It's pronounced "pro-kras-ti-nate".

Well, I just re-read my last post and realized it's been nearly 3 full months since I sat down and blogged.  A lot has happened since then--at my last post, dated February 11, we were about to face Britain's second big surgery--and while I have certainly sat for hours at the computer since then, I have procrastinated about putting any of my thoughts down for posterity. 

I am a terrible procrastinator.  I just needed to put it out there.

Anyway, here's a recap of the past nearly-3-full-months.  I will try to be concise...

February 11--big snow!  Beautiful and perfect.  We get between 10 and 12 inches, and it lasts nearly all weekend.  Britain got to build an enormous snowman in our front yard--actually, a SnoMexican, since he was dressed in a serape and sombrero.  Britain really enjoyed the snow.  So glad it snowed when it did, so he could enjoy it.  The following Tuesday he is scheduled for bone graft surgery.
February 14--Joey and Natalie get engaged!  Joey gets down on one knee and gives her a gorgeous ring. They set a wedding date of April 9, 2011.  It only took 7 years to get to this point!!  We are so happy!!
February 16--Britain goes into Parkland for the bone graft surgery we didn't expect till summer.  He is in surgery for 7 long hours, and in the hospital in terrible pain for 4 days.  Huge incision on his throat that looks like he was in a knife fight and another long incision across the top of his pelvis, on his back, where they took the bone marrow.  We only thought he was in pain for the first surgery, till he went through this.  He actually fainted from the pain in the hospital.  Also, his jaws are completely wired shut, making it possible for him to eat only through a syringe stuck between his gums where his back molars used to be.  Hospital food makes him sick so I prepare meals for him in the 7th floor nurses' kitchen--tomato soup, liquid-y things from the grocery store that might tempt him.  He falls in love with cran-grape juice and drinks gallons of it. 
February 19--Britain is finally able to get out of the hospital bed and is discharged.  He walks with the aid of a walker, rather than riding in a wheelchair to leave the hospital, all the way from the 7th floor out to the front doors of the hospital.  Can't believe he is able to do it.
March 1-12--construction begins on our HEN HOUSE!  John and Britain build a lovely hen house attached to the shed.  Britain starts looking for chickens on Craigs List--brilliant!  They finish a sturdy and attractive structure with 3 nesting boxes just in time for the weekend...
March 12-13--...when we get 7 chickens!  Mom rides with me out to Elmo, Texas, where I buy 2 Dominecker pullets (Honeypie and Precious) and 2 Ameracauna pullets (Sally and Yvonne).  Then we drive north of Fort Worth where we pick up 3 Silver-Laced Wyandottes.  When we get there the lady has an 'extra'--she says she isn't sure if it's a hen or a rooster so she is throwing it in as a 'free bird'.  Mom promptly names it "Stan Freebird" after the 50's comedian, Stan Freberg.  When we get them home, the Wyandottes (who are a few weeks older) starting picking on my little girls.  Grant is in town, so I give them to him. The next day (Saturday 13th) we drive to Denton and pick up a 1 year old French Marans hen, Beyonce.  She is simply gorgeous, and a true diva, just like her namesake.  The Wyandottes go to Coyote-town with Grant.  They are not missed!  Now we have 5 chickens.
March 14--Alexa gets home from Tech for Spring Break and falls in love with the chickens.
March 16--Beyonce seems a bit lonely, since the little girls are intimidated by her.  Hannah and I make arrangments to drive back to Denton and purchase her friend, Lady Gaga, who is also a French Marans hen. Lady Gaga makes herself at home, laying an egg within an hour of arriving at the Palais de Poulet.  Now we have 6 chickens and John tells me "no more."  I say OK, but I have my fingers crossed behind my back.
March 19--Friday of spring break.  Gorgeous warm weather.  I am barefoot and in a t-shirt, covering up my garden and tarping the hen house, because the forecast calls for freezing weather over the weekend.  John makes fun of me and tells me they've taken the freezing temps out of the forecast.
March 20--Saturday.  The temperatures fall and I move John's big halogen work lamp into the henhouse to keep the girls warm.  It rains and gets colder through the day.
March 21--Sunday.  We wake up to SIX INCHES OF SNOW on the ground!  It is gorgeous and unbelievable.  Alexa didn't bring home any winter clothes from LBK, so she is a bit chilly going to church. It all melts by the end of the day but it was sure pretty while it lasted.  By the afternoon of Monday, March 22, I am back out in the yard in shorts and bare feet, uncovering plants and un-tarping the hen house.  The girls survived, and so did all my vegetables!
April 6--Britain turns 28.  He was supposed to get his wires off on April 5 and they actually DID cut the wires...then came back in the room and the doctor said "Dude, you are going to hate me--but these have to go back on for 2 more weeks."  I don't know who was more disappointed, him or me.  But he got some gifts he liked--a new Blackberry phone, and an aquarium and a gift certificate from a specialty pet shop for something to put IN the aquarium.  Just no cake.  :(
April 7-12--Cameron and Kaycie come from Colorado for a nice visit.  It is our first time to meet Kaycie, and her first trip to Texas.  We enjoy having them.  On April 10, Trish and Les host Joey and Natalie's engagement party, and we all go.  Miss having Alexa there, but she has sorority commitments that she can't avoid.  We enjoy meeting Natalie's family for the first time, and have a lovely dinner prepared by Les.
April and warmer weather--I decide to divorce my clothes dryer and hang out all our laundry on the line out back.  I enjoy it--though I certainly wouldn't do it if I was still working.  The only thing I dry inside are our towels, which get as hard as corrugated cardboard when hung outside!  As I hang clothes I remember my grandmother's clothesline, and how she looked standing in the wind with sheets flapping around her.  I have so many questions for her!
April 17--Beyonce has been broody for a week, and after much debate I decide to let her try to hatch a little family.  I acquire 15 fertilized Rhode Island Red eggs from Don Heironimus, and put them in her nest.  When she gets back into it, she settles down on them like she laid them all herself!  Now the countdown begins--by Mother's Day we should have baby chicks!
April 19--Britain gets the wires cut again--this time for real!--and comes home to begin eating everything he can get in his mouth.  After being hungry all the time for 2 months and eating nothing but homemade potato cheese soup, blueberry yogurt and chocolate Cheerios run through the blender, everything sounds and tastes good to him!

A lot has happened in just a few months, and even the short version is long.  That's what I get for putting it off till now, and having to tell it all at once.  Reading over all the events of the past 12 weeks, I realize again how very blessed we are.  I'm glad I sat down and caught myself up!

However, the basket of wet clothes at my feet isn't going to hang itself on the line...