Leap Year Fall

We got just enough snow yesterday to cover the patch of ice on the first step of our front porch. I fell on my behind and bumped down the 3 steps. Ouch OUCH! It brought back all of the pain memories from my tailbone injury years ago. It hurts to stand, sit, and walk, among other things. I went to work because I figured there wasn't any point staying home.

Today is the first day I really wished for Spring.

Dave is in Des Moines this weekend at drill getting himself and all of his soldiers checked out for the deployment. Tomorrow is my first FRG (Family Readiness Group) meeting. I believe we will have a "satellite" group here to help support the families that are connected to Waterloo. I'm not much of a joiner in that stuff but maybe with my experiences, I can help a young wife understand some Army stuff.

I work tomorrow but that's cool, I love the shop and the people who come in. Come see me!

Home again Home again jiggety jig...

Here I am, back in Iowa. It does feel good! If you've read Carrie's blog lately, you have read what all we did in Minnesota but here is my take:
Lots of packing and moving my mom. I am so glad Carrie came up with me because I would have been totally overwhelmed by the job. We got up around 12:30 last Weds. and started right in at mom's. She isn't able to do much so all of the packing was up to us. We worked for about 4 hours the first two days, took mom shoe shopping the second day and she bought shoes that she hated. Dave (Harder) and I returned them yesterday. I'm not sure what upset her more: that they were "old lady shoes" or a size double wide 8. Doesn't matter I guess, she wasn't going to wear them. Oh well, we tried.

Friday, Elaine, Carrie and I went Uptown (south Mpls) to a big kitchen shop (Kitchen Window) and Penzey's Spices. I got good ideas for displays and our front window at the CF store but didn't buy anything! I think our Kitchen Essentials is a pretty nice store and I think we have even more variety than the big store. Carrie went out with Sara & Tim and Mikey came up to help too.

Saturday was moving day and with Carrie, Sara, Elaine, me...Dave H., Steve, Dennis, Carroll, and of course, Mikey, it went quite well. Mom's new apartment is so nice and BIG! She has a separate bedroom, a huge bathroom, a full kitchen and a huge walk in closet that we call the garage cuz she can park her "scooter" there. Wow, what a weekend! Sunday we went and finished unpacking as much as we could and then went to the Macaroni Grill for lunch/dinner. I had a Sunday afternoon nap and then we "watched" a movie with Sara, Hannah and Hayley. Those two are so sweet and such little stinkers! Good thing they are cute and so lovable. I think Hayley finally started warming up to "Auntie Lois" by the end of the weekend so I'd better go up again soon so she remembers me!

I left today at 9:00 with a cup of coffee and a couple of donuts from Bill's Superette. I took a new way to get to 35W. It was a little different than the way Dave H. told me but my superior sense of direction got me where I was supposed to go and I made it to 35 just fine. The roads were clear and my iPod had some awesome tunes and I sang all the way home without one stop. I was attacked by two dogs the second I walked in the door and was nearly licked to death and beaten by a wagging tail.

It's good to be home.

Hurry up and wait some more!

February 15th! I can't believe it is only halfway through February cuz I feel it should already be March. Dave has been busy getting his equipment together from the four corners of the house to check in and make sure the Army's records match the stuff Dave has. He went to St. Paul last week to meet with some folks in the unit he will be going to Iraq with...if he goes. We should find out within a month for sure...I think!

We had a nice celebration with Thelma for her birthday. For some wonderful pictures, go to Carrie & Mike's Blog http://www.mikeyandcarrieslife.blogspot.com/ We had a chicken dinner and a cake that had a ton of frosting and gave her presents. It was fun to all be together again in one place. Laura's new boyfriend Tyler was there too and met grandma for the first time.

Next week I am going to Minneapolis to help move my mom to a new apartment. Carrie will go up with me and Mike is going to meet us there for the weekend, and the move. I figured we could help her get everything organized and packed up and take her out somewhere fun for lunch or dinner. It will be fun to see the Harder family too cuz it's been since last fall. I am hoping to see my Uncle Les and Aunt Luella too.

I will be adding pictures to this ol' blog once I learn how. That will definitely make it more interesting. No huge plans for the weekend except maybe a get together with the Vaughn's. Say a prayer for them this weekend as it is one year this weekend that Travis was killed in Iraq.

Have a great weekend and if you're from Minnesota, see you next week!

Saturday Morning

Just a quick update on Thelma today. We took her to her regular doc on Thursday and she admitted her to Sartori, mostly due to her low weight. Yesterday they sent her home since her bloodwork was okay and there was no medical reason to keep her. They did prescribe a medication that would hopefully help increase her appetite. She talked to Diane yesterday and that made her feel better too. I'm going over today to check on her and fix her pillbox. I think I'll cook her something yummy!

One by One & Two by Two

Dave went to St. Paul yesterday and came back today. He was supposed to fly (about an hour or so) but because of the fog, they drove. Of course, we got some great snow while he was away. Tyler and Laura and I watched a zombie movie last night and had a fun time. Snow day at Hawkeye so she didn't have to be at school at 8 am. Lucky girl. Thank goodness, we have hired Uncle Chuck to do snow removal so nobody had to worry about that.

My Afternoon: Moments after they put in the dilating drops at my eye appointment, I find out Thelma had fallen and needed someone to help her. I left the appointment and totally blurry, went over and decided this time we needed an ambulance. The ER checked her out and sent her home after lots of labwork and x-rays said she was okay. Dave met me at the ER on his way home from St. Paul and I ran back to the eye doctor, who finished my appointment. Phew! Thank goodness the ER and eye doctor are about 3 blocks from each other. Beauty of living in a smaller town. I went back to the ER, we took her home, settled her into bed and tomorrow morning, I will go back to call her regular doctor and see if I can make her some breakfast. If I'm able, I will go to work too. Oh yeah, I pinched/smashed my thumbnail when opening Thelma's dishwasher. On a scale of 0 to 10- 10 10 10 10 10 10 10!!!! OUCH!
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My gut is still churning with the unknown for Dave. It's making me a little crabby. Grrrrrr!

Hurry up and wait!

It's funny how something like this can be in every waking thought and in your gut, kind of churning around. Dave is really ready for this. He has trained and worked for these situations his entire adult life. I believe he will be doing the same thing he did in Savannah, managing the maintenance of the planes. Believe me, it's much more complicated than I just made it sound! He has been occupied with preparations since the alert and goes to St. Paul with his commander tomorrow to meet with the staff from the unit they are going with. Those guys have been after Dave for a while now.

Our "other" life, the regular life anyway, is filled with doctor appointments with Thelma and my mom is moving this month. I will be getting away by going to Minnesota to help pack and move her. It will be good. I also have another trip coming up in March. I will be going to Chicago with Gretchen for the kitchen shop. That is exciting! I have never been to Chicago before and look forward to going with Gretchen the world traveler!