Metal Detectors Beware

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As Brad so eloquently put it - "Six screws and a titanium plate... just like on the space shuttle Forrest."

German Hospital...Round 2

“Don’t freak out, I’m ok, but I think you’re going to need to meet me at the hospital.”

That’s how we kicked off last Saturday. The weather was beautiful so I had walked down to the farmers market to do some shopping and Brad was meeting a buddy to ride bikes. As I mentioned before, we recently bought some new mountain bikes for each of us. While I love to ride, I’m not much for the “serious” trails….apparently Brad isn’t either. Not five minutes into the ride, he took a spill after dodging a tree trunk and BAM! Bike went one way, Brad the other and shoulder first. He told his buddy he was pretty sure he’d broken his collar bone.

When I arrived in the emergency room, I was bracing myself to see my husband’s clavicle jutting up through his neck or something….fortunately, that wasn’t the case. He was covered in dirt and in a fair amount of pain but all in all, he was in good spirits. It was no surprise that it was going to take FOREVER for an actual doctor to come see him. We decided if they didn’t hurry up we were going to lick all of the tongue depressors and put them back. Maybe next time.

An X-ray quickly confirmed what we had expected – broken collar bone. The bad news was that it had broken right in the middle and into several pieces which meant surgery would be necessary. A titanium plate would need to be inserted to reconnect the bones. The doc said Wednesday would be good. Pause. “Excuse me doc, did you say Wednesday? That’s not for 4 days!” He wasn’t kidding; Brad walked around with a bone literally trying to poke through his skin for FOUR days! And he did this with nothing stronger than ibuprofen. Such a manly man.


But the fun was just beginning. They asked that he arrive Tuesday at 8:30 am to fill out some paperwork prior to his surgery on Wednesday. Little did we know, this was going to be an all day affair. We spoke with all sorts of people, of course they ALL had the same questions (are you allergic to anything, do you smoke, etc.) and they ALL made us wait an absurd amount of time before seeing us. The last person we had to talk to was a surgeon but surprise surprise, he was in surgery and wouldn’t be out for another 2 hours. By this time we’re starving so we went home for lunch and came back with a deck of cards. Another 2 hours later, in walks the doctor. And do you know what he had to say?! “Do you have any questions?”

Blink. Blink blink.

The words “are you serious?” shot out of my mouth before I even had a chance to stop myself. We just waited 4 hours to see you and you want to know if WE have any questions. He admitted the organizational skills on how they do things were not exactly perfect. I’ll say. But that was that and we were done for the day. Finally.

Now then, are you ready for the tale of The Longest Day E.V.E.R?

We were back at the hospital at 7 am the following morning and Brad was shown to his “room.” I’m not sure what we expected, I guess something similar to what I had when I was in the hospital. Mmmm, not so much. Think a notch above what you’d expect in a 3rd world country. Ok, so that’s a tiny bit dramatic but not really. I should have taken a picture. I suppose it was clean enough but there was ZERO privacy between him and his neighbor, there was an old television but it didn’t work, nothing on the walls except for a crucifix and crappy photo (some guy took a picture of a field of sunflowers but it’s from behind so you can’t actually see the flowers, dumbest thing I’ve ever seen) and the bathroom and shower weren’t even in the same room. Ugh.

The nurse told him there were several surgeries scheduled before him but it should be around 11 or 12. Noon came and went. As did 1….and 2…..and 3. We knew our pup was probably crossing her legs by this point so I ran home to take care of her. Of course, the minute I left they rolled him down into the O.R…..then rolled him back up because someone with an emergency came in (note to self – breaking your collar bone is NOT an emergency in the eyes of doctors. Got it.) He didn’t have to wait too much longer and according to the nurse I harassed for answers when I came back, he went into surgery at 3:30.

Please note this surgery that they claim to perform almost daily typically takes around an hour, maybe two.

