Merry Christmas!!!

Partridge in a Pear Tree




Did you know this?







There is one Christmas Carol that has always baffled me. What in the world do leaping lords, French hens, swimming swans, and especially the partridge who won't come out of the pear tree have to do with Christmas? Today, I found out.



From 1558 until 1829, Roman Catholics in England were not permitted to practice their faith openly. Someone during that era wrote this carol as a catechism song for young Catholics. It has two levels of meaning: the surface meaning plus a hidden meaning known only to members of their church. Each element in the carol has a code word for a religious reality which the children could remember. - The partridge in a pear tree was Jesus Christ.



-Two turtle doves were the Old and New Testaments.



-Three French hens stood for faith, hope and love.



-The four calling birds were the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John.



-The five golden rings recalled the Torah or Law, the first five books of the Old Testament.



-The six geese a-laying stood for the six days of creation.



-Seven swans a-swimming represented the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit--Prophesy, Serving, Teaching, Exhortation, Contribution, Leadership, and Mercy.



-The eight maids a-milking were the eight beatitudes.



-Nine ladies dancing were the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit--Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self Control.



-The ten lords a-leaping were the ten commandments.



-The eleven pipers piping stood for the eleven faithful disciples.



-The twelve drummers drumming symbolized the twelve points of belief in the Apostles' Creed.



So there is your history for today. This knowledge was shared with me and I found it interesting and enlightening and now I know how that strange song became a Christmas Carol...so pass it on if you wish."



Merry (Twelve Days of) Christmas Everyone.....

oh where is she?.....

I do not know why this picture is so big, nor do I know how to correct it. I am not too familiar with Photobucket. :)

I am here and I am well. Thanks to all that took the time to inquire and check on me. Things have been busy and just moving right on around here.
I flat missed posting Caroline dressed for Halloween and then came Thanksgiving and a blessed day that was. Our oldest son and his family did not make it in, but they will be here for Christmas.

Jerrell's mom is getting so much worse, I don't even know what to say. The doctor did tell Jerrell last week that she did have Alzheimer's disease and soon she will have to come stay with us. She has always been such an independant person that she just refuses to come right now. She does not want to impose on us and says she wants to go to a nursing home which makes no sense at all to me.

Stephanie, David and Caroline spent the week of Thanksgiving at Disney World. On Saturday before they left on Monday, they came by to see us. It was our first time meeting David and he is all that I expected him to be. A wonderful young man and just as nice as can be. Very, very tall and slim. We were so pleased to have him in our home and get to meet Caroline's dad. They are a precious, happy family. I am inserting one picture of them at Disney World. Caroline is growing sooooo much.

Here are my girls at Disney World...



I have not, nor will I be able to blog as often as I would like. I can only do that or stop the blog entirely and I really do not want to do that. I do still read all my regular blogs and miss blogging, but my health and other things have taken me away from blogging and until things change-- a post here and there will have to suffice.

I am looking forward to having our oldest son and family home for Christmas since it has been two years since they have been here for Christmas. At other times, just not for Christmas.

Again, thanks those that emailed or commented as to my well being. I appreciate you all.


God Bless!

i am ready...

From what I am hearing, Caroline is really enjoying the tricycle. She has the neighborhood all amazed at how well she is riding it at her young age. She also has learned to steer it, much to the delight of Steph and David. I could tell from the day she first got on it and rode short distances, that she would master it well and soon!

Here is a little video of her in action! :):)

I missed them yesterday by about 15 minutes. Steph was running late and didn't email and her phone wasn't working so I really didn't know they were coming, so I took Roxy with me to pick up some medicine and when we got home there was a note stuck in the door. I sure hate I missed seeing them, but they will be back soon. Steph said Caroline was saying "see Roxy", lol, she does love Roxy.

I do have some more pictures that I will post later. I have been on the phone with Mrs. Bunting who insist that she DID start her car yesterday, but couldn't get it to back out of her garage. If you tell her that the car will not start, she firmly believes she did start it, so I just let it go at that. We are learning to agree with her as it is a losing battle to convince her once she sets her mind on something. She is going to church tonight and it is good for her to still be able to go to church, cause that has always been a very big part of her life.

Gotta make this short, I have to scramble around and find something to cook for supper. Oh what will it be? Hope you all are having a great day!



God Bless!

tuesday...

I just came in from walking Roxy and happened to notice the car in the garage and had to just chuckle. I thought of the comment that Janet left on my last post suggesting that maybe I back my car in the garage. I cringe to think of what damage I most likely would make to the car and the garage, but Janet I appreciate the suggestion just the same. :)

My life is good, just nothing at all going on that is blog worthy. Pretty much the same, day in and day out. Our biggest attention giving is to Mrs. Bunting who is really taking a toll on Jerrell, but she just refuses to come live with us, as she does not "want to impose". It would actually be so much better for she and for us. Jerrell is running himself ragged, going down there and running her around. Also the worry of seeing his mom like she is, I can tell is really worrying and tiring him. I feel terrible for him to have to see his mom like this. We make it by- by laughing some of it off, but in reality none of it is truly funny. He is quite firm in saying he is not going to make his mother do something as long as she has mind enough to say no. I do not agree, but it is his mother and I am afraid something bad will happen before a move is made so please keep them in your prayers.

Stephanie called yesterday and she and Caroline plan to come over one day this week. It has been about two weeks since I have seen them, so I am having withdrawl. I am looking forward to my Grandma Claudia hug!

Our step granddaughter, Cynthia was playing in the yard with a friend on Sunday and according to our son, they had been playing basketball a bit rough earlier; so when they moved their play to the front yard they ran into each other and Cynthia broke her collarbone. She has her left arm in a sling and as the day went on her mom got mad at her because she cannot take her tennis lesson and cannot practice and play her piano. They now have two pianos, my goodness. They got a new one just a few years ago, but this is a Grand, whatever that is, have heard the term tho. Anyhow while I was talking on the phone with my son, he giggled and said he heard Cynthia playing her piano with one hand. I am quite sure that idea was her moms. :)

While in my blogging lull, I flat out missed posting on my youngest sons birthday on Sunday, but I had not taken an updated picture to post anyway, but I just let it slip my mind. He was home and we had a good meal and visit with him. Mrs. Bunting got him a Thank You card for his birthday which made it even more important to him and he also went by and visited her for a bit before heading back to Charlotte.

Although I have not blogged regularly, I am still reading you folks blogs. I might comment or I might not, I am a hit and miss type of person. Not that I don't always enjoy you alls post, I just enjoy reading and seeing what is going on in your lives. I enjoy all my blogging friends and I hope you all have a great day.

Thinking of a title for a post sometimes is hard for me, is it hard for ya'll?


God Bless!

back in service...

I wish I had made a before and after picture of this 36+ year- old tricycle that both of my sons rode when they were little tykes. It has been retired for a lifetime in our basement. Stephanie was looking for one for Caroline and wondered if by chance we had one. I thought we did, but since Jerrell was not here, I had to wait and ask him when he got home.

He said it is somewhere in the basement which means in our house, it is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Jerrell went straight to the basement and looked for over thirty minutes; so I asked him if he wanted me to come down with the flashlight and help him look- and he did. Our basement is made into three rooms and the middle room being the larger room. Not only is everything stored down there, Jerrell has wood, wood and more wood stacked for the wood stove in the winter.

I held on to the rail, went down the steps and we began our search anew. First we came across the hobby horse, then the porta crib, then the large crib and finally we eyed the tricycle, but getting to it was gonna be a big problem. Jerrell got together a game plan and he headed through little openings that I just knew his now slim body could never be able to get through, but believe it or not, he got to it, took off a roll of plastic wrap for packaging that was on top of it and dug out the tricycle. It had over 30 years of dust on it, but I had a mission, which turned into a happy project.

