Diary of A Mad Woman

Enjoying Winter

2012-01-20T20:20:00.001-06:00

Enjoying Winter
Hi everyone. Just sitting here, a little bored. Thought I would take a few minutes and write a short entry. I am really enjoying the winter we are having. We have had a lot of cold days and a lot more snow than some parts of the North of us. We have also had a lot of MILD days. Like yesterday and today it got up to the mid 70s. Can't complain about that. I personally like the cooler weather, but hate ice, so I will take it as it comes and try not to complain. We had a great Christmas. It was white! All my kids and grandkids were here. Don't get to have them all over at once very often. The twins are ADORABLE....18 months and running all over the place. All the grands are beautiful. It was a great day.

Just finished a crocheting the 2nd of 2 baby afghans that I started this fall. I love to crochet,give most everything away that I make. And now need a new project. I will go to buy some yarn and inspiration will strike me there. I love having something started that I can pick up and put down as I see fit. DH is at work of course. It's dinner time. Can't decide on what to have. I'll figure out something. God, my life is exciting isn't it?

This week, I had two appointments. One for a dental cleaning and one with the Retina Eye Dr. I have diabetes and have thickening in the back of the eye. He keeps and eye on these little veins to make sure they don't start leaking or bleeding-in which case I'd have to have surgery. Plus I have small cataracts in both eyes. They are not ready to be removed. DH is thinking about retiring. I'm 6 1/2 yrs younger than him, so I won't be eligible for retirement yet. Then there is the health insurance to consider. With all my problems, we have to have GOOD insurance and now we do. So we're sit down and put pencil to paper to see how feasible it is this yeear. He wants to retire while he can still enjoy it. And I can't blame him for that at all. He is building a tear drop trailer to pull behind the 55 Tbird. Mostly it's just forcamping sort of. It's pretty small. He is also working on the Mustang. It has some kind of leak in it, I think the intake manifold. I don't know. I don't remember mechanical things very well at all. I'm sure glad he is handy. We save a lot of money on repairmen.

If you know Missie (her blog is What Comes Next), she is in the hospital with pneumonia and the possibility that she may have had a light stroke. She has had many many health concerns in the past year and I hope you will remember her in your prayers. I hope she has a speedy recovery. And keep our friend, Linda (Linda's world) in your thoughts. She lives up in the Seattle area and they have had a lot of snow and ice. Think I'll close this for now. Not a very interesting update, but update it is. Hope you all are staying safe wherever you are. I'm thinking of you!

Fun with Kids

2011-10-27T07:30:00.002-05:00

Well, fall is here I think. A cold front came in last night along with wind & rain. The high is only supposed to be 45º today. I love it!! I do hope it warms up just a tad by Halloween for the trick or treaters' sake.
Which brings me to the fun we had yesterday evening witih my son Tom's 3 girls-Addi, Shelby & Kenzie. They went "Trunk or Treating." It was a church sponsored event where they have a large section of a parking lot marked off & people back their cars into their specified rows decorate their open trunks or wear costumes & kids go up & down the rows "trunk or treating." The kids have a safe fun place to trick or treat. Plus they have games, bounce houses & refreshments. We didn't get to stay as long as the girls would have liked as i had to pick up Chad's oldest Ashley, from band practice at her igh school. She's in marching band. She'll be marching in the Rose Parade Bowl next year. Ash plays the French horn.
Rain's picked up again. I just talked to Tom who's north of here near Amarillo. He said there was about 2'' of snow on the ground up there, I just checked the 5 day forecast for here. We are going to warm up to 70º over the next 5 days, I should have known fall wasn't here to stay. I just looked out & it's snowing! Big fat flakes, mixed with rain. But it's definitely snow.
That's about it for today. Hope you're warm & safe & dry where you are.

Long Time Comin'

2011-10-15T17:32:00.002-05:00

Well, here I am over 10 months since my last entry. Blogger has changed so much I don't even know if I'll be able to post this entry. I am still not the most internet savvy person on the block. Not much has been going on really in the past 1o months. We're all a little older. Still have 7 grands and they are all growing like weeds. The youngest, the twins Caleb & Skylan are 1 6 mos. old. Growing up way too fast. Their oldest sister our oldest granddaughter, Ashley is a freshman in High School. Plays the french horn & is in marching band. She will be amrching in the next ROSE PARADE, next yr. We are very excited for her. The middle child, Hailey is 4 now and into gymnastics, dance and soccer.
Our baby, Tom, and 2 of his daughters had been living with us for 5 1/2 yrs. He finall y took the plunge and bought them a nice 3 bedroom house only a couple blocks awayfrom us. He works for the R.R. also so I babysit them when I need tol His girls are Shelby Kenzie & Addi. They are in 4th, 3rd and Kindergartern. It's different not having them here every night, but i am addjusting.
Oh our daughter, Robin took the marital plunge again for the 3rd and hopefully final time. they got married June 5th in Las Vegas. She married a real nice, hard working, wants to care of her, gentleman. A far cry from the first two she was married to, who wanted someone to take care of them. LOL Well, we had just bought a 2011 Ford Edge so we just decided to drive out there instead of fly. They had a real nice little ceremony and AJ's parents and grandmother, Aunt & niece were able to fly out as was our son Ton. It was really nice time for all of us.
In July I had another foot surgery. Another overgrown bone was rubbing a sore on the bottom of my foot so he had to take part of that bone out and voila` the sore has healed. It all has something to do with my diabetes and the peripheral neuropathy in both feet. The Dr had to change up some of my meds and I am happy to report that my blood sugar is well under control. Richard's too.
So that brings us just about up to date. I mostly do my networking on Facebook, where you can find me under the name of Barbara Whisman Miller.I would love to reconnect with more JLanders. Have a Happy Halloween.

MERRY CHRISTMAS & A HAPPY NEW YEAR

2010-12-27T01:12:00.002-06:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A BLESSED 2011!!!
How was yours? Ours was great. We had a wonderful morning with ALL our kids here and 6 of our 7 grandchildren here. We had baked ham, mashed potatoes, green beans, corn, scalloped potatoes, wheat & white dinner rolls, etc. Our oldest, Chad had to be at work at 230pm. They had to leave a little earlier than the rest of them. It was the best holiday in 2 years. Really. Things haven't been the greatest for a couple years. I won't go into in my Merry Christmas entry. I have done some things to make changes in my life to improve things. I hope at some point, feel well enough to expound on those changes. In the meanwhile, I hope you all had a Happy Christmas & we at the Miller household wish you a prosperous, happy & blessed 2011. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! We love you all!
Barb, Rich, Tommy, Shelby, Mackenzie & our pets, Jake, Frodo, Calli, Coral.

Post It Tuesday

2010-04-24T15:54:00.019-05:00

I'm doing a new little thing I found over at Missie's Blog "What Comes Next." She got it form ADVENTURES OF A SUPAH MOMMY http://supahmommy.blogspot.com/2009/09/post-it-note-tuesday-what-will-you-say_21.html Her blog IS SUPAH and she sends you to the link to make your own post-its. You just save them to your computer then add them to your blog entry.I have been putting REAL-LIVE post-its all over this house & on computers, iceboxes, tvs, underwear drawers, washers, dryers, microwaves for probably 20 years. YES. In this house if you see a post it you By GOD better read it!!

Have a "SUPAH" Tuesday.

News of the Day

2010-01-15T22:38:00.003-06:00

Hi everyone!
Sorry I haven't written in a while. I have the "usual excuses." The Holidays. Kids home. Family meals to prepare & feeling generally like doggie doo most of the time. Sigh. I think it's time for a check up.

We have had a lot more cold weather than usual for West Texas. It rained & rained the day before Christmas Eve then turned into snow and snow and more snow. And stayed COLD. We had about 6" or so. Not so unusual of an amount for here, but for it to hang around a week or so...is unusual. So we had our first really white Christmas in years. It was wonderful. Not so much for the girls when they saw the POGO stick that Santa brought them. LOL My honey got me a watch I wanted & Santa brought us a Keurig Single cup coffee maker. It makes the best coffee & there are SO many varieties. I really love it.

The best Christmas gift we got was before Christmas, in case any of you missed it. We found out that our oldest son Chad & his wife Malizza are having TWINS this summer!! We have five granddaughters now. Chad's daughters-Ashley is 13, Hailey is 2; Tom has Shelby-8, Mackenzie-6, & Addi who is 3. We found out today the twins are A BOY & A GIRL!!!!!! We couldn't be happier. God knows we want healthy babies. But with all granddaughters, we are tickled blue, so to speak to be getting a boy in the family to carry on the Miller name! AND for his Daddy, Uncles and Grampas to get out all the trains, cars, and skateboards for him. Of course some of our granddaughters like all t hat stuff so they shall all have a grand time together. They are due around July 9th, but Malizza thinks she might be a couple weeks further along. That is the due date they gave her by size and weight. Of course twins can often come earlier anyway, so she thinks it will be sometime in June. :)

The weather has started it's roller coaster cycle it was on before the holidays. Warm, then cooler, then COLD, then warming up to almost nice & the descent again. LOL that's fine with me as long as we get some precipitation occasionsally, and as long as THAT isn't ICE.Well that is all for tonight. It's nearly 5am & other than napping on the couch, I haven't been to bed yet, so I'd better hit the hay. I just wanted to say HAPPY NEW YEAR to you all and let you know I'm still around. I'll try to better about getting around to your Blogs. I go on Facebook a lot as it is a bit quicker. Take care & I'll try to keep you updated on "the twins!!" (I just love saying "the twins." LOL ) Love you all!!

Pain Pain go away

2009-11-22T04:55:00.004-06:00

I hate to get on my blog and complain. So if you don't want to listen to me cry & whine log off now. LOL

I'm in PAIN. EXCRUCIATING,, DRIVING ME CRAZY, MAKING ME WANT TO FIND A VET WHO WILL PUT ME OUT OF MY MISERY. (They shoot horses don't they??)

I'm USED to pain. There isn't a pain pill in the world that will treat MY peripheral neuropathy in my feet completely. It hasn't been diagnosed, the pain in my hands but every one of my fingers and joints in my hands feel like needles & knife cuts from fingertips to the palms of my hands. I have taken 2 pains (2 hrs early). I WANT A DR WHO CAN HELP ME & WON'T STOP UNTIL HE DOES. I have 10 tiny ulcers on one foot. Not a good sign. One on the other foot that has been open for over a year and 2 that forming on the toes the Ortho Doc was supposed to have straightened last spring. They are more curled under than they were before. On 2 of the toes you cant even see my TOES NAILS. My toe nails touch the freaking ground.

My sleep is erratic and I know that this isn't helping me. I was awake till 6:3AM this morning. Slept till about 11. Napped a little this afternoon. My other son, Chad & his daughters, Ashley & Hailey were here or I wouldn't have gotten up when I did, so I'm glad I got up.

Well for those of you who read me on FB, you've heard the news that we are going to be Grandparents again. Our oldest son, Chad & his wife Malizza are expecting again. They have sweet precious Hailey who is two & will be almost 3 when new baby gets here. They also have 13 yr old beautiful Ashley. Malizza is a wonderful, generous Mother. I love her like one of my own. Sometimes I think she doesn't think that. Well, just last Wednesday, Chad & Malizza stopped by. She'd had an ultrasound. Malizza is a nurse. As the person giving the ultrasound was looking all around & asked if the were "ready for this?" Chad said "Is it a girl." Malizza said "No--there are 2 of them!" Malizza started crying & the ultrasound tech showed them their twins. TWINS. I cannot believe it. I am over the moon. They were shocked but I think they are pretty excited. Ashley looked like she might have been in shock a little herself the next day when I saw her. So we'll go from 5 granddaughters to SEVEN grandchildren & if God chooses, maybe a grandson or 2. LOL I am just praying for healthy babies & mom. Chad is still laid off the Railroad. He is probably going to have to go to another state & work a while (the RR has nationwide seniority), so he can keep up their health insurance. We have really good health ins. thank God.

Tom's ex (the one who has his 3rd daughter) & their half sister by her 2nd husband have moved back to Texas from Arizona (where HIS family lives). I hope it the correct decision for them. Morgan got a job with an ATT call Center. I don't know what Aaron is doing.The girls enjoying spending time with their sisters. Morgan & Aaron, Addi (Tom's daughter) & Sydbee will be living at Morgan's moms, with her Mother, and Morgan's 4 siblings that are live at home. Morgan is also pregnant with her 5th child. I hope it isn't too stressful for her , being pregnant. But it will be good for the girls to be all in the same town & see their sisters on a regular basis and for Tom to be able to bond with Addison.whom he has not been able to see but once in the past couple of years. She needs to know her Father is Tom & that Aaron, whom I am certain is a perfectly wonderful person is her step father. I hope my feelings don't upset Morgan, but it is the way that I feel. I would never badmouth her OR Aaron to the girls. We all have to get along so they feel loved and not pulled in one direction or another. I am praying this is all a part of God's plan. I know Morgan has always hated being away from her TX family (who doesn't hate being away from their family?). I hope this brings her peace & helps her have a healthy pregnancy.

Maybe all I needed to do was sit & put word to paper. If you can call blogging that. I am beginning to feel better or all the meds are starting to kick in. The only thing that is absolutely killing me is my head. I KNOW in my head that colds only lasts a few days to a week generally. Well, I feel like I am going on week 4 of a cold. I was really thinking I had it beat a few days & I'll be darned if I didn't wake up coughing & sneezing yesterday morning. And it was worse this morning. Kenzie had strep last week. She's on antibiotics. I hope none of the rest come down with anything this week. I just can't get as sick as i did last year. I can't go through THAT again.

My DVR is almost full & that annoys me. People tell me to DVR something for them, then they never come in to watch it. I DVR a lot of the shows I watch, especially in the shank of the evening with the girls getting their baths & getting ready to bed. You'd think they'd be winding down after a hard day at school or at play, but it seems they get this BURST of adreniline about 30 min before time to bed down. Kenzie has lost her first two baby teeth. She looks so precious. They are off a couple weeks for Christmas break. We will do a lot of coloring.
I've found the perfect way to get them brush their teeth appropriately longer. I tell them it's a contest to see who can get their teeth the whitest! Of course one girl wins every other night or so. Maybe even 2 nights in a row.Tonight it was a tie. They thought that was perfectly hilarious. Shelby is going to need braces & probably should be seeing the Orthodontist NOW. Robin (daughter) started going to the Orthodontist when she was 7 yrs old (Shelby is 8) & kept going till we was ohhh, I think 17.

We had all the kids & spouses over & some friends of ours, Friday night. It's been a tradition for years and years. Since our kids were all little. Last year was my year, but I had just gotten out of the hospital & there was no way i could get the house clean & cooking done. My dear friend, Rita said we'd do it at her house & do all the cooking. So this yr was my year. I fried chicken wings & tenders-left one batch plain, one BBQ, & one Buffalo style. Cocktail smokies in a crescent rolls. Tom took a sheet of mozarella cheese, laid it out with pastrami, salami, & re-hydrated sun dried tomatoes. Rolled it up jellyroll fastion this sliced them. Cruiditie tray with ranch dip. Baked a ham & some frozen rolls to make Ham slider sandwiches. Rich made 3 types of babyback ribs. Baked beans. I made a batch of peanut brittle & chex mix & Tom made choc covored pretzels. For dessert we had a Cheesecake factory cheesecake, a red velvet cake. Rita brought this pecan pie type dessert. I have GOT to get the recipe for that. It was a huge hit. WAY too much food. We sent home leftovers with everyone & have been eating ham all week. It was awesome. I got it at Sam's. It was a Member's Mark Boneless Spiral Sliced ham that came with it's own glaze. I cooked it in the crockpot. YUMMY. Best ham I have ever bought I think. I bought one for ham also & have a small turkey. I don't know if I will make both of them. I had enough food for the neighborhood. I honestly should have started knocking on doors & telling people to come eat!!!

