The time has come for Big Birthday Weekend. We depart this afternoon for the hills of Southeast Iowa to begin the celebration.
What is Big Birthday Weekend? Well, it started as the celebration of three birthdays and then expanded to cover Mother's Day as well. A few years ago, it expanded to include a several more birthdays. The grand total is now five (six when the extended family can come) birthdays and several mothers worth of Mother's Day.
It is a pretty quiet and low key celebration that takes place over the course of the weekend. There is usually some cake (angel food--one with nuts, one without, or half-n-half), and the food is never the same but always good.
We also tend to spend some time hunting mushrooms. Some years we spend more time than others. The last two years the ticks have been so bad that we didn't go as far or as long (note: ticks like dark colored clothing--especially black sweatpants...I'd always worn jeans before and will NEVER make that mistake again).
If it is warm enough we sometimes go to the local ice cream shop. It's super good and super cheap! Having grown up with such places I'm still in sticker shock at a Dairy Queen. Also the local ice cream shop would never tell a customer that they couldn't make a dip cone out of anything larger than a medium...and they make sure the coating covers ALL the way down and over the top ledge of the cone so you don't have any leaks (VERY important for customers of all ages--especially this one).
No matter what we actually end up doing this weekend, it will be a good time. It isn't anything that some folks would find exciting, but I enjoy the good, clean, relaxing fun of doing all the spring things I enjoyed as a kid in one family-filled weekend.
Hope you all enjoy your weekend!
Friday, April 25, 2008
Sunday, February 17, 2008
When it rains, it pours...
Valentines Day 2008 and it's subsequent weekend will not be fondly remembered. Soon after the previous post things went rapidly downhill. Here's the synopsis:
Tony's Grandpa Charlie passed away on Valentine's Day. His health had been poor, but this was certainly sooner than anyone anticipated.
After slogging through the rest of our Valentine's work day, we head home and try and decide what to eat. While making our decision, I eat a cookie and drink some milk. (Insert Ron Burgandy: "Milk was a bad choice!") I instantly feel as though someone bashed my stomach with a shovel. Mercifully, the abusers let up for a bit and allowed me to sleep until 4 a.m. at which time they proceded to go for an uptempo second round.
At 4:30 a.m. Tony decided to take me to the ER because the pain level was high (8 of 10) and it didn't make any sense--no fever, didn't hurt worse to touch, etc. Three hours later the ER didn't know what was going on either, but discharged me because they guessed it wasn't going to kill me. Tony had to leave me for a bit to shut down the office. Luckily, Tony's sister (who is CMA in Des Moines) was able to get me an appointment in the very early afternoon. The diagnosis: 90% sure it was gastritis (raw stomach lining due to stress and too much stomach acid), 10% possibility it was something gallbladder related thanks to incriminating family history. Because I hadn't eaten anything, they sent me for an ultrasound to help rule in/out the gallbladder problem later that afternoon. (Side note: my kidney looks like an alien life form.) Dr.'s orders at this point are to exist on a very bland fat-free diet, so I'm currently fueled by chicken broth, rice, Toasty-Os, and Krisped Rice. As hungry as I am, I'm not taking any chances until after the funeral (I've been asked to sing during the service and it's usually assumed the singer can stand).
Fast forward to today: The weather in central Iowa goes from bad to worse while we are in church. The Highway Patrol deems that highway 30 is unsuitable for travel, meaning we couldn't make it to the visitation this afteroon, which was upsetting. In addition, our sister-in-law was making her way back from Omaha when she was majorly rear-ended outside of Des Moines, totalling her less than 3 week old car. She was already nursing a knee problem (her knee is the size of a grapefruit) and had an allergic reaction to the pain meds they gave her for it. Now, she's added whiplash to her list of pains.
To close, the funeral is tomorrow. Thoughts and prayers are greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
Debbie Downer
PS: At least the Cyclones won on Saturday, although we did have to witness the ugliest first half of basketball ever. It seemed rather fitting at the time considering everything else that had gone on. An awesome second half was a pleasant diversion from the insanity.
