Last Friday I had my wisdom teeth taken out chiseled out of my jaw bone and sinus cavities. I did ok after the surgery, and I even woke up Saturday morning with no pain. I thought “Great! I’ll be back in my routine in no time. I don’t know what everyone was so excited about.” Let me just state (and Ryan you better keep track of this because you don’t hear it often) that I was completely WRONG!

Let me back up and say that I went into surgery with high expectations that my recovery would be easy. I’ve had surgery before and I can endure quite a bit of pain. Everyone around me kept saying how painful it would be and that I would be recovering for at least a week. I chose to not believe them since some of my advisers tend to be on the dramatic side.

Everything was roses until I woke up at around 11pm on Saturday night. My face had started swelling with a fury. The skin on my checks was tight. I looked at myself in the mirror and began to sob. The swelling is supposed to peak on the third day after surgery. Here I am five days out and my swelling is just now starting to go down, maybe. I’m not counting on it because I don’t want to get my hopes up.

So, if you’re wisdom teeth are impacted and you have to have them taken out, just know that it is a BFD! Let me repeat it is a BFD!

Take off a week from work if you can because even if the pain isn’t there do you really want people to see you with your face swelled up like a balloon? I didn’t think so.  Stock up on soup because the pain involved with eating is just not worth it. Also plan on sleeping non stop for the first three days. My pain meds had me so doped up that I think I was only awake about 10 hours TOTAL the first three days. The lack of productivity really pissed me off, so I cut out the pain meds on Monday. I wish I had taken care of this when I was a teenager with no responsibilities to conflict with my recovery.

But hey, I’m not bitter, not one bit…… unless I feel so crappy that I can’t enjoy going to Six Flags this Friday or eating at Maggiano’s this Sunday. Then there will be hell to pay (shaking an angry fist towards the sky in indignation)!

One year ago today I started this website. I have to honest that I don’t post nearly as much as I had hoped to, but I plan and hope that will change this year. I have so many stories to share with you. I look back at the huge twists and turns that my life has taken in the past year, and I can hardly contain my excitement for the upcoming year.

Scrapbooking is something I love because I think it is so important to preserve the past. Unfortunately,  I end up spending most of my time on projects for other people. This blog will be something to serve in its place in case I never have time to put my memories down in my scrapbook. Thank you for those of you who follow along and encourage me.

None of this would be possible is it wasn’t for my hubby and his vast web knowledge. Happy Birthday Ryan! I hope you enjoy this little token of my gratitude! You’re my best friend!

Last week, I was blessed to have a day to do pretty much whatever I wanted to do.  I started it off by sleeping way too late! After putting a super easy dinner in the crock pot, I headed out to do some shopping.

First stop was JoAnn’s to pick up some scrapbook paper to make invitations to Gracie’s Sip and See.

I ended up returning the paper the next day for something else, but it was fun to start planning such an exciting party. Next I drove across the street to the closest teacher store. Jen, Mark, and Garrett were so sweet to get me a gift card to celebrate my new position in McKinney ISD.

I got a construction paper organizer. I know you are all filled with jealousy and envy (NOT!), but to me, organization products give me a thrill and make me happy. Half of what I enjoy about scrapbooking is organizing all my products! Next I went to Barnes and Noble to pick up my latest obsession…

the Twilight series. I know it’s silly, but her books are well written.  It reminds me of high school romance with some suspense, and I have a hard time putting the books down once I start them. I’m on the final book now, and I’m a little sad about my obsession being over.  Last year I read through all the Harry Potter books. I wonder what I should read next..and suggestions?

By this time I was pretty hungry, so I stopped for my favorite meal under ten bucks.

I think I could eat this a couple times a week and never get tired of it. After lunch I headed to Home Depot to pick up a sample paint color for the office. I never was quite happy with the color we put in there, and I made the mistake of getting a flat finish. I’ll feel really good when I get the color right. I have thing about paint, but that’s a story for another day. I had one more stop on my way home.

