50 States Part 2

I am in North Dakota tonight, one of the states on my list that I had never visited. I updated the rest of my list tonight. It looks like I have 6 or 7 states left to go (Hawaii, Alaska, Nevada, Montana, Louisiana, South Carolina, and Mississippi). I have to check on MS and SC, I'm not sure about those. But here is a continuation of the list I posted last month, me trying to remember the first time I visited each state.

KENTUCKY – many trips to visit friends in Louisville over the years…can’t remember the first time, but probably late 1980s.
LOUISIANA
MAINE – 2005 I went on a work trip to southern Maine. I got to eat fresh lobster at the home of a lobster fisherman – the highlight of the trip! Oh, and the L.L. Bean flagship store in Freeport.
MARYLAND – I think I visited Baltimore for the first time in the late 1980s on a choir tour. Maybe? More recently I visited Annapolis and Baltimore with a friend from PA.
MASSACHUSETTS – 2005 after my trip to Maine I rented a car and drove to Boston and stayed in a great hotel (my first venture into priceline.com) and walked the Freedom Trail. I loved Boston!
MICHIGAN – mid 1990s I made several trips to visit my friend Char. When I lived in Illinois we made annual trips to the sand dunes in Michigan every August to kick off back to school and camp on the beach with the youth group.
MINNESOTA – my first and only trip to MN was in college when I worked for the National Center for Fathering. We drove to Minneapolis to hold our first national fathering convention.
MISSISSIPPI
MISSOURI – many trips to Kansas City, Branson, St. Louis, Columbia, etc over the years. Next thing I want to do in Missouri is visit President Truman’s library.
MONTANA
NEBRASKA – many trips to Lincoln and Omaha over the years to visit friends.
NEVADA
NEW HAMPSHIRE – 2005 I visited this state on my whirlwind tour of new England and stayed two days in Concord and drove through beautiful mountains in the north.
NEW JERSEY – 2007 my first and only trip was last year when I met Julie and her family in NJ (after a VERY expensive cab ride from Manhattan) to go see the Statue of Liberty and then sat in a horrible traffic jam on the bridge trying to get back.
NEW MEXICO – Many drives through the state on my way to Phoenix and one stay during a choir tour trip in 1989, I think.
NEW YORK – mid 1990s I made my first trip to the state by driving with the youth group from Illinois to Poughkeepsie, NY where we spent a week doing a VBS for a church plant. I had to drive a 15 passenger van through downtown Manhattan on our tourist day…that was a little scary. Then in 2007 I spent a crazy three days with Julie and her family touring the city. Here's a photo of Lizzie in front of the Statue of Liberty.
NORTH CAROLINA – I’ve attended several Smart Start conferences in Greensboro, NC. Also spent some time in Elizabeth City at Roanoke Bible College doing presentations when I worked at AIM.
NORTH DAKOTA – Never been until today! I’m spending three days in Bismarck doing a training for work. It’s really cold.
OHIO – Annual trips to Cincinnati when I lived in Indiana. We always ended the summer by taking the interns to Kings Island and Cincinnati Bible College.
OKLAHOMA – lots of trips to Stillwater as a kid to see my Uncle Jack and his family. And lots of trips all over the state since then.
OREGON – mid 1990s I spent two weeks in the northwest visiting churches and doing presentations with some coworkers from AIM. So pretty….I loved driving up the Oregon coast.
PENNSYLVANIA – my first trip was in the 1990s to visit a church near Williamsport. A few years ago I visited friends in Carlisle and went to Gettysburg, which was really interesting to see.
RHODE ISLAND – 2005 on my tour of new England I spent about 5 hours in the car trying to navigate this crazy state. It was bumper to bumper traffic from the time I entered from Massachusetts until I finally made it over to Connecticut. I visited one mansion in Newport, which was amazing.
SOUTH CAROLINA - ? (I need to look at some old journals to see if I have ever been here)
SOUTH DAKOTA – as a kid we rented an RV and went with my grandma, aunt, uncle and cousin to see Mount Rushmore and the badlands. It was a really fun trip.
TENNESSEE – first trip was in 1988, but I can’t remember what city. I’ve been to Nashville and Memphis since then.
TEXAS – Dallas in high school for a girls shopping trip. I think that was my first time. Oh wait. I lived in San Antonio for a year when I was 2 or 3. I don’t remember it.
UTAH – 1989 or 1990 went to Salt Lake City on choir tour. I remember touring the morman tabernacle, which was really cool.
VERMONT – 2005 again on my new England tour. I drove through lots of small towns in Vermont doing some shopping and site seeing. I didn’t get to stay for more than a day, so I didn’t see that much.
VIRGINIA – My first trip was to Virginia Beach on a trip with AIM in the 1990s. A few years ago I had a work trip to northern Virginia and spent an afternoon driving through Shenandoah National Park, which was beautiful!
WASHINGTON – mid 1990s on my trip with AIM coworkers we visited several churches in Washington, both in the Seattle area and in the eastern part of the state.
WISCONSIN – late 1990s when I worked in Illinois we took our youth group to Wisconsin to go skiing every winter. The hills weren’t as good as Colorado, but it was still fun.
WEST VIRGINIA – 1988 on choir tour we went to visit the home of Alexander Campbell and all I remember is that we had a birthday cake to celebrate his birthday (he is dead) while we were there. It was a little creepy. It was near Bethany, WV.
WYOMING – Sometime in college I went to Colorado with my friend Rebecca to stay with her family, and we traveled to their cabin in Wyoming for a few days. I can’t remember for sure where it was though. I really want to go to Yellowstone National Park sometime.

