Nothing much going on....

I've got some stupid virus. I have a couple of cold sores and a sore throat. I called my PH doc and he agreed that it sounds like a virus and I'm just to rest, drink plenty of water, etc.,etc., etc. I'm suppose to let them know if it gets worse, but I'm already feeling better. So, I dodged that bullet!

Sunday Night Movie Review!

Rod and I tried to go to "Vantage Point" but it was so full we weren't sure we'd be able to sit together. So, instead we went to see "Jumper." I would have to sum "Jumper" using the word "strange." It's kind of a combination of that old TV show "Sliders," "Star Trek" and some goofy FBI movie. The only real positive thing I can say about it is that Samuel L. Jackson and Diane Lane were in it. Although neither one of them were on the screene long enough to make it worth while. I'm afraid I'll have to give it 4/8 puppy paws down.

My sister and I went to "Definitely, Maybe" yesterday with that cute little Abigail Breslin from "Little Miss Sunshine." This was a complete "chick-flick" with a nice little story-line. We both greatly enjoyed it and I would give it 6/8 puppy paws up.

I'm watching the Academy Awards while I'm typing this. Good Heaven's its' a boring show! I think I'm going to mix my medicine and go to bed!!

Thanks for reading.
Annette

A Beautiful Day in Omaha!!

The temperature actually got up into the upper 30's today!! It was fabulous! I went out to lunch with my husband and a couple of friends including a Rabbi from a local synagogue. It was lots of fun talking about everything from goofy to spiritual. He has offered to come to one of my bible study classes and teach a lesson on the Old Testament. Wouldn't that be cool?
The puppies are outside enjoying the nice weather. Asa brought me a "lovely" gift a little bit ago...a dead, flat, long, skinny and STINKY MOUSE!!! Of course, I wasn't really paying attention when he came in and didn't notice that his mouth was full. But, then he dropped it, right at my feet! I know I should be thrilled that he loves me so much, but YUCK!!! My sister has several cats who are always bringing her "lovely" gifts. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think I'd rather have balls of horse poop gifts instead of mice! I guess I should be happy that at least it was dead!!

*Serious change of topic... I don't know what is going on in the PH world but we now have another phriend in the hospital. Her name is Barbara and her husband is very concerned about her. I would appreciate prayers for Barbara and continued prayers for Eliana. Eliana, by the way, is starting to improve! Praise God!

*One more topic change...Rod and I are going to the movies tonight. We're going to see "Vantage Point." I'll be giving a movie review tomorrow. Also, my sister is coming up from Lincoln tomorrow so we can see a chick flick. We're going to "Definitely, Maybe." So, stay tuned for two movie reviews tomorrow!

A Cold, Cold Day in Omaha!

These temperatures are just insane!! Most of the schools in the area closed for the day because of the wind chills at -20 to -25 degrees! I lived for "snow days" or in this case, "cold days" when I was teaching. The teachers used to have to go to school on those days. But, a few years ago it was changed, so now, even the teachers get to stay home. I LOVED having "snow and/or cold" days when the boys were home. We would dig in for the day, play games, play outside and have hot chocolate when we couldn't feel our toes any more! Later, when the boys were gone, I still loved the "snow and/or cold" days because then I could go to school and get lots of work done with no students around. I've always taught at schools with very dedicated and very busy teachers. So, on those special days where the kids were at home because of the weather, we would joke that there were so many teachers at school working that we could still teach a building full of kids!!

So I spent my "cold day" by doing a little crocheting (did I mention that some of us at church are learning how to crochet so we can make prayer shawls for people who are sick or struggling with life? Basically,the way I understand it, as you crochet the shawl you pray for that individual. Then when the shawl is finished you hand it over to that person.), a little reading (I just began "T is for Trespass" by Sue Grafton.), a little TV watching (All My Children) and a little playing with the pups. There are so many reasons for wanting warmer weather. One of the big ones is so that I can play with the pups outside. I'll be able to take my Inogen portable concentrator outside and throw the ball and have them run and chase without getting all tangled up in my oxygen tubing. It very frustrating.

Well, tonight is the girls night to sing on American Idol. I'm a HUGE idol fan! My sister is also a HUGE idol fan! We made quite a few back and forth phone calls last night to make comments or criticisms about the boys. We both love the cute little 16 year old boy from Utah, David. He's just so happy to be there!

One more thing...I would like to ask for prayers again. We have a very young phriend from New Mexico who is in the hospital with pneumonia. Her name is Eliana and she is only 4 1/2 years old. She is on IV medicine, similar to mine and is also on oxygen. She is a sweetheart who is full of life. She could really use some prayers for a quick recovery and for her family to stand strong.

Thanks for reading.

Annette

P.S. I'm thinking the puppies look tired enough so I will have a quiet night of Idol-watching, don't you?

Asa


Haver

Just a quick hello!

It was "nice" today so I took advantage of the 35 degree weather and went to a movie. I saw the chick flick, "Fools Gold" with Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey. It really is a silly, no depth movie with barely a story line. But, speaking of "barely" Matthew McConaughey "barely" wore a shirt during the entire movie. You take his abs and a bag of popcorn and you've got yourself an incredibly enjoyable afternoon.

