Yes, we're still open

Despite my poor posting abilities on here the last few months, we are still open here. It's busy of course. With a three month old and a nearly 3 year old, this house is seeing all kinds of energy, from the kids. The adults are just trying to survive. We're quite busy too heading into the holiday season. I'm in the middle of making some snacks for us to enjoy this weekend, and prepping to get ready to head out Thursday morning. I think I preferred the college days when you got a whole week off for Thanksgiving. Well, I can't complain, I get Black Friday off, so I'll be home with the kids while Heather does the shopping thing. She'll enjoy it, if for no other reason to just be away from the kids for a while. That leaves Grandpa Rod and me and Whinny in trouble....

So, in other news, we continue to prepare to move to Sioux Falls soon. We're still trying to wrap up details and get everything squared away, but it's becoming closer to reality. More on that soon. In the mean time, Happy Thanksgiving, and here is Olivia and Lauren to share that with you.

Two very different companies

I had a very interesting experience yesterday. But it makes me reflect on experience that I had a few weeks ago when trying to get some new windows put into our house and Mitchell. As part of the process of getting the new windows put in, we ordered some windows from Menard's in Mitchell. After waiting for several weeks for the windows to arrive, I had our contractor contact the store to see what the delay was on getting the windows. After the contractor call me back he informed me that Menard was having trouble tracking down the windows that we had ordered, and they had determined that someone else had gotten our shipment. After I contacted the general manager of the store to let him know that I was not pleased that they had to reorder my windows and the time delay this put us on, I did receive a phone call from the manager. Through the call, the manager said that he was disappointed in his store for not living up to a better standard. I listen to them talk about this for close to 10 minutes, but at the end of the conversation he wasn't willing to do anything to make it right. So I'm not forward to today.

My wife found some good coupons online to get some good gluten-free food at Hy-vee. I went to the store during my lunch hour and found out that not only were the coupons good, but there was an additional discount being offered in the store on Wednesdays. After talking it over with Heather, we decided that I should go back and pick up some more items is the discount was there for us to take advantage of. When I return to the store and purchased the additional items with more coupons, The cashier did not put the 10% discount on that onto the bill. A little while later after I was away from the store, I found at the discounted not been applied and was really disappointed. At the top of the receipt was an email address asking for comments so I decided that I would email the manager and just inform him what it happened and suggest to them to better train their employees on how to hand out the discount. Within 30 minutes of sending an email, which I sent at 6 PM, I had a reply from the store. The manager apologized and said that he would look into new ways to train the staff to make it easier for us to receive this discount. He said that this customer should not have to Ribie relied on to be able to help the cashier remember to put this on the customers bill. I was quite impressed and even more impressed when he told me that he was going to send me the money that I was old for the discount plus additional money on a gift card. There's a big difference between the two experiences. The experience at Menard's which was over hundreds of dollars worth of merchandise resulted in absolutely no thing to make the situation better for me. Experience at Hy-vee which was only worth a small fraction of what the Menard's deal was worth, resulted in that customer service trying to make this situation correct. I'm glad to see that there is still companies out there that want to please their customers and want to make it right when they mess up.

Official word

Well, many of you by now have probably heard the news that Heather and I are expecting our second child in September. Well, this past week we had an ultra sound to find out that its going to be another girl. At least that's what the doctor believes. He told us that he has only been wrong 3 times in the past 15 years. That's a lot of babies and a lot of right conclusions on his part. We are excited either way but it looks like the easier way for having what we need already.

In other news, we did sell one of our houses. The one Heather and I first had when we were married has been sold. S, that leaves us with just our really large old house now. I'm working on a new laundry/mud room here, and I'mon hold for the remodeling in the baby's new room. So, I've got my summer plans cut out for me. And, for the finer time in many years, I'm not playing softball. Our team actually was contracted, and I didn't find a new team to get in with. I'll have enough to do this summer without that.

In other news with keeping busy, I am doing a lot of summer reffing. The reason is that we decided that Heather is not going to return to teaching next year. She's going to be a stay at home mom with the two kids. With having to keep up with a gluten free lifestyle here, it's a move that will definitely be beneficial. So those are the changes for us. Nw, summer is right around the corner, so bring it on!

