Monday:  Root canal.  Thankfully it was a piece of cake.  To my surprise, I never felt any pain.  I watched television throughout the whole procedure and the time flew by.  It is amazing how much easier a dental procedure is when you are wearing headphones and don't have to hear the sounds of the drill or listen to the dentist chit-chatting with the assistant.  I left the office and went straight to Chick-Fil-A! 

Tuesday:  I had a phone interview with the nutrition department for the CDC NHANES test.  It was very boring but at least I made some extra cash.  :-)  

Friday:  My dad had his OTHER shoulder replacement surgery.  He now has two titanium shoulders.  We are thanking God that this surgery went much smoother than the last.  The Dr. said this shoulder was in really bad shape and that he had to clean out a lot of bone fragments and spurs, but it was much better than the first one.  After the first surgery the Dr. told us that it was one of the worst shoulders he had ever seen.  Dad came home from the hospital today and is doing really well.  He was happy to get home in time to watch the end of The Masters tournament.  He can't wait to start playing golf again in about 3 months.  

It has been a while so I wanted to share a couple of photos of the dogs.  I took this picture of Balto several weeks ago: 

 Here's one I took today.  Balto LOVES to sit on the back porch and watch the outside world.  

And...here's Blossom begging for food. 

I Promised

I promised that I would post again this weekend so here goes...

This is going to sound like one of those ads you see on a website or a handwritten sign on the side of the road but, I got paid $190 CASH this weekend to pee in a cup!  It was part of a government study called the NHANES that Scott and I were chosen to take part in.  Volunteers are chosen at random by the goverment through the census.  For some reason, Scott and I received a letter in the mail (that we didn't read) and a knock on our door.  Two weeks ago, we had an employee of the CDC come to our house for a 2 hour interview of our health history and lifestyle.  We were approved.  

So.....last Wednesday I spent several hours having numerous medical tests to help determine the health of Americans.  Each participant represents 50,000 Americans.  Can you believe it?  I, freakish Julie, am representing 50,000 people!  Everyone involved is paid to participate AND receives $5000 worth of medical tests for free.  It was so strange getting paid $170 on Wednesday for "going to the doctor"! I could get used to this!  I am supposed to be wearing a physical activity monitor for 7 days but I gave up on that because the strap was too itchy for me.  So, I won't get paid for that test.  I have two tests left.  One is a urine test and the other is a nutrition interview.  In 2 - 3 months I will receive all of my tests results to take to my doctor. 

In other news I will be having root canal tomorrow (Monday) at 10:45.  My root canal has nothing to do with the NHANES therefore I will not be making any money off of the procedure and will have to pay for it myself.  Hmmm....I guess the NHANES came at a good time. 

So Far Behind

I can't believe it has been over a month since I posted.  I've been lazy.

The animals are all doing well.  Greta is in here with me now.  I can hear Blossom and Balto wrestling in the den (I'm not kidding).

I'm looking through the pictures on my phone (literally) to see what happened since I last posted.  

Here is Greta sunbathing:

Kevin (my brother) and I went to Laura's horse therapy class on Good Friday.  She was awesome! We followed the class on an Easter egg hunt/trail ride and then watched Laura in the horse ring.  I didn't want to distract her so I didn't get any good pictures, but here is one of her sitting on her horse.  

My friend Linda invited me to go to a Checkers' game with her family last Saturday night.  Turns out, we had the "Ice Suite".  I'm spoiled....the seats rocked!

No, Linda isn't a die hard Def Leppard fan, it was 80's night!  Here is a picture of me with Linda, her daughter Laura, and her son David.  Scott, her husband, took the picture.  Scott, my husband, was at church volunteering. 

I was tweeting a "twitter friend" of mine when Linda and I felt a paw on our back.  I turned around and it was Chubby.  I'm so glad we weren't on the jumbotron because I jumped.  Here is a picture of David with Chubby (Checker).  Chubby wore a mullet for 80's night.

Laura was picked to win a prize pack.  They didn't even know that the next day was her birthday!  Here is a picture of Laura on the jumbotron:

 

Laura won some really cool stuff and she even gave me a yearbook and a game used puck autographed by former Checker and current Carolina Hurricane, Drayson Bowman. (Did I tell you she's my favorite?)

I have more to say about the past couple of weeks but I have to go for some government health testing right now.  No joke!  I'll fill you in later. I PROMISE to post again this weekend.