Pack your virtual bags.....

Rod and I are heading out early tomorrow morning (very, very early....ARG!!!) to fly to Boston where we'll pick up the "Jewel of the Seas"



with the Royal Caribbean cruise lines for a 5 night "Canada and New England Cruise!" We will board the ship in Boston, making stops in Portland, Bar Harbor and Halifax, Nova Scotia. We'll return to Boston and stay an extra day so we can see the city.



Rod's been to Boston, but only for meetings. We're hoping the the fall colors will be in full force.

Sorry, this needs to be short and sweet. I need to pack clothes, medicine, O2 supplies and mix. Traveling with all of my crap harks back to the days when the boys were babies and we had to bring and entire extra car full of things. (kidding...mostly)

I'm taking my computer and I'm hoping to bring you all along.

Thanks for checking in.
Thanks for reading.

annette

Where were you 8 years ago?

Last year on this date, I wrote about our experience on September 11, 2001. First, I never expected to still be blogging. In fact, to be honest, I wasn't sure I'd still be here, as bad as that sounds. I think, in all honesty, I feel better than I did a year ago (if you don't count the stupid knee). A lot has happened since September 11, 2001....a lot has happened since September 11, 2008.

I'd like to take this moment in history to thank God for this life, this country, the family and friends we have been given and all of the freedoms that come with living in this country and from God Himself.

I'm being a bit lazy, but I just don't see any reason to re-write what I wrote last year. So, I have copied and pasted here today.

Please remember. Please take the time to thank all of the people that keep us safe because they have decided to put themselves in harms way. Most importantly, take the time to hug your loved ones and tell them how much you love them.

Thanks for reading.
Annette


*****************************
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Where were you 7 years ago?
Seven years ago Rod and I took Nick to Manchester, England so he could do a year of college in Europe. We planned on taking Nick to college and get him all settled, spend a day or two visiting the area and then head on back home. Well, as luck would have it, Nick was able to get settled, get a bank account set-up, etc., in just a couple of days. So we decided to head back home a day early so we could get back to work and check on how Chris was doing with his first year at Northwest Missouri State College in Maryville, Missouri. So, we headed back to Omaha on September 11, 2001 on flight Delta 65. After a few hours into the flight the pilot announced that our plane was having mechanical problems and that we were going to make an unexpected landing in St. Johns, Newfoundland. Rod had his cell phone and started making phone calls to try to let Nick and Chris know what was going on (although,he wasn't suppose to, you know, cell phones interrupt flight communications, yah, yah, yah...). He started getting bits and pieces of information, just enough to let us know that it was unlikely that our plane was experiencing mechanical problems. His cell phone was running out of battery, so he asked a flight attendant if he could charge it up back in their work area. The flight attendants were trying to put on these tough professional faces, but they were obviously very worried. They had also only heard bits and pieces of what was actually happening. Rod told them that they could certainly use his phone to call their family members to let them know they were safe. They were very appreciative. We circled Newfoundland for five hours while the pilot drained the plane of all of the extra fuel (we later found out that a bomb threat had been called into our plane). After we landed in St. Johns we sat in the plane on the tarmac for 10 hours watching 20+ other planes land at this small terminal. We eventually were let off the plane and loaded on big buses. Because of the security threat and the fact that the officials had no idea if they had any "bad guys" on this flight, we were not allowed to take any of our luggage, any of our personal items, not even any of our medications, unless there was something small in our carry-on that we could stick in a purse. (Thank God I wasn't sick then. I don't know what would have happened.) So, we stuck Rod's phone and his charger into my purse and got on a giant bus with our fellow travel companions. We rode for about 30 minutes and were taken to the Mile One Centre, which is a huge auditorium used by their hockey team.





