Here we are

leaving milwaukee

Merry Christmas! And, see you next year!

It's been a lovely one for us!!! We are all well, we're getting laundry finished, and packing our bags!

I'll post photos when I can from my phone, addresses are ready for postcards, yay, can't wait!!

Happy New Year!!

More Christmas pics coming..... here or at Flickr!

The traditional one of mom and her kids... well, minus Barb... as she was in Canada with Walter and his family.... ah well! We had a great time at mom's house last evening! Good Food mom!

Christmas at gramma's

My mood

I feel like I have a bazillion loose ends to tie up in the next 3-4 days.

Christmas cards are only mailed off throught the O's in my phone book.... sigh. Of course the end of the alphabet is where it gets full.... although, the family doesn't need cards, they'll be seeing us all soon... maybe I'll just skip them, and finish through with the last of them.... maybe.

The kids are playing chemistry lab up in the room.... sigh... I wonder if they've used up all the liquid Dial soap? But, they're not bickering, so I'm wary to go up and check on them....

Other than moving the money around in bank accounts, the payroll checks and paystubs are printed out and ready to hand out Jan 4th when I'm back at work....

We are now the proud renters of the new karate building! I signed the papers and checks with the landlord last night! What a cool, ol' hippie, couldn't ask for a nicer, hipper landlord to work with! I'll be getting the new keys today, although we won't be starting work on it until we return in Jan also.....

Everyone has shiny teeth and a perfect check-up all around... no cavities, again! The lady I go to has a new toy... a sonic cleaner to blast my teeth pearly white.... but, yikes, what a high-pitch buzz it emits while it's sonick'ing..... ah well, gums are tingling great!

The pet sitter/house sitter stopped over yesterday to meet the animals and check out the house. She'll be staying here to keep Tabi company.... we're going to miss our sweet pup... and I know she's going to miss us too....

Well, that's about it.... still so much to do.... and I'm off to work soon. I am sooo looking forward to locking the doors tomorrow night at 7pm, sharp!!! Meanwhile, back to checking off items on my to-do list!

Tacky house!

On the way to the dentist

2blackdresses

2blackdresses
Originally uploaded by frau cowtown.

My shopping success! Walked in, found lots of cocktail dresses, tried a bunch on, snapped pictures of me in the dressing room, and found 2 in a size 12 that I actually liked on my pear bod!

hopefully, this is it for the nasty germs of this round

Well, middle K is on the couch now. We've been cleaning puke - he and I since 2:30 this am.... blech. He made it to the tub, though... bless his heart... he didn't use the toilet, because, "someone poo'd in the toilet and didn't flush, so I didn't want to lean my head in there...." Can't say I blame the poor boy. Instead I had a tub full of puke and a bar of soap. Eh, could've been worse. sigh.


Now, on to 'funner' topics!!

The cruise! Everyone is abuzz with talk of the cruise!! Kurt's been busy downloading pics of the ship.... Westerdam, a Holland America cruise line! Fun, fun!! Our room is on the Verandah deck with our own porch to the ocean!! We'll wake up each morning looking out over the ocean! How cool is that going to be?!!! And, the grownups each have their own cabin, with the kids all sharing 5 rooms amoungst the 15 of them! Very fun! Kurt's giving me my very own Brazilian wax job tonight!!

Ohhh, and then 2 of the nights are formal... meaning, tuxes for the guys, gowns for the girls! 3 nights informal.... suit jackets for men and skirts for me... the remaining nights are casual attire.... polos and khaki's and the like!! Wheeeee! How fun!

Ok, so the day after Christmas, we leave from Milwaukee.... EARLY! We'll be flying with the whole group of 25 of us on the plane! Party time!!!! Heh! The von Schu crew is partying from Milwaukee to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida! hahahah, won't the other passengers be surprised?! ;)

The ship leaves port at 5pm from Ft. Lauderdale.... on to our first stop the next day at Half Moon Cay, Bahamas!! A day of fun is planned there....

Dec 28th we're at sea
Dec 29th we arrive for the day at Ocho Rios, Jamaica!
Dec 30th we'll be partying in George Town, Cayman Islands!!!
New Year's Eve will be spent in Cozumel, Mexico!!!!!! Hoooray!
New Years Day, Jan 1st will be out at sea
Jan 2nd we dock at Key West, Florida (Kurt and I were here a long time ago... 1991)
Then back to Ft. Lauderdale on Jan 3rd and rush to the airport for our noon flight home to the snow and cold..... and back to school!

Postcards anyone??? Cousin M, I'll send some along to your house!!!

