Migraine, Yuck...

I have had a migraine all day and nothing is getting rid of it. I don't have them enough to have prescribed meds so I take Aleve which I had on hand or Tylenol. Terrible!
Elmo (melmo as Dakota calls him) is trying to be detained by Tinkerbell, not sure where they came in contact with each other in "time" but they now live in the same household. Elmo is Dakota and of course, Allyssa is Tinkerbell. This was at the Fall Festival at church this year. They both were soooo cute!
Now they, or should I say, Allyssa is waiting on Santa since Dakota has no concept of Santa and from last year's santa pics and her meeting him again the other day, she does not want any part of him. Boy she just doesn't know what he can do! Magic, Magic! We watched The Santa Clause 3 the other night. It was good to me, not nearly as good as the first one or the second one for that matter, BUT I liked it because it was a Christmas movie. I like christmas movies. And another reason it was not as good, WHERE WAS BERNARD THE HEAD ELF AND JUDY THE COCOA GIRL?????????????????? I hate it when sequels are made and every one from the prior movies are not in their. Just like Grease, I was not even interested in Grease 2 because Olivia Newton John and John Travolta and the rest of the cast was not in there!!!!!
Work is the same, but I did go over my supervisor's head (since I had already told him the problem and he has known for nearly a year now) and told the VP of Manuf. what was going on. So I don't know what the future holds, but I do know that my supervisor is talking to me alot more, getting me away from demon co-worker as much as possible and was told by the VP that my job was not in jeopardy. Which is a good thing, I think. Of course, you never know what they might do tomorrow, right?
We are still waiting on Little Savannah, who is taking her own good time coming into this world. Actual due date is December 25, but we are so wanting her NOW. All in God's timing of course. Well, guess I had better get off of here and I will try to be a little more consistent with my posting!

Positive Wednesday...

I have been having a little difficulty posting my pictures here of late, so I your not going to see any, duh! Anyway, I watched the DVD The Secret last night and I have been trying to apply it to myself. I have been thinking positive all day long which I should say has made my day better. I have to train myself to think like that all the time which in my case sometimes can be very hard to do! Yes I still have the demon co-worker and yes I still have the stress in my life, but I am coming to realize that there is no one or nothing out there that can help me but myself and if I am happy with myself then I have the first step down pat! Right? Yes I do need to loose weight and I have been my worst critic on everything I do, my teeth are not perfectly straight nor are they pearly white but that is ok, my life is not stress free, I don't have all the money it takes to meet all the monthly bills, but as long as I can be happy with myself that's ok. So with all that said, I feel better!
I went to church tonight and met mom. I went by and picked up the girls and they went with me. Allyssa loves her Wednesday night class and Dakota stays with Mom and me in the nursery since she is too little for a class. Dakota is running around 90 miles an hour AT ALL TIMES. She never slows down. Natasha is dialated 2 cms and has been all week, she does not feel good today. Little Savannah is about ready to come into this great big world, boy she does not know what she is in store for, does she? Of course, God has a plan and she is another part of it. He has a plan for all of us. Allyssa and Dakota are ready for her, woo-hoo!
Vincent is waiting on word of a new job he has applied for at US Food Services. He will be driving a trailer making deliveries, will probably be gone 2 days a week, but right now it is where the money is so GO, GO, GO.
Asheton, my beautiful niece, won 2nd place in her high school pageant over the weekend, woo-hoo Asheton. We are so proud of her.
Well, guess I had better get off of here, I have a couple more christmas cards to hand-stamp and I am running out of time!!!!
L8tr!

Hi...

It's been awhile since I have been on here...sorry...just have not felt up to getting on the computer. The holidays always adds extra stress on me not that I don't have enough...but I am trying to do better. Trying not to worry about the things I cannot change or do anything about anyway..that is hard to do.
Thanksgiving has come and gone. We had a great time at Mom and Dad's house. The meal was scrumptious. Everyone was there except Wayne and his family who were hosting his mother-in-law and a special friend and Tina's grandmother.
We went shopping on Black Friday. Went to Kohl's first, that was a total disaster. The checkout lines were wrapped around the inside of the store on both sides going in opposite directions. We very nicely scooted out of there without a thing and then headed to Walmart. There was not a whole lot there either that I was interested in. We left there and went to Haywood Mall where Mom and Deborah found some things that they wanted. Me? still nothing. It is not so much fun when you don't have children to shop for. I do have Allyssa and Dakota and maybe the new little one but I have not decided what to get them. I had better be making my mind up pretty soon though or it will be too late!
Went to the dentist with this tooth that has been nearly killing me for the past 1 1/2 months. Final result, a root canal that has to be done the end of January. Since the dentist needs to get the pre-estimate from my insurance company to make sure they will pay for it, in the mean time I have pain medication and an antibiotic to take. More medication, just what I need....but at least the pain will be subsiding, woo-hoo. There is nothing, well maybe a couple of things, that I can thing of that the pain is worse that a toothache!
Well, guess I had better get going. Work at 6:00 am, yuck!

When can I eat you....

This seems to be what Miss Kitty is thinking in her mind. Elliott of course just wants to aggravate her, peck her nose or try to pull her hair out. Just like siblings! Miss Kitty is a good sport about it all. She is the oldest animal member of our family. Then she acquired a brother german shepherd Hanzo who is 8 months old and looks like he is full grown and then she acquired brother or sister Elliott (assuming he is a boy). They both aggravate her. Hanzo has to chase her every time he comes back in the house.
We are getting ready to head to "our" lake house to winterize 2 jet skis for the winter. The lake house actually belongs to a customer of Vincent's but we have spent so much time there this past summer that we kinda of "inherited" it for our own. Pretty neat, huh and we have to house payment!!!!!! This is going to be an 8 hour job and of course my loving dear husband wanted to get an "early" start so we could get back before dark!!!!! Here is is 11:00 and we have not left yet. Lateness not on my part of course, I have been ready since 10:00. So I have been looking at my favorite blog site right now, lovelife. Kal is just so down to earth and you never know what she is going to write about, mostly her work, but it is interesting.
It has been a while since I have posted due to several different things. I did post the sunday we got back from the beach trip, a long one. But of course, I hit the wrong button and POOF! it was gone and I did not feel like retyping all of that at the time. So I will try to give little bits and pieces of it in the next several blogs. The weather was beautiful while we were down there. We had a great time with my brother Wayne and his wife, Tina and their daughters, Courtney and Lauren, both of whom are teenagers. Mom and a friend of the family, Alpha, ended up down there at the same time so we had dinner with them one night. Well, gotta go for now. Grab my coffee and head out the door, FINALLY!

18 hours and on my way.....

This time tomorrow night we will be at the beach. I cannot wait. This little beauty in the picture (Allyssa) will not be able to go with us. In fact, she does not even know that we are going. If she did, she would have a fit. We did not tell her for that very reason. She is escorting Braydon, (the little boy in my previous posts that likes her and aggravates the mess out of her) at his homecoming football game. And if she knew we were going to the beach she would say FORGET THE HOMECOMING GAME, I am going with Papa and Nana! She loves the beach. This picture was taken during her first beach trip in February, 2005. Then we went back in July of the same year and took her and Natasha with us. Natasha was pregnant with Dakota at the time. She is now pregnant with Savannah Rayne (I hope that is the way Natasha decides to spell it) due December 25.
Not much going on here. Today was Vincent's 50th birthday. We didn't have the big celebration yet, #1 because we are leaving for the beach tomorrow and #2 because money is playing a big issue right now on everybody's part. So we are celebrating his birthday within the next 2 weeks, birthday cake and all! He had a great day. A bunch of people either called him or texted him wishing him happy birthday and he received 2 handmade birthday cards. One from my Mom and one from the church we are attending at the present time. They both are beautiful.
We took Hanzo to his temporary home until Monday. He is staying with the guy who has a german shepherd from the first litter of Hanzo's mom. Hanzo is the second litter. I really miss him. Hope he is doing ok.
Talked to Wayne and Tina who are already at the beach and they said the weather was nice right now. Hope it stays that way. But even if it don't I am going to be in RELAXATION mode. Atleast until Sunday when we come back. Just a short trip.
Well, gotta go get started packing and yes it is 10:00 PM and I have not done it yet and we are leaving when I get off of work at 3:30 tomorrow.......what am I waiting for....I need to get going!

