Winter. It Appears So

Snow falls, light but determined.

Sounds of skid loadery waft through old windows.

Reheated coffee, now acrid, does its best to warm the soul.

It is winter.
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Yep, that's your dose of literary mediocrity for the day.

Carolyn and Melinda are off to the eye doctor, having managed to squeeze every possible appointment into their short break from school.

Loren is repairing various vehicles and Derek is variously enraptured with his Kindle or pianos; either out-of-tune or electric.

Nolan is outside playing the snow, in shoes, not boots. Boots will be bought when they go on clearance. It is hoped something can be found in the 14 to 14.5 range.

Trevor is wondering around the house, staying out of trouble and basically being a good lad.

Ma is typing with winter-climate, split fingers, significantly interfering with keyboard technique. On a less painful note, I have progressed nearly one quarter's way through the latest selection from The Great Book Cabal, taking intermittent breaks for unneeded sustenance.

*pause*

And now the eye-doctored have returned. The skidder comes asnackin'.

The day continues, light but inexorable.

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Christmas, Writ Late

Something very special from Justin to Derek, wrapped appropriately (remote control helicopter)

Shakespeare's "The Comedies." No matter what the gift, Carolyn probably would have been laughing.

Admiring Trevor's new books from the "How to Train Your Dragon" series

A Tricksy,  large box to hide the three barbershop CD's

Yes, I know....negligent in updating, again!

Well it is hard, between all the health business, holiday activities,  and trying to be mindful of older kids who wish to keep a low profile.

It is very, very cold, here. Six below zero, at the moment.

My biggest accomplishment today, other than (mostly) staying warm, was to address bunches and bunches of Christmas/New Year's letters. Okay, only 61, but it seem like bunches.

Over three hours of bunches, actually.

That's just over half. There are still some to go to neighbors and friends who I don't wish to spend the price of a stamp, ha ha. I'm sure they will understand.

Tomorrow is an early wake up call: 4:49 to be exact. Sure, I could set it for 4:50 but I have this thing about setting it on the five minute marks. For some reason I like to go in-between. It makes me feel more on top of things.

I will not compromise when it comes to setting my alarm. Everything else, however, is negotiable.

But getting back to the dark, Carolyn and Derek are heading down to Iowa City for their annual electrophysicist appointments. Or "the Electric Doctors" as we like to call them.

They don't travel in a blue tardis, but there is a red horse picture beside the cath lab.

You can't tell me that's not significant.

Sure hope the heat holds out on the little blue Corolla! I shall miss the CD player in the dark blue Camry, but Loren is working on that for a couple of Texas college students that we know.

No matter. As long as I have my coffee and a radio, I am good to go.

Speaking of which, it is time to think of bed...

I won't be going there yet, but I'm definitely starting to mull over the idea of getting around to thinking about rest.

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More NewsoMayo

Just hanging around in Loren's room, here in the Francis building of St. Mary's hospital.

Things are going pretty slow. They are still waiting for the blood to not be so "thin" so they can take the sheath out of his leg. Then he can sit up in bed (maybe) and after that comes a waiting period to make sure the insertion site is healing properly.

He sill stay here overnight (that's standard for putting in a stent) and hopefully we can leave in decent time, tomorrow.

Concerning the stent, they ended up putting in two. There was one significant blockage and another one close by that also needed attention.

They had to give Loren extra nitro because his blood pressure went up...there is always something with that guy!

But everything looks really good with the artery...nice and filled out. We got to see cool video when one of the cath lab nurses stopped by. Always good to find someone who doesn't mind a few questions and enjoys explaining stuff.

OK, enough for now.

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In the Land of Mayo

Greetings from Rochester, mes compradres!

I don't know if that's the correct Spanish, but I'm goin' with it.

Loren is up here for the great stent-off. Yes, he has won the competition for needing a stent put in an artery. My spin, naturally. He's not terribly enthused, but what can one do?

Put up with your annoying, wife, I guess.

Bloodwork was at 6:15am. Ma got up at 4:30 to hit the shower and make the motel room coffee.

It was terrible, by the way. But methinks it contained some caffeine. As did the medium coffee I bought in the subway level of the clinics.

Again, not great tasting. I am really missing my Seattle's Best, Dark #5 !

Loren has some time to kill before his appointment with the transplant coordinator and the nurse practioner.

Why is he up in the transplant floor, you ask?

Because once you get a transplant, you are are the ninth floor's, for life (I can't even remember the name of the building, it's been so long since I've been here).

The procedure is scheduled for 11 but that is not set in stone. Once we get over to St. Mary's they can work people in as needed.

Anyway, I walked over to the next building from Loren, through the cool skyway and into the lobby where they have a few computers. Loren says they don't get filled up anymore because so many people have tablets.

Yay fer me, I guess.

Well, just in case they call Loren in before his 9:40 I will head on back to read Opera News and bask in the waiting room atmosphere, ha ha.

There is also a Lindt chili bar in my (very large) purse. I never leave home without my emergency supplies.

Ciao.

