A Wedding, Three Birthdays, and No Funerals.

We took a long weekend trek to Miami for another Pezoldt wedding. Three down, two to go. Chad, the baby of the Pezoldt crew, was married to Tracy in an amazing and beautiful ceremony at the Deering Estate. All I can say is WOW!!! Tracy looked like a real version of Cinderella and Chad looked, well, HOT!! They are such a gorgeous couple. I've never seen Chad so composed, calm, happy, and proud. The day was beautiful, the people were beautiful, the food was good, and the party was purely Pezoldt. Pezoldt should be a new adjective!! There is NO party like a Pezoldt party!!! These people don't sleep, EVER!! When they meet you, they suck you in, and you too become family. This sentiment was repeated at every table at the reception. I am not blood or marriage related to the Pezoldts, but I am related to them by love and the way they take you in. You see, when my sister married a Pezoldt, my whole family became in laws of the Pezoldts. It's hard to understand until you experience it. I guess Pezoldt could be a verb too. You see, when my sister married Clint, all of us Outlaws got, well, Pezoldted. (meaning adopted, sucked in, and made family.) They all love life in way not often seen. They also love each other in a way that is so heartwarming. They also love friends, and lots of them. They love having them around all hours of the day and night!!! They will stay up talking to anyone who shows up at the house until the sun rises the next day! It is wonderful, and wonderfully tiring. I can't hang anymore. I stayed at Mama P's all the time when Dana first moved to Miami, but I am a light weight and can't stay up like they can.

Anyway, back to the wedding. Tracy had the most angelic and adorable little girls as flower girls, and the cutest little guys as ring bearers. There was one little guy who was especially dapper, if I may say so myself. He stayed the whole time and danced until the music shut off. Maybe he kept dancing after the music stopped. He is a dancing machine!!! He gets it honestly from both sides of the family. I was going to take the kids back to the house since I wasn't expecting to stay long (with the bad back) but there was no leaving until we were kicked out by the cleaning crew. It was so much fun. Montego, one of Chad's buddies, and his wife were there with their little baby (less than 6 months) and mom had the baby in a cool swaddle sling dancing around. That baby was so good. He was either sleeping or smiling the whole time he was being danced around. Fun was had by all!!
As for the 3 birthdays, we had Nicole, Robert and Clint all celebrating birthdays within a week, so it was a special time all around.
This was the first wedding Robert and I have been to since we got married. It was nice to sit back and think, "It took a lot of work to do all of this. Thank goodness we don't have to do it again." Also, it was nice not to have to do the single girls/guys thing.
We wish much love and a lifetime of happiness to Chad and Tracy!!

Love,
Shannon and Robert

Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope everyone is having a great day!  As Robert said, this should be the best Valentine's for me since I don't have to worry about everyone asking if I got engaged!!!  I can't believe we have already been married 4 months!!  It's gone by fast and been pretty crazy.  We have been through what could have been the "in sickness" part the last week.  My back pain escalated to horrific Thursday night.  I almost went to the ER, but as a nurse I am very aware that you don't go to the hospital Friday through Sunday because you don't get care and you just lay there and run up ridiculous bills.  So I stayed here and rocked and cried all night.  Robert is so wonderful to me.  I feel so bad for him because he felt so helpless because he couldn't stop my pain.  I went to the chiropractor Thursday and then got a deep tissue massage, which my sister-in-law said would hurt like hell afterwards, but would get better and help the following days.  Well, she was right.  Thursday night was my hell.  I couldn't walk.   Friday was bad until late in the evening.  Today is better.  I have numbness in my right outer leg and foot, but that is SO much better than pain.  I can deal with this.  I was getting worried that I would be like that forever and I wouldn't be able to go to Miami this coming weekend.  If I keep getting better, I should have no problem.    We will be celebrating a wedding, 2 birthdays (Robert and Nicole), late Christmas and Thanksgiving, and Valentine's Day all in one weekend.  I can't wait to see my family!!  It's been over 4 months!! I'm excited!!!  Love, Shannon 

Web marshall's at work!