I'm mostly done with Christmas shopping. Haven't wrapped a single gift. Helped box them up & my salvation, Tommy wrapped them. I don't know what I would do without him. When he moves out...whatever will I do. Oh I didn't mention...he's enrolled in school since he is still laid off the RR. He'll start next month. I think he is looking forward to it. I am so excited for him.

I got my last Christmas card written about 5a.m. today, then caught the end of a movie called Lakeview Terrace. Samuel L Jackson has an interracial couple move in next door to him and he DOES NOT LIKE IT. He played a divorced cop with a lot of psychosis. It was pretty intense 7 i couldn't go do bed even though it wasn't over till 6:15am!!

Well, it's just a few more days till the Jolly fat man in the red suit arrives. Do you have traditions that are special in your family at this time of year? I'd love it if you'd leave a comment or a link to a blog entry, sharing your tradition. We have a German tradition we learned from my hubby's parents who of German descent. It's hide the pickle on the Christmas tree. The one who finds it gets an extra present!! I have a glass pickle ornament, though in the old days they used a real pickle! Also, we usually have Christmas breakfast of cinnamon rolls, bacon & eggs if anyone wants those, hot cocoa & coffee. If I cook dinner we eat a late lunch/early dinner. Please feel free to leave me a comment or a link to a blog entry & tell me about some of your traditions at Christmas.

I know I haven't been by your blogs lately. I've been uber busy & uber lazy about blogger. I will try to get by your blogs soon. Please don't think I've forgotten any of you.

Also please let's all say a prayer for those less fortunate & those grieving right now. It's an awful thing to be ill or lose a loved one but especially sad we are preparing for a joyful celebration. My dear friend, Sandra in England who had to put down her beautiful lab, Jake from illness. She is grieving so. My son's best friend, who lost his Uncle this week. My son's close friend Lauryn who is going to college here in Texas, who is taking her 5 yr old lab, Bear back to California to put him down during her Christmas break who is also dying of cancer. I know there are many more out there need our prayers. I am thankful that so far this winter I've managed to stay as well as I can. And let's remember the reason for the season as we celebrate Christ's birth.

Thank you for stopping by my blog. I wish you the Merriest of Christmases & a joyful & bountiful 2010! Love you all.

And a very happy New Year!

Surprise! An Entry!

2009-10-22T22:08:00.002-05:00

Another day, another dollar. For someone. Since I don't have a paying job. I was a stay at home Mom for most of the past 37 years. I worked a few temporary jobs. Tried my hand at owning a small business with a woman whose sanity I question than my own-and that's really saying something. LOL I think her demons are far more dangerous and damaging to other people.

I do wish I'd gotten a college education. Maybe that would have impressed upon my children how important it CAN be. Not necessarily everyone wants or needs it. I just loved learning & going to school. I wish I had. I know people older than me go back to school everyday. Not people like me.

So what's going on in your world. I haven't written in a while. Same shit, different day. Not really anything newsworthy to write about. It's just Tom & me during the day, most days-Rich is either at work or sleeping.Tom hasn't gotten called back to the Railroad yet. Not many have. Someone told them that Tom's class and the younger in seniority, probably won't be called back before 2013. He's still drawing his railroad unemployment. He is thinking about school. He HAS been painting. He has done some things I think he should put on Ebay. It's contemporary. Takes him no time to knock them out. I mean, you never know. It's exactly WHY the man should be taking more Art courses. And music. I saw one of his videos of him playing guitar & singing on YouTube & he plays at this bar on Sunday nights when they have Open Mic night. Last week he played guitar with the house band on Dire Straits, Sultans of Swing. Then the song he sang was by the Darkness. I don't know what the song was. Our daughter & her boyfriend went out there that night. She said he was like a star. Her eyes glistened as she told me how well he did & how proud of him she was. Rich & I will have to get a sitter & go out & watch him some night.

I'm SO aggravated. I had a lot more written & the "SAVE NOW" wouldn't work. I thought it had saved what I'd written & it was getting late so I went to bed. It only saved what I'd first typed. Typical blogger.

I'm not one to send out every cartoon, email, prayer, or joke that I receive in my mailbox, but on occasion I do send along a few occasionally. If I've ever send out too many then yes, I hope that you'll let me know. However, last week a got a letter from someone I thought was an Internet friend. She very coldly said she no longer wanted to receive any emails (forwards) from me. That was it. I went to check her blog & found that she shut it down and went private without so much as a fuck you very much. I always felt kind of dumb when I read a lot of her entries. She's obviously well educated & it showe. A tad cool, but I thought it was her manner. Her entries were great & I really enjoyed them. I am just really shocked. I had no idea I had inundated her with so much garbage. Oh well. People come & go. It's not like we were going to high tea every day.

The H1N1 flu is starting to make the rounds here also. My granddaughter sat next to someone in church who had it & was sick in a couple of days. Her (step)Mom, an RN, took her & had her tested to see if she had it & she didn't but DID miss 3 days of school, so she was REALLY sick. I sure wish they'd get more vaccine in. I haven't even gotten my regular flu shot but am afraid to go to the Drs office with all the sickies!

Halloween week is upon us. My son & the girls LOVE it and have already been decorating. Got new costumes. Shelby Kay's 8th birthday is the 30th and they're going to a church lock in that night. Our plans for her birthday was for her to take a friend or 2 & go to Mall, get Shelby's ears pierced, get new outfit & eat pizza at the Mall. However since the lock in is that night and I don't know how much her ears will other her, I may see if we can just do the Mall thing on another day. The next day being Halloween-still not sure about doing it on that day. It would probably be OK. She's going to be a devil-has a sparkly sequined dress...SO cute & Kenzie (6) is going as an angel. They look SO cute.
Not much else of note to write about. Big Texas Tech FB game vs. Texas A & M tomorrow. Wish us luck. Home game sold out & NOT on TV. I am NOT a happy camper. I told Rich it was the one game I wanted to go to & couldn't get him to commit. I guess it'll be on the radio. Just wish I was gonna be there. Oh well. Wreck em TECH!!

Y'all have a GREAT weekend-wherever, whoever you are. LOL

Mad at the Internet

2009-09-28T03:27:00.002-05:00

I had been having terrible wireless connection issues. Our Internet connection would drop off just enough to break the connection then come back on. After a several attempts at fixing it, we thought perhaps we would by a new router. That was several days ago & had not lost our connection ONCE in the past few days. Today it has been a holy terror to do ANYTHING. I don't know if it' is a server issue (which I believe it to be) . I have tried to catch up on my face booking and kept getting error after error there. I decided to come over to Blogger to catch up and cannot post any comments. It just cannot be me. I am just venting.
I need to get off the computer and go to bed anyway. I have my days and nights mixed up again.

My poor DH is working his arse off. He's spending all his time on the trains or at the other end of the line. That gets old REAL fast. He needs to keep working as I just realized it is 3 mos. until Christmas.

Today would have been my beautiful late mother in law's 96th birthday. She passed in January. There are not enough words to convey the love, the strength, the wisdom, the inspiration that this beautiful (and she truly was) imparted on her family. She is well loved and missed mightily. I hope she is heaven feeling no pain. Having cake and a party. I feel her love, guidance & protection smiling down on us all. Richard's equally beautiful 72 yr old sister has found love again. She has been a widow for years. Before her husband passed, he'd had a severe stroke & was totally dependent upon her. She cared for him in their home for years. Nearly breaking her back (and her spirit) as she loaded him in and out of the car, the tub , the chair, etc. He passed then she took care of their mother, driving her to DR appointments, making sure she was getting her groc. & meds and being taken care of. She got little help from any one else. All this time working a full time job. Anyway, Mary (my sis in law) has been dating a retired railroader and she is as giddy as a school girl. I've not seen her so happy, well, EVER. I am praying that this man will be good for her and that if this a match that they have many happy years together. They dine out, they go for drives, they go out DANCING! I LOVE it. I am So happy for her.

ht? Also a quick commentary on the Mackenzie Philips book that came out this past week. Love her or hate her, you have to give her her dues. I believe her story. I can't believe that the poor girl coughed up all this crap about an affair with her father. She & her ghost writers could have come up with it, but I tend to believe. I believe if she wanted to sensationalize her life she could have done it some other way.

Well, it's 5am. Guess I'll call it a day. Or should I call it a night.
Have a good week every one.

That Crazy Drive Home

2009-09-22T12:18:00.002-05:00

Any of you who read my blog (which is obviously fewer and fewer as time goes by) know that I have wild & crazy dreams and oftentimes horrible violent nightmares. Well, last night was just a crazy dream. It had a little bit of EVERYTHING in it. It started out with Richard & I taking a walk (something we used to do, but rarely do anymore). After we walked about an hour, we decided to stop in the local watering hole for a drink. Now one thing about my dreams, I was raised in a little town in KS. I live in a fairly good size town in Texas now. So some things take place in KS but are here in Lubbock. The two intermingle often. The bar was in Anthony, but it was in Lubbock. I know-hard to make sense of. Back to the dream. Neither one of us was dressed for an evening out & a lot of our friends were there. They wanted us to eat dinner & party with them. Richard offered to walk home, get changed, get the car, come back & I could run home & change & come back. We weren't that far from home. He should have been gone maybe 45 min. He didn't come back. He was gone an hour. Didn't come back. I take off and walk our usual route and back to the bar. Never saw him. Walked back to our house. My brand new Lexus convertible (which is what I want now, but I know I'm not gettin-LOL) was gone, so I knew he'd been there. I changed clothes, walked back to the bar went in looked the whole place over & there he was back at a huge round table with a bunch of people. When I asked him where he hell he'd been, it was apparent he'd had a lot to drink. He laughed & said "I've been here the whole time! Saw you come in 3 times. I just wanted to see how long you'd look for me." Well, I was pissed, but what good does it do to argue with someone who's drunk. I sat down & had a couple drinks. My brother was there. We all had dinner & were having a pretty good time. I suggested we go back to our house. We had a new house too. (Don't know where that came from as I don't want nor need a huge new house. LOL ) So we are paying out & Richard, dear hubby, says, "Don't get mad, but you probably won't want to drive the car home." Of course I storm out to see what is wrong with it. I see a few little bumps and the rear passenger side & think to myself, that's not so bad. He pulled me back to rear and the whole driver's side & back end were crumpled. I was FURIOUS. Of course my drunk hubby is all apologetic. (He is not a drunk in real life. In fact for him ever to have a beer is a rare occasion because of the random drug testing at his job.) He's pretty funny, and for some reason, I can't stay mad at him. We went back in the bar & the waitress says she can't let any of us drive home anyway, we're all too intoxicated. She said for a quarter a piece she has a safe way to get us home. Of course no one but me has any money. For some reason I have a change purse full of dimes. So I pay 30 cents for every one. The waitress comes back with a steering wheel and screws it into the table. She hits a button and the wall where we're sitting opens like a garage door. The barstools attach to the table and she gives it a shove and we're rolling outside. Now, I've never driven a table home, & I'm asking her how I'm supposed to drive this?! She says "There is no reverse so you will have to turn it all the way around to change directions." When you need to stop, everyone has to drag their feet." I am cracking up. It has to be a joke. Next thing I know I'm driving a 6 foot diameter wooden table Flintstone mobile, with crowded barstools filled with friends and relatives down 82nd Street. A 7 lane major street with a speed limit of 45 mph. Probably going about 20 mph. All the while I'm thinking I must be dreaming. (I was. LOL) We get to this huge house. Gorgeous house. WAY out of our real world league. The evening went on and everyone was swimming, having a good time. My brother, who has a full grown son who is severely autistic, was asked how old Matthew is. Larry said he was 16. (Matt can swim but in the dream was swimming & diving like an Olympian.) I said "Larry, he's 33." Of course he argued with me. LOL I told him that his son & my son Chad were 3 yrs & 3 min apart and Chad JUST turned 36 (THAT is a reality fact.LOL)
Larry didn't have anything to say for a change (not a reality based fact.He ALWAYS has some kinda comeback! ) There were other silly things like the dogs we had (3 large black labs) swimming then jumping in the hot tub. A round bar table parked in a driveway from a town in Kansas at house in Texas.

That is a far cry better than some of the dreams I have been having. Some very disturbing and scary dreams. What I remember most about this dream is that I felt happy and lighthearted...something I am not most of the time. Inside anyway. I can put on a good face.

This cat is driving us nuts. When I got up this morning, all the doors in the house were shut except mine. I heard Calli outside crying to get in. A cold front blew through last night. I think it was about 55 degrees. I guess she thought it was cold. LOL It was a little chilly, but felt SO good. I let her in & she runs straight down the hall to WHAT? Yes. This wasn't a gift. It was what was left of a meal. A massacre. A sparrow....or something that had feathers. UGH. I don't know if she ate all of it or drug in part of it. All that was left was a part & a lot of feathers. OMG. I'm so sick of this. I am afraid she is going to bring in a disease or catch something. It's just too disgusting. Tom is sick of it. I know the girls like the cat, but she won't let you like her. Maybe she should just be a farm cat. Get the girls a kitten they can raise that will love them like they would love her. I don't know.

No pics. Just wishing you a good night/good morning.

Sunday

2009-09-20T16:48:00.003-05:00

Just a quiet, cloudy calm day. Tom's been doing some laundry & cleaned his room, the girls cleaaned theirs. I've got roast, carrot & potatoes in the oven. Can't wait till it's ready.

Seems Tom has a secret admirerer. Last night someone left a long stemmed yellow rose & a card on the windshield of his car. He thinks he knows who it is.

It's mostly cloudy. You can feel the seasons changing. Even in the daytime, but especially at night. The wind rusting through the elms and maple leaves that are dying. It'll take an especially cool night to get the rest of the trees turning. That won't be long though. I'm ready for autumn. It's my favorite time of year.

When I was 4 and my mom went to work in the local Rexall Drugstore, I needed a sitter of course. There was a mexican family, friends of my parents. I was raised in a very small town. I believe there were 3 hispanic families, and 2 black families. It was a time when prejudices ran very high in this country. But not in our little town. There was no segregation (that I can recall) and we all played together. The Durans, Jo(sephine) specifically & Ab(elino) the parents the family that took me in after school. A lot of weekends. They have 5 kids Lola, Linda & Lydia (twins) Cecilia (my age) & Tony-the only boy 2 yrs younger. They became my 2nd family. My home away from home. My 5 siblings I had other than my only brother. Jo was my sitter from age 4 till 3rd grade. They were Catholic & back then they didn't eat meat on Friday. We were stictly beef & chicken & a little pork people. LOL So Mama Jo would fix ME a piece of fried chicken on Friday, or a sandwich. Cecilia would be SO mad because she had to eat fish and she did NOT like fish either. Poor Sis. Our big "sisters" taught us dance. To jitterbug. To do the dances of the day. They had wooden floors. I LOVED sliding around the floors in our stocking feet. Mama Jo would push the dining room table to the windows so we'd have the whole dining room to dance. Some train tracks ran behind their house. Cece & I would walk for hours down the tracks. Walking sticks in hand. Hunting turtles and horned toads. Jo always told us to get very far away from any passing trains as the train would suck us under them. LOL I had some of the very best times of my lives with my mexican family. Daddy Ab would always talk to Jo & the older girls in spanish. He wanted us younger kids to learn. Cece & Tony could understand a lot, but didn't speak much at all. We probably all know about the same about of Spanish that we had to take in school. Well, Jo passed away some years ago. When I went back to KS after I married in 1972, I often went to their house, as Cecilia & her young son (she married while we were in HS) were usually there. When she moved away and her Mom got so sick-I kind of stopped going to their house. It killed me to see that vital, strong energetic woman so sick. I always saw Ab "uptown". Either at the drugstore having coffee. Or if I had to go to the post office, I'd stop in the Gas Office if his truck was there and say hello. After Jo died, he rarely stayed home. Too lonely I guess. I'd see him somewhere. He never stopped sending us a Christmas card. I never lost the love or closeness I felt for them. Ab's health has been failing for years. But he fought it. The last time I saw him was in Vegas in 2oo6 when a bunch of people from Anthony went out on a charter & Rich & I went out because my brother & sisterinlaw were going and I knew Cece & her hubby from WA and Tony would be there. I never dreamed that Ab would be there and he saw me in the hall of our hotel first!! BARBARELLA!! He had called me Barbarella long before the movie came out. I was thrilled beyond thrilled that he was able to make that trip. I was so happy to spend time with my second family. Well I dont know how I never got informed that Ab had taken a turn for the worse in July. He passed at the end of last month. I didn't find out until the day before the funeral. I was totally devastated. It was like losing my father again. Cecilia and her husband have been inundated all summer as they made the move from Washington state to Texas and had a house built and had to move again. I just wish I had known. Living 500 miles from your hometown and having only my brother & brother inlaw that I stay in touch with basically, kinda sucks. I found Tony on facebook, so maybe I can catch up with the goings on up there a little more.

