THANKSGIVING AFTERS

After Thanksgiving:
Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving and are enjoying the afterglow! Ours was nice, we went to Circleville to my Moms like we do every year and took Kara with us as her Dad had to work. Everything was really good, and we all ate too much. Mom and I only cooked for only 10 this year instead of the 25 we had last year! It was still too much work for her and the standing really makes a mess of her back. She just won't just let me do it all. I guess she isn't ready to relinquish her kitchen to me completely yet. Anyway it was a good day and I hope yours was too!

Monday:
Tomorrow it is off to the med center on base to get xrays of my hands and my knee. My hands are full of arthritis, like my knee and they want to see how bad it is. For my knee I just have to have an updated xray before I have my surgery in February. The last one that they did was a year ago. Mike has some prescriptions he has to pick up also.

Fiver:
Today Mike got the fiver winterized since it is 57 today, and he could do it without freezing. He was glad to get that crossed off of his list of things to do, and now he is in the process of washing the truck. His back will be killing him, but he just won't let it get the best of him. It doesn't do any good for me to tell him not to do something he wants to do so it is better for me just to save my breath. LOL! It is supposed to be colder the rest of the week so I guess he picked the right day to do it. We actually had, dare I say that dreaded word, SNOW flurries on Friday Morning before we left Circleville. YUCK! I envy all you guys basking in the nice weather of our southern states this year. Maybe next year we can be in the group too! Well it is time for me to get busy so I'll end here and I hope you all are safe and doing well today, so until next time....

UPDATES!!!!!!!!

GREETINGS ALL,
Sorry it has been so long between posts! WOW 3 months is a long time to not post on my blog! I hope you guys haven't given up on us! We are well and doing fine, even if we are still stuck in Ohio! We have yet to winterize the fiver but we have the RV antifreeze, and will do so after we get home from Thanksgiving at my Mom's. She is doing okay but is having a lot of trouble with her arthritis, must be where I get it from.

KNEE NEWS:
Speaking of arthritis, we just found out that my right knee is shot, it is now bone on bone so I will have to get it replaced. I have already scheduled surgery for February 1st, 2010. Gee that sounds like a long way off, but it really isn't is it? At least it is after the Holidays, it will be painful to wait but I won't be laid up over the holidays. I thought that by doing it then, that by the time spring gets here I will be on the road to recovery, if not on the road in the fiver. It shouldn't be too long that we'll be able to take off and go somewhere though, maybe in April or May. Since I have already had my left knee replaced, I know what to expect and the same doctor is doing the surgery so I know it will turn out okay.

GRAND GIRL NEWS:
Kara,
We have had Kara with us quite a bit the last 3 months, but at least Jamie is working and able to pay his rent, bills, ect... I have been working with her on her homework every day after school. She is doing much better, but still has gaps in her schooling because 2 yrs ago she was in 3 different schools in one year. They were always in a different place than the school she was at before. I hope I'll be able to help her fill those gaps by the end of the school year.

Autumn,
Autumn is doing extremely well in school, and once again this fall she was in cheer leading. Autumn's teacher said she wishes she could clone her because she is the perfect student! She is practicing hard for her ballet recital in December. I think she has grown about 3 inches since summer! Her hair has grown so long she can just about sit on it! Lol!

Tehya,
Well Tehya finally got to go to school this year, and is busy following in Autumn's footsteps. She is much more talkative in class though much to the teachers chagrin. Lol! She only goes to kindergarten 3 days a week , but they are full days. She will also be in the ballet recital, but she just kinda follows along with what everyone else does. Of course being 5 and small for her age helps, because everyone thinks the small ones are just too cute and they don't pay attention during the recital to any mistakes made.

APARTMENT UPDATE:
Our apartment is pretty much done except for a bit of finish work, painting and trim being put up so I want to get that done before I have surgery then I won't have to worry about it.

Well hopefully it won't be as long until the next time I post. Even if I don't post I'm still reading all of your blogs and thinking about all of you! We hope to see a lot of you on the road next year! So until the next time....

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!

TWO DAYS GONE ALREADY/ CONGRATS SPEEDY

The Last Two Days:
The last two days I have been working in our screen room off the bedroom. I have all my plants out there now, and it has been cleaned and changed around. I moved our small chest freezer to one side, and then I had room for my largest philodendron on the table. It needs to be re potted and cut back because I had to loop part of it over the rafter it was so long. So it goes from the coffee table to the ceiling and then half way down again! For now I just put 2 old lawn chairs in there, but it is going to be so nice to be able to sit in the screen room in the evenings and not have mosquito's feasting on us! LOL! We can also leave the sliding door open and get more air into our bedroom and no bugs! I need to do some touch up painting in there, but that will be one of the last things after we get done with the apartment. So I have been really busy the last 2 days. Well I did take time off to go get my hair touched up, but that's all. LOL!

Today:
I am going to take it kinda easy today. I just have to do dishes, clean the bedroom, and bathroom so that won't be too hard. Then after dinner I plan to just hang out on my computer ( hopefully in the RV Dreams chat room) if I manage to get the things done that I have in mind. One of the girls I used to babysit is graduating from high school on Monday evening and then her parents are having her party on the following Saturday, so I need to find something to wear, sounds like a shopping trip to me! Ha ha! That's not going to happen today though. LOL!

Congrats Speedy:
I am so happy for Speedy that his last day of work is today! I hope and wish that his retirement brings him and Sherry some much needed rest, relaxation, lots of fun, happiness, and travel for a very long time!

See Ya:
Now I really have to get to work so I can get things done because I want to be on hand in the RV Dreams chat tonight to say Hi to all my friends and say Congrats to Speedy should he make it into chat after a hard day of celebrating! LOL! So until then friends...

CATCHING UP : AGAIN !

Hey There:
Well, I was all caught up on my blog last Thursday! Then I got sidetracked working around here and have been going since then! Most of the weekend I did yard work and things that had needed done around here for some time. Gary did clean out the gutters this weekend so at least he did that, but only because I told him it needed to be done. He doesn't seem to "know" how to do yard work and stuff like that. Well he does know how to do it he just doesn't and I'm tired of him letting the yard go, and it was killing me seeing all the work we did over the years go down hill. He wasn't happy that I did it, but at least he knows now I'll take over if he doesn't continue to keep it up. If he can't or won't do the maintenance on the house/yard, then is he really ready to own a house? I guess time will tell the story, but I was sure mad that he let the yard work go so long, and now he knows it too! So that's what I worked on all weekend. On Saturday we went to get some tomato and pepper plants to put in a raised bed. We haven't had a garden for years, but I'm so tired of not having fresh tomatoes and I want to can some salsa this year because we use a lot of it. I think we can take care of a few peppers and tomatoes. Well I guess I'm done with my rant for now. LOL!


Today:
Today is errand day and we're out of a lot of things so we have to hit a few stores and pick up some things. So I need to go change my clothes and get ready so I'll see ya on the flip side! Oh yeah, I'm counting down the days only five more days of school left after today, so I'm going to be able to get back to chatting with all you Dreamers out there soon! YIPPEE! Until tomorrow people...