("hello" to my peeps at the Hoytstead....votre chère maman sends her love :-)

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Home for the Holidays

The last few days have been rather exciting. Just not the kind of excitement one wishes for, necessarily.

Finals week at college; always a stressful time. Made more so this year by Carolyn (and Melinda) becoming sick with colds. But when Carolyn called with a fever, unable to accomplish any schoolwork, I called Ask-a-nurse on her behalf.

And after the fever reached 103.5 I scrapped the advice I'd been given and told the girls Carolyn needed to get checked out by a doctor.

Following several hours at the ER and a rather nasty test or two, she was sent back to the dorm with the diagnosis of flu.

Whether or not that was the case, it had a significant effect on the scheduling. Carolyn was able to postpone one test, which also postponed their departure schedule. Add to that a little checkout snafu and they ended up leaving Longview by mid-afternoon.

Loren reserved a room for them in Joplin MO, a reasonable goal. However, some wrong turns, getting stuck in the mud, getting pulled out by a tow truck, getting lost, having an accident...all these things will throw a trip off schedule!

Thankfully no one was hurt. The car, though damaged by the right, back wheel area, did bring them home.

Let's just say the trip ended up being more expensive then previously anticipated, ha ha.

But they pulled in after 9:00pm last night, to the relief of one and all :-)

May take a few more days to rest up but aside from a bit of coughing and wheezing, they're in pretty good shape.

As I told them last night, "This year's Christmas letter is pretty much writin' isself!"

Theoretically. Not a whole lotta real writing has taking place, to date. But since it's going to be more of a New Year's letter, I'll let the creative juices fester a bit in hopes they will burst out in glorious abandon at the last minute.

Like a final, but without the pressure.

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Attention!

We are getting snow!

Ethan is excited!

He will get to fire up the skid loader!

Shopping is done for the week!

Many things in the works. Next week is Ethan's birthday. I find it nearly unfathomable that he will be seventeen.

Even the word "seventeen" looks old.

Went out to do the shopping this afternoon, despite not feeling remotely enthusiastic. But since I desperately needed wanted to get out of the house...

Spent a bit of time trying to track down supplies for Loren. Ended up going back and forth to a couple of stores but that's OK because then I stopped at Goodwill--for quite a while, actually--and found a lovely bunch of stuffs to stash away for a coupla birthdays. 

I should go shopping for Loren more often.

In other news, Melinda and Carolyn will be driving home from Texas on Friday. Prayers for them would be appreciated; hopefully there won't be white stuff coming down, as they do not have snow tires.

It will be gso good to see them! Derek will come a little later, and I think that most everyone will be here for Christmas.

Hmmm, maybe I should start cleaning.

Trying to keep the two youngest working at their lessons is getting to be a real chore. Already they are asking how much school will be reduced next week (next week...it wouldn't take much to make me quit right now). Don't think a day goes by that Nolan doesn't say, "I hate math!" Guess we'll just have to drown his sorrows in occasional Christimas videos.

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Ma and Los Muchachos Hit the Big City

Before the doors opened we sat on the steps and listened to a lovely violin group

They know how to treat you right, here at the Gallagher Bluedorn

As soon as the doors open we were hightailing it up to the second level. Thanks again to Jessica Schick for selecting our tickets. We picked them up at the "will call" window.

Now this gentleman was a marvel. Father Paul Peters, who apparently does this every year, was crankin' out the Christmas tunes like nobody's business. Theater style! Sure put Ma in a jolly mood :-)

After the show we mingled in the lobby for a bit. Here's fellow from the last number, where "The Arthur Murder Dancers" performed the Can-Can. What's not to love? The rest of the time they were all dress in tuxes :-)

So. We are definitely going to hit this, next year! Good, good music. A great outing for Ma and the boys.

I told them we'd make a night of it and go eat somewhere, just not anywhere too expensive. I tossed "Panera Bread" over in my mind a few times, but I figured that would be your basic casting pearls before swine. The youngest, anyway. And of course Trevor and Nolan suggested McDonald's. (sigh)  Then Ethan suggested Arby's, which I would consider a step up, but no, "They only have curly fries!" A very important point to Trevor. Because, as we all know, curly fries are a fate worse then death (I actually love curly fries, but oh well).

Speaking of potatoes cooked in oil, one of Nolan's fries dropped on the floor, and he said, "It's Ok...I only dropped one."

Immediately an internal debate started up in my mind: "He wouldn't eat that, would he?" Nah. "Yes he would." Oh surely not... "How much you wanna bet?"

"Now don't...*pop*....Nolan! I can't believe you did that. The floor is dirty!"

"What? It doesn't look dirty to me..."

He seemed genuinely mystified but I insisted he spit it out.

Nolan complied but was puzzled, thus confirming my suspicions that most boys are barbarians.

The concert was so great that I didn't even think to take pictures. Like I said, we will be sure to get there next year too, if at all possible. Nice long concert, well worth the price of the tickets.

And despite the cold, cold night we made it safely home, though it was after eleven.

A very good time was had by all :-)

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