Thursday, September 28, 2006

My grandma needs your prayers.

My mom and I went to a couple of doctor's appointments with my grandma today before driving her across the state to my parents' house in town. The doctors didn't have wonderful news for my grandma, though.

Looks like she's going to have to have a total knee replacement, and her eyelids are drooping into her line of sight, so she's going to have to have them lifted. The latter, she will be able to get done at the end of next month. The former has yet to be scheduled.

My mom is planning to call the doctor's office where she and I go for our orthopaedic foot problems. There are doctors there who specialize in knees, and we know they're the best in the state. She will be staying with my parents for a while after her knee replacement while she recovers, since she lives alone otherwise, and will need help getting around and getting things done.

Her visit here this time, though, is for a little vacation. She's going to be working on making a maternity outfit for my sister, and she will probably be doing some shopping with my mom, my sister and me.

Anyway, please keep my grandma, and the rest of my family, in your prayers.

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Baby Belly Update

It's time once again to visit my sister's ever-growing baby bump. Her hubby, Nick, has been taking monthly pics of her in the same outfit (as long as she's able to wear it, that is). She's already wearing maternity clothes and getting emotional over things she normally wouldn't have before. She's so cute!

In case you can't read those dates, the first one is 15 July, the second is 13 August, and the third is 11 September.

Famous Judge Makes a Visit

Yesterday, Judge Marilyn Milian made a visit to Wichita to speak at a satellite University location. I knew she was coming because, as as an alumn of the University, I get an e-mail with a listing of the events coming up.

I was planning to attend her speech, anyway, because I'm a fan of hers and The People's Court, but I made a proposal to my boss that I go there and get an interview with her. (She was going to be speaking about Hispanics in the media.) He agreed.

I got to the facility about 30 minutes before the event was to occur, and promptly found someone who was working the event, and asked if there was a media staging area. He said yes, and led me backstage where Judge Milian was getting ready to appear, and was talking to only about two other news outlets, both television.

I got to spend about 10 minutes talking to Judge Milian, about 8 of which was in interview form, which I recorded. She is very personable, very intelligent, very nice, and smiles a lot. She is every bit as beautiful in person as she is on television.

She responded thoroughly to every one of my questions, including questions about how she got her job, if she sees it as an opportunity to be a role model to other Latinas, etc. (She said, by the way, that that is a very cool by-product of her position, but not one that influenced her decision to take her job.) And she did so very willingly. She even recorded something for me in Spanish for the Spanish station at my workplace!

At one time during my interview with her, she said that I was asking too good of questions, because a lot of what I was asking, she was planning on talking about in her presentation!

Anyway, just before she went out on stage, she signed a T-shirt for me: "You Rule! Marilyn Milian". I thanked her for her interview and went out into the auditorium and got my sound equipment hooked up.

I tried to get pictures of her during her presentation, but she moves a lot and very quickly when she's talking. She has a lot of energy! So, here are a few pics from the back of the auditorium, where I was sitting and walking around (trying to keep a close eye on my property that I left in a chair).

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

What an interesting birthday!

So far, it's been a very nice birthday. One part of the day has actually been amusing! I went to my exercise class today, and then my mom and sister took me out for lunch. That was really nice, and I got to see my sister's slowly-expanding pregnant belly, which was cool. (She is now 4 months along, and already unable to fit into her regular clothes.)

Then, I decided I should go outside on my patio and water my geranium, because it looked thirsty and I want to keep the blooms looking nice, and decided to do some weeding, but then, I couldn't get back inside my apartment! I was talking to my mom on my cell phone because she was having trouble reaching my grandma and wanted me to try. It was a good thing I had my cell with me because I couldn't get my sliding patio door to reopen!

