Author Archives: Laurie Blundell

Question for those who like to give opinions

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I’ve been back to work now for about a week and a 1/2 and it hasn’t been easy. I came back to work only a week and a 1/2 after I broke my back and sooner than my doctor would have liked. I guess I was naively thinking my coworkers would help me out more than they have. I don’t want a lot of help or anything, just a little help holding something if it’s too heavy or pushing a cart for me instead of making me push it across the street the week I get back (but that’s another story). Anyway, one of them even told me “It happened a week ago, it’s old, you should be fine now”. Yes because a broken bone DOES heal in a weeks time!! and I have 4 broken bones with three fractures in just one of the bones. Needless to say It’s been a frustrating time the last week. I’m just sick of the pain and I can’t take pain meds at work so it’s double the pain while I’m working and then to have no help whatsoever doesn’t help. Anyway, that is what spurs my question. This is kind of the straw that broke the camels back, there have been different things and situations happening and then last week just kind of topped it off…sorry i’m being vague but I don’t want to get into it all. Now this may get a little confusing so stay with me– here’s my question: There is only so much a person can take, when you give everything and try your best but then never get reciprocation, it’s hard and eventually it gets you down. So, as Christians, how much do we take, how far do we go and never get anything in return…or do we ever stop? I want to keep giving my all and never stop but it wears you down when you do that and never feel appreciated or valued. I know God would never want you to stop doing that even if you feel nothing in return, because we as Christians should always show the love and share that with others. So basically I think I just answered my own question, I guess it just helped to type it out! But please feel free to give me your input or opinion

slow down to save some gas

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My dad was always “one of those guys” who went like 5 mph under the speed limit and did NOT go above 55 mph on the highway. He would take his foot off the eccelerator like a mile before the stoplight and coast to the light. This drove me crazy! But he always said it was to save on gas mileage…the thing is, I never understood why he would need to go to such drastic measures to save a few pennies on a tank of gas, especially when it was 0.95 cents per gallon.

Now that I am married, on a budget and gas is about 4 times what it was 10 years ago, I find myself doing the same things my dad did that drove me crazy. I’m the old lady driver in the right lane going the speed limit as other drivers speed pass me. Not only did I slow my driving down from about 7-80mph to 60-65mph, I don’t speed off the starting line when the light turns green like a racing horse out of the gate anymore. If I would have done this when I had my xterra there’s no telling how much gas I could have saved. I could have gone from 16mpg to 23 mpg…but who knows for sure. But now that I have a car that gets close to 30 mpg and has a display for an estimated mpg for each tank of gas, I’ve turned it into a game to see how high I can get it. I’ve had it up to 36 mpg at one time–amazing!

I’ve heard of people getting bumper stickers that say stuff like “I’m driving slow to save gas” I’ve come up with my own bumper sticker but I can’t get it printed because I can’t have that type of language on my car- ;). It’s simply a play on words and honestly I find it pretty humorous. I’ll let you fill in the blank with whatever makes you happy–but it would say “Unless your going to pay for my gas, get off my —” Funny huh?! But now you see why I can’t use it.

Bottom line–slow down your driving and you’ll see a big difference in your gas mileage.

HGTV

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I think our TV has been on HGTV since last Wednesday, with the occasional show on TLC. I’m sure Jonathan is ready for me to go back to work so I will quit coming up with things we need to do to the house. Currently I would like to:
~put cabinets in the laundry room –we have none in there currently
~paint the living room–it’s still white chocolate, it needs a color
~put a deck in the backyard– a small one, nothing lavish
~paint the office and guest room
~pull up the carpet and put hardwoods in (or a form of hardwoods)
~get an actual dining room table

I think that’s it for now! And I don’t expect to do all of these, or atleast not any time soon. But I do expect to paint the living room within the next month or two (whenever I can get on a ladder again). I’ve looked at applying to be on one of the 100 design shows on HGTV but they are all in like LA or NY…what about TEXAS! We need some design guidance too! what you want to pretty up all the other states but leave Texas in the dust? Geeze. Owell, we’ll just have to do it by ourselves!

