Halloween at our House

Consisted of: Bob reading me The Shinning, Not one tricker-treater, Dressing up Flat Stanley and taking pictures of him with his pumpkin and bowl of candy, I made carmel dip for apples and it was quite yummy (took forever, but worth the wait), more time with my handsome husband - priceless. MJ

It's all about the stripes. . .

Molly and Bob "all decked out in stripes"

I don't believe that we can official call is dorks for both being dressed in strips today, since Bob was asleep when I left for work this morning. But I do believe that this is what happens to "old couples" as they age, they begin to dress alike. Still not as bad as the couple we saw coming back on the train from the Chilkoot. The thought still makes me bust out laughing. They were dressed in lavendar sweatsuits. Now in their definse we are still not certain to this day if it was a man and a women or two women, but the site is still so funny.
Today was my first day back to school. I won't say work because I have spent a few hours here and there at the Red Dog over the last couple of weeks. But back to school it was. We had an Inservice today and I must say that I was quite pleased. It was the first time that I have felt that some effort was put into the Para piece of the Inservices. There is still work to be done, but I feel that they are trying.
Bob and I are staying in for Halloween. Best not to be in any type of crowd while Bob is recovering. So it's us and Flat Stanley. It's our last night with him, he will be leaving in the morning. It has been a fun visit. He even has a costume. MJ

WuWee!

I don't know it that's how you spell it, but I know how it sounds in my head. So I stole my last post off of Tristan and Adams blog and I am going to do that for part of this post again. It's about how much rain we have had here. We are breaking records. If you want to read about it scroll down in our blog and look on the left-hand side until you find the link to Tristan & Adams blog.

We had our first b-ball game tonight. Our girls had fun and that is most important, but we still have alot to learn. I think that the score was 38 - 8. A bit of a role reversal from last year. But they were smiling when they left, so that is really all that matters. Bob got one picture and then the camera battery died. Total bummer, I think that this will be his only game this year. I don't know why we don't check those things. It happens way to often.

Tomorrow we have an inservice and it is my first day back to work at school. It's been a little challenging being gone at the beginning of basketball season, but ofcourse, Bob is way more important. But I am looking forward to getting back in there.

I hope to be as faithful to this blog as I have been over the past couple of weeks. MJ

The Bridge to Somewhere

I was catching up on blogs this evening and I found this in Tristan and Adams blog. Being a "trasplant Alaskan" I did take offence to Palins remarks on the "Bridge to Nowhere" this is a nice article from the new mayor of Ketchikan: http://www.newsweek.com/id/165478/page/1 MJ

A day out

Today we had a few arrands to run. First Bob had a dr. appt., The dr. just loooked at his incisions and made sure they were healing up. They are looking good. He can go back in next week and the dr. will work out a limited work release for him, so he will prolably go back to work sometime next week as long as he continues to feel good. Next we went to Coastal to talk to John and pick up some mail that went to the Pilot House. Also for Bob to visit some old friends, and yes, I do mean the helicopters. Then we went to the DMV to renew our plates and I got my Alaska License. Now I must admit, it was a close call, I missed the 4 I could to still pass. I missed one because I read it wrong, silly. The other 3 I didn't know. Who knows the amount of car insurance you are suppose to have. I just pay my bill. I also missed one that talked about the minimum sentance for a DWI. That's what the city bus system is for. So I don't feel too bad about. Now we are just relaxing. This evening I am going to go swimming with Tristan. I am going to try and get back into it. Friday I will return to work. MJ

"Sneezing no good"

That's Bob's quote of the day. His hip has not hurt him since the surgery, but this afternoon he had a sneeze and I had to check for him to make sure he "didn't blow his stitches out". He has taken all but one of his pain meds and feels good, except for that sneeze. Tomorrow Bob has a follow up appt, so we will see how he is healing. MJ

Pumpkin

Installing our truck mirror

Here's the story. Several weeks ago when Bob and I went out to the truck for him to take me to work we found our truck mirror busted out. At the time we couldn't even find the mirror. When Bob got back home that morning he found the mirror a few cars down. He checked into how much replacing it would be and it was $200.00. Ouch. He ended up calling Zeke's Service (aka: Uncle Phil) and he was able to find us one for 1/2 the price. Yea Zeke! We received the mirror last week and once we got it out of the mailbox (the key wasn't working). Bob, who is suppose to be RESTING and NOT WORKING, couldn't hardly stand himself. Now I wanted to wait until we went to Coastal, Bob is going to teach me how to change a tire - we need to put the studded tires on. But Bob belived that we could do it together. We did, I was his hands and he talked me through it. I was not to happy about it, since I think he was doing too much, but it is done and nice to hav back. I missed that mirror. This type of behavior is why I would like him to wait 3 more weeks to go back to work. I am not certain that I am going to win, but tomorrow is a dr appt and we (me) will be asking the dr what exactly Bob should be doing. I wil tattle if needed. MJ

