So long another summer

I always lay claims that while the calendar still says we are in summer, that the "summer season" runs between Memorial Day and Labor Day. Tomorrow that means we prepare for fall. What all does that mean around here? Well, there is lots to do, but mainly my evenings will be occupied by soccer. Otherwise, it's getting the yard ready for winter and any preparations that need to go along with it. We are also preparing for many projects around the house, and for that planning is necessary. Of course, Olivia will always keep us hopping.

Our current projects are pretty simple:

1. Fix the hot tub (again)
2. Finish moving our master bedroom
3. Finish building in the storage room

I've got one small project to wrap up in the bathroom too, but these are the all projects that will continue into winter since I can be doing them indoors. My list seems to change pretty frequently as well, so who knows what might be next. For moving our master bedroom, I don't recall if I mentioned earlier that we purchased a new bed. We had to make changes, for me I had neck problems and for Heather she had back issues, and still is having some issues. They are not bed related, but finally we think the bed is not contributing to the problem.

We spent a couple weeks ago doing some moving around and getting rid of some of the beds we don't need and don't use much. So now we are preparing for a couple things. Getting the guest room set up, and getting the new "play room" set up upstairs. This will be how we plan to operate for the forseeable future around the house. It's fun planning it out, and not so fun moving all the heavy items, but it's going to make life easier as Olivia continues to grow. Speaking of Olivia, for those that haven't seen our big girl in a while and are harassing me about it (you know who you are) here are a couple recent photos.

Being Sick

Well, I'm on Day 7 of a nasty sick spell. This is one of the worst I've had in quite a while now. A couple years ago I was sick following Thanksgiving for four days when I thought death was certain. Eventually, after spending several hundred dollars on tests that I was told were "inconclusive" we never did find out what was wrong. I wanted to tell the hospital that our payment amount was "inconclusive" since they didn't really tell me anything. That didn't work and I had to pay up anyhow. That was a 4 day troubling sickness.

This time around, last week Thursday afternoon, I felt the sore throat set in and then Friday the cold and cough set in. The sore throat ended up getting so bad I ended up sending myself to the hospital on Sunday morning to get drugs to get relief so I could even just swallow. I did get some cough syrup with some other drugs, but all that did was make me tired, it didn't really do much for me. So Monday I followed up with the doctor and he took me off the medication telling me the virus that both Olivia and I had (only Olivia didn't have the sore throat) would run through soon. Well, Monday night, my sinuses backed up and formed a Sinus Infection. That was tons of fun. I spent all day Tuesday with my head trying to explode, and finally on Wednesday, saw a different doctor because mine was out of the office, and I was sent home with a small pharmacy. Thank goodness we met the insurance deductible. After a few hours on the drugs I felt like a human again, and am continuing to improve daily.

Heather is another story. She is having issues of her own and is pretty much out of commission. We are trying to get her problems with her back figured out, and it's pretty rough around here. So, we called in a person that we had to talk really hard to to get to come and take care of Big O. Grandma.....Grandma arrived last night and has proceeded to spoil Olivia for the past day. This has really crossed into some bad timing, as I'm quite busy refereeing 4 to 5 nights a week, and that leaves Big O and Heather to fend for themselves. It's rough right now, but we'll enjoy it in November when the extra cash is in. Well, we'll see how the next couple of days go! This has also really cut into our fun/social calendar. We were planning trips to take in the Big One, the South Dakota State Fair. But, with the troubles we've had here with all three of us, it looks like we're staying put for a relaxing long weekend, Honestly, I'm ok with that, but it's a bummer to cancel plans and stay put. Maybe next year when we go on the faris wheel ride, Big O can go along with us. Did I ever tell the story now of why we call her Big O? There is another Olivia at day care. One of my co-workers had a baby AFTER us and named her Olivia as well. Copycat. Anyhow, her daughter goes to the same day care, and there was a vote held amongst the children on how to tell them apart since they have the same name. One of the votes was "Hairy Olivia" (ours) and "Bald Olivia" (the other Olivia is bald). The other thought was use the middle names. Our Olivia is Olivia Hope, the other is Olivia Grace. So there is hope and grace at daycare! It ended up being just Big O and LIttle O. I'm sure we'll have to come up with some explanation to Olivia some day, and tell her it's nothing personal!