Tony's Grandpa Charlie passed away on Valentine's Day. His health had been poor, but this was certainly sooner than anyone anticipated.
After slogging through the rest of our Valentine's work day, we head home and try and decide what to eat. While making our decision, I eat a cookie and drink some milk. (Insert Ron Burgandy: "Milk was a bad choice!") I instantly feel as though someone bashed my stomach with a shovel. Mercifully, the abusers let up for a bit and allowed me to sleep until 4 a.m. at which time they proceded to go for an uptempo second round.
At 4:30 a.m. Tony decided to take me to the ER because the pain level was high (8 of 10) and it didn't make any sense--no fever, didn't hurt worse to touch, etc. Three hours later the ER didn't know what was going on either, but discharged me because they guessed it wasn't going to kill me. Tony had to leave me for a bit to shut down the office. Luckily, Tony's sister (who is CMA in Des Moines) was able to get me an appointment in the very early afternoon. The diagnosis: 90% sure it was gastritis (raw stomach lining due to stress and too much stomach acid), 10% possibility it was something gallbladder related thanks to incriminating family history. Because I hadn't eaten anything, they sent me for an ultrasound to help rule in/out the gallbladder problem later that afternoon. (Side note: my kidney looks like an alien life form.) Dr.'s orders at this point are to exist on a very bland fat-free diet, so I'm currently fueled by chicken broth, rice, Toasty-Os, and Krisped Rice. As hungry as I am, I'm not taking any chances until after the funeral (I've been asked to sing during the service and it's usually assumed the singer can stand).
Fast forward to today: The weather in central Iowa goes from bad to worse while we are in church. The Highway Patrol deems that highway 30 is unsuitable for travel, meaning we couldn't make it to the visitation this afteroon, which was upsetting. In addition, our sister-in-law was making her way back from Omaha when she was majorly rear-ended outside of Des Moines, totalling her less than 3 week old car. She was already nursing a knee problem (her knee is the size of a grapefruit) and had an allergic reaction to the pain meds they gave her for it. Now, she's added whiplash to her list of pains.
To close, the funeral is tomorrow. Thoughts and prayers are greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
Debbie Downer
PS: At least the Cyclones won on Saturday, although we did have to witness the ugliest first half of basketball ever. It seemed rather fitting at the time considering everything else that had gone on. An awesome second half was a pleasant diversion from the insanity.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
My Funny Valentine
In addition to being one of my favorite songs, "My Funny Valentine" also seems to fit the general theme of the day as well.
"What are you doing for Valentine's Day?" has been my leadoff question for the week (when appropriate). The stories patients tell about their plans for the day are in turn sweet, bitter, silly, and sometimes even sensible--e.g., waiting for the weekend.
My Valentine IS funny. Yesterday we were looking for handwriting fonts and he found the following little diddy. We laugh everytime we think of it and hope you enjoy it too.
Ready?
"If you're not part of the solution, you're a precipitate."
(insert nerdy giggle here)
Happy Valentine's Day!
"What are you doing for Valentine's Day?" has been my leadoff question for the week (when appropriate). The stories patients tell about their plans for the day are in turn sweet, bitter, silly, and sometimes even sensible--e.g., waiting for the weekend.
My Valentine IS funny. Yesterday we were looking for handwriting fonts and he found the following little diddy. We laugh everytime we think of it and hope you enjoy it too.
Ready?
"If you're not part of the solution, you're a precipitate."
(insert nerdy giggle here)
Happy Valentine's Day!
Monday, February 4, 2008
A Herd of Piggies
Iowa is known for producing hogs and you are probably aware of several sayings involving them. This morning at about 7:50 a.m. a whole herd of cars did their best impression of hogs on ice.
