Where has the time gone.....

Gosh it has been almost a month since I last blogged! We have been gone so much that I have not made the time to post. So I guess I will just add a bunch of pictures for you all to see....

 This is Rick after winning the SMFS at the MSAA State Indoor Tournament. Yea Rick!!!

 This past weekend we were in Yankton for the NFAA Dakota Round. They had a professional photographer there and he took the above and below picture. The one below is on a OK bow that Rick made the strings for.

 We camped while in Yankton. The weather was cold and rainy other then Friday night when we got to enjoy a campfire. Otis did very good for his first camping trip.

 The next bunch of pictures I may have taken from my kids Facebook pages :) They are all just to cute not to share

 Josie on Easter Sunday with her fancy curled hair.

                                                           Eli just being Eli :)

                                Cassie and Amy with one of Cassie chickens

                                     Nick and Oliver both sporting the same haircut

 

                                                         Cassie and myself at Easter

                                                           Christa, Jese and Oliver

                                                                           Liam

                                          Amy and Grandma Becker

                                     Amy, Christa and Grandpa Becker


So that is it for this post. Just lots of pictures for you to look at.


Sharon

"Spring is when you feel like whistling even with a shoe full of slush." -Doug Larson

On my last day off of work I decided that it was time to get ready for Easter/spring so I made this banner. I went through all my scraps of fabric and found ones that looked fun. All the fabrics came from dresses that I have made Josie over the last 6 years. I then just cut out the letters and some pieces of burlap and sewed them together. It brightens up the fireplace.  The bunnies in the frames are just printouts that I found on Pinterest. Simple cheap decorations!

Sharon

Back to my real life.......

 Oh my 20 days off went way to fast! I had visions of getting all kinds of stuff done but that did not happen. It was very nice to have the time off to recover. My hands are doing very good, almost fully recovered. So today's blog will just be a little catch up on what I have been up to.

On March 13 we drove down to Louisville KY for the Indoor Nationals. We left at  5:00 in the morning and got there around 5:00 that evening. After getting to Louisville we went to the convention center and Rick checked in for the shoot. This year we decided to get a hotel in Indiana because the hotels in downtown Louisville are super expensive and the hotel we stayed at was only 10 minutes away from the tournament.

After checking things out at the convention center we decided to head back to our hotel and try and find some place to eat. Since it was a Friday night and already 7:30 everything was packed.

So right across from the hotel was a Golden Corral. So we figured we would just go there. Neither of us have been to a Golden Corral in years and years and now I remember why. We laughed at the "seafood spectacular" because it turned out to be deep fried shrimp and some other kind of deep fried fish. And lets just say I felt like I was overdressed in my blue jeans and henley shirt. We had a good time "people watching."

Rick shot Saturday and Sunday afternoon. It was not his best scoring weekend but he had lots of fun shooting. We left Louisville around 6:00 and made it to the border of IA and then stopped for the night. Monday we stopped at Chrsita and Jese's house and picked up the dogs and were home around 3:30. It was fast but fun weekend away.

 I finally got back down to my sewing room. I  had this skirt cut out to make Josie for 2 months and never had time to sew it. It turned out super cute.

As you can see Josie loved it. It is a little long for her but that is okay since it is more of a winter skirt. It will fit her good next fall.

I went back to work on Tuesday. It was a sad, sad day. I really did not want to go back, I did not miss it at all. Those 20 short days I had off gave me a taste of what retirement will be like and I loved it. It has made me even more motivated to set things in motion so I can go down to working part time in the next few years. Hopefully within in the next two. I can only dream......


Sharon

Endoscopic Carpal Tunnel Surgery.......

 

Otis update....He is adjusting very good to our house. The only trouble we are having with him is sleeping in the kennel. After 2 weeks of sleepless nights we let him win and he has moved into the bed with us. Now most nights he sleeps all night. He still likes to get up once in awhile to go poop. We are working on a feeding schedule to put a stop to that. Morgan is also adjusting well to Otis. She likes having another  dog around.

 This is me about 2 hours after I underwent endoscopic carpal tunnel surgery on both hands. I chose to have it done endoscopic rather then the old way where they cut open the palm of your hand because it is a lot faster recovery.  I will only have two weeks of recovery vs four to six weeks the old way. I was also able to have both hands done at once because I was able to move my fingers and hands right after the surgery. The doctor told me that endoscopic is also way less painful.  I was a little nervous about having them both done at once but it all went good. About the only thing I could not do the day of the surgery without help was unzip and unbutton my pants. And open the cover of my pain pills. Once I got home I put on some sweat pants and Rick gave me my pills and I was set for the day.

 After two days I got to take the wraps off. It felt so good to get them off. As you can see in the picture above my hands were still pretty swollen. I also go a huge blister on the side of my left hand. I think the warp was a little to tight and when my hand swelled up after the surgery in rubbed. Since my hand was numb for 12 hours I did not notice it until the next day. As the swelling went down over the next few days the bruises showed up. My hands were pretty sore still but I was able to do most things. I could not do any heavy lifting and still had a little trouble opening bottles and jars.

 This is how they look six days after the surgery. The swelling is pretty much gone along with most of the bruising. The stitches will come out on Thursday, 8 days after the surgery. 

They are still a little sore but everyday they get better and I am getting most of the strength back in them.  I still have to be careful when doing things. If I turn them wrong it will hurt like crazy.  I also found that if I over use them they get sore.

The really good news is they are no longer going numb and the pain I was having in them from the carpal tunnel is gone. The pain I am having now is just the healing pain. I am so glad that I had the surgery. I am also glad that I had them both done at once. I had so many people tell me not to do them both at once but I trusted my doctor when he said I would be able to take of myself from day one and he was right.  I had to take two weeks off of work and I think that will be about right. I think by the time I go back they will feel pretty good.

