trash day, thank God!

picture this...
today is trash day in that Christmas
was yesterday. we NEVER have this much trash!
hosting Chrismas makes for a lot of garbage!

i have been sitting on my cf card for 2 days now.
i just loaded some Christmas images onto
the G5 so here are a few highlights from
Christmas Eve at anne & pete's.
ben, amanda & emily opening gifts from
their parents before eveyone got there......

ben's snow skate...




amanda's?????(i have no idea what this was but
she was pretty excited about it!)



emily's littlest pet shop...




nicki, scott & anne...



tim brought over some old photos of our family.
here's scott taking a little walk down memory lane....



spice starting to get into things...



amanda took this one!



more crazy cousins...



uncle tim rolled doubles in the dice game
and decided to grab owen instead of a
wrapped gift!



kiki & owen....



fireworks...
an annual thing for my pyromaniac brother..




end of the night, ben finally got the ball on the tee!!




have a great week!~

Christ, our Savior is born...

picture this...
ran into my old boyfriend, his
wife and his mother yesterday at the
11:00 service at westwood.
it was so incredibly great to see them!
i knew that scott had been spotted
attending there but i never see him.


it was a really great day!
i ran to anne's to drop off spanish rice.
(oh, we decided to go "off the board" and
have a "feliz navidad" celebration for
Christmas this year complete with tacos,
dos equis, corona and of course, tequila!)
then we all piled in their car and went to church.
gary got a ride from a buddy and went to axel's
in chan, where everyone meets every Christmas eve.

back to anne's after the service and prepare the
chow (and today's egg bake).
family started trickling in around 3 and the kids
got restless right away so we decided to go
"off the board" again and open up gifts before we ate!
i'm afraid that will become the new tradition!
ben said..."yea, we'll open our stuff now (he's 14),
and then after dinner all you adults can just relax!"
oh, he knew exACTly what he was offering up! :)
as it turned out, it was perfect!

today gary and i are hosting Christmas with his
family...they'll be here soon so i must put the
keyboard down and get back to work!
Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve Day...

picture this...
the real meaning of Christmas....
it's not ipod nanos or xbox 360s or
fillet mignon or...or even the tallest
evergreen tree at rockefeller center.
no. contrary to what most americans
have come to know and go broke over
is just how most of us celebrate it.
and even though i like to see it as
getting together with friends and family
and tossing around the idea of finally
making a resolution for the next year,
at the risk of sounding corning and
hypocritical........
Jesus is the reason for the season!

years ago, between jobs, i managed
several holiday kiosks at all of the dales.
i know, weird, right? anyway, one day my
sister helped me out by working with me
at the southdale location.
right outside the old daytons on the main
level. this was a novelty Christmas sweatshirt
and t-shirt kiosk.
now folks come up all day long, week in week out
asking "where's the bathroom?" and "can you tell
me where Soldati is?" (greatest shoe store ever by the way!)
and my favorite, "where can i find a directory?"
it was right behind them...DUH!
but one day, just before Christmas a woman and
her daughter approached the kiosk and asked
"do any of your shirts read 'Jesus is the reason for
the season?'....." and we said "no."... the woman
walked away, and we laughed and laughed!
almost mocking the rhyme..."Jesus is the reason for
the season"!
from that day forward anne and i would always
giggle when we recalled the event......

I don't remember exactly when i came back to Christ,
straying as many do in adolescence,
but that the phrase no longer makes me giggle....
it does, however, make me smile and i will always
remember that Jesus is indeed the reason for the season!

Celebrate His birth
Merry Christmas


(jacquie, i enjoyed our little outting yesterday!
thanks for having me along!)

dean & lois.. your card and generous gift
arrived yesterday, thank you.

as the shoppers rush home...

picture this....
i made an executive decision to run
out last night and get a few final gifts
rather than attempting mid day today!
it wasn't bad, really. but then i was
prepared to park in wisconsin anyway...
lost a thumnail in the process..crap!

we missed getting 3-4 inches of snow
by only about 6 miles!!!
one of my clients yesterday told me that
her back yard looks like a winter wonderland!
crap...we got nothin'! (see yesterday's blog)
there's pretty much nothing left now.
oh well, thank you global warming!

