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.

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).

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.

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

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.

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?

My niece or nephew's first pictures!!!

Thank you to my sister, Tonya, for giving me permission to post this picture!

Tonya is 13 weeks and 5 days pregnant as of today. My mom and I went to her first doctor's appointment with her on August 30. We got to hear the baby's heartbeat (159 beats per minute), and when she had her first sonogram, we got to see the baby for the first time. We could see the head, including the two hemispheres of the brain, in those pictures, as well as the legs and spinal cord.

In the monitor, we could even see the hand where the baby seemed to be waving at the camera!

This kid is going to be a performer. He or she was moving all around during the sonogram, waving... very active. It's almost amazing that my sister can't feel all that movement, but I guess the baby is still too small for that.

I'm guessing my brother-in-law, Nick, took the picture of my sister's profile. See her cute little baby bump!

Baby is due on March 3, 2007. Nick and Tonya should be able to find out the sex of the baby at her next appointment, which will be at the end of September.

Congratulations to the soon-to-be mommy and daddy of a very active, healthy baby!

Finding humor in tragedy

I'll probably add more to this post at a later time, as I find more topics that suit the title, but for now, this little gem:

I was listening to the police/emergency scanners at work when I heard the dispacher send a call out that sounded something like this:

"Two vehicles have hit a house, again, that's two vehicles versus a house."
An officer chimed in, "Was the vehicles moving, or was the house?"

By the chuckle in his voice, I could tell he was obviously joking. But, if the "house" was actually a mobile home, I guess the house could have been moving, too.

Celebrations all around!

As we prepare for the wedding of one Random Dan to one Intolerant Elle, and send them our congratulations, I am reminded of other wedding-related celebrations occurring this month and next:

My husband and I will be celebrating our 4th wedding anniversary on August 31!!!! If I can get enough time off, we might be able to go to a bed and breakfast in Little Sweden, USA! How cool would that be? On our wedding night, we stayed the night at a castle bed and breakfast here in town, which was cool! I can't wait (and hope) to see what a Swedish bed and breakfast is like!

Also, a good friend of mine since high school is having a bachelorette party this Saturday evening, and she is getting married on September 9. She and her fiance have been together just as long as Ron and I have, and they've been engaged a little longer than we've been married! That's a long engagement!

And then, on September 12, I will be celebrating my 26th birthday. Not that that's a big birthday to be celebrating or anything, but it's just another celebration that's happening soon. It also means, if you did the math, that I was less than two weeks away from my 22nd birthday when Ron and I got married. When my sister and brother-in-law got married, my sister was only a couple of weeks away from her 22nd birthday, too.

And the day before our anniversary, my sister has her first appointment with her OB, and will probably be able to hear her baby's heartbeat for the first time! She's about 11 1/2 weeks along now, and is just barely, barely starting to have a little bit of a baby bump!

So many happy events happening very soon! Congratulations to Dan and Elle, Congratulations to Lori and Chris, and congratulations to Nick and Tonya! And a big Wahooooo!!!! for Ron's and my 4th wedding anniversary!

A Complimentary Comparison

I went to the radio station this afternoon to record a phone interview with the State Treasurer for another At Issue program. This time, it's about unclaimed property and money, and how to find it and collect it.

Anyway, I was a little bit early, so I decided to drop by my boss's office to say hi. (He likes me and doesn't mind people dropping by without notice.) He's been going through old interview audition recordings trying to find someone to replace a part-time lady who recently quit, and he asked me what I thought of a couple of recordings.

After he let me listen to a couple of them, he said, "There's just something about it that's just not there. I can't put my finger on it. But when I listen to yours..." And then he played my audition recording, which I haven't heard since I was hired. "I mean, there's just no comparison!" I smiled and said, "Thank you." He smiled back and said, "You're welcome!"

Every once in a while, he turns on the radio while one of my news broadcasts is on, just to listen to how I sound, what I've included in the newscast, to see how I'm improving, etc. He said he was listening to my 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. newscasts this last Saturday, and he was very impressed. I told him at my interview that one of my biggest strengths was my ability to take constructive criticism very well, and since then, he's dropped me a couple of e-mails with constructive criticism in them. But today, it was all compliments.

I told him that I like what I'm doing at the station really well. In fact, I said, I think I like it more than newspaper work, and I was doing that for seven years! He got the biggest grin on his face, and said, "Really? That's good! I'm glad!"

I'll tell you: Of all the places I've worked, I have never had such a cool boss. Even my co-workers are cool. No one has a bad word about anyone else there. They really do treat everyone with integrity and respect. . . like family. . .family that gets along really well. I like it!

The calling of a pastor

The original post, which was published on August 8, has been removed by the author by request of those involved in the story. If you would like to read the post and/or comments, or would like to make a comment as to its contents, please e-mail me at mrs dot t dot swede at gmail dot com.

Independent at last!

I'm at a point right now when I can transition from my cam boot back into shoes, and my foot is strong enough now that I can depress the clutch in my pick-up. You know what that means: I can drive again!

Ron got me behind the wheel to practice depressing the clutch tonight, and I ended up driving all around the apartment complex. No pain, whatsoever. Unlike driving before I had my surgery, when the plate in my ankle would cause a cramp that would not allow my foot to move. There were times that I would be driving and my foot would cramp up, but I couldn't stop because I was in the middle of traffic, and I just had to put up with the pain of the cramp when I depressed the clutch. Never again!

Praise God from Whom all blessings flow!

What a good-looking foot!

Well, I guess that's a matter of opinion. I thought I'd share a couple of pictures of my foot.

This first one is my doctor's nurse cutting through the cotton that was wrapped around my foot/leg and the plaster bracing that kept it from moving.

This lady is wonderful. She has taken so many casts off of me and put new ones on, and is the same one who removed all the stitches I had. Fortunately, I didn't have any skin staples. Dr. Howell was nice to me. ;)

And, here is my foot, after the stitches were removed and steri-strips were put in place. The steri-strips are kind of like bandages that just keep everything in place after the stitches are removed.

You'll notice the "X" on my leg. They have to mark with an "X" or a "YES" the side that they're going to be operating on.

I have some residual swelling and bruising, but it's not bad. By the way, the yellow you're seeing there is bededine, not bruising.

This was a rather minor surgery, as I said before. All my doctor did was remove a metal plate and screws that were put in two years ago when he had to use bone grafting in the reconstruction of my feet. He also took off some bone spurring: some that resulted from that metal plate being loose, and some that had been there for years. In fact, the latter is some that the Shriners had considered removing when I was a kid, but were afraid that it would come back since I was so young.

I guess I'm not so young anymore. ;)

Fancy footwork

Today is the day I get my splint off and have the skin staples and stitches removed. And best of all, I get to skip casting altogether and go straight into a walking boot. I'm going to try to remember to take pictures of the splint before it gets cut off my foot, the staples before they get removed, and then me in my cam boot, which, by the way, is the same boot I used two years ago when I had my feet reconstructed.