Fall Already?

Well, Heather has one week of school down. It was a shortened week, but she has the first one in the books. I've started soccer season already at the college level, and next weekend, the high school games here in Mitchell will pick up. I'm going to be plenty busy this fall, especially in September being on the fields between 3 to 5 nights a week from now until October. It will be nice though to get the time out there, and get the income as well, but not so nice to be away from Heather and Olivia.

Last night I went to Orange City, IA to referee a game. August isn't usually my favorite time to referee as it's extremely hot most of the time. Last night, however, with temps in the 60s and a cloudy evening and a light breeze, it was about as nice a night for a soccer match as there could be. I was thrilled to be out last night. I was not so thrilled with getting home at 12:30am, but at least I had a nice new comfortable bed waiting for me.

Night one in the bed went well for me, and afternoon nap one in the bed went quite well too. We'll see how the night goes tonight, and see how the bed gets broken in for the two of us. With the new bed came a new sized bed. We went up from our queen to a king size bed. I could not believe when I crawled into bed how far in I got and still couldn't find where Heather was laying. The bed is HUGE! I liked it first night. We'll see though how it does in the longer run. It was sure a nice change from the old bed!

Friday Night Relax

Well, I sit here alone tonight, Olivia is asleep, and Heather is out tonight enjoying an evening away. So, I get some time to blog and do other useful things. I got Olivia to eat her bottle and go to sleep about 8pm tonight, and now am just relaxing here. I'm almost not sure what to do with my time. I'm going to balance the checkbook yet, and that's about it. I sorted though my soccer gear already and am ready to roll there. This coming week I'm headed to Tennessee before kicking off my soccer season on August 19 and 20. Well, I better go check on the little one.

Working with Comics!

Well, we have a change of pace at work again. Today I found myself assigned back to a new department at work. I'm familiar with the department and the work, but there is only one person in the department that was there before I left. Alot of new faces around, and my fifth supervisor since I started. That's alot!! So, now, I'm flashing back to February when Tim Conway and Steve Martin were performing at a theater in Chattanooga! Why would I flash back to that? Because, my new supervisor is Tim Conway! No joke! Not the Tim Conway from the Apple Dumpling gang, but it's still pretty funny. Also, to make things even "funnier" there is a member of the support department that is named Steve Martin. I'm not joking, but it's funny....err something. So, there really isn't that much of a comic fest, neither are as gifted comedians as the men that share their name.

My mom is here this week as our day care provider is out of town on vacation. So, mom is staying here, and helping out with Olivia all week, and tomorrow, Heather goes back to school. Mom was just telling us that she and dad were talking about our choosing a name for Olivia. She said that we were wise for choosing a name that starts with a vowel because we could instantly spell something with the first letters of our first names for myself and Heather and all of our children. I piped in immediately "All we need is a Maria and an Even, and we would be set." That would leave us with a Tyler, Heather, Olivia, Maria, and Evan. Yay me and go Jim THOME!!

What Just Happened??

So, I left for Tennessee leaving my wife and daughter behind and I return and find my wife and 3 kids. What??? My nieces are here for the week. We have them through next weekend. It will be an adventure this week, that's for sure. I told Olivia if it was too rowdy I'd come get her and we'd head back to Tennessee! I think I got vetoed, by everyone, on that one.

