My Life Monday

The topic for this week was to take a picture of something (not someone) that has meaning to you and describe why it does. I feel like I'm a complicated person, so I thought and thought about something that could EASILY describe me! (See, I'm not really so complicated!) And the ONLY thing I could think of was these:And these:
And these:
And these:
I couldn't pick just ONE of these to describe me...I had to use them all! I am a very relaxed and laid back person. If I go somewhere I expect to be able to kick up my heels and relax. I try to make my home that way. I like living in a place that feels lived in and comfortable. My home should be my retreat against the world and so I try to make it that way. So for me to totally relax, I wear my slippers. I've heard that most women have shoe fetishes, I have slipper fetishes. If I could wear slippers everywhere I would! (And I often do anyway!) Some people have even come to think of me as being a slipper lady. Comfort and relaxation are my goals, so I try to make my life reflect that!

To read other My Life Mondays you could go to Rachelle's blog (I hope!)

Return of the Piggy Slippers

My exciting news for the day...my mothers' day present FINALLY arrived. Granted it came here from Australia, but it's here, it's here, it's HERE!!! If you look closely at the above pic you can see my toesies are ready to jump in!

I convinced my husband to get them for sentimental reasons and wouldn't you know it...he agreed with me (either that or he got fed up with my begging!)

Cam wanted to wear them too. He's such a cute and sweet boy!

Slippers on my Mind

I have had piggy slippers on my mind lately and the funny thing about the whole thing is I SAW THEM LAST NIGHT!! Well, not them in reality, but I saw The Benchwarmers with my brother and low and behold a character on the movie was WEARING them!! His were just as nasty and gross as mine had gotten, so I was feeling a bit sad that I didn't still have my slippers. I came home and looked them up online (I was hoping to get a picture of the guy on the movie wearing them, but I couldn't find them.) I found a pair (or maybe there are several pairs, who really knows) online for sale. I'm in the process of begging my husband to let me buy them. Those were not only cute, but COMFY!! I miss them and hope he'll give in to my whining!

I was talking to one of my good friends last night. She knew me all through my college days and I asked her if she remembered those slippers and her response was immediate and affirmative. Did I mention how much I loved those things and how often I wore them?? I think I was associated with those slippers as much as if they had been my trademark. Alas, I no longer have my trademark and feel at a loss. But life does go on. There is a game out there called Imaginiff where you get to know other people. There is a question that once popped up on me and it was something to the effect, Imagine if Dawnyel were a pair of shoes, what would she be? It was unanimous....I'm slippers. I guess it's because I LOVE them...and wear them all the time. I think I'll stop reminiscing about them now. I just needed to write this final FINAL installment and get it out of my system. BLEH!! BLEH!! BLEH!! There....all gone!

The Piggy Slippers....The Final Chapter

There was one final place where I wore those mangy slippers...and that was when I was in the hospital having my son. By the time I went in to be induced to have the boy my feet were so swollen that I couldn't hardly wear anything on my feet. Those slippers were worn enough and stretched enough that they were balm for my aching tootsies!

When I was pregnant with Cam I had a very miserably sick time of it...and toward the end I was having to see the doctor twice a week for my high blood pressure. He told me on my last visit I was going to have to go to the hospital for an induction before my blood pressure knocked me into toxemia territory.

