What Did I Do on Monday Evening?

A Virus or Pneumonia?

Okay, this has become almost comical if it weren't so miserable.

This last weekend while I was moving furniture like crazy, my husband suddenly doesn't feel well. I never know what to do with that mainly because he mostly just wants to be left alone. If you don't leave him alone, he gets cranky. He usually let's it last for weeks until I raise my voice and make him go to the doctor's.

So he is in bed with his laptop working on his dissertation (that could easily be destroyed by this virus). While I was gone in St. Louis, his computer got a nasty virus. He took it to the place he bought it, left it for about 10 days, for $230, got the stinker removed. Not so! While he is in bed with his computer this weekend, the virus comes back.

He is shaking and shivering (fever!) taking his infected computer to the shop.

We found out his flash drive had a virus. Tossed that baby. Virus came back this afternoon, shivering husband goes back!! I know! There were two viruses that kind of fed each other and kept each other going. Gads! Let's hope!

Anyway, this whole time of going back to the shop, my husband keeps having recurring shivering spells and spiking fevers. To his credit, he normally would "suck it up" and keep going about his business. This time he at least got into bed and rested, unless he was going back to the computer shop. To his credit, he went to the doctor way sooner than he normally would, like by weeks.

He just popped in from the doctor's this morning. He has pneumonia and he is contagious.

Which is worse? A husband with contagious pneumonia or a computer virus that just won't die.

That's a tough one.

Fish or Cut Bait

Okay, this is what the basement looked like a year ago when T came over and we did a major Goodwill run and she gave me the vision of my office in my basement.



This is my basement two days ago after finally get more piled up junk out of the way. I had been painting on cement seal to keep moisture to a minimum. Honestly, sealer is like painting with toothpaste. It is thick and hard work to roll on. The last bit I did this morning I did with a brush and felt much better.




And this is the beginnings of my office. We had to have an argument this morning for this to be accomplished. I had been planning for well over a year to bring my gargantuan desk to the basement. Why? I didn't want to spend the bucks on a new one. Hubbie convinced me getting that huge desk into this small space would be impossible. Okie dokie, then I need to spend some money. For those of you in my city, I went to City Liquidators, which is a totally junky used office supply place, where you can find serious bargains. I love what I found. I found a desk with no drawers. But it was displayed with these two rolling drawer sets that slide really nicely under the desk, and have more room than if the desk had a bank of drawers. One of them had a pretty chewed up top, so it was only $20.00. The final bill was $160.00. After looking at Office Depot's website, where a cheap new desk starts at $235.00, we scored.



I am actually blogging from that exact pictured area. In other words, my new wireless set up works too. I don't have to have the phone company come out and hardwire my basement.

One more perk, for now. It is about 15 degrees cooler in the basement. One more downside, it is fifteen degrees cooler in the basement, and that will not be so nice in November.

However, the big picture. My former office upstairs is on it's way to being our homeschool room. I am beyond excited for that. To have an area with no distractions (like our kitchen table can be) where JM, and eventually BH, can do their school work is a blessing.

Bullets Points of My Life This Week

1) We hired a young whipper snapper to strip paint off the south side of our house. Look back to some of my posts from last summer. What a project this has been! I was hoping Young Whipper Snapper could do it all, I think he did too. It's hard work, and he had other projects lined up. He didn't finish, but he got a great start on it for us.

2) Young Whipper Snapper gave us a Play Station 2. Fun! Used games are cheap, but be discerning. They are not all for young kids. We got Finding Nemo, Veggie Tales, and several sports ones. We love Tony Hawk skateboarding games, but not for Play Station 2. They are a little bloody. Took that one back and got NCAA football.

3) Because of the new Play Station 2, the level of arguing has risen in our home amongst the youngsters. This also happened when we got Gameboys. I think it will subside soon. If it doesn't, the Play Station 2 will get kicked to the curb.

