It was a simultaneous decision... and we both came to the decision independently. It seems like the Holy Spirit was moving in both of our hearts at the same time. Thankful for that, because it would be a difficult place to be if my spouse wasn't on the same page as I was. I hope you are able to come to some agreement with her!

Thansk for this great info, Bill... Knew you'd come through.

I laughed so hard when I saw this sketch last night. Amy flirting with herself. Oh good grief. That is so her! And the sketch with Tate and Tennant a few years back is my go-to video when I need a laugh. It's truly classic.

After having grown up in basic non-denominational Bible Churches, my husband and I just joined a PCA church (Presbyterian Church in America). Lots of reasons, but primarily because we wanted more. More Bible teaching, more history, more substance than we had found in recent years in Evangelicalism.

We're looking to replace our broken-by-the-movers gas grill. Do we want to switch to the charcoal-only Big Green Egg? Everything we've read about them is amazing...but do we want to go back to charcoal after the ease of gas? I would do bread baking, grilling, pretty much anything I could throw at it. I'm not a casual griller...and yes, I'm the griller in the house. TIA!

We don't own a cat. Yesterday, a well-groomed cat with a tag decided to "adopt" our home. I believe it was a female - at least the collar was pink...didn't get too close, and she was long-haired. She came right into our garage, and it was very difficult to get her out. Even after chasing her, "hissing" at her, running at her, she still came back in. She then tried to get into our front door following us around our legs. We were finally able to get inside our home and secure ourselves inside. She climbed up onto our window sill and pawed at the window, hissing and mewing and crying to get in. This went on for about an hour. DH suggested we get a spray bottle of water, and we tried spraying her. She was completely soaked, and still wouldn't leave. She then went into our back yard and sat on the top of our gas grill for another couple of hours. Finally, I called animal control after the girls went back there and tried to scare her away, and she was aggressive towards them (we warned them not to go near her...some lessons are hard-learned). Anyway, animal control came and took her away. The officer called me yesterday evening and told me they'd found her owner and she was up to date on her rabies shot. Is this normal behavior for a cat? I've never had one. I'm just REALLY curious.

Gran Torino Mystic River Black Hawk Down The Kite Runner Hotel Rwanda The Killing Fields The House of Sand and Fog Gattaca I can think of a ton, but these hit my mind immediately...

SO FUNNY you should post this. I just turned on the TV this morning (staying home from church, obviously) and the anniversary Les Miz special was playing on PBS! SO WONDERFUL! DH and I saw it on stage in London's West End in 1999 when it was performed by the RST.

I haven't given an update the past few days -- JUST BEEN BUSY!!! Since he came home from the hospital, we've settled into a bit of a routine. I am fairly adept at administering his meds now through his PICC line...no longer totally terrified to do it, that is. :tongue_smilie: On Friday MarianNova came laden down like SANTA CLAUS... The woman is a MARVEL! Yesterday, I actually felt confident enough to leave him, so I took off for a while and got a hair cut. It was nice to have some alone time. DH and I sat outside for quite a while -- it was such a nice afternoon -- and watched the girls ride bikes and swing on the tire swing. We got to meet Mary in VA yesterday! Found out we had much in common... Things seem to be swinging in our favor now, and I'm no longer feeling so overwhelmed. Having him home has been wonderful. I'm sleeping (I couldn't sleep more than 2 hours a night while he was in hospital with Ingrid sick and worrying about him...) We are just so overwhelmed by everyone's personal concern, the messages, the food... And so so so very grateful and thankful!!! :grouphug::grouphug::grouphug: Thank you WTM friends!

For pizza crust, I would prefer stone, as it draws out the moisture, and encourages a better quality crust. If you are going for thin, crispy or thin chewy, you want stone. However, if you like a deep-dish style, you may want to use a cast iron pan. I've had two PCs, and while I like the results, I'm always afraid they're going to break while I'm baking, spilling cheese all over the bottom of the oven, like my last one did -- at 550 degrees. That was a BEAR to clean. This Fibrament baking stone gets rave reviews, though costs significantly more. It's what I plan on buying when my current PC dies.

