It’s been a horrible, horrible week.

Last week was great. Really spot on. We went to Vegas last Thursday to hit the dual goals of attending an Ice Hockey tournament and meeting with Tyler’s new second cousin. Both went fantastically. Jessie’s team lost the games, but they played really well and Jess managed to take down a lot of offensive players. When you’re playing on defense, you tend to use metrics other than ‘goals scored’ for personal victories. Tyler even came to watch one of the games, more or less. He really seemed to like watching the hockey, and whenever he got bored I’d go out and walk around the Casino to distract him with bright lights. Oddly enough, you’re not allowed to stop at any of the gambling machines if you’re under 18, which includes if you’re under 1 and being carried by your dad. This means I was allowed to walk through the Casino, but not stop walking. Heh.

Also, Tyler’s little cousin is a big ol’ cutie-face. She isn’t as mobile as Tyler, but she’s nearly as interesting. She likes playing with toys and interacting with you, but she isn’t trying to run a baby marathon while she’s doing it. A nice change. She liked me a lot after she realized I would make raspberry sounds at her and nuzzle her neck with kisses. She was also really interested in Tyler, and spent a lot of time watching him get into messes, no doubt planning future devilish behavior of her own as soon as she could figure out the whole crawling thing.

Even Sunday morning was pretty good. Tyler did a good job sleeping through the night, except for the one time when all the smoke alarms in the house went off at 4:00 in the morning. We eventually got him back to sleep by playing gently with him on our bed. Very cute. Anyway, we took the extended family out for hamburgers and the cousin was very well behaved. The toys and the distraction of Tyler helped, and her family got to help themselves to delicious hamburgers and shakes.
Then things started to go downhill.

I got the call, then, that Dad was in the hospital getting treated for some severe stomach problems. I had to share the news but at least the prognosis was good. This does, however, mean that I’m now at risk for the same problems in the future. Less than fun.

The flight home was really rough for Tyler. He slept for a while, but then woke up at something like 10:00 his time and when he realized he wasn’t in his usual crib for sleeping he got really cranky. We kept him quiet…mostly…but we were definitely ‘that family’ on this flight. Harsh.

When we got back home, Tigger was looking haggard. So I took him to the Vet in the morning and they determined that he is in the early stages of kidney failure. There is no cure. There’s a treatment which can extend his ‘good life’, but eventually we’re looking at having to say goodbye to a family member of more than 13 years. It’s quite sad, but at least we have some warning and the treatment appears to be working pretty well. We’ll probably get a happy cat for at least a little while longer, and we can let him jump up on counters as much as he wants and eat all the bread and food he wants and generally get away with darn near anything because he’s such a great cat. But at some indeterminate point in the future, we’re going to have to put him down. Which is horrible.

Jess wasn’t immune either. She got in a little fender-scraper (even less damage than a fender-bender. I think I mostly fixed our car with a wet rag) a few days ago and then got a ticket yesterday on her way to derby. She was in a bad mood, quite understandably, but I was able to help out for a little bit.

And then I got the text that Las Vegas Grandma is in the hospital.

And there is a server down at work that means that I can’t work on anything until it gets fixed.

When this week is over, I’m crossing it out on the calendar with a SHARPIE.

-N

Blogging About Something Other than Being Sick

Ha ha, no, just kidding. Viruses for everyone!

I spent the weekend battling off another cold. It's been since nearly Christmas since I've felt normal. With any luck, this cold won't develop into an ear infection again. But it it does, I still have the drops. Also, Tyler had a cough for a few weeks that he transferred over to us. At least we can take cough medicine, no such luck for the baby. Oh, and the antibiotics have as of yet still failed to clear up Tyler's ear infection, though you wouldn't know it by his demeanor. He's on stronger stuff now, and it seems to be working? I guess we won't know until we get him checked out by a professional with an otoscope.

