Thank You & Cuteness Overload

On By SuzIn As blogged by Suz22 Comments

Thank you all for your well wishes, prayers and all that Jazz regarding our Nathan. He completed The Crucible challenge uninjured. He was able to make a phone call on Sunday and of course, who did he call? NOT ME. He called Lolo and they spoke for over an hour. He’s doing well and I know she was so happy to hear his voice. Still, we will not see his face until August.

He did send me a text though, so I still love him.

I will be mostly MIA this week. The Coach and I traveled to our GA place and will be working on some projects and visiting with his Dad who is coming up for the first time.

Spring is IN the air. The trees and flowers are budding and blooming. Guess what else is happening? Butterflies! I’m a bit obsessed with the Tiger Swallowtail. Mostly because I don’t have them in Florida, but also because I’m obsessed with butterflies in general. Am I telling you something you don’t know? HELL NO. But I love that these guys are all waking up from their winters nap just to tell me hello.

Can you visually take any cuteness? I’m just warning you because if you can’t, this will hurt your eyeballs.

This is how they rolled for the first part of our drive. If I weren’t driving, I would have died from the cuteness, but when you’re driving, dying from cuteness is frowned upon.

Speaking of driving: Good Lord, the traffic. I’ve never seen it so bad. Apparently people ARE traveling for Easter/Spring break, but they are driving. It took an extra 2 hours this time. My body was so stressed/tense when I finally arrived to our house. Thank goodness Wine was all the help I needed to de-stress myself.

Callie is absolutely in love with little beds. I never knew. Here I was buying these HUGE and expensive XL beds for her and all she really wants is to curl up like she’s a damn chihuahua.

They love laying in the sun and took the opportunity to share the last sunny spot as it was dwindling. I died right there looking at them. Luckily, the Coach knows CPR and brought me back to life.

And that’s all I have to say about that.

I hope all my sweet friends had a nice Easter.

XOXO

Bee Well.

Can You Spare Some Prayers, Good Mojo, or Positive Vibes?

On By SuzIn As blogged by Suz24 Comments

Our Nathan is nearing the end of his Marine Corp boot camp and will be completing The Crucible this weekend. (beginning Friday morning approximately 2am)

Lolo & Nathan, November 2020

When I first read the word Crucible, I was thinking, is he being tried as a witch? Nope, Suzanne, NOT THAT CRUCIBLE.

“THE FINAL CHALLENGE OF RECRUIT TRAINING IS KNOWN AS THE CRUCIBLE. IT IS A 54-HOUR TRAINING EXERCISE THAT VALIDATES THE PHYSICAL, MENTAL AND MORAL TRAINING THEY’VE ENDURED THROUGHOUT RECRUIT TRAINING.

THE RECRUITS ARE BROKEN DOWN INTO SQUADS TO FACE THE CHALLENGES OF THE CRUCIBLE. THEY FACE CHALLENGES TESTING THEIR PHYSICAL STRENGTH, SKILLS AND THE MARINE CORPS VALUES THEY HAVE LEARNED THROUGHOUT TRAINING. THROUGHOUT THE EVENT, THE RECRUITS ARE ONLY ALLOWED A LIMITED AMOUNT OF FOOD AND SLEEP.

THE FINAL STAGE OF THE CRUCIBLE IS A 9-MILE HIKE FROM THE TRAINING GROUNDS TO THE IWO JIMA FLAG RAISING STATUE AT PEATROSS PARADE DECK. UPON COMPLETING THIS CHALLENGE, THE RECRUITS ARE HANDED THEIR EAGLE, GLOBE AND ANCHORS, SYMBOLIZING THE COMPLETION OF THEIR ARDUOUS JOURNEY TO BECOME U.S. MARINES.“

Marching for 48 miles sounds like a blast. They have limited food intake, very little sleep AND are being challenged all the while. This ain’t for sissies.

Nathan is both mentally and physically strong and we know he will do well, but we’d love for him to do it well without sustaining any injuries that could cause him to be delayed in his progress.

We will not see his face until August. I can’t wait until this is over and he goes back to being just a regular old Popo; you know, no risk there either!

Anyhoo. I’m thanking you in advance for your good thoughts. Being a Marine (reserve) will fulfill one dream of his. His other being my Son in law will happen in October. 😉

I will see Lolo Friday, because she also has a ‘big thing’ happening. She’s hanging in there all things considered.

I’ll share next week; God willing and the creek don’t rise.

XOXO

I Suppose The Air Could Be Fresher & Nightmare Hiccups.

On By SuzIn As blogged by Suz33 Comments

The other day I was driving down the road and noticed a gentleman driving a convertible with the top down while wearing a mask. He was alone. He was not an uber driver. Yet, he was wearing a mask. Outside. Alone. Me thinks he might be on the weird side.

After I pondered on it for a minute, I decided I should NOT be so judgmental. Perhaps he’s afraid of the pollen that has taken over the South.

I’ve been getting these alerts on the daily.

I also get these alerts regarding our place in the GA mountains. What UP Mother Nature?

Hiccups. Literal hiccups.

Last Wednesday the Coach arrived home from exercising around 8am. Shortly thereafter, he had a case of the hiccups. We all get them, right?

I’m not sure what he did wrong that the universe felt like punishing him, but his case lasted around 38 hours.

He puts in a full day of work running our empire business and has softball practice each night. He’s a BUSY BEE. He was drinking lots of water all day long, and that paused the hiccups for a few minutes, but they would come back. So, when we went to sleep Wednesday, they would slow down, but as soon as he got up to empty his full bladder, they would rear their ugly head again.

A vicious cycle.

To say he was exhausted is an understatement; Ya’ll he tried every remedy known to man and the internet.

Thursday late afternoon he threw in the towel and called Teledoc. After a conference with the Dr. he was given an RX for Prilosec. The Doc said that hopefully this was just a type of acid reflux that instead of affecting you in a form of heartburn or indigestion, it was affecting his diaphragm. The Dr. said that if two doses of this didn’t affect it, he would need to go to the hospital for some sort of IV that would help.

Luckily, the first dose stopped them for about 40 minutes. And over the course of the night, he was having more ‘breaks’. Do you remember timing contractions; he was kind of like that: 30 minutes since the last one. 45 minutes since the last one...He went to bed at 9:30 Thursday, exhausted from it all and he was able to get about 4 hours of uninterrupted sleep.

Friday he took his second dose and things were starting to get better. He was afraid to eat though; thinking that anything that added/changed the acidity in his belly would bring back the hiccups. He was having a bit of PTSD if he felt one coming on. I felt so bad for him. By Saturday all seemed to be back to normal, but wow.

What a weird ordeal.

It’s Monday and I’ve enlightened your life with weird mask habits and weird hiccups. How’s it looking from your corner of the world?

XOXO