A Year of Change

Here’s a comment from Grandma Annette,

Good morning.  The Mister and the oldest have already departed the house for the swim meet.  They had to be there at 6:20 a.m. for warm ups.  I just spoke to them on the phone and our oldest guy was making his way to the water to stretch out his sleepy muscles. The youngest is still sleeping and I am on my second cup of java.

We took Alessandro and Rita to our friends lovely home for a BBQ last night.  They recently had an outdoor fireplace and pergola built…the yard is stunning.  We had great food and conversation.  Rita understands most of the english we speak and she brought along a dictionary for words she needed translation for.  Smart lady! We all had a great time.

Tina’s niece is visiting from Texas and a mutual friend, Jessica was there as well.  The Mister and I both received texts from Tina to not mention Jessica’a husband..very cryptic…of course we jumped to the conclusion that he probably had an affair and they have only been married a couple of years.  Jessica left after appetizers and Tina filled us in that this was the first time that she had been out since Jessica’s husband had sent a text… “I am so sorry”.  He then went in their garage and shot himself.  We were so stunned and saddened by the news….it is just unthinkable.  We had been out with them for dinners and get togethers and Chris always seemed so full of life….they really shined together.  The worst part of this news is that Jessica had just found out that she was  pregnant and then miscarried at 5 months. I can’t imagine the pain she is going through.  How do you not just crawl in your bed and not come out? We sure have a renewed perspective on life….bills, repairs, head aches are all really nothing in the grand scheme of things. We are usually glass half full people anyway…especially the Mister, so take time to hug the people you love or make a phone call for a 30 second “I love you” or post a comment. Count your blessings and know that we love you all.

The news about the “Movie Massacre” is devastating…the media is now playing funeral music while posting pictures and names and ages of the people including a 6 year old little girl that died in the shooting. Seriously…every time they break for a commercial and every time they come back from the commercial break. Personally, I am very disturbed by this…also infuriated that some idiot took a 6 year old to a midnight movie.  The Mister always tells the boys that nothing good ever happens after midnight….mainly because that is when the crazies are out and oh my gosh was this guy crazy.  One of our government officials (D) said..”Wasn’t there just one person with a concealed weapon that could have taken this guy out?” I wish there would have been…at least then we wouldn’t have to use our tax dollars for his trial. Truly, this is a horrific tragedy…there is one story of bravery to come out of this.  There was a retired Veteran at the movie and when the first shot was fired he thought who would set of a fire cracker in a movie theater…the next bullet ricocheted off the seat next to him and hit a young girl a few seats away.  He pulled her to the ground and laid over the top of her for the next 90 seconds until the shooting stopped. He flagged down help for this young girl he didn’t know and she is expected to make a full recovery. Random acts of kindness and bravery…

On to better news….we are taking the wine makers to Red Rocks this afternoon and then to lunch at a restaurant on the banks of Bear Creek River.  Tina offered to get Rita in for a massage at Woodhouse (the spa that Tina owns) and I am getting a manicure…yea for pretty hands and friends that own spas.

I am healing well and it seems that my head ache is subsiding…knock on wood, thank you god and keep those prayers coming. I am going to continue to take it easy…although I would really like to vacuum the triple layer of mutt hair covering our floors.  I’ll save that job for the oldest…the youngest said he would prefer to clean bathrooms.  I asked the oldest to unload the dishwasher yesterday and then to put the load of laundry from the washer to the dryer.  He did all of it with no complaints and when I asked him to then pick up some items that fell on the floor he said, “I don’t know if I can do all of this for a whole month.” I said, “Oh sweetie, it’s not a month…it’s forever.  You are old enough now for these things to become your responsibilities and that way you can earn allowance.” I’m not sure that he is too thrilled about this news, but I am excited for the extra help.

The book club books that I am reading are “Still Alice” and “Cutting For Stone”. Still Alice was a quick read…a heart wrenching story of a Harvard Professor that is diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s and Cutting For Stone is a really well written story of identical twins whose mother…a nun.. dies during child birth and the doctor that delivers them takes them in to be her own.  I am only halfway through and I am enjoying every page.

The Mister wrestled with our oldest yesterday multiple times. After the last bout he came in to tell me that our guy is quite strong.  I already knew this since we were playing one day pre surgery and he almost knocked me off my feet.  I think he grew another inch as well…the top of his head was to the bridge of my nose and this morning he is mid forehead on me.  I certainly hope he is gaining height and I am not losing it.

A special “Thank You” to Uncle T and Aunti B for once again taking the boys out to dinner   and then back to their house while we entertained the wine makers.

Have a great day and God Bless.

