Friday, November 30, 2007

Dalton update

Becky said yesterday that Dalton is doing better. He will *hopefully* get to go home this weekend. He has suffered no brain damage and is opening his eyes and smiling. Thanks everyone for all your thoughts and prayers!!!

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Little Dalton

Little Dalton is hanging on. Becky emailed last night with new pictures. For those of you who I haven't talked to, Dalton is Wes' brother Kevin and his wife Kim's new baby, born on the morning of the 19th. (They also have a daughter, McKenzie) Dalton was born about a month early, but healthy. Later that evening, he began to get sick with an infection and fever. He has been in the NICU and isolation since and his chances for recovery have been fluctuating. Thankfully, he made it through the weekend. Becky's last update sounds promising. They are at Women's Hospital in Jackson. Please continue to pray for him and Kevin & Kim.
Here are pictures from the Hospital:

Kevin & Dalton


Becky holding Dalton


Thursday, November 22, 2007

Turkey Trot....

Here are some pics from our "trot" through downtown this morning... It was a bit overcast, but nice and cool. We had a good time "trotting" through downtown and playing with our new camera.

Near the Starting Line, Marion Square is on the right (out of picture)




Meeting Street




A traditional Charleston row house




The old Citadel at Marion Square (it's now a hotel)





King Street


Trotting along through the historic homes and buildings

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Feeling Better...

Yesterday was brutal. I shouldn't have gone to work. I woke up (yesterday morning) and could not stand up straight. My stomach muscles were hurting so bad from coughing so much. I had to lay back down for several minutes and slowly stretch just so I could stand up. I went to sleep yesterday at 5pm. I finally slept through most of the night. Sun. & Mon. nights I barely slept for 30 minutes continously. I kept waking up coughing and choking. Last night, I think I woke up two or three times. Whatever I have, It's not fun! I'm over the worst though. That's good. Wes isn't sick yet. I really hope he doesn't get it.

Tomorrow is a half day for me. Our show is only 1 hour and it starts at 6am (instead of 5am). I'm looking forward to an extra hour of sleep.

Wes' stepbrother and his wife had their baby on Monday. He was a month early. They named him Thomas Dalton Mathis. Becky sent Wes some pics the other day. He's very cute! My cousin Laura will have hers in February... The first Great-Grandchild on our side! I can't wait!


HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!


FRY ME!!!

Monday, November 19, 2007

I'm sick.....

I bet Wes $50 bucks the other day that I'd be sick by this weekend. When the weather jumps from 80 one day to 30 the next night, I get sick. Here I am... DayQuil is Liquid Gold!!! Ricola is great!! Hopefully I will get over all this before Thursday. I would like to taste our first Turkey. Kelly's going to see Pete, so it'll be just us. They'll both be here for Christmas.

This weekend, I wrapped all of my Christmas presents. I ran out of paper & ribbon. I have everything done except buying two gifts. I haven't decided on how I'm going to decorate yet though. We didn't put up our tree last year because we were moving three days later. Last year was the first Christmas we had Phoebe as well. I'm not sure how she's going to react to the tree. Kelly and I spent over an hour in Wal-mart yesterday. She drove me this time... in Bella, her truck. I'll have to take a picture so you'll understand the full effect. Let's just say, no one cuts her off. She has a LARGE GMC Jimmy with even larger tires... She loves it. Now that she has it down here, she feels better about sleeping in her place. That is since that first night when someone tried to break in. I don't think she'll have any problems anymore.

We got our new camera this weekend too!! It's awesome! I am so excited!! I was going to bring it to work today to read the book and play with it, but it was a big challenge to get myself here this morning. I was lucky to get here on time.

Thursday, November 15, 2007

STUFF......

This week's been fun, now that we have family within walking distance! Pete & Kelly's apartment is two buildings behind us. Kelly & I have been hanging out a lot. I've been taking her to the bank, Walmart, etc. Today we are taking her to get her truck. She's been busy setting up house all week. Their place is looking great. They have camo furniture!!!

The apartment people did a crappy job with painting. She was planning on painting anyway. There's also several other minor issues that maintenance overlooked. I feel bad because I told them how great living here was, but I based this on our experience. See, their are two complexes mixed together here. Our apartments are nearly identical, but managed by different companies. I didn't know that their maintenance isn't as good. We considered them when we were looking for an apartment, but we never looked inside. What turned us off was the lack of Washer & Dryer connections. They have access to the boat storage and a private ramp into the reservoir, while our complex doesn't. They don't have washer/dryer connections in their place, while we do. I asked Pete a while back which one they valued more, the boat storage/ramp or the W/D connections. The problem is, if you don't have the boat storage, you have to park in the parking lot (with limited spaces). There is a public boat ramp nearby, so the access to the reservoir is not a problem. I think they had already secured their apartment. It would have been too much of a hassle. There may not have been anything available.

