The Morning News with Allie

What's a Har Cat?

A New Rick Springfield Fan is Born

Two of my friends, who obviously know me way too well, made sure to let me know that my teen hearthrob, Rick Springfield, was on Oprah today. Thanks Colleen and Shannon for keeping me in the know. I actually saw him in concert, back in 2000. He came to Wausau for the Wisconsin Valley Fair.


As soon as the song "Jesse's Girl" came on the TV, Meredith started dancing. She obviously knows a classic when she hears it!

Artwork by Allie

Here's what our family would look like if we were all cats.

Another Trip to the Doctor

Allie hasn't been feeling good all week. You can sure tell when she's sick, there is no sparkle in her eyes. We went to the doctor this morning and she has strep throat. Good thing is, after one dose of the antibiotic, you could tell she was feeling better!

Hillary Clinton Comes to Wausau

It's primary time here in Wisconsin so some of the Presidential hopefuls were in Wausau recently. Huckabee was here and so was Obama, but his meeting was held at North Central Technical College by private invitation only.

It was Hillary that I really wanted to see. Mostly because my Mom had seen her speak in my hometown, around the time of the Iowa caucuses, and said she was a very good speaker. So Senator Clinton was scheduled to speak in Wausau on Sunday and I made plans to go. Allie overheard me talking about going and said "Hillary? I know her. We talked about her in school". So I took her with me. But it was not to be...no airplanes were coming in or out of Wausau due to the snowy weather and she wasn't able to make it.

By this morning, the rally had been rescheduled. The kids were off of school today, for President's Day (how ironic). I dropped the girls off to stay with Grandpa while Grandma Sharon and I headed downtown. We had to wait in line for what seemed like forever. We were actually not too far back from the front of the line. See the blue arrow? That was not the end of the line, it continued for another block or two.

Once we got inside of the building, we signed in and made our way to the doorway that lead up a flight of stairs. Before we got to the stairs, we were stopped and told they weren't letting any more people in. The fire marshall was taking a count of how many people were already up there. The three people in front of us got mad and left. So there we were, first in line if they let any more through.

After a few minutes, a volunteer worker asked if anyone would be willing to help carry up a few more folding chairs. So Sharon and I each grabbed two chairs and started up the stairs, past all the people still waiting to get inside the room where Hillary was to speak. We got some annoying looks but we continued on, straight into the meeting room. Two men graciously took our chairs from us, and then proceeded to sit down in them! So we stood in front of them until some nice woman brought us our own chairs.

We were actually very close to where Mrs. Clinton would be standing. We couldn't believe our luck! We waited and waited until she finally arrived, well over an hour past the time she was scheduled to appear. She gave a great speech. And even thought I know absolutely nothing about politics and am very undecided about it all, I felt so proud to be there, informing myself about who this person is who wants to run our country.

After her speech, she took some questions from the audience and announced she would be greeting and signing autographs afterwards. I wasn't about to let our luck run out just yet. Sharon and I jumped up, headed towards her, and eventually pushed our way through the crowd. I stuck out my hand and Hillary shook it! Then I nudged Sharon in front of me and Hillary shook her hand too!

We may have shaken the hand of our next Democratic Presidential candidate or even our next President...but at least we can say we shook the hand of a former First Lady!

The Morning News with Allie

Here is this week's Morning News. Let's see if you can figure it out!

Happy Valentine's Day

Look what the flower delivery guy brought to our house today!

This bouquet is for me...

...and these are Allie and Meredith's.

Thank you Jason! We love you!

The Bachelors

On Saturday, we had tickets to a matinee show at Wausau's Grand Theatre. We saw a comedy called "The Bachelors". Here's what our paper had to say about it.

It was really funny. And being that it's set in Wisconsin makes it even funnier. In fact, one of the actors is actually from Milwaukee. He teaches physics and acting (an odd combination) at the Milwaukee High School of the Arts.

The article mentions another play called "Guys on Ice". We saw that production last year. The same two male actors were in that show too. It was about two beer drinking Wisconsin yokels, sitting out in their ice shack, waiting for the chance to be on a local TV program.

We are lucky to have a great fine arts program here in Wausau. http://www.onartsblock.org/ The Grand Theatre offers Broadway productions, community theater productions, concerts, ballets, and shows for kids too.

The Morning News with Allie: SPECIAL EDITION

In honor of Jason's birthday today, we have a "Morning News" dedicated especially to Dad!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JASON!

UPDATE: This is a story Allie wrote in her "Writer's Workshop". It goes a little like this..."One day my Dad caught two walleyes that were big and that were frozen!"

Meredith's Surgery

Meredith's surgery went very well this morning. She was not scared at all to go back to the hospital. They gave her some "Happy Medicine" before they took her to the OR. That's why she looks so happy in this picture. I just look tired.

She was only away from us for about an hour when the surgeon came back in to tell us she was all done. After surgery, they gave her a sedative so we had to wait a long time for her to wake up. I took this picture at 9 am.

And now at 2 pm she's getting back to her old self. She ate a good lunch and is coloring now. I sure hope this is our last trip to the hospital for a while. We've all had enough!

The Morning News with Allie

We got home from the hospital yesterday afternoon. We all had a good night's sleep and are back to our usual routines today. Jason took the girls bowling and out for lunch today and now Allie is on her way over to her friend's house and they are going to a movie, "Alvin and the Chipmunks".



Here's this weeks "Morning News". On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the most difficult, I'd give this one an 8.5. Please email me or post your guesses in the comment section. Good Luck!

UPDATE: I've had 2 guesses so far. The word "HOCIS" is a hard one to figure out. It's not "horses" or "hockey" but you're getting warm!


CLUE:
ANSWER: "I watched the Hawkeyes downstairs". Don't know who she's watching it with, Dad doesn't have that long of hair!

Meredith in the Hospital

As I write this, Meredith is still in the hospital. She's in much better spirits and has eaten a little solid food. She had an xray this morning to see how her stomach and bowels are looking. We are hopeful she will be released this afternoon. She's still scheduled for the hernia surgery on Monday morning. We may have a tough time convincing her to go back to the hospital!

Allie came to visit her yesterday after school. She told Meredith to scoot over and she climbed right into bed with her. In fact, she thought Meredith was "so lucky" because she'd been given a couple of new stuffed animals, a balloon, a doll, and some stickers.

Thank you to everyone who has stopped by, called, and emailed us. I'll update you as soon as we are home!