Another Year Older

Phew, what a busy weekend!

Friday after work, I drove into Chicago to hang out with a friend of mine. We went to a fundraiser for a rescue that she does some work with. It was really nice to spend some time with her. I stayed at her house and got to sleep with this little girl....

Saturday morning, I got up and headed to the hotel where D and the team were staying. We just hung out all day until it was time for the game. Then, I watched the Pilots take care of business. After the game, we headed back into the City to check into our hotel and have some dinner. We stayed at the James Hotel again and for some reason got a free upgrade to a "Loft" suite. This room was awesome. I have pictures that I'll post at a later time. We ate dinner at Weber Grill, which is very tasty. We split a meal, ordered a side and had plenty of food.

Sunday (my birthday!!) we had breakfast at the Grand Lux Cafe and enjoyed these little suckers...

These things are to die for! They're the Breakfast Beighnets and basicall fried dough with powdered sugar. Doesn't get much better than that! YUM! After breakfast, we headed back home so we could get to a going away party for some friends.

At the party, we had more good food and it was nice to see all of our friends. We don't get together as a large group that often so it was fun. Once we left there, we got together with another couple for dessert and Rock Band. We never did play Rock Band, but the cake was great!

It was a great weekend with the hubby and all our friends. Now, only a three day work week and 4 days off! Yippee!

Almost Wordless Wednesday

Flash likes my spot when I get up...

Where Ollie sleeps if D is gone...

Our "klassy" girl...

A typical morning...

Ollie likes to make himself comfortable....

No More Rice!!

Ollie was very excited this morning when he was informed that he could eat food again. I think he was getting sick of the rice. Who can blame him!?! He inhaled the small bowl of food when we got home from the vet.

They did a RAST test on him that will determine what foods/grains/meats he's allergic to. From there, we will determine what food to buy. While at the vet, he got weighed. Poor guy lost 3 lbs. D and I thought he was looking a little skinny.

Here's a note from Ollie

Dear furiends,

Thanks for all ur well wishes. I am doing bedder. I wuz a good boy at the V-E-T. I didn't even wine too much win Mike shoved the temp thingy in my bum. He gave me treats so I wuz happee. Dadee tol me the odder day that I was lookin ajun from all da ricies. No more ricies for me tho.

Luv, Ollie dawg
PS. Pleez come to my house and visit!

"You're a Mess"

(I had this great post written in my mind one night last week while I was laying in bed. But, never got a chance to actually write it out. Now, my mond seems to have forgotten most of it and it has lost some of its relevance. But, I'm going to try and do it justice as I think it needs to be written.)



Last week marked the 6th anniversary since we lost Big Dan (D's Dad). It is hard to believe that six years have gone by already. I can remember every detail of when I found out very vividly in my mind. I was in my first year at CMU and had been in EP's office all day so D couldn't get a hold of me. He finally got put into her office and told her and she told me before she handed over the phone. It was such a weird conversation that we had since it was full of facts and void of emotion. I don't think it had hit home for either of us at that point. For me, it sunk in when I called my mom at work and told the secretary it was an emergency and to put me through to her right away. I immediately packed up a few days worth of clothing and hit the road. Apparently I hit the road too fast as I got a speeding ticket somewhere south of Three Rivers. We still joke about that to this day. It was a bright spot in the tough days ahead. The days following were busy as we all worked together to plan arrangements. There were times of tears and times of laughter as we reminisced about him.



It saddens me that there are so many people that are a part of lives now that did not know Big Dan.



I can remember my last converation with him. We had a volleyball match at EMU on a Saturday night and D came to watch. Instead of riding the bus back to CMU, I rode with him. As soon as we got on the road, I told him I really wanted to call Big Dan. To this day, I'm not sure why I wanted to talk with him so badly, but I really wanted to talk to him about our big win. We talked for about 5 or 10 minutes then hung up. I am so glad we made that phone call and I got to talk to him that night.



Big Dan loved his family passionately. He was always bragging about what the kids were doing and how great they were. He loved teaching and loved the kids. He touched so many lives during his time at West Side MS. We'll never know the magnitude of lives that were changed, but the outpouring of love at his viewing was a good indication.



Many have said that he was too young or taken too soon. Though we would have liked for him to still be here, I know without a doubt that it was all a part of God's plan. He allowed this for a reason and we just have to trust Him.



The title of this post is something he used to say to people all the time. It was always a joke and said in love. Occasionally, Danny or I will say it to the other and it always brings a smile to our face.

Another Update

Ollie continues to amaze us. That's the word I'm using, though I'm not sure if it's right! :)

Friday morning around 3:15, Ollie got me up because he wanted to go out. No problem, the Duo and I head out then come back in to go to bed. I head into the guest room to sleep my last couple of hours and find some puke on the bed. Lo and behold (sorry if this is gross), in that puke is a cylinder shaped item that is kinda soft and squishy. No clue what it was, but I'm thinking that is what has been bothering Ollie. It just took over a week to get out. I have no clue what he could've eaten or gotten into. I haven't noticed anything missing around the house, but I guess it could be anything. Strange!

As of right now, he's still on the rice diet, but I did put a call into the vet to let them know what I found.

She's a winner!

Last week, Miss Flash was honored to win an award from her friend Ace. She is very thankful that Ace thought so highly of her! She's trying hard to be a good big sister (though she's younger by a few months) but she still isn't quite sure about the seat belts! :)

According to the rules, she is supposed to pass this award along to her other friends. The only problem is, they have either already received the award or don't read her blog! So, for right now, she is going to be selfish and keep the award for herself. So fitting with her personality!

**To learn about the cool pup that this award originated from, click here.

Ollie Update

Evidently, the problems are food allergies. So, the big guy is now on a strict diet of boiled rice for three weeks. Sounds fun huh! It's going to be a loooooonng three weeks I think.

Last night was the first meal with strictly rice. It took him almost 25 minutes to eat and he had rice everywhere! At one point, when he picked his head up from the bowl, his nose was covered in rice. Hilarious! This morning's meal went much better since the rice was leftover and not quite as sticky.

I hope we can figure out what exactly he's allergic to when this is all done so we can get him the right kind of food.