This morning at 11am Alessandro and Rita Bocci arrive at the airport. They are husband and wife winemakers from Italy that will be with us until they fly to Chicago Tuesday morning at 6am. I’ll pick them up and then take them to their hotel and then probably go grab them for lunch. This evening we’re going to our good friends Jeff and Tina’s for a bbq. We called them last night and invited ourselves to their great house on Cheeseman Park for an impromptu party. I had to have something to do tonight and didn’t want to have them at our house as the misses would end up doing too much.

Tomorrow am the oldest has his league championship swim meet at Columbine and then I think I’ll run them up to the mountains. Monday we have a lunch and then a tasting from 5 until 7 in Boulder. Not really good timing to have them here but they’ve been in Seattle and Oregon and are headed to Chicago and we needed to fill in a couple of days.

Yesterday at 12:30 we had our first post op appointment and I’m happy to report that the misses is doing great. Aunt B and Uncle T took the boys for us and they all went to lunch at Woody’s Pizza in Golden. I think someday I’ll let them take me to Woody’s!

Of course the news of the day was the senseless shooting in the middle of the night. Not much to say about it but how sad. Now get ready for the exploitation of this tragedy by people that oppose the 2nd Amendment. No matter what side you’re on, it makes me sick that people use events like this to further their position only hours or sometimes even minutes after it happens. It’s ok to have a responsible debate on issues but as our Democratic Governor said, “we can’t let deranged people like this take away our freedoms or rights through one senseless act”. Rumor has it Obama is coming to Colorado which if so is nothing more than blatant exploitation of this tragedy for political purposes. I mean come on, what benefit is there from him coming to Denver to give a speech? I’ll bet he wouldn’t be coming if we weren’t a swing state! By 7pm every major network had their top national reporters here repeating the same stuff we heard in the morning and sensationalizing the event for ratings. 20/20, 48 Hours and other impromptu all had shows titled like “Tragedy in Aurora” Even ABC had to apologize as their top reporter said the shooter was a Tea Party member when in truth it so happens to just be a Tea Party member with the same name who is 52 years old and in no other way connected. That’s the only thing in common but noooo, they jumped all over it without the facts for ratings. It’ll be weeks before we here in Colorado can get away from having this rehashed over and over. The only thing that’ll stop it is some bad event somewhere else that they can latch onto for what they think is higher ratings. I mean do any of you want to keep seeing this crap on tv for days on end? I’ll stop now as I’m not going down this road on this day when everyone needs to pray for the victims and their families and yes, even for this sick individual.

It’s going to be 100 degrees today so I’d better run the sprinklers again. Our water and electric bills are way up this year due to increased prices and the drought.

Take care and have a great day.

Good morning.  It is a beautiful summer morning. The sky is clear blue and we have a little bird snacking out of our bird feeder.  I’m not sure what kind of bird it is…he or she is a small bird with brown, grey and white feathers. He or she seems to be enjoying the wild bird seed and our squirrel is anxiously awaiting the bird’s departure so he can have his breakfast. It is really fun to watch the squirrel (Bushy as the boys call him) maneuver his way to the top of our squirrel proof bird feeder and then do basically a front flip to land inside where he can get to the feed.  Bushy does miss once in a while and lands a perfect double flip on the ground.  Too bad there is no summer Olympics for squirrels..I thing he might have a chance at gold.

The Mister took the boys to the Swim Team spaghetti dinner last night and a couple of our friends watched the kiddos while the mister checked back on me.  Just to let you all know..I am doing quite well.  The hardest thing is not lifting anything over five pounds and not bringing my arms above my shoulders.  Especially since I have all this time to look around and see what I should have done or finished pre-op.  Oh well, I’m sure these things will still need to be done after the recovery period is over.

The Mister grilled some delicious salmon skewers last night and I think he has some yummy blue cheese burgers for this afternoon or evening. He is quite the cook.  I smell the bacon he is making for breakfast sizzling away in the kitchen.  Is there any better breakfast smell than bacon?

The oldest is already reluctantly at swim practice.  He is happy once he is in the water, but getting there at 6:45 is a tiny bit of a challenge.  His League meet is Sunday and if they make a State time we will be going to the State meet the following Saturday.

The youngest just came down stairs…he slept in today 7:17 a.m. that is about an hour later than his usual time.  His swim practice doesn’t start until 8:30 so he should be wide awake by that time.

The Mister has a lot of work to get done today.  He has a lot of work to do everyday, but with the Fall tastings in full swing he has numerous accounts to see this morning.

The house is still clean…hurray…except for the dog hair under our feet.  I think I need to invest in another Swiffer…that way we don’t have to haul the vacuum out everyday.

The Mister just brought in breakfast, so it’s time to go.

Have a great day and God Bless.

