|
|
It's Saturday morning, the last day of August
August 31, 2002 by Adam in Family
 It's Saturday morning, the last day of August. Fall is sneaking up on us - t.v. shows start up again, Sam begins preschool, and Josh is here in town this year. Jamie has made an amazing breakfast that will soon be served - lemon ricotta pancakes. Sam and I are busy salivating.
It was a funny night last night. Jamie went off to her friend's birthday party, and didn't return until 10:30 (we'd expected her a little after 8:00). I had my gaming night, so Sam followed me down to the nerd cave around 8:30, where he watched me play on the computer with my friends for awhile. After about ten minutes, I pulled out the sleeping bag and he fell fast asleep. I finally made it to bed around midnight, having a lot of fun in the process.
Jamie and Sam had also made a bunch of "flubber", which Sam and I played with last night. We discovered that it did an excellent job turning us into creatures, which we had a good time doing.
|
|
It's Friday here at work, and a fine Friday it is
August 30, 2002 by Adam in Adam
It's Friday here at work, and a fine Friday it is. I may end up taking Monday off as well, which would make it a second three-day weekend in a row. I don't think we have any particular plans for the weekend, other than the goal of getting Sam to wear pants. It's been quite the challenge after his surgery - no one told us about the "no pants" issue.
I'm hoping to get my old buddy Jason and his fiancee Bridget over for dinner next weekend. I haven't seen them for quite some time, and I'd like to catch up. Tonight is also the big Friday Night Fights computer gaming night, which should be entertaining. I fully expect to get little sleep tonight.
|
|
Sadie called this morning to say that they ...
August 30, 2002 by Sue in Wielesek
Sadie called this morning to say that they were in Minnesota
and making good time. Hoped to reach Detroit this evening.
I think Smith must be a couple day drive from Detroit.
We had fun watching Sam last night. Hope to have some time
with the other grandkids soon. Love to all, Mom
|
|
Well, I got a call around 2:00 today at work
August 29, 2002 by Adam in Sam
 Well, I got a call around 2:00 today at work. Jamie was begging me to come home early. Sam was buck naked for a third day running. Evidently he's fairly sensitive after his surgery, and he doesn't want to have any article of clothing coming close to his groin area.
Jamie bathed him, and got off the bandage and a fair amount of surgical tape. Nothing really close to the area, so he's a bit swollen and taped up. Still, he seems in good spirits, running about the house like a maniac. Right now, he's watching a DVD while I type this up.
|
|
Last night was fairly uneventful, which was n...
August 28, 2002 by Adam in Family
Last night was fairly uneventful, which was nice for a change. I'm itch-free today, with only normal lotion on my back. Sam seems to be in good health, other than collapsing into bed at 7 o'clock. I guess his 5:30 wake-up left him a bit tired. He's ran around yesterday just like his normal self. We ended up playing quite a bit of hide-and-seek, and watching some old cartoons.
Tonight we soak off his bandages in the tub. He still has the one from the IV taped to his arm, plus those around the surgical area. Hopefully he'll start to wear pants too, as keeping him inside the majority of the time is driving us all a bit stir-crazy.
|
|
Well, this has been an eventful few days
August 28, 2002 by Sue in Wielesek
Well, this has been an eventful few days. Dick and I went up to Portland an hour or so early on Friday, so I could stop at Daisy Kingdom and another store which sells fabric. Sadie's plane arrived right on time, but traffic coming south was bumper to bumper even after we hit I-5.
Saturday was a flurry of activity, including Dick and me scurrying out to buy a dryer while we still had the pickup. Finally got a pretty snazzy model at Costco. The kids next door in Reardon's old house helped us unload it. (Read- they unloaded it in the time it took Dick and me to get our shoes on. They were headed to the Burning Man get together - hope their "classic" VW van makes it!)
Sadie's friend Anna came in by plane Saturday night - they were up bright and early Sunday, and with a little help from our friends - and family- we had a good brunch on Sunday morning. The kids were all cute and fun, and a good time was
had by all. Everyone needs to ask Yayoe to bring her famous
Faux Pate sometime again in the future.
Monday had its share of stresses, although Sam certainly sailed through his medical drama in great good humor. Adam, Jamie, Sam and I were waiting in the Stage Two waiting room, when a nurse came in with a "knock-out" cocktail for Sam. She
told Adam and Jamie that he would get "a little loopy". They
both looked at her, and, as one, asked, "And how will we know?" He was so funny - someday this kid is going to be the poster boy for legalizing mood altering drugs.
