Old China Video

Flash Me Friday- Put Your Feet Up!!

The theme to this Flash Me Friday is: Where do you put your feet up? Where do you relax?

Are you interested in also participating? This brainchild of Jen over at The Groettum Family blog is going to be a weekly series in which we have to take a picture of her choosing without any cleaning up whatsoever. If you want in on the action, please visit here for the "rules".

Still have to have our neighbor the TV specialist come over and hide those cords hanging from the TV :)

Any suggestions for wall art?

This is LITERALLY where I put my feet up :)

This is generally where Mandi puts her feet up (although those are my feet). Who do you think has the better view??

The Singing Cysters!!!!!

This video is all over the CF community, but I wanted to make sure as many people see it as possible. These two "singing cysters" not only audition for America's Got Talent, but they BLOW IT OUT OF THE WATER!!! Couldn't be more proud of these two and I was smiling ear-to-ear while watching them sing.

New Contest, Need Help for Winners

I wanted to bring back a feature that I used to do on this blog. I need help though. I need a clever title for the series and I need prize suggestions for the winner. Here's my thought: every week I'll post a picture with no commentary whatsoever. The contest will be to see who can come up with the best/funny/most clever caption. I'll then put all of the week's winners into a hat and draw a grand prize winner. Grand prize winner will get ______. Now is this stupid or is it alright?? What should the prize be?

Here's the first picture:

The 7 Worst Things About Busted Ribs

So the pain in my side/ribs/back is actually getting worse, so I figured I take this opportunity to complain :) No, I'm kidding...well kind of. Just think of this as 7 reasons why you should avoid cracking your ribs or trying to keep up with the youngsters and "really showing them how to boogie board" only to have the wave swallow you up and spit you out like the rag doll it turned you into.

1. It interrupts one of my favorite activities. This would be sleeping. I'm generally a side sleeper and no matter what side I roll to I can't get comfortable. It takes me quite a while to get adjusted and put pillows in the correct position to actually be comfortable to sleep, but then inevitably I wake up in the morning in an ever stranger position and my ribs aching.

2. I haven't been able to exercise in any real sense of the word. We've been very good about our walks and bike rides fortunately, but I would love to get a run in or go to the gym. Problem is, any sort of a "jounce", and it sends me through the roof. As far as weight lifting, almost every lift requires some sort of pressure on yours sides. It just ain't happening.

3. I'm trying to stifle my cough while not stifling my cough. This may be the most troublesome. We all know how important it is to be able to cough like crazy, well, when I cough it feels like some one is jabbing an ice pick into my sides. The other problem, it's getting worse. Which leads me to my next point.

4. My vest is even now starting to hurt. Today, for the first time since the injury, I've had to turn down the pressure on my Vest. I did the Vest the day this all went down and it didn't bother me, but now I just can't take the pressure. This is starting to get very annoying.

5. The pain will make me lose my thoughts. I don't have a good memory as it is and I often forget what I'm talking about in the middle of a sentence, but this is making it even worse. I'll think of something that I need to tell Mandi, get ready to spit it out, the pain interrupts, and then boom, thought gone.

6. I'm taking pain killers. Many would consider this a good thing, but not I. I have never ever liked any sort of a pain killer. Generally they'll muffle the pain, but I've never been a fan of the side effects. They usually mess with my bowels and make me a little sick to my stomach. This may be the worst part though, the percocet is starting to not even mask the pain. Boo.

7. Not actually knowing what is going on and even if I find out, not being able to do anything about it. So long story short: Got hurt in Mexico, went to Mexican clinic for xrays, xrays clean, not so sure I believe the xrays, got second opinion on xrays when I got back home, confirms clean xrays, told that fractures may not show up if xrays were taken right away, now questioning xrays, but ultimately told that no matter what it is the treatment is pain control and rest. Any questions?? :)

Finally LIVING with CF: Is This a House or a Pharmacy?

As many of you know, Ronnie and I just started living together. You hear stories all the time from married couples about the adjustment period when you first get married. I must say, we haven't had any real issues thus far (let's hear it for the honeymoon period...woot woot), but there was one thing that did make me snap (in a minor, fleeting sort of way). Having just moved in, our house is still in a state of organized chaos. For the most part, things are where they should be, but there are occasions where we'll find a random article that is misplaced. Sometimes it's that it was thrown into a box with unassociated stuff, so it got unloaded in a room it shouldn't have been. Other times, we will have set something down and totally forgotten about it.

Well, as I was going around trying to clean up and organize a few weeks back, I kept finding Ronnie's medicine and/or treatment paraphernalia. We're talking, empty vials from his albuterol, atrovent, and pulmozyme on the floor (in Ronnie's defense, just missed "shots" into the trash can); neb cups and tubing under my sink and in my shoe organizer; Albuterol and Atrovent packets on the desk; inhalers on shelves; more neb cups and tubing in the closet. After picking up empty vials on my hands and knees and finding several clusters of meds all over the house, I snapped (and again, I use this term loosely, I really didn't get THAT bent out of shape). I told Ronnie that I love his CF, but hate living in a pharmacy. I (probably not so) kindly asked him if he could please make sure all his meds, nebs, and the like made it to the medicine stash in the kitchen.

Needless to say, I still have some adjusting to do when it comes to the CF life. I'm totally fine with the fact that there are tons of medical supplies and medicines in the house, I just don't want them strewn all over every room.

Do you guys ever feel like your house has become one big pharmacy?

**Side Note: We were in the settling in process. Ronnie would have picked up the misplaced items at some point in the near future, so me copping a 'tude was probably not needed.