I'm sure you all are wondering what our huntress Calli has been up to? I can't remember if she had brought in the dead mouse that was in full rigor in my last entry. Since then she hadn't brought anything in. Tom caught her with a dove, but stopped her before she got it in the house. Well, she never came in this evening. She comes home usually about 8:30-9:00pm. I called her several times, Rich called her several times. We looked in the house in the places she usually sleeps. I never found her. She has bells on her collar (unless she's lost yet another one.) I never heard her come in. About 10 or so, I thought I heard her collar bells so I went back into the girls room. She sometimes hides under the bed. Sure enough, there was Calli. Curled up at the head of the bed on Shelby's pillow. I had a flashlight. THANK GOD, because right in the middle of the floor was a small decapitated rat. And some other"stuff" I won't describep- too graphic. I took photo to show Tom, but I'll be damned I cannot find my camera now. I guess someone didn't want me posting that picture on my blog!!! Poor Rich he had to clean it up and he is not good with bloody animals, vomit, and poopy diapers....things of that nature. LOL You never saw a man who could change a poopy diaper SO fast because he was holding his breath the whole time. LOL

Why can't I have an entry full of flowers and happy thin Gs-instead of blood and gore. And Halloween is coming. Tom's favorite time of the year to decorate. Maybe I should start hanging Calli's kills from the front porch. EWWWW!

Getting late, as usual. Started this entry on Sunday evening & finish it on Monday mnorning. Hope you all had a wonderful weekend and are enjoying the movement into Autumn.
Love you all.

Just an entry because I haven't done one in a while.

2009-09-03T22:12:00.004-05:00

Typical night(Fri night/Sat a.m) in our household. Me, sitting alone in my little corner. Trying to find a crime show on TV since none of my regular shows are on or they are in rereuns. I'm not TOTALLY alone. DH is in HIS little corner of the house on HIS computer watching yet another movie that he's already seen a dozen times. The dogs are asleep in their cave (under my bed), where they spend most of their lives. Jake is doing better since his surgery but still walking slowly & with a limp. Doesn't act like he is in pain. Glad for that.

The girls (Shelby & Mackenzie are here also, but sound asleep.) Tom & one of his good frineds have gone out to one of the local clubs to watch one of their favorite local bands play. Tom is such a music fan. He plays the guitar well. He likes a lot of different kinds of music too. I think that makes a musician better at what he does. He had a birthday Wednesday, the 2ND. My "baby" is 28. We took him out to eat the night before his birthday, because we figured he would have plans with his friends the next night.

Oh and we have a new "pet". Tommy bought Shelby & Kenzie a Betta fish. His name is Charlie. Tom is such a good Dad. Tom takes them to park often. Swims with them. Both the girls are already doing front and back flips into the pool. He always makes sure he has plenty of time for them.

We also have a new member on my side of the family. My nephew, Mark (my brother's son) and Juliana have a new baby boy born Aug 31. His name Ian and he came into the world weighing 9lb 7 oz. 20 1/2" long. He is a beautiful baby (they live about, oh 700 mi. north of us. So of course I have only seen photos. Ian has a big brother Isaac. I think he's going to be 2 on Oct 31st. They are really going to have their hands full.

For those who don't follow along on Facebook I'll fill you in on what our "kitty" Callie has been up to. Last week one night she brought in a big freakin RAT. Yes, I said it- R A T! Thank GOD it was dead. I was the only one at home/awake at the tine. I put it in a shoe box and put rubberbands around it and put it in the outside garbage. She also brought in a young (very ) blue jay. I aso got to pick it up & get rid of it. A couple of nights after the rat, it was a small, not yet quite dead mouse. She took it straight into the girls' room & it got loose under their bed. The girls were asleep but I wasn't about to lose that mouse. Calli captured it again & it got loose & managed to escap under a beach towel. Luckily I have an expandable lightstick (like an antenna) with a maagnet on top of it. I'm whispering (loud & panicky for Tom to grab the beach towel. Which he did & caught le` mouse. LOL It was nearly dead by then, so he had to put it out of it's misery. This morning after the girls were gone to school-everyone went back to sleep for a nap. Rich was zonked out in the bed. Tom was crashed in his. I had JUST drifted off on the couch I'm so tired lately but afraid to sleep too much during the day. Anyway I hear Calli coming in; a whole lot of commotion and BANG something hitting the back door. Well, dear huntress had brought in an un-dead dove. It flew down the hall, hit the wall and turned and flew back into the "BAM" back storm door. There was dove blood on the wall in the hall and about a bushel of feathers strewn from one end of the house to other. Rich got up & disposed of half dead bird. I don't know what he did with, but told me it wouldn't be escaping again. Is there ANY way sure way of stopping a cat from hunting--other than keeping her held hostage, please let me know. I am personally tired of being the one that has to uhm, dispense her "gifts." LOL

We have no "Labor Day" weekend plans. Rich cooked some awesome babyback ribs the other night. So we won't be having ribs. Texas Tech is playing some non conference nobody (to me)school and it looks like rain, so we probably won't be going to that & it's not on TV. We're invited to a big party at a friend's house--the problem in that is he lives in California and we live in Texas...but ONE of these days we'll make it. His parties are "epic" I hear.

We had glorious rains Thursday night and Friday morning one HECK of a thunderstorm. It was raining, thundering and lightning like the end of the world. The girls were waiting on the front porch for Tom to pull the van into the drive and one of those instant over head thunders BOOMED so loud it shook the windows. Kenz was so startled she started to cry. It WAS a pretty awesome sound. We needed the rain so desperately though. One of the thunders at the beginning of the storm sent Calli across the backyard like a blur. LOL No problem getting her to come in the house the first time Shelby called her then!!

If you're having a big barbecue/party this weekend...please be safe.
Love you all. Enjoy this last weekend of summer.

Vacation-Otherwise known as a week away from home.

2009-08-06T02:46:00.012-05:00

Well, I pissed & moaned till I got a vacation-well, a week away from home. Yes, it was my idea to take Tom & the girls. I wanted to go to San Diego to Sea World. We DO have one in San Antonio but the humidity down there is killer. SO it was decided we'd go west. Problem was, Jake's (our dog)surgery. He didn't do as well as we had thought he would do. The 2 main things were, he wasn't coming out of his hiding place and he was not eating (or pooping). It had been 3 days. Finally Rich made steak on the grill that 3rd night & he sure came out & sat at the table with us then. We waited a few more days until was sure he would be able to get in & out of the doggie door & he would eat something other than steak or can dog food. I guess we left last Tuesday.

We drove to Flagstaff, AZ and spent the night there. From there we drove to the Grand Canyon. It was my 2nd time there. OMG, if that isn't proof there is a God, then nothing is. We saw so much more there than the landscape too. On the way in we saw mule deer on the side of the road. Birds, insects, chipmunks and this cool squirrel. Like no other I'ver ever seen. I haven't uploaded his pic. I hope it comes out. I wasn't sure how the girls would react to the whole "grand scheme" of things. Shelby was especially taken by it. Poor Kenzie had a pretty bad foot blister & we all know how distracting foot pain can be. Shelby loved pointing out things & showing us ALL things we might not have seen. We got to see some Native American dancing. I did well walking in sneakers, but I have TERRIBLE balance & nearly fell on my ass a few times. LOL I even scared EVERYONE around me and that is when I decided to stay far back from the edge. I had more hands grabbing for me than at a Brittney concert. LOLOL Back on the road again to drive back down towards the Phoenix area. I wasn't feeling good that night. It wasn't that warm at the Canyon. I don't think it was the heat.

To tell ya the truth I don't even know where we were at. Some suburb of Phoenix. Tom called his ex-wife, Morgan to tell here we were AZ and when did she want to get together & see Shelby & Kenzie. And let Tom spend some Time with Addison (Addi). We told her we would be in Phoenix the next day & they recommended a hotel near her husband's parents'. As soon as we pulled in and checked in, Morgan, her hubby Aaron, Addi & their baby Sydnee (Shelby & Kenzie's half sister whom they hadn't met yet) were there in about 5 minutes!! It was a nice reunion for them right there. Morgan was emotional. Happy to see her girls all together-bittersweet for her, as she had suffered a miscarriage. I was happy that we were able to get them together as I know how hard it was for her. They all went on to Morgan & Aaron's and Rich & I stayed in & cooled off, as it was 116 that day!

Shelby & Kenzie got to spend the night with them then Mogan brought them back to the hotel the next day around 11am. They went swimming a while then all of us went to a Mall. It was a a very nice mall & we had fun shopping, eating lunch & the girls had an absolute blast playing in the Children's playground area. I teared up once while we were eating. It was Morgan, Tommy, their 3 daughters and Rich & I and I thought...this is how it should have been. I know, I know. That is selfish of me. But I still wish things could have worked out. Yes she broke Tommy's heart but she gave us 3 beautiful girls that are extensions of our family. How can we not still have feelings for her. I still feel the same for Chad's wife. Ashley's mother. Yes, I love Chad's wife now and I adore their daughter Hailey but his first wife gave us our first grandchild. She will always have a little corner in my heart too. Anyway, it is what it is. They were over 21. I still think it's too damned easy in this country to get a divorce.

That 2nd night, Richard & Tom went to the Cheesecake Factory & got me a slice of "Stefani's special Red Velvet Cheesecake" since I didn't have a birthday cake (the 29th). If you haven't had it (and it was first experience) it was 2 layers of cheesecake layered with 2 of regular red velvet cake. The top & sides were iced with buttercream icing & the sides were coated with small white chocolate curls. O M G. It was HUGE. WHY there isn't a Cheesecake Factory in this town is beyond me. There was NO way I could eat it all so I had the rest for breakfast. Not very good for a diabetic, but I was being good most of the time. LOL

The next day it was on to Las Vegas. At that point....I was feeling like doggie doo. We got to Vegas on a Friday of course. Hotels being higher then than any other time, but it was just how the timing of the trip turned out. I also hate Vegas on the weekend because there always seems to be twice as many people there. Rich, Tom & the girls went running around a little then brought them back. I stayed in the room with a VERY VERY upset stomach and they went to gamble. Rich came back and Tom came in late. The next day we all took turns going out and about. We all went over to the Mandalay Bay to their Aqaurium. We had lunch at a very nice Mexican Restaurant. The girls loved the Aquarium and especially touching the sting rays and horseshoe crabs. It was truly fun. It was too hot though. I did some gambling while the guys and girls went downtown. We were staying at the Excalibur on the south end of the Strip. I went back up to the room and waited on them to come down. Tom & I gambled some a little later. None of us did very good. Rich came out ahead I think. I had been stashing some cash for gambling and came home with some of it. While Tom, Rich & the girls were out and about Richard bought me a white leather purse and I love it. He hadn't gotten me anything really for my birthday, but I told him I didn't expect him too since we were on the trip. He knows I have been shopping for a white leather purse and for him to take the time to go into a hotel and go shopping for me...well that was pretty darn special. AND I LIKE IT! LOL He wanted to stay another day or two, but I was just worn out & ready to go home. Usually he has to drag me outta Vegas. I have to admit I was a little worried about Jake (Frodo too) but my daughter & her boyfriend were coming to the house at least twice a day. We got home and the doggies were SO happy to see us. The cat, Calli, not so much. It was SO funny. She was in the front yard & she would not let ANYONE touch her--except Tommy. Not knowing a lot about cats, I think that is pretty understandable. She IS HIS cat.

Oh my gosh, my hibiscus' bloomed while we were gone. I guess we had some wild weather & quite a bit of rain while we were gone. I have had many hibiscus and they have always been beautiful. I ordered these from QVC....5 of them. Only 3 of them survived-they were approximately 4" high when we got them about 3 months ago. Now they are between 3 and 4 FEET high. In the past my biggest blooms were over 6". The SMALLEST of these blooms are about 8 1/2" and the largest was 10". I was FLOORED. I have never seen ANY flower that large.

Richard had extended our privacy fence from the back of the house to the front on the west side. For more strorage & probably putting one of his classic cars there to store and/or work on. He had been putting an aluminum roof on it and 2 of the pieces blew off during one of the storms while we were gone. Heard we had 80 mph winds that night. I'm surprised it didn't rip the tomatoes clear out of the ground. But they are doing great. In fact we had some in our salads last night.
Well it's good to be home. I'm feeling better. I got on some prilosec. I used to take it and when I ran out of it a while back, I just never took anymore. I have been getting increasing heartburn so I am back on it and it has helped so much. I've gotten some good sleep and am glad to be sleeping in my own bed. However the first place we stayed in only had a 2 bedroom suite with a living room, kitchen/dining room and that place had the most awesome mattresses and nicest sheets I've slept on in years. I believe I could have a spent a week in that bed. LOL

Getting late & I want to try to get some photos on here & on facebook.
Glad to be home. I'll try to get round to your blogs as I go alone.
Love you all. (Can't find the squirrel pic. Will try to find it. LOL) Hugs & Goodnight!!

Update on Jake, our Maltipoo

2009-07-23T00:16:00.002-05:00

I'm so sad tonight for our little guy. He had his knee surgery this morning (Wed). He is hurting SO much. The inscision is about 8 inches long. So much longer than I thought it would be. The Vet said he should be up walking around tomorrow (Thurs). He did limp around a couple times. Richard carried outside & it was raining very lightly. After a while, Jake just laid down in the grass. I don't know if the damp,cool grass felt good or if he was just too worn out to get up and go back to the house. Rich had to carry him in. I had to bring his water dish to him. Bless his heart he was SO thirsty. I'm praying so hard for a speedy recovery for him. He also has been put on diet. I KNOW that feeling. And he is NOT going to like it. He lost 3 lbs since he hurt his knee, so I have a feeling he will lose some more in the next week, easily. He hasn't touched his food bowl. He wouldn't even take his pills with bits of hot dog.
Speaking of cool and rainy days. The past 3 days have been hot, then at night thunderstorms with nice rain. Last night it started raining in the middle of the night and it has been raining off and on all day. Wonderful slow 70 day with gentle, steady rains that this part of the country needs oh so desperately. Thank you God. Please get well, little buddy.

July Birthdays & Summer Fun

2009-07-20T03:24:00.005-05:00

Well, July is well over half gone. We've had a few birthdays to celebrate and wish Happy Ones to. Let's see, our nephew Andy (Richard's sister's son) had a birthday on the 4th!! What a day to have a birthday to celebrate!