The Real Estate Problem

It's been a rocky real estate road for us over the past several weeks. We've had two houses here in Mitchell, the one we bought back in May and the one I bought just before Heather and I were married. We'd been renting the first house we'd bought as the one we purchased last May is much larger. So, we work on projects here, and rent the other one, but recently lost our tenant. So, we've made some big decisions recently and decided that it was in our best interest to sell. We put it on the market, and within 5 days had a deal in place. Late last week, the buyer weaseled his way out of the deal. That doesn't make me very happy, but come to find out he has a history of doing this in town, so I wish I'd known that before we'd agreed to the deal. The problem was, now we lost a month of viewings. So, back to step one, only there was more too it. As part of the deal, I'd removed the swing set from the yard at his request and had arranged for the hot tub to be moved. Well, now I've got the hot tub coming, and the swing set is already set up at our new place. We're going to get the hot tub here and hooked up shortly, so I can begin using it ASAP! With soccer season ramping up, my poor legs will need the assistance and relaxation. The other problem this left us was the inside of the house. The tenant was had was permitted to paint because she had told us she wanted to buy it. So, I let her paint and her color choices were.....different. So, this past week, we spent time undoing that with some fresh coats of paint. I've got more areas to get painted, and some landscape work to get done, so unless a buyer happens along soon, I've got a lot of work to do at the place that isn't going to be ours. I just want to finish the two projects that I've got going in this house, not to mention the ones that I don't consider projects yet, but my wife sure does!! Guess efficiency will be the key, and with the impending snow storm, possibly some good inside work will get done!

Some Wild Travel

It's nice to finally have a week at home, where I can just return to my family after the day's work, and not have to head off to a hotel for more work and little sleep. The past two weeks I'd spent in North Carolina, and I actually came home over the weekends I was out there. There were some wild travel experiences, so here's the recap.

Week 1:
As I was getting ready to leave North Carolina for Atlanta, freezing rain started to fall. As the plane came in, and re-loaded, and was ready to head back to Atlanta, we say on the tarmac for 2.5 hours waiting for the de-icing. How many planes did they have to de-ice? 2 before us. Apparently, they don't use their de-icing equipment that often, so it was a very slow, very painful process. So, we waste 2.5 hours in North Carolina, and I miss my flight from Atlanta to Minneapolis. In fact, I missed 3 flights from Atlanta to Minneapolis. As I arrive in Atlanta, very distraught over my options being practically eliminated, I went to Delta customer service. Upon arrival, the agent tells me that I could go standby on the 7:00 flight, and still make the 10pm flight in Minneapolis to Sioux Falls. So, looking at my watch, I only had 20 minutes to get to the gate. I raced across the Atlanta airport, just in time to get to the gate and claim the last seat on the 7pm flight. Yes!!! I'm going to make it home on time. So, we fly to Minneapolis, and I get over to the Sioux Falls gate for the late flight home. I was just happy I was getting to go home, I didn't care if it was the late flight. As I went to the ticket counter to have them print me a new boarding pass, the agent comes on the PA system and tells us that the flight to Sioux Falls has now been cancelled. Talk about an angry passenger. All that work, and all those things playing just right so I could still make it home, and now I'm stuck in Minneapolis. I checked when my Saturday flight home was, but since I wouldn't arrive until 2pm on Saturday, and was scheduled to leave at 1pm Sunday afternoon, I knew that I didn't have time to wait. So, I rented a car and drove it, 5 hours home arriving in Mitchell at 3am Saturday morning. Not fun, but I made it. I was just hoping the next week was going to be better.