I'm hoping my camera phone will work at some of these ports of call so I can at least put something up here.... I know I can do it at Key West... hopefully the other islands as well!!!

Now, we really have to get moving on Christmas shopping and wrapping and then I must get packing!!!

The weight? Well, I still have a big back porch..... ah well..... more cushin' and all that good schtuff.... heh. We've all got an early Christmas prezzie of fins, mask and snorkel and have already been to the pool to practice! Middle K and little cee can clear their snorkels... so they're ready and excited to go snorklin' .... little K can swim well with fins and mask.... we haven't started the snorkle yet.... hopefully, we'll get another swim day in before we leave!

Let's just all get well quickly!

3 down, 2 to go, maybe...

Uh-uh.... I refuse to get the bug! Toast and tea continue to be big hits in the house. Kurt's down and out today, snoring on the couch as I type, infact! The little guy is better, but still home as he was feverish as of dinnertime last night... Little cee had a quick bout and is back in school.. She happens to love school and gets cranky if she has to miss it.

While at work yesterday... I called home to check. Middle K informed me he hadn't seen little cee.... long story short, turns out she had falled asleep in my bed.... fast forward to dinner time, Kurt asks her if she's going to be able to eating all her dinner... "yes", ok, so he gave her the full dosage of insulin. Turns out, she couldn't eat it all and was feeling sick to her stomach, so drinking Gatorade was out too.... By the time I arrived home, she was sick and looking pretty dazed... She informs me she wasn't feeling too well and would I check her blood sugar. 37. Yikes... although I'm panicked inside, I'm calm on the outside. Grab a piece of toast and see if she can stomach small bites.... (but that bread won't work fast enough to raise her sugars.... juice is out on a sensitive tum, and I'm thinking in my head... "where's the glucagon shot for when she passes out.....) Ahha... I get an idea to make up some sugar water and give her spoonfuls of it... little bits at a time.... keep it down, kid! Re check the blood sugar 15 mins later... hooray, it's now 85! She's feeling better, and looking more alert.... she is able to keep down the toast and a few sips of gatorade. phew. Tuck her in bed and sit myself down to knit for a couple of hours. 10pm check her again... blood sugar, 134! yay, the bread is working. Time to go to bed. Our first bout of flu with diabetes. I think in the future, when the flu is making the rounds, we'll just have to go easy on the insulin shots .... maybe need more, but better that than bottoming out.

Well, I had turned off her alarm, secretly.... I assumed she'd not be well enough for school. No matter, alarm or not, she was up and ready for school this morning. So, she had a light breakfast, and a light lunch packed.....

But, enough of the sickness.... blech.

This red and gray hat is for the little guy... again... I finished middle K's hat up last weekend.... hats, hats, hats.... I love making wool hats!

And, today is my last kid-free shopping day left. What do you know, winter holiday starts today at 3:30. oh joy....

ouch!

The puking flu bug has hit our house again.... almost exactly a year to the date of last years puke fest. bleck.

We called home from work last night after the test... and were informed that he threw up all over the floor. "but, it's ok, we put paper towels over it!" ick! Kurt raced out of there to get home and clean it. Naturally, I dawdled. heh.

So far it's just the little guy down and out.... I'm just running with just a stomach ache. I'm thinking I can outsmart mother nature and not put anything in my tum... thus avoid the dreaded worship at the porcelain alter.... we'll see. sigh...

But I did decide to make a supplies run last night after the kids went to bed. If I was going to get sick... we'd need plenty of bread, 7up and gatorade in the house.....

merry, merry....

the story of the restless dog

Tuesday morning. ...und schlecht geschlafen letzt nacht.... the dog, staring for hours out the windows and growling at all sorts of imaginary... or perhaps real wildlife ALL. FREAKIN'. NIGHT. Gah. Even little cee said the dog woke her up 3 times wandering in her room, jumping up on her bed..... sigh.... Ya, and now the dog thinks she's going to sleep all day here... HAH! I'm so ready to bring back The Big House. She can sleep in the kennel at night if she's going to continue that nonsense.... humph!

Went trudgin' again yesterday with the dog. Trudgin' is a Kurt term (rhymes with fudge, mmmmmm....) for jogging/walking along the hilly terrain that we call our backyard, in six inches of snow while trying to keep up with the dog! Phew, what a leg and butt workout! Then, the dog was outside playing in the snow with kids for a few hours yesterday.... it's not like she had no exercise at all.... she should have slept really well.... bah!

