Christmas Eve

It’s Christmas Eve and we made it safely to Milwaukee, but it certainly was not without any excitement.  We left for Wisconsin on Saturday night just after Jet got off from work and for the first half of the drive (up to Louisville, KY), things were pretty uneventful.  That all changed fast.  For the next two hours, there were bursts of rain that slowed us down a bit, but that finally subsided by the time we passed Indianapolis, IN.  Things got crazy about an hour outside of Chicago when out of nowhere, the rain came back with continuous gusts of wind, so bad that I thought our car was about to get blown off the road.  In that instant, the temperatures dropped 10 degrees.  We knew that we were getting closer to home.  The rain let up after a few minutes and was just sprinkles until we hit Chicago, but the wind did not ease up.  It was not as bad as those first few gusts we ran into, but the wind was really something fierce that kept me on the edge of my seat for the rest of the drive.  Once we got into Chicago, the temperatures dropped another 10 degrees instantly and it began to snow.  By the time we had passed through downtown Chicago, the snow really started to come down and it became blizzard like conditions with all of the wind all the way until we reached Wisconsin.  The snow and wind didn’t give up at that point, it just died down a little bit – just enough where I could start to breath normally again.  We arrived in Milwaukee at 5:30am (thanks Sandy for waking us up and letting us in so early!) which was about 13 hours after we left from Alabama.  I ended up not taking any breaks during the drive (with the exception of bathroom, gas, and food breaks).  After drinking over 100 ounces of soda and with all of the weather we passed through, how could I sleep?  I am not sure how that much soda would affect an average person, but for someone that doesn’t drink any soda to drink that much?  I couldn’t shut my eyes even if I wanted to.  Well, I am glad that we made it to Milwaukee safe and sound.  Now we can enjoy the holidays.  Wait, I said now we can enjoy the holidays … what’s up with this weather here?  16 degrees.  Snow.  Wind.  Is this a vacation for us or is it extreme punishment?  Packers losing to the Bears?  Yes, I am sure that it is extreme punishment.

So now it is Christmas Eve.  I am very exciting about going to Aunt Sue’s tonight for dinner to celebrate.  The time with family and the food to eat was what I missed most last year.  All of those crazy Slovak customs on Christmas Eve, sauerkraut soup, oplatky and honey, yum yum yummy!  In case you had forgotten what the meaning behind all of those customs were, check back at my blog posting from last year on the topic.  Tomorrow morning we will celebrate Christmas at Kristin’s house starting at 9:00am.  What a day that will be with Ben’s first official Christmas – we can’t really count letting him open all of his presents in Alabama over the past week Christmas yet, can we?  It should all be a lot of fun.

Almost Christmas!

In just over a day, we will be on our way back up to Milwaukee for Christmas and New Year’s.  Looks like there will be a little snow to greet us once we arrive, although the forecast along the way does not look as bad as it did a few days ago.  So those of you looking to keep track of our arrival, we are likely to leave sometime Saturday afternoon/evening, which would put us at an arrival time of mid-morning Sunday, that is, if all goes well.

Jet had a pretty rough night working yesterday as several tables stiffed her.  She mentions that this is a regular occurrence there.  With the good (the chance to make a little extra money, make new friends) comes the bad (stress of working, away from Ben).  I really do respect her for wanting to be productive and is very hard-working, we just wish that she would be able to find professional work soon as it is taking its toll on both of us.  Jet works again tonight (Friday) and tomorrow during the day, so hopefully things will turn around.

I ordered Jet’s Christmas present online over two weeks ago, and if you can believe it, they shipped it in two separate packages!  I can’t give any further details because those would be sure-fire clues of what I was getting for Jet, but I am really excited and hope that she will like her gift.  So I had one package arrive on Wednesday the remaining part will arrive on Saturday.  I hope that it is early Saturday so that it doesn’t delay our trip!  I think I will be so excited when it arrives that I would want Jet to open it right away, but I still want to wrap her gift up so that it will still feel like Christmas.

The weather has only been in the 60’s this week, which is better than the alternative, I guess.  We had hopes for a lot of rain yesterday, but amazingly, the big line of storms just seemed to turn south right before it reached us, so we only got a little rain.  The wind is what really got our attention, however.  Over at Donald and Linda’s (Ben and I watch Wheel of Fortune there every night now) the lights flickered a few times and their Christmas tree in their front yard blew over.  At work, Jet mentioned that the power was out all around the Olive Garden except inside, so I suspect that they might have been on a generator.  Jet and Ben seem to be almost over the colds they had, while I only caught a runny nose.  Here’s to hoping the colder weather up north doesn’t take us out!

