Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Time races in to St Pats Day!

 Honest to god, it feels like every day is rather dull and normal and then all of a sudden a full month has gone by! Here are the highlights...including the 21st annual St Pats Day Parade, its of legal age and showed off this year!

A few updates....

Tom is good, smoked 42lb's of pork for the party and we ran out! we also ran out of plates, buns and coleslaw...so it goes, so it goes.

Kay has had a rough month, developed bronchitis and ended up in the ER twice with a bronchitis induced asthma attack. One was at 3:00am, she drove to our house and we called 911 since she couldn't breath. The other was a week later (and a week into meds...) and Tom took her straight from work to the ER, they admitted her overnight and now she is on a complicated 21 med cycle to try and knock this. It was scary but she was a trouper and I'm very proud of how she didnt panic and it didnt send her into a tail spin. If anything she was pissed she had to miss work!

Billy had an amazing spring break in Seattle and his photos are unbelievable. Of course, his favorite part was the all day hike, but they also saw multiple museums, went thrifting and wandered around Pikes Market

Jimmy has had a slight change in strategy for law school, he's wait listed at Norte Dame and Berkley so now he's going to hold out for ND. Now is the time to get in alumni letters of rec and boy did he score a big one, see photo below. He also won French Honor Society and Homeland Security Honor Society. Not to mention a $1k scholarship for this last year of football (not clear how that will work since all the bills are paid but... still meaningful to be recognized!)

Tracy is adapting to her new job and is loving it. Lots of moving around and being in the moment. Needing to retrain my brain!

The dogs are the dogs. Silly and lovable.

Big hugs to all of you!

TTJKB


Slicing pork

Badgers won the BiG 10 by 1 in overtime, Grandpa was over the moon!


Our grand marshalls, Shirley E and her new husband Steve


Only 363 days until St Pats Day! 

Jack G made his presence known and is lobbying to be grand marshal next year



Favorite math day of the year! 3/14


The People Brothers Band was incredible at the Dakota...opened for... 

Mae Simpson Band, what a show!! 



Yes, I was nervous that the fire truck showed up to our party but then they told me Tom invited them! The kids were thrilled! 

Unbelievable Letter of Rec to ND 

He had no idea who Andy Wharhol is but liked the shirt, good taste 



His favorite photo of the trip to Seattle 

Recognize anyone on the poster, giving a WTA kid a head shot! Ha!! 


Friday, February 23, 2024

February is a blur!!

 February is a blur and SUPER random. Our month, so far, in photos.


Billy had his friend over to build a funeral pyre to pay tribute to his halloween costumes... Creeper from mind craft and BMO from adventure land. I'm sure his roommate was tired of seeing a 5'6" Creeper in his dorm room

Grandpa's knee is healing amazingly well! He's back to driving and only using a cane. We have amazing genes.

Kay brought us treats for Valentine's day, they were SO good plus we got really sweet texts from Billy (Love you to the moon and back) and Jimmy (love you too... still deciding on law school ...)

Wendy and Tracy watched the Cross Country skiing world cup at Uteplis and it was so cool/close you could here them announcing it at Theo Worth when you stepped outside. Jessie Diggins took 3rd!!

Rat break out happened and Jimmy's Rats love him! He was a good Dyke, took care of them and really cared about their experience.

He voted in the primary, I don't even want to ask for who...

Tom went striped bass fishing in Texas with the crew of 35 years - it was cold (38) and they raked in a haul! 



Trouble



It warmed up beyond comprehension and now its tic season. urge....

We took advantage of the warm weather to have the 1st neighborhood bonfire of the season!

Tracy started work ~!  9-4 M-F .. no cell phones, no computers ... all hands on. SOOOO different and so far, loving it! 3 min walk to work.

We watched The Taste of Things which inspired Tom to make a new recipe. SOOO good basically seafood pot pie in a pastry puff

We hacked into Grandma's 23 & me and found out that we are mostly north French/soutwest German, Danish and Irish.  Plus, .2% from Kerala. So...random. We talked Grandpa into doing it to so...stay tuned






One of Billy's former teammates made the Olympics!! Congratulations Alasan!!

COVID style V-Day, yes, Tom had COVID. Again....Stupid 2nd graders...




