Last post of 2009
Well well, long time no blog. Much has happened since my last entry.
Halloween was a fun day, both sets of parents came over to our house and cooked up a fabulous feast of lamb chops, beef steaks, salad, and greeted trick o' treaters all night. As this is our first year of getting to celebrate the holidays in our new house, we have had a lot of fun getting this geared up and in place. I wish we had taken a photo of what our front entry looked like...Chris put up a fancy multi-colored light that is sound sensitive, so every noise would trigger movement. He also got a mister and we carved pumpkins. Most of the kids were pretty cute and polite although we did have one group of kids who thought they could take as much as they wanted.
November seemed uneventful to me until (I mean, besides work) Thanksgiving. We met up with the Lees at the Poulsbo house. Chris and I decided to go a couple days early to help get things set up. The house was filthy! We spent a few hours cleaning the kitchen, the bathrooms, all of the sheets and towels. Why? Because the toilets were growing white molds and smelled horrible. There were mouse droppings all over the beds. If the new washer and dryer had not been installed, we would have had to go to a hotel room. As it was we stayed up until 230am waiting for our bedsheets to dry in order for us to go to sleep. The dinner itself on Thanksgiving day was tremendously delicious as we had a heritage turkey and all of the trimmings. The banana cream pies I made were a hit; I think this was the first holiday in a while that I did NOT make lemon squares! The day after Thanksgiving my parents came over the day, it was then that they told me that Spot (their cat of almost 15 years) had to be put down the previous night.
Yes -- Spot, my favorite orange kitty of all time who used to play fetch and carry a plastic toy dinosaur in its mouth had to be rushed to the emergency veterinarian on Thanksgiving night and there it was decided to put him down. He had been in poor health and was bleeding again. My brother tried to get a hold of me, but the Poulsbo house is so far off the beaten path there is no cell phone reception. At first I was just really upset that I wasn't able to be there with my family and the cat. What good would I have been though - being there would not have made the situation better. In the end it was better that I was not there. My Dad built Spot a casket and they buried him in the yard. He was really a good cat and although I have my own kitty now, I don't think there will ever be a cat just like Spot. I think cats must read minds - as I was typing this, Humboldt just starting staring at me with "big sad look at me because I am cute" kitty eyes.
To make Thanksgiving weekend even MORE memorable, I got sick! I got so sick that I lost my voice. It was the most unawesome sickness I have had in a while. I even called in sick to work. Bleah.
Running the background this whole time is the fact that I know my grandfather's health was not well. The second week of December he was admitted to the hospital and after tests were done, it was determined that he had lung cancer and not long to live. Just 3 days after he was transferred to Keiro (nursing home facility), he passed away on Saturday, December 12, 2009. Double bleah. The entire week following his death of course was having family in town, grieving, and getting ready for the burial. He was buried on Thursday, December 17, 2009. Most of the family was able to attend. The police escort took us the extremely long way from Renton to Seattle via I-5, 509, and eventually 99.
I now no longer have any blood-related grandparents. I miss my grandfather, he was 96 years old. If he and his father had not come to America, then I may very well not have the life I have today.
One positive thing that came from the burial day, we found a local-based butcher in Renton. After the day's activities we went to the shop and purchased some fine meats for dinner to end the day on a happy note. Joe came over and we ended up playing Super Mario Brothers on Wii.
So as you can tell from this entry, a lot has happened. Christmas was kind of the saving grace of positive upswing for 2009. We had an enjoyable Christmas with my Dad's relatives at my parents house. I made 2 trays of lemon squares and a red velvet cake. It was a weird Christmas though, no cat, no grandfather, not even snow or some other weather tragedy. Still I feel good and am "recovering" from Christmas.
Here's to 2009. Really a lot has happened though if you think about it. We accomplished a lot! We traveled to Alabama, bought a house, moved, took a vacation to Canada, adopted a cat, celebrated our first wedding anniversary, celebrated life and death. I am looking forward to 2010. Happy New Year! Gong Hay Fat Choy!