Early the next morning before it got hot, I took it outside and had my bucket of cleaning materials and I took the hose pipe and rinsed it off and the work began. With toothbrush in hand I cleaned the spokes good and gave it a good wash down. After it dried I was not happy with the rust on the handle bars, so late in the afternoon I started. I used first a screwdriver and the round of it rubbing on the rust took a lot off, but the two kinds of sand papers worked the best and I worked til I got the rust off the handlebars. I also took that tire stuff to blacken the tires and the paint job was excellent. It shined like it had been waxed.

I was not feeling well enough to make the trip to the park with Steph and Caroline on Tuesday as we had planned so they came here in the afternoon after their outting at the park. Oh my! was Caroline thrilled when her mom went in the house and came back out with the tricycle. She got on it and to mine and Steph's surprise, she pedaled that thing pretty good. I was shocked in fact.

Yes, I took pictures, but somehow the thingy got moved over to video and I had five videos that were so large I could not even send them. Therefore, I only have one picture of Caroline on the tricycle. However, Steph did take some of her in the house with Roxy. It was so much fun to see her riding that tricycle and left a joy in my heart and mind, that I will truly never forget. At one point, we were clapping for her and she just stops riding and stands up and starts clapping with us. I thought I would die with laughter when she did that and so did Steph.

So Tuesday was a great day for me. I think life is good and I have so very much to be thankful for and it just shows how love for one another can make all the difference in the world. I try to count my BIG blessings like the hours spent on Tuesday with Caroline and Steph and also the small blessings, like having to cook supper. I am thankful I have food to prepare a meal. I never want to get to an ungrateful for everything point in my life, because it would take all joy and happiness away.

Now I ain't saying that the road don't get rough at times in one way or another, cause it does. Course my latest crisis was of my own creation. Since I have had this SUV, which is larger than any vehicle I have ever owned, I hafta admit, cause I know the garage ain't got smaller. At any rate several months back as I was backing my car out, my passenger side mirror hit the side of the garage door and left some white paint on the mirror, but I didn't tell Jerrell cause it just looked like some bird doo doo unless you got up real close. Welp a couple weeks ago I was backing out and I saw I was too close on the passenger's side again, but being me, I just knew I could easer on out so I did and the mirror fell outta the arm. I was in a hurry so I got out and hurridley tried to pop it back in. I popped it all right, I broke off two thingys that hold the mirror in.... believe it or not, but the mirror itself did not break.

Later when Jerrell got home, I had no choice but suck up and tell him what happened and asked him to try to get the mirror back in. To make a long story short, the mirror is back in, but is worthless as I cannot move it with the power button or by hand. I finally broke down and called the dealer. The entire mirror, arm and all has to be replaced to a tune of $164 just for the mirror, no idea about the labor. So I go online, find one for $49.50 and after talking with our neighbor who is a Jack of all trades said for me to order the cheaper one and he would put it on. So I ordered the mirror, with power and puddle mirrors. Our neighbor Charlie is a truck driver and was leaving out on Wednesday morning, the same day the mirror was spose to get here by UPS and it did. He will put it on when he gets back in, which was a short run and will probably be this weekend. Also I might add, I was quite impressed with the service and the mirror was an exact duplicate of the factory mirror, even to the mirror images may appear smaller than they actually are or whatever it says. I will really hafta be real careful now, cause I dare not knock another mirror off. :)

I am late getting a post done I know and ice cream time is approaching so I am going to shut up for the night. I hope all you folks have a good evening and thanks to all that have visited and commented. I love all my blogging friends!!!!!


God Bless!

thank you...

I want to thank Janet for thinking of me and for giving me this award. I think getting a "Nice Matters" award is a stretch for me, it should be a "Blog Once In A While Matters" since I am so slack in doing that. However, the thought behind the award is very important to me. I do not feel I deserve it, but I do thank you Janet and I have some folks that I want to pass this on to.

I pass this on along to Grammie , Clara , Marci , ~Kristi , Livey , Sassy , k and Jan . There are so many more but I think I have my limit.


God Bless!

from the mountains to the sea and more...

I am sharing some of my many pictures. As Grandma Claudia I think I am a real, real grandmother and what a great feeling it is. I know I have not used my camera to take pictures like I probably should. As a matter of fact, just this past week when Caroline was here, I got my camera out and started to take a picture and she had stopped coloring and had moved on to something else and that moment that I wanted to catch was gone. I just cannot think fast enough!

Steph and David took Caroline to the mountains of NC and to Tweetsie Railroad in Blowing Rock, which is a highlight of the mountains for the children. I well remember taking our sons there when they were small. I got some pictures in an email from Steph this morning and also we have made plans for me to go with she and Caroline next week to Dan Nicholas Park and I am looking so forward to going. My sons both have been many times, but I have not been, so not only will I have something new to see, I will have a fun time watching Caroline see all the new things they have added and the old things too.Thank you Steph for asking me to go along!!

We are having cool temperatures here right now and I am just absolutely loving it. I talked to our son in Ohio last night and he said it was down right cold at nights there, but warm enough during the day. They are settling into their new home and are busy with hanging pictures, buying extra furniture due to the extra rooms than their prior home in Maryland. The basement has a built-in entertainment center with a big screen built in tv and surround sound so they have ordered some theater chairs, a small sofa and table to use there. The yard chairs I think are becoming a tad uncomfy. :) I am hoping to visit them next summer, no way am I going to Cleveland in the winter. We cannot go as a family because of Mrs. Bunting and Roxy. Since I love flying and Jerrell refuses to ever fly again, I am quite willing and excited about flying to Ohio next summer and spending some time with my oldest son, Silvia and our step granddaughter, Cynthia. Cynthia is so active in so many things, I will shoot for a week that she is not in a camp or something else. I was hoping she would really get into basketball as we are all big basketball fans, but her love is tennis, which ranks high for us too. She is getting private lessons from what I understand is a very good instructor, so with her given talent, I know she will do well.

Life is good. I am so thankful for all my many blessings and the top on my list is my family and friends. Without them and Roxy, my life would not be complete. I thank the Lord for all his goodness and mercies to me every day! I thank you all for being here and making my blogging all worthwhile. I hope you all have a great day!


God Bless!

good day folks...

Got lots of things on my mind today. I am winding down from a "gone by too fast" week. Must be my age, but I declare the weeks just seem to fly by for me. The week was a good one, expecially on Wednesday when I had the pleasure of a visit with Stephanie and Caroline. They had planned to come a different day, but Steph's mom was wanting her to come get her earlier if I remember correctly. At any rate when that car drives up Roxy starts a totally different bark and cry cause she knows it is CAROLINE and I just open the front door (without her leash) and she heads wide open right for Caroline. I never once worry about her going anywhere other than directly to Caroline and Steph.

After all the sugaring was over, we came in the house for a bit, but later since it is finally cooler here, we went outside so Caroline could lead Roxy. She loves to do that and she also now says Roxy instead of just Roc. She can also say Grandma Claudia pretty doggone good and will give me the crooked smile if I ask her to. I see such wonderful parenting skills in Steph, that I wish I had used when mine were Caroline's age. She and David have chosen to let her be independent and NOT have everything she wants and to be honest, when they are in a store, she looks but does not ask for anything. Of course Steph said she usually gets her something, usually a book as she loves loves books and then Caroline says 'pay' .. : ):) They just cannot come back soon enough is all I gotta say!!

