Dickenson Christmas 2009

Every year, we gather with Mama's family on Christmas Eve to exchange gifts and eat entirely too much yummy food. This tradition predates all of us -- Mama's family did this when they were only children. They would go from house to house of their father's family members seeing decorations, exchanging gifts, and eating. We did this through our entire childhood, and I remember very fondly driving home at midnight from one uncle or another's house very tired but ready for more Christmas the next day. I'm sure it wasn't snowy every year, but that's always how I remember it: snow and a full moon. I'm so glad we have these traditions to keep us anchored to our family, and that Brian shares in them as well. Hopefully soon we'll be able to honor his family's Thanksgiving tradition, as well, since that's a huge holiday for them!

Our family has grown from two uncles and mama with their spouses, to include five cousins. As we've all married, it's grown to include four more spouses and two younger cousins. As of Wednesday night, we're getting a new family member -- Annie is engaged! When you're used to the ginormous Hill family, the Dickensons are a much smaller and more intimate group of 18, counting Annie's fiance (that's also counting Uncle Carroll; his presence is still with us and is very much felt at each gathering). All growth now will be of the little, giggly types.

Here are a few pictures from Dickenson Christmas 2009. If you're one of my family reading this blog and want your picture removed, email me and let me know. Mama, you'll notice there are no pictures of you. You owe me money for that. Otherwise, here they are.....

Not Again

My aunt Margie is my Daddy's older sister. The third oldest in a family of nine, she was born on my Pappy's 21st birthday. She has a daughter and a son, four grandchildren, and three great grandchildren. She's an absolute trip, and finally told me how to make ham pot pie over Thanksgiving dinner last weekend. Every time I make something for a Hill get-together, I'm hoping that Aunt Margie will like it. Praise from her is hard-won and always sincere.

Aunt Margie has a bad heart. And lungs. She's had two open heart surgeries and has been on oxygen 24 hours a day for several years. None of this has kept her spunky self down. She just took her portable oxygen tank and went on. Some days her snazzy, flowery cane is a "Ho Stick", other days a "Pimp Cane".

Unfortunately, Aunt Margie's heart and lungs are giving out very quickly. She went to UVA yesterday, and was not in good condition. Daddy was on the phone periodically through the day checking on her and making plans to visit. This morning, another sister, Aunt Elaine, called to let Daddy know that Aunt Margie is at death's door. She wasn't expected to live through last night, and has said she doesn't want to be on life support. Her daughter has been called back off from a vacation, and the family is being gathered. Aunt Margie is struggling to breathe, has almost no blood pressure, and is in pain. Please, please keep her family and ours in your prayers. Needless to say we don't want to do this. But more specifically we don't want to do this AGAIN. This has been the longest year of many of our lives (certainly mine) and I just can't wait for 2009 to be over. Please pray as you're led, and for more strength for an already very strong lady.

Success!

Short but sweet: Mama's surgery was a roaring success so far!! We said goodbye to her around 11 AM, and Dr. Pereles said that it would be approximately three and a half to four hours until he came to see us with a report. We hung out and talked, crackberried, and had lunch until 3:25, when Dr. Pereles let us know that Mama had done fine and was in recovery. After some mix-ups getting her correct room set up, we were able to join her there around 4:45. She was understandably groggy, shivering, and cold, but was alert and already installed in her Continuous Passive Movement Machine. She was able to eat a little bit of her dinner and keep it down, and we got her settled in and all her goodies unpacked and put away. She took a little percocet for the pain and we left her drifting back off around 7 PM. Little Bro will be with her tomorrow, Daddy will go by after work, and Brian and I will be joining her around 6:30 when I get off. I am amazed at her courage and strength so far, and can't wait until she is back up and around, enjoying her new legs!!

Thank you to everyone who joined us in prayer today, sent positive thoughts, called, or was with us in spirit. I know it means a lot to Mama, and it certainly does to me. Goodnight!

New Legs

Tomorrow is an important day in our family. Tomorrow, Mama gets her "new legs". Not entirely, of course. Tomorrow around 11:30 AM or so, Mama will undergo double knee replacement. She suffers from severe osteoarthritis, and has needed this surgery for about five years now. Tomorrow is the day!

We're not sure how long she'll be in-patient, and how long she'll need care once she arrives home, so things will be a little nutty around here for awhile. Hopefully I'll have more time to blog while I'm hanging out at her house, but I don't promise anything. I needed a little break for the past two weeks or so just to get some things taken care of, so I should be back in the blog-saddle soon.

