Diagnosis

We received results from Dad's biopsy today. He has liver cancer. He goes to see the oncologist on Tuesday and will have a PET scan to determine if there is anymore cancer in his body. He cannot have a full-body MRI due to the metal in his body. My parents ask that you keep them in your thoughts and prayers. Updates will come as warranted.

Two, too, and to

We had the privilege of going out to lunch as a family, during the week. We went to Chilis, since they had free kids meals today, and tomorrow. Alex was enjoying a rather large forkful of oranges when I told him he had too many. His response,"Three many!", as he proudly grinned with a mouth full of oranges.

Christmas Letter

Drum roll please.......Here is our Christmas 2010 letter. Why am I posting it here and not sending it in the mail? Great Question!
1. To save paper (okay $$ too)
2. I haven't sent my cards yet, they are waiting for me at Sams
3. My Dad is sick

Okay, more explanation: Dad was in the hospital for a week after Thanksgiving for a bowel obstruction. He had multiple CT scans done and one showed a mass on his liver and possibly his kidneys. He had an MRI done earlier this week that confirmed what the CT said. He goes in (EDIT) *Thursday* for a biopsy. At this point we don't know whether it is a benign or malignant tumor.

With this said, I have not been in much of a "Christmasy"mood lately with everything that has been going on. I will likely have cards/pictures out in the next couple of weeks. We hope to see those of you who are coming to the Wessel Christmas Party on the 26th.


2010 was quite a busy year. We started with a small remodel to our stairs. We took the carpet off of our stairs and replaced it with hardwood. The carpet was just getting gross and hard to clean. As soon as we had replaced the carpet, I slipped and fell down the entire set of stairs. I was okay, just sore and bruised. My doctor wanted to know how I didn’t break my arm and hip, and all I could say is that all that theater stunt training paid off. Eric and I took a small trip to Cincinnati to celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary. I took Eric for some fabulous fondue at the Melting Pot and then we enjoyed King’s Island and a few other things in the area. We were able to spend Father’s Day with Emil, Eric’s father, which ended up being quite serendipitous. Emil was killed in a farming accident just a few days later. He was working in a swampy area removing trees and his tractor got stuck and flipped over on top of him. He was rescued several hours later, only to die at the hospital two and a half days later. While his death was a shock to us, he left this world doing what he loved. Just a few months later, in October, Eric lost his Uncle Harold to an unexpected heart attack. Needless to say it was a trying summer/fall.

Alex started the year a wobbly 19 month old and has ended up a walking/running/talking 2 ½ year old machine! He still goes to Gymboree Play and Music once a week for class and loves it!! I would recommend it to anyone with a Gymboree in their area. We also started going to Toddler library time twice a month and joined a Mom’s group out of Alton, IL. We are BUSY, but it’s a good busy. Alex is all ‘boy’. He enjoys trucks, dinosaurs, books, and blocks. He knows the alphabet and can count to 20 with minimal help “Alex do it,” is becoming a common phrase around here. He recently enjoyed his first cooking experience making muffins for Grandpa David. He liked to, “round and round,” (stir), and lick the beaters. We took Alex and my folks to Grant’s Farm this past August. It was so cute to see Dad and Alex being pushed side by side, one in a wheel chair and one in a stroller.

Eric took this summer off from Grad school, so he will finish May of 2011. To say he is anxious to get finished is an understatement. He keeps trying to coerce me into reading his textbooks for him… He recently joined a work volleyball league that plays at the University of Missouri St. Louis.

I had the privilege of going to the giant Vera Bradley sale in Fort Wayne, Indiana, with two of my friends. It only took us an hour to get in the door and then two hours to check out. Lots of Vera, lots of goodies, LOTS of sales! If you haven’t seen the Vera Bradley sale video on YouTube, you need to check it out. I also celebrated my five year Curves anniversary and was recognized at a fall luncheon. Several of our local Curves have started doing Curves Zumba and I have participated in two classes. It brings back many memories of my dancing days.

So, if you are reading this, you have found our blog. Check out the entries; mostly pictures. News on Dad and his condition will be found here.