Richard's other sister, Pauline (Polly) had her birthday on the 6th. HAPPY BIRTHDAY POLLY! She lives in Missouri but she will be out her (TX) in August. We're anxious to see her.

Our #3 granddaugher (Tom's middle girl) turned 6 on the 11th. Our little 7-11 girl born at 1:11p.m. They were living in Colorado when she was born. They called about 6am to let us know that Morgan (ex daughter in law) was in labor. We drove like crazy people hoping to get there in time. I think we missed it by about an hour & 1/2. I was just getting over a foot surgery of course. But I got to stay a week with the kids. Shelby was just about 22 mos at the time. I was thrilled to be there that week. Though I think I drove Morgan nuts. We had a luau this year for Kenzie's birthday. Tommy did all the work. I did make her tiki hut cake (but I had to let him try out making some of the icing "leaves" on the roof. He did fantastic! I believe he'd be a natural at cake decorating! He made chicken & beef kabobs on the grill. There was fruit kabobs along with the other food, cake & ice cream. He even saved sparklers for the kids to do after dark. On a sad note, our almost 6 yr old maltipoo, Jake jumped off our daughter's lap that night & injured his left hind leg. It was a weekend & our vet refers weekend patients to the Emergency Animal Clinic. One of the very reasons that I am thinking seriously about changings Vets. They didn't even xray Jake's leg. I didn't go, but I should have. Rich should have insisted they xray the leg. They diagnosed it as a bad pull or tear of a ligament. Said there is an expensive operation to repair it but was only 50/50 that it would be a success. So what, he is supposed to limp all his life. We delayed taking him to the regular Vet as he seemed to really be iproving over the next couple of days. Then Wed. the trash truck came down the alley. HIS alley (he thinks-LOL). Jake HAS to run out and bark at him, which he did & I KNOW aggrivated his leg again. He is putting weight on it when he walks now & you can touch the leg without him crying or jerking away, so he is better. I still want to take him to Vet though for a REAL diagnosis.

Our #5 granddaughter, Hailey Rae (Chad & Malizza's daughter) had her 2nd birthday, July 17th. They had her birthday at Chuck E Cheese Pizza. The kids had a blast. Hailey seemed to really enjoy herself. We got her a tricycle, though I haven't gotten to see it in action. LOL I also got her an outfit & 2 pair of earrings. I love the pizza there & I don't know why I never think to get one from there. So the only time I get it is at a birthday party! LOL Her birthday party theme was Blues Clues and her cake (from a bakery) was a very cute one with "Blue" (a dog for those of you who don't watch Blues Clues) on it. And tasted SO good. Malizza, if you're reading this---Have Chad send me some birthday party pics. I know the ones I took with my phone aren't the greatest. I'm not even sure I know how to get them on the computer, though I'm sure one of my kids does. LOL

Last of the birthdays this month, will be mine. Big Whoop. I'll be (cough cough) 55 on the 29th. Rich will be on vacation and I hope the hell we'll be out this town. I haven't had a vacation in 3 years and I BETTER get one. I want to go to San Diego. He wants to go to Vegas. I HATE Vegas in the summer. The LAST time we were there was one of the hottest summers on record - of COURSE! I got so sick from the heat, walking around. I told him, a stopover in Vegas wouldn't be out of the question as long as I get to park my ass in front of a slot machine or Pai Gow poker table. LOL There's some show going on out there he wants to see. IF we can even get tix. I don't know.

That's about all I know for now. I'll try to add some photos to this entry. My computer crahsed while I was uploading the ones from my camera. Ahhhh technology. LOL Have a good week!!

(I think if you hold your cursor over the photo it tells who or what's in the photo)

"These Dreams Go On When I Close My Eyes"

2009-07-06T13:53:00.003-05:00

I have to write about These Dreams. I am a vivid dreamer. If I were only a writer I could write volumes of short stories because none of them are really related. Or ARE they? I think they prove my insanity.LOL Only an insane person could dream up such wild things. Or maybe they are a release for me to KEEP my sanity. I've always walked the razor's edge. A psychology teacher told me once, if you think you're insane you're not for the insane do NOT know they are. I don't know about that. Of course that was what seems like a hundred years ago. There has been hundred of advances in the advance of the diaganosis & treatment of mental illnesses.

I've always had a vivid imagination. I had to. I had to escape the 2a.m. nightmares of my Dad coming home drunk. If I successfully feigned sleep I could escape the belt for some real or imagined transgression. My dreams a child were not bad ones. Just "flights of fancy." I think they were my escape from the nightmares I endured during the day. Besides my Dad I had to deal with the brother from Hilarity Hell. He lived to torture me. Thought it was all in good fun. Nothing like waking up at 11 or 12 o'clock at night with your brother's hands squeezing around your neck with just enough pressure to feel it. And acting like he's gone crazy enough to kill you. He did THAT one more than once even though I knew it was an "act" how was I to know if he'd really snapped? I don't know how many times I had to become hysterical before he would laugh & let me go. Other of his many "gags" were taking one of my dad's souvenir WWII bayonettes sheathed sometimes, sometimes not & awake me pretending he'd been stabbed with the bayonette run through his shirt and blood or paint running from the wound. I was about 10 or 12 yrs old. It's easy to terrorize a deeply sleeping child when you awaken them suddenly acting a crazed fool. Did my brother get punished? Not really. No one ever saw what he did to me. For years I panicked if anyone touched my neck or woke me suddenly. Still my dreams were not bad ones.

It is only in the middle of my life when the bad and weird and absolutely crazy dreams began. I don't know when exactly that they changed. They just did. From happy field of wildflowers, to fires and floods, murder and monsters. Blood and rape, frenzy and terror. Being chased. Running. A lot of running. The insanity. The absolute way they make no sense at all. I have given up trying to analyze them. I used to try to write them down, but they are always so long (or so it seems) & SO detailed. One person would be a star in the dream & change into someone else. I would awake, go back to sleep & the dream picks back up where it left off. Or have the same dream every night with a chapter added to it. It just amazes me. Sometime, i know what influenced a certain dream. I watched the movie Beowulf the other night and of course that night I dreamed of monsters like Grendel. Those dreams seems to make sense. A few nights ago I dreamed of finding a magic water. My DH, myself & a 3rd party invented a new soda. This water renewed itself so we could make endless amounts of this "new soda." Trouble was, besides this very flavorful, addicting soda, it did amazing things to people. Different things. Explicit things, graphic things, incredible things, terrible things. It could only be sold in very small amounts or the effects would be dramatically better-or worse. Before the dream was over all kinds of hell had broken loose. I could go on & on with more boring but chaotic dreams. I just wish someone could crawl in my head & make sense of some of the shit. Anyway...I'm off to dream again.
Thank you Missie (chat2missie) for the wonderful Bee siggy tags. She is the best!

These Dreams
Heart
Spare a little candle
Save some light for me
Figures up ahead
Moving in the trees
White skin in linen
Perfume on my wrist
And the full moon that hangs over these dreams in the mist

[[[[[[[[note that this paragraph was not in the version that I liked the most]]]]]]]]
Darkness on the edgeShadows where I stand
I search for the time On a watch with no hands
I want to see you clearly
Come closer than this
But all I remember are the dreams in the mist

These dreams go on when I close my eyes
Every second of the night I live another life
These dreams that sleep when it's cold outside
Every moment I'm awake the further I'm away
Is it cloak 'n dagger
Could it be spring or fall
I walk without a cutThrough a stained glass wall
Weaker in my eyesight
The candle in my grip
And words that have no form
Are falling from my lips

These dreams go on when I close my eyes
Every second of the night I live another life
These dreams that sleep when it's cold outside
Every moment I'm awake the further I'm away

There's something out there
I can't resist
I need to hide away from the pain
There's something out there
I can't resist
The sweetest song is silence
That I've ever heard
Funny how your feet
In dreams never touch the earth
In a wood full of princes
Freedom is a kiss
But the prince hides his face
From dreams in the mist

These dreams go on when I close my eyes
Every second of the night I live another life
These dreams that sleep when it's cold outside
Every moment I'm awake the further I'm away
These dreams go on when I close my eyes
Every second of the night I live another life
These dreams that sleep when it's cold outside
Every moment I'm awake the further I'm away

Happy Independence Day - Please make it a safe one.

2009-07-03T03:45:00.006-05:00

Good Afternoon everyone & a fine hot day/weekeknd it will be. I feel very strongly about the right to celebrate this country's freedom. It'S NOt just not supposed to be a long weekend to run off & grill burgers, take a long weekend & watch some magnificent fireworks. Few of us think about what those rocket's red glare mean to this country's past. How many lives were lost to lay down this freedom? How many won't be home this weekend manning the grill because they are out there laying the groundwork for more freedom in this world for those who don't have it? Thank you America. Thank you fighters of freedom. Thank you all who help every day to make my life so easy. Yes, yes, yes. Go out.Fire up your grills, take that 4 day trip, and when you're watching those glorious fireworks from wherever you are, say a prayer for the safety of those protecting our freedom, fighting for someone else's. And here comes my obliglatory, PLEASE PLEASE for God's sake. Stay sober. Or have a designated driver.AND mind your city/town's fireworks laws. LOL (My civil service for the weekend.)

I am sure my fireworks celebration will dull as unbuttered toast. DH usually has to work. Well, he doesn't HAVE to - he could take the day off but woul not get the Holiday Pay. The have to work the day before & the day after a Holiday to get holiday pay. Tom usually takes the girls out to a friend's house that have a 4th party. They live out of the city limits where it is legal to set off fireworks. They aren't this year though as they have a new baby.

More than likely Rich (DH) will be at work. Tom has plans all weekend. They DO include the girls. There is a parade & street fair downtown. I would LOVE to go. I haven't been in several years. it is usually wicked hot ; at least there you can get a HOTdog. We shall see.

ORTHO doc visit Thursday went far differently than I thought it would. The night before those two toes that have been giving me hell and my whole foot were swollen. I had been up a little longer than I probably should have. I mean, my God, it's been over a month. I SHOULD be able to be up on my feet all day if I want. Apparently it was too long. When I went to the DR, he thought it was doing great. I said, "What??" I said look at the redness, the swelling of the two toes. He went on to give me the DR babble pep talk which I took with a grain of salt. Yeah, he's supposed to be the best there is at what he does & I, nothing but a patient with my own ideas. Guess that is why HE gets paid the big bucks. So the report was good. He said I can try to wear a regular tennis shoe this weekend and go swimming whenever I want. YAY! He DID prescribe another round of antibiotics and a pack methylPREDNISolone-6 days worth. Fibromyalgia was brought up. I didn't bring it up, Richard did. All my painful points everywhere on my body. Doc said he's suspected I had it but I have been on several drugs that are used to treat it for my other pain symptoms, and they haven't helped. My trigger points seem to be getting worse and so Doc decided to Rx'd a new drug for firbromyalgia, Savelle. It just came out in March so he is excited for me to try it. Of course, my pharmacy doesn't even have it in, so I have to wait until Monday. Enough of that. All I can do is trust him at his word.

My sainted son, Tom, just fixed fab supper. Grilled chicken with pineapple. Alligator bites: opened & seeded jalapenos filled w/cream cheese, cheddar, or mexican blend (or your fav), a bit of chicken (make sure you cook throuroughly if using raw bits as we do). U put the top back on the jalapeno(we slice lengthwise) and wrap with a stip of bacon; secure w/toothpick & grill till it's done. OMG.These are the best ever. To me they aren't spicy at all because it's the seed & membrane that give jalapenos their heat. I LOVE them. I love bacon on anything too. T had 2 extra slices of bacon and grilled them alone for the girls. I took a bite & told him that I think this is the ONLY way bacon should be cooked. LOL Can you imagine firing up the grill every morning for breakfast. (Shows how much I go camping.)
Grilled some slices of fresh pineapple. By the way after he cored & sliced the pineapple with our handy dandy tool that does it that I got from QVC, he put the boneless skinless breasts in the pineapple "skin" and let it marinate in there till he cooked it. OMG that chicken was sooo juicy and tender!! I go on don't I? Anyway we had a yummy lite summer dinner and the girls ate like they hadn't eaten all day.

I woke up with a summer cold. It was almost funny if it weren't so annoying. I sneezed all day-in 3s. Every time I sneezed, I sneezed 3 times. I'm not usually a multiple sneezer. And EVERY time-3 sneezes. Until after dinner. I'm down 1 sneeze at a time & a head stuffed with cotton & a nose running like a leaky faucet. Joy. Not.

Well, again, I'm outta here. Have a safe and fun weekend and wave a sparkler for me!!

RIP Michael and Farrah

2009-06-27T14:41:00.004-05:00

Yes, I am writing about the loss of Michael Jackson & Farrah Fawcett. Two icons in their own right gone far too soon. I am already SICK of the SICK jokes going around about the two of them and I don't want to hear any more of them.
It's one thing to disrespect someone in life, that can defend themselves...but less than 24 hours after they are gone, I think is just plain mean spirited. Yes both of them were far from "our" definition of normal. What IS normal? Am I normal .... ahhh, no. Are you? I am so disgusted at the names they have branded upon the Hollywood and Music World elite. They are people whose destiny took them down a road that few travel upon.
Michael Jackson was scrutinized by everyone, everywhere from the first time he walked on a stage. Where were all these so called friends & fans of his when he was on trial for molestation? Did he molest little boys? I don't know. I wasn't there. I don't think many were. That's between him & his maker. I am sitting here watching his videos on several different channels. "Scream [Stop Pressuring Me]" & "Leave Me Alone"; two songs that say it all. He just wanted to make his music. Live his life. I know from what I've heard from tv & radio that he had a lot of chronic pain. A lot of that stemming from the fire in the Pepsi commercial. If you have never suffered chronic pain or been inclined to addiction, how can we understand. I hope he didn't suffer at the end. I know he's out of pain now. He's in heaven with his baby brother, Brandon who died the day of his birth. Brandon was Marlon's twin.
As for Farrah Fawcett. She suffered mightily & fought the good fight. I was thrilled when Ryan ONeal said they would be married and heartbroken that it didn't happen before she passed. Did you know when she was one month old she had surgery for a digestive tract tumor? She was born in Galveston TX. So of course we (Texans) claim her as our own. She certainly may not have had an impact on the world like the "King of Pop" did, but she came into our homes often. As one of Charlie's Angels, as the abused wife & mother of the "Burning Bed", etc. Apparently she had demons of her own to battle. I hope she too is resting in peace. Out of pain.
Anyway, that's my 2 cents on the matter.
Thursday afternoon we had a houseful of company. All the kids, then one of Richard's nephews, his wife, one of their sons, their daughter & her boyfriend-all moved back out here from the Phoenix area. 15 of us to eat (burgers off the grill) and swim. Well I couldn't swim of course. I was on my feet longer than I had been in the past few weeks. I was worn out by the time they all left. I guess my late nights finally caught up with me because since Friday morning when I went to bed till 11am I slept a total of 22 hours. I probably should try to get back to bed earlier tonight.
Hope you and yours are having a good weekend. Until next time.....

