Hmm...

Ok, so I didn't do to well updating over the last year and a half. This year's christmas is almost over...and I'm both happy and sad. I love anticipation of each holiday and am sad to see it go. This year is gonna be really great I'm sure and there is a lot to look forward too. It's bitterly cold and I'm not looking forward to heading back to work tomorrow. I really wish it was easier to get time off of work, but I love my job so it's a small sacrifice to make. Ray and the kids just left after assisting Jason with getting the new garage door buttoned up and the opener functioning. Yaay! No more frustration with the old one that kept falling off of the track. Hope everyone is having a happy holiday season and maybe I'll get back to updating about this time next year.
Love you all..
The Millers

So much to tell...

Lots to tell but where do I begin. August has proven to be a remarkable month so far. The wedding is finally over!! Even 2 weeks later I'm still getting used to the idea of not having to make plans and phonecalls and preparations...seems strange. In the meantime the crohns disease continues to rage on. Dr. Okuro at Rochester tells me that stress is the biggest factor for digestive disorders, as anyone can imagine. Fortunately, most major events are over and things will hopefully calm down soon.
Meanwhile, we are all getting used to the idea that the days of Grandpa's devilish grins and witty humor being gone. We miss you Grandpa and we love you!! It will be a long time before any of us get used to the idea of him not being around. (11-11-1918 to 8-5-08)


Hope everyone is doing well. I'm hoping that I can re-start my Remicade infusions soon . Rochester found another small area of infection that needs to be cleared up before I can continue. Luckily they are still calling it very treatable and they are very hopeful that the treatments will work.

Thats all for now, Love you all!!

at last...

Finally back! After having more then 2 weeks off of work, I'm finally 'blogging'! After what seems like a never ending battle to finally feel good, there is light at the end of the tunnel. What I thought was a little 'bug' turned out to be a week in the hospital followed by a gallbladder surgery. If only I would have taken the gallbladder out ages ago...what a relief!!! Oh man. Sometimes it does not pay to be a stubborn German. Thank goodness for Mom who has been burning her candle at both ends trying to help me. The best part is that nice weather has finally arrived and I'm so happy to have a yard and patio full of flowers once again. Luke helped me clean the pond and Jason helped me get the yard mowed. Mom planted tons of flowers for me. I get to go back to the Dr. on Monday to find out when I can go back to work. Lots of things have changed while I have been away and I'm anxious to get back to a routine. I've gotten alot of reading done and alot of things organized for the wedding now that I'm feeling better. I've had about enough television for a lifetime.
Another Friday is here so hopefully everyone has a great weekend planned. Hope everyone is well and enjoying good health, I know I am!!!!!!!!

Another day older...

Well I had a really great birthday yesterday. Cindy got me fresh flowers, an awesome daffodil arrangement. I've never gotten REAL flowers on my birthday before!! Mom, Shelley, Luke and Melinda also gave me $$ and some tulips to decorate my office at work. Paiton even picked out a beautiful corsage for me. What a day!!

Once a year Jason's work pays for us all go to the riverboat casino in Marquette. They pay for the accomodations, meals, and tokens to gamble with. Since it always falls around my birthday, I always call it my birthday get-away trip. Throughout the year I save all my change in a little jar and turn it in to use to gamble with. This way I dont over spend. Jason's folks come with us, since his dad also works at Farmers Feed and Grain. His mom and I usually get to spend a little time on Sat. afternoon shopping . It's a fun little get away, and while none of us are really gamblers, if I set my limits and stick to them, I dont have to feel guilty when we leave. Jason usually just saves everything his boss gives him and doesn't gamble any of it. I think he played one machine last year. But its a fun change of pace, so penny machines here I come! Wish me Luck!!!

Today we (Betty, Mom, Myself, Cindy & Grandma) met with some ladies from Cedar Valley Hospice. They spent quite a while explaining how their services work, and what things they can provide for grandpa. I think we all agree that it will be a good next step for grandpa after his skilled care with Medicare has expired. Lots of times their specialized care increases patients life expectancy because they can make people so comfortable. It's really amazing what they can do and how much they know!