Happy cats

Halloween fun with the cats

I had a little halloween party with the cats on Friday night. Here are some highlights.....

Good times were had by all. Except for the cats, who did not like dressing up in costume.

50 states part 1

It has always been my goal to visit all 50 states and I'm finally getting down to my last 8 or so. Next month I have a work trip to North Dakota and I'm very excited to knock that one off my list. I've been wondering how I was going to get there, so I was so excited when I got a call that they needed me to come and do a training in Bismarck.

One of my rules is that I can't count the state unless I did something there, either spend the night, visit a tourist attraction, something. Flying through the airport doesn't count, and driving through the state with only restaurant stops doesn't count.

So I started making a list, trying to make note of the first time I visited that state, (if ever) so I could determine which ones are still on my list to visit. Here are the first 16:

ALASKA
ALABAMA – 2003 spent a week in Mobile, AL with the Crossroads Christian Church youth group at Taking The City where we did service projects and practical jokes on each other all week.
ARKANSAS – 1970’s visited my uncle Jack’s family when they lived in Little Rock
ARIZONA – 1988 spring break trip with my freshman college roommate, Cindy, to Phoenix (first of many trips). Oops…I just remembered I went with my parents when I was a kid too. And on choir tour 1989 where we got sunburned tubing on the river and altitude sickness in Flagstaff after visiting the Grand Canyon.
CALIFORNIA –1990-something spring break trip to Thousand Oaks with Kami and Tracey to visit Tracey’s brother Kevin. He was pretty annoyed with us by the end of the week.
COLORADO – 1980s family vacation to Denver and Estes Park, multiple youth group trips in high school to various ski resorts and camps.
CONNECTICUT – 2005 tour of New England after a work trip in Maine. Visited the Mystic Seaport Museum, but that’s about all I had time for because Rhode Island traffic sucked away all my day.
DELAWARE – 1988 choir tour. I think we performed at a church in Delaware, but I need to confirm that. Not sure how I’m going to confirm that though…maybe someone else remembers?
FLORIDA – 1986 or 87 High School Marching Band trip to Disney World and other locations. Funny, funny times. Very hot, sweaty band uniform.
GEORGIA – 1986 or 87 Stranded for many hours in a bus station in Atlanta in the middle of the night because the air conditioning on the high school band bus broke down and we had to switch buses. 2004 or 5 spent a week in Atlanta for another Taking the City trip with Crossroads Christian Church youth group. Fun, but not quite as entertaining as the week in Alabama.
HAWAII
IDAHO – mid 1990s visited Boise Bible College to do a presentation with coworkers from AIM (Adventures in Missions). Also visited Shoshone Falls which was beautiful.
IOWA – 1980s Des Moines on choir tour with college. I think we performed in Grinnell also.
ILLINOIS – early 1990s drove to Chicago for the first time with college friend Rebecca, after attending a wedding in Springfield. Maybe went here on choir tour in 1988 too, I just can’t remember. Lived in Wheaton/Lisle/Naperville for four years in late 1990s.
INDIANA – 1991 spent the summer living in Bloomfield, IN as an intern with Adventures in Missions. Lived there from 1993 to 1996.
KANSAS – 1969 my birth in Manhattan. I don't remember it, but I have verification that I was there.

Here's a photo of my group hanging out in a park in downtown Mobile, AL. The park was across the street from the homeless shelter we worked in all week.

Why I like Facebook

Here are the reasons why I like facebook:

Earlier this week I had an email from an old youth group friend that I had not talked to in many, many, many years. The email was because he had a question about something that popped up on facebook, and gave us a good chance to catch up. It's fun to catch up with old friends, and I probably wouldn't have gotten the opportunity to get back in touch with Todd had it not been for facebook.

Then tonight, instead of going out partying on Friday night like usual (just kidding....i think I did that one time in high school and hated it....i've been a home body ever since), I decided to log onto facebook and finish uploading old youth group pictures that I have for our alumni page.

But then I saw my friend Ryan was online, so I chatted with him for at least an hour. I haven't seen Ryan in over 10 years, but we keep in touch through email and facebook. He lives in Tennesee now, after spending several years in China. He went on two mission trips with me, one to Cayman Islands, and one to Poughkeepsie, NY. He has the best sense of humor and can entertain me online for hours at a time! I quickly set aside my youth group photos and started uploading funny photos from our trips. We cracked up and starting wondering about the other members of our Cayman Islands team.

Then I got an instant message from my friend Tammi who lives just outside of DC. Tammi also went on mission trips through the same agency Ryan and I did (AIM), although she didn't go on any with us. I told her what Ryan and I were doing and she started looking at the photos too, and promised to help us hunt down a couple of friends from our trip that she knows. Yeah!

Meanwhile, I was also very entertained by several high school friends who kept posting silly remarks on my status. Silly remarks make me laugh every time! I love reverting back to middle school maturity levels.

Next, I got to chat with Chanda in New Jersey, who has been off facebook for a while and I'm happy to find her back on. We were both doing other things, so we didn't get to talk very long.

Ryan finally had to go to bed, so I decided to start posting my youth group pictures. My old high school friend Leslie was on from New Mexico, so we chatted while she looked at all the old photos I had of her from various retreats and ski trips. Leslie stayed up after all my other friends went to bed and kept commenting on my photos as I posted them, keeping me entertained.