We still did not have a real idea of what had happened until we walked into the stadium. We had to go through different check-points, getting registered, getting free drinks and snacks and then we were led into this hockey auditorium. Like many sports stadiums, this one had numerous giant screen TV's and we saw for the first time what had happened and what was going on back home. It was so eerie seeing what was going on in our country, while we were stuck in a totally different country. We had Nick in England and Chris is Missouri and here we were in Newfoundland. We had to stay at the Centre for a few hours until our flight was announced. We were loaded back into a bus and this time we were driven to the Salvation Army St. John's Temple, where we lived, sleeping on the floor in sleeping bags for a week.




Due to the bomb threats and the overall situation, all of the planes that landed on the island had to dump their extra fuel. We had to all wait until fuel could be delivered, via boats, and then we had to wait our turn to leave. It took us a full week before we were back in the air, heading for home. This is actually a photo taken from our return flight as we flew over New York, one week after the attack. Notice how it's still smoking.





I love our country. I love being an American. God bless America and all of it's people.

Thanks for reading.
Annette

GRRRRRRRRRRRR....................

OK, I'm starting this posting on Wednesday night (9-9-09) because I'm so frickin' mad at my dogs right now I can't relax enough to go to sleep! So, I decided if I wrote about it (typing it, smacking the keys like they are little puppy butts!) I'd calm down and be able to go to sleep. Then I'll come back to it tomorrow (9-10-09) and add something more intelligent or interesting or at least less grumpy!

So, Rod's out of town again. He'll be back Friday morning. (Just two more sleeps....I can't remember where I heard that phrase...maybe one of the many books I've read....but, I digress....)If you've read this blog before you know that when Rod goes out of town, I've got extra chores. My dear friends Tammy, Dan and Carly are taking care of the horses (after I got scolded because I didn't tell them that Rod was going out of town because I didn't want them to have to do MY chores. I mean, they have their own busy lives! But, with my knee still trying to improve...which it has...I figured I better give in to peer pressure and let them help.) So, that just leaves me with the fish and the dogs. I have not had any trouble getting the dogs "to bed" since they were little puppies...like when they weighed less than 100 pounds. But, now, two nights in a row when I hobble outside (looking for the sympathy vote) to have them do their business, they both run off barking, chasing and just basically acting like idiotic dogs. Why is this a problem you ask? Because after they go outside to "do their business" they come in and Haver goes to "his room" (the laundry room) and Asa comes upstairs with me and I get to go to bed!!

Last night I dinked around for over 30 minutes before they finally got tired of whatever they were doing and finally came inside! I don't want to wait 30 minutes to go to bed! (Although tonight it will be more than 30 minutes since I'm doing "blogging therapy" to calm down enough to go to sleep!) I was determined that they were not going to do a repeat tonight. We headed on outside and I'm telling them, "OK guys, it's potty and night-night....potty and night-night....potty and night-night." I praised them as they squatted and praised them as they started walking back towards me and then WHAM!!! They either smelled something or saw something and then they were off!!! I yelled their names, I whistled, I clapped my hands and....nothing! I opened and shut the garage doors a couple of times, trying to get my point across and....nothing! I went out the front door to the front yard and yelled their names, clapped my hands and whistled and....they came running! Yahoo! But, just as they were making their way to the front door.....THEY WENT OFF RUNNING AGAIN ACTING LIKE IDIOT DOGS!!! ARG!!!!!!!

By now my heart is racing, my ire and dander are both up (whatever either one of those things are...) and I was really pissed! (Sorry about all of the language...but, when your beating the hell out of the computer keys, you can't help but get a "naughty" word or two in the sentence!) I came back inside and wrapped up both knees, ready to go outside and fight the fight to get these two stupid wack-jobs to come inside so I COULD GO TO BED!!

I head back outside, yelling, clapping and whistling and here comes Asa....with a dead animal hanging out of his mouth! OH FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!! NOW they come when I call and they bring their road kill with them!