Meanwhile, please keep my mama in your prayers. She's in for a long haul, but we're all so excited for her to have new legs!!

What I Learned From My Uncle Carroll

Carroll Lee Dickenson, born August 17, 1941, passed away Sunday morning, July 19, 2009. He spent the day before his death surrounded by his family, and was sleeping peacefully when he passed. Thank you to everyone who has lifted our families in your prayers over the past 6+ months. Your calls, emails, texts, cards, and visits have meant so much to all of us.

A few things have been running through my mind for the past few days. Of course, anytime more than two members of our family get together, there is going to be some storytelling. If you’ve never heard a Dickenson tell a story…well, you probably have accomplished something with all that free time. We, meanwhile, will have started on another story mid-stream, so please jump in and catch up! It’s been no different over the past months and days: lots of stories and histories were rehashed and told, some of which many of us had never heard. And many of the “Dickenson-isms” that have become part of our family language were thrown around and explained to visitors. I started realizing many of these nuggets were straight from Uncle Carroll. So, here are some things I learned from my Uncle Carroll…..

• Tomatoes are good for you. They may taste disgusting, but you should eat at least one slice for dinner before you say you don’t like it. Especially if they came straight from the garden earlier that afternoon.
• Clean your plate…..see above regarding tomatoes.
• Do not kill the spiders in the corners. They are catching bugs, and have names. Uncle Carroll would never kill the spiders that terrorized me as a child, but told me they were his pets.
• List all the cars you have ever owned. If it’s less than 50 cars in 52 years, you have some catching up to do.
• If you can buy a beat-up, rusted-out version of the car you owned at 16, you should definitely buy it and restore it.
• No family gathering is complete without one or more of the following: country ham, deer bologna, or shrimp.
• Do NOT fill up on the cheap food. There’s something better coming down the line.
• Go out to eat after church. Spend time with your family catching up and sharing a club sandwich.
• Listen when a waitress says her name. Use it to address her so she takes your service a little more personally.
• Travel a lot. You’ll have interesting stories to tell the grandkids.
• Take lots of videos of your travels and organize movie nights to show them to your family. They’ll have more fun than they let on, I promise.
• Sing it like you know it. This was wisdom imparted during choir practice, but applies in so many places.
• Whatever song you sing, do really well at the beginning and the end. That’s all anyone really listens to anyway.
• Sing through the rests. They are only suggestions.
• Stick to the time schedule. Unless it needs to change to accommodate you!
• Every vacation should be as education as possible. Visit lost colonies, take in outdoor dramas, and go to museums dedicated to the World’s Largest Whatever.
• Trips to the beach are not for sunbathing. Wake up at 6, walk on the beach, and have breakfast followed by lunch followed by a seafood buffet. Repeat daily for 4-7 days.
• If you keep walking through the pine trees, you’ll eventually see the lighthouse, and it will be amazing.
• Bug spray on a hat keeps the gnats out of your eyes when everyone else is being eaten alive by noseeums.
• That funny spot might just be a tick, so check it out in good light.
• Make your exits gracefully, with great dignity, and surrounded by those you love. Especially that last exit.

We will all miss Uncle Carroll horribly, but know that he is safe with the Lord. He told our minister that he can’t wait to see the tree stand Jesus has picked out for him, and that’s how I’ll always think of him in my heart.

Happy 65th Birthday, Daddy

My Daddy turn 65 today.  That is so very cool for several reasons.  First and foremost, cheaper health insurance!  And then eventual retirement.  As someone from a generation that will never see retirement, that seems so....mythical to me! Most importantly, it's very cool because that means Daddy has lived 65 great years and has his eye set on many more.  We had a surprise party for him last night, but since I'm scheduling this post beforehand, I can't tell you how it went.  I'll try to put some pictures up later, provided I was able to take any good ones.  

For now, here are some adorable pictures Mama just sent me.  It's hilarious to see my grown up, serious father looking downright mischievous.  But when you know just how hilarious that dry sense of humor is, you can see it in all these pictures. I think anytime you see your dad as a six year old missing his teeth, it's hilarious.  These pictures are all the more special because we have so few pictures of Daddy as a kid.  When he was about 18, his family's house burnt down.  Not burnt.  Burnt down.  So most of their pictures were gone.  The ones that were in the homes of brothers and sisters already married and gone were the only ones left.  One of my aunts gave these to Mom.  Happy Day, Daddy!

