Yardwork - Round 2

So this is round 2 from my Tuesday post.

I just cannot believe how much different (even though it's still a mess) my yard looks...I mean duh, get the crap out and it's going to open it up but wow...I have a big yard!!

That big stupid square mass of rock and brick...GONE! Next I need to dig up those bushes and maybe replant them.

Look you can see my house!


This was full of overgrown crap...LOL All lined with stones...GONE!

There was SO much stuff along the side of my house too! There was part of a chain link fence right by my front door that was taken over by a honeysuckle bush. Yea pretty but a bee haven! Doesn't make it fun trying to get in the house!! GONE!

Here is all the stuff we've taken out! Can't wait to haul it off!!

Here is all the stone that has been taken out so far. That stupid square place from above had layers of stone, brick and sand. I wish I knew what's it's original purpose was LOL

It really was landscaped nicely...but again I don't have the time or patience to keep up with it! I want a yard!! Plain and simple!!! Give me grass and I'm a happy camper!

Here is a cool post I did awhile back. It will give you an idea of how it originally looked!

My Never Ending Yard Work

Yes, it is a crazy yard and I am constantly pulling/digging/ripping stuff out! I want a normal yard!!! See this post for what I was doing last year.

So last night we got a little crazy and look out all the crap around the middle section. There is still lots to do but you can see the before and after. Almost all of the bushes are gone, even the prickly ones by the shed!!

Also took out a huge bush at the corner of the deck and two bushes that were on both sides of the sidewalk to the house. They were all just totally out of control!

Again...still SOOOOO much to do but it's getting there!!!!! Can't wait to have a nice huge normal yard!!!

Miranda's Cheer Pictures

Her first game was so cute! She was the loudest and most out going...which shocked me!!!

Football...finally

Kyler had his first 8th grade game yesterday, while they lost 22-16 it was a really good game!



Miranda is cheering in her first game ever tomorrow! Since the boys get to wear their jerseys the day before the game, the girls were told they could wear their uniforms. For games she has to wear her hair up but she didn't want to for school. Plus today is picture day...LOL

I'll take a ton of pictures tomorrow and post them later!

GO PANTHERS!!!

Wednesday

Nothing much is going on here...just busy busy with work, school and practices so I thought I'd just post a couple pictures of Miranda rockin' her tutu that my mom made her.

Tutus are very big all of a sudden so Miranda emailed my mom asking if she could make her one. Within a couple days she had it and loves it! We are going to have her make on in yellow and black which are our school colors.

Oh and check the hair out...who remembers braiding your hair in tons of braids then sleeping in it so that you could have wild crazy hair the next day?? Yup...we did that too!

Fantastic Weekend

We had such a great weekend, the Roots Festival was better than ever!!!!

Jen went both nights and she remembered SO many people, we were so excited!!! I think she's doing so much better and can't wait to take her to the doc tomorrow to see what he has to say about it all!!!

Here is me, Jen and Jamie :)

Add Robyn in the mix LOL

I love the festival because it's all fenced in and secure (the block off the entire town square) so I just give the kids money and they are gone! They check in every now and then and when they did, I got a couple shots of us.

Kyler looks so thrilled doesn't he?

My mini me Miranda and I

Miranda got some 'ink' again this year...don't worry it's only an airbrush tattoo!

Lovin the panther paws!

Miranda and all her friends bought the same sun glasses, aren't they cute!

Ok so the funniest (and probably stupidest) thing about the whole weekend was the monkey escapade we went on! Last year the monkey came to the festival but stayed around the group. This year I came up with the idea of 'hey let's go around and see how many people we can get to pose with our monkey!'

Here we go....

Monkey enjoying some curly fries with Miranda and Kenzi...

Miranda with the monkey...

Monkey in front of the screen showing the Robert Cray band...

Monkey rockin some cool shades...

Here is tie dyed monkey...

We found a date for monkey in the snow cone booth...

