Today is my mom’s birthday!
We all gathered yesterday at my sister’s
for a delicious time. Anne’s FABulously
famous lasagna and a plethora of desserts!
The kids always help with the candles!
Thanks, again, Anne and Pete for hosting!
Everyone enjoys themselves at your home so much!
(Notable….I was on call in the west for NILMDTS
yesterday and I never received a call. That’s
great news!!)
Gary was up and gone pretty early…
He has a golf outing/tourney/member-guest
thing this morning at 9 down in Northfield.
YUCK. Now it’s pouring and thunder is
shaking the house. I suppose they won’t play.
Good thing too, Gary’s getting sick.
Maybe it will clear???
Later today my entire family and some of
our friends will gather at my sister’s
to celebrate my mom’s 70th birthday (which is
actually tomorrow). My sister makes a totally
KILLER lasagna and I can’t wait to get over
there! We were assigned cake & wine. HA! shocker!
Oh, say, speaking of food, I want to give a
glowing review of “Cosi”. It’s fast food, in
a cosi atmosphere. Here in Eden Prairie next
to Pei Wei is this really great sandwich place.
Like Pei Wei, you step up to the counter and
order, they give you a # to place on your table
and they bring it over to you. So basically it’s
fast food with tipping, really. But my mom and I
stopped in there yesterday for a late lunch
and I had the Sesame Ginger Chicken and my mom
had the Pulled Pork. Both really good. I had
driven by a hundred times and always wondered
about it and now I know. A little spendy but worth it.
Okay..on to the homecoming dance.
J picked out a FABulous cocktail dress.
Albeit a short one, the color looked so good on her!
All the girls looked great! When exactly did
homecoming get to be as big a deal as prom anyway?
I remember going to the football game and then
Hadder’s band, “Purple Haze”, played (loudly) in the
high school gym and everyone just kinda stood around.
NO dresses, no suits, no boutonnieres, NO corsages,
no paparazzi line of of parents trying to capture
the innocence on ANY kind of camera. Well, I was
glad to be there to get in on the action and get
some fun shots of J & her date, Scott.
Wow! We flip the calendar to September and it drops 20 degrees!
Gary and I hit the pool yesterday at my sister’s and it was
just the perfect way to say “so long.” to Summer. Thanks Bakers.
I managed to get some shots of Emily yesterday. She’s getting
so tall and gorgeous…I told Pete that I felt sorry for him,
(That’s Emily’s dad) and he said he’s going to start locking her
up soon.
Emily loves to pose for the camera. She loves to act like her
older cousins. Here’s her ‘Summer’s over’ face…
Sometimes takes me a while to get her to look 11 and not 21.
Ahhhh, there she is….
Um, Emily insisted on taking MY picture so I carefully
handed my Mark3 to her and instructed her on how to use
the 50mm 1.4 and where the vertical shutter release was.
Not bad, really…
Well, we have had our share of excitement here with the
RNC taking place and all. I used to be upset that I wouldn’t
be in the middle of it all covering it for a company out in
Maryland. But I made that difficult executive decision and
I stuck with it. As it turns out…I’m pretty glad. It’s
just CRAZY! Did you check out the video on my facebook
yesterday? WOW!
We live in the path of Flying Cloud Airport which is a
pretty busy place these days. Many delegates have been
flying in there and to drive by it, it looks both like a
fortress and a ghost town with all the security measures.
More private jets than ever flying overhead. It’s a much
smaller airport but by all standards one of the larger
“small” ones and more accessible than MSP. Wooppeee, right!?
I’m going to be attending and covering a rally with Sen.
Norm Coleman this Saturday. I said, “rather than money,
how about I offer my services as a photographer for you?”
They jumped at it. So now, rather than covering the RNC,
I’ll get to work along side Coleman. That works for me.
Hey, not much else to report here today.
See you on Facebook.
