Till we meet again :)

Today is a sad day, but a good day. What I mean by this is today is my last day of class in Written Comm and the last day to see all your lovely faces. I will miss the early morning session with you guys because it was in a way my motivation to come and see you and to get to know you and learn about the different writings and stories. The different aspects of each of our writings has been a big eye opener to me due to the fact that I can step outside of my little box. I wish you all happiness and sucessfullness in each and everyone of your adventures in life. I hope to see you in the next semester and if I do meet you again I will surely say hi.

It is a good day to, because my semester is done after today, due to the fact that my family and Becci and her family and some others are going to Vegas on Monday am. We are heading to the Cities on Sunday and staying there over night, taking a shuttle to the airport on Monday am, to fly to Vegas. On Sunday we are also going to the Mall of America to see the Underground Aquarium. Most of my family has never been there, so we are on a journey to accomplish as many memories as we can make. I am so excited and relieved that this semester has come to an end and that I survived another semester. Only 3 more semesters left unless I add another certificate or degree to my list. Next semester I am taking General A & P, EMT classes, and Intro to Ethics, that will keep me busy, along with work and family.

As far as updates on my Grandpa, he is slowly recovering and getting his strength back and loving each day he gets to have with us. As far as my Uncle John, he is still in critical condition and has had one set back after another. We are blessed that he still has the strength to keep fighting and hanging on. Our family has put him on so many prayer lists that hopefully with the prayers he will be blessed. Everything is in God's hands now. I believe he will do what is best, even it means breaking our hearts.

Good luck to you all and keep your head and give a smile. Once you accomplish your goals no matter how hard it will be or how long it takes, You will feel so great and so happy. Remember to keep your hearts clean and happy because your life will be so much better. Smiles to you all and take care, till we meet again, Love Angie Happel

P.S. I will be keeping this blog and so if you ever need to talk or need to vent just blog away and I will try to respond as soon as I can, Thanks :)

Updates on my Grandpa and my Uncle John

As horrible as it may sound, 2 tragic situations has brought our family even closer and stronger with each challenge we face. My Grandpa Johnson had a stroke a week ago from Monday and my Uncle John ended up back in the Hospital last Sunday night with heart trouble and abdominal pain. My grandpa is doing well and graduated from the walker to using a cane and his heart healthy diet restrictions got decreased so he can eat a little bit more and he can use No Salt or Mrs. Dash now on the bland foods to give it flavor. He has his feelings on his left side back and his speech is coming real good. He has been recovering so well that he may get to go home on Thursday. He is here in LaCrosse at Gundersen Hospital, so I get to see him almost every day! :)
Onto my uncle John, he on the other hand is not doing well at all. He had emergency surgery last night and had his Gall Bladder removed. He is a bleeder so he has 6 blood transfusions and continues to bleed. His heart is in A-Fib again and today he was finally taken off the respirator. He is still in Critical condition and lots of prayers have been sent off to God. I shed many tears, because I cannot be with him, but our family have a very close connection of communication so I am informed about everything, good, bad, or indifferent. I was feeling selfish because I am here continuing to work and finishing up two of school in one because we are leaving for Vegas December 13th and returning the 18th. I feel sad about that also, because my Grandpa and my Uncle John were going with us to Vegas so our family could add another chapter to our lives and create memories, unfortunately they are not able to go.:(
I feel stressed out with having so much schoolwork, work, family issues, and regular family living that I think a vacation would be Great now, but how can someone have fun knowing that some family are not doing so great. My cousins told me that my Uncle John, their dad, is strong and could be ok in the long run, but it is God's will to take him not ours. Boy that was tough to hear, but they are right.
Therefore, knowing all this please keep in mind to create memories with your loved ones and show compassion to others and smile because it might make someones day! Our family is close and we are there for each other whether it is directly or on the phone, no matter what! :)

