Saturday, January 26

News Update

The week started off frigidly cold here on the shore of Lake Superior, but we're back near freezing with above zero and rain in the forecast.

I've had quite a week. I started off on Sunday, trying to take Kristian skating, but he was both sore from his ankle injury and tired, so I went on my own. That went okay, but I found my reconstructed ankle wasn't quite the same size and shape that my skate remembered so I had to quit after about fifteen minutes. On Monday evening, as I trotted from the parking lot to dance class, I hit a bad patch, turned my suspect ankle and went down in a heap. My ankle puffed up like it had a tennis ball attached and we spent the dance class in emergency! The x-rays were inconclusive, but the doctor feels the injury in limited to ligament damage and put me back in an air-cast. I'll get another check with my bone doctor later when the swelling dissipates.

Tuesday through Thursday saw me travelling to Armstrong (one of my schools) where I hobbled around and did report card training. The drywalling is on the back burner for a bit until I'm able to put more weight on my left foot.

Kristian finally got into see the eye specialist on Wednesday. It was none too soon; he has a serious bacterial eye infection. It has already resulted in some ulceration of the cornea, but not within the visual range. He's on antibiotics and steroids and really enjoys the cleansing operations with a warm potato twice a day as well as the drops and other medications. Poor little guy! Erin got new glasses this week, so it was a spectacular week for that part of the family!

Wendy continues with her usual babysitting and work around home. She is also enjoy playing Scrabble on line in the Scrabulous application of Facebook.

And that's about it for this week.

Saturday, January 19

News Update

Our week comes to a frigid end here on the shore of Lake Superior. Temperatures have plummeted to -30 this weekend, and we're not enjoying it one bit!

I start off the week with office support and training in Adobe Connect. That didn't go so well, as the lady operating the meeting had the misfortune of having Vista on her laptop, and it doesn't want to play nice with Adobe Connect. Finally, I had to let her run the meeting from my laptop, while I tried to participate from hers! On Wednesday and Thursday I visited two of my schools, providing further training in Maplewood (our student management system) and in Adobe Connect. I also spent more time drywalling in the basement. I'm ready to start with tape and mud in that room.

We introduced Kristian to skates this week, and he's crazy about them! He clunks around in them all over the house! I got him a skating helmet, and he wants to wear that all day long as well. We hope to take him skating tomorrow, but he seems to have twisted his ankle jumping off the coffee table, so he's currently listed as day-to-day, a doubtful starter!

Wendy and Erin have kept busy with their respective work. And that's about it for this week.

Saturday, January 12

News Update

Another weeks rolls by on the shore of Lake Superior. It started out with rain, and the streets cleaned off nicely, but now we've received more snow and the slushy driving conditions have returned.

On Monday, Wendy, Kristian and I drove down to the border to get my Christmas gift—a motorized golf bag carrier. Now, I can't wait for golf season to try it out. I enjoy walking, but carrying the bag—especially picking it up and putting it down—causes pain in my right shoulder. Then in the evening we enjoyed Wendy's Christmas present—our first ballroom dance lesson. That went better than I expected—we were introduced to Foxtrot, Tango and Cha Cha. Lessons are supposed to continue for nine weeks, but we plan to skip the final two as we head south for a vacation trip.

A return visit to my oncologist on Tuesday provided the uncomfortable confirmation that my PSA is still elevated. Dr. Prowse still feels this is caused by chronic infection of the prostate, so he has prescribed another course of antibiotics to be followed by another PSA test, and of course, more DRE's.

Work continued through the week, and some progress was made. The next three weeks I will be back on the road for visits to a few schools.

Wendy has been busy all week with extra babysitting. Two days she took over our friends' daycare and had about a dozen kids to deal with, so she was tired! She has also been helping me with renovations downstairs. This week we picked up the drywall and plywood and I have begun drywalling the new closets—I hate drywalling closets, so much fiddling around. The progress is slow.

Friday evening we enjoyed a special Italian restaurant outing with Travis & Sylvia, Erin & Kristian, so that was a treat.

And that's about it for this week.

Saturday, January 5

News Update

Well, here we are, almost a week into the new year on the shore of Lake Superior.

It's been quite a week with Eric, Erica and the boys here. A number of us have been ill, mostly with the famous 'flu-like symptoms' that imply we're spending too much time on the porcelain throne, and often cannot decide whether to sit or kneel! Eric was diagnosed with some kind of infection, so he's on antibiotics, but the rest of the laid-up crew seem to be otherwise attacked! Anyway, all seem to be on the mend, and the crew headed back to Kenora today. Once again, we are feeling well-blessed and thankful for their visit and other gifts they brought with them. I am now anticipating going to the Brier in Winnipeg in March. Thanks for the tickets!

The weather has continued mild, so we're back into melting once again. Kristian and friends are back to enjoying the trampoline in the back yard. I've had a bit of work this week, but the schools reopen Monday, so that will be official time for back to work. We try not to schedule too much travel during the winter, but I am planning three trips this month. I have some training and reporting to do.

And that's about it for this week.