Week 2:
So, fast forward to Friday of the following week, my boss Sue and I were getting ready to head back to Sioux Falls from North Carolina, and as we leave our client there, we get a message that our flight is now delayed 3 hours. Well, good news for my boss, I'm an expert at these delays! I quickly told her to find a new option, because it's not good to get stuck in Atlanta and Minneapolis. As we're heading away from the client, we move toward the airport and Sue decides to call Delta and see if they have an alternative for us. In looking for food, we drive past the airport, and as Sue talks with the agent, she finds out that there is a flight to Detroit that was slightly delayed and leaves in 30 minutes. So, I flip a u-turn and we race back to the airport arriving 25 minutes from scheduled departure time. We run in to the building, and try to use the new kiosks, and it tells us it cannot print a boarding pass because we are too close to departure time. Of all the times you want the machine to make your life easier, and now it won't do it!! So, we get in line. This doesn't look good. Finally, we get to the counter for an agent, and she checks with the gate, and finds that the plane is still on the ground, and loading. She quickly gets Sue her boarding passes, and Sue heads for security to get to the gate. Meanwhile, when you miss you flight, Delta has an automatic rebooking system. Well, mine had already kicked in and was trying to take me off the plane I was supposed to get on. 10 minutes from departure, and I'm still standing at the ticket counter willing the ticket agent to get my boarding documents. She finally handed them to me and wished me luck. I was going to need it. I raced to security. I get to the officer checking Id, and of all the days for them to be training a new person, it had to be today! It took 3 times longer than necessary. Thankfully, when I got past them, everyone else in line let me skip to the front seeing I was in a hurry. I'm still grateful to those people. I get through security with no issues, and race for the gate. I'm literally sprinting for the door, and as I arrive, they still let me on the plant. Thank goodness! So, we now are headed to Detroit instead of Atlanta. Fine by me, I just want to go home. In Detroit, I was the recipient of a complimentary upgrade. Thanks Delta!! A nice seat and some space to enjoy the flight over. We got a nice 737 that had individual video monitors, so I caught up on some ESPN on the flight, and as we come into Minneapolis, I switch over to watch the flight information that tells me how fast we're going, our altitude, how long we have left, etc. The pilot comes on and tells us we have to circle for a bit due to heavy snow in Minneapolis, air traffic is backed up. Great....delay. So, we circle for about 15 minutes before being cleared to land. As we come in for our landing, I'm watching the altitude, and am seeing us drop to 3000 feet, 2000 feet, and we are seconds from touching down, when all of the sudden, the engines start roaring again, and up we go as if we were actually taking off. The pilot had pulled out of the landing and was now climbing back above Minneapolis and turning us away from the airport. Now I've flown alot in my time, and I've never had that happen before. As we climb and turn away from the airport, I look out my window and see the reason for us having the pull out of the landing. There on the runway sits another plane. Somewhere, someone screwed up and we were on a collision course for the other plane. Not a real great feeling, but I think I'd rather have that be the issue than for the pilot to have just messed up the landing and had to try again. A plane seems like an acceptable reason to go try again. Except, now, we had to circle back around, and go to the back of the line. Fortunately, our flight to Sioux Falls was delayed, and after we went to the back of the line and came around again, we landed without trouble. Quite another adventure though, for a traveller who didn't really want to see any adventure!

One Busy January

So I look at date on the bottom toolbar of my computer and I'm left wondering why it's been nearly 30 days since the last post. I've not had alot to say, so overall, it's been slow posting. But when I look back, it's been quite a January. The weekend following New Years we had to go to Minnesota for a funeral. The following weekend, we had the Fenske Christmas, the week following that I had to be in North Carolina, this week, again I sit here in North Carolina, and next week, I return to North Carolina. Taht's my January. I will spend nearly as much time outside of South Dakota as I will in South Dakota. We are trying to get a project closed out here, so its a busy time of year. We will see what next week brings out here.

Of course, I look ahead hoping the slow down is coming. Tomorrow I will go catch a plane home for a day and a half, and then return again for my final of three weeks here. I'm not totally sure when I'll have to return or go somewhere else, but that's a mystery that will be left for a while. I do know that when I return to SD, the first weekend after being gone is the MCS Auction and I have a soccer meeting in Sioux Falls and the following weekend is a birthday part for my little celiac. February doesn't look much less busy.....

Christmas Time

Merry Christmas to everyone. It comes time to reflect on the year, and as I gave Olivia her bedtime kisses, which she now requests me to give her before she goes to bed, I remember how a few months ago we had a very sick girl on our hands. Now, a few weeks later we are blessed to have our little girl back. This Christmas, Olivia carried the gifts, opened her presents with a child-like delight, and was just all around a wonderful little girl. She got to do one of her favorite activies while she was at grandpa and grandmas, she got to play with Whinny. Trent's chocolate lab is a favorite of Olivia's and very interestingly, is quite gentle around her. Very active and careless otherwise, but when near Olivia, she slows down and is quite careful. It was wonderful to see her excited and joyful this Christmas, and in a three weeks, we'll get to see her again at her other grandparents having the same great time.

