Thanks to Linda at Linda's Thotful Spot..........for my tag.

I was up at 7:00 this morning and out the door at 7:20 for a walk.  It felt great to get some exercise.  It's been far too long since I started my day with a walk.  I took Kasey for the first stretch.  I can't get a good sustained walk when she's with me because the little bugger has to stop and smell everything.  I swear she can smell a cat poopie 30 feet out and 6 feet deep.

After I got back, I dove in to the laundry - not literally - LOL.  I did 4 loads and got them all put away.  Around lunch time, I took the car to the car wash and then hit the mall to pick up shampoo and conditioner at the beauty supply store.  I ran into Penneys and found a cute blouse for my Mom for Mother's Day and my favorite undies were on sale so I treated myself.  I ran an errand for Dennis, stopped at the grocery store for red seedless grapes and then came home.

It feels great to be back to my usual schedule after a few weeks of being a big ol' slug.  I'm eating good again, too, which gives me much more energy.

Tonight, I'm fixing salmon for Dennis and an omelet with mushrooms, green pepper, 2 eggs, and a little cheese for me.  Delish! 

Ok, so here's how my trip is shaping up so far.  A few reservations have been made and a deposit or two has been forwarded SO I guess it's safe to start talking about it without fear of jinxing it.  I'm superstitious. 

On October 4, 2007,  my Mom, sister, daughter and I are leaving Los Angeles and flying to Milan, Italy.  We will be there for 2 days before heading to Verona for a day to see Juliette's balcony ("Romeo, oh Romeo, where art thou Romeo?").  From there we will take the train to Venice and then a little boat to our hotel which is near the famous Rialto bridge. (see below)  After two days in Venice, we will hop another train and go to Florence where we will stay in a nice Bed and Breakfast Inn from the 10th until the 15th.  During our time here, we are taking a side trip to Cinque Terre which is on the Mediterranean coast.  We have rented a little apartment in Rome for the week of Oct. 15 to 19th.  During this time, we hope to go south to see Pompeii but that is still up in the air.   Cari will fly back to the US on the 20th to go back to school.  Cio, Cari.  From Italy, Mom, Carol and I will venture into Switzerland, Austria and Germany and then return to the good old USA on November 3.  It's an adventure of a life time and I still cannot believe it's going to happen.  We are praying that the dollar gets stronger against the Euro because the exchange rate right now is: $100 = about 73 Euros.  We wanted to go to England but the dollar is in the gutter there.  $100 = about 50 pounds.  Wow.  The best exchange rate is in Switzerland where they still use the Swiss Franc instead of the Euro.  $100 = about 121 Swiss Francs.  These figures are not precise - just estimates.  I am saving like crazy so I have money for trinkets and goodies. 

Pensione Guerrato - Venice, Italy

"The history of the Palace:  Pensione Guerrato is nowadays situated in an palace bult in 1227.  The palace was donated to the nuns of S. Lorenzo and its rooms was - at least till 1381 - rented to merchants staying in Venice and ventian too."  From the web site for the inn.

I'll post more information and history as I get it.

HUGS!

Updates and cute stuff

Happy Update:  Elijah is doing great.  He already weighs a little over 4 pounds.  Things are going well for the little guy.  Prayers answered!

My cousin's son's girlfriend, Jill has had her first round of chemotherapy. It dropped her white blood cell count down to low so she can not go to school or be around a lot of people so she does not get an infection. She will have 2 days of chemo every 21 days and have a MRI or CT scan every 3 months to see how she is doing. The good news is her pain is under control indicating the tumor or the inflammation from it is smaller. They could not remove the cancer surgically as it is to close to her spinal cord and nerve roots. The name of her cancer is Ewing's sarcoma. She had a metastasis to her lung and several locations on her axial skeleton. Since she can not return to school at this time it was decided that she could receive credits for this semester at the grade level she had before going to the hospital. She has all A's. We have about 4 weeks left of the school year. Please keep prayers coming for Jill.

Matthew had his 1 month check up on Friday.  The little guy weighs 8 pounds 8 ounces and has sprouted to 22 1/4 inches.  That's a 2 pound gain in a month and 2" spurt in length. He is doing well and now weighs what Megan and Nathan did when they were born.

On a comic note:

                                       

My Kasey girl in an Angel Baseball Cap.  Dennis and Cari went to the ball game the other night.  It was cap night so they each got a free hat.  When they got home, Cari put her cap on our pup.  She didn't like it much but kept in on long enough for me to get a picture. Doesn't she look pretty in red?  LOL

Big Dreams

Thank you, Linda, at Linda's Thotful Spot for my Tag!

