The misadventures of John Forsythe.... continues....

Yes, John has added 4 more scars to his already checkered body - on Wednesday morning he had his gall bladder removed.
Tuesday night at about 10 pm he got a serious pain moving from his sternum area down toward his stomach.  He was doubled over in pain, so we quickly went to the Methodist Hospital in Boerne (about 20 minutes from our home.)  The doctor there ordered a sonogram of his liver, bladder and stomach to see what was causing this moving pain.  The tech had to come in from his home (at about midnight) so there was quite a wait, but since John was on morphine by this point, it didn't really matter.  Pain was gone.
Low and behold, the tech found stones in his gall bladder.  John was transported to the Methodist Hospital in San Antonio, where they did surgery at 9am that morning.
Recover is going well, except that he has a nagging pain in his back right side.  I've read up on it and this seems to be a normal thing after gall bladder removal, but I hope he can get it under control soon.  
Now its just a matter of trying to keep him down so that he can heal.  Sigh....

Shivers!!! Can't wait for Dexter!

As most of you know, I'm a huge Dexter fan! I've watched it from day one and this show just gets better and better!  Now, let's see how Dexter deals with baby diapers....alone...

Had to share...

this picture of our pavilion while we were decorating it for the Hoyt-Wren wedding.  It looks quite good, doesn't it?  Thanks for the photo, Mari!

Vahalik Family Reunion, September 2010

Grand adventure on Sunday.  I've been worried about taking Mom to Yoakum for her family reunion ever since we began to hear about the event several months ago.  I was feeling like it was a "must" since Mom is aging and this may be the last time she will get to see her extended family.  So, Sunday morning I dragged myself out of bed and my sweeter-then-anything husband drove me, Mom and my sister Mary to Yoakum.  We actually arrived in town almost exactly at the correct time, with only one stop at the famous Buckee's along the way.

Mom did fine for a while, and although I knew that she would not remember anyone, I think the constant activity (the absolute BEST turn out that I've seen since I've been going to these things!), the constant hub-bub of noise and voices was way too much for her.  She has a real hard time with questions like, "Do you remember when...?" or "Do you remember me?"  Her automatic answer is "Yes", but in fact she was totally confused.  If you don't keep an arm around her, or on her leg, or hold her hand, she gets up and wanders away, searching for.... I don't know what....We ate a hurried lunch and left at about 1pm, and took her out to see her remaining sister, Leona, and her husband.  That went a little better, although it was raining cats and dogs!!  Stayed only about 1 hour and then started back to San Antonio.

Mom was EXHAUSTED by the time I got her back to her room at about 4:30pm.  I asked her if she wanted to lay down for a while until they came to get her for dinner, and she said "yes" without hesistation.  I believe she was asleep before I even left her room.

Long story short...I don't think she got anything out of the day other than more confused.  I'm glad we took her this one last time, but that is most likely it.  Note to brother and sisters -- she's not really going to be able to get in and out of a truck much longer.  That was really hard for her.  I need to use my car to cart her around for sure.

On the other hand, it was good to see my cousins again!  They all seem to be doing great -- one engaged! (congratulations, Mary B!) -- some gaining more grandchildren -- some recovering from knee surgery (Margaret, stay off of that knee!)  I wish I could have stayed and "caught up" with them more, but Mom was faultering.  Some from Oklahoma (Katie) (and Chris Raska - who is looking more and more like Danny!) and some from Louisiana (Mary B.)  Peter and his wife came in just as we were leaving, so I didn't get to visit with them.  Darn!

I believe that we agreed to have the reunion in other places from now on, not just in Yoakum.  Some people wanted to have it where there were other things for us all to do and see (festivals, parks, etc.) and I kind-of liked that idea.  I think it would attract some of the younger generations.  Margaret was collecting our "wish lists" so I'm sure we'll here more from her in the next year.

