Wednesday, March 28, 2007

oh what a happy day...








Due to a boo boo on part, many of my pictures are not on my blog as they first appeared. Long story. :)



Our Afternoon with Caroline



Oh YES, Stephanie and Caroline came by to visit us yesterday afternoon. Jerrell and I were just thrilled to have them spend some time with us. Caroline loves to be outside since she is now walking and we got to see her in action! She of course immediately started looking around for Roxy, as Jerrell had taken Roxy on a walk when they first got here. Once Roxy got here, she wanted to spend some time with Roxy and of course give and get sugar! She also had other things she needed to check out. How handy that walking has become for her! She walks so fast! The grandmother in me was so afraid that she would fall and get hurt.

As you see here I am taking me a sit down break and watching Caroline cause she don't watch the speed limit all the time! She always seemed to land on her little bottom most of the time, but the few times she did fall on the pavement she did not skin her little knees. I guess they are much tougher than I had remembered them being.



Caroline of course had to have her a break and just sit down once in a while too. But when she would sit down, it was just the right time for Roxy to get him some more sugar. I can say it was indeed a happy day yesterday and as I always say, I am already looking forward to them coming back. She is 13 months old and can say a large number of words for her age. She had on some little yellow sunglasses when they got here and which they also left and Jerrell could not catch Steph before she pulled onto the highway to leave. It made my day complete! I came on in the house and washed up the dishes I had not gotten washed and relished the evening knowing I am truly blessed.

I would be amiss if I did not thank Connie for the help in getting these pictures on here. For some reason I just could not figure it out. Thanks so much my friend!

I hope you all have a great day. I also hope your weather is as nice as it is here. Truly spring is here and I love to be outside! God is good!




God Bless!






Tuesday, March 27, 2007

a little laff...

A LOVE STORY
Thanks~M~


An 80 year old woman was arrested for shop lifting. When she went before the judge in Cincinnati , he asked her, "What did you steal?" She replied, "A can of peaches." The judge then asked her why she had stolen the can of peaches and she replied that she was hungry. The judge then asked her how many peaches were in the can. She replied 6. The judge then said, "I will give you 6 days in jail then."Before the judge could actually pronounce the punishment, the woman's husband spoke up and asked the judge if he could say something. The judge said, "What is it?"
The husband said, "She also stole a can of peas."

Monday, March 26, 2007

hectic round here...

I just never seize to amaze myself. Granted I ain't got the best memory in the world, but I best get my act together. I found myself waking up at 4:45 this morning with another angina attack and as you folks know, I have only had two since I started on this new medicine after my heart cath.

Now since I do not function when I first get up, I was still in a stupor when I started taking my morning meds and I noticed my angina pills were not there because I set them in a different place so I will be sure to see them to take at 2 p.m. as I am sposed to take two at 8 a.m. and 2 @ 2. Welp, then I knew why I had the attack, cause I missed my afternoon pills yesterday. It made me feel better for a second, but at the same time it was scary to know that I was so dependant on those pills to ward off those terrible angina attacks. It really, really do make me think.

Well for the good news. Our oldest son Kev and his family will be in- a week from tomorrow. They will fly into Charlotte on Tuesday around noon, get a rental car and drove the 45 miles to here. They will be here until Thursday morning and then drive down to Myrtle Beach, SC and fly out of Myrtle Beach back to Ohio on Sunday.

Of course we are looking forward to spending some time with them. It will be exactly a year since we have seen our daughter in law and grandaughter. Kev was in by himself in the fall of last year. Unless we can make some unknown quick changes, they will be staying nearby at a motel. That way it will be much easier really on them and on us. Cynthia of course wants to stay with us, which is great! Of course she will sleep with me as she usually does, but I mentioned to Kev about Roxy sleeping with me and would that be a problem with Cynthia? LOL, he said no, actually that is why she wants to stay here so she can sleep with Roxy. Now ain't that sweet? I am looking forward to it, but my cooking will have to be limited as they are aware I am not what I used to be healthwise or otherwise.

Kev also mentioned he would be bringing the camera and Cynthia could show me how to use the camera and he would show me how to get the pictures from the camera to my computer. I may even take some of them while they are here so I'll have some to post for you good folks.