Letter

Have no fear, if you haven't received a Christmas card from me that means, um, I haven't sent it. Don't feel too badly, I haven't sent any this year...yet. I will be posting our holiday letter on here in just a few days. There will not be a 'hard' copy unless you print it out. It is a long story that will be explained in the letter why I am doing this. So stay tuned. You might just get a card/picture in time for Valentine' Day!!

C is for Cookie

I've been in cookie hell, or rather oven hell. Get it; heat, oven, hell?!? Okay, bad joke aside, I have been a baking fool the last few days. I have the first Christmas gift to the caretaker at Mom's group on Tuesday, so I got busy. So far I have baked Peanut Butter Blossoms, Sugar, Chocolate Spritz, and N.M. Cookies. Roughly speaking I have made 20 dozen, or 240 individual cookies. From here I have two kinds of fudge, souped up Rice Crispie Treats, crescent rolls(same ones Mom used to make), Snack Mix, and Rum Balls. The goal is to have the majority finished on Sunday. I think I might just need a life ;)

Halloween

Halloween consisted of one party, Church Trunk-or-Treat, and actaul Halloween all spread out over five days. We were Halloweened out, so much so that Alex really didn't want to wear his costume for trick or treating. Can you guess what he was?



Is he a Donkey...? NO!

A Bear...? NO!! (The costume judge at Church thought that)


He was one of Grandpa Hopf's cows!! I don't think anyone got it right :)

Sad

Once again Death has visited us. Eric's Uncle Harold 'Bud' Hopf died unexpectedly Saturday morning of a heart attack. He had been in the hospital earlier in the week for a heart procedure and was resting at home, when it happened. Woodsies, this is Joni Hopf Mehling's father. Please pray for his wife Luckie, children SueJane and Joni, and his five granddaughters in your prayers this week.

Here is the obituary from the Evansville Courier Press:

Harold Hopf (1935 - 2010)

JASPER, Ind. — Harold Hopf, 74, died Saturday, October 9, 2010, at at his home.
Surviving are wife, Katherine "Luckie" Hopf; daughters, Mrs. Brian "Sue Jane" Poppe and Mrs. Greg "Joni" Mehling; five granddaughters; sisters, Sr. Mary Gabriel Hopf (Order of the Passion Nuns), Mrs. Norbert "Verena" Schroeder and Mrs. Hilbert "Bernadine" Schnell.
Visitation is 1 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Becher & Kluesner Downtown Chapel, Jasper.
Services 10 a.m. Wednesday at Holy Family Catholic Church, burial in Fairview Cemetery, Jasper.

Visit

Mulching the blackberries

Playing Hockey with my vacuum cleaner attachment.

Magic House

Eric's Mom came to town last week for a visit. She and I took Alex to the Magic House in Kirkwood. If I could/would have left Alex in the Water Room all day, I think he would have been the happiest kid on earth.

These are giant foam Tinker Toys pieces in the Garden, how cool is that?!?

Meet the New Bed, Same as the Old One

Only missing rails! We took the rail off of Alex's crib this week, since he is potty training. He loves his new "bed", and doesn't hesitate to get in and out when necessary. Now to get some new sheets to make it more like a real bed, not just a crib without a rail.

2 year pics

I took Alex to get his 2 year pictures done at Forrest Park about 4 weeks ago. A friend of mine from high school, Chera Meyer, just started a photography business here in STL. Here is the link to her facebook business page. These were taken along the Great Basin; the large fountain area in front of the Art Museum.

Here are a few of the images.

Stop...Potty Time

We officially took the plunge last week and started potty training. We had a bit of a rough start, but things are going well. I realized the, 'pull up', training pants are a bit of a joke. They are a glorified diaper. The only good use I can see is being in the car all day. I switched to the Gerber cotton training pants and they make a world of difference. Plus, I save a bunch of $$. Alex really likes his Sticker Chart and he has already earned a prize. He is the only kid in his Gymboree class that is being potty trained, and I kinda like that ;) The only downside is that I had to pack away all his snap crotch shirts and outfits for summer and fall. Some stuff still had tags on it. Guess they will saved for next time...