As far as pictures... what a dolt I am! I left my good camera at my daughters, so I had to take the little trusty Canon.  Who knew that the battery was low?!! I only got a few pictures before it died on me.  Of course, I totally forgot that I could have taken pictures on my iPhone too.  Dumb!  

A collage of JRs

KT, meet Uncle JarJar and Aunt Ash

Movie Review -- Resident Evil: Afterlife

As I was on my way home after seeing the latest edition of the Resident Evil series, I was thinking... it doesn't really matter what movie critics think about these types of movies. You are either a BIG fan and will go see this movie first weekend, or you're not a fan and nothing anyone will say will make you go. These movies tend to bring in their fan base. I'm definitely one of that group!


Not the best movie in the group, but still great! I'm going to keep watching Alice go after the Umbrella Corporation until Mila can't kick any more!

Definitely not a "zombie" movie, per se. The poor zombies had a back-seat in this movie to the new baddies - a multi-fanged new creature much like the mutant vampires in the old Blade series. And the head of the corporation reminded me much of the Matrix enforcer, Mr. Anderson, but with super powers.

I read this morning that this movie was "a fast train to Monsterville on tracks greased with zombie entrails" and it was all of that!

PS: The flayed zombie dogs are back, but with a vampire twist... watch out, Alice!!

PSS: Yes, they left it open for the next movie....can't wait!!!

Mom's 83rd Birthday

Grandma Schwencke turned 83 on Saturday, September 4, 2010, and the family got together at her apartment to celebrate with her on Sunday!  She was having a good day - and loved (LOVED) the cream cheese icing on her cake!
She surely loved seeing her family - her grandchildren Sarah Shumate and her husband, Jason - J.R. Forsythe and his wife, Ashley - Colleen Koenig and her husband, Jeff - and Andi Gonzales!  KT Koenig made a big hit, also!  Grandma even got to hold her for a few minutes! 
For all of the pictures, you can view them here: http://picasaweb.google.com/JohnandPatForsythe/GrandmaSchwenckeS83rdBirthday#

KT is Baptized!

Yesterday was another milestone in KT's life -- she was baptized!  We joined her parents and many family members to celebrate this wonderful event.  Colleen and Jeff had a brunch for us all at their home afterwards.  KT was so good through the whole thing -- she only fussed a little after the water was poured over her face!  It's a good thing she loves water, it could have been worse!

I really loved the simple cotton dress that her parents found for her to wear for the event -- and she actually wore shoes, a gorgeous little pair of white ballet shoes.  What a gorgeous little girl!

Her Godparents are Ashley and JR, her aunt and uncle.  They did a great job of answering, "I will" to everything.  Now, let's see how hard that job gets when she's a teenager! ha!

Thanks to Ashley for the beautiful picture of KT!

Book Review -- The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

What a gem of a book!  I could not, COULD NOT put it down!  Thank you, thank you, thank you to my niece, Emily, for recommending this beautiful, funny, sad, hysterical, charming, and horrible story. 

My feelings ran the entire course from joy to grief.  I read the whole thing in two days after work -- ignoring my husband, dinners, and chores.  It was definitely worth it.

It's written in the form of letters back and forth between the heroine of the tale, Juliet, and a farmer on the isle of Guernsey, around 1946 - after the German army had occupied the island in an attempt to gain a small piece of Britain. What a way to learn the history of that small part of WWII. The citizens of that small isle used everything they had to survive those terrible years, and came out the winners.  I feel like I know these characters - especially Isole, who I'd dearly love to meet.  What a character!

And aren't you just dying to find out what a potato peel pie is?  I'm not telling...you need to read the book.  I got this copy at my local library - and I've got mixed feelings about returning it...wonder what the fine is for a "lost" book?  jk!!

It was written in most part by Mary Ann Shaffer, and finished by her neice (I think) after Mary Ann fell ill.  I read that she died earlier this year, but I hope before she did that she realized our gratitude for her beautiful little book.