It's about time...

After four years of owning this car, it's finally time:

That's right, I finally have my license plate mounted on the back of the car instead of displayed in the back window. My friend John took pity on my and figured out what was needed to get it done. He also fixed the driver's door that didn't like to open unless you kneed it just under the lock. It's good to have friends.

The Call

At 6:30 this morning, my mom called and told me that Uncle Bob passed away. The hospital had called in the very early hours of the morning and said he wasn't doing well and they should come up. Several of them were able to be in the room with him when he passed. I know it is better for him because he isn't in anymore pain, but we are all going to miss him.


(This picture was taken a few years ago when I was in Reno visiting.)

Nothing Interesting?

So last week I was lamenting the fact that I didn't have anything interesting to post about. All I've done lately is work, which isn't super post-worthy and there aren't pictures to go with it.

Unfortunately, I have something to post about now. On Saturday, my mom called me and told me that my uncle Bob was admitted to the hospital. His blood pressure was low, his heart rate was high and they thought he had internal bleeding. So she and my sisters headed out on Monday to go out there to visit him. They were able to visit him in the ICU and while they said he didn't look good, he was able to respond and talk a little to them. Unfortunately, also on Monday, my mom's brother Hugh J was also admitted to the hospital with an aneurysm. As of right now he is out of surgery, but not out of danger.

I have been worrying and stressing over what I should do. I can't really afford to take time off right now, but on the other hand I would really like to see both my uncles. So, after making myself sick, not being able to sleep for stressing and giving mysef a SPECTACULAR headache, I talked to my mom and decided I should go ahead and go out there this weekend. I fly out late Friday night and come home Monday.

But I think I will be more careful next time I wish for something interesting to blog about.

Bean Boozled

So you may have noticed from the photo in my previous post that the Easter bunny brought me a box of "Bean Boozled" Jelly Bellies. They are Jelly Bellies with weird and gross flavors BUT they also look identical to some of the actual tasty flavors. Ever since he saw them, Alek has been dying to try them out. For some bizarre reason, he was especially excited about the pencil shaving, baby wipes and skunk spray flavors. Well tonight I decided we needed to break them out and give 'em a whirl.

Juju gets ready to try either Toothpaste or Berry Blue, Alek has either Black Licorice or Skunk Spray and Nik has either Moldy Cheese or Caramel Corn:


Clearly Alek got Skunk Spray... Nik got Caramel Corn, but it turns out he's not a fan of that either:


This time they decided to try the same one. Who got Juicy Pear and who got Booger?


Ewww... turns out they were both Booger!


So here are the final ratings according to Nik and Alek (who were the only ones brave enough to try them all.)
One being the absolute nastiest and ten being the most palatable:
10 - Toothpaste
09 - Black Pepper
08 - Pencil Shavings
07 - Baby Wipes
06 - Ear Wax
05 - Rotten Egg
04 - Moldy Cheese
03 - Booger
02 - Skunk Spray
and the nastiest Jelly Belly flavor ever to be conceived....
01 - Vomit

Happy Easter!

Today was an absolutely beautiful day in Colorado. The Easter bunny found me and he brought me lots of tempting treats. There were the traditional Peeps and chocolate bunny and also some yummy Ghirardelli dark chocolate squares, Butterfinger eggs and jelly beans.

Since Sam was out of town, I also did the traditional Easter pictures on the front porch with the kids before church. We did the nice one for mom:

And then the kids did a pose of their own:


After church, I decided we needed to get out and enjoy the day, so I took the kids to the park. Some of us played on the swings:

Some of us played basketball:

And some of us just soaked up the rays:

But we all enjoyed the first super nice spring day!

Pysanky

Tonight we dyed Easter eggs. In Puc' Family tradition, we decorated them using a method called pysanky. Basically you use a stylus to make designs on your egg with wax and then put your egg in some dye. After you get it the shade you want, you take it out, make more designs on it with wax and continue like this for several layers. When you are done, you melt the wax off and you have really cool multi-colored eggs. Obviously we don't get as fancy as traditional pysanky, but we still have a good time.

So after about a week and a half of being miserable, I finally broke down and went to the doctor for this cough/cold/sinus thing that won't leave. The good news is it's not bronchitis (which is what I had feared) but I do have a sinus infection and it is aggravating my lungs and making me hack. The bad news is that while I did get a prescription for the sinus thing and the cough, the cough med was a $50 co-pay... something everyone neglected to tell me until after the prescription was filled, AND it's a liquid, my most hated form of medicine. I really hate being able to taste my meds. Luckily, they were able to flavor it--cotton candy/strawberry. (No one asked me what flavor I wanted first.)

Hopefully now I can kick this so I can get back to normal... because I just don't have time to be sick!



Did I mention they gave me a big syringe-thingy to take it with?