HyannisSchwartz

2008-12-16T21:32:00.003-05:00

And now for you, Gail Z., and all other curious ones.

I had out patient arthroscopic knee surgery on 12/10 - and I've been in pain ever since the novocaine wore off!!

To say this was painful post-op recovery is like saying the Sistene Chapel is a finger painting. Both observations are inaccurate and gross under statements. Although I have to say that at least I am seeing a lessening of pain as the days go by.

But using crutches for any attempt at walking is a must. And I can't live without an ice bag! Forget drugs - they don't touch the pain! The doc finally gave me a cortisone shot today and that has helped. But so has the distance from surgery. I did tell the doc that in spite of everything I still liked him. He replied that he had heard that earlier in the day. Maybe he should listen????

Schwartz Family

2008-12-16T21:27:00.007-05:00

Schwartz Family

2008-12-16T21:27:00.005-05:00

OK. I tried something different and did and didn't get what I wanted. I was trying to transfer one picture from one blogspot to ours. Instead, I transferred the link to the blogspot.

That's OK because it's our son & daughter-in-law's site and has many cute pictures of the most wonderful granddaughters (to date) in the world.

So, click on The Schwartzs and see our little ones for yourself.

Personally, I think Sonja is on her way to earning the nickname "Sneaky."

2008-12-12T17:24:00.002-05:00

Welcome back - to me, that is! I haven't updated this thing since Sonja was an infant, so there's a lot to tell!

2008-08-05T00:44:00.003-04:00

Here's Anna eating ice cream and wondering where the Fair is--even though we're sitting right in the middle of it! It's been a busy afternoon and she's about had it, so who can blame her for wondering what's going on? Her announcement at the end proved to be a false alarm.

2008-08-05T00:31:00.004-04:00

I haven't been blogging since the spring, so I thought I'd put a few pictures on before I found myself facing the Christmas season! Here are some new ones of Sonja (well, they're from June, I think).

2008-04-13T13:18:00.001-04:00

OK. I did it backwards again. So, scroll down until you see Sonja's first picture and then scroll up and the sequence will make a lot more sense!

2008-04-13T13:16:00.002-04:00

One more look at Sonja (with Oma's hand in the background).

2008-04-13T13:14:00.002-04:00

Tears are gone now. Anna has Mom's cell phone and a kiss.

2008-04-13T13:13:00.003-04:00

Here's big sister Anna crying because Dad let Oma hold little sister Sonja. Anna thought little sister belonged to her!

2008-04-13T13:12:00.002-04:00

Here's big sister Anna holding little sister Sonja.

2008-04-13T13:11:00.002-04:00

Here are the happy parents and tiny Sonja.

2008-04-13T13:06:00.006-04:00

Welcome Sonja Marie Schwartz!
6 lbs 9 ozs
20 - 1/2 "
April 12, 2008
7:56 am
Anne Arundel Medical Center
Annapolis, MD
lucky parents: Chris and Missy Schwartz
lucky big sister: Anna Katelyn Schwartz

2007-12-04T19:37:00.000-05:00

Well, it's been awhile since I've been added new pictures, so here are a few of recent interest.
We celebrate Christmas and Thanksgiving all on one day this year. What a good time we had, too! The guys played football in the morning, we ate around 2 pm, we opened gifts around 7 pm and ate again! It was wonderful to have everyone together and to watch Anna very carefully tear bits of paper off of packages.
One of the hits of the day was the giraffe backpack on wheels she could push around. One of the NOT hits of the day was the school bus that made sounds like a motor warming up and then took off!! She didn't like that at all!! It produced tears every time we tried it!
So here are Andrew (with a beard) and Amanda and Raven in front of their Honda Pilot that's decorated with Lab stickers and a vanity plate that (I think) says, "MyDoggie." Life in Ohio continues to agree with them but we miss them soooo much!
And here are Chris, Missy, Anna and baby sister-in-waiting as they get ready to leave for their home in Philadelphia. I don't think Chris needed the new Garmin GPS he received as a Christmas gift to guide him back home. However, he did use it the next weekend when they went in search of a Christmas tree.
And finally, here's one more short video of Opa and Anna decorating Christmas cookies.

