But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility... Eph. 2:13-14

Thursday, November 29

Running in three foot deep Play-DoughⓇ


Well, Bandit is still around. It turns out that even though my family talks tough about getting rid of pets, they just can't do it. I kept telling everyone that we needed to get it over with. 
Tomorrow we're taking him to the vet and explaining our situation. Since Dad doesn't want to euthanize him we're going to see if psych meds are an option. I just wish it was all over. But this way I don't have any guilt - we're going to push that onto the poor vet. Oh well, he's used to it.

Anyway, something has to be done. Maybe an exorcist? 

Well, so far I've gotten a couple of Christmas presents bought (Mom, my sister and my Sunday School class) and I'm getting things ready to start making some. And then there are some people that I just can't figure out what to give them. Hopefully I'll figure it out soon!
Especially Dad. What on earth can I get Dad? 
Well anyway, I hope that was a nice little update for you. Sorry that it isn't more happy/interesting.
God Bless.

Wednesday, November 28

Lighter Note...


Hey, did you see the map right over there ->
It shows me where all of my readers are! Isn't that exciting?! 

Tuesday, November 27

Good Riddance


Okay, so I'm back from a great time at Grandmas' houses. My sister and I are worn out, but we had a lot of fun. 

But for more exciting news:

Bandit is a devil dog and he's going bye-bye. I had considered putting the following on here:

Wanted: A good home for a bad dog
Family must be willing to have all belongings destroyed, visiting children bitten, incessant barking when there are visitors, and never go anywhere but their own house. It should also be noted that dog suffers from Separation Anxiety and something else that could be called plain selfishness if he wasn't an animal. Dog was given the name Bandit, but never answers to it,  loves to run free and terrorize  the neighborhood, while rolling in roadkill and picking fights with bigger dogs. Dog suffers from a bite from a neighboring dog that is finally healing. Future owners are advised to never leave him locked up or on a chain, as this will cause noises that make your neighbors think your torturing him. Also, no drug can knock him out. Please RSVP as soon as possible, as his favorite human cannot take anymore.

Yes, I considered putting that on here all by itself, but then I got home.

I never thought that I could despise the dog that I once cherished. With all of his thousands of faults, he has always been my puppy. my baby. my hot-water bottle. No more.

Bandit Bit Dad

So there's not much more to say. What makes me REALLY mad is that Dad wasn't being mean to him or anything. The only reason the dumb mutt bit him was that... well... there wasn't a reason. And what Really Really makes me mad is that the only reason the stupid dog is still living a great life in my house is me.

So it's time to say good bye to Bandit. Or good riddance. If you want to, you can think that I am very cruel, that I haven't done right by the animal, that I am a horrible-awful human being. Go ahead. You haven't lived through Bandit.


Sunday, November 25

Back to Boring Posts


So wazzup my adoring fans? Okay, I'm joking. But if you'd like to comment and tell me how you're doing today, that would be absatively posalutly wonderful of you.

I don't really have anything to blog about. My dog is crazy. We had to lock him up with the cone on during church today, and when we got home he had it torn off. Thankfully he didn't tear at himself,  though. I was able to fix the cone up, and it actually fits him better now. Weird. 

Anyway, we're going to try to leave him unbandaged and de-conified tonight because he's scabbed over. Pray that it works out okay.

Well, I guess this is a pretty boring blog. We took my sister's rabbit to Sunday School today (because God made bunny rabbits!) and she was a big hit. She was a very good bunny. 

And if you want anymore updates on my teeth (everyone sighs, rolls their eyes and skims through this part) I'm doing very well. 

Time to give Dad the goodnight kiss... Okay. Well, goodnight everyone!

Saturday, November 24

Christmas is now drawing near at hand...

So sorry for not posting anything yesterday. It was our traditional go-get-the-tree-and-let-the-chaos-begin day. But it was fun. In all probability, no one was able to get on here yesterday anyway.

Well, first I'll tell you about Bandit.
His boo-boo was doing good, but then he wouldn't leave it alone and it- well anyway, let's just say it wasn't pretty. We needed to bandage him up, but he would have torn off the bandage. So we came up with a solution:

I know it's not the best picture in the world, but you get the idea. Needless to say, Bandit hates it. But it's working!

Okay, now for my update. Well, there's not much to report. I still have canyons in my gums, but they're shrinking. There's no pain unless I eat too much rough food. My front teeth feel like they're pushing together, though (just last night and this morning) which isn't good, because that's why my wisdom teeth were removed. Well, maybe it's just me. Anyway, this is probably the end of my Tooth Journal, because there isn't anything to report after this. The holes will slowly close and that'll be the end of it. Nothing exciting to report. Thanks again to everyone who's been praying for me. I couldn't have made it without you.