Parental Supervision

Mom and Dad were here for the week. Dad had a few appointments to take care of, so they stayed here and took care of some stuff. Friday, we braved Grant's Farm. Here are some pictures.
Grant's Farm pictures here.

It was quite the experience. Pushing and pulling Dad in a wheelchair up and down the hills was more of a workout then Curves could EVER give you. We did have a good time, but I will say that the website for Grant's Farm is quite deceiving. Many of the pictures/activites on their site are not available to the general public and the place really isn't handicapped accessible. With that said, for $11 bucks it wasn't bad.

Jinx

apparently I jinxed it. No sooner did I post about Eric's overtime, (we've known about the overtime for a while now), then he got an email canceling any additional overtime. He is working on a government contract and they cut the funding. This is, ahem, not the first time in the current administration that this is happened. They have to make their current budget last until the end of the fiscal year.

The positive part in all this is that he did get 31 hours of overtime in. Just enough to fix the fence with a bit left over. Oh well, we will soldier on!

Over WHAT?!?

Overtime...and lots of it. Eric is putting in 12 hour days until school starts in August, then he goes to 4 thirteen hour days and one day for school. Crazy...yes...scary...yes. It looks likes this goes through September. I'm not complaining, I am exceptionally proud of Eric. He is moving "up the ranks"nicely. I know he is looking forward to being finished with school, tentatively May 2011. I am just hanging in there and counting down the days until the high temp is only 85, not 105 ;)

Pictures!!

Yet another pic for his wedding slide show

The X-Men Cometh

box slide

Home

We are home now and deconstructing the events of the last week. We are slowly getting back into our routine. Been doing LOTS of laundry and cleaning ;) We greatly appriciate all the thoughts and prayers for the Hopf/Wessel/Mehringer Family. We are truely blessed to have had Emil in our lives and looking down on us. It was sad to leave Teresa, but she and Edward are doing okay considering all that has happened. Thoughts and prayers need to go out to my friend Erika. Her Grandmother lost her battle with cancer the other day. It was expected, but none the less hard.

If I owe you a Thank You note, give me a week or so and I will have them out. I still owe folks for Alex's b-day. Slowly but surely it will get finished!!

Obituary

Here is the obituary, courtsey of the Evansville Courier Press.

Emil L. Hopf (1939 - 2010)


Surviving are wife, Teresa; sons, Edward and Eric Hopf; grandson, Alex; one brother; and three sisters.
Services are 10 a.m. Monday at St. Raphael's Catholic Church in Dubois, burial in Fairview Cemetery Mausoleum. Visitation is 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday at Becher-Kluesner North Chapel, with 4 p.m. prayer vigil.

Services

The services for Emil Hopf are as follows:

The visitation is at the Becher-Kluesner Funeral Home in Jasper, Indiana on Sunday, June 25 from 11-8(?).

The funeral is at St. Rapheal in DuBois, Indiana on Monday, June 26 at 10 am. All times are EST. If you are planning on getting a hotel room, please call the individual hotels. Most of them are fully booked due to Holiday World. I am heading to IN on Saturday and if you need anything please call, as I will have very limited internet access. Here are the three articles from the Jasper
Herald detaling the accident.



Wednesday, June 23, 2010



By BILL POWELL

Herald Staff Writer



DUBOIS — A 71-year-old man was taken by helicopter to an Evansville hospital overnight after a tractor rollover earlier Tuesday left him partially submerged in a creek for as long as seven hours.

It is believed the victim, whose identity was not released and whose injuries were not disclosed by presstime, will recover. The man reportedly remained conscious throughout his ordeal and talked with his rescuers.

Memorial Hospital Emergency Medical Services, the Dubois Volunteer Fire Department and the Dubois County Sheriff's Department were notified about the accident at a farm in the 2700 block of East County Road 300N at 10:49 p.m.

The man had been doing logging work using a tractor with a front-end loader near a creek more than one and a half miles from County Road 300N, according to fire department spokesman Zach Eichmiller. Although details are sketchy, the tractor rolled over into the creek that was more than 5 feet deep and its loader attachment apparently trapped the man's leg.

