It all started about 2 weeks ago - Bill started having some intense pain in the right side.  He had all of the classic symptoms of appendicitis - except it was finals week and apparently finals were/are more important than dying, so he loaded up on antibiotics and motrin for a week - just long enough to get through finals week.   For a while, he thought he was getting better; I was almost about to doubt my diagnosis and then Sunday he started having pains again.  And Monday, on his way home from work, he said it was all he could do to breathe through the pain and get to the ER.  I must say that was a bit of a relief for me.  His family history has me worrying about him every single time he goes running and then this added to it left me worrying a lot.  I had put two of our friends on Bill duty at work.  I asked them to wisk him away to the hospital if he got worse.

When he called me Monday to say he was going to the ER, I had just picked up the kids and was on the way home.  He was at the ER in Leesburg (about 50 minutes away.)  I anticipated a long wait in the ER, so I fed the kids and loaded up a diaper bag and some stuff for Stewart and we drove to the hospital.  The wrong hospital.  Bill went to the old Hospital in Leesburg which is now just an urgen care center, but still an annex of Loudon County Hospital (where I went.)  While i was pregnant, if I didn't think I could make it to Reston Hospital, our backup plan was to go to Loudon County.  So when he said he was at the hospital in Lessburg, I didn't actually consider he was at the old hospital.  We drove around the parking lot for about 20 minutes looking for Bill's car because I needed the stroller.  We never found it.  We got inside and when i called the "patient advocate" I was advised that he was at the other location.  GEEZ.  So we drove over there only to be told that we couldn't go back to see him - Kids aren't allowed.  I think that is a really awful thing to say to a woman who is obviously stressed, just drove 50 minutes to the hospital to see her husband.  It's also mean because Stewart understood what she said and he thought it was his fault - just like when the nurse wouldn't let them spend the night with me and Parker in Pediatrics.  It's a horrible thing to say to a family.  Anyway . . . 

We sat in the lobby for a long time.  Bill and I were texting each other on our phones - which helped ease the stress.  at least I understood he was drinking his barium cranberry gingerale cocktails and getting ready for his CT scan.  He ended up needing two and it wasn't until about 10:30 that someone finally decided that his appendix needed to come out.  His dr came out to the waiting room and said we could go back.  She said we could have gone back sooner but she didn't know we were there.  I swear, if I'm ever a nurse (which I want to be) I will NEVER say that to a family.  

So we sat and talked to him for a little bit and then headed home.  He was transported to Loudon County Hospital via ambulance.  He was disappointed they didn't drive him over with sirens blaring.  We didn't get home until 12:30 and I had to get the kids to bed, take out the trash, get diaper bag ready for day care the next day and get Stewart's backpack ready for school.  i also had to clean up a bit and set out some stuff because I knew I would need someone to pick up the kids today and if I was going to ask someone to take care of them until I got home, I wanted to have stuff ready.

We got up prompty at 7:20 and got the kids to school.  Poor Stewart didn't get much sleep. He started crying on the drive to the hospital and he didn't get much sleep.  i felt bad this morning - he understood that I was going to see daddy and he couldn't go.  He is a very sensitive boy.

I got to the hospital around 9:30 this morning.  All he was told was that a dr would try to squeeze him into their schedule between scheduled surgeries. Jeez.  At 1:30 we would told it wouldn't be until about 4-5 before someone could get to him.  Luckily, she came back at 2:25 to say they were ready for him - which didn't mean much.  We went to pre-op and were there for awhile.  They wheeled him off around 4:30 and I went to the waiting room.  5:30 his dr came out and told me that it was much worse than Bill led on and that he thought it was pretty bad.  But not ruptured.  Bill was in post-op until about 6:30 and then I met him back up in his room.  He had two visitors and also received flowers from his co-workers. He was soo groggy and cold and in pain.  He eventually got discharged around 9 and we were on the road.  It was an awful drive.  It was raining and literally freezing cold outside.  My night vision sucks so I could barely see and then to top it off - on coming traffic (on the stupid 2-way roads that wind up and down the mountains) was blinding me and then the reflection from their headlights on the rain on the road - whatever.  I couldn't see and I was scared and tired and stressed out.  I almost cried again.  