do you suppose that andy rooney would ever
do a story on whether or not paying for
expedited shipping really pays?
i mean, really....i paid twice the amount to get
3-5 because i FEARED the item might arrive tuesday!
it was on my doorstep in TWO!!!
what if i'd have done the normal 5-7??
do you think it would have gotten here in 5?
i do... they get you with FEAR!!
who would want to disappoint a child, right?!
amanda is going to LOVE it! so it was worth it.

i'll be wrapping gifts and trying to keep my cats
out of theirs this evening...they've already
discovered their loot...they really are like children!

happy Christmas eve, eve!

i'm dreaming of a light green christmas!

picture this....
well, it's not denver, but i guess it'll do.
we received a very crunchy half inch of
snow preceded by a ton of freezing rain...
not fun at all.



roads are pretty clear and travel shouldn't
be much of a problem.


forgot to mention that last sunday,
several of my family members got together
to decorate some Christmas tree ornaments.
it's something that we used to do when i was
a kid....it was really fun. and then anne made
this awesome pan of lasagna! soooo goood!

em's angel...




g's snow flake man....



manda-moo's stocking...




j's snowman..




on the gary front, we found out the other day
through another mri, that gary's right shoulder is
actually worse than his left shoulder...needing surgery
as well and this one will be even more involved.
it's so bad, in fact, that his right arm will be extended
out perpendicular in a cast for 3 whole weeks.
strangely, due to the nature of the tear and the different
usage of either arm, gary thought the left one needed
it most...not as much pain the right at all.
he'll be considering how to go forward over the next month.
we are not very chipper these days...pray that some
sort of mistake was made and it isn't as bad as they thought.
that will me our Christmas miracle this year!

have a great friday!
go finish your shopping!
stay caffeinated and warm.....

love to all!

winter solstice

picture this...
today marks the beginning of
winter...tell that to the folks in colorado!

today also marks the day that we
minnesotans long for....today, the days
begin to get longer! i believe that it takes a
few days for that to get rolling and it'll take
a few weeks for it to start showing but
nonetheless, the days are going to soon
be longer and having more daylight will make
a difference to many!

i'm up & adam today, feeling oh so much
better and more myself.
having just had a small taste of the flu,
it's nice to be among the vertical! :)

i've got a couple of slammin' days of hair
ahead of me in that i've had to reschedule
everyone from the past 2 days.
pray for my strength the next couple of days!

hopped on the scale this morning.....
the flu diet is widely under-rated!
at the same time, not recommended
for ANYone! :)

hey, it's my brother-in-law's birthday
tomorrow! i think he'll be 42?????
'spose i'd better get a card in the mail today!
if i don't....."happy birthday pete!"

my youngest niece lost a tooth the other
day and she called yesterday to tell me
all about it. she's 6.
she's always feeling a little small, left out
and nothing special...now, the whole world
knows that amanda has lost her very first tooth!
now, THAT'S something special.
apparently teeth now get a couple of dollars.
i think they ran a quarter back when i was
losing mine (for the first time!).....HA!

gotta get ready for the day.
have a good one.

neighborhood party tonight also...looking
forward to getting out of the house.
oh, and ron & cindy...don't worry..i'm just fine.
see you tonight!

flu-schmoo...

picture this...
5 days before Christmas, and i get sick.
i am always bragging about how i never
get sick...HA! that'll teach me!

i won't go into details (and you're welcome),
but let's just say this layed me out flat for
a day and a 1/2....you know the kind of feeling
when you wake and you're not sure if it's 6pm
or 6am...right?
i want to burn my jammies, sheets and pillowcases!
and the HAIR!??? don't even get me started!
i barely recognize myself.
i wonder if ducks feel bad when the water just
rolls off! :)
oh well, i'm feeling much better and just thought
i'd post something so you all didn't think i'd
falled somewhere and couldn't get up!

i'm not sure what's taken place these past 2 days
but i DO know that 2 of my Christmas packages
haven't shown up yet...darn it!

that's all for now......

editing-editing-editing!

picture this...

i got a chance to pop over to jacquie's
saturday and visit while SHE bakes cookies!
that was fun!


i spent the better part of saturday behind
my camera.
first, at the pancake breakfast for jay in
eagan (see yesterday's blog)...
then out to chan to photograph ava,



her brother zach,




and their cousin owen (different owen)...




then i ran to eden prairie to photograph
hanna, hughe, sophia & ben....



they have an ice rink in their back yard...how
they keep it frozen these days is beyond me!
but it makes for a really cooooool back drop,
don't ya think!? here's hanna...




