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.

Logs came today ~ this is kind of like Blog Cabin!

Loading on the side of house. Thank goodness I have such great neighbors ~ they took these pictures and helped to direct the "forklifter"(that's my Bush~ism). My Beaver neighbors are great for a million reasons.

Check that out.

Semi parked outside our gate. It appears they unloaded from the county road.

Yes, I think this "forklift" worked much better than using our little backhoe w/ straps!!

This is what we witnessed our way home the other night.. isn't this amazing!! This is from my cell phone.

The sky looked like this for at least an hour... I was simply amazed at the beauty ~ looks like a Thomas Kinkade painting!

The load bearing wall in the basement.

This was the semi that Mike, my dad and our neighbor unloaded w/ the backhoe & straps.

We were so lucky to have such a nice driver, he actually helped us to unload (we of course tipped him for his wonderful service) ~ it took 3 1/2 hours to unload!

The family cabin pics

What a spectacular sunset, huh! Can you believe this was taken w/ my cell phone???

Radiant floor heating being set in basement.

Mike unloading the humongous supply truck ~ what an experience THAT was! Thank goodness my dad was there, we needed all the help we could get.

Mike working on the subfloor ~ his poor knees are so swollen ~ and he said "his dogs were barking" (feet hurt). Ssssssoomeday, we'll have a garage attached to the left side of the house.

Standing on the subfloor, looking towards the back of house ~ I think I'm standing where the stove will be. Now with that view, I can stand there and cook all day!

Standing at the back of house looking down at the footers for the deck that will wrap around the back and side of cabin.

The back of the house looking towards the mountains. In real life the mountains look so much bigger, I'm using a super duper wide angle lens.

Putting up the subfloor ~ the front door will be on the left ~ my friend standing in the front, is in the kitchen area ~ the boys are screwing in the sheathing.

Basement ~ gotta love those big ole 4x4 winders

Our concrete guy making the floor nice and neat. Glad the floor is neat ~ there were a few blow outs on the walls (not so happy bout that, looks kinda ugly) so we will need to "fir it up".

Pumping the concrete for the basement floor ~ now that was an awesome sight.

Here I am hammering in a ... a ... not sure what it is ... some kind of brace, but it's for the basement wall. I didn't do very well, I have weak arms ~ needed one of the guys to come back and hammer it in.

Logs coming this Friday ~ Mike will go up for a couple weeks and start stackin.

Insurance all worked out for Casey's surgery

Apparently there was some kind of error ... so,

Casey's surgery is back on for next Wednesday as "in network" ~ so, it'll be on the 80/20 plan ~
not the crappy 40/60 plan.

WAHHHH HOOOOO!! What a relief.

Thank God, I've been praying so hard about this.
The power of prayer is something else. There is no doubt God has had his hand in this.

Hey kids!

My little monkey in the basement. He had a grand ole time running free down there.

AHHHHH ... got back last night. Needless to say, I have several mounds of laundry and a meeelllllion things to get caught up on. It was pretty cold while we were there... we had a day or two of 10 to 20 degree weather. The wind made it kind of tough on the boys working on the cabin site.

We (Mike, I should say) had a very productive 10 days! Our family cabin in coming along nicely. The load bearing wall in the basement is in place; the sub floor is up and it looks awesome; the excavator back filled around the cabin site; we now have a great burm along a much traveled county road that was put in, right along our property line (grrr) three years ago. I have some great pictures to post as soon as I have some more time. What a view, what a view, what a view we have. The pics just don't do it justice.

Logs will be delivered this coming Friday.

Casey just called me, he was told by his insurance company that the procedure on his heart will cost him 60% of the amount charged b/c it is all "out of network". GO FIGURE!!! The procedure alone will cost around $10,000, not including the hospital charges and anesthesiologist, etc.....
so, he has postponed the repair on his heart until we figure out who else he could go to that is acceptable. You know ... you don't want a "WalMart" doctor working on your heart... you'd like a "Macy's" doctor.