Free Feet - Kinda

2009-06-20T23:37:00.003-05:00

Went to the Doc last Thurs. (The 18th) When the nurse took off the bandaging, she didn't think it looked all that great. That 2nd & 3rd toe (the troublemakers) were really swollen and deep red. However...with my foot up in the air sone of that redness subsided, so that was a relief. The 3rd toe, the one they took the pin out of early is crooked. He taped it, showed me how to tape it & taped the 1st 2 toes together. Told me I can walk without the crutches or can as long as it's not swelling or bothering me. I am using the cane most of the time.
Life seems to passing us by as usual. Things to be done everyday. I have been pretty useless up to this point but think I am finally on the mend. Rich, Tom & the girls have something up everyday.
Father's Day was nice. All the kids were here. If I had known they were all going to be here at the same time, we could've cooked out something. Robin & AJ said they would "probably be by" and Chad & Malizza & Hailey just came over. Ashley is still in WA. The girls really miss her. I had a card made for Tommy with a photo of his 3 daughters on the front & on the inside a photo of some of my tulips he'd taken then on the back of the card a small photo of him with Kenzie & Shelby. I also had a tall coffee mug made, with a close up Kenzie's & Shelby's faces tiled all over it. Very neat.I think he liked them. Chad & Tom mowed and did yard work. I must brag that my yard is looking better every day. It's a miracle what a working sprinkler system (thanks to Hubby, AJ, & Tommy & our nephew, Andy), some good rains, and $$$ in fertilizers & insecticides and weed killers will do. The front is patchy under the Oak tree but looks SO much better because Tom got some fescue to grow under it. It's slow spreading.
We are going to have to get a new roof from the hail we had a few weeks ago. Rich has this thing about metal roofs. He thinks they look cool. A lot more people are getting them. I think we will have to look into that before I'd do it. I just wonder how THEY hold up under hail like we had. I can see, like siding, the advatages of it. I really think that the siding we had put on has helped. Our electricity bill has been lower than usual for this time of year. So far. (Fingers crossed).
Nothing exciting to report, so I will keep this short & sweet. Hope all is well with you and yours and not too hot or stormy where you are.
Thank you all for all of you who have hung in with me. I appreciate all your prayers & well wishes. I know I'm here thanks to you guys.

Surgery/Post Surgery.

2009-06-07T20:33:00.002-05:00

Well, I am 12 days out of surgery. I would say I am doing OK...sorta. Surgery was May 27, I went back a week later, just for a dressing change. The nurse & I both went "Oh no" at the same time as the dressing came off....the whole top of my foot was swollen & lobster red. Doc was in surgery. She took a couple of pics & sent them to him & he had her take one of the pins out the toes. (3 of them had these pins down through the top of the toe-they are abt 3" long). He thought one of them might have been causing the infection as it was working it's way out & had a lot of stuff on it...my body just rejecting it. Happens sometimes. So she pulled the pin & they faxed me in a prescription for antibiotics. I had been cheating & not using both my crutches. I'm allowed to put weight on it as long as it's the heel of the foot. So I was using one crutch or my cane. That was a big no no. I'm supposed to use BOTH crutches ALL the time and stay off it as much as possible & when I'm not up to have the foot elevated. I went back to the DR the next day & saw him. It already looked 20% better (he said). I agree, it looked better. I go back on June 10th to get all the stitches taken out and the other 2 pins. I have a permanent screw in the big toe. like on the other foot. I hope this stops the ulcers on these toes. It's got to help.

I'm being spoiled and going crazy. Rich did drop me off at the nail salon Thursday & came back to get me after I was done. I will be SO glad when I can drive. I could now....it's my left foot, but the Dr. prefers I don't. That way I won't be tempted to "go shopping." LOL Like I'm SUCH a shopaholic. I have been getting a lot of crocheting done. I finished one & got it mailed to Sandra's daughter who had a beautiful 8 lb baby girl! (some of you might know her from journaling...Labdancer51.) Although they live in England, I've known Sandra for a couple of years from AOL journals. When I found out her daughter was having a girl & I wanted to make her a baby afghan, I was thrilled...the past few I'd done were for boys. I have a couple more to make two for boys and one I don't know the sex of yet. I think I will do a green & white one.

Other than my surgery, life has been as usual. The girls are having a ball out of school. Swimming almost every day. Our oldest granddaughter, Ashley left for Washington on June 2 for her annual trip to visit her Mom. I know she was looking forward to it. Unfortunately I didn't get to see her after my surgery, right before she left. I wanted to give her some "mad money" in case she ran across something she really wanted, but i'm sure she will be fine money wise. I also wanted to talk to her about the Twilight series books. She is one of those who encouraged me to read them. I'm almost done with book two and i can't believe how much better it was than the first book & the first book was really good. Very very easy reads.

A very good friend was going home from work late Wednesday night when he had to stop for gas. Of course at a self serve station. He was robbed at gunpoint. The guy asked for his wallet & his keys. He only had $14 on him. I HOPE he's got the locks changed on their house. I haven't talked to him since Thursday so don't have anymore details. I am just glad the guy was satisfied with what he got and took off. It's a scary world out there. I heard a statistic that 1 in 3 people in the United States will be touched by violent crime. Sad isn't it? Scary.

Well, it's getting late. Hope all is well with you all. I will try to get around to your blogs when I can. I can't seem to concentrate on doing much online. LOL

Love you all! Have a good week!

Monday Morning Minutes

2009-05-25T05:49:00.002-05:00

Good Morning one and all. I guess that's the appropriate greeting even though I haven't been to bed yet & it's 6 a.m. Slept too late today so I guess that 's why I was so wide awake tonight. I've been watching television most of the evening & doing some crocheting. I have 3 baby boy afgans to get done by Oct. Shelby has been repeatedly asking me to make her a new poncho which I will....if I ever get caught up. LOL I asked her if she'd like to have a fluffy scarf instead. She considered that & told me maybe...if I let her go with me when I get the yarn. LOL
I am happy to report that in the past week of so I have had a lot of pain relief. I WISH I KNEW what caused this happy occurence. We've had a lot of humidity & I thought the change of weather was what was causing it. It's been trying to rain off and on for over a week, so I'm starting to think it's NOT the change in barometric pressure. LOL Whatever, my hands have hardly had a twinge and my feet have been livable, so this has been. I guess someone had OTHER plans for my body this past week. Thurs night I noticed discomfort in the two toes on the left foot that still have (small) wounds. I take off the bandaids at night to let them get fresh air. They were very swollen & inflamed & felt warm to the touch. "Infection!" I thought. Called Doc first thing in the a.m. & he called in some antibiotics. They have helped but it's possible that my surgery Wednesday may have to postponed. I am not sure how I feel about that. It needs to be done. I DON'T want to have the surgery of course. I do want to stop having infections & ulcers on my feet. Anyway we'll have to wait & see. Plus these antibiotics give me horrible heartburn. The price we pay.
My sister in law had her surgery a couple weeks ago. She is doing very well. I was shocked that even though she had 2 plates and 8 pins, they only put her in a boot. She is allowed to take it off & flex & turn her ankle. Wheat harvest is about to commence (in KS) if it hasn't already. I sure hope she doesn't try to get back to it too soon. I worry about her being too bored & thinking she is ready to do more than she should.
Well, I bettter hit the hay, as the farner in me says. LOL Oh yeah. I'm a real farmer. I can't even grow weeds correctly.
Will let you know if I get the surgery.
Love y'all.

2009-05-07T19:28:00.002-05:00

Just a quick entry. I don't feel like writing a long entry.I am crying because I am in pain. A lot of it. My feet, my hands, my knee & and my shoulder/back. I strained a muscle down the lower part of my neck into my shoulder blade area. It 's NOT getting better. I was at the ortho doc. I forgot tell him about it. He probably could've given me a shot. Nothing else is helping. He was pleased with the progress of a couple of my wounds on my feet. One that has been open for 5+ months is completely healed . The one on the other big toe is still not healed but a lot better. The 2nd & 3rd toe on the left foot...same. He has decided he is going to operate on the toes on the left foot. 3 of them, maybe the 4th one too. He wanted to do with within the next 2-3 weeks and they couldn't find a slot for me until May 27th. The man is OVERBOOKED everywhere. They turn under (like hammertoe) so he will release a tendon and put a screw in the big toe then take a joint out of the other toes. Did the same thing to the right foot a few yrs ago. The toes don't bend anymore. I hope this works. It's only was partially successful with the right foot. I'm not asking for sympathy. It's about all I have to write about.
It's beem unbearably hot the past week. And it's only early May. Hopefully the pool will be swimmable in a week or 2. We got the solar blanket on it today. It still has to have a good vacuuming from the dust that blew in a few weeks ago. Ugh.
My SIL's surgery went well. She had to have 2 plates and 8 pins put in. They have it in a temp cast. She goes back Tuesday to see if they will put it in a cast or boot. I am pretty certain it will HAVE to be in a cast. I wish she'd had my orthopedic surgeon. He is supposed to be one of the best there is in Texas, maybe the country. I know he's busy enough!
Happy Belated Birthday (in my blog) to our beautiful granddaughter in Arizona, Addison. She turned 3 on May 2. I saw pictures in her Mommy's blog. Looks like she had a great day.
I'm done for the night. Hope everything is going well with you and yours. I'll try to get by your blog in the days to come. You know me, always a day late & a dollar short.
Hugs,

2009-04-26T04:38:00.003-05:00

All I wanted to do tonight is change the layout(background) on my blog page. I've done it several times to date. Now I have html code in two different places & STILL have the Easter background on my blog. I know I'm computer illiterate, but you'd think I'd be able to change a couple of simple backgrounds. Thus....I am A G G R A V A T E D!!! I HATE BLOGGER. I've had a crappy week/weekend (tho not as bad as some) and am just about ready to chuck this blog. I use the site The cutest blog on the block. com. So what did I do wrong? Any ideas????
Facebook is relatively easier. My kids are on there and on twitter, so I may just go over there. I don't know.
My poor sister in law, Jane (brother's wife, in KS) has had a crappy month. She & my brother are farmers. They have farm land all over the county they live in so they are on the road a LOT. A few weeks ago they had a snow/freeze and one of the farm roads (if you can call it a road) had only been graded on one side. So she was driving their small S-10 pickup & decided to get over in that lane so she wouldn't have to drive in the inches of snow. She hit a chunk of ice which in an ordinary truck would not have done a thing but she it just so and it push her towards the ditch. She skidded into the slushy, icy snow packed (from the road grader) ditch and the pickup just hit nose first and flipped over on it's top. She wasn't hurt badly but couldn't get out as she was surrounded by the snow. Luckily she was able to get my brother on the radio who was just a few miles behind her. He dug her out.He called for an ambulance and they got her out. The worst of it was how high her blood pressure was! She was extremely lucky. Not so last Tuesday. They were moving so calves and she was on the 4 wheeler. One of the baby calves was headed straight for the fence so Larry hollered for her to cut it off. She did. The 4 wheeler hit a hump of dirt and flipped her over. She broke her left leg (at the ankle) cracked the ankle bone and thought she had broken her shoulder and/or collar bone. Bless her heart. Larry & another hand were going to try to lift her up into the truck and she told him she didn't think they should be trying to move her so they called the ambulance again. The little paramedic was the same one who ran on the pickup wreck & he told her "Jane, you can call me if you want to see me & we'll go get some coffee. You don't have keep getting into accidents!" That was cute. Needless to say the next few hours were difficult for her. A good friend of theirs is a local dr. but they are in little town of about 3,000. There are 2 fairly good sized cities each about an hour to an hour/half away. She chose to go to the one in Enid OK. (Our hometown in right on the KS/OK line). Her side of the family live down there. They splinted her up and sent her home. She will go back down next week & have surgery on her ankle on Thurs. Thank God her nothing else was broken but she has some very bad bruising. This is going to be hard for her. She is NOT one to sit around reading a book, knit, watch tv, or sleep. She is one of the hardest working women I have ever known in my life. It's 500 miles up there. I should just get on a plane & go spend some time up there. I haven't seen them for almost 5 yrs I guess. With the exception of a couple years ago, they flew down with their Dr friend & his fiance to go to an auction. We got together for dinner then spent half the next day together out at the auction. I used to drive up there often just me and the kids before they were all in school. No I can barely make if 5o miles out of town before I start to get sleepy. For some reason as I have gotten older, the car has become like a sedative and I just cannot stay awake/
What else is up? I found out that my brother Larry (wife-Jane) are going to have a second grandson. They have 2 sons. Matt is 33,autistic & lives in a group home. Mark is 31, my daughter's age. He has a little boy now who will be 2 in Oct. Their new baby will be here in Sept. Going to have their hands full.
It's getting late. Guess I should head for the bed. Hope you have a great rest of your week and a warm and sunny week ahead.

Sick toes and I'm an April Fool

2009-04-05T00:02:00.002-05:00

Well, it's official-and I knew it would be. I went to my foot DR on Tuesday & my foot ulcers (3 of the 4) are infected. He marked the red areas with a sharpie & said if the redness moved beyond those lines in the next 36 hrs he was putting me in the hospital because it would mean the antibiotic he was going to prescribe wasn't working & he'd have to put me on IV antibiotics. Luckily it did not. I have been seeing this Dr for about 12 yrs now & I trust his judgement pretty much. He said something about in the future as a proactive measure we may have to amputate half the toes that are the ones that consistently get the pressure sores/ulcers. That would be half of each big toe. Half the 2nd toe on the left foot and maybe the 3rd on that foot. I'm sittin there shaking my head no. It's bad enough missing half of one toe (2nd on the right foot)I like to wear my sandals too much. As long as I can get them to heal without having to be hospitalized then I don't see cutting them off. He said he wasn't talking about any time soon. Subject changed. I'm using silver nitrate sticks on them & sivadene (burn cream) & 3 of them are healing up well. One was pretty bad. I let it go too long. I should have called him at least 2 or 3 weeks ago. The one on my left big toe has not been completely healed since before I was in the hospital last Nov.! Definitely a slow healer. The baseball size bruise I got from hitting my calf on the corner of the girls' bed has barely changed in the past 3 weeks or so.
On a lighter note, I don't think I have EVER been such an April Fool. LOL My 27 yr old son, laid off work with ENTIRELT too much time on his hands (LOL) got me quite a few times. First, I'm rushing out the door to the garage and my hand slips of the knob. I'd just wiped my hands on a paper towel, so I grabbed it. I thought it was Crisco or something, but it came right off...it was lotion. LOL He was already gone for the day on a field trip with one of the girl's class.I get in the car & this prob that I've got with my car not coming out of Park happened. I FINALLY got it in reverse & I make it to the retina DR only 5 min late. I knew he wouldn't let the day pass w/only 1 prank. I noticed when I got home that my bed had been made very neatly. Now, he will make my bed on occasion, but usually doesn't. I wanted to take a nap but I was sure he'd put something in it so I crashed on the couch. I hadn't gotten to sleep much the night before so I crashed hard. He slipped in quietly about an hour before school was out & set to work creating his pranks. LOL I woke up about 30 min after he got home, according to him. I had to run to the restroom. The lid was down on the toliet. I yanked it up but brought up the seat and lid-he'd used clear tape and taped the lid shut to the seat. LOL So he got me! I grab the toliet paper and baby powder goes flying out between the layers. LOL Prank #3. I sit down at my computer. My mouse doesn't move. he's taken a two sided piece of tape & taped it down (Richard's too). Prank #4 on me, I had a diet coke, being the addict that I am. I use the same straw several times. Evemtually it will crack or get a hole in it from stabbing the ice or something. Nothing comes up, I get a new straw. LOL So my straw wasn't working, I got a new one. I did several things. By this time my other son, Chad & his little one, Hailey were here so I was distracted. I sat back down to my coke and my straw had a hole in IT! Then I looked at it and could tell it had been cut. Tommy couldn't contain his laughter. He'd done prank number 5 & 6 now. He'd gotten Chad with the baby powder toliet paper in the other bathroom. LOL After a while I get up to fix another diet coke. I keep a butter knife on the counter lying on a cloth napkin. I use crushed ice so I use the knife to chop the ice so it doesn't clump into one ball. I pick up the knife which was stuck to the napkin! Again with the dbl side tape. Prank #7. I finally got him to tell me what he'd done to my bed because I wasn't going to get in the bed until he fessed up. I guessed it. He'd made an envelope with the flat sheet so your feet could only go into the bed a couple of feet. We left that one for Richard. When Rich got in the bed, he came back in here & half angrily said, I put my foot thru the sheet. And I was laughing and said "What?!" He then said "April Fool's". The girls were gotten too. He put clear stapping tape facing out across their door. He told Shelby to run put her book bag away. You tell her to run-the girl runs. LOL She ran smack dab into the tape at eye level. Cracked her up. We tried to set it up to get Mackenzie but by then she knew something was up & she spied the tape. They thought it so funny to run through the tape they asked Tom to put it across the kitchen door. It wasn't real sticky so to "get them" Chad & Tom held the tape-tightly. Thinking the first one to cross the "finish line" would break the tape...they both got to the doorway at the same time and bounced off the tape. LOL I got a couple back on Tom. While he was still gone on the field trip I took a handul of jelly in a paper towel and smeared it across his (vinyl) chair in his room, his doorknob and the first Dr Pepper can he'd reach for. Just another jelly to make it sticky. Oh and he taped across the opening of my diet coke box in the fridge. The girls and I swapped out the inner pkgs of cereal. We put the cocoa krispies in the raisin bran bos & vice versa. Then I filled the sugar shaker up with salt. He always has a healthy dose in his morning coffee. Of course they couldn't contain themselves about the cereal & finally conned him to giving them each a cupful of each of the cereals for a snack. Of course he knew something was up by the way they were excitedly coaching him. But for their sake acted appropriately "FOOLED."The next morning, the girls were the same way as soon as they woke up. "Aren't you going to make your coffee Dad? You always have coffee in the morning." PLUS he'd filled the sugar shaker the day before & I didn't have enough salt to fill it up completely so he tasted it before he poured it into his coffee. LOL So I didn't get him there. We decided to make a rule about the pranks. Nobody gets hurt, no big messes to clean up, and nothing vulgar. LOL He's decided it's his new favorite holiday. He's always been one to do something....anything for kicks and grins. He should be a comedian. He IS a funny guy.