In Which Much Happens and Little Gets Accomplished

Hello.  Yawn.  I have only one questions to ask:  Is it Friday yet?  As a lot of you may know, Brian and I spent the week on the outskirts of lovely Elizabeth, West Virginia this weekend.  Basically a weekend on Baileys Mountain happens three times a year or so, and we try to cram as much as possible into the 24 hour period between car trips.  This weekend was no exception.

Brian had to work at 6 on Friday morning, so he was up and around at 5:15 AM.  If you know Brian, you know this was both monumental and painful.  He worked all day with no break, eating pretzel chips and gummi bears for lunch.  He got home late and needed some time to rest up before we headed out.  We got all cleaned up from our respective gunky days, packed the car, grabbed some dinner, and set off for West-by-God Virginia.  It's about a 6 hour trip to Baileys Mountain from here, and we usually leave around 6 PM. Here's what it looks like:

View Larger Map

Yeah, it's a long trip through tiny towns, up and down mountains, with stretches where you can't get gas for miles. And we do it in the dark most of the time. Fun. Actually, we travel very well together, so it is fun. But tiring.

Apparently especially tiring when you've been awake since 5 AM and worked all day. I tend to nap throughout the trip because I'm not driving. Brian's Jetta is a standard, and I don't drive stick. We hadn't made it terribly far (halfway?) before Brian needed to stop for a break. And I don't mean to pee or buy a drink. I mean for a forty-five minute nap. The first of many. Sometimes we'd just stop for him to get out of the car and walk a bit, and other times it was asleep and snoring. Thank God for cell phone alarm clocks! At one point, I desperately needed sleep as well and Brian was feeling pretty good. So I kicked my seat back, snuggled my pillow, and let the MP3 player put me to sleep. Suddenly, I was convinced that the top had ripped off the car and we were going to fly out, a la some bad plane-crash movie. Brian had opened the window to try to wake up. I, meanwhile, will now die a year or so earlier than otherwise planned. We arrived on Baileys Mountain (which does involve crossing running water without benefit of a bridge as some of Brian's friends like to say) shortly before 5. 5 AM. In the morning. As in 24 hours after Brian woke up and 8 1/2 hours after we left the house. OUCH. We met Brian's Dad as he was leaving for work.... Needless to say, we slept till noon on Saturday and still felt like death.

Upon waking up on Baileys Mountain, a full breakfast is always called for. Full as in eggs, bacon, gravy, biscuits, juice, milk, and coffee. Regardless of time, as demonstrated by our fixing it at noon.... Immediately thereafter, Brian's Mom started planning dinner. We had somehow neglected to let her know that we had dinner plans. So she moved her dinner plans to 5:00, and we planned to go out at 7 with friends and cousins and their resepective others. I headed off to take a shower, Brian headed to the car to get his phone and try to call others. Forget that we have no, I repeat NO cell service on the Mountain. No 3G. No 1G. Barely a land line, folks. Incommunicado at its bestest. When I finished with my shower we headed across the road to take a look at Brian's Grandmother's old house, which his Mom and Dad had just finished cleaning up and making somewhat liveable. Brian asked if I had seen his car key. Nope, sure hadn't. But he had just been to the car within the hour, and always lays his keys on the entryway table, so I wasn't worried. Until we got back to the house 20 minutes later and realized that we seriously could not find the car key. At all. Our only car key, at that point. We established that it had been on the table, had been seen by nearly everyone in the house, and was now gone. We turned that house up. Side. Down. Literally, as we turned sofas and chairs upsidedown to look inside them in hopes that the key was there. We looked in the trash, tore up beds, looked under things that weren't even in the house. We checked the yard, under the car, peered in windows, and interrogated small children who were in the vicinity of the key. Because Jetta keys don't look like keys. They look like this:

You know, like a toy. So we honestly thought (and think still) that some small hand grabbed it and ran off with it. Meanwhile, we needed to get in the car to get things that we desperately needed for the day, and in case we had to take the Baileys' car home instead of ours. Which necessitated calling a locksmith. We were currently 22 miles from Elizabeth, the nearest town. So we called someone up and ran to Elizabeth to guide them in. It took the locksmith all of 2.5 minutes to pop our lock and head on his way. The key was not in the car, but at least we had our stuff. We headed off to Buffalo Wild Wings for fun time with some cool folks like Ford Maverick, Ford's Sister, Cousin Clarence and His Wife, Nate the Great, and several others. We had a great time and it was wonderful to get everyone together. I could tell you tons of funny stories, but this post is already a novel.... Suffice it to say that we got back to Baileys Mountain at 3:30 AM. Yeah. As we crawled into bed, we located one missing Jetta key laying squarely in the middle of our bed, under the sheets. The bed which was made before Brian used his key to go to the car. The bed which we had torn to pieces to check for the key. The bed on which I had lain while Brian checked under it. Yeah, we'd checked the bed. I'm not even going to speculate as to how that key got there, but we spent quite literally 5 hours looking for it, interrogated small children, and spent $80 on a locksmith. Fun times on Baileys Mountain, ya'll.

We got up Sunday, fixed breakfast (see above) and got ready to head out. Our goal was to be on the road by 1, and we were ready by 2:15. Not bad when you're running on Baileys Standard Time. We headed over to The Bum and Cousin Mike's new house to hang out and catch up. Around 4:00 we headed to Morgantown to see Nurse Baileys and Coach Jimmy. We left there at 7:15...and had the absolute repeat of our trip on Friday night. Complete with naps and much anxiety over staying awake. Except that we had detoured through Morgantown/Fairmont, so the route looked like this:

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We got home at 2:30. I worked today at 7......

Is it nap time yet? Oh, wait. It is, it is! I'm going to crash!

Baileys Points

10 Baileys Points to Michelle for knowing that the title to my last post was a Marvin Gaye song. Be like Michelle, and follow my blog. 3.5 points if you knew that there was a 4 Non Blondes song by the same title. I was looking for Marvin Gaye, but I'll freely admit that I loved me some 4 Non Blondes, too.

Nothing much going on here. I have an ultra-light day of work so I'm making red beans and rice. The link isn't my exact recipe, just a similar one. Don't believe those times, though - it takes hours to get red beans and rice the way I like it. A simple dish, but one that is best served by making it slowly. It's a yearly tradition around our house, much anticipated by myself. I do share, though, since the recipe makes enough for an army. Dinner will be around 8, ya'll come.

Before that, Brian and I are hoping to make a set of twins the newest addition to our house. A twin set of these, that is:
Blackberry Storm is what I'm talking about. Our phones are about to kick the bucket (Brian's pretty much has, though he denies it hotly!) and we have our "new every two" credits. Plus, Blackberrys (Blackberries?) are Buy One Get One right now -- they're practically paying us to take two! That's the talk around our house right now, so I'm hoping Brian suggests making a little trip to the phone store tonight. Keep your fingers crossed! I love new gadgets!

Happy Easter, and I hope you all have wonderful weekend!

Great News

I just wanted to let everyone know that Brian received notification that his MRI was clear!  That means no brain tumors, no lesions from MS, etc.  It does not mean that we have any definitive answers as to his issues. The migraines continue, as does the dizziness and other things.  It's been a rough week for him, working through migraines and being unable to read or count again.  But, he's very glad to have a clear MRI - and so am I! We'll know more once he has his next appointment with Dr. Perdue, but this is good so far.  Thanks for your prayers and concern!

HAPPY SAINT PATRICK'S DAY!!

My very favorite place in the whole, wide world.....

In case you're not 100% sure, those pictures were all taken in Ireland. From left-right, they are:

Top left:  Drombeg Stone Circle, Glandore, Co. Cork 

Bottom left: the grounds at Blarney Castle, Blarney, Co. Cork

Center: Blarney Castle, Blarney, Co. Cork 

Top right: Newgrange Passage Tomb, Donore, Co. Meath

Middle right: Powerscourt Waterfall, Enniskerry, Co. Wicklow

Bottom right: Dublin Castle, Dublin

In addition to Happy St. Patrick's Day, happy anniversary also to The Bum and Cousin Mike, as well Shell and Ted. 1 year and 3, respectively, I believe. 

Or Maybe Not....

Okay, scratch that bit about the IUI being scheduled for this month.  We decided to put it off for at least one more cycle.  Not only is it horridly expensive, and out-of-pocket since our insurance bites (and will no longer pay one penny toward our IF treatments!), but Brian wants to see what his neurologist has to say before we do this.  Neurologist,you say? Yep...