4) My husband and I have summer colds. I can't seem to get my energy up. I am also wondering if I am fighting a bit of an infection from my tooth. By the way, my tooth feels really good. It's the rest of me that is misfiring.

5) We are going to move my gargantuan desk to the basement this week if it kills me. The homeschool curriculum is on it's way. No more waiting around!

6) I set up wireless on my computer. When it gets relegated to the basement, I won't have to find another phone line. It's ready to go.

7) Vacation Bible School went really well, until the last day. I saw one of the teen volunteers totally bark at JM and get really angry at him. How shall I say this? Only I am allowed to do that. I talked to the director and told her I wasn't okay with that. Luckily she and I know each other really well, and she agreed that isn't okay at all and would take care of it. I also made it clear, my son is not an angel, he may have needed to be scolded, but yelling out of pure anger is not okay.

8) I have a hot date with Tracy, her husband and a good friend on Monday night on the sternwheeler dinner cruise we did for our anniversary last month. I am excited. I am sure the weather will be nicer, and the sunset will be breathtaking. Plus we have our new camera that doesn't make the sky pink.

9) I painted the cement walls in the basement today with cement sealing paint. I think a better description would be toothpaste. That stuff is incredibly thick, because it's a sealant. I am almost done with that. Then this computer gets torn down, and down in the pit it goes.

10) I get to sleep in on Saturday. Somebody let the youngsters know that.

Doctor's Orders

Okay, so as I left my dentist's office, he gave me one piece of advice. He said, "Basically, as you eat, if you feel any sharp pain up your tooth, call us. There are about six different ways that could go, bottom line, call us." Got it. Of course that won't happen to me right?

Wrong. As good as I have been to be very careful in not eating crunchy things or meaty things, it happened anyway.

I was dead asleep last night. I think I clenched my teeth, because suddenly I heard a pop in my head, and an instant sharp pain right up my face. It lasted quite awhile, and I laid there throbbing for quite awhile.

Did I wear my mouth guard last night? No, my teeth are too sore. The mouth guard would have prevented that, I think.

Anyway, call into the dentist this morning. He hasn't called me back yet, but I am no hurry to go back in and have my face opened up again. The saga continues....

Sound of Drilling Hanging Over the Pacific Northwest...

Root canal is over, and the drilling wasn't too bad. You might remember, it was on a tooth that already had a filling that had fallen out, and I had ignored for awhile. Since it was already drilled out, the dentist just needed to drill out the decay, and that was deep. Honestly, none of that drilling bothered me and if he had done nothing else, I could have fallen asleep.

Teeth people, correct me if I am wrong, but from my perspective, this is what it seemed like. He goes to the hollow "canals" of my teeth where the roots are, and files them out. He used terms like, "I need a long file for the second canal". I can see him and feel him filing the inside canal of my tooth. The decay on that tooth was deep and it was questionable if we could save it. Dr. Awesome did, of course. But it also meant that as he was filing, he was going pretty deep.

So deep, I could feel him hitting the absolute tip of the root of my tooth in to flesh as he is filing. Now that is nothing I have felt before, and it hurt. It wasn't sensitive tooth hurt, it was hit me in the face hurt. The Novocain didn't cover that part of the procedure. Dr. Awesome is very cool in that he definitely knows what part of the procedure will be painful, will warn you ahead of time, etc. "You'll feel a quick pain here." "This will be uncomfortable for a moment." "A little bit of pressure for a moment."

He also filled another tooth that was to the back of the one he did the root canal on. "As long as we're numbed up, let's do it." Sounds good! No joking, he numbed me well. I felt absolutely nothing nerve-wise this time and that is unusual.

When we were done, I felt good. My face was numb, of course, and felt like it was sliding off my jaw. I came home and actually worked out for 30 minutes. Then I picked up the kids from Vacation Bible School, stopped at Jamba Juice and came home. I laid BH down for a nap, and I laid down too. I just woke up a little while ago. I zonked out and I didn't plan on it.