The rest of the day, from an attorney point of view, was pretty weird. I represent a sweet 70 year old trying to divorce her loud, overbearing husband. He alleged she was daffy and filed a Petition to be appointed her guardian. We
started our hearing on Monday afternoon.
At about 2:30, I looked around to see Anna and Sadie sitting morosely in the back of the courtroom. Since I thought they were long gone, I asked the judge for a recess so I could say
good bye. Bless her heart, she has kids too, so she didn't even holler a little.
Well, Sadie and Anna looked so morose because my pickup guru, who was just back from vacation on Monday morning, and who promised to give the truck a going over before the kids hit the road, had told them that the clutch might give them trouble. His kid graduated from one of the back east schools, Harvard, I think, and when I talked to him just before he left for vacation I told him Sadie was driving back and I wanted him to let me know if he would have let his daughter drive the truck 3,000 miles. He sent the message, via the girls, that he wouldn't. I trust his judgment, and I didn't really want them broken down in the middle of Indiana, so the girls and I did a quick key switch.
And so it's another winter of us driving either the truck or the really ratty Subaru to the symphony,while Sadie tootles around Noha in my 2K2 Honda.Anyhow, Sadie promised they would call today, and sure enough, they called from Butte, Montana. Apparently the driving is going well and they are making good time. Sadie said that they camped last night, but because it was a time zone change, an hour later, they were staying at Ed's Motel, at $38 a night. Probably no mints on the pillow.
I had to be in court this morning, but came home to change clothes and have lunch. Jamie had Sam out for a ride in his cart, Sam wearing nothing but a shirt and Chanel No 5 (old person joke) He and I started a game of checkers. I want to retire. Soon.
|
|
It's been a rather exciting last day or so
August 27, 2002 by Adam in Family
It's been a rather exciting last day or so. We got Sam home, who hung out watching shows for awhile. Without warning, my back began to itch uncontrollably. It was extraordinarily painful, probably due to my sunburn a few days ago. I rolled around on the floor moaning, took a bath for awhile, and ended up putting on hydrocortisone cream and rubbing my back against the chair. This morning, it's still a bit itchy, but manageable.
Dave, Kirsten, and Josh came over for pizza and checking up on Sam. Sam's been doing quite well. I think the Legos help considerably. He and Jamie didn't sleep well last night. I woke up at 5:30 to get going to work, when Jamie came down bleary eyed. Evidently Sam had a bad dream and Jamie begged me for a little sleep while he was up. So, I've put off work for a bit and I'm keeping an eye on the boy.
|
|
Well, we just came home after Sam's surgery
August 26, 2002 by Adam in Family
 Well, we just came home after Sam's surgery. All went well. We scooped him up at 6 o'clock in the morning, arriving at the hospital and having my mom visit with us for awhile. After Sam had his "cocktail" before surgery, he got quite wacky and tired. He'd press his face against the pillow and say things like "I see a purple house." He also explained how he wanted a brain transplant with a robot brain.
When he got out, his stomach hurt quite a bit, though it cleared up in ten minutes or so. Then it was a matter of feeling returning to his legs, which took until after noon. Now he's watching cartoons, and I've promised to make a run to pick up a new Lego, as he was very brave.
|
|
We just came back from a brunch at my mom's h...
August 25, 2002 by Adam in Family
 We just came back from a brunch at my mom's house, in celebration of Sadie's return and soon departure. She and Anna are heading across the country on a week-long road trip, which is something that should only be attempted when you're young. The whole crew was there too, and it was nice to see everyone, especially my dad who I haven't seen in awhile.
It was a bit of an exciting day yesterday. Jamie had requested that I move a couple shrubs from the front of the house. Well, I started digging, and one came out relatively quickly. The second, however, was the Moby Dick of shrubs. I ended up cutting through the roots using a hammer and chisel, spending two hours in the hot sun. I burned by back pretty badly, and injured my arm. I moaned and groaned for the rest of the day, all through Jamie's brothers (and dad and girlfriend) arriving for the Nebraska game. Josh came too, and I supervised the boys through video games and science experiments.
Tomorrow's the big day for Sam's surgery. We're loading up on rented DVDs just to distract from any possible discomfort.
|
|
Neverwinter Nights continues to suck up most ...
August 23, 2002 by Adam in Adam's Games
Neverwinter Nights continues to suck up most of my time. I am playing a bit of Warcraft III here and there, but I find myself drawn to NWN when I have a little free time. My passion seems to be in building modules, testing them, and then releasing them to the world. It's a bit nerve wracking, as it's a matter of bearing my creative soul to the world. The first module was posted, and was fairly well received. The second should be done in a week or so, and is even more complicated in some respects. Great fun.
|
|
It feels a bit like the calm before the storm...