2007-10-23T00:34:00.000-04:00

Here's Part 2 of Anna Goes Shoe Shopping.
And . . .
. . . Part 3,
and Part 4,
and Part 5.

2007-10-21T16:26:00.001-04:00

Welcome back! Here are several videos of Anna and her first shoe-shopping experience. Since the vidoes take so long to download, it may take me several days to get all five of them on the blog. So come back several times to see her "strut her stuff" in her new shoes!
Also, our new addition is almost finished! We officially get to "move in" on Monday, Oct. 29th. Can't wait! I'll post new pictures when the carpet and furniture are in.

2007-09-23T22:51:00.000-04:00

Well, phooey. I did it again. I put the first picture on last and the last picture on first. One of these days I'll get it straight! Meanwhile, enjoy the most up-to-date look of the addition. Start off with the front of the house, then move to the side, and then to the back and the side back with the deck and the French patio doors. Then go inside and see the new family room from the back wall; notice the fire place and the French patio doors, looking out. Our dining room is out of the picture to your right. The you see the stairs, from the upstairs landing. This is followed by the bathtub in the master bedroom, the fireplace in the MBR and then into Christopher's old bedroom which will be a walk-in closet and dressing area.

Remember to click on ChrisandMissy.blogspot.com to see Anna, the genius granddaughter, standing in her pool and looking as cute as ever!

Sorry to say that I have been unsuccessful in publishing the video I took of Georgia's baptism. I will keep trying, though. Stay tuned!

2007-09-23T22:42:00.001-04:00

2007-09-03T22:12:00.002-04:00

Well, this past week was slow-goin' at the house. The plumber, who fights with the electrician, was here so a lot of the pipes are in. Jimmie and the electrician, who was here when the plumber wasn't, walked through and settled on the electrical work--and we bought two ceiling fans. I'm guessing another week of "gut" work and then maybe we're headed for sheet rock.
So, to keep you entertained, here is Anna and her mom in the Children's Zoo at the Philadelphia Zoo on Labor Day. This was Anna's first trip to the zoo, so we were lucky to be with her and her parents for this great event. To see Anna interact with the goat, click here.

2007-08-27T19:15:00.001-04:00

Welcome back for week . . . well, I have no idea. Anyway, I do know that our genius granddaughter had her first birthday this past Friday (8/24) and her parents are celebrating their second anniversary today (8/27). Fun times for all!
So, here's our new deck. It's not finished, but I'm lovin' it already. It will be perfect for a small table and a couple of chairs. Great for coffee and newspaper reading on Saturday mornings in the Spring, Summer and Fall.

2007-08-27T19:12:00.000-04:00

Here's the closet structure in Chris's old room as seen through the opening between the addition and Chris's old bedroom upstairs. On the left is the bedroom window that looks out over the backyward.

2007-08-27T19:08:00.000-04:00

This is the upstairs bathroom. The window-like boxes will become medicine cabinets. Back in the left-hand corner, in front of the chimney, is some ductwork.

2007-08-27T19:04:00.001-04:00

Here's the new downstairs entrance between the addition and the dining room. Like the fancy "dust" door? It zips open and closed to keep the dust on the construction side. I'm disappointed that the size of the opening. I'd rather that it was larger. But there are issues of structure support that prevented that from happening.

2007-08-27T18:31:00.001-04:00

And of course, our most recent additions would not be complete without the obligatory "dog on the stairs" picture.

2007-08-22T11:39:00.001-04:00

I am officially signing the house over to the construction crew this week! They are on the roof and in Chris' old bedroom tearing up, hammering, singing off-key, and generally raising havoc! And all this starts at 7 a.m. Who needs an alarm clock!
So, anyway, supposedly we get the entire roof done today. We'll see.
The next few pictures show our new steps, the big hole in Christopher's bedroom wall that connects the 2nd floor of the original house to the 2nd floor of the addition, and the new fireplace in the 2nd floor. The 1st floor dining room also has a big opening but they've put a zipper door over it so I didn't take a picture. Meanwhile, the rest of the house is a total mess! Please don't come to visit! Like I said, even I'm moving out!