I left out the whole part where i cried a little.  I realize it is totally ridiculous to cry - but I wasn't crying about him needing to have surgery.  I was crying that he kept insisting that I go home and just leave him there.  It was really hard for me to walk out of the hospital and leave him Monday night.  But I didn't have a choice.  I had the kids with me and we weren't prepared for an overnight adventure.  But there was no way I was leaving him all laid up like that.  But I was conflicted - i needed to do something with the kids.  I had hoped he would get discharged and we could get the kids in time but that didn't work out.  So i went out for lunch and I just started driving and thinking and i cried because I just couldn't leave him there to have surgery and be all alone but I knew our kids (especially Stewart) needed me and I couldn't be in both places at the same time and I felt like I was having to pick.  I was having to pick.  Do I take care of my husband?  Do I take care of my kids?  Bill and I aren't very good at asking for help - obviously.  Thank goodness Joe & Elba offered to take care of the boys so I could stay with Bill.  It was hard for me to aceept the offer; they have a 2 year old and a new baby.  The last thing I wanted to do was to impose on them; they already have their hands full.  But I couldn't just leave Bill there alone - and I kept saying that to myself and as hard as it was for me, I imposed on Joe and Elba.  

Bill and I are both relatively private people and we both take pride in our independence.  So it was hard for Bill to sit back and let someone take care of him (he wanted to drive himself to the hospital last night and then this afternoon he wanted to walk down to Pre-op.)  Me - it is just almost impossible for me to ask for help.  So this whole thing just showed us that it's not failure to ask for help - everyone needs help sometimes.  

I'm ridiculously tired now and I'm a little hungry cause I haven't eaten since lunch but it's sooo late (or early) I just need to get some sleep.  luckily, the ice storm is causing a 2-hour delay in school tomorrow. We're sleeping in.

In honor of it’s recent release on DVD, I am taking the time to re-post my original movie review of Indian Jones and the Crystal Skull (the worst movie in the history of suckish movies.) I can't believe i wasted valuable time (i could have spent sleeping) to go see this movie at MIDNIGHT the day it was released.  Uber disappointment.

Indiana Jones and the kingdom of the Crystal Skull is the worst movie ever

by Tracey 5/22/2008 11:05:00 AM

So my friend and I got all psyched up and we went to see the movie at the 12:01am showing (that's right, midnight.)  The first thing that was obnoxious - the theater was packed full of high school kids that were loud and annoying.    The guy that sat down next to me, turned to his friends (the whole row behind us) and told them that he was late because he was pooping.  Seriously.  Wha's the deal with parents these days.  I don't think i would have been allowed to go see a movie, on a school night, at midnight.  I probably wouldn't have even asked  because i knew the answer.  They were loud and obnoxious and obviously die hard fans of the trilogy.

The movie was a big fat disappointment.  I don't even think it is worthy of the Indiana Jones title.  It was so bad, so unbelieveable, and so corny.  i think George Lucas has lost his mind, already talking aboout a story line for the next one.  I love all of the Indiana Jones movies, the last crusade is my favorite.  Being the last of the three and, in my opinion, the best of the three i thought the 4th installment should be good if it kept with the trend.  But it wasn't.  There was one snake joke - which i think was the best part of the movie.   You know, sometimes when you leave a movie, everyone loved it sooo much that there is clapping and cheering and the room is full of big fat happiness?  Not the case here - when the credits started, there was this weird silence.  Like no one was ready to admit how much it sucked.  They were trying to let it sink in, just incase they missed some small tidbit of a redeeming quality for the movie.  Once you got to the parking lot, people were saying it sucked.  I will say that you have to see it just to know how bad it was but i am in no way recommending it as a good or even decent movie.  And i don't give refunds because i'm telling you right now, it's bad.

I have this mental list of movies that i would like to see in a theater, if ever given the opportunity - and the Indiana Jones movies are on that list - Just not this one!  To summarize in one sentence - this new installment of Indiana Jones was like watching a really long X-files episode that had an Indiana Jones cameo.

