A Toast to Dane #9

Family and friends gathered to toast our Danieboy on Saturday at our usual spot, Muldoon's. Tuesday was the actual anniversary, but we celebrated Dane on Saturday because it just works better to get people together on a Saturday. Truth be told, we celebrate Dane everyday because he is always right there for us and with us.
I say it every year and I will say it again: it is healing to be around folks who love and treasure Dane. He will never be forgotten.
This year Jenny brought Dane's DVD that she made shortly after he died. She also brought a little portable DVD player and set it up in one of the booths. I LOVED that. It was played many times that night and it always brought laughter and tears.

Dane's friend Mike watching the video

Rita had not seen the DVD before. Poor thing!

 

Abbie LOVED watching the dvd.

Karen, Suz and Rita

Here are a few other pictures from the night:

Luke (one of Dane's best friends) and Nina, having a heart to heart convo

 

Sue posted a status on Facebook on Tuesday that said: "Remembering Dane Erik Hendricksen who left us suddenly, totally unexpectedly, and with no chance for a final goodbye 9 years ago today. The lesson for everyone who reads this is: don't end the day, the conversation, the meeting with angry words or actions. There is no guarantee that u will see that person again. If a healthy, joyful 23 year old can be taken down by a lethal cardiac arrhythmia, anyone can! We love you and miss u so much, Danieboy!" Then in the comments, she added: "Jen-You have been amazing as you have led us in  our grief. I can only imagine the pain you carry in your heart, but you honor his memory by sharing his love and laughter. You are my hero-I love you!"  I could not agree more or say it any better.

 

Love love love him! July 2004

 

New look for the blog

I decided it was time to give the blog a face lift. I also thought maybe this template would be a better platform for the pictures that I like to include in my posts. I kinda like it so far! The good news is that if I don't like it, I can always switch back or go with a whole different template.
Gotta love technology.

Oh, happy day!

Friday was a great day. Why? Because we finally had our new main line installed!!!! I am not sure anyone can fully appreciate how wonderful this is unless they have had similar issues. 

And we are that much more appreciative because we were supposed to have it done on Wednesday and it didn't happen then (our sewer guys had another job that ran long). AND we had lots of rain on Thursday which meant water where it wasn't supposed to be. We managed it, only through the grace of God. Jack was in town on Thursday and able to spend time working our pumps AND the power did not go out. It was a long day, but we were fortunate that the water stopped coming up in our garage by 10 pm, just in time for us to get a good night's sleep.
On Friday morning, my heart sang when I looked out the window and saw the truck with the back hoe pulling down our street. I am not exaggerating when I say that. I was so thrilled. I got myself out of the way and headed to work as quickly as I could.

When I returned home at 4:45 that afternoon, the new main line was in and working! It is such a huge job and it took 4 men 8 hours to get it done. Jack documented lots of it with pictures. Amazing. [ side note: In the process of doing the job, they needed to remove some of our evergreen bushes. Per my request, they took all of them. Yaaaay! I know we will have to redo some landscaping, but it will definitely be a good thing. Our evergreens were overgrown, even though we had been pretty religious about having them professionally trimmed every year. They were kinda taking over the front of the house.]
I am proud to say that we can now flush our toilets anytime we want. And do laundry and a load of dishes in the dishwasher and take a shower. Wow. What we take for granted.

Not complaining about the weather. Much

It was a day off today for Presidents Day. Good timing because we had yet another five inches of snow.  Yes, we did. I was glad the weather wasn't bad for the actual weekend because it was a fun one.
On Friday, Valentine's Day, Jack and I had Abbie and Nina over for dinner. We have not seen much of those munchkins the past two months and have really missed them. It was an action packed night. :) As soon as they arrived, they jumped in the tub which is one of their favorite things to do. We had a gourmet Pizza Hut dinner and the girls made some chocolate chip cookies. We ended the night with a rousing game of Kids Charades before Arne came to pick them up. Simple pleasures!

On Saturday, Jack and I spent the day cleaning and getting stuff done. It was very productive and we were rewarded with a fun dinner at Chuck and Teri's with three other fun couples.

On Sunday, Matt and Sally had the family over for brunch. As Jack said, the torch has been passed as the next generation steps up and takes over some of the entertaining. And they did an amazing job! Matt made his family's Garbage Eggs and Sally made Tommy's biscuits and we had a great time. So lovely.

 

After Wayne and Julie left the brunch, they went to Julie's sister and brother-in-law's (Sarah and Tim) to see them and their 2 month old son, Ty. Wayne and Julie stopped by our house to pick up some things and ended up staying for pizza for dinner. Spur of the moment and then we added in Sarah, Tim and Ty. A fun evening all around.

This morning, Jean and I walked at our usual time and it was clear and dry. Then the snow began. I ran a few errands this morning before the roads got sketchy. I spent the day on schoolwork and cleaning out the piles of papers and things that accumulate before shoveling the 5 inches of snow.
All in all, a good day.

Happy birthday, Wayne!

 Wayne celebrated his 29th birthday on Sunday. How could he possibly be 29 when I am only 38?? For many years, I still felt like I was in my late 30s, but not so much anymore. Especially during this winter. Have I mentioned how brutal this winter has been? Oh, yes, that's right, I have. Pretty much every post for the last 2 months.

Jack and I picked up Wayne and Julie Sunday morning and the four of us went to mass together at St. Michael's, the church where they are getting married. I had never been there before and was anxious to see it. It is a beautiful old church, built in the 1860s, damaged by the Chicago Fire and then rebuilt. Really magnificent. After mass we walked over to a neighborhood bar/restaurant named Marge's Still. It was a low key, cozy little place with a delightful menu. We had a great time catching up and discussing life. 

I am so proud of Wayne and excited for him and this big year in his life. He is such a joy to be around and I am beyond blessed to be his mother.

Hawaiian sunset-check! 2002

Corn and Meat Casserole

We just finished dinner. I made one of Jack's favorite recipes from his childhood, corn and meat casserole. Jack's mom gave the recipe to me many years ago and I love to make it on a snowy cold winter night. When Marie was cleaning out cabinets a few years ago, she gave me the special red, square covered casserole dish that she used to make this meal in. 

Marie was definitely on our hearts and minds tonight. 

One more weekend with winter weather

As you may recall, we had dinner with Jack's dad last Friday night at Ken's, a restaurant in his neighborhood. We had such a good time that we made another date for this Friday night. It ended up being a family affair, with Lauren, Brendan, Sam, Sue, Sally and Matt joining in. It was a fun night
Second week in a row, the place did not disappoint. The food is so good, reasonably priced and not at all stuffy. The snow started to come down as we finished our meal and we all got home before it got too nasty.
On Saturday morning, I was supposed to head out to Grand Beach for our annual Birthday Club sleepover, but we woke up to about 4 inches of snow and the prediction was for another 3 to 5 inches. Since Grand Beach gets lake effect snow, we just didn't know if we should go or not. We decided not to travel, but to have a quick breakfast out, then bring all of our food (because we always have LOTS of food!) to Teri's house and do our dinner here in town. It really was a good decision. And the dinner turned into a couples event. We made the best of it. We have been fortunate that it was the first time we have ever had to cancel...in about 20 winters!
Yesterday was the Super Bowl. Jack and I both had so much work to do; I did not see more than ten minutes of the game. Jack did not see any of it. I also ended up going to bed around 7pm.
Winter weather wears me out.



Love the snow in the picture!