Heidi is Home!

Sunday, April 18, 2010 -  Kellee, Kerry & Phil left this morning to go to Ottumwa, they were all scheduled to play at The Bridge. Turns out Gpa T. was going to be there and planned to take them out for a meal after the service. I went to the 10:30 service at TRC. When I got home, Heidi had returned from her Florida trip and she came bearing gifts! It was like she was returning from the hunt and brought food for the table. She had some chicken and sides from Stroud’s in KCMO! Guess what we had for Sunday dinner! Thank-you Stacey, Charlie & Rosie! Heidi had a great trip, but as with any great trip it had to end and she was glad to be home.  When Kerry found out we were having Stroud’s chicken he texted me, “Shootdang!…”
Kory called with some exciting news, he won and X-Box 360 in a raffle at some VEISHEA  function on Saturday night. That was pretty cool because he was kind of wanting one. Now maybe I can get The Beatles Rock Band game and gear! We also talked about getting his stuff home before finals so he can then just drive home on his own.
When Kellee got back from Ottumwa, Heidi told us about her trip and Kellee and I told her about the meat wrapped in bacon. (What is it about bacon that makes everything taste better?) Heidi was excited there are still a few blooms left on the magnolia tree so she didn’t miss out on all of them. She was amazed at the number of tulips that are already out. Each year when they come out, people in town start to fret about whether there will be tulips left by Pella’s Tulip Time and they miss out on enjoying them while they are blooming. We have learned to appreciate their beauty whenever the blooms open up. (I think there could be a life lesson in there somewhere?)
Sunday afternoon we rested and napped and then in the evening Kellee finished another song.  http://www.myspace.com/kelleevanhemertmusic

Monday, Kellee and Kent will travel to Iowa City to begin the treatment process. Monday is “verification” where they make sure Kellee is in the correct position and all the equipment is pointing where is supposed to point. The actual radiation begins on Tuesday. We also will find out on Monday what time of each day the radiation treatments will be scheduled. It is our hope and prayer the tumor will shrink even faster than expected! We will keep you posted as to the progress.

Typical Weekend

Saturday, April 17, 2010 – I went into work again today, just another 8 hour work day. Heidi went to a flea market in Florida and then spent time in the airport waiting for her flight to KCMO. While there she logged on to Facebook and joined a chat I had going with Kellee at the same time. (Told you she was a techno-chick!) I am not sure how all this networking stuff works, since Heidi and I have the same account and we were logged on at the same time and yet we could chat in three separate places at the same time! Who would have thunk we could do something like that?  I can hear one of you thinking, wait a minute Kent, you said you were at work – what were you doing on Facebook? Good question, that is something I would never do during a normal work day. Kellee and Kerry were going out to lunch with their G-pa T. and I wanted to see if he was back yet and if he was on Facebook I figured he would respond to a chat and I didn’t want to interrupt him with a phone call in case they were still meeting.  I also wanted to see if Kellee was going to be home tonight and if so we would fire up the grill again. I wanted to know if he was interested in a slab o’ meat.  With arrangements made, it was back to work for me and Kellee continued work on another new song.  I stopped and picked up the fixins’ for the meal and got home about 4:30.  

Since Kellee said he would not be ready to eat for a while, I decided to see if the mower would start, I put it away last fall and hadn’t touched it since. If if wouldn’t start, no mowing for me! I really should bring it in  to be looked at because the self-propelled function was not working as well as it had in previous years, it is now a MYself-propelled mower.  I gassed it up, checked the oil and it fired up on the first pull, dang it! I had no excuse, so I mowed. I am always torn about doing yard work. It seems to me I spent way too much time on it and in the grand scheme of things what difference does it really make? One hundred years from now, will it matter if I kept a well-trimmed, weed-free lawn? But I do it anyway, even though it is not my favorite thing to do. I know some people enjoy yard work and that is great, it is just not high on my list of what I like to do, in fact it doesn’t even make that list. !  Each year I complain to Heidi about it and get near the point of paying someone to do it, but I think I guess it is good exercise and we do it.  Enough talk about grass!  

