I am speechless....

Can anyone guess all of the McHenry costumes this year?

Fundraising that does not cost me any money!

So I have asked a million questions and it looks like there is a great way to fundraise for the National Kidney Foundation that does not cost anyone a thing. You can purchase a $5 gift card to Kroger or $25 gift card to Giant Eagle through the NKF. You can then reload this card at the customer service desk. 5% of all money spent on that gift card will be donated to the NKF.
So just spending a couple of minutes at the customer service counter could raise a lot of money for the NKF. Neal knows exactly how much I HATE the customer service desk at Kroger, but I will suck it up for a good cause.

If you are interested, let me know. I will coordinate purchasing the initial gift card. I was warned that the customer service desk may have no awareness to this, so if you ask them any questions do not be surprised when you get a blank stare, which is what they are trained to do. The sku on the gift card is what ties the spending to the NKF.

My assumption is you will get your gas discounts when you reload the gift card, but I am not 100% sure. I can let you know after I get my gift card.

We are hoping to get rich quick with this CVS contest. The story is "Selfless Acts"
http://www.forallthewaysyoucare.com/readstory/friends/ I would say Ryan and Leslie deserve the $25k! Hopefully they will be selfless when they win and share their winnings!

Jellis?

You should be. MY FISH OHIO PIN CAME IN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Busy Weekend

Friday a few of us went to the Mansfield Reformatory. It was a blast. They have a haunted house that runs through the old prison. We took a few pictures.

Ryan turned 30 this week! Happy birthday to him. Ryan also ran the Columbus Half Marathon. Very impressive!!!!!!!!! Very proud of him. He deserves the nap he got.

Joey on the other hand did not deserve the nap. We went fishing on Sunday to Lake Erie. We didn't catch anything but Joey caught a nap on the way home. Must be nice.

Gary and the Bucks

I took Gary to his first Buckeye game against Poodoo(Purdue). The game was a stinker. We still had a good time. We walked around the tailgate areas, took a gander at Heinegate(pre and post game), the Skull Session, and walked around the shoe. We walked around St. John Arena and when we actually walked in we saw Coach Tressel speak and then the players walked out. We were right above the tunnel the players and coaches walked out. Great timing on my part. Even though the game stunk it was still a good time. Here are some pictures.

Skull Session in St. John Arena.

Not our seats but got a chance to get close to the field after the game.

A face only a mother could love.

Dave sent me this picture a few minutes ago. He is up there with his MSU grad wife, and going to the game. Leave her there bro. MSU SUCKS! GO BUCKS! ha.

EEG

I had an EEG a few days ago. Just wanted to see if I had any lasting effects from the seizures. I don't know the results just yet. I had the lady take a picture of me. God look at my neck. I think I have about 3 twinkies stored in there. GROSS!!!

An electroencephalogram (EEG) is a test that measures and records the electrical activity of your brain. Special sensors are attached to your head and hooked by wires to a computer. The computer records your brain's electrical activity on the screen or on paper as wavy lines. Certain conditions, such as seizures, can be seen by the changes in the normal pattern of the brain's electrical activity.

One year ago

One year ago, I was 28 years old and my husband of 6 years was 30. My husband was on a ventilator at OSU, in what I referred to as a drug induced coma. He would not respond to my voice or my touch. I was in the ICU with my family and friends when a doctor told me that they thought something was or actually was not going on in my husband's brain. I was told that the fact that his tongue could potentially get cut off, was not at all an issue to deal with now. A doctor actually let my family and friends think that Neal was brain dead. For days we would all go back and visit hoping to get a response from him and nothing. It was days before tests were run to prove the doctors wrong.

I drove him to the hospital just 12 hours earlier and he knew my name and his name (although he could barely talk since his tongue was swollen throughout his entire mouth), but could not even tell me what year it was. He did not even answer let alone acknowledge my question "What year is it?" He simply stared into space as if my question never made it to his brain. I immediately called my sister and said meet me at the hospital right now, something is really wrong. Upon arriving at the hospital we were taken to a trauma room. We had never visited this area of the ER before, which was not a good sign. Neal was put on a ventilator and taken away for tests. Six hours later we saw him heavily sedated on a ventilator and still had no answers. My mom stated it best, this was a real life NIGHTMARE.

Thankfully the images of this nightmare are slowly fading. Neal likes to joke about this incident. I in turn do not think anything about it is funny and wish I could forget the month of October 2007 forever, perhaps even the entire year! Who would have thought we would be where we are today. Neal is in the best shape since we first started dating 13 years ago. I think we both have a new, improved outlook on life.