SCATTERGORIES - it's harder than it looks! Copy and paste into a new email. When you have answered all the SCATTERGORIES, send it on to friends but DON'T FORGET to return it to the person who sent it to you.Use the first letter of your first name to answer each of the following. They have to be real places, names, things - nothing made up. Try to use different answers if the person in front of you had the same first initial - which by the way is hard if you already have read their answers! You cannot use your own name for the boy/girl names.
1. What is your first name: Meredith
2. A 4 letter word: must
3. A vehicle: Matrix
4. A city: Montgomery
5. A boy's name: Matthew
6. A girl's name: Margaret
7. A Drink: Mr. Pibb
8. An occupation: Mechanic
9. Something you wear: Moo-moo
10. A celebrity: Mel Gibson
11. A food: Mac-n-Cheese
12. Something found in a bathroom: mousse
13. Reason for being late: missing keys
14. Something you shout: Move it!
15. An animal: monkey
16. A body part: mouth
17. Word to describe yourself: musical
Good luck to the next person!
"...with my God I can scale a wall" 2 Samuel 22:30 (NIV)
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Friday, June 27, 2008
A MUST READ
I am completely absorbed in a book by Donald Miller called "Searching for God Knows What." Seriously, I picked it up Wednesday to read while the jury was deliberating, and I can hardly put it down for two minutes at a time. It is fabulous - I found it at Books-A-Million on the same table as the book my Dad recommended "The Shack." Hope you'll pick it up and check it out. It rings with truth.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
The After Life
My friend Rosemary was pronounced not guilty yesterday after 10 months of sitting in jail on a murder charge. Tonight she's home with her family and children, and I look forward to joining their celebrations over the weekend. What a strange road I have been on this past year. What a weird journey life has been lately. I'll write more about it all later, but Geoff has some show on with crazy music and it's really loud and I can't concentrate. I just thought others might like to hear how things went with the trial. I have a lot to write about, but it will wait until another night.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Be Bored No More
If there's anyone out there still bothering to check my blog, I commend your loyalty and offer you this spectacularly long catch-up piece to explain my long silence.
Topic One: Look Both Ways
So I go to lunch the other day with a lot on my mind and end up with some guy's mind on my car. Yes, honestly, I hit a pedestrian. It wasn't as bad as it sounds when I say I had his mind on my car, but it was seriously my scariest moment to date. The week was to get scarier beyond that, but that was not a fun moment and the other story can be #2 or #3 in this post.
So, what happened was.... I was pulling out into traffic from a parking lot. I needed to go to the right on a busy street, and I looked both ways. I had a pretty long wait and then looked both ways again after a big batch of traffic had gone by. I looked to my left one last time and had the all-clear and BUMP, hit a guy. He had literally come out of nowhere and walked right into my car! I threw the car in park and jumped out in the middle of the street. "I didn't see you - are you allright?" I mean, luckily the guy was still on his feet and looked okay, just a little out of it. Honestly, I'm not sure he was in his right mind. I'm not even sure where he came from. I asked if I could do anything for him at all and he said "No, I'm fine" so I drove off. I shook and shook for awhile afterward. Could have been so much worse, but still, quite a scary feeling!
Story #2: Children are a pain - SERIOUSLY
So I started my weekend in the ER. I finally started a cycle after my miscarriage and had been put back on the Clomid. Days 1-3 went pretty much how they have before, a little more moody, a little queasy, but more or less normal. On Friday morning, however, I just didn't feel good. I had what almost felt like gas pressure, but can only really be described as abdominal pressure and can't really be communicated beyond just saying pain. I wasn't bloated or anything, I just hurt. And the hurt continued to worsen all morning. By about 10:30 I had to leave work, thinking I'd take an antacid and lay down, although I was suspicious this might be female troubles. An hour later Geoff and I were on our way to the ER.
It took an IV, a lot of fluid, and some pain medicine and about another 5 hours or so before the pain abated. I never got to see the doctor. I did have an ultrasound, but was not offered a great deal of explanation. I was sent home with pain meds and told to take the last dose of Clomid. I remain a little tender in the abdomen, but have no continued pain. The nurse practitioner suggested that I had overstimulation. After finally speaking with a doctor today, I found that this is not really possible; it was both far too early in my cycle for this, and I had no cysts larger than a centimeter. Overstimulation causes enormous cysts.
