I just want to say Happy Birthday to my sweet, wonderful, amazing, beautiful, intelligent, and talented wife, Gretchen. I’m going to try to make this the best day you’ve had in a long time. You are my world and I love you more than you can possibly know. I’m so grateful for you and that you’re my wife. I’m the luckiest guy in the world. I love you and Happy Birthday, Bebe!
Posts Tagged ‘birthday’
Happy Birthday G!
Posted by Scott Holstad on April 15, 2018
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: birthday, birthdays, Gretchen, Gretchen Rocks!, Happy Birthday, Vital Vittles | 4 Comments »
My Birthday
Posted by Scott Holstad on September 21, 2015
This past Saturday was my birthday. I turned 49. One more year til the big 5-0. I better enjoy it.
I had a pretty good day. I wanted a laid back day and that’s what I got. No parties, no friends, no family, other than my wife. Just my wife and my cats. It was sweet.
Gretchen started the day by making me some delicious low carb pancakes. Very nice. I read for a little bit and finished a really good book that I had tried to finish the night before. I’ll review it soon. It was excellent. Then we went to McKay Used Books, which is a huge used bookstore that also sells music, movies and games. I got seven new sci fi books for not very much at all, and Gretchen got a couple of books herself, so it was a successful outing. We also stopped at Walgreens to pick up four of my prescriptions. Fortunately, they didn’t cost too much, so that was a good thing.
We went home and hung out. I made myself my usual low carb lunch. I like to read during lunch, so I did. Lunch lasts a long time for me. Gretchen thinks it’s funny. Henry usually comes to visit me during lunch. Ace used to, but he doesn’t anymore. I’m not sure why.
Of course, Saturdays are now college football days and I’m elated. There were some good games that day, but most didn’t start til mid-afternoon, so I talked with Gretchen and read til then. I also talked with Mom on the phone, who sang Happy Birthday to me. Gretchen went to the gym, so I went down to the den to turn on some football. I watched a little of the LSU and Auburn game and also the Notre Dame and Georgia Tech game.
After awhile it was time to feed the cats and they were very happy about it. Then it was time for our dinner. Gretchen, at my request, made me a low carb pizza which is actually quite good. She had something else because it’s not her favorite. Later we had some allegedly low carb cake with some icing she had made. It was great! Gretchen also gave me a lovely card and a couple of cool presents. They were a Pittsburgh Pirates coffee mug, a great looking one, and a Pirates t-shirt, which fits great. Just what I wanted. She took a picture of me holding them. I think I’ll post it here.
After dinner, it was pretty much time for the Tennessee/Western Carolina game, so we turned that on. If you’re a Vols fan, like we are, it was an awesome game. We completely dominated and won 55-10. The whole team played well. Which was good because next week we play Florida and we have to be prepared for that. We haven’t beaten Florida in forever, but this year I think they’re going down and it’ll be pretty sweet if that happens.
We went to bed fairly early, in part because I had been up since 12:30 AM and was tired. I have severe insomnia and am often up between midnight and 1:30 for the rest of the day. It’s tiring. As for the diet, since mid-February I’ve been on an extremely low carb diet with Gretchen (I average 6 carbs per meal.) and I’ve lost about 56 pounds. I look and feel better, but I still have to lose a whole lot more. I have a long way to go, but I think I’ll be able to keep losing for awhile before I level off. At least I hope so. Anyway, all in all, it was a pretty good birthday. Thanks for letting me tell you about it.
Me with my birthday presents
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: birthday, birthdays, diet, family, happiness, low carb diet, pets, Pittsburgh Pirates, presents, tennessee, ut, Vols, weight loss | 10 Comments »
More Ace
Posted by Scott Holstad on August 27, 2015
Well, Ace had his first birthday on Tuesday and it was pretty good. I went to PetSmart and found several brands of chicken flavored pate cat food (that’s all Henry and Ace will eat — they’re so spoiled) and got three for each. I got some treats. And I got some fun toys, including a catnip ball. I wanted to get birthday party hats to put on their heads, but not only didn’t the store have any, but they didn’t even have ANY hats for any pets!!! Last year we went there for Halloween and there were lots of pet hats. I thought they just carried them. I was wrong and very disappointed.
Ace, Henry and I hung out until Gretchen got home. Then it was time to feed them. We chose some new food for each and Gretchen put a birthday candle into Ace’s pate and lit it. I held him close to it as we sang Happy Birthday, which Gretchen video’d. I think the fire actually scared Ace, so then we felt bad, but after we gave them their food, we discovered that I’d gotten good brands because they really dug in and went for it. They can be very picky, so that was good.
After dinner, we broke open the treats and I kind of held my breath. I’ve never had good luck with cat treats. None of my cats have ever cared for them, especially Henry. I can’t remember the name of this brand, but both cats seemed to really like it and they munched out. It made me quite happy.
Then we opened some toys. The catnip ball was a big hit with both, although Ace, the alpha cat, ended up with it for the majority of the evening. He really liked playing with it. And when it ended up underneath our living room sofa, we tried to clean out everything underneath it and discovered a ton of toys under there, so he pretty much OD’d on cat toys. Henry liked it too, but he’s not as into it as Ace. All in all, a pretty successful first birthday. Henry’s tenth birthday will be coming up at Halloween. Boy, that’s hard to believe! I still remember getting him when he was a teeny little kitten. He was so tiny. He’s sure not anymore. Heh. Here are some more recent pictures of Ace.
Ace asleep on Gretchen
Ace looking cute
Ace asleep in Gretchen’s arms
Ace on his birthday
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: Ace, animals, birthday, birthdays, cat, cats, Gretchen, Henry, home, life, love, pets | 2 Comments »
Surgery, Birthdays, Etc.
