So the puppy went for his first haircut since joining our family (my parents gave him is very first haircut shortly before we took ownership). He's a brand-new dog! Before, he was a small-ish black and tan puppy. Two hours later, he's a more grown up, gray with black and beige highlights almost teenage doggie. Sniff. Our baby is growing up.
Here's before (Christmas Day):
and after (New Years Day):
Okay, don't have a heart attack. I finally put some of the wedding photos up in the Photo Gallery! It's amazing what a full free day will let you get done! :)
These are only the photos from my camera over the wedding weekend. Still to come are photos from the instant cameras, photos from Bill's camera, and the professional photos.
If you see any photos that you would like a print of, drop me a line (or leave a comment with your email address) and I'll either make a print of it for you, or send you the original file. :)
Oh, and feel free to comment on the photos themselves - the Gallery software should allow you to do that. Let me know if you have problems doing that.
Introducing the newest member of our family:
Isn't he the cutest?? Clicking on the photos leads to a gallery showcasing nothing but him. It's late now, but I plan on adding captions to all the photos tomorrow. And sometime in the next week I will be putting together a similar gallery of wedding photos and then one for honeymoon photos.
Enjoy!
Apparently the odds of two right handed parents having a left handed child is 9.5% (According to this article.)
So what do you suppose the odds are that two right handed parents would have 3 left handed childern?? Only one of the four of us is right handed.
I read that and I was astounded. The article mentions a variety of possible reasons for handedness (genetics, brain damage (very old discounted theory), environment, etc), and one of them is trying to mimic the parents. So what if I was the statistical anomoly and the other two brothers were just trying to mimic me?? That's plausible, right? ;)
Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad! Here's to another 33 of putting up with each other loving years of marriage. :)
LOVE YOU! See you soon....
Update: um....that's tomorrow. Oops.
I handed in my resignation at work today. Being that it's Germany, I have to give three months notice at the quarter begin, so my last day at work will be around 30.6.2005. I say around because I might have some vacation days leftover until then and use them at the end.
I also have to give three months notice for the apartment, so I'll be calling & sending a letter to my landlord (Vermieter) tomorrow. The only things official left to do is write T-Online to cancel my internet, close my savings account at the bank, and call the movers for a date.
I'm moving to be with my babe, my honey, my fiance. :) Dallas, here I come!
I nearly missed this. Okay, by my time his birthday was yesterday, but it's STILL his birthday by his time, so I didn't really miss it.
Happy Birthday Bill!
I promise your birthday will be much better next year! Promise. :)
Thank you for all the well wishes. Grandma is doing well, she goes in surgery in an hour to have a stent placed in her heart. I'm hoping and praying all goes well there.
Update (16:50): She's in post-op now, everything looks good. Thanks again for the well wishes. I'm so relieved.
Now I can do more fire putting out and bug searching/fixing with a clear heart. No, work hasn't gotten better. ARRGHHHG!
I was just telling one of my co-workers that I found out last night my Dad's mother - Grandma W - is in the hospital. They think she had a couple of mini-strokes, but Dad said she sound good on the phone. I'm going to call her today.
Anyway, the point is, in the course of telling my co-worker, I realized it's been almost exactly a year since Grandma T. passed away.
For some reason, that just hit me really hard. Caught me up short and I had to go in the bathroom for a minute.
On a much happier note, a year ago last weekend Bill and I were in Barcelona. That was a lovely trip and one of my best memories.
I spoke with Bill on the phone Wednesday night. He's in Dallas trying to get all settled in - finding an apartment, learn his way around, etc. He sounded soo happy! I think we're both relieved that he's finally able to get on with his life again - new job, new town, etc. The time with his son was great, but four months not working and not knowing when you'll find work wears on you.
My man has a job offer! Woo! They're stilll checking his references, but will be Fed-Ex'ing the package on Tuesday and his start date is two weeks from now. I was so happy when he told me, I started crying. It felt like this huge weight had been lifted off my chest - and I didn't even know it was there.