I'm telling ya ... our healthcare system is just a wreck. I think it's rotten that the insurance companies can dictate where you can and can't go.

By saying it's "out of network" they are pretty much saying you can't go b/c it's simply unaffordable for the average person ~ so, you are forced to go where they say.

Back when Casey was growing up, I could go where ever I wanted ... now, there is all this "in network" "out of network" crap. Back then, only the HMO's had lists of places you could and couldn't go to, now it's the regular insurance companies. Trust me, before we ever go out of town, I'm on the phone, making sure hospitals in the area are "providers" for our insurance company.

It just stinks. Poor Casey ... he's trying to get his masters degree, works full time and has a house payment on an average wage ... now, he could be facing monster medical expenses.

Makes me want to cry for him.

Happy Thanksgiving

We're off to Beaver today.
Not sure if I'll have access to the computer, but we'll see.

Wanted to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving. Be safe if you are traveling.

I had quite a day w/ Mr. Magoo yesterday. It was probably one of the toughest days I've ever had. He's having some kind of steroid withdrawal and it was not fun! I wrote about it on his blog. Last night, he head butted me in the nose so hard, I heard a crack...and for a few minutes, I thought maybe he broke it... but he didn't. It's in the same place!

I've been up since 4 w/ Matthew. I'm starting to pack now, so I'll be off!!

Big e~hugs!!!

Wow, now this REALLY takes the cake!

My friend Kathy, is staying at a Ronald McDonald house up in Palo Alto while her baby Isaac is recovering at LPCH @ Stanford. Now, RMH is a GREAT place and it is AFFORDABLE while you're stuck living away from home. Hotels up there can run from $175 and more a night ... RMH is about $10 to $15 a night, plus they offer a shuttle to hospital every 30 minutes. RMH is truly a Godsend!

But DANG, this is what she posted last night on her blog:

Oh my gosh....one more crazy thing happened today. Well, last night. I went into our cabinets (we have our own here at RMH and they are labeled) to get some cookies. Someone has stolen my brownies, cookies, loaf of bread, and peanut butter. Can you believe that?? I mean...there's not ONE crumb left on that shelf! What a stinker!!! I hope they really needed the food (I would have just donated my food if they were that hungry)...but, imagine my face when I look and the cupboards are BARE!
WHAT A CRAZY DAY!!!

This just shocks me so much!! When you are at RMH, you are "in it" together w/ these other parents. No one wants to be there in the first place. I simply can not imagine someone stealing all your food during such a stressful time. RUDE!

More basement pics ~ getting ready for subfloor

We'll be going up for about 10 days. YAY! That means we'll be spending Thanksgiving in Utah. Our neighbor has invited us all for dinner. If all goes well, Mike and our neighbor will start the subfloor next week! We were told the logs could be there in a couple weeks. It's all going pretty well ~ the sub plumbing was done today. Things are sure moving. We're very excited, I can't wait to see it in real life!

I feel so bad, I haven't really had a chance to get around to the blogs yet.... I should just spend a couple hours tonight visiting. This little "twonager" keeps me running all day long and I'm pretty wiped out by the time he goes to bed.

Please keep my friend's baby Isaac in your prayers... he has been doing very well, but for the past day or so he's been running a fever, high blood pressure and high heart rate. We worry about infections when this happens. Matthew got MRSA in his bloodstream while at Stanford right after his first open heart. It was NOT a pleasant experience.

Casey's heart procedure coming up on December 5th

This pic is from my cell phone, when he calls me, this is what I see... hee hee!!

Magoo and Casey ~ Casey all suited up.

My best boys.

I only have a handful of current pics of Casey, for whatever reason, he hates having his picture taken.

Well .... my oldest son, Casey will be having his catheter ablation procedure on Dec. 5th. Wow, that was fast, huh! We're kind of in shock that it's so soon.

We need to be at the hospital by 11 am, the procedure could take anywhere from 2 to 6 hours ~ depending on the severity of the defect. He has Supra Ventricular Tachycardia, or SVT for short.

