August 1-6

Isaac's Surgery

dressed up and ready to go

We started the week with Isaac's surgery for his broken arm.  Dode was able to take the day off at work using "emergency leave" which doesn't count against his sick leave or vacation leave.  Isaac had to go to surgery fasting and they weren't able to get us in until the afternoon.  Good thing he practices every month!  We had to be at the surgery center at 1:00.  They took Isaac and I right back to the pre-op area where he changed into a gown and they started an IV.  His surgery was scheduled for 2:00.  At 4:15, they were finally able to take him back.  Isaac killed some time while waiting by taking a nap and thumbing through an Eye Spy book. 

taking a snooze

His surgery went quickly (12 minutes) and they were able to use a metal rod to re-align the bone.  We were on the road headed home by 5:30.  Isaac did very well with the surgery.  He woke up in the recovery room and basically never fell asleep again.  He wasn't sleepy or confused.  They gave him a nerve block during the surgery so he wasn't in any pain after the surgery.  His fingers were 100% numb.  It was a really weird feeling for Isaac because he could move his fingers but he couldn't feel them moving.  The other kids were enjoying pinching them and squeezing them until Isaac realized, "Hey!  Just because I can't feel what they're doing doesn't mean they can't hurt me."  The nerve block lasted until the next morning.  Isaac had some pain from the surgery but within a few days, he was back on his bicycle and riding up to the library.

Isaac Colson (Big Isaac) came over the night before Isaac had surgery and is staying with us for a while as my substitute Isaac.  It worked out really well to have him here even before the surgery because Isaac was really nervous about the procedure but having Isaac here meant instead of worrying about it, he was busy talking and hanging out with Isaac.  Once the surgery was over, Big Isaac was a BIG help telling me when Isaac needed pain meds since they spent most of their time out in the room over the garage with the video games and helping out with Isaac's chores.  We're definitely substituting a hard worker for our generally lazy Isaac.  (could you keep track of all those Isaacs?)

"New" freezer
We got a 2nd upright freezer this week.  We buy so much of our food in bulk, one freezer just wasn't cutting it anymore.  If I could get the kids to give up french fries and jo-jo potatoes (which come in 30 pound boxes from Cash and  Carry), we'd have a lot more room!  Since I don't see that happening, it was time for another one.  I've been looking for quite a while on Craigslist but every time there was one I wanted, I waited too long and it'd be sold.  I found one on Camano Island and my dad picked it up for me.  Thanks dad!  It was quite an ordeal for him because the people who were selling it were getting close to having a baby and kept cancelling the appointments they'd made with him due to contractions and they played a lot of phone tag.  He persevered and I finally am the proud owner of yet another freezer that is probably older than me!  It's not a frost free which works well for us since the kids aren't very good at closing packages up tightly and this way our food doesn't dry out like the way it would in a regular freezer.  (Of course, the down side of this type of freezer is that when the kids leave the door open (at least every few days!) frost builds up on everything in the freezer.  Eventually, I have to take everything out and do a big defrost.)  The first thing I proudly set in my new freezer were chicken nuggets from Costco.  That was followed by raspberries, greens for my smoothies, and a case of blueberries.  I was also able to put the insert for the soft serve ice cream maker I got months ago in so it can finally get cold!  Dode says it won't be long until this freezer is filled too.  He said then we'll have to go to a commercial freezer.

a thing of beauty

how long until these shelves are packed?

80 pounds of ground beef will be in here in two weeks, a six month supply

Zaycon delivery
Saturday morning we had a produce co-op delivery.  We got some tasty things in the baskets this week: huge black seedless grapes, blueberries, pineapple, peaches, apricots. 

Yum!  This is the organic basket contents.

I've been snacking on the stuff that's ripe all day!  Saturday afternoon we had a Zaycon Foods delivery, this time cherries and blueberries.  They're constantly expanding into new areas and states.  They have great prices on boneless skinless chicken breasts and ground beef.  If you're interested, you can register at the link about and they'll let you know when they're in your area.  In a few weeks, they'll be back delivering 93/7 super lean ground beef for $2.79/pound.  I had to use Jacob and Isaac for my traffic control people because they were the only kids left.

Always happy to help!  You can't tell from the photo but his chair is actually sitting in the road.  He refused to wear the vest so he hung it on the mailbox.  Behind the stop sign?  A big container of chocolate covered almonds in case he got too hungry during the half hour.

Isaac looks so enthused to help out!