Golf: Part 2

Donald and I headed out to Pine Hill yesterday (courtesy of the Southern Shopper) for a round of golf.  It was great weather for my second ever outing and Donald’s first hit out in nearly 15 years (as best as he recalls), sunny and temperatures in the 60’s.  I did much better golfing yesterday than my first time out with Jeremy back in March.  I shot a 109 (55 on the front 9, 54 on the back 9) while Donald shot a 101, and we finished up golfing in about four and a half hours.  One of the members of our lodge works at this golf course, and after he got off work in the morning, he joined us for the remaining 11 holes.  Just to highlight some of the differences and improvements, my previous score was a 133, I shot par on two holes, I actually beat Donald on four holes (although he was mainly shooting from the blue or furthest tees while I was shooting from the red and yellow tees – the closest), and I only shot over 8 on two holes.  The thing that was most surprising to me was that I had several good shots in all aspects of the game (long game, short game, and putting), but as you might imagine, I was never consistent.  One hole I made a put 20 feet from the long rough while the next hole I 4-putted from the green.  One hole I drove the ball 250 yards to the green while the next hole I only sent it flying 50 yards.  One hole I came 2 within feet of the hole from 100 yards away while the next hole I hit the ball 30 yards past the hole from 50 yards away.  It sure felt nice hitting those good shots, though.  The worst part of the day was the last hole – 450 yards from the shortest tees (the longest hole) and water all over.  By that last hole all of my energy was spent and for the life of me, I could not hit the ball over the water.  In fact, with only a few exceptions, those were the only balls I had lost all day.  With about 200 yards to go to the green, I really could not hit the ball over the lake.  I must have put 7 balls right into the water before I just gave up and took a drop on the other side of the lake.  I actually think Donald and our friend that joined us got a bit of a laugh seeing me try so hard to put that ball over the water.  Oh well.  I still think I had a pretty good day despite the bad taste in the mouth that the last hole left for me.

Both Jet and Ben have come down with a cold yesterday, which means that it will likely only be just a matter of time until I come down with it.  I just hope that it doesn’t impact our travel plans.  We are shooting at driving on Saturday evening and arriving sometime on Sunday in Milwaukee, but the weather will certainly be the wild card.  There is rain and snow forecasted for both Saturday and Sunday, so we have been talking about stopping halfway (in Louisville) to rest in a hotel in case it gets bad.  We had perfect weather for our drives to and from Milwaukee over Thanksgiving, but I don’t think we will get the same luck this time around.  Depending on what time we leave, we may just be passing through Chicago during the Packer game on Sunday.  That would stink.  Let’s hope for the best.

Brrrr

What a slap in the face, wake-you-up morning we had today.  Temperatures are in the upper 30’s and it’s windy, windy, windy.  In fact, it is only supposed to get up into the 40’s today.  The sad news is that it didn’t get cold enough to snow last night … the rain was there and the forecasters were giving us lots to be optimistic about a few days ago, but that darn Midwest air didn’t come south enough to give us a real taste of winter.  Oh well, I suppose in one week’s time we will have all of the winter we can handle as we drive into Milwaukee.  That’s right, only one week away now!

It has been a pretty uneventful week for us, with a few exceptions.  On Thursday, Ben was drooling for most of the morning and in the evening, right as Jet went off to work, his fever came back.  I took Ben on a couple of errands and had him singing in the car with me (he makes long sounds “daaaaad, daaaad, daaaad”) which passed a bit of time and got him thinking about something other than the pain he was in.  We stopped at Lowe’s to pick up some light bulbs, but made it into an hour-long trip by walking around the store several times and just keeping him close to me.  If I didn’t hold him, he would cry like no tomorrow and just beg to be held by clutching and leaning his head against my leg.  We spent extra time looking at all of the Christmas decorations and even more looking at the Christmas trees and wreaths.  I must have spent about 10 minutes picking up and smelling all of the wreaths for that fresh pine smell that brought memories back of putting up the tree as a kid.  Just as the fever spell ended a few weeks back, so did this spell end in about 24 hours.  I suppose it’s just enough to keep things exciting with Ben – like it ever isn’t.  On Friday, Jet had a lunch gathering with her friends from the women’s group and they had a good time.  Ben was able to climb up into his new treehouse unassisted as he appeared to lose all symptoms of his fever.  On Friday evening, I attended the JSU winter graduation and then headed straight back home because Donald and Linda were watching Ben for us while Jet was at work.  Ben was such a good sport for them, and for the first time, really seemed to enjoy watching TV.  While I sat down on the floor to take a break from running around after Ben, he came up to me and sat on my lap for a few minutes to watch “Wheel of Fortune”.  He really enjoyed seeing people spin the wheel.  Something else new about Ben was that yesterday (Saturday), he finally climbed down stairs on his own, just in time for Christmas.  Ben climbed up about 7 or 8 steps on his own, then climbed back down them.  I was so proud of him.  It’s a festivus miracle!