Now, I am feeling the pain of hitting the tip of the root. My face aches. My teeth are pretty okay, although I have been advised to eat soft things and be nice to them while all the "material" sets for the next ten days. I have three Advil Liqui Gels (my gold standard for all pain relievers) in me, and my husband is picking up yogurt so I can make a smoothie for my dinner. I might be pouring a glass of wine or making adult smoothies soon (pina coladas or margaritas).

All is well. More drilling coming up at the end of August.

Early Tuesday Morning....

By the time many of you read this, I will either be in the process of this or have just completed it. I am not sure what is worse.

Eight a.m. Tuesday morning, I have my root canal (dentist says "plan on two hours of drilling") topped off with a filling.

Two good things will come out of this. I'll probably lose a few pounds because I usually don't feel like using my teeth too much for the first few days after a root canal. I am thinking I'll treat myself to a Jamba Juice smoothie afterwards, which is my second good thing. I can actually do that because it won't send shooting pain through my teeth up into my eye sockets.

I'll give an update Tuesday night or Wednesday morning. Drilling begins at 8 a.m. PST.

Upon Arrival, What Did I Find?

I am home. It's amazing to me how one can be gone from their home for only a few days, and yet several things are hugely different. Here is my list of changes when I arrived:

* My husband and the kids cleaned the kids room. Honestly, I have given up trying to do that because it is three against one. What a pleasant surprise!

* We have hired a couple of guys who do house painting in the summer to strip the paint off the south side of our house. One because they have a ladder that can reach that high. Two because they quoted us a great price. Upon arrival, I saw three or four days of work, and it was alarming how much hasn't gotten done. I think they are going to ask for a renegotiation of that deal.

* I found out that my toddler did NOT go to the two days of summer camp I had planned for him. The answer I was told, "He didn't want to go." Well, I need him to go. That whole exercise was meant to prepare him for preschool in a few weeks. Now he knows he can capitulate and can come home. The time he spends in preschool is the time I need to homeschool his big brother. Dropping him off at Vacation Bible School this morning was no picnic. You could tell he took the protests to a new level. Why? He was taught that if he protests enough, he gets to go home. Sigh....one step forward, two steps back.

* My husband's laptop has a virus. Apparently, McAfee virus software that we spend a lot of money on is "mediocre". So we are looking at $230+ dollars to fix his computer. Did I mention a few posts back that our money tree is not in season?

* My dentist can drill my root canal tomorrow since he had a cancellation. I hope he can. But, I need the toddler to be in Vacation Bible School for that to happen. One step forward, two steps back.....

* And the final change....drum roll please.....Over a year ago, a friend gave us a great bed set. We have had a cruddy brass bed frame. I know, brass bed evokes that Victorian look right? No, this was a swirly brass that evoked feelings of the 70's and the Brady Bunch. The one my friend gave me was a basic set up, an oak head board that has one shelf for storage. Plus, she also included the pillow top mattress that makes me purr. Anyway, the frame has been in pieces in my bedroom for over a year. That is not something I can do myself. So, we have been busting our toes tripping on it forever.

It is set up. My hubbie and two troopers for children put it together.

A lot can happen in four days.

Closing Ceremonies

A panorama of our closing day today.



A very fun game we have of candle American Idol.











Our closing day is done. It is the middle of the night. We leave at the crack of dawn in the morning. Our bill is on the TV and is incorrect. Sigh....we need to fix that. All is well. I'll be home soon, in my own bed, hugging my little kids, and enjoying the lack of humidity.

Phrase of the Day

Yesterday we went to the London Tea Company in St. Louis. I have a new favorite place. I love traditional tea! The two best places in my city to have a good, unpretentious, traditional tea have closed.

I also bought two blends of teas that I sampled. Those are "The Naughty Vicar" a nice blend of black tea, blackberry and vanilla. Juxtaposed to that, I also go "The Monk's Blend" which is a blend of black tea with grenadine and vanilla.