Things Work in Mysterious Ways

Another week and it did not start as a very good one. My grandpa was rushed on Monday night to Gundersen Hospital by ambulance from Decorah, because he had a stroke. His left side was affected and his speech was real slurred and his memory and comprehension was just not functioning properly. He is not a candidate to get the clot buster, because he has a blood disease. I have been there every day and he is improving each day and can walk pretty good now with a walker. They did a Temporal Vein Biopsy on Wednesday and everything went well, we will know the results today sometime. My Grandpa is my love and compassion for elderly people and I respect the elderly because of him and my late Grandma Doris. When I was younger I didn't have compassion for others like I do now, but my grandparents always told there kids and us grand kids, "Be kind to others and respect your elders, because someday you will be there." "Do onto others, as you would do onto yourself." Through prayers and patients and strong will, my grandpa has another chance to create memories with us. I cherish every laughter, every moment, and every breath that God gives me and my family to live one more day to make a memory. Someone will carry it on and hopefully each generation will keep compassion as a part of respect and life. Without it, life wouldn't be good. The man upstairs really has truly worked in a Mysterious way, when it came to letting us still have our Grandpa. My Grandpa is suppose to go to Vegas with us on December 13th and plans on still going, if he can't he will be greatly missed, but thought of. Life is too short, so be kind to others and respect your elders, because someday some will be gone in a blink of an eye. Have a great weekend and see you in class on Monday. Take Care and God Bless You All. :)

Christmas Spirit

It has been a busy week, again. I finished up a couple of papers, but need to type them up in school on Monday, then I worked this week and school till wed of last week then it was the most wonderful day on Thursday. I was so glad to wake up and there was no snow on the ground, so that meant a good traveling day for Thanksgiving. We went to my mom's and had lots of good food and good people to be around. We had Turkey, Meatballs, Mashed Potato's, Candied Yams, Green Bean Casserole, Sweet Corn from our patch, Jello deserts, Pumpkin Pie and Bars, Cherry and Strawberry Cheesecake, Seasoned Pretzels, and home made chocolate candy. I was so stuffed that I didn't eat till the next day at noon. It was great though and the memories are even AWESOME! We talked to my Uncle John that day and he is feeling real good, so we have a lot to be Thankful for. I worked all day and night on Friday and Saturday went household shopping.
But today is my best day, I call it my time day. I was home all am and midday by myself and I got a lot done. I shampooed carpets, I took out the garbage, stoked the wood stove, made a hot dish, did the dishes, and put up my Christmas Tree. I had on Christmas music and a Yankee Candle lit, called Red Apple Wreath, mmmm it smells and feels like Christmas Spirit here today. There will not be much for gifts under our tree this year, due to the fact our kids are going to Vegas with us the 13th through the 18th of December. That is there Xmas gift from us. Brady is 10 years old and Santa will have still bring him something. I feel good and love to be in the Xmas spirit. It took some coaxing, but I am glad I did it. If you feel like you don't want to decorate just turn on some Christmas music or watch a Christmas movie or bake some Christmas goodies.
I hope you all had a safe and good Thanksgiving, see you in school Monday am and God Bless You All! :)

My Birthday

Hello everyone, today is my birthday well actually in about 25 minutes it will end, but it still is my birthday today and I am 41 years old. I worked at Gundersen today and was gone from 8am till 7pm. It was a busy day, but a good day at work. I thought it was very foggy out today so I was feeling kinda bad for the hunters. When I got off of work I knew the air was still kinda damp and heavy, because the aromas from the grilled areas was not as strong when I left Onalaska. Trust me I notice the smells when I leave work at night, because I am starving and can't wait to get home to eat.
When I arrived home my husband ordered a black olive, hamburger, onion and mushroom pizza with extra cheese from GoodTimes and boy was that delicious. Sorry Jamie, that I mentioned food again, lol. Then after I ate supper my wonderful husband surprised me with a card and in it was a beautiful card and a gift certificate to the Hair Haven so I can get my hair done and go tanning before we go to Vegas Dec, 14th thru the 18th. I thought it was great and I loved my special day. I went on face book and had lots of Happy Birthdays from many family members and lots of friends. I also received many phone calls and texts too. I thought it was GREAT! When you get to be my age, well your birthday is just another day. Well it is time for me to go to bed, because I work tomorrow again the same shift and I need my sleep due to the fact I am older now, lol. See you all in class soon and have a Great Turkey Day if I don't see you in school. God Bless You and Take Care and Be Safe.:)