I thought this was pretty humorous today.  We have a web Marshall (I'm not sure if this is a PERSON or a COMPUTER SERVICE or what!!  I picture a person staring at a monitor and going, "oh hell, Shannon just wrote something inappropriate."  to which I say, " You should have heard what I just said."  I don't mince words, but I do watch what I write in emails and on pagers at work.  I've been blocked for pornography many times when I looked up something in WebMD, Mapquest, and the yellow pages.  I'm not sure how they get porno out of that, but to each his own....  Well, today I wrote the word "spank" in a text message to a home health aide.  The context was "Bob (who is very unsteady and a fall risk) got in the shower without anyone to help him.  You need to spank him and tell him not to do that again."  (Bob is a very feisty old man who would love nothing more than to be spanked, but will have to make do with verbal threats to fuel his "fantasy")  A message popped up that said, "Web marshal blocked due to inappropriate language Level 5 use of the word "spank"  I'm not sure if level 5 is low or high, but I'm pretty sure I've said Level 1 or Level 100 dependent on what the scale is.  You've got to love big brother!!!  Love y'all, Shannon

Getting Better!

I must say I had my doubts about how much a chiropractor could help me.  I am amazed that I am so much better than a week ago!  My back is so much better, although me co-workers don't think so because I am moving so slowly.  My walking problem is because my muscles in my right leg are so sore from guarding the hip and back and walking on my toes.  I have an occasional catch when I turn over in bed or stand up.  God forbid I sneeze!!!  That is the worst and I think I'm going to die every time I sneeze!!  I'm hoping to be ready to boogie in time for the Miami trip!  I can't wait to get in the hot tub!!  I hope that anyone who is having back or neck problems will try a chiropractor.  I think even Robert is becoming a believer since I'm doing better.  He has been so wonderful to me!!  He is a wonderful husband!!  He waited on me like I was a queen.  I'm so fortunate!!  Shannon  

Gasparilla

I set my DVR to record the Gasparilla parade today.  We had Laura's baby shower today at the Olive Garden and it was a blast. I would not have been able walk around the parade anyway since my back and leg are still giving me some problems.  It looks like it was VERY crowded.  I didn't see any of Chad's bachelor party crew on TV and I haven't received any calls to bail anyone out, so I'm assuming all is well with the wild boys.  Another reason I set the DVR was to see if the woman (Gail) who was calling out the floats was sober this year since she was completely drunk last year.  Well, she was sober.  I guess she learned her lesson last year.   I'm using this weekend to rest and heal in order to be ready for party weekend coming up.  Everyone have a great weekend.  Shannon

My first experience with a chiropractor.

Well, I guess it is time to admit that I have been having back pain constantly for just under 2 months.  I know!  I'm a nurse, so I should have done something weeks ago, but honestly, I HATE DOCTORS!  (No, not the one I work with, or any I am friends with, but any doctor that is looking at me as a patient.  My blood pressure goes up and break into hives! Seriously!)  Anyway, my pain escalated to the point where I couldn't move and I started crying at work and all the way home yesterday.  I didn't want to go to my family doctor because I knew that they would put me on a bunch of muscle relaxers and pain killers that I wouldn't take, so I had Robert call and make an appointment with a chiropractor close to home.  Dana had a lot of success with her back in the past, so my pain led me there.  At this point I would have downed a quart of motor oil if someone told me it would help my pain!!  I could barely walk yesterday and this morning.  I had an appointment yesterday where they did a lot of x rays and muscle/nerve tests and range of motion tests.  I had to go back this morning for the results.  As expected the results were not good.  My neck doesn't have the curve it should and where my lumbar and sacrum meet (basically the top of the butt crack) has degenerating discs, which is causing nerve pain from my right butt cheek down my leg to my knee.  I also have muscle spasms and very tight muscles along my spine.  I'm putting ice on the hip and the chiropractor adjusted my spine this morning.  I can walk now, slowly, but I'm walking.  My pain has gone from a 9-10 to a 4, which is nothing short of a miracle to me!!  (My blood pressure was really high yesterday from the pain.)   I have been in so much pain and so cranky that poor Robert has been catching my wrath.  I know he's glad I'm feeling better.  I think he was scared of me!  Anyway, I will be going back 3 times a week for a few weeks and will have a followup assessment to see how the spine looks.  I'm so glad I did this!  I should have gone 20 years ago when this started.

Super Bowl!

It lived up to its name!!  I am so glad it was a nail biter.  I was afraid that the highlight was going to be when Bruce Springsteen nutted the camera!!  I wanted Kurt Warner to win because he is such a good guy, but it was fun to watch anyway!!!  My brother has always been a Steelers fan as long as I can remember, so congrats Joey!!!  Well, I've got to try to sleep after all this excitement!!  Goodnight!!!  Shannon