Isn't it exciting when it seems that something you've been dreaming about for most of your life may be coming true?  Psst... it's happening in my life and I'm so excited that I can barely speak of it for fear of jinxing it.  I will say that I need a passport (giggle) and basic knowledge of Italian but other than that................   (more information to follow)

Cari is interviewing for a summer internship with an independent record company on Tuesday.  Talk about excited! I don't think her feet have hit the floor since she found out.  Oh, I hope she gets it.  It will be such a wonderful opportunity for her and a giant stepping stone toward her dream of working in the recording industry in public relations or promotions.  Keep your fingers crossed for her.  The great thing about this company is that it's close.  It's not in Los Angeles like so many other recording companies.  

Yesterday, she and I went shopping for an outfit for her to wear.  She chose a brown suit that is trendy and yet business-like.  It has a short sleeve jacket and very nice pants which we took right to the tailor to have hemmed.  We found a cute pair of brown pumps that match the brown perfectly.  She has a top that looks fabulous with it.  It's a teal blue/green with a little beading across the top.  I would never have thought to put that color with brown but when she tried it on with the jacket, we both said "WOW" and knew that was it.  Now, what to do with her hair.  Half up and half down is our guess.  Her hair is 3" below shoulder length and is fine so it tends to look a little stringy late in the day.  If it's pulled up and out of her face, that would take care of that. 

She hopes that jeans and nice tops are the company dress code so she doesn't have to spend a lot of $$$ on clothes.  Me, too, since I would probably help with that expense.

I'm shopping for new health insurance.  Our premiums are so high that we need to make a change if we can find something with good coverage at a more reasonable rate.  It is so scary, going into our retirement years, to realize that most of our retirement income will have to go to pay for health care insurance.  I guess we better learn how to grow our own vegetables and raise chickens and cows if we want to eat.  When my Dad passed away, my Mom lost her health insurance because it was provided through his retirement plan.  They offered to cover her with the same insurance for 3 years at $670 a month.  That's 3/4 of her Social Security.  Luckily, my Dad had life insurance and they have investments that suppliment her Social Security so she lives modestly but doesn't have to worry about paying the bills and buy groceries.  At the end of 3 years, we will face finding supplimental coverage to help where Medicare fails to pay.  The wonderful thing about Dad's insurance is they paid 100% of the balance after Medicare so Mom had no medical bills from Dad's month long hospital stay.  Praise God.

 

I paid bills this morning and when I got to my credit card statement, I noticed that AOL had billed me twice.  Once for $14.95 for using DSL access and once for $35.00 for using dial up.  Huh?  What?  I wondered what was going on so I called and found out that since I had added a screen name for my sister to use while she was at my Mom's and she used dial up there, I was going to have to pay the $35 for the month.  That sort of burned, but oh, well.  Then to my delight and surprise, the nice man told me that I could lower my monthly bill to $9.95 for unlimited DSL AND Dial Up access from this day forward.  "Sign me up, dude." I exclaimed happily.  That will be a $5 savings per month over what I normally pay and I won't have to pay for my sister's use when she uses dial up.  Oh, goodie.  I guess it pays to call and go through that annoying computer guy asking all the questions to finally get to the live guy.  LOL

I'm having lunch with Bernice today.  I haven't seen her in a long time.  It seems that each time we tried to get together lately something has come up and I've had to cancel.  Today, it's raining but I am not going to let that stop me from going.  It's not that bad.  I'll just give myself a lot of extra time to get there.  She is doing well since Den's dad has been gone.  She keeps busy with her art class, seeing friends, and spending time with her daughters.  She and her sister are going to Alaska on a cruise this summer.  I can't wait to talk to her about that!  They are going to LOVE it.

Nathan's baseball game was so much fun.  He plays t-ball so it's not like a regular baseball game at all.  During each team's at bat, each kid gets a turn to bat.  Their manager or another dad pitches to them.  They get 5 pitches to try to get a hit.  If they don't get a hit, they get two tries to hit off the T.  Once they get the hit, they run the bases while the other team tries to field the ball.  That's the fun part to watch.  The field is full of 15 boys from ages 5 - 7, most of whom are playing for the first time this year.  Most of the time, they miss the ball and need to chase it.  If they do catch it they over throw it and when they throw it, they are lucky if anyone is even covering the base.  It is so cute.  All the while, the coaches and dads (there are 3 or 4 dads on the field helping) are yelling encouragement and instructions in their most positive tones and the parents in the stands are cheering wildly.  It looks like organized chaos. 