yesterday, around 3, i popped over to
see jill and craig and their 2 daughters
olivia (2 & 1/2) and emalee, who will be 1 next
month to photograph emalee for her 1 year
milestone and then get the girls and the whole
family together for a couple of holiday shots
as well.....
here's the birthday girl, emalee....





then we changed into our Christmas dress....



and i couldn't forget about big sister olivia who
would only smile if she could say "mac & cheese"!...





emalee was not as interested in the santa hat...



thanks for the pretzel olivia, it was yummy!
hope you had a good visit with santa last night!

jay's pancake breakfast

picture this....
so i'm at the applebees in eagan at 7:30 am
for the start of the pancake breakfast for jay magee.
......lying....i got there at 8:30! :)

i forgot that i was supposed to get a long
sleeved t-shirt at the last benefit in waconia
that i couldn't make it to.
i advertised on the back of the shirt and so
i got a free one....here's the front...
held by jill's cousin, sarah.



i posted a bunch of photos on jay's caring bridge
site...go to caringbridge.org then type in jay magee...

here' jay and jill......
jays' shirt reads "i support jay walking"
clever!




this is her mom and 2 of her brother's...



here's olivia and emalee....i'm going to
their house tomorrow afternoon to do some
1 year old shots of emalee and probably some
family ones or at least sister ones too!
gotta get to chan, i'm photographing miss ava
today. i'm just waiting for her to get up from
her morning nap....she's adorable...i'll post those
tomorrow.
oh, here's rachel and charlie...(with bo) from yeseterday..



and a close up.....




another balmy one today....45!
cloudy..kinda gloomy...no snow in the forcast
for Christmas! gonna be a strange one without
snow here in minnesota!

go get the rest of your shopping done! :)

family photo sessions...

picture this...
a rush to get 4 families photos
taken, proofed and printed
for Christmas! yay! don't call
me this weekdend....(kidding!)

first of all, i must thank kathy h.
for bringing me the loveliest
winter floral arrangement yesterday!
here's a shot...




kathy's been a client of mine for years
and i just love her...always so thoughtful!
thanks kathy. maybe we'll get a chance to
connect in scottsdale.

tivoed "the office" last night, haven't watched
it yet as we elected to watch this weeks episode of
"friday night lights" instead. i just LOVE that show!
you have to give it a shot!

running cookies to cory, my web designer, today
trimming owens "mullet" today too....not a full fledged
HAIRCUT mind you..just tweeking the back a bit.
he's got that 21 month old mullet thing going...
you all know what i'm talking about, right? :)

greatest thing...yesterday, while up to my
eyeballs in haircolor and hairspray, i was able to
order 4 gifts on line inbetween clients and while
they were processing...so cool!
i'm just about done. all i have left, i think, is the
cats. WHAT??? you don't get your pets anything???
i like to get little things for their cousins too....now
THAT could be considered crazy, but, c'mon!
you're either a pet lover or your not, right?

every year i find a new cat thing at Christmas time.
here's my latest addition...i just love her.
(yes, it's a her...you can't see them, but she's
got heels on too)...i've got her in the hair studio.



jay magee is having a pancake breakfast
at the eagan applebees tomorrow from
7:30 to 10:30 c'mon by if you get the chance!
i'm anxious to see them. i didn't get the
opportunity to see them last weekend when anne
and i were baking cookies. they had another
function in waconia last sunday during the
vikings game.
gotta run.
what do you think i do, i sit around and write
blogs all day??? :)


p.s. left arm and shoulder seem to be just fine.
pretty bruised up...seriously starting to feel old!

10 more shopping days....

picture this....
gary's in a sling and will be
for the next, oh...4 weeks or so.
i get up early, sneak out of the
bedroom cuz it's rare when i get
up before gary and he's still sleeping.
(yes, this is going somewhere...)
i feed the cats (notable is that
katie will now eat hobie's food so
no more separating them to eat!)
i head downstairs to get in the shower
and totally take a tumble down the
stairs! thank GOD for split entries
or i might still be tumbling!
i've jammed my left arm and shoulder.
i'm pretty sure nothing is broken
but as you can imagine when i came to
a hault in the foyer, all i could think
of was..i may need one of gary's slings.
i'm already feeling it in my neck......
well, enough of that.

much to celebrate today....
it's going to be 50 degrees today
in most parts of minnesota or as we've
begun to call it....minnesnow-not!

we did a bonfire last night, gary and i.
it was really nice out and gary was in the
mood to get off the couch...here's gary
outside last night...




i'm going to test and see if gary's
dad really reads my blog on a regular
basis because we dicided last night
by the fire to take a few days mid january
and head down to arizona for a visit
with dean and lois! i haven't been down in years!
(dean-give us a jingle or post a comment here
below)

no shopping today..tons of hair to do today.
tis the season!
enjoy the gorgeous day!

