It's nice to know, via several email inquiries, that my presence has been missed, but I do have a really good excuse that doesn't involve a dog eating my blog posts. Three weeks ago in the Snippets I looked forward to having my hip replaced, and that seemed to go "without a hitch"--I had the surgery on the 7th and was home by the 12th, sitting here thinking about updating and thanking everyone for their prayers. But alas, before the next Sunday rolled around, I developed a fairly serious complication that provided me with yet another setback. My 72-hour wound check uncovered a "seroma" deep below the surface, and after it literally exploded in the exam room (I'm not kidding...we had to throw part of my clothes away right there!) I was taken upstairs to surgery once again. Another five hours in the OR and another five days in the hospital was added to my recent adventures, but I'm now home again, in the beginning stages of therapy and glad to be allowed out of my room!

This week, Dave's been working on the latest phase of our deck construction, a triangular pergola in one corner. It's been great to be able to walk out there (with my walker, of course) to check on progress. Hopefully, by next week I'll be able to post pictures!

As we approach the end of another academic year, one I've not had nearly the hand in that I've had in other years, I have been contemplating what our lives will be like in the fall. We could have three fewer kids in the house by then due to a variety of reasons, and only two students, both in high school. Of course there's a joyful procession of grandkids in and out, but even those will be fewer due to Dave and Kris' upcoming move to north Texas. This house, that has at times held 15 or more inhabitants, will be down to a mere five! Yes, there have been times when I've looked forward to not having so many shoes to pick up or dishes to load, but deep down I've always known that there would be a lot of melancholy to go along with the reduced workload and messiness. I thank God that I've had the privilege of "enduring" these for so long!

This week I read a fun and valuable book, The Little Book of Bulletproof Investing: Do's and Don'ts to Protect Your Financial Life by Ben Stein. Not only did I gain some insight into long-term finances, but I am always amused that the same man who can write a serious book on finances and economics is the same one who pretty much played himself in the 1986 teen coming-of-age comedy, Ferris Bueller's Day Off. It's a wild world.

It'll be interesting to watch what happens with the newly-signed legislation on illegal immigrants in Arizona. While I firmly believe states must have the right to address their own problems, I don't think that in the current "progressive" legal climate the legislation will stand. And it appears that it may also cause some violence in the state, further complicating the underlying issues. No good answers, at least not while so many Americans think that "illegal" just means "undocumented" or some other euphemism for being here in violation of our sovereign laws.

Looks like this will be the week we'll trade in one of our two gas-guzzling Suburbans for a more moderate used Pontiac Montana. We still need vehicles that hold several people, but we no longer have to have one that seats eight, and we REALLY don't need anything that has such a drinking problem! Gas prices, even before the $.15 (or more) a gallon tax that will probably be tacked on with the new energy bill, are downright scary!

One of my projects for this summer: use my new scanner to get 37 years' worth of old and fading photos stored in digital format. Then I will get rid of about 9/10 of the hard copies and just save the gems. Sometimes I wonder what I would have thought in 1973 if someone had told me how we'd be storing and editing and transmitting photos within the next thirty years. I'm sure I'd have given them a blank stare :-)

Enjoy your last week of April!

Labels: Books, Health, Homemaking, Money