From: Tara

It's been a long week for the Landry's.  Brandon has been working like a madman.  He left our apartment Sunday night at 9:30p and did not return home until Tuesday at 8:30p.  Then he got up at 5am on Wednesday to go back to work.  However, he only worked a ten hour day on Wednesday because of me.

Most of you know that Brandon and I are expecting our first baby in October.  We thought I was about 12 weeks along and due on October 22.  Well, on Wednesday morning, around 5am, I started bleeding heavily.  Around 9am, I called my doctor and they had me come to the emergency room right away.  My heart was pounding so hard they had to wait to take my blood pressure.  Finally they put me in a bed in the ER and started running tests.  The first, of course, was an ultrasound.  It showed that the baby was fine, great heartbeat, and moving around well.  But I'm still bleeding pretty heavy, so they do a pelvic exam.  For you men, that's when your feet are up in stir-ups, your butt is way in the air, and strangers become intimate friends. 

Of course, as I am in this horrid position having my exam, the nurse says "Hum.  That's interesting."  As soon as everything was done I asked, "What's interesting?"  She said that she saw "something" and was sending the results to my doctor, who would talk to me about it.  Long story short, after four hours in ER, two more tests, and tons of worrying later, I was admitted into the hospital. 

After reading the ultrasounds, they discovered that I am 15 weeks pregnant, well into my second trimester, four and 1/2 months.  Our new due date is October 4th.  I finally got to talk to the doctor around 5pm, and the cause of all the bleeding (I had never stopped bleeding) is a polyp on the outside of my cervic.  So while the baby is perfect (the doctor's words, not mine) I have to just let it keep bleeding until it goes away on it's own because they don't want to do anything to disrupt the baby, who is very secure and baking well in my oven.  They kept me overnight for observation and let me leave this morning after taking my blood and determining that I'm not in any danger.  So it was just very very scary and tiring.  I have never stayed overnight as a patient, and wasn't a fan of being wheeled around everywhere.  And certainly not a fan of very uncomfortable hospital beds.  I made Brandon leave around 9pm because he had worked all day, worried about me, took care of Bruno, and looked horribly tired.   Of course, he came back right at 8am, bringing food!!  He's been wonderful, even though he is completely exhausted, mentally and physically. 

 Here is my only battle scar from the whole thing.  My left arm is apparently hard to get blood from.       

Pick one of your five senses to focus on. Take note of how many gifts come to you via that single port of entry. Write about this experience.

Sorry I've been tardy, but I haven't quite been feeling good lately. Stomach bugs are mean!! I've been stymied by the senses challenge, but finally had a breakthrough. I can think of so many gifts that I've been given from touching.

Those of you that know me know I am a toucher. I always have to feel things, fabrics, carpets, I'm always touching it. And hugs! I love hugs!! Giving and receiving. But to feel something, to touch it, is to be a part of it. One of my favorite building in Chicago is the Tribune building, because they have pieces from famous landmarks from all over the world, and you can touch the pieces.

But my favorite gift has been my grandmother's thimble. When I use it to sew on buttons and such, I feel a connection to her. I can just imagine her finger in the same spot as mine, doing the same thing I'm doing. It's such a wonderful gift. So I'm very grateful for the sense of touch.

Send thank you notes to five people who deserve a little recognition.

So I sent out my thank you notes to my five people who deserved recognition. And I also want to share that a friend of mine from college, Jinger, was so inspired by the things she is reading that she has started doing the gratitude challenge on her blog as well! Here is her site if anyone is interested, and feel free to leave comments.
http://jinjer-spice.blogspot.com/
I also made my calls to a person I haven't spoken to in a while, and have to admit that it was the first challenge that I've been a little nervous about. And I love this person dearly, but we just don't talk like we used to, and I was a little nervous about the call. Strange, isn't it? But all went well.
So here is my sixth note of recognition, because I would like to thank Jennifer for inviting me to do this challenge with her. Thanks girl!! I'm loving it. Hmmm...now I'm hungry for McDonalds.

