Wanting to Ring Her Bell...

      In order to understand the Humor in this post, I must first give you some background on Gram... First off she is Japanese, and 86 and old and fragile and stubborn and strong and smart and forgetful and brave and responsible and scared and child like... do you get my point... she is an amazing woman, but getting to know her is not easy... and takes someone very patient to figure her out. I have had many adventures in learning Gram, you see, she speaks her own dialect, one that only 2 other people speak fluently... Cindarella (me), and Prince Charming.
        Let me give you some examples... there was the first time I got a shopping list from Gram: we had just moved into our House where we live now, we had just moved the day before in a blizzard, our rental truck had cancelled on us, that morning we had spent the remainder of the morning calling any moving company that we could find in the yellow pages until we found a mover to move us that day. When we put the last box into the house that night it was almost midnight! So the next morning in the middle of unpacking boxes I realized that I needed to got o the store to get stuff for lunch... little did I know that when asking Gram if she needed anything, I got a whole list... She ask for Star Margarine... I know right... I was racking my brain trying to translate this... then It dawned on me Star Magazine...
       Okay I got it, I was ready to play this game... the next one she threw at me was easy she wanted wieners, Hot dogs! Okay confidence was building... then she ask for Little Debbie cakes, I was thrilled! I mean I already knew what she wanted at this point, but then the feisty side of me came out... and I said which ones gram... She then proceeded to tell me that it was named after and animal... and this animal is very tall with very long neck... So I responded with the appropriate animal based on her description of course and proudly ask Giraffe? Chuckling to myself as she said "yes Giraffe"... I explained that I thought she might have meant Zebra cakes, and she then gave her heart melting smile and said yes that's what I meant...  this is just one of the many stories I have about Gram... there is the time she told me the fire was "so comfortable" and wouldn't accept cozy or warm as other descriptive words... or the time that she told me she "have bad personality" because I had ask her if she wanted me to turn up the tv and she said no and changed her mind... the woman calls me Jackie for gosh sake... A name I would NEVER let anyone else in the world get away with. I love this woman... she is my Gram too...
        So Now lets get to the events of yesterday... I don't even know where to begin with this part of the story... so just bear with me... It was afternoon I had stepped out to the garage to have a Cigarette, Gram opened the garage door and looked awful she said she couldn't brethe, I jump up guide her back to her room and check her oxygen it is not working, so I go to the kitchen and get some water to test the oxygen tube for any flow and get a little bit of bubbles, so I put it back on gram and then went to check the valves on the machine. As I was looking at the machine in the other room I heard a thud on the floor. I ran to the hall, to find Gram limp on the floor barely breathing and unconsicous... I ran to my phone in the living room and I ran back to gram... My mind was racing do I call 911 or Hospice, our Hospice Nurse Michelle had told me to call them first, and although my gut was telling me to call 911 I went with what my brain said and that was we have a plan stick to it... call Hospice... all of that went thru my brain in the time it took me to see gram run to living room and then back to her... just a few seconds. anyway I picked her up with ease (thank you adrenaline)... but when I put her on the bed she bounced into the air and screamed out... (not so thank you adrinile)... but she screamed out and woke up... I then held her like a rag doll as I called for help... it was tramatic and very scarey for me... I thought she was going to die on me... but within a few min Michelle or Super Nurse as I like to call her was here... and everything was fine... We made a decision about bringing in a hospital bed, and then discussed ways to keep things like this from happening..... I suggested a bell so that if she was having a hard time breathing or something or in pain, that she could just ring it and we would be able to know that she needed us and she wouldn't waist her little bit of energy trying to find us which is what I believe made her pass out... 
    So now imagine me sitting here working on finishing another project so I can mark it off my list... when I hear THE BELL RING... everything in me stops, adrenaline streamed thru my veins, I jump up drop everything in my hands and take off running for her room kicking myself for not thinking and grabbing my phone. As I burst into her room she is sitting childlike and cheerfully in her bed... looking well rested from her afternoon nap, and asking for a "Bite" (food). I shook the whole time I made her lunch... and about halfway thru writing this blog... it is safe to say that she scared me so much, that I wanted to RING HER BELL...

let the marking off begin!