Those of you with Facebook will want to check out Tyler's page in a few minutes. Jess took Tyler off to an exhibit called 'Architects of Air' where there were giant blow-up tents with cool lights inside. Jess took some pictures and video and Tyler had a blast. Really cool looking with all the colored lights. I stayed home. You know, sick.

Another tooth! I forgot to mention that one. The companion to his first top tooth is coming in. (I'm talking about Tyler, just in case anyone is confused about people I might know who are getting new teeth.) Which has led Tyler, for the first time, actually using his teeth to chew food. I've seen him do it! Witness!

In a few weeks we're off to Vegas for a hockey tournament/visit with the Vegas family. I'm sure there will be cute pictures to share with everyone when we are done, and now that we are all experienced with traveling with Tyler, the whole things should be a breeze, comparatively.

Oh, and in case anyone was curious, it wasn't Chicken Pox, so it was probably Hand/foot/Mouth disease. Seriously, there's nothing to discuss that doesn't involve viruses.

-N

Sick Champion

The tournament for our Vegas Weekend is over, and Jess did great. There were four teams in her division, and they went 3 Wins-0 Losses during the preliminary round, and Jess played some excellent defense, especially considering that she had the flu.

I'm not sure where, but Jess had been feeling a little down all weekend, and Saturday night her throat was all scratchy from 'cheering too much' and she was tired. Well the next morning she still felt bad, but Motrin and Red bull got her through her early morning game. After that, though, it became obvious she wasn't just tired, she was sick. Her body kicked on the fever and she felt super, super cold. I piled the blankets on and gave her as much hug-based body heat as I could, but she was just miserable. I took her temperature as high as 101 degrees. (Fahrenheit, for you scientific types).

So the championship game came around and Jess couldn't skate, but she at least made it to watch the game and cheer on her team. Bundled up in coats and blankets, we watched as the team pulled out a victory, 1-0. The Hot Flashes won their division! Jess was all happy because she got to be in the victory pictures and hold the trophy, and they even gave her her own plaque! It's super-cool. (Is the 'award' type of plaque spelled differently? Plack?) Also I had told Jess that if they won the championship I would cut together all the footage I recorded into a neat video and post it up on the internet. And I will.

So Jess hung out in the locker room with her pals and did some victory cheers, and then we came home and Jess conked out, thankfully. Her fever has gone down and she's sleeping as I type this, but soon I'll get her up and start packing for the flight home. We fly at noon and tomorrow we have the contractors come by, so I'm going to clean up a little and get a room ready to keep the cats away from the workers.

Also of note to the family: I got the DVD of pictures from Xmas, and they're fantastic. I copied them all to my computer and left the DVD down here with the Vegas Family for them to enjoy.

Further Adventures in Home Ownership

Hey, not killed by snow. Cool.

So here are some pictures you may enjoy:

From Late 2009, Blog Pics

Jess and I bought curtains! Now we can let light in and still walk around in our PJs. It made me feel all homeowner-y.

From Late 2009, Blog Pics

We helped Jean and Ray decorate for Xmas. They had a fake tree with a motorized stand that rotated. I set the exposure time really long for this picture.

From Late 2009, Blog Pics

I've been practicing making cinnamon rolls. Get ready for Christmas treats. These came out really good.

From Late 2009, Blog Pics

Fall in Austin. These are the trees out in front of our house. The evergreen live oaks and two other types of oaks that also grow out front. I think they cast a pretty striking image, don't you?

Further adventures in home ownership! When we were in Vegas for Thanksgiving Lacey and Mark mentioned that they had to replace their air filters extra often because they lived in the desert. That caused Jess and I to realize that we didn't know about air filters and hadn't replaced them at all in the approximately one year we'd been in our house. Neither of us had ever heard of this particular home task before. How novel! Anyway, we cleaned them out/replaced them as appropriate, so hopefully we're breathing cleaner air as we speak.

