Grateful

A year ago today... Secret Agent Man was hit by a truck...while on a bike...a mountain bike--not his motorcycle.

So just thought I would update with his progress and how grateful I am that he's still here and doing relatively well.

He's completed his physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy.

Physical therapy was to help him basically get back to walking, bending, and lifting. He still suffers from a painful foot and hip when he walks a bit too much. He still shouldn't lift too much since his spine was crushed a bit and his muscles aren't back to full strength to help keep his bones aligned. His shoulder cracks and is sore at times but as long as he keeps up his exercises, he has pretty full function of it.

Occupational therapy was to help with his hand shaking and fine motor skills. He noticed that he couldn't hold his camera still--even under the best conditions. So he's improved but not quite as steady as he used to be.

Finally, he noticed that something was wrong with his brain when he started doing more around the house and started studying more. He would mix up letters and numbers, not remember things, and get really frustrated because he couldn't keep his concentration. He had a wonderful therapist who helped him with all these issues. He has a bunch of exercises that he has to keep up with otherwise he slides backwards but for the most part, he's functioning brilliantly...especially with our baby. He developed some strange chronic headaches and is being treated for that but will likely follow-up with another concussion specialist to see how permamant these headaches are and if there's anything he can do to prevent them.

Other than that, he's pretty much back to normal and getting back to his studying and doing GREAT as our stay-at-home parent. For that, I am grateful.

Just when you thought it was over...

This winter has been really warm. Few snow days and lots of days in the 30s and 40s. We even got a few 60-70 degree days in there. It was lovely. I even took a picture of the first green sprouts I saw. It made me excited to think that Spring was here!


But then out of nowhere, we got the biggest snowfall of the season when we least expected it. All the forecasts warned of flooding and heavy rains. Instead, we got some crazy snow--about 8-10 inches at least. The snow was heavy and sticky and made everything look like it was covered in cotton and icing. I should have played hooky to make a few snowmen!



Note how high the snow is on the left side of the picture. Before this snowfall, everything was brown without a speck of snow or ice in sight. Also note that Secret Agent Man is super awesome and scrapes, digs, shovels, and snow blows all the snow off my truck, out of our driveway, clears the backroads for us and our neighbor, along with the sidewalks in front of ours and our neighbor's house.


I don't know if Taylor is stalking Radar or squirrels.


Radar gets so tired trying to make his way through the snow...but he's so pretty!


I hope this is the last of winter but everyone tells me not to get my hopes up until June.

Sugar*mama

Icy Icicles!

It's been a pretty warm winter. We didn't get snowfall well into January this year. No white Christmas for us. We did experience our first ice storm, though. I didn't know what that meant and why that seemed to alarm people more than a snow storm but we soon found out.

When there's an ice storm, globs of ice form on anything and everything. It forms on trees branches, weighing them down and breaking them since it's so much heavier than snow. Worse, it forms on powerlines and brings those down too. This ice storm was that crazy, huge storm that covered two-thirds of the continental U.S. This ice storm left two inches of rock solid slabs of ice up the drive way and totally blanketed my truck. Secret Agent Man, had to pour copious amounts of salt on everything and wait for the sun to start melting the ice before he could break up it up and remove it. If you don't remove it as soon as you can, then it just remelts into larger and larger, thicker and thicker slabs which you can't walk on, much less drive on. I think it was 12noon or 1pm before the ice was melted enough to get into my truck to go to work. Weird stuff...

Here's some pretty pictures of some icicles that forms before the ice storm.




Here's Secret Agent Man walking to the porch to knock off all the icicles before the ice storm hit. If we left it up, the ice would have just accumulated and may have weighed down the gutters so much that it would have caused damage.


Here's some icicles that formed on some plants.


Kinda reminded me of Krypton.
Sugar*mama

New Trick!

We can sometimes get our unruly dogs to do tricks. They were much more obedient when we would walk them and play with them or for the most part pay any attention to them. So the only way we can get them to do anything we want is if there's a treat involved (and sometimes not even then). Secret Agent Man, patient as he is, taught them a new trick.



Now, it doesn't look like much but we taught them to "freeze" with the treat on their nose. They've been getting lazy and letting the treat slide off. So he taught them to freeze with the treat in their mouths. They don't run off, they don't chew, they don't move an inch until he gives the OK....now, if we can just teach them "clean up." Heck, I'll settle for "fetch" or "be quiet" but I'll take "FREEZE!"

Sugar*mama

Privatizing

Remember Secret Agent Man's aversion to the web and big brother and all that? With our newest sugar mule addition, we'll be creating a new blog: Mars On The Move. I'll be closing access to that blog to invitees only so I can post cute pictures and videos.

The good news is that it shouldn't be a problem to gain access...just let me know and I'll shoot ya an email invite. You might need a gmail account but I'm not sure. Hope to see you on the other side!

*sugarmama

Happy New Year!

