The Haps

Let me start with Abe's surgery. He was doing pretty good when we picked him up from the hospital last Wednesday. The Percocet (pain med) made him itch like crazy, though. He had trouble sleeping that first night because of it. He spoke to the Dr. and got a prescription for Vicodin instead. It was only slightly better but they also gave him Benadryl to take with it to help with the reaction. In this same conversation with the Dr. he found out that she didn't find any cyst during the operation. WHAT?!?! No cyst? What about that thing that showed up on the MRI over a year before and just weeks prior to the surgery? Well, she said she dug around pretty good and didn't find anything. She did cauterize something that contributes to the formation of cysts, so I guess we are supposed to believe it wasn't a complete waste. He goes back for a follow-up appt. tomorrow -but not with the same Dr. (gotta love the military)- so maybe we will know more then. In the meantime he has been taking the pain meds and wearing the cast/wrap they put on after the surgery. He hasn't really even seen the stitches or incision yet. As far as I'm concerned, he should demand a follow-up MRI to be certain nothing is there. I would hate for it to still be in there but it's best to know for sure.

On Saturday we drove up to Dallas. We left Zane with my brother and went down to Greenville Ave. to see the Toadies. They were part of the St. Patrick's Day Parade/Festivities. We were also there to see Brutal Juice. The guitarist, Ted, is a good friend of Abe's. He hooked us up with free tickets for the show. We love free. And we had a good time. We got in a few games when we got back to my parents' house and then headed to my sister's for the night.

On Sunday we spent the day/night with Abe's Dad and family. It was Abe's 31st birthday so it was nice that he could hang out with family for the occasion. The highlight of my day was going to Braum's for a banana split. I get it with all vanilla ice cream and all cherry topping. Absolutely yummy and I probably haven't had one for a few years. Zane should consider himself lucky that I shared it with him.

We headed home on Monday and as we were passing TWU, I had an idea to stop at the Little Chapel-In-The-Woods for some pictures. The weather was overcast which is ideal for outdoor photos. I'm glad we stopped because everything was green and blooming and it was absolutely beautiful. I will post a slideshow of some of the pics later today.

Monday night was business as usual. Zane went to Gym Kix and I went to my photography class. This time we were on location. We were trying to capture sunset pics at Dana Peak Park. It was fun but the sunset was not spectacular. It was really beautiful out there, though and I had a good time. We are back in the classroom next week, but the week after we might get to go on an animal photo shoot. Hopefully I will get around to posting a few shots from Dana Peak Park soon, but I think I only got a few worth sharing.

That brings us to yesterday. We drove down to Austin and started out at Zilker Park. First up was a photography session. I brought the tripod and remote for the camera. We sprawled out on the grass and took a bunch of family portraits. This was my first attempt at this. I still shot everything on the manual mode and just hoped the settings would work out. I still need to view and edit those pics so I can't say for sure when I will have them ready for posting. We played at the park for a bit and took the train ride. It is a great park with lots of different things to do. I am looking forward to going back again soon. I plan to take advantage of their free Botanical Gardens, as well. Can you smell another photo shoot in the works? From Zilker we headed to Precision-Camera and checked out what products they have to offer. I only bought one thing. That's very good for me. There are a lot of tempting photography things to buy but fortunately they are all expensive which helps curb impulsive spending. We met our friends, Tyler and Naomi for dinner and stopped by their new house on the way home. They are painting the interior this week and plan on moving in this weekend. They are using bright and bold colors like, yellow, red, purple and orange. Naomi has such a good eye for that sort of thing and I love seeing how she decorates her home.

Well, I guess this post has gone on long enough. Sorry for the rambling but I had a whole week to catch up on. The following pics were taken Saturday in Dallas when we stopped to pick up tickets for the concert. It was just a crazy sliding, medal door in the lobby of the apartment building. I had to grab the camera and snap a few. We were in Deep Ellum at the time and they just have some very cool buildings and I would love to go down there and take pics sometime.