Troubles McSteans

Last Friday I travelled northward back to my hometown of Lawton, Oklahoma with my parents for a wedding. The daughter of my dad's assistant, Christy (from his Orthodontic practice), got married in a lovely ceremony on Saturday. Katie and her younger sister Annie are the sweetest girls. They both looked beautiful and elegant and having known both of them since they were born, it's still hard for me to believe they are old enough to get married (Katie) or even be in college (Annie is a sophomore at Oklahoma State). Kudos to Christy for handling all of the church and reception decorations and yummy food. Thanks for inviting me! I didn't remember to bring my camera, but I had my Blackberry: Breakfast at the Cracker Barrel, complete with real live fire It does exist! After 20 years of rumors Lawton was getting an Olive Garden, it finally appeared. This was my Junior High. Go Cougars! My dad and I killed some time at Dillard's while my mom looked for shoes, and a purse...

So, my mother has always had this weird thing against blue foods. Luckily there aren't that many edible items that come in blue, but it does mean she abstains from things like blueberry pancakes and blue M&Ms. Yes, you heard me. Blue M&Ms. Don't ask, I don't even know. This morning I tried out a new snack item. We generally don't keep a lot of sugary foods in the house, unlike a few years ago. I no longer have cookies stashed in the cupboard or bags of Skittles and Hot Tamales lying around. I very rarely even indulge in my nightly bowl of cereal anymore. What I do enjoy is a mid-morning or post dialysis snack of Eggos and Starbucks frappuccino. Don't judge! Hey, the Eggos are Nutri-Grain, that's kinda healthy, right? Anyway, the last time I was at the store I thought I would branch out and try the blueberry flavor Eggos and this morning I cracked open the box for the first time. Immediately upon placing the Eggos on the plate I suspected there ...

Tomorrow is the birthday of two of my favorite people, my mom and my good friend Nicole. Saturday night a group of us gathered at the Z Tejas to celebrate Nicole's birthday a wee bit early. We then ventured out to Donn's Depot for drinks. Matt and Nicole enjoying the ambiance and fuzzy wallpaper of the Donn's. Juan and his new friend who kept appearing to stand mute by our table. We chose to call him "Steve". Tonight Ryan and I made our way south to San Marcos for some dinner and cake to celebrate my mom's birthday. My folks have just returned from their trek to Brazil and were sharing stories and some amazing pictures of their adventure. My mom's favorite cake is called Helen Corbitt chocolate cake and has this caramel icing that is easy to royally screw up. I set out yesterday afternoon to attempt making this cake and decided, "Hey, if I'm already making one cake, I should just go ahead and make another for Nicole!" Mom and cake The ca...

This morning I had my parents over for breakfast in honor of Father's Day and their 40th wedding anniversary, which is also today. I'm glad my parents live so close now so that we can do these things and not just send cards in the mail. My dad is great and since everyone loves lists (you do, you love lists), here's a list of 10 reasons my dad is awesome. 1. He taught me to ride my little red Schwinn 2. He would take us on 'hippo rides' in the pool when we were little (this involved hopping on his back and getting submerged when we least suspected it) 3. He took us on lots of road trips 4. He taught me to canoe and fish and to appreciate the beauty and serenity of the outdoors 5. He taught me never to give up 6. He taught me to love to watch football 7. He taught me the art of the bad pun 8. He made sure my life was VERY WELL documented 9. He taught me bravery in the face of pain 10. He gave me a kidney Dad, after discovering Ryan, Doug, and me in his cabin in M...

Happy early Mother's Day to both my mom, Judy, and my mother-in-law, Karebear (and to any and all other mothers out there). I really couldn't be more blessed to have two moms who would do anything for me and who are both such fun to be around. I love you both very much! Unfortunately Karebear won't be in town this weekend, but I'm taking my mom (and dad) out in style tomorrow to go see Star Trek at the Alamo. A very young League wants you to live long and prosper

Tuesday morning I piled the dogs in the car to take them down to Happy Hills Puppy Farm (aka, my parents' half acre of backyard in San Marcos). The dogs love it there and it was great to see Lucy leaping over their decorative wall in pursuit of tennis balls and random woodland creatures. Tuesday was a lovely 72°, so Mel spent some time flipping around on his back, attempting to maximize sun exposure to his tummy. I'll have to start taking them down there more often. My mom and I had plans to see the 12:00 show of "The Secret Life of Bees" since we both liked the book and were curious, despite mediocre reviews, about the movie. I was slightly shocked to see my dad heading to the car with us for such a girly movie, but then realized that's just how bored he is already. He's only been retired since September. This is not a good sign. Someone made a crack about there not being any tickets available as we turned into the deserted theater parking lot, but we ...

Sorry for the lack of posting. It's been a good week, what with shopping with my mom on Tuesday and a visit from my childhood best friend, Rebecca, Thursday. Rebecca is in town for a conference. It's amazing how easy it is to regress back to your childhood self with someone who's known you forever. We laugh a lot at dumb things we did as kids, and dumb things we do as adults. I wish she lived in Austin so we could hang out more. That was my not so subtle plea to get her to move here. Rebecca and Juan, you need to move to Austin! It seems like something else good happened this week, but I'm having trouble remembering..... Shoot, what was that....... Oh. That's right. Ya'll, I seriously cried during his speech on Tuesday. It's like I've been repressing my feelings about the downward spiral we've been in for so long and that all finally came out. For the first time in 8 years I felt hopeful. The polls kept saying Obama was probably going to ...

