52nd Birthday

My birthday started out with a great surprise!

Jill and Andrew came over at 8am with a vase of daisies,
a homemade birthday card, a birthday balloon & a birthday cupcake.

Andrew and I shared the cupcake....for breakfast!

 Andrew then helped with a little light housekeeping

Even vacuuming under the rug!

 A few hours later, I got another surprise!
An Edibles Arrangement delivery from Jackie & Jonathan.

Unwrapped!

Included for free was a box of chocolate dipped fruit

(apple slices, bananas and strawberries)

I enjoyed my birthday dinner at Babe's Chicken in Frisco with my best friend Linda.
The most embarassing part was the chicken hat, stryofoam nose
and me flapping my wings to Happy Birthday. 
I think Linda has forgotten that her birthday is right around the corner. TeeHee!!!
 

In addition to all the wonderful birthday surprises/treats.
I have received a few birthday cards in the mail.
1) Trinity Presbyterian Church
2) Tammy Briedel
3) Jackie & Jonathan
4) Mom K. + $25.00 to spend on some new photo frames

I also received a few phone calls throughout the day:
1) Makayla, Jenny & Allie Swanson
2) Mom & Dad J.
3) Jackie (singing me Happy Birthday)
4) Jonathan
5) Doug (via Skype)
6) Karl

The Facebook birthday greetings were in abundance, as of this evening a total of 41 people have remembered me on my birthday.  I have toasted the end of my celebration day with a bottle of wine.
Thanks for all that remembered me today and made me feel special!

Plumbing Trouble

Saturday, I noticed the bathroom sink in the guest bathroom backing up.

I tried using the plunger but the water did not go down.

I tried removing the sink plug but I could not get it out.

Josh, Jill and Andrew came over to attend Kameron's birthday party so Josh checked it out for me.
He made several attempts to fix (unclog) the drain.
We later would find out the A/C pan in the attic was holding water that was leaking.

So Josh put some buckets in the cabinet

 

and I made several phone calls and tried to find someone that would come out to snake the drain.
A plumber's appt was made for Sunday 1-3pm.

Sunday, the plumber was here for about 1/2 hour and snaked the drain 30 foot down the line.
It was clogged with algae and other dark looking slug due to this sink is also the drain for the A/C line.

The plumber left...but the story doesn't end there.
The next morning I checked the buckets and there was water dripping.
It was a small leak, but leaking water nonetheless.

Monday morning, I received a Satisfaction Survey from the plumbing company.
I let them know the sink drain was leaking from the work yesterday.
They could not send out a plumber on Monday, but someone would be out on Tuesday morning between 8-10am.
The same plumber returned and "tightened" the connections and left.
Saying  I was "Good to Go!"

Sorry to say the story doesn't end there either.
This afternoon I checked under the sink and what did I find but more water.
Slightly less than the previous day, but still leaking.

Doug called in the afternoon and via SKYPE talked me through taking apart
the P-Trap. I cleaned up all the connections and put everything back together.
It's now been 5 hours and No Leak!

In the photo below, I'm pointing to the source of the leak.

Cancer Scare

It's been a medically exhausting last couple of weeks.

Wednesday 08/14/13 - I went to my internist for a normal 6 month check-up. I talked to her about a lump in my neck and some sore/red toes. She ordered a uric acid test for gout.

Thursday 08/15/13 - I went to gynecologist for annual exam. Scheduled me for a punch biopsy the following week.

Friday 08/16/13 - Routine mammogram screening and bone density test.

Wednesday 08/21/13 - Mammogram clinic called and said routine screening was abnormal (increased calcifications they wanted better pictures of and increased density in a node on the right side). So I was scheduled for a diagnostic mammogram and ultrasound the next morning.

I also received notification from my internist that my uric acid level was 5.9; Abnormal is 6.0 and above. She recommended I see a rheumatologist for a synovial fluid test of the joint to truly rule out the possibility of gout.

Thursday 08/22/13 - I returned to the women's clinic for a diagnostic mammogram (17 pictures in total) + bilateral breast ultrasound. The calcifications were determined to not be precancerous and the right node density was because a breast cyst had attached to the breast wall. So nothing to be concerned about. Continue with annual mammograms.

Monday 08/26/13 - To gynecologist for punch biopsy of a sensitive area!

Wednesday 08/28/13 - The gynecologist office called with results of the biopsy and the skin cells are not cancer cells or viral (HPV), fungal, yeast or STDs.  The doctor believes it is Lichen Sclerosis and is treated with a topical steroid ointment twice/day for one month and then once/day for one month. It is likely caused to do a low estrogen level, since I'm menopausal now.