Welp, we had a murder here in this little town. It is bad in more ways than one. Jerrell's mom is all in a tizzy as the murder happened in the house directly across the street from her. She lives and has lived on a dead end street since Jerrell was in the 8th grade. She and a couple more elderly folks are all that are left of the originals when they moved there. The street is narrow with sidewalks and until recent years, on any given day as many as 9 or 10 younguns would be playing or riding their bicyles up and down the street or sidewalks.

Now, mostly middle age to younger folks live in the houses. Eddie and Kristi had lived across the street for 10 years and according to the police, she was killed either Wednesday night or Thursday evening. She did not report to work either Thursday or Friday. She just recently had gotten promoted to assistant manager at one of the local chain clothing stores here in Albemarle.
News14 camera crew were filming on Sunday morning and of course police cars have been going and coming and I can see why Mrs. Bunting is all upset over it. According to the police, Kristi who was 40 years old was beaten to death with a barstool. Eddie, 36 has not been located at this time. This morning when Jerrell called home, he said a former neighbor of Mrs. Bunting who works with Jerrell said he had seen Eddie Thursday afternoon with his mother at a convenience store and that Eddie was acting odd and had blood on his shirt. Of course Donnie reported this to the police. Apparently he went to his mothers immediately and possibly now with some relatives in Louisana. Of course this would upset anyone whether you knew them or not, but I just hope Eddie will turn himself in and face his punishment. Please pray for this entire family.

Do any of you folks belong to Classmates.com? I just be doggone if I am going to pay $2.95 to be able to email some of my old classmates. Bless Pat, a girl I know was added and the site let me take the time to email her and then wanted me to sign up for $2.95 to send it! Oh no, not gonna happen. Not me. I would be curious to know if some of you folks are members and is it worth a dime to join? I guess I could ask my brother since he is foolish enough to join most anything, but never think about it when I talk with him. Oh well...

K, I am outta here, I gotta get something started for supper to go along with my leftovers from Sunday lunch. Ain't quite as hot today here. Got to 88 yesterday and I had to break out my shorts. Not today...


God Bless!

Friday, March 23, 2007

just a thought...

Today is such a beautiful day here. It is already 80 degrees if not more. It was so warm that I have opened some windows and letting the fresh air in and the musty air out. I cannot think of a nicer day that one could have.

I went on early to the grocery store and got that out of the way. There were very few folks shopping that early so I just whizzed through and thought I had gotten a modest amount until I got to the register. It is unreal how much you can spend on things that are not edible, but I have learned to just go with the flow, as if I could do anything about it anyways.

I got lots of things I need to do around the house and days like this inspires me to give an extra effort. I just went through and dusted and thought I must get something on my blog. The court room is dark today, so I have no excuse to keep me from doing things since court will not resume until Monday. I have watched trials, lawyers, journalist talk to the point that I am so thankful neither of my sons chose to become a lawyer. It would be really hard to swallow, but I didn't so I don't have to worry about that.

Roxy has done well with her little head and it has completely healed and just as flat as it should be. She doesn't even mind having her head rubbed now. I gotta admit I was very concerned about it being a malignant cyst, but the vet assured me it was a normal cyst and I worried no more.

Although I have not been posting much lately, I am still reading my regular blogs and notice most everyone else is a bit slack as well. I think real life often takes most of our time and we just have to do the best that we can. Also for the bloggers that work and have jobs, I have to really admire them for being so faithful to let us hear from them when they can. I firmly believe age and health affects ones effectiveness with blogging. Speaking for myself, I can see how much I have gone down in the last year. So much in fact, that Jerrell and I are praying that his mom can make it on her own until next February when he will fully retire because I cannot physically or mentally handle her alone. She will be 91 a week from Monday. This is a big concern for us, but so far our needs have been met and we trust that it will all work out.

I am gonna go enjoy this warmth and sunshine and I hope all of you folks have a great weekend!


God Bless!

Friday, March 16, 2007

a first for me..... and Caroline!




Today has been a wonderful day with a little panic thrown in too! I got an email from Stephanie this morning and she said that Caroline was walking really good now and most important is that she loves basketball. Yay!! She takes that after her mom and I could not be more delighted. Steph says when the little 10 year old neighbor is outside playing basketball, that Caroline wants to get out and play with her. The pictures here are new and shows Caroline all dressed up. Actually her first birthday, just a bit late in getting the pictures. In the picture to the right she is *winking* so her mom says, not acting "spastic". :) I was thrilled to get them and of course wanted to share them with you folks.