11 days 'til Christmas!

picture this...
still got shopping to do?
me too.
still have cards to send out?
me to.
still have cookies to deliver?
well then get your lazy butt over here
and HELP ME!!

made the rounds yesterday for most
of the cookies....seriously...i've GOT
to get them out of here or i'll be
up to "2 bills" by Christmas!!

i've got a bunch of families still
needing photos for the holidays
so i'm trying to wrap that all up.
had my PUG dinner party last night,
had a great time!

my cats are starting to get into things
under the tree.
i just love delivering a package with
the bows all shredded with teeth marks!
hobie actually ate the cardinal that was
tied on one of my shopping bags from
coldwater creek...it was swinging from
the handle when the bag tipped over and
it swung back and forth 1 too many times!
he batted at it for a minute and we thought
it was so cute....then, suddenly, one eye was
missing and that was the beginning of the
end for the christmas cardinal! :(



our cats are crazy and posessed all year round,
but at Christmas time...they really come out of
their shells!
last Christmas we thought we were going to
lose hobie...he was sooooo sick.
MVRS in Eden Prairie worked miracles for my
baby and he is all well now!
that was one of my first stops yesterday.
i brought a giant tray to MVRS for saving
hobie's life last Christmas...(last year we gave
them a giant check!)

cookie deliveries!

picture this....
smiles on everyones faces as they see
me pull up outside....they know i'm
bringing cookies! it's just such a joy for
me to deliver the smiles!

here's a couple of shots that gary took
with his panasonic lumix camera..

me enjoying a break in the action...
a little molasses spice cookie and some cabernet!
gotta catch rudolf every year!





me and my sister, anne, hard at it!!!
anne forgot her santa hat this year...




hobie, not particularly interested...



had a great time last night at the TCPPA party.
the magician was CRAZY great! i'm going to hire
one someday for a party. he did a fork trick for gary
and i and i got to keep the fork. i'll photograph it and
post it another time...crazy!!

tonight, a PUG party at Biaggi's in eden prairie!
looking forward to that as well.
this weekend a neighborhood party...UGH!!
GOTTA get to the gym!! :)
tis the season, right.
enjoy the foggy, rainy day....in the 40's again all week!

gerrick, gary is doing wonderfully! thanks for your
concern!

cheers!

finished with the cookies!

picture this....
around 11 o'clock last night, we wrapped
up another year of christmas cooking baking!
yes, that's right, not "holiday baking"....
CHRISTMAS COOKIE BAKING!

this was, however, an abbreviated year and
we only went for 2 days instead of the usual 4.
okay i guess, we just had to really keep at
it and not get distracted.
unfortunately, that meant cutting back on some
of the items due to time restraints.
we apologize in advance for having to skip
some of your favorites...
here's me on friday night trying to get a jump
on things..(we normally go friday, saturday,
sunday and monday...anne arrived saturday around 9:30 am.)



here's a crowd pleaser....the infamous
peanut butter blossom..



my brother tim's favorite, the raspberry
almond thumbprints...



a large tray of all of the goodies together...




it kind of felt like we were just getting started
and then we were boxing things up and cleaning!
sort of sad, really.
we look forward to this every year and had it not
been for my sister's surgery tomorrow and
her helping a friend move things up from arizona
we would have gone all four days.

we really got a lot done in 2 days!

me personally? i think we had better start to
train in the nieces on this whole production for
when we decide that our backs can't take it anymore!!

the TCPPA holiday gathering is tonight in bloomington.
they've hire a magician...should be a fun gathering.
tomorrow evening is my PUG holiday dinner at biaggi's!

tomorrow i will spend the 1st half of the day delivering
cookies! yum.....

day 1 cookies!

picture this...
last year we celebrated our 10th year
of actually getting together for dedicated,
purposeful, Christmas cookie baking!
we're pretty sure that we've been doing it
longer, it's just that we only started keeping track
of everything 11 years ago. no matter....
several years ago, anne and i had determined
that it was no longer about the cookies anymore!
just good, clean, silly, LOL, pee your pants, fun!
we have even been know to chart the first
laugh attack on our folder that contains all
the recipes.