It's been quite a year in reflection. We've added three new vehicles to our family, and only gotten rid of one. And, that reminds me, if anyone wants to buy a different vehicle, let me know. Of course, the pickup isn't mine, it's just on loan from Grandpa Elgin, so that one I probably cannot really sell.

We purchased a second home this year. Of course, most people purchase a second home in a tropical climate, not 7 blocks away from each other. I didn't realize when we got this place how much of a fixer-uper it would be, but we're currently still working through that. As soon as the window and trim goes up in the bathroom, that project will be completed. It's almost there! Currently though, two rooms are torn apart (one by choice, one out of necessity). As soon as those are done, we'll continue on projects, and we're still trying to figure out how to keep the heat in this place. Old houses with high ceilings may look cool both inside and out, but right now, it's kind of a pain.

With the purchase of that second home, we are also landlords for the first time. It's not that back of an experience, and our tenant is fine, so it's not too bad, and there is great potential, but I still think I'd really like to scale down and just have one place to worry about.

Well, that's 2012 in a nutshell. Alot has come and gone, and now we approach 2013. You're pry thinking that it's not even new years yet, why reflect. Well, when I get to work tomorrow, it will be a madhouse for me until April. I may not be on here much, but I wanted to reflect and wish everyone what will probably be my final post before I'm 30. Only 4 more days, and then I'm official old. Bummer.....

Olivia's Second Christmas

Well, we are just happy once again that Olivia has the energy she used to have after all she's been through. We're glad she plays, and we're glad she can play with her Christmas presents. We are headed to my parents tomorrow, so we had to get Olivia's gift to her today. It only took me four tries to get the thing ordered, and two hours of setup during nap time today, and since it was big, no wrapping paper, but here was the final product.

The new disaster

Well, it's been a while since my last post, but I've been quite busy with work. I spent two weeks on the road, one in Montana and one in North Carolina. I've been home for a week now, and I feel like its been nothing but work. I was told that my weekend was going to be spent re-plumbing the dish washer so it will drain properly, but Tuesday night that was changed when water was heard and find to be dripping in the office. I believe that we have an issue with water coming in the roofline when snow melts. So, that will be a fun project to tackle, but first, I am searching for that answer inside looking up. Making demo progress, but now I just have a list that keeps growing, and a half destroyed room on the second floor that hasn't been touched in two months. But, for now, it's just one disaster at a time.

Our Little Celiac

I just get a kick out of the various things we are learning. On Saturday, mom and dad watched Olivia while Heather and I went to Sioux Falls to talk and meet with a dietician at HyVee. She was a great resource, and is a diagnosed Celiac her self. I just chuckle every time I hear it now. People with Celiac disease are known as Celiacs. I kind of like it. I think it's got a good ring to it. So, I affectionately call her my little Celiac. So, our trip to Hyvee was very good, and we learned alot. I liked having a good resource, such as a dietician who has the disease, to help us and give us advice on what is good and what she doesn't care for personally.

So, the big adjustment was to how things are labeled and priced. We will be spending a lot of time reading nutricion labels, and looking through ingredients. What we livked is the labels all over the store that indicates what is Gluten free. We learned several things and will probably refer to Hyvee quite often. It's going to take some getting used to, but the adjustment is already in progress. But, Thanksgiving is coming this week. It's going to be tough. It's tough for me when Olivia comes up and wants bites of things she cannot have. Her little voice that says "Bite???" just breaks your heart to say no, you cannot have that. You can't convince a little 21 month old that it's going to make her sick. But, we will survive that too.

Olivia's Road to Recovery

Today we finally got answers. After nearly four weeks of Olivia throwing up food at random times, for what appeared to be no reason, we can quit wondering. Of course, wondering is only the beginning, because the next step is moving forward. Today we found out Olivia was diagnosed with Celiac Disease. We fought many battles and symptoms to come to this conclusion, but finally a pediatric specialist at Avera Children's Hospital in Sioux Falls was able to diagnose her based on the symptoms and a biopsy and blood test performed on Monday. After a little searching today, Olivia matches 100% of the symptoms and descriptions in this WebMD article.