What added to such a fine day, spending time with the girlfriends over tea. You can't beat that.

The Phrase of the Day I have heard one of my girlfriends say an awful lot (her ex-husband traded her in for a younger model last year, he is now living with his grandma) yesterday. "It's time for him to put on his big boy underwear......" or "it's time for her to put on her big girl panties....."

As I am drifting off to sleep last night, I realized several ways that phrase applies to life. I like it.

St. Louis

Where am I?? Yep, St. Louis for the national conference of the company I rep for.

It has been a long day of flying, shopping, visiting, walking, etc. The view out of our hotel is breathtaking as you can see.

The events begin tomorrow, and it should be fun. I am on west coast time, so it's late, but my body doesn't think so.

I watched the movie "The Constant Gardener" on my laptop on the flight. Yep, I recommend it. It's a tragic story. No happy ending at all.

I am off to bed.

Listen to the Music

I just got tagged by Kristina to list seven songs that are shaping my summer.

Here they are:
1) Cinderella by Steven Curtis Chapman. Ever since his daughter died, I cry hard when I hear that song on the radio.
2) Whatever it Takes by Lifehouse. Love that song!
3) After All These Years by Journey
4) Anything by Nickelback.
5) Every Little Thing She Does is Magic by Sting
6) Hannah Montana
7) Into the Night by Santana and Chad Kroeger (Nickelback's lead singer). Seriously, I love this song, and I wish it would be overplayed on the radio.

So, I tag FG, Angela, and hmm....Tracy.

I would also like to leave you with the video to Into the Night. Chad Kroeger is rocking cool with his scratchy voice, Santana is magic on the guitar as always, and this video isn't borderline pornography like every other video on the pop charts these days. Since this song is about a woman who bewitches a man with her dancing, it certainly had the propensity to be yucky. Chad is sporting a shorter, more styled hairdo. Hmm...is he selling out? We'll keep a watch for that.

Second Opinion Comes In....And God Provides.

After my gut-punching prognosis at the generic dentist, I was in agreement with everyone. A second opinion, and demanding some options were our next course of action. My husband was just as upset as I was, and wanting some choices in the matter.

We agreed, I need to see my dentist, Dr. Awesome, and admit my mistake. I saw him today. I LOVE my dentist! I will never ever deviate from him ever again, I will always suck up my pride, admit my fault, and subject myself to his expertise.

First thing, when I walked in, Dr. Awesome's assistant was with the receptionist. She took a look at the bill from the previous diagnosis. She tells me she used to temp for that exact office, and their prices are "steep" in her words. That gave me hope.

I showed Dr. Awesome the "Treatment Plan" given to me by Brand X dentist office, which has offices nationwide by the way. I also picked up a copy of my x-rays from them earlier today to take them with me to my appointment today. I also said, please be kind. I handled this badly. He said, "Oh, you know me, I am not like that!" It's interesting how our own perceptions cloud the reality of what the person is really like.

Dr. Awesome went down the list, and checked each thing that they prescribed. He set down his tools he used to probe my mouth and just said, "I disagree with a lot of this." Please tell me more!

Here we go:

Tooth number four, the one giving me the most pain. He agrees it needs a root canal and a crown. I agree too. BUT! He can do the root canal, and put in a temporary filling to stop the destruction and get it "healthy" until the insurance renews after the New Year and will pay for the crown. Thank you, Lord! You provide! I know You do, but this is just another example of Your provision where there was nothing.

He caught a few stray cavities as well. In general, when I go to the dentist, I have cavities. I honestly brush my teeth 2-3 times a day. He absolutely recommends rinsing just as many times a day with flouride. Studies Dr. Awesome has read show that rinsing can really build up your teeth and almost make a protective barrier on them. People like me who have bad teeth genes seem to respond well to this. Guy at Brand X office didn't tell me this. I'll be making a trip to the drug store in the next day or so, and I'll get back to you on this.

