. . . swell . . .

. . . what the heck causes such

freakishly sudden onset? . . .

. . . excuse me . . .

. . . i'm going to put my feet up now . . .

{fyi . . . church shoes are completely out of the question today}

. . . ward . . .

. . . happy twenty-sixth birthday . . .

. . . to your typical . . . 

. . . average . . .

. . . every day second~year law student . . .

. . . cutting back . . .

. . . it's no secret . . .

. . . these are tough economic times . . .

. . . good grief! . . .

. . . even my bashas' closed this week . . .

{sniff/tears}

. . . like folks everywhere, we're cutting back . . .

. . . pruning, even . . .

. . . our shamel ash tree 

has appeared in previous posts . . .

. . . but this mutant specimen 

has gotten so big, 

it's scaring us . . .

. . . take for instance, 

that huge branch 

overhanging the corner of my bedroom . . .

. . . fyi ~ i blog right by that window! . . .

. . . so i did the only sensible thing . . .

. . . called bernabe . . .

{like barnaby ~ only spanish}

. . . he gave me a quote for extensive trimming . . .

. . . "too much," said i . . .

. . . he came down in price a hundred bucks . . .

. . . i said, "how about for that new lower price . . .

. . . you take out this orange tree, too?" . . .

{the fruit has never been good}

. . . "and, by the way, 

do you know anyone 

who would want 

this huge satellite dish?" . . .

{which i forgot to snap a photo of ~ 

we've had it since 

the days before there were 900 cable channels 

& it was necessary to view every byu/suns game}

{but it looked sort of like this}

. . . he said, "si, in mexico, but is too far to drive" . . .

. . . then he said for the original quote price, he'd 

•prune the monstrous ash tree

•take out the orange tree

•disassemble/remove the satellite dish

•dig out the post & concrete

•trim the flowering pear tree in our front yard

•clean up, and

•haul it all away

. . . "sold!" said i . . .

. . . this poor neglected tree 

had become so overgrown . . .

. . . branches were dying . . .

{can we talk about 

the [seriously] billions of seed pods it drops? 

it's a female}

. . . bernabe was ruthless . . .

. . . big branches started coming down . . . 

. . . brushing against the hedge 

on the other side 

of our back fence . . .

. . . disturbing a large bee colony/hive . . .

. . . hence ~ bernabe's helper 

trying to keep them at bay with two hoses 

while saying "cheese" . . .

{go ahead ~ click to enlarge}

. . . this was a three & a half day project . . .

. . . requiring about nine truckloads 

to haul it all away . . .

. . . now all that's left is a little tidying up . . .

. . . actually, i'd love to 

bury our trampoline over here . . .

{someday ~ but we're cutting back right now!}

. . . yes, it'll take a while 

for this beautiful tree 

to fluff out again . . . 

. . . cutting back isn't always pretty . . .

. . . but, right now, it's necessary . . .

. . . what're you doing to cut back? . . .

. . . happy o'birthday . . .

. . . remember back in elementary school . . .

. . . on saint patrick's day . . . 

. . . pinching someone . . .

. . . and they would say . . .

. . . "i AM wearing green" . . . 

. . . "look at my eyes!" . . .

. . . and there was 

a teensy tiny fleck 

of something green-"ish" . . .

. . . and they'd pinch you back . . .

. . . HARD . . .

. . . i'm just saying . . .

. . . tyler . . . 

. . . don't even think about trying that nonsense . . .

. . . mr. blue blue blue no green anywhere eyes . . .

. . . happy twenty-sixth saint patty's day birthday . . .

. . . we're glad to have you & meems for roomies . . .

. . . staples . . .

. . . upper incision ~ where wires leading to 

epidural lead were clipped . . . 

. . . next one down ~ where leads were anchored . . .

. . . lower left ~ where the newer battery was located . . .

. . . lower right ~ where the original battery was located . . .

. . . far right ~evil, evil first aid tape injury . . .