2007-08-22T11:38:00.001-04:00

2007-08-22T11:37:00.001-04:00

2007-08-22T11:36:00.001-04:00

2007-08-22T11:24:00.000-04:00

2007-08-16T22:36:00.001-04:00

First, Happy Birthday to my mother, who turned 84 on August 13th. Here she is with her gift from Andrew and Amanda--a beautiful picture of them on their wedding day.

2007-08-16T22:31:00.001-04:00

So, back to the building project. We now have windows and a patio door. And we know that the roof doesn't leak, thanks to this morning's rain shower.
We also sat down with the builder and found out how much over budget we are. Never a nice meeting, let me tell you. All of the overage is our doing, so none of it was a surprise. Let's just say that we're now eligible for food stamps!!!!

2007-08-16T22:29:00.001-04:00

Here's BGE doing its thing.

2007-08-16T22:20:00.001-04:00

Finally, here's every boy's ultimate dream machine! It digs, shovels, chews up dirt, roots, rocks--anything that's in its way. There are two seats, a steering wheel and a bunch of levers to use in guiding this rig. You can't help but be cool when you operate one of these things! What it really did was dig a trench to bury the power lines, cable line and telephone line.

Week Whatever!

2007-08-15T10:03:00.001-04:00

. . . I've lost track of the weeks! All I know is today is August 15 and I'm going back to school next Monday. Not another word on THAT subject--please!
. . . Anyway, here's the addition from our Southview neighbor's point-of-view. As you can see, there are lots of windows on the side. The roof is now on and today they are putting the felt on it. Tomorrow the electric company arrives to bury the wires (promises, promises) so that the final exterior shell can be finished. Then on to the fun stuff--like breaking through the two walls of the house to connect the addition to the original house.

. . . No new pictures of the genius granddaughter, but here's another video I took of Anna on my last visit. You can always visit her at Chris and Missy's Blogspot, too.
. . . This week Anna and Missy are in Georgia with Chris to follow on Friday. Anna was sick all last week with a fever varying between 100˚ and 104˚. She finally broke that trend on Saturday, but I hear Missy is a bit under the weather now, so I hope their visit to Missy's family is going well.

2007-08-07T23:33:00.001-04:00

Me, again. This is Anna looking skeptical after she hears she can have ice cream for dessert. Really, I'm posting this so you can see her two teeth and her growing hair!

Welcome Back!

2007-08-07T18:14:00.000-04:00

I have to start out with a short movie of our dear Anna sharing ice cream with her daddy. I went to visit Anna and her mom and dad on Monday (8/6) for the day and had a wonderful day watching her play and explore. Chris, Anna and I went out to dinner (Missy had to work) and everyone (well, almost) in the restaurant was enthralled with Anna. She constantly turned her head around and watched them while she ate her grilled cheese sandwich.

This video shows Anna and Dad sharing Anna's vanilla ice cream dessert. You decide who gets the better end of this deal! Sadly, as the night went on, Anna developed a fever (102.5˚) and was still carrying it this morning. We'll have to see how things go from here.

Oh - Anna does now stand by herself, at least for a second or two. I imagine that by her birthday (8/24) this will be a routine thing for her to do. Missy told me that Anna actual took two steps this past weekend! I told Missy that life as they know it was over!!

Meet the Crew

2007-08-07T18:11:00.001-04:00

OK--now on to the building project. Here are two of the three faithful workers. And I mean faithful. The heat has been awful this past week and a half but these guys have been here every day and working hard! But boy have they been drinking the water--and cooling off under the hose!

2007-08-07T18:09:00.001-04:00

Ah, the wonders of Tyvek! Here we are at the end of Friday, August 3rd.

2007-08-07T18:07:00.001-04:00

If you use your imagination, you can see our new fireplace between the two windows!

2007-08-07T18:02:00.001-04:00

So here's what it looks like at the end of Tuesday, August 7th. You'll notice that BGE has not been out to move the electrical wires from overhead and then bury them underground! They tell us that will happen on 8/16--if we're very good and pay our bill on time. Meanwhile, the construction crew has moved the two insulated wires down to the first floor but has to work "carefully" around the "hot" wire on the second floor.