I rarely give any thought to myself anymore, but I have been thinking how different I am now that I do not work and am not well. All in all I think I am a better person and have so much more patience. I am so unlike the norm that I might be odd or 'quare' as some folks say, but do I care? When I worked and for a couple years after I always and I mean always put on make up whether I was going anywhere or not. I certainly would never go out in public without it. You think I give a flying flip now. NO. As long as my legs are shaved in weather that bares my legs, why the bother to shave them since I only got a couple. I have a friend that says she doesn't shave hers so they will keep her stockings up on Sunday.

After saying all that I totally surprised myself by noticing a neighbor of mines makeup looking unusually nice when I ran upon her at the grocery store. She goes into this spill about these new beauty products she was now using. Yes. I was quite impressed so later that afternoon I go over for a beauty consulation. She brings out a basket full of goodies and explained the process and I got all excited, knowing full well that all I needed was my newly bought jar of Noxema! She kept on and I went straight the next day with each item listed in hand and bought the WHOLE nine yards! Of course for the first week, I did exactly like I was told and I still do on a hit and miss basis. BUT even at that with all the bottles of ingredients and the new makeup I honestly can tell a difference in the feel of my face and only in the looks when I muster up the energy to apply makeup and those times have been few and far between. I knew full well that it would be like most everything else I start, I never follow through on it, unless it means life or death. The moral of the story was that I was one broke woman, but pretty for a month. Uncle Sam pays me next week, thankyouUncleSam.

I hafta be honest I have given my life to nothing since April. I have watched this trial until finally it is in deliberations and I told Jerrell to smack my face IF I ever started watching another trial! Ever! I have it on the tv, on live stream on the pc and chatting in the court tv chat room, ALL at the same time. Making a situation worse, the trial is in California which is a three hour time difference so my trial day does not finish here on the east coast til 7 pm. Please tell me again that I need to get a life. My husband has forgotten me totally, as he is in the den watching tv and resting and only calls me when it is ice cream time! I enjoy our supper and ice cream time together cause that is just about the only time I have spent with him since April. I am not sure that he can handle the jolt of a verdict or not. I will let you know.

He has his mother to keep him busy. The State of NC finally pulled her license at the age of 91 due to her age and health. The biggest problem the first week, is that she cannot remember she ain't gottem, so she drove for 3 days until a watchful eye of a neighbor that Jerrell had alerted to call him if she saw her driving again called and said "she just went up the road" so Jerrell jumps in his truck so he could be there when she drove up. He hated to have to do it, but he disabled the car where it won't start. So we know she has already called Raleigh twice, like they gonna do sumpin, plus she has already forgot Jerrell made the car undrivable and although she has not said, we just know she has been to that garage a couple times trying. :) Sure we feel for her, but when she called me yesterday asking for someone's phone number and I give it to her, she turns right around and ask me whose number is that?, then I think NC did the right thing. She absolutely cannot remember nutin.

I see I have gotten carried away, but I am in such relief to be free from some worthless, time consuming stuffssssss that I feel I am about 5 months behind.

Have a great weekend ALL.


God Bless!

U S A ...

a nice day...

It was not quite as hot today and we even had a little breeze. I must be feeling better, I actually had the desire and actually went shopping this morning! For me, that is really good. That hasta be a sign of feeling better as I have not even wanted to go anywhere for such a long, long time and only went when I had to!

I always loved a good sale anyways and today Belk had a super good sale and I needed some bedrooms shoes in the worst of ways. I had gotten Jerrell to glue the soles back on my old ones day before yesterday and after he brought them to me, he told me to go buy me a pair and he would pay for them, so I did! lol.. I sure hated to let go of my old ones, but I let him have the honor of tossing them in the trash can after we finished supper just a little while ago.

I did buy two pocketbooks as I had been needing a larger one and they had them reduced so low that I got two pocketbooks and my bedroom shoes and saved a total of $69 so I am a happy camper.

I honestly do not know what to think of Mrs. Bunting. Jerrell mailed her license to Raleigh on Tuesday as the DMV had pulled them due to her age and her mind. She did well on Wednesday which was her first day of not driving, but yesterday when Jerrell went down there, she had told him she went to pick up her medicine. Her mind is so bad, she had forgotten she no longer has license. Jerrell won't take her keys, but told her if she did it again, he would take the battery outta the car. I can not imagine how much longer she should even be staying by herself.

We had a good supper, what I call a good ole southern type meal. We had some black eyed peas that I cooked, not in no can :) and I had some cabbage and a cake of cornbread cooked in my freshly treated iron fryer. I treated two of them today because when things start to sticking, I can't like that so I hafta treat them. I think things fried in iron fryers are just so much better than a teflon pan. Fried okra is hard to beat cooked that way. I got all the dishes all done and thought I would come in here and rest a bit and post to my blog.

I know Grammie is having a good time bout now visiting with her now one year old grandson, Owen. He sure is a pretty little fellow and you can tell that Grammie is really proud of him. I hope she gets plenty of hugs and kisses. I will miss her blog, but she will make up for it when she gets back and hopefully will have lots of pictures of Owen. I hope to see Caroline soon, they may have a beach trip planned for next week, so if the do, next week will certainly be out. She is growing so fast and I can see changes in her every time I see her. She is my joy for sure.

Welp gotta get a few things done, I hope you all have a great evening!


God Bless!

just in case...

That I have any readers to see this post, I feel like I must post something as I have received many emails inquiring as to "if I am ok?". I have not been for several months, especially the summer months and rather than blog and complain, I chose to not blog. Also with real life we have been busy with Mrs. Bunting. She is no longer able to drive and of course that creates someone to have to get to her places that she feels she must go on a regular basis.

Also with the heat I have tried NOT to be out anymore than necessary. I thank the good Lord for the fact that finally my feet are no longer swollen and I can actually walk without being in pain with just bending my ankles. Of course since the medication was the culprit, when I stopped the med, then my blood pressure shot up too high. Trying different meds and going every week to get a BP check, the doctor finally got a combo of meds that as of yesterday gave me a great BP reading and I truly thank the Lord for all his mercies and blessing to me during this trying time .

I really think when the heat breaks that I will be back to a similance of my old self. I can say I already feel much, much better but have gotten behind in my household duties though light ones they are, they still must be done. Jerrell helps out so much with the mopping and the vacuuming that I honestly do not know at this point just how I would do without him.

I thank you all that have emailed me and you all know who you are and Malinda hon, I realize the year date is nearing and you and Todd will certainly be in my thoughts and my prayers. Your email today made me realize I did need to get something on this blog or delete it. My mind is not always in blog mode although my heart is still in full force, so I have no excuses except for sickness and real life has really overpowered me the last few months. I want this blog to be fun and I realize from my counter that I am losing readers, but that is not what is important to me; not the number of readers but the friends I can depend on that still come and I have nothing here. I am not trying to built up a fan base by any means. I cherish ALL the friends that I have made from this blog. I am not a writer by any means and only want to blog to help me release thoughts and events and mainly let folks know what goes on around here with my friends and family. At the same time I do not want to bore folks, so I have got to get back to the idea that I started with, sharing myself and my small life with you folks.

Stephanie did call me today and I got to talk to Caroline, she calls me Grandma Claudia, but it comes out in sound as Genda Taudie. She also told me 'Love you' and nothing can sound any sweeter than an almost 19 month old darling little girl making me smile with pride.

Please pray for us as we are facing in the near future the fact that Jerrell's mom will not be able to stay alone. She does not want to come here as she feels that to be an inconvenience, which it certainly is not, she wants to go to a nursing home, so we are just praying that she will come on up here willingly when that times comes as that is what we want and feel will be the best for her in all respects.