It was a sad and frustrating display. The cars even did their best squeeling impressions by slamming on the footfeed and then their brakes as they went in every direction other than forward. I belive "grunting" would be a nice way to interpret the sounds inside the cars as people made faces and gestures of frustration.
We were stopped near the crest of the hill by the stoplight and when it turned green again the huge passenger van in front of us started moving--but not in the correct direction. It slid backwards, sideways, nearly into the next lane, etc., all without bothering to turn on its hazards. An attempt to go around the large van ended up with us taking a rather uncomfortable slide to the side. Thanks to a minivan that was a little to close behind me I gave up trying to move. The lane to the right continued to move through three or so more lights and then a little black Toyota gummed it up.
A cop showed up asked each car if we could move and then left to take care of some accidents. Ten minutes or so ticked by along with several Cy-Ride buses along a route that runs right by our office (tried to get Tony to walk up and catch a bus, but he wouldn't). Frustrated, I called 911 and they said that the city had a load of salt and sand on the way. Passing along information seemed to calm the driver of the little black Toyota (he wanted us to try and turn around so he could get out).
Meanwhile the traffic continued to pile up down the hill. We collected several compact cars, a school bus, and other miscellanious vehicles all the way to the bottom of the very long hill. Every now and then someone would make a well calculated run and go around us all when there was a green light.
After waiting for about 20 minutes a city truck lurched around the corner and drove VERY close to us flinging sand and salt. Figuring it was a now or never moment, I slid the shifter into drive and putted right on up the hill.
To think, just a little sand and salt thrown out would have saved so many piggies--I mean, people--so much time.
It was a sad and frustrating display. The cars even did their best squeeling impressions by slamming on the footfeed and then their brakes as they went in every direction other than forward. I belive "grunting" would be a nice way to interpret the sounds inside the cars as people made faces and gestures of frustration.
We were stopped near the crest of the hill by the stoplight and when it turned green again the huge passenger van in front of us started moving--but not in the correct direction. It slid backwards, sideways, nearly into the next lane, etc., all without bothering to turn on its hazards. An attempt to go around the large van ended up with us taking a rather uncomfortable slide to the side. Thanks to a minivan that was a little to close behind me I gave up trying to move. The lane to the right continued to move through three or so more lights and then a little black Toyota gummed it up.
A cop showed up asked each car if we could move and then left to take care of some accidents. Ten minutes or so ticked by along with several Cy-Ride buses along a route that runs right by our office (tried to get Tony to walk up and catch a bus, but he wouldn't). Frustrated, I called 911 and they said that the city had a load of salt and sand on the way. Passing along information seemed to calm the driver of the little black Toyota (he wanted us to try and turn around so he could get out).
Meanwhile the traffic continued to pile up down the hill. We collected several compact cars, a school bus, and other miscellanious vehicles all the way to the bottom of the very long hill. Every now and then someone would make a well calculated run and go around us all when there was a green light.
After waiting for about 20 minutes a city truck lurched around the corner and drove VERY close to us flinging sand and salt. Figuring it was a now or never moment, I slid the shifter into drive and putted right on up the hill.
To think, just a little sand and salt thrown out would have saved so many piggies--I mean, people--so much time.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
A New Year
It's been a while since our last post. Thanksgiving has come and gone as well as Christmas and the end of 2007. We've put in some road miles and visited a lot of family since our last post. In all it was great!
In addition to the holiday festivities we've been attending ISU men's basketball games and working a lot (thanks to having to switch software at work). The new software is up and running and we are beginning to make our way through the backlog of other work. We are excited to see how much time this new software frees up in the long run (once everything is at 100%).
As you can see, we haven't been very interesting so you really haven't missed out on much by our not posting anything...unless you count dealing with our new software at work...there really hasn't been anything too exciting that has happened yet this year--and we are perfectly happy with that!
I believe a picture is worth a million words or at least a few multiple choice options. It does capture best what my day to day life is like as I struggle to get our new software at 100%. You can choose your own caption to the photo below...
