We're Back in the Saddle Again...

On the road to recovery, that is!
I went in on Monday for my surgery follow up. I waited about 40 minutes in the waiting room, about 5 minutes in the office, Dr. Kontny came in-ripped the tape off of my stitches, asked if I was feeling better and if I think we "had" it. Told me I could eat anything now and...off I went. Two minutes-okay, maybe 5. Better than the alternative!
Dan is slowly working his way back into his regular schedule. He is putting different tires on his new "project" right now. His new project is a 1996 Jeep Cherokee-RED! It is going to be his new fish-getter.
Mallory has had a "sick" tummy the past few days. She was home on Monday and back at school yestarday and today. School is going well. She has been keeping busy playing her Nintendo DS-Nintendogs. Dan took the kids fishing last night and they had fun playing by the marsh down by Harvey's trailer park. They found lots of snail shells, saw two whooping cranes, two Mallard ducks, and lots of geese.
Christian continues to amaze me with his "canny" comments. Right now, his latest is telling us what we should do around the house. "Mommy, you should really put those books away." "Mommy, you should do the laundry." "Mommy, you should really clean up that stuff." And he's right, but it stinks when your four year old is telling YOU what needs to be done. He is still loving preschool and has a new friend, Jude. Since Jude wasn't in school today, he played with Espen. He is enjoying getting outside these past few days and riding his bike. Yestarday, Heather was not feeling well so he went to Judy's. He missed going over there and had a great time.
Business has been very busy or maybe it is just because I've been down and out for so long. We did hire a new Service Writer. Her name is Joan Samanas. She is learning very well and for starting a few days before all of my issues started, I give her credit for even sticking in here!
Off to play volleyball tonite!

This little piggy...

Mallory's play was this past Friday at St. Paul's School. She had a few special lines along with her friend Haley. Above, she poses with her friends, Abigail Hackbarth and Shayane Anderson. Shayane was the cow that wouldn't "moooo." It was a very Mooooving play and we all had a swine time!

Hannah came again this weekend to help out with the kids. I don't know where we'd be without her!

Dan's back is slowly getting better (definitely muscle related and better now if he keeps moving). My butterfly stitches still have not fallen off and I'm getting really close to ripping them off myself! I just want to be "normal" again! I do recommend getting your gall bladder removed if you want a great diet plan. Between that and my allergy to fresh fruits, my McDonalds menu available to my eating without the two "d's" (death and diarreha) is now a shake, a GRILLED chicken sandwich, a side salad, and pies! Not such a bad thing if you really think about it!

We are off to Madison to do a tow job and try to catch up with our household supplies from the past 3 weeks! Spring...here we come!

Who needs a gall bladder, anyways?!?

So it has been quite some time since I've had a chance to update. There is lots to tell and not much time because if I don't hurry up, my stack of work will collapse and then I'll really be in trouble!
Not this past Friday, but the one before, I started having some major pains in my right side just under my ribs. Dan took me to the Watertown ER for a quick checkover and 5 hours later, we went home with the knowledge that they really didn't know for sure, but they thought I had an ovarian cyst rupture and that there was some "unknown" fluid that was probably due to the cyst. Oh by the way, I had 2 small gall stones. Spare all the details, it wasnt' better and I finally found a Primary doctor, went to see Dr. Stephanie Nottestad in Cambridge on Wednesday. She sent me to the surgeon at the Fort Atkinson clinic. He checked me out, read the reports, and scheduled my surgery to have my gall bladder removed.
Thursday morning, I went in at about 9:30. At about 11:15, went down for surgery. About1:00, returned to my room. Hung out for just over an hour, left a present in the lobby before I left (the Vicodin didn't sit very well on top of the anestesia), and was home by about 3:30, one less organ in my body! (oh by the way...the fluid they saw last Friday was bile.)
By Saturday morning, I was off the Vicodin, just taking ibuprofen.
Saturday night, what seemed like a pulled muscle in Dan's back, made him incompacitated. What a pair we were on Sunday! So Sunday, Dan was down and out for the day. Monday, he could at least WALK. Off to Dr. Nottestad we went and boy, the pharmacy is really liking us at this point...muscle relaxers and MORE...Vicodin!! Tada! He went to see our friend Jennifer Jeschke who is a physical therapist who got the honor of kicking the living tar out of him (okay, it just felt like it!).
Here we are today. Wednesday, March 7. I'm getting back on track (have been working half days since Monday), and Dan is slowly making his way around-in fact just got back from loading up a car. (Don't tell our insurance agent!)
The kids are angels and though they've felt the stress a bit, they are doing outstanding!
Our very special list of THANKS:

Kathy Selck for the yummy lasagna.
Hannah Hinrichs for her time and abilities with the kids Friday and Saturday.
Shelli Roedl for being my drug deliverer and for her time hanging out with us.
Stephanie Bartels for a delicious soup and fixin's.
Jon Hendricks & Josh Ramsey for covering for Dan.
My mom for helping out with the kids...
and endless thanks to Cliff & Vi for EVERYTHING they do...lemon cake, slimfast, taking the kids on Sunday,
and everyone else for phone calls and prayers!

I don't know where we would be without everyone else's time and talents.
Until next time...

An Ode to Shelli!

She is a friend of mind. She gather me, man. The pieces I am, she gather them and give them back to me in all the right order. It's good, you know, when you got a woman who is a friend of your mind.