I called the manager's office and told the lady there that I had gotten locked out of my apartment and was on my patio. After a brief laugh, she said, "I'll come over and let you back in. I'm going to have to walk through your apartment, though. Is that okay?" Like I'm going to say, "No, I want you to find another way to let me in besides coming through my apartment." Ha! Of course, I said, "Yes, that's fine! I don't care!" Less than five minutes later, she was over to let me back in.

She had some trouble getting the door open, herself, so she sent a couple of maintenance guys over to work on the latch. I don't think I'm going to let the door close all the way anymore, though.

Why couldn't I get out of my patio, you ask? 1) My patio is made up of a 4-foot-high stone-brick wall with a 2-foot-high lattice on top that goes around the entire perimeter of my patio, attaching to my neighbors' apartments on either side, and I have no ladder out there, and I'm only 5 feet tall. 2) I'm pretty sure my front door was locked, and I didn't have my key with me.

Anyway, my boss sent me an e-mail birthday wish this morning, and my husband and I are going to have dinner together tonight, and then we're going to see a movie.

Monday, September 11, 2006

Remembering 9/11: Not Only the WTC towers

Five years ago today, I was in a waiting room after getting my alergy shots when I saw the television. No, it wasn't the towers I saw, it was the Pentagon. I had a good friend who had worked at the Pentagon until about a year before the attack. She had a doctor's appointment scheduled there that morning. Apparently, the doctor's office was in the part of the Pentagon where the plane hit. Fortunately, she missed her appointment. Had she not, she would have been dead, incinerated by the blast.

When people remember the terrorist attacks of that fateful day, they seem to forget that the twin towers were not the only structures that were destroyed that day, and the lives lost there were not the sum total of all the lives lost.

I'm not trying to downplay the events of that day. Not in the least. I am simply trying to remind people that yes, a couple thousand people died in those towers, but between the United 93 flight that crashed in a field leaving a 50 foot crater in the ground and the plane that hit the Pentagon, there were at least 1,000 more people who died in those crashes.

About 3,000 people lost their lives that day. They all deserve to be remembered and mourned, not only those who died in the attacks on the World Trade Center towers. Remember and mourn also those who died at the Pentagon and in that field in Pennsylvania aboard United 93. Pray for those who escaped death and survived those attacks. Pray for the families of those who didn't.

United, we stand; divided, we fall. In God we trust. If we forget those who died, if we do not honor their memories, they will be lost forever. Likewise, if we categorize races with the acts of a few members of those races, we lose our ability to stay united, we lose our cultural diversity that binds us together into this great nation in which we live. We lose the wonderful gifts of diversity that God has granted us with.

We need to remember that those who died did not die at the hands of every Muslim person in this world. We need to remember that not all of middle-eastern descent are terrorists, and not all are dangerous. Not even all of middle-eastern descent are Muslim!

Remember those who died, remember those who lived and live still to remember that day. Remember those who are stereotyped as terrorists and are not. Remember that we are STILL Americans, and this is STILL the greatest country in the world. Remember that we must ALL stand together, or we will ALL fall together.

God bless the United States of America, and all her inhabitants.

iiiiiiiiiiiWESTANDUNITED
iiiiiiiiiiiWESTANDUNITED
iiiiiiiiiiiWESTANDUNITED
UNITEDWESTANDUNITE
UNITEDWESTANDUNITE
UNITEDWESTANDUNITE

Monday, September 04, 2006

It's so true. I need the prayers. (and) Happy Anniversary to us!


My husband got that shirt for me when we visited Little Sweden, USA. We went to just about every little shop in town.

I also got a Swedish cookbook, an anniversary hotplate, and a Swedish rosette maker. We stayed at a wonderful little bed and breakfast called the Rosberg House. Isn't it cute?

The room we were in is the one with the three narrow windows at the top of the house. It's called the Heritage Room. Appropriate for a town that is very proud of its Swedish heritage.

I think we'll be staying there again in the future.

Sunday, September 03, 2006

Sonogram Pics

My brother-in-law, Nick, edited my sister's sonogram pics so I could share them with all of you. See the baby?