LLF

The morning started off with the boys going to swim at 6:30. At 9:30 the misses picked up the youngest and she rushed home to get the oldest and me. We then dropped each kiddo at their friends where as it turns out, they would spend the entire day. In fact, the oldest spent the night at his friends while the youngest was dropped off at home around 8pm.

The misses and I arrived at check in at the hospital right on schedule at 10:30am. By 11:15 she was in her room all hooked up to her iv and ready to go. Our friend and doctor, Christine, arrived at 12:25 for a 12:30 surgery. I was long gone by this time off to get groceries and get some work in before heading back down around 4pm.

The misses was supposed to be out by 3 but was in the OR until a little after 5pm. Christine is such a perfectionist that she always runs over. I was in the waiting room when she called me and once she knew I was a few rooms away, she just came out. The misses did great and after a few minutes Christine was off as she had another patient scheduled for surgery that she was 2 hours late for. I then ran to the store to get the misses some food and when I made it back, they let me go back into recovery. The misses was awake and doing well. Unlike years ago, they now use propohopyl (not sure if I spelled that right) which is the drug Michael Jackson used. The big advantage is that there’s no hang over meaning you don’t feel drugged when you wake up but instead, refreshed. I know this as they now use it for colonoscopies. Anyhow after monitoring her for another 90 minutes, she was allowed to get dressed and wheeled down to the car. We made it home a bit after 7:30 and got some food in her before getting her up to bed as she didn’t feel like talking to our friends that were each dropping off a kiddo.

She slept fine and the youngest stayed in his bed until around 4am when, as instructed, he came and climbed on me instead of her! I couldn’t get back to sleep as he tends to toss and turn and sleep sideways so I was up and off to the gym by 5:30. It’s now 7:30 and the misses has taken her antibiotics and pain medication and is hopefully back to sleep.

This morning I need to box some wine and make some phone calls and then tonight I’m taking the boys to the spaghetti dinner at the pool. For the kids it’s just a fun night of playing with their friends.

Our cute little patient just came down for coffee and looks pretty good! Remarkably the youngest is still sleeping. I’m sure I’ll get a call today for more money as the surgery went 2 hours over and the anesthesiologist and assistant surgeon all have clauses that they can bill extra in increments of 15 minutes if surgery runs longer than expected. Super, there’s a few grand. Oh well, it is what it is.

Thanks much to Aunt B who was on stand by all day to take the boys if needed.

Time to run, have a good day and stay safe.

Well, no comments yesterday so check this out,

27 Things That Every American Should Know About The National Debt: The U.S. government has stolen $15,876,457,645,132.66 from future generations of Americans, and we continue to add well over a hundred million dollars to that total every single day day. The 15 trillion dollar binge that we have been on over the past 30 years has fueled the greatest standard of living the world has ever seen, but this wonderful prosperity that we have been enjoying has been a lie. It isn’t real. We have been living way above our means for so long that we do not have any idea of what “normal” actually is anymore. But every debt addict hits “the wall” eventually, and the same thing is going to happen to us as a nation. At some point the weight of our national debt is going to cause our financial system to implode, and every American will feel the pain of that collapse. Under our current system, there is no mathematical way that this debt can ever be paid back. The road that we are on will either lead to default or to hyperinflation. We have piled up the biggest debt in the history of the world, and if there are future generations of Americans they will look back and curse us for what we did to them…

Say what you will about the times we live in. Any way you slice it, that’s a big number to ignore. Chew on that for the day unless you’d rather ignore it, as do most people, and think it won’t impact you. Sooner or later someone if going to have to pay the bill. The number is so freakin big that we can’t even comprehend it so we ignore it, 15 trillion dollars, try to figure out how much that is, if you do then you’ll understand. Look at this, this is $100 bills stacked up.

– The US Government spends 318,166,660,000 (~$318 billion, 166 million) per month (both portions)
– Of the total money shown above, the US Government borrows $137,083,333,333 (137 billion, 83 million) each month– shown on the right portion.

Remember that the little “square” in front of the man is $1 million dollars. .

Now if you don’t like hearing this, post some comments!

Today the misses goes in for surgery. I’ll pick her up around 5pm and hopefully have her home by 6. The youngest is going to a friends for the whole day and the oldest will be at his friends from 11 until I pick him up. Aunt B will be helping out with him when I’m gone and he’s not at his friends.

Yesterday Jennifer was over from about 10am until 7pm. Mom took all three kids to see the new Ice Age movie while I went to Vail and worked around here. It was hot again but we did get a little rain. Apparently the heat is back with temps in the high 90’s for the next 5 days or so with no rain in sight.