The little guys carry themselves like major baseball players. They are so little that their helmets bobble on their heads when they run and their bats seem almost too heavy for them to swing but you know that inside those little bodies are dreams of playing in the big leagues and they see what they are doing as skilled, expert play.

That's it for this morning. 

Hugs!

 

Cute Stuff

Kids say the cutest things:

MELANIE (age 5) asked her granny how old she was.  Granny replied she was so old she didn't remember any more.  Melanie said, "If you don't remember you hafta look in the back of your panties.  Mine say five to six."

JAMES (age 4) was listening to a Bible story.  His Dad read: "The man named Lot was warned to take his wife and flee out of the city but his wife looked back and was turned to salt."  Concerned, James asked: "What happened to the flea?"

My favorite:

The Sermon I think this Mom will never forget....this particular Sunday sermon,...."Dear Lord," the minister began with arms extended toward heaven and a rapturous look on his upturned face.  "Without you we are but dust."  He would have continued but at that moment my very obedient daughter who was listening leaned over to me and asked quite audibly in her shrill little girl voice, "Mom, what is butt dust?"

Is it just me or is life really this hard?

 

My family prayer list continues to grow.  I got an email from my cousin Laura last night:

Hello. I am sending an update on Steven's girlfriend Jill. She has been diagnosed with Ewings sarcoma. It is a type of bone cancer. She started chemo today, Steven is with her now. I am letting you know because you all know Steven and I ask that you keep him and her in your thoughts and or prayers.

 

Love Laura

 

Steven and Jill are both finishing their junior year in high school and are both 17 years old.  I've never met Jill but if Steven likes her she must be a wonderful girl.  He's something special.  They live in Colorado Springs, Colorado so please direct your prayers and good thoughts right there! 

 

Colorado Springs is 70 miles south of Denver so we are just asking God to deliver his healing mercies to Elijah and then turn south a bit to Jill.  Oh, yes, and while God is in Denver, He can bless my Aunt Helen who continues to recover from breast cancer.

He has done a wonderful healing in her and we pray that she has no future problems.

 

In happier news, I was able to sleep last night.  Yippee skippy.  I didn't rest during the day which I know made the difference.  I had a big slump around 3:00 yesterday afternoon but I didn't give in and take a rest.  It was worth it because I slept all night and feel much better today.  I also feel my mood lifting and my zest for things returning.  I haven't been sullen or miserable by any means but I've been draggy and feeling kind of lazy.  I have some fun things planned for next week and I'm already looking forward to them.  Earlier in the week when I thought about driving to see my friend, Dianne who lives over an hour away it felt like a chore, today it's more of an adventure and it feels fun which is more like my normal self.  She had her back yard completely redone with a new garden, lawn, trees and brick planters.  I can't wait to see it.  After that, we are driving to Laguna Beach for lunch and shopping.  A fun day.

 

 

 

Credit for the grapics:  The candle was snagged from Sugar at A LITTLE BIT OF SUGAR PLEASE and the Hugs Flower was snagged from Sandra at Sandra's Scribbles. 

 

 

 

 

 

Wednesday Updates

 

I talked to Sam's mom last night about Elijah.  He's doing very well considering he's such a tiny little guy.  His doctor thinks he may be taken off oxygen by Friday.  If so, Josh (his daddy) will get to hold him before he comes back to California to go back to work.  Stephanie is recovering well and should be released tomorrow.  She can stay at the hospital with the baby if they have room for her or she will be staying with Josh's aunt who lives near the hospital. They have decided to move to Colorado so Josh will finish a job he is working on, pack up and hopefully return to Colorado within a month or so to reunite with his wife and baby. 

Sam's parents will go to Colorado to meet their new grandson when he is released from the hospital.  They want to be able to hold him and bond with him which is understandable. 

I'm not sleeping well at night.  I just can't get into a restful sleep which is very unusual for me.  I usually go to sleep within 10 minutes and don't move until the alarm goes off in the morning.  I hope this is temporary because I'm tired during the day and I don't like this draggy feeling.

Dennis and I are going to see Nathan's baseball game tomorrow night.  We've seen Megan's team play and we promised Nathan that we wouldn't miss a chance to see him play too.  I will give an update on the game on Friday.

That's it for now.    Hugs.