Most people that know me will tell you that if you want to do something crafty, that I am your girl... and I would tend to agree with them... there is not many things that I won't try to figure out... I love to tackle these projects, but tend to get bored fast... that is why I have included this very subject on my "before I am 30" list... I have projects started and not finished all over the house... so this weekend I finished some lamps that I made, and yesterday I finished a mirror I started...

 
 These lights were a little more complicated than I first thought they might be... I know what you are thinking they can't be that hard and they really aren't, but it was a huge mess, and it was way more stressful than I anticipated...  what you do is take a balloon and blow it up to about the size that you want... then you take liquid starch and basically you paper mache with yarn... sounds easy but after about the 10th time that you have it wrapped and it all slips off your balloon you will want to throw it like i wanted to... thank god that Prince Charming was able to stay calm when I was screaming at her because nothing was going my way, and talk me off the throwing the balloons at her edge... I think they turned out nice! lol... we hung them in the garage this weekend cause we have kinda made it a "living space" when we have friends over we hang out there a lot...

This mirror was in our downstairs bathroom, and I hated it... So I decided that I was going to make it more fun so it would go with the retro green I painted the bathroom... I started it and loved what was happening as I transformed it, however life gets busy and I left it sitting on the table in the garage for months now... you can tell because of all the dust I had to wipe off that this project was way neglected... but yesterday I conquered and it looks great!!

before I am 30...

I have decided that since the big 30 is just a little under a year away that I would make some goals or a bucket list of sorts... as I approach the end of my glory 20's... so here goes...

1.) HAVE  A BABY
2.) drop 30lbs
3.) watch 30 movies that Prince Charming likes or picks that I haven't seen
4.) have 30 date nights with other couples
5.) read 30 books
6.) Have 30 paying customers for Prescott Street Photography
7.) Make a blanket out of small granny squares
8.) throw away 365 things.
9.)  30 random acts of love for Prince Charming
10.) start/finish 30 craft projects big or small.

Let the Fun Begin...

And all since I turned 29...

Oh I have so much to tell... My life has been one big party the past several days. I turned 29 on the 4th and I feel like the party just ended... Wednesday night Prince Charming took me to dinner and we watched the KU game and had drinks with a few friends. Thursday night we had a dinner date at our friend Jeannie's house, he partner made home made fried chicken and mashed potatoes and corn on the cob... it was delicious... then Friday night, my cousin got tickets to a cage fight, I was skeptical, but my Prince wanted to check it out and it turned out to be a very fun night... I partied like I was 21... my cousin Chris, was the "Highlight" of the night however.... at one point I thought I was gonna pee myself... you see he is pretty redneck, but when three men who I am almost positive were related to the Clampetts, bearing maybe a few to many missing teeth walked thru our little circle, and cousin chris decided to start playing the air bango, complete with sound effects from mouth, it took everything in me not to pee myself... now I understand that it was rude of him... of course... but at that point in the evening, it was the best thing since drag queens discovered glitter... add cousin chris yelling "pow right to the kisser" ALL NIGHT LONG, anytime someone stepped foot in the ring, and you get the point... it was a night to remember for sure! That brings us to Saturday, Saturday morning our very dear friend Amy came to visit for a few days from Topeka... We spent the whole day catching up: talking, drinking coffee, and lots of smokey treats. That evening we had some more friends coming over to hang out, we dubbed it a coffeepot party, and so it was! I bet I drank 3 pots of coffee but had so much fun with friends... Yesterday was low key, Prince Charming had a visitor we were not welcoming to... when Aunt Flo decided to derail the baby train, but we are hopeful that we will have better juju next time...  Prince Charming has also been discussing starting her own sister blog, so that we can document both sides of the story... I am excited about that... I will let you know when she starts it...

2 lovely sights, Rated PG13

This Blog Entry is Rated PG 13 for mention of Boobies...