Vacation 2009

We have changed our reservations and are planning our trip home for next December. It was tough to make the change, but we are grateful that we will be able to take our trip next year. So the dates are December 19th - January 2nd. We will spread that out between Beth's, Gram's, and Disney again. MJ

Movie Time

Still snowing

Popcorn & Shakes

Bob needed to have soft foods the first few days he was home, so we bought stuff to make chocolate shakes. Then while we were home this week we saw a cooking show in which they made real popcorn with flavored cheeses. That got us making "old fashion" popcorn with real butter. It is quite delicious and we have had popcorn and shakes the last couple of nights. Bob says that there are only 2 kinds of shakes: chocolate and vanilla. Me, almost anything goes with ice cream. Tonight I have a mandrain orange shake. Delicious. MJ

Finding Comfort

No joke, he lays around with his back scratcher sticking out the side of his head. MJ

Going Stir Crazy

Need I really explain this one? Each day is becoming a little harder to not go crazy from spending so many hours at home. You would think it would be no big deal, but after a while it does get a little boring. Me, I only have a week left, then if Bob is able to be on his own, I go back to work. He has at least 3 more weeks at home added to the already 3 weeks that he has been off. For someone who always says he wants to retire, he sure does miss being at work. I guess that's what happens when you enjoy what you do. The man is going mad. Starting tomorrow we are going to take time outside each day. We may only walk up and down the driveway, but it will be something. We are both still nervous about driving. The bumps in the road are bad. I think that cringe more than Bob. MJ

Reuniting with an old friend

Bob got his ratchet (his precious) back this week. Bob broke this tool I belive back in 2006 shortly after we moved here. For months he was supose to have mailed it to Uncle Phil so that he could get it replaced from the Snapon Man. Bob lost and found it for months and never mailed it. When Aunt Mary and Uncle Phil were here this summer, they took it home with them. The replacement arrived this week. Bob misses his tools so much he has been walking around playing with it. He has made sure that I know how "special" it is. Thanks Uncle Phil, you have made Bob feel better. MJ

Relaxing AFTER Sugery

First Snow

and it is sticking . . . but it has made for a pretty day. MJ

The beginning of a new season

Basketball has begun. We have a pretty raw team this year, so it will be a lesson for all involved. Tristan and I will be traveling with the A & B teams again this year as chaperons. We will be going back to Ketchikan. It will be pretty neat to see our players from last year and how they have grown as players. i will miss most of the first week of practice, but hopefully by the second week, Bob will be okay on his own for a few hours. MJ

Time for a change

The baseball season was over months ago for the Tigers, so time for a change. I am not a fan the page being "oppisite" now, but we'll ive it a try. MJ

Bob's first trip out

Yesterday Bob was ready to try a trip out to get some fresh air. We just went down to Sandy Beach to get some fresh air. It was crisp out, but not raining was so nice. We walked around for about 20 mins and then Bob was tired so we headed home.

The picture is him with Flat Stanley. See earlier blogs to learn about our visitor. MJ

Rewards of all the rain

Bob took this about a week before his surgery. With all the rain, we do get lots of rainbows. He took this from our deck. MJ

Relaxing BEFORE surgery

The top picture shows how we moved the bed into the livingroom so that Bob can rest and still watch tv. We left the couch in here and he has his two zones that are set up and pillows are not being moved so that he can move from one spot to the next and not have to rearrange anything. So we bought a couple more pillows for that purpose. But the feathers keep poking out at us. They are in 2 pillow cases. Any ideas? MJ