I yelled "No, no, no, no, no!" to Asa and miraculously he responded, dropping the vole onto the driveway and headed into the house. I hollered for Haver and he rounds the corner, thankfully with an empty mouth! Somehow he managed to walk past Asa's "catch of the day" and waddled on into the house! I told him it was time to go "night-night" and he waddled right into his room! Asa, basically shivering in fear from all of my screaming stood looking at me with a look that said, "I hope this crazy lady doesn't do to me what I did my little vole friend." Instead, I told him to stay downstairs for a while because I wasn't interested in having "vole breath" in my room, and he listened.

OK, I'm actually starting to type more slowly and lightly on the keyboard. I think it's time to stop for now, get some sleep and pick this up again in the morning.

****************************************

Well, it's now around 5:00 on Thursday (9-10-09) and I'm finally getting back to this post. I would like to add a couple of things, unrelated to idiotic dogs.

1. Yesterday was Christopher's birthday!!! He turned 26 years old!! There have only been a handful of birthdays that he's been away from home for, but I miss not being able to give him a real birthday hug on his real birthday. I thought you might enjoy a little bit of video from his very first birthday. It's a bit grainy and not very long, but you can see how incredibly cute he was (and still is...sorry Chris, I'm your Mom!) Also, the voice that you hear is Rod's Dad. He was taking the video. And, yes, the split-second vision of someone in a red sweater is me and NO I'm not showing you any more of her...me...at least not today....maybe if I start taking up drinking....or someone buys me a Blizzard.....

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

And, for those of you faithful readers of this blog, be sure to click here to see how adorable Chris was in the spring of 1986....

I can't remember what else I was going to write about tonight. So, I guess this is it for now.

Thanks for checking in.
Thanks for reading.
Annette

The End of an Era...The Nebraska State Fair in Lincoln

Rod and I both grew up in Lincoln, NE. Nebraska has been having their state fair in Lincoln for 140 years. So, if you do the math, Rod and I have been going to the fair for about 10 years. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!

The Nebraska State Fair is moving to Grand Island which is more in the center of the state.


As kids, we'd go every year since it was in town. When Rod was in high school he worked at one of the restaurants every fair season, cooking hamburgers. This particular "stand" was owned by the same guy who owned a regular restaurant that Rod worked at during the school year. One year in college,(the college, Nebraska Wesleyan was also in Lincoln) after we started dating, Rod got this idea that it would be fun for the both of us to go back and work the state fair booth one year. I really don't know why Rod thought that was such a fun thing to do! I mean, it was fun working with Rod, but it was hot, tough long hours! But, we'd get up early, go to the fair, work all day and then go on a couple of rides before we called it a day. We also got into the fair for free and did make some pretty decent money!

When Nick and Chris were little, we'd take them to the fair every year. They would love the rides, the animals and, of course, the food! I don't know about you, but there's nothing better than a good funnel cake!



Rod and I have gone a couple of times since I got sick. It's not really an easy place to maneuver. The last time we rented a scooter and that made a big difference. I really wasn't sure about going this year because of my stupid knee. But, since it was the last year for the fair to be in Lincoln, we figured we needed to go. So Friday night after Rod got home from work, we headed on down to Lincoln. Luckily the scooter rentals just happened to be at the entrance where we parked! (Another one of those little "miracle moments!") We loaded up the scooter with my O2, medicine and other crap, then started out. I'm just going to jump right to the end of this story...The fair this year was really, really pathetic! We don't know if it was because the organizers knew it was the last year or if it was the economy, we're not sure. But, we really did expect...MORE! It started out with the beloved funnel cake that ended up being, now I'm quoting my beloved husband...."It was a GUT BOMB!" Here he is, ordering said "GUT BOMB!"



After that, we basically wandered around the fairgrounds for about an hour, trying to find something interesting to see. There were some big John Deere displays and the Budweiser Clydesdales, but they were in these little cages, sleeping.





After a TOTAL of 90 minutes we decided to go home. On the way to the car we hit the highlight of the evening.....



and....



AND......



Rod took this picture. Not until I downloaded it to put on this blog post did I realized that I was talking to the wrong end of 850 pound "Harold."

I would like to wish Grand Island much luck in rebuilding the Nebraska State Fair. It's not beyond me to drive that extra mile for a good funnel cake.