~Toni Morrison, Beloved

Shelli Roedl. A girl who came into our lives what seems like yestarday, but was when Mallory was 3 (about 4 years ago). A girl who God has called to help us on this place we call Earth. From offering her time to her talents, she never ceases to give. She doesn't expect not one thing in return. She has an uncanny way of knowing just what to do and when. Shelli, you amaze me. Babysitter. Friend. Next best thing to family. Co-worker. Dog-sitter. The list goes on and and on. If you would ask me where I would be without her, I'd have to point you to a gutter on some cold street. Honestly. Shelli has blessed us in ways she will never know. I have received notes and not responded. E-mails that I read, but didn't have time to write back. Yet Shelli has time. She somehow makes it and always comes through. There are qualities in Shelli that would make her elgible for a Nobel award. Though the days may be numbered before she pops open her umbrella-much like that of Mary Poppins-and has to catch the wind off to her next mission of life, I am thankful to have her in our lives. The kids adore her. She has that special touch that makes them melt in her hand. A bond that will never be broken and grows each and every day. So I thank God each day for gifts such as these. Thank you for helping me keep it together and for being there when I fall apart! Life is more meaningful with you in it. May God bless you and keep you. May he make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May he look on you with favor and give you peace!

Happy Valentine's Day...

4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

When we remember where love comes from, it has a whole different meaning than the one the world would like us to submit to! For all we have been through and all that we yet will endure, we wouldn't be without God's love and mercy.

I've been reading a book for quite sometime now: Ordinary Mom, Extraordinary God: Encouragement to Refresh Your Soul by Mary E. DeMuth. It is a woman who writes short excerpts about her life as a mom and she relates scripture or some analogy to her life experiences. It isn't one of those that is surreal, it is just a real life mom that knows that she falls short so many times, including some mentioning of fears of how she was raised and how that might effect how she is raising her own three children.

It is very inspiring and I've been thinking a lot how so many things do have a deeper meaning as long as we are willing and able to take an extra moment to take it all in. So if you are looking for a great book and don't have a whole lot of time to read, I'd suggest this book!

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day and we're pretty excited at our house! Christian got Batman Valentine's and Mallory wrote out her two different kind (Cars for boys, Princess for girls). I am helping out Mallory's class party at 2pm. Then volleyball times two at night so that isn't exactly romantic, but it will be a fun night out getting some exercise!

Well I must go get some work done here at the shop. I'm only about a week behind this month!lol

PS-The new Toshiba TV joined our household of electronics this past Sunday. Nothing fancy and it sounds funny, not to mention the dual remote situation-one for cable, one for power & volume!! Isn't there a movie about the perfect remote that runs everything (Click, maybe?) Gotta get one of those!

Down & Out

It has been awhile now since Mom (me) has been sick. Well...it started coming on on Sunday and laid me flat out for a full DAY on Monday. Tuesday I was able to peel myself up enough to take some Dayquil-thanks to my local "dealer," and that kept me going through the day. Wednesday came and whoa momma...back on track and no sooner than 3:30 am! All that sleep and my body said NOOO more! Brady woke me up and my day began! As my mom always said, I might be burning the candle at both ends, but that's what us moms do!

Luckily, everyone else in our house has been healthy. We have been having a time deciding on whether to send Christian to Kindergarten next year, being young for his age and a boy and all. Our meeting was on Monday (I think Mrs. Voigt must've thought the cat dragged me in) to go over how he is doing in school. Although she said she would support if we did decide to hold him one more year, she thinks he's good and ready for kindergarten. My baby is going into kindergarten next school year. Reality strikes. Mrs. Voigt and Mrs. Maahs are the best and she had so many wonderful things to say about Christian and how he does at school. One of those proud parent moments, I guess.

March seems to be a packed month for us and February is quickly filling itself up as well. It is hard to find time to get it all straight! Two weddings, an industry expo show, spring break, and a Chamber of Commerce long term planning meeting at Mt. Olympus in the Dells. Umm...calgon?

We haven't even set our New Year's Goals yet...
AND...STILL NO TV!

Winter Wonderland...finally!

Well, we finally got what we've been asking for! SNOW!! The kids (Mal, Christian, & Brady) and I had lots-o-fun playing in the snow today. One especially funny moment was when I was pulling Christian on the sled and Brady ran up and grabbed the rope with his teeth. At first I yelled at him, but he persisted and went on PULLING Christian around the yard on the sled. Hillarious! I was a little slow on the draw with the video camera (no $10,000 grand prize on American's Funniest for me this time). Oh well...our wonderful neighbors, the Brigg's (Sierra, Dawson shown above) joined us and we just ran and played in the park. The kids bombarded us with snowballs and Brady tackled Michelle! Or I mean Michelle tackled Brady!! To top the fun off, we went in and warmed up with hot cocoa!

After the warm up, we headed off to Sullivan for a Wedding Shower for our friend Kyle Lehr and his soon to be wife, Cara. Dan will be the best man and I am going to read in the wedding. I found out that I actually get to prepare something to read. I'm quite excited about that!

Last night we had the Hinrichs over for our annual Christmas celebration. It was great to spend time together, though the time seems to go all too fast. Even Jon, who I started babysitting for when he was 6 mos. old-was able to make it down from Minnesota where he is going to college. And NO, I don't feel old! I just feel blessed!

Friday night we went out with our friends, Lenny and Corrine Raupp. It had been WAAAY too long since we had seen them! We had a great time and I just realized I never took any photos and I wanted to! UGH.

And to top it all off, our good friends, Mick & Kathy had their baby on Friday night at 10:19pm. Barrett Warren made his big bro' Ethan proud! Congrats!

Here goes another week! Hope yours is prosporous! Stay tuned 'til next time to see if Dan gets that Tele he's been hoping for...we are currently down to one 19" in the bedroom...