We even got a big bad biker dude to pose with monkey...

Monkey even got some 'ink' too...

That was the funniest picture to take, the guy was such a good sport and was trying so hard not to laugh for the picture!!

I still laugh when I go through these pictures, people probably thought we were crazy but who cares, we were having a blast!!!

Busy busy busy

This week has just been crazy busy...I think it's that way for a lot of people, or so I've been told.

Jen is doing good, still doesn't know people. I'm really hoping it's just going to take her seeing or hearing something to start kickin the brain around a bit. Just like what happened when she heard our friend Rod. *fingers crossed*

She has been funny as heck with Jamie and I. All 3 of us were texting each other last night and Jen had us rolling with her texts. She was saying things how she needs to wear a helmet, live in a ranch style house, wear bubble wrap...she was totally laughing at herself which was great! She keeps telling Jamie and I how much she appreciates us and everything we've done. I stopped by to see her last night and she seemed to be doing good but then again, she hasn't been out of her house much to really get exposed to things. The three of us are going to go walking tonight so that will be good for her. It's all about baby steps :)

There is a huge festival here in town this weekend that is SO much fun!!! I feel so bad that she isn't going to be able to go, we all think that it's just way too much stimulation for her. There are bands all day and night, tons of BBQ vendors, and not to mention all the tons of people that will be there. I just think it would be really hard on her with people coming up to her, her not knowing them, us having to explain things...it's a tough call but we want her to heal the right way!!!

Jen...Again

See yesterday's post to understand this one...

So here I sit...working from Jen's kitchen table. I have to say, it's been a good day.

When I got here this morning to pick her kids up for school, of course Kyler and Miranda had to go in and see Jen. When Kyler came in, Jen goes 'who's this huge kid? he's a stud' LOL I had to laugh and say 'noooo don't tell him that it will go to his head'!! haha!! On the way to school her kids told me she remembered Jamie and I coming to visit yesterday so that was good to hear.

Jen was doing great in the morning before the appointment. She was cleaning like crazy and we were having good conversations. She would ask me questions and every once in awhile I would ask her things. I didn't want to try to overwhelm her though. She was asking me why I wasn't married, who I was dating, did I have pet (funny cuz she's the one who takes care of my dogs when I go out of town), things that you would ask someone when trying to get to know them.

I was very happy with how the doctor's appointment went. She wasn't able to tell him her birthday, what month or year it was (her response was 'nobody has told me') but he gave her 3 things to remember (horse, ball and pen) and at the end of the appointment when he asked her what they were, she was struggling but once he gave her the first one, she remembered ball and she said pencil. He was pretty happy with the fact that she remembered anything. He said we are past the 48 hr window of when something could have gone bad and that everything is still up there...it will just take days, weeks or maybe longer to come back to her. It's like she can retain the things people tell her but she can't remember things on her own yet. The doctor wants to see her again in a week and then possibly each week after that. He said she can't drive yet but is ok to be alone in a comfortable safe environment and just to make sure some one is checking on her throughout the day. Luckily working from home, I can do that.

We were at Sonic for lunch and I thought I knew the person in the car next to us and all of a sudden he spoke and Jen recognized his voice. She said 'I know that voice' so I rolled the car back enough so we could see who it was and sure enough, it was our friend Rod! Jen's aunt is married to Rod's brother so they are kind of related. I asked her if she recognized him but she couldn't remember who he was. I kinda told Rod about what had happened and such so he didn't think she was crazy!! In talking to Jen later about Rod, she said he looked different, like clean cut....well normally he has a goatee! Then she said he looks like someone else so I talked about his brothers and she kinda put it all together and then said 'well his name is Rod but we don't call him that, we call him Hector'...yup that's his nickname!!

The brain is such a crazy thing!!!

Jen...Continued

See yesterday's post to understand this one...

So today I get a text from Jamie saying she was over visiting Jen and to come over. Eek I was a bit nervous but thought, heck yea I'm so there!