So, now the common questions begin.

She has what? Celiac disease is basically a wheat allergy. So, because of this, she cannot have anything that contains flour, or other forms of wheat germ. If you open your cupboards, you'll probably find around 70% or more of the items contain gluten.

How was she diagnosed? It started with a barium swallow here in Mitchell that showed her intestines were infected. We were then scheduled with a specialist at Avera Children's Hospital who took a camera down Olivia's esophagus to her stomach and verified what the other tests showed. While inside, they took a biopsy and some blood for testing. The tests return that her celiac levels were 25 times the normal level.

Is there a treatment? No, there is nothing you can do, and medical professionals are not even sure what causes it in some people. It is possible that her body could reverse the disease, but it's not likely.

Will she outgrow this like children outgrow other allergies? It has happened that people grow out of the allergy, but it will more than likely affect her for life.

So what are some of the main items she cannot eat? Most flavored potato chips, goldfish, cookies, bread, pizza, stuffing (which is sad for Thanksgiving coming up), crackers, soups, croutons, breaded items (chicken strips), anything that contains flour.

So, what can she eat then? Alot of the items she can eat she will grow into liking. Among them are all unbreaded meats (including steak!), fruits, vegetables, potatoes (not chips), popcorn, some original or non-flavored potato chips, lettuce salads, fruit snacks, pickles, most dairy products.

So, are products readily available for her? Yes, but at a price. Here in town, there are very limited options.

How hard is it to find gluten free products? Depends on the size of the store. Here in Mitchell, there are limited options. In a larger city, the options grow significantly.

So what is the next step? We will soon go to HyVee in Sioux Falls to meet with a dietitian and find the products they have available. Sioux Falls, due to the larger population, has much better options for our menus.

Does she have follow up appointments? Yes, we will follow up in 3 months to monitor her levels, and make sure she's recovering from the effects of the gluten that was in her on Monday. From there, we will follow up every 6 to 12 months for the next several years.

So, we move forward. For the most part, we will adjust to having a mostly gluten free house and we plan to all change over to a mostly gluten free diet (O's will be totally gluten free). It's an adjustment, but considering what tests were coming next, and the diseases those tests were for, we're not going to complain. We look forward to having our little girl back. It is expected she will be back to normal soon.

Olivia the Genius

I shouldn't be surprised, as she is my offspring by my child is incredibly smart. I just found out the other day that my mother and wife have been teaching her to count, and she's quite good at it.

Olivia Works Hard

A while back, we made a trip to Walmart and got a few items, got them in the front door from the car, and heard all kinds of grunting in the living room. We grabbed the camera and it resulted in this:

Second Night in a Row!!

Yup, the total is up to two!! Two consecutive nights of posting fun things to the blog. Tonight's video features more of Olivia and her animal sounds, plus some of her playing with the camera. Enjoy!

Olivia's Animal Sounds

Olivia of course has many talents. Tonight, she would like to feature a sampling of her many animal sounds.

Still Getting Used to This

I'm still struggling with the new layout. So, I'll keep trying until I figure it out. I cannot seem to find the ability to put in spaces currently, and I've not tried a picture or video upload in a while, so soon I'll get back on that. So, here is the update on what's going on around here...

Soccer season is starting to get closer to winding down. In 3 weeks, I'll have completed my 6th college soccer season (I think). It's either 6 or 7, I cannot seem to remember. Since I'm turning 30 this year, my mind is going....

Olivia is keeping us busy. She's all over the place!!! She's starting to talk in nearly complete sentences, and she's very much able to communicate with us what she does and does not want, and a lot of times, those are actually civil conversations. Sometimes not, but we're working on that.

