I have 4 drafts in my "edit posts" section of my blog. (after deleting 5 other ones.)

FOUR.

And no, I won't publish them.

I just thought you should know.

And by the way.  I LOVED my trip out west and can't wait to move! 
It was a long drive made even longer by the lovely construction between Cheyenne and Laramie (which took over an hour longer than usual to get from one city to the other).  But my sister's house is lovely.  Well done, Sis!  They built it themselves - it took a long time.  Sister even told me that her husband got chewed up one side and down the other by their neighbor for allowing Sister to get on the roof to help with roofing.  She was 9 months pregnant.  Anyhow.  I'm impressed and it was a wonderful time with her and her cute little family.
We visited a ward out that way.  We drove around and saw the prettiness of the area.  We found some land.  Lots of land, in fact, and are keeping our eyes on it.  We talked a lot - Popeye and I.  Something that doesn't happen a lot with 5 kids running around.  But there were a few times on the trip when kids actually fell asleep or were just so bored off their rockers that they had nothing else to say.  I like talking with Popeye.  He's a smart man.
He taught me something over the weekend.  I posed a question to him - it was pretty serious.  And while I was afraid of what the answer might be, he was pretty gentle with what he had to say.  I love him for that.  He knew what needed to be said but also knew that I'm at a very fragile state in my life right now.  he handled it beautifully.
And now we're home.
The hardwood floors are finished.  And the realtors get called tomorrow.  I'm anxious.

And I want to give a HUGE shout out to my New Friend!  Without her, my house would not have gotten finished.  I would be in an insane asylum, for sure!  Thank you New Friend.  If you haven't met her yet, you should!  She's an amazingly insightful young lady with lots of love and friendship to give!  Oh how I will miss her when I'm gone.  (You know, you're always welcome to visit any time!)

Anyway.  That's it.  That's all I'm writing.  Here's the last of the pics of the floors.  Before they were  a raw, light colored wood.  Now they're not.  :)

Note**

The previous post wasn't intended to belittle anyone.  I didn't even think they were being cocky.  Popeye and I just found it amusing, that's all.  Sheer amusement.  So those of you who may think I'm being judgemental - that wasn't my intent at all.

On to better things.

The Royal Family went to Cheyenne Frontier Days today.  We watched the Thunderbirds fly.  Always Awesome. Always.
Then, because it was military day, we got into the fair for free.  Unfortunately, the tickets for the rides weren't.  So we didn't ride any - much to the Royal Childrens' dismay.  But we ate overpriced pizza and shared overpriced lemonade.  We did a lot of walking and then, as we were leaving, Thor kept telling me he couldn't walk.  So I would remind him that if he couldn't walk, he couldn't have an ice cream cone from Little America.  "I can walk, Mom!" was his cheery reply.  What a guy - anything for sweets.

Now we're home and I REALLY wanted to go see the bull riding at our own little county fair, alas - we are out of money.  Bummer.

Darn overpriced fair food.

Tomorrow I go back to work for one client.  Just one.  And then I go visiting teaching in the afternoon.

Busy days ahead with school closing in and a few long distance trips planned in between now and then.

Until then...

The Mormon Campaign Trail

Have you ever been in a ward where the bishopric is about to change - drastically?  Not just one or two counselors, but the whole clan?
Well, I am in such a ward right now.  Popeye & I couldn't help but chuckle (and laugh hysterically after church was over) watching some of the "presidential candidates" on Sunday.  Shaking hands, going down each aisle - one candidate on one side, the other going down the other side.  Popeye almost lifted up Grand Duchess for a kiss, but he refrained.  He even saw one of them wink and shoot the gun at someone in the back of the chapel.
As I was walking out of the bathroom, One was standing there, almost as if he was waiting for me to exit so he could greet me.  I'm sure it was just a coincidence and bad timing on both our parts, but still.
Whoever the next bishop will be, I'm sure he'll do a fine job.  It's just a funny scenario to watch right now.
And I'm not even going to be around for the outcome!  Popeye will be leaving for a week that day, so I'll be at the airport dropping him off (and picking up a much loved friend). 
Dagnabbit, I was hoping to watch the confetti fall and partake of the celebratory lunch afterward.

Do YOU have Four Ears?

Yesterday we got home from Omaha. Another long, twelve-hour drive with kids in the back.  At least this time we had air conditioning and only 3 of the 5 kiddos.  Princess Monkey Eyes stayed with Cowgirl and Thor stayed with New Friend (who doesn't have a made-up name yet).  Thanks be to them - immensely!