It's been so long since I've last posted anything here. I have many excuses but none that'll sound good enough (except that I couldn't post food pictures since they wanted to make me barf for a good 6 months last year).

So 2010 was full of:
-shingles
-traumatic car injury (Secret Agent Man getting hit by a truck)
-lots of therapy
-lots of doctor appointments
-and to top it off, a tick bite.

but it was also full of:
-wonderful, supportive friends and family
-meeting new friends who generously came out of nowhere to help us during trying times
-an easy and trouble-free pregnancy
-a lovely baby shower as well as love and gifts from afar
-a beautiful baby boy
-lots of friends and family giving birth to tons of babies around us
-lots of healing and smiles

So good-bye to 2010 and hello 2011. We're looking forward to a year of more smiles, healing, and love.

*sugarmama

Update: Secret Agent Man

This is the image I saw one day coming home from work:


Don't worry, he was just starting it up and not actually riding it but it was a funny sight seeing Secret Agent Man on a motorcycle with a back brace. He's doing really well and almost fully recovered from the accident. All of his bones have healed 100% and he's back to normal everyday living. His only restrictions are to keep using his backbrace and not to lift anything really heavy. Sometimes it is still somewhat painful but since he's started physical therapy, it has been getting easier and better with each day. So thanks to everyone for all of your well-wishes and support! We couldn't have done it without you.
Sugar*mama

Spring Pictures!

Just wanted to share some of the spring growth in these parts...let me tell you, it was a welcome sight to see!


Daffodils are now my favorite flower, it's the first to greet Spring! It was my mom's favorite flower and now I see why. It's just so bright and sunny and happy.


Here's a tulip growing. I can't wait to see what this one looks like. These are my sister's favorite flowers.

All these young buds:






Here are some fabulous wild daffodils in the alley way along with a flowering bush:


Even weeds are a happy sight!


I love the gold colors and how green the lawns are again.


Apparently so does Taylor.

Actually, she's loving all the new birds in the neighborhood. She tries her best to catch them but she's a little too clumsy.

By the time I finished taking all the pictures, the second daffodil bloomed.


Daffodils and tulips aren't the only things growing around here (hee hee).

Finally, here's my two broken footed boys. I don't know how Radar managed to hurt his left foot just like Secret Agent Man but it is somewhat funny to see the two of them limping around.


Happy Spring!
Sugar*mama

Spring= Trauma Season

So, apparently I'm not the only one to get excited about the first sunny day over 50 degrees. The day after I wrote how I was so excited about temperatures reaching into the 60s, Secret Agent Man decided he couldn't wait any longer and went for a bike ride. Now, most of you who read this blog probably know all the details of this fateful day already but here's a few more details for fun.

1. Secret Agent Man was riding on the side of the road and was hit from behind by a pick-up truck going 50+ miles per hour.

2. The last thought in Secret Agent Man's mind was "Damn, that was an awesome ride!" referring to the 20+ miles he just rode through the mountain where he was so worried about getting shot by hunters that he wore a fluorescent orange jersey. Apparently, that color keeps you from getting shot but doesn't keep you from getting runned over.

3. Here was our conversation when I first saw him at the hospital in the emergency room:
Me: Hi, honey, how are you?
SAM: What happened?
Me: You were hit by a car.
SAM: Bastards...Did they get away or what?
Me: I don't think it was a hit and run.
SAM: Where Am I?
Me:At the hospital.
SAM: How did I get here?
Me: Helicopter.
SAM: Bloody......What happened?

This conversation continued pretty much exactly the same every few minutes for the next 16 hours.

4. Although he wasn't coherent, Secret Agent Man was very aware that he was naked. Although he was covered pretty much the whole time, he was so concerned that he was naked, he told everyone "hey guys, I think I'm naked" and after awhile the nurses and doctors would start messing with him saying things like "guess what, we all are too!" Secret Agent Man wouldn't be phased though, he would just reply with "no peeking, no peeking" or "don't post this on the internet guys" or "what kind of place you guys running here?"

5. Secret Agent Man was not the first that day to be flown in for a trauma. The doctors and nurses in the ICU all commented that it was the start of "Trauma Season." As soon as the sun comes out, the garage doors open up and motocycles and bicycles come out and people become prime targets for really bad accidents. So this was our introduction to "Trauma Season."

UPDATE: Secret Agent Man is doing really well. He's a little (a LOT) frustrated as he is essentially confined to our bedroom and tortured as he watches the temperatures get up into the 80s and see the rare sunshine in these parts and watching all the other bicyclists pass our home from our window. The bruises have essentially disappeared (maybe if he would allow it, I could share some of those pictures), all the swelling has gone down, and he's off pain meds. Now it's just his bones that need to heal which unfortunately still means he has to wear his back brace and stay off his foot, at least until we see what the doctors say a little later this week. Thanks to everyone for their wonderful love and support!

Always wear a helmet.
Sugar*mama

Winter X-games

Secret Agent Man has been waiting--literally--for the past 14 years (I think since 1996) for an el nino winter in California. The last el nino brought crazy snow fall in the local mountains all the way through April and he remembered going snowboarding and enjoying the sweetest rides that season.

