THE LOWE FAMILY NEWSLETTER: VOLUME 65 APRIL 2011

Dear Readers,

I recently celebrated another birthday with my metro area children: Bryn picked up the Pizza and Coryn actually baked a cake! Josh, Sean and Bryn were persuaded to tile my upstairs bathroom as a present. I was convinced that the three of them would easily complete the project in a weekend . Always one to pitch in (whether asked or not) I decided to make the job faster and easier for my boys by tearing out the old floor for them. I took up the quarter round strips and started pulling up the vinyl and saw that the sub floor was badly water damaged and would therefore have to be replaced. I tried to pry the vinyl and sub floor up in one go using a hammer and crow bar, laboring on my knees for hours but only managing to pull up about a third of the floor . I contemplated an easier method : a phone call with my do-it-herself-er friend Becky had me thinking that my electric circular saw set to a depth of half an inch might rip through the job in no time but when I E-mailed Josh my solution he nixed it . I decided to let my boys brawn do the rest of it. Fortunately there was a layer of plywood underneath that looked just marginally water stained – in the interests of getting the project done I decided I was fine with just covering it with some new backer board if the boys concurred.

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The first Saturday morning I was naively expecting my boys to put in a couple of hours before enjoying one of my delicious lunches - with expectations that the job would be virtually complete by suppertime. By noon my bowels were in an uproar , the boys had not arrived - my expectations tanked on realizing that they were not flush with my ' lets get it done' enthusiasm. I phoned to find out when they were planning on coming over to start the job – not until some time later in the afternoon they said, assuring me that the job was not going to take them any time. That claim was definitely true as hardly any time on any given day was given to this project! Which explains why it has taken three weekends for three boys to tile a relatively small bathroom!

Sean and Josh worked by themselves the first weekend as Bryn was out of town. The first afternoon the boys pulled out the rest of the floor,( berating me for taking so long to accomplish so little of course) removed the toilet and headed for Home Depot where they picked up some new backer board, thin-set and a toilet to replace the one that never recovered from Marc's usage during his Christmas stay. Marc flushed the tank so many times that he seemed to have taught the toilet to flush itself all day and night! He even broke the handle on the tank – Ethan tired of constantly having to reattach it while he was here - Marc of course just left it to some one else being totally inept at plumbing – not surprising I suppose since his own was never hooked up properly from the start!! I should probably send Marc a bill for the new toilet as a belated birthday present for me!Don't worry Marc – Josh picked it out so it was very economically priced!

Sunday Sean bought over a tile saw and some other stuff needed for the job but had to leave shortly after lunch as he had to drive to Omaha for a business trip that afternoon. That left Josh to put the sub-floor down.

This past weekend Bryn and Josh arrived after work on Friday and in just a couple of hours tiled the entire bathroom. I didn't even complain when they dragged my old trash compactor out of the garage and set it up in front of my porch with the tile saw perched on top! I was so happy that progress was being made that I didn't care if the sight offended my neighbors who had all been manicuring their yards in preparation for the Easter holiday !I was thrilled to see my new tile laid with the little spacers just waiting to be grouted. Josh and Bryn explained that that wouldn't be happening until after our Easter Sunday lunch as the thin-set needed time to set up. I'm sure I've seen them lay tile and grout it all in one day on HGTV! This weekend I am hoping that the boys will seal the grout, clean the tiles and put the shoe molding back down. Then I will be so grateful to my boys!

Josh has definitely assumed the most responsibility for the project as both his brothers have been traveling. Bryn went to New York and Boston to visit friends, He was able to spend some time with our Kay and his AHS class mate Alicia Sanchez in Boston. By strange coincidence the girls are almost neighbors!

Sean was in Orlando for a few days last week helping Leslee and Craig move into their new home which I am very anxious to see of course. It's in a lakeside community so should be very picturesque – just the sort of scenery I appreciate. If your dad was able to travel I'd probably move us in for the winter! Sean is flying back to Orlando again this weekend for a few days on a business trip. He has really lucked out with Cerner as they also sent him out to LA earlier this month so that he was able to spend several days with Marc. Now he just needs a trip to the East coast and Indy and he'll have the whole family visited courtesy of Cerner!

