Catching up

Wow how time flies! My surgery went well and I am feeling pretty good. The knee is still badly bruised and swollen, but I getting around well. I pushed the crutches aside after the first day and relied on a cane for several days after that. We made the car trip up to Max's mom's for Christmas day and I slept on the way up and did okay on the way back. Max and I picked up Jessie at the airport (arrived from Ireland) this last Friday and that went well. Found a wheelchair to make the trek from the parking garage to international arrivals.

Max came down with the flu the evening I came home from the hospital. She has been a real trooper taking care of me. I had a flu shot so I did not get the horrible flu that she suffered. I had a couple of days that I had to kept a plastic bucket at my side because I was not moving fast enough to make it to the bathroom. I was sick, but not anything compared to what she has gone through.

I am walking really well right now and the main problem I am having is some muscle cramping in the calve. I fell really positive about the outcome.

We are having Max's family over tonight for New Year's dinner and I am planning on starting the new year in fine form!

I know I need to post some Christmas pictures and they will be forth coming (I hope).

Later . . .

Ready for surgery

I found out today that my knee surgery is scheduled for Friday AM. I am to show up at the hospital @ 6:30. Rumor has it that the surgery will last approximately one hour and recovery will be about one hour. Since I am completely convinced that doctors and nurses lie to patients on a regular basis, I am thinking surgery will probably be around 1 1/2 hours and recovery will be around the same. If I am to show up for surgery at 6:30, I am guessing I am actually scheduled for surgery around 7:30 or 8:00. Kathy is going to keep Max company (bless her heart for getting out of bed in the cold to join the frost filled trek to the hospital). I am glad I am the first scheduled surgery for my doctor because at least I can get up and get it over with and come home and go back to bed. Since I cannot have anything to drink four hours prior to the surgery, it is better to get it over with right off the bat.

With this surgery behind me I am counting on having a successful and productive 2007!

Later . . .

Early Christmas Cal City

Now how cute is that????

We made the drive down to Cal City to celebrate Christmas with Duane and family. It certainly is times like this that we would love to live closer. Not only are we not able to be there for Christmas, but we also miss out on the Christmas programs and just the general fun things that go on this time of the year.

We had a great time and the kids seemed to be pleased with their gifts. Can hardly tell that Desirae was pleased with her new Care Bear. Devin was pleased with his Sponge Bob lego set, but we made the mistake of buying Devin an XBox 360 game; which he could not play on their XBox. To solve that problem we loaded up the van and headed to Palmdale to get him something he could actually play. We ended up going to the Red Lobster for dinner (missed Denise's planned ham, sweet potatoes and killer dessert). We then headed to Best Buy where Devin picked out a new game. Devin actually fell asleep on the way home - so the game had to wait until Sunday morning.

The kids gave us really cool Raiders hats, which we plan to wear to Max's mom's where everyone else is 49er fans! Not only are they cool, but they are really warm too.

We made the long drive home Sunday afternoon, but it was completely worth the trip. I am truly blessed to have such a wonderful family!

The "Bobs" aka "ants" arrived

Max has been "not so patiently" waiting for the arrival of the occupants for her ant farm. She finally had to get on the phone to "Uncle Mitch" and bug him to get the ants in the mail. She had decided that she was going to name all the ants Bob (this way she will not get them mixed up - as if you could tell the difference between ants). Now she can just say, "Look at Bob work". They are pretty busy little things. They arrived with two of the Bobs dead. The other Bobs are cleaning up and trying to make a place to bury them. They are quite interesting to watch and I am looking forward to see what kind of a home they build.

I did finally do some decorating in the house. I put up a little 4' artificial tree with built in lights. I hung some candy canes and white and red balls on it. It looks pretty cute and gives some light and spirit to the living room. I did not want to drag out all my Christmas stuff; however, I put out some santas and many snowmen. I even "hung the stockings with care".

We are heading off tomorrow after Max gets off work to have an "early Christmas" with the grandkids. We are really looking forward to seeing them and giving them their Christmas gifts! The weather is suppose to be horrid, but I did put new tires on the Xterra and had the front end aligned.

Later . . .

Lake Tahoe weekend

This is the view from the balcony of our condo on Saturday afternoon during the snow flurry. We had a nice time in Tahoe; however, I did not do any posts because I forgot the adapter for my memory stick and the network connection was not secure. I did not want to put my credit card information on a non secured site.

We relaxed, shopped a little, ate some good food and did some gambling. Once again, I was successful at the crap tables and managed to come home with more money than I left with. We both were doing very well and were able to spend some fun time gambling and not have it cost us any money (now that is the way I like to gamble).

I still have not put up the "in" house decorations; but I have plans to get on that tomorrow. I had to take my Xterra in for a bouncing front end; therefore, I am without a car. Forces me to stay home and hopefully stay focused.

Later . . .

Back to the sewing machine

I decided that I should try an embriodery on a t-shirt to use the new stablizer I purchased when I was at the Quilt Show several months past. It certainly worked well and it feels really good. The true test will be washing it and see if it puckers or will hold its shape. It feels very comfortable and flexible - so I am hoping it will be better than what I was using before. I wanted to do a test run before I start doing some shirts for the grandkids.

We are off to Tahoe tomorrow for a LONG weekend - be back on Monday. Thank goodness we are leaving tomorrow because there is plenty of snow and wind expected in the Sierras starting on Friday and continuing through Saturday. We should be there and settled before any of the extreme weather decides to drop in for a visit.

I think I will take my notebook, so I might be able to do some posts while there (that depends on what else we are doing and if I get out of the casinos).

Later . . .

Hawaii

OMG we had such a good time in Hawaii. The trip getting there and back was not the greatest, especially the trip home (red eye flight which made for a VERY long day), but it was a totally relaxing and fun time. The above shot is what we saw from the balcony of the condo we stayed in.

I do believe I ate fish everyday going from expensive to cheap and it was all good. This is not only a GREAT looking salad, but the BEST poke salad I have ever had. For those of you who are not sushi eaters - bed of lettuce with fresh (raw) ahi salmon on top. The dressings were awesome and certainly added to the taste.

We had a couple of great adventures while on the island. We took a boat cruise out and around the Napali Coast, which was awesomely beautiful. This is a picture of the sunrise as we were leaving the dock in the morning.

We had the opportunity to see some humpback whales, dolphines and manarays. They were there as clear as could be, but the water was a bit rough and it was really had to get good pictures. We did manage to capture a couple of good videos.

The shot on the right is a mamaray and of course the dolphines are on the left. We have spouts from the whales and a tail slapping the water, but they are so far away it is hard to see them.

We also took a tube ride down and through the irrigation ditches, which was total fun and very informative and interesting. That little adventure could not be taken without getting VERY wet, not to mention it poured rain on us at the beginning and end of the trip. We have a water camera that we have to take in for developing of pictures. With the movement of the water, we will be lucky to get any decent shots.

Kauai had massavies amouts of rain this year and they had 200 fully active water falls. We got some good pictures. I will try to post some pictures on ImageStation OR everyone just might have to come to visit to take a look at them!

Later . . .

Long time away

I cannot believe that I have not posted in such a long time. We have been back from Hawaii for over a week and I just uploaded the pictures we took. I will get to the Hawaii pictures and vacation now that we have decorated the front yard and are gearing up for Chirstmas.

Later . . .