Thank you all for coming by and I do hope things are going to improve daily and I will be able to put something on here for you folks to read. I hope those of you who have had temperatures will soon get some relief and those in the drought areas will soon get some rain. We have had a bit and we will get some cooler temperatures next week. It wouldn't bother me a bit if it got so cool, I would hafta get outta jacket. God Bless you All and I do hope you all have a great evening.


God Bless!

hello...

I do my posting in my email and I just went to see when I had posted last. Seems like it has been a while.
A lot has been going on, but nothing important enough to tell about.

I just got back from the doctor's office to see how my blood pressure was doing since I have been off one of my blood pressure meds for a week. It was a tad high, but not enough to be concerned about. I will go back again next week and have it checked again.

Stephanie called me yesterday and they had just gotten back Monday from Charleston (Isle of Palms beach) and she also sent me some pictures that were made on their trip and I have added them today. Caroline had not been to the beach since June and this time she was not afraid of the ocean. She would walk out into the water until it knocked her down and then she knew she had gone far enough :) She does love the water.

Hopefully I will be seeing them this week. I can tell in the pictures that Caroline has grown in the three weeks since I have seen her. I must tell you folks that Grandma Claudia LOVES Caroline's little crooked smile in some of her pictures. Those are the times I wanna just squeeze the puddin outta her. She is my joy!




I also want to thank Connie for sending me this Moobear and especially for her husband, Jim, for taking the time to make these names and for mailing it to me. I put it on the tv for the picture, looks pretty good there, so most likely will leave it there. Also Connie is sick with a virus at this time, so folks please remember her in your prayers. Connie is truly a blessing to me. Thanks so much Connie!




I hope you all have a great day!


God Bless!

many thanks...

I sure do appreciate the kind comments and the emails. I can say that I am much better today. My heart doctor took me off one of my meds that was thought to be causing the swelling and today is the first day that I can see any noticeable difference. Jerrell went with me to the grocery store as he took today off and it was the first day in a good while that I could walk without my feet hurting me so bad to bend them. I am very much encouraged in that respect, but am a bit concerned that I am now only on one blood pressure med and I have never ever just been on one since I was found to have it in 1977 at the age of 33.

I will go to the doctor next week for a blood pressure check and check on the swelling and we will go from there. I could certainly attribute it to the heat if they had not been swollen for so long. It hit 109° yesterday, but is suppose to be only in the 90's over the weekend so that will be really nice.

I do not know what the temperture is in Cleveland, Ohio this weekend, but I hope it is not hot since my son and family will be moving into their new home tomorrow. I wish there was some way that I could help with the move, but that is just not to be. However, his father in law is there to help with the move and that makes us feel better. I am just hoping that Jerrell and I both will be able to make the trip to Ohio next summer to visit them. I wish Jerrell would fly, but he won't. As for me, I love flying, however have not flown since 911 so I know there is a bit of a hassle involved as opposed to pre 911. It would be such an easy trip on us if he would just fly.

I personally have little hope for the trapped miners and just heard of another mine cave in in Indiana that took three lives. I know many thoughts and prayers have been sent up for the miners and their families.

Oh, bout forgot ... on the pictures, I first chose the first picture, but ended up telling Stephanie that I wanted the second one, the crooked grin that I love!
Stephanie said none of that one was left so she went and had me one printed out and I will also get a 5 x7 of the one of ther sitting with her feetssss sticking out from under her dress, so needless to say Moobear is thrilled beyond words, so the middle picture is the one that I actually picked first!!!

All of you folks are do dear to me and as I mentioned the comments mean so much to me. Nancy, I appreciate your comment and stopping by. You are so right about Livey and k, they such precious folks that love to do for others and I am so proud to have them as my friends right along with all my other blogging friends. I feel like all of you are family, tho it is a blogging family, we still are here for one another and stick together to encourage if neccessary and to help in any way we possibly can. Love you all! Hope you all have a great weekend!


God Bless!

today...

This post is totally spontanous. I have no idea what I am going to say other than what I am feeling right now and that is not good. I called my heart doctor's office yesterday and he was booked, the PA that I see was off yesterday so I was told she would call me today. So here I am waiting on what is to me a very important call. With no help from my internal doctor last week other than doubling my fluid pill to 80 mg a day I am only swelling worse and also having daily angina attacks.

Getting very near the end of my rope emotionally, I decided to give my heart doctor a try. It is amazing how little doctors care about their patients even if you relate to the receptionist the immediate concern of what is going on with my body. It all falls on deaf ears.

As I get to thinking about it, it has gotten to the point in life that I can really depend on no one, but the good Lord. I know I must take charge of whatever needs to be done and do the best I can with or without any help or cooperation. It is very depressing to say the least when you feel quite alone in this real world and depend only on the good Lord to help me maintain what little sanity I have left.

The only highlight in my life lately is hearing from Stephanie and seeing Caroline. Stephanie called yesterday just to see how I was doing. She or no one else knows how much that call meant to me. She also said that Caroline had finally got Grandma and Claudia together and as I was on the phone with her, I heard her say it. Granted it was not perfect, but I could tell exactly what she said and it just made my heart jump with joy. Stephanie also told me that she had three pictures of Caroline she was going to send that they had made of her for her 18th month picture and wanted me to pick out which of the three I wanted a 5 x 7 in. The grandma in me of course wanted them all, but I settled on one of the pictures. I am going to post the three pictures and if any of you think you know which one Moobear chose, drop me a comment and lemme see how many gets it right. Caroline was a bit outta sorts and did not like the BIG black camera coming toward her, so she was a bit reluctant to be all smiles. :)


I do love her dress in these pictures!









I will let you folks know which picture I did pick! Hope you all have a good day!


God Bless!

when it rains...

LOL, the picture is too big, but I am gonna leave it like it is. :)

I find this Thomas Kinkade picture very relaxing. I believe when it rains, it pours and I also believe it rains on the just and the unjust. I am not versed in art, but when I was visiting with Steph and Caroline, Stephanie had a beautiful Thomas Kinkade painting over their mantel and a smaller one in another room. As I looked at this picture, I got to thinking about how things happen to folks that are not always in our eyes fair or just, but how we react to them is of utmost importance. Which gets back to the rain on the just and unjust.

What makes folks want to be hurtful to others and in general be rude, ugly people, I never will understand their reasoning. Are they bitter in their own personal life and just take joy in hurting others? The internet can be a cruel place especially on message boards or in chatrooms. Either way, they are miserable folks and will in the end have no true friends. I have a tremendous problem with folks like that and I prefer at my stage in life to stay away from those people as they could possibly drag you down to their level. So I have learned a life lesson in such a short period of time. Folks that you think are friends, see me as only a screename. I am glad that I see behind each name a person who has a real life and real feelings.

I need to thank Livey from NorthWood's Woman for helping me with some things on my blog. I kept having a problem signing in and once I got in and posted, I could not get it to publish. Livey was willing to help me. I gave her my screename and password and come to find out, I had put my title in my link line!! Oh yeah, I did it! Not only did she correct that and tell me what she had done, she also fixed my header as only half of Claudia's Place was showing. I am so thankful for her help and all the many kind emails we have exchanged. She is a special lady and dealing with many health problems herself. I thank you Livey for helping out a dummie like me!

I also want to mention her blogger friend, k, from ksquest for all the emails and good advice that she has given to me. She traveled quite a distance to visit with her blogging friend and she is not a healthy lady either. I admire both of these women immensely, as they do not allow their serious health problems to interfer with them enjoying life to their fullest. They get more done in a day than some healthy folks do. I am glad to have them both as friends. :) They are having a great time together and it just goes to show that true friendships can be made and last a life time via the internet. I still miss my friend in California that passed away a few months ago. I cannot make myself delete her from my mailing list, but I must let go and move on.