So what does this all mean? The long and short of it is that we're not sure. The doctor (as all doctors do) wants to run additional tests. But the good news is that the doctor believes that the early ultrasounds from Friday indicate that the Clomid is doing the trick this cycle and we should have a chance of being really fertile.
After that miscarriage, though, my readers will have to know that it will be a good while before we'll be sharing any baby news with the world, whether we know something or not.
And, by the way, this was that moment that I said was scarier than hitting a pedestrian with my car. I literally was in such extreme pain that I couldn't speak. I sobbed and wailed for a long time. I have never been so incapacitated. I felt ridiculous, but could do nothing about it. I wish I had a better explanation of the whole thing!
Story #3: Court TV in Real Time
The trial for Rosemary started this morning. After a heads up from her attorney, we got there about 1:00, which was great, because they were just wrapping up jury selection and we didn't have to wait long for the actual trial to begin. We sat directly behind Rosemary and her attorney, and the two younger boys sat with us. (Incidentally, if we had custody of those children, they would not have been brought to this trial)!
Today was fairly uneventful. Looks like it's going to be presented fairly and professionally, and it also looks like whatever other lies Rosemary has told to me in her time, she did not lie about the fact that there is no physical evidence in this case whatsoever. If all her attorney has to prove is reasonable doubt, he shouldn't have any trouble winning this thing outright. Maybe Rosemary will be home for Kaylan's 13th birthday Saturday.
Geoff and I went back and forth about going to the remainder of the trial. It will mean time off work without pay for me, if my boss is able to spare me. But we both feel that we have stuck it out this far, and it seems appropriate for us to stay. Besides, you should have seen her tears when she asked me to be there for the rest of the week. The witnesses have been sequestered for the trial, and since most of the witnesses for her side would have been the folks to sit in the courtroom in support of her, her side was really empty. It was Geoff & I, her uncle, her brother and two of her kids. So if work can spare me, it will be a long week for me, but I will spend it giving her a final show of support through this. I'll keep y'all posted on everything as it unfolds.
So no more "tagged" post. Happy, Aunt Kathy?
Topic One: Look Both Ways
So I go to lunch the other day with a lot on my mind and end up with some guy's mind on my car. Yes, honestly, I hit a pedestrian. It wasn't as bad as it sounds when I say I had his mind on my car, but it was seriously my scariest moment to date. The week was to get scarier beyond that, but that was not a fun moment and the other story can be #2 or #3 in this post.
So, what happened was.... I was pulling out into traffic from a parking lot. I needed to go to the right on a busy street, and I looked both ways. I had a pretty long wait and then looked both ways again after a big batch of traffic had gone by. I looked to my left one last time and had the all-clear and BUMP, hit a guy. He had literally come out of nowhere and walked right into my car! I threw the car in park and jumped out in the middle of the street. "I didn't see you - are you allright?" I mean, luckily the guy was still on his feet and looked okay, just a little out of it. Honestly, I'm not sure he was in his right mind. I'm not even sure where he came from. I asked if I could do anything for him at all and he said "No, I'm fine" so I drove off. I shook and shook for awhile afterward. Could have been so much worse, but still, quite a scary feeling!
Story #2: Children are a pain - SERIOUSLY
So I started my weekend in the ER. I finally started a cycle after my miscarriage and had been put back on the Clomid. Days 1-3 went pretty much how they have before, a little more moody, a little queasy, but more or less normal. On Friday morning, however, I just didn't feel good. I had what almost felt like gas pressure, but can only really be described as abdominal pressure and can't really be communicated beyond just saying pain. I wasn't bloated or anything, I just hurt. And the hurt continued to worsen all morning. By about 10:30 I had to leave work, thinking I'd take an antacid and lay down, although I was suspicious this might be female troubles. An hour later Geoff and I were on our way to the ER.
It took an IV, a lot of fluid, and some pain medicine and about another 5 hours or so before the pain abated. I never got to see the doctor. I did have an ultrasound, but was not offered a great deal of explanation. I was sent home with pain meds and told to take the last dose of Clomid. I remain a little tender in the abdomen, but have no continued pain. The nurse practitioner suggested that I had overstimulation. After finally speaking with a doctor today, I found that this is not really possible; it was both far too early in my cycle for this, and I had no cysts larger than a centimeter. Overstimulation causes enormous cysts.
So what does this all mean? The long and short of it is that we're not sure. The doctor (as all doctors do) wants to run additional tests. But the good news is that the doctor believes that the early ultrasounds from Friday indicate that the Clomid is doing the trick this cycle and we should have a chance of being really fertile.