THURSDAY THIS N' THAT

Today:
It is a beautiful day today! The sun is shining bright and the sky is a beautiful blue! Now a week before the end of May spring has sprung, and even arrived. Wow, boy am I glad, and it even stayed in the mid 50's last night. I am going to plant the seeds for my herbs today, but I am still undecided as to whether I will put my plants outside yet. Maybe next week.

Daddy's Home:
Mike arrived home last night at about 7:30p.m. He was really glad to be home and able to sleep in his own bed! He sure didn't sleep good while he was at his Moms. I was kinda glad to see him home safe and sound too! LOL! I got the screen door painted inside and out while I was waiting for him to get home, so that was another thing I was able to check off of my list. Now all that remains is to paint the top of the buffet and the wall shelf that I'm going to put above the sink, and I will have everything done that I wanted to get done this week. YIPPEE! I guess I'll have to make up a new list for next week, so I can keep up the pace and get things done. I may even take the weekend off! Then I'll be able to kick back and relax before I go down to my Moms for her surgery.

Well I know this is short, but I need to get outside for awhile, and Hannah has informed me that she wants me to play fetch, her favorite game. So since that game will take me out into the sunshine for awhile I think I'll go play with her before it gets too warm today. Hannah is my son, Gary's golden retriever/ chocolate lab mix, and she lives to play fetch plus she could use some exercise. So I'll try to come up with something to write about for tomorrow, so ya all stay safe until then...

WEDNESDAY'S WHINE!!

Today:
I have got a lot done the past few days, and now I am TIRED! I still have to get the bedroom cleaned and the bed changed. I hate changing and fighting our king sized bed. One of these days I want to get a queen bed like we have in the fiver for our apartment. I have a feeling we're going to be staying put for awhile, with our parents in the shape they are in. Don't get me wrong, I am happy for as much time that we have with them. Anyway I'm tired of fighting with that darn bed, and we'd have more room with a queen sized bed. I'd like to give our son, Gary our king bed, I know they could use more room, cos they only have a full size bed. Speaking of Gary, he got his tooth pulled yesterday and is doing fine, so that's good. I have clothes to hang out on the line, and another load to do once I get the sheets off the bed. then I'll have the laundry done, at least for a while! For some reason it just keeps piling up. LOL! Mike is supposed to come home today sometime this afternoon, and I'll sure be glad, I hate not being able to go. My Mom's surgery has been rescheduled for June 11th. So I'll be going down to Circleville then. I hope this time she'll be able to have the surgery and get it over with, cos she tends to worry about it. After she is up on her feet, we may be able to sneak a little traveling in this summer, at least that's the plan if there are no complications. We are looking forward to that, and also getting the apartment done, and it's getting close to time to put the ceiling in and the flooring! As soon as Mike and Jamie get finished putting outlets in my little kitchen area they can start on the ceiling.

Yesterday:
I got most of my painting done except for the screen door, so I still have that little task to do this week. I've had to get real creative with finding storage here in the apartment, but I have made and found some. I actually think that the fiver has more storage. We had plenty of room when we lived in it last summer, except for not having a pantry for groceries. If we ever bought another one I would make sure it had a pantry, otherwise our fiver is great. We may see if we can figure out how to build a pantry in the fiver, at a later date.

Well I really have to get busy now or I won't get the stuff done that I want before Mike gets home. I know I'll want to talk to him when he comes home, so nothing will get done then. So I'll continue to try to keep this blog going and hopefully I'll be able to get back in the RV Dreams chat soon! There are only 10 more days of school, and going to Jamie's apartment to put Kara to bed, so I'll have access to my Internet at night again soon! I feel so out of touch with all of you and miss talking to you all, see ya's soon...

TUESDAY TWITTER

Yesterday:
I got quite a bit done yesterday, from doing dishes, and laundry to stripping paint off some wood on the buffet that I'm redoing. Then after Kara and I had dinner, I helped her with her homework and got her to bed. I listened to music most of the day and it kept me going. I enjoy listening to the music channels on cable tv, it makes the day go faster for me and I get more done without having tv shows on. I tried just listening to the shows, but they draw me in and then I end up sitting down and watching them and that's not good!

Today:
I have wash going all ready, and I want to get the dishes put away. Then I plan to work on the buffet and I have some painting to get done. The new screen door needs to be painted if it is warm enough to paint today. I'd like to know what is up with this weather we have been having, and from reading lots of your blogs it's not just here in Ohio that the weather is weird this year. I thought we were having global warming! I don't call the kind of weather we're having warm, and I still haven't put my house plants outside. It's probably going to be a cool summer or it will get stinking HOT immediately, with no relief. We still have night temps in the 40's here and I think we're having March or April weather not the normal weather we have at the end of May. I'm wondering if I'll be able to put my plants out by Memorial day, I sure hope so. Most of the years, my plants have been outside for at least 2 weeks by now. I have had them outside during the day, but then they all have to be carried back in before nightfall. On one of my philodendrons it is so big that when I carry it I have to put some of it around my shoulders. Then some of it always breaks off if I'm not really careful with it. So I hate to keep moving it back and forth. I'm trying to wait to re pot it until I can move it outside for the summer. Well that's enough about the plants and if I don't get busy I won't get anything done that I want to. So it's time to say ta ta for now so see ya tomorrow or in my dreams...

MONDAY, MAY18th, 2009

Today:
As you can see I haven't been too good at keeping up with my blog the last week, and all I can say is that time keeps getting away from me. Thank goodness that there is only 2 more weeks of school left, then I can be home in the evenings! I will try to catch you up on the status of things going on here.

Last Week:
I had my appointment with the allergy doctor. After a pulmonary function test, standard, just to see how much air I am moving, then I got to see the allergist. I found out after he reviewed my meds that I could not have the standard allergy test where they prick your skin because of the Coreg that I take for my heart. Sometimes, evidently it can give false positives, and make you have an allergic reaction bad enough to put you in the hospital. Instead they took 3 tubes of blood and will test my blood with the allergens. This will take about 2 weeks. The allergist did put me back on my Patanol eye drops which is good. So now we wait. He also told me that I can't take allergy shots for cats because of the Coreg, and if they did go ahead and give them to me, it would take at least a year for them to tack effect. Which means I can't go down to Mike's Moms for more than a few hours. The Coreg seems to be the hold up here, but it is something I will have to be on for the rest of my life, so going off of it is a no no. Oh well enough about that no sense talking about something that can't be changed, right?
Mike and I both had our regular doctor appointments on Thursday and got our new prescriptions, so we are good to go for almost 6 months before we have to go back. Glad that's out of the way.