Hanging out with Flat Stanley

Last Saturday (Oct. 18th), Bob wanted to get a haircut before his surgery. I dropped him off at the Barber Shop and headed out to the Glacier to get pictures with Flat Stanley. As I approached the Glacier to park I saw a dark animal "flopping" around. I thought "that looks like a bear", but then dismissed it as "probably someone's dog". But as I continued to get closer, it was a bear. I had to wait to park as it crossed in front of the truck. Now, normally I would have stayed in the truck, and probably even left. But today was different. I had Flat Stanley and I wanted Jered to have the best presentation in class. So I gathered my camera and Flat Stanley and headed out to grab some pictures. In my defense there were 3 other people, so I felt safe enough. The bear had gone down to the little pond by the Glacier so I snapped, snapped, snapped my camera. I finished with pictures in front of the Glacier and a beaver damn and then headed back to the truck. By this time the bear had moved and I didn't know where, so I was out of there. When I got back to the truck I attempted to look at the pictures, but my battery had died. "Have to look at home", I thought. I dashed off to get Bob and tell him the exciting news. Here's were the story goes bad. When we got home I tried to download the pictures, which did start. Then stopped and told me to reformat my memory card. Ugh! I have not done it yet, still holding out hope that if I keep trying, my pictures will come back. So know all we have is "a bear story" for Jered to share with his class. Kind of like "a fish story".

Gonna get all caught up

Okay, so I am going to work this weekend at getting all caught up on our blog. I have posts started, but not finished and posted. So you might have to look back a little to see it all. MJ

Sunday Morning

It's been a bit since I blogged and since I give others a hard time about not keeping up their blogs I had better work on ours. I had some pictures, unfortunately something strange happened to our memory card and they are gone. I am pretty frustrated about that as there were pictures form the first day of school, ice skating, Flat Stanley. Ugh!
You already know that Bob's surgery is Tuesday, right now it is scheduled for 10:30 am. We have to be at the hospital by 8:15 am. Gram is also having surgery on Tuesday, Bob is finding comfort in them both having surgery at the same time. Bob will spend a night in the hospital and come home on Wednesday. I am now off work (as of Friday) until Nov. 3rd. Then, depending on how Bob feels, I will return to school and the next week to the Theater. This weekend we are preparing. Bob got his haircut yesterday, we picked up books from the library, cleaned the condo, did laundry. Today and tomorrow we are moving the bed into the livingroom, going to Costco, Fred's and making sure that all tripping hazards are removed.
I must be honest that it is hard for me to "just be at home". I have found that I am a little bored and drawn the conclusion that that is why I work so much. What can I say, I must keep busy and right now I lack focus. So today I am going over to the Red Dog for a couple of hours to stock. I do have a long list of items to accomplish while I am off, I just think that I need to extend the list. I figure that Bob will be sleeping most of the time, so I need to keep busy.
We already have our first visitor scheduled for 2009, Joelle will be with us again next summer. I put her dates in on the left side of the blog. Plenty of dates left for others. MJ

We have a visitor!

Flat Stanley has come for a visit. For those of you who have not heard of Flat Stanley it is a project that classrooms do now. They send Flat Stanley on a visit with someone, that person takes pictures with Flat Stanley and sends with him information about the area Stanley is visiting. Ours came from Jered in Dundee, MI. Family friends. We are very excited for Stanley to be here and to share information about Alaska with Jered and his classmates. Let the fun begin. MJ

More News

Bob's surgery has been scheduled for Oct 21st. Although any surgery is a little scary, Bob is looking forward to the relief. He should not feel the pain he is having as soon as he wakes up. The surgery should take 4 hours and then he will spend the night in the hospital and come home the next day. I will stay with him that night. No way I am coming home without my husband. I have had enough of being home without him for one year.
It has been a relief for Bob to make the decision of where to have surgery. It was not easy and many emotions were shared last week. We both feel really good about this decision.
We are both disappointed that we won't be able to make it home this weekend, but we plan to make the trip next year.
It will be a bit of a crazy week preparing for surgery, getting our condo ready, I have basketball tryouts this week, need to get my office cleared up and sub plans made, go to the store. We will do our best to keep you all posted.
Well, off to get ready for the week. MJ

Getting caught up

It's been a little bit of a whirlwind since we last posted. The school year is getting into full swing and busy busy, busy. Tristan and I also started swimming this week which was nice, the water was warm and felt so good. Actually did laps. Ofcourse I did one lap to Tristan's two. But it is a start.
Some of you have heard that Bob is going to be having surgery. We found a website that has some good information on it and wanted to pass it on. He has a herniated C7 (cervical seven) vertebrae. Here's the website: www.spineuniverse.com We just wandered around in it and read the information. His next appt is on Wednesday and we'll go from there.
Basketball starts in a week, hard to believe. MJ