The First Floor has walls and windows!

2007-08-02T19:13:00.001-04:00

Here is Jimmie trying out the new shower.

Week 4 - We Have a First Floor!

2007-08-01T11:03:00.001-04:00

Before we get started, I want to know if having a red dumpster bin in your front yard means you are now considered "trailer trash?!?!?"

On more positive news fronts . . . We chose tiles for the two bathrooms. We weren't too brave on the color scheme, staying with neutral tones but venturing into different textures and tile layouts. Although even as I write this, I'm thinking of revisiting the tile store to rethink the choice for the first floor bathroom. That BR won't have a window and I think our choice is too dark.

So now that we can "walk the floor" we've begun to imagine furniture layouts and such. We are lamenting a bit that we weren't able to make the addition wider by two feet (county restrictions about how far from the property line you could build). The room won't be as large as we had intended. However, it will be a wonderful addition, especially since we're getting two full BRs and a master bedroom with a huge walk-in closet. Yippee!

Oh--new rule. NO DOGS NOT ON LEASHES ALLOWED in new addition. That's meant mainly for our own unruly mutt Meister.

I'm back from the South!

2007-07-30T22:42:00.000-04:00

Well, Week 4 has begun with lumber being dumped on the side yard. The noise scared at least one life out of each of the four cats who lives next door! We choose tile for the floor and walls of the two bathrooms today. That only took two hours! Too many choices! Check out Anna's new pictures. She gets cuter all the time!

Now you can make a comment . . .

2007-07-22T23:43:00.000-04:00

. . . without signing up for Google or Blogspot! I changed one of the settings so all you have to do to make a comment is to "click" on comments and go for it!

Week 3 - On Vacation

2007-07-22T10:32:00.000-04:00

Well, everyone needs a break. The construction crew is taking one this week and so am I (Meredith). I'll be in South Carolina visiting Maureen. Be back Friday. Oh click here for some wonderful new pictures of Anna, the genius granddaughter.

Oops! Almost forgot obligatory picture of the granddaughter

2007-07-19T13:22:00.001-04:00

Clarification - July 19th

2007-07-19T13:16:00.000-04:00

Hello to all and welcome back. As you can tell, I still haven't figured this blog-thing out. The next time I post pictures, I'll be sure to post the first ones last and the last ones first so that the pictures make sense. Sorry about the inverted storyline this time around.
Meredith

And here's the view from the front. We're having a grass seed planting party in September. All invited.

2007-07-19T13:14:00.001-04:00

Here's the "new" backyard. More work ahead, I'm afraid.

2007-07-19T13:13:00.001-04:00

Did you know that the Bobcat & operator cost $100/hour? They were here from 7 am to 1 pm just to move dirt. You do the math.

2007-07-19T13:11:00.001-04:00

Another day, another truck--to carry the Bobcat.

2007-07-19T13:10:00.001-04:00

Foundation is finished. Now for the grading.

2007-07-19T13:09:00.001-04:00

Week 2 - The Foundation

2007-07-19T13:05:00.000-04:00

Oh, please. I can't get much cuter than this!

2007-07-17T21:37:00.001-04:00

This is Anna and her 90-year-old great, great uncle Vince. (Meredith's uncle)

2007-07-17T21:34:00.001-04:00

First things first! Here she is! Anna Katelyn

2007-07-16T23:41:00.001-04:00

Look, Ma! No Deck!

2007-07-16T23:37:00.002-04:00

So, where's the other dog house?

2007-07-16T23:35:00.000-04:00

Like the fancy walkway?

2007-07-16T23:34:00.001-04:00

It's all in how you look at it, really.

2007-07-16T23:33:00.001-04:00

Waiting for a dump.

2007-07-16T23:22:00.000-04:00

And the Compound Grows!

2007-07-16T22:28:00.001-04:00

We've decided to share pictures of the progress of the new addition. Please stop in once and awhile to see how things are going. We'll also post some pictures of the cutest addition to the family on this blog.