Bill's excited about the opportunity. They'll be sending him to tech training for a month and then he'll be assigned to a senior tech for 3-4 months after that. And the pay is good. We're both so happy and glad something finally came through. :)
Yippee! Woo hoo!
I'm bummed. My man needs a job. He's been looking for four months (stateside, longer including the time he was looking while still here) and other than a couple of little nibbles, nada. Nix. Zip.
Anybody know a company in OK/TX looking for a hard working, dependable guy doing sysadmin or tech support work? Please?
I downloaded my photos last night, and after sending this photo to my mom (who's been itching to see it), I now present to the world my engagement ring:
I've promised Mom a better close-up later. It's very pretty - one diamond in the middle of a band of several smaller diamonds. I'm very happy with Bill's choice & can't stop looking at it. I am so in love with my fiance! (I have to keep training myself to call Bill my fiance instead of my boyfriend. LOL!)
Happy New Year Everybody! I'm in NJ now, visiting with Bill & his family.
Bill & I rang in the New Year "down the shore" in Atlantic City. We had a lovely dinner in the Historic Smithville Inn and then went out on the boardwalk for the actual New Years count down. Right at midnight Bill turned me to him and asked "Do you promise to love me forever?" Yes! "Will you look after my little boy?" Yes! A few other silly loving questions later, he got down on one knee and said "Well then, will you be my wife?"
Yes yes yes yes!!! YES!
I'm engaged! We're engaged! We're in love & we're happy & we'll be together for a very long time. :-)
Pictures have been been taken of me, Bill & the ring (very lovely, very nice). However, I can't download & upload it here, so I'll do that later. Maybe tomorrow from Janine's.
High pitched girlie squeal!! I love my man!
I'm travelling to the US to visit family & friends & my man (!) starting next week Tuesday. Thinking about the trip has me thinking a lot about the last time I took this trip two years ago. I've lived in Germany for almost three years, and this will be my third trip back to the States. In 2002 I went home for nearly three weeks at Christmas time, doing the exact opposite of this trips plan. In 2003 I didn't go home at all. This year I went to the States in March for my Grandma T's funeral and now I'm heading "home" for two weeks of Christmas cheer.
As I said, this trip has me thinking a lot about the last trip. Last time I visited friends, heck, she's practically family, in NJ for a few days and then continued on to Florida for the rest of the time. This time it's opposite. I'm travelling first to Florida for a week and then visiting Bill at the "in-laws" and Janine in NJ.
Last time I went to NJ for a very special reason. First, I lived there for five years & wanted to see my friends. Second, my friend Donna was very very sick. I was afraid if I waited until another trip to visit her, or wait for her planned trip to Europe the next year, I wouldn't get to see her again. She had cancer and it was bad. I really really wanted to see her. I stayed with her & Janine for about three days. Even though Donna & I didn't do much together on that trip - she was staying mostly in bed at this point - it was great seeing her at Christmas time and being with her. Janine & Lisa swear she brightened up for those three days and did a lot better while I was there. I glad I brightened up her life. She was like a second mother to me.
Okay, I didn't mean to get all maudlin. I was going to write about Janine, Erik, and my trip into NYC two years ago - that's the big "got lost in Queens" story, Shelby - but I got sidetracked. I miss Donna. Travelling back to the States at Christmas time & all the crocheting I've been doing lately has me thinking about her - she encouraged my crocheting, gave me tips, and in fact, gave me the hooks I'm using now. Sorry, Janine, I know you're missing her too and this post will just make it worse.
I'm off to crochet some more before bed. I need to see if I need to buy more yarn tomorrow for this one project.
God bless you Donna. Love you.
Yesterday was filled with cleaning, shopping, waiting for the guy to come & read my water heater numbers, shopping, and crocheting. I finally found something to give my father for Christmas - he is so hard to find gifts for. I also stocked up on the German chocolates to give to family & friends. Oh, my, Goodness. Chocolate adds up! The lady looked at me really funny when she told me my total was almost a 100 Euro. Okay, the chocolates were only about 75 Euro of it.
Okay, on to the rest of the questions.
