Busy Fun Weekend

Dennis arrived safely in Ohio where it's very cold. He is enjoying spending time with him mom and both his and my family.

Saturday, after I got home from work, I went for a Buggy ride with Ron & Marilyn. Lyn and Dan came along with me. They had a great time, and so did I. Here's a picture of our buggy on top of the mountain that we climbed. It was a beautiful day for a ride!

After I got home from that, I took a shower and sat down to relax. I called Ray & Mary to see what they were up to and they invited me and the boys over. I decided to take an overnight bag and some wine. I had some pizza with them and we had a few bottles of wine. We were all tired and called it a night about 10:30 or 11:00. The boys didn't sleep so well in Ray & Mary's suite. They kept getting up, getting off the bed, and waking me up. About 5am during one of these incidents, Brother Boy caught a glimpse of his own reflection in the arcadia door and let out a few loud barks. I quickly quieted him and we went back to bed.

I took the boys to Wag N' Wash this morning to get groomed. While they were there, I went to FEZ on Central to meet Terry and Cindy for bruch. It was delicious! I then went to Target, Ana's Linens, Walmart and PetSmart to get rugs and dog food. I'm now home, blogging, and the dogs are sound asleep. Below is a picture of them post-grooming. They look a little foofy right now, but it'll grow out and they'll look masculine again. They smell so good!

Drama's on the left if you were wondering. He's the one with that 'woe is me' look on his face. They are such great dogs! We love them so!

I hope everyone has a great week. I'll blog when I can. Dennis comes home Sunday. I hope he enjoys his week there. We are anxious for his return to Phoenix!

In Memory of Matthew Renn

This page is dedicated to the memory of Matthew Renn, who left us on May 22, 2008 after a brief but courageous battle with cancer. Matt was born January 20, 1965. Tuesday would have been his 44th birthday. Anyone who knew him, remembers his strong personality, his sense of self-determination and his sense of humor. In a complex world, Matthew broke everything down in the most simplest terms. "Why can't they just take it out?" he once said to me, right after entering the hospital in February.

I want to share a dream that I had about Matthew about 6 days before his birthday. I was at Matt's house - although it wasn't really his house - and he was there. He didn't have his hearing aid, he was normal weight and he was wearing a white gown. To me, it was a miracle that he was alive. We talked, and I told him that he needed to call his mom right now to let her know he's ok. Matt said that he couldn't do that, and wanted me to tell her. After a brief back-and-forth about the situation, in the way that Matthew always did, Matt insisted that I call his mom to tell her he's OK. Soon after this, I woke up and realized it was all a dream. Matt wasn't alive.

But I knew that this wasn't just any ordinary dream. I knew that there was a message there for me to deliver. I pondered the dream all morning as I was exercising, having breakfast, and getting ready for work. Finally, in a moment of clarity, it all came together. Matthew wanted me to tell his mom that he was OK on the other side. That's the message I was to deliver. So I began to compose an e-mail to Aunt Rachel as well as Matt's sisters Veronica and Cecelia. I told them about my dream and that I felt very strongly that this was a message from Matt that I needed to deliver.

Veronica e-mailed me to let me know that she had read my e-mail to Aunt Rachel and that it made her feel much better even though she was crying. What an amazing sense of relief I felt. I felt like I had finally said goodbye to Matt and honored his memory. Matthew fought his whole life to overcome challenges. He never gave up. Even though cancer ultimately took him from us, his memory will live on, and we can all learn from his courage and determination. On this, the week of your birthday, I just want to say..........we love you Matthew, and we miss you.

End of the weekend

Well, it's late Sunday and another weekend is past. Friday we had a nice evening. After a vegetarian dinner, Ron and Marilyn came over and we drank a few bottles of wine and quizzed Steve on his experiences at Thousand Trails in Leavenworth and learned the details of why he left. Saturday, Steve and Dennis helped Ron and Marilyn move their broken down TV from the 2nd story to the 1st story of their house. Then, Dennis went to the Motor Home to get out the roof and windshield for the buggy. When he got home, he and Steve went for a buggy ride with Ron and Marilyn while I stayed home to watch the dogs and start packing for my trip to Dallas Sunday.

After the ride, we talked to Ron and Marilyn and decided we would have a potluck style vegetarian dinner Saturday night. I made tofu chili which was fantastic. Marilyn made some wonderful vegetarian meatballs that we had with pasta and red sauce. Marilyn also brought some garlic bread and Texas toast. It was a delicious, very filling meal! We had a bottle of wine with dinner, and watched the Barrett Jackson auction afterwards.

Ron and Marilyn left and we decided to watch the movie Juno as it was coming on one of the premium channels. Dennis surfed for a job while Steve and I watched the movie. I managed to finish packing before that so that I could go to bed stress free. I was up until about midnight and had to get up at 5am to be ready to be picked up by 6am. We had a nice journey to Dallas, and did some running around when we got here. We were away from the hotel during most of the Cardinals game so - thank goodness for Facebook - I received updates from Dave in San Diego and Ruthanne in Gilbert. I was very relieved to hear the Cardinals won the game! Woohoo!

