Monday, April 22, 2013

Puppy love!

Liisa posted this on Facebook and tagged me in it, entitled "all my puppies!" Love it! Those are Popcorn, Sweet-tea, Kodie, Bailey, and Kajsa, taken tonight, while the snow fell outside. Just wanted to share Liisa's puppies :)

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Photos!





















No, I haven't stopped blogging...

I just took a break for a bit because I had my LASIK surgery and my eye was more uncomfortable than the lens replacement (which confused me a bit, given how invasive that was, but then realized the surface cutting was greater with the LASIK). The surgeon told me to limit my time on the computer while I initially healed so I took that to heart. My vision is amazing now, and I have 20/20 vision in both eyes, with little to no blurring. I can now do everything I did before, with an added bonus that I see rainbows in my peripheral vision on bright days or when the light hits just right (off the artificial lenses I now have, just as they give me "cat eyes" when the light hits them just right which freaks out the people around me...

We are in the final count down towards Reimond graduating, on May 18th, and his grades are doing fantastic, although he is having issues with sleep--he stays awake for up to 40 hours straight because he can't sleep, then crashes and sleeps 12-18 hours straight, missing school in the process. We are on the second new psychiatrist since his original one left the practice, and so far we haven't necessarily been satisfied with either of them. A lot of it is on Rei and his decision-making, but some of it is also chemical, and we need to have his meds synced with his body... He just says he should go nocturnal and everything will be fine, but I want to see him get thru this next month first. Liisa is getting things ready for his MN graduation party, and I am getting things ready here for her, Zack, and Jim to come down for his graduation. Announcements will get mailed out next week.

Brie is not graduating in May; there were some issues with her classes and having enough credits, so she is in the process of deciding what her next step will be (continuing at SWIC or moving to a state college closer to where they live and finishing up there). Eric still needs to figure out how he is going to get his diploma from ITT (whether he needs to pick it up in person or they are going to mail it) as we haven't heard anything yet about that. Aurora is plugging away at her classes and doing well, with lots more free time now that the college bowling season is done, and. Ae reminding all of our young adults that the time to job hunt is now, before the schools let out and competition for positions gets more fierce. Dan has been working only minimal hours at the gas station, and Patrick still hasn't found anything. Patrick has had a friend staying here with him who is also unemployed, so the house is starting to feel really crowded at times, but we are managing.

Skye has been living life "loud and proud" of late, which is sometimes a challenge when Eric is working overnights... She is into singing almost opratically (not sure if that is a real word as spell check doesn't like it) and she sings la la la as we walk outside, as she plays, and as she colors at the top of her lungs! She figured out how to pedal her trike the other day. After getting really frustrated on her two-wheeler (pedaling back triggers the brakes and she can't go anywhere on it); she is very proud she can now pedal on the trike, and weather permitting we have been outside a lot when she is here. She has also been playing "tiny baby" and wanting to be held/rocked as though she were an infant. It's a game, but I think somehow related to Liam being just 16 months old and in her eyes a "tiny baby". Skye also is learning words to real songs and she loves to sing and dance. Her vocabulary is wonderful although sometimes one has to listen carefully and she is quick to correct if we don't understand (I repeat to her what I hear, she say no, and says it again). Most of the time we get it, but not always and she gets frustrated with us for being dense.

My mom has gotten good reports thus far from the cardiologist. Her blood pressure has stabilized at a good rate, her heart beat seems to be regular, and the swelling in her legs has gone down considerably. She has consistently felt good through all of this (been a symptomatic) so she has no complaints that way, and has been told she can do whatever she wants so long as she pays attention to what her body is telling her. She had Easter Sunday at her house for the family and while everyone made a point to pitch in, she enjoyed the process. Everyone up there is sick and tired of snow, and while it isn't usual to have so much snow so late in the season, it isn't common either. We of course are dealing with rain down here, and flooding from it. We are not looking forward to the melting up there which will affect the water levels of the Mississippi River down here, among others. We are up on a hill, so the flooding of silver creek only affects us by covering the walking trail out back. It is pretty to see the snowy white egrets standing in the small ponds of dirty water where the water has flooded out of the tree line and into the grass.

Liisa had a wonderful time at the Diamond Awards gala last weekend. She bought a lovely cocktail dress for the occasion, Kristi did up her hair for her, and she looked beautiful (sent me lots of pictures). She didn't win the service award, but her interim general manger told her repeatedly that she was robbed, that she deserved it, and how proud everyone from the hotel was of her. She handled the "loss" with grace and generosity, and thinks she knows the woman who won it ( someone she thinks was a former co-worker back when she worked at sears almost 15 years ago). We are all proud of her that she was one of over 400 candidates and ended up in the top five. She was acting guest services manager during her boss' maternity leave, and now that she is back is still functioning in a supervisory capacity. Her and Zack are working lots of hours between them, and almost have to make appointments to see each other, but they are doing well, and Zack's kids are growing like weeds, as are Justin and Alexis.

Tony and Andrea too are doing fine. Tony went to Myrtle Beach this year with Jesse, my nephew Colin, and a friend of theirs to show a street rod they built together. They won the award of having traveled the furthest for the show, had a fantastic time, and got "pulled over" numerous times by curious police who wanted to know more about their vehicle ( it has it's own Facebook page at Ten Bolts, which is also its license plate). Random people have taken pictures of it and shared it on Facebook-total strangers to the boys- and they are really proud of the buzz it's created. It's a 1968 limousine body welded onto a pickup truck frame, and it is really cool looking. Tony is a certified welder, so he did a lot of the body work, and the boys are all auto mechanics, so it is sound and runs well. I will do a follow up post of pictures (my blog doesn't always let me insert the photos where I want them to be within the body of the text). Andrea is planning out the summer for the kids, and they are planning to let Justin and Alexis come down to me for a couple of weeks after summer school gets out, which we all are looking forward to. If Justin (and Tony) had their way, the kids would be down here all summer long with me /grin. I miss my kids something fierce and am looking forward to "my" time with them.

I think that updates everyone on what has been going one in our lives, and we are staying healthy, busy, and focused!