But - this video is really funny - http://gizmodo.com/392495/indiana-jones-theme-secret-lyrics-uncovered

Poor Harrison Ford, I never thought he was an overly attractive man but he looked all worn down and tired.  Harrison Ford looked like thanksgiving leftovers, 3 weeks old, overheated in a microwave.  And his voice sounded like it was digitally enhanced and then dubbed over (especially evident in the first 15 minutes.)  His clothes kinda looked like they were too big - it looked like he was draped in an indiana jones costume that was too big for him.  (kinda like one of those generic kids halloween costumes that come in 3 generic sizes with a big plastic mask with eye holes.)  

Cate Blanchet was awesome - you can't blame her for wanting to be in an Indiana Jones movie and working with Lucas and Speilberg - but didn't she also think it was shit when she read the script!

And what the hell is the deal with the animal jokes?  The groundhogs and the monkeys?  At one point I thought Shia was Tarzan. 

Oh Well.  So much for my big exciting midnight viewing of Indiana Jones.  At least the video at Gizmodo is funny.  (http://gizmodo.com/392495/indiana-jones-theme-secret-lyrics-uncovered) 

BTW: what the heck was the deal with the large ants!?  are those real?!?!? 

*********** Funny enough, i just found this article SAYING THE SAME THING!!!  *************

http://io9.com/392616/indiana-jones-delivers-the-best-x+files-movie-of-summer 

Indiana Jones Delivers the Best X-Files Movie of Summer

It's not necessarily a good sign when you can only describe the latest entry in one summer franchise, Indiana Jones, by reference to another franchise, X-Files. that is also pumping out a summer movie. And yet the whole time I was watching Steven Spielberg's serviceable little action flick, full of Harrison Ford's trademark lopsided smile (still cute) and jungle chases (still pulptastic), all I could think about was how this was the movie X-Files: I Want to Believe should be. It had exotic locales, new agey aliens, marvelously bad pseudo-science, and a plucky male-female team at its heart. I mean, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is X-Files with monkey jokes instead of paraphilias. But is that a good thing? Weirdly, yes.

***** if you want to read the rest of the article, go to the webpage. ******

Still thinkin about it . . . Indiana Jones spoilers

by Tracey 5/27/2008 2:05:00 PM

because i'm still irritated at the crappiness of the movie - I'm going to list the reasons why it was so awful.  If you haven't seen the movie but really want to - or you don't want to know the plot, don't read cause i'm gonna lay it all out there.

1.  any decent action movie does NOT end with a wedding.  Especially Indiana Jones movies.  This wedding adds to the corny factor of the whole movie.

2.  Indiana Jones doesn't have kids.  Indiana Jones has hot girlfriends and he's an eternal bachelor.  He's a loner.  Don't saddle him up with a past her prime wife, and a punk ass kid. I don't care if they still have good banter or not.

3.  Aliens - are you kidding me?  The crystal skull belongs to aliens?  LAME-O.  I will say their shiny crystally skeletons looked cool - but gimme a break.  I didn't go see this movie wanting some mystery about magnetic ALIEN SKELETONS.

4.  The first 20 minutes.  I know every movie has a bit of unbelievability (is that a word) but what the heck.  He located the crate with the stupid magnetic alien skeleton by throwing gun powder in the air and chasing it.  The fight with the big Russian looking guy ended when they somehow launched a jet engine into the desert - and he survived only to wander into some fake town that gets nuked - and he survived by climbing into a lead lined fridge that got thrown MILES by the blast - and he survived to climb out of the fridge and stand on a cliff and look at the mushroom cloude in wonder and amazement.  I was sitting there in my seat looking at him with wonder and amazement at how stupid the whole scenario was/is.

5.  Indiana Jones is known for great chase scenes.  It would have been halfway decent had they not lived through the angel falls falls - all three of them. 

6.  Using a snake as a rope.  That was only good for the "I hate SNAKES" line - i don't care what kind of non-poisonious rat snake it is - its body isn't strong enough to pull out a 180 pound man from quicksand - AFTER it already pulled out his 140 pound old lady.

