Happy Birthday to Me!

I used a portion of my birthday money to get myself a cut and color at a nice salon. (Keep that money coming...GEESH it was pricey!)

The stylist chick straightened it when she dried it. My friends have tried to tell me it would be the way too go. I'm WAY too much of a roll out of bed at the last possible minute to deal with that ever day.

If we hadn't bought Nicky a new bed today, I'd have Kurt take me out tonight!

I'm not really handling 35 very well. It seems pretty stinking old to me.

I should have had the eyebrows done too. Doesn't look like a little make-up would kill me either!

Turkey Day continues

I'm so full I may never eat again! However, I am having a cinnamon roll right now. We had a great yesterday. Kurt's brother Kelly, his wife Jackie, and three boys arrived in the afternoon while I was at the first 50th anniversary party. Greg, his other brother, arrived from Rochester around 5 p.m. He told us of his adventure at Target yesterday morning. He was a nice guy and helped a security guard open a case which led to him being one of the 5 people that got an Xbox something or other with a bonus pack. The armed guard ended up escorting him to the check outs!

Alex came over to see his grandparents and cousins, go for pizza, and swimming while Nicky and Christy declined. We had a 48th Anniversary party for Lyle and Audra Kae at Pizza Ranch. Everyone really enjoyed the buffet and the chocolate cake we brought.

I need to write a memo for my staffing class and I'm having trouble finding an article for it.

We'll have a houseful trying to solve the problems of the world again. It's exhausting!

Anyone for leftovers?

A letdown

We were planning on having a huge Thanksgiving dinner here. It was going to be around 16 or 18 and now it's down to 6 possibly 7 people total. The kids' mom was awarded Thanksgiving (for this year) in the ruling. Normally that is one of our holidays. Kurt's parents and brothers aren't coming until Friday and my Great Aunt isn't feeling well. I will, of course, make too much food. I've just made the pumpkin pies. I might do the apple tonight if I can make the apple corer peeler slice work.

On the menu we have:

• Turkey
• Mashed potatoes
• Gravy (hopefully mom can make it)
• Dressing (courtesy of my mom)
• Cranberry relish (ditto)
• Seven Layer salad (ditto, ditto)
• Assorted crudite - pickles, black olives, cheese and crackers, radishes, carrots, pickled beets
• Pumpkin Pie
• Apple Pie
• Waldorf Salad
• Green Bean casserole
• Corn Pudding

I think that may be it. Hosting is expensive!

Tonight is book club. We read IN COLD BLOOD. I'm wavering on going. I'm not feeling too hot because I've got a bacterial infection. Mom is going to get us next month's book which is A YEAR IN PROVENCE. Kurt is comatose because he's had a rough 2 weeks at work with 130 am and 530 am conference calls. The 530 calls he has to do at the office so he's been getting up at 4 a.m. That's happened a half a dozen times. Last night they migrated a CMS system so he was gone from 10pm til 830 am this morning.

He was awake long enough (and between conferences calls long enough) for us to have lunch at the tearoom here. It was FANTASTIC! The lump crab cakes are too die for! They say they fly it in from Miami. There were two of them the size of a hamburger for $9.95. It was WAY better than the crab cakes we had in D.C.

Tomorrow is cooking and cleaning. Thursday we're hosting Thanksgiving dinner, Friday Kurt's entire family is arriving. We also have 5oth anniversary to attend as well as the family party for Kurt's parents' 48th anniversary. Saturday is another 50th anniversary party, and Sunday is my Great Uncle Melvin's 90th birthday bash. It looks to be a busy food filled weekend!

Good-bye Old Friend

I had to make the decision to put Lewis down yesterday.
It was the worst day I've had in a long while.
Today is even worse.
I miss my puppy. I keep looking for him.
For years he was the only thing I had to look forward to at the end of the day.
He was always happy to see me.
I'm glad he didn't suffer much. He got to chase a cat on his last good day.
We buried him in the evergreen grove at my parents.
He's wrapped up in a blue blanket with his favorite tug of war rope.
I wish I had taken the bandages off his legs.
I wish his last memory of me weren't putting him in the crate at the hospital.
I had him for 1 month short of ten years.
I loved him. He was a good boy.