A member of the Dubois fire department who helps run the farm discovered the victim after the trapped man's wife called to inquire about her husband's whereabouts. The firefighter went to the farm and saw that the man's truck was parked there and a tractor was missing. The man was known to use that particular tractor when either feeding cattle or logging, Eichmiller said.

After driving to an area on the property where the family had done some logging, the firefighter heard the man's cries for help after shutting off his truck's engine. The man was thought to have been pinned for about six hours at that point, according to Eichmiller.

"He had to use his one hand to keep his head out of water for that entire time," Eichmiller said. "He was laying mostly submerged in water except for his head."

The firefighter who found the man stayed with him and used a two-way radio he had with him to notify authorities about the accident.

It took the combined efforts of a large winch on one of the fire department's trucks and a winch on a Uebelhor & Sons wrecker to free the victim, who was flown from the scene, according to Eichmiller. It took at least 45 minutes after the victim was found to free him, according to authorities.

Eichmiller indicated that a rollbar was thought to have kept the toppled tractor from rolling totally on top of the man. Authorities were told the tractor's rollbar was seldom engaged and was normally kept flipped down. Pins on each side of the rollbar would need to be used to lock it in place if it was deployed as a safety device.

After the tractor was pulled from the creek, Eichmiller said, he pushed on the rollbar and it easily went back down. "As (the tractor) went over, that rollbar had to have flipped up and it caught itself.

"It was just his day."



Contact Bill Powell at bpowell@dcherald.com.



Update – Thursday, June 24



EVANSVILLE — The victim in a Tuesday tractor rollover accident was listed in critical condition today at an Evansville hospital.



Emil Hopf, 71, 3259 N. 325E, Dubois, is in the surgical trauma intensive care unit at St. Mary’s Hospital, according to a hospital spokesman.



Hopf was doing logging work using a tractor with a front-end loader at a remote site on a farm in the 2700 block of East County Road 300N when the tractor rolled over into a creek Tuesday afternoon, according to authorities. The tractor’s loader attachment trapped Hopf’s leg.



Authorities said the victim had to prop himself up to keep his head above water.



Hopf’s wife placed calls while searching for her husband and Greg Mehling, a member of the Dubois Volunteer Fire Department who is Hopf’s nephew by marriage, went searching for him. Mehling also helps run the farm.



Mehling located Hopf and used a two-way radio to notify authorities about the accident at 10:49 p.m. Tuesday. It took the combined efforts of a large winch on one of the fire department’s trucks and a winch on a Uebelhor & Sons wrecker to free Hopf, who authorities said may have been trapped in the creek for as long as seven hours.



Hopf was flown by helicopter from the scene to the Evansville hospital.



Update – Friday, June 25, 2010



EVANSVILLE — The victim in a Tuesday tractor rollover accident died Thursday night at an Evansville hospital.



Emil Hopf, 71, 3259 N. 325E, Dubois, was pronounced dead at 6:17 p.m. CDT at St. Mary’s Hospital, according to the Vanderburgh County Coroner’s Office. An autopsy was planned for today.



Hopf was doing logging work using a tractor with a front-end loader at a remote site on a farm in the 2700 block of East County Road 300N when the tractor rolled over into a creek Tuesday afternoon, trapping him, according to authorities.



Hopf, who was trapped in the water for hours, was flown by helicopter from the scene to the Evansville hospital.



Bill Powell

Staff Writer

The Herald

216 E. Fourth St.

Jasper IN 47546

(812)482-2626 (ext. 116)

bpowell@dcherald.com

Closet Update

My closet is finished...almost. All the shelves are up, just need to vacuum and put the closet pack together. I am so happy with how it looks. I have a whole wall of just shelves!! I can take my sweat shirts off of the hangers and stack them neatly. I can pick EVERYTHING off of the floor and put it on a shelf!!!! Depending on how things go, we *might* buy a set of drawers to add to it. So when the whole thing is put together, hopefully by this weekend, I will post some pics.