So on the TO DO list is still get the neck lump checked out (all though it is getting smaller) and figure out whether I really have gout or not. My toes have gotten less red and less painful since I've removed some obstacles from underneath my desk.

I think I've got to stop going to the doctor! Everytime I go they find something else new wrong with me.

Tire Projects and Rangers Game

Thursday, Jackie came home for the weekend so that her Dad could put new tie-rod ends on the Ford Escape. The weather has been decent for this entire week, so it wasn't too bad to be outside working.

Total cost of parts $138.05

 

Labor Cost: Priceless!!

New tie-rod end on the passenger side

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Earlier in the week, Doug was given 2 free tickets to the Rangers game.
We enjoyed getting to see the Rangers in person as we are used to watching them every night they play on FoxSportsSouthwest or TX21.
It was an added bonus to be in left field where my favorite player "#7" David Murphy plays.
The Rangers lost, but we got to enjoy a fireworks display following the game.


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Saturday morning, my truck was scheduled to get 4 new tires at Discount Tire.
Michelin Latitude Tour P265/70R17 113T
Total Cost: $880.21
Guess I'll have to hang on to my truck (2005 Expedition) for a few more years
to get my money's worth out of these tires.

Jill and Andrew had spent the weekend at our house with Jackie, while Josh was out of town.
Sunday, I let Andrew have my phone and showed him how to take "selfies"
Here is one of the good shots he took. Most of them were only part of his face.
 He loved looking at himself and saying "cheese".

 

TV Trouble

Oh where oh where has my television gone?

Oh where oh where could it be?

Our television (52" Sony BRAVIA KDL52XBR9) we purchased in March of 2010 has been having some minor technical difficulty.

See here for that 2010 purchasing story: http://the-kuklenz-family.blogspot.com/2010/03/tv-shopping.html

Each time you turn it on, there is a vertical blue dotted line running from top to bottom.

Luckily we had purchased the warranty!!
So Doug called up the warranty folks and today the tv repairman (did you know they still had them)
was out and took our tv back to his store for fixin' (yes I'm from Texas now and I say fixin')

It's supposed to be only a few days...I'm sure it won't be quite than easy...Stay tuned!
I'm glad we have a tv upstairs to use so that we don't miss any Rangers baseball games. 

Audrey's Bridal Shower weekend

Friday, Jill and I drove down to Montgomery,TX

and checked in to the La Torretta Lake Resort & Spa

Jackie met us there shortly after we arrived. 

 

This would be the location for our "Last Fling Before the Ring" event.

 

We reserved two (2 Bedroom\2 Bath Lakeside Villas)

One bedroom had a King size bed and the other bedroom had 2 Queen size beds.

Above is an example of the bedroom with the king size bed.

 

Each villa also had a common living area, which we used as the
Entertainment Staion for our weekend.



We set up the bar table as a buffet table for our
"Crafting & Cocktails" evening on Friday night.

 

Our "Crafting" part of the evening included each person making paper flowers for
Audrey's rehearsal bouquet. Jill did the assembly of the bouquet.

Saturday morning, we started the day with mimosas before going to the spa.

 Most of the day Saturday was spent lounging at the Spa.

Each person received a "Spa Express" package: Massage, facial and pedicure.

We got to lounge around the all day in robes as we went from service to service.

Enjoying mimosas (orange juice & champagne) or poinsettias (cranberry & champagne)

Each person spent some time in the massage chairs and then went to the steam room.

We also enjoyed lunch delivered to the spa.

After the spa treatments were completed, we changed and

spent the rest of the day at the water park (lazy river, water slides, pools, etc..)

We had reservations at 7pm at Cozy Grape

We enjoyed a nice dinner and a couple bottles of wine.

The beautiful Bride-To-Be!

The entire crew at The Cozy Grape.

 

Saturday evening Audrey did her gift opening,
followed by some "Family Fun" 

designed by Jackie.

We decorating mini wedding cakes - Jill won!

 

Playing the Honey Do List - Mom K won!
You had to answer questions on if Karl or Audrey performed these household chores.
You had to model lips if you thought the answer was Audrey
or you had to model the mustache if you thought the answer was Karl.

 

The Panty Poem!

Here is a link to read it for yourself

 

There was a knock at the door.
"I think it's for you Audrey!"
Audrey says "Oh dear!"  "I don't want to go!"
- - - - - - -
But she did...What do you think happened next?

 

Sunday morning, everyone slept in from all the busy activities of Saturday.

Our final bridal weekend event was "Bottle our own wine' at Cork This!

Here is a link to Cork This!

This is a photo of the group - before we bottled our wine!

This is the photo of the group - after we bottled our wine!

To view all the photos from the weekend - Click Here