Window Project & The Comcast Center

Yesterday morning, while I cleaned the bathrooms and did laundry, Andy painted around the windows he had replaced in the kitchen. He thought he was matching the paint but either the original paint was greatly faded or he took the wrong can to the store for matching. The new paint is brighter than what was on the walls, so he's thinking now he'll have to repaint the whole kitchen. It's never simple, is it???

The finishing touches on the kitchen window project...
We finished up with our work by 11:00, then drove over to center city Philadelphia for a tour of the Comcast Center. I have a friend at church who works for a big-wig top executive of Comcast. Several weeks ago she had invited Andy and I to join her for lunch at her work and she'd give us a tour of the building. She knows Christy, so I asked her if it would be ok for Christy and the kids to join us and she said it was. So we met Christy at the parking lot right next to the Comcast building, then walked the 1/2 block to the largest building in Philadelphia.
We actually got there before Christy did because she ran into traffic (surprise, surprise). So while we were waiting for her, Andy and I sat in the outdoor park and enjoyed the outdoors.
The Comcast Center is a skyscraper in center city Philadelphia. The 58 story, 974 foot tower is the tallest building in Philadelphia and the fifteenth tallest in the US. It is built over Suburban Station. My friend who works there can take the train from NJ all the way to about a block from where she works, then in winter or rainy weather, can walk the entire block underground. The building is an amazing structure and we learned some interesting tidbits as we toured the building. This building has actually become the third most visited place in Philadelphia for tourists.

Just the lobby itself was quite fascinating. This "man and his son" are looking up at all the possible walks of life that the son could go into.
Then there is the video. The Comcast Experience is a 25.4 feet tall, 83.3 feet wide, 2,000 square feet high-definition LED screen situated on a wall in the winter garden. The screen is composed of 7.8 million, 4.66mm pitch pixels housed in 6,771 LED modules. The video runs eighteen hours each day. The content of the video includes panoramic views of Philadelphia historic sites, images of space, dancers, acrobats and actors moving around a background designed to mimic wood paneling of the walls of the lobby.
The rest of the building is interesting, too. Our friend took us to the Sprout floor where the PBS show originates. The kids sitting in Barney's chair:
We also saw the studio where interviews were being recorded for the Comcast channel.
There are 4 sets of elevators in the building. Most people have to go from floor 1-12 in the first set of elevators, then you have to switch over to another set that goes another set of floors, until you get to where you want to go. However, our friend, whose office is on the 55th floor, is authorized to go in the special elevator that goes from ground floor to the 56th floor in 43 seconds! Talk about tummy ticklers and ears popping! Whew!

The building also has a "green" reputation. The lobby is not air conditioned or heated, but has vents in the floor that has recycled air from either the outside or underground. Our friend said the lobby is always cold. The building was designed to use 40 percent less water than a typical office building, and the plaza was designed to reduce heat-island effect from the pavement by 70 percent. Reducing air conditioning and lighting costs, the low-emissivity glass curtain wall blocks 60 percent of heat while allowing 70 percent of the sun's light inside.

Then to top it off, we had lunch high up in the clouds - literally. The clouds rolled in as we were eating our lunch in the unbelievable, anything you want to eat cafeteria. At one point the clouds were so thick we couldn't even see a block away. Then they blew away and we could see the streets below and surrounding buildings again.

This was really a fun day and I hope we can do it again. We were told that on a clear day you can see all the way to the Delaware Memorial Bridge. We were also told that their video show in December is awesome.

Feeling Better, Cousin Time & Back to Biking

Andy got home from the hospital last Wednesday, stayed home from work both Thursday and Friday, still very weak and exhausted. By Sunday he felt better, enough to go to church to keep an appointment he had made. But that wore him out so that he came home after an hour and fell asleep till I got home at 1:00. On Monday he went to work, but left at 11:30 to eat lunch and while home, took a nap. He did go back to the office for another 2 hours. Every day after that there was definite improvement, when he even went for a bike ride this morning. Wow - great progress, for which we are very grateful.