once completed, we distribute all the cookies
to people and places that we have either done
buisness with or done business for.
and for me, some salons that i have worked
at in the past.
others include my web designer, my photo lab,
my vet and my emergency vet (saved hobie's life
a year ago!), the gal that folds towels at my gym,
my dentist, my PUG group...that kind of stuff.
it's our labor of love and let me tell you, folks
can't wait til we show up on the door step!
oh, and this year i'm adding my networking group
and my friends jay and jill...i will be bringing
a huge tray to auction off at their next two fund
raisers for the surgery and one for them as well.
i brought one out to jay last year when he was still
at the courage center in golden valley.
i'll post photos later or tomorrow.....

post op check up today

picture this..
a warm up is on the way.
just in time for cookie baking!

gary goes in today to see his
surgeon and get information
on what is to come and what he
can do and when.
gary has been pretty down lately.
he's frustrated that he can't do
anything and i think that he fears
his shoulder will not be the same.

i try hard to explain that this surgery
was different from the last 2 that he
has had and that he was told that the
rehab and recovery for this one would
be much more intense and take much
longer. he's just not happy.
hopefully dr. teynor will shed some
light on this for him today!

tornado in london yesterday!?? CRAZY
check out the pix on netscape.

i'm going to star some cookies today
in that my sister was delayed in leaving
phoenix so she won't even get back to
town until later today.
i plan to work on one that i hate making.
it will be a suprize to her because we
decided last friday that we would skip it
this year! tee hee.

plenty of photo ops this weekend!

supposed to be 40 tomorrow and 30 something
on sunday! nice.

more later.....

day 8-thursday

picture this...
getting up in front of a room full
of people that have been assigned
to come and listen to you as a part
of a sentence fulfillment...a bit daunting, no?


my brother is speaking again
at the carver county court house
today. he spoke a couple of months
ago and i went to photograph him
for future media usage.
he speaks mostly to folks that
have to attend as a part of their
sentencing, thus making the crowd
a bit less interested in what he is saying
and more interested in how much time
has passed. not an easy task or assignment
for him, but he's really very good and very
engaging. everyone seems to enjoy scott.
and why wouldn't they, right?! :)

gary fong released his "crome dome" today.
it's only useful with the "cloud" lightsphere...
so i'm not going to purchase this one.
i love my amber dome and the original so i'll
stick with those for now!

update..i have yet to hear from "bella pictures"
that company that employs photographers from
all over to have as a "bench" to select from.
i think i'll send out another note...

TCPPA holiday party this coming monday evening.
our PUG holiday get together tuesday night @ biaggi's!
let the parties begin!!!!

gary has his post op appointment tomorrow morning.
we will find out then what he can start doing as far
as rehab on the shoulder....

gotta run......

day 7-wednesday

picture this....
i think it would have been a whole
lot easier had gary had his surgery
on December 1st!
day 7 on the 6th??.....crazy!

feeling remarkably better, gary
and i sat and watched the victoria's
secret "very sexy" show last night!!
damn, i need to get some more duct
tape for my mouth!!
oh, wait, that's right, i'm not twenty
anymore.... :)
we enjoyed some yummy cabernet
and....yes..a few hershey's kisses!
it's not like either one of us is
sitting around waiting for a call for a
big contract with VS!! right??? :)

today, i have yet another networking
meeting...this one is back at flagship.
oh, sorry, i mean, "lifetime".
today, dave is speaking. he's our
accountant. i've GOT to get together
with him and discuss my 2 businesses!!

by the way, i made some nice contacts
yesterday at the event that i shot at the
eden prairie center. namely a gal who
kind of runs things at the epc and was
interested in the fact that i shoot events
as well....who knows what may come of that!?

anyone interested in attending....jay magee
is having a small benefit at "beef-o'brady's"
in waconia this sunday during the vikings
game....from 11-4. i'm going to try to get
away for part of it (in the middle of cookie baking!).

more tomorrow.

day 6-tuesday

picture this....
gary had some dental work done
today...2 and 1/2 hours of it!
i told him to bring a pillow along
for his shoulder and he forgot so
he is in some big pain this afernoon.

i just got back from photographing the
1st annual food distribution put on by
Here's Life Inner City, Lift Up America
and Hope for the City in the Eden Prairie
Center parking lot. Tyson was a
huge contributor. Channel 5 came out
to cover it.

