Friday night in Columbia

Last Friday evening my mom and I went to a church activity in Colombia, Missouri. This was about a five-hour round-trip for us, but we really wanted to go because Elder Richard G. Scott, one of our general church leaders, was going to be in attendance. I invited three of my friends to ride to Columbia with my mom and me so that they could help with the driving since my mom was still recovering from her appendectomy last week. My friend Nate did all of the driving, which pleased my mom. My mom actually said that if she had been the one driving we would've never made it on time because she doesn't speed. (We ran into a lot of rush-hour traffic, so that's why it took us a little longer that the usual two hour or so drive.)

It was wonderful to be in the presence of an apostle of the Lord. When the fireside was over, Elder Scott stood by one of the doors of the chapel so that people could shake his hand as they exited. Fortunately, I was sitting right by the door where he was going to be standing. He came over to me and asked me if he could shake my hand, but my mom told him that I can't shake hands. He then told me that I have sparkling eyes and to not lose the sparkle from them. I told my mom it was probably just my eyeshadow, but she disagreed. :)

My friends and I stopped for ice cream on the way home at a little ice cream stand called Andy's Frozen Custard. It was just an ice cream stand -- the kind of place where you order at the window and eat outside. The air was so chilly that evening that I decided to eat in the van because I was really cold. Ice cream always has a way of hitting the spot, though, no matter how chilly the weather is!

I'm so glad that I was able to go to this activity and that several of my friends were able to ride with my mom and me in our van. What a great experience!

1900 and counting

On February 24 I decided to put a counter on the bottom of my blog so that I could keep track of how many hits I get on my blog. I wish I would've put this counter on my blog when I set it up last August, but I didn't know how. It just would be nice to know how many hits I had gotten in the six months between when I started my blog and when I put the counter on at the end of February. So, I'm approaching 2000 hits since February 24 of this year, according to my counter.

I've also decided to start making notifications on Facebook from time to time when I make a new post that I think is a little more interesting than my usual posts. On one hand I feel tacky plugging my blog on Facebook because I would prefer to have other people spread the word about my blog than to have to do it myself, but on the other hand, I really do want to get the word out about my blog and this seems to be the most effective way to do so. (Or at least the most effective way I've found so far.)

So, as I approach 2000 hits to my blog, it will be interesting to see just how it continues to take off!

Movie #8: Iron Man 2

I saw my eighth movie of the year last Friday, so I'm getting back on track in my quest to see 25 movies in the movie theater this year.

My younger sister Chandra and I went to see Iron Man 2 last Friday. I absolutely love comic book movies, so I was really looking forward to seeing this movie, especially since I enjoyed the first movie so much. Sequels are notoriously worse than the first movie, but I was not disappointed! I thought that the movie was just as good as the first and I really want to see it again! However, the only bad thing was that the print was really scratched all throughout the movie, so that was really annoying. That's really bad since it was the first showing of the movie on opening day.

Eight movies down and 17 to go!

On the other side of the bed: a new perspective

More stones, another trip to the ER and another hospitalization... except this time it wasn't me; it was my mom. She had her own bout with stones (except they were appendix stones, not kidney stones, like me), and she was also hospitalized after an emergency trip to the ER. This was bittersweet because although I was glad that I wasn't the one in the hospital, it was painful to know that a loved one of mine was suffering. I think I would rather be the one in pain and in the hospital than my mom! Here's what happened:

Last Friday morning my mom, younger sister Chandra and I were supposed to take a trip to Arkansas to see my sister Annette and her family. We were all very excited, and we were especially looking forward to meeting Annette's new daughter Rebecah who was born in January. We spent Thursday preparing for our trip and we got everything packed and set out.

We were planning on leaving early Friday morning around 8 AM. My mom woke me up around 5:15 AM and told me that she wasn't feeling well. She told me what her pain was like and we talked about what to do. My mom had been experiencing intense pain in her abdomen all night, and the pain was only intensifying. She decided that she better go to the emergency room, so she called one of her friends from church to drive her to the hospital. Chandra stayed with me and she continued getting me ready for the day so that we could still hopefully take our trip when Mom came home. I wasn't sure if Mom had a mild case of food poisoning or what, but it soon became clear that it was far worse than food poisoning. Mom underwent some tests and the doctor discovered some stones in Mom's appendix. Appendicitis! Can you imagine that?! What luck we are having this year, especially with stones!

We obviously had to cancel our trip, which was so disappointing for everyone involved! When I talked to my sister Annette the previous day, she told me that her 2 1/2 year old son had been asking all week if it were Friday yet (the day we were arriving). My heart broke when I realized how disappointed my nephew would be! Disappointing a grown-up is one thing, but disappointing a little kid is another since children get so excited for things!

My sister Chandra finished getting me ready for the day and we actually went to the movies since we knew that Mom was going to be "unavailable" for several hours while she was having surgery. On one hand Chandra and I felt horrible about going to the movies when our mom was in the hospital having surgery, but on the other hand there was really nothing that we would be doing at the hospital except waiting in the waiting room, so we decided to go since Mom was in good hands with a couple of our good friends.

Chandra and I watched our movie, Iron Man 2, and then we went to the hospital and arrived around 2 PM. We waited with our friends in the waiting room for about an hour, and then we got a call that Mom was out of recovery and in her hospital room. We went up to the floor that she was on and it was such a different experience for me to be the visitor and not the patient! Mom was definitely not at her best, and it was difficult for me to see her feeling so terrible, especially since there was nothing I could do to make her feel better. In a way I was jealous of the nurses since I had to just sit there and watch them care for my mom. Chandra and I stayed with Mom all afternoon and left the hospital around 8 PM.

Fortunately my mom slept well that night and was doing well enough the next morning to come home. Mom said she felt so much better andwas relieved to no longer be in pain!

So we survived another hospitalization! I'm grateful this is behind us and I really appreciate the kindness and support of our wonderful family and friends, as well as the great doctors and nurses that gave Mom such great care.

No Phone Zone

I love watching Oprah every afternoon. So many of her shows are so interesting, and I love getting to see what different people have gone through and what different people's lives are like via her show. I don't always agree with every viewpoint that Oprah has, but I feel that she does so much good through her show.

April 30's episode was about making our cars "no phone zones." Roughly 6000 people are killed each year by drivers who are distracted because they are either texting or talking on their cell phones -- and this number doesn't include all of the people who are maimed each year, either. This topic is especially important to me since I was hit by a distracted driver. The result of this car accident is that I now paralyzed from the neck down and will be for the rest of my life. I don't know if the driver that hit me was talking or texting on a cell phone, but she was obviously distracted, if only for a moment, because she failed to stop at the red light and she ran into my car. I didn't die, but my life has been permanently altered.

I'm upset that so many people have to die and/or are disabled each year because of distracted drivers. Oprah is right when she says that this is an epidemic, but it's one that we can cure. If you click on the link below you can sign Oprah's No Phone Zone pledge. Please take the time to watch the video I posted and sign the pledge. Do it for me and do it for yourself and for your loved ones -- it's critical! No phone call or text is so important that it's worth risking your life or someone else's!
http://www.oprah.com/questionaire/ipledge.html?id=4