THIS IS SUMMER ????

Summer Sorta:
Well this has been the strangest summer I can remember in quite some time! The days are mild, the nights are very cool, low 60's and lots and lots of rain! Our tomatoes are alot of vine and not too many tomatoes! We are getting cherry tomatoes but not any big tomatoes. For them you have to have warm days and warm nights too, and we just haven't had that. For the next week out of the seven days, five of them the Weather Channel is calling for rain and storms! While I won't have to water the tomatoes then, we won't be getting any to eat either.

FIVER:
Look at the picture at the top of this blog cos that's the only place you will have seen our fiver this spring and summer. It hasn't left the drive way since last fall! Man oh man I am so bummed about that and I hope that we can get out at least a few times this month and next. It will be rough trying to get work schedules, and school starting together so we can get out of here and still have everybody taken care of. Jamie has started a new job so we're not sure what hours he will be working for a while. At least Jamie has a chance of getting 40+ hours with this job instead of the 20 he has been getting so it is a step in the right direction! Kara, Autumn and Tehya start school on the 19th of this month. So I may have to start taking Kara home and getting her in bed for school depending on Jamie's hours again. The Grand Girls and I have used the fiver for sleepovers a few times this summer but that's the only use it has had.

Chillicothe, Ohio:
Mike is in Chillicothe at his Mom's staying with her through Wednesday, so I'll be by myself with visits from Kara when Jamie is working. So I'll probably be spending time on Facebook & Farm Town trying to stay sane. It will be hard with no transportation, and I know I'll want to go somewhere just because I'm stuck here without the truck. LOL! Doesn't matter that it sits in the driveway most days, and I have to make myself go somewhere, it is just cos I know I can't that I'll want to, if that makes any sense. Hehe!

Mom:
My Mom is doing great, and is behaving with her back. She is not straining it at all, so lets hope she continues along the same road of recovery. Her doctor is pleased with her progress and even increased the weight she can lift to 15#! So that is awesome.

Apartment Update:
The apartment is beginning to look about done. The laminate floor will be the last thing to get done. The ceiling is done and just about all of the construction, all that is left is the 2 windows where the garage door is. When Mike gets back from his Mom's he and Jamie will get that done and be able to take the garage door out, and replace it with the wall and 2 nice big windows. I am happy with my kitchen, and have even been doing some baking since the days haven't been so hot. I will probably have to turn on the air sometime this evening, as it's supposed to be in the 80's and very wet and humid the next five days.

CHECKIN' IN

Hi There:
I figured I'd better check in or put this blog out of it's misery! I don't know what to do about it. We haven't been anywhere for such a long time and I don't know if we will be going anywhere. Everything is so darn expensive! So here we sit just spinning our wheels, and not going anywhere. What do we want to do, well that's easy go somewhere, anywhere! I feel like it's so repetitive to just write about what we're doing at home everyday. On the other hand I don't want to be a quitter and give up this blog, so what do I do?

Mom:
My Mom is doing great! The doctor is letting her lift up to 15 pounds now and said she is his star patient, of the 3 surgeries he did that day. So she is able to do most of the things she did before.

Grand Girls:
We had a sleepover on Monday evening and then spent most of the day Tuesday together. We did the prerequisite lunch at McDonald's and 2 hour playtime on the playground there. Man, I almost lost my mind! LOL! Then we were off to the library to check out some books for them. After an hour there I did what any self respecting Grandparent would do, I dropped the 3 of them off at home to their parents and then I went home and collapsed! No, seriously we had a great time, and they are already planning another sleepover! I'll let ya know if and when I'm up to it! LOL!

Doctor Appointments:
I have a couple of doctor appointments coming up soon, see I told ya there isn't much happening around here. I may have to have my other knee replaced, but I'm trying to wait until I just can't stand the pain anymore.

Gardening:
Our tomato plants that we put in pots are really doing great and starting to produce tomatoes. We've had such a cool summer this year that they just need some really warm nights to really ripen good. I can't wait to get a big enough tomato to make a good tomato sandwich.

Farm Town Facebook:
I have been spending time on Farm Town and Farmville on Facebook. I have made about 34,000 dollars and am on level 7, just a newbie really, but I'm trying. I don't understand much on there yet though. Well Time to get busy so I'll see ya's maybe on Farm Town.