The youngest also had piano last night and the teacher raves about his natural ability. He does need to practice though so we need to see if Grandma will let him come up and play her piano. I was oblivious to him even starting piano but playing any instrument can only be good.

Time to run as I have lots to do this morning. Oh yea, I almost forgot, the swim team coach emailed yesterday and the oldest had the 3rd fastest freestyle time and has made the league relay team for the state championships! He was thrilled and is all pumped to get back to swim practice starting at 6:30 sharp this morning. We’re thrilled and proud of him. Not so much proud for making the team but for how he handled the disappointment of not making it a few days ago!

Take care and say a prayer for the misses around 11:30 Pacific Time. She should be out by 2pm PST or 3 our time.

God Bless,

Ok, no comments yesterday, what happened to everyone sending in a recipe? We can’t live on prickly pear tequila alone! Come on people or I’m going back to politics.

I’m off to Vail this morning and Mom and the boys will pick up Jennifer around 10am for the day. I’m trying to get things all wrapped up so I can take care of the misses for the next few days after her surgery tomorrow. The youngest has agreed that if he has a bad dream, he’s going to come in and crawl in on my side so he doesn’t bother Mom. Lucky Dad!

We’re waiting for our new bed to arrive at the local Marriott Hotel. It’s been ordered and now we just have to wait for it to come in. I don’t know if you remember but we ordered it, at Marriott’s cost, through our friends who own over 200 hotels. I’m not going into prices or anything but you wouldn’t believe the mark up on mattresses! It’s literally pennies on the dollar which is great otherwise we couldn’t afford it. We’re so excited as we’ve been needing a new bed for years. Too bad it’s not here today so the misses could enjoy her recovery in it.

The house is still pretty clean except for a rug of dog hair from Lacey the lab. It rained some yesterday and is supposed to again today before the mid 90’s are back tomorrow. It won’t be long until the cold weather and snow arrive but everyone is anxiously awaiting it including our lawns.

I need to leave in an hour but should be back in Denver by noon. Mom just came down but she’s not sure if the oldest is going to swim practice or not. The youngest is kicking a summer cold so he’ll stay home. Time for me to run so have a great day and we’ll keep you posted on the misses tomorrow.

Lots going on this week, Boulder today, Vail tomorrow, the misses at the docs all day Wednesday, the spaghetti dinner Thursday and something else Friday before winemakers from Italy arrive Saturday! Then next week is worse!

The oldest missed getting into the swim league championships by .15 of a second yesterday. He was really bummed and frankly should have made it but they have parents as volunteer timers and the lady missed his hand touching at least 2 seconds before she stopped her clock. I explained that life isn’t always fair and that we were really proud of him as he had better times every week. Still not much of a consolation to a 10 year old that wanted to go to league.

We made it home by about 11am and then proceeded to clean the house. The misses started upstairs and I hit the basement. About 4 hours later we met in the living room as we finished up. We had some great king salmon with mustard and dill for dinner and then the boys headed back outside to play. Finally we rounded them up at 8:45 and we all hit the hay.

There was a show on tv yesterday about people who survived disasters like plane crashes, house fires, tsunami’s and other disasters. It was interesting as it had all these PH D’s on saying it does no good to try to appeal to people by scaring them in what the future might bring but rather to educate them on how to be prepared because somebody has to be the person things happen to. For example, while everyone agrees there are not a lot of house fires, it’s important to know that most happen between 10pm and 6am and at any given time there are 300 people in our country in one. So the point is to actually practice fire drills as a family such as deciding what to do, where you meet and how to get out. They say simple steps such as even thinking and talking about it can help you should disaster strike. Then they made the analogy to the economy potentially crashing and yes, recommended going out and buying extra food and water, ah ha, so there you have it! Don’t do it because you’re scared the economy will crash, do it because if by a small chance it does, you’ll need food and water to survive. Does this make sense? I don’t know but they say that people in general all have this “it’ll never happen to me” attitude. They say don’t be so sure as the people disasters strike never thought “it’d happen to me”. Take it for what it is, it was an interesting program as it dealt more with the human brain and how we think of these things. Nobody thinks it’ll happen to them but the point is it has to happen to somebody. In closing this was not about living in fear but rather in being prepared as when were under stress we revert to what we know and have practiced whether in our mind or in actual practice. Enough said.

Ok, I’m skiping politics today to give you all a break. It’s just so nauseating, I can’t do it. It’s almost 7 and everyone is sleeping. The boys will continue to go to swim team even though they have no more meets but today we’re giving them a break.

Have a good week and go do some summer or fall cleaning like we did, its a great feeling, we should do it more than once every 10 years!

God Bless,

Here’s a comment from Aunt B,

Here’s a comment from Aunt Robi,