Next thing I know it is about 2:30 in the morning and I noticed my friend Jason was logged on. He lives in Florida, so it is even later at night for him. I sent him a quick note and he explained that it is actually morning where he is. He is currently in Svalbard up in the artic ocean between norway and the north pole. He travels there frequently to do research on glaciers. He couldn't chat for long because the helicopter was coming soon to pick them up for their work. He's also an old friend from AIM that I haven't seen in at least 15 years, but keep in regular contact with over phone and email and now facebook.

And finally, my night on facebook ended with an online chat with Rachel who was on her computer up in Salina. She filled me in on plans to move to Chicago, God speaking to her through a veggie tales video, and her new kittens. She really cracked me up, but I'm not sure if it is because she was that funny, or just that it was 3:00 am. She would say it is because she is so witty, so that must be it.

Oh, and one more friend showed up after that. Sherry, another high school friend, evidently couldn't sleep so she started commenting on photos too. All these friends that I treasure, but probably wouldn't be in touch with nearly as often (or at all) if it weren't for facebook.

So in conclusion, I'd just like to share that I feel really blessed to have so many friends in my life, both old and new, and I'm thankful that facebook has been a good tool to keep us connected. And while it is true that I may have wasted about 5 hours on the computer tonight, I got to talk to friends in Tennessee, Virginia, New Jersey, New Mexico, Norway, and Kansas. How fun is that?

The Rosary

Tonight I went to a Rosary at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in west Wichita. I was there to support a friend from work whose father passed away this weekend. Since I'm not catholic and I can never remember what I am supposed to do or not to do when I am at these things, I quickly grabbed a seat in the back row and watched all the people come in and do their catholic stuff: touch the water, kneel beside the pew, pull out the kneeling bench, and all that other stuff I never really understood.

As the service started I quickly forgot about Tim and his father and my mind starting flooding with memories from growing up, and the role this church played in my childhood. I was never catholic, but this church (or parish, or whatever it is supposed to be called) still played a role in my early years.

First, my eyes filled with tears as I remembered the last time I was in this building for a funeral mass. It was 18 years ago this month, and I was there for the funeral of my best friend's mother. Julie had been busy planning her wedding when her mother was suddenly diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in late August, or maybe early September, I can't really remember anymore. The wedding plans continued while her mother quickly grew more and more ill over the next six weeks or so, until she died. We had the funeral in late October I believe, then two months later we all gathered in that building again for Julie's wedding on December 29th. It was a tough funeral to attend.

But my memories of this church actually started much earlier. I grew up in the neighborhood just west of the church and can remember when it was being built in the 1980's, while I was in high school I think, or maybe middle school. At that time there was only a field separating my house from this church building, although now the field is gone and a new housing addition stands there. I think I could see the church from the windows in our living room, and I drove by it, or rode my bike by it, on a regular basis. I even went to mass there on occasion. Julie and her two siblings lived across the street from me and since I was basically an only child (my older brother was graduated high school and living out of state by the time I was around 10 or so), I spent a good chunk of my childhood tagging along with them. I remember several times when I would get invited to go to the movie, or out to eat, or something fun and once I agreed to go, then Julie and her sister would inform me that I had to go to mass with them first, then we go to the fun thing. So they'd load me up in the car and take me to Saturday evening mass with the family, then we'd get dropped off at the movies, or the mall, or someplace equally fun. I never minded going to mass, but I always felt out of place. Julie and Susy would whisper or nudge me if I was supposed to do something (like kneel), or not supposed to do something (like communion). I just followed along and watched in awe at all the prayers they could recite from memory. And actually, now that I'm doing the math, I think many of my visits to mass occurred at St. Francic of Assisi parish in Westlink, before St. Elizabeth was built.

My favorite memory from St. Elizabeth parish was Julie's wedding. I was the only non-catholic in the wedding party and I was really stressed out about this. I was afraid I might do something wrong, but Julie's brother and sister were pretty good about giving me the eye when I got confused. And if I remember right (it was almost 18 years ago), her sister was on the outs with the catholic church at that time, so she wasn't allowed to do some of the stuff either. I think the wedding was also a full mass, so there were times when I was to remain sitting on the pew while the rest of the wedding party went forward. That must have been the eucharist. I survived and didn't do anything to embarrass my catholic friend, but I sure was glad when it was over! I also remember at her wedding reception (also at the church) they served punch with champagne even though most of the wedding party had not even officially reached drinking age. Her sister Susy and I were the oldest, and I think we were just 21 at the time. I think this was only the second time in my life I had drank alcohol. The first was in middle school when I was playing at Julie's house and her mother was entertaining some nuns who were visiting from out of town. They were all laughing and talking and drinking champagne or wine in her kitchen, and they gave us each of us kids a small glass of it. I remember taking one drink and then running to the sink and gulping down some water straight from the faucet because I thought it was disgusting. I never did really aquire a taste for alcohol. Except margaritas. I like those a lot.

Anyway....those were the thoughts going through my head this evening while everyone around me was saying the rosary. I called Julie before I went to get a quick refresher on the catholic rules and she told me I better kneel when everyone else did, even though I wasn't catholic. So just to be bratty, I stayed seated while everyone else kneeled. Me and the old guy in front of me. But to my defense, the priest did say "please join me in kneeling or sitting while we blah, blah, blah". It was a nice service, though I'm still confused on the whole purgatory thing. The priest said something at the end about how as each one of us prayed tonight, we helped open the gates for someone to go from purgatory into heaven. I might ask Julie about it, just so we can have the same argument we had hundreds of times growing up over who is right and who is wrong on this issue. I always lose because Julie is both smarter than me and more stubborn. I not only can't defend myself against her arguments, but I quickly lose interest and just give up and change the subject. But she's still one of my best friends :)

Update on Kate (momma cat)