Not much going on today.  I plan on watching the Packer’s play at noon.  We were thinking about going to Stone Mountain for the Christmas lights and shows afterwards, but with the weather the way that it is today, we decided to nix that plan.  Perhaps sometime this week before we leave for Milwaukee we will go.  It is supposed to be back into the 60’s for the next week.  I also picked up two golf fees + golf cart at Pine Hill golf course from the Southern Shopper, so within the next 30 days, Donald and I will be going golfing.  We’ll see if that happens this week or the week after we return back from Milwaukee.

80!

Another day, another day at 80 degrees.  That has been four days in a row now and there is no relief in sight until Friday when temperatures are expected to dip down to the 60’s for highs.  Sounds like the weather is still rough up in Milwaukee.  A snow day for UWM?  It must be pretty bad there because UWM used to pride itself on not shutting down on account of the weather.  Well, maybe they are getting soft.  Back in the day, I remember braving through a foot of snow just to get to class on time.  Man, I sound like an old-timer.

I just had my last final this morning and I have finished all of my grading for the semester, so I am officially off until January 10.  Unofficially I will continue doing work over the next several weeks to prepare for the spring semester and to continue with my research.  Oh well, there is no rest for the ambitious.

Only two weeks until Christmas!  I am not sure on the exact date that we will drive back to Milwaukee, but it will likely be on the 21st or 22nd.  Glad to hear that Christmas Eve is settled.  Kristin should have the oplatky right now as I had shipped off my order directly to her house this year.  I went with the Polish Art Center again this year with another box of 100 wafers for $16.  What a deal!  I also plan to bring up a jar of Alabama honey to go with it, although I don’t think it tastes any different than any other honey I had before.

Nothing much else going on right now.  Ben has been in a good mood ever since he had taken that fall to the face over the weekend.  Then again, he usually is in a pretty good mood.  I guess we are pretty lucky.  Every morning now when Ben wakes up, he likes to toss out Buddy (his teddy bear that he needs to clutch every night as he sleeps) on the floor.  He only does this when he has decided to wake up – go figure.  I just wonder what he is thinking; is he doing it to get our attention? just for fun? to give himself a friend to play with once he gets out of the crib? to save his friend from captivity? what gives?  I suppose I will never know what an 11 -month old baby thinks.

Lodge Christmas Party

I had the chance to speak with many of you in Milwaukee yesterday and it seems that winter has started a bit harsh this year.  I can’t really say that things are that bad here as yesterday and today we are having temperatures in the 80’s.  What a great feeling it is to walk around outside in shorts and a t-shirt in mid-December.  I reminded Dad of our offer to come visit us to get away from the weather in Milwaukee, to which he refused because the weather “isn’t so bad” when the holidays are approaching.  He did say that he might change his mind if I asked him in January.

One of Ben’s favorite things to play with at Donald and Linda’s house has been with two wooden drink coasters.  He likes banging them together it seems for the sound it makes, not just for the joy of smashing things together.  Well, on Friday night, Ben stumbled while walking around as he held a coaster in each hand.  Each coaster went flying in opposite directions and Ben ended up on the ground flat on his face.  I knew something was wrong because he was crying; lately, every time he takes a major fall or hit to the head he has just shook it off.  After I got Ben laughing again about a minute later, I noticed that there was blood dripping from his mouth.  After further inspection, it was his teeth that were bleeding, and bleeding pretty good they were!  It didn’t take too long to get the bleeding to stop and all appeared normal again.  When Jet found out what had happened (she was working at the time) she got nervous because she feared he was about to lose the only teeth he had.  After Jet had a chance to inspect Ben on his own, she confirmed that both of Ben’s teeth were still in good shape.