I think having a blog is the best way to make good, true and fun friends. I treasure all my blogging friends and sure do appreciate you understanding my hit and miss posting. I have an appointment soon, so will close for today. I hope you all have a wonderful day!


God Bless!

I Miss Her

It has been over a week since I spent the day with Caroline and having spent pretty much the entire day with her, I am now beginning to miss her so much.

Stephanie is now into golf and biking. She got a new mountain bike for her birthday and she and her husband ride vigorously, even competition style :).
It brings back many memories of playing tennis and basketball with her and how competitively she was then and it has not waned.

I have had some repercussions from the fall, it has just taken a while to hit I guess. I always land on my right side as that is the side with the numb leg and always land on my right hip which is already a mass of fractures, so I am assuming I just created more fractures, hence the increase in pain.

I do have a doctor's appointment today, but I want more than anything for him to do something about my left foot swelling so big. It really hurts to bend, touch or walk. If I know my doctor, he will only double my fluid pill. I do not think that will make it better as the one pill is not doing very much.

I will post some pictures below made this past weekend. Caroline loves to go to the park while they bike and also to the golf course. No doubt she will be athletic as her mom and dad.

This is my girls on the golf course!




This is Caroline with her dad and her Pop Pop.



I am running late, but I did want to get something on my blog. May you all have a great day!

God Bless!

i have been tagged...

I have been tagged by Connie to do a meme telling 8 things about myself. I must apologize to Connie for being so late in getting this done. Sorry Connie!

RULES BEFORE DOING THE ME ME ME


01. Post rules before giving the facts


02. Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves


03. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.

04. At the end of the your blog you need to tag eight people and list their names. Leave them a comment on their blog, telling them they have been tagged and not to forget to read your blog.
******
01. As required, I took and passed swimming in college and for the final exam we had to swim the length of the pool. The pool was Olympic size with lanes. I passed the test, those that didn't got pulled out with a long pole they poked down to you to pull you out with . Although passing swimming, til this day I CANNOT dog paddle and as hard as I try I go right to the bottom. I just never could get the hang of that.

02. Amongst my family members, most all are college graduates. I went to two different colleges, but I never liked it, well the learning part. I was the black sheep of the family, BUT I did win the Spelling Bee in the 8th grade.

03. Since I am a tad over 6 feet tall, when my mother died and I moved to Albemarle I was quite shy and entering the 9th grade; my junior high school gym teacher took an interest in me and basketball. She encouraged me to try out for the varsity team at the high school. We were bused up there for tryouts. I made the team and actually by my senior year I made All State and was honored to get to play in the East-West Allstar game. After 45 years also, I still hold the school record for the most points scored in one ballgame.

04. I did not get my license at 16 as most all my friends did. I waited until I was working in Charlotte. At the age of 23 I took a '63 straight drive Rambler of a co-worker of which I had never driven before and went and got my license on a Friday. I caught the bus as usual on Friday afternoon to come home for the weekend and on Saturday morning I bought my first car and I have been driving ever since. btw I thought I was hot stuff!

05. Even for my height I was a good size woman in the year 1987 and my best friend and neighbor at the time had cancer. I devoted an entire year of my life to her and missed many meals, and lost 40 pounds that year. I kept that weight off until about two years ago when I dropped to 119 due to colitis and when it went into remission, I ate every sweet known to man I think and I am weighing in at an uncomfortable 170. I maintained 145 for almost 20 years until the sugar got me.

06. I was an extremely shy person until I got into my 40's. It was a miserable feeling, yet I could not seem to do anything about it.The most embarrasing moment I can remember and how scared I was. I was about 12 years old and had been raised in a Baptist church. It was night time and mama was in the hospital and a preacher was taking us somewhere and he asked me if I was a "staunch" Baptist. I literally was nervoused to death. I was so shy I never ever spoke, first -cause I was shy and second at that age.I had no idea what staunch meant. Til this day, I still don't think he shoulda asked a shy 12 year old youngun that question. Finally I came to a point that I really just did not care what people thought as I was who I was and I had nothing to lose and I found out I lost nothing but I gained a lot.

07. I was a tomboy as a young girl and it didn't bother me at all to beat the boys in races, hopscotch, basketball and they always wanted me on their team. I felt best when I won both pockets full of marbles. I liked the cateyes! I was good and every boy in my little town knew it. I didn't have rough knuckles for nothing.

08. I was not always perfect, nor am I now. Not that I was a bad person either, but in 1977 I made the biggest decision of my life, I was a sinner, saved by grace on a October Sunday night at a revival. Sure I have failed many times, but I still have my strong belief in the Lord and try harder each day to please him. I am no better than anyone else, I am just at peace with myself, others and most important, the Lord.

Here is the list of eight that I am tagging. I want you to know that you do not need to feel obligated to do this me me me. If you do, be sure and let me know so I can come read yours.

1. Clara from TN
2. Grammie
3. Ordinary Janet
4. Jana
5. ~Kristi
6. Sassy Sistah
7. Barbara from Ramblings from an English Garden
8. k from ksquest


It has been fun! Have a wonderful day!


God Bless!

yesterday was wonderful...

I had mentioned to you folks that I was going to go and spend the day with Stephanie and Caroline sometime soon,so yesterday morning I felt pretty good; getting two good nights sleep in a row with me really does make a difference! So we had talked about either Monday or Wednesday since I had appointments on other days and Steph was busy all the other days too. I picked up the phone and called Steph and it was a good day for me to mosey over there and so I did!

I got to her house about 10:00 and left right around 4:00. I can truly say that was the most fun I have had in many, many years! To be around Caroline in her home, I got to see just how smart and how well behaved that precious girl is. Also, Steph and I got to do a lot of talking and looked at pictures and of course we ALL got in the pool! They have a beautiful home and I just made myself at home as I am just very comfortable with Steph and she with me. Stephanie had just had 24 folks over on Sunday, yet she was willing and able to take on Moo for the day. I will post some pictures and a video at the end of my post today.

Steph ordered pizzas for lunch and they took a long time to get there, but finally they arrived so I went into the house to get my meds as it was time for me to take them. The dork that I am- had thought of something to ask Steph when I went back out the door to the patio there at the pool and had my mind on that instead of watching where I was walking. It has a rounded little area outside the door and ONE step. Of course Moo forgot the step and there the fall began. I started my fall and went the entire length of the patio, taking out if I remember correctly one chair, one cooler, cleared out two dogs, one of Caroline's tables and landed in David's big, nice, covered grill which was up against the brick wall. I remember trying three different times to get control, but didn't do no good. Steph said if the wall had not been there I woulda ended up in the neighbor's yard. Yep, I hurt, I had a knot on each shin, which Steph put ice on and already some visible bruises, just not as bad as today. I am flat out surprised that I did not break a bone.

Both the dogs were there, so me being on the concrete laying there, they thought I wanted to play, so they were licking me and I was trying to get my wits, Steph was in a panic and precious little Caroline was crying. That was the very worst part, that it scared her. Before leaving I went back out to gather up my stuff and bless Pat if I didn't stump my foot on that step up and fell up the same step I had fallen down. I didn't have far to go and just flopped right into the brick wall. That one I admit did jerk my back and my back is still sore today, but overall for all I have to hurt I came out pretty good!

