MY NEW KNEES, TRIPS, and BABY!!! 2010

Better late than never. I really need to blog about my past year with two total knee replacement surgeries, two wonderful trips, and a new grandbaby. First the knees.....WOW & OUCH!!! The only way to describe my past year. I really feel like I spent the entire 2010 year either having surgeries or recovering from them. I had both of my knees replaced, one March 11th and the other on October 19th. I really had no choice. They were both full of arthritis and bone-on-bone. Every step I took was very painful. I spent 6 days in the hospital with #1 and 5 days with #2. With each one I had 3 weeks worth of blood thinning shots (administered with glee by my sweet husband - I had to keep reminding him that I wasn't a cow and he didn't need to stab me that hard!), 3 weeks on a continuous motion knee machine where I almost went insane with boredom, and 2 painful months doing physical therapy (loved the PT ladies, just hated what they did to me!) Wayne was my nurse and I couldn't have asked for anyone better. He took great care of me, took over the house and meals and laundry, was my biggest cheerleader with his positive comments on how much better I was doing than "last week", and gave me my pills. However, after 2 1/2 weeks he did say that I didn't need the "narcs" anymore and he didn't want me to get hooked. He was right.....I really didn't need them! Thank goodness for insurance. After paying my $2500 in deductible and $2500 in co-pays with the first surgery, the second one was actually paid for. The surgeries were about $35,000 each which included, I think, the titanium knee itself which was well over $20,000. Anyway, sure glad it is over and they feel SO MUCH BETTER! I ride my stationary bike most every day to keep them bending and I hope to get more strength back in them as time goes on. But as for now, I am very happy that I did it. I couldn't say that for about three months after each surgery. Thought I'd made a big mistake. The recovery time was something else! Between surgeries we went to Wisconsin in May to see Jeff graduate from Vet School. We rented a car and drove home on I-80 seeing sights along the way including a visit to the Nauvoo Temple, Denver Temple, and Arches National Park. The new right knee survived quite well. The not-yet-done left knee revolted majorly! In September we drove Jeff's car to his new home in Colby Wisconsin and saw the sights along the way on I-94 (I think), spent some fun days with our kids and baby Michael there while Wayne was Jeff's vet tech for a couple of days, then we flew home. Shortly afterwards our 18th grandchild was born, beautiful Addison Lee Ballif, to Kelly and Bob. Yes, we really had an eventful year!!!

Man, has this blog suffered since I discovered "Facebook". Anyway, Wayne and I just returned from a fun trip to Jeff's vet school graduation (call him Dr. Smart!) and I thought I'd better blog about our Salt Lake City airport and Chicago Midway airport experiences. This blog is used as my personal journal and apparently I am writing in it about as often as I did my actual journal.

Of course, we had to clear airport security in Salt Lake and I knew I'd "beep" because of my new artificial knee which I received on March 11th. (that needs to be blogged about later!) Anyway, of course I "beeped" so was sent to wait in a separate booth. My cane was taken away from me to be screened and I was given an "airport loaner". What did they think they would find inside my cane??? Anyway, they screened my body with a "wand" and the only place it beeped was my new knee. So, they called a female attendant to literally pat my WHOLE body down. During all of this, Wayne is off in the corner waving to me, he having cleared security in about 15 seconds.

Our plane was 20 minutes late in leaving which wasn't good since we only had 30 minutes leeway to land in Chicago if we got off on time, get through the terminal, and catch the 1:30 bus to Madison, Wisconsin. I had requested a wheelchair in Chicago because, face it, me and my cane have two speeds - slowest and stop. I knew I needed help getting through the airport.

Our plane was late arriving in Chicago and because of some mixup arrived at a different gate than where the wheelchair was waiting for me. The stewardess said to stay on the plane and they'd inform me when it arrived. No thanks, I was in a huge hurry to make this bus. You see, we had a 2 year old with us (grandson Michael) and if we missed the bus we had a 3 hour wait until the next one. Entertaining a 2 year old for 3 hours at baggage claim wasn't an option so we HAD to make this bus.

I noticed a lady (not an airport employee) wheeling a wheelchair to our gate. I said "That is for me!" and promptly sat down in it. Wayne and our daughter-in-law Nicole piled Michael on with me along with two carry-on bags and Michael's carseat. Nicole set off pulling two bags and Wayne took off pushing the loaded wheelchair and pulling another bag along behind him. This crazed man was attempting to set speed records through Midway Airport. We were passing tons of people and attempting to not take them out with the carseat which was precariously poking out from the wheelchair. We began observing several other wheelchairs, all being pushed by airport employees in red vests. About this time we decided we had stolen some wheelchair but we didn't have time to repent so onward we flew past security guards who didn't even stop us.