Rewind to last Thursday night. I was reviewing the details for my trip home, and I realized when I booked the trip, I had not booked the same flight times home. So, I'm looking at his trying to figure out what I did, and figured out I had booked everything about 2 hours later than normal, so I would just have to live with it. I still wasn't sure why I had booked it that way, but I had to live with it now. So, I went ahead and headed for home, and upon arriving to Minneapolis, found out the plane that I would have been on if I would have booked all my normal times, was cancelled. When I got to the flight that I was on, there were over 30 people on standby, and the plane was oversold. I don't think any of them made it on that plane. This is actually the second time that this has happened to me. Earlier in the spring I had done the same thing, only this time the flight from Chattanooga I was supposed to be done was cancelled, and I avoided that one as well. We'll see what the next trip in 2 weeks brings!

In flight meal?

Well, I expirienced a first on this trip to Chattanooga. I was in Detroit getting ready to board the plane for Chattanooga. I looked at my ticket and saw a good seat, row 1C. Now, I like legroom, which being in row one is a good thing for. So, Legroom, Check! I like to be near the front of the plane. Don't know why really, but I like the front. Generally, Delta keeps the front of the plane for the more frequent fliers, so that's generally a good location to sit in. So, front of the plane, Check! I also like the isle seat. When you're on these small regional planes, the window seat is not what a window seat is in a larger plane. The window is at about the right height for your knee to look out, so you spend so much time hunched over, the neck ache you get by the time you land isn't worth it at all. Plus, with the small plane, the curve of the plane is right on your shoulder in the window seat, so thus, I prefer isle. Isle seat, Check! I'm ready to roll. Zone 1 is called, I get on the plane! This also gives me a chance to do one of my favorite activies: people watching. I see alot of interesting people get on airplanes, and this day was no exception.

As I'm sitting there, a lady comes onto the plane and is immediately stopped by the flight attendant. On the small aircrafts, they are fairly particular about how big of a bag they let in the cabin. This lady had a rather tall box with handles. So, the flight attendant will not let her pass, and tells her that the box will have to go under the plane for the ride from Detroit to Chattanooga. The passenger beings to protest, "No, this cannot go under the plane it needs to ride with me in the cabin. I will just sit it in front of me and the put my feet on it." The flight attendant continues to say that it is against safety regulations (which it is, carry on luggage must fit in the overhead bin, or under the seat in front of you). The pilot hears the commotion from the open cockpit door and steps out the intervene. "Ma'am, what's the issue?" "Well, I have to keep these in the cabin. These are live lobsters." WHAT??? Did I just hear that correctly?? Live lobsters?? Now I've seen people bring their pets in the cabin. Small dogs or cats in a carrier are permitted. Often, for hunting season, dogs will be in a kennel that is checked, and they will ride in the belly of the plane. I've never before seen lobsters. The pilot worked out a deal with her, and she left a happy camper, and her lobsters stayed right at the front of the plane.

I was still trying to make sure I had all that correctly. That's when the seat beside me became occupied. The lady sitting next to the window came on board with her family. A dad, a mom, and two boys. They appeared to be from India. They talked to one another briefly and the English was good, so I figured no problems. That's when the pilot picked up the microphone. "Good evening ladies and gentlement, welcome aboard flight 1111 tonight to Knoxville, Tennessee. The first officer immediately corrected him, and I could see the pilot from my seat look over at him and then dig for a paper to see where they were really going. Meanwhile, the lady beside me starts freaking out. "No, No, No!!!!" She then started muttering something and looking at her family and down at her seat belt and started trying to get it undone, but she was too paniced and flustered to get it undone. I turned to her and said, "Relax, the pilot is just joking around, we're not going to Knoxville." She didn't buy it. She kept trying to figure out how to get off the plane (which would have been easy, the door was still open). The pilot came back on said, "Just messing with ya folks, we're headed down to Chattanooga, tonight." Hahahahaha. That generally happens once per trip, one pilot pulls out that joke. Everyone on board chuckles and thinks, 'Haha, he used the oldest pilot trick in the book'. Well, I'm sure the pilot would have been proud to know that this one time, it actually worked on a passenger! I hope there is more excitment when I head home on Friday!!