HELLO IT'S ME

First of all:
I hope everyone had a Happy 4th! Ours was pretty low key, and it rained just enough to keep us inside for the day. Which was very BORING! Nothing was on TV either, so we mostly just listened to one of the music stations on our cable. If fact the rain got heaver around 10p.m. and drove all our neighbors inside who seemed to have spent lots of money on fireworks this year! LOL! So that stopped all the booms that were going on. Dutchess our Dalmatian, has always been scared to death when the fireworks go off, and this year she didn't even hear them. I'm not so sure that is a good thing though, because that means she is totally deaf now. Deafness seems to run in Dalmatians though so I'm not surprised, either they're born deaf or they tend to go deaf at about 12 years old. Which is how old she'll be next year.

Jamie and Kara:
Jamie and Kara got back from their trip a week ago today. I spent 3 hours going through all the pictures they took from it on the 4th since we weren't doing anything anyway.

Mom:
I talked to my Mom yesterday and she is doing great. She goes to see her surgeon on the 14th of this month, so I imagine he'll let her start doing more with just a few restrictions. She has been sewing alot the past few weeks and has been making quilted purses for friends and making quilt squares, so at least she can keep herself busy, which is important to her. As long as she doesn't try to ride the riding lawn mower I'll be happy because it jerks her back around alot. I know that is the first question she is going to ask the doctor, because she loves to mow grass!

Herbs:
Yesterday I harvested some dill and soms cilantro from my pots and put them in the dehydrator and within 2 hours I had dries herbs, pretty cool I thought! Well I guess I'd better get busy and save something for tomorrow to talk about, so until then...

MONDAY JUNE 29th

Catch Up:
As you can see not much has been going on the last few days. I've kinda hit a dry spell. I just don't have very much to write about. Things have been pretty quiet on this front. It is a gorgeous day here and not too hot. It is nice to finally have the windows open again. They are calling for rain though and I hope it doesn't get too sticky. I'd like to keep the windows open instead of running the air.


Home:
Jamie and Kara will be home today, and we can't wait to see all their pictures from the trip. It will be also good to have them home as we missed them both. I am glad that they did get to go though.


Trip:
We are finally planning a short trip in July as long as things stay on the same path that they have been going on lately. Mike wants to go somewhere and just relax, me I want to go and see and do something. Stay tuned to see what we do, maybe we can compromise and do both! It will be nice just to get away from home for awhile.

Well I can't think of anything else that would be of interest today so I think I'll stop here and maybe I'll have something to talk about tomorrow. So until then...

WE'RE HAVING A HEAT WAVE

Heat Wave:
Well it is 91 degrees here today and humid. Strong storms are supposed to fire up later this afternoon. I hate storms! The central air in the house is eating up kilowatts and so is the window AC in the apartment! We won't be happy to see the electric bill next month and the worst is yet to come! We have had lots of rain and our tomatoes and peppers are doing well. We have watered a few times since we got back from Circleville,Ohio last week though. I am wanting to get lots of tomatoes and peppers so I can make fresh salsa. So the heat and rain are good for the plants, though not for us.

Jamie and Kara:
Jamie and Kara are in Denver and will be home on Saturday or Sunday. I will be glad to have them home, and Mike is wanting to get busy on the bedroom roof and he needs Jamie to help. In fact he has lots of things planned that he wants Jamie's help on. So we both will be glad to have them back as we're missing them alot. I'm glad that they got this opportunity to go on this trip of a lifetime, but the way the economy is I'm worried, and Jamie has to look for another Job when he gets back. Our middle son, Corey just got laid off today so that is more bad news. I sure hope we get some good news soon, because now both Jamie and Corey are out of work. His boss said he'd probably be laid off for at least 3 months or more depending when work picked up. It's a good thing Jamie's friends offered to take them and pay their way or they wouldn't have been able to go on this trip. Great friends huh?

Well I need to go finish cleaning our bedroom and then get my shower, so this is gonna be a short one. Lets hope that the next time I sit down to write I have better news to tell you. So until then RV friends...

INCOGNITO

Incognito:
I have been incognito for the last week and a half because of not having internet. Not even the dial up worked while I was down at my Mom's house. The dial up was so frustrating, because I would get on and then it would kick me right off, so I finally gave up!