Is it the last thing I see clearly as I:
A)Pass out from extreme exhaustion
B)Lean over to throw up a little
C)Start to get blurred vision
D)All of the above
In addition to the holiday festivities we've been attending ISU men's basketball games and working a lot (thanks to having to switch software at work). The new software is up and running and we are beginning to make our way through the backlog of other work. We are excited to see how much time this new software frees up in the long run (once everything is at 100%).
As you can see, we haven't been very interesting so you really haven't missed out on much by our not posting anything...unless you count dealing with our new software at work...there really hasn't been anything too exciting that has happened yet this year--and we are perfectly happy with that!
I believe a picture is worth a million words or at least a few multiple choice options. It does capture best what my day to day life is like as I struggle to get our new software at 100%. You can choose your own caption to the photo below...
Is it the last thing I see clearly as I:
A)Pass out from extreme exhaustion
B)Lean over to throw up a little
C)Start to get blurred vision
D)All of the above
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Weekend in Chicago
Last weekend Kel and I were in Chicago so I could attend a seminar. It was taught by Jeff Spencer, D.C., who is a chiropractor to elite athletes such as Tiger Woods and Lance Armstrong. Dr. Spencer was actually with Lance during all 7 of his Tour victories and was on the staff for this year's winner, Alberto Contador. Needless to say, the class was excellent.
We got to Chicago at a decent time on Friday night, got checked into our hotel, and headed out for some yummy authentic "Chicago-Style" pizza at Lou Malnati's. We had eaten there before and we'd highly recommend it should your travels ever take you to the Chicagoland area.
It was also great to see my cousin, Jake, his wife, Marivelle, and Marivelle's little sister, Jasmine. They live in Schaumburg, which was not too far from where my seminar was taking place. Jake and Marivelle met up with Kel for some shopping on Saturday while I was in class, and we all went out to dinner that night.
Unfortunately, we left the camera at home, so this boring, pictureless post will have to suffice.
We got to Chicago at a decent time on Friday night, got checked into our hotel, and headed out for some yummy authentic "Chicago-Style" pizza at Lou Malnati's. We had eaten there before and we'd highly recommend it should your travels ever take you to the Chicagoland area.
It was also great to see my cousin, Jake, his wife, Marivelle, and Marivelle's little sister, Jasmine. They live in Schaumburg, which was not too far from where my seminar was taking place. Jake and Marivelle met up with Kel for some shopping on Saturday while I was in class, and we all went out to dinner that night.
Unfortunately, we left the camera at home, so this boring, pictureless post will have to suffice.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Our New View
It used to be that all you ever saw of the windows in our lower level were the mini blinds behind a layer of winterizing plastic that we left up year round. The mini blinds shielded us from the sight of our warped and drafty windows. The plastic slowed down the wind and the bugs from infiltrating our lower level.
There was no hiding the door that leads to the back yard with its lack of threshold and doggie door. We covered it with plastic too, but it did little to stop the cold and nothing to stop the bugs.
Two weekends ago that all changed; thanks to my brother, Mark, and parents we now have a new view in the lower level. The mini blinds are gone, the new windows and a new door are in. It is now the warmest level of the house. We need to put up some curtains, but for now we're enjoying the view.
That weekend was very productive. Two light fixtures were installed on Friday evening (the last of the work left to be done after the great leak of March 2007--no more dining in the dark!). Mark and Dad got up and made the first trip to Lowes and were back by 8:30 or so. Then the window removal and installations got started. Mark and Tony had four of the six windows put in by lunch time. After lunch they finished up the other two windows, made an additional run to Lowes for door installation materials and then put in two exterior doors. One door in the lower level and one in the kitchen (the former owner, Captain Handy, had put an interior door on the entry between the kitchen and the garage). Then there was putting up the final light fixture over the sink. Mark was all done and on the road by 6 p.m.