Of the group of baby fishies I reported on awhile ago, I thought I only had one survivor. I didn't always see him, in fact I didn't see him for almost two weeks, but he was there. I was getting used to looking for him among the plastic plants. Yesterday I realized I had two! One of them was really good at hiding for the last month. It might even be three, I can't tell. They move fast and they're good at blending into the plants.
Today I did some more cleaning in the tank and thought I saw a new baby! Sure enough, I came back later & there's a whole new school of baby fishies! So I uprooted more of the plants & wished them luck. I hope the older babies teach them their hiding tricks. :)
Maybe I should cloudy up the water more often - they seem to like to use the cloudy water to give birth. A couple of mama's look like they're going to burst!
While you are all waiting for me to update my blog with pictures from Zurich, go visit Bill's Prague photo entry. Even though I'm featured heavily, there are still lots of lovely photos from our trip there. ;)
Oh, and I'm doing okay. I'm wearing the ankle brace I got from the first foot doctor visit at the beginning of the year and it's helping loads. I have an appt to see my doctor on Wednesday.
Sorry it's been quiet. Lots of work, little sleep, lots of crocheting, no blogging. But, I promise many entries this weekend. At least two.
Bill sent me a care package! Full of all kinds of goodies!
Let's see....I got
Reese's Swoops
the book Shadowmancer
Tortilla chips
two throw rugs
a cute card
peanuts
some magazines
I have the best boyfriend in the world! :)
I have baby fishies! I saw at least five of them this evening. They're small, but not newborn small which means they were born sometime in the last two-three days. Which also means I probably flushed/watered my plants with a few of them while I was cleaning the tank yesterday.
How was I supposed to know a mommy would decide to have babies finally? I've had fat female fish - at least three - for months now! I mean 2-3 months. I read that these guppies have a gestation of 28-40 days, so that's plenty of time to give birth.
I tried to take photos Mom, but they're not turning out. Lots of crisp clear fish tank rocks and blurred water/indistinct fish. Sorry.
Today my littlest brother (who is taller than me, they all are), turns 20. One more year before he can legally drink those good German beers. Er, in the States that is. :)
Happy Birthday little brother! :) I hope you have a good one.
If you have a dog [sniff, I will eventually], then you must check out Lab Tested. The owner of a 5 month old Lab writes up reviews of toys and other doggie products that Starbuck comes in contact with. The write ups are very laugh worthy. [hat tip: Instapundit]
A major case of missing my babe just came on. And I'm lightheaded for some reason and it's bed time. Guten Nacht.
Bill's plane took off about 20 minutes ago. :sniff: I went with him to airport and stayed with him until the security check. I even watched to make sure he made it through there okay. Then I couldn't see him anymore. :( So I made my way home.
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Poor Bill - he got the third degree at the ticket counter. They were doing security question pre-screening. I was asked to step aside because I wasn't flying and they didn't want me to influence his answers or something. Most people got the standard three questions: Did you pack your bags yourself? Are you carrying any knives/explosives/box cutters? Have your bags been with you the entire time? Bill got: Are you in the military? (No.) Are you working for a company that works for the military? (I was.) Hmmm....why do you have a military ticket? (Oh, I'm retired and moving back to the States.) Are you moving permenantly (looking at valid residency permit)? (Yes.) And a lot more questions. He passed though.
The flight was overbooked so they were looking for 10 volunteers to stay overnight - free hotel, $500 voucher, transportation to and from airport. Nice deal but Bill has an appointment with a little boy who hasn't seen Dada in two months.
After we shared a quick breakfast I left him at the security check. He went through the whole rigamorol there too. He's transporting the coins he's been collecting while over here (the shippers wouldn't ship them), so his carry on was a big orange blob on the x-ray machine. Bill had to completely unpack his carry on. That was included in the hand wand sweep and the removing of shoes (they were making practically everybody do that).
Bill is now safely on his way back to the US. My travel Pluto is accompanying him to keep him safe. :) And he's got a small bag of snacks, a Bill Bryson book, and a lovely journal with pen to keep him occupied on the plane.
