time with them before she didn't feel like having fun. So, we left for the hospital yesterday, the boys stayed home with Grandpa, and after a little while in the waiting room, we were finally ready to go, gown and all, by about 1:00. They gave her a couple of shots of the "don't worry, be happy" medicine, and by 2:30 she had left us for the operating room.

She ended up only being in surgery from 2:30 to 3:30. The doctor came out and told us everything went well. She had had a tonsillectomy and a septoplasty. (Don't ask me what that second thing is.) After a couple more hours we were able to go back to the recovery room.

Before the surgery she had some concerns about being able to breathe when it was all over. This is understandable since she was having her nose and her throat operated on. She was nervous that the doctor would leave "packing" in her nose, so it was a real answer to prayer when the doctor came out to talk to us when he told us that there was no packing in her nose. When I saw her afterwards, I asked her if she could breathe, and she told me that she could breathe better than before. We were all relieved.

There has also been no bleeding, which was my biggest concern. There has been a little bit of drainage in the nose, but nothing to be concerned about. The last issue though is the issue of the pain. I am not going to lie to you. It is bad. Of course I am just relaying it from the source, but she has told me that it is much worse than she anticipated.

So overall, it is not a pleasant situation. She is looking at a few hard days coming up, but she is resilient, and she will survive.

I know that she would appreciate your prayers. If you would like to drop her a note, her e-mail is theharmlesses@gmail.com

More later.

Why do I blog?

Rodney Olsen from The Journey just posted five reasons why he blogs, and has encouraged others to share their reasons. I don't have five reasons in my head yet, so I am going to make them up as I go.

1. In my mind, I believe that it makes me a better writer. I don't (at all) consider myself to be a writer of any sort, but I would like to be. I admire writers, good ones, and would like to improve on this area of my life. I don't know if it is actually helping, but I think it does.
   
2. I still think that blogging is cool (in a geeky sort of way). I know that there are some who have stated that blogging is fading away, but I just think that it is weeding itself out. The true bloggers will remain for a little longer yet.
3. I feel like I am talking to people when I blog. I like the idea that I am going to hit that little publish button, and then there are going to be people that read this later. Rodney called this "community" and I have to agree. There are a couple of people out there that I would never have met, but now I feel like I know them. I feel the desire to share with them and be held accountable with them. I want to know about their lives, and they seem to want to know about mine.
4. I feel a little obligated. I know that I am not obligated at all, but since I have been doing this since 2003, I don't want to stop now. It just seems wrong.
5. It is something to do.

If you would like to share why you blog, please let me know. Post a comment below with a link to the reasons why you blog. Hopefully your reasons are better than mine!

bored... out of my gourd

I am finishing up this school year at Mauldin High School. I have been here since January 3rd, and it has been an interesting year for me. I might post on some of the things that I have learned during these days here, but that is not what I wanted to mention today.

Today, you see, is Memorial Day, and here I am at school. This isn't considered a holiday by the Greenville County School District, of course the students don't have to be here, but I do. It wouldn't be so bad, if I had something to do, but I don't. I teach seniors and the seniors exams are a week earlier than anyone else. So, I gave all my exams, graded them, entered my grades, turned in all my stuff, etc., etc. last Tuesday. I haven't had anything to do here at the school since.

The county has policies that require all teachers to be here, even if they don't have anything to do. So, I have been reading books, watching CNN, blogging, and I have even brought a couple of movies with me.

Today, as I mentioned in the title, I am bored out of my gourd. I am hoping that the administration will let us leave early today, but I am not getting my hopes up too high.