Hi guys,
You may or may not have noticed, but I haven't been blogging or replying as much as normal lately. I still have been reading posts and blogs though! I Breeze in- I breeze out.
Things have been pretty busy with me- where to start.
1)Work- my General Manager is STILL OUT (since Feb 10th), so there is definately an element of "who's in charge" here. No matter who is "acting GM", there is still that element of not being able to really have the
respect that that title holds fr
I have worked for a casual dining restaurant for 13 years now. Thought I'd share a few amusimg stories from when I was a server.
We have an entree that is cooked and served in a buttered parchment bag. I always offer to open the bag for the guest when I served it. This guest declined. I checked on them periodically, but I hadn't noticed until I went to remove their plates that the gentleman had eaten his bag too! I didn't want to embarrass him, so I didn't say anything, besides, everyone
As some of you know I have been chosen as a Top 10 finalist in the Rotel Across America recipe contest. Thousands of recipes were entered and I was one of the lucky ones selected! I need votes in order to win the prize of $2000, all you have to do is be a member of Facebook and Vote Here! I would love your support- you can vote once a day through June 30th.
I don't post often anymore, (mostly lurk these days) but I am longtime member and the caregiver to my husband, Patrick, who had a massiv
Thursday marks the first day of school for Brandon- Let the games begin!
School is always a challange for Brandon. He is ADD so following through on homework is just this side of impossible for him, and etremely frustrating for Patrick and me.
Patrick had his stroke in Feb and I was in a daze the last days of this past school year, consumed by helping Patrick to recover. Now that school is upon us again, I am really nervous. I remember the beginning of last year, Brandon had a leaf proje
Patrick and I share a love of music, it is the soul of our lives. Melodies and lyrics can bring me to tears or lift me up. Tonight while on the road this Gerry Rafferty song came on the radio. It's an oldie but one that I find truly beautiful. While it was playing, Patrick sang some of the words "to me". It was very touching.
(I highly recommend giving him a listen if you don't know/remember his songs. Baker Street was another one of his biggest hits- it gets me all emotional too.)
Ri
I have a restless spirit today. Actually, for the last few days. It's like I have this yearning to do something that sits under the surface waiting to manifest, but never does. It's that damn sneeze that builds and builds and then ...nothing.
I am the book with no pages. The canvas with no paint. The song with no melody.
It's a very strange sensation. There is an emptiness that can not be filled until I know what is missing.
Kristen
Remember when we could take long walks
Remember when listening meant I could tune out whenever I got bored
Remember when conversations didn't have to be decrypted first
Remember when my boobs were still perky
me either.
Remember when I was thin and sexy
Remember when my clothes fit
Remember when I had time to care how my hair looked
Remember when sleeping in did not take an act of GOD
Remember when cooking was not a chore
Remember when the chores were not all
One night while Patrick was still in the rehab unit of the hospital, a nurse came in to take his vitals. This was her first (and only) time she took care of him as she usually worked in another unit of the hospital. She saw him, this young man who had suffered such a severe stroke, and tried to give him some "encouraging words".
She told him that she had a friend who was a lawyer, and had also suffered a stroke. She proceeded to tell Patrick how this lawyer-friend was back to work in six mo
I am pounding my head against the wall, and I think Patrick is feeling the same way.
People don't understand (unless you've been there) just how frustrating it is to argue with a person who has aphasia. Not only do you have to make your own point, but you have to articulate the point of the person with aphasia so they understand YOU understand their point of view.
God forbid you not say it exactly as they want you to, otherwise you are missing the point! NO, I AM NOT MISSING THE POINT
Outward appearances can be very deceiving. Patrick knows this, and always has been able to see beyond it. Don't get me wrong- he's not so open that he would ignore the signal a person sends out and put himself in danger. He just has a way of knowing when the person is different than what they appear to be.
Patrick himself, can be a victim of pre-judgement from time to time. He is just under 6 feet tall and has a natural muscular build. When he worked out, he was downright cut. (see his ph
Patrick is an amazing man. One of the things I love most about him is his compassion.
There was a story published in a Chicago paper about seven years ago about a little girl who had been attacked in her apartment complex. She was a pre-teen (can't remember exactly,9-12 years old) African-American girl living in a tough neighborhood. She had been sexually assaulted, beaten, and left for dead. The details of the attack were in the paper, and they were beyond comprehension. They appeared in
Yesterday was a good day. I had Friday off and had planned to do our first deep clean of our new apartment since getting all unpacked. Saturday I am also off, and I had told Patrick and Brandon we would go up in the mountains for the day.