Grandma got to go to Walmart today too. Normally we take our trip to walmart on Friday, but since she knew I would be leaving for Marquette tommorrow she agreed to bump it up a day. It worked out well because mom could drop her off on the way home and I picked her up after I finished up some things at work. We had a really good time, and as always, got to enjoy our usual hamburger with ketchup and onions at mcdonalds afterward. Despite the snow, it was a nice day. Most of the snow we had gotten today has already melted. Now we're ready for spring.

Melinda's excited to report that her Humira has arrived!! After a long agonizing journey through the fun world of health insurance, she has finally recieved the much desired prescription. We're VERY hopeful that this will bring some much needed relief to Melinda and make her feel like a new woman!!

Birthday Eve

Happy Birthday Ray, my favorite pain in the butt!!

Hope everyone is having a good week. Grandpa is back in the hospital but promises to make a quick recovery! Hopefully he can get out soon so he can get back to making great progress.

This morning I had the great idea to make birthday treats to take to work. Last night I set out 2 dozen cinnamon rolls to rise, so they'd be ready to bake this morning. I got up in plenty of time and got them in the oven. Unfortunately I knew we had a problem when Jason asked me if I was making toast.....not a good sign. So, I have 2 dozen nice cinnamon rolls that are perfect on top but burnt on the bottom. So, I stopped at hy vee and bought 2 dozen fresh chocolate chip cookies! Hey, I had good intentions!!

Anybody out there watch dancing with the stars? I never paid any attention to it before but I'm kinda curious to see how Pricilla Presley and Marlee Matlin will do. So I watch those 2 dance and so far they are both doing really well. It's fun to watch dancing. Jason isn't a big fan. Shocking I know.

The good news of the day is Melinda is getting her medication she needs this week!! We should celebrate!!!

Well my laundry is calling. Until next time...

Making history!

Well unless we live to be almost 200 years old, we will never have an Easter this early in the year...we're making history!!

Jason and I just returned from a day with his family. Jason is the oldest of 4 children in his family, and being the only boy of the 4 there are plenty of good stories around the dinner table at their house. Most of all Jason enjoys these get togethers as opportunities to pick on his little sisters (Jessie, Amy & Sarah). I hear brothers do that! :)

Jason's dad (Tom) is the Commander of their local American Legion, in Elma, IA where he grew up. This is a responsibility that often involves the whole family to help out. This week his mother (Sue) was busy working on a cookbook for the Legion to sell as a fundraiser. She has been contacting people all around the Elma area to share their favorite recipes and has now aquired over 1000 recipes!! So while Jason's dad was busy typing the recipes his mom was organizing them into the format needed to go to the publisher, as well as proofreading. This is quite an undertaking but it will prove to be a valuable cookbook containing special recipes from older community members who have remarkable cooking talent. It's fun to be a part of these projects! In many ways it's like passing on part of their history and experience (some are not so willing to give up the family secrets though)!

Well, the Sound of Music is on here again. I think I've watched it about a dozen times this last week!! I just can't pass it up when I see it playing on TV. So I'm gonna sign off now...the hills are alive.

Good night everyone, Happy Easter!!! Have a great week.

It's Birthday week!! Happy Birthday to Ray, Myself and Uncle Bill!!


P.S.
Mom reports that Grandpa has that start of a cold today...hopefully better reports will follow. The nurses are keeping a close eye on him and so is Nurse Carol!

Spring is springing...

