Two Tales of A Liberty Fort, Not Bell

Aunt Libby is a wonderful woman. She takes after the Chelson trait of beauteous moments of exceeding embarrassment and ridiculousness happening in bizarre situations at non-opportune times and places. Uncle Jason is her fantabulous husband, who measures at a mere 7 feet tall. Oh wait, he's only like... 6'8" or something tiny like that. Please know that Libby has some snazzy and attractive pajama pants that should bring joy and happiness to all that have the privilege to behold them.

So listen, dear children, for I have to tell, 

Two tales of a Liberty Fort, not Bell.

Libby decided that food would be nice
She desired a sandwich, and a drink with some ice
On she ventured till at last she did find
Something to sate both her body and mind.

"Huzzah! Tasty food that won't stretch my pants,
I'll have some nice meat to go with those plants!"
And on she did go, and went in the door-
To see a back of the head she'd seen before.

"Oh gee whiz, it's my ward mission leader,

It is quite a chance to meet at this feeder,

A place with cuisine to make you feel fine,

Even when eating at a quarter till nine!"

Well, he went away, and soon after that,

Lib felt a breeze as her pants fell down flat!

Not exactly flat, though, more rumpled, 

And frumpled, and maybe a bit grumpled.

"Would you look at that!" thought our lady fair,

"It would seem I'm without my cool bit of flair!

My stylish pants, that I thought of with care,

Have left without thought of how I would fare!"

Thus Lib did look down from her lofty height,

And did ruminate on the fact that she could fight

And wrangle with the fact that she did not mind

For at least she was not showing her whole behind.

Libby leaned down and pulled up her pants

And, while Jason did order their meat and plants,

She went to set herself down in their car

And find some relief from the breeze from down thar.

*End Poem*

Basically, I took a lot of poetic license with that story. I'm not a very good poet, so I need a whole lot of license to make it sorta-kinda-maybe-almost work. Ya. What happened is that Libby was in Subway, and her pants fell down. In public. In Subway. Her pants fell down.

Isn't that HILARIOUS?!

And this weekend, Libby is down here visiting nieces and nephews and going to concerts and having fun with cool people (like us and Porter, we are so cool!). Last night, the four of us went out to CRAIGO'S (or Pizza Pie Cafe down here), which is an amazingly pizzaed place that helps you get pizzaed as well. It's a buffet, so you pay before you go sit down- and Libby got REAL EXCITED because she was going to pay with EXACT CHANGE!!!!! Here you go, Mr. Order Taking Man!

Except...

But wait...

Apparently they've changed a few things since the last time saw a nickel and a quarter. Like basic size. And pictures. And monetary values. But it's all good. Because we love Libby. And that's the Gospel Truth!!

So there are two stories about the best Aunt Libby in the entire universe. I'm sure everyone is jealous and wishes that they had their very own Aunt Libby- but they can't. This one is ours. And we love her more than ever- and not just for the entertainment value.

That One Time I Had Surgery and Almost Died

On Monday, February 6, I had an oral surgery. That is part of one of the many reasons that I haven't written a whole bunch. The other is that I'm busy. The other other reason is that I forget sometimes until someone yells at me, and then I have to apologize and go write a post in their honor. Anywho and twinkle stars, I had oral surgery. It was a bit of a surprise. I went in to the dentist with an "emergency toothache" appointment, and went out with the knowledge that I needed to find a specialist who may or may not be able to save my tooth.

It turns out that I had a large abscess under one of my back teeth, and the infection was deteriorating the tooth root as well the the jaw bone around it. Not good. So they put me on antibiotics to help me while I found someone who specializes in root canal treatments. WHO DOES THAT?!

So we found a specialist, went in for a consultation- he looked at some x-rays and pronounced the sentence:

I almost died. I don't do well with needles, sutures, death, dogs, hyenas, dentists, or killer mole rats. I just don't. Andy was swell, though, and took over from there. Once he set up the appointment for the surgery ("SOONER rather than later would be ideal," said the not-about-to-be-operated-upon-specialist-in-horror-scenarios), Andy took me back home and we prepared a list of meals that I could eat without teeth. It mostly involved yogurt and soup. Lots of soup. There was a sale on soup, actually, so we REALLY stocked up. Like, we have a whole shelf with nothing but soup upon it.

The Day of Doom arrived. I grabbed Francis (my teddy bear who comforts me when I am unwell) and marched resolutely out the door to meet my sure destruction. Andy came too. We got to the dentist's and went in. They took us back and let Andy sit in the corner. He held on to my leg the entire time. I shook it a little every now and then to assure him that I hadn't passed out from an overdose of panic, laughing gas, and sheer adrenaline. I closed my eyes the whole time so I wouldn't see any sharp implements passing over my head and into my mouth, pointy side down. "That was quick and good" according to the specialist, and they stitched me up, and gave Andy a little baggy with a how-to guide of taking care of delusional wives in their post-op states, and a mouth wash, a SUPER soft toothbrush, some chapstick, and an ice pack I was to keep on for 15 minutes, off for 15 minutes for the rest of the day.

I was so numb that I had that bizarre fwumple sensation halfway down my throat, and up to my inner nostril. I was very swollen and didn't know what was happening. When we got home, I called my Mama to tell her that "I HAD THURGERY!" and that I was all done with it.