The floor guys are still here doing their thing. They are finished with the staining and scoring and are going to be working on sealing today. Tomorrow they paint the walls, so I hope we can agree on paint colors before then. Floors in progress Yesterday after dialysis I was planning on staying holed up in the bedroom with Jeff the Cat until around 1:30 when they started scoring the cement. I don't know if you've ever smelled cement dust, but it's nauseatingly suffocating. I had to flee. After opening a window for Jeff the Cat and wishing him the best of luck, I headed off to my parents new house in San Marcos where they were preparing for today's arrival of furniture and boxes. And so begins what is sure to be a tradition of pop-ins. Here's how it goes: Me calling mom, IN the car on the way to their house : "What are you all up to?" Mom: "Not much" Me: "Are you at home?" Mom: "Yes" Me: "I'm coming over." L...

The floor guys are not messing around. They were scheduled to start this morning between 8 and 8:30, so I wandered off to Starbucks to gather some pastries and coffee for Ryan and myself. The clock on my car dash read "8:01" as I rounded the corner of Campfield Parkway (our street) and not only was the Mystic Illusions van parked out front, but every inch of our front room carpet was already stacked on the porch. So now we are prisoners of the second floor along side Jeff the Cat, who is loving this. He never gets his 'people' to himself without some big smelly dogs shoving him out of the way. Now he has two warm people with two warm laptops camped out on his bed. I have the feeling he's going to be spending much of his time inverted between the two of us today. Mel and Lucy are hanging out at cousin Cassidy's today. Apparently, in true Steans dogs style, they refused to go out this morning, so we'll have to make a mid-day voyage over to Hop-a-Long L...

The Chicago Cubs. It's been 63 years since they went to the World Series and 100 years exactly since they won. They've made a good run of it in recent years, though usually by looking promising in the first half of the season and flaming out like Snoopy's WWI Sopwith Camel as they neared the playoffs. The few times they have made it into the playoffs things didn't go so well. I think this poor schmo is now under federal protection My heart goes out to my dad this morning. He was born and raised in northern Chicago and I don't know if the man has missed listening to or watching a Cubs game in his life. (That's a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the idea). Every year the beginning of the season brings a new wave of optimism for him, even though he's perfectly aware of the likelihood of self destruction. This year his hope was high, and with good reason. They started strong and finished strong, with the best record in the National League. Their 100 ...

Next week should be interesting. We're having our downstairs redone -- trading our cheap, crappy linoleum and dirty, pet stained carpets for stained and scored cement. We're also having the walls painted. I'm excited about this transformation, but the logistics are not simple. Right now we're in the process of slowly moving all non furniture items upstairs. The movers are coming Monday morning to transfer all of our furniture, Tetris style, into the garage. Because the downstairs will be off limits for the week, we'll have to relocate ourselves and the pets. Jeff the Cat will be jailed upstairs in the master bedroom, while the rest of us may be camped out at Hop-a-Long Lounge with Jason and Cassidy. Also next week: my parents are making their official move from Oklahoma to San Marcos. My mom says packing is going relatively smoothly, perhaps eased by their carting of Ford Escape Hybrid-loads of items down during the past year. I hope they have room for their...

Tomorrow, July 27, is a very special day. It is the birthday of two classy ladies, my mother, and my good friend Nicole. I'm happy to say, my mom and I have a great relationship. I've detailed a little of my medical history here, but that didn't just affect me. My mother went through a lot of that with me, especially in the beginning. She took me to all of my nephrologist appointments which were an hour and a half away in Oklahoma City and was there when I was first diagnosed. I've been fine with all of this for years, but it was a scary day for a previously healthy 17 year old as words like "transplant" and "dialysis" were suddenly thrown around. We were so depressed that we took a detour to the mall on our way home for shopping and about a pound of chocolate each from the Godiva store. Mom took charge of my health, from altering our diets to doing her own research on kidney disease. She even took me to Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN for a s...

My parents were always great about taking my brother Doug and me on trips when we were kids. Spring break we'd usually fly somewhere and since most times my birthday fell in that timeframe, I've had birthdays in Hawaii, Grand Cayman, Washington D.C., and turned 11 in Berlin. With more time at our disposal, summers were more about hopping in the white Dodge Caravan with the fake wood panelling to see the country. Most summers we'd make at least one trip to northern Minnesota where we spent a number of years alternately canoeing/camping and houseboating before my mom put her foot down and demanded the comfort and convenience of a cabin. I had to side with mom on that one -- marching up a dark path in the middle of the night to a concrete 'throne' when nature calls was a little TOO 'roughing it' for me. Then there was the infamous 2 week road trip of 1984. Any longer than a week is just too much time for any family to spend in a car together. I know Ryan ...