Receding gum needs a graft, but Dr. Awesome will do it differently than prescribed by Brand X. Again, to be preventative and cost effective. He showed me how if I pull back my gum enough I can see an exposed ligament. He also said don't do this incessantly, but that is where we need to fix that. Interesting huh? Brand X didn't give me a lesson in anatomy.

Here is the big one. Tooth 12 and 13. Brand X says I need a full root canal and crown. That is the tooth that has an abscess, is dead, and should be considered for an extraction in the future.

Dr. Awesome says he doesn't see at all what the fuss is. Yes, it has lost the filling, the nerve is probably dead. But it's a decent tooth. A good filling, and it's good to go. Dr. Awesome took a pencil and lined through about half of the "Treatment Plan" from Brand X and wrote "filling" over all of it. It doesn't need to be considered for extraction. It certainly doesn't need a root canal and a crown.

I cried for a different reason when I got in the car. I might be able to actually do this in such a way to pay minimally out of my pocket, insurance to pay for most of it, and get good dental care. I won't have to finance yet something else in our budget, setting us back $5,000+ dollars.

For those of you who live in my city, I should have seen Dr. Awesome sooner rather than later. I should have swallowed my pride. If anyone wants to know who he is to see him, you just let me know.

I also got a prescription for the radiating pain I have been having until we can get to drilling here in a few weeks. Also I will be taking an antiobiotic to prepare for the root canal. It has a lot of gunk in it now, and that will help prevent infection when we do this. At the end of August, if you hear buzzing sounds for two hours straight hanging over my city, don't be alarmed. It's me getting my bazillionth root canal, and I am happy about it!

When it Rains it Pours!

And it's pouring right now!

My cell phone is on the fritz! Suddenly, I can't hear anything in the ear piece. I can call anyone, and can't hear a thing. I call my house, the lan line is ringing, nothing in the cell phone. It also doesn't ring. It vibrates, but it doesn't ring.

It is over two years old, so I am sure I can trade it in and not spend too much. I need a new phone now though. I am about to go out of town on business, and really need to be able to stay in touch at home.

The only problem.....

My money tree is not blooming right now!

The Results Are In....It's Ain't Pretty

I am stunned at how bad my teeth are! I just had a simple toothache! I am going to give you the results by tooth.

Here we go:

Tooth number 12--Needs a root canal, crown and something else I can't tell relating to tooth #13.

Tooth number 2--Needs a cavity filled, I think. I am reading office shorthand as I do this.

Tooth number 4 and 5 (the ones giving me the most pain)--both need a crown and a root canal. I knew that would be the case, just from the pain.

And one of my front bottom teeth, which has a receding gum on it, needs a gum graft. If the gum recedes much further, we will have "future issues".

The dentist used words like "abscess" and "extraction". The abscess on my upper right mouth is the only reason why that side isn't screaming in pain either. He says it's a dead tooth probably. He put ice cold directly on it, and I could barely feel it. The upper left, where the most pain is, he discussed my two options of doing a huge root canal to try to save it, mainly because the teeth around it seem good. If they didn't seem good, then we would extract them! What??!

Yes, after he left, I sat in the chair and cried.

I am taking guesses.....wanna know the dollar figure for all of this?

After insurance--$5450.00

Anyone need to purchase candles?

Can't Ignore it Any Longer....

I have extensive dental work in my mouth. Why? Long story short, I had a quack for a childhood dentist. I have paid the price since I changed dentists in college. I had four crowns in my mouth before the age of 25, one of them was an emergency root canal a week before I was married.