I'm hoping to spend some time on the computer tomorrow and do a little blogging. Actually, I'll probably have Wednesday and Thursday to do some computer work because another Arctic front is coming through. We're suppose to have wind chills at negative 25-30 degrees tonight and tomorrow. In fact, as I'm typing this, it looks like several schools are calling off school tomorrow because of the temperature. This is a very, very long winter.

Thanks for reading.
Annette

Never mind...my phriend is gone....

She had a massive stroke and passed away today. Her family was with her. It was a shock to her family and the medical personnel. Her condition had become stable and they had the bleeding under control. Her husband is going to have an autopsy done.

Very Special Prayers Are Needed...

A very special "phriend" of mine (that is a friend who has pulmonary hypertension "PH") is in very, very bad shape. She lives in Pennsylvania and I just found out last night that her husband came home on Monday and found her laying down, unresponsive. She is in the Neurologic (sp?) ICU in a coma. They discovered that her INR (thickness of her blood) was too high (almost all PH people take blood thinners) and she had bleeding on her brain. She was also have seizures. She is on life support and they are checking to see if she has staph or meningitis. Evidently she had a headache for the last couple of days.
In addition to PH, Sue does have some autoimmune problems.
Sue is an absolute sweetheart. She donated some adorable sweatshirts that she decorated, to our ph fundraiser last year. She was unable to this year because their family is strapped financially because of the costs of her medical care. She is a grandma to two beautiful little girls and a friend to so many in the ph community.
Your prayers would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for reading.
Annette

Hallelujah!! Hallelujah!!

I went outside today!! The temperatures jumped up to the mid 30's with wind chill's in the mid 20's!! It was an absolute HEAT WAVE!! So, I:
1. went out to the garage with THE GARAGE DOOR UP!
and
2. stayed in the garage with THE GARAGE DOOR UP!
while I
3. bagged up our cans, plastic a newspapers from the last month for recycling
then
4. I drove to the recycle center and GOT OUT OF MY CAR WITHOUT HAVING MY LUNGS HURTING! and dropped off the cans, plastic and paper
then
5. I drove to Starbucks and got a grande caramel frappaccino lite
then
6. I drove to the gas station and filled my car, STAYING OUTSIDE OF THE CAR AND HELD THE GAS NOZZLE WITHOUT MY LUNGS HURTING!
then
7. got my car washed
then
8. I went home and took a nap!!

What a fabulous gift from Mother Nature!
And, by the way, obviously I wasn't the only tired one! This is Haver doing his tightrope sleeping act!







Thanks for reading.
Annette

Laying low, day 2....

I'm not near as tired as I was yesterday. But, it's stinkin' cold out again! The wind chill has remained below zero all day and now we're suppose to get an inch or two of snow tonight. I'm suppose to go to bible study and/or PEO (women's organization) tonight, but I'm not going to make it to either one. It's just too darn cold. So, instead I'm going to stay inside, watch some TV and try to keep the dogs away from the cat!

So, once again, not a very exciting post. Oh well...it's winter in Nebraska and I've got a lung disease that would prefer I moved (at least my lungs) to California!
Thanks for reading.
Annette

Laying low today....

We had a party last night for a wonderful guy who just moved back to Omaha with his daughter to take a job down at UNMC. We had about 50 people and lots of food. I love having people over. But, it does kind of put me behind the energy curve for a day or two.

I'm not sure if I've mentioned that we are "cat-sitting" our oldest son's cat. It has been incredibly "interesting" trying to keep the puppies disinterested in the cat. So far, not so good. It's entertaining, just not so successful!

Thanks for reading.
Annette

I had brunch with my lovely sister today!

Kathleen and I met up for a quick coffee this morning in Ashland. For those of you "out of towners," Ashland is about 1/2 way between Lincoln and Omaha. It's a good meeting place for a quick coffee and snack.

Then I drove home and took a nap!

Tonight Rod and I are going to a hockey game with a bunch of friends. At our "Phenomenal Hope for a Cure" fundraiser, we "won" skybox tickets for to tonight's Omaha Maverick hockey game. So a whole bunch of us are going to "PARTY!" Actually, I'm pretty sure we are all hoping it doesn't go into overtime and mess up our bedtimes!! :)

Thanks for reading.
Annette

I think my beloved husband heard me whining...

I am so sick and tired of winter!!

I can't believe it! Here we are, thrown back into the dungeon of winter! We have about 6 new inches of snow and the temps are back into the low teens with the wind chills back to the low single digits! PLUS, the weather guys changed their previous weekend forecast of temps in the 40's to temps now in the high single digits because of some stupid "Alberta Clipper" coming into the area! I asked Rod last night if he would consider becoming a "Pathologist for hire" and go look for jobs in places like Arizona and Florida and California during the winter months. Of course, there isn't a job like that and he wouldn't do it if there was. So, I said maybe we could rent some place somewhere like Arizona and I could just go live there when the weather turns nasty. Of course, that's not a reasonable solution either. So, then I started trying to figure out how to get in touch with Al Gore and ask him "Where the *&%$" is this global warming you made a movie about? Because, I want global warming and I want it now!!!"
I'm just sick and tired of being stuck inside and I want to go places without having a blue mask over my face, dragging my oxygen through snow!

