A Memorial Day I Won't Soon Forget

Memorial Day weekend started out pretty normally. We hosted a cookout with friends and family on Sunday afternoon. On Sunday morning, my husband traded his 1966 Mustang for a fairly new motorcycle. He used to own a chopper, but it was a single-seater and he always felt guilty for not being able to take me along. So, after the festivities on Sunday, we decided we would make Monday a bike day. We left in the late morning and rode throughout the county and included a stop to visit his Grandma. The rain looked like it was heading our way, so we decided to head home. I couldn't tell you exactly what happened next because it all happened so fast, but here's my best recollection...

Our driveway is gravel. I thought my hubby was going to stop the bike behind my car, since he was just dropping me off and then riding it around to the backside of our home to put the bike in the garage. Instead of stopping, he started to turn and the bike started to slide. I freaked out a little and started to put my right foot down toward the ground. The bike kept moving and I hyperextended my knee. Then, to make matters worse, I fell with all of my weight on top of my rolled ankle. Results? Broken ankle, sprained knee, sprained hip. The ambulance took me to the E.R., where they put on a half cast and told me to follow up with an ortho doctor in a few days.

My doctor's appt this morning did not come with pleasant news. The break is on the interior side of my ankle - one that has a tendency not to heal very well. They put me in a full cast and instructed me to keep weight off of it completely until my next visit on June 5th. The kicker? Most injuries like mine end up in surgery with bone grafting. Yay me! Not only do I get to miss the best parts of summer, but I'll be doing it while sporting a black and hot pink cast while doped up on loritab. Not exactly how I was hoping to spend the warmest days of the year!

I'll be sure to post pics of my new fashion accessory once I get my hubby to take a few and upload them.

Hope your Memorial Day was spent celebrating the right way!

P.S. You can just call me "Grace" from now on ;)

Memorial Day Weekend

Happy Memorial Day, everyone! We're not quite there yet, but I've been busy with preparations for a barbecue at our home with family and friends tomorrow. The house is company-clean... not spotless by any means, but I figure I'll be forgiven seeing as how half the guest list is under the age of ten.

I'm so excited to have the day off on Monday. No work on a Monday is like some sort of divine gift in my eyes. It's a day for me to relax and there's nothing better than returning to work and only having four more work days left!

I'm working on getting everything together for a Ladies' Night that I'm hosting next weekend. Fajitas and Margaritas - sounds like heaven, doesn't it?! There are a few close friends that don't live geographically close enough to make it, but I'll be toasting them with a cocktail next Saturday night all the same. Jackie and Robin - I miss you ladies and I hope we're able to make a trip out to see you both soon!

Wishing all of you a safe and happy holiday weekend!

The Looking Glass

This feature is long overdue, and I apologize in advance to Laurie at The Looking Glass. I was browsing through etsy.com last year and found this beautiful piece by Laurie in her etsy shop.

I quickly added it to my favorites (I have a love of ALL things fairy!) and mentioned how nice the piece would look in one of my windows to my husband. He told me to order it for myself for my upcoming 30th birthday and I was happy to oblige. I can't express how pleased I was when the beautiful suncatcher arrived in the mail.

Laurie's craftsmanship is astounding and I look forward to investing in more of her work to decorate my home! This beauty hangs in my office window, brightening my day as I'm browsing online, working on school assignments, or crafting a new jewelry piece.

Laurie, thank you so much! It's beautifully crafted and one of my favorite fairy treasures!

April Wraps & Stroke Awareness Month Begins!

As we begin a new month, I can't believe how much has happened in April!

Before I recap, I want to remind everyone that May is Stroke Awareness Month. Please, take it from me - it's more important to know the signs of a stroke and the proper response. Act F.A.S.T.!!! If you suspect that someone has suffered a stroke, do the following immediately:

F - Face. Ask them to smile. Note if one side of their face is drooped.

A - Arms. Ask them to raise their arms. Again, note if one side appears to be weakened.

S - Speech. Ask them to repeat a sentence. Note if they have any difficulty

T - Time! If the appear to have any difficulties with the tasks above, call 911 immediately! Note the time that the symptoms began to appear. This can help medical staff respond with the best course of treatment!

I'll talk more this month about stroke, statistics, prevention and treatment. For those of you who aren't aware, my husband suffered a stroke on October 9, 2008. He was an otherwise healthy 35 year old with an at-the-time unknown congenital heart defect called PFO. He has since made a full recovery, but preventing a secondary stroke is our main focus right now. As many as 42% of men and 24% of women who suffer an initial stroke suffer a secondary stroke within five years.

Now, back to my regularly scheduled message:

The month started out on a somber note for me as NBC aired the series finale of E.R. on April 2nd. I tell ya, it felt like I was losing one of my closest friends of the last 15 years. My mom and sister watched the event with me and we all teared up at one point or another! I haven't replaced my Thursday night viewing slot with a new show and I don't think I'm going to. Instead, Thursday evenings from 9-10pm are officially "Lisa Time".

Our first family gathering in our new home was a big success. We celebrated Easter with our family and everyone really enjoyed themselves!

My little sister got married on April 20th. It was a Monday ceremony with just close family in attendance. Her and her "new" husband actually kept their original anniversary date from 7 years ago. It's so refreshing to know that no matter what two people can go through together, especially the really hard times, that they can (if they try!) eventually find each other again. Congratulations, Mike & Wendy! I love you both more than you'll ever know and I'm so happy to have been witness to such a joyous event!

I finished my class on the New Testament this month with a final grade of "A". I'm really happy and feel really enlightened after taking that class. I've now moved on to Human Communications and have so much work to do - including an individual presentation on stroke awareness and a team presentation on modern communication and technology. Wish me luck! I'm just hoping to maintain my 4.0 GPA! (Yep, that's me tooting my own horn!)

To round out the month, my husband had dental work torture done. He had his second molar extracted earlier this week and he's finally starting to recover. The roots of the molar had started to grow together and they had to break the tooth in his mouth to get it out. Painful stuff! He also surprised me by getting his hair cut yesterday. He had been in Sampson mode since his stroke last October and refused to get his hair cut since then. He looks like a brand new man!

Hoping that all of the April rain we got here in NW Indiana really does bring us some pretty May flowers. Spring is here, but it's been so rainy that I'm thirsty for some sunshine!

By the way, isn't today MayDay? Aren't we all supposed to be prancing around a pole or something?! Maybe that's just at the "gentleman's" clubs these days... ;)

Have a great weekend, everyone!