7.  i know i mentioned it previously, but when Mutt was swinging through the amazon WITH THE MONKEYS - that was a bit too much for me. 

I think that's about it.  This must be how the die hard Star Wars fans felt with Episode I came out. 

I thought this was an interesting article.

The Yawn Explained: It Cools Your Brain

Look at this picture.  It's funny.  It's 4 MEN, 3 of them visably wearing glasses (the guy in the middle is wearing coke bottles!)  My money says the 4th guy (the one who's eyes you can't see) is also wearing glasses.   The one guy in the front left has his Kenny G hair pulled back into a veru suave pony tail.  The guy in the blue shirt, in the back is looking very excited.  If I could write a caption above his head, it would say something like, "OMG, I have waited soooo long for this moment."  The one guy - that you can't see much of, he's got the directions out - he's the alpha nerd.

If I ever thought it would be fun to put this together, Lego style, I have just changed my mind.  Now - I will always see 4 dorky looking guys around a ping pong table that looks like it's never used (except for showcasing uber dorky, probably Star Wars related.) 

I also think these guys network their computers and play a lot of World of Warcraft, eating cheesy poufs, and drinking Mountain Dew.

This year, everything Stewart wants is Star Wars for Bakugan (whatever the heck that is - I don't even know if I spelled it correctly.)  Santa is bringing the BIG MONSTER Millenium Falcon - yeah, I know it's ridiculously priced but the only thing I really want this year is for the kids to have a good holiday.  Money has been tight since - well since Parker was born and I got my new, lower paying but closer to home job.  I feel like I've been saying, "Not today sweetie, Maybe for Christmas" for the last 6 months.  So i'm doing the best I can to make sure he gets what i know he wants the most.  And he's wanted this Millenium Falcon since I saw it this summer.  Secretly, I can't wait to play with it a little bit too - I remember when my brother got his Millenium Falcon from TG&Y DECADES ago. 

So - he's getting this Millenium Falcon and an AT-TE walker (I have no idea what that is.  I think it's from Clone Wars and it walks up the walls in the movie) from Santa.  Mommy and daddy got him some kind of Republic gunship - i have no idea what that is either.  It looks like a clone trooper transporter - lol.  And he got some other stuff.  He already has just about every Star Wars character - at least all of the ones he wants.  There are a few other presents i'm gonna get - but I must say, itis much easier to shop for Parker. 

So I was sitting here on the floor wrapping presents and I got worried that Stewart will get upset and jealous because Parker's presents come in bigger boxes - or because Parker's presents light up and make noise.  I'm sure it will be fine.  But I wouldn't be a mommy if I didn't worry about the ridiculous things.

I had a hard time at Thanksgiving.  It just didn't feel like a holiday - it was just us.  I told Bill, it really just felt like we were having our big Sunday meal.  I hope Christmas can feel a little more festive and holiday-ish.  I'm sure it will be fun - watching the kids open presents and then watch Parker want to eat the paper more than play with his toys.  

I can't believe it's only FIFTEEN more days!!!!!

World's first Hello Kitty themed maternity hospital opens up in Taiwan

. But behold, as here is something completely different with the Hello Kitty tag. The 30-bed

Hau Sheng Hospital in Yuanlin in central Taiwan is Hello Kitty themed, who would've thought we'd see such a day. It is maternity hospital that has the blankets, birth certificates, cots and even uniforms of the staff designed with the Hello Kitty theme in mind. At the entrance there is a Hello Kitty Statue dressed as a doctor, how utterly cute. There is also a Hello Kitty elevator to take you to your destination. The pink examination room has posters of the adorable feline all over the walls. Tsai Tsung-chi, director of the hospital gained permission from Sanrio to open up this unique and world's first Hello Kitty themed medical establishment.

The director said, "I wish that everyone who comes here, mothers who suffer while giving birth and children who suffer from an illness, can get medical care while seeing these kitties and bring a smile to their faces, helping forget about discomfort and recover faster." Chen Shing-chiu, 38, is one of the first mothers to give birth to a baby here. If I ever plan on having a baby, this is where I'll be heading.