Did you miss me?

I know huh? Long timey no posty! I don't know what is wrong with me lately. Ever since I got into my funk about a month ago, I've been having writers block and felt totally un-post-worthy. Today I gave myself a pep talk. Want to know what I said?

"Amy! You need to post on your blog already dude. You didn't start your blog to be witty or funny or though provoking. You didn't start it to display cute pix of the girls or entertain yourself. You started it so you wouldn't have to keep a journal. You started it so you wouldn't have to for the love of all that is good and holy scrapbook. Ever. Again. You do stuff everyday that you will forget if you don't write it down. Like Katie peeing the bed last night. Do you really want to forget that? Don't walk away from me. Amy...AMY...come back..."

Obviously, my pep talk worked somewhat. Here I am, typing away. I posted pictures. But I read my last few posts and they sort of made me throw up a little bit in my mouth. They are way too skippity dippity if you know what I mean. I sound waaaayyyy too happy. Not that I am unhappy but for part of the day I am and I sound like one of those Mommy bloggers that you just want to slap across the face and tell to get real.

So here I am in my realness and here's what's going on in our lives.

Things have been good lately. I feel like it's the calm before the storm though. I haven't mentioned it but on Friday I am having major knee surgery. And I don't use the word "major" lightly. They are taking my knee cap, disconnecting it. sawing my shin bone and then building me a new place for my knee cap out of my existing bone then they will screw it all in place with a bunch of screws. It's a longer recovery than a knee replacement surgery. Six to Nine months. And I have to have the other knee done after this one. It's SO depressing. How do you have a six to nine month recovery with two 4 year olds and a husband who works 75 hours/week? How do you make that work? Then, do it all over again? The unimaginable pain I am in is now at an unbearable level. I can barely walk. I have let this go as long as possible. So Friday is surgery day. Also, this weekend my Grandma moves into her assisted living facility. And my mom and her sisters have to go through 89 years of possessions and have a big estate sale. My Grandma is not happy about this but she has Alzheimer's and we all feel this is going to be best for her. I love her so much I feel so badly that I am having surgery at this same time and can't help my family and can't help my Grams go through this transition. Also, Mike's awesome Aunt Jeanie is preparing to pass away from cancer. She has such a wonderful attitude and it is heartbreaking for her husband and for Marilyn and her sister Kathy and Mike and his cousins. I feel really badly for Marilyn because she lost her oldest sister in a sudden accident back in 1981. I feel really badly that I am having surgery right now and we can't do more for Aunt Jeanie and Mike's family and that he has to take all of his leave from work to stay home and take care of me and the girls. So all this is going on right now. I am sad about all of it but I still feel joy every day for my life and the blessings in it. I feel very thankful for Mike and the girls and that we are all together. The girls love their big girl room and their new wing of the house. They got a new playroom and new bathroom and a new bedroom. They call it their "wing". They are having trouble getting to bed on time because they are giggling and talking in their new bed. I think the novelty of it all will settle down in time but right now, they are 2 tired little chicks. I am trying to get us organized and ready for me to be out of commission. It's a tricky thing to navigate but we'll figure it out. I'm sure it will be crazy but six months will come and go whether I have surgery or not. And hopefully, I will have better knees after it's all said and done.

Mike and I got to go on our last date for a long time on Saturday night. We went to Tapa The World in Sacramento for Spanish Tapas. For those of you not familiar with tapas, it's Spanish for "small plates". You order several dishes for the table and eat them family style. There might be five or six bites per plate and they sell from anywhere between $2 and $15. Mike and I had grilled asparagus, empanadas, calamari with garlic aioli, rock shrimp in wine, butter and herbs, an olive oil dipping sauce for their anise bread and kobe beef with cabreleas cheese and onions. So good. And then we called our favorite Boulevard Bistro in Elk Grove to see if they had any pots de creme left and Debbie packaged up two of them to go along with a red rose and we came home and watched Mama Mia. Mike had never seen it. He loved it even though he had to qualify his enthusiasm with "even though I mean it's the ultimate chick flick and girls would like it WAY more". But I saw him bopping his head and his feet to Super Trouper. I mean, how can you not? Mike's cinema taste is surprisingly varied for a person of his background. He loves Braveheart (no surprise) but also loves Sense and Sensibility. He loves Top Gun (no surprise) and Lord of the Rings (no surprise) but also loves Shawshank Redemption and Memento and Moulin Rouge and Camelot and Sound of Music and Pretty Woman but hated Steel Magnolias and Born of the 4th of July. He's an oddity and I'm never sure whether I should suggest a movie to him or not. We hated Transformers.

I just watched W. with Josh Brolin made by Oliver Stone. Snoozer but totally well done. But the book American Wife which a fictional account of Laura Bush's life is waaaayyyy better.

Jessica and Katie are learning to read. We are starting with some "learn to read" books my Mom got and they are sight recognizing words right now but are getting really good at following along and recognizing words. They are starting to sound them out but it's still a ways off. I am hoping they are reading on their own by the time we start kindergarten in September of 2010.

Okay, I'm off, I'm even sick of me by now.