Anyhow.

After getting an x-ray taken of Mr. Fantastic's head, we saw the surgeon. The incision is perfect. There's no swelling whatsoever. It looks awesome.  Then we had a look at those x-rays.  I could see where the surgeon got the elctrodes in. 

See, there are 16 electrodes in a CI.  He got 8 of them in.  And when I say 'in', I mean, they're sitting in the bone growth of his CI.  They're barely in the cochlea.  He couldn't keep drilling through the bone because the corotid artery sits just behind it. And you don't want to go drilling holes in THAT, now do you? That would be bad.  So he got a partial insertion.
We went to get the ear turned on.
They tested all the electrodes.  They all were responsive.  And then they started seeing what could be heard.
Basically, nothin'.  Electrodes one and two were able to produce sound.  But that's it.  There's just too much bone growth in there.  It's too dense.  The sound waves can't push through it enough to get to the auditory nerve.

So what does that mean?  It means he can hear someone saying, "Ba Ba Ba Ba" but he doesn't know what it is.  It means: he won't be able to decipher between SH and SS and CH.  It means that it doesn't benefit him.
It means that his faith has been shaken. It means MY faith has been shaken.  It means that this was a pointless procedure. It means I feel guilty for convincing the insurance company to fork out the money for the surgery.  It means 3+ trips to Omaha = a waste of time and money.  (I say plus after that 3 because we'll be making another one in 3 weeks for a follow up.)

I am so angry.

And I'm so angry because I want to blog about my feelings but know that my blog has been a source for much gossip, I don't feel I can.

So I'm mad.  Really, really mad.  REALLY.

Last night Mr. Fantastic asked me, "Why doesn't it work?"  I didn't have an answer for him.  I told him to ask Heavenly Father.  So as he prayed, I listened.  He prayed (amongst other things), "Why doesn't it work? You told me it would and I believed You."
Talk about yanking your heart out.

I am wondering the same thing, Buddy.

Tuesday Tip

I saw this tip on a link to the "Today Show".  The lady was showing different ways to use scotch tape.
This tip intrigued me, as I have a few pairs of high heels that hurt my feet after awhile.  However, I willingly suffer because high heels make my legs look sexy.

Tape your third and fourth toes together.  This will cause the muscles in the ball of your foot to be more aligned and cause less pain.
I coulda used THAT tip on Sunday...

I'm trying it out next week.

Part 2

I'm going to keep this somewhat brief. Some of you know how things went with Mr. Fantastic's Surgery. But for all you lurkers out there who don't comment and I don't see on a regular basis (i.e. my sisters), this one's for you.

Mr. Fantastic had his surgery on Tuesday morning.  He did really well with the pre-anesthesia.  Got a little sleepy and would wake up enough to say a few words to the doctors and nurses.  When the surgeon came in, Mr. Fantastic asked him to pray with us.  That was really touching.  The Spirit bore witness that all would be well.

Mr. Fantastic went into surgery around 9:00 a.m. and Popeye and I headed to IHOP for breakfast.  Danish Crepes - delish!!!  We went to Home Depot and bought some trim for the stairs that mysteriously got broken in our absence and then went and got some yarn from Hancock Fabric.  After that we headed to Barnes and Noble and then Target to get Mr. Fantastic a little something.  More browsing took place than anything - but it's nice to just go INTO stores that you don't have nearby.

We got several calls from the OR Nurse saying things like, "All is looking good," "We're starting to drill.", "There's been a complication."  Yep - you read that one right.  The Dr. couldn't get past the bone growth in Mr. Fantastic's inner ear.  He'd still try but a full insertion was out.  Now he's going for a partial.

After some fervent praying on our part, and another phone call from the Dr, my wishes were not to be granted.  A partial insertion was all Mr. Fantastic was going to get.  However, amazingly enough, The Dr. told me that he was about to pull out all together because he couldn't get any of the electrodes to bend the way he needed them to.  So he almost didn't get anything in.  And then at the last second the thought came to him to turn the device.  When he did, the electrodes slipped right in.  7 of them.  So they tested them and they were all responsive.
The Dr. closed up and Mr. Fantastic went to Recovery.

We were discharged later that afternoon and stayed one more night at the Ronald McDonald house just in case.
Now we're home.  He's taken his 'head wrap' off and is getting used to having something else in his head.  He says it's squishy.  Well, it's not bone anymore so - there you go.

(That's a tattoo on his neck, in case you were wondering.  He sure does know where to place 'em! And we've since decorated his headband with signatures and drawings.)