update

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I went to see the neurosurgeon today that they ER doc initially consulted while I was at Baylor. Apparently the ER doc misunderstood the neurosurgeon or just didn’t listen. Either way the ER doc told us the neurosurgeon wasn’t sure if there were any fractures and I could go home without wearing a C-Collar on my neck. Well I saw the Doctor this morning and he told me everything he saw and what really happened. The neurosurgeon said I did have fractures in my thoracic spine. We initially thought it was just T1 and T2, which are the top vertebrae of the thoracic part of the spine, but he told me I had fractures in my T1, T2, T3 and T4! Crazy! They are basically compression fractures from hitting the top of my head on the floor and that jammed my spine down and caused the fractures. Luckily the fractures are in my thoracic spine and not my cervical (neck) because my rib cage acts as a natural C-Collar or brace so I don’t need one-YEAH! And they should heal on their own without surgery. I still am in quite a bit of pain but I think I’ll just have to live with that for a while. He reluctantly released me to go back to work tomorrow…I think he was thinking Monday but I assured him I didn’t do anything too strenuous and he made me promise I wouldn’t lift anything–you know, like kids, or myself up off the floor ;( just kidding! I go back in 2 months for a follow up with the neurosurgeon and to get another CT to make sure it’s all healing like it should. Anywho–there you have it. As much as I’m going to miss sleeping in and laying on the couch all day; I’m ready to go back to work–broken back and all!!

Simplicity

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I was going to post this Tuesday before I headed to work but I was running late so it never happened. Here’s the funny thing–look at the picture below and then remember I was in the ER all day on Tuesday.
The post was going to be about simplicity and how sometimes you take things for granted. As of Monday when I took this picture I had been feeling the best I’ve felt in over a year. My heart medications were finally at the right dosage and doing their job, my sinus surgery fixed my sinus infections and was all healed and I hadn’t had a headache in about 3 weeks–YEAH! I felt great, I was done with school and the hubs and I were enjoying life. On my way home from work on Monday I saw all the sunflowers had popped up basically overnight so Jonathan and I along with Presley took a stroll behind our house so I could take some pictures of the sunflowers. I got this picture and it just makes me think of summer and the simplicity of it, or how it used to be when we were kids. We would be off school for a couple of months and just have fun, times were simple. I miss those days! Not that life is complicated now by any means but it’s just not as simple as it used to be. Then Tuesday happened when things got a little less simple. But this will go away just as everything else does and we can get back to life. So if I ever want to remember those times of no work, bills or struggles I can just pull this picture out and look at it.

Last 5 Days

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This is what I’ve been doing the last 5 days:

Fun huh?! NO–It’s been 5 days since I fell and hurt my neck–I would think 5 days later I should be ready to get up and do things, right? Wrong! I still can’t really sit up for more than 30 minutes without being in quite a bit of pain. Jonathan and I had our families over Friday evening for the July 4th and grilled some hamburgers and played some games…I thought I did good, not doing much and letting other people do things for me…well apparently not because I definitely paid for it on Saturday..I basically moved back a day or two in the healing process. Jonathan and I were talking yesterday and apparently when the neurosurgery resident came in to talk to us when I was in the ER she was talking about having surgery and all this, I don’t remember that or at least I didn’t hear it. I guess that’s a good thing because I might have been freaking out a little bit. Other than knowing I had a concussion and a sprained neck, we still don’t know whether or not I really have a broken neck, but I guess we’ll never know. I’m still waiting to hear from my primary doctor about my elevated white blood cell count and my current debate is trying to decide whether or not I should go back to work tomorrow. My brain says GO BACK TO WORK but my body says DON’T YOU DO IT! I am sooo tired of sitting/lying around. I’ve watched so much TLC and HGTV I now have all these ideas on things to do to our house but no money to do it with…or ability to do it right now–I’m sure Jonathan is glad that’s the case or he would have a paint brush in his hand right now. So if I don’t go back to work tomorrow, I’m gonna go stir crazy!

Sooo…

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For those of you who haven’t heard, it’s been a crazy week around the Blundell household! Tuesday morning this happened:

