Hollywood strikes again... ARGH!

Anyone seen the newest Twilight TV spots? Yeah, there is one that shows them kissing in her bedroom IN HER UNDIES! Whats that about?!?! Soooooooooooooo not Bella, she wore ratty old sweats to bed! Not something Edward would have allowed either, being all Mr.Chastity and whatnot... *sigh* I h-a-t-e how Hollywood has to mess up what is so crucial to their characters just to wrack in more bucks by putting Kristen Stewart in her chonies for all the men to oogle at! I bet Stephenie Meyer is gonna be tiiiiiiiiiiicked! Hmph...

My new guilty pleasure

Following this blog. Oh, this brings back awful memories of college dating life, but at the same time it's irresistable! Check it out, and be sure to start from the beginning. Happy pining! :)

Let's play mind-reading vamp!

Ben doesn't think they cast a buff enough looking guy to play Emmett so I was trying to find a better picture that shows that indeed he is all muscle-ish... I haven't found a good one as of yet (since most are of E&B) BUT I did find a particularly funny picture that got me wishing I had Edward's mind-reading abilities so I could figure out what they were all thinking... or trying to portray anyway.

So here's the game: Tell me what you think each "character" is thinking. I'll start!
Ok, so the picture isn't very sharp at it's current size and I don't know how to make it so that it goes full size when you click, SO... go to this link for a better look! http://twilighters.org/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=1530&fullsize=1


Jasper is obviously having a really hard time ignoring his "thirst" and hates having to pretend to eat normal food. He's painstakingly giving it a go.

Alice is lovingly supporting her Jasper, coaxing him to give it another bite while having a vision that assures her that he is not about to go attack that particularly good smelling girl across the room, so she's smiling in encouragement.

Emmett and Rosalie are off in their own little world, probably making plans to work on one of their many cars at home once their tedious hours of pretending to be highschool students are over. Emmett is also probably making a bet as to how soon Jasper will crack and have to run out of the cafeteria, Alice skipping lithely behind him.

Edward is sick of the lovey-dovey thoughts/behavior of the others and is wanting to whack them all upside the head really bad... "Helloooooooooooo people, we're supposed to be SIBLINGS!" He's also very doubtful Alice will succeed in her coaxing, as he realizes how close Jasper is to snapping.

Ok! Your turn! :)

Funny for the day

What in the world is Emmett doing with a bag full of eggs?!?! Hmm...

So... where's my Edward?

Ben has a new nickname for me... Bella. Why? Well, because in his words, "You're a walking Murphy's Law... If something bad's going to happen, it's going to happen to you!" What brought this on? My toe... my poor, busted, not-gonna-heal-EVER toe! I was complaining to Ben that my foot's been hurting a whoooooole lot today and asked him if he would pop the bone back in place... I was on my way to let the dogs out (they were in our room upstairs because I had just gone to pick Ben up from work) when I stubbed my already hurting toe on the stairs! HARD! I hopped back to the couch yelling and proceeded to fall and start crying like a baby, rocking back and forth because it was either that or say a lot of bad words that never ever come out of my mouth... ever.

So yeah, I think it's time to call Dr.Schuff again and have her take another look. My toe is all awollen again, and I've gone back to not being able to bend it, hooray. I suppose I was going to have to go back anyway (as it was hurting before this last incident and I should have called her about it last week like she asked me to) but now it's a for-sure...

These are a few of my faaaaavorite things...

I'm having a "sad day" and so I thought I'd cheer myself up with a few of my favorite things, like the song says to do, you know? So here goes, this is what I've spent most of today doing while trying to ignore the pain...

* Watching my pups sleep and have their cute little "puppymares", where they bark at their dream-land foes! (See previous post)

* Curl up with Edw-um... I mean the Twilight Series! ;)

* Play my newest GC game, "Paper Mario & The Thousand Year Door" (so much fun, highly reccommend it!)

* Baking my fave kind of bread (bannana, hold the nuts!), and enjoying the smell permeate my house, yuuuuuuuuuum!

Ahh, there is nothing like some warm comfort food to soothe the soul and aching tummy...and now "I don't feeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeel sooooooo baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad!" ;)

Shhhhhhhhh...

So I was chatting with Shannon when noticed that it was awfully quiet in here and it took me a few seconds to realize what was missing... the sound of my crazy pups! I turned around and this is what I saw:

They are so weird and pick the oddest places to fall asleep sometimes... why is the floor odd? Well, simply due to the fact that no one is currently occupying the COUCH! ;)

Farewell JP drain, we'll miss you... NOT!

Today Ben went in for his postop and we finally said goodbye to our little friend, Jackson-Pratt. (That's what the JP stands for, just so you don't think we actually named the thing!) Dr.Crawford wasn't kidding when he said Ben had a lot of tubing in him! It was kinda gross to sit there and watch as he pulled it out and it was like neverending! For those of you that saw how much tubing he had outside, he had just as much (if not more) inside!

