TWICE this month!

Aren't you impressed that I've made it over here a second time this month??? Well, the bruised rib really threw me for a loop. For two whole weeks I was still taking the vicadin at night so I could sleep and tylenol during the day. I'm glad it's tolerable now! E seems to be doing a lot better, too. I was back in the ER the night after it happened because I was having extreme pain and pressure when I reclined. The doctors just told me not to recline! Go figure. They thought it was probably just muscle spasms. In retrospect, I suspect they were probably right. I'm just glad I'm feeling better! We have a trip, next weekend, to go to an indoor water park for a few days and I want to be in tip-top shape!

Our Japanese student left a couple days ago. We will really miss him. What a great kid. He and I both really cried when we said goodbye!

This is in a local restaurant..This is the whole place! The cooking area is on the right and it seats five. The only thing they serve is hotdogs, but I love the place!

On the man note....Haven't heard from H since I broke up with him. Except, he called during his spring break to see if he could come over to finish the windows (and probably to pick up his tools). We had scheduled for him to come over on that Tuesday, but then I had the whole rib episode and was exhausted, so I told him to wait. My guess is that I'll hear from him when school is out, he'll come over to finish the windows and pick up his tools and I'll never see him again. That's too bad. We broke it off very amicably, but this kind of confirms my thoughts about where he was coming from. Oh well.

While I was in Pittsburgh a few months ago I met up with another guy....We've known each other for three or four years and have gone out a couple times. It was always pretty clear that there was a mutual attraction but neither of us was in a position to do anything about it. In fact, we stayed away from each other for a couple years. A couple months ago, he called me out of the blue. I have to admit that I have thought about him often. So, while I was in Pittsburgh last month for a meeting, he took me out for a very nice dinner. Then we met for coffee the next day after my meeting, before I hit the road. He's been calling and texting me daily ever since, gave me a beautiful Michael Kors bag for my birthday, and came out to see me for a couple days this week. He treats me extremely well. I'm trying to take it slow, so we'll see where it goes!

Snow Tubing!

I will try to be better at posting new pictures in the future! Right now, I'll just give you the low down on what is going on. I broke up with H. I'm sure you saw that coming. I just wasn't getting what I wanted out of the relationship...it wasn't going anywhere and coming over once a week to have dinner and play with the kids isn't enough. I told him that things didn't really need to change between us, but I was going to start dating again and he should feel free to, too. I would, of course, let him know if I got serious with someone. Well, that was about five weeks ago and I haven't heard a word from him. Oh well.

We have a Japanese student staying with us for three and a half weeks. He's delightful. Nineteen, gets along with the kids great, eats whatever I cook, and is always willing to tag along for whatever we are doing. Yesterday, after Sunday school, we all went snow tubing. It was a lot of fun since we practically had the mountain to ourselves! In fact, for the last hour, we did have it to ourselves. Of course, part of the fun of snow tubing is bumping into each other and hooking together so you can all go at once. Well, during one of our last runs, we bumped a little too hard. I should have been more careful because I had already gotten banged up from bumping too hard twice. Well, this last run was a doozy. We were all hooked up together when E decided to take a running start onto his tube, then e couldn't hold onto it so he went flying down the hill first. The rest of us already had a little momentum so went down a few seconds after him. E didn't make it to the end of the run and sat at the bottom of the hill in his tube waiting for us to come down...What he didn't realize is that we would be going about 20 mph when we reached his spot. I yelled for him to move, but it was too late. We barreled into him (fortunately he was able to get a little low instead of standing straight up - otherwise, I think he would have really gone flying). I was certain I broke a rib so I sat out the rest of the runs. E went up a couple more times and then told me he was having trouble breathing and that his ribs hurt, too. So he sat out for the last two runs. He didn't appear to be in significant pain, so I figured he was not in an emergency situation.

Still, on the way home, he was silent and seemed to be in some pain. I knew how much I hurt, so I decided to play it safe and stop at the hospital to get both of us checked out. When the doctor checked E out, he was having some tenderness in his spleen, so, poor kid had to have a cat scan to make sure his innards were okay. He was really scared when they put the iv in. I felt terrible. Long story short, after about four hours in the ER, no broken bones for either of us and no damage to his internal organs. PHEW! I'm still in a lot of pain, but hoping it gets better soon. E said he felt better today, but I think the spot where they put the iv was bothering him most. He was such a trooper.