I guess they go up thru his leg w/ a catheter and then they laser off a node on his ventricle that is causing the problem. This thickness or node is causing his heart to misfire. Apparently, once it's fixed... it's fixed, unless he has more than one node. There were a couple things that scared me, one of them being, he could eventually need a pacemaker, but that is only a 1 to 5% chance. I must admit, percentages don't mean much to me anymore.

He's pretty nervous. He's always been so healthy and has never been sick! The only thing Casey has ever had was a case of chicken pox and has had a mess of warts frozen off.

*big sigh*

Matthew has been sick since Friday.... YUUUUUKKKKKKK!!! We're pretty sure he picked up a nasty bug at his speech & feeding therapist office ... needless to say, we won't be taking him again until after RSV season is over. Dr. Jill was very understanding.

His lungs are very rattly and junky .... we started him on steroids, he'll be on that for 5 days.

That makes him a total crazy man ... I yi yi!!

We ended up taking him to the doctor Saturday afternoon, THANK GOD, we saved ourselves an ER trip for sure! He was put on a pretty powerful antibiotic, Zithromax for 5 days.

He has been GRUMMMPY and fussy... not sleeping very well either.

We try sooo hard to keep him protected ... but when you go to doctor offices ... not much you can do.

Basement wall pics

Correction: These are the forms for the walls, not the actual walls. They will be pouring the wall next week, if all goes well. These are our wonderful Beaver neighbors and my sister on the left. We were eating in a quaint little Mexican restaurant in Beaver. Thanks to the neibs, I have basement pics. They are helping to keep an eye on things for us when we're not there.

Beaver weekend pics

This side will have a 4' ramp to the basement and a mudroom. Someday, the mudroom will lead to a garage that will attach to it.

Standing in the back, looking towards the front.

They are framing the octagonal section ~ this will be the kitchen area.

Standing over the kitchen area looking towards the back.

Wanted to jump on the puter and post what was done this weekend. I took these pics using Mike's super duper wide angle lens.

We are pretty excited about it. We were approved for our building permit today and the footers will be poured on Friday. Hopefully we'll be "throwin logs" in three to five weeks.

We got home about 7:00pm last night and it's been a VERY hectic day. I had lots of phone calls to make and some catching up to do.

Our HP laptop computer (only 5 months old) crashed and is dead dead deadsky. I feel sick over it ... everything was on there ... all our pictures ... just everything. I hope there is a way to get it all back ... we can't even turn the thing on. I'm not sure how much stuff is saved on our little "stick".

Matthew had a GI doctor appointment; it went very well. We're going to try a drug to increase his appetite.

I received some upsetting news from my 25 year old son.

He found out today that he has some kind of heart defect. *very sad face* Apparently he's been feeling dizzy, experiencing some chest pain and a rapid heart rate. I am waiting to speak w/ Matthew's cardiologist; hoping to hear that it's all going to be okay.

Casey said they will try to control w/ meds ... but it may require a surgery ~ good thing, it won't require cracking his chest open ... can by done thru a catheter. Problem has to do with a portion of his heart being too thick, it interferes w/ impulses and cause heart to misfire.

*big sigh* I feel awful about it. I now have two kiddo's w/ a heart defect ~ wow.

I'm feeling all kinds of guilty... I know I'm not supposed to ... but I do in a "mom sort of way".

I promise, I will be around to visit your blog soon! I miss everyone! I need to see what you all are up to and I think of you guys often, isn't that funny! I'm using Mikey's old computer for the time being.

Cabin site pics

Mike clearing out a few junipers, in preparation for the basement dig. Our neighbors dog, Amy is helping out. Pics are from a cell phone, not bad, huh!

This is a 6' deep hole ~ it doesn't look like it, but it is. It took only 6 1/2 hours to excavate, I was surprised, I thought it would take a day or two! My neighbor Tanji took the pics for us.

