Brrrrrrrrrr!!!

What a trooper she is! This girl is amazing in all honesty ~ she can do it all. She cut up two elks on her kitchen table. Her hubby lovingly calls her "his squaw". (They each got an elk this year.)

Kitchen area. *screams* This is sooo exciting. The kitchen is my most favorite part of the whole house.

Quixa running up the construction stairs.
Mike doing his thing.
Family room corner. I'm bummed, we WERE going to put our woodburning stove in that corner, but the roof line won't allow it... we need to schootch it over a bit.
Winter view from the mudroom. Beautiful, huh!
Kitchen again.
Kitchen. You can see where the winder is going to go.
Getting there! I hear it's just freezing cold... Mike said it was nine degrees this morning... and didn't get above freezing today. He said the last couple days were kind of brutal.
Bedroom corner... looking like a cabin.
Mike goofing off. This guy always has a smile on his face. He's amazing. I'm so lucky.
Hum....looking puzzled.
Trying to keep warm.
Our steel building that Mike built w/ my dad and brother. He finished the wall paneling while it was raining. He ran some line around the sides for his air compressor.
Humm... now... I think that's Mike.. but his face looks different!! ?? I think he has safety glasses on... maybe he has a beard go'in on.

Awwww.....my little Quixa Binka, Mike's best friend. I miss her sooo much. I'm used to her being by my side allll dayyyyy longggggg.

I simply can't get over how much these guys have done in two short weeks. The logs were delivered on November 30th. I think they should start their own log cabin building business... Busy Beaver Builders... hee hee... what do you think??? Can you imagine answering the phone like that.

Ugghhhh... as I sit here so full ... from eating too much crap since Sunday.... I think I'm going to be at least five pounds heavier when Mike gets home...and he'll be 10 pounds lighter b/c they are working so hard. I better starve myself for the next week!! I need to get my assets back on that treadmill... and fast!!!

Christmas baking

*lots of pictures below*
We spent 12 hours on Sunday getting our Christmas baking done.

We baked/cooked up 11 different items. No pictures of the little elves ... after we finished the shopping, we got in our comfy cozies and started baking to Christmas music. Let's just say we weren't beauty pagent material! The elves included
my sister, my sister in law, our lifetime friend from school and me. My nephew came over for a bit to help us w/ Magoo. My "twonager" is a job in itself. We simply couldn't keep this kid out of the kitchen otherwise.

Talk about tired at the end of the night. OH BOY! My sister kept calling for "union breaks" throughout the day, she was funny.

We spent the day getting our list together, shopping, teasing each other, measuring, whipping, stirring, giggling, baking, cooking on the stove top, non stop chasing after Matthew, non stop washing bowls and dishes.

We did have one cookie casualty, the Pumpkin/Choc Chip cookies. Too bad, they sure looked good ~ but tasted like crap. *giggling* The recipe didn't include the 5 cups of flour we needed, so we didn't include it in our shopping ... so, my friend had her husband bring us the flour she had in the freezer.... major party foul.... it was freezer burned and *gag*... made the cookies taste nasty... they tasted like the flour smelled... you know what I mean???

Some of the ingredients.
The assembly line!

Little Santa cookies ~ made w/ Nutter Butter cookies... aren't they adorable!! We didn't have to bake these, but they sure took a while!

These are Chocolate & Cream Cheese sandwich cookies. These are so rich, you can only eat one. The Fantasy Fudge is in the back.

My goodness, these are the Chocolate Mint Dreams. We will double or triple this next year. I screwed these up, actually... I left out 1/2 of the 1 cup of the mini chocolate chips ... GAH! These do not look like the picture at all!! Oh well, they sure taste good.

Candied Spice Pecans. I could not stop picking at these. SO ADDICTING. My parrot sure wanted some of these.

Mom's homemade, easy breezy, yummy Peanut Brittle from when we were kids.

Ginger Snappies.

Chocolate Chip Toffee Bars. A big time favorite, too.

Mom's No Bake Chocolate/Coconut/Oatmeal/Peanut Butter drops. It's an old family favorite, too! We need to triple these next time.

Fresh Cranberry/Orange cookie drops. I wasn't sure I'd like these, but they are sooo awesome.. I could not keep my hands off them. Love that tangy, tart and sweet taste.