High on the Feel Good Ladder....

Today was a really good day on the "feel good" ladder. If every day could be this good or better! I had a couple of things on the back burner that were kinda in limbo and still are to a certain point but I am a little closer to reality. Biggest one is that we may have found some land in Marietta, SC, about 3-5 miles northwest? of Travelers Rest. There are still some nuts and bolts to finalize: price, how much (between 2-5 acres), etc. but at least it is in the works. We haven't told anyone about it because everything is not ironed out yet. What the overall plan is is to pay the land off then build a house on it. Not sure what size or plans for the house right now.
Had a good day at work. I mentioned yesterday about wearing the one ear plug in my right ear, right? Well, it was not working really well and I mentioned it to one of my co-workers, who politely told me that I was suppose to pinch it together then roll it between my forefinger and thumb then insert it in my ear and then it explands (ever so gently, remind you) to the contour of my ear. What a great big difference that made. Of course, I totally felt like an idiot because I have been walking around with the ear plug poking half way out of my ear and I thought that it was because they are initially ordered for the guys in our buffing department because of the noise and they have BIG EARS!!!!! Yes I have to laugh at myself which I do rather frequently nowadays!
Would it not be nice to be as carefree as Allyssa is in the top picture? I took this picture at Dakota's birthday party. Braydon, Randy's nephew, who is about 5 years old was keeping the football from Allyssa and she, being the sweet little angel that she is, just turned around and ran back to the swing as if she did not have a care in the world, except of course for "a little boy who likes me and is trying to keep the football from me, because I am a girl and he thinks I cannot throw it"!
Then there is Dakota and Allyssa (anxiously waiting for her piece of cake). Allyssa eats just the icing off the cake and now Dakota is doing the same thing.
The picture of Dakota running.....well, she had just received this Elmo plush blanket and she did not even get it unfolded before she took off at a big run to Allyssa's room, turns the tv on (because she knows that is what Allyssa does when she goes to bed) and jumps on the bottom bunk bed and lays there!!!!! Everybody else is wondering what she is doing. She is such a baby doll. She finally came back in to the living room to open the rest of her gifts. If it was clothes she would look at them, drop them and head for the next gift until she opened a baby doll, or walmart stroller or her last gift was a Radio Flyer Tricycle from Papa Bob and Mema Linda.
Well, I am out of time again.....

Yuck, Yuck Monday.....

Why are Mondays so yucky? Today was not a good day at all. I was not feeling very good, nauseated, overall terrible, terrible. Had a small bag of pretzels and half a pepsi for first break, felt nauseated still, but hungry at lunch. Actually skipped lunch per se, but did eat another small bag of pretzels, drank the other half of the pepsi and sit there looking at a newspaper catalog of books for no more than $4.95. All kinds of books and some DVDs, CDs, James Patterson was one of the authors I seen alot of; religion, history, travel, fiction, non-fiction, children, etc. Still don't feel too much better. Had an anxiety attack a couple of times but did not take anything for it.
Mainly just tried to talk myself out of them. Which is not easy to do when the demon co-worker is trying to see if she can play her radio louder than mine and let me tell you, you can barely hear mine. I wear an ear-plug in my right ear, that is the side she is on. Can she not see the neon green THING sticking out of my ear and wonder what the heck it is there for, or maybe she does see it and wants to make my life as miserable as she can from 7:00 a.m. UNTIL 3:30 p.m. which sometimes seems like a 12 hour shift. I wanted to stuff that radio of hers where the sun don't shine and hope that the sun never comes out!
Okay, I am back to normal for right now.
The picture at the top is the chocolate fountain I was referring to yesterday in my blog. Goodness, I can taste it now. The other picture is of Mom (in chocolate-covered cherry heaven for a brief moment!) As you can see from the look on her face why I had such a hard time dragging her away. I mean the other customers in the store wanted to try it too!!!!! I am laughing too hard right now. I'm just kidding mom.
Actually I think we all three went back 2 or 3 times! It was sooooo goooooddddddd.
I came home from work, let Hanzo out and fed him, sit on the couch for about 30 minutes, ate dinner and then played with Hanzo with an old t-shirt for a while, came in, watched about 30 minutes of tv and then came in here and checked e-mails, blogs. Of course, in between times I have been up and down, taking Hanzo out to go to the bathroom, talking to Vincent, folding a load of clothes and now getting ready to rap this up and head to the shower so get ready bed just to start over tomorrow.
Texted Natasha during the day (yes while I was at work and trying not to get caught) about a couple of things that I was not to happy about yesterday at Dakota's party. You know the different lives everyone leads once they "leave the nest". Of course, I succeeded in making her a little irritable at me, Wayne texted me to touch base about this weekend beach trip, texted Mom to ask her about the Carver christmas party and that is about it. What an EXCITING LIFE I LEAD!
Well, guess I had better get off of here,

L8TR!

She Doesn't Slow Down...

