THE LOWE FAMILY NEWSLETTER VOLUME 73 JANUARY 2012
Dear Children, Family, and Friends,
HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!! Christmas was a smaller gathering than usual this year but once again everyone enjoyed badgering me. Two huge boxes were under the tree from all our children. In lieu of Christmas wrapping paper (which due to the gigantic size of the boxes would have been over my frugal sons Christmas wrapping paper budget) Josh had drawn a cat on one of the boxes. I immediately assumed that this was a clue to the contents of the box. Visions of an huge Asian paw waving cat or a gigantic blowup kitty in a Santa hat for the front yard danced in my head. My suspicions grew stronger when Josh asked me if I had a Santa hat. I hopefully asked if he was planning on wearing it to pass out all the Christmas presents but no – he wanted it to sit on top of the box over the cat's ears! Since there were two huge boxes I asked if they contained similar items but couldn't get clarification on that point. Perhaps I was going to have two horrendous Christmas gifts! The only thing that gave me any hope was my girls and Lori. I didn't think that they would contribute to something tacky. Thankfully my apprehension was unwarranted.
I was delighted to find a stainless steel, farm style kitchen sink -like the one I so coveted in the boy's condo. What an upgrade over my old double porcelain sink – I didn't dare ask when I might actually see it installed in my kitchen as I know any momentum my boys may have going into a home improvement project will quickly dissipate if they feel that I am nagging them about it. Amazingly enough it only sat on my basement floor for a week before the boys, especially my Josh, mustered the energy to install it. Your dad and I just love the way it looks and apart from being large enough to soak the largest skillets in, it is also the perfect size for a baby bath. When I mentioned this to Coryn over the phone she hung up on me!
The other box contained a new big flat screen TV for the upstairs family room. It looked too big to me to fit into our built in cabinet but the boys had measured well as it was a perfect fit. Now they can all enjoy our Sunday football on the big screen upstairs while I stay downstairs watching on our bigger flat screen TV in solitary as the boys get annoyed by my endless commentary on the game. Bryn took the old TV for his bedroom.
Marc was our only house guest this Christmas – as soon as he left Josh checked the new toilet out that he had installed and reported that Marc had managed to do damage yet again, fortunately nothing my Josh couldn't fix. I may hand Marc a bucket on his next visit. As usual Marc had one of his medical emergencies, raving hypochondriac that he is, this time it was an itchy rash due to dry skin. Despite providing him with numerous lotions and potions he declared that the only thing that bought him any relieve was coating himself in my expensive virgin olive oil! If I thought he might have been the least tasty I would have sizzled him in a skillet to get my money's worth. Just before he left he developed a mouth ulcer – I prescribed straight hydrogen peroxide but he was too chicken and kept swishing his mouth out with salt water. If by some miracle Marc would ever find a girl crazy enough to have a family with him he'd probably rush their baby to the ER every time it cried imagining death was imminent. I remember when he used to make his own appointments with Frank Richmond when he was a kid because he didn't think his own dad had any medical skills. He might have been right about that when it came to family medicine.
Marc did manage to stop complaining long enough one day for us to have lunch with Coryn at her house. Unfortunately the excitement of the visit and Coryn's lunch proved to be too much for Norm who succumbed to a seizure but thankfully he rallied once we got him into Coryn's guest room for a nap. Marc was very solicitous and helpful – for once.
New Year's Eve was celebrated with Becky, Fred and their baby girl Elena. I practically demanded to baby sit her so that Becky and Fred could go out with Coryn and Jeremy and other friends for the evening. Much to my surprise they returned shortly before midnight to watch the ball drop on Times Square with me. None of my children wanted to ring in the New Year with mom. Even Josh didn't show up this year. Good thing I had Elena for company as Norm slept through most of the evening!
December was a welcome break from all our medical appointments. January ushered in several trips to KUMed, the Cancer Center and our family doctor. The consensus seems to be that your dad is not doing too well and he was asked if he wanted to continue with his cancer therapy. He has decided to do so at this time as he is very motivated to be a part of Coryn and Jeremy's wedding. Our family doctor also took him off his cholesterol medications saying that at this point it was pointless to worry about it and that the medication was just adding to the strains on his liver. However when your dad's lab results came back with high numbers, despite the medication, he did suggest that he might want to cut down on carbohydrates. Of course your dad is going to continue to gorge himself on my home cooking as long as his appetite continues to be his only healthy attribute.