I was admitted and they inserted Cervadil to ripen my cervix. For most women this puts them into labor, but I'm NOT most women. I had really uncomfortable cramping all night, but no real strong contractions. I couldn't even sleep that night because I was so anxious to have my baby. So the nurse, who had been in my ward growing up, gave me a shot of morphine to help me sleep. Morphine does NOT make you sleep...it just makes you not care about anything! My thoughts were floating in and out of my head all night long...in my mind it looked like sentences in differing fonts floating past. (I know, it's weird, but I can now say that I LOVE morphine!) The next morning the doctor had them put me on pitocin. Throughout the day they cranked it up until it was going full blast...and I still wasn't feeling labor pains. My doctor had ruptured my membranes and had ordered the epidural for me, hoping that I would relax enough to get things moving. My hubby was in the room up until the doctor called for the epidural, then he was outta there! He HATES blood, needles, or anything having to do with medical procedures. My mom was with me the whole time (she loves seeing me through those things and is a great strength for me!) Well, once they got the epidural in my blood pressure which had been in the 200s/150s (or higher) dropped and they lost Cam's heartbeat. They immediately freaked out and began prepping me for an emergency C-section! My husband heard the commotion in the room and tried to come in, but they wouldn't let him in. He was so upset over the whole thing that he ended up calling one of our good friends to come and help him. My mom was in the middle of everything though. She later told me that my face had turned gray! They tipped me upside-down on the hospital bed and began shaking my belly to wake the kid up...and bring his heart rate back. They rushed me into the room and as soon as we got in there Cam's heart beat came back...but they decided to proceed with it anyway. I was asked if I wanted anyone in the room with me, and I hate to admit it, but I asked for my mom. I knew she could handle the situation better than Steve ever could. But I later found out that they had asked him if he wanted to come and he said, no! So my mom came into the room, tears streaming down her face and she proceeded to give me a blow-by-blow announcement of what they were doing to me.

Cam was born quickly and I didn't even know he was gone from the room until I had asked about him a minute after he was born. They rushed him over to the NICU and started running all kinds of tests on the kid. He had inhaled merconium and had an enlarged liver and spleen. They worried that he didn't have kidneys and other parts. I knew he was all right, but they were being cautious. The boy ended up staying in the hospital in NICU for 6 days. I was SO upset with our local hospital...they tried to feed the boy like he was a preemie (he was over 8 pounds!) So he wasn't eating on the schedule they had for him...he's a slow eater (and never quite grew out of that!) So I finally convinced them to let him eat on his own schedule, and he was able to go home! I wore those tattered slippers all over the place. The only problem with that was that when I wore them outside my feet got wet...it rained for several days after his birth. Those last few walks through the GROSS hospital was the final straw which led to the disposal of my FAVORITE slippers. The nurses would smile when they saw my feet though...just because they didn't see those kinds of slippers in the hospital very often.

The Piggy Slippers....Part Two

And now for the much anticipated second part of my piggy story. As you can see by the picture the second big event that I wore those slippers to was my wedding reception. (And I encouraged my bridesmaids to wear their slippers too!)

I figured that since they were a part of the proposal, that I would be COMFORTABLE and wear them for my reception. After all, no one would see them....except for when I raised my dress to show them off...which I did often! Our photographer commented that he had NEVER taken a picture quite like this one at any other wedding. Needless to say, I was proud to be unique! And part of the uniqueness came from having my reception at my parent's home. After thinking back on anything I would have changed, I probably would have had it at a church. My parents' home is very large, but not quite large enough for the reception. We did have a good time and it was very memorable, but it was quite cramped.

ANYWHO...I decided to wear my slippers because I HATE high heels. I didn't want to be uncomfortable on my big day...so I wore those slippers and now I have an unusual memory that I can now share with all of you....now that I finally scanned this picture! I still have our proofs from the wedding. The week after I got the proofs from my wedding the photographer's company went out of business, so I still have them and I STILL need to call the guy and get the package that we had paid for. (If you wonder WHY I wouldn't call the guy...you must have missed my post about phonophobia.) Steve tells me often to call the photographer and get it over with...but I kinda like having all of the pictures to look at and remember...

We decided to get married in the fall after he proposed. I had talked to one of my good friends and she told me that she was also engaged, but that they were going to be married in August and gee, wouldn't it be cool to be married within a week of one another...I mean...we always do EVERYTHING together (born 4 days apart...engaged within days of one another...) So after discussing it with Steve we decided to get married a week before my friend. As the time got closer to the date we realized that it wouldn't work out...so we pushed the date back to October. My main concern about pushing the date back was that my grandmother wouldn't live to go to it. She had cancer and was in the last stages of it...and just like I had feared she didn't make it. But I will talk about that later.