Well, I jumped straight from New Years to Easter! After what seemed like the never ending winter, with 1 storm after another I'm thrilled to see spring trying to come. I have a few signs of crocus' coming up, and the robins are busy finding worms.
Tonight Jason and I are planning a night out. I'm calling it my birthday outing but really it had nothing to do with me! Either way we are excited to be getting out of the house and seeing some friends that we haven't spent time with all winter.
Grandpa is making a remarkable comeback after a long winter in the hospital. We are hopeful that he can continue to progress to the point of being more independant. He is certainly recieving excellent care where he is at as we can see from his great progress. However, he expressed yesterday that it's kind of like a bad dream that you dont wake up from. Hopefully we can find some happy medium where he can be on his own but have sufficient help.
Grandma and I got to enjoyed our weekly trip to wal-mart yesterday. She'll all ready for Easter. I think it's one of her favorite holidays. (I think that's because its always on Sunday and Sunday is her favorite day of the week! )
Cindy and Mike made a trip to I.C. yesterday for another follow up appt. on his jaw. Hopefully they got a good report.
Well the snow is about gone from the big piles we had a few weeks ago. The grass already looks green in some places. I can't wait till I can get the patio furniture out and get out to shop for plants. In the meantime I'll try to write more then one blog a quarter!!! Happy Easter everyone!!

Off and running in 2008

Well, it's already a week into the new year. The only new resolution I have made is to spend 15 minutes a day on cleaning in my house. I'm good at starting projects and then not getting them finished and they clutter up the house.

Yesterday I started a new puzzle. Mom gave up right away because there are too many weird peices and there are parts of it that are cut out and it's got scalloped edges. So the moral of the story is...it's gonna take a while. What I really wanna get is a Wii; but until they lose their appeal they are way to expensive for me. So in the meantime I'll put puzzles together.

Jason and I have been big fans of the food network lately. Our favorites so far are Guy Fieri and Rachel Ray. I always kinda got annoyed with Rachel Ray but we watched the Chefography about her and it makes me kinda like her. Even Jason agree's that she's just a down to earth kinda person. We get excited about new recipes and try them out about once a week and Jason's even thinking about cooking once in a while. He says his folks always told him he was good at cooking if he ever bothered to try it. I'll believe it when I see it. He loves to grill and he will make chili...that's about the limit I've seen.

April at work tried out our new vision insurance already this last week. She said all she had to pay was 35 dollars and that covered the office visit and the glasses, so I can't compalin about that. I think maybe i'll try it out and get some contacts to try for a change. i might even see about bifocal contacts since it seems like I'm reading alot now.

Frazee has agreed to do the wedding and we just have to find the location for the wedding. Shelley has been busy researching different ppl to hire for discount services. And Cindy has 10 tree's worth of magazines to look thru to maybe find some simple bridesmaid dresses.

The fog looks like its not clearing up a whole lot. My neighbors flew in from New York this afternoon; I'm surpriesed that flights were running. Well, I hope everythings good with everyone else... Mom says grandpa's blood sugars have been extra low, so hopefully that's a good sign that maybe he can get away from shots and just stick to the pills he's taking. Shelley got to meet Dr. Ohara last week. Other then that...no news. Bye for now...Happy new year.

Well it's almost a new year. I have to plan a dessert for the New Years Eve Christmas Party tommorrow night...and just for my favorite sister Melinda Jane, I'm thinking maybe I'll make a chocolate layer cheesecake. I just have to get to Hy Vee to get all my supplies...but then it's dessert time. I think the next party we have should be a birthday party for my little momster Jo. What do ya'll think? I think that sounds like a great idea. And even though Shelley doesn't like being a year older...we can celebrate her birthday too! Hope your all having a happy Sunday. See you tommorrow night!

Merry Christmas Eve!

Merry Christmas everyone! Having a lovely day here at work...soon to be over. I hope everyone gets everything they always wanted!!!

Finally back!

After a long delay I'm finally writing again! Sorry to get so far behind (MELINDA). December has been crazy busy from the get go. I am shocked at how fast the month flew by. Melinda had her second trip to rochester, Mn to the Chrons dr. on Thursday; and will be trying some new medicine! Keep your fingers crossed! The first Sunday in Dec. was exciting for us because I got Jason out of bed early to take me to the ER. But, after an expensive trip to the Charles City ER, and a lot of pain medicine later, I found the only thing I needed was a trip to the Chiropractor.
Soon after that Jason caught the flu and spent 3 days down in bed...which in extremely unusual for him. We had a fun overnight trip to Rochester though on the 9-10th while we all took a trip to Rochester for Melinda's initial consult w/ Dr. Pardy.

