Glad and Sad

Today has been a sad and glad day. Yesterday I thought it looked like I might actually get rid of this head cold some time this century, so I was feeling pretty good. But this morning I woke up and felt pretty crappy. All day I've been on the edge of feeling really bad. My throat got worse and worse throughout the day and by the time we went to church tonight (more on that later), it was really bad. Now it's REALLY bad...which is how this head cold I've had all week started last Sunday. UGH!!! I hope I don't have to do the whole thing over again. So that part was sad.

Glad: Hope and I went to the new Hudson 12 Theater today and saw the Noon showing of "Kung Fu Panda." It was cute, but the best part for me was watching my girl. She looked so grown up sitting in the chair next to me. She was so good. This was about her 4th movie (we've taken her to see "Ice Age 2", "The Bee Movie," "Horton Hears a Who" and now this one). She sat on the edge of her seat (she can't sit all the way back or the seat would fold her up), watching the movie, eating popcorn with me. In my mind I could see Hope as a teenager, going to a movie with her friends instead of her Mommy. That made me sad and glad.

After the movie we came home to pick Mark up so the three of us could go to the farm together. We saw the cutest calf!!! We think it was born this morning. It's a red and white holstein. SOOOOOOOOO cute!!! Almost as cute as Reddy (the jersey), but not quite. We named her Carmadillo (a combination of caramel and armadillo...hehehe). I told Mark and Hope that I wanted to go next door to the maternity ward to see the Mamma who gave birth to such a beautiful baby. Well, here's the sad part. I saw the soon to be momma cows and then one in particular caught my eye. I said to Mark, "Hey...look at that one...she's laying down and she's outside the barn." I looked closer and she WAS laying down and she WAS outside the barn...because she was dead. It made me want to cry. I went closer (I know this is weird) to see what tag number she had on her ear. 775. I know that means nothing to anyone, but since we go to the farm almost every day I feel like I've gotten to "know" the calves and the soon to be Mommies. This poor cow must have died while giving birth. I'll have to get the story next time I'm at the farm. So Hope asked some questions today about the cow. That's a tough one. We told her the cow was very sick and now she's in heaven with Jesus. OK. I have a degree in Theology. I know there's absolutely nothing theological about a cow being in heaven with Jesus. As a matter of fact, before I became a Mommy I thought people were nuts when they'd talk about their beloved pets being in heaven. Now I understand. I also know that God has a big enough heart that even if animals don't actually go to heaven, He's OK with us telling our kids that in order to bring them some comfort. That's my two cents worth on that. So the farm was sad and glad today.

I'm taking tomorrow off from work/church, so we went to church at Bethel Highlands in Hudson tonight. It was a contemporary service and was really, really nice. It was nice to be able to worship and not work (although having a toddler in church with you is work...but Hope was really good tonight).

So that brings be to the end of my day. I'm sipping on some hot tea with lemon and honey, hoping that'll help my throat and that tomorrow I'll wake up and feel great. I'm going to read a few more chapters in my latest James Patterson read (3rd Degree) and then I'll hit the hay.

Thanks for reading and for not thinking I'm TOOOOOOO weird about the whole cow thing. Or at least thanks for not saying anything. LOL If I remember, I'll take the camera to the farm with me tomorrow so I can get a picture of Carmadillo. She is seriously so cute!!!

Cowgirl Hope

I had a great trip to Dallas. The only problem is that I didn't want to come home. Well, I was super anxious to see Hope because I missed her so much, but I always feel empty when I have to leave Dallas. I'm not sure why. It's where my heart is for sure. I can't explain it, but I just love Texas and feel like that's where I'm supposed to be. It was wonderful to have no schedule, no responsibilities (except to feed Pam's cats and water her plants...and she has ALOT of plants), and to feel the warmth of the sun every day. It was sunny, humid and 100 degrees pretty much every day I was there. I was in complete heaven!! I love it when it's that hot. I know---I'm crazy. It helps to have a pool to sit next to and take a dip in. The best part of the trip was seeing my friends Jeff and Marsha. Marsha and I went and got pedicures the last day I was in town. That was her first one. I think she'll be going back for more:) I also loved the fact that I could get my Cherry Limeades from Sonic. Since we don't have Sonic restaurants here I go through withdrawal sometimes. BUT....rumor has it that Woodbury is getting a Sonic. YUMMY!!!