Updates

Hello everyone, today is a real good day. I have received good news about Uncle John. He is getting better and stronger every day. He is walking good and eating well. They are monitoring his blood level now because of his heart A-Fib flutter. He has had a real tough go this year, he had real bad M-Diabetes and he had knee surgery and his Neuropathy was getting bad. So he decided to have the Gastric ByPass done in June and that has helped him a lot but he bled real bad right after he had the surgery and it was because he had a bad bag of Heparin when he was in the hospital. Everything else has been good since the surgery, Diabetes regulated with pills now instead of injections, his knee's feel better and he can use his hands real good now too. He lost over 100 pounds and felt great till he had his stroke. They found that he has Sleep Apnea now too so he has to get a machine for when he sleeps so his heart doesn't have to work so hard. He thinks he might get to go home on Friday if he continues to improve. He will be sent home on Coumadin(blood thinner) and a C Pap machine for when he sleeps.
As far as getting rest, well it is getting better but still feeling a little sluggish and tired. I wish I could sleep and do nothing for one day. I have had tests this week and papers due and work and my list goes on and on. I guess that saying, 'I can rest when I'm dead', will have to apply to me.
My husband and the boys have been working in the fields combining corn since Sunday and it has been non-stop working from 7am till about 11pm. It is like a cloud of dust where ever they are working and smells like cooked corn at the elevators, mmm smells good. They come in and eat and off again. When they get home at night I make them a snack and a glass of milk and they shower and go to bed. Combining is short lived so that is a good thing.
Tonight I made homemade Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes, Sweetcorn from our garden, and Homemade buns. I cheated for desserts, because I bought a box of those Zebra Cakes and gave them one of those. I also took out fresh Strawberries from the freezer and we had Strawberries over ice cream. I was hungry for something home cooked and since I work tomorow the leftovers will be good for the guys to warm up. Well I will see you all in class and thank you for the concerns and the thoughtfulness, it sure makes it easier when you know people care. God Bless You.

My Uncle John

This week has been very busy and exhausting. I had my usual busy schedule with college and work this last week. My weekend was very scary! I went to work Thurs at 4, after I had classes all day, and I almost hit a deer on my way home, oh wait let me rephrase that, 'A deer almost hit me.' Then I did school work on Fri morning and then went to work Fri night and didn't get home till 11pm. I got up Sat am at 7 and went to work till 6pm, then I get a phone call. It was my Aunt Pogo and she tells me that they life-flighted my Uncle John to Mercy Hospital in Souix City, Iowa. My aunt's last words that I heard from her before I became num was, "He had a Stroke and he is CRITICAL." I thanked her for telling me and then I did a ton of phone calling at many angles, because I was going there (6.5 hours away). I was scheduled to work on Sunday and needed to get that taken care, I needed to get a hold of my mom and see if she wanted to ride with me and she said yes, then I needed to let my household family know and then pack and go there.
My Uncle John is doing better, they got him the clot buster within 40 minutes and he did not suffer permanent damage, but some heart A-Fib going on, but that will regulate hopefully with meds. I was with family and it was critical until about 9 am and then things decided to turn for the better. I got only 45 minutes of sleep in 2 days and I am exhausted and ready for bed. I also wanted to tell you that I got to watch my uncle's Echogram and watch them do the Bubbles on him (name for injecting a certain med to see how his heart is function in a chemical mode). It was real KOOL! I left Iowa around 2pm and got home about 8pm, so I did good timing coming home too. Doing some school work and so ready for bed. Good Luck to all you hunters out there and get them deer, because I don't want them hitting me, lol.
God Bless You!

As we all prepare for ****** and that word starts with a W and ends with R and the middle is inte, lol, I am sure we are all saying it too early. Maybe this year will be a good year to have a snowmobile, compared to other years. I can not believe the way the leaves changes so fast and now you see a lot of bare trees. I can smell and feel the moisture in the air, but because we have our furnace on (wood stove) it is dry in the house. I love the smell of the wood stove outside and sometimes we put cherry woodchips in that we buy from FleetFarm. That aroma is sweet, soothing and pleasant to smell than Boxcelder trees. I hope we don't have too many disasters this winter and it goes calm and pleasant.
I am getting excited that we only have 8 weeks of school left this semester and that most of my mid-term grades were satisfying. I am just getting this schedule down and before you know it, I will have to adapt to another schedule.
I have a funny joke I want to share with you. This man took his girlfriend to her first football game. The game was exciting and lots of cheering going on. After the game the man asked how she liked the game? She replied, "I don't know why all these people are all fighting over getting their quarter back!" LOL
Another comment for food for thought, Homemade Apple Pie, Baked Roast, and Mashed Potato season is here, yeah!
All is well here and looking forward to being a Grandma in Feb. My daughter picked a name for the baby boy, Chamberlain Aaron Meyer. It is a peaceful, but strong name. Hope you all stay healthy and your families, see you in class or around campus.