After that miscarriage, though, my readers will have to know that it will be a good while before we'll be sharing any baby news with the world, whether we know something or not.
And, by the way, this was that moment that I said was scarier than hitting a pedestrian with my car. I literally was in such extreme pain that I couldn't speak. I sobbed and wailed for a long time. I have never been so incapacitated. I felt ridiculous, but could do nothing about it. I wish I had a better explanation of the whole thing!
Story #3: Court TV in Real Time
The trial for Rosemary started this morning. After a heads up from her attorney, we got there about 1:00, which was great, because they were just wrapping up jury selection and we didn't have to wait long for the actual trial to begin. We sat directly behind Rosemary and her attorney, and the two younger boys sat with us. (Incidentally, if we had custody of those children, they would not have been brought to this trial)!
Today was fairly uneventful. Looks like it's going to be presented fairly and professionally, and it also looks like whatever other lies Rosemary has told to me in her time, she did not lie about the fact that there is no physical evidence in this case whatsoever. If all her attorney has to prove is reasonable doubt, he shouldn't have any trouble winning this thing outright. Maybe Rosemary will be home for Kaylan's 13th birthday Saturday.
Geoff and I went back and forth about going to the remainder of the trial. It will mean time off work without pay for me, if my boss is able to spare me. But we both feel that we have stuck it out this far, and it seems appropriate for us to stay. Besides, you should have seen her tears when she asked me to be there for the rest of the week. The witnesses have been sequestered for the trial, and since most of the witnesses for her side would have been the folks to sit in the courtroom in support of her, her side was really empty. It was Geoff & I, her uncle, her brother and two of her kids. So if work can spare me, it will be a long week for me, but I will spend it giving her a final show of support through this. I'll keep y'all posted on everything as it unfolds.
So no more "tagged" post. Happy, Aunt Kathy?
Friday, May 23, 2008
I've been tagged!
This is just for fun so copy this entire post and paste into your own post. Change all the answers so that they apply to you and TAG someone else! I tag Cricker and Summer!
1) First thing you wash in the shower? My hair
2) What color is your fav hoodie? white, because it's warm out now and the lightest-weight one I have is white
3) Do you plan outfits? No, but I keep thinking that I should do this, to save time getting ready for work and to keep me from buying "pieces" that I like but don't have anything else to wear with
4) How are you feeling RIGHT now? Kind of blah, not happy, not sad, not sure....
5) What's the closest thing to you thats red? my mousepad, a Lincoln marketing item "Hello Future"
6) Tell me about the last dream you remember having? I'll keep this one to myself. Had one of those psychological nightmares last night, you know where something hurts your feelings or you have to deal with something extremely painful. It was so realistic that I had to wake Geoff up for reassurance for about 30 minutes before I fell back to sleep. But when I did fall back to sleep I dreamt that Gini, Jason, Geoff, me, Mike Catoe, Reagan Catoe, and Micah were all at some big church sing-along thing. I started playing violin and classical guitar with the musicians and then couldn't find Geoff and the others after awhile (so again, turned into a scary dream, where I felt I'd been left somewhere). Not a good night for dreaming, I guess...
7) Did you meet anybody new today? Not so far, but it's still early.
8) What are you craving right now? Just gave into my craving - a Reese's cup
9) Do you floss? Of course - have you seen what gets left between your teeth with ordinary brushing?
10) What comes to mind when I say cabbage? Yum!
11) Are you emotional? I'm in this funk right now where I don't feel the slightest bit emotional, which is actually kind of odd for me. I think since the miscarriage I have had trouble coming out of my shell. I've been in permanent pms mode or something.
12) Have you ever counted to 1,000? It sounds like some obnoxious thing I would have done as a child - probably very loudly to show off
13) Do you bite into your ice cream or just lick it? I more or less bite it I guess, kind of like gumming it, I try not to involve the teeth too much or you get an ice cream headache
14) Do you like your hair? Sure; sometimes it doesn't do what I want it to, but I think the color is pretty cool and I'm glad I can have it really long for now.
15) Have you ever met a celebrity? Quite a few, if you know folks in Christian music circles
16) Do you like cottage cheese? Not in large quantities or by itself, but I like a little with some pears
17) What are you listening to right now? Birds chirping outside and traffice noises
18) How many countries have you visited? I think just France and Jamaica
19) Are your parents strict? It kind of depends on the situation. More yes than no.