All that was left was putting up some trim and painting the newly exposed cement around the new windows. Mom and Dad took care of that in short order.
Also, during the course of the weekend Dad spent a good deal of time using our new gift of a small chipper/shredder to reduce our pile of sticks and tree trimmings to a little bit of nothing. The back corner looks so much better now. Mom spent a good deal of time doing prep and finish painting work for the new light fixtures as well as making sure there were good things to eat. She also kept all the waste picked up and organized.
Tony spent his time helping Mark with the windows and doors. I was the go-fer and also spent a lot of time trying to cover things that could be moved and cleaning up.
Deuce, my brother's dog, was also very busy. He enjoyed roaming our back yard and we hoped that his presents would help with our raccoon problem. He split his time between monitoring the window/door work and keeping and eye on The Angry Squirrel. We have a photo of him checking out a window opening as well as a photo of the staredown between him and The Angry Squirrel (he's on the wire directly above Deuce). There were many stares exchanged on Saturday. We're pretty sure Deuce won.
(In case you were wondering, The Angry Squirrel is the squirrel's offical title. If you happen to be outside, this squirrel becomes very angry. He chatters and chatters and will not move or be quiet until you go away. The Angry Squirrel also buries all his treasures in our back yard--as evidenced by all the little ripped up bits of grass.)
We want to say thank you again to Mark, Mom, and Dad for all your hard work! We really appreciate your generosity!
Below is a slideshow of some photos from the weekend. Enjoy!
There was no hiding the door that leads to the back yard with its lack of threshold and doggie door. We covered it with plastic too, but it did little to stop the cold and nothing to stop the bugs.
Two weekends ago that all changed; thanks to my brother, Mark, and parents we now have a new view in the lower level. The mini blinds are gone, the new windows and a new door are in. It is now the warmest level of the house. We need to put up some curtains, but for now we're enjoying the view.
That weekend was very productive. Two light fixtures were installed on Friday evening (the last of the work left to be done after the great leak of March 2007--no more dining in the dark!). Mark and Dad got up and made the first trip to Lowes and were back by 8:30 or so. Then the window removal and installations got started. Mark and Tony had four of the six windows put in by lunch time. After lunch they finished up the other two windows, made an additional run to Lowes for door installation materials and then put in two exterior doors. One door in the lower level and one in the kitchen (the former owner, Captain Handy, had put an interior door on the entry between the kitchen and the garage). Then there was putting up the final light fixture over the sink. Mark was all done and on the road by 6 p.m.
All that was left was putting up some trim and painting the newly exposed cement around the new windows. Mom and Dad took care of that in short order.
Also, during the course of the weekend Dad spent a good deal of time using our new gift of a small chipper/shredder to reduce our pile of sticks and tree trimmings to a little bit of nothing. The back corner looks so much better now. Mom spent a good deal of time doing prep and finish painting work for the new light fixtures as well as making sure there were good things to eat. She also kept all the waste picked up and organized.
Tony spent his time helping Mark with the windows and doors. I was the go-fer and also spent a lot of time trying to cover things that could be moved and cleaning up.
Deuce, my brother's dog, was also very busy. He enjoyed roaming our back yard and we hoped that his presents would help with our raccoon problem. He split his time between monitoring the window/door work and keeping and eye on The Angry Squirrel. We have a photo of him checking out a window opening as well as a photo of the staredown between him and The Angry Squirrel (he's on the wire directly above Deuce). There were many stares exchanged on Saturday. We're pretty sure Deuce won.
(In case you were wondering, The Angry Squirrel is the squirrel's offical title. If you happen to be outside, this squirrel becomes very angry. He chatters and chatters and will not move or be quiet until you go away. The Angry Squirrel also buries all his treasures in our back yard--as evidenced by all the little ripped up bits of grass.)
We want to say thank you again to Mark, Mom, and Dad for all your hard work! We really appreciate your generosity!
Below is a slideshow of some photos from the weekend. Enjoy!
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