I walked into the house to find Jen on a couch, Jamie on a couch and Jamie's baby Cooper playing on a blanket on the floor in front of them. I said hi to Jen and she just kinda looked at me. Jamie goes 'This is Trish' and Jen said 'oh ok...hi'. Ugh...gut wrenching. So we sat there for about 20 minutes kinda making small talk, asking some questions, and having fun laughing at Cooper. She wasn't a mute or anything, she just wasn't our Jen. She answered some questions but I think she knew the answers because someone told her or because they were recent (for example, she knew she went to the hospital in a red car).

She had this constant look on her face like when you're trying really hard to remember something. When we were leaving, her husband asked if she was starting to remember anything more and she looked at us and said...that's Jamie and Trish. We cheered LOL But in reality, it was like talking to a total stranger, someone you'd make casual conversation with. So sad...

She cannot be alone so her husband asked if I could possibly work from their house tomorrow because he is out of vacation days. Of course I said I would. I also am going to be taking her to her follow up doctor's appointment. I'm a little nervous for that but I will do whatever it takes as her friend to get her better.

I'll write again tomorrow night...wish me luck :)

My Friend...Jen

I love this girl, she's become one of my closest dearest friends over the past 3 years. Our boys are the same age and are really good friends. Our daughters are a year apart in age but that doesn't stop them, they are best buddies too.


Something scary happened to Jen today. She was cleaning off her deck and the deck stairs and somehow fell. She fell down the stairs and ended up hitting her head on the cement patio at the bottom.

When she came to, she had no idea who her husband Eric was, who her kids were, or who her kids friends were. She started yelling at them to get out of her house. Eric took her to the hospital where it was determined that she had gotten a concussion as well as suffering from amnesia. She was discharged after a couple of hours.

I talked to Eric this evening and he was telling me how she is getting more at ease with him and the kids but still has this look like 'who are you' all the time. I guess her mom and sister came over and she didn't know who either of them were.

He said that she can describe her friends but doesn't really know them or can't picture them. She knows that she has a curly dark haired friend that is funny and likes to wear ball caps (that'd be me), that she has a blond haired friend that wears glasses and has a bunch of kids (that'd be Jamie) and she described 2 more of her friends too.


About 9pm tonight I got a text from Jen...it about made me cry...here is our conversation -

Jen - Eric told me we are good friends, goodnight
Me - We are sweetie, good night
Jen - Thank you, I am sad I cannot remember anyone
Me - You will be just fine, we all love you and are here for you
Jen - I love you all too, thanks, I'm gonna try to go to sleep now, I can't watch tv or do anything with too much stimulation so I am bored
Me - Get some rest hon

I was so sad after that but was relieved to kinda hear from her if that makes sense.


Eric said she can't watch tv, read or be on the computer right now because it is too much stimulation. He is supposed to ask her questions to I guess kick start her memory but she gets really frustrated when she can't answer things so he has to do it in moderation. I guess if there isn't an improvement by Tuesday, he is to take her back to the doctor. To me...that seems like forever away. He did say that she got up, got a glass, got ice, got water and got a box of crackers without asking where anything was so maybe it's just that the long term memory is a bit fuzzy??

One funny thing she did though...she has a bearded dragon who is her little baby. I guess she looked at it today and said to Eric that it was the most hideous looking thing and she cannot believe it was in her house! I just had to laugh at that!!!

Miranda made me promise her today that this would never happen to me...gotta love my little girl!

Jen...get better soon hon, we all love you!!!

Dusting Off The Camera

Last year I splurged and bought myself a new Cannon Rebel camera and have used it quite a bit. Well yesterday I decided to get it out and mess with it during Kyler's football practice. Here are just a few of the shots I took...

The bleachers at the stadium
The press box

The track

On top of the locker room

The field

Miranda was clicking away right by me

I got an awesome shot of Kyler making a tackle

Kyler's practice jersey is #96...he doesn't know his game jersey number yet.