August 23, 2002 by Adam in Adam
It feels a bit like the calm before the storm, though not a necessarily unwelcome storm. Like any good parent, I've been worrying about Sam's upcoming surgery. I'll probably load up Sunday with rented DVDs to aid the recovery process. I'm hoping we can find some time to just hang out as a family, even though there are many exciting things happening this weekend.
Work goes relatively well. I impressed myself with actually figuring out some tricky programming problems. I spent some time today doing things that I though was somewhat unneccesary, but that's not unusual.
I'm heading home in just a few minutes. Lots of Sam play time, and a hearty breakfast awaits me in the morning.
|
|
The week is slowly moving along, with promise...
August 22, 2002 by Adam in Family
The week is slowly moving along, with promises of a busy weekend ahead. Seraph and Isabell are coming over for dinner tonight, as Robbie is off being a camp councilor. Josh is back from California and spending the night at our house as well, as Dave is out late with friends. Sam should be greatly pleased, as Josh is one of his all-time favorite people.
We've got Jamie's dad in town this weekend, Sadie's brunch on Sunday, and Sam's surgery early Monday. We've been trying to relax while we can.
Jamie and I haven't been doing anything particularly exciting these days. We got Sam to bed around 8:30, so we actually had some time to visit last night. Sam and I went swimming yesterday, though the Easter Seals pool is raising the rates to $10 for 2-5 people, so we may have to find another place to go. It's kinda nice not to have anything too exciting for the last few days.
|
|
We all went for a family walk last night, and...
August 21, 2002 by Adam in Sam
We all went for a family walk last night, and I spent a good deal of time chasing Sam around Amazon park. He found a dandelion and blew it out while making a wish. His wish was "I wish dad would stay home and not go to work, just like mom does."
Sam and Jamie also put together a Spider Man comic book, which I've scanned in for everyone's enjoyment.
|
|
Sunday was great
August 19, 2002 by Adam in Family
Sunday was great. We did very little, just puttering and playing around the house. I'm slowly finishing the construction of Sam's blackboard, after a 6 month hiatus. Jamie got the matching ottoman for her new chair. We went for a family hike near Autzen stadium, and Sam and I played at the cheese park a bit. All quite nice.
|
|
A pleasant, quiet Saturday came and went
August 18, 2002 by Adam in Family
A pleasant, quiet Saturday came and went. Sam and I did a lot of "science experiments", from Cartesian divers to looking at insects under a microscope. He's on a science kick lately, though perhaps mostly because it's a new way to play together. I think he especially likes the kind he can eat, such as the sugar crystals we grew.
I finally used my gift certificates I got for my birthday, picking up a swimming suit with my dad and Yayoe's, and an apple pie at Marie Calendar's using Jennys. Very cool.
Dave stopped by last night. He had finally managed to grow back his toe nail from last year's canoe accident. Well, he did it again, dropping another canoe on his toe when pulling it out of the water. Sadly, it had to come off completely, so he's got another year to wait. We chastised him severely for lack of proper footwear.
|
|
I just got back from visiting the Short Stay ...
August 16, 2002 by Adam in Jenny
I just got back from visiting the Short Stay Unit, after Jordan's surgery. He's got tubes in his ears now, and was awake when I came by. He seemed relatively good, though he did cry a bit. I think that part of it was that he couldn't eat anything all night - he sucked down a bottle in a couple minutes after I got there. Jenny looked a little nervous, but better now that he was awake and done.
Of course, we get to do the same thing in another week or so with Sam, so I was asking all sorts of questions about what to expect. Ah, the joys of family.
|
|
It was Jordan's birthday and all the cousins ...
August 15, 2002 by Adam in Family
 It was Jordan's birthday and all the cousins were together. There was cake, good vegitarian spaghetti, and lots of family. I think it was a bit overwhelming for Sam, as he was really quiet the whole time. He kept shrugging his shoulders and sighing. Of course, once he got over it, he had a good time.
|
|
We all showed up at Jenny's house for Jordan'...
August 15, 2002 by Adam in Jenny
 We all showed up at Jenny's house for Jordan's first birthday party. Jenny even made vegitarian spaghetti for Sam and I, which was quite tasty. Jordan didn't quite understand the present concept, so Destin and Sam helped open presents, while Jordan enjoyed playing with them. After dinner, it was running through the sprinkler until it was time for us to go home.
Jordan's surgery is this Friday, when he gets tubes put in his ears. He's had some terrible ear infections lately. Hopefully this will take care of it.
|
|
It's going to be a busy day today
August 14, 2002 by Adam in Adam
It's going to be a busy day today. Big project at work, that I'm slowly sloshing through. After reading mom's posting, I'm fretting about Sadie. Also, Sam and I head over to Jenny's house for Jordan's first birthday. Busy, busy.
|
|
Well, I'm embarrassed to say that I'm posting...