We left Nicole at baggage claim to get her checked bag and Wayne pushed me, Michael, and all of our stuff to the outside curb to await the bus. He had to set the brake on the wheelchair to keep it from rolling away, then returned to help Nicole leaving me alone with a baby, carseat, and two bags, and very defenseless. Within a minute the bus pulled up right in front of where I was parked. I looked at the driver when he opened his door and said "You are who I need." Poor guy looked shocked and probably wondered what he had done to deserve this lady in his bus.

Well, our stuff got loaded in the bus, Nicole's bag arrived quickly at baggage claim, and we made our 1:30 bus. Wayne wheeled the wheelchair back to the airport and left it just inside the door. I have probably made Chicago Midway's "no fly" list and I am sincerely sorry for stealing the wheelchair away from that lady. In my defense, however, I WAS DESPERATE!!!

Thoughts About The Election

We voted on Tuesday on the 31 million dollar hospital bond. It went down by a vote of 2 to 1, which we were relieved to see. Now, it isn't that we don't think a new hospital is needed in our county. If we only had to pay the cost of one soda pop per day, which those pushing this bond said, we would have voted for it in a heartbeat. That would have come to $187 a year!

However, being a land owner (and not a large land owner, either) we would have had to pay a minimum of $1000 more per year in additional property taxes and, if the hospital couldn't pay their share (which most likely they couldn't for a few years) it would have increased our taxes by almost $2000 per year. Bye bye, thoughts of serving a mission!

Property owners get taxed way more than our share. We are currently paying $600 a year for the fire department, $300 for the library, and that soda pop per day for mosquito abatement. If anyone's house or hay barn catches on fire where we live, just kiss it goodbye. The fire department will arrive in time to watch the rest of it burn. The library is nice, but not even our grandkids use it much. They use the library at their own school, or the internet. The mosquito control, well they don't come out here too often. We were run out with mosquitos this past summer.

The economy sucks right now. We sold our dairy cows in February because we were beginning to lose money bigtime. Now we sit with a barn completely full of hay, with NO buyers. It is that way all over our county. Probably our country, too. This isn't the time to try to pass a large bond for a hospital, and the voters spoke that overwhelmingly.

Hopefully the hospital board will sharpen their pencils and come up with something that the people in the county can live with, AND AFFORD! Example.....why move the nursing home to the new hospital? That is 5 million dollars right there. Also, 500 parking spots? Doctors offices in the hospital? Let them build their own offices.

I don't mind paying my fair share of taxes. "Fair share" is the key to that last sentence. Let's raise the county sales tax so it affects everyone the same. I love my little town and county, but please.....we are hurting right now along with everyone else. Let's help each other through this!

Kids Say The Darndest Things!

My blog is suffering bigtime since I discovered "Facebook". However, I must blog about the cute words of kids before I forget them........

Brenden, my almost 4 year old grandson, was taken to a viewing at a funeral home the other day for his Great-Grandfather Jarman. His mom, Kelly, was hanging back as she doesn't "do bodies". Then she noticed Brenden up by the casket, alone. That wasn't good because with that little precocious child you never know what he will do. Climbing in with great-grandpa could have been an option. So, Kelly goes up to him and picks him up. Here is the conversation: Brenden- "That's Grandpa!" Kelly - "Yes, it is grandpa." B - "He has a hat!" K - "Yes, he does." (his Marine Corp hat was lying on top of him) B - "He has glasses." K - "Yes, he does." B - "He has a mustache." K - "Yes, he has a mustache." Just then his Grandma Ballif comes over and says "Grandpa is sleeping." Brenden pauses, looks at the 'sleeping' grandpa and says "Nah.....he's dead!"

Brenden also announced to his Sunbeam teacher in Primary that he "didn't have anymore grandma's and grandpa's. They are all dead." That came as a surprise to Wayne and I as we feel quite old, but not DEAD yet!

Kori, our 6 year old granddaughter, called on the phone to ask her grandpa if he had a pet dinosaur when he was young. Grandpa replied "Yes, and his name was Dino," to which Kori shrieked in delight to her mother, "Mommy, it's true! Grandpa did have a pet dinosaur." I'm pretty sure it has already been shared in school for show-and-tell so I only hope that grandpa sets her straight before she turns 16 and still believes it!

When our own Jeff was about 4 years old he and his dad were going someplace in the truck and Wayne was telling Jeffrey about his "forebearers." Jeffrey thought this over and said "Daddy, were they real bears?"

Jaime, our resident blonde with a 4.0 grade average through all her schooling years, noticed an "I Voted" sticker on her dads coat when he returned home from the voting place. "Can't dad remember that he voted?" were the words out of this teenagers mouth.