How that happened you ask? Well, I have a history of vasovagal syncope where my blood pressure bottoms out and I drop like a fly–all within like 5 seconds. Anyway, I was getting a cortisone shot in my elbow Tuesday morning at the orthopedics office (for tendonitis) and about 5 minutes after the shot down I go. Not sure what caused me to pass out–I typically don’t get queasy or anything from shots or stuff like that so not sure what caused them to happen. Well, I was sitting on the exam table and within 5 seconds of feeling lightheaded I was on the ground. Apparently I fell head first and hit the top of my head on the floor and then proceeded to roll over a little and pull my neck under when I fell. So I strained, pulled, stretched and sprained everything in my neck and shoulders. But the orthopedic doctor wanted me to go to the emergency room because I couldn’t sit up without feeling dizzy, queasy or lightheaded. The ortho doctor did some x-rays of my spine/neck to make sure i was ok to drive to the emergency room, which they were. So my mom came and picked me up at the doctors office and took me to Baylor ER where Jonathan meet us. The ortho doc called ahead so they would get me right back, which they did. They did the typical triage stuff and an EKG. Then the trauma doctor came in and ordered an MRI of my brain/neck to look at my head/spine and nerves. I was having some pins and needles like pain which would have been nerve damage. After the MRI, which was miserable because the pain meds they gave me did not do anything, I got back to the room and the nurse said I could have another type of pain medicine…and that was the good stuff!! If anyone ever offers you Dilaudid TAKE IT! This medicine works soo well, once they shot it in my IV it took literally 3 or 4 minutes and like 80% of my pain was gone…the only thing is it only lasts like 2 hours. O’well. Well later on all the doctors and nurses switch and then the group that has no clue what’s going on comes in. FUN! To make a long story short, I had an MRI, 2 catscans and several x-rays and blood work done. It is now around 10:00pm and a neurosurgery resident came in…she said they weren’t sure what the MRI said because they hadn’t seen it–WHAT! go look at it. Anyway, they got another CT because they finally saw the MRI and it looked like there were possibly some micro fractures on my T1 and T2. They got the CT results and it looked ok so the trauma doctor talked to a neurosurgeon and he wasn’t sure about the micro fractures so we’ll never know if they were or were not there.
Well, 12 hours later the trauma doctor came in and said we were free to go and the only other thing they saw was that my white blood cell count was significantly higher than normal, which typically means an infection somewhere. So he wanted me to go see my primary physician in a couple days and then follow up with the neurosurgeon. Oh and now, 12 hours later, I can take the stupid C-Collar off that was on my neck (the thing on my neck in the picture above).
So here I am 2 days later and still in a tremendous amount of pain. I just can’t get comfortable no matter what I do. I haven’t really slept in 2 days and hopefully things will change tonight. I went to see my primary physician today and she gave me some muscle relaxers and an anti-inflammatory drug that will help and not just mask the pain I’m having. She came in and first asked what happened, with kind of a laugh in her voice…I asked her if she really wanted to know and then told her the whole story. She said it was the best story all day! Glad I could help her out! It is kinda funny but still kind of painful at the same time. Specially since I can’t laugh, talk or do anything without pain. I go see a neurosurgeon next Wednesday just to follow up and make sure everything is ok. So that’s the saga of our household…sorry it was so long!

She’s Married!!!

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My best friend Jen got married this past weekend. Her and Jed were married at Highland Park Presbyterian Church this past Saturday. It was a fun, busy weekend. Jonathan and I took some pictures at the wedding and reception and they are posted on my flickr page if you’re interested in looking at those.
It all started Friday afternoon for the bridesmaids luncheon at Dallas Country Club and then that following evening was the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner at Royal Oaks Country Club.

Saturday evening was the wedding and reception at the Petroleum Club in Dallas (The building with the hole in the center in downtown Dallas).

I even got my dad to take a picture and his eyes were open–not typical!

We had a great time and great food! I know Jen and Jed had a great wedding day and are off celebrating in Mexico right now! I wish I were there. We got home around midnight Saturday night and then woke up Sunday to go to church because we had nursery duty. Sunday we pretty much rested and got ready for the week ahead.
I wish Jen and Jed the best and Jonathan and I are so happy for them and I know they are extremely excited to finally be spending their lives together as husband and wife.

weekend wrap up

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This weekend wasn’t as busy as the last 3 or 4 weekends. We didn’t really have anything scheduled so we could do pretty much anything we wanted–YEAH! I needed this before next weekend hits–it’s gonna be busy. So here is what our fun weekend was full of.

Friday:
* took some stuff to a friends house for a garage sale and stayed and chatted with them for a while.
* made some “chicken littles” for dinner…imagine chick fil a nuggets but better -MMmmmmm.
* went to bed early because I was Exhausted!!

Saturday:
* slept in some but got up earlier than normal on a saturday and made waffles for us to eat.
* went and got my hair chopped off

* Jonathan and I went to the Waxahachie balloon fest with Richard, Amber and Gracelyn and Phil.

Sunday:
* went to church
* came home and made some lunch
* went shopping at Costco (piece of advice–go with a friend and split the cost of food–if we got 300 slices of cheese, 200 slices would go bad before we got to them! So split the cost and amount of cheese but don’t cut the cheese–HAHAHAHA just kidding)
* took a 30 minute nap
* uploaded pics to flickr
* baked a cake
* watered the lawn
* went to bed early