Wednesday, September 30, 2009

The Mad Scramble


I am a Paralegal. Love my job. Work for the best guy who is also a good friend and an awesome attorney. So here is the rub. Trial. It is approaching at a breakneck speed. Why should this matter you say. Well, I am not on trial, nor am I an attorney or a Judge, or a juror. What I am is an inexperienced operator of a crazy trial presentation program called Trial Director. Ultimately it will be me in the little chair in front of the jury box struggling to call up exhibits, testimony, jury instructions, and odds and ends my boss wishes to present. Sounds managable right? It would be if I knew the program.

This program is awesome. It really is. If I had the time to properly learn the program I am sure I could dazzle even the most bored juror. A week ago I began my first tutorial and by today I have loaded all my documents, created my workbooks and set up a pretty nifty presentation. So, why doesn't it work?? It should work. It looks like it works. Then I set it up with the projector and everything goes to hell.

Monday is trial. I will do something worth writing about I am sure. Whether good or bad. I will keep you posted.

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Perfect Day




Did I ever mention that we live mere minutes from one of the most glorious places on the planet? Glacier Park.

I remember the first time I went to Glacier. We were newly weds traveling around the state in T's parents' motorhome. It was breath taking. It still is. I remember remarking to T at the time that this is where God lives. Since moving here we spend time each summer in the Park. Not as much time as we would like, but nonetheless we try to get up there at least once during the summer.

Several summers ago much of Glacier burned. Of course nearly each year forest fires claim part of the wilderness, but that summer in particular was much worse. The fires burned much of the area visitors see when traveling through Glacier. It will come back. It always does. This is, like I said, where God lives. Even in destruction, it is beautiful

So today we decided it was a perfect day for a picnic in Glacier. It was. It truly was perfect.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Big D and the Lil' Empress


Friday night we had the pleasure of watching our adorable, hulking, nephew play football. We call him Big D. Why you ask...well, look at him. He is a mere 15 years old. He is 6'2" and weighs 256 lbs. Yow, that is a big boy.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Spitting....Yuck


The Empress did something yesterday that I wouldn't have thought she would ever do....she spit on her best friend. Not once, but twice. Not sure of the details of the unfortunate event and the Empress is not really willing to give up many details. I do, however, know that she was punished with timeout and was unable to participate in "sharing," which broke her little heart. She apologized to her best bud, and things seem to be OK. Totally amazed she chose to spit. When and where has she even witnessed this sort of behavior?

As a parent I could choose to try to justify her behavior by saying that she must have been provoked or was not feeling well, but to do that would be ridiculous. Simply ridiculous. Her behavior was inexcusable and under no circumstance would it ever be justifiable. Of course we had a long discussion about the spitting incident last night and through tears I could tell she was truly remorseful, but I can't help but wonder what caused her to react so strangely.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Monday, September 14, 2009

Pain Free Success

Darn! Can you believe it? I didn't take one picture at the Pain Free Brain party. It was fabulous. Fabulous. Could not have picked a more perfect day. The sun was out, the sky was a beautiful blue and there was a slight breeze off the lake. But, and this is a big but, it would have been fabulous in the rain, in the hail, in a blizzard or a hurricane. The people made the party. Those wonderful, marvelous people we call friends. First and foremost I have to give kudos to our most excellent friends S and B. They offered up their condo on the lake for the party. They refused to take any credit or even invite any of their friends. What can I say...they are the best. My sis was able to make it to the party as well. This was very important for the success of the party because we have never had a pain free party without her. Even though she was feeling punk with an awful cold, she made it. The Empress had a super time playing with lots of friends, swimming in the kiddie pool, and covering her little legs with tattoos (much to my chagrin...). In the end we fell exhausted into our beds a full 8 hours after the party began.
Good times and no pain in the brain. :)
(Mule picture is a shout out to our favorite Pain Free drink...the Mule.)


