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Category Archives: Tom

Kelly’s here! Kelly’s here!

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We haven’t seen each other in person in about eight years, so when she was going to be in Chicago for a work convention, she just added on a few extra days to come stay here!

Unfortunately our planning failed a bit and she couldn’t get an Uber out of the city so at 4:30 we had to drive and pick her up in downtown Chicago!

We drove straight back to our favorite restaurant, Primo, for dinner with Anna and David. We had a great time…and we introduced Kelly to the deer.

Then it was back to our house for drinks and conversation! And a new friendship was forged tonight—now we just need to get Kelly to move here.

P.S. I think we look pretty good — it was a hot and crappy day and our makeup still looks spot on!

Olive came to baseball!

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Katie desperately wanted to bring Olive to the baseball game…so we let her.

And then look who ended up being Olive’s bed for most of the game?

And I’m so bummed—look what I noticed!! Olive is losing her olive on her paw.

Remember this is what it used to look like:

And then since she was with us, we had to find an outdoor patio to eat lunch after baseball… She was such a good girl!

Baseball coaches BBQ

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Our welcoming committee (Katie) was dressed and out waiting a good 15 minutes before guests were supposed to arrive!

I apparently don’t know how to make food for less than 30 people.

It was a BBQ so Tom did pulled pork (which requires cole slaw since we lived in North Carolina for eight years), baked beans, and cornbread. Then we added three flavors of smoked cream cheese with three types of crackers, pea and peanut salad, peanuts, cashews, fresh fruit and chips for the kiddos, and someone brought the veggie tray (and desserts which aren’t in the photo).

Introducing…Olive!

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I loved Maggie fiercely and was devastated when we had to put her to sleep earlier this year. I knew we’d get another Boston Terrier eventually, but I wasn’t ready quite so soon (just over two months).

Emotionally I was okay but I was really enjoying having NOTHING to take care of (kids don’t really count as they mostly take care of themselves). Tom wasn’t thinking about that—he just wanted a puppy. But guess who’s going to be home with her ALL DAY EVERY DAY?! (You know if I would have told Tom I was getting him a new daily job he would have said oh hell no, right?!)

That said, I did kind of miss having SOMETHING around the house. And she IS super cute…I’ll give her that. This is the first photo we got of her:

Owen holding Olive’s sister. We actually had to pick from between the two. We picked Olive.
Look at that cute face!
Look at his smile!
Katie’s turn!

We stopped in Normal on the way back and had dinner with Marie and Gabi!

Meeting Anna.

Slowly but surely!

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Tom started the install of my pull out drawers for the Tupperware cabinet on March 20. Unfortunately he wasn’t happy with how one drawer was sliding so said he’d fix it—so I left all the contents on the island. Fast forward a week and he tells me it’s fine and I can put everything away. Men!

And somehow we’re missing the bottoms to ALL of these since the kids last fixed the cabinet. Imagine that. Noone has any idea. So either they’re lying about what they did the last time or they’ve managed to lose 11 bottoms in two weeks.

Amazing USMC Pysanky

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(This was actually on March 10.)

I made an ostrich egg for my son-in-law. He retired from the United States Marine Corps last year. I had so many issues with this project and want to thank one of my egg peeps, Mark Malachowski, for all his help! We were able to travel this weekend so I could gift him with it. It was, by far, the most challenging Pysanky I’ve ever done.

Congratulations Tom!

And some photos of the whole process!

Middle school band competition!

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Typically this would be in person but Zoom is still the way of life for a lot of events. So we were all on the stage in the Cafe watching while the kids played in front of the judges on a huge screen!

Grandma and grandpa and the Chang-Yens were able to be there so Owen was excited about that!

Stealing a friend’s photo of the entire band because I wasn’t patient enough to wait for everyone to get out of my way.

Puppy talk bartering from both sides.

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So tonight we were talking about puppies and Tom and Anna were giddy about it. I was still solidly in the no camp.

David and Tom ran to pick up the boys from the teen center. I told Anna she needs to cool it with Tom and the puppy talk because it’s not happening and she needs to convince him otherwise. She laughs and tells me we’re gonna have a problem because Tom asked her to help try and convince me.

Needless to say I pulled rank on that one.  😀 

Goodbye sweet girl, we love you.

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We’re never ready. And it is unbelievable. The day we bring them home the first time… THIS day feels forever away. Until one day, it’s a day away. It seems impossible. —from my dear friend Kelly

Cuddling with the boys…

I’m so glad we opted to do this at home with Lap of Love Veterinary Hospice. Maggie deserved to be in her own home surrounded by her favorite people being showered with all our love and kisses. It was the kids’ first in-person experience with pet death and it was so very hard but, we thought, necessary.

The vet, Dr. Kylie, was amazing. She was loving and gentle and patient and kind. She gave us privacy to say our goodbyes and made a paw print for us.

Goodbye, sweet girl. We love you more than you could ever know.

We wrapped her and sent her off in one of her blankets.

Tom chose to carry her to the vet’s car.

And then we all cried some more and tried to parse that Maggie was really gone…the house just seemed so quiet and empty.

It’s honestly a blur (writing this 9 days after the fact). I don’t remember what we all did. But I do know that Owen had to get ready to get braces later in the day — I had asked if he wanted to reschedule and he said no.

Maggie’s final night.

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In one of her (and my) favorite spots.

And Tom saying a final goodnight to his girl. I cannot look at these pics without crying.

Katie and I decided to sleep downstairs so we could be with Maggie and take care of her. I didn’t want her to try and jump off our bed during the night and I knew I’d have to help her go outside.

We were up every hour because she wanted to drink. Every other hour she needed/wanted to go outside so I walked her down the steps.

This is where she slept — on me — most of the night. Completely unusual. It’s like she knew something was different.

4:07am
4:42am

Household sickness update!

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I had 11 somewhat okay hours of sleep…but I didn’t feel great in the morning—no vomiting or anything else, just all over achy and a big headache). I spent most of the day on the couch resting.

Tom now feels crappy, too (he said had been up since 3) so he went in and got his computer this morning (before I got up) and worked from home. He had gastrointestinal issues, nausea, chills…all the good stuff.

Owen had to stay home today regardless but he feels mostly okay.

Katie is perfectly fine.

Aaaand now new flooring.

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When you decide the laundry room floor needs to be replaced before the new machines arrive in three days…

Tom did this today. He’s awesome. (Oh, and he has time to do this because he hasn’t actually had a full day of work yet even though Monday was his first day!)

But check this out. This is what he found when he removed the vent cover! If you look closely you can see something growing in the second pic. Good lord—what on earth happened in the laundry room?!

Tom’s first day of work!

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I told him Anna wanted a picture of him with his lunchbox so he did this. (He also grabbed Owen’s sword but you can’t see it very well.)

He had a zoom call first thing then didn’t have to go in until 2…and then was home by 4! He was a little frustrated (people are teleworking so no one he needs to talk to to get started is there!) but I told him to just enjoy it!

His office (top right window):

The Rat Pack is back!

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We got free tickets to see The Rat Pack is Back in Milwaukee (courtesy of VetTix) so it was date night! Of course we had dinner first (at Doc’s Smokehouse)…

And then off to the Pabst Theater where we actually had really good seats this time —but unfortunately we didn’t love it so we left at intermission. Oh well. They can’t all be winners.