Lees On The Loose

Another step forward in Donna’s recovery!

Tonight, after a rousing two days of cleaning up a soaked basement, Donna felt like going out to dinner. We ended up at Mama Mia’s in Redford.

She ordered a dish with veal and crab, and the owner let her try a portion of whitefish which Donna said was “cooked to perfection.” Of course, when you have gone so long without food *I* could have cooked it and she would have thought it was cooked to perfection!

She skipped the salad, had a small amount of bread, and then was able to eat a small but significant portion of her veal and crab dish. So far she has not had any ill effects….but they usually show up after a longer period of time. Of course, she is feeling much better emotionally. To be able to eat ANY amount of food and enjoy it is a big boost to her.

If it is like her last dinner out, she will be many days in the nibbling of it before it is gone. However, this is much better than before where the slightest bit of food in her stomach had her in dire pain and nausea within a few hours.

Thanks for all the prayers! It is good to see continued progress!

Hey Everyone!

What is more fun than water in your basement?

I don’t know either!

Yep…it seems that water ended up at the base of our house’s foundation and now it is taking up residence in our basement!

After two fun-filled days off of work to find some temporary storage, attempt to dry out the basement, start moving stuff out of the basement, and starting to rip up the carpet and the tiles on the floor beneath the carpet, we are just having FUN, FUN, FUN!!!

At least we finally located the source of the water and we have some work to do on grading and clearing our gutters.

Beware! We just might be asking you to help us cart some things to our new storage facility!

Donna weighed in at 95 pounds today! That is 2 more pounds in the last two weeks or so. GREAT!

Also, Donna has been able to eat small amounts now of certain foods. Things she has been able to eat include:

• A dinner from IHOP (Tilapia) including small potatoes. Donna was able to eat THE ENTIRE THING over the course of several days.
• Some seafood salad from Westborn Market
• Some Pita bread with a mild dipping sauce

Needless to say, we are OVERJOYED! Her slow but steady progress is just what the doctor ordered!

Just when you thought it was safe to read a blog again!

Just to let you know, we are starting this category on our blog because we wanted to have a place where people can go to check up on Donna without having to make one of those pesky phone calls if you don’t want to (in all seriousness, phone calls are welcome!). Our goal is that as Donna’s health improves there will be fewer and fewer posts going into this category. But for now, we will use this site as a medium for distributing news about Donna’s progress (which is going quite well!)

As such, we will open this new category with GOOD NEWS! In the last two weeks Donna has:

• Gained weight to the point that she is now up to 93 pounds!
• Been able to eat (very) small amounts of food without serious ill effects
• Has been slowly increasing her physical activity during the day

This is all wonderful news for us and we are hoping that it will continue slow and steady.

Is there anything that inspires a man quite like a trusty piece of machinery?

Okay…that was lame…

In the news today is the maiden voyage of our new lawn mower (yesterday). It just goes to show you that points that you accumulate on your credit card CAN be put to a non-frivolous use!

Though our lawn had not been cut yet this season, I was able to get out yesterday before the weather got too bad and at least cut the front lawn. Now you should know that this is our first BRAND NEW lawn mower ever…and I have been impressed with some of the technological advancements that have occurred over the years:

• A Battery/Electric Starter: Now THIS is useful! No more yanking on the pull cord til you earn a trip to the chiropractor!
• A built in Deck Wash: I LOVE this! When you are finished mowing you plug a hose into the socket on the lawn mower deck, turn on the water, then run the mower for about 60 seconds. It washes the entire underside of the mower for you!
• Mulcher AND Mower all in one!

And these are just to name a few…

This whole thing came up when we got fed up with the damage that has been done to our lawn over the years by the various lawn cutting services. They are constantly using heavier equipment, even on wet grass, tearing up the lawn. They cut the lawn so short it is unhealthy, and the appear to be “ramming” things like wooden enclosures, brick work, etc. Worst of all was when gasoline was spilled across our front lawn and no one even told us about it…let alone apologized for it. Oh yeah, did I mention the set of lights around the deck that they ran over with the mower (not just one light…SEVERAL lights) without ever mentioning it? TWICE!

So this year we have decided that the only way to get our lawn to look the way we want it to is to do it ourselves…hence the mower.

My only complaint with the mower (a Sears model) was that it came from the manufacturer set to the LOWEST possible mowing level…which was opposite of what I was expecting. Ah well…the front lawn will eventually recover 😉