A day just isn’t right without a route 44 Sonic happy hour diet mango limeade. I caught up on some blogging while watching Roseanne episodes. Then I finished these cute burp clothes for Gracie Kate.

My crock pot dinner turned out awesome! Ryan and  I chilled and watched some of our new favorite show How I Met Your Mother. The last thing I did was go over the curriculum for church in September. They asked me to pick the activities for the kindergarten/1st graders. I feel so honored, and I hope Ryan will not complain this year about any of the activities we do with our class being lame!

It was a great day! How would you spend a day for yourself?

Grace Katherine was born on July 1st at 10:40am. She weighed 8lbs 2oz and was 20 inches long. Jen was able to send us emails all throughout the day with the status. I was so thankful for technology.

I love this picture of Garrett. He was so happy to have a little sister. I have never seen him smile this big.

The family all took turns holding sweet Gracie Kate. Here’s my Aunt Debbie, cousin Rachel, and cousin Ian.

Rachel gladly surrendered her throne to Gracie. Rachel was the last girl to enter our family almost 18 years ago. Papa got to hold his newest granddaughter, and he kept trying to talk Mark into naming her Mary after his mom.

This is my favorite picture from the day.

It may seem silly, but that bracelet caused me to break down and cry in the hospital room. Gracie was a gift to our family from God. Mark and Jennifer are unable to conceive children. They adopted Garrett over six years ago when he was three weeks old. I got so emotional that God had blessed us in such an awesome way.

Not only did a new baby join our family, but Mark and Jen got to have the experience of being in the hospital when the baby was born. They had their own room that she slept in with them on her first night in this world. Our family got to visit her in the hospital the day she was born. And Jennifer got to wear her badge of honor, a hospital bracelet that told everyone she was Gracie’s mommy. It was such a moving experience for me.

Mark and Jen got to take Gracie home the very next day!

Ryan was not able to go with me the first night, so we hurried to visit last Friday.

She is such a peaceful, beautiful baby. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for her, and I feel so blessed to be able to watch her grow up and be a part of her life.

Us cousins have to stick together!

6-22-09

Ryan and I found this cute piggy bank at Target. It looks great in the spare bedroom.

6-23-09

Speaking of the spare bedroom. This is what the inside of the nightstand looks like. I can’t wait to get into my classroom and move all my stuff up there.

6-24-09

I drove to Austin for a kindergarten teacher’s conference. Our hotel looked out onto this, and since it was Wednesday….Hey baby Que Paso?

6-25-09

Me, Jenn, and Amy had a great time at the conference. Oh my goodness I learned so much. It will take my brain awhile to process all that info. We must have another girls’ night soon!

6-26-09

I came home to Ryan (who had lasik at 1pm) and all these dishes. This is what happens when the boys have a slumber party! To Ryan’s credit, he did clean them all up.

6-27-09

This is Ryan’s favorite isle at Walmart!

6-28-09

We went to a splash park, and everyone had a great time. Garrett ran for 2 hours straight.

6-15-09

Ryan downloaded Dr. Mario for me on the Wii. This version is even better because I can challenge people over the wifi connection. This is awesome since Ryan won’t play with me anymore because he never wins.

6-16-09

I finally finished Nick’s book! (almost a year to the date later) I particularly loved this page.

6-17-09

Jonathan helped us attempt to get a few branches down that were almost broken during the big storm. As of today, the branches are still in the tree. LOL

6-18-09

Sports Camp buddies enjoying lunch together.

6-19-09

Ryan worked on the yard some this evening. He laid on the floor under our super fan to cool down. Then he actually fell asleep!

6-20-09

I made these cake balls for my dad. We enjoyed an awesome dinner at Japan House and had a good visit.

6-21-09

Our Father’s Day plans got cancelled, so we stayed at home in our pjs all day. We watched some episodes of our new favorite show, How I Met Your Mother. This show is so funny! Neil Patrick Harris is “legendary”