I was out raking (very red) leaves this weekend when I noticed a pipe sticking out of the ground that had been fractured a little and was full of water. There was also a little of what looked suspiciously like wet toilet paper scattered around the pipe. I had Jess flush the upstairs toilet and, sure enough, a bunch of water poured out of the pipe and into our lawn. I guess it's some free lawn water, I guess, and I can't imagine it have been too much of a problem for too long, or we would have been alerted by a scent quite a while ago. Anyway, we called out some plubmers, and they were out in a mater of hours, snaked the drain, cleared the clog, and re-capped the tube. Problem solved. Adventure!

We also went out to a Holiday party for work last night. Jessie looked BEE-YOU-TI-FULL in her black dress and red jacket. We even went out to pick up some heels for her to wear to the event, and everyone commented on how nice she looked. The party was on saturday, and the University of Texas was having a big championship game that night, so they played it during the party. It was a VERY dramatic finish, fun to watch. After that we hung out at a nearby bar until 2 in the morning trying out various beers and talking about nothing important.

Micro-News!

I got my grey shirt in Ving Tsun a few weeks ago. It marks something like the halfway point for my training. Very exciting. It got down below freezing here a couple of nights this week: we got to use our gas fireplace. Romantic! We got some fresh catnip from Ray's garden in Vegas and have been spreading it around the house. The cats seem to enjoy it just fine. Just a few more weeks until Christmas! I'd better get some shopping done.

-N

Vegas Traditions

Hello, everyone, happy Thanksgiving!

Jess has been nice enough to let me continue my tradition of going to Vegas for thanksgiving. We showed up Wednesday and got to hang out with the kitties for a bit before getting to sleep and getting ready for the big day.

Thanksgiving was, as you would expect, a total blast. Jeanne made a Martha-stewart worthy turkey, and there was stuffing and 'taters and all sorts of extras. Further awards to go Grandma Warner's Cranberry Sauces. My favorite part of the feast. After that we played Farkle and Apples to Apples, which was a lot of fun. Then we went out to a late showing of Ninja Assasin. Quick review: A thoroughly silly movie with lots of overblown action and blood. It was fun to watch, though, and that's really what counts.

Friday Jess and I got up early and went running. Have to burn off that egg nog somehow. Then I came back and made Egg Nog french toast for everyone. Extra thanks to Sandlin for that recipe. It continues to be a perennial favorite. We went over to see Lacy and Mark and their new house. We helped them decorate for Christmas, too. After that, Marc decided he wanted to buy himself a PS3, and so we got him an early Christmas present: Rock band. We played a little, then did some sequence and came home.

Which brings us to today. We set up Jeanne's house with some decorations, Jess made some Guacamole, and later I'm making Krub. I might make some bread, too, just because it's fun. Practice my cinnamon rolls for Alaska.

Anyway, much love to everyone. Hope you're having festive times.

-N

A gaggle of furniture

Two weekends ago Jess and I were in Vegas for a Hockey tournament. Good times all around, though her team didn't do super-great. The point is really to go there and meet up with all of her old hockey friends from LA, and that's what we did. I also got to see Vegas family and check out their new house. I took a bunch of pictures of the place, but chances are that if you wanted to see them, I've sent them to you already.

From Vegas Tourney 09

The week after the tournament, though, we were TIRED. All during the work week Jess and I were both just sleepy all day and it was pretty hard to get going in the morning. So for the weekend, we decided to take some time, relax, and unwind a little from a long week.

Which is why we spent five hours on Saturday in Ikea.

No, I don't know why, but it was pretty restful anyway. We woke up LATE on Saturday, went running (Jess is now faster on her feet than I am) and then decided to go see if we could get some more of our furniture situation worked out. We knew we liked a bedroom set that we saw at Ikea, so we were going to see if they had all the pieces available for purchase (they were out the last time we went.) We went there and lo-and-behold they did! So, before anyone else could steal our *precious*, bought our entire master bedroom. And all for about the same price that we had seen *just a bed* at other locations. Man that store is fun.