Well, in my other life, today I'm just cleaning up the kitchen and then I have a lot of undercover work I need to do. Monday my sister and I are going to my grandma's house to visit and have lunch, and then we're going to my other grandma's house to have dinner and stuff. I can't wait! Then Saturday (a week from today) I'm going Christmas shopping. So I really need to get my list together and see what I still need and stuff. Anyway, thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a truly awesome day full of the Lord. No joke.

¡Adios!

Wednesday, November 21

There's a hole in my head, dear 'Liza dear 'Liza

The stitch removal was a success! It only took about five minutes total, and it didn't really hurt at all. I only felt it on my left side, which has hurt more than my right through the entire ordeal. Plus I've got a neat little syringe with a curved tip for hydro-surging the holes.

What holes? The deep, dark caverns that are in my mouth for a limited time only. I'm thinking about giving tours. It's like a landmark that is disappearing - get your tickets now! Okay, seriously, close to half of my dinner was rinsed out of these four caverns. The hole in the bottom left side of my head looks like it should go all the way through my cheek. It doesn't feel too nice, either.

But hey! Life is good! My blasted stitches are out, I can eat and chew* and tomorrow is Thanksgiving. I have so much to be thankful for!!!

On that subject, thanks to everyone who prayed for me. I could really tell that you were praying. You slacked off a little bit on the fourth day, but I think you must have read my blog or something, because you started up again like a champ. Okay, I'm just messing with you. But I did wonder...

Anyway, I hope and pray that you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Enjoy your pumpkin pie (nice and soft!!!). To increase your thankfulness, you could crunch something and remember that some people can't eat anything crunchable. Of course on that same note, you could just plain eat and remember that one person dies every three and a half seconds of hunger. That can make a person thankful.

So anyway, I'm tired, and I hope that last fact wasn't too much of a damper on your wonderful celebration. May God bless you and keep you and cause His face to shine upon you.
Bye!!!

*Limited to small bites and nothing crunchy

Bandit

I thought you might like to see a picture of my precious pooch. As you can see, he's the cutest thing that ever lived. And this isn't even a very good picture of him.

Good morning, good morning, good morning to you!!!


Well, I'm waiting for my sister's pumpkin pie to finish baking so that I can bake my apple pie, so I guess I'll give whatever update I can.

Last night I couldn't get to sleep. Then this morning Bandit woke me up at some insane hour, so I kicked him out of the room. My mouth hurt and I couldn't get back to sleep, so I was pretty miserable. Eventually I got up to take something and found out that it was 6 am, which was a little later than I thought it was. I was disappointed, because that meant that I wouldn't have much time to sleep. Mom gave me a Vicodin because I hurt so bad and I wanted to sleep, and I went back into my room and tried to sleep. That didn't work, however, so I decided just to get up and get with it - I was wide awake anyway. So I got up at the insane hour of a little after six and read my Bible. My sister got up shortly after (probably having a heart attack because she was up later than me) and we all decided to get my brother up and have breakfast. We ate and sang a hymn, which was very nice, and practiced our memory verses. Then we all got up and started cleaning up the kitchen for pie making. Now, as I said, I'm just waiting for my pie's turn in the oven. 

So far this day has been pretty awesome. God is very, very, very, very, extremely good.

I still have to get my stitches out this afternoon, which I'm not looking forward to. I'll be glad to get it over with, though. My gums are tired of these foreign threads invading their territory.

So anyway, I hope everyone is having a great time getting ready for Thankgiving.

Tuesday, November 20

Nearing the End

Okay! I'm so very sorry to have left you hanging Sunday. I'll pick up where I left off.

After a wonderful night of watching 'My Man Godfrey' ...

We got ready for Family Bible Reading. Unfortunately we were WAY behind, and I fell asleep at some point. When I woke up everyone was getting ready for bed. I felt kinda bad, but apparently everyone else had nodded off, too. Plus Vicodin makes me kinda sleepy.

Anyway, we were all getting ready for bed. My sister went up to our room, and I was going to sleep in Dad's recliner again because I woke up miserable when I slept in my own bed. My brother was going to sleep on the couch to keep me company.

Everything was going according to plan, until my dog told us that he needed to go out. We all knew it was a lie, because he'd just been out, so we told him to his face that he needed to stop lying. Instead he went to Dad, because he knows that Dad will give in.

He was right. Dad took him out. And he didn't have to go. He had to protect.

Outside stood the Hound of the Baskerville's and Friend (two evil dogs that prowl our road at night).

I had just drifted off to sleep when I heard high-pitched yipping and Dad yelling at some dog to "get out of here".

'Oh some pomeranian is attacking Bandit. How funny.'

Then the door opened and as streak of yipping white fur charged up the steps. After chasing him out from under all of our furniture, Dad gave him a look-over to see if he'd been bit. 

He had.

On the bottom.

Poor mutt.

So Mom and Dad fixed him up as best they could and we went to bed very late at night.