Tick tock. Tick tock. By 6:30 I’m starting to get a tad nervous that no one has come to let me know how he’s doing. No one seemed to have any answers. All I could do was wait. And wait I did. It wasn’t until just after 8 pm that a nurse walked in and told me Brad was in ICU but that I could go see him.

I think the nurse could tell I was on the brink of losing it and quickly explained that this wasn’t uncommon, they probably just wanted to keep an eye on him following surgery. (He could have led in with that little tid bit of information. I’m just sayin.)

I spent the next hour talking to my completely out-of-it husband who now looked like an oompa loompa, thanks to all of the iodine. An hour later, he was taken up for X-rays and finally back to his room.

Deep sigh of relief. The day was finally over. Well, almost. Stella took it upon herself to eat, not chew, but eat one of Brad’s socks then proceeded to vomit it up in multiple places throughout the house. Lovely.

Brad spent the next few days in the hospital. He kept entertained with the first season of Mad Men on the iTouch and kickin’ my booty at gin rummy. The minute he had the okay to leave on Saturday, we were outta there!

So there you have it folks. The Bingham’s are keeping the German surgeons busy. Now both of us will return home with some pretty awesome scars from our Adventures in Deutschland.

My Never Ending Battle

It's Saturday and it's early. My husband is asleep in bed and the pup has had her breakfast and is conked out....on the couch. This has become our routine on Saturdays and I must admit that I quite like it. Strange, I know, since I have the house to myself all day during the week but there's something almost peaceful about Saturday mornings.

But I can't find peace. Not anymore. Because as I look down at my cup of coffee, there is a Stella hair floating around in it. There always is.

This is my battle. And while I know I will lose this battle day in and day out, I have to keep fighting.

She's a Lab and they shed, I get that. And I know that this time of year they start to lose their winter coat. But come on now! This is out of control. Let me try to put this into perspective for you. Her hair is everywhere. Not everywhere as in I have to sweep and vacuum everyday because that's a given. It's E-V-E-R-Y-W-H-E-R-E.

On top of bookshelves. In the bathtub. On lampshades. In the curtains. On "clean" clothes hanging in the closet. Inside my workout bag. All over my pillow....she's not even allowed in our room. In the microwave (how does that even happen?). Inside pages of books. And today, not unlike most days, in my coffee.

She hates to be brushed but I hold her down and do it anyway. (Don't worry, she gets treats for doing it.) I typically come away with a plastic sack full of her hair. I've done this FIVE times and it still keeps on coming.

I can't win.

But I can't quit.

*sigh*

Catch Up and Adventures to Come

Nope, I didn’t fall off the face of the earth. Quite the contrary. The Bingham’s have been beyond busy these past few weeks but I’M BACK! And it’s time to get caught up on things we’ve missed and all of the exciting things to come.

First off – we’ve moved. Yup, we packed up everything we own and schlepped it approximately 150 yards from where we were. A new place in Fintherville (not the real name) finally opened up and we jumped on it. This was the fourth apartment offered to us and before they could change their minds again we were in! We love it! And I’ll tell you why……..space. It’s as simple as that. Closet space. Kitchen space. Cabinet space. Storage space. An actual guest room. A sunroom. Two balconies. Ok, so our still somewhat small apartment is starting to sound like it’s massive and it’s not; however, I no longer feel like I’m living in a Cracker Jack box. I already have all of the curtains hung, most of the pictures up, and the majority of the decorations are in their place. Feels like home. Well, as Carrie Underwood would say – our “temporary home.”

The timing of the move was perfect. Talk about a gorgeous day and we had six friends help with the move which meant it was done in about 2 hours. I don’t want to jinx it but Spring has sprung (with a few chilly days here and there) and it has brought with it a whole new attitude for our household. At least I think so. I’m telling you, a lack of Vitamin D does something to you so WELCOME BACK SUN! You’ve been missed.

Just a snipit on the pup - Stella has a new friend, Tebow, that she has play dates with a few times a week. We're still working on her sharing skills...