My parents have been out of town all week so I have been spending some time each evening hanging out with their cat, Katie. Kate is the stray momma cat that I trapped back in April, housed in my garage for three months while she gave birth and raised four kittens, and then found a new home for her with my parents. She has always been an extremely fearful, skittish cat but my mom has been working with her a lot so she is slowly starting to warm up to people. Well, female people. She still doesn't like men for some reason. She came out to see me every night and let me pet her on her head (I was paw slapped if I tried to pet her back or tail), and even let me pick her up and put her on the couch next to me for a few minutes. And she has started to gain some weight and her fur is much softer than it used to be. She's a healthy, happy cat! Here are some photos from this week and a short video clip. She really likes laying on her back :)

crazy day

This morning I made sure to take all of my allergy medicine and so far it seems to have calmed my cough some. At least there has been no vomiting today so far. My voice is getting worse though, just sounding really grizzly and congested. And I've been sooooo tired today. I'm not sure if that is from the allergy medicine, the allergies themselves, or the nyquil I took last night. This morning I went to a crazy meeting (more on that in a second), then went into the office for about thirty minutes. By noon I was so tired I could not keep my head up, so I went home and slept for almost two hours. Then I went back into the office and called my doctor who agreed to see me in about an hour. I explained that my main symptoms now were exhaustion and a cough/congestion. She decided to do some blood tests and put me on an antibiotic. She thinks it might be a sinus infection, even though I don't have a fever or some of the other symptoms. Hopefully that will work because I'm really tired of not feeling well. And now I'm ready for my second nap of the day.

But first, my crazy meeting: We had an early childhood/child abuse prevention summit this morning. It was meant to bring community members together to discuss what we can do to prevent child abuse in light of the 6 child abuse related deaths in Wichita so far this year to children under age 3. But somehow it got posted in the Eagle earlier this week, so we were prepared for a bigger audience with some alternate agendas. And sure enough, that's we got. We tried to keep discussions focused on how we can prevent child abuse and not about all the problems with the child welfare (foster care) system. We had one representative from the pro life community who wanted us to focus on shutting down Tiller, pointing out that abortion is legalized child abuse and we need to put an end to it. Valid point, but not where we wanted to focus the meeting. Then we had some parents who had bad experiences with the foster care system who wanted us to focus on fixing the system and redefining child abuse (they feel too many children get removed from their homes when it isn't necessary). Also a valid point, but still not where we wanted to go. Then we had the District Attorney who wanted to talk about homicides to children over the past 20 years (and get some camera time, which at least one of the tv stations was happy to give her). I understand that is her framework based on her job, but still not where we wanted to go. The meeting ended without any resolution, which means there will probably need to be future meetings. We even had some protestors out in front with signs that said "system abuse is child abuse". Sigh.

Nap time now.

Vomit Talk

This morning I was feeling pretty good, but running late (not unusual). I ran out of the house forgetting to take any of my allergy meds this morning, but I thought I would be fine because i felt better yesterday, and I knew I had a bottle of Robitusson at work. I also remembered that I kept a bottle of vitamin C in my desk, so I popped a couple of those when I got to work. The morning went pretty well, but by lunchtime I was coughing and the cough suppresent wasn't working. I spent the afternoon answering with a very grizzly sounding "I'm fine" to all the well meaning co-workers who stopped by my office door to make sure I wasn't dying. I had intended to work late tonight to get caught up on some work since I spent most of September sick and not accomplishing much. But at 6:00 pm, when I was sitting at my desk holding the trash can on my lap waiting to stop throwing up, I decided it was time to call it day. I went home and drank some nyquil, used the steriod nasal spray, and took some mucinex. It helped.

I've got the vomiting down to an art now and it doesn't even really phase me anymore. I can even hold a little bit in my mouth until I have time to pull the car over and spit it out (I've never had to do that until today and it happened twice on the way home. it really wasn't as bad it sounds). I don't think that's a good sign that I'm getting so good at vomiting. I remember reading once that bulimics have bad teeth because vomiting up all that acid from their stomach wrecks havoc on their teeth. So now I'm starting to worry about my teeth. Fortunately I have a dentist appt next week, so I'm sure she'll say everything is fine. And I'm really feeling better overall, just I can't make this cough go away today.

So I think I'll take all of my allergy medications tomorrow and hopefully it will be a better day. Who knew allergies could cause this much grief?

Apparently....

I am going to live.
It is just allergies.
My mother was right. I bought some Robitusson cough suppressent and have been drinking a little bit throughout the day and it seems to be helping. I even drank the vitamin water she gave me and liked it (thanks mom!).

I should have been a pro golfer

Tonight I went over to see my parents, hoping for some parental sympathy for my never ending cough (and also, I like my parents and wanted to see them). When I got there they were watching a women's golf tournament on television. I made my usual comment about how boring golf is on tv, but they didn't pick up the hint and change the station (not that I really thought they would, but it never hurts to try). Our conversation went a little like this:

Mom: how are you feeling

Me: really sick. I'm probably going to die.

Mom: Oh! Did you see that Dale? That was so close! (referring to the putt just made on the television).

Dad: No it wasn't.

Mom: Yes it was.

Dad: No it wasn't. If it was close it would have skimmed the cup.

Me: Do you think I should go to the doctor again? I'm thinking of going to an allergist.

Mom: (watching the golf tourney). You need to take more vitamin C. Are you drinking lots of water?

Me: But I think it might be more than just allergies because it's not really getting better and I throw up a lot.

Mom: (watches golf tourney and ignores me)

Me: I'm really sick

still no response. after a few minutes a commercial break comes....finally! some attention on me!

