Thirty-sixth Monday of 2012

Only 17 more Monday's to go until the end of the year....Dwight was concerned because Douglas and family didn't get on the road to come home for PA as early as they hoped. The text message Jessie sent said it was after 11:00 when they left because it was so hard to leave. It is hard being so far away from family. On top of that Paul and Lori are wonderful hosts in every way.

I love this picture of my brother-in-law and Page.  I haven't seen his hair this short in a long time. I'm looking forward to seeing more pictures from their time there. Hopefully they will put them on FB and I can snatch a few.

I just noticed in this picture that Doug's leg has a bandage on it. I wonder what is going on with that. I sent a text message to both of their phones trying to see if they are home yet but didn't here back. I don't know which one of them is driving so don't want to call. I decided to call Lori and find out for myself and she said it was a little after noon. She said they enjoyed the weekend very much including having a fire outside last night. I just got a text from Jessie saying they were in the middle of No Where, West Virginia, had not reached Beckley yet and it was raining cats and dogs. She said she has a feeling the landscape would be pretty if it was daylight. They are all going to be so tired tomorrow going to school and work. You know what --- they are young. I remember doing trips like this when we were a younger family. I wouldn't completely unpack the suitcase for days. If it is between spending down time with loved ones over unpacking right away - I'll take the down time with loved ones any day.

This is a picture Debbie sent me of the flowers I had sent to her this past Friday to congratulate her on 25 years of regular pioneering. It is a little blurry but she said they are real pretty.  She and her husband came by with another brother and sister on Saturday and after she didn't mention them, I asked her how she liked her flowers. She said "what flowers?" and I told her I had gotten a confirmation they had been delivered on Friday. She said she bet they were on her front porch and sure enough, they had been out there all night. She said they looked good though so she was happy. I sure am glad they came by on Saturday. I now have the CD for the convention I missed. I need to figure out how I'm going to listen to it. The good news is, Dwight might be going fishing for a few days so that should help a lot. He really, really needs to get away so I'm happy.  I'm also happy to have access to the internet for immediate answers to important questions like "Why is DiNozzo from NCIS on Major Crimes tonight?".  And the answer is, he is in the middle of negotiations for the extension of his contract with NCIS as well as the roles of McGee and Abby.  Wow....so happy to get that cleared up.

Daddy 95......

Yeah - Daddy would have turned 95 years old today if he had lived.  As it turned out, he had just turned 65 the September before he died on February 12, 1980. Four of us have lived to that age but none of the girls have lived to the age Mama was when she died - 77. Barbara was 76 when she died so it is up to Alice now to break that record and get us moving back up toward the ages of our grandmothers when they died.

I have put this picture on here before but since I haven't scanned any new ones of him I will use it again. I see so much of my Dad when I look at my son Douglas. Especially the one of him playing the guitar. I need to scan the picture I have of Daddy when he was 17. He looks just like Douglas at that age only with dark hair. Daddy could be super charming when he wanted to be. I remember feeling so vulnerable when he died...I miss you Daddy.

Wedding pictures plus...

Yep - I've been a "scanning fool" these past few days. I have my scanner on a table sitting beside my chair and every so often, I grab a bunch of old pictures and start scanning away. I've shared a few of the ones I scanned from Douglas and Jessica's wedding on FB. I scanned some older pictures today and for some reason, I have a feeling I've scanned some of them before but can't find them. I wonder if they are on my desktop in the office. I haven't really gone in there very much in about a year.

Of course there are tons more but these show how young and beautiful they were on that special day. I hope they are having fun visiting Paul and family this weekend. Douglas has had some of Lori's famous French Toast and he let me know he is quite happy. Yum.

They will be celebrating their 15th anniversary this month. I have no idea what to get for them but am going to ask Kelly for suggestions. Maybe we could do something together? I also scanned a few of the very few for mine and Dwight's wedding night.

We got married on a Friday night in the preacher's living room.  GiGi was upset because her dress was made out of a fabric that was similar to mine but I didn't mind. Look at Sid Jr.'s big eyes - so cute.  I am so glad Tex brought his camera or we wouldn't have even these few pictures. I love Alice's red dress and black hat. She has always and still has excellent taste in clothes. 