Today Natasha and Randy had Dakota's birthday party. I cannot believe that she is now 2 years old. She actually turned 2 on October 11, but today was her party. I spent most of the day chasing her around getting pictures like these because she just would not be still long enough to get pictures. She is on the go all the time. If only I had 1/8 of her energy I would never have to worry about not being able to sleep at night! She and Allyssa both were giving the swing set for their birthdays. They both love to play on it, but Dakota likes the sliding board the best, I think. She was on it more than anything. She occasionally layed in the swing on her stomach but most of the time you would see her on the slide!
You know, just getting the family together is sometimes a little too much, but when you have blended families like we do it makes it a little more too much! Natasha and Nicholas' dad and I have been divorced since 1989. I remarried in 1996 to Vincent. So you have their dad, his parents, my parents, me, Vincent, my sister and her 2 teenage kids, Natasha, Randy (her second husband) and Allyssa (from her first marriage) and Dakota from her current marriage, she is pregnant with their 2nd girl together, Randy's parents, his sister and her husband and their 2 kids, Natasha and Nicholas' dad's teenage daughter from his second marriage and then you have the rest of the invitees; friends, etc. It makes it tough. You have so many different living styles, opinions, ways of doing things that are different from when you were growing up, (like respecting the elders) I know Dakota and Allyssa had a great time, but I am glad that it don't happen very often. Dakota was sitting in front of her Sesame Street birthday cake and took 2-3 swipes with her finger at the icing because it was taking her mom too long to get the candle and after she blew out the candle, she took Elmo licked the icing off of it, put it back on the cake and did it again then looked at me and said "here nana" handing me Elmo! She cracks me up.
Yesterday I met Mom and Alpha at A.C. Moore. I bought some patterned paper, (like I really need it) and some colored cardstock. The store was having some make it take it projects and they had the coolest gadget, a chocolate fountain! I was totalled amazed by it. I know I have seen it advertised but when you see it really working it is the neatest thing. It continually has melted chocolate flowing from it and you just put your piece of fruit, pretzel, cookies, anything that you want chocolate on under the the chocolate and waa-laa you have a chocolate-covered whatever! I will post a picture of it later, but I could have stayed at that table for a while, but I am sure the make-it-take-it would have been about 10 pounds added to my frame that I did not need to have to worry about "carrying out" in my hands! I had to nearly drag my Mom away from it! just kidding, mom!!!!! Alpha actually is to blame for it, she is the one that went looking around without us and come back with chocolate-covered strawberries! We made little brown halloween bags with the new Cricut machine and they had a table that was making little pumpkin earrings. I will post a picture of both tomorrow I will have to take the pictures first.
Deborah and Asheton met us at Taco Casa for lunch. We had a really good time laughing and talking, Alpha said she learned some things that she did not know before from our conversations. Of course, I am not going to repeat any of the conversations because some could be considered at least a PG rating! Then after we ate lunch as if we really needed something else to put in our stomachs we headed to Atlanta Bread Company. ABC is a almost definite stop for whoever is with us on Saturdays. Mom and I started the "tradition". But now if you are with us on Saturday you have to go with us to ABC. Of course, I have pictures of that too that I will have to post later.
Next weekend we are suppose to be going to the beach. From Friday afternoon until Sunday afternoon. If it pans out I cannot wait. I need a day of complete I-dont-have-to-do-anything. I could sit on the beach all day just watching people and the waves coming in and going out. Kinda of relaxing and soothing at the same time.
I got up this morning and took a bike ride. I woke up with it on my mind so I took off. Of course, I woke up yesterday thinking about going for a job (what????? me????? jog???????) I don't know where that came from and of course, I did not give in to that way of thinking. I turned over and went back to sleep! Maybe the next time I wake up with it on my mind I will take it up on it!
Well, gotta get ready for work tomorrow. Vincent went to the store since he slept the rest of his afternoon away and should be pulling back in the driveway at any time and I need to get a shower. The weather is cool at night but it gets kinda warm during the day. We turned off the air conditioning last week and have not turned it back on yet and it does not take much for me to get all hot and sweaty. I hate that.

Baby...it's cold outside...

Well, it is cold to me. It was 61 degrees and breezy when we came in from dinner and to me it was cold. Maybe it was because I have been cold all day at work. But it is suppose to be in the 40's tonight and that is brrrrrrrr to me.

I have not been on here lately as you can tell. I have had things going on, running out of time at night, spending most of the nights with Vincent watching movies, he is a real movie buff and that is about the only time we get to spend together and we don't even have kids in the house anymore! Trying to get this estrogen patch dosage correct, pain in the neck, I tell ya! I feel great the first couple of days and then on the day before or sometimes the day that I am scheduled to change it, I start feeling bad, plain out ole' bad, not wanting to do anything, wanting to strangle the anti-christ co-worker beside me, (more often than not!), just wanting to sit and DO NOTHING, NOT A THING! Have you realized that the word nothing looks almost like NOT A THING. Oh well, I am getting off on another trail......

We have been going to the lake every Sunday (no haven't been to church and I know that is bad) for the past 4 weeks. Breaking in motors on 2 jetskis Vincent had to replace for the same customer. It has been really nice at the lake though, no rain any day that we were there. My brother Wayne and his wife and daughters went 2 weeks ago with us and Natasha, Randy, Allyssa and Dakota went this past Sunday with us. We had a great time. It gets boring sometimes going by yourself.

The pictures are from this past Sunday's trip. Allyssa always has a good time at the lake, she LOVES the water and from the looks of Dakota, the one where she is asleep, she does too. This picture of Dakota was taken after her first ride on a sea-doo. She loved it until the humming of the motor and watching the water go by put her to sleep. Yes she actually went to sleep while I was operating the sea-doo. She and I were on one, Vincent and Allyssa were on ours and Randy and Natasha was on one.

Today the little monkey turned 2 years old. And she is really in the terrible twos! "No" to everything. Ignoring you when you are talking to her, throwing toys, running from you, you name it and she is doing it! But she is a baby doll!

Tomorrow is my sister-in-law Tina's birthday. We are going out to eat somewhere actually to finalize the beach trip for next weekend and to celebrate her birthday in a quiet sort of way! She has never been one to like the hoop-la of birthdays, she don't like her picture taken and she don't like attention drawn to her. Kinda like me in a way!

Anyway, it is 10:52 pm WAY, WAY past my bedtime so off to sleeptown I go.......Sweet dreams!

Update on Jennifer...

We went to see Jennifer last night. She was sitting up a little bit and actually had her voice back. She still have the feeding tube which they were taking out today and the temporary pacemaker on her leg which was turned off. The report right now is that she may be going home with a permanent pacemaker more as a precaution. She is doing really good and as soon as they take the pacemaker off her leg will be up and starting to walk in about 6-8 hours. They are saying that there were 2 medications that she was taking that reacted to other medications that she was on. She is still in CCU right now.

I am picking up Allyssa and Dakota tomorrow for the afternoon. It has been a couple of weeks since we have had them. Nick's girlfriend, Ashley, babysits them now so I am not getting them as often. That is good for me because it was too much to watch them both nearly every afternoon, but on the other hand I miss them so much. I don't feel like I am in touch with Allyssa and her school work and Dakota and her little musings that I usually get to see.

Mom and Dad are off to the beach tomorrow. Yes I am very jealous! I have not been able to go to the beach this year and I miss it. But Mom needs to get away and relax for a while.

Natasha is progressing along with her pregnancy. She is out of work the rest of the week per doctor's orders.

Nick is doing the usual working thing like the rest of us. I had a couple of days break from demon child co-worker. She came back today.

Well, guess I had better go and get ready for another day of work!

Spur of the Moment changes....