So now he has an open hole just below his big inscision which should start closing up in 2-3 days or so. In the meanwhile we have a bunch of gauze packed onto it with this giant mesh band-type thing holding that in place. (It reminds me of the meshy bags onions come in!) Ben is thrilled to not have anything attatched to him any longer! I bet he'll sleep a lot better tonight!

Revenge of the JP drain!

I had a feeling something bad would happen since Ben totally overdid it yesterday... While we took all the precautions we could with his JP drain (taping, pinning, and low-riding his pants!)alas, it was not enough. While I was applying Bacitracin to his inscisions I noticed that the stitches around the JP tube (the ones that hold it in place) had come loose. *GULP!* It kinda freaked me out to see them still attached to the tube, but about 1/2" away from his inscision... which means, about 1/2" of tubing had come OUT of his body!

We were given instructions to call the doctor immediately if this were to happen, so I did. Luckily, the doctor said 1/2" is no big deal because the tube is pretty long inside. We have an appt to get it taken out tomorrow at 9AM anyway, so it's ok. He just had me tape it to his body a little more snuggly and smear some more ointment all over the opening.

So yeah... that was a little bit of a scare today. Hopefully it will come out tomorrow and everything will calm down a bit more. His big inscision is all bruised and nasty looking, but no signs of infection, so I think he's healing nicely. He stayed at home today and has been just laying about on the couch, resting. I'm paranoid he's gonna pull the rest of it out, so I'm kinda being a meany about not letting him do much but yeah, whatever... today scared the crap out of me!

Success!

We survived the wedding today! Ben didn't get much rest again last night so I was a bit worried, but we even made it on time! I spent a little while yesterday working on his JP bag cover which turned out quite well! I sewed 2 white washcloths and some velcro to create a pouch, and once his JP bag and tube were nice and concealed, we safety pinned it to his pants! Here is a picture since I know you are all dying to see how that turned out! ;)

Ben's dad, Ben, and the infamous JP bag (covered up!)

He doesn't look like he just got out of the hospital, huh? I'm proud of my babe, he's a trooper! The sealing was beautiful and it was fun taking pics afterwards. Here are a few:

The Fam

On a lighter note...

After posting this morning's update I remembered something else I wanted to share... Twilights latest (and BEST!) trailer that was released yesterday! WOOOOOOHOOOOOOOO!!! Here it is in all its Edward-licious glory! ;)

Reminder: You can shut off my annoying music (heehee) by scrolling down to the bottom and hitting PAUSE on my playlist player.

Twilight HD Exclusive Trailer

Ben Update #3 (Oh what a night...)

We survived our first night home! It was rough again, though... Pain led to taking Lortab, which led to another migraine, which led to us being up most of the night. I finally convinced him to let me make him (a really early) breakfast so that he could take 800mg Ibuprofen since the Tylenol wasn't doing squat. I made him some "smiley face bananas & cream of wheat" (I'll have to post a picture later, it actually got him to crack a smile... finally!) and he had some OJ, so I was pleased and he was able to take his meds. Now he is slumbering away, thank goodness.

On today's schedule we have: taking a shower (woohoo!!!), shaving (woohoohoo!!!), and taking a few strolls around the house. His inscision is starting to look all bruised and stuff (which is normal, I know) and we're trying to help him conserve energy for tomorrow... Suz's wedding! I'm still trying to figure out how we're going to get his church clothes on him... that JP bag has to hang on the outside (safety pinned in place) and it's not a pretty sight... maybe I'll try covering it with a white sock? Heehee...

Ok, I'm off to check on my sleeping beauty and try to get a few winks in myself. More to come later! Thanks again for everyone's thoughts, prayers, calls, visits, get-well cards/gifts, etc etc. It has bolstered his spirits tremendously!

Ben Update #2 ("Holy crow!")

Ben is HOME! Yup, thats right, he's actually home!!! I'm still shocked, and to be quite frank a bit terrified. Het got most of his tubes out yesterday and that helped quite a bit, but as I mentioned in my last post he was getting terrible migraines and just didn't feel so hot. Today was a huge turn-around. They started giving him a bit more sustanance (cream of wheat, yogurt, creamed soups, puddings, etc) and I think that gave him a boost of energy. He took a few walks up and down the halls and the PT was very impressed. Dr.Crawford came in, examined him, took a look at his inscision and JP bag (drainage tube and pouch) and asked him if he'd like to go home today? I was like, "WHAT?" Yeah, totally not prepared.

So here we are, back at home and Ben is soooooooooooooooooooo much happier. He doesn't look like someone that had his belly sliced open 2 days ago! His inscision is about... 4-5 inches long and he still has that drainage tube, but it looks "great" as per the doctor and nurses. I'll have some wound care duties (emptying/measuring/re-suctioning, etc) to perform until Monday when he goes in to see him and get the JP tube out.