I have been so busy today and had to get out in the heavy rains that we are having here. Also the temperature is much much cooler. I did wait until the rain let up a bit and went to the grocery store. I wanted to hurry in and out as I had something else I was in a hurry to do. Since it was raining I had my umbrella up and rather than unlock the rear door on my SUV I used the key thingy locker and all of a sudden the horn on my SUV started blowing. Now to be downright honest here, this is the second car that I have owned that had the burglary device or whatever you call it on it and my last car, my BMW, which I miss so much, had an alarm on it, but all the 6 years that I had it, not once did the alarm go off. So when I got this SUV it had one too and I had often wondered what am I suppose to do if it should go off and pondered it a few minutes and never thought of it again.

Welp as I clicked to unlock the rear door the horn started blowing and my personal inside alarm in my brain panicked plus the closer I got to it, the more people were looking. My first reaction was to blow the horn thinking that might stop it; shucks the horn wouldn't blow or to be precise, I am not sure where to hit to make the horn blow. Anyways I saw a man sitting in his car, pointing his key thingy towards my car, so I walked towards him and asked him if he knew how I could stop my horn from blowing. About that time the man beside him joined in and they asked me for my keys and said all you gotta do is push this panic button. He clicked it and my horn stopped, but my inner panic button was still going and I was even more embarassed. They both explained that apparently I had hit it by mistake. I have had this vehicle for 3 years and this was the first time this has happend to me, so the moral of this story is that I learned today just how handy that little thing could be if a bugger got after me in my car or as I am getting in it. Goodness, I hope I never have to use it for that reason. I was worn slap out when I got home. Up to my eyeballs with nerves and embarassment!! I am like the saying "country comes to town" I guess.

I got my collards paraboiled and good Lord willing I am going to have some collards and cornbread for supper. Standing and washing and looking the collards was bout more than my back wanted to take today, it always hurts worse when the weather is wet.

I got bunches and bunches of things to do yet so I best be out of here for today. I hope you folks are having better weather than we are here, but do like me and try to enjoy it, make the best of it and thank the good Lord for giving it to us.


God Bless!

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Awesome day...

Whatta beautiful day and a busy week! I just came in from walking Roxy and it is actually hot outside. It was also so hot yesterday that I had to cut on the ceiling fans. Last night I had to turn my fan up, I hafta run one on me at night as it helps my breathing. I also have a blanket folded on the bed for Roxy and had to ditch that last night as she told me it was too hot! I had to take Roxy to the vet on Monday; she had a little growth that came on her head and we noticed it was growing. The vet looked at it and said it was a cyst and that we will get that off now and I was expecting him to cut it out or burn it off, but he just scratched and flakey looking stuff started coming off and them with a little pressure the cyst came out. He said it is gone and I felt and it was flat. I felt the biggest relief because as I told him I was so worried it might be something malignant. He said he didn't think it would come back and gave her a shot in her little head which was to prevent it from returning. Should it come back, it then will hafta be cut out. She didn't even flinch or make a sound. She has always been a good dog at the vet, unlike our prior two dogs.

I gotta tell ya'll that I ain't used to having to do a whole lots of thinking anymore but my granddaughter Cynthia emailed me and said that she had a science project and she had selected plastic as her topic and asked me if I would answer some questions for her as was required by her teacher. Well first off Cynthia is only 11 but knows far more about computers than I do. She had sent the questions in PDF form. I had no problem opening it in Adobe Reader, but could find no way to answer them in there so I had to cut and paste them over to an email.

Then the thinking began. The person she asked the questions had to be over 55 or so years old so my son suggested Grandma Claudia, although he suggested she just call me Grand Moo which she did! lol...
So here comes 20, I mean 20 questions that I had to think and use my brain on. I took it seriously and did my best as I answered them. I only wish she had chosen something other than plastic. According to my son when he called on Sunday night, he was surprised at my answers (he didn't really think I was as smart as I am :) and Cynthia told me I was very helpful with her project.