Another exciting week since I have posted anything and so much to tell you. I had school and work this last week and the weather has been messing me up. I never know how to dress anymore because in the morning it may be cold and cloudy out, but by the middle of the day it has warmed up or vise verse. I don't know if any of you are dealing with these crazy Asian Beetles but our house outside the other day was covered with them. I hate it when they get in the house because they smell and are annoying when they crawl over everything and same with the Boxcelder Bugs.
Today was a wonderful day, because we had no school and I could sleep in and I didn't have to work. I had a little birthday party, for my husband, and I invited his immediate family to come to our house for supper. I grilled steaks, hamburgers, brats, hot dogs and baked some chicken, and I made mashed potatoes, squash and sweet corn that we had froze. I made a Duncan Halloween cake and that was fun and real good. I had 15 guests and it was real nice and fun. My husband turned 51 years old today, but he doesn't look it or act like it. I think he is Great and I love him a lot. We will have our 5 year anniversary in November but have been together for 11 years since last May. He is a farmer and works for First Supply Group in LaCrosse. He had a good day and loved supper and visiting.
I have been noticing a lot of hunters out there lately and I wish them luck. The deer are crazy right now. I met one on the highway and it didn't know which way it was going to run, it came close to hitting my truck, when I was stopped. I even had my lights on dim so it could see where it wanted to go. There is a lot of deer out there and it is terrible when you see them slaughtered on the road. I have been smelling a lot of skunks in the night when I am driving home from Onalaska and it seems to linger for miles.
I hope all is well you all and God bless you and drive safely. Until next week this will be all.

Blogger : Busy But Wonderful Life :: Configure Image

Blogger : Busy But Wonderful Life :: Configure Image

Well I don't know about you, but I couldn't believe that it snowed the other day! It has been a little bit too cold already for me. I do love the smells of fresh baking and cooking that linger in the air, now that the air is so much heavier than in the summer time. I work in a Lab as a Support Staff Tech and boy, lots of people are real sick with fevers, coughing, and rashes. Lots are dehydrated and exhausted. I think this is a start to a terrible winter for viruses and bacterial germs. I hope everyone knows that the most helpful way to reduce infectious pathogens is by washing your hands vigorously. Well I hope you all stay healthy.
I have more news that my children are moving back home one by one. By December we will have 6 of living there instead of 3. I love to have them close by so I know they are safe and eating well. I will sleep sooo much better, but there comes a time when a Mother has to learn to let go and let there children spread there wings and be grown up themselves. Maybe when they are 25 years old, lol.
As far as freezing and canning, tonight I will be done with canning tomatoes and this week I will be done freezing squash. Yippee!
Until next week this is all for now. Have a safe week and enjoy each day that is given to you.

Wow, another week and a half has went bye. I am loving the changes in this weather, well except the cold. I love to smell the foods in the city linger in the air, like grilled steaks or burgers, and I love the smell the scents in the rural areas such as home cooking and baking and wood stoves burning. I love the picture perfect view every day on my way to LaCrosse from my place in Sheldon. I see the leaves are changing so fast to red, yellow, orange or brown. I see people getting ready to harvest the beans in the fields and the gardens are pretty well done and cleaned up and the lawn mowing has slowed down now. The chimneys release smoke and the ground is now covered with frost in the mornings. The time has come that we need to scrape our windshields, unless you are a lucky one to have a garage and to put on our little mittens to keep our hands warm.
This weekend was the first big 2 day gun season for deer hunting so we see a lot of vehicles on the sides of the roads parked and vehicles parked in fields and in field roads. I have also seen a lot of bow hunters out this year. The ones that hunt on our land always hunt for the meat. We do not allow trophy hunters on our land. We have seen two deer killed on our land and one was a real nice big doe. We also tell the hunters that if the doe's have young babies with them that are not to shoot them. The hunters we have are very kind and respectful.
College is going ok, my family is well and I got to see my unborn grandson last week in an ultrasound, and work is great. Almost like that song God is great, Beer is good, and people are crazy, lol.

Another week has gone by and it is getting colder out. We actually have our wood stove outside going, so, more work to get ready for winter like, chopping, cutting, loading and unloading wood and then stacking it. Alright, I am already a little pooped out with college, work, family, canning and freezing, but I still have squash to freeze and apples too!! I am getting a little bit excited for fall, because I love how the leaves change to such beautiful yellow, orange, red, and then brown colors. When the leaves drop to the ground and swirl or roll around in the ground they look like they are dancing. I love the smell of wood stoves outside going and people baking and making homemade meals in the ovens, oh you wouldnt dare do that in the summer, because that is grilling season and too warm to fire up the oven in the house, lol. I love fresh apples and they usually are in around the end of summer and the beginning of fall. I shall miss the summer, but it will give me something to look forward to, like next summer. Be safe and drive safe.
Oh by the way, next week on Wed. my daughter has her first ultrasound and I get to go with her and see my grandbaby for the first time. She wants to know what the sex of the baby is if they can see it. I can't wait!