The next morning we woke up too early and went to church. I didn't feel very good, but by the time Sunday School started the Vicodin had kicked in and I was pain-free.

It stopped working just as it was time to go upstairs, so my entire church service was pretty miserable.

Then Dad had a meeting, and I fell asleep in the van - which meant I woke up disoriented and in pain. But when we got home I was able to crash. Bandit was doing better and I just laid in Dad's recliner on mouth-rest. That night I tried sleeping in my bed again and I didn't wake up feeling miserable.

Yesterday I felt better than I had through this entire trial - not wonderful, mind you, but much better. I was even able to eat the same meal that the rest of the family was eating. I gave Bandit a little bit of Tylenol because he seemed like he was in a lot of pain, and he perked up a lot. We watched Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back that night, and I was able to sleep in my own bed without fear. I slept very well, too. In case you were wondering.

Today I've felt almost perfect. I was able to clean up my room (not a small task) and as you can see I am finally filling you in on the past three days. Bandit seems almost normal, too. I feel bad for him, but now he's barking and having more fun and stuff. So anyway, the end is in sight and I'm VERY glad. Tomorrow I'm getting my stitches taken out, so I'm just a teensy-weensy bit nervous about that, but besides that I'm very happy. I'll be able to eat almost everything on Thanksgiving!!!

Thanks for checking up on me!
Bye



Monday, November 19

Quick Update


I don't have any time, but I just wanted to let you know that I haven't forgotten about you.

Quick summary of the past 48 hours:

Yesterday was abysmal 
Today was the best I've had

I'll finish my detailed account of yesterday (Sunday), along with a detailed account of today (Monday) later.

Good night.

Sunday, November 18

a very quick upd-... to be continued


Well, I had a lot of fun at the tea party yesterday, but I think I had a little too much fun and talked a little too much. Anyway, when we (my sister and I) went home, Mom and Dad had locked us out of the house - they had gone out to lunch since their kids were all doing something. So we headed back to Next-door-neighbor's house and I rinsed out my mouth with salt water like I'm supposed to. When I came out of the bathroom I found out that my sister had cut her leg outside. Our poor next-door-neighbors! I'd like to take a moment to publicly thank them for being so great.

So when I got home Mom put me on mouth-rest (as opposed to bed-rest). I wasn't allowed to leave Dad's recliner until this morning - which meant I got to play a lot of The Firestorm's gamecube games - well, two - Smash Bros. and Animal Crossing. I couldn't play any wii games because I couldn't move that much, so I'd like to take a moment to publicly thank him for lending me his games. Animal Crossing rocks!

Anyway, guess what!?! Mom got me some spaghetti-o's! Isn't she the bestus mommy in the whole wide world?! Plus she got mini ravioli and beefaroni. I am so blessed!

After a wonderful night of watching 'My Man Godfrey' ...

Sorry, I had to leave for church. I'll have to finish my story later, because I'm exhausted and in a lot of pain. Thank you for your prayers.

Saturday, November 17

I look poofy.

Well, Last night I stayed up till 2 something in the morning - mostly because I was very hungry and eat very slowly now - and slept in my bed instead of Dad's recliner. 

Last night was a lot of fun. Our down-the-road neighbors/church family had a huge bonfire and a bunch of people from church came down. I had a blast. Because everyone lives so far away we don't usually get to get together with them, so it was a treat. I was having so much fun that my mouth didn't hurt at all for a very long time. We had a "hayride" in the back of our pickup truck. Dad drove and Mom was co-pilot. I rode in the back for the last one and had a great time. Looking back, maybe I shouldn't have sung so much, but oh well. I was also very happy because I got to nibble on hotdogs! Real Food!!! 

On that subject, this whole nibbling thing is a great diet plan. By the time you've swallowed the food you've been masticating you've burned up more calories than you've consumed. Of course, this does nothing for you if you're hungry. As I said: great diet plan.

So this morning (well, okay, afternoon) I woke up swollen and dry (I think I slept with my mouth open) and sore. I look poofy. : ( The Oral Surgeon said that this will probably be the worst day. I'm going to Next-door-neighbor's tea party. I've only gotten to go to one, but it was a lot of fun. I still have an hour, so I hope I feel a little bit better.

I really really really really really want a challupa (or however you spell it) from Taco Bell, cheap chicken strips dipped in ranch dressing, a sandwich on toasted bread with lettuce, or anything else substantial and crunchy. I mean, I love cream of wheat, don't get me wrong, but I want some real food so bad! I think Mom said that she would get me some spaghetti-o's today. That would be pure bliss.

Anyway, I hope everyone isn't bored to tears by this wisdom-tooth journey. And I also hope that you get the picture that I am doing really great. Now that I've taken my pain medication I'm doing great.

Have an awesome day full of the Lord, everyone!