Mike:
Yesterday Mike left to go to his Mom's house. He called to let me know he got there and everything was ok. He also told me that his brother in law is screening in the back porch so Miss Kitty can go out to the porch. Now there won't be any place in the house that I can go where the cat hasn't been! It is such a shame to screen in that porch because it is so nice to sit out there in the sun. Sure is one spoiled kitty, although I understand it is good for someone with Alzheimer's to have a pet to take care of but man it makes it rough for me. She, Mike's Mom is not in the final stage and the doctor said it would be good therapy for her and help keep her in the present instead of the past. The thing is I love cats, but boy do they mess my allergies up! Mike will be gone for 3 or 4 days, depending when his brother can come down. Sure wish I could have went with him. I miss him already, and it's so quiet that I had to turn on some music to keep me company! It took me a long time to go to sleep last night even though I read before going to sleep. Half the time I can pick up a book at bedtime and go to sleep after the first page still holding the book. Good thing I read in bed huh? LOL! Well I think we are all caught up for the last week now. So I'll save some things for tomorrow and I hope you all have nothing but rainbows and good luck so until tomorrow friends...

TUESDAY

Today:
Well, I am trying to get back into writing everyday, so since I was up really early this morning and have already had my tea I thought I'd try to blog before things get busy! Who knows if I'll have time later. I have to take our son,Gary to the dentist to get a tooth pulled at 10:30 so this may be the only time I can write. He has been off work 2 days with his tooth killing him. He has a huge cavity and I think it is infected with all the swelling he has. Actually getting him to go to the dentist has always been like pulling teeth, pardon the pun. LOL! This time the pain just got worse than he can take. Even though he is 28 they may have to put him out, so that is why I am taking him. Of course, just goes to show he still needs Mom even if it's just to be a taxi driver! LOL! Mike would have taken him except he and Jamie had planned to do alot of yard work before Jamie has to go to work at 4:30p.m. today. Jamie is going to help his Dad cut out a bunch of saplings that have grown up through the chain link fence. Gary is in no shape to work on the yard, and it is driving Mike nuts because that needs done. Mike just can't stand it when the yard needs mowed and trimmed, and hasn't been done. Since were stuck here anyway until after my Mom's surgery, and he has to leave on Sunday to go down to stay with his Mom he is going to do the yard. It is also supposed to rain tomorrow, so if they don't get the grass mowed today we may have to have someone come in and cut and bale the grass for hay! Just kiddin, it's not quite that tall, but who knows how much more it will grow after it rains.

Update:
My Mom is finally on the mend! She is done taking her medicine and has pretty much stopped coughing. I may go down on Saturday and stay with her this next week while Mike is at his Mom's. That is if Jamie can find someone to watch Kara in the evenings, if not I'll stay home. We're going to make some outfits for Kara if we can get some sewing in. We still don't have a date for Mom's surgery, so we're thinking it will be sometime towards the end of May.

Tomorrow:
I have been off all my allergy meds for a week now, and I have more allergy testing tomorrow. I will be so glad to finally get back on my meds, because the tree pollen has been in the high level for the past week. My nose and eyes and throat have been a mess. My eyes and nose have been running and I have that annoying little tickle in the back of my throat that makes me cough and makes my throat sore from all the drainage. YUCK! Anyway I'll be glad to get back on my Zyrtec and my Singulair after the tests. I'm also going to ask the doctor about allergy shots for cat allergies, so I can at least go down to see Mike's Mom. I can visit right now for a couple of hours, but that's about it, and I can't stay overnight at all. So I hope that they will give me the shots. That way we can help out alot more, at least until we start traveling. So we'll see what happens tomorrow.

Well Dutchess has just informed me that she wants to go out, so this might be a good place to stop for today, so I'll see ya over the rainbow...

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

Happy Mother's Day!
Happy Mother's Day to everyone! Two of my sons have stopped by and gave me a hug and a kiss, so I only have one more to go. See I told you all I'd be back today! This morning we went to Wal Mart to get a few things. I had to get a Graduation card for one of the girls that I used to watch in my day care. I guess that means I'm getting older. I had watched both her brothers and then her when she came along, and now she is graduating high school! Wow! She always brought me flowers for Mother's Day, because she said I was her second Mom! Congratulations Emily! I'm very proud of you! Time sure has marched on, I went to her brother's Graduation Party, and now soon I'll be going to hers!

Short and Sweet:
I know this is short and probably not too sweet, but I have just gotten a phone call from my friend Sue and she wants me to come see her 5 month old Grandson, Liam. So ya know sitting here typing can't compare to holding a baby so ya know what I'm going to do! LOL! Hope ya all have a great day, and I'll see all of you tomorrow...

COLD SATURDAY IN MAY

Cold:
Well the day before Mother's Day is not very warm! It is supposed to be in the low 60's today, but the wind is blowin really hard! It feels like it's blowing enough to bring the temp down about 20 degrees. Here I had plans to put all my houseplants out in the screen room this weekend! It's only going to be in the mid 40's the rest of the weekend and the next week at night. I guess I better wait another week and maybe the night temps will move up a little, cos I don't want to kill my plants. They're just not used to temps that low and I haven't hardened them off a little bit at a time like I used to do. I always heard it was safe to plant tomatoes after Mother's Day, but I'm not so sure this year although I doubt we'll get cold enough to frost. I have some Dill, Chives, and some Cilantro I want to plant too, so I am watching those night time temps pretty close.

Today:
Today is going to be a work day for me. I'm not sure what Mike is going to get into today, but as for me I am going to be painting shelves. That won't be too taxing, and I think I can handle it. We don't have Kara this weekend so I want to get some things done, I don't usually paint when she's here since she always wants to help. Most of the time it's not something she can paint, and she tends to get it all over herself too. I also need to water all my plants, or I won't need to worry about putting them outside cos I won't have any plants left. I had let them dry out a bit so I could move them without them leaking any water.

Past Week:
After watching Kara all last weekend and Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday evening Jamie took Thursday and Friday off for his birthday, so I got a break, from Kara, but on Thursday night I kept Autumn and Tehya all night. Then I got Autumn up and she got ready for school. After I took her to school I read until Tehya woke up. Our daughter in law, Julia picked her up at 2:45p.m. Both her and our son, Corey had to be at work at 5:30 a.m. and it was easier to keep them over night than get up at 5 a.m. and go to their house. Autumn's school is just 2 miles from our house so it was a short five minute trip to get her to school and come back. Mike and Tehya were still sound asleep when I got back, and didn't even know I'd left. I guess we're going to have to go somewhere to get away from all this babysitting, but then again we are lucky enough to be able to see our Grand Daughters grow up, so we don't mind it too much! LOL! It's kind of a catch 22 situation right now.

Apartment Update:
I actually cooked a meal on my new gas stove last night and I really enjoyed it! Everything turned out really good, and I didn't have to run back and forth between the fiver or the kitchen in the house for items . Mike did go out to the fiver once for me though, so I still have some dishes and pots and pans to bring in that I normally don't leave in the fiver. The rest of the things I will leave in the fiver so I don't have to reload when we go somewhere. Anyway it was nice to be able to cook something instead of microwave stuff! Now I am HAPPY!!!!! Well I'd best get to work on my painting, so I will see you tomorrow for sure...