Today I had a wonderful day. I finally at age 40, almost 41, had my braces removed at 11:00am today. I am loving it and eating corn off the cob. I never thought it would be so difficult to not eat foods that I love so much like caramel apples, chewing gum, and corn on the cob. I had all three today and it was GREAT!!
Another week has passed and guess what I did not do so good in A & P, so I transferred to Body Structures and Functions and I am getting that a lot better. It is still a lot of memorization but at least it is a little slower paced.
I canned tomatoes this last weekend and worked at BP gas station. My father and my step-mom were here this last weekend also, so we had 4 of our children home. The other 2 had to work so they couldn't come and see their Grandma and Grandpa. I also prepared and froze some buttercup squash over the weekend.
Hope all is well with all of you and bye till next time!
By the way hope you like my hamster, you can feed him by clicking on the square box that he is in. Thanks if you do, he will love that.

Hi there, another week has gone by and there is still lots to be done, such as cleaning my house! Oh well, everyone keeps telling me it will still be there tomorow.
I just want to say, "Yippee, we are done with sweet corn harvest!" I am also done making Dill and Bread & Butter pickles. I will still have about a month left of raspberries to pick and freeze and I have tomatos and squash to harvest and to freeze or can for the winter. Soon this will come to an end and then I will have time to really clean my house.
As far as college is going I am very overwhelmed this semester. I dropped A & P and I am now in Body Structures and Medical Terminology is going good. I think I need to take Chemistry before I go back to A & P.
My family is doing well. Brady, my 10 year old son, is the quarter back for his 4th grade football team, instead, he wants to be a running back or a wide receiver. My daughter, Reggi, is starting to show with her pregnancy. Reality has really set in, that I am going to be a Grandma in February. She has an Ultrasound to see the baby on October 8th and I get to go. Boy, I am real excited! I will post the ultrasound picture after it is done.
I work at Gundersen, in the Lab Dept. as a Phlebotomist. There is a lot of people sick out there and it will continue through the next few months, so people WASH YOUR HANDS ALOT! It is the best way to get rid of germs. I hope none of you get sick. As we are all busy with school, work, family, friends, hobbies, and lots of other stuff, our bodies will lack rest and the lack of correct nourishment we need to keep fighting and going will lead us to being sick with some sort of bug. I wish you all good health and a good fall semester.
Today, I had to have a tooth pulled and it wasnt that bad. The shot of the novacaine was the worst, but taking my tooth out wasn't that bad. I hope it heals ok and I don't get what they call a Dry Socket. I have heard that hurts a lot and I don't have much pain tolerance. I'm sure it will be fine.
Well, see you in class and have a great day or night!

Hello everyone, hope you had a wonderful Labor Day weekend. I so needed to have that weekend to catch up on a lot of work around the farm and home. I froze 43 quart bags of sweetcorn, with the help of my friends Becci, Danny and my wonderful, eldest son Dustin. My super mom had done 28 quart bags, before I had gotten home from work(4am-1pm) at BP. We shucked corn, boiled it for 4 minutes, then cut it off the cob and then bagged and dated it. What a chore, but it sure will be great to eat it this winter. Plus I had done 15 quart bags with my husband a week before. Well I guess you are wondering where did I get all that sweetcorn, well my youngest son and husband planted an acre of it. So we give a lot away to help others. My other project was to pick vegetables out of the garden and do some canning, like pickles and make refrigerator salsa and can some jars of that too. Mission has been completed.
My family also had a Sweetcorn Party on Sunday night with a bunch of family members and friends. We had homemade BBQ's, Sweetcorn, refrigerator salsa, chili-cheese dip, pasta salad, chips, cake, brownies, and strawberry jello dessert. It was bring your own beverage so some people were creative with that. We had a blast and it was nice to sit around the campfire and visit with everyone.
Between home, working 2 jobs, college, church, and my family and friends, I am a very busy person and sometimes hard to get a hold of. But this time of the year is great and very productive to accomplish a lot to get ready for winter. I love to pick my raspberries from my patch and soon I will have squash to do. Harvesting my garden is a reward for our family and we love to eat it all year long. If you have any good and new recipes with raspberries, squash, cucumbers, new potatoes, and tomatoes, I would love to have them. My motto is I will try most anything once and if I like it I will try it again and then it turns out to be a win-win situation.
Well enough about my weekend and by for now. I have 2 big tests this week in A&P and Med Term so off to study.