The Holidays in OMG

Paul had his hip replacement surgery the Monday before Christmas. Analogous to having a baby for the first time, we had underestimated life at home after leaving the hospital: his discomfort/pain and limited mobility and how much I'd have to assist, install, medicate, etc. As my husband's caretaker, I think the most weighty part was the sense of responsibility for his well-being: I stressed when he was in pain or discomfort, I stressed knowing that he hated being so limited, I stressed at my nursing skills (especially when it came to injecting anti-coagulant into his stomach), I stressed about his medication dosages, I stressed if I was buying (and assembling/installing) the best apparatuses to assist him around the house, and I even stressed about finding the required multi-vitamin without chromium (apparently only the gummy kind don't contain chromium, btw). The high sign came one night when I must have looked so weary pulling a blanket up on him that he asked, "Are you going to try to smother me with a pillow?"

I instantly snapped "Of course not!" But continued the reflexive response in my head, "There is no way I have an iota of the energy to do that--it takes a LOT longer than it does in the movies, ya know!"

Only I'm not sure if I said the second part in my head. OMG.

He did get significantly more mobile and I think we nailed down a routine (so I was less stressed) by Christmas, which was marked by a visit from Opa and Oma. I had hoped to do some cleaning up before they came while Paul was in the hospital but I underestimated how much running around I'd be doing. The best gift of course, was their relaxed company and their insistence that I NOT try to clean up for their visit. OMG. Wish granted.

The bonus is how much they played Scrabble with me (Velina hasn't been so game) and they even gifted us with Mexican Train Dominoes which we all enjoyed, including Velina:

Paul surprised me with these holiday M&Ms:

Which are individually printed with "FLee" (which is my common user name, as well as how I often tag my stuff, from my tools to my lunch):

OMG. At first, I was like, "I don't know if I can eat them. It's like I should shellac them and preserve them forever, right?" But I managed to eat them.

But the big surprise from him was this:

An iPad. OMG!

Now I really don't have the energy to smother him with a pillow.

Then the morning after Christmas, we woke up to this:

OMG! Snow in South Carolina!

Velina was so tickled by it, she spent time just touching it and forming snowballs (which she just lobbed at the street). Opa and Oma intrigued her with tales of eating fresh snow and she offered me her flavored snow:

I had a few spoonfuls and then said, "Wait a minute, we don't have any lemonade!" OMG!

She told me to relax, that she made a cup of instant Crystal Light from a packet in the cupboard.

Then I realized that between Paul's recovery and Christmas, I hadn't had a chance to review and revise my picks which by Christmas night, I was 0 for 2. But it turned out that I managed to picked correctly all but one of Sunday's games and ended up winning the week as well as making the top 20 of all of the fanpool's at-large 8000 players:


OMG!

Which also gave me a comfortable cushion in the overall:


Including now reaching the top in the overall average (which was a bit of a goal from a previous concern)


OMG.

And finally, I know I expressed some frustration with the lack of fanfare or the extra draws seemingly required to bring attention to the UConn Women's basketball team breaking and setting a new NCAA record for most wins (in a row!) but I also recently caught sight of the half-time entertainment during that historic game. Now I don't know what entertainment there is at college basketball games in general, but...

OMG.