More on the closet

So my closet is still a work in progress. Eric has been working on another project, which will be blogged about later, and the closet has been put on the back burner...until today. Eric figured out what he needed and six, yes six, trips to various hardware stores later my closet is staring to look normal again.

Instead of just replacing the broken shelf, we decided to redo the closet and make it function better. We will now have multiple shelves on multiple levels, instead of just three shelves around the top. I am not 100% sure what he bought at the store, so there might be some more suprises in store. Just hope I can get into my bed this evening, I need it!

2nd Birthday

Birthday Pics

All three enamored with the Cards game

Mom and I made the cake.


Big present!! New sand box. Too bad it's been too hot to use it

2 year molars and my closet

Honestly, I could not think of a clever title for this. Alex is getting over a cold, due to his 2 year molars. He has been chomping on just about everything, especially his fingers. Poor guy has been stuck inside most of the week because it has been raining just about everyday. We are doing the countdown to his 2nd birthday. Since we haven't been home to see my folks as a family since Christmas, we are celebrating Alex's birthday in IL. The small town where my folks live,(pop.200), just got a new playground last fall and Alex is anxious to play on it!

So, my closet...I am ironing Thursday afternoon and out of the blue the whole back part of my closet shelving falls down. I had not been in the closet, nor had anything been added/subtracted to that part of the closet. Upon further inspection, anchors that were holding the shelving were snapped off. Upon further FURTHER inspection, the whole shelving unit was not anchored into studs, it was just anchored into the drywall. Well, no wonder it fell. Not sure why it hasn't fallen sooner. Eric has spent today trying to fix the problem and is making *slight* progress. Turns out the whole unit is not even put together properly, (it came with the house). I can't get to my clothes, or anything else, but it is getting Eric to clean the closet ;)

Craziness

The last four weeks have been crazy busy. I have been taking my Dad to a pain clinic two days a week. Between that, Gymboree and library, I am only home Tuesday afternoon and Friday. Dad stays with us while he goes to his appointments, so he is here from Tuesday night through Thursday evening or Friday morning. He gets his re-evaluation a week from this Wednesday and that will determine if he continues for another 5 weeks.

Meanwhile, I am playing catch-up from being gone last weekend to the Vera Bradley Outlet sale in Fort Wayne, Indiana. If anyone wants to know what the sale is about, type in Vera Bradley in YouTube and see the sale video. People come from all over the world to this event. It was nice to be gone for a bit and see the Chapman and Anderson families in Indianapolis.

Alex is rapidly approaching his second birthday; 2 weeks away as of this posting. Just when I thought all of his teeth were in, he got a small cold and has started getting in his 2 year molars. The only real downside to this is that he doesn't eat much when he is teething. He is starting to recognize some letters and is starting to count. He really enjoys playing in the 'water' and cannot wait for it to be warm enough to get the pool out.

Mama

You know it's bad, when you have to look at your previous post to see how long it has been since you blogged. First off, Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers, especially my own and my MIL. I was greeted with more Vera today, ;) (never EVER a bad thing!!). I was excited to go to brunch at Sweet Tomatoes and it didn't hurt that I ate for free. Today has been such a gorgeous day outside. We have been chilly the last couple of days, but no wind today makes it almost perfect. It think it is in the low 60s here today. I spent some time with my plants and took a cutting off of my wild rose bush. It is just covered with blossoms right now.

Right now, I am sitting here on the couch watching the baseball game with the Cards up 11 to 2 against Pittsburgh in the 8th inning. So nice not to HAVE to do anything today, since Monday starts the cycle all over again!

Wait Wait...Okay Tell Me

Eric and I had a rare night out on Thursday and went to see a taping of NPR's Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me. For those of you not familiar, Wait Wait is the NPR news quiz show on Saturday mornings. This was my first time to Powell Symphony Hall, right across the street from the Fabulous Fox Theatre. I am a HUGE Wait Wait fan, so I jumped at the chance to see the show live. I was especially excited to see Mo Rocca live. They actually gave us prizes for showing up...reusable shopping bags and YES they have already been used! The show was great, as usual, and you can download the pod cast via ITunes.