Stephanie and Josh Had their Baby

Elijah Alan was born today.  He only weighs 3 pounds 13 ounces but he's doing well.  Stephanie ended up having to have a c-section.  One of the difficult things is that Josh and Stephanie's families are here in California.  They were in Denver for a visit.  Now, Stephanie and the baby will be there for weeks - until he is big enough to go home and Josh will have to come home to go back to work.  Josh's aunt is there and she is helping out but there's nothing like having parents around for the big event.  Please keep prayers heading their way.

Hugs.

SSSSaturday

Good morning!  I slept in this morning until 9:30.  Mmm, it felt good.  I still haven't got dressed and I won't until I get my housework done.  I like to get all of the cleaning done and then get in the shower, clean it and then refresh myself before getting out.  I am going to have to put some speed on because I still need to get to the grocery store because I promised to fix a nice meal tonight instead of one of my 'quick, just throw it on the table' things that I've been doing since I've been home.  I haven't been in the mood to cook or to do much of anything else so we've been eating salads, scrambled eggs, and whatever else could be tossed together in five minutes or less.  Bless Dennis, he's so patient and is putting no pressure on me to get back to my usual routine.   He's even been loading the dishwasher and starting it more often than I have.  I noticed he dusted the family room the other day, too and did it without even mentioning it.  Ahh, he's a sweetheart.  I'm giving myself until Monday to be lazy and this unorganized.  On Monday, I will step it up a bit.  I'm not about to go back into full swing but I am going to start paying more attention to what I eat and to making sure my family has a decent dinner. 

I've been craving carbs and I've been wanting to eat a lot during the day since all of this emotional stuff with my Dad has happened.  It's a natural response for me.  I want to fill up that emptiness and I've always done that by eating.  I've put on 4 pounds but I feel like it's 40.  I don't feel good physically and I have set Monday as my day to go back to my healthy eating plan.  Three meals a day and if I have a snack it will be a piece of fruit.  I won't be eating after dinner at all.  This is how I ate and lost 90 pounds.  I feel best when this is how I eat and I want to feel better physically so I can feel better emotionally.

I found out that my daughter's future brother and sister-in-law are having a baby boy - maybe early.  I knew they were pregnant and due around June 15 but they flew to Denver, Colorado a few days ago to see family and Stephanie went into premature labor and may deliver early.   She got permission from her doctor to go.  Perhaps the high altitude created a problem and she went into labor about 15 hours after they arrived.  We are praying that the doctors there can stop her labor but either way, it is possible that she may have to stay in Colorado for the remainder of the pregnacy OR the baby will be born there and they will have to stay until he is able to be released.  The doctor thinks he may weigh as much as 4 1/2 pounds now which would be good but if his lungs aren't matured, he would have to have help for a while.  We are praying that everything will be good with the baby and that Josh and Stephanie will get through this OK.

I'm going to make the baby a blanket.  I have some cute flannel with little sheep jumping over little wooden fences.  It's blue, white and tan.  Cute for a little boy.    I got all of my other sewing projects finished.  The only thing left to do is to sew the binding on Matthew's quilt.  I think I will do the machine sewing before I go back to see Mom and then take it with me and do the hand sewing while I'm there.  I'll have a lot of quiet time and it will be a fun project to do.  She has a sun room in her house that gets perfect light all day.  I can see myself sitting in there tacking the binding to the quilt and visiting with her.  Perfect picture.  : )

Happy Saturday.    HUGS!

Sew, sew, sew

Good morning!  I'm staying home today to work on a few sewing projects.  I went to lunch with Sylvia on Monday, Dianne on Tuesday and yesterday I spent a few hours with Nathan and Andrew while Shannon took Megan shoe shopping.  She took the baby with her, too, so it was just me and the 'big' boys.  It was fun.  We watched The Incredibles which is Andrew's favorite movie right now. 

I want to sew today because tomorrow I'm having lunch with  my friend, Joan and I want to make a few "grandma" things for her to keep at her house when her grandson, Hudson, comes over to visit.  I'm making a flannel blanket and a flannel changing pad for her to have on hand for his visits.

I enjoy sewing these things so much.  I put on my music, open the window so I can hear the birdies chirping and get some fresh air, and I go to work in my own little world.  As I sew, my mind wonders and I think about the person I making the blanket for and the baby who will be wrapped up in it.  My mind also wonders to other things, in other words, I get some of my best thinking done in my sewing room while I work.  Right now, it's my mission to do a lot of thinking and relaxing and this is one of my favorite ways to do that.

Before I go up, I'm going to call my sister-in-law in Montana and thank her for her calls, card and kind thoughts while my Dad was ill.  She and I never connected directly and I want her to know that I got all of her messages and how much they meant to me.  I am trying to contact all of my friends who left messages while I was gone to let them know how much I appreciate their kindness.