YESTERDAY AND BEYOND

Yesterday:
Wow, have things been moving fast here! I now have a gas stove here in the apartment and it is even hooked up to gas! Mike and Jamie,our son have been working their behinds off to get things done. So in a little over two weeks time I have gotten a sink and counter top, a back splash, a stove and gas all done and working great. Now I have no excuse for not cooking or doing dishes! I do need to get all my things out of the fiver so I can cook in here, but I want to leave the basic things in there so I don't have to repack everything when we go somewhere. So now I have to go out to the screen room where the freezer is and dig something out for dinner. I think it's either going to be pork chops or chicken, because I forgot to take the hamburger out so I could make meatloaf. Oh well, I guess I'm not used to being prepared after all those microwave meals.

Mom:
My Mom is finally on the mend. She sounds really good now and isn't coughing as much as she was. She still has to be symptom free for two weeks before they will reschedule her surgery. I am so relieved that she is getting better, and I Thank You all for your prayers and get well wishes! She even feels well enough to sew, and believe me that is a great improvement because you could hear how miserable she was on the phone! So now we wait and hope that the surgery can be scheduled in a couple of weeks. I guess time will tell.

Today:
Today is a rainy spring day here in Ohio. It seems like we have had alot of these type of days here lately. Mike wants to go do some errands today so I guess that is what we'll do, of course he has an ulterior motive, he wants to go to the used book store! So until next time, which I hope is alot sooner than the five days it has taken me to write this time :) ~~~~

NOT MUCH TO REPORT

Nothing Much:
All is pretty quiet here for the moment. I continue to watch Kara every evening and weekend. There are only 5 weeks of school left, so that is good. At least with school out I can stay home in the evenings, and at get on RV Dreams chat and talk to my friends. My son doesn't have internet at his apartment, so that means no computer. I have on the other hand been doing alot of reading after I get Kara to bed at 9:00p.m. Usually she ends up a little later after I read a few chapters of the book we're reading together at bedtime, but she gets up in the morning for school all by herself so it doesn't seem to bother her.

Mom:
My Mom has pneumonia and is on breathing treatments twice a day so it is a good thing that they canceled her surgery! She is on antibiotics and that with the breathing treatments should help her get better. She said she felt a little better today when I talked to her, but she gets tired really quickly. The doctors want her to get back some of her energy and be symptom free for two weeks and have a chest x-ray before they will put her back on the surgery schedule. So that will at least take it to the end of May before she has her surgery, and that is if she is over this in two weeks. If it lasts longer that could take the surgery into June. So now things are really up in the air.

The apartment:
We got a STOVE!!!! I will finally be able to cook in the apartment! That is as soon as the gas is hooked up, maybe sometime next week when Jamie has time off. Wow a sink installed that I can do dishes in and having a stove I won't know how to act! Since November, I have been going out to the fiver or either in the house to cook. I have to say in that time we have also resorted to alot of microwavable things because I do have a microwave in here. I have also been using my crockpots to death, so we're sick of those kinds of meals. Of course now that the weather is changing I hope we'll soon be able to use the grill too. That is if it ever quits raining, because it's supposed to rain here the next (7) count em seven days! It a good thing we have a canoe in the back yard! LOL! Just kiddin' in all the years we have lived here, we have never had a problem with flooding. Our house, (was our house now our son's) is located around 3 spring fed lakes,but we live uphill from the lakes. We have had some of the streets flood close to the lakes though, but the water would have to be very deep to reach this house. Well for not much to report I have said quite a bit so I'll close now, and maybe I'll have something to report if and when it quits raining, over the next rainbow...

PROGRESS AND CONCERNS

Apartment Progress:
We are making lots of progress on the apartment. The kitchen is coming together really fast. The sink outline has been cut out of the counter top, and the sink and the faucet have been installed into the counter top. The next thing we have to do is get the back splash put up, and then Mike and Jamie can connect the supply lines and that will be finished. We'll go to Menard's tomorrow and get the laminate for the back splash. I got the buffet primed and partially painted with semi-gloss enamel. Tomorrow I just have to paint the sides, and the top. I also want to add another coat of semi-gloss to the doors. I will be storing all of my small appliances in it when it's done. I have one more wall to paint white in the kitchen. Then we can start on the ceiling after Mike and Jamie finish running the electric wiring. Our son, Jamie has been a huge help in doing the kitchen! It also takes some of the strain off of Mike's back with Jamie helping, and he is also learning how to do stuff, so when he gets a house he'll know how to do things.

Concerns:
My Mom is going to have to postpone her surgery because she has an upper respiratory infection and is coughing a lot. I'm really glad that they are going to postpone it because there is no reason to take chances. She started getting sick over the weekend and is not much better. She is going to go see her doctor tomorrow, but there is no way she could be ready for surgery by Monday. If her doctors could hear how she sounds they would cancel the surgery themselves, so I'm glad she is going ahead and canceling it. All of the coughing is not doing her back any good, but it would be even worse to be coughing after having her back surgery, so she is going to have to wait it out. There is a lot of sickness going around right now and it is really scary.

Off Track:
I am really getting off track with this blog. I used to do it every morning and now here I sit at nine o'clock at night. I want to start doing it again in the morning because after I get busy I don't always have time or make time to do it. Also after working all day painting things I'm too tired to write, so It's been averaging about every four to five days before I sit down to write. I don't like to wait that long to write because I tend to forget things. Also I'm ready to go somewhere for a break in the fiver. It seems like all we do is work now. I want to get the apartment done, but it's time to have some fun too. Tonight we had dinner in the fiver, and Jamie and Kara ate with us. It was nice just to be able to sit down at the table and eat instead of our recliners. We don't have a table and chairs in the apartment yet. Well this brings you all up to date about what's been going on in our absence so I'll see ya all over the next rainbow...

TRIVIAL MISCELLANIEOUS STUFF !

Trivial Miscellaneous:
The last few days have been spent doing lots of things, besides watching Kara in the evenings. On Monday since it was raining, I cleaned and purged my bookshelves. I took all my Danielle Steele and Nora Roberts books down and readied them to take to the used book store to trade.
Today we went to the used book store. Several years of reading ended up yielding me about $45.00 of credit and I had to use it all or I had to pay half of my bill. I kind of feel like I got gypped. I ended up getting about 20 books, for about 60 books. I don't know where else I would have gotten rid of them though so, I guess it's ok. I don't regret getting rid of them though, and I have lots of space on my bookshelves now, and a lot less to dust! It was something that I had been wanting to do for a long time, and now I can cross it off my list, so that is good. Now I want to start on the closet and throw lots of clothes away or either take them to Good Will. I'll just have to take a day and get it done, and then take all of the bags to Good Will the next day.