So once again, I've turned this into a marathon entry. We're having wind, wind, wind, and dust, dust, dust everyday. We were under a high wind advisory tonight. The high Sat. afternoon was 79 and Sunday is supposed to be 54. If we don't get some moisture soon we're going to dry up & blow away. The ciry is raising the water rates dramatically & the more you use the nore your increase is going to be. NOT FAIR.
Well, hope you had a safe & fun April Fool's day. And you're enjoying warm weather and NO wind. Love you all. Barb

Weather Roller Coaster

2009-03-29T16:55:00.002-05:00

Well, the past few days have been a weather roller coater and the forecast for the coming week looks like the same thing. Maybe not to the extreme we had last week. On Thursday it was 80 degrees. Friday we had snow and temperatures in the 20s all day. The snow would cover the ground, stop, sun would come out, snow would be gone then start snowing again. AND SO WINDY. Not fit for man nor beast. My tulips had bloomed already & were almost done, so the few that were left bit the dust. Saturday was a lot better. I think that the high was in the 40s. Today it was 76 this afternoon. I made a hearty beef stew on Friday. It was so good. The girls at the rest of it for dinner this evening.
My son, Tommy quit smoking on the 26d. I aim so proud of him. It's his 3rd attempt. I hope this one sticks. He took the girls to see Monsters Vs Aliens yesterday. The girls LOVED it.
I've done nothing all weekend. My 12 yr old granddaughter & my daughter both have read the Twilight books and raved on about them so i started the first one. I have several bay afgahs to finish and I haven't quite mastered crocheting and reading at the same time. LOL
Oh and the best news for last, our daughter is being baptized next weekend. We were terrible parents & never took them to church on a regular basis. Richard being a lapsed Catholoic and me never finding that Church home I felt good about. I am super pleased about her decision and think it will make nothing but good changes in her life.
Hope you all have warm beautiful weather this week. We will be mostly warm but windy about every other day. LOL Take care. Love you all!!

Who Can It Be Now?

2009-03-22T19:11:00.002-05:00

I have had several people say I had no link to my blog on my profile. I had somehow unchecked it on my profile settings so hopefully you should be able to find me. I wondered why I hadn't heard anything. I KNOW my posts are long and excruciatingly boring...LOL but come on!HEE HEE I have reset my profile and hope you stop by soon.
Today (well, Sunday) my one & only daughter is 31. I am getting too damned old. She has stopped by three days in a row "to check on me".When your kids start checking on you, shouldn't you start to worry? LOL I have been having some issues, but I'm not quite to the point where I need her to drive across town to check on me. I mean I love her to come visit. But that constant look of concern is starting to freak me out. I think she's scoping out her inheritance. LOL Just kidding. It's not like Tom, Richard and the girls aren't here...EVERY SINGLE DAY. LOL
Ever hear the kid's poem "10 little monkeys, jumping on a bed, one fell of an broke his head, Mama called the Dr and the Dr said, No more monkeys jumpin on the bed. " And it continues to count down till there are no More monkeys jumping on the bed. Well, I wasn't exactly jumping on the girls' bed last night, more like hopping off. The corners of there be are SO freakin sharp and I hit the side of my calf on the corner of their it. I'm now blessed with a purple bruise about the size of a baseball with a scab in the center. Ouchie.
I laughed under my breath at something 7 yr old Shelby said the other day. She scraped her back at the park, scratched her tummy sliding down something, skinned her elbow when she fell of her bike, bumped the back of head after a fall off the monkey bars....She seriously said to me "you know gramma if I get one more owie this week, I'm afraid it just might kill me." I did my best not to laugh out loud & told her that was a good sign, It shows she's going out there and playing hard. And a busy week it has been. Spring break is over and it's back to school in the morning.
Well, I'll check after this post to make sure that my blog is on my profile. Stop by anytime.
Luv n hugs,

Spring Break?!

2009-03-19T00:33:00.002-05:00

Evening everyone.
It's almost midnight here in Texas. Just wanted to touch base with everyone. This week was Spring Break so my granddaughters were home all week. We invited our oldest one, Ashley to come spend a few days with us also. She stayed 3 nights. I would have had her all week, but she seemed ready to go home today and Shelby(7) & Kenzie (5) seemed worn out. Tommy hass had them busy every day this week. He's taken them to the park (just a block a way) at least once, usually twice a day. One afternoon they went the BIG park. Legacy Play village which wlooks like the combination of a fortress & a castle. Poor Shelby fell and hit her head so that cut that day short. They have been shopping. Gramma (me) sprang for new sundresses, flip flops and lipstick & jewelry. LOL They went to a barbecue for Tom's best friend Wednesday night. They went to the slot car track with him one day. He bought them all kinds of paints and pads and they've been being very creative. Ashley is turning into quite the atrtiste. Besides her original art that I'm so proud of she has started writing poetry and I must say I am VERY impressed. So the girls have been busy.
It's our daughter's birthday Sunday. She commented that she needed/wanted a new watch so I gave her her present early. I gave her a gift card so she can go out and get one that she wants. I know her taste varies greatly from mine.
I had two dental appts. this week. Tues I had one at 7:30a.m. of all times to have my new crown seated. I woke up at (of course) 7:30. I didn't hit the snooze..I hit the off button. I was ready to go in 10 min & called them on my way out the door. The receptionist was rather snotty (maybe SHE hadn't had HER coffee either) LOL & told me "Well, after 15 min you're considered a no show & we might have to reschedule."I told her I'd be there in less than 5 min. I only live about a 1 1/2 mi away. I ran to my car. The top was down, and of course a cold front had blown in but I didn't have time to put the top up. And on cold mornings sometimes it is hard to get my car out of park into reverse. I'm praying all the way out the door, Please God let me get there quickly & safely and PLEASE let the car come out of park. I jumped in and turned the key at the same time I'm buckling my seatbelt. I rubbed my guadian angel (clipped to visor) and put my hand on the gearshift knob. IT RELEASED!! I looked behind me, Thank God no one parked behind me the night before as they usually do. I looked at the clock. I had 3 min. Both of the lights I came to were green and I hit the parking lot like a Nascar driver. LOL The receptionist said "well, you weren't kidding were you?" I was out of breath & shaking like a leaf. When the dental assistant came & got me she was laughing and told me she said, "I'll bet that's my patient coming into the parking lot on 2 wheels." It wouldn't have been such a big deal but I'd lost the temporary crown 4 days before my appt and I was tired of babying that spot at every meal. LOL It took less time for them to fit the crown than it did for me to get ready. On my way home I had to stop at Walgreens to pick up some things. There was the most GORGEOUS girl at the checkout. I took my stuff out to my car & thought, now why didn't I find out if she was old enough and single for Tom? I'm always trying to pick up girls for him. He thinks it's great but I'm sure the girls probably think I'm a little off my rocker. So I grabbed my purse & went back inside. Luckily she wasn't busy. I asked her how old she was ..."23" (Tom's 27) asked if she had a boyfriend.."No." Asked if she would like one and she nodded enthusiasitcally & said "Yes." I said well I've got a guy for you. Showed her a pic of Tom (on my phone-not a great one, kinda of dark) and gave her his name & phone nummber and told her as much as I could before she had to check out the next lady. The lady asked me if I was matchmaking. I laughed and said, Yes, but I'm sure this poor girl probably thinks I should be committed. She laughed and said well if your not interested in this one I have a big and burly one at home myself. LOL I haven't even talked to Tommy that much since Tues. I told him he needed to go in there and talk to her. I don't know if she called him or if he's been in there. He goes to that store all the time for his personal stuff. The man needs a nice young woman in his life and the girls need one too. One of them commented to the other that they are NEVER going to see their Mommy again. I heard it and talked to them. I told them that wasn't true. They both just got laid off from their jobs and moved into a new house. Plus Mommy has their sister Addy (Tom's too) who will be 3 and baby Sydney (with new husband) so she is busy. BUT THEY WILL see their Mommy again sometime.They talk to her on the phone all the time. They just don't understand that the distance between here & AZ is so far. If Tom wasn't laid off at this time he would have taken the girls out this week. But he's still laid off. Business SEEMS to picking up but there are a lot of RR ers that are off ahead of him.
Oh I had a WONDERFUL telephone conversation with my friend Gwynn the other other night. Unfortunately she hasn't had much luck with love & marriage. Her first husband (who is deceased now) was abusive. It took her 22 yrs to get out of that marriage. She left with her kids and their clothes & not much else when she could have been set up financially had she not been SO eager to get out of the marriage. The 2nd man she was married to was a substance abuser and partied their marriage to the death. I think she married her 3rd out of fear (of being alone) and he'd been a guy she'd dated off and on for a while then was nearly killed in a car accident. He had a long and difficult recovery and ever the nurturer I know she thought he needed him. Though he wss a confirmed bachelor in his 40s they married. After 2 yrs he quit working, living off SSI I assume. His house was paid for and she worked a job that kept her out on the road for most of the 6 yrs they were married.He started verbally abusing her and after taking it for 4 yrs decided that was enough. She fell into the perfect job for her in OK & is basically running an alcohol, smoking and drug prevention program. For a woman with no college, she is doing extra ordinarily well for herself and for that, I envy her. I had only spoken to her maybe twice in the past 2 yrs since she moved. I ran into a mutal friend of ours at a RR dinner a couple weeks ago & this girl wanted to know if I'd write Gwynn & aske her to give her a phone number. So I shot her an email & she called while I was out the next evening. I called her back at 9pm that evening and we talked (like we did nearly every night while we were the best of friends) for FOUR hours. We could have talked for four more. It's like we picked up where we left off -- sort of. She was my first Railroader wife friend. She showed up one day on her lunch hour from the grocery store she worked in her hubby told her about me and that I didn't have any friends (I was new to this town). We both had little ones and close to the same age. She is the one who I made that baby quilt for (her second child) and now his kids use it nearly 30 yrs ago. For 10yrs we were thick as thieves. Then after I saw how bad the abuse was getting I started urging her to get out. Her husband turned on me. Which is a chapter of a book in itself. He actually took a SHOT at me, though we can't prove it was him. I pulled up in my hubby's pickup in her drive & she'd seen her estranged husband drive by slowly about 10 min before. They lived on the outskirts of town in a small housing development and there was an empty lot across from her. She ran outside and told me NOT to get out of the truck. About that time a bullet came through the back glass & I had my door open, it missed my headrest by inches, shattered the window and went out through the driver's door. I was practically in the floorboard and nearly peed my pants. She knew he had taken several of his many rifles & guns with him. We called the sheriff but they said unless we saw him do it, there wasn't much they could do. We think that he was in the alley behind the house across the st. next to the empty lot. There were several more incidents with him & guns during their separation. It's a wonder someone didn't get killed. Anyway, it was wonderful to talk to her. She is near her daughter & son in law plus near her father & step mother.
As for a health update, besides the ordinary bumps and bruises that kids get, I think everyone is healthy. As for myself. I have a new pressure wound so that makes four toes with open sores. One is healing well FINALLY. It should be....I've had it since before I was in the hosp in NOV.! If I can stay off them, they do so much better. They are on the ends of my toes basically where my shoes create pressure. They seem to come from the inside out. I'm doctoring them. I have a DR appt-next week I think. As long as they aren't infected I'm OK.
I've written for over an hour. Didn't mean to write a novella. Has anyone been having trouble with Internet Explorer? I'm using version 7.0 as I've heard bad things about IE 8. My IE has "stopped responding" on a reg. basis. So I hope I can get this posted. Have a wonderful weekend everyone. Love you all!

Frustrated.....

2009-02-25T10:47:00.002-06:00

We have been having Internet issues AND cable issues. Our cable; "high speed" Internet & phone are bundled. They have been out to try to fix the problem several times. Last time they were here they ran a new line from the alley to the house and replace my DVR box. Well, the DVR box is "tiling" or pixelating or whateer you call it where you can't hear or see the channel for the breaking up of the picture into little squares. I wrote a long entry in the body of an AOL email because I keep losing my Internet. NOW today, AOL is not responding, so when I shut it down, I'm going to lose the entry. So I'll try to remember what I wrote. Computers. Grrrr! If I didn't have so many online friends that I would hate to lose I'd throw the darn thing in the trash.
Not much exciting going on. I have a dental appointment at 7:30 A.M. The only good thing about that is I SHOULD be the first patient of the day. I just hope my dentist is a morning person. LOL He's going to take off the old crown & prep it for a new crown. Money Money Monnnney!
Railroad business has gone to hell and my sons are both laid off right now. Chad has 2 yrs more seniority that Tom, so who KNOWS when Tommy will get back to work. I'm SO glad Tom didn't buy a house last summer. He'd have to work 2 jobs at LEAST to make what he was making working for the RR. Robin is doing OK. He soon to be crazy ex husband went to the last place she was living, looking for her. the people she was living with called the cops-she wasn't there, thank God. Apparently they were drunk and looking for trouble. I just wish the cops had shown up before they left.
I have my days & nights mixed up again. I was doing real good when I came home from the hospital. Then I started staying up later and later. With the girls in school, I can nap during the day---usually. Not this week though. Richard decided to get aluminum siding on the trim on the house. Thank God we have a brick house. I would hate to think what siding a complete house would cost. We were going to get a big screen TV and just never found one that both agreed on. he says we are still getting one. We'll see.
Below is a photo of a very dear friend of mine's 2nd grandson sleeping under a very special blanket. I've know this friend for about 30 years. I made this quilt for HER son about that long ago. It was a printed quilt top but I embroidered in and around every letter, every picture, every block. Then put it together as a quilt. The fact that it's survived all these years and now her GRANDSONS have used...well, I'm just so honored. And isn't her grandson just a beautiul little 2 yr old?

