Friday night and we're having a small thunderstorm....

I did not realize that Asa and Haver hated thunder so much!



Haver is actually sitting on Rod's head!



Asa is trying to pay off Haver so he can get the "safe seat!"

Before the storm rolled in, I went outside and walked around looking at how beautiful the spring trees are!





Doc and Dude are in serious need of some big-time brushing!





This afternoon I decided to go see a "chick-flick" since there are no new "macho-movies" coming out this weekend. I saw "The Backup Plan" with Jennifer Lopez.



I absolutely love Jennifer Lopez and I absolutely loved this movie! It is the perfect "romantic comedy." I would highly recommend it, giving it 8 puppy paws up!



Well, I think that's about it. Oh, wait! I wanted to share some potential good news (I'm crossing my fingers and hoping I'm not jinxing this!). Rod decided that I should try another round of antibiotics and, after 4 days, I think I'm finally feeling better! So, keep your fingers crossed!

OK, that's it for today.

Thanks for checking in.
Thanks for reading.
Annette

It's been a tough week...

It seems like I've developed a bit of a bad habit with this blog...Things are fine for a while, I'm able to share some nice, positive updates and then I get bogged down with a bug of some sort, go MIA for a while, come back and apologize (and whine a bit) which then usually seems to help me either kick the bug,or, at least not care about it as much, and then get back into a pretty good blogging schedule.

Well, I'm here to tell you that the pattern is now repeating...again.

The "mysterious" bug that is giving me muscle and joint aches, reduced appetite and a low-grade fever has returned again with a vengeance. I've been laying low at home for most of this last week.

But, the roughest part of the week has been the death of a dear friend of our family. Mary was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008. She was a single mom with three grown children and a 12 year old daughter. Mary was a very successful and busy career woman. She was determined that her diagnosis would not slow her down or interfere with the lives of her family. The disease became horrendously aggressive and even though it had traveled to every part of her body, she continued to work. But, on the Monday after Easter Sunday, she began to have significant shortness of breath. It was discovered that her lungs were full of tumors. By Wednesday, April 15th, she passed away. Rod was with Mary and her family the entire day. He did not want me come to visit her because of the terrible downturn she took and the significant difficulty she was having with her breathing. My dear, sweet, loving husband said, "Annette, she is dying a pulmonary death and I don't want you to see that." And there I was, asking him not to go back because I didn't want him to witness a pulmonary death. It seemed so selfish to think of my potential future and not wanting to witness it, but, I certainly didn't want my dear, sweet, beloved husband to have to see it...does that make sense?

Mary passed away Wednesday afternoon at 3:30 pm. She was a 58 year old daughter, sister, mother, aunt, cousin and friend. Rod spoke at wake that was held on Friday night and a beautiful funeral and celebration of her life was held on Saturday.

Please pray for Mary's family as they face life without their beloved mother, sister, daughter, aunt, cousin and friend.

I hope that whatever this stupid bug is, it will take a long, long vacation!

OK, time to head to bed.

Thanks for checking in.
Thanks for reading.
Thanks for putting up with my frustrating "blog pattern."

Annette

Happy Sunday!

It is sunny, warm (high 60's), calm winds, the trees are budding and the birds are singing! This is why I live in Nebraska!!





I love going outside on days like this with Asa and Haver. I know I've mentioned this before, but we really have some strange, strange dogs! Evidently they've found a way to scratch their own backs!





Well, there's really not much going on today. I just thought I'd stop by, say hello and share a little Nebraska springtime with you.

Thanks for checking in.
Thanks for reading.
Annette

I hope you all had a happy Easter!

We had one of the best Easters we've had in a long time! Rod and I decided to have Easter at our home this year and we were thrilled that almost everyone was able to come! When Rod's mom and dad were alive, we would split the three big holidays three ways...Thanksgiving was at Rod's brother's house, Christmas was at our house and Easter was at Rod's mom and dad's house. My family (mom and dad, my sister and her girls) was always included so that we didn't have to do the typical "dinner dance" from house to house.

So, we had Nick, Kara, Chris, Kara's family (except for her sister), Rod's brother's family and my sister, Kathleen and her girls Maggie and Katie, along with Katie's boyfriend Aaron and Rod and myself for a total of 17. We set up three big tables in our greenhouse and Chris set the table with Rod's mom's special dishes. We added fresh flowers, jelly beans and chocolate eggs for a great "ambiance!"



Rod cooked the main dish, with Kara's mom (who is a delicious cook!) brought several side dishes and Rod's brother brought the pies!


Katie and Aaron



Maggie



Kara's Parents



We didn't have any little kids to have an Easter egg hunt for, so we decided to bring back the special Easter egg hunt that Bud, Rod's dad did with us every year. We hid a plastic egg for each person with their name on it and a $5.00 bill hidden inside each egg. It was a big hit!

Nick and Kara and their find!


Kara's mom and Kara's "little" brother, Pete!



Chris..in a rare moment where he is actually behaving himself!



To make the day even better, Asa and Haver were extremely well behaved!

Haver


Asa with Haver trying to tie the chicken head on Asa's head...or Haver trying to chew off the chicken head and probably Asa's head as well!



I wore myself out and ended up sleeping most of yesterday. But, I'm feeling pretty good today. That is really fast turn-around for a person with PH, isn't it PHriends?!? :)
Plus, it was totally worth it.

Thanks so much for checking in.
Thanks for reading.
Annette