Some of you may know that Brian has degenerative disk disease in his cervical spine.  It's pretty bad, to the point that his chiropractor will no longer touch him and the last neurologist to see him said that any good blow to the head or fall from any height at all would either paralyze or kill him.  Such fun things to have hang over your head, really.  This seems to be a family issue -- one of his sisters has some back issues, I believe, and his mother had major surgery (two years ago?) on her spine.  MAJOR surgery.  So, we're not surprised.  When you add in the fact that Brian played football until he was about 19 (offense and defense, woo hoo!), you have one seriously injured back.  Unfortunately, that degenerative disk disease leads to pinched nerves and muscle spasms, shoulder pain, migraines, and numbness in his hands and feet.  Or occasionally arms and legs.  His migraines are nearly constant, and are atypical in presentation.  So he may not have the blinding pain that I deal with when I get a migraine, but he has horrible dizziness (he's been treated for vertigo for years), nausea, numbness, inability to see clearly, and something extra-fun called "brain fog", which is exactly what it sounds like.  

A lot of his symptoms seem to stem from his vestibular function; if you turn off the lights, Brian will fall over.  He has absolutely no balance when the lights are off or his eyes are closed, and it's not just a clumsy issue (that's me). Finally, all the symptoms that he's experiencing have just gotten out of control.  Yesterday at work he was unable to read.  This is a literate man, folks.  Who was completely unable to make sense of any words on a page.  Or numbers.  Have I mentioned he manages a retail store?  A few numbers are involved.  Apparently at night, the numbers on our clock jump, too.  Tons of fun, I'm sure.  He perpetually just feels off, and it's gotten old.

So, about a month ago, he went to see our family doctor(s).  He was given a referral to one of the best neurologists around, and finally had his appointment at the beginning of March.  Dr. Perdue said that he thinks the migraines are the first thing to address.  He gave Brian a beta blocker.  Brian then proceded to not sleep for four days.  Instead, he'd sit bolt-upright in bed and talk nonsense, scaring the crap out of me.  Just as fun as it sounds, really.  So, after four days of no sleep, Brian went off that particular pill, thank God.  And immediately got a migraine.  He had an MRI this week, and we're waiting for the results of that.  Unfortunately, his next neuro appointment is in early April.  At this point, the questions are these:

• Is his degenerative disk disease to blame for everything, or totally unrelated?
  
• Are his migraines atypical and causing all this, or is there something else?
  
• Is this an injury-related/disk issue, or is it a congenital problem?
  
• Is this a one-time thing, or can he pass these issues on to our children?
  
• Will this get worse, and is there any treatment that won't make him feel even worse?
  

Of course, we're both terrified of things like brain tumors and such, and we've definitely thought about MS.  Dr. Perdue doubts both of these things, though, so we're looking at either he has a really bad neck and is headed for surgery, or he has some manner of disorder/syndrome that is getting progressively worse.  And, being such tech-savvy people, we've of course turned to Google for all our answers.  Brian's best defense in such trying times is to be totally informed. This led to being tested extensively for Meniere's Disease earlier in 2008, which was ruled out. Which is strange, since several doctors thought that this was the exact answer we were looking for; he has all the symptoms, but not the necessary inner ear structure to diagnose Meniere's.  And the doctor he saw is considered an expert in Meniere's, so we're pretty confident in that lack of diagnosis. 

Unfortunately, if you rule out Meniere's, what we're looking at may be Vestibular Ataxia. He has failed his Romberg's Test, most recently last night while demonstrating it for Cousin Mike and myself.....and again just now when I asked him to do it again.  When you couple his symptoms with the fact that his mom has a few inherited things that can be scary (Alpha-1 Anti-Trypsin Deficiency and heterochromia being our main concerns), we afraid that a "sydrome" of some sort may be to blame.  If you follow the heterochromia links out, you'll find that there are a host of sydromes that can be indicated by this simple sign.  A simple sign that Brian's mom, his sister, my father, and my grandfather have.  We're not playing with this.  At this point, degenerative disk disease caused by a healthy highschool football career will be most preferable.  

