Back From Florida

I am back from Florida. I am washing clothes and sorting pictures today. I will post my adventures later in the week.

Headed to Florida

Yes, I am heading to Naples, Florida to see my sister. The first picture is of Wiggins Pass area. This is a great place to walk on the beach and find shells. Picture me there. The second picture is one of my sister and my youngest son from the July 4th holiday. He had come to Naples from Ft. Benning, GA to play in a golf tournament with his uncle. I just like the picture. Unfortunately Gabriella's Yarn Shop will be closed while I am there. She has gone on a trip to Europe but I hope she is having fun. Bet she brings back new yarns for the shop. Can't wait to go to my favorite food establishments. Unfortunately the Chickee Bar at the old Vanderbuilt Inn has been demolished and replaced with a ginormous condo building. The Chickee Bar was a great place to go and frankly I do not think it was a good tradeoff. But we will be heading to Steamers, best clam chowder ever, and my favorite Greek restaurant for moussaka. TaTa for now.

House Full of Kids

The grandkids were all together this weekend. We all met at The Ponderosa. The kids seem to have a great time playing together. The boys were running around everywhere and were absolutely hilarious. Uncle Daisey came by before heading to the monster truck rally. Cabinets full of Rubbermaid bowls make great toys and ended up everywhere. Scout is now rolling over so she is now experiencing a whole new world. It was a very nice day. Oh yes, we now know that the twins are going to have a little brother in December. More little hands to pull the bowls out of the cabinet and to spray the water hose. Sounds like more excitement is on the way.

Ok, Ok, Maybe it is Not That Bad

Ok, maybe this size is not too bad. When I look at it it is not as giant as it looks when you are typing it. It is still bigger than I wanted but then I got to thinking...hmm...maybe my posts are long....nah. Well LOL, my kids are always saying that I make a short story long. I guess now I will have to find a way around this "giant print". I still do not know why it will not let me change type size but at least it lets me type, oh, dear, did I just jinx it?

Giant Type

Ok, I am frustrated. For some reason I cannot get the type size on this to change. The only thing it will let me do is type in this size. Normally you just go up to the little size clicker and it drops down and you click on the size you want. I like small. No matter how many times I have clicked and switched it will not let me change the type size. I mean I can't change to small, I can't change to giant, I can't change it period. I do not like this giant type. I have never had this happen before. I have not blogged in almost a week. Did something change? I keep trying to click on the type size, it slides down I click on "small" and nothing changes. What is going on here?

Happy Birthday to Me

Thanks for my cake Allison. I loved it.

I Knew it Was Going to Happen

There had been indications for the last two weeks that the coffee maker just was not going to last much longer. It had started making this gurgling noise that it used to only make at the very end of the brewing. Also that sound was much louder and well, kindof worrisome. I knew it was coming but just did not want to go and buy a new one until I had to. Well that was today. After it made coffee this morning and there was coffee on the counter and weirdly on top of the coffee maker itself I knew it was time to let go. I had another coffee maker under the cabinet and thought I would use it. When it died then I would get a completely new one. I mean if there is one there then use it. In a word, no. I cleaned out the coffee maker and there was this weird "stuff" that seemed to come out with the water. So in the span of 15 minutes I had absolutely no coffee maker. This is not good. For someone who never used to drink coffee I have become a two fisted drinker. It started in 1991 when I was substitute teaching and was being "social". It became more hardcore when one summer Allison and I decided we would go to every Starbucks in the DFW area. This was before there was a Starbucks on every corner. When I started teaching full time coffee became my morning ritual along with putting on makeup. Just the smell could soothe a bad temper. So here I sat with the prospects of no coffee in the morning. That was not going to happen as long as there is Wal-Mart close by. Needless to say I went to the store, chose the one I wanted, came home, washed it and now it proudly sits on the counter waiting for it's first real brew. Lately I have entered the kitchen wondering if the old coffee maker had actually worked and being happy when I smelled the lucious coffee smell as I walked into the kitchen. Tomorrow morning I know it will be there waiting for me.

Fun 4th

Happy 4th of July! We had a great time at The Ponderosa yesterday. As I drove up I had to stop and get gas. Next door to the gas station was a McDonald's with the American flag waving in the breeze against a beautiful blue Texas sky. We had a big day with the kids playing and swimming. Brisket was for lunch and later the guys fried fish they had caught earlier in the summer just for this occasion. The food was all fantastic with the fried fish, grilled veggies straight from the garden, dill potatoes, watermelon, apple pie with ice cream, lots of food to graze on all day. At the top is a picture of Jo and her cousin Alexis. I made them matching flipflops for the 4th. Uncle Daisey is holding Scout. She is growing so fast. Me and Matthew (Uncle Daisey). Of course living in the country we can put on our own fireworks show. It is always fantastic. Jo and her neighbor Brooklyn are holding sparklers. Other than the smoke bombs they to run through sparklers are the extent of their participation. The other fireworks are set up by the "big boys". Yes, the waterhose is always nearby. Eventually Jo and Brooklyn tired of the fireworks and and played in the sandbox. It was a very fun day.

I Am Not Really Sure What to Title This

Dealing with RA and all the "little issues" that seem to result from it tire me out, physically and emotionally. It is frustrating to not be able to do the things I once did or as fast as I once did. It is frustrating to be tired all the time. It is frustrating to have to pace myself and allow extra time just to become less stiff so I can do something. On Tuesday I went to the doctor. It was time to renew my blood pressure medicine and to do that I needed to go in and just get rechecked. I was shocked to find out that even on my medicine it was higher that it should be. So I am now trying a new medicine to get it more stable. All that said I had an interesting thing happen on Wednesday. Allison and I had run to Target to pick up a few things. We were not at my local Target but a completely different one in a different city. As we were walking down the aisle I heard someone call my name. I turned around and it was a friend I had not seen in a very long time. She looked completely different. We visited standing there in the middle of Target. Of course for us this was not something unusual. We have known each other for 26 years. Our kids went to school together. We used to run into each other at the local grocery store and stand in the aisle and talk for two hours. We both still live in the houses we did then. We just never see each other anymore. As I said she looked different. I have no idea what I actually said but then she said she had lymphoma. She has been going through chemotherapy. It has been hard. In talking to her it wasn't like we hadn't seen each other in what seems like forever. It was like I might have talked to her last week. She is trying to be strong, but she is tired. I did not ask her many questions but she told me many things. It was almost as if it was because I was an old friend she could share her frustrations. I learned one thing in listening to her. When people are seriously ill they really don't want to hear about how great other people respond to treatments. That is other people. If they struggle with treatment what they want is just a listening ear. So she has been on my mind this week. If I have trouble opening a lid or trying to pick up something that is a little heavy or have joint pain, that is a far struggle from hers. Her's is the struggle for her life.