These are just random pictures so I won't need to tell ya what each one is. :)













I will have to explain this video a bit. Stephanie loves to read Grammie's Blog because of little Owen and she likes to keep up with Owen and see how he is growing and she enjoys Grammie's blog as well, so therefore this video is kinda for Grammie. :) Also Steph knows that this will be in my blog. By the way, there is a float under that whale. I bout never figured out how to maneuver that float and bout flipped a couple times when I first got my big self on it. You will need to have your volume up a bit to hear it all. At least I had too.. lol




I hope you all have a great day!

God Bless!

totally worth sharing...

A friend sent this to me and it is something I have not seen before, so I wanted to share it with you folks.

It Was Only a Quarter
Several years ago, a preacher from out-of-state accepted a call to a church in Houston , Texas .
Some weeks after he arrived, he had an occasion to ride the bus from his home to the downtown area.
When he sat down, he discovered that the driver had accidentally given him a quarter too much change.
As he considered what to do, he thought to himself, "You'd better give the quarter back. It would be wrong to keep it."
Then he thought, "Oh, forget it, it's only a quarter.
Who would worry about this little amount?
Anyway, the bus company gets too much fare; they will never miss it.
Accept it as a 'gift from God' and keep quiet."

When his stop came, he paused momentarily at the door, then he handed the quarter to the driver and said,
"Here, you gave me too much change."
The driver, with a smile, replied, "Aren't you the new preacher in town?
I have been thinking a lot lately about going somewhere to worship.
I just wanted to see what you would do if I gave you too much change.
I'll see you at church on Sunday."

When the preacher stepped off of the bus, he literally grabbed the nearest light pole, held on, and said,
"Oh God, I almost sold your Son for a quarter."
Our lives are the only Bible some people will ever read.
This is a really scary example of how much people watch us as Christians and will put us to the test!
Always be on guard and remember that you carry the name of Christ on your shoulders when you call yourself "Christian."

Watch your thoughts; they become words.
Watch your words; they become actions.
Watch your actions; they become habits.
Watch your habits; they become character.
Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.

The Will of God will never take you to where the Grace of God will not PROTECT you...

Stay FAITHFUL and Be GRATEFUL

COPIED

God Bless!

a much better week...

I have had a wonderful week so far. Last week I was nauseated all week from wearing the contraption called a partial in my mouth. Finally after lunch on Saturday I said no more and removed it until I went back to the dentist on Monday. He removed one piece of the bubble gum from the roof of my mouth, trimmed down some other places and it made all the difference in the world. I think when I go back to see him Tuesday I will just flat out hug him!

Before going to the dentist on Monday, I had a morning visit from Stephanie and Caroline. We as always had a wonderful time. Caroline is talking lots more but cannot say C's too good, so my name Claudia comes out as taudia which is just fine with me. We had a real good visit and when Stephanie was putting her into her seat in the car to leave, Caroline started crying cause she didn't want to leave. I hated to see her cry, but my heart was happy to know she enjoyed being here that much and didn't want to leave.

We have made plans for me to go over and spend a day with them soon. I told Steph that I wanted to get in the pool if I can still get in that Big Mama bathing suit that I still have. I think the water would be so relaxing and make all my achy bones feel so much better, plus I can play with Caroline in the water. I am wondering if they make Big Mama wings cause I can swim, but I just cannot dog paddle so I do not plan on going to the deep end unless I am hanging onto the edge.Also I bet it has been 20 years since I have been in any water, so Jerrell wants it on video. :) Steph I am sure will be sure to oblige him. lol

I normally do not vaccuum but do mop the kitchen and the bathroom. So yesterday Roxy had an appointment at the groomers so I gotta wild hair to mop and vacuum cause Roxy does not like either one so I thought I'd take advantage of her being gone. All went well and as I usually do, I went gingerly back down to the basement to use the sink down there to empty my mop water and wash my mop out. Jerrell always shaves down there and has a hanging mirror there at the sinks. I leaned in to squeeze the mop and my head came up and hit the wooden frame with the mirror in it; out came the mirror and it hit on my right arm. It was 1/4" mirror and fortunately it had polished edges or it woulda cut my arm bad. It immediately made a knot on my head and a huge bruise on my arm, but ya know my arm hurt lots more than my head. That outta tell you sumpin right there. :) I am truly an accident waiting to happen and that is why Jerrell does not want me going to the basement in the first place. But my intentions sure were good.

Our oldest son and his wife that live in Ohio have finally found a house that they like and have bought a home.I am gonna post a picture of the front and the rear of the house. The inside is really, really pretty. I think I like the rear of the house the best. It has a nice deck and I think that will be where Moobear will be found most of the time.I know they will enjoy it and hopefully we can make a trip to Ohio in the near future.

This is the front of the house...



and....this is the rear of the house...




My son's wife is a pathologist and she has taken an MD job on staff at a hospital which is a long drive from where they presently live and she hasta live within a 30 minute drive so this will put them about half way between each of their work. She starts her new job on August 1. She has taken a month off to be at home with Cynthia and run her here and there as she is in lots of summer activities. We hope to be able to make the trip to Ohio and see their new home.

I bout run outta news so I will hush for today. Hope all you folks have a great and blessed day.


God Bless!

still trying...

If this works, this is Caroline "swimming" in her pool with her cousins. :)

here today...

I have missed blogging, but I have had a lot going on in real life and I still am really, but I am going to try to take a break from the routine and check in with you folks.

I do appreciate those that have visited and commented lately. I feel like I have let myself down for neglecting to blog as often as I wanted to when I started this blog, but the truth is, real life does require a lot of my time right now. Also given the days that I just do not feel well- leaves few days to blog.

I have had a really tough week trying to wear this partial. I stay nauseated, but after I eat, I get really sick on my tummy. I go back to the dentist on Monday and see if it can be tweaked or something. I am a right side chewer but I find it feels more natural on the left side with the one tooth. The right side has two teeth and I think my bottom teeth are hitting the top two teeth as well as the gum part so I think it needs to me a bit thinner like the left side. I am sure there is something they can do to help me.

Mrs. Bunting is neither better or is she is any worse. Jerrell has really gotten onto her because she wears what he calls her "uniform" which consist of a long sleeved white blouse (has two just alike) and her black pants ( has three pairs she says) and a wool sweater vest. YES in the hot summer. SOOOO a couple different days that he went down there, she had on a pink blouse one day without that vest and another colored blouse without that vest another day. Her sister told us that she used to know this old lady that wanted to wear the same thing every day, hence the "uniform" that Jerrell calls it might just be common for old folks with dementia.

We are blessed that she is not worse, but no plans have been made because she has in her old age gotten very stubborn, which in normal times, she was never that way. Therefore, when she is made to stop driving or made to come up here, she will be very mad and upset with Jerrell and that is the main reason he keeps putting off the inevitable. I just pray that nothing happens to cause her to hurt herself or someone else til Jerrell finally makes the decision and follows through with it.

Our neighbor, Pearlie, brought us the prettiest mess of freshly picked green beans and some corn this morning. I am really looking forward to cooking them as we love both in the summer when it is fresh out of the garden. She had even strung them and there were lots of shellies in them, which makes them even better. We have been getting a gracious plenty of tomatoes off Jerrell's vines and even a tomato sandwich taste awful good. I also love to slicem up with fresh cucumbers and onions and have them along with a meal.

I know you folks understand my lack of blogging, but I do want to blog more often so I will make a special effort to get something on here whether it is very newsworthy or not. I am just not talented enough to write anything other than something that is happening in my life at the moment. I would hate to lose the wonderful readers that I have. :)

today at Moos...

About all I got to share with you folks is some more pictures. Nothing exciting is really going on here and for us right now, that is good.