Lens Crafters also did a "Home Town Day"
in conjunction with the food distribution
where they gave free eye exams, glasses
and contacts to about 30 children.
the Minnesota Vikings were there so
i bounced back and forth from the parking
lot to Lens Crafters next to Sears on the
lower level. Brrrr, it was kind of cold out too!
that chris kluwe is quite tall!
patrick body, ray edwards & will hunter were
there and isaiah harris, a player developer,
was also in attendance....guess he's got HIS
work cut out for himself!!!

here's the parking lot and all the food!!!



of course santa was there too!!!



one lucky young lady with her new frames!!



at the end, time for a question and answer period
with the players...




Doug, from Life Touch, was there covering
it also...i met Doug a couple of years ago
at the 2nd annual MiracleKids Triathlon in
Chanhassen. it's always fun to bump into
photographers giving of their talents!

It was a great event and I will be apart of it
every year from here on out!
thanks john, for including me!

day 5, monday

picture this...
gary has decided that he can drive
himself down to work. idiot!
i could not convince him otherwise.

quite clearly, he is feeling better (for
those of you checking in on his progress).
he's no longer having to sleep upright in
a chair and he's down to just one medication.
he did feel a little woosey by the time he
returned home and asked if i could finish
his errands for him....see! i was RIGHT!!!
idiot! i love him, don't get me wrong, he's
just a man that thinks he can beat this thing!
ya know?? deep down, men are really big
pussies! :)

enough about that.
my sister has traveled to arizona to help
a good friend move furniture up here
to a townhouse. they thought a little
"thelma & louise" trip sounded fun.
have at it, i said!

we'll start christmas cookies on friday here
at my house this year. i'm kind of excited
to not have to move everything to her house.
altho' it's always been fun to wake up with
the kids there...good memories! :)

tomorrow morning i will be photographing
an event at the eden prairie center for an
organization called "here's life inner city".
they are collecting and distributing food to over
43 churches/agencies that serve the poor and
providing eye exams/new glasses for kids at
lens crafters as well.
a couple of vikings players will be there including
the kicker chris kluwe!

go to www.hlictwincities.org for more information.
i'll post photos tomorrow...have a great day!

day 4, sunday...

picture this...
everyday gary gets a little better!
everyday he can sleep a little longer
at a strretch. he even got in the shower
yesterday. that made all the difference.

yesterday afternoon i could clearly sense
that gary was getting restless so i offered
to go out somewhere to grab a bite.
i called my brother tim and asked if
he would like to join us in his maiden
voyage and of course he said "yes".
laurie, his wife, was stuck in st. louis missouri
for a few days with her crew waiting for
additional de-icing equiptment so she just
came straight from the airport to biaggi's.
they really have the best pizza!
it went really well with my murphy goode
cabernet!

today was pretty routine...
got up, prepared a french press, went out
and got the paper, got on the bike,
went to Westwood's 11 o'clock service with
the majority of my family, came home to see that
the viking were sucking....again!
(i said the day was pretty routine, right!?)

so we decided that a movie was in order.
we shuffled through the dvds that his
brother brought up the other day for gary's
recovery period and thought that even
"nacho libre" would be better than watching
the vikings butcher yet another sunday!
my take? they were about dead even...i mean parts
were funny and i enjoyed all the spanish but
if you ever find yourself trying to decide between
"nacho libre" and anything else?...get anything else!
even if you are a westling fan.

got a little snow today...more of a dusting, really.
altho' i acutally heard paul douglas say "a decorative
snowfall" the other day...what's with these guys anyway?
snow is snow. it's either on the ground or falling from the
sky. it's like the chicken and the egg deal...what's
more, a "dusting" or a "coating" my money is on
"coating"....WHO CARES!!!!

what i do know for sure right now about any amount
of snow is that i will be having the pleasure of
removing it myself this winter....gary get's the season off!

day 3...change dressing

picture this...
gary had a much better day yesterday.
still pretty confined to the porch and
i'm certain that he'd love to get in the
shower at this point...good thing i have
a shampoo bowl! :)

we'll change the dressing today and
get a look at his incision....YIKES!

ran into donny rix last night at anne
& pete's. he was there having a "bump"
with pete. donny mentioned that he
is in the running for a rotator cuff
surgery so i stayed and chatted with
him about some stuff and gary's goings
on.