Friday, November 16

Life without Wisdom

Well, I've got an ice pack strapped to my chin that makes me look like I'm an amish man (I've had Amish Paradise stuck in my head all day), so I thought that I'd give you an update on my situation. Yay! I got to take off the ice pack.
Well, mouth is sore, but I've got great pain medication, so I'm doing pretty well. I slept in Dad's recliner last night because I'm not supposed to lay down, but it was pretty comfortable.

So nothing catastrophic to report.

Have a great day! (I am so far!)

p.s. I don't have time for spellcheck now, either.

Thursday, November 15

Be a dentist...

wahhhh!


Well, I just got back home. I was pretty nutty when they woke me up, but now I'm just miserable. The drugs made me super emotional and the numbing is wearing off, so now I hurt. The back of my throat hurts too, Mom said that they probably had some kind of tube down there to keep me from suffocating.

I really loved my nurse. Even though she had to interrogate me to no end over whether or not I could be pregnant or if I was taking any kind of birth control (FYI - the answer is NO) she connected to me pretty well. She buys pretty journals at book stores and never uses them, too.

I had my first I.V. which literally felt like a pinprick. I felt it and thought, 'uh-oh, here it comes' and they told me that that was it. But it WAS tiny. Then all of the sudden I started getting that wonderful feeling that I can go to sleep. I have a lot of experience with this feeling, because I have a hard time getting to sleep at night, so when I have this feeling, I know what to do. I started breathing like I should and boom! I was out.

Well, now I'm at home. And in pain. Extreme pain. Well, no, not extreme. I'd rather have extreme. I just pray that I don't ruin everyone's night. And all I wanna do is cry (it's the drugs). and I look goofy, to boot.

Cutting out my Wisdom

Okay! So today is the day that I get my wisdom teeth taken out - all four of 'em. So far it hasn't been too bad - yesterday I was spoiled to no end with my favourite meal, treat, you name it. Plus, since I can't chew after the surgery I've got eggnog (rock on!), pudding and jello! With only a 2% chance of anything going wrong, this could turn out to be a pretty sweet weekend.

I figured that I would be really nervous today, but so far it's been cool. My big fear was the anesthetic, but I've gotten a lot of feedback from people I know about it, so really I'm just dreading an I.V., but I think I'll survive.

The other thing I don't like is that I've put a lot of time into making these teeth, and now they're going to be taken out! Oh well.

Anyway, I guess no one really wants to hear about my mouth, so I'll get off now.

Okay, I'll admit, I'm a little twitchy over it. Maybe I'll just do a bunch of math. If that doesn't calm a person down, nothing will.

I'll post if I have any fun complications or anything like that, but I don't think I will.

Oh yeah, my article turned out presentable.

p.s. I don't have time to spell-check, so forgive any Type-Os

Friday, November 9

Yet another "What Shall I Write?!?!" Post

Well, it's time for another Christian Writer's Guild assignment that I'm stuck on. I figure if I just keep writing, maybe put together a couple of spoofs, I'll get my inspiration. It won't be anything great or anything like that, just to warn you.

So the first assignment I'm stuck on (besides haveing to write out asisngment over and over and spelling it rong everee tiem) is...

"In a paragraph, describe an unusual personal experience related to a seasonal or historical event - one that could spark ideas for an article."

Unusual personal experience...related to a seasonal...event...hmm...
Well, Last year we spent Christmas Eve night at my grandma's house. I didn't realize at the time that caffeine affected me so much, so I ate Chocolate-covered espresso beans like they were chips. I couldn't sleep at all that night. It was TERRIBLE. But staying at grandma's house was a lot of fun.

Oh yeah, before I go any further, I should probably list the next assignments I'm stuck on:
"Write out the lead paragraph and another one establishing the significance of the experience at the heart of the article."
"Next write out the key anecdote you would include, tying it to the lead."
"Now develop the full article, including a powerful conclusion, in no more than 1,000 words."

I really hope I don't get in trouble for posting all of these questions and stuff. Oh well. They won't find out, and if they do, I'll apologize. I never saw anything that said that you couldn't blog about your lessons.

So let's try out this idea, shall we?

In the Christmas of 2006, my family and I spent Christmas Eve night at my grandmother's house. During the first part of the evening all of my mother's siblings got together and exchanged gifts, ate good food and celebrated Christmas. Some of us played a hilarious game called Faces, and I was gulping down chocolate-covered espresso beans as fast as I could, sealing my doom. That night I tossed and turned, trying to find rest. When morning came and my alarm went off to wake up my siblings and check out the stockings, I was so tired I could hardly see. While I waited for Mom and Dad to wake up I took a Christmas Morning nap.

Nah. Too lame. And I can't think up a decent ending. My paragraph is morphing into an article.

Well, anyway, this isn't working, so I guess I'll sign off for now.

Adios, Amigos!