Now we have to decide what to do about having children.  If it's not genetic, woo hoo and we go on with IUI as soon as we can.  If Brian has something genetic, we will have to decide if we want to risk taking a chance to pass this on to our kids.  We most likely will not, since we feel it's just irresponsible to pass on things that you know full well will comprise a child's quality of life or will shorten it drastically.  Please do not flame me if you have, will have, or have had a child that inherited a genetic condition that you knew you had. It's our personal choice, and it's been prayerfully made. That said, we're continuing with Clomid and The Old-Fashioned Way for this cycle.  If God wants us to conceive this month, we will, and we'll deal with the consequences.  If Dr. Perdue feels that Brian's issues are genetically linked, we'll both seek genetic testing.  We'll go from there.  We're both completely open to adoption, even though we so deeply want biological children.   

We're not worrying about much of anything at this point, and just praying that this week's MRI shows nothing life-threatening.  Chronic, degenerative, or genetic things we can deal with.  A brain tumor or such would be devastating.  We'll deal with it, but of course would prefer not to.  So a lot of time is being spent on our knees these days.  Brian is still dealing with all his symptoms and never knows what a day is going to bring.  If you see him and he looks positively exhausted, distracted, or downright foggy, you'll know what's going on.  He's been in chronic pain for a long, long time and things are progressing from bad to worse at a pretty fast clip.  Please pray as you feel led for knowledge, strength, guidance, and God's will.  Oh, yeah -- and a clean MRI and football-induced neck injury!!! :)

Doctor Update

Hey, everybody! I know it's been awhile since I updated.  I've been trying to promote Baileys Basics like crazy, so I've been over at that blog, trying to get a post up every day or two.  So, if you miss me here please check over there!  In addition, I'm thinking about selling cards, bookplates, etc. online through Etsy, too.   It's something I've done for ages for myself and family, so I might as well start turning a profit, no?  We're big on alternate streams of income around here, and that's one more to add to the river.  I'll keep you posted on how that turns out.

Friday I went to RMSCVA to see Dr. Williams for my ovary check.  This month we used a higher dosage of Clomid (four pills to equal 200 mg daily, if you're a numbers kinda person) because I'm not ovualting "robustly" enough.  I'm not 100% sure how "robustly" I'm supposed to be ovualting. Basically, when they do my ovary check (via internal ultrasound) they can tell me that I ovulated.  The nurse then does a blood draw to check how well I ovulated.  Last month my progesterone levels were too low.  This could result in losing a pregnancy, if I conceived.  Not something I want to deal with, so we need to address the situation.  A higher level of Clomid might do the trick, so they upped it for this past cycle.  

While I was there, I asked Dr. Williams about the possibility that our schedule is just off for testing my progesterone.  The average cycle is 28 days long.  You take Clomid on cycle days (CD) 5-9 and should ovulate around CD 14.  Then you go for an ovary check sometime on CD 21-25.  I'm a consistent CD 20 ovualter, with a 35 day cycle.  Consequently, the appointments on CD 22 or 23 like I've been having just aren't going to cut it.  Since progesterone rises after you ovulate to a peak around a week later and then slack off to induce menses, testing so soon after ovualtion could lead to a deceptively low level.  Usually progesterone defiencies are indicative of a luteal phase defect, but since I'm having a solid 15 day luteal phase before my period, I doubt it.  I think we're just testing too early.  So, this month they tested my progesterone on CD 22, and it was low.  I have a lab order to test again on Thursday of this week (conveniently here in Harrisonburg instead of driving to Charlottesville!) to see if it peaks any higher.  Keep your fingers crossed and keep praying!

Once we get my progesterone levels figured out and I'm Ovulating Robustly, we're going to try Intrauterine Insemination, or IUI.  This should increase our chances of conception dramatically.  We hope. It's expensive, but it beats more months of trial and error.  We'll let you know when that happens!  

After my appointment, I met Little Bro and Sweet Lizzy for a trip to the cutest store in the world and dinner at the best dumpling shop ever.  We had pork dumplings and spicy noodles so good they'd make your tongue beat your brains out.  If you're in Charlottesville, go to the walking mall and hit the tiny little dumpling shop.  Go now, I'm serious.  Then go over to O Suzannah! and buy something awesome. As always, it was great to see the brother and sis in law, and they make a trip to Charlottesville more fun than imaginable.  

Well, egg rolls are ready to be heated and a salad is calling my name.  The Bum and Cousin Mike are moving to the Great White North (you know, Parkersburg, WV) today, so wish them luck and decent weather for the drive.  We'll visit them in April and have a new camera, so expect pictures!  Happy Tuesdsay, Happy March, and where the heck is Spring?!

Let There Be Breakfast!

Saturdays at our house tend to follow a trend.