Yes, kids around our house really do say the darndest things!!!

Thoughts on 9-11-2001

I know I've already blogged about September 11, 2001 but where we have just had the 8 year anniversary of the event, I'd like to share some other thoughts.

Undoubtedly, that was the scariest day I have ever had. I felt so worried for the immediate future for my family. I wanted them all here where we could console each other and make sure that we were alright. It was one of those days where I would like to have wrapped myself in an afghan and cowered in the corner of the room.

I have been watching a DVD I purchased called "What We Saw" which had the extensive news coverage of 9-11. I see the looks of horror on those New Yorker's as they were running from the huge cloud of dust and debris. I ache for them and especially those who suffered loss of family and friends.

Things aren't good in our country right now, but I can't dwell on that. I'm not sure there is anything I can do to change the direction our country is going in. Wayne worries constantly about it, it seems, and often expresses his concern for our country's lack of leadership, but I have chosen to concentrate on what I think I CAN DO to help those whom I love and that is to see that my family stays strong in the gospel and their love for each other and that my grandchildren feel safe and secure in their world. They must feel loved and that they have parents and grandparents who will do anything to protect them.

I can continue to plan family get-togethers where we can stay close, pray nightly for the health and safety of my 28 other family members, and give them memories (such as reunions Cousin's Camp's) to fall back on when things get tough. Whitnee was our oldest grandchild on 9-11-01 and was 5 years old at the time. I don't know if she remembers anything about it but it is my hope and prayer that something as devastating as this will not happen again in the lifetimes of our grandchildren.

Smart Family Reunion - July 15-16, 2009

Photos:

Daran & LoriAnn (the "navy blue" family)

Whitnee, Savannah, Scotty, Morgan

Daralyn & Shane (the "black" family)

Brooke, Rylee, Jordan, Amber, Kamryn

Kelly & Bob (the "maroon" family)

Matthew, Kori, Brenden, Ammon

Jaime & Brandon (the "gray" family)

Hadlee, Jessica, Miles

Jeff & Nicole (the "forest green" family)

Michael

We met at Moose Spring Lodge in Oxford and started our "Family Olympics" games. This was a combined Cousin's Camp and Family Reunion with a Family Olympics theme. We played lots of games - kids games and older people games. Many of the games for the older folk had a family history theme. We included Jeff & Nicole over the cell phone because we didn't want to leave them out. WE MISSED THEM!!!

Daran and LoriAnn fixed a delicious dutch oven dinner and a wonderful breakfast the next morning. After cleaning of the lodge, we headed to Twin Lakes for a day in Shane and Daralyn's boat.

Lots of fun!!! Our family gets along so good and everyone is so close. We took family pictures in their shirts. The guys weren't too thrilled to have to wear the shirts, but they did it for mom! Grandpa and I had "aquatic blue" shirts.....we just didn't get our photo taken.

I plan to do "Cousin's Camp" like this again.....lots of adult help, parents watched their kids, and parents bedded them down, too. We have actually 14 kids who qualify for Cousin's Camp now and that is a lot of kids for grandma and grandpa to watch and to trash our house!

The Hershey Kisses

This has been a busy summer for our singing group, "The Hershey Kisses". (We named ourselves that because of the addiction of all of our group to CHOCOLATE!!!) Our group has been together for about 4 years now, and we have a blast! The members are: Sopranos, Roxane Beutler and Lisa Sears; Second Sopranos, Katie Mumford, Janis Buttars (and Corliss Whitehead who is currently serving a mission); Altos, Kelly Ballif (my daughter!), Carol Beutler, and ME! Accompanists are myself, Kelly, and Lisa. Lisa also plays guitar and Kelly has done some accompanying on her clarinet.

We had a neat experience on July 10th. We were invited to sing at the "Noon Music in the Tabernacle" at the Logan Tabernacle. We put on a 50 minute program to lots of people who really enjoyed our music. It was so fun to sing in that special building. The accoustics were awesome. We got tons of compliments.....in fact we were invited back to perform on the "Encore" program on August 14th. What an honor! The tabernacle was packed full that evening. We performed "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" and had a blast.

These ladies are the best singers from our area and I am just thrilled to be able to sing with them. We are all good friends and have such fun at our practices. We also perform for various Relief Society groups, Book Club groups, DUP Conventions, and we do lots of performing at Christmas time, also making sure to sing for the elderly at the Nursing Home and Heritage Homes. We have to turn down requests to sing sometimes which I feel badly about.

Yes, singing (and accompanying) the Hershey Kisses is definitely a highlight of my life! Our theme song is called "Chocolate" which audiences really love!