Well it’s been miserably hot here the last week. Hot enough that I’ve even complained, and I kind of like the hot Texas summers. I know I shouldn’t admit that but it’s really not so bad. I mean you get really long summer days, warm weather, low humidity here in Austin, what more could you ask for. But we’ve gone over 104 about five times in the last week and that was just the actual temperature. It felt more like 110! I’ve put up some photos of my poor plants that just fried in the heat. However today we found relief in the form of rain. The plants already look happier. I know my Canadian born husband was almost too excited when he heard it start to thunder this morning. Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve been on the edge of my seat for months waiting to see what would happen, thankfully for us the wait is over. We’ve know for a little while about some of the things going on at Sean’s old company Luminary Micro but most of it didn’t come in to full light until this week, and since they’ve finally made some press releases we can talk about it. Yea! You know it’s hard for me to keep things quiet for too long.

So here’s the deal, Read the rest of this entry »

Well Sean figured out a way for me to type using a voice recognition system, it’s still a bit sluggish and I’m still trying to learn the commands, but slowly I will have to master this as I won’t be able to type properly for another two to three weeks! Boo! I’ve got people to see and things to do, thus I’ll just have to keep working with it.

I just wanted to put up a quick thank you to Sean’s company, Luminary Micro, for sending me the best recovery gift ever, a designer cookie basket. Yep I said cookie, and let me tell you ladies and gents it had almost three dozen cookies in it! MMMMMM, Sean started calling me the cookie monster as I’d get so picky after dinner when it came time to choose a cookie or two for dessert. Though I’ve now tried each kind and think they’re all great! Thanks Luminary!

P.S. I did share with Sean, as that’s a glass of real milk and then almond milk for me in the last photo.

Melissa came home around 4:00 PM last Thursday and after several hours of sleep in her own bed she was able to wiggle her fingers.  This, by all accounts, was a good sign.  While her surgery was a success, and you can check out the X Rays, her hospital stay was a disaster.  I unfortunately did not stay the night with her and found out the next day how bad the situation had been.  Julie was also there throughout the day on Thursday to witness parts of the disturbing situation.  The full story will have to wait until Melissa is feeling better, as we all know she is the better story teller. For now, we do recommend the emergency room at Seton Southwest Hospital, but we do not recommend the staff, nurses, or an overnight stay there.

Read the rest of this entry »

Melissa is out of surgery and is recovering in the “Patient Care Area”. The operation went really well and everything should go as planned for the recovery. She’s now got a piece of metal and eleven screws in her arm.

The X-Rays today confirmed a definite need for surgery, but unfortunately an emergency came up with Melissa’s orthopedic surgeon…  So, she won’t be going in for surgery until 10:30 am on Wednesday.  In meantime, she gets an increased dosage of painkillers…  You can find her on cloud 9.

Phew, what a week.  Some of you may have heard the drama around here, but I want to explain the whole story just in case we haven’t been able to talk to y’all.  So, here’s what happened:  I got home from work on Wednesday to find Melissa sprawled out on our driveway.  Apparently she was coming down the stairs outside of our apartment to meet me.   We were running late for dinner plans and she turned her ankle at the bottom of the stairs causing her to fall onto the curb and out onto the pavement.  I found her thankfully with a neighbor as she was losing consciousness (she seems to shut down as a response to pain).  She came to after we carried her into the apartment and onto the couch.  I then realized how bad her wrist looked and how much pain she was in.  We had to get to the hospital.

Luckily, there was no wait in the emergency room at the small hospital down the road.  After getting admitted and waiting a few minutes, the doctor approved a heafty dose of morphine.  She then started to relax and cracked a few jokes.  That made me feel better… I was pretty scared up to this point.  They found a distal radius fracture after a series of X-Rays.  The screens showed that the bones were compressed and were causing a lot of swelling and lack of feeling in her hand.  They then injected a large dose of anesthetic into her wrist and connected her to a contraption that looked a lot like a rack with chinese finger traps attached to it.  As they set the bones, I then proceeded to ask all sorts of probing questions… isn’t that what you’re supposed to do when the doctor is torturing your wife?  Of course it did help to distract her from the pain.  She got back at me when she asked for a puppy when everything was said and done. We got a prescription for heavy painkillers and went home.

After seeing the doctor Friday and reviewing another series of X-Rays, we found out that she not only broke her radius near her wrist; she broke it near her elbow as well.  We also found out that the fracture near her wrist goes through the joint and had shifted after being set on Wednesday.  The only course of action to prevent serious joint problems, such as arthritis, is surgery.  So, Tuesday morning Melissa will be going into surgery to have a metal plate attached to her bone.  She will be staying until Wednesday morning.

We appreciate everyone’s thoughts and prayers and I’ll do my best to post an update after the operation.  And yes, I’ve decided that our next place will not have stairs.

I got a call early this afternoon from my good friend Jenny. Her father was out cycling on Sunday and was hit by a car. He passed away yesterday. She flew in from Switzerland and Chauncey will be getting in this evening. It’s just crazy how quickly life changes. I wish I could have flown to Houston immediately and given her a hug as I feel that none of the words I had for her really helped. I hope all of you will keep her and her family in your thoughts and prayers as they go through this sad time.

After hearing from Jenny it made me think of all the people that I haven’t talked to in a while. I wrote some emails and made some phone calls to tell people that I love them. But then I got grouchy. Read the rest of this entry »

Austin is crazy this time of year with festivals, spring break and good weather. It’s the way we like it!

This week has been filled with movies, music and technology affiliated with South by Southwest. We’ve been fortunate enough to see some of it and enjoy all the folks in town. Sean went to see ArcAttack with our friends Paul and Lori. Sean and I went to see an old family friend Kevin and his band Uncle Lucius on St. Patrick’s Day. My mom was also in town this week and was able to see Kevin at his first performance for South by Southwest. Yesterday we went with a group of friends to see Explosions in the Sky and today we were able to see a Latin Blues group called Manteca Beat at the Central Market north of the UT campus. Tons of Music! I’d have to say the highlight was Read the rest of this entry »

Sean and I have some of the best friends in the world. They’re awesome!!! Though quite a few of our friends live other places and it gets a little sad when you can’t see them or talk to them as often as you would like.

For example, I was able to chat with my friend Jenny today who lives in Zurich. Read the rest of this entry »