The past couple of days has been all about spur of the moment changes. Since Monday morning when we, (as in Mom, Dad and all of us siblings and spouses and children, except Mitchell and his family, of course) have found out about Brittni being in the hospital and then Jennifer collapsing while staying with Brittni, we have been all about living in the moment. We have lived this week nearly around Brittni and Jennifer. The very people that Mitchell has kept in the dark about so much the past couple of years have been the ones there for him and his family now. A lot of it is Mitchell's fault, heck 99% of it is his fault. We all have tried in the past to keep in touch with him and his family, but either the phone calls going unanswered or not acknowledged or the fact that he did not want us to know much about what was going on in his family life. He has probably lived most of his life based on lie after lie that he nearly a professional at it. Why are so many people like that? I know on his part he has lived a life that was pretty much different from the rest of us. But in the end when all your friends are gone who is there to pick you up? Family. I remember telling Mitchell many years ago that his family were the ones that would always be there. Even after he has done the things that he has done to all of us, acting like he did not need us, betraying our trust, we are there for him. I know on my part it is going to take some time for me to trust him. It is to the point with us that we need some proof and not just words. We have heard them too many times. Even after all of that, it is Jennifer, Brittni and Chandler that I most want to protect. What have they had to live in on a daily basis with Mitchell? We have only seen what he allows us to see, but to have to live with it on a day-to-day basis, I cannot imagine. None of us have been perfect in our adult lives, we have all done things that we wish we could re-do, prevent from happening, and keep secret, but in the end it comes out for the whole world to see. I cannot even imagine how Jennifer has felt the past 2 years, going through the death and grieving of her mother. I thank God everyday for my Mom and that I have had her through the good and the bad of my life. We have had our differences but we still crave each other's attention and love. What would I do if I was in Jennifer's place? She has been stuck in a cesspool of memories for 2 years, living in the same house with the same furnishings. She has been worrying about everybody else but her own health which has not been very good. Depression is a very bad problem, mood swings, sadness, loneliness. I know from experience. I have not been there for her and I feel bad for it knowing what depression can do to a person. I plan to do better from now on. We have to put our past feelings in the past. Which is easier said than done. We, as Christians, are to forgive, maybe not ever forget, but forgive. Without God's help that is impossible to do. As I get older I realize just how much hurt, meanness, loneliness, and sadness is in the world. How many people do we past everyday that have problems worse than ours. That don't make our problems is less important, but there are others far worse. We have a roof over our head, family to help us through the tough times, decent clothes to wear, we don't worry about where our next meal is coming from and we have a little money to do things that we like. We drive vehicles that are running good, we have our health, our jobs, our children and grandchildren. Now for the update on Jennifer. The breathing tube was taken out tonight about 6:00 p.m. She was a little apprehensive about it. The temporary pacemaker was turned off and will be removed tomorrow. She is talking in a whisper, able to move her legs, arms, head. There does not appear to be any damage to anything right now. They said that after they take the pacemaker off they plan to have her up and walking in about 6 hours! So as it looks now, she is on the road to recovery in a big way. Thank you Lord for answered prayers and they continue to be answered daily. I wonder if she will be able to remember the whole incident? Right now I guess her mind of blocking some of the trauma. Can she remember us being in the room and talking? Could she hear us even though she was sedated? What was she thinking if she was able to be thinking while she was sedated? Does she remember getting agitated when the sedation would wear off? I have so many questions I want to ask her but I know it might be awhile before I can do that. She does not remember Brittni being in the hospital, she did not know she was at Greenville Memorial Hospital, I don't think she knows what happen. I feel that as time goes on her memory will come back. Brittni is still doing good, I don't think she has had any further vomiting or stomach pain. She goes back to school on Monday, but she also has a doctor's appointment. Chandler went back to school on Friday. Well, it is 11:26 pm and way, way past my bedtime. So off to bed I go..........

Answered prayers.....

I had such a good day today. My demon child co-worker was not at work, woo-hoo. Don't they realize how quiet and smooth everything is when she is not there??????? We went to the hospital tonight to visit Jennifer. I am so ecstatic. She was awake and could understand what we were saying to her. She could make facial expressions when she was asked questions and she could nod her head yes or no. We got her to smile. Many prayers have been answered and continue to be answered. They had her pacemaker on her leg turned down and tomorrow they plan on turning it off to see if she can handle it. They have taken her off her medication to help her heart and she is doing fine. She stayed awake all day today. She would not go to sleep, I guess because she felt she had been out of it for so long she was afraid if she went to sleep she would be out of it again. Right before we left the nurse gave her some morphine for pain and to help her relax and get some rest. I was so happy to see her awake. Thank you Lord. The doctors are say now that it was the medication she was on but they are not sure yet exactly which one it was or if some of the medication reacted to the medicine she was already taking. She is on a blood thinner to make sure she does not get clots in her legs. She is able to move her left leg but not her right leg because the pacemaker is attached to her right leg. She seems to be uncomfortable because she cannot really move around to get a good spot. She was moving her left arm and wrinkling her forehead and I asked her if her arm was bothering her or need to be lifted up. She nodded to me when I asked her about lifting it up so I tried to make her a little more comfortable. She still has a little ways to go but is doing great right now. Brittni is doing fine. She was tired when we seen her in the CCU waiting area. This was her first day out of the hospital so I am sure she has been up all day. The doctors said she suffers from Abdominal migraines. No I have never heard of it either, but apparently a migraine is pain in the nerves. Just like a migraine head ache, these are migraine stomach aches. New one on me. Mom and I are going to do our normal Saturday thing tomorrow. I think we will go to AC Moore tomorrow then have lunch. Then tomorrow afternoon it is back to the lake for the rest of the weekend. I ready for this boat to be broken in so we can actually relax. When you are breaking in a new motor on a jet-ski you have to go no more than 35 miles a hour, which is slow then you move on up the speedometer until you get to the number of "break-in" hours that need to be put on the boat. Of course, all of this was greek to me until I got involved in it with this boat. Well, guess I will get off of here and hit the hay! I am tired.

No change.....

There has been no change in Jennifer today other than Brittni, Chandler and Mitchell were able to talk to her and she was a little less sedated and could nod to them. Then she was sedated again to keep her from becoming agitated. We did not go to the hospital today. I was totally exhausted and had to get some things done around the house. Brittni was discharged today and is with a friend from school and Chandler is with Mom. Mitchell and Jennifer's brother are switching off staying in the room with Jennifer just so there is someone there, just in case she might come to and not see anyone she knows. The doctors said it could take up to 60 hours from the time she collapsed before all the medication she was on is out of her system. That is about 4 and 1/2 days! I think they seem to think that when that gets out of her system she should be on the full road to recovery. Since they cannot find anything else wrong with her it seems it might have been the medication that she was prescribed recently that did all of this.

Vincent and I met Wayne, Tina, Courtney and Lauren at Mythos Greek Restaurant in Greer for dinner tonight. Actually it was a spur of the moment kinda thing. Wayne called to see if we were going to the hospital because he did not know if he was going to make it tonight. I told him that we were not going to night and then I asked them if they had eaten yet and he said no. So we decided to meet there. We had a good time.

Things at work at the same. I think it was yesterday or the day before. I was just standing there working and MINDING MY OWN BUSINESS and something came on radio of the "demon" beside me. Those of you who have kept up with my notorious co-worker know what I am talking about. She said (and keep in mind it is just me and her standing there) out loud, "Thank you Lord, I got the devil right beside me". Now since it was only me and her standing there, who do you think she was talking about?????????????????????????? Yep, that is right ME. Of course, want I should have said was agree with her and say "yes Lord, I got the devil right beside me too". But I didn't because if I had said something she would have just said that she was talking to herself. Which probably is correct since she is schizofrinic anyway. So today I started wearing an earplug in my right ear so I don't have to hear her talking about that devil standing beside her. I hope he does not try to start talking to me!!!!!! Maybe I should go in to work tomorrow with devil horns on my head!!!!!!!!!!! I am LOL right now. She has really lost some of the marbles in her collection!
I decided that I was not going to let her ruin my day so I have gotten to the point of just taking it all in stride and laughing inside at her stupity or craziness, which one I am not sure of!
Well, guess I had better go and get in bed a "little earlier" tonight!

Answers............

Well, I went to the hospital to get some answers.............Jennifer was taken down for a CT scan today, I think they said she had a chest x-ray and tomorrow she is scheduled for an ultrasound to check to make sure she does not have any blood clots. The nurse that came on duty at 7:00 pm was very helpful when we asked questions. I stayed in their with Jennifer while he checked all her vital signs and she was doing good. She did have a temperature of 101 under the arm and he was going to order some tylenol for her. They had increased her sedation with is Propofol, I think, when they took her down for the scan. The nurse decreased it and said that they were going to keep decreasing it to try and wean her off of it. She was breathing some on her own but was still on the respirator. The respiratory therapist came in also and checked her vitals, cleaned the tube, etc. and everything looked good. Another medication she is on is Heparin, not sure about that one, Lidocane, not sure if that is related to the Heparin and she was also given some Morphine today.