Take a picture of one thing, person, place or specific moment that makes you feel grateful. Share it with your social network.

My picture is of a specific moment. Saturday mornings Brandon usually sleeps in till 11am, but somehow Bruno (our Cavalier King Charles Spaniel) always knows when it is time for Brandon to wake up. And so every Saturday morning he jumps into the bed, and snuggles next to Brandon, rolling over and making noises of pure joy until Brandon starts playing with him. They snuggle and play for about 10-15 minutes, then both are up and in a happy mood. I am always so grateful for the these moments, because it is just so cute and sweet. The smile on both their faces (yes, Bruno smiles!!) gives me such a feeling of joy and gratefullness every week.

When I went away for a week this past summer, Brandon called me when they were snuggling and put me on speakerphone, so I wouldn't miss it. He knows just how much I love it. So these are a couple of pictures from this mornings snuggle session.

Write about something you feel grateful for in your life today.


When I really stop to think about it, I'm very grateful for many things in my life. Indoor plumbing. The ability to earn a living. Geniune people to love who love me back. But today I am very grateful for warmth.

It's snowing again. Not a big surprise in Northern Indiana/Southern Michigan, but the snow today is big, fat flakes falling slowly. It's like being in the middle of a snow globe that someone has just shaken, and now the flakes are softly floating back to the the bottom. It snowed most of last night too, so we have a good bit of accumulation on the ground. And on days like today, I am so grateful that I have warm coats, and wool socks, and a nice warm comfortable home. The snow is so beautiful, but only if you are inside and warm. As soon as I let the dog out, that beautiful snow hits you in the face, and it is blistering and miserable in a very short amount of time.

So today I am grateful for warmth, because "there, but for the grace of God, go I."

From Tara:

My friend Jennifer invited me to participate in a Gratitude Challenge with her, and I'm loving the first assignment so much that I decided to share my answers on my own blog as well as the one we have for people participating in the challenge.   If you would like to participate, go to the website below.  You don't have to make it public if you don't want to, just do it privately.  In this world that we live in, sometimes we forget all the things we have that we should be grateful for.  SO, this day's challenge was to use the alphabet for making a list of the things you are grateful for in your life.  Some of mine needed explaining, so I put that in another color beside it.  I enjoyed this first exercise so much, I am really looking forward to the next 21 days of gratitude challenges.  Check it out for yourself at: http://www.gratitudechallenge.com/ and click on the calendar on the side.  This was such a nice, fun little thing to do.  Try it out for yourself!

Okay, so here is my list:

Applesauce (it always calms my stomach when it's upset)

Brandon
Crayons (I'm just a big kid, after all)

Dogs
Eric
Friends
Good parents (and I don't just mean mine. I'm grateful for ALL good parents)

Heros (not the food or the TV show...just the people)
Ice cream
Just because flowers (I love getting flowers for no reason, so Brandon and I call them "Just because" flowers)
Katie
Love
Moms
Nose touching (When something is funny, I automatically touch my nose and cover my mouth! I don't know why, but I'm grateful for all the laughs this involuntary reaction has caused throught the years!)
old stories
Philip
Quiet time
Reading
Spring
Traveling
Unquestionable faith
Very hot chocolate
Walking Bruno
X-box (for keeping the hubby out of my hair and watching instant movies from Netflix)
Yams from my grandmother (Okay, during the Y2K scare back in 1999, my grandmother, Grana, was so concerned that I wasn't stockpiling food for the possible breakdown of society that she forced me to take this gigantic can of yams from her so I would at least have some little thing to eat until I could get back to her. It was so sweet and funny that I kept the yams until 2007.)

Zorro (I just finished reading Isabelle Allende's book Zorro. It's a great read and I highly reccomend it.)

From: Tara

I was so disappointed recently.  I thought I was going to have some great pictures for the blog, something wonderful and hilarious.  But alas.  It could not be. 

Here's the story.  I was looking for rental houses online and came across a place on Google Map called...drumroll....wait for it.....

The Butt Hut!!!  WOW.  I was desperate to find a picture, and came across this on the Internet:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/ilovecoffeeyesido/2386965297/   It's a chain!