Mom: You need to go to walgreens and get some cough suppressant. it's just allergies.

Me: (reverting back into my role as the baby of the family needing all the attention) Well I think you like Lorena (the golfer currently leading the tournament) better than you like me.

Mom: Oh, I love Lorena. She is my most favorite!

Me: i should have been a pro golfer. Then you would love me more.

Mom: Kelly, if I remember correctly, you were never into athletics. When I was young I used to play tennis, volleyball, etc, etc.

Dad: She used to ice skate (thanks for remembering my one athletic attempt dad!)

The golf tourney comes back on, so the conversation stalls again (well, I keep talking, but no one is acknowledging me). When the next commercial break comes, I assume we can resume talking about my illness, but instead we talk about the cat and the routine I need to go through when I come over to feed her every day next week while my parents go to Branson. I even had a near throwing up episode once and thought for sure that garner some major concern, but it didn't. I think my parents can see through my hypochondriac tendancies and don't fall for my drama any more. It really takes the fun out of being sick, but fortunately, some of my friends still buy into it and give me lots of sympathy.

Which reminds me, I've had several friends comment that they understand me because I remind them a lot of their husbands when they are sick. I'm pretty sure this is not a compliment, but instead is referring to the fact that husbands (and apparently me) tend to be wimpy when sick and want lots of attention. Maybe that could be a business, someone could start a 24 hour helpline where needy people (me and the husbands) could call in anytime and get lots of sympathy over the phone...

my REAL diagnosis

I went to the doctor today. She said I was not having a heart attack because my blood pressure was fine, although my pulse was a little high (97). She said I should drink more water and it would help lower my pulse because I might be dehydrated. I explained that I could not drink more water becasue I have a bad taste in my mouth all the time from my sinus drainage, so I needed to either chew gum, suck on cough drops, or drink something with flavor, which does not include water. She said to just drink more liquids, even if it wasn't water. Here's the rest of the conversation about my possible heart attack:

ME: What about the pain in my chest?

DOCTOR: It might just be you are sore from all the coughing.

ME: Is that normal? Is it normal to have chest pain from coughing?

DOCTOR: Yes, it's normal.

ME: What about the shortness of breath? I get tired easily, like my heart is not getting enough oxygen.

DOCTOR: Well, shortness of breath doesn't normally come with allergies, but it is normal to be tired because your body is busy fighting the allergens. How about I give you a shot of steriods to help?

ME: But what about my heart?

DOCTOR: Your heart is fine.

ME: What about the shortness of breath?

DOCTOR: Let's try the steriod shot and see if that helps all the symtoms and if it doesn't, give me a call at the end of the week.

ME: So you think my heart is okay?

DOCTOR: Your heart is fine.

So, the good news is that I am not having a heart attack. My official diagnosis? A bad case of allergies. I got a steriod shot (I was big girl and did not even hypervenilate like i often do when seeing a needle), some steriod nasal spray (which I most likely will not use because I don't like it) and some singulair. I decided not to bring up the possible diagnosis of acute mountain sickness because I don't want her to think I am more of a hypochondriac than she already does.

My latest internet diagnosis - Acute Mountain sickness

One of my favorite things to do when I don't feel well is to look up all potential illness on the internet and try to diagnosis myself. It's the hypochondriac in me coming out to play. I started two weeks ago with a head cold, which quickly turned to a cough that led to frequent throwing up, and this week (week three) seems to be settling into my lungs and causing tightness in my chest. Today I almost had myself convinced that I might be having a heart attack because if you type in "tightness in chest" into any symptom checker, you get a little freaked out with all the possible heart problems that could be occuring. I called the doctor and made an appointment for Tuesday morning. Hopefully I will live through the night to make it to the appointment.

Tonight I was "researching" on healthline.com where if you type in one symptom, it suggests other possible related symptoms and you can keep clicking on those as it brings up possible causes to your syptoms. The first suggestion of a cause to my chest tightness was chest pain. That was very helpful. As I kept clicking on symptoms (i had a long list, but it's a little hazy on which ones were real and which ones were imagined) until it was narrowed down to only one possible cause for my problems: Acute Mountain Sickness. Of course! This makes perfect sense. I clicked on the illness for more information and found out the definition:

"Acute mountain sickness is an illness that can affect mountain climbers, hikers, skiers, or travelers who climb too fast. It usually occurs when people rapidly reach a high altitude (typically above 8,000 feet or 2,400 meters). "

About three weeks ago I went to Colorado and my friend Tracey and i climbed to the top of Seven Falls (200 plus stairs). I must have caught Acute Mountain Sickness while I was there. I went on to read about treatment:

"The main form of treatment for all forms of mountain sickness is to climb down (descend) to a lower altitude as rapidly and safely as possible. Supplemental oxygen should also be given, if available."

Hmmmm.....I've already climbed down the seven fall stairs. Maybe if I go to my basement, that will help? It's about as low of an altitude as I can get to. Nope, I just walked downstairs and it didn't help. Just made me tired. Maybe this diagnosis is a little off.... If I remove "headache" from my symptoms (this is a real symptom though....it feels like a big clamp is on my head. I think it's a sinus headache most likely related to allergies), then I find that I have emphysema. This could be definitely be it! I had a grandfather who died of emphysema before I was born, so maybe I inherited it! I'll read the definition:

"Emphysema is a lung disease that involves damage to the air sacs (alveoli) in the lungs."

The treatment suggested is to quit smoking. I don't smoke. I'll have to adjust my symptoms again until I find the right disease.