The mothering instinct in me wants to just lift her to me and hold her and tell her everything is going to be ok, but I know that I cannot do that. Sometimes I feel so "fake". I know how I have felt in the past with everything that has gone on with Mitchell and Jennifer and I know that I have not been the Christian that I should be. I should have forgave Mitchell for some things he did. Stealing from his own family for his drug addiction, but I did not. There is alot of trust that needs to be made up by him. He has said so many times that he had changed and it never happened. You still have the thoughts that "is he telling us another one or is he for real this time". Jennifer has been through a lot with him and her family. Her mother dying 2 years ago has not been easy for her either.

He says that when Jennifer gets better and Brittni gets better that there are going to be some changes. I told him that it is not going to be a easy road, its going to be hard, it is not going to come to him. They have never really been a family and it is going to take some time to build that up for them.

He just looks at her and then he says "isn't she beautiful, she's my baby". I asked him, "has it taken this to happen for you to see that?" and he told me "no, I have known it all along. She is still as beautiful to me today as she was 21 years ago". I said have you told her that and he said "yes and I tell her I love her and she always says no you don't". And he just chuckled to himself. We were looking at the monitor and watching her blood pressure cuff expanding and it read her bp. He asked me if her bp was good and what is is normally. I told him 120/80. hers was 167/63. I said I am on blood pressure medication and he said I am supposed to be on it, but I don't take it. I have it with me but I just don't take it. I turned to him and said, "do you want to end of like Jennifer" and we looked at her and he said no. And I said then you better start taking care of yourself.

Brittni is doing fine. She is going to be discharged probably Friday. She was working on a little scrapbook for her mom when we left.

We will be going back tomorrow so I will have an update then.................

Jennifer and Brittni

Yesterday we got a call from my baby brother that Jennifer, my sister-in-law was in the hospital due to collapsing and having 2 cardiac arrests. She was on life support in CCU (critical care unit). This was the first time anyone had heard from him in a couple of weeks when Mom had surgery. We found out that Brittni, my niece and Mitch and Jennifer's daughter, had been in the hospital for several days before this happened to Jennifer due to a problem with vomiting and severe stomach pain. We also just found out that Brittni had been having this problem for a couple of years and had been to the ER several times in the last several months. Alot has gone on over the past several years with Mitchell doing some things that he should not have done and he just became distance with the family. We went to the hospital yesterday and stayed there the rest of the day. Jennifer was being sedated heavily due to her becoming agitated when she was not sedated. The nurse said that her heart was so irritated from the cardiac arrests that it was best right now just to let her rest. They could not do any testing until later. At this point, we did and still do not know what is wrong with her. It could be a medication reaction, she had been to the doctor on Monday and they had either started her on a new medication or changed her meds and she had not felt right all day. We still don't know what is wrong with Brittni either. They have run the light down her throat checking for an ulcer and anything else, nothing. The doctor did take 2 biopsies and the results will come later. Today they did an upper GI to check the gall bladder (why are they just now checking the gb?) and some things that cannot be seen with the light. Still nothing. At the writing they were discussing whether to discharge her. Mitchell is handling the situation the best he can right now. He is pulled in 2 directions knowing that Jennifer is critical right now. Brittni is not doing to good emotionally because she seen her mom collapse. The nurses were not getting there fast enough and knowing that there was nothing she could do was not good. Chandler my nephew is doing ok. He knows that there is not much that he can do either. But he did say that if this had to happen to his mom, he was glad that she was at the hospital, because she would not have made it if she had been home and had to wait for EMS provided she could dial 911 since she is home by herself. When there is a critical situation like this, I had found out just yesterday how confusing the medical staff can be. One minute they tell you that you cannot talk to or touch Jennifer, no more than 2 people in the room, then the next minute they tell Mitch he can kiss her and talk to her and they let 3 people in the room. None of them can tell you anything, and you just walk around like you are in some kind of a fog. The mother is me wants to scream out, WE WANT AND NEED SOME ANSWERS. How long can she stay like that? What is going to happen next, what kind of test are you running on her. Then the nurses tell you, (if you are not the wife or husband) "we cannot tell you anything, you have to ask the spouse), but then turn around and tell you some information and you are sitting there thinking in your mind, "are you suppose to be telling me this? I'm glad you are but you are all so contradicting." I am getting ready to head to the hospital now and try to get some kind of answers. It is the mother in me I guess. But even if it is not good news I NEED TO KNOW! Let's see how it goes................

Monday, Monday

First of the week. It is always so hard to get back in the swing of things after such a nice weekend. And today was just as nice. My demon-child co-worker tried to get me in trouble today. Now doesn't that sound so elementary? It is but that is the way some people are. It ended up backfiring in her face so I felt pretty good about that. I know that is not good to feel good about that but it is about time my supervisor stood up to her. I had lunch with Mom today. We ate at the Pizza House where we usually go if we are both in Travelers Rest and since I work in TR and she lives in TR it works out perfectly! I only get 35 minutes, so it almost is not like having lunch at all but being in a rat race, hurry to get there, hurry to eat and hurry to get back, but I got to spend some time with Mom and I enjoyed it even if it was for just a short time. Getting ready to take that jet-ski back to the lake as soon as Vincent gets here. He found the problem so we have to go back and try again what we tried to do Saturday. (see previous post). Well, guess I had better get off of here. Nothing much to say today!

Happy Sunday!

How nice it wake up to a nice cool morning after all that hot, muggy, humid weather we have been having. We are heading back out to the lake. Had to come home last night to take care of the animals (the drawback of having them) so we could not stay the night. The Rosenfelds' boat is back in our back yard waiting to head back to the shop tomorrow morning. It has to be put on a computer at a sea-doo dealership which will take it out of "limp" mode which is a safe mode to protect the engine when things are not quite kosher and in this case Lance put too much oil in it when they were putting it back together. Everyone seems to think that this jet-ski has some sort of hex on it. Of course, I don't believe in that. I think it is just a tempermental piece of equipment that has had a run of bad motors on several persons doings before Vincent got a hold of it. Not to mention the company who supplies the motors has a motor-put-together-er- who did not put oil in a certain part of the motor and it cannot function without it.

But we had out reliable jet-ski so we rode it. We left it down there on the boat lift at the Rosenfelds dock so we did not have to tow it back again today.

Yesterday Mom, Alpha and myself went to the Heirloom's Rubber Stamp and Paper Festival held at the Carolina First Center (formerly the Palmetto Expo Center). We had a really great time, I think Alpha spent the most money out of all three of us. I purchased 3 stamps, 2 of which were snowmen stamps, which I love. (Snowmen, hmmmm) a "Merry Christmas" stamp and a set of Heidi Swapp "credit card" embellishments. Don't ask me why they call them credit card embellishments, they are not the same size as credit cards and some are not even shaped like credit cards.....go figure. Mom did well walking around so much after her surgery 2 weeks ago. We kept asking her if she was ok. The only problem she had was when we went to Red Lobster to eat lunch (which is totally much cheaper than at dinner time) and she had a problem sitting in the booth for so long. She really needs to be sitting in a regular chair. I am sure she went home and took a nap.

I talked to my "fireman" brother Wayne. He works for Parker Fire District in Greenville. He is a Lt. now, promoted about a month or so ago. He loves fighting fires, it takes special men and women to do that sort of thing. He has gotten him a new cocker spaniel puppy, Harley. He had a cocker spaniel named Freckles which Wayne totally adored and she was run over a while back and he has now got her replacement (if you can call it that).