She'd rather steal the ball and roll around on it

Now on to other exciting events – JACK’S VISIT:

The week before the move, Brad’s buddy, Jack, came for a quick but fun visit. I’d hardly call it “Spring Break” since he landed on Thursday morning and was back on a plane Sunday morning, but for $500 I’d say it was worth it for him. Brad took him into downtown Mainz for a night out on Thursday. We spent Friday in Frankfurt, met friends for dinner at Zum Adler (one of our favs) followed by a couple of drinks at another great little place called Zum Löwen. Note to friends coming to visit in the future – German beer is much different than what you’re likely use to. We’ll keep it at that.

The next morning was kicked off with some delicious blueberry pancakes then we hit the road to Cochem. I’d never even heard of this town but saw a commercial on it a couple of weeks prior and according to Rick Steves it was definitely worth seeing. He was right! The drive was just gorgeous and I fell in love with this little town. It’s right on the Mosel River with hills on either side. And at the top of one hill sits one of the greatest castles we’ve seen to date. I don’t want to go into too much detail because hopefully many of you reading this will have the opportunity to come see it with us. But here’s a taste:

A couple was having their wedding ceremony inside the castle

This was the real armor of a 7 foot Austrian man

Look closely at the lock; the monks had a bit of a drinking problem so they designed the locks so their key would fit easily even if stumbling around

Strolling around town

A scenic overview on the drive back home

In other news, Brad and I have booked a pretty extravagant vacation for the week of Memorial Day. We wanted to do something amazing since our OktoberFest trip to Munich was cancelled due to “The Foot Incident” AND we had to cancel our ski trip to Edelweiss since Brad had to go to Iraq. Not to mention, we spent our first anniversary thousands of miles apart. Ok, I think I’m done justifying why we’re going to take such a great trip. Are you ready for it? We’re going to……….

SARDINIA!!!! After literally weeks of research, we finally picked Li Cuncheddi in Costa Smeralda. I’ve learned one thing, if you dig long enough you can typically find good deals to places you never dreamed would be possible (or even knew existed). We’re flying from Frankfurt to a small airport on the northwest side of the island where we’ll rent a car and drive to the northeast side of the island. And here we’ll spend the next 7 days in what will hopefully be pure bliss.

If you want to jumpstart your workout routine, book a vacation where there’s a chance you’ll run into George Clooney or Brad Pitt. Since booking it, we've started hitting the gym, taking cardio kick boxing, and even invested in some good bikes for both of us. Unfortunately, time in the gym is pretty much wasted when you spend the weekends eating schnitzel smothered in some delicious cream sauce and washed down with a .5 L of brew. Oh, and let’s not forget the tasty fries. But baby steps, right? I’ve got two months to wean myself off of this weekend routine….but it’s not looking good seeing as how my mouth is watering at the mere mention of schnitzel. Uggh.

But the fun doesn’t stop there! No sir! The tickets have been booked and the Bingham’s will BOTH be back in the US of A in June! I’ll be coming back a little early as I’m going to do everything in my power to be home for the arrival of our new nephew, Mr. Liam Jackson Bohanan.

And just when you think it couldn’t get any better……it does. My best friend is going to marry the man of her dreams on June 25th and I couldn’t be more excited to stand up there with her. She is going to make such a beautiful bride!


Whew! Well that’s about all the excitement I think I can share in one post. God willing, I won’t have to go another 2 weeks without Internet. Pictures of the new place will be posted soon!

Fastnacht Celebration

We're going on a week now. A week of stuffy heads, runny noses, coughing, aching, oh, and let's not forget the whining (mostly on my part). And to add insult to injury, I have been without a computer this whole time....until now, obviously.

What brought this on, you might ask? I'll tell you. The Fastnacht Celebration. Germany's equivalent to Mardi Gras. And man, was it worth it!!

It just happened to fall on President's Day this year so Brad had the day off. We took the trolley into downtown from our place and within a few stops the trolley was PACKED with people in costume. Picture Halloween but where the grown ups get into it waaaaaaay more than the kids. I had a "rubber ducky's" tail in my face for a good 15 minutes. Unfortunately, Brad and I didn't get the memo about costumes until it was too late but next year, IT'S ON!!