Thanks for reading.
Annette

Couch Potato Diaries...Day 12....

Well, I went to the specialist on Monday. She was very nice. She's trying a new cutting edge type of approach where she uses an ultrasound machine to look directly at the knee and find where most of the fluid is so she can just insert the needle there and not have to "dig around" looking for the best spot. She also promised to give me a tad bit more numbing medicine so it wouldn't hurt so much. Such good theories.......

She went into a different pocket of fluid and was unable to get anything out. It was also all congealed blood. Even though she used an 18 gauge needle (now and forever known as a BIG-ASS needle) she was not able to get out any blood, whereas the doctor last Monday was at least able to get out some blood with the same, BIG ASS needle. After she dug around a bit trying to get some fluid out, she decided to inject some steroids. The thought is that I have damaged my knee causing it to bleed. Because I'm on blood thinners I bleed more than the average Joan. The blood then clots and gets absorbed and things are all better. But, every time the dogs clip me, run into me, wag their tail and hit my knee, it gets re-injured and bleeds again, starting the whole vicious cycle all over again.

We can't find out what the exact damage is because that would mean an MRI would have to be done. I can't have an MRI because of my Flolan pump. So, for now, I'm staying off my feet as much as I need to, keeping it elevated, and iced. I'm also going to keep wearing this BIG ASS brace (it just FEELS good to type BIG ASS and not be referring to my body)until my knee feels stable. Also, Rod has made me promise not to carry any more 40 pound boxes of plums which is what appears to have been the latest trigger for this cycle.




The knee actually feels better tonight and I actually went out and ran an errand this afternoon. I took some clothes to the cleaners and, while I was out I figured it was necessary to swing through the Dairy Queen drive-through and get a blizzard. We all KNOW that Blizzards can cure almost anything!

A positive thing that has come out of this latest bump in the road is having the opportunity to once again experience some of the little miracles that God provides and we are usually too busy to pay attention to or notice. Here's an example, one that may look silly or small to some, but my phriends with O2 will understand. Up until last night (when my knee was starting to feel better) I have not had my long, long line of O2 tubing stuck or crimped AT ALL! I could go anywhere, whether I was pushing my walker or sitting on and rolling my walker or actually trying to walk all over the first floor and NOT ONCE did I have to back-track to free my tubing! NOT ONCE!

Another positive thing that has happened over this last week is to take advantage of my constant sitting position and scanned some pictures from Nick and Kara's wedding that Kara's mom and aunt took. We haven't seen the "official" pictures yet, but these "amateur" shots are great!

This is a shot at the rehearsal night.


This is a picture from the delicious picnic that Kara's parents hosted for relatives and out of town visitors. This is my beloved and significantly older sister (in the middle...you're welcome Kathleen) her daughter Maggie on the left and her other daughter Katie. Such beautiful girls, inside and out!



Here is a really nice shot of Kara, her brother and sister and their grandma!



Here's a shot of Chris sticking his brother with the pin for his boutineer!



My, how they have grown!



And, my favorite picture...



If that's not the look of love, I don't know what is!

Well, I think that's enough for this post. As always, thanks for checking in and thanks for reading.

Annette

Couch Potato Diaries...Day 8...