On Tuesday, Amy had puppies that needed shots, so Andy & I went up to visit her. We also invited Dawn & Christy and all the kids to join us - which they did. We went over and picked up Dawn & Kira then traveled up together to Amy's. We got there around 10:00 am and spent the whole morning outside. It was a beautiful morning, very pleasant in the shade with a nice breeze. The kids had so much fun playing togetherand listening to Poppop tell stories.
We ate lunch together although Naomi was the only one who ate in the tree.
The rest of the week was pretty normal; Andy worked every day, getting a little stronger and better each day. He finished the medicines he was on around Tuesday which really helped. I think sometimes the side effects from drugs are as bad as the sickness.

Because of Andy's foot surgery in May and the recent fight with the babesiosis parasite, he has not been riding his bike. Consequently, his biking buddies have been missing him. This past week, Dawn and a friend of hers who sometimes rides with Andy, planned to get him out this morning. They said they'd only ride 5 miles and they'd ride slowly. Well, anyone who knows Andy knows he always pushes the limit. So they went about 12 miles or so, but the good news is: he said he felt pretty good!

While Andy, Dawn and their friends were biking, I played with Kira. She loves to play piano and dress up. So here's Miss Hollywood tickling the ivories. Some day she might be famous.
I'm enjoying my Saturday with just puttering around the house, although I did go out this morning and do a few errands. That's wasn't so fun because of Saturday traffic. But thankfully, I got it over early enough to enjoy the rest of the day.

Bad Boy Babesiosis

He forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases. (Psalm 103:3)

Last week about this time, Andy and I were in the Emergency Room at the local hospital. That morning, we took his temperature because he was complaining of intermittent chills & sweats. The thermometer read 103.5 degrees. We both had a hard time believing that was accurate, so I shook the thermometer and told him to take his temp again. But it registered the same, so we made the decision to go to the ER.

Andy has a history of urinary tract, bladder, kidney infections and had just finished antibiotics for one several weeks before. So we thought he was experiencing another one. Thursday he had been so sick that he stayed in bed all day, so untypical for him. That evening he got in to see the doctor who prescribed another round of antibiotics. So we were expecting he would start feeling better on Friday. But that didn't happen, he continued with a high fever, chills, dizziness, weakness, exhaustion. Again, he didn't get out of bed all day. Saturday wasn't much better, then on Sunday, with the high fever, decided we better get to the hospital.

I believe it was the Lord directing us that way. Blood work was immediately called for and the results came back fairly quickly. The doctor told us that the lab tech was "sharp" for picking up that there was a parasite involved, which is not what they were looking for. We had still been thinking it was a UTI, so for the lab tech to discover the parasite was providential.

Andy was admitted and assigned to a room and remained till Wednesday afternoon. They pumped into him all kinds of antibiotics, as well as parasite killing drugs. In the meantime, we got an education into the parasite called babesiosis. It is carried by a tick. Most people who are infected feel fine and do not have any symptoms. But there are those rarities where it can be a severe, life-threatening disease. I guess Andy is a rarity - but we already knew that, didn't we???

If interested, you can read more about this parasite by checking out this site.

While Andy was in the hospital, I spent my days driving back and forth to spend time with him there. I also felt it my mission to try to understand the medical care he was getting. Because of Andy's high fever and all the medicine he was on, he was having a hard time focusing. In other words, he was a bit "loopy." I felt bad for him because he would try to hold a conversation, but it was obvious he wasn't "all there." I could tell him something, but the next minute he would ask a question about what I had just told him.

Dawn and her mother-in-law, Pat, came to visit on Sunday afternoon. Dawn was a bit shaken up with her dad in the hospital. I'm not sure the visit helped ease her mind because Andy did not look good while she was there. The next day, Amy came down with her kids to visit her Dad and that wasn't a very good visit either. While she was there, Andy got the chills and was shaking so badly. He had 5 blankets on and wanted us to ask the nurse for more. He lay there most of the time with his eyes closed.

It seemed like such a long time, but finally Wednesday at lunch time, the doctor said he would be going home that day. He's still taking lots of medicine and one in particular, leaves him feeling sick. He's still somewhat jaundiced looking, but every day, he seems to be a bit better.

Sometimes you don't realize how precious life is until that life is threatened, or how wonderful it is to feel good until you're ill. But we are very thankful that God spared his life for a little while longer and that his health is continuing to improve.

This has been a very busy week. I hardly know where to begin.