I got lucky to have such great weather for my time off. I'm sure my time off will go by too fast and then it will be back to work for me :(

Sharon

“Individually, every grain of sand brushing against my hands represents a story, an experience, and a block for me to build upon for the next generation.” ― Raquel Cepeda,

 A few years ago when we were in Zion National Park I loved the color of the sand that was everywhere. I told Rick I was going to take some home. I had no idea what I was going to do with it I just knew I wanted some. Once I got home with it I put it into a bottle and put in on the fireplace mantel. And that was the beginning of my obsession with sand.

Now every time we go on a vacation I like to get a little bit of sand and bring it home. Mostly I get sand from State and National parks we have been at while camping. It amazes me all the different colors and textures of the sand.

It is a cheap way for me to keep a little something from all of our travels. Now every time I look at the mantel and see them there it brings back happy memories of the great trips Rick and I have taken together.

Sharon  

Meet Otis.....

                                                                                            Otis

The first meeting. It was hard to get a picture with all the running around

                                       Morgan is finally letting Otis be near her without a grrrr

                          Watching for squirrels together 

                                            Otis is making himself at home

    He can't decide which toy to play with so he takes them all out and brings them all over the house.


After Dexter died I swore up and down that I was not getting another dog. It was just to hard to think about replacing him and I told myself that one dog was enough. I was sure Morgan would get over her loneliness.

Well a month later poor Morgan has not gotten over her loneliness and I found myself looking at rescue  sites at dogs. Let me tell you it is a big mistake to look at rescue sites unless you are planning on get a dog because it will break your heart looking at all those dogs looking for a forever home. Once I started looking I knew it was only a matter of time before I came home with a new friend for Morgan.

Right before we left for Vegas Safe Sanctuary out of Faribault put up a picture of this cute little dog

I showed him to Rick and we both agreed that he was a cute dog and that was all the further we took it. I told myself when we got back if he was still there I would take a look at him. Well when we got back he was still there and after talking about it for a few days I went to look at him.

Of course one look at him and it was love. I had to take him home. They did not know much about Otis as he was a stray. They think he is 1 to 2 years old and that he is a Yorkie Chihuahua mix. He was doing okay on his potty training and got along great with other dogs and like people. He is tiny. I always thought Morgan was tiny until we got Otis.

It is going pretty good with Morgan and Otis. Morgan was super excited when we got home and ran all over with Otis. Then it was like she realized that he was staying and stated to grrrr. It was kind of funny. Now 4 days later they are getting along pretty good. Morgan will now let him be by her and yesterday she almost let Otis play with her. I give it another week and they will be best friends.

After Dexter died Morgan spent most of the day in the kennel. If anyone came to the house she ran away and hid and she was doing her submissive peeing again. Dexter made her brave and without him she did not know what to do. She would not play fetch anymore. She was just sad and it was breaking our hearts watching her be so sad. 

The day I brought Otis home we got Morgan back. She got her braveness back! She is almost back to her old self again. She has not had any submissive peeing and playing and fetching again.

So even if it is a pain having to deal with training a new dog I am so happy we got him.

Lastly if you are looking for a dog make sure you look at SAFE  I cannot give enough credit to the people that take these dogs and cats into there homes and foster them until they find a new forever home. I don't know how they do it. Without them we may have never gotten to bring Otis into our home.

Sharon

3378.5 miles.......

                                                  The cluster in the tree is mistletoe

                     We went hiking in Valley of Fire. It was just beautiful.

                                                      I love this picture of Rick and I.

                            Rick shooting on Sunday in his new R-Strings shirt

One of my favorite sites on our way to Vegas. It is on I 90 by the 1880 town. It is always my goal every year to get a picture of it as we pass by going 80 miles an hour.  I think this years picture turned out great :)

This is on HWY 15 in Utah on our way to Vegas. Another great picture taken from the car.

This is the real reason we go to Vegas every year. It is the best chocolate cake we have ever had. The first night we got there we went right to the deli and bought it. It is a huge piece but we manged to eat it all in two days. 

On Thursday night we went to the Mirage with Connie, Larry, Jane and Eli to see The Beatles Love Cirque du Soeil. It was a great show! The picture above is of Rick while we were having a drink in the LOVE bar waiting for the show to start.

Sorry for the disorder of the pictures. For some reason they downloaded out of order and I did not feel like redoing it.

The picture above is of Colette, Andy, Rick, Hannah and Isaac when we were getting ready to go hiking at the Valley of Fire

On Thursday morning we had the honor of being the witnesses for Colette and Andy's wedding. I love Vegas weddings!

On the way back to the hotel the limo stopped at the Vegas sign so we could take pictures. This one of Colette and Andy is perfect.

                                           A picture of me at Valley of Fire.

                    A couple of picture from our way home while driving through Utah

       This was the sunrise over Wyoming on our last day on the road while going home.

               A few more pictures from Valley of Fire. Again sorry for the disorder

We had another great trip to Vegas. We drove again this year. We put a total of 3378.5 miles on the car for the whole trip. It cost us just under $300. for gas and two nights in hotels while on the road. It was such a cheap trip and way more fun then flying. I love road trips and love seeing the country as we drive. Rick and I are good traveling partners. I guess if we can sit in a car together for 16 hours it must be true love :)

Rick shot well. He was in 20 place in flight 5 out of 26 flights. And 155th place out of 809 shooters overall. He shot the more relaxed then he ever has before in Vegas and had a good time. He never thinks he did very good but when you look at the overall picture he did great! I am very proud of him.

So another Vegas trip is done. This was our 7th year of going there and I am already planing next years trip.

Later
Sharon