After cutting grass – Kellee was in the basement working on his song. I went downstairs  to check email on our old computer. While down there Kellee said this, “It is probably a good thing the treatment starts soon, because I think my double vision is getting worse.” When I said “oh really,” he said, “well maybe the prism on my glasses never corrected it completely.” Note to self – I need to remember to mention this to Dr. S. on Monday!  

It was now time to fix our meal, here was the menu: Meat wrapped in bacon, roasted veggies – zucchini & Brussel sprouts and HyVee potato salad. Funny thing about Brussel sprouts, I grew some a couple of years ago and we never ate a one of them! Kellee was brave enough to try them. His comment was ”these thing have like layers.”  I am not sure if he liked them or not, but I thought they weren’t bad. We ate and there was much rejoicing! After the meal, Kellee went back to work on his song and I sleep-watched the Rob Bell dvd of  ”Everything is Spiritual.” (For the second night in a row.) I don’t know what it is, but I sit down to watch something and I usually can’t make it through the whole thing without resting my eyes, oh my gosh, I’m turning into my dad! (or my sisters.)  

Kellee in his basement studio

Another God thing…Heidi’s Trip

Friday, April 9, 2010 – Today Heidi left with her mom for a one week vacation in Florida. They drove to Kansas City today, staying with Rosie & Charlie (Heidi’s aunt & uncle in KC) and they fly out tomorrow. Stroud’s in KCMO is on the menu for them tonight, What is Stroud’s you ask? Only the best pan-fried chicken on earth! Let me you I am more jealous of that than any other part of their trip! Their flight stops in St. Louis, where sister Tami will get on the plane and they are headed to Ft. Myers Beach, FL. Before I go any further, I know what some of you might be thinking…how can Heidi go on vacation at a time like this? Well, the three girls have been trying to plan a vacation for the last couple years and this trip was planned at Christmas and booked in January. So for this trip to have already been scheduled and it happens to fall right smack dab between when we find out the treatment plan and when treatment is scheduled to begin, is nothing short of a God thing! For the last month, Heidi has been talking about canceling out of the trip, even though Kellee told her she must go no matter what. So for her to go is a blessing. She gets to do one of her favorite things, sit on a beach and read. Besides the last month has been a bit stressful and she can use a break. She took her laptop so she can keep up on the blog, email and Facebook, and she even has a cell phone. Yes, she is one techno-savvy gal! I am not much of a beach kind of guy, because if I am out in the sun for very long at all, I burn like a roadside flare! Besides, I got to deer hunting in December and January, so I have already had my outing with the guys, so now it is Heidi’s turn. (Not to go out with the guys, but with the girls.)  Pray she has a restful and fun trip.

A couple other things from today; Kellee was able to get an ultra-sound of his private area scheduled for this coming Monday in Pella at the Harmeling Imaging Center. We are grateful we could avoid an extra trip to Iowa City. Even though the trip is only 1.5 hours, it is just long enough to be annoying.  Let me clarify one thing from yesterday’s post. I have been told some people were confused and thought our other sons needed to have ultra-sound tests as well. That is not the case. When I used the term “The Boys”  yesterday I was writing about a certain area of the anatomy where Kellee would need to have an ultra-sound, it is a slang term for a certain part of the male body. Most men would have picked up on that right away. Just so everyone knows, our other two sons, Kerry and Kory are NOT having any tests, they are all hunky-dunky!

Tonight Kellee and I grilled some burgers and pork loins for sandwiches. I am having a cookout tomorrow night for Kerry and some of his college buddies (Deer steaks) and I suggested to Kellee, I should probably practice grilling tonight so I would be ready for Saturday. We went to HyVee’s meat department. (Yes Kellee went out, wore a hat on his head.) They have started to carry a Dutch spiced beef hamburger mixed with Gouda cheese.  We picked up two of those burgers and they also had some BBQ spice rubbed loins, so we got some of those too! So we grilled them up. For a side we warmed up some twice baked potatoes G-ma had left for us. Even though I don’t eat beef, I had a couple bites of one of the burgers, not bad. We pigged out, it was good. We were so full we skipped dessert! We both then loosened our pants and dozed in front of the TV while we watched Everybody Loves Raymond.