Early this morning, Kelly called me upset because someone tried to break into her front door. Wes went over there to get her. She spent the rest of the night with us. Someone must have been watching and noticed her being there alone and thought they could take advantage of that. It really scared her, as well as me. This is the first time since we've been here that we have heard of any type of crime. Our apartment is so secluded. There's only one way in or out. It's surrounded by the reservior on one side, the railroad tracks and woods on the other. There are large shopping centers just past the woods. There's also a large Elementary School in front of it. So the only reason you should go into the complex is if you live there. The only traffic we run into (besides the train) is school buses and a bunch of minivans at 7am and 2:30pm. When Kelly gets her truck down here, I hope that will cause people to think that there's a male living there now. She told me that she can start the engine remotely! That'll be fun to scare people with...

I hate that they are having to go through all of this. Pete is unable to do anything to help. I wish I could fix all this for them. I guess it's the older sister instinct kicking in. I'm so glad that we are nearby to help, especially since Kelly is going to be alone for the next month. I gave her our key last night so she could come over whenever she needed to.


We're going to try to do the Reindeer run on Dec. 1st. Wes & I are walking the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning. We just have a one hour show that day. I will get off around 7:15 and the race starts at 9am, so it's going to work out great. The turkey trot goes through the nice parts of downtown. It's the biggest 5K around here as well. It'll be fun. Wes is off and I'll be off the rest of the day. So we bought a turkey breast and we're going to cook our first Thanksgiving dinner on our own.

I'm beginning to get a bit depressed now that it's getting colder. This is the first time I won't be at home for either Holiday. I know we're going home the week before Christmas, but it's only for a few days and we'll spend one of those days in Memphis. It's still not the same. We're going to miss the big Kowall Thanksgiving meal at my aunts house. I won't be able to eat my Grandmother's unique & delicious holiday dishes. (She's made Lasagna for Thanksgiving once. It was great!!) I won't be able to go shopping with Mom on Black Friday.
All we have is a small Christmas tree. It's only 4 feet tall. I used to put it on the table next to the sofa with a tree skirt and put the presents under the table. Now that we have more room, we need to get a larger tree so we can decorate the house to make it feel more like a home. I think that will make me feel better.

Maybe.......

Monday, November 12, 2007

Lots O' Fun

This weekend was great... First off though...

I RAN MY FIRST POST-SURGERY MILE ON FRIDAY!!!

It was great... I felt great too. I'm going back today to do it again. I doing the Reindeer Run on December 1st in downtown Chas. Two folks from work are doing it, as well as Kelly, my new sister!! (in-law) Races are always fun, but it's much better when you have friends and/or family with you... Wes did the Bridge Run last year with me, but we were in different seeds, so we weren't side by side. This race is smaller, so I don't think we'll have to worry about that. Can't Wait!!!!

Back to this weekend... I met Mom, Dad and Kelly in Atlanta on Saturday. We went to the Thrashers game. They are terrible this year. They got beat 4-3 by Carolina. We had a good time though. Before the game, we walked around downtown and ate at Ted's Montana Grill. (They had bison.... I had Crab Cakes!!) While we were at the restaurant, Ted Turner walked by. (Ted Turner=CNN, Ted's, almost all of the state of Montana, etc.) We spent the night at a hotel downtown. On Sunday, we went to IKEA (My favorite place to shop!!) Kelly had never been there before. We got there around 9 am and unloaded all of Pete & Kelly's shower gifts from Mom's car to mine. IKEA has a cafeteria, so we ate breakfast there. Then we shopped till we dropped. Literally. We didn't leave the store until about 2:00pm. Kelly rode back with me. We had a great drive home. We talked the entire way back. (I actually had a sore throat from talking so much!) It went by quick too. It really gave me a chance to get to know her. We are both excited to be living so close to each other. I think life will be much better for both of us, now that there's family nearby. Especially for them because they are just getting their first place as a married couple. Pete will now have a regular job where he won't be overseas for long periods anymore (at least for the next three years).