Okay, I think I have it narrowed down. Either I have a heart condition, asthma, allergies, or mental illness. I'll give an update after I go to the doctor tomorrow. I'm pretty sure she is going to say "hypochondriac". Maybe I should save some vomit next time I throw up so I can prove to her that something is wrong.

Kitten update

Here are a couple of photos of the two kittens that I kept, Topher and Willie. I usually just call them the twins or the brothers, becuase it is difficult to tell them apart. I have only come up with three ways to tell them apart:

1. when I feed them in the morning, Willie cries the most and rushes to get to the food before his brother can have any. he doesn't share very well, so now his brother gets his own dish.

2. when I pet their tails, Willie has a slightly thicker tail than Topher. He also weighed more when I took them to the vet recently. But only by a few ounces.

3. When they yawn, Topher has a black spot on the inside of his mouth, on the upper part. Willie has a smaller black spot right by his teeth, but Topher's is a larger circle right in the middle of the top of his mouth.

Katie, the momma cat, is doing well at my parents house. I'll try to get some pictures of her posted soon.

Colorado Springs

What a fun weekend! It was fun to see my Tracey this weekend and visit so many tourist sites around Colorado Springs. I already wrote about my great drive on Friday, so let me pick up with Saturday. We started out the day at the Garden of the Gods, and hiked a couple of the trails, mainly the one up to the Siamese Twins rocks (see picture below).

Then we tried to go to Glen Eyrie, the castle on the grounds of the Navigators campus, but it was closed due to special events they had going on. So instead, we went to a Monastery that Tracey has visited and walked around on their grounds. Here’s a photo of the grounds where they have a cemetery with the stations of the cross on the edges. There were also deer all around, just sitting there watching us.

Then we drove around downtown Colorado Springs, which turned out to be not much to see, although we did a find a Chipotle to eat dinner at. We ended the day with a visit to Seven Falls, a waterfall tourist trap area. The waterfall was pretty, but you had to climb 224 very steep stairs to get the top for the high view. We decided to climb the stairs, which almost did me in. Nothing like a good reminder of how out of shape I am! Here’s a photo of me holding on for dear life on the stairs, and one of Tracey by the falls.

On Sunday we went to church at Woodman Valley Chapel, then over to the Air Force Academy for a quick visit. One of the prettiest sites at the Academy is the chapel and we were surprised to see that there were actual four chapels: the protestant chapel, the catholic chapel, the jewish chapel, and the buddest chapel. I took photos of each one and will put them on my facebook page to save room here, but here’s a photo of the outside of the building that houses them all.

Fun weekend!

Colorado Springs Balloon Classic

This morning I got up before 7:00 am to head downtown (while Tracey slept in) and take photos at the 32nd annual Colorado Springs Balloon Classic. There were over 90 hot air balloons released against the backdrop of the mountains. Beautiful!

I took over 80 photos, which I'll try to post on my facebook page later, but for now, here a few of my favorites. We're headed to church at Woodland Valley Chapel this morning, then maybe the Air Force Academy.

Salida, CO

Friday I visited the Royal Gorge, then took an absolutely delightful drive out to Salida, CO and up highway 285 to highway 24 and then into Colorado Springs from the West. It took me about three hours to do this detour, but was such a great drive! I ended up not having enough time to do the Sand Dunes (it was farther away than I thought), but still want to do that on a future trip.

The Royal Gorge was fun, but I forgot how high that bridge is. I kept thinking of what a painful death it would be if the bridge collapsed and I fell, so I didn't end up staying long. Here's a photo of the bridge:

After I made it to the springs and checked into my hotel, my friend Tracey arrived and we went out to dinner, then to see Mamma Mia!, which she had not seen yet. We actually ended up seeing the sing-a-long version, which included the words to the songs on the screen. It was fun except that the woman behind us sang at the top her lungs to every single song. I wanted to jump out of my chair and put a muzzle on her!

Here are some of my favorite pictures from my Friday drive:

Today (Saturday) was fun too, but I'll have to write about it later. It's almost midnight and I'm hoping to get up at 5:30 am to go watch the hot air balloon launch in downtown Colorado Springs in the morning before church. I want to get some pictures of the balloons against the mountain backdrop!

Canon City, Colorado

Today I drove to Cannon City, Colorado. I am meeting my friend Tracey in Colorado Springs tomorrow late afternoon, but I decided I wanted to come a day early to mess around on my own. I was planning to go to the Springs tonight, but when I woke up this morning, I changed my mind and decided to stay in Cannon City instead. That's the nice thing about traveling alone, you can change your plans as often as you like and no one gets annoyed at you!

I was planning on leaving around nine this morning, but somehow it was after noon before I left home, making it late before I got to my destination. I don't know why I have so much trouble being on time for things. Part of the problem this time is that I stayed up way too late last night scanning and uploading old high school youth group photos to the facebook page my friend Becky created for our old group of friends. I had so much fun remembering all of our old 80's youth group antics! And admiring the fashion blunders in our photos :)

One of our youth group trips took us to the Royal Gorge (I think we were on our way to ski at Monarch), and looking at all the pictures kind of made me want to visit it again. That's why I decided to stay in Canon City tonight, because it's right here by the Gorge. But then I was thinking that maybe I should go to the Great Sand Dunes National Park that is about an hour south of here, because I've already been to the Royal Gorge, so I should do something different. I can't decide, so I'll just see what I feel like in the morning. Not only am I unable to be on time anywhere, I am also unable to make decisions about anything. I really need a personal assistant.