As you folks know I have two granddaughters but really do not have any. I do not like to say step granddaughter, so Cynthia to me is just our granddaughter. She was only 5 years old when my son married her mom and she was accepted and loved immediately. Of course Caroline is my granddaughter in my heart and always will be. I can love children whether they are blood kin or not. They are precious gifts from God.

We are crossing our fingers that they will get to come to North Carolina on spring break which will be the first week in April. It is kinda pending as they have other obligations around the same time. I do hope they get home as it has been almost a year since we have seen Cynthia. Oh that reminds me Kristi I haven't got a camera yet, but my son will bring it when they do come home :) I just can't wait. I know I will enjoy it for the blog and other times too!

Welp I gotta go and get ready to start some supper for Jerrell. He is doing well with keeping his sugar in the norm range, but it sure is a burden on me trying to come up with something to eat. I had to run some errands and stopped off at the grocery store to pick up only two tomatoes (hothouse) and the checker out girl said $5.45 and Moo bout croaked right there! WOW, I will be glad when Jerrell sets out our tomatoes!

Thank you all for the comments on Caroline, she truly is as sweet as she is pretty. I have lots to be thankful for!! Yep, God is good!



God Bless!

Sunday, March 11, 2007

chillin out...

Now this my kinda girl, just kicked back and taking it easy. This is one of the last few pictures of Caroline that I got and although it has been a few weeks, I am just now getting around to posting it. Have several more I will post later. As you folks know I have been so busy that I just ain't posted too frequent lately. I have no excuses or shall I say I will not use any at this time. Maybe later I might. I do fly by the seat of my pants and always have!

The best of them all is always old age. My neighbor Harriet and I have met in the yards and talked the last two days and the subject of age has come up both days as she is nearing 65 and I am nearing 63. She has an older sister who she said refused to age gracefully and took it so far as to not go to the doctor when at times she really should have. Her ole sis started having nose bleeds and was forced to go to a doctor. After having her blood pressure checked, found it to be extremely high and is now depressed because she has to take blood pressure medicine. We laughed as we both take it ourselves. Harriet was a bit shocked to learn I started on blood pressure meds when I was 33 and have been on them since. Seems a bit young I admit, but nevertheless that is when it was discovered.

We also talked about our lives and how she became our neighbor as she was born in California and lived most of her adult life in Oregon. Her husband drives a tractor trailor for a living and is gone for weeks at a time and as we had talked about different eating places around town, she asked me to go eat with her some as she goes out everyday to a different place and thought it would help me to get out some and also to get a chance to eat many things she and I like that Jerrell just ain't gonna eat, so I told her that sounded like a winner to me.

I have found that friends are very important to me. I have many and I am thankful for all of them. There are some folks that do not want friends and are sorta like loners. It is these folks I can't understand and feel the sorriest for. Like my new neighbor, she just ain't gonna be friendly. Now what does a person do when they run outta sugar or flour or an egg right in the middle of cooking something? All I gotta do, is dart out the door and ring a neighbor's doorbell and the same with them. I am always ready to oblige anyone if it is something I can do for them. I see tho God didn't make all folks alike, but as I told another neighbor today when she came to visit, I have done for others all my life until I got in this shape and now I can't, but folks are now doing things for me. There is lots to the meaning of brotherly love and what goes round, comes round. I believe if one does from the heart, they will be repaid 10 fold. I have been more than blessed in my life and my only regret is that I was not old enough, nor mature enough to have helped my mama more when she was sick and dying. Yet, knowing my mama, she had far rather me be outside playing than being in the kitchen learning to cook when I really didn't have sense enough.

Since I know you will be reading this at some point P, congrats on Carolina winning the ACC today. I watched part of it, til Pearlie came. I did think about you and hoped you got home safely from church in time to see all the ballgame. Again, my mind must be on friends today, as P is as good as they come.

I know I have readers from many states and I am gonna put this in here, just cause I never know who might read this and know this person. One of my desires before I die is to get in contact with a former college friend of mine. Due to sheer memory loss, I cannot for the life of me remember her married name. Her maiden name was Nancy Slaughter and she was born and raised in Lancaster, South Carolina. The last time I saw Nancy was in Myrtle Beach, SC and the last time I heard from Nancy she was at Hilton Head, SC. Nancy had always worked at resort areas and had married a school teacher when in Myrtle Beach. I have searched and searched and seem to be unable to locate her, so if anybody happens to know her, please let her know I am looking for her. It is a mere chance this will happen through this blog, but stranger things have happened I suppose.