Halloween was a fun day, both sets of parents came over to our house and cooked up a fabulous feast of lamb chops, beef steaks, salad, and greeted trick o' treaters all night. As this is our first year of getting to celebrate the holidays in our new house, we have had a lot of fun getting this geared up and in place. I wish we had taken a photo of what our front entry looked like...Chris put up a fancy multi-colored light that is sound sensitive, so every noise would trigger movement. He also got a mister and we carved pumpkins. Most of the kids were pretty cute and polite although we did have one group of kids who thought they could take as much as they wanted.
November seemed uneventful to me until (I mean, besides work) Thanksgiving. We met up with the Lees at the Poulsbo house. Chris and I decided to go a couple days early to help get things set up. The house was filthy! We spent a few hours cleaning the kitchen, the bathrooms, all of the sheets and towels. Why? Because the toilets were growing white molds and smelled horrible. There were mouse droppings all over the beds. If the new washer and dryer had not been installed, we would have had to go to a hotel room. As it was we stayed up until 230am waiting for our bedsheets to dry in order for us to go to sleep. The dinner itself on Thanksgiving day was tremendously delicious as we had a heritage turkey and all of the trimmings. The banana cream pies I made were a hit; I think this was the first holiday in a while that I did NOT make lemon squares! The day after Thanksgiving my parents came over the day, it was then that they told me that Spot (their cat of almost 15 years) had to be put down the previous night.
Yes -- Spot, my favorite orange kitty of all time who used to play fetch and carry a plastic toy dinosaur in its mouth had to be rushed to the emergency veterinarian on Thanksgiving night and there it was decided to put him down. He had been in poor health and was bleeding again. My brother tried to get a hold of me, but the Poulsbo house is so far off the beaten path there is no cell phone reception. At first I was just really upset that I wasn't able to be there with my family and the cat. What good would I have been though - being there would not have made the situation better. In the end it was better that I was not there. My Dad built Spot a casket and they buried him in the yard. He was really a good cat and although I have my own kitty now, I don't think there will ever be a cat just like Spot. I think cats must read minds - as I was typing this, Humboldt just starting staring at me with "big sad look at me because I am cute" kitty eyes.
To make Thanksgiving weekend even MORE memorable, I got sick! I got so sick that I lost my voice. It was the most unawesome sickness I have had in a while. I even called in sick to work. Bleah.
Running the background this whole time is the fact that I know my grandfather's health was not well. The second week of December he was admitted to the hospital and after tests were done, it was determined that he had lung cancer and not long to live. Just 3 days after he was transferred to Keiro (nursing home facility), he passed away on Saturday, December 12, 2009. Double bleah. The entire week following his death of course was having family in town, grieving, and getting ready for the burial. He was buried on Thursday, December 17, 2009. Most of the family was able to attend. The police escort took us the extremely long way from Renton to Seattle via I-5, 509, and eventually 99.
I now no longer have any blood-related grandparents. I miss my grandfather, he was 96 years old. If he and his father had not come to America, then I may very well not have the life I have today.
One positive thing that came from the burial day, we found a local-based butcher in Renton. After the day's activities we went to the shop and purchased some fine meats for dinner to end the day on a happy note. Joe came over and we ended up playing Super Mario Brothers on Wii.
So as you can tell from this entry, a lot has happened. Christmas was kind of the saving grace of positive upswing for 2009. We had an enjoyable Christmas with my Dad's relatives at my parents house. I made 2 trays of lemon squares and a red velvet cake. It was a weird Christmas though, no cat, no grandfather, not even snow or some other weather tragedy. Still I feel good and am "recovering" from Christmas.
Here's to 2009. Really a lot has happened though if you think about it. We accomplished a lot! We traveled to Alabama, bought a house, moved, took a vacation to Canada, adopted a cat, celebrated our first wedding anniversary, celebrated life and death. I am looking forward to 2010. Happy New Year! Gong Hay Fat Choy!
posted by Jonell at
8:01 PM
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