20) Would you go sky diving? Not a chance
21) Would you have dinner with George W. Bush? Why not? It sounds amusing.
22) Would you throw potatoes at him? I seriously doubt it.
23) Is there anything sparkly in the room you're in? Nope
24) Have you ever been in a castle? I feel like I've been to Hogwarts for as many times as I've read the books and seen the movies. Didn't the Louvre used to be a castle, because I've been there; And I've been to Louis XIV Palace at Versailles - very cool!
25) Do you rent movies often? Probably more than I should. Can someone come up with something to do other than watch movies on a date with your spouse?
26) Have you ever made a prank phone call? Thanks to my cousins the Meyers, I've made quite a few - most along the lines of "Is your refrigerator running? Well, you'd better go and catch it."
27) Do you own a gun? No, but Geoff has a pump action rifle that sounds scary even though we don't own shells for it. After my neighbor was murdered, Geoff and I borrowed a gun with shells and kept it in the hallway for awhile, but we've since calmed down and returned it.
28) Can you count backwards from 74? Sure, isn't this what they ask you to do when you're going under anaesthesia?
29) Brown or white eggs? we buy brown because Geoff thinks they're more natural (not actually true, it has to do with the type of chicken and what they eat)
30) Ever been on a train? Several times, and I've been on the RTF in France which I'm pretty sure is the fastest train in the world.
31) Are you too forgiving? Is that possible? Then it depends, what did you do?
32) Do you use Chap-Stick? Sometimes
33) What is your best friend doing tomorrow? Hopefully having lunch with me
34) Can you use chop sticks? I can do a passable impression of using them
35) Ever had cream puffs? At a bridal shower or reception or something - gross
36) What was the last CD you bought? Casting Crowns
37) Is your hair curly? Straight as a stick
38) Ever walked into a wall? All the time; I should seriously get my head out of the clouds!
39) Fav time of the year? Fall
40) Favorite color? Yellow
41) Are you sarcastic? Me? Never!
42) Do you have any tattoos? Yes, an ichthus on my ankle (Christian fish with the Greek letters); I go back and forth between liking and hating it
43) Do you sleep with the TV on? I can't. Seriously, if there is a show on, even if I've seen it a thousand times, I have to see it through to the end.
44) What is your favorite animal? All of them, seriously, I love horses and dogs, and cats, really just about anything with fur or hair.
45) Can you hula hoop? I can make it go around once or twice
1) First thing you wash in the shower? My hair
2) What color is your fav hoodie? white, because it's warm out now and the lightest-weight one I have is white
3) Do you plan outfits? No, but I keep thinking that I should do this, to save time getting ready for work and to keep me from buying "pieces" that I like but don't have anything else to wear with
4) How are you feeling RIGHT now? Kind of blah, not happy, not sad, not sure....
5) What's the closest thing to you thats red? my mousepad, a Lincoln marketing item "Hello Future"
6) Tell me about the last dream you remember having? I'll keep this one to myself. Had one of those psychological nightmares last night, you know where something hurts your feelings or you have to deal with something extremely painful. It was so realistic that I had to wake Geoff up for reassurance for about 30 minutes before I fell back to sleep. But when I did fall back to sleep I dreamt that Gini, Jason, Geoff, me, Mike Catoe, Reagan Catoe, and Micah were all at some big church sing-along thing. I started playing violin and classical guitar with the musicians and then couldn't find Geoff and the others after awhile (so again, turned into a scary dream, where I felt I'd been left somewhere). Not a good night for dreaming, I guess...
7) Did you meet anybody new today? Not so far, but it's still early.
8) What are you craving right now? Just gave into my craving - a Reese's cup
9) Do you floss? Of course - have you seen what gets left between your teeth with ordinary brushing?
10) What comes to mind when I say cabbage? Yum!
11) Are you emotional? I'm in this funk right now where I don't feel the slightest bit emotional, which is actually kind of odd for me. I think since the miscarriage I have had trouble coming out of my shell. I've been in permanent pms mode or something.
12) Have you ever counted to 1,000? It sounds like some obnoxious thing I would have done as a child - probably very loudly to show off
13) Do you bite into your ice cream or just lick it? I more or less bite it I guess, kind of like gumming it, I try not to involve the teeth too much or you get an ice cream headache
14) Do you like your hair? Sure; sometimes it doesn't do what I want it to, but I think the color is pretty cool and I'm glad I can have it really long for now.