I'm going to soo miss him. He fit into my life and apartment so well these last two months. It was so natural to have him here. We're going to keep in touch by email and phone. And we'll see each other at Christmas. And sometime in the next year we'll be back together if everything works out. One step at a time.
Our Thanksgiving Dinner yesterday was a lovely success.
The table before the guests arrived:
And then with the dinner on it:
Everything on the table, including it, is new in the last year. Guess that's what happens when you find somebody you want to settle down with. :)
In any case, Stefan, Simone, Sandra, Bill and I had a lovely dinner. Everybody said the food was delicious! And since they all took seconds, we can believe them. Simone was very impressed with my baking skills until I told her the apple pie was a frozen pie. She was still impressed, but that burst her bubble. After we finished dinner and digested a little we played a very cutthroat game of
Parcheesi.
Today I brought the leftovers in to work and shared them with my team. We had enough leftovers for all five of us to have a comfortably light meal. One of my colleague said it's a shame Americans don't have more feasts like Thanksgiving. That was nice of him.
So, a wonderful success all around and all because Bill is a wonderful cook! :D
I found the perfect Christmas present today for one of my nieces! I'm just bursting with happiness and joy about how she'll react to it. I had to tell somebody (I think Bill's tired of hearing about it), but I didn't want to tell anybody any specifics. So I'm blogging about it. I can't wait to give it to her.
Yes, you read the headline correctly and no, I haven't time travelled a month ahead of time. :)
When my parents helped me buy my new dining room table (see here and here), they made me promise to have a dinner party with it soon after it arrived. So, in honor of that, and because Bill is leaving next weekend (sniff, sniff), I invited my work friends over for dinner this Wednesday. And since Bill won't be here for Thanksgiving, he decided we'd do Thanksgiving Dinner then. On Wednesday at least five, maybe six of us will be sitting down to a big turkey and all the fixings dinner.
Since I also bought new dishes while my parents were here, I have enough dinnerware for us to eat on. Which brought up the question of silverware. I have silverware for four people that was given to me while I was in college. And pieces are missing from it. Ack! I've been looking around at silverware for the last year, but deciding on a pattern/manufacture/style is not easy, and then deciding to spend 100-400Euro on a set isn't easy either. However, this week Bill asked me if he could buy me new silverware. Awww! Isn't he the sweetest?? I talked him down to paying half. Anyways, he's going to use it too, right? :D
We went shopping today and after looking at all the patterns and styles, we ended up both deciding on the same pattern. Really, Bill wasn't just agreeing with me, he liked it too! They had the big set for 12 with serving spoons on sale for almost half the regular price and, today only, 10% off the purchase. Woo hoo! Still, it was 450Euro all together. Ouch. But, I like it. A LOT. And now we don't have to ask for silverware on our registry (um, should it ever get to that point). :D And, we now have enough silverware for our Thanksgiving Dinner party.
Here's the silverware:
I finally got through to my older brother this evening and then just now my mom! :) Woohoo! I knew they were okay, but it was a relief to talk to them. Highlights of the conversation:
So, I'm glad everybody is okay. :)
Bill and I leave in the morning for Prague. We're busy doing our last minute packing now. Oh, we found a hotel the other night. Nothing exotic like a convent/secret police hotel, but a nice smallish corporate 3 star hotel. This trip is almost completely on-the-wing. I haven't hardly read up much on the city and have no idea what the main sites to see are, but we'll figure it out! I just know it's a cool European city and I'm going there with my babe!
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I called my parents this evening because I saw that the edge of the state is just starting to get hit with the edge of Hurricane Frances. Mom says that it's just starting to rain there, but nothing bad yet. Apparently the road has cleared up to Jacksonville and now some people are starting to hang out on the beach. Lol....crazy people. Speaking of crazy people - my parents are going to be crazy by the time this is over with. My brother, his wife, their three kids, two birds, dog and hamster have moved in for the weekend. [My niece Emilie says, they're vactioning at Grandma & Grandpa's. Cute, huh?] This adds to my parents dog and five birds. It sounded like a three ring circus! I just have to say I'm glad I'm not there! :)
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I'd asked Bill to ask his son what was the craziest thing he'd seen since moving back to the States. Bill asked him tonight. The answer? Tarantula's on the highway. Well, I wasn't expecting that! It's certainly crazy though. Of course, he's a little boy obsessed with bugs and creepy crawlies, so I suppose it's not unexpected that he would notice that.
