I know I haven't blogged in a while and I should have a TON to write, but I really can't think of anything overly exciting that has happened lately. Maybe as I type, things will 'come to me'.

One of the things that we did was a spur of the moment trip to Dubuque to see Micah. I had talked on the phone with him (since I can't facebook chat, the phone just has to do!) I thought he sounded a little blue and maybe stressed out over the phone. The Mom in me really had the urge to go and see him and since we hadn't started choir practice until the following week, this would be my last chance to see him before Easter. Soooo, we called him on Saturday night to warn him and decided to head out immediately after mass the following morning. Plans were nearly foiled however as Mike decided at the last minute to do an oil change on the Cadillac. Now, bear in mind, this was the first time he had ever changed the oil on this car. Long story short, he ended up draining the transmission fluid out instead of the oil. He realized it immediately after doing it and so we ended up taking the truck to Dubuque. Not the most comfy ride, but we got where we were going. We arrived at Micah's at about 12:30 and so we went to a restaurant downtown in Dubuque called Chuck and Jo's. I had seen this place when were down prior and it struck me because I have cousins who were named Chuck and Jo (actually her name was Joy, but we all called her Jo). The Jo in my family was an excellent cook, so this place had to have good food. Well, I wasn't far off. It was a family owned, down-to-earth diner. The bad thing was that on Sunday they only serve breakfast. I was really hungry for a sandwich but settled for what they call Jo's pile. It was a plate of hash browns, piled with scrambled eggs, piled with choice of sausage/ham/bacon, covered with cheese. It was good but way too filling. After eating, we headed off to Kohl's as Micah needed a couple of things. We headed back to campus and he informed us that he had things he needed to do and that we were free to go on our way. Micah got his fill of Mom telling him that he needs to shave, clean his room, blah, blah, blah. Mom got told that she reminded him of Miss Piggy. He had to clarify that it was the personality part of Miss Piggy, not the figure! Since we left earlier than we had imagined, we stopped and visited Gabby for a little while in Cedar Falls on our way back. So we got to see all of our kids in one day! That doesn't happen very often any more!







We finally got started on a project that has been put on the back burner for way too many years...the upstairs hallway. The last time I painted the hallway I was pregnant with Micah...enough said. We did some major patching (the walls are the original 60+ year old walls) and then had to paint. It pretty much took the entire weekend last week to paint the ceiling, trim, walls and railing. My body felt every paint stroke by Sunday, believe me! Now I am waiting the last task to complete the look...changing out the light fixtures. Actually right now they are just light bulbs up on the ceiling. We'll see if Mike can actually figure this one out (hey, they make it look really easy on TV!). Times like these when I really wish my brother were around. This is the kind of thing he would do for me.





I am very satisfied with the results. The upstairs is still very much the same as it was when I grew up here. The only things we've changed is carpeting the floors and putting new windows in the bedrooms. There are so many memories up there. One of the wildest is the fact that there is a bullet in one of the walls. My brother was so into guns and when I was a small child, Gunsmoke was a big hit TV show. One morning my brother was lying in bed and reached for his gun (yes, they let him keep a gun in his room -- it was a different world then!). He did a "quick draw" and aimed at his reflection in the mirror -- playing Marshall Dillon -- and the gun went off. He didn't think it was loaded. I remember my parents running upstairs and making me stay on the stairwell. Upon finding out that everyone was all right, I remember them lecturing him, "What if one of your sisters were on the other side of this wall and the bullet went thru? You could have hurt or even killed someone!" Mom said he felt SOOOO bad and was just shaking at the thought of what could have been. Needless to say, we still have a bullet lodged in the wall upstairs by Jim's old bedroom. There are also the memories of waking the kids up on Christmas morning so that we could open presents and having Jim lunge out of his room and grab me as I was running past his doorway causing me to squeal with glee. I can still see Cyndi sitting in her rocking chair and listening to albums in her room. She spent a lot of time there...I guess she wasn't a big fan of the Kristi and Bobby show! I wonder what memories this house holds for my kids. Maybe someday they will tell me.





For those in my family, you will notice one thing in these pictures that is glaringly missing -- the CASKET! I ordered it out of the house and now if any of you want a casket, just give me a call. It really is a good storage piece for out of season clothes, blankets/quilts and stuff. I also have to figure out what, if anything, I want to put on the walls. I don't think I will put up the tons of family pictures again like I had before. Also, it is very difficult for me to ever put holes in the walls to hang things, especially since we worked so hard to get it painted and looking so nice.

Work has been kind of a beast lately. Last week we had days when almost every bed in the hospital was full. Plus we had six patients in isolation -- a lot of pneumonia and upper respiratory. The nursing home was quarantined for over a week (I think many were upstairs in the hospital!) The weekend was really hopping for the emergency room too. I know the helicopter was in at least once and I don't even want to venture a guess as to how many transfers to Mason City were made. Mike is on call for the ambulance and did have one Iowa City transfer on Tuesday night. The call went out just before 10 p.m. so he didn't get home until 5 a.m. Needless to say, he was just a little tired on Wednesday. With the increase in business at the hospital comes an increase in the data entry, insurance filing and eventually payments. Our lovely Medicare system has been reprocessing claims from 2010 and so we have all these credits and repayments. The fee schedule was not updated that year in a timely fashion so they are going back and reprocessing and paying the correct amount now. I can't imagine what a bigger facility would do with all of their volumes of claims like these. I have a 246 page Wellmark BCBS remit waiting for me in the morning with the $0.34 and some lower amounts to post. I can hardly wait!

I had my last women's card club last night. I came home having to split the "low" prize with Jean (Madson) Kiley. If that Ronda Francis wouldn't have declared on our last hand, I could have had those $2 all to myself! Cari Formanek really wanted to take a picture of my scorecard and post it on facebook because "Kristi NEVER gets LOW!" While I was playing cards and overindulging on salty food, Mike was teaching his last CCD class as a substitute this year. He SWEARS he will not do that again. He taught 7th grade -- what was he thinking?!?!

The weather has been beautiful but we could sure use a little rain to help "green things up". Farmers are getting their equipment ready and I hope Mike is getting my lawnmower ready! I actually have Reed's invitations here and have a little bit of a start on his party. It will be here before we know it!

Well, I'll try to live a more exciting life so I will have something to write about! Till next time...