I did get my partial yesterday and since my son had a orchestra concert to go to on Sunday night, he didn't call us til last night. Having much difficulty getting used to this being in my mouth, not only have I been nauseous, but my speech ain't too good. It feels like I got two pieces of chewed up Bazooka Bubble Gum stuck on the roof of my mouth. Kev said last night that it is good that he calls on Sunday nights since he knows now that I am drunk on Monday nights. lol... He laughed, Jerrell laughed and I got the giggles, but we still managed to talk our usual hour. I am thinking it is gonna take a long time for me to get used to this.

A neighbor of Mrs. Bunting gave us some squash which Jerrell does not like, but I love them fried, but thought I might like a casserole so all I did was google 'easy squash casserole' and the very first one that came up- I used, cause I had all the ingredients. That is the best way for me. It is just now out of the oven and I am gonna try it for my lunch today. I generally eat things for lunch that Jerrell does not like since he is at work. I love pizza so I have that often. I even like cucumber and onion sandwiches. If you soak them in vinegar for a bit, not too long, so they will still be crispy and put them on mayonaised bread, that makes a pretty good sandwich.

OK, now for some pictures:







I like this one of Caroline, cause I have no idea what she is doing :)




























This is Stephanie's mom, Alice, at her 70th birthday party just a few weeks ago.




























This is Caroline with her mom and Dad. David is a tall fellow. He has a 37" inseam, so he got long legs!!






























I hope you all have a good day and try to stay cool as best as you can. I think it is hot in most places. Even in Ohio, it was 90 yesterday, so those that are not used to the heat seem to be getting it too.


God Bless!

Happy Birthday America...

Moobear wishes you all a wonderful and a safe day.

Click on Moobear and enjoy! Thanks to Brother Michael.












God Bless!

for the record... :)

Many of you good folks have been reading my blog for as long as I have been blogging. That is not the case for some of my newer readers. Just for the sake of keeping the record straight, lol, as much as I love Caroline and Stephanie, they are neither any blood kin to me. Many of you good folks nice comments led me to post this to my blog. :) Thank you for them too!

I might add though that Stephanie is like a daughter to me in so many ways. I love her dearly!
I consider her the daughter that I never had. She and my youngest son Jeff, were married for over 6 years, so Stephanie is a former daughter in law. Stephanie has since remarried and she and her husband, David, had Caroline. God blessed me with having a good relationship with Stephanie during her marriage to my son and has remained the same since the divorce. Therefore, Stephanie remained in my life even before Caroline came along. Once Caroline was on the way, Stephanie began with sending me pictures of the ultra sounds via email and since Caroline's birth, she has wanted Caroline to be a part of my life and Jerrells as well and nothing could or does make me any happier.

To many that may sound odd, but fortunately there are no hard feelings in anyway on either sides of the families. Sure that is unusual to some, but it is the way it is and I think it is the right way, the way the Lord would have it be. Neither her husband nor my son have any problems with Moobear; therefore all is well.

Speaking of Moobear I finally found out last night just when and how my two sons and now many others call me Moo, Moobear and Moobearski. I had the pleasure of going to Chicago back in 1985 for the Thanksgiving season to visit with a head honcho out of the home office for the company that I worked for which was located in Cincinnati, Ohio. Ann, the lady sent down here to teach me on the computer happened to live in the Chicago area and we hit it off the entire week that she was here, we had a ball and continued to keep in touch after she went back, so she invited me up for Thanksgiving to visit with she and another employee in a district office in Portage, Indiana.

Both my sons at that time were still at home and both were real big Chicago Bears fans and after returning home I had a car accident which later involved my first back surgery. I was not able to walk well and I kinda shuffled along. Kevin told me last night that Moo to him meant Mama, but actually it was Jeff my youngest that began saying when I walked that I was doing the Moobear shuffle as the Chicago Bears had done some sorta shuffle the year before when they won the Super Bowl in 1984. So for the past 21 years I have been called either Moobear or Moo, but actually I had forgotten how I had obtained the name until I asked Kevin last night when he called. lol, I was glad to know myself cause after all these years I had flat forgotten. I never get an email from either son that does not start with Hello Moo. Nor do they call me mama or mother when home, always MOO.

As a matter of fact Kevin had ordered a Sharper Image deskclock for Mrs. Bunting which has the date and the DAY on it, thinking it might help her keep up with what day it is, as she never knows. All she will have to do is place it on her table beside her recliner where she always sits, glance over and see what day it is. When the UPS info was forwarded to me yesterday Kevin had it sent to me by UPS. Along with my correct name and address, there was also a place for receivers name and UPS had Moo in blue typed in there. I sorta chuckled as I thought it was cute, but to Kevin I am Moo so he had no second thoughts as to who was to receive it. :)

Therefore folks,I have let you in on some news that you might already know or did not know at all. I am just thankful that Moobear is here and thankful that Stephanie and David care enough about me to share Caroline and all her love with me. I also hope to be Kev and Jeff's MOO for a few more years, the good Lord willing!

I hope you all have a safe and Happy 4th. Stay safe, have fun and love one another!


God Bless!

sweet Caroline...

The younguns spend the week at the beach and I wanted to post some pictures. Above of course is Steph and Caroline. They had a real good time and when they got home Steph bought Caroline a little kitchen set with the sink, stove, mircowave, etc. and she said Caroline was beside herself, she was so excited. When Steph called her down from the playroom, she tried to bring it with her, but it was too heavy :) I would have given anything to have seen that child's eyes when she got it . :)

Caroline is taking a little break under the unbrella. She is so tanned but Steph keeps enough whatever you call it on her to keep her from blistering! She looks like she is too pooped to poop!

Moobear loves her little outfit too.

This is a picture of the 'kool dudes' in their sunglasses. "Like father, like daughter". Not exactly like the saying goes tho. Can you tell he is just a bit proud of his little daughter here? I can!

This is the happy, precious little girl that she always is. She loves everything and everyone. Her love shines right here. I wish I could squeeze her this very minute!!! Hey Caroline, Grandma Claudia loves you and talk mommy into coming to the hood this week ! That's my girl!

This is proud dad, David, with his precious one, Caroline. I imagine David is explaining just what the ocean is in great detail in story form and Caroline is absorbing every word dada is saying, as they both look into the beyond. They are inserting teaching in everyday life with explaining things as they happen or objects that attract Caroline's attention. Wonderful parents they are!

This looks like Caroline is beaming in on something with her something, that Moobear has no idea what it is, but intends to ask when I see them, which, (cross my fingers) might be this week. Stephanie likes to come to come to the "hood" as she calls it as often as she can as her mom and dad live here. Although her mom and dad and sisters were all at the beach for her mom's 70th birthday last week, Steph still likes to drive over and check on them often. Happy Birthday Alice! God Bless you and may you have many, many more!

Along with happiness sometimes there too is sadness. Jerrell's mom had a really bad day yesterday. I got a call from the doctor's office where she goes and they said she had made numerous calls to the pharmacy that she gets her medicine; telling them she was dizzy and needed to see the doctor. After so many calls the pharmacy became concerned and called her doctor and then a nurse called me telling me to get in touch with Jerrell at work and have him come ASAP to the doctor's office. The doctor's office had called her after the pharmacy called then and told her to come up there, but in no uncertain terms, she was NOT to drive. As I was on the phone with the nurse, she walked in and yes, she had driven to the office. A little later, they called to see if Jerrell was coming. I told them he has enroute and that it takes him almost 30 minutes to get there.

In the meantime, my nerves were shot, as I had offered to go up there and they already had her sister enroute, I called my neighbor, Pearlie, just to have someone to talk to. Later she called me back and said we needed to go down there because someone would have to drive Mrs. Bunting's car back home, so off we go to the doctor's office.