For those who have never been, IKEA is a swedish company. There are only about 30 stores in the US. They are massive!! The one in Atlanta (I believe it's the biggest in the US) has two levels of parking deck, one level of showroom and one level of warehouse. They even have a daycare. You can't get out of there in less than three hours... They have the coolest furniture and houseware stuff. It's a must see!! The cafe serves swedish food for lunch/dinner (and it's cheap, too) . There's a section of swedish food for purchase as well. You can buy the meatballs, fish, cookies, everything the cafe serves. My favorite is Lingonberry Juice. It's the best stuff in the world!! They have it as a fountain drink, but you can buy the concentrate too. (I bought two jugs!) It's similar to Cranberry juice, but without the tartness.

Thursday, November 8, 2007

Random Thoughts....

Here is a picture of Phoebe... Isn't she cute... She is an odd little thing. She likes to chew on shoestrings, the tassels on rugs, electrical cords, even the straps of certain "undergarments." She likes to hide under rugs too. I will walk into the living room and find a large "hump" in the rug. She thinks she's hiding. Sometimes she'll jump out like she's trying to scare me. She also fetches like a dog. When I get home from work, she will get her ball (Little foam balls) and drop it in front of me. I'll throw it and she'll chase it down and bring it back. She will meow at me if I don't throw it again. She especially likes this when we are upstairs. She likes to chase them down the stairs. I have woken up many times and found three balls in the bed and Phoebes sitting at the end of the bed waiting for me to throw them.

Wes & I have a renewed interest in Photography now, due to our new camera. Yesterday I looked back through some of our pictures from various trips. Here's a few that I really like....



The Gondolas of Venice, Italy



The Old Wesson School in Wesson, MS



Valley of the Temples
Kaneohe, HI
(You may recognize this from LOST--in Sun & Jin's flashbacks)
Our goal is to blow up some of our photos and frame them for montages for our living room and bedroom. We already have a bunch of black frames of different sizes. We have so many pictures to choose from, it's difficult to narrow them down to only a dozen or so. We took over 1500 pictures on our honeymoon! We took about 500 in Hawaii last year. Not to mention the hundreds from various weekend trips and others when we were just playing around. I love taking pictures of random things, like a broken street sign, or an odd looking tree. I have even stopped on the side of the interstate and stood on the roof of my car to get a shot of an amazing sunset. Once, on the drive back from shooting a wedding in Gilbertown, AL, I saw this sign on the side of the road that said "Land." It pointed down a dirt road. I thought it was really cool. The pictures looked cool too because there was nothing but woods in the background.
Now that we have a better camera, I'm sure we'll both revive our creative eye. We're already "arguing" over who gets to use the camera first.... He won, only because I was in the shower when it was delivered.

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Okay, this is ridiculous!!

Just an hour after my last post (roughly 11:30am), I found out that some "crazed" schizophrenic woman was walking around the stations parking lot, copying down all the license plate numbers. There's a psychiatric clinic next door and apparently this isn't the first time something like this has happened. The police came and I guess took her back over there. (We watched it all from the camera on our Doppler tower.)

What's next? A comet falling from the sky? The 30+ year mayor of Charleston losing the election today?

Scary Stuff....

The last few days have been odd and a bit scary... I have a friend at work who had a traumatic experience this weekend. She went to visit her parents, while her fiance stayed here. He was held at gunpoint while the apartment they shared was ransacked. They took his phone, wallet, and other things. Then they began calling and texting her. Luckily, he had already called her and told her what happened. The robbers texted her saying, "Do you remember the bank number, I'm being held at gunpoint..." The police sent them a fake pin number. They were eventually caught (Four Juveniles-the youngest was 14!!!!) at a nearby bank trying to get money from their account. She was terrified!!! The last few days have been awful for her... trying to find a new place to live, going to the bond court hearings. Not to mention that this is the beginning of sweeps and everybody's already stressed.
This comes just a few months after some crazy guy followed her to work and tried to get into her car. (The station has just installed a new security fence and a security gate because of this). So needless to say, everyone is freaking out. West Ashley is not the place to be.
So to add to my emotions from all this, (even though I have not been directly involved) while I was in the shower yesterday, the Exterminator walked into our apartment and began "exterminating." (Wes was at work) I didn't have a clue he was there. All of a sudden I hear, "Hello?" and immediately get nervous and start shaking. I guess I made noise and he said, "I'm so sorry, I heard the water running... I'm the bug man." I yelled down the stairs, "Can you come back please?" He said, "Yes Mam, I'm sorry. I've already done the downstairs." Okay, I don't know if he was partially deaf or what, but you can hear the water running from the shower when you open the front door. I know this because on the days that Wes is off, he is sometimes in the shower when I come in. Now, we have two large fish tanks downstairs and they have "running water," but they are more of a trickle than a rushing shower head. Anyway, I was freaked out.
We have this safety latch on the door that we use sometimes. I have gotten out of the habit because I have left it locked and Wes has had to call and wake me up to come let him in. Don't worry though, I won't forget anymore... As soon as I got out of the shower I latched it. I even closed the blinds. That dude wasn't coming back in. I didn't sleep all that well last night either.
BUT WAIT!! THAT'S NOT ALL!!! Just an hour ago, when I went to eat my lunch, (Yes, I eat lunch at 9am) I found an EYELASH in my food!!!! I brought one of those "Lunchables" what has wheat crackers, turkey and cheese. (cheap and easy) There was an eyelash in the cheese! Needless to say, I didn't eat it. Luckily, I brought something else to eat along with it.
I know an eyelash in my food is minor compared to the other two "close encounters," but that's just nasty!!
So anyway, I'll be looking over my shoulder for a while, obsessively checking the locks and examining my food a little closer.....