Ready To work:
We're ready to start working on our kitchenette for the apartment. As soon as I paint the other wall, we can install the cabinets and the sink. I will be so glad that I won't have to carry my dishes to the main kitchen in the house, or to the fiver to wash them. That way we won't have to go into the house at all so we can leave our son to his privacy. I think we have just about everything we need to finish up the kitchen. I can't wait to get started, and since the next 3 days are supposed to be in the low 80's it seems like a good time to do it, because I can cook in the fiver. Today we also went to Lowe's and got some things. I finally got the wooden screen door that I had been wanting. Mike will have to cut it down a little bit for a good fit, and then I can paint it. Now we will have some way of getting fresh air into our apartment, besides just leaving the door open and letting the flies and bugs fly in. Mike is happy he finally got his new brad nail gun and his staple gun that runs off his air pump. So we both got something we wanted today! It was almost like Christmas for us! LOL! In the next few days we will get the bathroom ceiling up and the trim done which Mike assures me will go much faster now that he has the right tools and his new air guns that shoot brads and staples! LOL! We'll see, and I'll have to let ya know about that! Ha Ha!

Time:
Well it's getting close to time for me to round up Kara and get her over to their apartment so she has time to shower and then we'll read the Amish story we have been reading, just a couple of chapters before her bedtime everynight. She is really getting into the story, it's about a little girl named Polly that is eleven, so she likes it. I'm hoping to get her to love reading eventually! After that I usually sit and read until my son gets home from work. I miss all my friends at the RV Dreams chat room, and I would be there chatting with ya all if my son had Internet, but right now he doesn't. So I feel like I'm missing out on all the news and happenings going on in chat. So a big HELLO to all of you and I hope I get the chance to chat for a while this weekend! Until then travel safe, and take care...

WHERE DOES THE TIME GO ?

Time Is Not On My Side:
Wow I had good intentions to keep up with my blog, and here it is a week later! It wasn't because I was doing nothing, but I could have explained what I was up to! I have been doing a lot of painting, but on walls not pictures, I wish I was that talented. The bathroom in the apartment is very close to being finished, and I only changed the color 3 times! LOL! Anyway, I have it the way I want it now and it looks very good. Next is the trim and the floor and it will be done completely. I hate to move to anything else until one thing is finished, so that is why things are taking so long to get done. We have picked out the floor for the bathroom and the rest of the apartment, so that is one step that is already done. So we have been busy.

On the RV horizon, is a trip that we want to take even if it's only in Ohio and only for the weekend since I'm taking care of Kara after school each day this spring. The reason being that my Mom is having back surgery in May so in order to be here for that, we decided not to do any traveling this spring and summer to be of help during her recovery. As far as future travel we'll have to see what the future brings with each of our parents this next year. If they are stable then we will be able to do some traveling, if not our fiver will sit in our drive way until we can. I think a lot of you who travel full time must have lost your parents already, and that is not something that we took into consideration when we planned to go full time. I know that no one can live forever, and I don't want to be gone and miss any time that we can spend with them. At this time in our lives we really want to be able to be able to travel, and we can still do it just not full time right now because our parents are simply not in good enough health. If any of you out there still have your parents, and travel full time please tell me how you have handled it, and any ideas that you have in order to be able to follow your dream. We have overcome a lot of things to follow this dream, including knee operations, heart trouble, back surgeries, and cancer, and were not giving up on our dream. Maybe if you will, we're just choosing to postpone our dream in order to spend as much time as we have left with our parents . I hope that the two of us will have time for us to travel later, but until then we have to think over our options. I hope you'll understand our decision, and support us in this. I plan on trying to keep up with this blog,and document what were doing and I hope that some of you will still stop in from time to time and find out what we're up to. So until next time see ya over the rainbow...somewhere in our dreams...

EASTER AT HOME

Easter Trees:
Every year my Mom does her Easter tree with plastic eggs for the Great Grand kids. They really enjoy seeing it, unfortunately I couldn't get them to stand still long enough to get their pictures! So the trees were the only pictures that I was able to get. We went to Circleville on Saturday afternoon. Mom and I fixed a ham and an old fashioned ham loaf. They were both very good, and we had that with scalloped potatoes, green beans, salad, deviled eggs, and cupcakes and ice cream pie for dessert. Mom, Mike, Kara ( our Grand daughter), my sister in law, Pearl, and her son Alex and I were the only ones there, as my brother had to work, and my Dad had left to go wild turkey hunting in Virginia after church. We had a good dinner and lots of good conversation. In about an hour after dinner my Sons, Corey and Gary, and Autumn and Tehya arrived. Then the Grand kids hunted for their Easter baskets treasure hunt style going from clue to clue until each one had found their basket. I took them upstairs, to the basement, to the garage, then back upstairs with 10 clues each, until they found their baskets. I figured if I wore them out first, that all that candy I knew they were going to get wouldn't give them such an energy boost. LOL! Unfortunately the only one who was wore out was me from following the clues to make sure that they went from clue to clue and then to the baskets! I just crashed after they went home! LOL!

Mom's Back Surgery:
My Mom will have her back surgery on May 4th. They have finally given her a date, and I am praying everything goes alright as the doctor's shave the 2 discs that are ruptured and check out a possible 3rd disc for rupture. The doctor's are hoping that this surgery will stop some of the numbness she has down her leg, and alot of the pain from the discs pressing on the nerves in her spinal column. I hope we will all be able to celebrate on May 4th. Stay posted for updates!

Weather:
We came home with the rain following us and it has rained most of the day since we have been home. My wonderful arthritis has reared it's ugly head, or should I say hit my knee. I've been limping since last night and I am not enjoying it after being able to walk pretty normal since January, makes me wonder if my steroid shot has worn off. I'll have to see what happens after it quits raining, and then decide if I need to make another appointment with my orthopedic doctor for another shot.
I know I've been kind of lax about writing lately so I will try to do better in the next few days, so until we meet again...

SPRING 2009 ?

My newest mode of transportation!
Daffodils
Flowering Purple Plum

Is Spring here?
The first picture is of my new bike! Mike has the male version of the same bike! LOL! The bikes are our present to ourselves, for fun and for our health! Not only can we ride around the lakes where we live, but when we are at campgrounds and parks too. This is the first time we have bought something for ourselves, besides the fiver, and not the house. Our bikes are just your everyday regular Huffy bikes with no gears, and no hand brakes. However, they were more expensive than the 22 speed bikes! I guess it costs more not to put all those brakes and extra gears on! We could have got 2- 22 speed bikes for only $69.00 each, but our no speed, old fashioned bikes cost $99.00 each! Can you figure that out, sounds weird to me!
The daffodils are in our yard and have kept spreading every year, but they are nice and bright, and make me think spring is here.. Our tulips are up but have not bloomed yet, so I can't show you pictures of them. The forsythia bush hasn't bloomed yet so I can't tell if spring is here or not. I'm sure it will get here eventually! LOL! I don't know if my knees and my arthritis will like April showers though! I hope we'll have some sunny days too!

Jamie and Kara:
Hooray, they are in their apartment!!!! I am so glad that they are in, now they just have to get everything arranged in there! Kara and I got the curtain made for the door way to her room yesterday, and she was happy with it. The excitement and bustle of moving made for a very tired and cranky Kara by bedtime. She had a good day at her new/old school. What I mean is that she went there last year, so she knew some of the kids, and better yet they remembered her, so that was good! At least now strangers won't be taking care of her and I can put her to bed and wait at their apartment until her Dad gets home as long as we're in the area. Good for her, and all of us and I won't worry so much about her. The owner even said Kara could plant some flowers outside, so we may tackle that sometime.