It is hard to believe it is so late in the day. I cannot get used to the time change and frankly I wish they would leave it one way or another. So I am outta here for now, but wanted to check in with you folks.
Hope you have had a great day..Until....


God Bless!

Saturday, March 10, 2007

Nancy Grace on her way out?...

I read two interesting things I wanted to share with you folks. One of which is very low on the tottem pole and the other a very serious situation with folks like me and possible many of my readers.

As you folks know I am a Court TV viewer as I like the live trials. As all stations, changes are made from time to time, some better than others. I have never seen the lady that is going to now appear regularly on Court TV, Star Jones, formerly from the tv show, The View. All I know about Star is that she was born and raised in Badin, just a stones throw from my house. That of course makes me a bit more interested. As it stands now, she will be taking the 4 p.m. time slot placing her in between the best, Catherine Crier and the worst Nancy Grace. I have always thought and said that Ms. Grace was on her way out at Court TV and I do think this is a great start. This will be trimming Ms. Grace's Closing Arguments from a two hour period to one hour.

Most disturbing is this article written about us folks on disability. I am a member of the Disability Coalition headed by Linda Fullerton and I back her response to this article 100%. I wish this lady had researched and interviewed many of us who are on disability and I think she would not have written this article. Although now I am at retirement age, I had much rather get up in the mornings, dress and go to work than to be disabled. I would not want this lady to walk in my shoes for one day, but I wish she would have come and spent the day at my house just one day prior to writing this article:


Mar 5, 2007 2:00 AM by Melanie Scarborough

WASHINGTON - Congress and President George W. Bush agree on one scourge they’d like to tackle: the outrageous compensation packages given to some corporate executives.
Sure, many “golden parachutes” are absurdly lavish — but boards of directors should answer to stockholders, not politicians.
Lawmakers’ concern ought to be for their own culpability in squandering money on the undeserving. They could start by addressing one of today’s biggest rackets: Social Security disability payments.
Most Americans probably assume that to qualify as “disabled,” an individual must be physically unable to work for a living. In fact, the Social Security Administration deems individuals disabled if they cannot continue working in their chosen profession and “cannot adjust” to a different job.
So if a basketball coach blows out his kneecap and can no longer run up and down the court, he might collect a disability check even though he is perfectly capable of selling insurance or managing a hardware store.
It’s even possible to collect payments for being disabled from a job you were never able to perform. A few years ago, a Newport News pipefitting apprentice was fired for cause after earning failing marks in her training courses.
But because she injured her wrist before she was terminated and would have been unable to continue in the job, had she been able to do it, a judge ruled that she established “a prima facie case of total disability.”
The SSA’s guidebook, which might as well be entitled, “You, Too, Can Be Disabled!” walks applicants through the steps to collect their jackpots. The first requirement is not to have traceable income of more than $900 a month.
Next, one must present a malady that is either among the listed impairments or is equal in severity. The lists are so exhaustive that almost everyone has some condition by which they could claim to be disabled.
For example, the guidelines say that in determining whether an individual has a musculoskeletal disability, the “inability to walk on the heels or toes, to squat, or to arise from a squatting position may be considered evidence of significant motor loss.” It also may be considered evidence of being older than 40.
Among the disabilities listed under “skin disorders” is dermatitis — i.e., dish-pan hands. Some skin conditions can be deemed disabling merely because they’re upsetting.
The SSA says, “Facial disfigurement or other physical deformities may also have effects we evaluate under the mental disorders listings in 12.00, such as when they affect mood or social functioning.” Ah, the catch-all category.
The guidelines say “social functioning’ includes the ability to get along with others, such as family members, friends, neighbors, grocery clerks, landlords or bus drivers.
“You may demonstrate impaired social functioning by, for example, a history of altercations, evictions, firings, fear of strangers, avoidance of interpersonal relationships or social isolation.”
Why should anyone collect a check from taxpayers just for being a jerk?
In determining mental disabilities, examiners also consider the applicant’s “concentration, persistence or pace.” So work slowly and give up easily, and you might be rewarded with a monthly check.
Mentally disabling conditions also include depression, anxiety, substance addiction disorders, and “oddities of thought, perception, speech and behavior.” Now there’s a capacious category.
Last month Congressman Michael R. McNulty, D-N.Y., held a hearing to address the crisis of backlogged applications for SSI benefits. The numbers alone — more than 1.3 million claims — indicate how many people are trying to take advantage of the system.
Genuine disabilities are relatively rare. About 400,000 Americans have multiple sclerosis; 350,000 have Down Syndrome. The number of people in this country who are totally blind is about 150,000. If they all applied for benefits at once, they couldn’t account for a million claims.
Moreover, the backlog adds expense for taxpayers because successful applicants almost always get back pay for the months they waited for their claims to be approved.
Yet the biggest travesty is that chiselers are clogging a system designed to help individuals who drew the genetic short straw and, through no fault of their own, cannot work to support themselves.
Before Congress gins up too much indignation against the extravagance of corporate America, members ought to stand up for the genuinely disabled — as well as the taxpayers stuck with supporting slackers who could work to support themselves.
No individual deserves to be disabled, but this system certainly does.
Examiner columnist Melanie Scarborough lives in Alexandria.
********************************************************
We did not ask to be disabled and I found this very harsh on folks that are. Linda Fullerton has written a response to this article and I just hope it too will be published.
It is going to be a beautiful day here and I am going to do my best to enjoy it, hope you folks do too.