Speaking of grandkids, Tommy & Shelby & Kenzie are still living here. As I mentioned before he's laid off. I just found out today Chad, our oldest is cut off work also and he has several more years seniority than Tommy. I hope this economy turns around SOON. Mackenzie (5 1/2) was spilling things all the time. Especially at dinner. We had noticed she had kind of a lazy eye so I started watching her at meals. When she'd reach for something was when that eye kind of crossed. So Tom made eye appointments for both of the girls. Shelby's (age7) eyes are fine. Turns out Kenzie is very farsighted. So when she reached for something close...she wasn't seeing it right. She got glasses. They said it was great that we caught while she's this young. She looks SO cute & she is great about wearing to them. I looked through them and I am VERY farsighted myself & I can see fair out them so she has to be happy inside that she can see! No more spills!!
Well I better get to bed. I want to be bright eyed & bushy tailed for the dentist! LOL Have a great rest of your week!! Love y'all.

Ow Ow Ow

2009-01-30T21:22:00.002-06:00

Well, it wouldn't be an entry from me if there weren't something new wrong with me, would it? LOL Yep you can rely on me for a new tale of "Woe is me." Tues. I developed an odd toothache. Not like a cavity or broken tooth, more like I'd been chewing the same piece of gum in the same spot for a week.I'd eaten some beef jerky so I thought maybe that was it. Wenesday it was somewhat better but my jaw had a swelling and it hurt like hell. I called the dentist & of course they couldn't get me in until Friday morning. By this morning it looked like I was stuffing that cheek like a chipmunk, was firey red and feverish and HURTS!!! OMG. Went to the dentist this morning & all he did was tell me that I had a pretty bad abscess & needed a root canal. Oh joy. Thank God for insurance.
What else is going on the wild world of Mad Woman? Not a whole heck of a lot. OH! We finally decided to get out of the house. Tommy won tickets to see this Beatles tribute band called The Living Legends and insisted that he won them for us. They were hand picked by George Harrison's sister. They show a LOT of documentary footage of the REAL Beatles (which, while interesting, I'd rather have watched at home on the Biography channel.) Plus the show started 20 minutes late so of course.....Richard's cell phone rang after the intermission, just as they were getting into the 70s music & he had to be at work in a hour and a half. We listened to 2 more songs then had to leave. It was getting icy and he has drive 30 minutes to the train depot. What we got to see was fun and I hadn't been out for long time. Everyone thinks I'm turning into a recluse.

Found out that I am going to be a great-Aunt again. My brother's son's wife is expecting their 2nd one. I never get to see them as they all live in KS. Their firstborn (a son, Isaac)is a toddler so when the new baby gets here, they will be almost 23 mos apart. That's about far apart my granddaughters that live here are. I think it's neat when they are close together. They grow up closer I think. My kids are 4 yrs apart so my boys are 8 yrs apart. But now that they're adults it doesn't matter.

Well, that's about all that is going on here. Anyone having a Super Bowl party? I usually put on a spread if the guys are in town and don't have anything else planned. I spread out a big quilt & let the girl TRY to eat in front of the TV....if the dogs will leave them alone. Everyone have a nice weekend and I hope you're staying safe & warm.

Love y'all!

Rest In Peace

2009-01-13T03:02:00.002-06:00

Sorry I haven't been by in a while. Seems I haven't had time to sit down & read or write anything if forever. More bad news. We lost Richard's mother, Clara on January 3rd. She was 95 years old. Up until the last year she had been in good health for a woman of her age. She had a type 2 diabetes controlled with medication. She was losing her eyesight slowly due to macular degeneration. Yes, she was frail. She was 95. Yet she could still drive herself to the store or the senior center or care center to visit the residents there up until about a year ago.
She was mother of 8 (2 daughters & 6 sons), grandmother of 16, greatgrandmother of 37 and great great grandmother of 3 with 2 more on the way. One of her older sons, Fred was killed in VietNam. Richard, (who became my husband in 1972), was in the Army at that time & had orders to leave for Viet Nam. Clara got on the phone with the government and got his orders changed. She got some senator involved.He chose to go to Alaska for his tour of duty. A place he loves. A place I am grateful he got to go to. I know too many who came back different young men from Viet Nam.
About 18 mos later, her son Bobby, his wife, Janet & their children-2 yr old Karen & 3 yr old Joe were returning from a funeral. Clara told me that for several weeks a "woman had come to Janet in her dreams and talked to her about death." Clara told her to sleep with her bible and the dreams would stop. I don't know if they did. But Janet was afraid of dying. The funeral was for the father of her best friend, she didn't want to, but had to go. A man ran a stop sign and Janet was thrown through the front windshied and was killed. The kids were thrown to the floorbard, Bobby was injured though they lived. After Janet's death, Bobby & the kids moved home with Clara & Ray (my father inlaw). They lived there about 8 or so years until Bobby remarried.
I could write pages about Clara. She was a homemaker, babysitter, mother to whole neighborhood, and sold Avon over 30 years.
In late October (I believe it was) she was at home fell (in a dark bathroom-we still don't know why she didn't turn on the light) hit her cast iron bathtub & broke 3 ribs. She spent a few days in the hospital then we put her in the Care Center to recover & get stronger. Richard's retired sister, Mary who will be 72 in March was remodeling a bedroom in her house so Clara could move in with her. It was becoming obvious that she needed someone with her all the time. Rich's other sister who lives in MO was out here all summer staying with her, but she has emphysema and is on oxygen. While I was in the hospital in November Clara got pneumonia also. She was in a different hospital. Even then she was still worrying about me and praying for me. She went back to the Care Center but went downhill quite rapidly. She began to refuse to eat. They were feeding her pureed food because of her aspirating her food. She started talking to her deceased husband and son & talking about how she wanted to go to be with them. I think she knew it was time.
Her only disappointment in me (I THINK) was that I wasn't Catholic. Some of the other children didn't marry Catholics, so she was always hoping. I wanted to go back to church, so when Chad was just a toddler, I went through Catholic instructions. We were going to be baptized and everyone got very sick that weekend. We had to postpone it. Richard (who is a lapsed Catholic) said it was a sign and maybe we should go to another Church. Anyway. I always felt close to Clara and would go to Mass with her when I could.
For years and years Sundays at her house was Open house. We were ALL invited to come to Sunday dinner. And a lot of us showed up for years and years. We went to her house every Thanksgiving until she started getting on in years then my sister in law & I started taking turns. Same with Christmas Eve.
We had Rosary on the 6th and funeral Mass on the 7th. Both of our sons were pall bearers. The Catholic Daughters put on a lunch after the funeral. There were a lot of people from out of town. More of the grandkids than I thought would be able to come.
Our lives will have a hole in them where our beautiful Clara was. We're going to miss her tremendously. Below is a picture of her taken just a few months ago. She certainly doesn't look 95 does she?
Rest in peace.

Lost entry & Happy New Year

2008-12-27T23:12:00.004-06:00

Well, I guess I should have saved my last post. LOL I thought I did. I wrote it on Christmas Eve, wishing you all a Merry Christmas and joyfilled and blessed 2009. Since I didn't save it or there was an error, I do hope you all had a wonderful Holiday. Ours was as good as it could be. I'd been to the doctor a few days before and he told me I'm going to have to take it easy. To sit down when I get tired, to take a nap when I felt the need. He told me that it would probably take me a good 6 months for me to be completely recovered. So my Chrismas baking and candy making were deeply cut back and I took every shortcut & all the help I could get making Christmas dinner. All of my kids were here for breakfast and lunch. My daughter brought her new boyfriend. Her brothers and dad actually like this guy. Let's hope he's the winner that she deserves.

As for my recovering from last month's ordeal, I have been having trouble keeping down food some time. I don't know if it's the food or my pancreas. The DR said it is probably both. All I have wanted to do since Christmas is sleep. My husband has been so nice to let me. Last night I went to sleep about 10pm and didn't wake up till nearly 3pm today. Plus I slept for another hour later!

Well, that's all for now. Once again, Happy New Year! Love you all.

Hospital

2008-12-08T03:38:00.003-06:00

First, I hope you all had a healthy and wonderful Thanksgiving. I hope you were surrounded with love and all the turkey you could handle....and then some. Unfortunately, I barely knew what day it was. I spent it in the Medical ICU wing of the hospital. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Sat, the 22nd I woke up with a TERRIBLE cramplike pain in the left side of my neck on to my shoulder. I took 2 aspirin, just because I thought it would do the besst-fastest. It helped. Later in the day I started coughing & it made my shoulder hurt so I took a couple more. By evening I had a lowgrade fever- took a couple aspirin.Since I am prone to ulcers, I know that I shouldn't take so much aspirin. Hind sight & such. Sunday I was SO sick. Mostly fever amd ccoughimg, but coughing up blood, Rich was practicallly begging me to go to the ER. I told him if I wasn't better Mon morning I would call the DR. I did. Mon a.m. and they told me to come in at 3:30. About 1:30 I started becoming incredibly dizzy. Then I knew something was up. My fever came & went. Tommy & the girls had to take me to my appointment & by then couldn't walk without his help. I didn't even make it into an exam room-they sat me in a chair at the nurse's desk. They started taking my vitals. My pulse was hard to find. My blood pressure was 72/40. Dr asked me a few questions...saw the stuff I was coughing up and had them get a wheelchair & take me directly to the ER (connected to his building.)

Certainly didn't take them long to get me back to a room. I had a flurry of tests. Chest xrays, CT scans, EKGs (more than one) & I don't know how many vials of blood drawn. My son took the girls to my other son's house. My daughter in law (who is a nurse) was there with me. Rich, dear hubby was at the other end of the line-125 miles from home. They can't have their cell phones on while they are on the train, but he was at the hotel, waiting to be called home. The kids were able to talk to him. Chad (oldest son) called this Emergency # and told the Railroad that they were admitting me to Medical ICU unit & they needed to get him home as soon as possible. They had diagnosed me with double pneumonia. The left lung was completely involved and just the top lobe of the right one. Sepsis (blood poisioning).

After about 5 hrs in the ER they moved me to MICU. When they moved me from one bed to the other I got the most excruciating pain in my abdomen. Nothing they did helped. In fact I had the most impatient hateful nurse that I have ever encountered in my life. They finally got hold of the admitting DR who said I could have morphine. It wasn't enough. It took the edge off. I actually heard my nurse talking to 2 other nurses, not 4 feet from me what a big baby I was being and I was driving her crazy. She complained of how bad SHE felt with a headache and how she needed to get away from me. Uhhh...Yeah I was dying. Or I thought I was. And if you're a nurse you certainly don't badmouth your patient where they can hear you!!! I have dry mouth anyway so I thought I was going to die of thirst. They did give me a few ice chips.

At some point and this is where things get foggy, they took me for another CT scan. Then they shoved a form in my face & asked me if I would accept a blood transfusion. Apparently I was bleeding internally somewhere. It was finally found that I was bleeding fro the back of my pancreas & I had pancreatiitis. I had 3 units of blood after they took me down and put in a central line.

I spent 4 days in MICU. Of course, I missed Thanksgiving. I was on a clear liquid diet then. Rich & Tom & the girls went out to eat. I cried. It was the first Thanksgiving that I had not been able to participate or cook in 36 yrs. After a few days of having moved up to a "soft" diet the Pancreas DRs took me off food again because my pancreas enzymes weren't coming down. 3 more days of nothing but IV fluids. They would let me sip water with my pills. I was getting 2 bags of antibiotics a day, IV. They finally let ne back on clear liquids after a few days.

I was definitely better after about 8 days. Still had some dizzy spells. One day I got up to go to the restroom. It's not clear what happened next. My IV tubing was always getting tangled on the pole so I don't know if I was messing with that or got dizzy or what. The next thing I new I was falling. I tried to catch myself, but there was nothing there. I don't know if yelled out while I was falling or after. I smacked my head on that hard tile floor, scraped up and elbow, hit my leg on the edge of the bed and hurt my thumb somehow. When I woke up there were 6 people around me. I was fine. Just had a headache. But OF course they had to take me down for ANOTHER CT of my head. Nothing there. LOL I talked to my brother that night & he said "I could've told then that." Felt good to be teased by my big brother. The day before they let me go home the Dr told me I came close to dying. I don't know about that. All I know is that I was very sick and 2 weeks in the hosp was enough. But I didn't pressure them to let me go, becaue I knew I was weak.

I got home Sun. afternoon. I was dizzy every time I got up & down, but I hadn't had a whole lot exercise. I did walk to the end of the hall & back several times. I thought I was A OK. Then this afternoon...sick as a dog. I don't know what brought it on but to put it delicately, I was bowing to the porceline God until I had no more to lose. I have no idea what THAT was all about. Slept all the rest of the day. Feeling better tonight.

The girls let it slip that I had a surprise at home. I figured the guys had put up the Christmas tree. I knew Tommy was painting my kitchen cabinets because he started it the day before I went to the hosp. We also bought a new dining table & chairs & they'd delivered those. I had to wait till I got home to find out they had ripped up our ancient kitchen carpet & laid new tile. they aren't quite done, but it looks SO good. I was so thrilled. My tree isn't up yet, but hopefully soon.

I don't know how I am going to finish my shopping. It may be a little lighter Christmas than usual. I'm sure the kids will understand. I have a few things left to get the granddaughters, but Tom can go get those. Hopefully in a few more days I'll be strong enough to get out & do a littl shopping.

Well, I've bored you with my story long enough. I'll get round to see you all as I can.

No News is Good News....I guess.

2008-11-15T21:03:00.002-06:00

Well, they say "No news is good news." I guess it is. It's why I haven't posted. It has been SO BORRRRING around here. The girls & Tommy are watching the new Kung Fu Panda movie and I'm popping Tums. We had spaghetti & meatballs for dinner & it isn't setting very well.
I'm a bit irritated about Thanksgiving. My oldest son & his wife and kids go to HER family's for the daytime meal. Every year. My daughter (if she is with someone-and she is already.) usually goes to her man's family. Then they all show up at our house that night expecting MY traditional dinner...leftover. I make a daytime meal and whomever shows is welcome. Rich's brother and sister that liver here, usually do something with their inlaws. Sometimes my mother in law and sister in law come here. I never know when Richard will be here until the last minute because he is on call and he thinks he HAS to work that day before & after so he can get that Holiday pay. Usually they try to hold the trains until after 2pm. Mother in law is still in the nursing home & I think Richard's sister is taking their other sister back to Missour. If they will let her out, we will probably get her or one of his other brothers might. We quit having the huge family meal because I don't have anyone to really help me. Tommy of course, now. But before him it was me doing it all with as much help as Rich could give, doing it all. You know, when out kids were young and unmarried, even though MY family lived 500 miles we tried to change holidays. We'd go to KS for Thanksgiving and stay here for Christmas. Then change it the next yr. My mother in law ALWAYS had her dinner on Christmas eve. SOME years we'd have dinner & open gifts with them on Christmas eve then drive all night to Kansas so we'd be there on Christmas day. Yeah. Talk about some interesting storiess. The kids loved it though and my parents especially appreciated it. I don't think my kids would do that for us. LOL
I've already called Richard Scrooge and it's only mid November. HE HATES ALL shopping, but he ABHORS Christmas shopping. If it's something I need picked up for a guy and that's ALL that has to be bought...he will go get it...SOMETIMES. LOL I guess I ruined it for him. I'd put us in debt buying for the kids and everyone and their dog and then spend the year paying it off. He HATED that SO MUCH. I got everything I wanted & I just thought our kids should too. At least I LIMIT what I spend this year. (I TRY....LOL).
Weather has been very Autumnal. Coolish days & very chilly nights. Ater one night when it'd gotten down in the high 30s, the house was very cool all day. I finally wwent & checked the (electronic) thermostat. It has up and down buttons for the temp, right? Well it was set on 50 degrees!!!! Kenzie had been playing with it. Brrr.
Did I mention our sewer backed up last week? It was a week ago yest. I think. Wouldn't have been a big deal but it leaked a little around the seal of the toliet. Oh Lord. What a stinking mess a small amount of backed up water can make. Suffice it to say, I would love to pull up that carpet and put tile in that bathroom, but until after Holidays we're not doing anything extra. Of course it happened on a Friday & Rich had to call half dozen plumbers until he found one who could come out before Monday. Well, the clog wasn't in our line, so he got the City out there and there was major clog in the main in the alley right behind our neighbor to the Easts house. Unfortunately they were out of town & SUPPOSED to be gone for a monthh, but THANK the good Lord, their son came over, smelled the mess & got in touch with them before they left the country!! They had taken the tub out of their bath and just had a stand up shower. So the sewage backed all the way into their tiled bathroom, carpeted walk in closet and I don't know what all. Major damage there. The plumber said that the City would pay his bill, since the clog was in the city main. The City workers came out late that day and they worked into the evening. That surprised me. Just another exciting day in my life. LOL
Well. For rhe love of pete I can't think of anything else to write about. I know I will think of something really interesting to write about at some further date. I will jot it down, so I can remember to write about it. LOL
Hope you all productive weeks and are enjoying your weekend. Love ya!

