You did what to your toe?

Get a load of this. Jen, a woman of many ideas and plans, has been crafting special lunches for Sam lately. I have almost no idea where the idea originated, but she has a fascination with all things “mini”. Go ahead…I’ll wait.

Here are a few of the lunch surprises that Sam has been feasting on at school. She’s becoming a master.

He says he loves them, but I’m not sure what grade you are in when this gets you beaten up on the playground. Even if there is a playground scuffle out of this I’m pretty sure the thing he will remember is how great a mom he has and how much love she put into making him lunch. I’ll stop her if she starts adding little notes though.

Really? A thousand words?

So we are doing some decorating right? Jen wants a picture wall and I’m super nit picky about doing stuff like that. I have a weird thing about not wanting to put holes in walls. I’m not sure what that’s about. Maybe I don’t like fixing holes in walls and inevitably I’m pretty sure I’ll be doing that if I make the holes. The idea of putting 500 pictures on a single wall almost put me over the edge. It took Jen like 2 weeks to get me to even think about it.

The plan I came up with was to get all the pictures together and lay them out. I thought this would prove that it was a bad idea and Jen would decide we didn’t have enough pictures or something. Didn’t work. Once we argued over the layout of the pictures for a couple of hours my plan B was that maybe she would decide she didn’t like me anymore and we wouldn’t have to do it. Didn’t work. She likes me less now, but I still had to hang the pictures. Once we had the layout I decided that it would be a great idea to take a picture of the pictures as we agreed on them. Two reasons for this. One it would serve as a template to work off of once we picked the pictures off the floor and two it would provide evidence to the court should anything happen to me during this project. I’m just sayin’.

Here is the agreed upon layout. From high atop a barstool, which is curiously where I might end up after this is over, picture number 1.

Here is the finished product.

Now for anyone with a really keen eye you might notice something that almost was really funny…if you aren’t me. AFTER I had taken the “This is what we agree upon” picture what do you think happens? Jen decided that she didn’t like some of the pictures in their frames and swapped them out. This made putting the puzzle back together slightly more fun.

Final note. I gave Jen a hard time in this post, but it was a good idea and she chose some great shots of our family. For those of you that notice your pictures aren’t included? I’m still pondering if you are worth another hole in a perfectly good wall.

Rainy days and Fridays

I’ve been reminded that I kind of promised to post, like, every day, so here ya go.

Jen is doing better. Her heart “issue” and “tissue” is 50% regenerated. She’s a bit disappointed not to hear that she is 100% back to normal. I think the rest of us would be surprised to hear that she was ever 100% normal. Keep thinking good luck thoughts and hopefully she can put this behind her soon.

Dad seems to be doing fine back in Orion. There is some rumblings of shoulder pain and a cold, but heck, those almost sound like normal issues.

I wrote this whole long thing about it being rainy and not liking the rain today, but it kept getting goofier and goofier as I typed. In general I find rain the more annoying of the weather conditions.

Tomorrow is my birthday. I like the idea of being congratulated on my arrival. I think this is one of the few “holidays” that makes sense to me.

In preparation for the celebration of my birthday I am going to the library. Rumor has it that I may be receiving the gift of reading time tomorrow. Good thing I read fast. Wish me luck.

Jen the Lion hearted

Sorry to have disappeared again for another week. I promise I have a good excuse. Jen was in the hospital. She was lucky enough to catch an ambulance ride with some Pasco County Paramedic that she keeps going on and on about. If it isn’t Larry around here, it’s Jen. On a more serious note, she did end up what they are classifying as a heart attack due to a very rare heart condition. Takotsubo – look it up, or click the link. You never want to experience something that starts out somewhere in the first paragraph, “If the patient survives the initial presentation…” She spent most of the week here in Pepin Heart Hospital and is resting at home now. More later…I’m just tired. Plus…I’m going to go hang out with her. She scared the heck out of us.

Dutch treat

It has been one of those weeks. I can’t specifically blame any one thing. Ever have one of those weeks?

Highlights might include:

• Jen got a new bike. Remember that “Buy me a Dutch bike” crusade she entered into on Homeroamers.com? Well I got together with the usual suspects and we all chipped in and bought her a bike. Here is a picture of it.

Larry and Wilma will be here tomorrow night as we are all looking forward to it. This will be the longest bit of travelling they have done since Dad got sick. I hope everything goes well so they feel secure to do things like this again. They will be here through the month of November. Hey Mike! – Stop over and water the plants will ya?

All in all it has been a quiet and uninspiring week. Look above. Only one highlight. Crazy.

Since you asked…

Many of you have commented on the references I have been making to Tampa General Hospital and my spending time there. Sometimes I forget that people actually read this blog and that it isn’t just my own comedic diary of sorts.

My wife, Jen, has made some very courageous and serious decisions that involve her attacking cancer before it attacks her. Every doctor we have talked to has indicated that, while they can’t be 100%, every indicator says that she would have had to deal with some form of cancer in the future. I don’t want to go into a lot of details since they aren’t mine to give, but she is on the final leg of this battle and will be recovering and going on to a long life of taking care of “her own self”, our kids, and her family.

Thanks for your words of support and concern. She is doing fine and is, by far, one of the strongest and bravest women I have ever known. Today the blog can be “We Love Jen”

Homeroamers

Jen has some mini contest over at homeroamers.com. I only mention it because it involves adding captions to a picture she has posted and my friend Mike Locander has disparaged me in many of his comments.

Drop on over there and outdo him.