Posted by Scott Holstad on September 17, 2014
I had another surgery on Monday. A little neurological thing (two actually) called a Gasserian Ganglion Block and a Radiofrequency Ablation. I’ve had them before, so no biggie, right? Wrong. They couldn’t knock me out! The anesthesia wouldn’t work. I laid there for 15 minutes with the anesthesiologist telling me to breathe deeply the whole time and nothing happened. Finally they said that I would have to go through this procedure awake. This procedure involves putting a hole in my face, inserting a long needle, finding a socket in my skull where a tendril of my trigeminal nerve (the biggest nerve in your brain) resides, and then burning the shit out of it. I’m not staying awake for that! Finally the surgeon came in and they asked him and he said under no circumstances was I to be awake — I was to be asleep for the duration. So, it took another five minutes, but I finally went under. And woke up awhile later, good as new. It always takes me a long time for the anesthesia to wear off, so I’m woozy for a few days and tired, but I’m glad to be done with it. I had another one done at the end of July. These are done because I have Trigeminal Neuralgia, an incredibly rare and very painful disease impacting the face. Not much can be done about it. You have to live on Percocets and hope for the best. It gets old. Hopefully these surgeries will help diminish the pain for awhile. How long? Who knows? I’ve had them last as little as 18 days and as long as several months. Someone asked me once why I don’t just get them done every month, but the easy answer to that is they’re not free. They cost thousands and even though insurance covers a good part of that, I still have to pay a chunk and I can’t afford unlimited procedures.
Meanwhile, this coming Friday is my birthday. Normally I’m a little depressed about it, but this year, I’m actually slightly excited — and I don’t know why! Maybe it’s cause it’s not a milestone birthday. My wife is making me a requested lasagna dinner and the next day, we’re going up to Knoxville to hang out with Mom. Apparently I’m getting a couple of presents too.
On a side note, we’ve been trying to sell our old house since February. The first buyer’s credit fell through. We got a second buyer though and things looked good. The house has been off the market the past two months as we headed towards closing — or so we thought. Closing was to have been last Thursday, but Wednesday night, the buyer’s lender said they had to delay it — they were still working through some things. Finally, today, they denied the buyer their preapproved loan. Why? Cause they’re foreigners and they don’t lend money to certain foreigners. WTF??? If that’s the case, why couldn’t they have figured this out in Week 1 and saved us all the hassle??? Why drag us all through this? Now, we’re back at square one and who knows when we’re going to sell this damn house. It’s a real nightmare. I had already turned off all the utilities, so today, I had to turn them back on again, and the gas company charged me a $225 nonrefundable deposit, even though I just terminated my account with them last week and was never late on a bill. Bastards. What a nightmare.
In the meantime, I’ve been sick and I’ve given it to my wife. Nothing too serious, hopefully, but enough to be aggravating. Speaking of the wife, she wants a new cat. The problem is, we don’t know how our current cat, Henry, would get along with one. He’s very territorial. I’d hate to get one and then have to return him a few weeks later. That wouldn’t be good. Not sure what to do. We do miss Toby though and the thought of getting a new cat is attractive….
I guess that’s all for today. Cheers!
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: birthday, cats, family, health, homes, pets, real estate, surgeries, surgery, TN, trigeminal neuralgia | 4 Comments »
Birthday Thoughts
Posted by Scott Holstad on September 20, 2013
Yesterday was my birthday. (Yes, I’m a Virgo.) I tried not to be too depressed at getting older. My wife and mother worked to make it a good day, so that was nice. I did some work, made some calls, read a little bit, applied for a new job. My friend Marcy sent me an electric razor as a gift, so that was nice. My mom gave me a gasoline credit card, which was thoughtful. Gretchen went all out though. She got me a lovely Godiva chocolate bar with caramel, an iTunes gift card (which I’m using right now to download the new Nine Inch Nails album), a Led Zeppelin t-shirt, and my very much desired biography of Jeff Beck, my favorite guitarist. I can’t wait to read it! Mom took us out for dinner last night at a place on the lake, and then we had some ice cream cake, which was delicious. Ended the evening with a little football on TV. Not a bad day, even though I felt down throughout the day.
This year has had its ups and downs. I got married to the love of my life, while my father died unexpectedly at my house. We went on a great honeymoon, and our house was broken into and we were robbed. I picked up a nice project management contract job, only to have the contract terminated in three months. These are the highlights. I’ve read a lot of books, especially Philip K. Dick, and played a few PC games. We discovered Me-TV and have been watching great reruns of Mary Tyler Moore, Dick Van Dyke, MASH, The Odd Couple, and more. Very cool. My Pittsburgh Penguins had a great year, but failed in the playoffs and didn’t make it to the Stanley Cup. Here’s hoping for this year. My UT Vols have started this season 2-1 with one of the toughest schedules in the country, while my Steelers look like they’re going to have their worst year in decades. My Pirates are in the thick of a pennant race, though, and have had their first winning season in 21 years! Gretchen has had her own job highs and lows, but she likes what she’s doing now and there’s growth potential, so that’s good. She misses her sons, who live in Maryland. Mom misses Dad, as do we all, and she’s trying to sort through that. Meanwhile, this year is the first year I haven’t had a surgery since 2009 (knock on wood), so that’s good. My health is improving somewhat, although I still have pain in areas that I can’t seem to shake. I don’t know what the coming year holds for me. I might move, but that remains to be seen. I hope to land a new job at some point. I think Gretchen and I will be spending more time with Mom than we used to because she’s all alone now. Hopefully these will be good times. Thanks to all of my WordPress followers. I have no idea why you follow me, but I appreciate it. I hope to resume book reviews soon. I’m in the middle of several very large books. Cheers!
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: birthday, life, relationships, sports | 3 Comments »