I immediately sent Brandon an email to say that when he got off work, we were going to look for "The Butt Hut."  I looked it up in the directory, and there it was.  Butt-Hut of America 2450 S Indiana Highway 212, Michigan City, IN 46360.  The last time I was this excited was when Eric and I went to the Checkers Hall of Fame in Hattiesburg.  Checkers!  Butt-Hutt!  This is why I love America.  One can only imagine what they sold at "The Butt Hutt".   

BUT ALAS!  It was not there anymore.  Well, the building was there, but not the sign. I had such grand images of us taking our pictures next The Butt Hutt.  Think of all the possibilities.  We did find that it is a tobacco store.  Butt, cigarette butts, Butt Hutt....clever. 

However, we still have the Hair of the Ferret Salsa. Which is actually pretty good.  So all is not lost.  And of course, there will always be Boudreaux's Butt Paste.  What a wonderful world we live in!
  
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From Tara:

I should be devoting this day's blog to mine and Brandon's anniversary.  After all, two years ago today we made the biggest commitment of our lives, and that is no small thing.  Yet I feel compelled to write about something else.






Fourth and inches.  In overtime.  Pacing.  If you enlarge the picture, you can see the time left on the clock.  12:56

From: Tara

From:  Tara

It's just too cold to be creative today, so I thought that instead of a new blog, I'd ressurect an old one that I had originally posted on MySpace.  It was around this time last year, and so it still holds true.  So while the words were written a year ago, please believe me when I say that every bit of it still true.  The only difference is that today it is hovering around 18 degrees, so it's not quite as cold as in this blog, but still freakin' freezing.

Um...It's cold here.


Yep. That's it. Before, I've always been able to say "It's a different kind of cold" or "It's really not that bad if you bundle up." Nope. Now, it's just cold here. It's involuntarily cursing cold. You can't help but spew expletives the moment you step outside. My favorites include Son of a ***** it's cold, and F*** it's cold! My absolute favorite of Brandon's is when he looks at me and says "It's cold out here!" A million sarcastic remarks fly into my brain, but they freeze before they can come out of my mouth.

Another intresting fact: When snow flies into your mouth, it is NOT a pleasant sensation. So you breathe through your nose, and can feel the flakes going up there too. Yet another thing that Hollywood has mislead the public about. It is not at ALL romantic to catch snow in your mouth. Trust me.

Right now the temperture is -9. Last night it was 0. And my thought patterns were, if the temperture is 0, wouldn't that mean there is no temperture? And if there is no temperture, then there is no weather, and it's actually the end of the world? All I know is that when Bruno goes outside to pee, he disappears. Last night, he followed the wall of the apartment and managed to return and this morning he is refusing to go outside. I don't speak dog, but I'm pretty sure when I put his leash on first thing this morning, he told me "No thanks, I'll hold it." I had swept him a little path to the bathroom spot and thought it very ungrateful when he just stared at me from inside the doorway.

And it's still snowing here. We are so close to Lake Michigan that we get what's called Lake Effect Snow. For those of you who might not know what that is, it's when it snows and snows and snows and snows and never ever stops.

It's truly unbelievable in so many ways. It's unbelievable that I'm here looking at this. Watching the snow fall last night was very similar to watching a fire burn in a fireplace. You can't help but stare at it, it's simple beauty mesmorizes you. When the sun peeks out, it's so bright you have to wear sunglasses when you drive or walk around. Even now, still all I can do is stare. Snow makes everything beautiful. Ugly cars, worn out houses, dead trees. All are beautiful when covered with snow. So maybe snow is nature's plastic surgeon?

And now to address the inevitable comments before I close. Yes, we chose to move up here. Yes we wanted to come here. Yes we miss the weather back home. Yes we are crazy for being here. And yes, it is in fact cold enough for us here.

PS. I saw a guy jogging yesterday afternoon when I was walking Bruno. Talk about dedication. I don't think I'll ever want to be so fit that I will jog when you can hold up one hand and say the temperture is this many.