We head back on Tuesday for X-rays, meeting with The Dr. and flipping the switch.  It will be the moment of truth. :)

Oh yeah.  And on the way home, Popeye got a call from Wyoming Highway Patrol.  He got his conditional job offer.  His psychological exam is on Thursday the 22nd.  He passes that and he's got the job for sure.  I just pray that the psychologist doesn't deem him a potential alcoholic again because of his lack of alcohol consumption.  Some people!  Sheesh!

Mr. Fantastic update

This past Tuesday Popeye and I gathered our royal family into our royal carriage and made the trip to Omaha, NE for Mr. Fantastic's pre-operation appointment with the surgeon.
We were staying in Lincoln with a friend and on Wednesday we were planning on spending the day together doing something fun.
On our way there, Popeye got a call from work wanting him to come in. Little did we know that our little town was on a tornado alert and the winds were so bad that it blew a train off of its tracks!   Luckily for us, we were almost to Lincoln and didn't have to turn around.

Wednesday met us with gloomy skies (the aftermath of our storm) and the waterpark trip was deemed out.  The royal children were very disappointed.  We decided to head to the Omaha zoo and that seemed to perk up most of the kids since they've never been to a zoo that took longer than 45 minutes to see everything.  Thor still was not happy.
Needless to say, we got rained on and there was thunder and lightning - but it was still warm.  We had been debating on still going to the waterpark even though rain was in the forecast.  Luckily, we didn't.  With the lightning we would've gotten kicked out and no refund.  Phew.
So we spent the day in Omaha.  Had dinner.  Did a little shoe shopping for Popeye.  Bought souvies for the kiddos.  I want those Sketcher Shape-ups badly, but couldn't muster paying $110 for them.
Went back to Lincoln and cleaned my friend's house for her.  She's trying to sell her house, too, and was leaving for vacay in the morning so I got my groove on and busted it out.  Dusted her light fixtures and cleaned her kitchen.  She had been busy all day, I just finished it off for her.
The next morning we all got out the door by 8:30 as planned - mopping our way out of the house.
We left for Omaha and went up to the Winter Quarters Temple Visitor's Center. We toured that and watched a short video about the Mormon Pioneers.  The kids enjoyed dressing up like pioneers and trying their hand at pulling a handcart.  We then went to meet with the doctor.
He looked younger than I remember.  I remember watching his hands as he typed on his computer and thought of how skilled he must be.  He told me he's performed over 600 CI surgeries.  All of which have never had the facial paralysis or loss of tastebuds side-effect.  (Knock on wood.)  He reminded me that with the bone growth inside Mr. Fantastic's cochlea, a "full insertion" will be rare.  What that means is: the CI has 16 electrodes that attach to the auditory nerve.  A full insertion will be all 16 of those electrodes getting attached.  He knows he can get a partial insertion - but won't know how much until he gets in there.
As we were chatting, I told him that Mr. Fantastic hosted a family fast this past week.  That we all were fasting and praying for a successful surgery.
He looked me in the eye and told me, "I believe in God.  I wouldn't be as successful as I am without Him."  His eyes were misty, as were mine.  In that moment, I knew that Heavenly Father would deliver.
We finished the meeting and left.
15 minutes.
We drove 12+ hours to meet for 15 minutes.  And while there was bickering and fighting and teasing all the way home, it really was worth it.
I realized I needed to talk with the doctor and have the Spirit testify to me that he is in Good Hands.  That both he and Mr. Fantastic are in good hands.  I left Omaha peaceful with Mr. Fantastic's decision.

We arrived home to a house that was still standing and the roof still intact.  No flooding in the basement.  No destroyed flowerbeds.  Granted, Popeye's nemesis is back - the dreaded kitchen sink - but it could be so much more worse.
Tomorrow is Sunday and I'll be fasting once again.  This time, instead of fasting and praying for Mr. Fantastic to be able to hear completely, I'll be fasting for a full insertion.  I desperately want the doctor to go in there and say, "Oh my Goodness.  His cochlea is clear.  Let's do this!"  I want to be one of those stories.  You know the ones: 'My so & so had cancer.  We had a family fast and the next day it was gone...'  I want that.  An x-ray that says there's bone growth and then it's gone.  Miracle.
But this whole process in and of itself is a miracle.  And I am blessed.
Monday we leave for Omaha again.  A new friend is staying with the 4 younger munchkins. I love her.
We check in at 6:30 a.m. on Tuesday for surgery.  I'll let you know how it goes.