Things didn't go as planned. We got up Friday and started getting ready for the day, and by lunchtime both of my guys decided they wanted to go up Friday instead of Saturday. Well, I comptemplated it a bit and decided, what the heck, I can clean tomorrow,
After jumping through many hoops, dropping off forms, having evaluations, paying over $1000 out of pocket for driving instruction, modifying our vehicle,
PATRICK TOOK THE WRITTEN AND DRIVING TEST TODAY AND PASSED!
We have been working towards this goal since the first of the year. He passed both on his first try! It is such a relief to have this off our to-do list!
He is now liscenced in THE STATE OF COLORADO! WAY TO GO, SWEETIE!
Should continue to be a good day, we see Les M
I posted this along time ago (I have edited it a bit), but in The Spirit of Halloween, I'd thought I'd post it again. Skip to the end of the blog if you'd enjoy visiting the link (click on MY that is underlined, i don't know what I did, but it works ) to the bed and breakfast and check out the photos or read the story of the mansion. The bedroom on that page is actually our room that night.
I dig "supernatural" topics. No UFO's... I like ghosts, ESP, and stuff like that. I have never h
I have been meaning to blog forever, just seems I haven't have the motivation and time at the SAME time-lol. So here goes...
APRIL- "Tax day" was actually spent doing something fun. My mom and I were in Dallas so she could participate in the Pillsbury Bake-Off. I flew out of Denver and she out of Moline, Illinois and we met up in the Dallas airport for our 2 1/2 day trip. The bake-off paid for her trip but we had to pay for mine, so this was awesome that she chose to take me with her instea
Today is not the day I had hoped it would be. Ya, it's still Thursday like I thought it was, and Survivor is still on tonight for me to watch tonight after work, but I thought today might be a turning point for Patrick's recovery. Nothing went as I had hoped.
His first appointment of the day was at a different rehab facility with a therapist who is certified in the Saeboflex. We got there as scheduled, filled out the 8 pages of forms when his name was called. The woman told us to follow her
Today did not go as planned. Usually, Thursdays are me and Patrick's "busy" day. A typical Thursday schedule looks like this:
Make sure Brandon is off to school by 7:50am. Leave the house by noon to get the the University 45 minutes away for our 1pm speech appointment. Work with the therapist for an hour, drive the 45 minute stretch back home, going directly to our 3pm Saeboflex appointment. Be home by 4:15 and meet Patrick's personal assistant who usually does more speech therapy with hi
Today I took Patrick for an evaluation for an evaluation (yes, I meant to say that twice) with a neuropsychologist.
His therapists recommended getting a neuro-psych test done, which they say will give them more in-depth answers to Patrick's cognative and I believe physical abilities. I guess they hope to use the info they learn to focus their attention on what will best help Patrick achieve his personal goals. At $30 an hour, and a minimum of 10+ hours for the actual test, the background i
My husband, Patrick, must have been an elephant in a previous life. Not only is he republican, but he has an incredible memory.
If we were driving around his old stomping grounds, he would point to a house and tell me who use to live there, and with a twinkle in his eye and a smile on his face, a little anicdote about a related adventure he had had there.
It didn't really matter if I knew the person he was referring to or not, or if he had told me the story the last ten times we went
Patrick has had an eventful autumn this year. At the end of October he started a two week study at UNC using constraint induced therapy. It was hard for him to follow the program of wearing the mitt while at home, and hard for me to fill out his daily diary of activities, as many nights of the week I was at work while he was home. We both did our best to do what was needed. There were also days where he wasn't in the mood to go in the morning (he had to work HARD!) but I was able to convince him
It just goes to show life aint over after a stroke. Even though for a moment I thought it might be. Please check out this video of me, Patrick, and Brandon. Things we do for love, huh?
Please be patient, it seems to take a moment to load!
Kristen
It has been a while since my last blog, so I figured it was time to add a new one. I always think I should wait to blog until something interesting happens or I have something useful to say, but since that rarely happens, I thought I'd just go for it.
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We have been out here in Colorado for almost two months. Patrick and I are really liking the climate and surroundings. I have not missed Illinois at all. Our son, who will be starting his first year of high school soon, is not ready t
Well, I haven't gotten a chance to actually speak to my mom yet, but she left me a voice message telling me the results. She was not the $10,000 winner of the Build a better burger contest, but she did say she was enjoying the trip.
All 10 contestants got to stay at the Sutter Home (the sponsor) Bed and Breakfast for two nights, and she and my step dad are spending an additional 2 nights in San Francisco doing their own thing since they have never been.
I went to the http://buildabette
Finally, something cool to blog about.
My mom has been named a finalist (One of 10 overall, one of five in her catergory) for the Sutter Home Build A Better Burger Contest. YEAH MOM!!!
She is a finalist in the "alternative burger" catagory, which means at least 75% of the burger must contain a meat other than beef. The grand prize is $10,000 so those are pretty good odds. She has already won the trip to Napa for 2 nights so she can compete in the cook-off, plus I think all the runners