Last Saturday, July 16
Andy's mom loves family reunions in July. So she invited 70+ people to our house for a picnic on July 16th. People were supposed to arrive at 12:00 noon, then we were going to eat at 1:00. We borrowed tables and chairs from the church and put up tents and canopies. Mom organized it and it was a bit much for her. She says this is the last year she's doing this, but she said that last year, too. So we'll see. It was a very fun and a lovely day for a picnic and just renewing relationships.

The party was supposed to last until 5:00, but people stayed longer, some as long as 8:30! Christy and Dawn and their families joined the party from our immediate family. Christy and Christian stayed until around 6:30.

I was on the schedule for playing my bass guitar as a sub that weekend. So I needed to be at the church by 6:30 for rehearsal, then played in all 3 services on Sunday morning. When we got home from church on Sunday, I fixed lunch for Andy and me. The rest of the afternoon was spent in getting ready for another picnic. That's right - another picnic. I decided Andy's new name should be Mr. Picnic. He loves picnics, although after having 2 in 2 days might have been a little much even for him. The picnic itself is fun, but it's the set up and take down and prep work that makes one question the whole idea. This one involved our older singles group from church. I prepared turkey burgers (from scratch) and deviled eggs. Everyone who came brought either a salad or dessert. It was a fun time with everyone.

We decided to buy a canopy to use in the yard since we do plenty of entertaining. Isn't it pretty?

Along with all this activity, we also had a guest staying in our front room - Mom's cousin, Joan. We set up the futon for her and she slept there Saturday and Sunday nights. Then she and Mom went to the shore on Monday through Wednesday, when she came back and stayed another night.

On Monday, I left work an hour early and drove up to C & C's to get Aiden. His birthday was back in April but it hadn't worked out yet to have him over for his time with Grammy & PopPop. When we got home, he helped us water the flowers. After dinner we watched a movie and had some ice cream.
Andy had to clown around on Aiden's bike.
On Tuesday, we had some more fun together. He enjoyed beating me in 15 games of Uno to my only 3 wins. Then I had to teach him a new game, Tri-ominos, so I could win. He went to the church and rode his bike with PopPop, and we also watched a couple of Veggie Tales episodes. And a visit with the grandkids isn't complete without doing one of our favorite things: reading Uncle Remus stories. By 3:00 pm, we started our trip back to C & C's, getting there in time to visit a little before joining the family for dinner.

On Wednesday afternoon, I left work early and went to Dawn's to babysit Kira while Dawn had a doctor's appointment. She woke up from her nap about 20 minutes after I got there so we played and read books for about 2 1/2 hours till Tommy got home.

I don't know if all this activity contributed to Andy's health deteriorating, but by Thursday morning, he was feeling very sick again. He had alternating chills and fever and stayed home all day from work. He was able to get a doctor appointment for Thursday evening, so I took him to that. He should be feeling better soon since he started on another round of antibiotics.

Whew! I'm looking forward to a Saturday with no agenda. If nothing else, I need to clean my house since I didn't get to it on Tuesday. I guess I really do have an agenda. But at least it's my agenda, no one else has plans for my life. Shhh.

Adventures with Zucchini

Last week my neighbor brought over 2 huge zucchinis. So it's time to see how many recipes I can find to use them up.On Friday I made zucchini wraps. It was a mixture of grated zucchini with a bunch of spices including chili powder. That recipe was ok, but I don't think I will make it again. It was a little too spicy for our taste, although adding sour cream helped tone it down a little.

On Saturday I made a loaf of lemon zucchini bread. That was very tasty and Andy is eating it for his snacks.Tonight I made zucchini patties. I heated up some tomato sauce to dip them in. That was a tasty meal and pretty simple to make.

2 cups grated zucchini
small onion, chopped
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1/2 cup mozzarella
2 eggs
1/2 cup flour
Heat 2 tablespoons oil in pan. Mix ingredients together and drop by tablespoon full in hot pan.

I still have some grated zucchini that I need to use up, then when I got home from work this afternoon, I saw someone had left me some more zucchini.
Looks like we'll be eating zucchini a while longer. I have another recipe I want to try yet: Pineapple zucchini bread. And maybe some stuffed zucchini for dinner tomorrow.