Our green steel barn (that Mike built) is behind that heap on the right. Apparently there are four huge heaps. We will now need to have the concrete pumped in ......too bad.... we were trying to avoid that... it's going to be an additional $1500. I am preparing myself for lots of extra "somethings" to pay for. Everything seems to be costing more than we had expected. I am standing where our sink will be. The kitchen is octagonal and will face Beaver Mountain.

We are up on a hill ... a little behind and to the left of me will be the dining room w/ french doors... a deck will wrap all the way around the back. The deck outside the dining room will actually be over the side of the hill. The back side of the house is pretty close to the edge of the hill ... and that will overlook farmland w/ cows, horses and sheep. Our family room will be directly behind the kitchen. The first floor will be between 24 and 30 inches off the ground, so we will have a million dollar view.

We are going to go with radiant floor heating instead of standard heating. Mike has already read most of the radiant floor heating book and has an agreement w/the plumber to help do a lot of it. That should save us quite a bit of $$. We hear radiant floor heating is the way to go!

Things are really moving now!

Wow... after a frustrating 4-5 month delay ...
our final cabin plans came in late Friday afternoon.

By Friday night.. the concrete guy had his plans. Touched base w/ the excavator, the rough plumber and the radiant floor guy.

By Saturday morning ... we had three sets of plans to pass out for bids and for the building inspector.

We ran up to Beaver on Sunday morning so we could meet the concrete guy on Monday~ to stake out the site.

Turned in our application, permits and plan to the building inspector.

The basement will be dug today!!!!!! (that is shocking!!)

So, if all keeps going smoothly... we should be throwing logs in about a month.

It's just too dang bad we have to do this in the winter ... we should have been doing this in June.
Mike is very excited... we need to take advantage of his 3 days off every week.
Good thing about winter... people are less busy and more hungry for work.

I'll be back w/ some pictures. I took about 35.

Well well....

Update to my Oct. 4th post
I spent a good portion of the day today on the phone with Apria Home Health care (and my insurance company) re: the $2443 a month payment on Matthew's feeding supplies. I was originally told, "That's what the agreement is with your insurance company". I asked for the supervisor name and number ... called her and left a lengthy message questioning the price difference.

Guess what ... they've been billing us wrong ... it should be a grand total of $849.60 ...
not $2443. They need to credit our insurance about $1593. for each month of the over billing.

*shaking my head*

No changes

Matthew was a champ!

The cardiologist said there has been no narrowing ... and the leak is the same as before.

That is fantastic news! We'll go back for another ECHO in six months.

He said when Matthew goes in for surgery, it will be because of the leak and not the narrowing. He mentioned that conduits can get some kind of sludge build up.

They rate the leak 1 to 10, and his leak is still a 3.

Doctor said that he'll need a conduit change once it is between 8 and 10; he said to plan on surgery in about 2 years. We'd been told at Stanford, that on average, these little guys need a conduit change every three years. So, that would be about right. Now, the whiny mother part of me wishes that he was just fixed and we didn't need more surgeries ever again.

We hope medical technology will advance quickly, so that he won't need to go in (approximately) every 3 years .... maybe they will come up with some new kind of tissue or a bovine or pig valve that will last longer.

Thank you so much for your prayers ... we very much appreciate it!! They worked! :-)

(((Hugs))) to you all.

Oh yeah, we tried to go celebrate at IHOP afterwards, but Matthew pitched a HUGE fit as we were sitting down. We got up and left the building. He screamed all the way home!
We didn't know what the heck was going on.

He's been a perfect angel since we walked in the door.

Slideshow below of Matthew getting his EKG and ECHO at Dr. Gary Mayman's office.

Matthew's ECHO & EKG tomorrow morning.

Please pray for no changes in that leaky valve (his pulmonary artery is made of cadaver tissue) and no narrowing of his pulmonary branches. Those are our two main concerns.

I will update when I get home.
This was last year ~ he was checking it out. I'll try to get a picture tomorrow. The hard part will be to keep him calm and quiet. The ECHO & EKG in April was a little difficult ~ he was crying his head off and squirming all over. I'll be bringing a bottle of bubbles to distract him.