New project is upcoming! We are starting to work upstairs to try and improve the heating up there. Currently, we have a heater keeping Olivia warm at night, and I'm going to start working on the spare room upstairs to see if I can make it warmer up there. Plus, there is electrical work to do up there since all the rooms only have one outlet in them. After the roofing was completed, and materials that were returnable were taken back to the lumbar yard, I should be able to keep busy for quite a while up there. That will probably be a most of the winter project upstairs since we will probably come close to doing the entire second floor by the time we are done, but hey, you gotta start some time. Soon, I'll have a bid for starting to replace the second floor windows. That should be a good place to begin. Next up, Demolition! My favorite part, but I already told Heather she could have the first swing (she's wanted to start working on that since the day we moved in). So, that's the update. I'll figure out the picture thing here soon and we'll get some updates of Olivia in here.

A Second Chance

Many years ago, I switched from being a PC guy, to being a Mac guy. Now today, I own 5 different Mac devices. I've owned many others in my day, but tonight is a first for me. I'm doing a re-install of the software. When I used to have my PCs, I'd go through this once a year at least. This is the first time since my first Mac in 2006 I've had to do this. A few months ago, I took an upgrade of the Operating system. It was like moving from Windows XP to Vista. It nearly killed my computer. So, Heather and I have been dealing with this now for a few months, and a couple weeks ago, decided it was time to oust the laptop. I decided that maybe it wasn't time to give it up just yet. So, like my father has done with many vehicles in his day, I am trying to bring it back and give it one more chance. Tonight was the reinstall, and I'm currently trying to get it back to operating process just like was before the re-format. Then we will see if this 5 year old computer can run like the day I got it. And, if you're wondering, this isn't the oldest computer we have here (2008). We have a 2005 or 2006 Dell that Heather was using when we got married that still runs like it's new as well, so I just wanted to throw that in there that it may get called into a more full time roll around here if the Mac doesn't shape up.

I hope this is working

Well, two reasons I hope this is working properly. 1. It's been a while.... 2. Its been so long, they changed the whole blog interface I use. So, I have no clue about this new layout on my end of entering these posts. Well, I'm going to go with it's working, and trust you'll get this. Hard to believe that September is gone and October will be here this weekend. Last night I got to wrap up my high school refereeing, and now, my season is over half completed. I've got four weeks remaining of the college season, and then the playoffs if I get any assignments there. We'll see how the rest of the season goes before determining that. It's kept me plenty busy, plus work, plus all kinds of other minor or major projects around the house. So, what else has been going on around here. Olivia is continuing to make like a bean sprout and shoot up. She's growing quite quickly and has started entering the terrible twos (even though we're only at around 20 months). We always thought she may be advanced for her age, so why not get this going too. She's really turned into a fearless little dare devil. She'll now use her ability to climb on things to get her to a better position to jump off them. The higher the better, and if it's a soft landing, GREAT!! if not, oh well. Hard to know what's been going on around here since I last either saw or talked to most of you, so we'll leave it at that. Fall is always a busy time around here, so you may or may not see much more of me. Soon our computer will be going under the knife here, so it may be black for a while. Wait, that may happen regardless of the computer fixes, but anyhow, I'll let you know. If the computer repairs work, this one will pry stay, otherwise, we're shopping for new computers. Of course, we made the threat to replace it, and now it's worked well the past few nights. That doesn't mean it's not getting worked on though!! Alright, happy October, and I'll try to catch you before halloween.

I hate bees

So, I ha something happen to me this week that hasn't happened in a long, long time. I got stung by a bee. Let me share the entire story with you.