Wow, so yeah... what a whirlwind of a past 4 days! He could have died on Monday... that still scares the crap out of me. We are intending on writing a letter to Dr.Schmuck to let him know he could have caused Ben his life if we had been as complacent as he had been. He was one sick sick pup on Monday and everyone (including the doctors) are in awe at how amazingly quick he's bounced back. I'm so grateful for the power of the Priesthood and blessings, I know thats what got him through this as quickly and as well as he did. Now he's just got to rest and let the healing process do its thing. He probably won't ba back to work for a while, but he's 110% better just being at home.

Thanks again for the prayers calls, and visits!

Ben Update #1

Today was a rough day, full of ups and downs. We didn't get much sleep last night and by this morning Ben was ready to rip everyones' heads off... including mine. He was in pain, and tired of being strapped down by so many tubes, etc. The surgeon came and saw him mid-morning and said he could have his NG tube and Foley catheter out, which made Ben A LOT happier. They also allowed him to get the leg pressure cuffs off, although he's still having to wear his lovely stockings to prevent clots. Oh, he also graduated to sips of clear liquids which was nice as well.

Mid-afternoon the PT came and helped him get up and take a few steps around the room... to the bathroom and back. This was painful and things kinda went downhill from there. He developed an awful headache, a bit of a teperature, and got all nauseaous again so they had to give him some more Zofran and pain meds. Nothing helped though and by 7pm he was writhing in pain and pukey again... they finally authorized some migraine meds and a few other things. (They think the morphine is responsible for the headaches, so they had to try a few other pain meds instead) He was feeling a bit better when I left, thank goodness.

We had some visitors, and that cheered him up some. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day. They want him to start walking a bit, which while helpful will be painful I'm sure... Maybe he'll get his JP tube (drainage) out tomorrow, but maybe not... who knows. The earliest he'll be going home is Friday. Suz's wedding is on Saturday and we're hoping he can at least make it to the sealing in a wheelchair, but we'll see what Dr.Crawford says tomorrow.

More updates to come tomorrow evening, probably. The pups are fed, so I better get back to the hospital! Another sleepless night awaits us both, I'm sure... *sigh*

Dr.Incompetence strikes again!

Gotta make this quick because once the pups are done eating I have to get back to the hospital, but anyways... here goes. Ben comes home last night and starts complaining of a stomach ache. About an hour later he starts puking... it gets BAD really quick and so I took him to Urgent Care. Dr.Shmuck sees him (the same doctor that told me my toe was fine because I could walk on it) and says its food poisoning. He gives Ben a shot of Phenegran and sends us home with some scripts. I asked pointblank about the possibility of appendicitis but Dr.Shmuck says "No way, he doesn't have a fever and the pain is too high." (Doesn't even bother to take some blood to check his white cell count)

Two hours later (after returning home and seeing absolutely NO improvement) Ben starts complaining of pain in his lower right quadrant... surprise, surprise. With some coaxing from his mom and dad, he finally agrees to go to the ER. Guess what? Appendicitis!

Unfortunately it ruptured, leaking nastiness into his abdomen, and so now he has a drainage tube from his inscision, an NG tube running down to his stomach from his nose, and a host of other tubes and wires coming out of him. He's alright and so far has made it through the day with no complications. He's in pain, very uncomfortable, and a bit of a grouch, poor guy.

I'm pretty much living at the hospital and will do so for a few days. I'll just come home to feed the pups and while I'm here I'll post updates. Thanks for the prayers!

Waa, waa, waa!

I am SO sick and tired of all the whining, moaning and groaning, and gnashing of teeth over the so called impending doom of a depression that's coming. The "suffering" of the middle class and all that crap, etc etc. I consider Ben and I as falling into the lower middle class label. Are we rich? Obviously not. Do we have a huge house and really expensive cars? No! Can we afford to eat out every night and purchase whatever we want, whenever we want? No! But does that mean we're suffering? NO! It means we're trying to live within our means, paying down our debt and *GASP* using self control!

It really disturbs me to see all these fingers being pointed at parties and people, like the whole thing is their fault. What ever happened to personal accountability for one's own actions? We have been doing the Dave Ramsey debt ellimination program because WE were stupid and got ourselves into consumer debt. That's no one's fault but our own. Thankfully we were smart enough not to get suckered into an unneccesarily big house with a foolish ARM loan, and one of the good things about not having kids is that we get along just fine with our 2 economy sized, used cars. So no, even though we are at the bottom of the middle-class rung, I don't think we're "suffering" by any stretch of the imagination.

Yes, many companies preyed on the uneducated and foolish people that were more interested in keeping up with the Jonses than living within their means. I hate that this bailout plan does nothing to teach them a lesson... basically its a freebie, an incentive to keep doing bad business. However, what has been learned? Unfortunately not much... and until people quit being stupid and greedy it doesn't matter what they do, or who runs this country, because all it is, is just putting a bandaid on a deep wound.

ARGH... I usually abstain from getting political because these things just make me angry. I don't consider myself a political buff, but I do value my common sense... something I fear many in this country have lost.