. . . additional marker and adhesive graffiti ~ no charge . . . 

. . . hope you were able to 

get your "bare"ings 

from this photo . . .

. . . bill wished he had an 

easy "butt"on 

this morning . . . 

. . . when the staples . . .

. . . thirty-two of them to be exact . . .

. . . plus one random suture for good measure . . .

. . . were removed . . .

. . . all areas were still a little tender . . .

. . . dvt . . .

. . . yes, it's true . . .

. . . stuphfromsteph has become . . .

. . . web md . . .

. . . the latest chapter of 

bill&steph's excellent adventure 

features . . .

. . . dvt or deep vein thrombosis . . .

. . . let me "put it in laman's terms". . .

. . . a blood clot . . .

. . . which required 

moving the picc line 

from his right arm to his left . . .

. . . and blood thinners for six months . . . 

. . . just another freaky friday {the thirteenth!} . . .

. . . p.s. nine hours in the emergency room is {fun} . . .

. . . and for the record, 

the naked guy running around 

while we were there 

was NOT bill . . .

. . . a friday funny . . .

. . . oh, wow . . .

. . . this blog makes me laugh . . . 

. . . a lot . . .

. . . and there's no reading involved . . .

{i laugh mostly because 

i have some photos of myself 

that would fit right in!}

check it out

. . . twenty . . .

. . . today, my baby . . .

. . . my BIG baby . . . 

. . . is no longer a teenager . . . 

. . . feliz cumpleanos to 

elder andrew davis romney iv {?} . . .

. . . where does he get this stuff? . . .

{click here to view an awesome birthday tribute to drewski ~ thanks katelyn}

. . . nursing . . .

. . . my new tasks include . . .

. . . swabbing . . .

. . . flushing . . .

. . . infusing . . .

. . . flushing again . . .

. . . redressing . . . 

. . . and peg thought i should look the part . . .

. . . so she brought me a little treat . . .

{and a route 44 diet coke!}

. . . whaddaya think? . . .

. . . accessory-wise, 

i definitely prefer this nursing gear 

over these . . .

. . . we're pumped . . .

. . . because our 

husband/dad/father-in-law/grampa 

is out of the hospital . . .

. . . welcome home . . .

{we'll still be partying with 

dressing changes, 

a picc line & 

vancomycin 

2 x day for four weeks}

. . . thing is . . .

. . . i don't remember signing up to be a nurse . . .

. . . the latest . . .

. . . it's out . . .

. . . he's in . . .

. . . the hospital for a few days . . .

{weak stomachs ~ avert eyes} 

. . . the surgeon said that 

taking the whole system out 

was "the right thing to do" . . . 

. . . while talking about 

making the incision 

to remove the battery, 

he might have used the words 

"gushed out" 

in referring to the infection . . . 

{sorry, no photos yet}

. . . bummer . . .

. . . from where i was sitting . . .

. . . this looked kind of funny . . .

. . . but from bill's point of view . . .

. . . it's just a pain in the . . . . . . . . .

{fyi: infection has made it necessary 

to "ex"plant the "im"plant 

meaning the entire system 

needs to be surgically removed}

. . . we're requesting/accepting all prayers . . .

. . . thank you . . .

. . . most . . . dramatic . . .

. . . whatever . . .

. . . the biggest tragedy was 

the weather in new zealand . . .

. . . which made for some BAD hair days . . .

. . . all that rain and humidity 

did molly & melissa NO favors . . .

. . . hey girls ~ RUN! . . .

. . . seattle weather isn't any better . . .

. . . eleven/thirteen . . .

. . . this goofball hasn't sent any photos recently . . .

. . . so, here ~ for your viewing pleasure ~ is drew . . . 

. . . aka elder romney . . .

. . . circa last march . . .

. . . i'm so excited the first number's getting bigger . . . 

. . . and the last one's getting smaller . . . 

. . . afternoon edit . . . i spoke too soon . . .

. . . see drew's blog for photo {?} and video sent today . . .