Dinnertime:
Well it's time for dinner, so I think I'll sign off for today, so I hope that all your travels are smooth and safe and I'll see ya tomorrow...

KARA TIME/ BAKING

Kara's Here:
Our oldest Grand daughter Kara is here and we've been busy cooking and shopping. We went to Wally World and got posters for her new room, and I got material to make a curtain for her room. She is into High School Musical stuff, so that's what we got. I also got wooden letters of her initials for her to paint and decorate for her room. She chose blue paint and then added glitter to them and they turned out great! We made blueberry muffins for her Uncle Gary and oatmeal muffins for her Pa Pa today.

Yesterday (Saturday):
Kara and I made manicotti for dinner. I made the sauce while she mixed up the filling with ricotta cheese, mozzarella, cottage cheese, spices and fire roasted tomatoes. We used an immersion blender to mix it up. I had hoped that I got all the tomatoes crushed, but that was not the case. Kara helped me fill the pastry bag and put the open tip in it so I could fill the manicotti tubes. The pastry bag made quick work filling the tubes and Kara helped by holding the tubes so I could use both hands to hold the pastry bag. Unfortunately she was looking directly into the tubes, so I told her not to look into the tubes because the filling might splatter into her eyes. All at once a tomato clogged the tip of the pastry bag. I had just started filling a pasta tube. I squeezed hard and out popped the tomato right onto Kara's nose! LOL! We had a good laugh over that, and from then on Kara held the pasta tubes lower and didn't look into them while I was filling them! We got the rest of the tubes filled and the sauce over them. Kara was such a good helper for me, and we had fun making the manicotti. Using the pastry bag was a good tip that I got off of the Food network TV channel. Next time I will buy a larger tip for the pastry bag so I don't have to worry about the tip clogging. In the end we had a good time and got something really yummy for dinner too! Kara is learning how to cook some of her favorite meals, which I think everyone should know how to do.

Mike:
While we we're doing all the cooking and shopping Mike was busy working on the electric in the apartment. We now have a light wired for the bathroom, and switches in the wall for the light and a fan in the bathroom ceiling. Mike went and got a door for the bathroom on Friday and got that finished in about an hour. Of course he got his new pneumatic nailer on Thursday and couldn't wait to use it. so that's how the door got done so fast! LOL! Seriously, though that nailer is the bomb! It sure is faster and really is neat the way it works. Well, I think that is about all my news for today so I am going to sign off and maybe get busy on the curtain for Kara's new room! See ya soon...

SIGNS OF SPRING

Spring?
I saw my first robin here yesterday, and we have our first daffodil blooming now! Do ya think maybe spring is here? I know that the tree pollen count has been rising here in the Springfield, Ohio area, so that is also a good sign. I'm trying not to get my hopes up, because Easter is still 3 and a half weeks away, but the weatherman has said that we're done with the teens and 20's for temperatures. This time last year we were brand new fiver owners, and we couldn't wait to use it. Well needless to say we have broken our fiver in even if we haven't gone full time yet. We have the travel itch already and want to do some short trips this spring.

Mom:
The surgeon is going to set up my Mom's back surgery soon as they can arrange it! I doubt it will be before Easter though, so probably sometime around the middle of April, so that will give us some time to go out for a few days. I see a trip to Alum Creek state park in our near future because that is one of our favorite parks near here! I love being there in the spring and seeing everything come alive. Also right now there are a lot of deer and animal activity in the spring.

Apartment:
Jamie and Kara have found an apartment and are moving in next Monday! Things are finally starting to happen for them and I think it will be a great thing for them to be on their own. I will be keeping Kara, our grand daughter when Jamie is at work. He has decided to start working 6 days a week, and our other son, Corey will keep Kara when we are out and about for a few trips this spring. Well that is about all our news for the moment, but I promise I'll be back soon!

THINGS HAPPENING HERE

Title:
Well the title is sort of misleading, there's not much happening here! Me I'm waiting in anticipation for Spring! Mike is just relaxing at this moment, and has the travel itch. We're kinda waiting for a bit more of a warm up before we venture out. We do have some things to get done before we go, so those will be scheduled in the next week or so. The truck, our team of horses, needs a check up and oil change. We need to get the propane tanks filled on the fiver. My recliner has to go back into the fiver since I had the boys bring it in here so I could use it this winter. Our son Jamie has to get his stuff out of the fiver that we let him store in there for the winter, which he is going to do right away, cos I said so! LOL! It's mainly just extra clothes and small things like that, so it shouldn't take long to get it out.


Today:
Today is for mundane stuff like changing the bed and getting some other chores done, like some laundry,and cleaning the bathroom. Then tomorrow I want to get the last coat of paint on the bathroom walls so I can start on the living room. This week has flown past so fast that I'm dizzy. It seems like it was just St. Patrick's Day yesterday to me! I guess I have lost a couple of days this week somewhere. I feel like I'm living in limbo right now, kinda with one foot in the full time world and one foot in the stix and brix life, and I guess I am. What will happen after my Mom has surgery and things calm down in my life I don't know. Right now my life seems to be going by so fast that I feel like I'm missing things that I want to savor. Maybe I'm being introspective and thinking about all this stuff because my birthday is coming up who knows, not me. So that's enough introspective stuff for today or I'll get a headache! LOL! I need to get busy since it's already noon or I'll never get the things done that I had planned to do today so I'll see ya soon...

GOOD NEWS !!!!

Finally Some Good News!!
My Mom called me this morning and told me they called her with the results of her MRI. She does not have cancer in her kidney or her ovary! So this means she is still cancer free. What a relief and it feels like a one ton weight has dropped off my shoulders! She also told me that she probably will not have surgery on her back until May or June. That means to us that we can probably get a few trips in and around Ohio before I have to be down at her house to help her after surgery! So we hope to plan a few little outings for this spring, and early summer before it gets too hot!

Spring:
I think we are getting closer to SPRING! Our temperatures have been around the 40's and above for a week or so now. We have tulips, and daffodils that are up about an inch. Our forsythia bushes are heavy with buds and I'm worried about a frost hurting my purple plum tree that is also budding now. I know it's not here yet, but soon I hope! Sure sounds like spring to me, but we still haven't seen many robins yet. I think since I was born around the first day of spring in March that I have an affinity with spring. Something stirs in my blood and makes me want to be outside and doing things once it starts to warm up. Spring has always been my favorite season of the year, and I can't wait for it to begin every year. Then I always feel a little sad when summer arrives, I guess because spring is such an awakening, and rebirth for the earth. Everything always feels new and clean, and I always feel revived too! We always want to start fixing things, and cleaning up the yard so things look nice. We're looking for bikes for us to ride so we can both get some much needed exercise too. The dogs are also wanting to stay outside longer when we let them out, and if it's the least little bit warm we have trouble getting them to come in. They love laying on the deck in the sun once it warms up.