Haven't talked to my sister in a while. I keep tabs on her. She has a new job at Gateway Elementary where Allyssa goes. She was the computer lab teacher but was "promoted" to SASI clerk this year which is requiring more work than the computer lab, but both of their kids are into sports, track, basketball, high school footballs games, and just plain out high school stuff she has to do. She does live close by, but we hardly see each other. They were out of town this weekend for a sport related event.

Allyssa went to her Dad's house this weekend so Thursday was the last time we seen her and Dakota. Nick's girlfriend babysits them during the week now so that they are not in a nursery and daycare. Which is great that they get to be at home more.

Well, gotta go so I can get ready to get our of here.

Finally we have rain.....

No playing outside for this little guy today. Of course, this pic was taken in May when he was 3 months old and now he is 6 months old and 3 times, at least, this size. It has been raining pretty much non-stop since 5:00 p.m. today. Woo-Hoo, it is so nice to see moisture coming from the sky and I am sure all the trees, grass, flowers, shubbery, etc. are thanking God right now as I have been all afternoon. It is suppose to be sunny the rest of the weekend so it won't foil anyone's plans, but is is sooo nice to see it coming down.

Not much going on today except of course work and the usual elementary-behavior by some grown adults that you have everywhere. It gets so tiring, you would think these guys would outgrow it sometime in their lives.

Mom and I are going to the "rubber stamp convention" at the former Palmetto Expo Center tomorrow. Last year it was not as good as it was the previous year so I am anxious to see if there have been any changes to make it better. We usually buy 1 or 2 stamps and maybe a little something that might strike our fancy. Usually there are so many stamps that I get overwhelmed and come out with maybe 1 stamp. It is getting close to the holidays so I have to put on my thinking cap for my small amount of christmas cards I give to our immediate families.

We are going to be at the lake for most of the weekend starting tomorrow afternoon. Going to the Rosenfelds to break in their boat and they are all excited to get it back. I am riding mine and Vincent and the Rosenfelds are taking turns riding theirs to get the new motor "broken in".

Our other friends that we were with last weekend are at Springfield campsite at Lake Hartwell. We are going to be at Lake Keowee which if I am not mistaken is separated by the dam, Oconee County and Anderson County are in their close and Lake Keowee goes all the way up north. Not too much on the geography. I like Keowee a whole lot better, cleaner to me although it is a lot more crowded.

Had to recolor my hair tonight to cover up the gray. The things we have to deal with when getting older. Why can't we just keep out 20 year old bodies, minds, beautiful hair well up until we leave this world. Can you imagine everyone having their 20 year old bodies. I am sitting here picturing all of us going about our daily doings and looking good doing it!!!!!!!! LOL<>

Later...............

Well, guess I had better get off of here.

Out of sorts...

Take a look at these cute little kids! This is Natasha, Nicholas and Zachary sitting on that funning looking Santa Claus now that I look really good at this picture! I think it must be his cone-shaped hat!

Not feeling as great today as I have been. I think it might be because I change my estrogen patch today and maybe the medication has worn off. What is the deal with my ovaries hurting again like I was 20 years old! I am totally not used to that. Haven't had that paid since 1988 after I recovered from a hysterectomy........I don't think I like it either!

Picked up the girls today after work and took them to see Mom. Then we went by Vincent's shop and left there when he got off and headed to Donna and Kim's (this is a guy by the way) house. Vincent had to see what the problem was with their reverse gate on their sea-doo. Stayed there until 7:00 then met Natasha so she could pick up the girls. Came home, let Hanzo out and then went to grab a bite to eat. Came home, check my blog, have typed this and getting ready to take a shower and head to bed. One more day of work and then the weekend. Going to the rubber stamp convention with Mom on Saturday and then we have to head to Lake Keowee Sunday. Some places had a little rain today, but nothing at our house......we need it so bad. Until tomorrow............

Good day...

I need to be here right now.....just relaxing, doing nothing, pondering things......It has been a good day today. I think I am actually starting to feel better. No anxiety, no down-in-the-dumps, etc. I actually feel pretty good. I even felt pretty good about going to work, if someone can actually feel good going to work! I worked, came home, did some "have-to-do-when-you-first-come-home" junk, went outside, cleaned the air filter on my riding lawnmower, cut grass, did the weedeating, did the blowing-off-the-grass on the driveway, front porch and sidewalks, played with this crazy puppy that looks like a full-grown dog, then Vincent came home, we played with Hanzo a little bit more, then went to grab something to eat and then to Petco-"where-the-pets-go" and go Elliott some fruity bird food and Hanzo some dog food. Have to pick up Miss Kitty's cat litter and cat food at Walmart, it is cheaper there. She eats the Iams and Walmart sells it. Walmart does not sell Elliott and Hanzo's food. Believe me, if they did that is exactly where their food would come from also! The only thing I didn't get to was stopping in to see Mom. I am actually going to do that tomorrow, might even come for lunch Mom! Going to the lake Sunday to "break-in" a new motor that Vincent had to put in a Sea-Doo for a customer who is wary about doing it himself. So Vincent gets paid to do it for him! Saturday is set aside for Mom. We have not been able to get our normal Saturday Kona Mocha Cafechillo from Atlanta Bread Company since her surgery. I did take her one but it is not the same!

Well, guess I had better get off here and go get ready for bed for another day of working...

A good day!

This is Hanzo letting it all hang out. He is just about too big for this kennel and it is the medium. We were getting ready to head to bed Sunday night when Vincent called me into the living room to see this! He usually does not stay still long enough to get any good pictures of him, but he never moved as we were walking in the living room and getting the camera ready.

It has been a pretty good day today. Feel a little better every day. No mood swings today, spirits stayed up for the day, no hot flashes as of right now!

Had to rush home today to get the dog out before the storm came. I was going to stop by Mom's to see her, but I was afraid the rain would come before I got home to get him out and he loves the water so he would have been a mess when I brought him back in. We made just in time!

Elliott our bird is setting here watching me type and making little soft chirping noises. For what I don't know. He is hanging on my shirt trying to bite off the screenprint! Well, gotta run for now. My clothes that were in the dryer are ready to fold so I need to get it done before they wrinkle!

Monday, Monday

Why are Mondays sooo long.....it seems like it takes forever for the work day to end and I leave at 3:30 everyday. I have posted some more pics from the lake. Proof that Allyssa wears here life vest at all times when we are at the lake unless we are at the campsite and not near the water, which we were this time. We were in walking distance to the sea-doo but we were not directly on the beachy part. Here she has a handful of sand/dirt/mud from the bottom of the lake. What is it about kids and mud and they have to throw it too. Had to call her down a couple of times for the throwing thing. Then there is the picture of her "feeding her face" with a Krispy Kreme doughnut. She had just finished it. That child loves sweets. The last 2 pics are Allyssa's picture taking. Just a picture of the fan that our host had going to keep her "cool" I am still laughing about that. But there were several campsites that had fans going.....go figure that one! Of course, I enjoy a fan blowing on me at all times, if I get chilled, I just cover up with something! And then we have the infamous picture of Allyssa's foot. I know it is her foot because of that little freckle she has on it and has had since birth! Sooooo cute!!!!! I love it when she gets the camera because it is so cute to see just what she sees through her beautiful eyes and takes pictures of!!!!!

Dakota is too young to take her with us right now. Because she cannot stay on the sea-doo too much and we stay on it pretty much all day, except of course, to eat and rest a little bit. If Allyssa had her way she would be on it the ENTIRE time we were there. Forget about eating, throw her a doughnut as she circles in close to the water's edge and she will be fine! Natasha cannot ride because she is pregnant so they don't go. They have been asked several times as well as Nicholas and they never want to go so they are missing out! Allyssa probably would not share her riding time anyway!