Things in the insurance department at the hospital are booming as usual. I'm somewhat independant now with some occasional assistance from my good friend Christie! She answers my millions of questions each day and gives me a good ear to vent to on days when the tension is high. On a VERY positive note, Mom had an interview with the H.I.M. or Health Information Management (medical records) department on Wednesday. Everyone talk to the universe!!! Way to go momster! Cindy is a good team leader and I couldn't be happier that she got that job instead of me. She gets do deal with all the psycotic nut cases we like to call the Buisness office!

Jason and I just finished the last little bit of Christmas shopping this morning. We made a quick trip to Mason City before the snow storm hits us this evening. The forcast for Charles City area is predicting anywhere from 5-8 inches here. Too bad we dont have all the ice out of the way from the last storm. Guess we wont have to worry about a white Christmas this year!!

My neighbor lady just called from New York to ask how the weather is back here. She says she'll be thinking of us digging out while she's at Radio City Music Hall tommorrow night, watching the Rockettes. ( I'd rather be somewhere warm!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Thanks to everyone who sent cards. You know I always have good intentions...they just dont always work out quite like I wish they would! But in my defense, I did think about it. Stay warm everyone, I'll try to write more regularly again, I PROMISE.

Ahhhhh..........

I'm going for the laziest person award today. Thanks to everyone who came last night. I had a lot of fun...hopefully you all did too. I'm sure I'll be enjoying leftovers for days to come. Everything is back to normal here now (as normal as it gets anyway). Jason is off hunting; I am just enjoying one nap after another. I'll be back later with some pictures. I just wanted to say thanks again to everyone. Now I can start planning for next year ;). Happy Sunday everyone. 30 days till Christmas!

Happy Birthday Sloan!!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday Sloany!!!!! I can't believe your already 5 years old! (or is that 7?)


Well we have made it thru yet another day...and that brings us closer to turkey day and for me; a 4 day weekend. I hope all of you are hungry!! I went to fareway today and bought (not just 1) but 2 huge turkeys!!!!!!!!! It seems that every year I make a big turkey but never have much for leftovers. We all like to eat and the turkey is always a treat. So, this year there will be more then enough for everyone! Besides the 2 turkeys (almost 44 lbs worth) I got a giant ham. Jason requested a ham since he prefers that over a turkey. So now I just have to get arrangements made to cook all of this turkey! And I need to line up a table to put all this food on.

Hopefully Melinda can hook me up with a picture of the birthday boy that I can post on here for this special occasion. Dont forget his after turkey party. I have an idea for somthing a little bit special for the birthday boy this year. Hopefully I can get it all lined up.

Well it's been a long and dreary day. Hopefully you'll forgive me for my short blog tonight so I can go veg out on the couch until Jason gets home. Whats everyone planning for supper? It looks like we are having steak...mmmmmmm good! Stay tuned for pics of the birthday boy.

Another Monday gone...

This week is short so it's nice to have one day down. Nothing new to report. I forgot i had a meeting till 5 so I went in at my usual 6 a.m. After a long 11 hours, I was ready to be home. During the meeting I got to sit by someone who sounded as if they have bronchitis. So dear god help me if I get sick before Thanksgiving I will be so so mad!!! Why can't ppl stay away when they are sick?!:????

Other then that my toes are cold so i'm thinking of soaking them in a nice hot tub tonight. Doesn't that sound good? MMMHMMM! I just wish I knew what I was having for supper tonight. We ate at arby's yesterday so Jason will have a fit if I suggest eating out again. Eating out is easy tho...just more expensive then home cooking.