Today:
The sky is cloudy with no sun right now, but I still feel the need to get busy. We're going to make a trip to Lowe's for some more lumber for the wall, so we can get ready to remove the garage door and put the windows in the apartment. That's another reason I'm glad it's warmer. More light in the apartment will make it seem so much bigger. That's why we picked our fiver because it was so bright and it had so many windows in it. All winter we have only had one window in our door so the apartment has felt dark and dreary. Well I really need to run and get busy, so I'll say ta ta for now and see ya tomorrow...

THREE DAYS WORTH

Three Into One:
Wow, I can hardly believe it has been 3 days since I posted! I can't even say we have been really busy for an excuse. We have done a few things around the apartment, like painting and stuff like that but nothing major. We did enjoy the 3 days that were warm here, and now we're back to the 30's or a bit higher for the next few days. It was sure nice that Mike could saw his boards and trim outside, so he didn't have to do them inside. I had a feeling it was going to get colder, you know that old arthritis never lies! LOL! I hate it when it gets warm for a few days then gets cold again. It makes you want it to get warmer all that much faster. It should just stay cold until it is ready to stay warm for the summer. We have flowers and plants budding all over and now with it getting cold again it could ruin them. I love spring once spring has sprung! I am so in awe of nature's rebirth every spring and I love to watch it! It makes me want to get out and dig in the flower beds and plant flowers. Of course it's way too early for that!

Mom:
My Mom is going to have to have back surgery in the next month or so. She saw the neuro surgeon on Tuesday and that was the result. They will shave off the bone and the bulging discs that she has to give her some relief from pain. She will still have to be careful with her back for the rest of her life, but they think she will have a lot less pain, pinching, and numbness down her leg where the nerves are being pinched by discs. She will also have an MRI today to see what the spots on her ovary and kidney are. So keep your fingers crossed for me, that it's not what some spots are. We should find out tomorrow what the results are, and if they need to do a biopsy on them. Lets hope they're just cysts and nothing more dangerous! She doesn't need anything else to worry about since she is already worrying about the back surgery.

Wally World Day:
Today we have to make a trip to Wal Mart to get some things we're out of. I would like to stop at the used book store too to look for another book from the author that I have started reading. I have read several books by Karen Harper, and she is becoming another favorite. If you like books or novels that are kinda what I would call mystery suspense, and not too much blood or gore you might like her. She has had some interesting story lines so far. All of the books and authors I read are different and it's nice to have a variety of styles to read, so it keeps it interesting. Plus I read faster than some of them write the books, so I'm always looking for other authors to read. I've also been crocheting quite a bit, but that will go by the wayside once it gets warm enough to be outside and walk or ride a bike. I tend to pick up my crocheting while I'm watching tv, cos it keeps my hands busy. Well Mike is almost ready to go so I'd better get myself ready so I'll see ya all soon so stay tuned to see what we're up to until we meet again...

THE WEEKEND / DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME

Quiet Weekend:
Jamie and Kaea arrived at about 2:30p.m. on Friday after picking Kara up from school early with a fever. Uh Oh! Well I started off getting medication in her with her antibiotic, and her fever broke about 10:00p.m. She spent al ot of Saturday sleeping, but was starting to feel better. After sleeping most of the afternoon she felt well enough to go out to dinner. We went to the Golden Coral buffet for dinner, and we were out for about an hour and a half. For just starting to feel better Kara ate very well, of course that is her favorite place to eat. When we came home Kara again fell asleep and slept until 11:30 p.m. and then went to bed! LOL! That was our Saturday. Kara and I got up early and left Papa sleeping in. She felt so much better this morning and was complaining it was just in time to go back to school in the morning! Haha! Papa and I spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing after Jamie picked Kara up. I had forgotten how much care a sick child needs so I was exhausted! Of course now I feel like I need to disinfect everything so we don't get sick all over again. I'm hoping that since we had it, that we built up a little bit of immunity from it. Anyway that is our weekend to date.

Daylight Savings Time Begins:
We lost a whole hour of sleep last night! LOL! We will get used to the time change in a couple of days though. It is a sure sign of spring and the weather this weekend was beautiful! We had some rain showers this evening, and are supposed to get over 4 inches the next few days. All I gotta say is at least it's not snow! Well I think I'm gonna call it a night. Tomorrow will find Mike going to his doctor appointment and me I hope getting the wall painted that I didn't get done last week. So I'll see ya soon...

MISSED BIRTHDAYS : BLOG AND FIVER !

Birthdays:
I missed the one year anniversary of my blog and the day we bought the fiver! Wow, I can't believe it's been a whole year! I will tell you how they both came about.

My Blog:
After reading the RV Dreams blog for two years I decided one night to try going into the RV Dreams chat. First of all the Dreamers in there were so friendly that I felt welcome right away. There were full timers, ( people who live full time in their RV's), going to be's (which included us, full timers by a certain date) and wanna be's (people who want to try the lifestyle). Everyone had lots of information and things to say about RVing. We weren't new to RVing and had camped for years. When I told everyone we we're in the process of buying a fifth wheel they all encouraged me to start a blog. I had no experience with blogs and not much computer experience either. They all told me to go to blog spot.com and just follow the directions. Well I did and this its the result. At first I tried to write everyday, and I still do sometimes. I pretty much write when I want, but I try not to go more than two days between writing. I have learned to do so much by playing around with this blog. I learned how to post pictures, put a counter on my blog so I know if anyone is reading it, and I have also put a music player on here so I could put my favorite songs on my blog. Believe me it wasn't hard or I would never have been able to do it! Anyway on January 23rd, of last year I was able to publish my first post on my blog! So my blog is a year and one month, and 11 days old. I don't know the minutes because I didn't look at the time when I published it. I want to thank all of you who read this blog and have followed our story! I also want to thank you all for the comments on here too!

Our Fiver:
On January 18th, 2008 we signed the papers for our fiver! So our fiver is a year old! We didn't actually pick it up until March 25th, 2008, so we will have it a year on March 25th! We bought a new 2008 Cedar Creek fifth wheel and we still love it. We have put a few dings in it but everyone does that. Everyone has stories about how they got the dings in their fiver bumpers. Believe me when I say the first one makes you feel the worst! Well, that's the story of how this blog came to be and I hope you enjoyed it, I have had a blast doing it and I plan to keep it going! So I hope you will keep stopping by to see what is going on so see ya next time...

THURSDAY AGAIN !

Time:
Where does time go? It seems to be moving way too fast for me! By the time I get things done lately there is no extra time left, have I slowed down? Do I have a case of spring fever? YES, I do, and I think that is part of my problem, lately I just haven't wanted to do much of anything. I have just been pretty much a couch potato. Today it is 57 degrees and I should be doing something! Our day started off odd because we slept in really late, and now I am behind on everything I wanted to do. By the time Mike had his coffee and I had my tea it was almost noon, so now I have a short time to do the things that I had planned for today. Don't get me wrong, I don't have a deadline to do things anymore, but I like to get the things I had planned done. I will just have to work a little harder and faster if I want to get them done today. What did I have planned today? Nothing earth shattering I assure you, just dishes, some dusting, and painting a wall that I had been putting off. Maybe I have been in a bad mood, and I am feeling sorry for myself. We were supposed to be in Kerrville, Texas last Sunday, and we had to cancel out, so maybe that is the problem. There is sure nothing exciting going on here in Ohio that I can think of for the next two weeks.