We are still trying to get Ben to learn to shoot his arms up on the word “touchdown!”, but to no avail as of yet.  Linda taught Ben “pattycake” the other day and he actually picked it up!  Linda actually taught Ben the “southern” version of pattycake because it was a version I had never heard before.  It starts out the same, “pattycake, pattycake, baker’s man,” but then goes “roll it up, roll it up, put it in the pan” while making a motion with your hands similar to a “false start” penalty in football.  Ben just loves copying Linda and laughs all the while.

The lodge Christmas party was last night and it went very well.  There was a lot of food to eat and amazingly there were nearly 30 dessert dishes to go along with the dinner.  I actually found it interesting that almost half of the desserts had pecans in them, including a bowl of jell-o!  Ben also got a chance to see Santa (a fake one that sang and the real one) and he just loved staring at him, which made the evening enjoyable for us.

We let Ben open a Christmas present of his today – a tree-house with a slide.  There were several play-sets to choose from, but this one was noted for its safety which was a major factor for us.  Ben seemed to like his new toy, but only wanted to climb it when we had another toy sitting at the top that he couldn’t reach from the ground.  In fact, when he did reach the top, it appeared that he didn’t enjoy being there too much.  This should be a toy that Ben will enjoy for many months to come, but I don’t think it is one ready for him just yet as you had to stand next to him every-time he was by the tree-house as he was more prone to climbing and falling backwards than moving up.  The reason we had Ben open his present this early is because Jet will be hosting a party for her friends from the breast-feeding support group next Friday and this would be something the kids could play on.  I am sure that an adult will have to be close by if we keep this out.

Thump!

Those are the noises that we have been hearing periodically over the past few weeks, which turned out to be the Anniston Army Depot destroying outdated ammunition.  Whatever they are destroying, some of the blasts rattle the windows a little at the house and can really get your attention.

So the weather has not been too good in Milwaukee.  Well, we were only in the 50’s again today.  However, temperatures are expected to be in the 70’s (if not 80’s) for the next 7 days.  Maybe we will have a chance to do something fun outside and enjoy the weather.  I suppose we should be obligated to given the weather many of you have been getting further north.

The big news for today is that Kohl’s has announced that they will be building a store up at the Oxford Exchange.  I could not wait to tell Jet about that news – she just loves Kohl’s as there is no good substitute down here.  I am not sure when it will be ready to open, but if we are around here, I am sure that we will be there for it.

Jet’s back has been bothering her for the past few days, which reminded me of the back problems she would have in Milwaukee after working at P.F. Chang’s.  Yesterday (Wednesday) she called around a few offices and scheduled an appointment for the evening.  After taking an x-ray, the doctor told Jet that her spine was not aligned correctly and recommended that she make three trips to get her back aligned, or cracked, a week.  Jet did say that her back felt better after they cracked it yesterday, so hopefully that will do the trick.

Jet took Ben to get a flu shot earlier today and she reported that it didn’t phase him at all.  Actually, Ben has been taking a lot of hits lately (falling down, hitting his head, etc.) without any fanfare or crying.  I wonder if he’s just tough or doesn’t know any better.  Ben still likes to climb up stairs and has been getting lots of practice at Donald and Linda’s house, however, he still does not know how to get back down.  I know he has got the skills to do it as Ben’s new favorite move is to slide backwards across the floor on his stomach – likely the same motion he needs to slide down a flight of stairs.  Oh, well, perhaps by Christmas.

Sportsman of the Year

What a great article this was to read.  I’m sure there are not many others more deserving of this honor in professional sports than Brett.

There is not much excitement happening down here right now.  Jet was planning on having a small get-together with her friends on Friday for lunch and on Saturday is the Lodge Christmas party.  They will be having ham, turkey, chicken, sweet potato casserole, dressing, cranberry sauce, and all of the other fixin’s that go with a Southern holiday meal.  There was talk of a coconut cream pie but banana pudding takes the cake down here for Southern desserts.  I’ll be sure to give a full report next week.

This is finals week and I have most of my grading done for the semester.  Although the spring semester doesn’t begin for another month, I still will be very busy working on research and finishing preparing for my classes next semester.  I spent the day “training” and being brought up-to-speed on the new JSU Website to be launched in June.  There appears to be a few significant problems, unfortunately, and I suspect that it will result in a new Website for the university that will not be of great quality.  I do hope that my inclinations are wrong, however.

What a change in weather we have had over the past few days.  Temperatures were in the 70’s for the good part of the past week and then yesterday it barely reaches the 50’s.  What gives?  I guess that I should not be complaining about the weather so much as it appears that Wisconsin is getting hit with another blast of snow today.  I suppose that it won’t be long now until we will be there to share the wonderful winter season with you all.