From there, we had a great pizza at Ciceros in the Central West End and froze sitting under the air conditioner duct, (who would have thought they would be PACKED at 10 on a Thursday?!?) I'm still trying to catch up on sleep from the adventure, but it was well worth it ;)

Easter

We spent Easter in Indiana with Eric's family. We had excellent weather the entire time we were there. We took Alex to an Easter Egg hunt, but it got rained out. It literally stopped raining when we walked to the car to leave the hunt.



Alex was quite curious about the Easter Bunny and went up to investigate. He sat on the Bunny's lap just long enough for me to snap a picture. He really was happy to see the Bunny, despite the look on his face.



Alex spent most of Easter morning collecting eggs, filled and unfilled.
He particually liked putting them in the back of the tractor and scooting them around. Eric found the old John Deer pedal tractor in the barn and washed it off. Alex isn't quite tall enough for it, but he enjoyed sitting on it.

22 Months

Alex didn't want to smile. Our camera has some lag time between pictures and I kept missing him smile.


Sorry for taking so long to update. This week has been INSANE and this coming week is Easter. We had been able to play outside, but our weather has turned cold again. This week looks better. Alex has been enjoying the dress up tote I put together. He likes the hats and shirts the best. He is also starting to recognize some shapes and will repeat if you count. I got out his bowling set he got for Christmas. He has been 'tossing'the balls and then going up and knocking over the pins with his hands.

We are off to IN for Easter. I am looking forward to getting away for a bit, but not looking forward to paying for all the gas :( I broke down and bought Alex a good Easter basket from Pottery Barn Kids, (like I need an excuse to shop there;). I am crossing my fingers it will last many years. Most baskets I find are flimsey and poorly made. Tomorrow we are off to Church, Sweet Tomatoes, Target, and Shop n Save. Maybe...just MAYBE I can squeeze a nap it!!

Up

Fence is finally up!! What was supposed to take 2.5 days, ended up taking 4.5 because of the weather. It was finally finished Friday around noon. It rained all day Thursday and we still haven't dried out(Saturday) and it is supposed to rain tonight and tomorrow. So, our yard is a muddy mess. Today was the neighborhood clean-up, but we were not able to do much in our yard due to the wet. It will be a couple of weeks before we will be able to work in the yard again.

Vested Interest

I broke down Thursday and bought a puffer vest. I had been wanting one for a while, and Sears had the Lands End ones on clearence. I didn't anticipate using it until later in the year, but this weekend our nice spring weather went to pot and it is cold and rainy. Enter, the vest. I put it on over my teal shit and realized it didn't have pockets. I was a bit annoyed that I didn't catch that in the store, but oh well. I went about my morning. Eric came in from working outside and asked me if my tag was sticking out. I promptly said no and then took off the vest to make sure. Yep, it was on inside out. I put it on correctly and whataya know...It has pockets!! Not sure who was more excited; me for finding the pockets or Eric...for finding the pockets. He specifically asked me to blog about this.

Don't Fence Me In

Fence is a 'go' for the back yard. Got the estimate taken care of and are going with that company. We are putting up a privacy fence parallel to the road and a 51(?) inch fence around to the front. I believe there will be three gates, including one that can be driven through. We went with a slightly higher fence so it would be up to code for a pool. Not that we want a pool, unless you have a degree in chemistry you shouldn't be messing with pool chemicals, but it would be a good selling feature. We do have to sacrifice a couple of trees and bushes, but nothing too heartbreaking. We will also have to bury the tile coming from the basement, HOORAY!! Work technically started yesterday with the surveyor's coming out, but the real work won't start until sometime in April, after everything has thawed out.

New all Around

New computer for me! We bought a new laptop for the living room/traveling AND it is pretty purple. This week we are getting an estimate for a new fence in the back yard. There was one that came with the house, but we took it down because it was falling down and rickety. We are currently looking at polyvinal, but are not 100% sure. Right now we went to do part of the yard, but we may end up doing the whole backyard if the price is right.