This menopause thing is kicking my tail. I was talking to someone today about it and she has already been through it (lasted 5 years). Oh my gosh, I will be crazy by then. I am feeling terrific one minute, ready to lash out at someone the next, still yet want to cry the next minute, exhausted the next minute, (have I gotten to 60 minutes yet?), feel like a fat cow the next minute, feel like a size 7 the next (of course, that feeling don't last long!). Suspicious of things, sounds like I am going crazy don't it! I sleep but don't really remember sleeping, I feel like I am going through the everyday motions and not really knowing I have been there. I am hot sometimes and then all of a sudden I am cold. I really miss my Mommy! I love you Mom! She is recovering from surgery. Doing great, just takes time. She is a little stir crazy right now not being able to drive. The hot flashes are not around too much right now, it might be the estrogen patch. What am I talking about, it probably is the patch helping me with that.

My sweet hubby just brought me in some chocolate ice cream.....yummy. I don't really need it though, I need to get serious about loosing weight, of course, we will talk about that later. Right now this ice cream is hitting the spot! LOL

Hello dear sister if you are reading this. Miss talking to you!

Well guess I will go for now, later..............

Happy Grandparent's Day (and Great-Grandparents)

Happy Grandparents Day!!!!!! This day always gets overlooked by our family, mainly I guess because us adult children don't have any grandparents living on our side of the family and there hasn't been in a very long time. So it was never instilled in Natasha and Nicholas. The rest of the grandkids have grandparents on the other sides of the family so don't ask me what happen there!!!!! I will have to admit that it sneeks up on me and I am a grandparent, but I feel bad for my parents who are great-grandparents to my grandchildren. So I am apologizing to them for that.

These two little girls are so happy nearly all the time. They both have there moments though. The picture of Allyssa upside down is what she does best. I think if she could walk on her hands all the time she would. This was the playground at the campsite where some friends of our were camping and we were invited down. She also loves, loves our sea-doo. There is another picture just like this one of Vincent, Allyssa and the son of another couple who was there, but I downloaded the wrong one. Allyssa is in the middle as usually when there are 3 people riding since this is a 3-seater jet-ski. If there are only 2, Allyssa has to sit in the front, just for my well-being!!!!

It was a very relaxing day but we did not get home until late, late, late. So we did not make it to church.

We still have had not rain in a couple of weeks and it is needed sssooooooo bad. At least the temp has come down a little bit in the 90's i think now. Our little bit of Fall weather is just around the corner, I just know it!

I don't have anything to log on my response to the estrogen patch I was prescribed by my physician. I am suppose to be noticing a better sense of well-being (feeling better, maybe a little bit not quite sure), sounds stupid doesn't it! Sleeping better at night, kinda of hard to know I guess when I am on Ambien CR to sleep anyway, I would probably say NOT. Since the past 3 nights I have ended up on the couch, could it be that I need to assurance of the ceiling fan running as HIGH as I can get it. Hot flashes not quite so bad as of yet. Can't really say about yesterday since we were in the water all day so I don't think that counts! I have to go back to the doctor in four weeks for a bone density test and to "talk" about how I am feeling! Of how I long for the 20-30's when you did not really have to worry about mammograms, bone density tests, hot flashes, menopause.........why, why is it that we have to go through all of this? I know that when I get to heaven and see Eve I might just slap her a couple of times and then I might ask God why (although I know we are not suppose to be questioning the almighty!) by he had to put the whole burden on us, he could at least let the men have a little glimpse into our lives to see exactly what we have to go through!!!!!! I am laughing right now, but I can see the humor on God's face saying, "Nancy, Nancy, Nancy....it is not my fault Eve didn't listen to Me!" Of course, Adam should have to take some of the blame, I mean he TOOK the apple she offered him, he didn't have to do that!, Right? Oh my goodness, I need to get off of here, I am getting way too deep!!!!!!!

Have a good day!

Cool morning...

I headed outside this morning and was welcomed by a cool, crisp morning air. It was such a delight to be able to actual breathe "fresh air" and not feel like you were in a tunnel trying to catch a breath! I am not sure what the actual temp reached today but it was not nearly has hot as a couple of weeks ago.

Fall is just around the corner, but the way the seasons have blended into each other, it might pass us by before we know it. And I hate that. Spring and Fall are my favorite times of the year and it does not seem like we have much of either one anymore.

Allyssa and Dakota are doing great. Allyssa made a 100 on her spelling test last Friday, woo-hoo. Dakota is being a typical "nearly-two-year-old". Spoiled rotten but has some of the funniest faces and antics. She is talking up a storm now, of course her words are not being pronounced the correct way but we all know what she is saying.

Not much going on here. Mom is recovering very nicely from her surgery. Sounding like her ole self. She is a trooper and will spring back before we know it. Of course, the limit of no more than 5 lbs. for 6 weeks is going to be hard for her.

Natasha is doing fine with the pregnancy. Moving along quite nicely. Had a little pain today, but the doctor said that it was probably the way the baby is laying so low to prop her feet up and to take a warm bath! Helloooooo, how is she to do that she she is at work?!!!!!!!

Nick has almost moved everything from one apartment to another. Moving is such a drag, it is the little stuff you hate to deal with.

I haven't done any scrapping for nearly 2 months now. Just cannot find that creative bug. I want to, but when I get the chance the "want-to" is gone. Head to the gynecologist tomorrow for my yearly checkup which I think has run into 2 years.....put it off as long as I can....hate it, hate it!

Well, guess I had better go. Got a new Creating Keepsakes mag., maybe that will get me going again......

It's been a while...

I cannot believe it has been nearly a month since my last post. There has been a lot going on around here and then by the time I get a minute to get to the computer, I am not in the mood...August 16 was Allyssa's back to school night. Her first day of school was August 20. She was all excited about going back to school, first grade. She had all new books so she had to look through all of them before we could move on to something else. There was only one other classmate from her K-5 class in this class with her. And they were sitting facing each other. Her teacher changes the seating arrangements every 2-3 weeks to get everybody accustomed to each other. I cannot believe she is in 1st grade now. Dakota is enjoying riding Allyssa's tricycle. Of course, she cannot figure out pushing the pedals. I was pushing her around.

The weather has "cooled" down a bit to the 80's. We have had some rain but not enough to make up the deficit that we have. Grass gets cut about every 2 weeks since it has not been growing.

Hanzo is nearly the size of a full grown dog at only 6 months. I don't have a recent picture showing how big he actually is, will try to get one.

Natasha, Randy and the girls have moved back to Travelers Rest which is a good thing. I think Allyssa is actually getting to school ON TIME now. Bless her heart. Gateway Elementary where Allyssa goes has been attended by Natasha, Nick, and my sister's 2 children Asheton and Zachary plus Deborah has been working there since Zach started elementary school (I think) and he is now a junior in high school. So the teachers that are still there and haven't retired remember all of us and take care of Allyssa. It is like she has all these angels watching over her while she is at school. Which makes me feel very good. They are like family. When we went to back to school night, Natasha, the girls and I were standing in line so Natasha could get the car tags that has a number they call out when you pick your child up. When we got to the table Marcy Bunch and her husband were giving the tags out and they were telling us how Allyssa would come in late last year and tell them, "it is my mom's fault that i am late"! because Allyssa hardly every got there on time!!! They are get a kick out of Allyssa coming in there with her silly antics. She is such a sweetie.

