Our Last Few Days At Home

This is a very normal scene each afternoon in our house - make that bedroom. Since Hayden has learned to sit on his own, he loves doing just that. So we plop him in the middle of our bed, surround him with his toys - and the undivided attention of 'big sis' and he is in 'heaven'. The smiles come non-stop. We're busy storing up memories these last few days at home.

Hayden's name has also become 'typhoid Max' - as he spent one day at day care a couple of weeks ago (while we were in Billings) - and brought home a wicked stomach bug/flu virus. So far he's managed to pass it to everyone he came in contact with - although he kept smiling through it all. Roger & I attempted to keep our distance, but it eventually got us too, although we were one of the last. I'm sure we will all survive, but it has sure taken the wind out of our sails these past few days.

We continue to spend our spare time shopping for ideas and materials for our home renovation. I'm compiling a notebook of everything so our guys have all the information. The ideas keep piling up and the project just keeps growing. Found tile for the bathroom floors last night, and a very helpful young man worked with us last night at Home Depot, attempting to find a match for the stain on our woodwork. We also found an affordable 'solution' for updating our cabinets. Definitely going to have to take 'before & after' pictures.

Thursday was a day connecting with old friends. Had lunch with Beth & Chris, co-workers from my days at Classen SAS. Then that evening we had supper with Mike & Cheryl, friends since our high school days. (Actually we've known Mike since high school - Cheryl just had the good luck to marry Mike.) It's one of those friendships that has endured over the years - even though it's sometimes 3-4 years between visits. Cheryl has such a good eye for decorating and I was pleased when she put her 'stamp of approval' on my tile, carpet & paint choices & ideas for our house. Roger had to show off his new yellow truck, and before we knew it, it was almost 11:00 p.m. I'm afraid to admit it, but a lot of our conversation seemed to center around our most recent hospital visits, knee replacements, etc. Guess that's just the price of getting older!

Had planned to be loading our fifth wheel by now, but we've hit another snag. Roger took it back to the shop on Wednesday to have the new graphics installed. When he checked on it about noon on Thursday, he learned that they had 'messed up' the bottom half (it had folded back on itself) and had to re-order a new piece out of Billings, MT. It was supposed to arrive Friday morning - but didn't - so we are still without our fifth wheel. However, we keep getting reports of snow & cold from our parks up north - so a day or two delay may be for the best.