The doctor tried his best to convince Mrs. Bunting to go ahead to Jerrells and stay and she flat out told him NO, she was staying at home. He told her that not all old folks had people that loved them enough to want to care for them and should she fall and break a hip that she would go to a nursing home. After repeated tries she was determined to stay at home, so the doctor put her on two weeks probabtion, under the conditions that she not drive for two weeks and also told her that the dizziness went with the age.. I think not, but what do I know. After two weeks he told her that Jerrell will then have to decide what is to be done. She said firmly that she would do her very best to do everything right for the next two weeks, she promised. LOL, like she can make her mind get better. It is truly sad, but honest to goodness it can be funny at times. Please all my praying readers, we ALL need prayers at this time. I just pray nothing happens to her or someone else until some finality occurs with this sad situation.

Ok, enough of you good folks time. May you have a good and a blessed day!

God Bless!

PS Please lemme know, do you all have problems with paragraphs? I have them there and once I publish, the suckers are gone. Any suggestions if you all have the same problem. No need to ask Blogger for help. Been there, done that.

have a little laugh...

Just for you folks.

Moobear does not do windows

guess what....

As behind as I am I made it here today and have very little to report on. Jerrell's mom is continually getting a little better. She is not as dizzy or as nauseous as she had been, but still complains of being weak. We know that is true as she has not been out of the house all week and has not been to her hairdresser for three weeks, which is just unheard of with her.

She says she does not want to burden us and prefers to go to a rest home, so that is all still up in the air and certainly between she and Jerrell. I would rather she be here, but her wishes surpass mine as they should.

We had a chatter in our chatroom to have her little 12 year old daughter to go missing yesterday. We all were certainly concerend and many of us prayed and had her name put on prayer chains. The police had been with her most all of the night and about an hour or so ago, she came into the chat and her daughter was found and was unharmed. I took a sigh of relief. We just hear so many bad stories that when one turns out good, we are truly thankful and blessed.

I am just in awe with the 24/7 space shuttle live footage and I have enjoyed watching them hook up with the International Space Station and exchange a crew member to return her to Planet Earth. If any of you folks want to watch the landing which was postponed yesterday due to rain and heavy cloud coverage in Florida, it is on go again for Florida today with an alternate landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California. Of course this is all subject to change. I pray the Space Shuttle landing will be a safe one, as we all remember the Columbia in 2003 on re-entry. Let's all pray for a safe landing for our astronauts . It is due to land at 3:18 Central Time and 2:18 Eastern Time. They are saying now it is raining there and will come back to the astronauts with a decision on whether to land at Kennedy Space Center or not.

Although I have not weighed Roxy recently, I can still tell that she has lost even more weight. I can stand and hold her now and not feel like my back is breaking. She is actually getting used to us eating and her not. She also seems to like her dog food a lots better than she used to. :)

I hope you all have a good weekend and I hope for those that are in need of rain, that you soon will get some.


God Bless!

a hot day is coming...

I am here and pretty much down to the hubs. Hope you all had a good Father's Day. We had a good day, had our youngest son, Jeff , home and got to talk with our oldest son. Jerrell had a restful day and that is really what he needs lately.

I had to post my most recent picture of Caroline, she has grown in just the last few weeks since I have seen her. This is Caroline and her little friend who found her daddies poker chips. They are going to be at the beach this week, so I expect her to be even tanner than she is now. She and Steph spend a lot of time working in the yard and also in their pool. Steph always liked to swim so I am sure that had a lot to play in them deciding to have a pool put in.

Jerrell's mom is very dizzy now. She called him at work on Friday morning early so he got off work to take her to the doctor and when they got there, they found he is closed until the 25th. She has some medicine she has taken before for this problem so she is taking that until she can get to the doctor. She has really kept us hopping for the last couple weeks. We are more and more thinking seriously our options as to what should be done and when it should be done. Whatever Jerrell decides, we do know that his mom will not agree to, so that is always in the back of our minds. Sometimes in life, we get tween a rock and a hard place and that is exactly where we are now.

I can already see it taking a toll on Jerrell and myself. He is worrying too much and I guess I am to cause the angina. I think once he makes a decision, he will feel better or at least I am hoping he will. She does not realize what worries she is causing nor would she ever want that if she remotely realized what she was doing.

It is suppose to be 94 here today, so I am pretty much prepared to stay inside in the a/c. I hope you all are getting enough rain where you are. We have finally got enough to tide us over for a while. We had a bad electrical storm the other night and Roxy is terrified of storms, unlike our other dogs, so I had to get up and stay up with her until the storm was over. Wow, what we do for our pets, but she is totally worth missing sleep over.

Have a good day folks. I will make this one short, I got some things I have to get done. Until...


God Bless!

roxy has lost five lbs...

It has been so hard but we have stuck with the diet for Roxy for over three weeks, so I decided I would weigh her this morning as the curosity was just about to kill the cat? So I put my big self onto the scales, noted the weight (with a gasp) and then went over and picked up Roxy and I held her on the scales and I was just plain delighted! We have noticed her having more energy and doing more running around through the house like she used to. We still would like for her to lose maybe two more pounds which she will probably do real soon. It has been so hard on us and her, but overall we think it will be best for her and we are quite surprised that we are indeed sticking to it as hard as it gets at times.

I do wonder what goes through her little mind when she is so accustomed to her little bowl of rice and stewbeef or her pintos like she used to have and no longer has anything. I do not dwell on it while we are eating or I will cry and there is no need for me and Roxy crying cause she will sorta whine at us begging for some of the good stuff. So my advice to anyone is to never start something that is so hard and hurtful to stop. She does not go hungry, usually either in the early morning or late evening, she will attack her dog food bowls and have a chow down and eats it like it is good anyways. She will not eat the dog food when it is first set out. We use dry food, but she wants it to harden so it crunches, which I find strange cause it is kinda crunchy to begin with, but she won't touch it til it set out and dries out some.

We had a good day after all with Jerrell's mom yesterday. Jerrell went down there after supper to check on her and she did not mention the refrigerator. We are just hoping she will forget about it and hope she does not jump onto something else.

Last night was quiet around here, our cable went out around 3:30 which meant we had no television or computer to use. At first it upset me, but then after a while I got to thinking it was a good thing. I did things that I would never have done with the tv and computer in service. So what times I was not literally twindling my thumbs, I cleaned out my computer table drawer and organized some cds and did some general pc house cleaning. I also piddled around the house and saw some things that needed attention that I had totally missed and neglected before. Jerrell and I also had time to talk, which is a good thing, we have so little time for that anymore or maybe I should say we do not take the time. I didn't realize he shaved every night in the basement. There is a double sink and mirror down there as it was used as a living area by the prior owners many years ago now. I thought he shaved in the bathroom some, so after he told me he shaved in the basement all the time; see I learned something I didn't know.

I also found that I can do some reading which I rarely do, but only small things, nothing in depth and I did a little of that. Right after the second call from a neighbor asking if our cable had come back on, right around 9 p.m. the cable was back on. That is usually about my shutdown time, so I came and checked my email and shut it down for the night, so maybe it was a good thing indeed.

I am thinking about doing one of those Did You Know post like Connie did on her blog. You list 9 things about yourself and one of them is false. The trick is to try and guess which of the nine things is the FALSE one. I found it to be so much fun that I really don't think she would mind if I borrowed her idea. :) Of course I picked the wrong one, lol, but it sure was fun seeing which one all the other folks picked.

Ok, I am through, I have run outta noise so I will hush for now. Have a wonderful blessed day.

God Bless!

PS--I cannot like Blogger NOT letting me do my paragraphs, when they are plainly there! OK, I vented. Bye