Ming-Lee came for an overnight visit at the beginning of the month, unfortunately he missed Sean who was in LA at the time. As an early birthday present he cooked a couple of meals for the family giving me a welcome break from kitchen duty. He arrived with a beautiful bunch of lilies which lasted for a couple of weeks and a gift card which I used to buy some gardening supplies. Thanks to Lori too! We took advantage of a sunny day to visit one of my favorite places, the Arboretum. My muscles appreciated Ming's taking over pushing your dad's wheelchair up and down the hilly paths.

Coryn has been playing nursemaid to Buster all month. Unfortunately one of his hind leg’s knees detached from it's socket and required the expensive services of an orthopedic vet to insert a steel pin to hold it in place. Buster was sent home with a plastic cone encircling his head to prevent him from chewing his stitches ,a shaved and stitched back leg and a shaved spot on his back where they apparently gave him an epidural! I think our bill for Marc's birth was about the same amount as Buster's surgery! Coryn was given strict instructions: Buster was to be confined to a crate for several weeks and to be kept on a very short leash when taken outside for potty breaks. Of course she broke the rules almost immediately by letting him sleep in his doggy bed by hers at night which went well for a couple of weeks until he decided to jump up on the bed. Fortunately the pin held! The vet recently removed his plastic head cone which he endured until the stitches were removed. Coryn is going to have to keep his activity to a minimum for a few more weeks which is hard with a robust dog like Buster. He’s already slipped out the doggie door and down a couple of forbidden steps to chase Ollie around the back yard! I keep warning Coryn that she is going to be paying for another surgery soon and putting herself and Buster through all the trauma of a long recovery period if she doesn't keep that dog confined. Of course she pays no attention to me.

Ming-Jon is traveling back from London as I type this, he was visiting his long time friends Sheldon and Lori while he had the chance. Apparently they are moving back here later this year after a couple of years there. Too bad he missed the Royal Wedding. I am certain that America is far more excited about the event than the Britons – most of whom are probably bemoaning how much of their taxes are being used to pay for it all. I will certainly not be getting up in the middle of the night to watch it live. I am sure it will be replayed on TV all day long so I shall enjoy seeing her dress and all the pageantry which we Brits do so well at my usual breakfast in front of the TV time.

Your dad has had numerous doctor's appointments and tests and none of them have shown any reason for his recent health problems. His seizures have been so debilitating that one of his neurologists has put him on another medication. Unfortunately to date they have continued unabated and he is continuing to suffer many falls, He gave himself a black eye somehow last week but of course doesn't remember how. I am becoming very concerned about the stairs and am considering using a baby gate. Unfortunately his newest neurologist is on maternity leave and won't be back until August. She is encouraging us to give the video monitoring another chance but so far KUMed has not got it organized. The University of Iowa was much better to work with, possibly because your dad had some medical contacts there.

Just a few evenings ago I was startled by the sight of a turkey strutting past my downstairs family room window – enough of a distraction from American Idol to send me scurrying for my camera – which was pointless as Bryn had 'borrowed' the battery for his trip – apparently his wasn't charging. Fortunately I remembered my cell phone had a camera but by the time I grabbed it and got back downstairs the neighbors dog had came charging out of her doggy door and literally sent the turkey flying over my fence in fright. I was furious to have missed the shot. I never expected to see such a bird in my big city yard. I hope he visits again instead of the usual turkeys that flock to my home pecking away at my culinary skills.

Today is glorious, the sun is seducing me outside to toil in my garden where my roses are coming into bloom, butterflies are flitting and a bumble bee is buzzing in circles over my already blooming dianthus. I am planning on digging up some plants from Coryn's yard,and transplanting them into mine this weekend and I'm also looking forward to a visit to a local nursery or two as I always seem to have gaps in my borders (just like the USA) that need to be filled. I hope that while I'm pulling weeds, digging holes and hauling soil around my back yard that I will hear the drone of my worker bee sons up in the bathroom installing this queen's throne! I can promise something as sweet as honey as a treat for a job well done and finally complete!

From my hive of activity, with love, your honey of a mother.