I am so totally bummed... I had a picture of the table filled with all the goodies on their tins ... but I must not have "saved" to my phone. *big sad pouty face*

This is Sunnie checking out all the treats!! He was BEGGING for some pecans ... but the sweets won't be good for his beak. I had to put my foot down and say NO.

This is Matthew trying to help keep up busy. We had taped up all the recipes on my cupboards for easy reading.

Finally, about 9 o'clock ... we ordered pizza. Get this, the pizza delivery guy pretty much hustled almost a 50% tip. I could not believe he practically "guilted" my neib for a huge tip!!!!

Of course we were going to tip the guy ... but not a gosh darn 50% tip ... it put my friend totally on spot .... after asking for our change back a couple times, he just let the guy have it.

I won't be ordering pizza from that pizza place again. It's a very well known popular pizza joint. Not sure they'd be happy knowing their pizza driver begs.

Our Little Drummer Boy ~ playing to Joan Jett

This was from last Christmas, it's so cute ~ so, in the holiday spirit, I thought I'd put up again this year.

The scene at 1:40 cracks me up... it's perfect timing.

He was so little... and I forgot how much he liked banging his hands on everything.
I love this YouTube stuff.

Equipment malfunction the other day

Well, the reason for the equipment malfunction during his heart procedure was because an IV bag was dripping on the cables. NICE! They didn't notice it until after it was all said and done.

I asked the doctor if he did a heart cath, he said no. I asked if he performed the ablation ... he said they tried a couple times, but the times they tried, Casey's heart wasn't taking too well to it. That's why he stopped.

Now, I'm not clear if the problems were because the cables had IV fluids dripping on it, or if Casey's heart had an adverse reaction because of another heart problem. It kind of sounds like a heart issue. Doctor mentioned a different heart defect called, Mahaim Fibre. The main deal: we don't want Casey needing a pacemaker, but he might. *ugh* I don't know. I am wanting to talk to Dr. Mayman about it. He will talk to me in a way I understand. These surgeons are just too smart for me, it's hard to comprehend what the *&^) they're talking about. Even for me, a seasoned cardiac mom!!!

Casey just completed a 24 hour electronic monitoring test ~ we should know more when the doctor returns to L.V. in January. So, there are three defects they are looking into now ... Wolfe Parkinson White, Supra Ventricular Tachycardia, Mahaim Fibre.
MF is less severe than WPW, I think.

Corner of the mudroom.

My adorable neighbor hammering in a dowel. Doesn't she look so cute w/ her pink little scarf and tool belt!

The corner of the master bedroom.

This is the mudroom ~ the spaces between the logs is where the door will go later on.

These pics were taken yesterday while I was in hospital with Casey. I thought I'd go ahead and post today ~ I need a break from the intense stress I've been feeling the past two days. I've just been a crying mess today.

Mike just sent me a text.... there is a cold weather front quickly moving in on them, so they are trying to get as much done as possible. Our building inspector has been great ~ he is certainly looking out for us. He did tell the boys that they needed more "hurricane braces" in the corners, so that set them back a little ~ but we want it as sturdy as possible. You can see a hurricane brace in the corner of the master bedroom.

No repair on the ticker

Thursday: We will speak with the doctor/surgeon tomorrow.

2:30 am update: Casey is just now getting home. He's very disappointed that it's not fixed. He said he got sick after waking up from the anesthesia; that sounds typical. He will come over for Taco Salad tomorrow night.

9:19 pm update: *sad face* They aren't doing anything tonight to repair the heart. *big sigh* They need to do further testing ... as to rule out a couple other things before they go slicing off a piece of his heart. Great.

So, it sounds to me that he ended up having a routine heart cath tonight.

8:51 pm update: I am so anxious, I keep eating Cheeto's and honey baked ham.

I am worrying that the equipment will malfunction again while they are using it, or somthing will go wrong. I am of course, feeling guilty that I am not there... but I simply can't have Matthew at the hospital during RSV season and I can't leave him w/ anyone at night b/c of the overnight feeds. I am grateful that my sister is there. She used to work in cardiology so she knows the drill, and Casey loves her to death.

8:24 pm update: My sister just called, they just came back out to say they had tech support on the phone, they are working on getting it back up and they will try to proceed. Thank God Kim is there.


After spending two hours in the cath lab ...
the equipment malfunctioned ... the heat source wouldn't work.

They were unable to repair ~ he'll have to wait until the end of January.

I want to throw up.

He will be in recovery for 5 hours. I feel awful for him.