Good-bye Old Friend.

Poor Baby

My Lewis is one sick puppy dog. He stayed at Mom and Dad's last night because we were out of town. They called early this morning to say he was throwing up and listless. We headed for their place and called our wonderful vet, Dr D.

Dr. D gave him an IV and took a blood sample.

Lewie had been throwing up bile, had blood in his stool, has an astronomical white count and his liver function is incredibly high, too. He has congested lungs and is wheezing. He also has a low temp, is dehydrated and pale.

They are going to keep hydrating him and so some xrays. They will call me in the morning. He's not as bad off as he sounds. He's got a serious infection of some sort.

Dr. D will call me in the morning.

My poor baby :(

He's so sick he even let Ryan pet him!

Against All Odds

As many of you know we had a custody trial in the middle of October. We were hoping for a ruling by Christmas. Monday, night I saw there was a decision in our case posted online. I called Kurt and he raced to the courthouse just before close of business.

Long story short....WE WON!!!!

The kids have been placed with us except for 3 weekends a month, 4 weeks in the summer and alternating holidays. She has been ordered to pay us child support.

Nick and Christy start school in the morning.

This has renewed our faith (that and the Democrats winning!).

It's been a very good week.

Thank you to everyone for their thoughts, prayers, good wishes, and caring concern. We appreciate it more than you can ever know. Eventually, the kids will, too.

I've got mine! Do you have yours??

An AWESOME DAY

Details to follow!

Matchstick Marvels

On Saturday we took the kids to the Matchstick Marvel Museum in Gladbrook. We figured they would really like it (especially Nicky since he builds things out of craftsticks). The first thing you see when you walk in is a HUGE model of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It is unbelieavable. It looks just like in the movies! The detailing is incredible. The docent was a very nice old lady. She gave us incredible bits of information about the models and the artist. Hogwarts and another model have been sold to a museum in Spain. Many of the artist's previous models are in Ripley's Believe it or Not museums worldwide. We were especially lucky to get to meet the artist as he brought in another piece of Hogwarts. Making the marvels is a hobby for him that he only works on in the winter. He's employed full time besides!

Notre Dame de Chartres is the other model that has been purchased by the Spanish museum. I was especially impressed with this model because I've been to this very cathedral! The artist has even added the rose windows and 110 saints statues on it. All of the models are to scale.

The United States Capital -

A Very Crooked House

On our way to Gladbrook we swung past the bitty town of Lincoln and went past the EXTREME MAKEOVER HOME EDITION house. It wasn't as impressive as I thought it would be judging from all the press I'd heard and read. However the fact that it and 2 outbuildings were made in a week is astounding.

Overall it was a great day for a drive and a great bargain for the museum!

Here's Hoping

For a good weekend. The kids were little pukes last weekend. Tonight it appeared so far so good. Kurt and the 3 of them went to see the Sound of Music at the high school. Alex's girlfriend is in it. I couldn't face another production of it. I've seen it at West Central, once possibly twice at Indee as well as a community theater production. I'm not even sure I'd go and see a revival with Julie Andrews in it!

Weekend plans....we have none for once. I'm sure it will involve laundry, dishes, and cooking. Maybe we can find something fun to do too!

Happy Halloween

Our little goblins are here. They were going to go trick or treating but they have no costumes. They were going to hand out candy, but they are watching NOVA. I guess we get to feed them, expend extra gas and miles, and not get credit for an overnight stay. It's more work for me. Kurt will be doing dishes.

We all got flu shots today. Luck had it that the flu shot clinic was the same day as Halloween so we were able to get them vaccinated. I hope it works!