Hope you all have a blessed and happy Thanksgiving if I don't write again before!!

What to do? What to do?

2008-11-06T08:29:00.002-06:00

OMG OMG OMG OMG! THERE IS NO ONE IN THIS HOUSE TODAY ALL DAY LONG! Well at least until about 3PM. Not a man. Not a child. Well....the animals but I can count on them sleeping all day because it's going to be chilly all day. Chili? Hmmmm
I digress. WHAT TO DO? Go back to bed? I can do that any time. Clean house? Screw THAT!Although I am going to have to clean the kitchen. No big deal. Tom did most of the laundry this weekend? I need to go shopping for a new pair of shoes, but that would entail getting dressed. I hadn't planned on that at the present moment.
Could paint my 9 toenails. Go to the store and get flour and make bread and the stuff to make soupl No, that involves leaving the house.
Go Christnas shopping. Online. On TV. Distinct possibility.
Address the Christmas cards I bought yesterday.
Wrap the gifts I have bought.
We bought a new (aftificial) tree this year. 7 1/2ft with 900 lights.

Scrooge (cough cough) will not have a live tree. One year we had a live one & we didn't know how to take care of it. Young, in love, horny. Water the tree? HUH? OMG When we took it out there were needles everywhere. Between one end of the house to the other. It must have take 6 months to dig them out of that lovely gold shag carpet. Ahhhh shag carpets. Water beds. Puking kids in the night. Those were the days. LOL
Hmmm what else. Could watch Season one of something. We buy all these box sets of series and they are still in the wrappers. Sheesh.
Could do a facial. I bought a bunch of new face products. This face I think it's going to take more than $120.oo bottle of deep wrinkle cream and a few other serums, creams and tubes of gunks to help. So far after about 2 weeks the only deep wrinkles it's remove are in the $120.oo worth of bills I shelled out for it. Hubby goes how much did THIS one cost? I told him You don't wanna know." How much do I not want to know? "Trust me, just don't ask." Hee hee. Actually since I am been ultra faithul with this stuff, I can tell slight difference win the wrinkles in the corner of my mouth. Definite lessening of the look of pores. I usualy don't buy that expensive stuff because I am not consistent. I use it a week then shove it off. I've been globbing it on by the dropfuls twice a day. LOL
Facial: 20 min. Leaves quite a bit more time.
If I had a friend that didn't work I might kidnap her and we could go to Hobbs and play the Slots all day. Oh I wish I had of that one ealier.
Well, since I subscribe to about 10 magazines, I think I will use some time to catch up on them. Crochet. I have two baby blankies I need to get done.
If you have me phone number lose it on Saturday! I am SO FREAKING EXCITED about theh Tech Red Raiders -NUMBER 2 IN THE NATION, thank you very nuch. Playing OKLA State. Who are also highly ranked. We are undefeatd and this is getting as close to the Super Bowl Playoffs as it gets around here. It's been YEARS since we've be ranke so high and beating NUMER ONE TEXA S last weekend was SO FANDAMTASTIC. We wsent out and bought a new tech flag. Our other one was tattered and needed replacing. i'm going one of the campus stores for goodies for the girl. Noisemakers and such. LOL We love our Tech FB.
Oh, and one thing i have been meaning to tell you for weeks, but kept forgetting...a few weeks ago our granddaughter Ashley was spending the weekend. She's in Jr High (or middle school). Someone "tried" to toliet papet our trees. LMAO. They barely got any paper streamers in the trees. Then out automatic outdoor lights probably came on & scared the bejesus out of em. They squirted strawberry syrup on some of the paper, but left about a dozen rolls of tissure laying in the yard. Too Too funny. It had to be firends Ashleys. So funny.
Okay,, I'm getting sleepy. I feel a quick nap coming on. LOL
Have a wonderful rest of your week

Squirrely week & Badass Football Game

2008-11-02T00:12:00.002-05:00

Well, it's been quite a week and I'm glad it's about over.
MONDAY was crazy hair day at school. Those of you who know us know that 2 of our 5 granddaughters (and one of our sons) live here. So I get in on all the fun that is alimentary school again. This school has a unique way of fund raising. For $1.oo you can wear your hair ANY WAY you please. The money goes to the United Way. One day you might pay $1.oo and get to wear your pajamas to school! One day you might to wear a crazy hat. You see where I'm going with this. Here are pics of my little angels. Tuesday was stuffed animal day. Wednesday was get ready for Shelby's (the one in the jacket, birthday the next day.
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Richard's 95 year old mother fell in her tiny bathroom and broke 3 ribs. She is still in the hospital. She has been getting worse physically & mentally & acts like an angry child quite a bit. She swears it's all a conspiracy. Anyway, Rich has 2 sisters. One lives in MO and has been out here in Texas for monhs. Mary, the sis who lives here, is a retired widow & she & my mother in law were going to drive Polly back to MO. Doesn't look like that is going to happen. They are looking at putting my M I L in a nursing home. I don't know if temp. or perm.

I can't remember what day it was, I think it was Monday morning, maybe lastSunday, I hear the girls screaming & freaking out. I got up to see what's going on. Callie, the huntress cat got herself a squirrel and took in the girls' room. GROSS! Tom was on it and had gotten it into a bag and out of the house. Thank GOD it was dead. Then a couple days later, I'm home alone, having a cup of coffee. I hear Callie's bells. She comes in thru the dog door. She immediately stops at her cat post which has a bed on top of it with her food in it, but this time she ran right past it & hear those bells jingling in song. I followed the sound into the girls' room again & yes, she'd gotten another squirrel. I know they are gifts Callie, but flowers would be SO much more pleasant than a bloody & broken squirrel.I didn't know how to get her away from her.There's usually a man around to handle it. So I shoo her away and the girls have a small toy piano (I know gross). I laid it on top of the squirrel & ran out to get the shovel. I get the squirrel in the shovel but not all the way. I'm trying to slowly at least get it outside before it falls off the shovel. I got to the gate & it fell off. Ugh. Finally I get it in the dumpster. Then I got out the cleaners. Bleach the piano and clean the blood off the carpet, there was just a couple of drops. Callie USED to bring in these birds called grackles. They look a little like a crow. But she never took them all the way to another part of the house. Usually just past the door or in the hall. I hate those birds so I didn't mind her getting them so much.
I feel the same way about squirrels. Yes, they have cute little faces & furry little tails. Well, wait until they chew through the trim of your house & set up house keeping in your attic,tear up insulation, chew on wirings. they are practically impossible to get rid of. There are a BUNCH of Oak trees in this neighborhood which neans a lot or acorns. I must say having a cat that like to hunt HAS kept a lot of birds & squirrels away.
Thursday was Red & Black day at school (our college) Texas Tech's colors. We got looking through the girls' clothes & they really didn't have much that looked "techish." Tom worked Wed night. When he got off at 6am he stopped at walmart, bought the girls black jeans, plain red tshirts, drew the Double T logo & then took them outside & did a light spray of black spray paint over the double T.They turned out great! To keep them smelling of paint, he febreezed them & threw them in the dryer with several dryer sheets. Is he a great dad or what?
Thursday I had a hair appointment. Highlights & a cut. The 3oth was Shelby's 7th birthday. We had it at the Main Event. Bowling, laser tag, pool room, game room, whatever you can think of this place has I think. She just invited just a few girls, her cousins, Ashley & Hailey,my son Chad & wife, Malizza. Us of course. Bowling is paid for by the hour. We ordered two pizzas & 3 orders of chicken wings. (I LOVE hot wings.) They bowled, had cake,opened gifts. Pretty much that was it. Ater the party was over my sons & their daughters stayed to play in the game room.
Halloween. I FORGOT to take pics but Tom has some, so I'll get him to send them to me. I make beef stew EVERY year on Halloween. Doesn't matter what the temperature is. It's just something I've done since my kids were small. takes me rhe better part of the day to make it, as I cook it in stages. Doesn't matter what the temperature is outside. The stew has been a family tradition, since MY kids were little. Of course it was nearly 80 again Friday.

Saturday--COLLEGE FOOTBALL. Texas Tech Red Raiders(number 7 in the nation) VS Texas Longhorns #1 in the nation HERE in Lubbock. Oh God,those are great games!!
Saturday's game proved JUST as exciting. We led the whole first half, then Texas came out a little more fired up! It was looking pretty dismal until the last 8 seconds when Tech through a pass for a touch down and won the game! The fans took to the field with 1second left, so of course we got penalized, but it the game was over. Texas Tech is still unbeaten. Unfortunately I wasn't able to be at the game. We didn't even try to get tickets because when they were on sale, I was still recovering from my surgery & Richard didn't want me trying walk among a nearly 60,000 crowd of people. But nothing beats being right there in the crowd. We used to buy season tickets, but not for a few years, because of my feet. Oh well, as long as they are on TV! Well it's very late Sunday night and I started this Sat. I should end it now I guess. Hope you have a good week.

TODAY IS THURSDAY

2008-10-23T21:50:00.003-05:00

Thought I'd write a little and try to keep up with the rest of the world. Been a pretty Autumn week. I think it's my favotie sweater. Monday I went & got my nails done. Did a little Christmas shopping. I want to get it done earlier this year. Tuesday I had a checkup. I had quite a bit of blood in my urine last week, so didn't call the Dr since I had an appointment.Got my flu shot, Rx for some hormones. Rich seems to think that the fact that I don't have ANY female hormone has to do with ny "craaazzzinesss." LOL Hell, I'd been on HRT since my hysterctomy in'88. I figured I'd taken enough. Guess I quit abt, 3 yrs agi, The DR said since there was no real threat of breast cancer in my family he thought I should be on some. So we'll see. I've been having some pretty wild mood swings. So we'll try this first. Rich grilled steaks out on the grill that night. We had a whole steak leftover.Tom slices it thin and makes fajita stk out of it, So that 's what we had for dinner tonight. With all the fixings. Yum.
Rich had a DRs appointment today also. He has been dragging around for weeks. He had that cough/congestion we all had a couple weeks ago. He got a flu shot & a shot of B12. He's going back to get another shot next week. Well, Rich got the CUTE nurse today. I'm telling you SHE LOOKS like a Barbie. And her name IS BARBIE!! When I first started going to this DR I pumped her for all the info. Are you married?
Do you have kids, etc. You know my son Tom still is single. Well this was about 1 1/2 yrs ago, maybe longer & she was still married. So today being the first day Rich got Barbie for his nurse he gave her the full quiz. LOLOL Found out she's been DIVORCED about 6 mos. I think she has a 7 yr old boy. Perfect! So Rich tells her all about Tommy & what a good dad he is etc. Then asks her "Think you'd want a date?"She said "Sure!" Hopefully Tom will go back with Rich next week and get his flu shot when Rich gets his B12 shot!! LOL I told Rich I'm ready to send out the wedding invitations. LMAO. He said WHooooa, They may not have a thing in common.
I lost a paragraph somehwhere. I'll retype it & it'll show up. I KNOW I had more to write about. OH! Price of gas here. I saw $2.56. Cheapest I've seen. If a barrel of oil is worth half what it was, why hasn't the price of gas gone done 1/2 price.
That's all for tonight. Love y'all

OKAY, I'm here. Gimme a beer or SOMETHIN!!! LOL

2008-10-10T01:38:00.003-05:00

OKAY. I think I'm here. I'm obviously not a spammer, so they let me back in. But both of my blogs have the same name so I "hid" my AOL Journal that I moved over here, so if anyone wants to go back (I don't know why they would, but it's here. LOL I'm exhausted and if I had any sense I would be in bed. I stayed up late because Tom was home to get the girls off to school. Rich was up and off to a DR appointment, so I decided to sleep in. Richard came in and said, Barb you're late for YOUR DR appointment. LOL I looked at the calendar wrong, but so did he . LOL Thank God I had already showered and only had to throw on some makeup and clothes and put my hair up in a clip, call the DRs office and tell them I would be about 20-30 min late (he's the DOC that I wait sometimes 3 or 4 hours to see) so I wasn't too worried about being 20 min late. Rich went with me (he's such a sweetie) after we got out of there (AT 1:40pm -from an 11am appt)we went to a place called The Cotton Patch. Split a chicken fried steak lunch. More food that any one person should be eating. Got back to the house. Tom was going to pick up the girls from school. I was getting a headache and my foot was aching. I laid down on the couch to watch the Sopranos on A&E. Yes, I'm an avid. SICK Sopranos fan. LOL I usually fall asleep after it's over and the characters are always showing up in my dreams. LOL Ashley (oldest grand) was here for a couple days. She's moved from 5th grade over to what used to be JR High and is now 6th, 7th & 8th. She had her first formal choir concert. They all wear the same dresses...the bodice is black velvet with a sweetheart neckline & the skirt part is I think what you call taffeta, or satina ....it's not shiny like satin. (black also) with a satin ribbon dividing the bodice and skirt. I put on one of my necklaces on her. A cross pendant that has 7 chains. I fixed her hair flipped up all over (shoulder length) and pulled it back on top a little & clipped it with a small black bow. God, she looked so grown up and sing? That child has a voice of an angel. I was so shocked how well she sings. The concert was so sweet. Each class girls' choir sang and the boys are combined all three grades. It was AWESOME. I think the 6th graders out sang them all. You don't think I'm prejudiced? Tommy even brought Shelby (6) and Kenzie (5). They SO look up to Ashely.
I hate it that Chad & Malizza left town and missed this concert. He is on vacation this week and they took off Wed with Hailey and went back to Dallas (there were just there 2 weekends ago). I'm taking Ash to the Airport in the morning & she is flying down there tomorrow. I hope they have a good weekend. Chad said they were thinking about going to 6 Flags. I hope they get to.
HERE it is Texas Tech's homecoming & we are looking at about 4 inches of rain. Think I will stay home and watch the game on TV. I have to brag a little bit. I think 5 or 6 of our Big XII are in the top 20 in the nation. Tech is 7th this week. But they have a pretty tough rest of the season to finish out. I LOVE COLLEGE FOOTBALL. I love all football.
OMG, I just looked @ the clock and it is nearly 2:50am. I have GOTTA go to bed.
Luv N Hugs, Barb

Re-Setting up House

2008-09-30T22:30:00.000-05:00

I'm here to tell you I'm moving over from AOL (getting kicked out more like it). I have a lot to write about but still am not to the point I feel like writing. I just want to get set up and let you know I am here and hope that you will include me in your new blogs.
Love you all.....All of my 9 and 1/2 toes and all.

Hugs, Barb