Have I fallen off the face of the earth?

I had such good intentions! I was going to start writing again while on vacation. I was going to write whether I published or not but then I fell off the face of the earth. Sort of! 

We were on vacation and we were having a marvelous time with out lovely children and wonderful granddaughter. We enjoyed beautiful weather and the fishing was fine (according to hubby, son, and son-in-law).

On Monday (day three of vacation) I was out on the fishing pier early to check on our guys and to see what they were catching.

I checked on Fred - we don't know if he is the same bird or not but A bird (just like him!) has been on the pier every single year

I enjoy watching the sunrise! I decided to get in a few steps and started walking briskly up and down the pier. The pier is long and the pier is metal.

this was taken on another night but

you can see that it is indeed

long and metal!

Imagine my surprise when I found myself face down on the METAL pier. My flip flop evidently caught on a tiny lip of a metal plank and I was walking FAST and I now truly know what it means to FACE PLANT. I did it.

STOP HERE IF YOU ARE SQUEAMISH! (No blood or gore or vomit (my worst nightmare!) but giant bruises galore!) I decided that I needed to document this crazy journey so this post is as much for me as anything.

I will tell you a funny thing -- Mark and I are not into PDA. After I fell, when he was walking me back down that long pier to go into the condo, he said, "here hold my hand." I had said that my legs were wobbly (as they should have been!). When he said those words, I thought to myself, "Sh*t . . .I'm going to die!" I figured if we were holding hands, my injuries must be fatal!!

We did not go to the hospital. We face-timed with our doctor and the ice packs began. My sweet daughter and daughter-in-law and my sweet hubby all took good care of me - actually, they all took good care of me. Even sweet Emma would curl up on the sofa with Gran and watch cat videos (there are some funny ones out there - did y'all know that??)

It wasn't THAT bad - ha! It was a huge rectangular goose egg. It was the biggest goose egg that any of us had ever seen and it was rectangular. I know I told y'all that two times - but who has a rectangular goose egg??? My nose was slightly scratched. My head hurt. My knee and elbow were bleeding. My belly was bruised and both of my hands had some bruising and scratches BUT I didn't break any bones or teeth. I swear that I think there is a small hairline crack in my skull!!

On Day two I had the most unbelievable black eye I've ever seen!! My eye was swollen closed.

By Day three, I was looking even rougher but the best was yet to come!

When I showed the above picture to a friend, she told me that I looked like someone about to be admitted to prison! I must admit that I don't look like myself. It hurt to comb/brush my hair so for a couple of days, I just let it airdry.

I'm going to be honest. I decided not to allow this to ruin my vacation. I stayed inside for most of the first day and kept ice on my head/face. I wore sunglasses (which I normally have a hard time wearing) some - even in a couple of restaurants. I must admit that I freaked out a couple of folks who served our table in restaurants. I actually slowed down. I iced my face A LOT.

The picture above was on Friday after I fell on Monday. Both sides of my face were bruised along with the goose egg on the forehead.

The picture above was at work yesterday -- Day 17!!! The swelling is gone from my cheeks. My head still hurts (thank God for motrin and Tylenol!!). Each day, the goose egg is getting smaller.

This is yesterday (above) compared to about a week ago -- smaller!

I just haven't felt like writing. This is one of our busiest times at work so I've worked hard every day (that is a good feeling!). I've been riding my bike every evening for about 10 miles. After working all day and exercising, I've just wanted to crash for a little while and then go to bed!

Gran has a boo boo! Gran has a BIG boo boo!

Did I fall off the face of the earth? NOPE! I just fell on the pier.

Food, Food, and More Food!

Today's post does not count as "writing" but here are the questions from Sunday Stealing:
Food Again!

1.   Ever had ramen noodles? How do you fix yours? Do you add anything to them?  
My favorite way to eat ramen noodles is toasted with sunflower seeds and almonds . . .and then mixed with shredded cabbage, green onions, and a dressing made with vinegar, oil, sugar, and the dry seasoning packet from the ramen noodles! 

2.   Do you like spicy foods?

I can't say that I like ALL spicy foods - do you mean "spicy" or "hot"? I like things that are well seasoned but I don't like to eat things that burn my mouth.

3.   Crispy or grilled chicken on your salad? 

grilled . . .though fried would be delicious!

4.   Do you like corn on the cob?

Yes, I do! I like it without anything on it - just plain! Of course, it is yummy with butter. Let me tell you a weird thing - when I was a little kid, we put mayonnaise on our corn on the cob. I always thought that was the strangest thing when I realized that the rest of the world ate butter on their corn. A few years ago I found out that Mexican street corn has mayo on it!!

5.   Pumpkin or apple pie? 

mmmmm . . .both are good!

6.   Dinner rolls or crescent rolls?

Crescent rolls . . .yummy and flaky! Of course, you can't be a Sister Schubert's roll. For those of you not from Alabama . . ..Sister Schubert's rolls originated in Alabama!!

7.   How do you like your eggs?

scrambled or made into an omelet or deviled 

8.   Most expensive meal you have ever eaten?

Many years ago, Mark and I went to Las Vegas on a business trip and we ate at Emeril Lagasse's restaurant. We weren't paying for that dinner but that bill must have been astronomical. We had drinks and appetizers and desserts.

9.   Do you like stir fry?

Yes! When we were newlyweds (a million years ago), we cooked in a WOK quite often. 