I am still working beside demon seed at work, but it is getting to were I don't really realize she is there until she gets in the mood to start talking loud trying to tell everybody how to do there job and no she is not the supervisor. I just do my job and leave at 3:30 p.m. Our work has been slow but suppose to be picking up now.

Mom had to have surgery this past wednesday, the 29th. She had 2 hernias removed and needless to say she has been pretty sore. She stayed overnight in the hospital and then came home on Thursday around 3:30. She is doing better daily but cannot pick up anything over 5 lbs. for SIX WEEKS. Do you know how hard that is going to be for her? She and I are just alike and neither one of us like to have to depend on someone else to do something for us. Why are we like that...you know women have a lot on them now days.

Natasha and her pregnancy is moving right along. Due date is still December 25. She had an ultrasound and this one is a girl also. 3 girls what a delight! You can dress little girls up so pretty and dainty. Although Natasha don't take too much time dressing them up too girly!

Well, I have blabbed long enough, tried to catch up on somethings but I am sure I have forgotten somethings.

Later...................

100 degrees??????

I cannot believe that it has hit 100 degrees here in SC, that is until I walk out in the mess and realize that it is hard to actually breathe! We need some rain SO BAD. These isolated thunderstorms, which by the way, I have not seen in days and days, are just not getting it. Mom left this morning for Medical Lake Washington with 2 of her brothers and their wives. They will meet up with one of their sisters to go and visit the sister that actually lives in Washington. Then she and her brothers and sister-in-laws are going to go to CANADA. I am sooooo happy for her. She has never been to Canada and this may be the only chance she actually gets to go. I so hope that she has a good time, although I am already missing her. She is not only my mom, but my best friend too and it is like something is missing when she is gone. I actually had a "free" day today from the granddaugthers....and boy did I need it. Natasha, Randy and the girls are moving within the week to a house in Travelers Rest, next week is the last week of summer vacation for Allyssa, she starts back to school on the 20th. Back to school night is Monday the 13th, I think. Well, guess I had better get going. Hanzo needs to go outside and I need to get my shower and get ready for bed.

Where has 2007 gone?

I cannot believe that in 5 months it will be Christmas again. Where in the world as the first part of 2007 gone? The older I get the faster it goes....We took Hanzo in for a bath today after we took him and Miss Kitty for their rabies shots and I also got Miss Kitty the Feline 6 in 1 shot to cover the feline distemper and all that other junk they can get. Good thing about it that when you take them to these little pet express set-ups the shots are not nearly as expensive as they are when you go to the vet. This is a "not-so-good" picture of our tree from 2006. Vincent and I had lunch with Mom at Atlanta Bread Company, then he has some errands to run so I went to Haywood Mall with Mom, tried on a couple pair of jeans, I am the worst critic especially when I am looking in the mirror at myself, so needless to say, I put both pair back on the shelf. Then we went to the Borders Express book store. I love books, but have not been reading much b/c I have had my nose in scrapbook magazines, which by the way, are all beginning to look the same.....Mom said today that we need to start reading again...I agree. Then we went to Belks, I went to the perfume counter, found some cologne I am going get Burberry I think it was. My mind just went totally blank. But anyway, it smelled so good. Is smelled a word or should I have used smelt, it that a word? See what happens when you have been out of school since 1981, omg, I cannot believe it has been that long.....anyhoo, I guess I had better go. Gotta put a load of clothes in the dryer!

Not doing to good...

Well, as you can see, I have not been too good at posting every day. I have had a bout with anxiety attacks since last Tuesday and now am on medication for that too. I think this year has been the year for all my problems....it has to get better. When I feel like really doing something creative, I am at work or not at home, when I finally get to a point where I can do something, I am not in the creative spirit any longer. Just one thing after another.
School is getting ready to start here on the 20th. Between me and vincent and my mom, we have picked up all of allyssa's back-to-school supplies except the book bag, which we feel that Natasha should at least buy, right!!!!! Speaking of b-t-s supplies, I cannot believe all the stuff that these kids have to take to school. Of course, half of it is to cover for the people who "can't afford it OR do not bother to send anything" for their children. Plus the school district does not supply alot of the stuff we used, which was not much from what I remember. That yellowish coloring paper and big crayons is the only thing I can remember right off that the school provided. We took our own paper, pencils, notebook and folders. Bookbags were not even heard of then I don't think. Of course, I am not THAT OLD! 47 is all...... The weather is dreadfully hot, little rain lately here, some areas get alot but that is isolated and scattered thunderstorms for ya, you never know when or where they are going to erupt.
Mom is getting ready for her trip with 2 of her siblings and their wives to Washington State. They are going to go into Canada first though. And then meet another sibling who will already be at the sibling's house they are going to see, does that make sense or did I loose you entirely? I am so happy for Mom that she gets to make this trip for one, she has never been to the east coast and for another that she gets to go to Canada. I am so hoping she has a great time and enjoys every minute of it!
Well, the girls are doing great now. Dakota can say "I 'tuck" for I stuck. She got stuck in a chair the other day, she can also say "dat" for what's that. She is so cute and talking up a storm now. Allyssa is growing up too fast every time I see her she looks like she has matured a little bit more. She has two teeth on the bottom that are loose so she is waiting for them to come out. What a silly girl!
Well, gotta go for now.

These girls make my day. Their laughter is contagious. Allyssa is showing me, in the first pic, her blowing a bubble with her gum, woo-hoo. Dakota is trying to hide from me and giggling like crazy in the next photo and the next two are of my baby girls almost relaxing! Sometimes they are the only ones who bring me out of my blues which here lately have been daily. Between hot weather, bills, a satan co-worker, and just plain out being tired, tired, tired, I can't get a break. By the time I get home from work, I don't feel like doing anything or going anywhere. I usually get them on Wednesdays and Fridays after I get off of work. Friday is one of Natasha's late nights so it is usually 7:15 before she gets here to pick them up, and let me tell you I am really worn out by then! But then when they are gone, I miss them like crazy. We have not really have any rain to amount to anything in a week or so. We have had little sprinkles every now and then, but that is all.

I am proud to announce that Miss Kitty is 110% better. The local Animal Shelter announced last week that there had been an outbreak of feline distemper running rapidly through Greenville County and another nearby county. Miss Kitty is not an outdoor cat, but occassionally we let her out for about 30 minutes to "get a breath of fresh air". Well, that one time we let her out, she got sick. I thought she might have been biten by some other animal, (snake, oppossum) but then when I found out the symptoms of the distemper, she had all of them. Of course, she had it 3 weeks before they announced it, hmmmmmmm????!!!!!! Why did the vet not suspect it? Don't know, but she is so much better and back to her old self. I thought we were going to loose her for a while. Of course, she is happier too b/c I switched her food from Friskies (could it have been the food?) back to her Iams with hairball control. She loves that food!

Hanzo is 4 1/2 months old now, growing like a week, ALL PUPPY. We have a kiddy pool in his kennel so when he goes out for the afternoon, (after I get home) he can cool off. He also have a 3 gal. galvanized bucket for his drinking water that I refresh every day. He sits there and "digs at the water" in the bucket until there is no more DRINKING WATER. We are trying to train him not to do that, if he empties the bucket there is no more drinking water. Does he care, apparently not, b/c he still does it. Crazy dog! He stays in his inside kennel during the day when we are at work and at night. I put him out in the morning in his 10x10 kennel until Vincent gets ready to leave for work, then his brings him in. Pretty lucky dog actually, he stays in the house with the air conditioning!

Well, guess I had better go for now, will try to post again tomorrow and get back into a more consistent pattern again. It is just so hard when you are tired!!!!!!!