Last night I had two amazing sights... The First was when Prince Charming came out of the bathroom topless to show me that the Ginormo boob is back... in order to understand the significance of said Ginormo boob, you need a little history on the subject matter... You see last time when we tried we experienced the Ginormo boob... this is something that we have never noticed before, but one boob the right if you must know, seems to triple in size over night... leaving one normal boob and one Ginormo boob... now we are not for sure that this is pregnancy related because last time we tried was the first time it had ever happened. However we think it may be a good sign... so imagine my excitement when I got to not only see boobies, but the GINORMO BOOB...

My second amazing sight was this beautiful sunset in our front yard last night... not only was it beautiful, but the moon made it amazing... Here, see for yourself!

It only takes one...

Christmas, oh how I love hate you... you see every year I get so excited that you are coming again... and I pull out the tree the beginning of November, and fill our home with the holiday spirit and cheer... I go all out you see... I mean I really decorate... and then it gets to about a week before Christmas, and I want to rip it all down, because the stress of the holidays mixed with the Cluttered holiday decor, makes me CRAZY...  that's why Yesterday before noon... My house was dechristmasfied, and I have a clean cozy living room to enjoy again... plus my birthday is in 8 days and I hate having Christmas stuff anywhere around my birthday... you would be that way to if your birthday had always been a Christmas after thought...  But Christmas this year as busy and stressful as it was, was very rewarding and fun... I don't think I have mentioned Gram yet, but she a very tiny 86 year old Japanese woman, who sometimes drives me completely insane but most of the time is the most amazing woman... She is Prince Charmings Grandma, and we have been taking care of her in our home for about a year now... Unfortunately the day before we found out we were preg last time the hospice doctor told us that gram very likely will not be around next Christmas, and although I don't like that, and choose to believe that she will be here for another, we made sure this Christmas was extra special for her... We always make jokes and say taking care of grandma was like we had a kid but we never got those cute cuddly years, but this Christmas it rang very true... she looked like a child wide eyed and so excited as we carried prob 20 gifts into her room for opening... It was so fun to see her excitement as she opened each gift... She had never really had a BIG Christmas till this year, and I couldn't help but tear up when in her very broken english, she told me that she felt like she had just had 10 Christmas's... It made all the stress of putting up with Prince Charmings mom well worth it, (maybe someday I will explain the Crazy woman that somehow bore my wonderful Prince Charming, but she  makes a prozac nervous, and my life Hell).

Grandma with her new Princess Phone...

 Hope giving a Christmas Cheer

Our Babies were Tired after playing with all the Toys they got

Hope and I Christmas day

And at the end of the LONG DAY... Whats better than a Silly Pic! 

Okay now that we got that out of the way... it's time for the good stuff... Baby Making has been attempted, and we are both very peaceful... we decided to make a bet to see who could go the longest without asking to take a pregnancy test... Prince Charming gets a meal at her favorite Mexican place if she wins, I get a Steak dinner if I win... I can already taste that Outback steak, and Garlic Mash... yumm... My thought on this is that hopefully the winner will also be rewarded with a positive test and we can celebrate with the meal! I am just hoping that the Holiday Magic  will be our Baby Dust, and make this a sticky little baby!!! After all it only takes one little swimmer to make our dreams come true!

Christmas came early

So Christmas came early yesterday when Prince Charming called me into the bathroom to tell me that the Baby Making train had Arrived... that's right she spiked yesterday and Thank god our donor hadn't left town yet... but now here I sit praying that he makes it back in time for one more try within the window... she is for sure ovulating today so hopefully some little swimmers were hanging out this morning, but I am hoping we get one more shot at it before our time frame is up!

All that to say MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ME... I don't have to wait for that again for a while! lol... Now we will move onto the 2ww, which I have decided to turn into a little game with myself... Last time we went crazy with pregnancy test and got our first faint line at 5dpo... then took several test a day until it was bright and the digital was screaming it... talk about stressful... we never let ourselves relax... it was constant testing and worrying... so this time... I have a plan... now hopefully I can stick with it lol!!! I know you are thinking hurry up and tell us the plan... well here it is...

Last time we got a pretty clear line at about 8 or 9 dpo... My Birthday just happens to be in about ummm 10 days... So My first plan is not to take a test until at least then... Then my other plan is to try my hardest, not to worry everyday...

And so the Journey CONTINUES!!!