Friday, September 11, 2009

Never Ever Forget


Eight years later I still feel like I am holding my breath. The mere thought of that day, and those that followed, still brings me to my knees. I believe it always will. May God hold the lost in his loving arms, continue to comfort the survivors, the families of the lost, and the millions of Americans this tragedy scarred for life. We will never forget.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Boxer and the Goat

Nope, the pic from yesterday is not our Bug. Mowgli (Bug) died just before I came across this picture on the internet. I, of course, burst into tears as the resemblance to Bug is uncanny. The Boxer in the photo is Billy. Billy lives in the UK and apparently took a real liking to an orphaned baby goat on their farm. He has a heart like my Bug. I printed the picture and it has been hanging on my wall at work ever since. One day, shortly after I hung the picture, the Empress was at my desk and noticed the photo. She took one look at the picture and said, "Mom, is that what Heaven looks like?" thinking the photo was a picture of her favorite buddy in Heaven.
Ya baby, that is what Heaven looks like. I hope. :)

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Monday, September 7, 2009

A Couple of My Favorites




When we got home from China we were mortified to find out that our little Empress was absolutely terrified of our dogs. Her entire body would begin to quake and she would scream at the top of her lungs until they were out of her sight. This was heartbreaking. Heartbreaking. Ya see, we had two beautiful Boxers at the time, Matisse and Mowgli. They had been our children prior to the Empress. Spoiled doesn't come close to describing them. They went everywhere with us, did everything with us, slept with us. So, the introduction and month following was extremely stressful and sad. Our beloved dogs were relegated to the heated kennel in the garage with brief visits to the house. But, gradually, the Empress came around.

Mowgli, in particular, took to the Empress. He just loved her. He allowed her to crawl on him, hug and tug on him, and patiently listened when she babbled at him. He followed her around and slept on her bedroom floor. They fell in love with one another.

These photos are a couple of my favorites because they show the love Mowgli had for the Empress. She always used to back up and sit between his front feet and read him books. He would rest his head on her shoulder. It was sweet.

Mowgli got sick and died about a year and a half after the Empress arrived home. We miss him still. The Empress still talks about him and continues to believe he is looking down at her from heaven and that he is an angel with wings. She still says she misses him. I know I do. They were the best of friends and I believe their relationship would have grown even stronger.

Miss you Bug.

Friday, September 4, 2009

Dillon Labor Day


Labor Day weekend in Dillon is historic. Ask anyone from there about it and you will undoubtedly be regailed with stories of drinking, rodeos, and parades. Many folks will probably share the same horrific story of the jet plane hitting the grain elevator. The year was 1979. I was 10 and on a float in the parade when an air force jet doing a flyby hit the grain elevator in the center of town. It was awful. Chaos. Fire, death, many injuries. But, I digress, that is not the topic of my blog.

Labor Day in Dillon has always been fun. Probably the most fun was the Labor Day of my teens and 20s. At that time Dillon's Rodeo crowned Miss Rodeo Montana. It was a big deal. The rodeos had the best stock and the best cowboys. It was fabulous. The amount of drinking that happened (still happens) is monumental. I think it is a pretty well known fact that cowboys can party.

After T and I married we entered the parade along with T's family and friends with our "Dillon Disposal Precision Dumpster Drill Team." We did it for a good long time, probably the better part of 15 years. It was a riot. As you may not be aware, T's family owns the garbage business in Dillon, so it was only natural that we would eventually organize a drill team that performed complex marching routines with rolling garbage cans. Fun stuff. We won many times and parade goers always cheered loudly when we rolled by.

So, it is with some sadness that we forego the celebrations in Dillon this weekend. But, alas, it is not the same party we fondly remember from our youth. Yes, there is an ungodly amount of drinking, there is still fabulous rodeo action and cowboy boots on every person within 10 square miles, but the faces have changed. We have changed. So with a heavy heart we leave the celebration to the next generation.

Yee Haw!!!!!

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Pain Free Brain Party

Several years ago, umm, almost 5 actually, T began experiencing horrible, horrible pain in his face. At the time he had had some dental work done and they assumed it was an infection as a result of a root canal. But, as the pain got steadily worse instead of better, the doctor assumed he had tri-geminal neuralgia and began treating him with some anti-convulsants. Soon it became nearly unbearable and an MRI was performed. Yep....brain tumor. I remember sitting in the little room talking with the doctor while he reviewed the MRI. Suddenly it was there on the screen. I silently prayed that it was nothing and perhaps that was just a normal part of the brain, but alas, it was not. T had a benign myelin sheath tumor on his tri-geminal nerve. We quickly made plans to see a specialist at the Mayo Clinic and flew out a couple days later. After much discussion with a couple of different specialists, we chose a risky new treatment called Radio Gamma Knife Surgery. Though only given a 50/50 chance of relief, the treatment worked and the pain was gone.

After the ordeal we decided we should celebrate and organized the first of our (almost) annual party "Pain Free Brain Party." It is a super time to remember how blessed we are that T is pain free. This year our awesome friends offered to have the party at their condo on the lake.

Pray for sun!!