The day of the wedding the day was bright and sunny...but the wind was blowing. (For those of you from Idaho, you know how bad it can get...and it was that bad!) My dad was working like a crazy man to finish some parts of the house, he's a carpenter and we always joke that the carpenter's house is never finished! So I went to get my hair fixed and came home to go to the temple. My dad was nailing the doors up. I told him that we had to be there in a half hour and he said that he had to finish and then he'd shower and we could go. I freaked out. We were about 10 minutes late and I knew that Steve was beginning to worry. We got to the temple and then we did all of the preparations and I was dressed and ready to go really fast! But the matrons in the temple told me that he wasn't ready, so I had to wait in the bridal room for him so that he could wait for me. We got to the beautiful room and right next to my grandfather was an empty chair. I could feel my grandmother's spirit and I just cried and cried. The words were beautiful and so was the ceremony. Then we went out to the bridal garden outside of the temple and took all kinds of pictures. My cousin actually took my favorite picture of the whole day...we were sneaking a kiss under the knotty tree. If you were to go to the gardens now that tree would not be there...I guess it got too diseased and they had to get rid of it, but it was a beautiful backdrop for a lovely picture. We had our post-wedding activities and had a fun reception. It was something that I will always remember and cherish...and my piggy slippers were a part of that special day!

The Piggy Slippers....Part One

Okay...in my 6 weird things I mentioned that I love pigs and that I would talk more about that later....guess what!? It's later!
I have all kinds of little piggy things in my home...small statues, a modified door stop (pictured at left), and piggy notebook paper. At one time I had some really cute piggy slippers. I LOVED my piggy slippers. I would wear them everywhere. I wore them into the discount store I worked at and all of my fellow employees commented on how cute they were (and how strange I was.) I wore holes in those poor things! I even wore them on several important occasions...the first of which will be covered in this episode of Dawnyel's Memories.
My husband and I were dating and he was in town for a visit. He was only supposed to stay for one day and then go home that night, but my mom convinced him to stay and go home the next day and being madly in love with me and wanting to spend as much time with me as possible he agreed.
At the end of the day I had to take my sister's friend home. As we were leaving my parents' neighborhood, Steve leaned over and asked if we could make a detour. I knew what he was talking about. I live in an area where there is a temple close by, and I knew he wanted to stop there while we were out and about. I thought I was just doing some quick driving, so I was wearing my piggy slippers. After we got to the temple parking lot, I found a spot and heard a romantic song come on the radio right before I turned the car off. The whole way to the temple I was thinking in the back of my mind that he was going to propose to me, but I kept telling myself that it wasn't true....I was wearing my piggy slippers....he wouldn't propose while I was wearing those mangy things! No...he couldn't...he wouldn't....would he?

After turning the car off I told him that I was going to stay in the car because I was wearing my slippers, but he could walk around if he wanted to. He held my hand and told me that he wanted to be with me. Then he told me that he had a question for me. In the back of my mind a voice was screaming, "HE'S GOING TO PROPOSE!! WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO??" I asked him what it was. He then asked me if I loved him. I told him I did...then he asked me, "Will you be my wife? Will you marry me?" Tears sprang to my eyes!! I loved this man and I knew I wanted to spend the rest of eternity with him...so, of course, I said yes. He kissed me and then I started laughing....I remembered my slippers!! I told him why I was laughing and he told me that now we had a story to tell our kids about. I laughed again and kissed the man.

On the way back to my house I drove down the wrong side of the road...I was so euphoric! Luckily it was late at night and no one was around. But that was the start of my piggy slippers being a part of some important occasions in my life.

Sadly, I don't have those slippers any more. After years of wear and tear we decided that they needed to be retired. I miss them and want to replace them someday...I just have to find the right ones!