Here's the kicker - it was bitter, nasty cold. We're talkin' freezing temps and rain/snow mix throughout the day. But that seemed to stop no one. Thousands of people turned out to watch the parade and, well, drink. We enjoyed a couple mugs of gluhwein to keep warm but had more fun watching the silly intoxicated people dressed in costume stumble around the streets. Like I said, picture Mardi Gras just without the beads.

Even Gutenburg wanted to party!

We met up with some friends and watched the parade for quite a while. As things were nearing an end on the street (and I could no longer feel the lower half of my body) we made our way over to a pub that our friend knew about. It turns out that this place is open only twice a year, once for Fastnacht and once for something I don't know about. It was in the basement of some building and designed like a big cave with a lot of little lights. I can only imagine what this place was used for back in the day.

We rocked out with all of the locals and pretended like we knew the words to all of their Fastnacht songs. They didn't seem to notice and we didn't seem to care. It was a blast! I find it hard to believe even half of those people showed up for work the next day. Unfortunately, Brad did have to work the next day so we called it a "night" around 5 pm and headed home.

We had plans to meet up with our friends again Wednesday night for the final Fastnacht celebration, a sort of official end to the party. But once Wednesday rolled around, it was too late. We were already sick. Both of us. And it was miserable. Even Stella had the sniffles. So we settled into our places on the couch and were lazy for days.

So while the outcome of Fastnacht was less than desirable......I can't wait until next year!!! Now here's where YOU come in. First - does anyone have any ideas for fun costumes for me and Brad? We want something super creative and super funny. And second - who wants to join us?

Fun In the Snow

To say I was excited to see my husband after being apart for three weeks would be an understatement. I was ecstatic! I have a whole new respect for families who have sons, daughters, husbands, and wives that serve in the military. Three weeks was plenty long for me; I don't know how they go months at a time being away.

But we were finally both home and with our sweet pup. I think Stella's time in the kennel did something to change her (or she may just be growing up). All she wants to do is cuddle and be loved on. The spastic, wild puppy was no more. We knew there was a change when it was time to put her in her bed, which usually took some serious coaxing...not anymore, the minute we say "Stella, are you ready for bed?" she'll jump up and run in her room. Such a good girl.

Since I returned on a Sunday, Brad took Monday off so we could spend some more time together. We spent the morning being lazy, watching movies and by that afternoon we were ready to go play. It had been snowing all day and we didn't want to waste it. All of the neighborhood kids were still at school which left a whole lotta fresh snow for the Bingham "kids" to go play in. And we did.

The snow was fantastic and perfect for making a snowman. However, it took a little while to get started because the minute we had a snowball big enough to start rolling, Stella was there to jump on it. But once we got going, there was no stopping us. Before we knew it, we had a 6'2 snowman.

The problem was we hadn't gone to the grocery store in over three weeks which meant we didn't exactly have much to make our snowman friend a face. But we got creative. Red potatoes (which looked more like a science experiment by the time we got home) for the eyes, an apple for the the nose (which didn't work out so it ended up on the top of his head) and my favorite - Life Savers for the smile. Throw on a scarf and taaa daaaa!



He lasted several days but once rain came through he didn't last much longer. Stella found some of the Life Savers on the ground on one of our walks, which she thoroughly enjoyed. It's been two weeks and she still has to go see if there are any left on the ground when we walk by.

But now life is back to normal....well, as "normal" as it was before the holidays. Guess that means it's time to start planning our next adventure!

Spoiled? I Think Not.

What's a birthday without candles...or candle. Stella enjoyed her favorite treat on her birthday - Frosty Paws, ice cream for dogs.

Here she is making a wish. She "blew" the candle out with her paw. Too cute not to share.

Then it was time to cuddle with Dad...

Kisses for Dad

HAPPY BIRTHDAY STELLA!

**Please note that we are well aware that we treat our dog like a child. I like it that way.**