10.  What kind of pots and pans do you use?

Last year, we purchased All Clad -- a whole set plus some extras including a waffle iron. I have cooked in cheap pots and pans all of my life and now I have GOOD ones!!

11.   Do you like Brussel sprouts?

Love them! Did not like them until a few years ago when someone served them to me ROASTED. Roasted brussel sprouts are a game changer! There is a "meat and three" restaurant in town that serves tiny brussel sprouts floating in butter . . . those are good, too!!

12.   Canned or fresh tomatoes?

Fresh tomatoes for the win! In the summer, I eat at least one tomato a day. We have a "farmer's market" truck in our parking lot three days a week (at work) and I buy tomatoes all summer long.

13.   BBQ Chicken or Ribs?

This is a weird thing . . .I don't eat ribs. I do love BBQ chicken and I love BBQ pork and I love brisket!

14.   Do you like coffee?

I like to smell it but I don't drink it.

15.   Cupcakes or ice cream cake?

Icing. So I guess that means cupcake but I would eat the icing and leave the cupcake. Actually, I haven't eaten dessert in 19 months so neither!

16.   Hot dogs or polish sausage?

Both!

17.   Do you like cinnamon toast?

Cinnamon toast makes me think of childhood! Yum.

18.   Do you eat dinner at the table or in front of the TV? 

We eat at the island in our kitchen which is open to the family room but we rarely turn on the TV during a meal.

19.   Do you like to BBQ?

We "BBQ" all of the time in the south - but BBQ encompasses grilled chicken, grilled shrimp, grilled steaks . . .We "cook it on the grill" and BBQ means smoked pork, beef, or brisket.

20.   Do you like cold cuts? I eat Hillshire Farms Turkey (no preservatives, etc.) almost every day. This may sound strange but sometimes I eat a turkey roll up for breakfast!

21.   Do you like rice?

I really love rice and beans at the Mexican restaurant. I don't eat a lot of plain rice. We ate in a cool outside restaurant tonight and I ordered my tacos in a bowl and they included the rice. The rice is in the trash can - not because I don't like it but I "drank" my carbohydrates!

22.   Macaroni and cheese?

This is the south. We serve macaroni and cheese at every family gathering in the south. 

23.   Key Lime Pie?

Yes! 

24.   Favorite Fair/Carnival Food?

Corn dogs, funnel cakes, popcorn, cotton candy - I love the SMELL of carnival food probably more than the taste!

25.   What kind of gravy do you like?

What do you mean - what kind? I like almost any kind of gravy!! I like sausage gravy on a biscuit. I love gravy on my turkey and dressing. I like brown gravy.

26.   Jalapeno Poppers?

maybe? I like the inside and the bacon around the outside but am not too fond of the actual jalapeno.

27.   Broccoli/Chicken Alfredo?

Sounds delicious! What time are you serving?

28.   Do you like cottage cheese?

I have to be IN the mood for cottage cheese. I do cook with it more than I eat it.

29.   Do you like lasagna?

I love lasagna - especially the best lasagna ever by the Pioneer Woman.

30.   Do you like hard boiled eggs? We eat them often. I'm not sure I really like them but I eat them. I don't think I realized that about myself until I typed it! Have you bought the pre-cooked ones? They don't smell!!

Where are you?

 "Riley - where are you? Riley! Riley!" "We can't find her." "Where did you last see her?" These were the comments and shouts I heard just a few hours ago from a frantic momma and her friends. A 9 year old child had disappeared from the beach. Two police vehicles arrived driving right onto the sand. The police began to canvass up and down in front of the various condos. People spread out across the sand looking for Riley. The mother cried and walked the beach continually looking. I won't make you bear the suspense any longer. They found Riley. She had been walking with her friend on the beach and stopped to look at something while the friend kept walking. Riley didn't know which way to go and walked in the wrong direction - lost. Another mother down the beach saw Riley and asked her if she was lost. The mom told her that she was the mother of a 9 year old daughter and offered to help her find her way back to her family. After 45 minutes or so of sheer hell on earth, mother and daughter were reunited.

I didn't help canvass the beach. I didn't really know what the little girl looked like though I had watched her play in the pool not ten feet away. As others searched, I actually sat in my chair by the pool and started to pray -- for safety, for God's care, for peace and comfort. I would get up and pace on the pier and look up and down the beach . . .and I would pray.

When mother and daughter came walking back to the pool, I realized that I had witness a tiny segment of grace.

God is our heavenly parent who loves us so very much and he relentlessly pursues us. He searches us out. No matter how lost we are - no matter how far we walk in the wrong direction, He never gives up on us. God would go to the ends of the earth for us. Heck - he died on the cross for us.

The words from this song have been in my mind since the incident -- especially "it chases me down, fights 'til I'm found, leaves the ninety-nine:
Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God
Oh, it chases me down, fights 'til I'm found, leaves the ninety-nine
I couldn't earn it, and I don't deserve it, still, You give Yourself away
Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God, yeah

Y'all - God loves us. Earlier today, that momma was going to turn over every grain of sand on this big beach if she had to do so in order to find her girl. God loves us even more than that.

p.s. I'm going to TRY to write some this week while I'm letting my mind rest. Bear with me - my writing is very rusty. I should take a lesson from my friend, Brian. I should probably write and not publish every thought I have.