Since Sean's 24th birthday fell on the same day as the Chinese New Year I decided to combine the two events and thank goodness I wasn't required to make a dragon cake to celebrate this auspicious “ Year of the Dragon”. Norm and I are both Dragons and Sean is our only baby Dragon which makes it very special every twelve years. The weekend before this festive occasion Josh and I shopped at one of our local Asian markets for groceries for the Chinese dinner I planned to serve. I also picked up some bitter melons, Chinese barbecued pork and sesame buns for your dad. I think I steamed bitter melon three days in a row for him, he loves it so much! We all enjoyed the red bean paste buns fresh from the bakery. While there I picked up some place mats and a Chinese style hat for Sean. I thought he could add it to his collection of Asian art that adorns his bedroom wall or use it as a lamp shade. He was actually quite taken with it and immediately plopped it on his head.
Once home from this trip Sean took me to Kohls with him as they were having a big sale. I helped him rack up some points on his Kohls card by finding a few new tops. We then went to Costco which often seems like an informal cocktail party with lines of people sampling things on sticks and bite size portions of whatever they are trying to get their customers to buy. I enjoyed watching the sparrows fly down from the rafters to peck at the crumbs totally unconcerned by the crowds of cart pushing, jaw smacking shoppers. I truly believe that half their customers probably consume enough free food samples to feel as full as if they had eaten at a restaurant.
Later that week Coryn stopped by after work to see if I could keep her company on a trip to the Nebraska Furniture Mart where she needed to pick up a piece of flooring. I was a bit nervous about leaving your dad but we fed him and made him promise to sit in front of the TV while we were gone. At the furniture store warehouse we picked up a huge length of laminate flooring that barely fit into the car. I had to have it wedged in my seat with me as it reached from the back window to the front. We decided to eat at the nearby Legend's shopping center. I let Coryn pick the venue – it took the hostess for ever to seat us as she stared at her seating chart. Strange because the place was pretty empty. No sooner were we seated than a staff meeting was underway in the aisle next to our booth! I congratulated Coryn on her choice as I smirked and sipped my coffee hoping the meeting would soon adjourn so that we might get our food.
Unfortunately Coryn and Jeremy are not having much luck in the Real Estate market. No one has even looked at Coryn's house since it was listed a few weeks ago, so their realtor, Fred, held an open house for other realtor's this week which gave me another chance to baby sit Elena as Becky has returned to work and Fred was staying home with Elena for the week. Hopefully the open house will generate some interest. Jeremy has managed to rent his condo but has not been able to find a buyer.
A minor disaster befell the wedding plans when the invitations arrived with a mis- spelling which wasn't caught in the proofs. Fortunately the printers have been very generous in working this out with Coryn and Jeremy. The most stressful detail is going to be the weather. Hope and pray for a dry, warm and sunny May 5th so that the ceremony can be held on the Country Club Lawn. I almost wish we would have some winter like weather for a few weeks as it almost seems that Spring has sprung too early. We have had had more days in the 50's than the 30's these last few months it seems. I was able to have your dad sit on the porch in his rocking chair today basking in the sun! We are still waiting to use our snow shovel! Many of my bulbs are pushing through the ground.
Kay was able to visit with Leslee over the Christmas break as she flew down to visit a friend in Miami and drove up to Orlando to see her aunt. Craig was away working unfortunately. Ming Jon is keeping very busy with his new job and is trying out his acting skills again. Jeremy will be visiting Ming and Lori as he is going to the Super Bowl with his cousin. The game will be played in Indy this year. Bryn may go to hang out with Ming and family if he can get time off work.
Delilah seems to be keeping pace with your dad health-wise. She has become so demanding, constantly whining at me to sit down so she can sleep in my lap and knead me with her claws. She now demands canned gourmet cat food or whatever I'm feeding your dad – no children I'm not splitting a can of Friskies between them – though I'm sure your dad would eat it with relish! She seems to be consuming huge amounts of water despite her medication. I am using the same eye drops on the two of them as they both seem to have itchy eyes. My two geriatric patients can hardly move anymore but they keep me running after them.
I am hoping for a very quiet weekend, I will definitely not be cooking one of my usual family dinners as I need to save up my culinary skills for the following Super Bowl weekend when I shall throw a party to which you are all invited. I guarantee not to fumble in the kitchen, not to expect you to huddle with me but I will run with my chicken wings to a touchdown feast in front of my big screen TV. Hope you won't take a pass on your mom's invitation - you won't if you want to score big! Don't be left on the sidelines!
Love from your MVP of a mother.