Casey hasn't gone back to the cath lab yet, it's 4:50 ~ think it's going to be a longgggg night

5:40 pm ~ He just went back. The doctor met w/ my sister Kim. He'll be in good hands, there will be four other docs back there. A couple hours they said.


In his face w/ the camera. Just trying to take his mind of his worries. We kept teasing him that they are going to shave his groin.

Heading to the "sandbox". Poor guy... he was covering up just in time.

A self portrait from the bed.

I was totally getting on his nerves w/ my cell camera.

Dang!! He's still sitting in the pre~op recovery room .... he's been at the hospital since 10:45 am... I guess the first cath took longer than expected. When I left around 4pm, they had just started on the second cath patient.

So, I am home ... my sister, my dad and Joel are still there. They will let me know when they take him back. He's complaining that he's hungry and thirsty... hence the little citrus swabs.

My baby!! I was giving him such a hard time.
He kept making a mad face, but then he'd crack up when I'd take a pic.
My sister Kim and Joel.

Today

I will be back sometime tonight with an update on my oldest son's heart surgery. It is called a catheter ablation, they go up thru an artery in his leg and laser off a node or the thick part of his ventricle. (Hope I explained that right.)

I am up and getting ready now while Matthew is sleeping. My mom is coming over to play w/ Matthew while we all go hang out at the hospital. We need to be at "patient waiting" by 11 am. As soon as the doctor is finished w/ his previous patient, he'll take Casey back. They say surgery can be 2 to 6 hours ... then he needs to hang out for several hours after because they are going up thru a main artery. We are expecting an easy fix.

*big sigh*

Here we go.

Have I ever told you all how much I hate/dread being in hospitals. It makes my heart sink just thinking of it. This is the same hospital that Matthew (Mike and I)spent three months in ~ gives me weird feelings.

"Corner posts" in the front

Looks like part of the kitchen, the entry way and the mudroom area.

Apparently, these logs are quite heavy!!! They had to make sure they were perfectly plumb.

Looking towards the octagonal kitchen.

Starting the support beams in the kitchen area.

My sister ordered this sleeper from Pajama Grams for our little Magoo.... isn't this the cutest dang thing. His nickname is on the britches of the sleeper.

FYI ~ he got this nickname when he was first born. He was only 4lbs 1 oz and he looked just like a little "Who" from The Grinch Who Stole Christmas.... but then as he got a teeny bit older, he started looking like Mr. Magoo in his white hospital garb and cap...hence the name WhoMagoo.

I know....

... my blog is kind of boring right now ..... all this cabin stuff .... but it's the most exciting thing going on for us at the moment.

Maybe after today, I'll just post a pile of pics once a week.

I have just been hanging out w/ Magoo and keeping this house. I am hoping Casey will come stay with me for a few days after his surgery on Wednesday... I promised that I would spoil him and make all his favorite foods. He just said "we'll see". I hope he comes, it will be like old times. He lived w/ me until he was 22 and I still miss him. I think it's sad when your kids fly the coup.
I had a huge case of empty nest when he left... hence the two parrots and a new child!!!

Anyhoo.. I just posted a new set of blog cabin pics below. To me, they are so exciting.

First row of logs on Beaver Blog Cabin

I guess this is part of the kitchen corner.

First corner of the first row. I see the footer for the deck down there.

First row ~ along the ramp to the basement.

Toodles toughing it out in the snow w/ a short sleeve shirt. What a he~man!! Nice footers, I can't wait for the deck.

Ah, Mikey warming up the tootsies in front of the fire after a long day in the cold.

Breakfast for dinner

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!

Beaver got 4 inches of snow last night. Mike will be leaving first thing tomorrow morning ~ he'll be there for close to 3 weeks stacking logs. Matthew and I are staying here where it's warmer.

Actually, I'd love to go up, but Casey is having his heart surgery this Wednesday and Matthew has doctor and therapy appointments almost every single day the following week. I may run up for a weekend or two.

I went to Sam's Club this morning to set Mikey up w/ lots and lots of (easy to grab and eat) food, drink and healthy snacky type foods ~ he'll need lots of energy to keep warm. These boys work sun up to sun down.

Our wonderful neighbors have set up a nice room for us in their basement ~ so we can all be in a comfy cozy in a house while we build. We are truly blessed to have such great friends up there.

Both of our neighbors in Beaver are the very best.

I am hoping the boys will send me lots and lots of cell phone pictures.