I also seem to always be in pain at the dentist. I know most of us can say that, but for me, we found out why a few years back. I have weird nerves. So a dentist may think he is numbing a nerve, he isn't. My face could be so numb I look like I have a mudslide down one side of my face, but I still feel every reverberation of the drill. My dentist figured out a few years ago after watching me tense up while drilling. He took some new kind of xrays and suddenly twenty years of pain were explained. I am sure the Novocaine worked to some degree because I had root canals with Novocaine and it wasn't any worse than any other drilling I have had. Painful but not unbearable, which I think a root canal would be without any sort of pain killers.

Here we go again! Here is where I will admit my full responsibility in this whole matter:

1) I have not been to the dentist in about five years for any sort of preventative work. Why? It's just another bill in my checkbook, and once the kids came....well....

2) I lost parts of two of my fillings a few years ago. I didn't feel any pain from it and really have just ignored the holes in my teeth and kept them flossed. I know!

3) I feel guilty the longer I go without seeing my regular dentist, that I don't want to see my regular dentist. He will hammer me for number one and number two, and he should.

Why am I having a truth telling moment now? Guess.

Yes, I am suddenly in the last week or two I am in some pretty great pain. On the left upper side of my mouth, where one of the fillings lost some pieces, I have radiating pain through my face to my eye socket. Nice huh?

Number three still is in effect. Number one and number two seem just stupid on my part at this point.

So, what is the solution? I am going to cheat on my dentist!! I love him dearly, and I refer all of my friends who live near me to him. He is a great Christian man, who loves his work. He donates tons of medical equipment to medical organizations for third world countries.

I just can't go face him at this point, but I need immediate relief. So, I am apologizing now, and will the next appointment I have with him. But today at two p.m. I am going to another dentist practice. I spilled my guts on the phone just like I have here. I want relief, not scolding, I realize I have created the situation I am in, and will fully accept the drilling I have to endure this afternoon, and probably several other appointments later on.

I also called one of those dentist practices that specialize in pain relief. They give nitrous gas freely, headsets while in the chair, etc.

I will post soon the outcome. Don't pray for my teeth, pray for my stubborn streak. It needs to be drilled out too.

AC Green

Remember back in April when I spoke at the Rogue Valley Pregnancy Resource Center's fundraiser? AC Green, great Christian man who happens to be retired from the NBA, also spoke.

You might remember my gallant effort to win an autographed basketball being raffled off. Didn't happen. Another deserving winner won it. AC was kind to offer to me that if I brought my kids to his basketball camp in July that he offers annually to deserving kids, he would sign a ball for my kids. And I cashed in that offer. His basketball camp started today and goes through this week. We got up at the crack of dawn to meet him before his camp began at 8:30 am.

I emailed him about a week ago just to let him know we are looking forward to seeing him, even if briefly, and hope all is well. I was hoping if it wasn't good for him, he would let me know. I didn't hear from him, so I crossed my fingers!

We showed up today, and he walked out looking for me. I am impressed with AC Green. He does not have celebrity snobbiness at all. He had quite a few people waiting to talk to him, yet he took just a few moments to talk with us, shake my kid's hands, sign a basketball, and, in general, take a few moments for my family.

Thank you AC!

Home!

We just got home tonight. I have to sort through all the pictures and memory cards to put together a little post about our family 4th.

But one thing I did on my 4th of July vacation that I haven't done in awhile. I read a book! I haven't had time to do that in ages!

What did I read? A true crime collection and I love these kinds of books.

It was a book my inlaws had laying around. Ann Rule's "Without Pity". I really like Ann Rule. I became familiar with her years ago when I worked at a bookstore. She is a Pacific Northwest author, and focuses her cases on those stories that aren't overplayed in the media (ie Scott Peterson and Mary Winkler) and that are in the Northwest.

I also appreciate her relationship with law enforcement and criminals. She gets the interviews that no one else gets. It rids her books of speculation, and she really strives to give you the facts, and not sensationalism.