Alex turned 21 months just before the end of the month. He has two new teeth that are causing him to chew constantly. He bumps up Gymboree class in a couple of weeks, which is good. He needs a challenge :) His vocab seems to be growing daily and he loves to be helpful. He is currently curious about the potty and what it does. He enjoys flushing and watching the water go down.





Eric is switching projects at work again. Somebody really wanted to work on the Korean Trainer project and Eric was in a place where he was finished. He is transfering to a radar project for the F-15. His class is going well. Hopefully this class will allow him to take some time for Easter, but we won't know that until later in March.

20 Months and a "Sweet" treat

Alex is out of his teens...for now :) He is eating out a bowl with a spoon and walking up the stairs much better. He is using more words and with a few reminders uses, "please". He is loving puzzles and Legos right now.

Tuesday night Alex decided to get into the pantry while I was making dinner. He got into the cocoa powder and dumped it all over the floor and himself. Yeah...I was not that happy. He got cocoa all over his Valentine's Shirt. I did get the cocoa out of his clothes.

Shower and Shopping

Last weekend I had the privilidge of going to Indianapolis, with Colleen, to our friend Gail's Baby shower. We had a great time and were glad to help welcome an extended member of the Wood Family.

We stayed with Erika and Shane and got to have Monical's Pizza!!! They have recently branched out into the Indianapolis market. Oh, how I missed it so!! I meant to get some dressing to take home, but forgot. We had breakfast with Sarah W. and Charlotte and it was nice to see them. I do believe that Charlotte is taller then Alex, despite being a bit younger. We watched the Colts' game with Nick, Beth, and Jillian. Not a football fan, but good to hangout with friends.

Sunday, we hit the outlet mall in Edinburgh with Scottie. I broke down and bought some new shoes from Bass, (my students would have been proud of me...they were heels!). We all found lots of good stuff to bring home, although some brought home a nasty case of food poisoning.

It's all kind of foggy...

...like REALLY foggy. We have been dealing with fog since last Friday. We even had freezing fog at one point. It has been rainy, foggy, and just yucky here the last week and looks like it will continue into the weekend. It is supposed to be in the 50s on Saturday! YUCK!! I don't mind warmer weather, just not in January. It has been quiet here this week. I had a migraine on Monday, thanks to the fog and increased humidity. I did get a new video game. My copy of Wii Fit died, so Eric bought me the newer version. I am in LOVE with the new games on it!! I've had Wii fit for almost 11 months and I quite enjoy it. It is a nice compliment to my usual Curves workout. Highly recommend it to those thinking of purchasing it.

Eric is bringing home a Papa Murphy's Pizza tonight...we shall see how it is.

Stairy Stairy Night

stain your palette oak and lacquer

Okay, enough with the bad puns, and my apologies to Don McLean

Stairs are 95% finished and usable!! They need to be vacuumed and polished, but that will be done tomorrow. Here is a visual timeline of the stair remodel. It started in October of 08 and just finished January of 2010. It took so long because the money we had set aside for the project had to go towards a new car down payment in December of 08. They started with awful grey carpet and ended with beautiful oak. I cannot begin to convey the improvement hardwood stairs are, over the carpet and broken stairs there previously.

It really DID snow...

well whadaja know, it did snow. Not a bunch, just a few inches, but enough to mess things up. Now we are having the coldest temps in over 10 years and lots of wind. Today is the coldest day in 10 years and the furnace goes out. Eric is at home waiting for the repair man, and Alex and I are at folks trying to stay warm. Hopefully it will be a quick, inexpensive fix.

Snow (supposedly)

Supposedly we are getting lots of snow tonight...so far here, nothing, so we shall see...

We survived the holidays. Now gearing up for two small trips later this month. Gail Baker Zwaska's Baby Shower in Indy and taking my Dad to the Oral Surgeon in Danville. I don't even want to think about how many miles that will put on my Saturn :) Other then that, the only other thing we have going is the stair project. Will have to make a seperate post just for that...they are now ready to be installed!!!

Alex and Stache(short for Mustache) running up and down the hall together. Both are upset all the doors were closed.