15) Have you ever met a celebrity? Quite a few, if you know folks in Christian music circles
16) Do you like cottage cheese? Not in large quantities or by itself, but I like a little with some pears
17) What are you listening to right now? Birds chirping outside and traffice noises
18) How many countries have you visited? I think just France and Jamaica
19) Are your parents strict? It kind of depends on the situation. More yes than no.
20) Would you go sky diving? Not a chance
21) Would you have dinner with George W. Bush? Why not? It sounds amusing.
22) Would you throw potatoes at him? I seriously doubt it.
23) Is there anything sparkly in the room you're in? Nope
24) Have you ever been in a castle? I feel like I've been to Hogwarts for as many times as I've read the books and seen the movies. Didn't the Louvre used to be a castle, because I've been there; And I've been to Louis XIV Palace at Versailles - very cool!
25) Do you rent movies often? Probably more than I should. Can someone come up with something to do other than watch movies on a date with your spouse?
26) Have you ever made a prank phone call? Thanks to my cousins the Meyers, I've made quite a few - most along the lines of "Is your refrigerator running? Well, you'd better go and catch it."
27) Do you own a gun? No, but Geoff has a pump action rifle that sounds scary even though we don't own shells for it. After my neighbor was murdered, Geoff and I borrowed a gun with shells and kept it in the hallway for awhile, but we've since calmed down and returned it.
28) Can you count backwards from 74? Sure, isn't this what they ask you to do when you're going under anaesthesia?
29) Brown or white eggs? we buy brown because Geoff thinks they're more natural (not actually true, it has to do with the type of chicken and what they eat)
30) Ever been on a train? Several times, and I've been on the RTF in France which I'm pretty sure is the fastest train in the world.
31) Are you too forgiving? Is that possible? Then it depends, what did you do?
32) Do you use Chap-Stick? Sometimes
33) What is your best friend doing tomorrow? Hopefully having lunch with me
34) Can you use chop sticks? I can do a passable impression of using them
35) Ever had cream puffs? At a bridal shower or reception or something - gross
36) What was the last CD you bought? Casting Crowns
37) Is your hair curly? Straight as a stick
38) Ever walked into a wall? All the time; I should seriously get my head out of the clouds!
39) Fav time of the year? Fall
40) Favorite color? Yellow
41) Are you sarcastic? Me? Never!
42) Do you have any tattoos? Yes, an ichthus on my ankle (Christian fish with the Greek letters); I go back and forth between liking and hating it
43) Do you sleep with the TV on? I can't. Seriously, if there is a show on, even if I've seen it a thousand times, I have to see it through to the end.
44) What is your favorite animal? All of them, seriously, I love horses and dogs, and cats, really just about anything with fur or hair.
45) Can you hula hoop? I can make it go around once or twice
Monday, April 28, 2008
Trying to Get on with Life
This past weekend in an effort to get on with life a little bit, I had mom, dad and Mercy come visit and go to the Auburn City Fest, a local shangri-la for kids. Most of the events are free, and M really racked up the prizes and had a great day. I'll have pictures as soon as mom gets a chance to download them to a computer and send them my way. I only had a few photos to share today. After the fair Mercy had an ice cream cone, which she enjoyed with all the fervor of a two-year-old. She's sitting on our walkway looking at a flower she got (for free) from the fair.
Mom and Dad also enjoyed some ice cream under the tree. Wonder if they'll be mad at me for posting this picture? It looks like mom managed to get the entire scoop in her mouth at once!
Finally, Geoff and I spent Sunday planting things and spreading mulch and generally being in the yard. It's good to do these things, to get up and get moving. As I said in my last post, I'm not doing great at the moment, but I am trying to manage all of these feelings the best way I know how. Gardening is good for that sort of thing. I put together two pots for the back patio like the one below.
I have some other things to post about, some playing catch up and some just trying to fill some space. And I hope to have a slideshow to put together soon of this past weekend. I think mom got some good pictures, and I'm sure Gini would like to see them.
I went back to work today and cried much of the morning. It was a fairly busy day and tomorrow promises to also be busy, and I think that's just best for now. Keep my focus off my sorrows and allow me just to work. I will be training a new co-worker next week. On Wednesday I am off to St. Louis for a work trip and will be gone through the remainder of the work week. I think it will be a good thing for me to be out and about, but I'm going to miss Geoff. I've really gotten clingy since last week and nothing beats the comfort that my hub provides.
I will probably not blog until after the St. Louis trip. Hopefully mom will have some pictures to me by then...
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