Sunday, November 4, 2007

New Toys!!

Wes & I decided to buy a new digital camera yesterday. We've been wanting one for years. I currently have a Nikon n65 (35mm SLR) and we have a little handheld 5m digital camera. My Nikon is not practical anymore for vacations...carrying the camera plus a bag full of film... So we went ahead and bought a Nikon D70!!!! It's my dream camera. We found a nearly new one on ebay for a good price. I'm so excited!!!! We also got a Photobank a few weeks ago. It's an 80GB portable hard drive with card slots. You can store pictures from memory cards on it. It's better than having a bunch of memory cards to keep up with. I can't wait to use it!! I'm going downtown to play with it as soon as we get it...

This weekend is Pete & Kelly's showers. I wish I could be there. I hate missing stuff. Since we've already bought most of our Christmas, I have to hope that they don't receive the same thing that we've already bought them.
They went to the football game Friday night. My mom was hoarse from yelling so much. They had a great time. Pete saw a lot of people he hasn't seen since High School. In fact, that's the first home game he's been to since he graduated. They beat Taylorsville 42-40 in the last seconds of the game. They are in the playoffs now. I think they've only lost one game.

Since I started watching Alias after my surgery, I decided to finish it. I'm currently on season 4. It's my least favorite season. But ironically, my favorite episode comes from season 4. When I'm done with Alias, I'm going to watch Lost again. Season 3 comes out on DVD Dec. 11 (I've already ordered it) Season 4 starts in February. (Can't Wait!!!)

Thursday, November 1, 2007

Sleep is good...

Yesterday was a long day.... Well, at least for me anyway. Wes & I did everything we set out to do. I was surprised. There are disadvantages though. I slept three hours. Today, I am extremely tired! So I apologize in advance if I begin to ramble here.

When I got home, we were expecting Pete & Kelly to be there. But they were just leaving Norfolk. (7 hours away) So we did our usual Walmart run along with other errands. But before that we went to the fair for a few hours. It was much better this time. It was Senior Citizens day!!!!

There were no lines on any of the rides. I didn't ride anything, but Wes rode several. Around 4:30 the crowd of teenagers started to show up because school was out and it was Halloween. But it wasn't too bad. We got to park in our reserved lot and we went to the Live 5 house too. This time there were people there. They went live during the shows from there. It was much more enjoyable than our last experience. We learned our lesson.... Next time, we'll go with the Senior Citizens... :)

The intent yesterday was to stay awake until they arrived. But their seven hour trip turned into 10!! They didn't get here until 10pm. I was falling asleep, but I wanted to see them. Today they, along with Wes are moving their stuff in. (Hate I missed that...) When I get home, they should have the majority of their stuff moved in, I hope. (They brought a 26 foot truck!!!!) I still don't know how far their place is from us. Kelly said they are getting an end unit. But I don't know which building yet.

Their showers are in MS this weekend. So they are moving in today, leaving tomorrow.... Pete will go to training from there and Kelly will come back with me next weekend. (We're going to a Thrasher's game on the 10th)

Tuesday was Boot-Off Day!!! I don't have to wear that dreadful thing anymore!! I also don't have to go back to the Doc until my next surgery in December. Wearing two shoes is great!!! It is a bit sore because there hasn't been any pressure to the top of my foot before now. So I have to get used to that. It's uncomfortable, but tolerable. I actually limp more with a shoe than without. No, I haven't gotten on the treadmill yet, but I'm getting there. It'll take me a few days to get used to walking normally in shoes. I'll probably try the elliptical this weekend. Yeah!!!!

That's it... Hopefully I didn't ramble too much... Good night!