home sweet home...

 We got home around midnight, the pups so glad to see us.  They were well loved and well taken care of while we were gone (thank you SO much, Sam and Grace, especially Grace...and kids too, for all the extra pets!).  But there is nothing like walking in and getting home.

The trip home was decent, no almost missing the plane drama.  In fact, we weren't assigned seats yet, Miss Char and I, so we had to go to the desk and we chose aisle seats, even though they were in the back row.  Paul had an aisle seat ahead of us, but Cam was up in the middle of the plane in the middle row.  They moved her next to Paul.  I was chatting with the flight attendant, she mentioned a family of four was heading to the back row and might want us to switch seats, but I said I would much rather be on the aisle, liked to be able to get up when needed.  She said she might just have different seats for us.  Boring details, but so fun and exciting for Miss Char and I!  The family came down the aisle toward the back, and not to be mean, because look at me, but they were all very large people.  Two grown daughters and the parents, I was actually fine with it, already knew we would be friends, but the flight attendant said, "Um no, I'm moving you girls, come on...lots of people have their eye on these seats, let's get them". She led us to the middle of the plane to the Even More Room seats behind the emergency exit row.  There were three seats, only two of us...we could stretch forwards and sideways!    My back-of-the-seat t.v. didn't work, but Miss Char had a book, the new Hunger Games book...the flight wasn't quite long enough, but I managed to finish it on the second shorter flight.

This fine morning, laundry and puttering around, then going to Aldi with Kathryn.  It's a whole new game, going with four children.  Ellis likes to nurse, and he also pooped right up his back.  I carried him into the store, and Kathryn carried him around while I pushed the cart with the other three kids in it...we didn't need too much, good thing ha.  

With Char in Arizona

Happy birthday dear Paul!

Riley made a killer chocolate cake with Italian buttercream custard in the middle.

We went night swimming, Pretzel wasn't too sure we should.  

So while in Arizona, guess what?  My lie-awake throbbing knee pain disappeared.  Oh, they still hurt when I walked too much, and I had a rather painful and disturbing clicking thing act up in my "good" knee, but I think the dessert dryness/heat really helped.  Today, ouch.  It's damp and rainy and cold and chilly and cozy but yeah, ouch.

You should be proud of me, I have not cancelled my surgery yet, or even postponed it.  It's getting real.  The dr. office called today, and wants me to come in Monday for another x-ray and for a surgery plan.  I have a cardiologist appointment to make sure I'm healthy enough for the procedure.  Everything in me is screaming DON"T DO IT.  WAIT UNTiL FALL.  swimming...I don't want to miss swimming...

But the part of my brain I'm listening to is saying get it over with.  sooner we do it, sooner we mend.  Also, be in better shape when Sonja's baby is born.  

So, I'm trying to trick myself, hypnotize myself, ha..you will NOT worry about things that probably won't even happen, or thing that will be terrible that you WILL survive.   You will not think about how much it costs, or how hard it will be to get up the stairs into this house, or or or.  

Our suitcase got destroyed on the trip home.  Apparently you have to file the claim within four hours of claiming your luggage, and we did not do that.  We saw how broken it was when we got home, but we just showered and went to bed.  Of course I was adjusted to west coast time, and when Orange Guy meowed at two o'clock, I was still awake...so it's been a tired day.   I think it's too late to file though, which stinks beacuse it was nice.