So, of course, the ONE YEAR I move him AWAY from California is the ONE YEAR that el nino shows up. I'll never hear the end of this. Especially because despite all the snow here, there isn't a great snowboarding mountain around. So clearly, he's salty about missing out on all those sweet rides back in California, he's suffering from shingles (which for the most part have healed nicely), and he's quite literally freezing all the time. Yet, he tries to be a good sport about it.

He even pulled out his snowboard.
Um...hunny? Hun? Where are you going?


He's heading up the mountain...um...I mean, hill. This is our street before the snow plows could come through.


We've got some cool neighbors. That guy up on the right offered to push some snow and build a couple ramps for Secret Agent Man.


And here he comes!








Trust me he was all smiles...too bad he was going slower than an old lady with a peg leg. The pictures made him look good though, eh?

So, that was our big X-game moment. Here I leave you with a thought... Who says there's no waves in PA?






Happy surfing!
Sugar*mama

Snowmageddon-PA edition

We thought the big snow storm was back during Christmas. Since then it had been gray and brown with some rain and really frigid temperatures. Some of you may have heard about the huge storm to hit Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, MD areas that shut down the cities. That same storm hit here and dumped at least 18" of pristine, fluffy, dry, sandy, fine snow.
And now you know why Innuits have 40 words for snow.




The snow piled so high that the stairs on our front porch were buried and there's a good 6" of snow ON the porch.


The trees looked like it was dripping with frosting.


This should give you some perspective of how deep "we" had to dig. My truck's bumper is in the background.


The snow was almost too high for the snowblower.




Secret Agent Man has a lot of fun with the snowblower.


He's also a good neighbor. We have 24 hours to shovel our sidewalks after a snowfall. Secret Agent Man has so much fun with the snowblower he keeps going until he clears the block.


He still needed to shovel the stairs though.


Our village/town/borough does a great job with clearing the streets. This time the snow fell so quickly, they had a hard time keeping up.


Our neighbor thinks we're weird.


Here I am, trying to make a snow angel. The doggies wanted to help. You know, kids make this look so easy but my question is how the heck do you get up without ruining the angel??


While I'm writing this, we're bunkered down, waiting for the next snow storm to pass. Another 12" is expected to fall between tonight and tomorrow night.
Stay warm!
Sugar*mama

11.1

...degrees. It's 11.1 degrees outside and dropping. That's not the coldest it's been this winter but it's still pretty darn cold. It hasn't gotten over 28 degrees for the past few days.

Secret Agent Man has shingles and although everyone says he's not contagious, I'm sure pre-chicken pox kids, pregnant women, and senior citizens would be happy he's not walking the streets. Seeing as the temperatures have been pretty icy, we're not all that motivated to leave our freezing house for even colder adventures in town. Although the heater in the car is our only sense of relief since this house is barely able to stay above 50 degrees with the heater burning full blast. Good times, people.

So we're tucked into bed and then we get a hankering for nachos. It was only midnight and we do live just outside a college town and thought it would be fun to sneak out for a midnight date. It's our favorite kind--but just so you know we aren't complete fatties, we didn't eat dinner so I felt it was justified. However there was only one big problem with our brilliant plan:

Who the heck in our town serves Nachos?? Lemme tell you-no one.

Then we thought it would be a good time to go to the grocery store and I could make our own nachos...

..but by the time we worked up to courage to get out of our warm and cozy bed, we looked at the dropping temperature and decided that it's just waaaaay too stupid for us to venture out. So I settled for a fried egg and avocado sandwich that I made on fresh olive bread from our local baker, very reminiscent of this sandwich but instead of cheese I sprinkled bacon bits in it. Secret Agent Man made himself some miso soup and rice. There's no wonder why I call him Jack Sprat.

Stay warm but sneak out for something fun every once in a while!
Sugar*mama

It comes and goes

People would ask me, incredulously, if it were true that girls in Hawaii walk around topless and wear grass skirts and if we live in huts. Seriously.

As naive as that sounds, I now know what it is like to be on the other side, thinking the stupid question.

So winter entails cold, snow, blankets of white...but what I didn't realize is that the snow comes and goes. For example, this is the day before Christmas when temperatures hit single digits.




Note that I'm INSIDE and Secret Agent Man is OUTSIDE. Don't feel too bad for him though. He got to play with the snowblower. He's a good sport.

This was Christmas day. Look how beautiful! Don't let the blue skies fool you. The day time high was still only in the teens.


Then this was the day after Christmas.

Just like that, woke up and it was all gone.

For the past month it will snow, melt, rain, rain, sleet, melt, flurry, and so on. I thought it would snow and remain that way until Spring! Who's the dummy now?

Funny enough, once it does snow, it feels like it insulates the area and it feels warmer and brighter than the usual days of gray.

Stay warm!
Sugar*mama