Andy looked at the list of TO-DO TO CARE FOR YOUR LOONY PATIENT, and noticed the food requirements:

1. Soft foods
2. No chewing
3. No hot foods

No "hot foods" meant no soup. Guess what? Soup was just about all we had. Oh well, Andy sighed. He had to run to class, and I was needing sleep. He put everything that I would need on the bed next to me, made sure I was wrapped up in my fuzzy pink blanket, and got me a raspberry yogurt to eat when I could. He also got me a paper towel so I could clean my numb self up after eating gloppy stuff while being unable to open my mouth more than a centimeter or so.

And then Andy left. I was ALONE.

Thanks to the numbing stuff, lingering effects of laughing gas, and the pain meds I was instructed to take, I was a loopy loony oodle flubble. Seriously. I was.

I sat around for a long time. I napped. I hungered. I struggled to reach forth my tired hand and lift mine yogurt to mine lips, because I felt like Thor.

Granted, it was only at a very specific moment in the movie, but still. I felt like Thor when he was hungry. And, unfortunately, yogurt isn't the most sustaining of foods, and I was still hungry. I also felt like a baby because I had to wipe my face after every bite to get all that stuff that didn't make it into my (for once) tiny mouth. Sheesh.

I called my mother, who is in Tennessee, and not at my house, and doesn't know what I have in my kitchen, and can't get it for me anyway, and asked her what I could eat, because I was so hungry. She asked what I had. I didn't know. I lurched out of bed and hobbled over to the fridge looking like I was Quasimodo's ugly step-sister.

I know because I saw myself in the mirror as I passed by. I also noticed that the area around the surgical area was really red and swollen. It looked like there was some pretty bad bruising coming up. Darn. All I needed when I went back to school the next day. To look like a cross between a lunatic troll and a madwoman ogre. With a giant bruise on my face. The only plus side is that the whole left side of my neck and face were COMPLETELY numb. It actually didn't wear off until the middle of the night.

I told Mama what was in my fridge. She told me what to eat. So I ate that. The kids all took turns on the phone talking at me since I couldn't really speak all that well. I felt contented, having feasted on loads of applesauce, and went to sleep ensconced in my beautiful pink blanket. It's fuzzy, soft, warm, and a lovely shade of pink, just like everything else I own.

When I woke up a while later, I grabbed my phone to check the time. I was hoping that Andy would be home soon. My ice pack had melted, and I had been using frozen peas in a plastic grocery sack on my face. I had basically slept with it as my pillow. As I was getting up, I felt a pulling on my lower cheek (near the surgical area) from the ice pack. I pulled the ice pack away from my face. I looked at it. There was something on that ice pack. Something that looked a whole lot like it had been a part of my face... Skin. My skin was on the ice pack. My FACE skin.

I grabbed my phone again. My phone has a large shiny and reflective touch screen, and it can be used as a small, somewhat deceiving mirror in a pinch. I looked into it to check out my hypothesis and how bad the damage was. Oh fwumple crackers and a bowl of fresh potato soup. My face was FALLING OFF!

I naturally freaked, made a strange delirious noise of horror, kind of like one that Frankenstein would make in a scary black and white film adaptation, and *clutched* my face. THE HORROR! I didn't know what to do. Andy wouldn't be home for a while yet, and I was afraid to call him. I didn't want to move my jaw for fear that it would loosen more of the skin. I didn't even want to take my hand away because that might pull MORE of my face off of my face!

Just as I was about to burst into hysterical tears of terror and madness, I noticed something. The skin that was attached to the ice pack had tiny dark flecks in it. Looking closer, I noticed that they looked a lot like...

...raspberry seeds.

I pulled my hand away from my face. It was true. I had had a major and nearly fatal heart attack because a streak of Yoplait 99% fat free Raspberry Yogurt fell on my face.

Andy came home to me sticking my face into the Cone of Shame, only the Cone was my little yogurt cup. He laughed and asked. I looked pathetic and didn't answer.

Get Yours Today!

Matt and Michele are some good friends of ours who live in the same apartment complex as we do. We enjoy talking and hanging out- and Michele and I both do baking and crocheting attempts and entertain each other with successes and fantastic un-successes that keep us on our toes.

In our apartments, the windows are double-paned. They have cute little squares on them too. I like them. Anyway, sometimes, some condensation gets between the panes... and it looks wet. Michele noticed one time when looking at her windows that some of the condensation had collected to create a vertical puddle within her window.

Not that this is an uncreative way to maximize on space in an apartment. I can actually think of a few ways to decorate this- more to come on that below- but Michele thought of something that made me feel extremely validated. That's right. She thought of ....

The DEAD FISH HEAD! 

Because apparently water equates to fish which equals death which produces a DEAD FISH HEAD between her window panes. When she told me this story, I laughed. And then as I got back to my place with Andrew, I thought about her pretty curtains that she made herself- cute little yellow curtains of sunshine and happy. I figured that I would allow my creative juices to flow and help her to create a functioning kind of decor in her little home.

Say hello to Bertie and Martha, two of the most adorable little fish to be had for Window Aquariums! They are so happy in their little abode that comes complete with a little cave to snooze in, some snazzy looking underwater trees, and those colorful rocks that tend to find their ways into fish tanks. The smell of fish and nasty is neatly contained within the confines of the window interior area, and the beauty can displayed both inside and outside. No need for DEAD FISH HEADS to make your adorable home an unsightly, unseemly, and unsanitary abode! Just grab one of Tashya's Awesomely Amazing Window Aquariums today!