Well my to do list for thanksgiving is getting longer but I'm getting really excited. I look forward to this all year long...it's always over way too soon! I'm not really looking forward to Christmas though. After being overdrawn for a few days already, I dont know how to afford Christmas. I'll have to have ol' tightwad help me out huh? That'll be the day!!!

Well...for the 'interuppters' out there..I think I'm gonna....... Because I'm getting....... I hope you all stay......... Please read this ........ Nighty ......!

update

I have grandpa's 89th birthday pictures posted down below now...go check it out! Pretty good looking guy there...sporting his new columbia jacket/hat!! Looks toasty! Not bad for 89 eh? :)

pictures ...

Resting up

After a long weekend of driving, allergy testing, and then party...I'm resting up! I'm gonna attempt to post some photos on here from the party.



Shelley got her flu shot covered for this year now, and I have my allergy drops for 6 months ready. They tested the usual things and discovered my sensitivity to dustmite is way up right now, so I'm taking high potency drops for that. I asked him about all the trouble I'm having with my ears and sinus' and he says that my nose has significant swelling an pollups developing which would be why I'm plugged and 'bizerable' so much! So I have a fresh supply of allergy drugs to help improve the situation.



There seems to be some snow in the air again today. We really need to rake up leaves but I dont know when we are gonna have time to do that when it's snowing!!! Might as well wait a while and shovel them both...right?



I am busy getting things lined up for thanksgiving. The house is getting ready for my annual 'spring' thanksgiving cleaning. I have my to do list all written out. Next thing I have to do is get all my groceries bought. I am happy to tell you that Alysia has generously offered to make a pie besides her egg assignment. I believe she said it was pecan cranberry pie? Is that right? Either way, it sounds good and if Alysia is making it I know it will be good. We all are trying to figure out how Alysia manages to accomplish it all. She would have her hands full enough with just her school work, but she did that while buying a house and moving, planning and pulling off an awesome wedding, and still finding time to come visit for birthday parties and holidays. Slow down kid...your making us all look bad!!



In the meantime...I am cuddled up here in front of the heat register, wrapped in a blanket and snuggled in my pajamas. It's starting to feel like November out there. I think I'll have to make some hot chocolate to really feel warm all the way thru. Hope you are all having a great weekend....let me make an attempt to get some pictures up here for you all.



Happy Birthday Mike...40!!!!!!!!!!! (Wow that's old!)

This entry is dedicated to Melinda Jane

HI MELINDA! I know your reading this!!

Grandma and Grandpa and I just got home from a cool and blustery trip to Waterloo to Dr. Ohara. Grandma made her usual stop at Wal-Mart while Grandpa got his back cracked. Hopefully the weather will cooperate for us so we can continue to go thru the winter months ahead.

Mom found a whole box of my old baseball cards this week. I've been going thru them one by one, just sure that one of them is gonna make me rich. I haven't found it yet...but I will!!!

Now that I have a camera I will have to post some pictures for everyone to enjoy. I have pictures of most everything and everyone. Flash and Dukey have been my star subjects. Sunday night I got a chance to photograph a few new subjects including Sloan writing 'big fat paiton' on a piece of paper and everyone eating chocolate cake.

This week I'm working on getting the house ready for company Thanksgiving. A sucessful trip to Dollar General I got some nice colored containers to organize all my holiday and seasonal decorations into. After getting them sorted (and labeled) I sorted them nicely into the basement for storage. The joke this week at work has been me and my labeler. Little do you all know...but at work I am 'the organizer'. If someone is away from thier messy desk for very long it's very hard for me not to go organize it for them. Even Boss Lady Sue will call me when she needs papers sorted and organized. I have all of her files alphabetical and color coded. Christie ever so nicely informed Melinda about my label obsession...so now everyone can be secretly jealous of my labels.

Well, tonight I have a huge roast in the crockpot. I put it in at 530 this morning so it's been slowly cooking for 13 hours now. I make it with 2 cans of mushroom soup and one can of french onion soup and mmmmm is it yummy. So I called Jason and told him to hurry home so we can eat...because it smells soooo good!

