BNF Trivia Night wins.

We got home on a Friday morning and on Saturday evening was Berkshire Nursing Families' (BNF) Trivia Night, my mom's big annual fundraiser. As the only child home, and a huge supporter of my mother and her cause, I decided I would make the trip back to Cheshire to volunteer at the event. The whole thing was a great success! Last year there were 17 tables and this year there were 28! They raised more than $20K and had lots of amazing donations from all over the community. People had a lot of fun, and for me its great to see everyone celebrating my mom and all of her hard work!

But, the ride there was very emotional for us. We took route 2 all the way, and when we hit the top of the mountain, we found ourselves surrounded by snow and ice. Huge snowplows could be seen clearing the road. Our initial impulse was to turn back, run! But the pull of my mother won out.


Thats pretty much when the denial set in...

Here are some pictures of BNF Trivia Night:

Blogger resurrection!

Life has been a whirlwind since we got back. I wouldn't be surprised if everyone jumped the-act-of-living ship, its been so long since I wrote. Plus, I have to figure out what to write about...a blow-by-blow of my day probably isn't the right direction to bring this thing. So while I work that out, I might as well keep ya'll up to date on me a little.

See, I have been afflicted with a major case of DENIAL! Its hard to accept that we are officially back and that its time to move onto the next step. That can be exciting, and seeing family and friends has been wonderful, but its still a sore spot. Plus, the way things have gone since we touched down, have thrown us for a little loop (sorry to rope you in Ab).

Here is a quick rundown:

The day before we landed at JFK, Abby's aunt, a 48 year old who has been a surprisingly happy and functioning quadriplegic for the last 25 years (living at home with her parents throughout this entire time), stopped breathing. She was resuscitated, and admitted to the ICU, where they put tubes down her throat to keep her lungs going. She was barely lucid, so when they had to take the tubes out (they can only be used as a temporary fix), the family decided they should do a tracheotomy and put her on a ventilator to keep her lungs going. She spent weeks in a state of acute delirium, not healing well and fighting one infection after another. They moved her to a rehab ICU, where she is currently. About a week after arrival, she sort of snapped out of her delirious state and finally began fighting for her life. Since then, she has been able to get off the ventilator for 4 hours straight and maintain a healthy oxygen level with limited vent help for up to 8 hours. The latest news is that they changed her trach to one that allows her voice box to function, so she can actually speak (not just whisper) and that she is eating real food (its blended up, but thats just a technicality). She has a long hard fight ahead of her if she wants to try to get off the vent, but she appears to be fighting, which is pretty amazing. We have no idea what to expect. But needless to say, its been an emotional, hospital-filled 6 weeks.

In addition, I am bouncing back and forth from Cheshire to Abby every few days. We have projects going in both places, so even though we are unemployed, we are still very busy.

We could use some hugs, so if you're around and have some free time, call us. :)

Hand-Me-Downs too big? No problem! Put on 10 lbs suddently? Snap one of these puppies on!

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HAHAHAHAHAHA! This is a MUST see.

Click Here: "The Perfect Fit Button"
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Smaht.

We are making chili, but this time, I wore rubber gloves whilst cutting the jalapeno.

Last Day in Paradise.

After Iguazu, we went into fast mode. Couple days left to do some important things and then pack and leave. Here is a brief rundown of our last full day in Buenos Aires:

- 45 mins @ post office waiting (it would have been longer but the man next to us took 2 numbers by accident and gave one to us - thank goodness because Abby was miserable, convinced we were wasting our time, and driving me nuts!). We finally get up there and pay but he sends us on our way before he actually puts the stamps on. We write off the postcards on the spot, assuming they will never see the shores of the USA. (Shockingly enough, at least most of them arrived at their destination within ONE week!)

- Returned to Comme il Faut to try to get a bigger size in the shoes I bought (and was absolutely in love with), but they said "Oh, we don't have these in your size" -without even looking! Anyone sense a lie here?- so I had to find another pair, and I didn't fall in love with any. I exchanged them for a beautiful black and pink set, but was really sad to see the originals go. (More on why I couldn't check the racks for myself will probably surface at a later date.)

- Spent about an hour and 1/2 at our Spanish school, trying to get our "Certificate of Completion" printed. We had been calling them and calling them, and they kept blowing us off. We finally got them to commit, because we were leaving the next day, but when we got there they were not done. We waited and waited, and finally, they printed them for us (basic printer job). Our names are backwards and the printer definitely needed a new cartridge but we cut our losses and went on our way.

- Then we headed home to pack, pack, pack!!

- After a couple hours we started to get cranky, a sure sign it is getting near dinner time (dinner time is 10 PM-ish, remember) changed up and headed out to Juana M, a super nice spot Jackie turned us onto in December. It is the one spot in the city we actually got a nice salad bar with a good selection! I had salad, lomo (sirloin) and chorizo sausage. One of the pieces of sirloin seemed to have been cut poorly but the other piece completely made up for it. We were stuffed!

- Headed home to put the final touches on our packing, and then cried ourselves to sleep.

New Pictures Added!

New pix added - first 2 weeks of February, Tigre and a little bit of everyday life.