Hodgepodge: Blood, Sweat, and Tears

My answers will be brief this week, if you can believe that. I'm tired and I'll explain why in another post if I'm not too tired. It's been three high-adrenaline days here, and I feel the crash coming on as I type. I will blog when I can about Sarah's graduation, our new fridge, and my husband's medical emergency. But since that emergency has repercussions (ie follow up care is needed before he is allowed to drive again), I might not be able to blog tomorrow. We'll see.

1. Lake Superior University has once again published a list of words/phrases they think should be banished from the Queen's English in 2012-
amazing, baby bump, shared sacrifice, occupy, blowback, man cave, the new normal, pet parent, win the future, trickeration, ginormous, and thank you in advance.
Which of these words/phrases would you most like to see banished from everyday speech and why? Go here to read more about how the words are chosen.

I actually haven't heard some of those (trickeration, blowback, shared sacrifice). I could guess at what they mean, but I am too tired. I am guilty of using "amazing" too often, and I actually like the word "ginormous." I guess I'll say "thank you in advance" because it sometimes sounds presumptuous to me. Or lazy, as if saying it in advance will excuse someone from thanking afterwards for said request, usually money, right?

2. Are you easily embarrassed?

No, I don't think so.

3. What is your go-to snack?
Cereal.

4. Have you ever been to Washington D.C.? If not do you have any desire to go? What site/attraction would you most want to see in that city? If you have been, what's your favorite site/attraction?

Yes, a few times. As a history buff and Lincoln fan, I loved Ford's Theatre where Abe was shot. (Putting it that way doesn't sound like I'm a fan, but oh well, my thinker is thunk out.) I'm tired.

What would I most like to see in that city? New residents in the White House.

5. sit ups-planks-lunges-squats...which do you hate the least?
Sit-ups, because I can do them on my back. The others hurt my back or joints. I usually see results fairly soon from the sit-ups, which ought to motivate me, but I'm more into the "sit" than the "up."

6. What's a small act of kindness you were shown that you've never forgotten?

Wow, so very many to name, but right now I am thinking of one that wasn't so small. Maybe to him it was, but to me it was huge. When I gave birth to my last child, I ruptured all the ligaments in my pelvis and was in excruciating pain. I needed to be transferred from the labor and delivery room bed to a wheelchair to get to a regular room, so my husband held me up under the arms while the nurse put the chair under me. I was a dripping mess (I'll spare further description) but I never felt more helpless than when I looked down and saw my blood on his shoes. He never complained. For the next five weeks, he (or my children or mom ) would turn me every two hours in my rented hospital bed in our kitchen since I had partial paralysis from the damaging birth. (I was miraculously healed six months later on an eventful September morning.) I can't talk about that time in my life without feeling hot tears puddling in my eyes.

Maybe you were thinking a smaller act of kindness, like someone in the car ahead of mine paid for my meal at the drive-thru, but that hasn't happened.

7. Have you ever been a blood donor?

Yes. But I am what they call "a hard stick" because of my tiny veins. Many phlebotomists give up and call the best one on staff. I don't mind needles, but the words I heard once from a nurse nearly made me pass out. She called a co-worker in and pressed a soft spot on the inside of my elbow. "Is this a vein?" she asked. Hellllloooooo? If you have to ask, you shouldn't be a nurse. Or at least you shouldn't ask in front of your patient!!!!

8. Insert your own random thought here.

Please pray for wisdom. We don't know why my husband fainted Monday night but the results have been painful and scary. More later on that when I'm not so tired.