I had a great drive today, despite the smells. I thought Garden City stunk, but eastern Colorado was even worse! I made three quick stops (plus one for gas): in Kinsely, KS to visit some family gravesites, in Spearville, KS to read about the wind farm, and in Lamar, CO to pick up brochures at the CO visitor center. What I really enjoyed was my selection of music. My recent viewings of Mamma Mia and Xanadu have put me in a retro music mode, so I spent the day listening to Simon and Garfunkel, the Beatles, James Taylor, ABBA, Olivia Newton John and ELO, and a few other favorites. It was a good day to drive and think.

I wonder what I will decide to do tomorrow. I love a day with all my options open!

Here's one of my favorite youth group photos from around 1987. It is me and my friends Darren and Becky at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, wearing our K-State gear.

Life is too hard...

I have not written a serious blog post in a long time, because it's much more fun to write about silliness, but my heart is heavy this week, so I have no silliness left.

Work is hard right now. I would explain it, but I don't think it's a good thing for me to talk about on a blog.

I'm feeling some friends around me with heavy hearts also, but I don't know how to help them. One of my friends emailed me yesterday with news that a close friend of hers, a former acquaintance of mine from Illinois, died fairly suddenly and unexpectedly. I know the news is especially hard for my friend, and I feel for her.

I also feel very convicted of my lack of prayer, especially for my friends in need. I wish i could go back to my twenties when I lived in Indiana at this camp where every morning it was automatic that we all spent 30 to 60 minutes in prayer and bible study. We didn't have tv's or computers in our living quarters and were not distracted by useless stuff like I am now. I think I need forced structure, because i don't seem to be discplined enough to create it on my own.

I feel sad.

Some new, non cat, videos!

I'm so sorry for all of you loyal readers (all three of you) who look forward to my cat updates. I have to venture off course here so I can get some videos up. Tonight I taught the elementary kids at church and we talked about generosity. For part of the lesson, we split into two groups and each group was assigned a bible story to read and create a simple skit to. Some of the kids (okay, only one, and you know who you are!) are VERY anxious to see their videos, so I'm posting them here on my blog. I was going to put them on the church facebook page, but I wasn't sure all the parents would be comfortable with having their kids videos posted there. I figured my blog was much safer since I have run most of my readers off with my unwavering devotion to cat updates. Apparently not everyone thinks my kittens are as cute as I do!

So here are the videos the two groups came up with. The ironic thing in all of this is that I had one supposedly shy child who really did not want to participate in the skits, so he was given a free pass. But it turns out he made it in there anyway, with the funniest comment of all! Sorry M!

Cat Video

Just to do something a little different, I decided that today I would write about my cats and post a video of them. They are so cute!

as;dklfj;adslkjfk;ladsjklvjlkfls;djfkladsjfladsf

y0. Tis me, Konner. Kelly's neice!!!
And I'm going to be blogging for her, because she's freaking out over some movie crap and such.
Arrite, so we're like looking for something to watch, and we can't agree on anything...I'D like to watch a horror movie [: BUUUTTT, on the other hand...Kelly would like to watch some stupid comedy movie...She should just look in the mirror, looking at her face is just about enough comedy for me x]
And now she's talking about how I should be like my retarded sister and agree with her on everything....as;ldfkjsad;lkfjdsk;lvndsklfj;dsalf
I think that we're going to end up watching I Am Legend(totally my pick)
:]]]]]]

-Konner



PS. I just lost my "rights" to I Am Legend...I dunno why. And now she's making me watch something that makes me wanna vomit...I don't think that she understands I don't want to watch something ignorant children wouldn't even find interesting...Hmph.
roflolawlulz
We're watching something and this one guy is telling this little kid to do bad things to it's baby doll. Bahaha. Oh how I love it when little children act up.
oh oh oh oh oh
What do you get when you cross a brown chicken with a brown cow?
....brownchickenbrowncow(read that allowed to yourself kthnx)
=][=
lolololololol
HOW FUNNY AM I?!
Too funny fer y00.

Little kittens are running around
I named one of them. S/he is named Valentine. =)

iight, d00d. I think I'm done with this now :]
I are going to force Kehlay to watch I Am Legend....mwahaha >:D

Lewis and the kittens Part 2

Lewis is doing suprisingly well with the kittens, except for this one weird thing. He likes to bite them on their necks, but they don't seem to mind. They don't try to run away from him and I don't think he hurts them, he just grabs their skin. In the video below, if you turn up the volume, you can hear the kitten purring (when the camera gets right in his face) after he bites it. Strange.

Lewis and the kittens

This weekend we did the big switcheroo with the cats, so now everyone is in their final forever home. That means my parents finally finished their kitchen remodeling project and now have Kate the momma cat living with them. And Lewis is back home with the two remaining kittens, and no one is living in the garage any more. Kate is doing okay at my parents house. She was coming out of heat (again) the first day, but appears to be done with that now. Mom says she sleeps a lot, but is doing fine and will even jump on the couch to sit and let mom pet her. She's coome a long way since i first trapped her in April! I still need to get her spayed, which will happen hopefully this week, once she is dried up from nursing those kittens.