I got this cute little cowgirl outfit for Hope while I was in Texas. She wore it today...along with the pink cowgirl boots that Grammy got her about a year ago. Isn't she cute??? I'm not sure what's up with that silly smile though.

An update on my Mom's surgery: She came through it with flying colors. The doctors said there were no surprises, so that's a good thing. The pain has been much less than she thought it was going to be, so that's good, too. I think she went for her post op check up either yesterday or today, so I'll have to call and find out how it went and when she starts pt. That'll probably bring some pain. Thanks for your prayers for her.

I guess that's it from the Brue home on this Tuesday night. I just found out that it looks like we'll be going to Stillwater on Sunday for Drum Corp performances. I can't wait. I LOVE DCI!!! It'll be Hope's first introduction to Drum Corp. She's going to go crazy!!! Go Madison Scouts! Oh...also...Saturday is the annual "touch a truck" event in River Falls. It's at Meyer Middle School. I think we'll take Hope because the Oscar Myer Weinermobile is going to be there. How cool will that be to see??? Let's hope we have a weekend with great weather.

A couple of quick notes

Yesterday was a GREAT day at the farm!!! Yes, like I've said before, these trips to the University Lab farm have gotten to be almost a daily thing. I think I like the trips almost as much as Hope does. But yesterday was so much fun!!! We noticed a new calf in the calf barn. She didn't even have her ears tagged yet. My guess was that she was about a day old. So we spent some time in the calf barn visiting with all the calves. Then we headed to the "maternity ward" to check in on the pregnant cows. There was a brand spanking new calf laying on the hay!!! We figured it was probably about 8-10 hours old (what do we know about calves??). We were so excited!!! Then we headed to another barn and on our way back to the car we were getting ready to take one more trip through the calf barn and we saw two farmers (two college girls who are working at the farm for the summer) carrying the new calf into the calf barn. YEAH!!! We found out the calf was actually only TWO HOURS OLD! It was still wet!! Hope not only got to pet the new baby, but she got to help the farmer (Kat) give the baby her first bottle. Such a neat experience. There are 6 more cows in the "maternity ward", so we'll be having lots of new calves in the next week or so.

I'm headed to Stevens Point in about and hour. My Mom, even as I post this, is having rotator cuff surgery. The surgery was scheduled to start at 7am and was supposed to last about 4 hours. Sheesh!! That's almost as long as my gastric bypass surgery was. So please say a prayer for my Mom. The recovery for this surgery is supposed to be pretty gruelling, but once that's done it'll be so much better for her. I'll keep you posted on that.

Wednesday I head to Dallas for 5 days of R&R!!! I'll be staying at my friend Pam's house and she won't even be home. I'm bummed that I won't get to spend any time with her, but it'll be so peaceful. They have an AWESOME in ground swimming pool with a hot tub attached. Pam also got a baby grand piano for her 50th b-day a couple of years ago. As long as her blender is working so I can make some margaritas (lol) I'll be in heaven. I'll miss Hope so much though. I suppose I'll miss Mark, too (hehehe). This will be a great break for me though. I'm feeling a little guilty about leaving Mark to fend for himself and Hope, but I figure that I did it for almost 8 months while he was in Stoughton and Appleton, so I think I can use this trip. Plus, maybe it'll help him see how much I really do at home. That's always a good thing. I know when he was gone I realized how much he does, too.

That's all I've got for now. Thanks for reading and thanks for keeping my Mom in your prayers!