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