Lewis and the kittens are doing really well too. I can't tell the kittens apart anymore, so I just call them the twins or the brothers. i need to figure out a way to mark them so I know who is who. Lewis has been super good and hasn't attacked them at all. They have tried attacking him a few times, but not much comes of it. The kittens like to hiss at him when he gets too close, but their little baby hiss is not very frightening. And I don't really think they are afraid of him because they follow him around instead of trying to hide from him. This morning they were all running races chasing each other around the house. I'm hoping lewis will enjoy having some new friends around to play with and make his life a little more interesting. Here's a little video of the three of them playing on Saturday, their first full day together:

cat in heat

Katie is in heat. I ended up taking Lewis to stay with my parents and letting Katie and the remaining two kittens into the house to stay tonight. She is miserable, pacing and rolling on the floor and sticking her butt in the air. I thought at least she could be more comfortable in the air conditioned carpeted house instead of the hot garage. And I think the kittens need a break from her while she is in this state, so at least there are place they can run and hide :)

The good news is that apparently cats in heat are very affectionate. She keeps coming up to me and has been letting me pet her alot (the first time she's been okay with petting) and even let me pick her up to move her. I'm hoping this whole episode will speed up the weaning process, make her more comfortable with petting, and then I can take her in to get her spayed soon.

Here's a pic of Willie and Topher resting (the only time they are still enough for a picture) from about a week ago.

The meeting of the cats

The blood has dried and my face doesn't sting anymore, but I won't be trying to introduce Lewis and Kate again for a long time.

Katie had kind of a crazy day yesterday. Her second kitten left to go to it's new home, she had lots of new visitors she had never met, and we had loud fireworks in the evening. Today things were calmer, but I think she has noticed the missing two kittens as she was crying some today off and on. She always calmed down when I would go in the garage, so I think she just wanted some company.

This afternoon I decided to try to introduce Kate to Lewis. I put the two remaining kittens in the carrier (which made Katie meow a little bit, but she didn't get too upset). Then I opened the garage door, went inside and picked up Lewis while he watched Kate. Kate immediately came inside, squatted really close to the floor with all of her claws out, and looked at Lewis ready to attack. Lewis scratched his way out of my arms and jumped to the floor ready to attack back. I quickly pushed Katie back in the garage, let the kittens out of the carrier, and closed the door. Then I came back in and noticed blood dripping down my neck from where Lewis scratched my face. It wasn't too bad, just a small battle wound. I went back out to check on Kate and the kittens later and they were doing fine. I'm not sure what my next plan of action will be though....

Here is Topher (formerly Number 3), taking his afternoon nap on the boxes.

And here is Willie (formerly Number 1), taking his afternoon nap on the chair...

And here is Lewis taking his afternoon nap by my side while I work on the computer :)

Number 2 gets a new home!

Just a day after Number 4 got a new home, Abbey and her brother Colton arrived to pick up Number 2 and take him to his new home in Hutchinson. Rafiki (formerly Number 2) will be going home to live with Taj, another playful cat in need of a new playmate, so I'm sure he will fit right in!

Katie seems to be adjusting pretty well to having two of her babies gone. She cried a little bit tonight as she looked around for them, but seemed to settle down pretty quickly once I went to check on her. Tomorrow I'm thinking about introducing Katie and Lewis to see how that goes....

Number 4 gets a new home!!!

Today was a special day for Number 4 - he got to have a bath, get his nails trimmed, meet his new mom, and go to his new home! Here is a photo of Ninja (formerly Number 4) with his new mom Erin. Below are some photos from his bath with Marla. It was little scary for him, but he was very brave and did just fine.

Playing in the house

The kittens are really getting big now! I let them play in the house for a couple of hours today because it was getting stuffy in the garage again. Lewis took a nap locked in my room upstairs. Here's a photo of mamma and Number 2 on the stairs, and then a short video of clip of Number 4 playing on the stairs.

Four Boys!

The babies went to the vet today for their first visit. They are 8 weeks old, and one of them is not weaning as quickly as the others, so I wanted to get them checked out. The vet gave them their first set of vaccinations, which they took very well, and checked them out only to discover they all had ear mites, in varying degrees. The vet gave them a treatment and said to check them again in 30 days. I'm afraid this is probably from living in my garage, unfortunately! But the big news of the day was finding out their sex. I was pretty sure I had one girl and three boys, but I was wrong. All boys! No wonder they like to fight so much! I think Numbers 2 and 4 will be ready to go to their new homes next weekend, and I'm still looking for homes for Numbers 1 and 3, which is probably okay because Number 3 is the one who is not wanting to wean as quickly. Here they are on the table at the vet's office, not wanting to get out of their carrier :)

I also had them weighed, and despite appearances, they were all pretty close in size. Number 4 looks so much bigger, but it's really just from all that fluffy hair! He weighs 2.3 ounces, the Numbers 1 and 2 weighed 2.2 ounces. Number 3, the one that won't eat the canned food yet, weighed only 1.7 ounces. But the vet said he was fine, just probably taking his time.

approved homes found for 2 kittens!

The kittens had a fun evening when Marla and Craig came over to visit. They got to come in the house for the second time, and then Craig played fun games with them in the garage (see picture below).


Another highlight of the evening was the announcement of the first approved home! Craig and Marla's friend Erin has completed the application process and been approved as the new owner of Number 4 (below). As soon as the kittens are ready, off she goes! We go to the vet on Saturday to determine their sex, get their first immunizations, and make sure they are all healthy so they can hopefully go to new homes in a week or so. I'm sure this one will enjoy all the attention Erin will give her, as she already thinks she is the princess (thanks to Marla constantly telling her how adorable she is!).

After the fun guests left, I received another application, so now we have an approved home for Number 2! He will be going to live with Abbey and Colton in Hutchinson. This little guy likes to play and jump and attack the most, so he will have a great time with 14 year old Colton and their other pets. Lots of people and animals and to stalk and pounce on!

After all the activity, the kittens chased down their mom for some more nursing (I've got to work on this weaning stuff since they are 8 weeks old today), then three of them settled in the trash can for some rest.