PRAYING PRAYING PRAYING friends in Japan and Hawaii!!!!!!!! We've been up watching NKH and now Today show...

Does serialized nighttime drama count? Like Fringe? Lost? V? If so, yes. I haven't voted.

:hurray::party: He's home! He wanted pizza on the way home from the hospital! He is reading a magazine! He watched American Idol and made snarky comments (per usual)! He's even grumpy! These are all VERY GOOD THINGS! The home infusion nurse came this morning, changed his PICC dressing and taught me how to do the infusion. I was so nervous the first time that I pulled the plunger all the way out of the syringe (glad it was the saline) and spilled water all over the floor. He sort of giggled. But, now I've done 6 syringes, and have given him his first antibiotic treatment, and I feel like an old pro! :) Again, again, and again, THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR YOUR OVERWHELMING CONCERN AND SUPPORT! WE ARE BLOWN AWAY!!!!! :grouphug: ETA: If you want to see, there are pix on the blog. No pix of the wound. It is definitely a little bit too NCIS/CSI-looking. Not that anyone really WANTS to see a PICC line...

Wednesday am update He's coming home today!!! (As it stands...) Though, I can't say I'm not nervous about this. His pain is NOT managed, we have multiple stairs in our home, and I get to clean the wound, though I believe a visiting nurse will be coming for a few days. BTW, it was common staph, not MRSA or hospital-borne MRSA. I'll update again. THanks for your prayers!

Update Tuesday Morning. STAPH not MRSA. Less contagious (I think) but more persistent (I think). Meeting with infectious disease doc today. Off to hsopital.

DO LOTS OF PRAYING! :( :grouphug: I'm so so sorry!

Got home from hospital about an hour ago. I'm WHOOPED. Doctor found evidence that the infection is in the bone :( We'll know the results of the pathology tomorrow. He won't be going home until the doctors are reasonably certain that he is on the correct antibiotics. If things don't make marked improvement, they'll go back in and do it again. G'night everyone, and thanks for your prayers and well wishes. Sorry PMers, I still haven't responded. I'm pooped out. The wifi at the hospital wasn't working this afternoon, so I couldn't respond. Too tired to do it now.

Not sure... I know that they're flooding with 3 or 4 GALLONS of solution. The surgery has been delayed for want of an open OR (they're squeezing him into the rotation), and I have not yet met with the surgeon. That is a question I will ask. Anything else I should ask???

DH is scheduled for 3:00 surgery. Pathology will be back tomorrow. Now testing for MRSA. I'm at the hospital on a really slow wifi.

I make it using the "flat bread" recipe in the Baking Illustrated cookbook (Cook's Illustrated). It's fab. Cook it on the stove top in my Le Creuset frying pan; they suggest any good skillet, cast iron preferred. Never has stuck once.

And yet another update... Good news: DH's white count is down significantly, the antibiotics are working Not so good news: he's going in for surgery tomorrow to open up his ankle/leg and irrigate it with disinfectant. He is also not responding to the pain meds, however, with the swelling going down, the pain is no longer 20 out of a scale of 10, "just" a 9 out of 10. :(- Thank you all so much for your prayers, and to those of you who have sent me PMs, I just haven't had a chance to read them. I will get to them!!! :grouphug:

Update: Chad is responding to the antibiotics. His white counts have dropped in half. YAY! He is still in a considerable amount of pain, though, and they are having a tough time managing it.

Final update for tonight. Looks like Infectious Diseases was called in. The preliminary diagnosis is that he caught staph at the time of the surgery. :( He's going to be in the hospital up to 8 days now and will have a pic-line inserted in his arm in a few days for home therapy for 6 weeks. I'm exhausted and going to bed. Thanks for all of your prayers, WTM friends!

I don't think so. I was just at Air & Space last Saturday, and they xray everything (just like the airport). I specifically remember there was no gum allowed, so I'm sure it would be no food.

Cultures are pending... just talked to him. The morphine isn't even touching the pain :( They are feeding him dinner (he's starving) but still haven't ruled out surgery. He is physically extremely fit, but is weakened from the surgery two weeks ago.