If Brian goes to work late, or has the day off,
I take these things......


That's fresh-milled whole wheat flour (with baking soda, baking
powder, and salt), buttermilk, local honey (it's in with the buttermilk),
coconut oil, and eggs so fresh that they were laid yesterday.


I make up a great batter and heat up a
cast iron griddle with a little coconut oil.....

And I serve it the resulting pancakes,
with eggs and raw milk, to the
happiest man in the house.

Top them with REAL maple syrup,
harvested from REAL Virginia sugar maples,
as seen here, and you can't do better!

Little Bro Got Married!

It's official! Little Bro and Sweet Lizzy got married on Saturday, July 26, 2008. The weather was great, the ceremony went off without a hitch, and the reception was lots of fun. The families decorated on Friday morning, and then had the rehearsal on Friday evening, followed by dinner at Three Notch'd Grill in Crozet. Here are some pictures of Friday....


These were the outside tables all set up for guests. There were more table inside, and there were caramel apples at each place for the guests. We had to leave them off until the last minute to avoid baiting the bears.

Here are some pictures of the actual rehearsal. Everything was very relaxed and beautiful. There was some question about whether or not practicing the words made Bro and Sweet actually married or not, though. Which I felt was a perfectly legitimate question, having wondered the very same thing myself a year and some change ago! I guess it depends on if the minister "means it"? Anyway, here are the pictures to give you an idea of just how gorgeous it is at Montfair....





Saturday came along, absolutely beautiful. Brian and I were up early, as I had pies to bake for the wedding and he had computer work to do. We left for Montfair around noon, and were running around like crazy people before we knew it. By the time pictures were taken and everyone was completely ready, guests were coming by the carloads, ready to enjoy the day. The weather held out perfectly, if a little on the humid side. Welcome to Virginia, folks, with the air you can wear. Bro and Sweet had been thoughtful enough to provide lemonade, watermelon, and paper fans for their guests, though, which we all enjoyed! The pictures of the wedding that I'll post here are in chronological order. Notice how serious Bro was until he saw Sweet, and that huge grin on his face. I don't think the pictures do any justice to how gorgeous she looked, either. Very elegant and stylish. Her dress was absolutely perfect, and her hair was so very pretty. They really are perfect for each other, and adorable to boot!









Bro and Sweet had great music at the reception, too, and some seriously partying friends. Their first dance was beautiful and deserves a few pictures, too....



All in all, it was a great day. I'm so glad that it all went well for them, and hope their honeymoon goes flawlessly, too. They'll be leaving this week for Guadalajara, Mexico, where they can hopefully relax and settle into true couplehood. Then, of course, it's back to work and school. But, as Brian and I often say, it's easier when there are two. I'm sure there will be more pictures added to my Facebook profile later, but here's one of my favorite photos to close.....

Really, Really Long Weekend

As most of you know, this past weekend was my Sister-in-Law The Elder, AnchorGirl's, wedding. AnchorGirl and CopGuy are absolutely perfect for each other, down the part where he's rich and she's gorgeous and they are adorable together. AG asked me to play the piano for her wedding, something I'm pretty comfortable with, and capable of doing. Brian was asked to be an usher, something he had absolutely no clue about but managed to do quite well in spite of my meddling. Before I get into much, rest assured that AnchorGirl and CopGuy were married off perfectly, she looked amazing, and she thinks things went swimmingly. She couldn't be more wrong. Unfortunately, due to her not-so-minor celebrity status, there will be no pictures of the wedding on this blog. She has plenty of stalkers already, and we were all just impressed that no one crashed the wedding. I really, really wish I was joking or even exaggerating. :( Friends and family will see pictures privately, I promise.

This weekend can only be summed up as a SNAFU. Complete and total snafu. I should have known something wasn't going to go right when my nose began to bleed as I was getting ready to leave. It took the better part of two hours to get it to stop, and then it was on a hair trigger. We left the Burg around 7:30 PM, planning to halfway to Louisville before stopping. Brian and I do a great job traveling together, and really enjoy it. However, I believe in making reservations. He doesn't believe in advance planning. So we started looking for a hotel in Beckley, West Virginia around 10:45 or so.

No luck. We made it to Charleston, West Virginia. This has the distinction of being the state capital, the home of Brian's Mamaw, and Brian's illustrious birthplace. We enjoy the trip through occasionally. Here's a look at our route, so you can see where we were headed.