I was getting ready to go see the doctor yesterday when I got this phone call from a doctor's office asking if I'd like to reschedule the appointment I missed at 11:00 that morning. Being a bit more confused than normal, I asked her what she was talking about. She told me that I had missed an 11:00 appointment with Dr. Somebody who was suppose to ultrasound and inject my knee. I told her that I had a 1:00 appointment with Dr. Somebody Else who was just going to look at my knee. She then proceeded to tell me how she spoke with me personally Wednesday afternoon and had scheduled the appointment with me to see Dr. Somebody at 11:00 to have an ultrasound and injection on Friday. Now, here's the problem. I was on LOTS of pain pills Wednesday and slept most of the day. But, I DO remember getting a phone call from Dr. Somebody Else's office and making an appointment for 1:00 on Friday. I even wrote it on my calendar! So then she asked me again if I wanted to go ahead and reschedule my missed appointment with Dr. Somebody for the ultrasound and injection. I said, that no, I wanted to come and see Dr. Somebody Else at 1:00. She told me I didn't have an appointment with Dr. Somebody Else and what would I like to do. I told her I wanted to... CALL MY HUSBAND!! Now, having a doctor in the house comes in very handy. But, looking back I'm pretty sure my sanity and level of maturity were in question by this point and my comment of wishing to call my husband sounded more like a child who wanted to "TALK TO MY DADDY! HE'LL STRAIGHTEN THIS OUT! HE'LL STRAIGHTEN YOU OUT!!"
Anyway....
I'm scheduled now to see Dr. Somebody for an ultrasound and "possible" injection on Monday. I really hope I don't see the lady that was on the phone...

Topic change....BOOK REPORT!
Being chained to the couch has helped me get some reading done. This week I read James Patterson's 8th book in his"Women's Murder Club" series. It's called,
"The Eighth Confession."


I enjoy James Patterson's "Women's Murder Club" series and his "Alex Cross" series. I am a little miffed that he no longer seems to be writing his books by himself. But, he keeps cranking books out at record speed, has movie and TV deals, video games and even things to help motivate kids to read. I suppose it would be impossible for him to be able to do it all by himself. He also has quite a website. I would give it 8 puppy paws up.

Speaking of "puppy paws," Asa and Haver are birthday boys today! They turned two years old! Haver's latest Prozac increase has proved to have a very positive effect on his behavior. He is though, having trouble sharing the couch with Rod!





And, dear sweet Asa just had to "kiss-up" to mom by showing how much he loves Peggy Karr plates!



No, there was NOT a Peggy Karr plate in the box and NO, he did NOT get to chew the box!

Well, that's all for now.
Thanks for hanging in there with me.
Thanks for reading.

Annette

I can't believe that it's been almost a month!!

So, here's the deal. While I've been gone...

**I worked and worked on the videos for Nick and Kara's wedding. I would really like to show them on this site, but I'm going to need to ask them first if it's OK. But, I can show you a couple of pictures...
This is Kara when she was about 2 years old:


Here's Nick around the same age:


One of the funnest discoveries was pictures of them doing similar things at a similar age, thousands of miles apart!

Kara eating spaghetti:



Nick eating spaghetti:

Isn't it just crazy?!?!?

**While I've been gone I also had to be the "responsible adult" because Rod went out of town which means I had to do extra chores which wore me out and gave me less time and energy to be a "good blogger."

**While I've been gone I had lunch with my friend Paula and her son, Jason. Jason was visiting his mom after a "camp-out vacation" that he took with Chris and some other friends from high school.

**While I've been gone I also had lunch and went to a movie with my niece Katie!

Katie has recently started blogging. You should check out her site!

We saw the movie "Ice Age:Dawn of the Dinosaurs in 3-D!"

It was a really funny movie and the 3-D stuff is AWESOME!! I'd give it 8 puppy paws up!!

**And, of course, while I was gone, Nick and Kara became husband and wife. I don't have any of their wedding pictures yet. But, I do have a really nice one of during the rehearsal.



I will be sharing more pictures and stories from their wedding when we get some of the pictures back. Just know it was fabulous and we are so blessed to have Kara and her family in our family.

**One more thing....While I've been gone:
I really, really hurt my knee. I've been on "couch rest for the last 4-5 days and am seeing the doctor tomorrow. Hopefully, now that I'm back in "blogger mode" I'll get back here and fill in lots of blanks.

I sure hope that there are people that will be coming back to check in and read what all is going on in the Markin household. I know it's a lot to ask to be gone for a month and to expect paeople to want to come back to read and see pictures and such. So, if you're reading this, thank you so very much for checking in and coming back.

More to come....I PROMISE!!

much love
annette