Jamie and Kara:
Jamie is bringing Kara out tomorrow to spend the weekend with us. He is looking for a new apartment for them to live in closer to us so Kara can get off the bus here in the afternoons. That way he will save money not having to pay a sitter when we're here. It will also give Kara more stability than she has right now and I can take her home and put her to bed on school nights, and then wait for Jamie to get home. I don't imagine we'll be going too many places between now and the time school is out. The only problem will be if my Mom has to have back surgery. She has an appointment with the neuro surgeon on March 10th so keep your fingers crossed for me. That was the reason we canceled our trip to Texas, so I could be here if she needs surgery to help her with her recovery.

Daylight Savings Time:
I don't know about where you are, but on Sunday daylight savings time starts here in Ohio. We'll spring forward, so we'll lose an hour of sleep again, and it will make it harder to get up. We'll at least have another hour of daylight in the evenings though. With daylight savings time starting can Spring be far behind? I sure hope it will start busting out all over soon!

RV Dreamers:
I hope all you Dreamers are having a good time in Texas, and believe me we are there in spirit! We are keeping track of what's going on by reading all of your blogs. By the way send some of that sunshine that you guys are having down there up this way to us. You all take care and we hope to see a lot of you at the next rally in October!

Time To Be Busy As A Bee:
Well now it's time for me to fly and get busy, so I can get my work done so stay tuned to see what we're up to! Until we meet again...

I WAS INTO SOMETHING GOOD !!

Saturday Night:
Saturday night was great FUN! Even the two hour drive went fast with the three of us girls talking and bringing each other up to date on our lives since the last concert. We had a fan club get together at the hotel before the concert and the snacks and soft drinks were provided by the hotel. We had lots of fun and laughs, and that was even before the concert. I was not able to get very good pictures because I was too far back from the stage. Oh well, maybe next time! It was a great show even though I didn't get to sit with the fan club because I got my ticket too late. After the concert Peter Noone signed autographs, and some of the fan club members sold cd's. We had an after concert Birthday Party for one of our younger teen members. It was her "Sweet Sixteen" Birthday and Peter Noone dedicated a song to her from the stage! She was thrilled and on a natural high for the rest of the evening! At the Birthday Party she said it was her best Birthday Party ever! I said, "what hanging out with a bunch of old women" and she gave us mid century teeny boppers a compliment! She said, "you guys are so cool!" Lol! Now that was funny to us! With Sunday came the end and it was time for all of us
to hug and to say see ya until the next concert. That's always a sad time for us all, but we know that we'll all be together again at another concert soon as we can! So if any of you want a fun evening go to a Herman's Hermits starring Peter Noone concert whenever you see one advertised. To find out if there is one near you, you can always go to www. Peter Noone.com and click on concerts on his web site. Sometime you may just run into me at a concert! LOL!

Recovery:
Now it's back to the real world! On the way home from the concert I saw countless RV's heading north on I75. All kinds too, class C's, Fifth Wheels, Motor Homes, some with toads and some without. Made me realize it was March for real, and it was a good sign to me that SPRING is really around the corner! I know it doesn't seem like it to some of you with the bad snow storm you just had, but at least the calendar says it is! One thing I'm sure of is that I'm ready to go somewhere with our fifth wheel and get away from all this cold! Of course where can we go, after Alabama got some snow? Man this weather sure is going crazy! I sure hope we aren't going to have a drastic climate change here. The only change I want to see is warm weather to appear!

Dinner Time:
Now it's time for me to finish our barbecued chicken dinner so I'll say ta ta for now and I'll see ya soon!

SATURDAY CONCERT!!!

Saturday:
Well today is the day! I am going to meet my friends from Cincinnati and go to the concert in Findlay about a 2 hour drive from our house, so they have an hour drive before they pick me up. The concert is this evening, so you know what my plans for the evening are gonna be now. Mike will be on his own over night and I'll be back tomorrow afternoon. Mike is still getting over his cold or whatever it is he has. Yesterday he felt really bad and slept most of the afternoon, but he felt better after he ate dinner.

New Assignment:
Mike has given me a new assignment when I get home. I have to find and make something sweet, that is good for you, that you can eat as much as you want, and is low cal, and low fat! LOL!!! I told him there was no such thing! Oh, I forgot it has to taste good too! I told him that anyone who comes up with something like that will be a millionaire within weeks! I don't think that anything exists that fits those guidelines. Don't get me wrong I can make low cal desserts that taste good, but you can only have 1 serving and that serving is between a half and three quarters of a cup! Now that is not Mike's idea of a serving size, he wants something that he can eat all day long and still loose weight! I told him that I hope he likes salad with no dressing on it, cos that's the only thing I could think of you could eat all day long, and that isn't going to help his sweet tooth at all. How about you guys, do any of you have a recipe that would fit the bill? Mike has a hard time realizing that with every, dare I say it, DIET comes portion control and he doesn't like the size of those portions, I know I don't either. In fact, I don't think anyone living in America likes the sizes of portion control or we would all be nice and thin, like we want to be. We don't want to eat those small portions to get that way though. With all the fast food giving you options of "super sizing" everything, we have lost sight as to just what a single portion is. I love Lean Cuisine, Weight Watcher's entrees, and Healthy Choice meals, but you fix them and then look at them and think that's all I get? Most people could eat at least 3 of them at a time, and to top that off they are really expensive too! No wonder diets make you feel like your depriving yourself of the good stuff. Wow, did I get off on a tangent here or what! It is a problem and I don't know what to do about it just like everyone else. Weight Watchers is the only program that I know of that you can have close to normal eating habits and eat a dessert and still stay on the program and loose weight. There's still a problem of portion control with that though. There is Jenny Craig, and Nutra System, where you eat their food, and that's all, and then after you go off those programs and start eating normal again guess what happens? They really don't teach you how to maintain your weight on real food after you're done with their program. Weight Watchers is the only program or lifestyle that you can cook your own food and still lose weight, and stay on. My friend's daughter in law even stayed on it when she was expecting her baby, and they both did great! Then in order to loose weight there is that other dreaded word, EXERCISE, man ya just have to do all kinds of stuff just to stay healthy huh? How many of us are up for that challenge? We have got to try so we will have lots of years to go full timing. So as soon as the weather breaks it's going to be walking or bike riding for us. In the mean time we're going to have to slowly reduce our portions of the food we eat, so wish us luck! If any of you have any suggestions please let us know what they are.

Ready:
It's time for me to go finish getting ready, and packing my bag so I'll see ya all sometime tomorrow and hopefully I'll have some pictures of the concert for ya. Ta ta for now...