This was supposed to be a “cousin” dinner but I didn’t know that so I took off for
Maynard’s in lovely Excelsior on the south shore of Lake Minnetonka to meet up with
Anne, her kids, my mom & G for a little send off dinner. Nicki joined us too.
G leaves for college on Wednesday and we are all suffering a bit of separation anxiety already.
I gave G a little college WAM (walkin’ around money) and the CD of her prom pictures that I shot last spring for her to load on her new super cool laptop! I prepped a Facebook page so that I can better communicate with her and i intend on checking in often.
I’m not sure when she will be back here…I’m guessing Thanksgiving which means I had
better set aside a hair appointment for her!
Here’s some of the fun from last night…
Keep in touch darlin’, text if you need anything!
I love you…be safe and make good choices!
Boo was a trooper Wednesday.
He handled the neuter like champ!
Dr. Zeimann said…”keep him quite
for a few days.” Um yea, right. Have ya
met Boo!? He’s a maniac!
I had a few visitors yesterday.
So, just for fun, I got out the old
camera so that you all can see how much
my family is growing too!
First, there’s Owen, he’s now 3 & 1/4 years
old and is all boy. A very, Very, VERY CHATTY
boy and I love him to pieces!
His sister Reese came along and so
I thought I’d see if I could get them
to sit together long enough to get a shot.
Not so lucky….
So I thought I’d try them with mom. WOW!
“One, two, three….eyes on me!”
Then a bit later Anne brought Ben over
and Bear, their new cock-a-poo.
Hey Ben, why did I not get a shot of you!?
I owe ya buddy!
Finally, after nearly a month of back
and tummy surgery coupled with rehab,
my mom is finally coming home today.
WOW! I popped out to see her one last
time last night and pack up some of her
stuff. Anne will be doing the picking
up today around noon and I will meet
them back at her condo after.
She’s ready, she looks great, sounds
great, she’s eating, p**ping and all
that good stuff they make sure you can
do before they let you go.
I, for one, will not miss the smell.
What is it about nursing homes and
rehab facilities? Why do they smell like
medical tape? My gosh, even HOME DEPOT and
the weight rooms in most gyms smell better!
No matter, Mom’s breakin’ out today!
I wanted to post a few shots of my sister’s
newest family member all the way from Missouri,
meet “Bear”, a 3 month old cockapoo!
Okay, this is a tough one for me.
I have been long awaiting my involvement with
the RNC, as many of you know.
Last night I received an excel spreadsheet
on the assignments. Seems one of the photographers
that I have worked with at Starkey took it upon
himself to assign most everything to him and his
buddies so rather than take the “bone” that had
been tossed my way (which is exactly what I
envisioned happening), I am takin’ my “she-woman
man haters club” down the road (for those of
you “spanky” fans!!)!
I know, I know, it’s petty but I just didn’t
want to whore myself out for them and besides,
I think the Lord has other plans for me that week! 
I’ll just watch from afar. Bummer.
On to bigger and better!
Maybe Dean and Lois can talk to McCain and
see what I can do for him directly. Or I’ll put
a call into T.Paw myself!
Okay, I’m over it….move on!
I am off this week (salon) and trying to get to
the bottom of some of my piles.
I’m off meet Mike (brother) in our mom’s
room at St. Gertrude’s and take her, via
wheelchair, to Park Nicollet (within the
same structure) where we will meet with her
stomach surgeon who will let us know what’s
next for her. We are all under the impression
that she will go home today. Stay tuned
as I may update on my ‘twitter’ at the right.
I will also, of course, update here on my
blog later today as well.
Prayers for a homecoming today!
Side note….today marks the 25th anniversary
(if you will) of my dad’s death. miss you, dad.
It’s been said that you rarely get
the opportunity to see both the
sun and the moon in the sky
at the same time.
Last night, as I pulled out of the
St. Gertrude’s parking lot (after enduring
watching Big Brother with my mom in
her bed!), I noticed that the GORgeous sun
set was joined by the nearly FULL, rising moon.