I withdrew from my accounting class. It was kicking my a**. Missing a week of school didn't help either. I still have plenty to do with my remaining 14 hours of class.

Icky

We survived the trial. Three very full days. Kurt in the courtroom and me in the f*&^)(*ing hot hallway. Now we wait.

We each have upper respitory infections. Different strains. Different meds. Thanks, kids!

We went to Ryan's first birthday party yesterday. It was fun to watch him explore frosting and get his first taste of sugar. He's such a sweetie. It was WAY crowded in Ms. Marn's house. It made me very thankful we've moved out of our itty bitty Waterloo house.

I missed an entire week of school. I need to study and get back into the groove today.

A Little Behind

We've had too much going on for me to take time to blog. I've got tests in all my classes this Friday, OCTOBER 13TH! All the profs said they were sorry, but I don't think they meant it. So here's what's been happening around here:

• Fred came for last weekend. We haven't seen him since June.
• All the kids went to a hayride and weinie roast last Saturday. The 70 degree weather was perfect for it!
• We all went to see Antigone at Theater UNI. It was a modern adaptation and very well done. Christy especially liked it.
• We had $1 sundaes at McDonald's afterward
• Conference cross country is tomorrow afternoon. I baked 2 doz brownies and am prepared to work in the concessions stand
• Kurt and I had our first big fight. It was a DOOZIE!
• My printer died...at least the portion that prints black ink. Thought it was a bad cartridge. So now I have $70 worth of ink and no printer it will work in. Joy.
• My severance ran out and I'm officially on the dole
• My car needs $2200 in repairs
• I have a math test due Friday, too
• It's snowing outside!

Guilty!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061005/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_life_regifting

An Ebay Find

I occasionally do Ebay searches of my and Kurt's hometowns just to see what it will turn up. A few weeks ago Kurt's came up with a 1955 Legion Cookbook. We bid on it and won (imagine that!?!). It arrived today. Kurt is going to be VERY excited. It's got recipes from his maternal grandma and his aunt in it. I think there may be a couple of other relatives, too. The names sounded familiar, but I'm not well acquainted with the "outlaws" on his side.

Dubuque Dubuque

Saturday we took a family day and went to Dubuque. The weather was lovely, Alex didn't have a cross country meet, and Kurt had found $60 worth of travelers checks when he was cleaning out a box.

We went to the Fenelon Place Elevators which is billed as the world's "shortest, steepest incline" via a train. It goes up the side of a bluff where there is then a beautiful 3 state view. There was a busload of screaming kids when we got there, but we stayed anyway.

Following our ride we boarded the Spirit of Dubuque for a 1 1/2 hour river cruise. We steamed up river to just below the lock and damn, turned around, and headed south to the Julian Dubuque Monument. Along the way we saw piles of coal and road salt, a bald eagle, some spectacular homes, a nunnery, and several barges. The sun came out and made the water glisten. Nick, of course, was a bump on a log, but Alex and Christy really enjoyed themselves.

After the boat ride we decided to drive to the Julian Dubuque Monument and check it out. It was quite the adventure! The way wasn't clearly marked so we got to see quite a bit of the country side. Hwy 52 heading south is pretty "Deliverance"-esque! We had less than an 1/8 of a tank of gas so we headed back to town. We eventually managed to find the place. It has spectacular views, a free viewing telescope, and lots of fresh air.

It was getting late and the herd was hungry. We called some friends in town and has dinner with them at a local Mexican restaurant. There was a strolling guitar player along with lots of warm chips and hot salsa. It was a great end to a great day.

When we got home Christy said she had " a great time" and she hoped Sunday was just as great. I'm afraid she was sadly disappointed.

Fenelon Place Elevators 

Rolling on the River 

Julian Dubuque Monument 

Growth chart

Kurt measured the kids again and the results are in!

Alex - holding at 6'.
Nick - 5'7 and 1/2"
Christy - 5'2 and 1/2".

So am not yet the shortest (but I will be soon!)