August 14, 2002 by Sue in Wielesek
Well, I'm embarrassed to say that I'm posting because the computer is in the basement bedroom/study, which is the only cool room in the house. It was hot at the office, and miserable in the courthouse. I wore a short loose fitting dress which buttoned down the front to trial this morning, with the minimum legally required underwear (read that as no petticoat). Fortunately, the dress waited until I was back at the office to
lose a strategic button. Ingenuity being a reasonable substitute for advance planning, I found a spring clip and guyed myself together.
We had an e-mail from Sadie - she and another girl in the program were mugged, but the other girl kicked and screamed and the would-be mugger walked away. They were not hurt, fortunately! I want Sadie home. Now.
I'm looking forward to Jordan's birthday tomorrow evening. Cute cute kid.
|
|
It was a quiet evening last night, which was ...
August 13, 2002 by Adam in Family
It was a quiet evening last night, which was a nice contrast to the weekend. Sam ran through the sprinklers in the back yard, while I jumped up and down trying to get all the ripe figs off the tree. The downstairs freezer is getting pretty full of figs. I'm going to try to make figgy pudding for Christmas, though others may think me mad. Ahahaha! Figgy pudding!
|
|
We had a full schedule this weekend
August 12, 2002 by Seraph in Cortez
 We had a full schedule this weekend. Robbie suprised me at work Friday with a call that Isa was going to stay at his mom's for the night! We went out to dinner (we we able to take more than 20 minutes to eat, and didn't leave our usual mess!), and got to stay up late talking! It's nice to occasionally get reaquainted with ones spouse.
One Saturday morning we got some mulch for the back yard, and then picked up Hanni and Isa and headed up to King Estate Winery for an event. Not only was there yummy food and wine, but we all had fun catching grasshoppers and walking through an old cemetary on the property.
At church on Sunday we had a new woman, Lauren, to watch Isa. Although we miss Tracy, Lauren seems really nice. After, we went blueberry picking with Hanni and our friend Lynn, her sister, and her daughter Syan (I'm not sure I spelled that correctly) who is Isa's age. We now have a ton of berries to get creative with!
We finished of the weekend with Shakespeare's "Tempest" at Amazon park and a trip for ice cream after. Sigh... good weekends...great family!
|
|
Well, we arrived safe and sound from the coast
August 12, 2002 by Adam in Family
 Well, we arrived safe and sound from the coast. We had a pretty good time, spending the weekend with Dave and Kirsten, which took a bit off the Sam-watching load. Mostly we hung out at the house, which is still quite barren. Fortunately, I took my computer, which provided music, shows, and general entertainment for myself and others.
The coast was pretty windy the first night, and later the second day, though otherwise the weather was beautiful. It was fun actually seeing the new beach house, which is quite spacious. The ride was long, and we'll have to come up with a better way to entertain Sam for the two-hour ride, especially if I'm stuck in the back with him.
It's nice to be home. Soon I'll have to figure out what to make for dinner, as it's already past five.
|
|
Another Mocha Friday here at work
August 09, 2002 by Adam in Adam
Another Mocha Friday here at work. My team has finally returned from their various vacations, and things have quieted down again. There are the endless huge projects looming on the horizion, but I've learned to put such things in the back of my mind.
I'm looking forward to the weekend, whether we go to the beach or not. No one else would be at the coast with us this weekend, and the house isn't really furnished yet, so we may decide to just hang out here. It's nice that these decisions are the hardest we have to make.
|
|
There has evidently been some confusion about...
August 08, 2002 by Adam in Family
 There has evidently been some confusion about what a "cheese park" is exactly. The cheese park is really Washington park, which is a couple blocks away from our house. It has a large yellow play structure that's riddled with holes, looking suspiciously like a big block of cheese.
The week's chugging along. Sam and I went swimming yesterday. He's slowly getting the hang of swimming and can move himself around the pool (with a life jacket on, of course). We might be headed to the coast this weekend, where Sam and I would finally get to see the beach house. It depends on the weather, of course, since there isn't much in the way of entertainment at the house itself. I may bring a computer and the microsope for Sam entertainment. We'll see.
|
|
The programme students and staff just had a b...