Finally got snow and it was gorgeous!


Wednesday, January 31, 2024

January where’d you go?!

 Honestly, for a fairly non eventful month, it flew by! Lots of change in the Loudamerican household!

Tracy ... Spent a TON of time onboarding my replacement, Danielle, and the new VP, Tina. I kept visualizing how I wanted to end my time at MORA and had a 2 visions, one of a marathon runner at the finish line, arms up and victorious. The other was the same visual but with someone laying on the ground and the crowd dragging them to the finish. I think I accomplished the former but...some days did feel like the later. I truly gave it my all, including 10 hours the last few days and even stayed on call in order to help out at our day program for a couple days after my official last day. There were lots of mini going away moments and I included a few photos of my favorite. SO weird to have this transition technically complete. BIG life change, from a  large leadership role to the next stage.  

Speaking of... karma is amazing, I've been talking forever that I want to work at Workabilities, walk to work, not be responsible and work with people with disabilities one on one. They almost never have job openings. However, 2 days before my last day at MORA, they called and said they have an opening. I start 2/5. $22/hr, 9-4, M-F and I get to walk to work, YEAH!

I spend the 2 weeks in between roles playing nurse maid to Kay - she got her tonsils out and while the 1st  5 days were painful but manageable, the last 3 days have been pure hell. I feel so bad for her. Her throat hurts, her neck hurts, her ears hurt, her stomach hurts (too many meds), nothing tastes good, its hard to swallow... not to mention, she doesn't do herself any favors and refuses to eat, drink and sometimes take meds. Ended up in the ER and they said she's healing really well. We had about 20 hours of pure mental health break down but are hopefully past that.  Fingers crossed, she's a trooper but its hard!

Tom is plugging away at work and we continue to try new recipes. We are doing dry january so, haven't had any alcohol since 1/9, also forcing us to get creative with virgin drinks. Its actually been pretty fun and we now have a new addiction. Sleepy time tea before bed with honey.  Yum...

Jimmy is living the life. Got a good scholarship from the U, a great scholarship from Madison and is still waiting to hear on the wait list for Notre Dame. He has a really hard decision in front of him but...there is NO bad decision - all are great schools.    He's also continued to do the sideline reporting for VMI basketball with ESPN+ (which is going to come in handy for this intro to public speaking grade) and was nominated to be the lone representative from VMI to attend a prestigious policy conference for undergrads at the Naval Academy in April. He's beyond the moon!

Billy (finally) signed a lease with Mark for an apartment next year.  He had a rough 1st semester (grade wise) along with lessons learned...ask for help earlier, ask for help from people who know the material, not people in your class, get involved with your advisor more, know your professors better. All these learnings came from  a 2.25 GPA 1st semester (3 A's, 1 C, 2 D's). because of the D's he needs to retake Calc and Chem this semester. Which puts his behind in his program and requires him to take Chem 2, Calc 2 and Physics 2 this coming summer in order to stay on track. URGH.... He's resigned and I'm frust  rated but... if there is anyone that will do it without complaint, its Billy. On a brighter note, he/his friends got $200 tickets to Seattle for spring break so ...he has that to look forward to.

The weather has been nuts!  10 days of bitter cold and -20+ wind chill and now its going to be a high of 52 and potentially a record. SO much for global warning.

Hoping February has less drama, more health, a new schedule and sunshine!

Love to you and yours! 

The ladies of Brendon Pond

It was his 73rd birthday!

My wonderful Board women

Bob is cutie

Adam is a stinker

Kathy is hysterical

Plymouth Rd guys rock

ADS gave me a painting with all their thumb prints 



A Rembrandt ...the dogs refusing to get up in -20  degree weather 

SO cold we had Sun Dogs! Love those!

He's something else

Chicken Thai

THE conference

Get well cards from Kays kindergarten, SOOOO cute

I bought my work car! 

Art Shanty, annual art show on Lake Harriet, always super fun, with Zoe and Wendy 


This was the COOLEST exhibit about balance holding conflicting emotions/experiences and our impact on each other 

Harissa chicken with honey

This guy

Oh yeah! We volunteered at the Science Museum with our favorite STEM geeks, Ang, Dan and Wyatt