So this particular book is a collection of short cases that she has wanted to write about but didn't do a full book on. Now, I am maybe a little twisted. I like these kinds of stories. I love to watch "Forensic Files", "FBI Files", "The Investigators", "Cold Case", etc. I like crime stories for some reason. I know that isn't everyone's taste.

Here is what tripped me up just a bit about these ten stories. Nine of the ten of them were stories from Seattle and were freaky. The central theme in these stories were how someone who has been so normal suddenly changes on a dime and commits horrible crimes. The victims couldn't see it coming, and the victims were usually close family members. Most of them were this way.

The final story was the one that got me. It was the first time Ann Rule gave the facts about this case mainly to protect the one surviving victim. It was a murder/rape that happened in 1976 very close to where I live! That is what creeps me a bit about her stories, she suddenly starts describing streets and roads I have traveled on in the final story of this short story collection!

I don't know anything else about that case except what was in the story, and I have googled it and found nothing. The criminal in that case hasn't been paroled yet, but he goes up for parole occasionally. The prosecutors in that case go to the parole board on behalf of the victim, for her protection mainly.

Anyway, those stories are in my mind right now, and I should probably find a shallow, trashy romance novel now.

Summer Camp Finale

Hanging out at the closing ceremony with new friends.

The bunk JM slept on.

This little guy is showing us how he fell out the back of the wagon out the other side of his bed. Ouch!

Snow cones for fifty cents. Nice!

We picked up JM from camp and it was a very fun experience for him. We had him all ready for sleeping in complete darkness. We just weren't prepared for his very first night to have lightning and thunderstorms. Quite a few young campers didn't like that. JM didn't either, but we didn't get called to take him home!

He made some great new friends, loved his camp counselors, and really wants to come back next summer. I can't ask for a better experience.

My wish to change one thing. Keep in mind, I grew up (even with my super bad first experience camping) going to summer camp. I went through the ranks, and eventually was a counselor until late in high school. I had the young campers, the six and seven year olds. They were a little bit of a handful because this camp experience was scary to some of them, keeping track of things their mom usually keeps track of is hard, and just being away from home. I remember making huge efforts with other counselors to make sure kids had their stuff, it was packed nicely, sleeping bags were rolled, toiletries were in baggies, wet bathing suits were in baggies, etc. We, as counselors, spent usually a few hours helping campers get that together to go home.

When I unpacked JM's stuff. Oh my! Several problems. When I went to claim his stuff. His sleeping bag was laid out on the floor next to his pillow with no duffle bag. I found that about half full, looked some more and found his sleeping bag bag full of more stuff. Took it all home. First, wash cloth is gone and the towel I sent is not the towel that came back. One thing. He had an accident while at camp. I am sure he realized he needed to go when he was 300 yards away from a bathroom instead of the normal 20 feet, at home. Those clothes were packed in with everything else, along with his wet bathing suit. Even the letters myself and other family members sent him were soaked, and it wasn't just water. I just stood over the washer and dropped it all in, duffle bags and all. It was disgusting. When I was a camp counselor, we would have tried to wash those clothes, and at the very least, put those clothes in a baggie for this very reason. That was my only disappointment in the whole experience, and my washer handled most of it.

As we were leaving and piling things into the car to head home, I saw these bumper stickers on a minivan.

You might need to click on this one to make it bigger. I was reading these and got the impression we have another disenchanted veteran who probably has an anti war sticker somewhere as well. I haven't seen these stickers before and this guy is proud of his service, and still suffering.

Then I looked to the right. This one says it all. Yes, he served, yes he is in pain, and yes, he would do it again. Don't poo poo on the flag he suffered for and was willing to die for.

I thought that would be a great note to close with. We are heading out of town for the holiday weekend, and I am personally quite excited to celebrate this wonderful country.

The freedom we have as Americans has been bought and paid for at a very high price, the blood of our young men and women. In this case, the sweat and tears of this man. I will think of this person for awhile. I am thankful for his service, and I wish I could have met him to thank him.

Have a wonderful Fourth of July!