From Our New House

Unfortunately, there was no way we were going to be able to get all that stuff home in my little car-sized car, but Ikea delivers! So we set up a delivery for the next day and dropped off all our boxes of furniture off with them. They'll deliver anything in a box to your location, up to 600 lbs worth of stuff. (Over that is just an additional charge). And after we got all that set up…we went through the whole store again! Well there was more on our list than just the bedroom, and since we were there and all…

So two shelves, two dining tables, and a bunch of extras later, we had our living room, breakfast nook, and library all furnished up too! Getting things accomplished is restful! Unfortunately, the tables weren't going to fit in my car either. (By the way, ever bought two dining tables at the same time before? Yeah, me neither. Weird.) So we went back to the delivery center and added the two tables to our delivery. Total weight: 599 lbs. High five!

So the rest of our Saturday consisted of bringing back what furniture did fit in the car, assembling it, and then re-doing all our TV stuff to take advantage of our new, organized system. And it all worked out great. Having all the consoles right next to the TV and the receiver (and our net hub) meant that most of the connections could be made right there. Very nice! And now all of our DVDs and game have a place, and they are in that place, and there are no more unnecessary boxes in our living room. *Room complete!* (Except that we need some end tables and a coffee table, but it's pretty good for now!)

And the next day, the rest of the furniture arrived. Ten boxes worth. Well Jess and I spent the entire afternoon with screwdrivers in one hand and Allen wrenches in the other (and the occasional hammer, thanks dad) putting together a whole lot of stuff. And you best believe we got it all done! Every last piece assembled and ready for the delivery of our mattress in a couple of days to make our master bedroom *functional!* And my hands and wrists were sore enough the next day to offer proof of exactly how much stuff that was. I even got to put up my big, stumpy candles that we got just for the bedroom. Yay!

Short news! I tested for my next 'level' in Wing Tsun. We don't do belts, but at this point I get to attend the advanced class and start learning the Chi Sau drill, which is the real bread and butter of the art. Jess has an eye appointment and I a teeth appointment this week. Our new bed is King size, hopefully enough for us and two kitties to all lay on together. We've been watching action movies in High-Def with our awesome new sound system and MAN is that nice. There is an awesome park down the street from our house that Jess and I have been running to. It's got one of those nature walk/activity stop things, so we run for a few hundred feet and then do pushups or leg lifts or whatever else the signs tell us to do. Good exercise, but the jog home at the end is *rough*.

Movies maybe coming later, I've pegged tonight for playing video games! I'm an adult, I get to do that if I want!

-N

Pictures from Las Vegas!

I've finally got the pictures from Las Vegas loaded to Picasa. I have tragically few picture of grandma's birthday party, and suspiciously many pictures of the Autoshow. Can anyone else help me with this deficit? Matt loaded the photos, so he got first crack at the captions. You've been warned.

You should see photos of the aftermath of Thanksgiving dinner at Jeanne's house, quite a few images of cars from the autoshow (with some nice ones of Dad and Matt enjoying themselves), and then other pictures, mostly of random places up and down the strip. We got to wander through a lot of the casinos, which have fabulously over-the-top decor. On our last night, we went to the Belagio to see the Fountain show, and that's where we found the 6 TON Chocolate Fountain. Yeah, wow. It was nice to have some time to do fun things with my family I don't get to see too often.

Thanksgiving in Vegas!

The matron of the Warner clan, Madamme Grandma, is celebrating her big birthday this weekend. This means the family has assembled for celebrations in her new home in Las Vegas. The best part of this, is that we've all been together for Thankgiving FEASTING at Jeanne and Ray and Grandma's, AND a Fabulous Mexican Birthday Bonananza. We'v been playing games and hanging out. When we get home, we'll post more photos and better updates, but for our dear readers who are not here in person- Happy Thanksgiving! We hope you are enjoying the bounty of the season and the joy of good company as much as we are here!