That was both cool and beautiful in that
the skies were clear. Wished I’d have had
a fish eye lens along.
My visit with mom was another great one.
She’s eating better, looks fabulous and
sounds more like herself from way back
before any of the pain started. I’m so
very proud of her. She’s working hard at
both her physical and occupational therapy.
She says that everyday someone remarks on
her youth and ability. Nice to know that
I have those genes! : )
I feel all I have left to do with her,now, is
convince her that now is the perfect
time to ditch the cigs and all that goes
with them. She seems ready, yet i sense
her reluctance. I think that secretly,
she is looking forward to getting out so
she can A.) get back to some action at
Mystic Lake Casino and B.) smoke. I’m going
to ask for everyone’s help in the smoking
department. I would love to start a prayer
chain that she realize how silly starting
back up would be and how much it would,
indeed, effect her recovery not to mention
her overall health etc. etc….
I am not one of those ex-smokers
that is trying to save the human race but if
I could impress upon my mother the importance
of sticking around a little longer….well,
is that so wrong? So, thanks in advance for your
prayers!
I wanted to post a couple of images of my
newest niece, Reese and her brother, Owen.
I shot these last week when i was over there
helping out with some questions that kiki had
regarding her new CS3 program.
Um, yea…Owen got the eyelashes. Boys.
Reese’s are coming in (finally), but I fear
at the expense of her HAIR!!! ; ) Love her!
Hey Jill T., Sooooooo great to hear from you!
Thank you for the lovely compliment. Let’s
get together before summer is gone!
Jill is taking me up on my model offer from
yesterday…..anyone else!?? Just comment
or shoot me an e-mail! C’mon, what are you
waiting for? The price of gas to go down?? :\
First things first…today is my brother, Tim’s
FIFTIETH birthday and that even, officially, means
that I am old as well! YIKES! I mean, really,
parents are 50 not siblings, right?
Next, it’s my blog’s 2nd birthday today.
Let me see if I can find my first post….
Yep, here it is.
Funny how time flies. Well, not so much funny
as it is scary, really.
I visited my mom yesterday and when I arrived
Kiki, Owen & Reese were there in the room.
Owen had come down to have the staples
removed from the back of his head (he lost a
battle with a rock at a campfire a week or so
ago when his chair tipped backwards). We all
walked with mom down the hall to a seating
area where we sat for about a 1/2 hour and visited.
Then we all walked back to the room and at
that point Reese decided that she’d had enough
so the 3 of them left and I stayed and ordered
mom some lunch, consolidated her flowers and
trimmed her bangs. She looks like a new person
but now she needs more flowers (if you are heading
down to see her!).
She’s not eating much these days and if she wants
to get to the rehab facility she needs to get off
the “TPN” (nutrition in an IV bag). They keep
her hooked up to that because she needs her
nutrition to get stronger and altho’ she’s
getting up more and walking further, she still
needs to EAT!!!!! We should all have that problem!
I managed to eat all of the chicken in her
chicken/penne pasta! When I left I told her not
to lie to the nurses or the aides!
Oh, funny thing….my mom will kill me.
I didn’t want to leave my camera in the car the
other day so I brought it in, right?
Then I decided to snap a few shots of my mom
as she was awaiting her CT scan. This is the
final shot in a sequence of 2…hmmm, just 2?
2 steps forward, 1 step back.
I’ll keep you in formed of mom’s progress.
Thanks for all your thoughts, prayers & cards.
Bonnie, I’ll deliver yours later today.
Cory Barton is coming by today. I’m so excited!
She’s my web designer and we have been working
a ton on updating my site. I’ve been dragging my
feet due to all that’s been going on but I assure
you all that it will be completed very soon.
Have a great day!
Here’s a slice of my fourth of July fun
with my family & friends at Anne & Pete’s
home. By far, the most fun I’ve had on
the fourth of July (in this country) ever!
