Fall Color

Pre-Op

**Edited**

My mom made it through surgery with flying colors - they ended up taking the skin from her calf instead of thigh, but besides that she's doing great! Tonight she enjoyed some au bon pain from downstairs in the lobby (yeah our hospital is fancy like that) and now we are watching NCIS.

We still don't have a discharge date, but we're hoping she'll be home before Sunday!  Keep your fingers crossed!!

Original Post:

So today my mom is having her skin graft, so I am hanging out with her in pre-op.  So far, she's had a new IV put in (#3 and she has been here for like 36 hours... thats not a good record), and thats pretty much it.  They put her in a curtain area that is decorated with fish and has pretty ceiling tiles because its the children's area; they also have big bookshelf of books and legos on one wall.  The pre-op area is pretty boring - if its an emergency you skip this place all together, so everyone here is a scheduled surgery.

The surgery is pretty non-envasive.  They are taking skin from her thigh and grafting it over the vascular wound on her ankle (her leg looks like a burn so they are kinda treating it like one).  And thats pretty much it.  It should take an hour, so I guess when she's out I'll blog again.

winner winner chicken dinner

Aiming Low has started hosting a little photo contest once a week, where they ask for submissions on a theme and then pick the top 5 that they think stand out.  Its silly and fun, but on my first submission, bingo, I was a top five!  woot!  The theme was lens flare - the real not the photoshopped, and I just happened to be using flare a lot in my photos lately.  It was awesome to see some other photographer's take on lens flare - man people are freakin' creative!  I like that there are little contests like these to inspire me to take some better shots, and to see what other photographers are doing :-)

If you lived here, you'd be home by now...

I went back to AZ last weekend... my college roommate's wedding and the 30th Annual Flagstaff 10's Tournament - How could I pass that up?!  Needless to say, it was amazing.  I saw some old friends, got to see a beautiful wedding, basked in the AZ sunshine (it was a beautiful weekend) and tried to remember why I ever moved away... (ok, I do remember, it was for quite a few reasons).

Oh and for the record, I did not go to school in the desert.  We have snow (record snow fall last year actually) and trees (Ponderosa, Cottonwood and Aspen) and our mascot is Louie the LUMBERJACK!  Go Jacks!!

Yes, the sky is really that color.  There were no clouds, just endless blue skies all day.

SNOW ON THE PEAKS!!! 

New dining all wing... and Louie!  

Of all of the Lumberjack statues on campus, this is the only one that isn't creepy

Old Main steps

My teammate Rachel, getting her, um, war paint on?

I bet you are...

My home away from home for 4 years, with new windows and a new sign!

Wildflowers on campus

I think this plant is poisonous... 

**Edit: It is poisonous!** 

It's in this genus of plants: Datura; I knew I learned something in my AZ Forests and Wildlife class at NAU!  (it was such a great class)

everything in AZ is either poisonous or has thorns

HDR sunset from Sunset Point on I-17

The Simpsons....

Weird

So last week my neighbor's dog was stolen.  Apparently when little Roxy got out, a random person lured her away and took her to Newark, NJ.  When they figured out that she was fixed, they dumped her at a pound.  She's a purebred dog, so they figured she would make good breeding stock for a puppy mill.  I guess this has been happening a lot, so the pounds in Newark know to contact the pounds in the suburbs about lost purebred dogs.  Roxy is safe at home... but seriously, it creeps me out that people are driving around stealing dogs.

Travel Plans

The next few weekends are going to be a little crazy around here.  This past weekend I spent hanging out with the Teen Leaders up at Fall Rally.  It was a great time, we volunteered, we played games and sang songs and it really energized my own teens for this coming fall (everything a rally is supposed to do!)  This weekend I am off to AZ to see my roommate marry her long time love (it was love at first sight for them, but took a few years for them to actually get together - so sweet) and reunite with the Timberdoodles up at NAU!  I am so excited to see everyone, check out how much NAU has changed and watch some rugby!! I am not playing, because a: I am out of shape and b: Crystal will kill me if I show up at her wedding with a black eye or something!

The next weekend I am staying in the area but hopefully going down to Philly to bother (I mean hang out) with Lindsey, then to a baby shower for a good friend.  After that, my cousin is getting married in the Southern part of VA, so I might just spend the rest of that weekend in NC visiting and harassing the rugby team.


Still dont have a dress to wear to Crystal's or my cousin's wedding... better get on that lol