i was at anne & pete's cuz anne and i had
to do our annual cookie bake, shopping run
and we had to do it last night cuz she's
flying to arizona today and won't be back
until the day we start and we like to get
that out of the way before we actually get
into the whole process.
friday night proved to be the night to do it
too! NO one was there. we usually go on the
monday morning that precedes the weekend
that we bake....this is really quite an operation.
i brought my camera along and got a couple
of shots of us shopping..apparently cub foods
doesn't care if we take photographs in their
store! most places these days find it suspicious
and at LEAST ask why you have a camera...ya know?
not these folks.
here's some of the big fun we had at cub foods
in excelsior last night....




making an oatmeal cookie this year
that's new...



make sure all the eggs are in good shape...




be sure to bring a list and STICK TO IT!!




gary ordered a new sling yesterday...he's having
it overnighted so that he can have it today....
he's pretty excited about it!
oh, get this....
i went out to get the paper and gary's
sling was at the door already.
i mean.....holy hanna, couldn't they
have gotten here any sooner?
that was nearly same day.....
from california!

gary's mom is working on a custom
shirt for gary so he won't have to lift his
left arm...we'll market it if all goes well! :)

day two...

picture this..
gary didn't sleep at all last night!

i woke up at 6 this morning and went
right out to the porch where gary is
camped out....he was awake.
i asked, "how did the night go?"
gary responded with...."do you have a gun??"

he hadn't eaten anything throughout the
night....i told him that his pain meds
wouldn't be very effective on an empty
stomach......he asked for a peanut butter
sandwich! so, yum, breakfast of champions!!

i got him all situated and i headed off to
the gym and then the grocery store to get a
bunch of stuff for him to have at his
fingertips.
i've got photos to post, just can't get to it
right now...i'll place them up on this entry
later today.....

i'm sure he'll be up to visitors soon.
if you have any oxycontin...bring it along...
you know....tis the season....
frankinsense, murr and pharmaceuticals! :)

okay, here's gary, all optimistic about the day,
the surgery and the future (thursday morning)




here's gary thursday afternoon (post op about 3 hours)
still all "blocked" so no pain, just worry about the
rehab....nothing for 6 weeks! certainly not what
he expteded to hear....

gary's surgery day

picture this...
if i could have brought my camera
i would have.....but due to HPPA,
that would be a "no".


got up early, and headed to
fairview southdale at around 7.
what a cool new facility they have
now...it's been open for about 4 years,
they said.
TERRIBLE coffee (thanks ladies auxillary!)
i left mine in the car thinking i was
going to take him in and head back home.
nope.

all is well. altho' dr. teynor said that
gary should have done this a couple
of years ago..it was pretty bad.

so, i'm just camped out here at home
waiting for the block to wear off
and the babying to begin! :)
more later....

the big chill...

picture this...
well, no snow (as usual)
but considerably colder!
it's perhaps not going to
even get into the 30's the
rest of the week. yuck, it's here!

so is the plethera of new musical
artists butchering some of your
favorite classic holiday songs!
like..."santa clausizzle is comin' to
town"! nice
maria carey always does a nice
job jazzing up the classics too! jk.

anyway, today my network group
is meeting out at jeff stone's
place of business out on smithtown
road near excelsior. jeff is an auto
broker extraodinaire! :)
next week we'll meet back at
flagship (sorry, it'll always be flagship
to me!)

my cats love to lay under the christmas tree.
just as soon as i put the old latch hook
tree skirt (that the whole family worked on
in '81) goes under the tree, katie gets right
under there where she stays as long as it's
there....hobie just goes under to bug katie!

well, stay warm everyone!

thunder and lightening....

picture this....
what a crazy night and morning!
rain, thunder, lightening....

MUCH needed rain, however.
it's been sooo dry so this was a
welcome site and quite unusual
to hear the thunder this late in the
year.
the wheels are supposed to fall off
overnight and over the next several
days. YIKES!!

gary's surgery is thursday....early morning.
rotator..yuck.
june and garrick fly back to england
that same day in the evening.
it's really been terrific having them here.
i just burned them a CD of all the images
that i shot while they've been here.

oh, went to gerri & jim gefre's on saturday
night for a get together...there were about
6 or 8 couples..really fun!
turns out that their daughter, kathryn has
contracted the chicken pox!!!!
gary thinks that he hasn't had them.
i'll just die if they cancel his surgery AGAIN!!!