Well, the girls said they saw a coyote running across the frozen lake when they were out in the back 40 on the sled hill, that runs down into the lake with the smoke on it.... So, perhaps the coyotes all hang out in our yard during the night..... Her hackles sure go up all along her back each time she goes out to explore the front yard..... Coyotes. Whatcha gonna do?

fröhweihnachten

fröhweihnachten
Originally uploaded by frau cowtown.

The 2005 Christmas picture... now to get busy on the cards... and ornaments need to go on the tree this morning... and Harry Potter's latest flick needs to be watched this afternoon....

'tis the season....

Just my luck

Kurt tells me.... "Oh yeah, I can see you're losing weight..... Your boobs are smaller."

As if that's possible.....................

How is it I can gain 5 pounds in one evening... but it takes nearly 2 weeks to lose that same 5? I'm pissed this morning. Crabby. Ya, and hormonal. So I didn't go to the gym. SO THERE!!! Damn, I starve myself, work out.... and not lose a pound in several days. Forget the gym. I'm going home to eat. *snicker*... no, not really.... hahahah I'll just be crabby.

ok

heat wave

I thought it felt warmer this morning when I went out to start the car..... the frosty air didn't suck the breath out of my lungs or sting my face with its numbing cold the first 10 seconds outside.... it's in the teens this morning.... gah.

So yesterday was interesting.... 5 out of 10 busses broke down and the grammer school was missing 280 kids, out of 500. Mine were there.... ha. No bus, no problem, my car works... let's go!

Then the next kid to go to school, and we realize while pulling into the parking lot, that the boy has forgotten his sax for band..... and seeing as there's a concert tonight, I dutifully go back home and drop it off in the office for the boy.

Thankfully, my accountant called me to remind me that federal taxes are due soon, and I should come in to look over my forms! Ah yes, that's why she gets paid the big bucks.... to help keep me in line. She just earned her money with that little reminder call! Phew!

What else??

Oh, right. Kurt took the day off Tues to look at a great building that I found on Monday. WEll, I shouldn't say, great, it has it's pros and cons too.
Pros: big space... nearly 2000 square feet., perhaps a high ceiling where we need it, we can design the interior layout as we'd like, the landlord is a cool guy, and the rent..... 1400 per month! God, you can't normally touch prices like that!!!!! So of course, it appeals to the george in me.

Cons: it's a second floor space (but we have our own entrance and a double wide staircase), It will take a lot of work.... first to get an engineer in there to see if indeed all the interior walls can be taken down as we suspect they're not weight bearing. It's right across the street from another martial arts place.... (ooops, sorry dude), however, he's more into the Tai chi and slower, less impact arts.... so we don't overlap in our clientelle.....

So, we'll see! I'm hoping we can get a guy in there and get permits going through the city and perhaps sign a lease before vacation, so that when we return on Jan 3rd, we can get going on rearranging the walls!!!

Other than that, I'm in a bit of a panic that Christmas is nearly here... and we dont' really have our shopping finished, let alone a list of what to get everyone...... and the online shopping/shipping days are quickly leaving.....

Panic!!

When Kurt tells me...

.... 6 times last night, that the "Party is really great!".... why, I do believe it was a smashing success!! We had loads of beer and shiraz, spiked eggnog, snacky foods, and 37 people! WooT! 12 didn't show up, even though I was only told 2 would not make it.... wonder what happened to the other 10....hmmmm? Ah well, the house was festive and packed... and then it started to snow.... 3 inches on everyone's car! heh....

Good times though!! Phew, it's done!! I had 4 Weiß biers throughout the 6 hours.... no snackies, though.... didn't want to undo all my hard work of last week..... 3 days at the gym, countless hours at the karate studio and platefulls of veggies! =)

Now, to find where I 'hid' all my stacks of papers and magazines.... sigh.... the big cleanup after the party! ;)

Adventszeit

This morning the kids happily opened door number 1 on their Adventskalendar.... mmm, lecker... Schokolade! (of course, not until we had a proper fight over who gets which one.... damn, hasn't the mom learned yet to get matching things?)

In other news... someone didn't realize there was SNOW out there to snuffle in! Heh! Crazy girl... she loves to snow plow the snow on the deck or in the grass with her nose.... then she comes up for air, snuffles it out of her nostrils... and does it again. She'll stop though if you're going to toss snow in the air.... because jumping and catching the snow with your face is waaay more fun anyways.

I'll be glad when my party is over. For whatever reason, anything I do or speak to him about is really ticking him off. So I really should stop flurrying around doing things, or working out, because honestly, I didn't work hard enough for my legs to be sore, so I'll just shut up and get things done. Oh, and I'll make lists too.