God Bless!

Saturday, March 03, 2007

a week later...

and here I am. It has been a very hectic week and for one reason or another I never had the time to post or if I had the time, I just didn't feel quite up to it. Monday was a good day. My best friend Paulette came and we of course went out to eat and also did some shopping. Or maybe I should say, I struck out and she did some shopping. We musta been in a rare serious mood as nothing happened that we got a good laugh over. I think serious talks sometimes are needed and appropriate.

After Paulette left I quickly fixed Jerrell some supper as we had to be at the funeral by 6:00. We lost a very dear friend a week ago today. I do not normally go to visitations or funerals on the advice of my doctor, but I wanted to go, so I did! Although we were there early, there was already a long line that had formed. After being on my feet right much shopping, it didn't take standing long in the line for my back to start hurting really bad. I leaned against the wall as best I could and sat down in a chair each time we neared one, rested and caught up with Jerrell in the line. David was blessed with a wonderful wife and a daughter and a son. I am a hugging person and I thought so much of his son, Mike, that when I got to him the mother in me put my arms around him. Having two sons and knowing Mike personally made him extra special. I actually had never met David's daughter, but she was a very nice young lady. David will be greatly missed in our community, but he will be remembered as being a good man and only good things will be said about him. God Bless his family.

There is a slight possibility that our oldest son will be home on our granddaughter's spring break. If not then, they will definitely be home for Christmas. Either way is fine with us. We just miss them, but understand how busy they are and the distance it is to travel. My son told me he has the camera and all the necessary things that I will need and will bring it when they come home, show me how to use it, etc. All I know is it is a Canon and he said it was easy to use. He was going to mail it, but I told him not to that I had rather he wait so he could show me how to use it. My mind ain't as young as it used to be.
So be forewarned for when I get the camera to be picture crazy til the new wears off.

On Wednesday after getting an email from Paulette telling me about a good sale on at Belk, I actually shocked myself and got in my car-truck, btw what do you spose to call a SUV? Anyhow, I was badly needing some dress pants. Not that I don't have any, just that I have gained weight and cannot get in many of them. So I venture out which is another back breaker and find me some dress pants and a couple tops. Spent little money actually, but got three nice items. Clothes as well as most everything is marked up out of sight. When you get a pair of $58 pants for $14 that tells you something for sure!

As we are literally eating hardly anything anymore, Jerrell is losing weight and really does not need too. I am eating the same as he is, but the weight is coming off me much slower. Of course he works and gets exercise and I cannot literally do exercises and most likely wouldn't if I could, although I do try to walk Roxy on a couple long walks everyday, cept when it rains! I can tell I am loosing some inches and a few pounds , but not enough to write home about just yet. My goal is get back to where I was before I hit a glutton stage and my weight shot up.

OK, ya'll know I am still here and a kicking so I will get back to enjoying this beautiful day. The last time I looked it was 65 degrees and that is my kinda weather. Have a great weekend all you good folks!


God Bless!