On another exciting note, I finally got the 'ok' to pick out an engagement ring. Jason is suppose to make sure it gets ordered and all the rest will be up to him. I will have to have Alysia Ann help me plan, she managed hers like an old pro.

What more can I tell you other then it's dang cold and if I dont get my pond heater in soon I'm gonna have a mess of frozen goldies!! Good night all, I'll try to catch you again tommorrow!!

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Well a week has gone by already that I haven't written. Time flies when your having fun I guess!

Everything is about the same... I had an earache all week that is finally gone. It is still plugged but not hurting anymore. I got my new digital camera this week. I've been snapping pictures of just about everything. (Dukey and flash are the main victims, but Jason gets his fair share of 'ops to. Otherwise, things are going really good in insurance. I was nervous that maybe I wouldn't like it...just because it was somthing different and a whole new group of people to work with. But, I really like everyne a lot, and I feel like I am learning a lot.

Mom is here this weekend. Yesterday we took a trip to Klunders Kafe in New Hampton. Mom and I split a big plate of hashbrowns covered in sausage gravy and a giant cinnamon roll. Mmmm!!!

We dropped Jason off in Elma on the way home so he could spend the day with some of his friends working on a pick up. While he was there, Mom and I hit the dollar general. After that we worked on putting up plastic on our one bad window. When Jason got home, he bought us pizza from Rons Pizzaria. So this morning I'm gonna fix mama's hair and we'll probably go out for breakfast again. Tonight we'll come up and eat some cake with Grandpa for his 89th birthday!!!!! Happy Birthday Grandpa!!!!!!

time for some zzz's

Well hopefully you all remembered to 'fall' back your clocks today. I got to enjoy the extra hour awake...try as I might, I can't sleep. I've been busy researching online for new digital camera. The one I've had for almost 5 years already, I gave back to Mom and Shelley to use for their ebay extravaganza. It will be great for that. I'm excited to get one a little more updated and with some xtra bells and whistles. Then I can get back into my role as the family shutterbug! :)

Flash is staying up with me, or staying with me I should say. He's curled up in a little ball snuggled up against me here on the couch. Dukey gave up waiting for me to go to bed and is upstairs sawing logs with Jason. Jason was tired out from driving truck, hauling fertilizer, all day. He normally doesn't get called in to drive truck, but the guy who has been doing it had a son die of cancer yesterday...so for that we can't complain about getting called in.

Last night we went to Jason's mom and dad's for supper. She (Sue-Jason's mom) made a big pot of chili and homemade bread to go with it. I got a good recipe for taco salad from Judy and made that to share with everyone too. The purpose of our get together was to draw names for their family Christmas. We started that 3 years ago already and for them it works really great. They have some family friends and extended family that like to participate so we have a 'big' gift that is just between Jason's immediate family and a 'little' gift which is between the extended family and friends. On xmas eve we will get together and exchange the 'little' gift which we set at $25 dollars, and then on Christmas day we do the 'big' $75 dollar present. This seems like alot but really when you compare it to buying for about 18 ppl, it's a bargain. This also makes the shopping alot less stressful because we can get a wish list from the ppl we have to get ideas for what everyone wants. He has 2 nephews but we all usually just get them a little somthing besides the names we've drawn.

Who would have guessed in the middle of the night they play the Jefferson's. I haven't seen this show in a coons age! This morning I rented Blades of Glory on OnDemand. It's got Will Farell and then the guy who played Napoleon Bonaparte. It's hilarious. It's about 2 professional ice skater guys who are enemies and get kicked out of single skating competitions for fighting each other, so they team up and compete as the first male/male ice skating team. It is so funny. I didn't get to see the end of it yet...hopefully I will get a chance to watch it all tommorrow. One of these days I would like to try the Charles City theatre. People at work tell me they come all the way here to see a movie because they are 2 dollars to get in and always good movies.

That's gonna have to do it for me tonight...I'm all out of news. Have a good Sunday everyone, enjoy your extra hour!! XOX OXOXOX