Well, I'll probably blog a bit this weekend if we find an internet cafe. Otherwise, see you Tuesday!
According to this CNN article my parents house is directly in the path of Hurricane Frances' landfall. Brevard County has started a voluntary evacuation.
In reality, the hurricane can land anywhere from Maimi to South Carolina, but the most likely is Central Florida. I wasn't really worried -- come on, how many hurricanes have passed their house in the last 10 years despite the predictions?? -- but last night I got a look at the thing on the weather forecast. Now I'm starting to worry. :(
Update: This is a neat probabilities for landfall breakout on the National Hurricane Center Weather Prediction website.
Update 2: MyWeatherGuide - a weather blog covering the hurricane. Another: WeatherUSA.net Blog.
Update 3: Cool NASA photos of Hurricane Frances
Update 4: WeatherBug's Frances blog
Poor Bill - I wore him out with his house boy chores. ;)
Seriously though, he looked so adorable sleeping like this, I had to take a picture. Awwww.
Who needs a maid when you have a live-in houseboy? ;)
Just kidding, this was Bill's idea :D
My parents left yesterday. It was really nice having them here. Yes, I'm happy to have my place back and my computer back, but it was nice having somebody to come home to.
Last night I came home to the fishies (no babies yet although the Shirmpie is still out in the open), read some of my book and fell asleep waiting for Bill to call. After Bill called, I went to bed and slept until Mom called at 5am to say they got in okay. And then I slept some more. :) I was tired.
Off to work.
While I was out at work today (and working extra late to finish a project before my vacation tomorrow), my Mom and Dad made some improvements to my house. They bought me some balcony pots with flowers, re-arranged my porch (moved the Papasan chair out there that I was thinking of getting rid of but now I think I'll keep), and hung up more pictures. They hung up some pictures yesterday and just put the finishing touches on things today. All the pictures were mine already, I just didn't put them up - having to buy or borrow a drill to hang pictures just takes the fun out of it. Plus, I can never decide where I want things, so they just usually end up hanging around until Mom or Dad comes for a visit. Then they make lots of suggestions that sound good, so we implement them and my house looks nicer. :)
Don't I have nice parents? :D
Okay, my parent's travel log is started. Click here to check it out. Keep in mind, it's just starting so their Links sidebar is still in template mode. However, please DO leave a comment, Mom's feeling depressed since nobody's commenting on my blog and nobody is emailing her at the email address I set up for them here.
Okay, everybody. I'm back, well rested, getting things accomplished at work, and tanked up on affection from Bill. So, on to the long overdue update and recap of Grandma T's visit/health/funeral.
First off, Mom, Dad, Joe and I already had tickets to go visit Grandma T at the end of the month - ideally, I would have left yesterday for that visit. I discovered that it's MUCH easier to get a German driver's license if you trade in a Michigan driver's license, so I used that as a spring board to convince Mom to join me there on a visit. We hadn't seen Grandma T in a while - about five years for me, eight years for the rest of the family. Mom talked to her at least once a month and wrote her letters to keep her abreast of what was going on. Mom had started discussing the possibility of Grandma moving to Florida so she could keep an eye on her. We knew she was getting older, and starting to have the problems older people have. She was still living in the house Mom finished growing up in. All by herself. And even though she was very active in her politics and church, Mom was starting to get worried about how she was keeping up. So we were going to visit, see how she was doing, possibly start working on the process of moving her to Florida, visit other family in the area, change my license, maybe do some sight seeing.