Back to the hotel and it was time to open some wine. Did you know that you cannot bring your own wine into a hotel in Irving? We had to take it back out to the car and sneak it into the hotel in our bags. It felt like we were in high school trying to get away with something. I don't quite understand the law but I guess I don't have to. We had a nice dinner in the hotel restaurant and then came back to Lisa's room to inspect 200 binders to make sure the debossing was done right and the solar calculator inside worked. When we were done with that, we all came to our own rooms, and here I am. The next 3 days are going to be filled with a lot of hard work and long hours. I'm going to bed soon so that I'll be ready.

Take care, and have a great week! I most likely won't be able to blog much until the end of the week.

Thursday evening

We had a schedule change this morning. I slept in because Dennis didn't have to get up. Unfortunately, it's because he got laid off yesterday. His job was eliminated because the drug he was preparing to support was not approved by the FDA and was put on hold for 18 more months of human trials. Fortunately he got 8 weeks of severance and is hitting the job search trail. Keep your fingers crossed and say some prayers for him.

Steve Fischer is here for a few days with his cute dog Sadie. Steve left Washington state last month and made his way down the coast to San Diego. He spent a few days there with his brother, then headed to Tucson. He spent some time there with his mom and sister and is now here in Phoenix with us. It's great to see him. It's been 4 1/2 years since I last saw him and almost 3 years for Dennis. His dog is very well behaved and a real sweetheart. She seems to be getting along pretty well with the boys.

If you know of any job leads for Dennis, please let us know! He has 10 years experience in health care and pharmacy benefits and 15 years customer service experience. He spent the last 6 months in a QA role, monitoring calls and auditing cases. He's very familiar with the Witness program by Verint and has become very proficient with several Microsoft applications. He's eager to get back to work, even after just 1 day!

I'll keep everyone posted on his progress with finding work. Take care, and Happy Friday (by the time you read this)!

It's Hump Day again!

Wow, I can't believe it's Wednesday already! Working at home on Monday really makes the rest of the week go by quickly!

On my way home from work last night, I stopped at CostCo. While I was there I picked up a rotisserie chicken and took it home for dinner. It's a quick and easy meal with a side dish! I had big ambitions for the evening, but once I sat down to eat dinner, it was all over. I didn't move from the chair.

The American Idol Season Premier was last night. What a hoot! The auditions were from Phoenix and WOW, do we have some talentless people here! Some of it was very difficult to watch (listen to). Looking forward to watching again tonight!

Please remember to click on the "ads by Google" when you leave. I get "paid" to have them on my page but only if they get clicks. If you click on the way out, you won't even notice. Thank you!!

Have a great Wednesday!

Tuesday morning

Good morning! Just a quick note to start the day. I'm still keeping up with my workout routine. Hit the Ellipse both yesterday and today. Now I need to master healthy eating.

I got my WD Passport Elite (hard drive) set up and all my files copied to it yesterday. It was pretty easy, although I did have to make a call to my brother for some advice on how to do it. I finally got it to work. Yeah!

I had 3 eggs left this morning, so I made one for the boys. After I ate my breakfast and the egg I made for them was cooled, I put it on my paper plate and gave it to them. I forgot about them for a while and then I noticed Brother Boy pushing the plate into the family room. When I picked it up, he had literally licked through the plate! There was a hole in it and he was getting extra fiber from the paper! Silly doggy! He's been very needy and affectionate lately. And I'm happy to ablige him. How can I resist those eyes?

I worked at home yesterday and got my self-assessment completed and submitted to my manager. Now I have the fun task of writing the evaluations of the 5 people who report directly to me, and review/give feedback/approve the evaluations of the 43 people who report to them! Let the games begin!

Have a great Tuesday! Here's a picture of the dogs sleeping yesterday while I worked.

Funday!

Sunday was fun! We watched "Journey to the Center of the Earth" with Brendan Frazier and then went on a buggy ride with Ron & Marilyn. We first went West behind the mountain to Stetson II community. Then we found a way to get to the open desert North of there on the other side of the canal. We found a killer hill to go up. It was quite a rush! Going down was fun too. It was a really fun ride. I took some video and hope to post on here soon.

When we got home, I let the dogs out and as forgiveness for putting them in the crate instead of taking them on the ride, I took them for a walk. They loved it! They were tired when we got back and they took a nap. So did I!

I talked to both of my parents in the evening, then talked to my sister Lyn. It was great to catch up with everyone! We watched a pretty good movie on Showtime called "Love and Other Disasters" with Britney Murphy and some adorable British guys. It was a great story and had some funny moments.

I'm working at home Monday to finish my 2008 performance appraisal so I might not have time to blog in the morning, but I'll catch you up Tuesday morning. Have a great week!