Mom's Surgery:
Mom had her back surgery on the 11th of June. She did so well that she came home the next day! The next four weeks will be the most critical for her. Once you don't have the pain, it's easy to bend or twist the wrong way and mess everything that the doctors did up. That's the worst part of it having always to be conscious of what you are doing. If you bend, stretch or twist the pain will let you know you made a wrong move immediately. So I am praying she will remember to be careful. She no longer has the pain from the pinched nerve running down her leg from her hip. The doctor did say that she has a great deal of arthritis in her spine that he couldn't get to for fear of damaging her spinal nerves, but for almost 71 years old she is in great shape! Proof I'd say, that it pays to stay active and exercise as much as you can handle. Now that is advice that I need to follow more!

Kara:
Kara and her Dad are on vacation with some friends ( a family of five). So far they have been to the Badlands, Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Yellowstone National Park, and The Grand Canyon. Wow, I thought Mike and I were supposed to be the RVers! They are tent camping which is something we have never done, even when we were younger. Kara sure is getting an education about our country, and she is having a blast doing it. Today they were supposed to end up in Denver, but plans have a way of changing for them all day by day. I can't wait to see all the pictures they're taking. Maybe one day we will be able to hit all those places when we get to start traveling full time.

Autumn and Tehya:
Tomorrow we get to spend the day with Autumn and Tehya! I have been wanting to plan something with them for awhile so we'll see what we can get into, and see if we can have some fun. I would like to take them on a picnic and maybe to the park, if they would like to do that. Then maybe in the afternoon we can do something else if they want. Well dinner is almost done, so I think this is a good place to quit for today. I hope this brings my absence up to date for all of you, and I'll see you soon!

GRADUATION AND THIS N' THAT

Emily ready to take on the world
At her Graduation Party

Emily:
I ran a day care center in my home for 17 years as I've said many times, and Emily was one of my baby's. I started out taking care of her older brothers, Garrett, and Eric, and then Emily came along . I was able to watch her brothers from the ages of 2 and 6 months, and I took care of Emily from the time she was 6 weeks old until she was 11. Then she was helping me take care of other kids for which she got paid every week. There were alot of firsts for me with this family. I potty trained all three kids, and I put all three kids on the bus for their first day of kindergarten, along with their Mom, and we both cried each time. Although it was worse when we put Emily on the bus for kindergarten, because we knew it would be the last time for us. I had always said when Emily started kindergarten I would retire, well that didn't happen. I would get a call and someone would be begging me to take their baby and so it would all start all over again. I would again feel committed until that child would start kindergarten. That was how I was still watching kids when Emily turned 11. Emily had learned how to change diapers at age 6. She would beg for me to let her give them their bottles, so I finally started teaching her how, and she was good at it. It helped me out alot because it was nothing for me to have five babies of various ages at a time. I always had a helper in the summer because with school being out I sometimes had up to 17 kids everyday with the older brothers and sisters out of school. Normally during school I usually had only 6 a day. When Emily was 11, I got really sick and had to quit doing day care. After spending a week in the hospital, the diagnosis: I was in heart failure at 45 years old! That last day was hard on all my Mom's and me, we all cried. It was the hardest on Emily, she cried all day and didn't want to leave me. I told her that she could come and see me anytime she wanted, and could even get off the bus at my house after school. That was the only way her Mom could get her to leave. She took me up on that offer quite a bit, and you know what it helped me as much as it did her. I owe her Mom, Jessica a great deal for being able to share her daughter with me and not feel threatened by our relationship. She always introduced me as her kids second Mom which was very generous of her. Alot of my mom's felt that way, and knew they could go to work and not worry about their kids while I had them. Anyway I wasn't sure at that time, that I would even make it to Emily's graduation, because my cardiologist said he was afraid that I was going to have to have a heart transplant. In the meantime he was treating me very aggressively and had me on a huge amount of medications. Which I hated taking every day, 3 times a day, I didn't even feel like myself on them. Well, the medication worked and I didn't have to have any surgery to make a long story short. Each month I got better, and was able to do more things, soon in the summer Emily and I would go to the lake and stay at our trailer for 2 to 4 days a week. We did alot of crafts, talking, watched our favorite movies, went swimming and things like that. Mostly we just had fun, so that is why we are so close. It was a great honor to have Jessica trust me that much to take Emily places while she was at work during the summer. So at Emily's graduation I cried again, but it was tears of happiness. She has grown into a beautiful young woman and I am so proud of her! She is going to Wright State University in the fall. She is majoring in education, and is going to be working towards being a school superintendent. Wow! Anyway at her party this last Saturday they had a picture board. On that picture board was a picture of me putting her on the bus and one of me with her in her cap and gown at her graduation. Good things come to those who wait! I feel very blessed!