Boy did those plans change! A few weeks after we finalized our plans, we found out Grandma T was in the hospital. Possibly because she'd had a stroke, nobody was sure. So Mom started having twice daily calls to her doctor's. Eventually we figured out she DID have a stroke. But that was okay, she was going through therapy and probably wouldn't be home until our planned visit anyway. Then she got jaundiced. After a couple of days and more tests, it was determined that she most likely had Pancreatic cancer and it had mastasized to her liver. She had a couple of options - surgery, chemo, etc., but a blood clot on her leg, concerns for her quality of life and her own wishes negated those options. She just wanted to come home and live her life peacefully. But she was definitely going to need help. And she was now going to be coming home before our visit. So Mom went up two weeks early and started preparing Grandma's house for her coming home. A week later - two weeks ago today - the ambulance brought Grandma home. She talked with the nurse who came by to help settle her in. A couple of friends brought by a fish dinner for her and Mom. They chatted a while and left. Mom went to go watch TV for a couple of hours. When she came back, Grandma was gone. She lasted nearly 12 hours after she came home. She came home to make peace and be comfortable in her house of nearly forty years.
Mom woke me up at 7am my time and told me Grandma had just passed. Immediately I got on the phone trying to change my ticket. I had to be with my Mommy. And have that last bit of closure. I arrived Sunday evening, my Dad got there Saturday evening. And the next week was a whirlwind. We had to go through everything in the house - find photos of her for the funeral, an outfit for the funeral, papers, start cleaning the house, figuring out the rules of her estate, etc. And of course there was the viewing - two days - and then the funeral.
I'll write more about the last week and a half later. I'm going to go veg in front of the TV with my new DVD's - Season One of Roswell and Nikita.
Hi all, I'm back. Thanks for the thoughts and prayers and good wishes.
I have soo much to blog now. But I'm at work now (yes, I went right in to work), so I'll write about it later.
Mom called me this morning around 7am. Grandma T passed away late yesterday evening. She'd just come home from the hospital yesterday. I guess she waited until she was in familiar surroundings. I hope she is feeling better now where she is.
I'm flying to be with Mom tomorrow morning. Dad's flying up this afternoon. No word yet on when her funeral will be.
God bless you Grandma. You lived a full life, outlived two husbands and a son, and helped our family when we really needed it. Be happy.
Okay, I couldn't resist. One more photo and it's bed time. I did not have to manipulate this one at all, just crop the table out. :) She is just too cute! I love her eyes. Yes, I'm a proud Auntie.
This is my niece Emilie and my mom's dog Squire (a white miniture Schnauzer). This little miss will not speak a word to me when I'm there in person. However, it's been about 10 months since I've seen her in person, so maybe things will have changed when I finally see her again (latest at Christmas time).
Doesn't this just crack you up? This is my nephews, the next to youngest niece, and my Dad (obviously getting dripped on). They're all soo cute.
A small warning: my mother has bought a digital camera and has started sending me photos, so I'll more than likely be posting a few of them. I love my nieces and nephews and they're soo cuute.
We've just discovered Grandma has cancer. That's what's wrong with her liver. And pancreas. It's metastasized (which means it's growing). Her doctor has given her maximum a year, more likely three to six months. She has options (surgery, chemo), but Mom's not sure if she'll want to take them.
I'll/We'll know more when Mom gets up there and can talk with Grandma and her doctors in person.
I think I mentioned last week that my Grandma T had a stroke and was in the hospital. She's doing okay. They're concerned about her gallbladder now - she's jaunticed. But her church lady's come by to visit, the Father has been by, and her boyfriends too. Yes, boyfriends. We only knew about Charlie, her friend of at least fifteen years, but he and Bob were visiting last time Mom called. Go Grandma! :)
In any case, our family is trying to figure out how we can help Grandma from here on. She's more than likely going to need help. We're floating various schemes: one of us moving in with Grandma, selling her house and moving her in with Mom and Dad, etc. Right now it's all speculation. We'll have to see how she is doing, and what SHE wants to do, when we go to visit at the end of the month. Mom might go up before then, depending on how she's doing.
God bless you Grandma.