This past Thursday, Olivia was a bit more on the cranky side at bed time the past night, and squeaked a couple times in the night, enough to wake me up. She did fall back asleep on her own, but that feeling didn't allow for much restful sleep that night. So, I went into the day tired. I also had to go to Huron to referee soccer in the early evening, so I had a lot of things to do that morning. So, I run Olivia to daycare and get her dropped off. I head to the gas station and get filled up with gas and see that I'm running late. I had been having issues with one of my tires losing air, so I needed to go and air it up. So, I head over to the air pump at the Cenex, and put it on the car. The only thing that happens is more air comes out of the tire, and none goes in. I'm angry and dumbfounded, but knew that my day was too packed to get away to work on it more, so I ran back home quick to use my air compressor. To my dismay, mine wouldn't turn on. So, I'm 0/2 now, and late for work, and still don't have my tire aired up. So, I head toward work and stopped off at Coborns to use their air line, and their's lets more air out of the tire than Cenex's air hose did, so now I'm 0/3, and the tire is nearly flat. So, I called up Heather, and asked if she could come and meet me to switch cars so I could use the TB to do the traveling. So, I get to the school, and am waiting outside to get the keys, and I get stung by a bee. I was just standing there, minding my own business, and the dumb thing got me. I gave it a good whack, so I don't think he survived, but I couldn't find the body to dismember (which I would have, because I was mad). So, my arm starts to swell instantly. I got things moved over, then went home to get some antihistamines. I got them in me, and my arm started looking a lot better as the day went on. All in all, a 10 minute car swap turned into a 40 minute project. So, I thought all was going to be ok. Friday morning I wake up, and the entire crease of my elbow is red and hot to the touch. Great.....this is awesome. So, I went to the doctor, and of course they wanted to draw blood. Great....love that. Then the doctor comes in and tells me I have a serious skin infection that if I left untreated much longer would land me in the hospital. Seriously?!?!?!?! From a bee sting....I get a serious skin infection. At least it was only limited to my arm/elbow area. So, I got two options: 1. I could go to the hospital and get an IV, or 2. I could take a shot in the butt. Now, I'm not faced with too many decisions in life that are as difficult as this one. I would rather let someone hit me with a baseball bat than get stuck with a needle, and putting one in my butt doesn't sound like anything close to a good time. IV is by far the better option, but going to the hospital means I'm going to be paying 10 times too much for that service, so that wasn't a good option. I told the doctor I wasn't doing either, what options did I have for a pill. I was told that I didn't get a pill option, I had to pick one or two. So, out of two absolutely awful options, I chose the cheapest. My hip is still incredibly sore. I didn't get the shot in the cheek, it was actually in the hip area, which is bad enough. I have a hard time limping around. Sitting isn't comfortable at all, and there is just an ache that is constant. I have to go back to the doctor tomorrow, where I will again share my displeasure with him. Ohh, it's also not my regular doctor, so that makes it even more fun. I'm going get on my usual doctor, and tell him when bees are in season, he's not allow to take vacation!

Ok, so the update to this is I have a dotted outline on my arm of the previously infected area I'm getting looked at again tomorrow. That will be fun, and tonight I was shuffling vehicles around, because I'm leaving. Ohh, I totally left that part of the saga out!! I'm going out of the country on business next week, so I am dealing with this infection, on a holiday weekend, when I'm going to leave the country. That's awesome. So, I'm trying to get things set prior to my leaving, and I am in the garage walking past my air compressor, and I gave it a kick, because ultimately, it's the air compressor's fault. If it had worked, none of this would have happened. So, I kick it and happened to kick the air check release. Air comes shooting out of the thing. As it's loudly dispensing the air out the valve, I realize that there is nothing wrong with it at all. When I went to turn it on, it didn't need to turn on, because it was ready to go. It was fully charged with air, and all I had to do was put it on the tire to try it, and the air would have come. Grrrrrrr. But, the good news is my air compressor was spared a brutal death at the dump tomorrow morning, and the car is fixed!!

One Big Party

Heather and I hosted our first major get together at the house tonight. I've finally finished the bathroom (outside of fixing an outlet and touchups on the trim), so we decided it was a good time to host our church group. We had a great time, and Olivia didn't know what to do with all the kids her age. Every family here had at least one child her age, and one family has two (a set of identical twins that I cannot ever tell apart). So Olivia had tons of kids to help her play with all of her toys, and it was great to have all the room we had to roam around and let the kids play up stairs, and we didn't even get to the basement. We were missing two families tonight, so had they have been here, we probably would have spread to the basement also. Kind of makes all that cleanup we did down there worthless, but I guess we needed to do that also to get it done, and to get ready for some company in a couple of weeks.

So, in all we had 18 people here, which meant a lot of hot dogs and hamburgers to go around, but all was a great success. We had been providing weekly updates on the house in Sunday school, so the group was kind of anxious to see the final product as where it stands now. I told Heather that I think the kitchen is next, so we'll have to have the group over again when that's completed. I'm not even sure when we'll get to that, but in due time, we shall see.