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We stopped in Charleston, and I went into a hotel. The parking lots of the twenty-odd hotels in that complex all looked full, but I'm optimistic. The lady behind the counter told me that they were full, as was every hotel at this exit.
"Is there something going on in town this weekend that we didn't know about?" I asked.
She positively snorted.
"It's a Jehovah's Witness Convention," she managed to get out. We proceeded to share a five minute laugh, this lady I'd never met and myself. As the night progressed, we learned that every hotel within a one hundred mile radius of Charleston was booked up. As Brian pointed out, it would suck to be one of the non-JW guests in those hotels, or a desk clerk. I bet it was quiet in all their neighborhoods this weekend, though!

We finally ended up in Huntington, West Virginia, home of Marshall University. Which is where AnchorGirl matriculated. Which is a mortal enemy of our own, beloved WVU. Turns out they were having a freshman orientation weekend, so we got literally the only hotel room in the entire town. We found it around 2:30 AM.....

Friday we fell out of our rock-hard bed and continued on our way to Louisville. We stopped for lunch in the erstwhile home of Billy Ray Cyrus, Flatwoods, Kentucky. Woo hoo. Before you ask, we did not see Hannah Montana, thank God. We arrived at the hotel in Louisville in time to grab a quick shower and head off to the rehearsal. I wanted to get a chance to practice before I had to play, especially considering I was going to be playing a keyboard, which feels strange.

We arrived at the country club to discover a few things:
1. There was no keyboard ("Oh, I didn't realize you'd need that for rehearsal tonight")
2. It was an outside wedding....on a golf course
3. NO ONE had a clue what was going on
4. The wedding director was a bridesmaid, which meant that she would be up front, NOT directing the wedding.
5. The main minister had even less of a clue than everyone else
6. It had rained for three days in Louisville, leading to a mudhole and squishy ground that ate my high heels

Dinner, however, was wonderful. We headed back to the hotel, where I attempted to help our friend, Ford Maverick's Sister, dye her hair. Or rather, re-dye her hair after it got screwed up. See a trend yet?!

Saturday we were up early, and I paid some lady $50 to tease the utter life out of my hair, giving me hair big enough to attend a good Southern wedding. I headed back to the hotel and joined Brian in his continual search for the perfect A&W frosted mug of root beer at their fast food chain. I think it's a lost cause. After much practicing on a pitifully small keyboard in the hotel, we dressed and tried to corral the masses into three cars to caravan over to the country club. Where we discovered a few things:
1. The DJ was an idiot
2. There was no water available for dressing wedding participants
3. There was no table outside for DJ equipment
4. The club was staffed by rude people who refused to help
5. The main minister had changed the service without explaining it to Reverend Father In Law
6. Main Minister Clueless had sequestered himself in a room and refused to speak to anyone
7. There was NO POWER at the wedding site

Problem number seven continued until 6:10 PM, 20 minutes before show time. We were frantically making arrangements and covert plans, determined not to let AnchorGirl know what was going on. Finally, it was discovered that her new father-in-law is a retired electrician, and he was able to do what ten other men were not: fix the power. Thanks to him, Ford Maverick with his utility belt, and Brian's computer savvy, we had a wedding. Good grief. Needless to say, we were all determined to enjoy the reception!

Things that cracked us up, once we could laugh about it:
1. The wind stole my music. Ford Mav's Sister had to be my paperweight, and she did a great job
2. There was a hawk stalking the wedding party. It swooped down in the middle of the vows, calling loudly. I feared for the flower girl....
3. I can handle a golf cart amazingly well
4. Golf carts make a horrible noise as you back up
5. Gold balls TING off of golf clubs
6. Both 4 and 5 happened throughout the service
7. It costs $35,000 to be a member of this country club. Holy cow.
8. The DJ took lots of pictures...of all the female guests under the age of 21
9. If you rent a tux and need to return it to the groom's father, you should take clothes to change into. Otherwise, you might have to drive home in your boxers unless you return it the next day
10. If you tell the groom's mother 100 times that she is not first to process down the aisle, she will still manage to go ahead of the mother of the bride
11. This same lady will refer to herself as the mother of the bride at least five times

After a 10 hour drive, we arrived home Sunday night around 11 PM, exhausted. However, it was good to see everyone, and we'll do it again in a month or so when they have a WV reception. Eesh. We'll also do it all twice more this summer, hopefully in a more organized fashion! I'm off to sleep....