It's a beautiful spring day here in Southern California.  It's supposed to be close to 70 degrees, sunny and clear.  Pretty near perfect.

HUGS!

Hippity Hoppity Easter's Gone Away

Easter has come and gone.  Outside of the religious observance, the holiday went by without much notice at our house.  There wasn't a single jelly bean, colored egg, chocolate bunny, or yellow chick Peep anywhere to be found.  I bought Cari a 4 pack of Cadbury Chocolate/Caramel eggs a few days ago and she hid them in her room somewhere so there was no trace of candy in the house.  

Cari spent the day with Sam's family.  Bryan and his family were with Shannon's family.  Dennis and I laid around and watched the Angel/Oakland game, took naps and did next to nothing.  It was glorious!!!  Around 5:00, I drove down the hill to the grocery store and picked up a roasted chicken and some stuff to make a salad.  That was Easter Dinner.  The chicken was dry and basically tasteless but the salad was pretty good.  At least I didn't have to prepare an entire meal.  It was easy and fast.  Just up my alley for today.

Friday afternoon, my son and his wife dropped off Megan, Nathan and Andrew.  They spent the night and then Saturday afternoon, Dennis and I took them to Castle Park which is a little amusement park about 2 miles from our house.  It's a pretty neat little place.   They have miniature golf with 4 different courses, a huge arcade with video games, and the amusement park with rides and games.  We bought the kids each an all day pass so they could go on as many rides as they wanted for a fixed price.  It turned out to be a great deal because it wasn't crowded.  There were times they were able to stay on a ride for 2 or 3 turns because there were no kids in line when it was over.  Oh, boy!  They LOVED that.  After a few hours, Dennis took Nathan and Megan to the faster rides and I took Andrew back to the train, motorcycles, and airplanes.  He could do those while the big kids did the roller coaster and the swings that go around and aroun

I'm Home, I'm Home

My GrandNanny days are over for now.  I'm home after two weeks and two days at my son's helping with the kids while my d-i-l recovered from her c-section.  I did have the weekends at home which was a nice break. 

It was a lot of fun staying at the house with the kids and new baby.  Megan and Nathan leave for school at 7:30 in the morning.  After they leave, I would give Andrew his breakfast and then get him dressed for the day.  He entertains himself so well.  He loves to watch his kiddie TV shows in the morning while he plays with his toys.  While he does that, I was able to do some chores.  The day would fly by and before I knew it, it was 3:30 and the older two would be coming home.  Twice a week there was baseball or softball practice.  Every night there was home work and reading.  After dinner, we had about 1 hour of TV time before bath and bed time.  By 8:30, I was pooped and the kids were all snuggled in bed and sleeping.

Andrew is adjusting to his little brother so well.  I'm really proud of him.  He hasn't shown any jealousy.  There have been a few times when he has been frustrated because he wanted Shannon to do something for him and had to settle for someone else because she was nursing the baby.  He's been gentle and sweet with the baby ~ always giving him a kiss, too, when he goes up for his nap.  I'm happily surprised that he's done so well.

Matthew is a very good baby which is a blessing for his Mom.  He is a good eater, sleeper, and seems to have a sweet disposition.  He's easily soothed and very alert for just starting his 3rd week of life.  For such a little guy (6 lb. 14 oz. on Monday) he's very strong.  He holds his head up a bit and his little legs are very strong when he stretches them out.

I'm not going any where until Friday.  I have a doctor's appointment that afternoon and then I'm picking up Megan, Nathan and Andrew to keep for the night.  Dennis and I are taking them to an amusement park on Saturday afternoon and then taking them home so they'll be there on Easter Morning.  I have some things to catch up on around here.  I have to hand it to Dennis.  The house looks nice.  He kept up on the laundry and everything is picked up.  What a guy!  I want to make a few changing table covers for Matthew's changing table and a few changing pads for Shannon to put in his diaper bag.  I have a lot of flannel that I can use to make some cute things.

Next week, I've got 3 lunch dates set up.  I haven't seen my friends in over a month.  It will be so nice to catch up.  I've talked to them on the phone but not for any good long talks. 

That's it for tonight.  I get to take Kasey to the groomer for the first time in 6 weeks in the morning.  I have to be up at 5:30 to do that so I'm going to go to bed.

Tomorrow, I'm going to catch up on my journal reading, too.  I've tried to keep up but it has been hard with everything that has gone on.  I'm looking forward to finding out what everyone has been up to.

Hugs!