OK, now that I got that out of my system I feel better! I'm still not happy, but I'm now able to look at some more positive things about being stuck inside.
1. 24/7 puppy entertainment
2. watching Rachael Ray, Wheel of Fortune and All My Children
3. reading "Three Cups of Tea" by Greg Mortenson
4. play on the computer
5. enjoying a fire in the fireplace
6. did I say 24/7 puppy entertainment?



"The boys" having fun with Chris this last weekend.

Not much happening...

I'm just hanging out being a bum. I tried to go out to a funeral for the mother of a friend of ours from church. But, the parking lot was full and I was going to have to park a couple of blocks away. With several inches of snow on the ground and more coming down, I just couldn't bring myself to drag my O2 through all of that. So, instead I came home and watched "All My Children." Haver fell asleep on the couch next to me, which is very sweet. Except, that he has a bit of a snoring problem, so I had to turn the volume up pretty high!

Annette

Nice Weekend!

Chris came home for the weekend! He got in around midnight on Friday, having to catch the late flight because of a meeting at work. (How cute is that? My baby boy had a meeting at work that he had to be at! All grown up...) Anyway, He and Rod spent the day on Saturday doing "dad and son" things. They picked up the puppies from the vets (they did very well and are just a bit sore and really tired), went to the grocery store and a couple of other "guy kind" of things. I went to our pulmonary hypertension support group meeting. It was a good meeting with my doctor, Dr. Austin Thompson, being the guest speaker. He talked about various treatments for PH and the new cutting edge trials using chemo-type drugs. We had several new people there, which is sad because they have PH, but also good because they came for support. We also had a guy stop by who had a double-lung transplant 6 months ago. He is doing great and also looks great!

Saturday night Rod, Nick, Chris and myself went out to eat at the Macaroni Grill. It was great food (too much) and fabulous conversation! It's so strange to sit and have conversations about politics and ethical issues with my "two little boys!" They have certainly grown up to be amazing young men. Rod and I are so very, very blessed.

Unfortunately, we decided to go see the moveie, "Rambo" after dinner. I had not read any reviews but we all love Sylvester Stalone and enjoyed the old Rambos and figured it would be a good movie. Nick had heard there is a lot controversy about the movie and that it is banned in Southeast Asia because it is too accurate in depicting what has gone one and is going on with "ethnic cleansing." It was horribly, horribly graphic. You know it must have been bad if Rod, Nick AND Chris all said it was very graphic and they could have done without seeing that movie. So, eight thumbs down on that movie!

This morning Rod and I met up with Nick and Chris for breakfast after church. Then, Rod, Nick and Chris worked on building a compost box for Nick. (Yet again, another reason why I'm glad that I'm "the girl!"). We took Chris to the airport, dropped off the compost box and then Rod and I came home and are watching the Super Bowl. (I'm cheering for the Patriots because I'd like to see them make history going undefeated. Rod though, wants the Giants because he likes to "go for the underdog.")

Well, I need to get back to the game. It looks like "my team" needs a little encouragement!

Thanks for reading!

Annette

A Puppy-Free Day

Well, I had to take "the boys" in this morning to get neutered. Wow, what an opening sentence! Maybe I should have softened it a bit like, "Well, I had to take "the boys" in this morning to have "their little equipment adjusted." Or maybe, "I took "the boys" in this morning to have their manhood adjusted." Oh well, the bottom (pun intended) line is that they had successful surgery today and are resting comfortably in a double-wide kennel so they can be together! We pick them up in the morning.
Oh, by the way, the vet techs had to weigh the guys before surgery. When they were in a month ago Asa weighed about 29 pounds and Haver weighed about 32. Today, ONLY A MONTH LATER, they weighed 49 (Asa) and 54 (Haver!) That might explain this:



What's the matter, can't you see it? Maybe a close-up will help.



It happened a couple of days ago. I was watching TV and working on my laptop. I was feeling rather smug because both of the boys were being really good! Asa was on the floor off to my right, chewing on a bone and Haver was right in front of me, chewing on a stuffed bear...at least I thought he was. When either one of the guys are excited while they are chewing or playing with something, they roll over. So, all of a sudden, Haver rolls over and I discover that he was NOT chewing on the BEAR, he was CHEWING ON THE CHAIR!!! ARG!!

So, this morning when I took them in to _____ (fill in your favorite wording from above)....the first tech took Haver and weighed him. He sat down right on the scale like a good little boy. Then the second tech took Asa, and had a little bit of trouble getting him to sit on the scale. The first tech said, "Ha, ha! I got the GOOD one!" I looked at her and said,"You have no idea how wrong that statement is!"

Asa (the angel) and Haver saying, "Who, me?"




Thanks for reading!
Annette