August 08, 2002 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg
The programme students and staff just had a big long talk about strengths and weaknessness of the last three weeks, and it was pretty nice. I wish I didn't have a cold or that the whole group wasn't alternately sick and/or being treated for post traumatic stress disorder, but we're chuggin' along. We're leaving for Durban tomarrow morning, which will certainly change, if not improve, our situation. All we needed as a group was to have a bit more sharing and to hear that our profs were also negotiating things and struggling with the programme fuck ups.
Mucho love.
|
|
Generic Heading
August 08, 2002 by Sue in Wielesek
So what's a "cheese park", anyhow?
|
|
Well, Jamie went to the coast today, leaving ...
August 07, 2002 by Adam in Family
 Well, Jamie went to the coast today, leaving Sam and I to fend for ourselves. Needless to say, we managed to stay out of really terrible trouble, while still having a great time.
We started with a hike of Ridgeline trail, walking the entire loop much to my surprise. We swung by the video store to rent Lord of the Rings, which we watched with frequent breaks over the next few hours. Finally, a trip to the cheese park where Sam discovered a mud puddle. Half the fun was coating his entire body in mud. The other half was spraying him down with a hose, cleaning all his clothes, giving him a bath, and cleaning the tub afterwards.
|
|
I was so happy to hear about the water pick i...
August 05, 2002 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg
I was so happy to hear about the water pick incident that I shared it with my friends scattered around the UCT computer lab. These things keep me going.
I'm a bit tired, having spent the morning in class listening to lectures and the afternoon at a residential home for disabled and abandoned children, who didn't have toys, medication or diapers, let alone adequate diets. It was frustrating to do as much as we could, knowing that toys would dissapear, the underpaid nurses would take donated funds, and nothing we could do would be sustainable. So we got a new carpet and put in new ceiling tiles, and held these increadibly neglected children for four hours. Hmm. I don't know what else to say, for I haven't processed it myself yet.
Missing all of you.
|
|
Poor Sam woke up screaming last night
August 05, 2002 by Adam in Sam
Poor Sam woke up screaming last night. We couldn't figure out what was wrong - he just kept crying and screaming for about ten minutes. Finally, he calmed down and said he was hungry. Strangely, he couldn't remember crying at all. I got him some milk and break, then he was off to sleep within a few minutes.
|
|
And so the weekend comes to a close
August 05, 2002 by Adam in Family
 And so the weekend comes to a close. We mostly hung out, with few grand projects or trips. That was fine with us, as lazy Summer days should be treasured.
On Saturday, we started with breakfast on the patio, cleaned the living room, and then Sam and I went out to the farm to get blueberries and feed the goats. Today had another patio breakfast, jam making around noon, a fast and furious bike ride with Sam, and then Jamie and Sam went to baseball. All the things you're supposed to do on a warm Summer day.
Sam did great on his bike today, other than when he ran over my foot several times. I held on to his arm and we went blazing along the trail, Sam yelling "Full power!" at the top of his lungs. He got going pretty fast and I had to run along beside him.
|
|
This has been a difficult summer so far
August 04, 2002 by Sue in Wielesek
This has been a difficult summer so far. Just received news that Uncle Phil died last week. Us older Jones grandkids can remember the five kids and their spouses when they were young - a more witty, educated, boisterous lot would be hard to find. I
certainly learned my love of poetry from my mother, grandmother, and aunts. Phil was, I think, 95 when he died. His letters were so funny that when Meg was helping mom or Betsy clean up old correspondence, they decided Phil's letters, though scatological, were too good to throw out.
On the brighter side, we are nearly moved in. We put in five or six hours of gardening and cleaning up, with no chest pains for me. The beta blocker meds must be working.
Dick and I are thinking about going to Kowloon's (the bar part has a different name - Tsunami's, I think) tonight. They have a comedy night, and I think one of the people is a guy I
went to law school with. It would be fun to see him.
|
|
Well, we had our big gaming session last night
August 03, 2002 by Adam in Adam's Games
Well, we had our big gaming session last night. I was up until 11:30. It was . . . interesting. I think everyone had a good time, though there were definately issues. We lost a couple people for awhile when the game crashed. The henchmen weren't behaving right. The party would separate periodically. But again, despite the frustration, I think it was pretty enjoyable. I'll probably debrief with everyone on Monday. We'll see . . .
|
|
The work week is almost over, and I am very m...
August 02, 2002 by Adam in Family
The work week is almost over, and I am very much looking forward to the weekend. Tonight we're going out to dinner with the neighbors, then it's the first round of Friday Night Fights at 8:30. For those of you not in the know, it's where a bunch of guys at work and I play multiplayer computer games together. Should be entertaining.
As for the weekend itself, I have but one goal: get blueberries. I'm thinking of taking Sam out to Lone Pine farms just for that . . .
|
|
Older Posts
|
|