Mama, Dwight, Dwight's Mama - Lena Malvine and GiGi at Malvine's house right after we were married. Later Mama went home, changed into her uniform and went into work a little late that night.

H.L., me, Pop, and Tex.  I think it was either Tex or H.L. who brought a bottle of champagne and they all had a sip out of coffee cups even though Malvine was not happy about that at all! It was Tex or H.L. who told us to go to Malvine and Pop's house after we got married so we could take more pictures.  Again, thank you Tex.  I gave my beautiful yellow roses to Monica before we left. I have a picture of that somewhere with a few more from that night - - they will turn up somewhere.

When we were planning Kelly's wedding, Mama told her one day; "with all the shopping for clothes, flowers, tons of food, a venue for the reception including a DJ, etc.,-- at the end of the day, you will not be any more married than your Mom and Dad or me and your Granddaddy". We all laughed but she then went out and bought herself the most expensive and beautiful red dress she had ever owned to wear to Kelly's wedding and she looked great! Kelly still has that red dress.

When it is all said and done, I'm happy we got married the way we did. I'm also happy it was a little more special because Tex brought his camera so we would have something to look back on that night in December that changed our lives forever. We went home, changed clothes and drove east for a weekend honeymoon on the Outer Banks. We were  babies but we made it and we are still here......

Lots of medical mumbo-jumbo....

Well we had another busy day today. First I slept until 11:00AM which was a good thing because it felt good but a bad thing because I knew Jennifer was going to send me an email telling me when to come in today. It turns out she had emailed me around 7:30AM to come in right away - the earlier the better. SO - I jumped into some clothes and we got there around 11:40 which wasn't bad at all. Of course we had to wait since she was already running behind and was working me in. The official diagnoses was not a surprise - Phlebitis. She wants me to take Aleve twice a day, apply heat several times a day, walk several times a day and keep my leg elevated above the level of my heart. That is where it gets interesting and at times is a challenge. With Kelly's help, I finally figured out something that will work. Then she started asking me some questions to get a better update on how I've been doing overall. I told her I was pleased with the acupuncture and how often I've been doing it.  Then she started probing a little more and I admitted to her that yes, it was all getting real old. She put her hand on my shoulder and that was all she wrote - I started crying. I immediately I tried to stop but told her I had to admit I have been feeling a little depressed lately. That I have found myself tearing up over nothing lately when I'm alone. I hated it happened because I know it makes Dwight very uncomfortable, partly because he knows I have been trying so hard to fight it. She asked me to please consider going back on the anti-depressant I used during my treatments. She reminded me that I'm still healing and that the length of time I have been so sick would wear on anyone. After talking about the mucous, dry mouth and thrush, she is called in prescriptions for something that is supposed to add moisture to my mouth as well as a rinse to help with the thrush.  If you were to read the information about the rinse for the thrush, you would wonder if you should use it but I promised I would.  At the end of the appointment, she told me to look forward to our week at the coast in November with real anticipation that I would be better by then. I walked around the house ten times this evening and felt quite proud of myself. I listened in to the meeting tonight because my leg was hurting pretty bad and I would have been late by the time I finished walking. Bottom line - I'm now taking more stuff than I was which doesn't make me happy but if these things will speed up my overall recovery, it will be worth it. The potential blood clot was a wake-up call so maybe taking the anti-depressant will help me feel like being more active. And if that rinse will help get rid of the yeast growing on my tongue, it will be worth it too.  Positive thoughts, positive thoughts......

Interesting week so far....

Okay - I've had some deep pain in my calf off and on (mostly on) since Sunday so decided I needed to make sure I had not developed a clot from being inactive for so long. I emailed my nurse practitioner (Jennifer) and she scheduled an ultrasound for this afternoon. We had just come back from my acupuncture appointment so I had to put my clothes back on and head right back out. She told me they were going to work me in and they did so very quickly.

Dwight dropped me off and I was already being seen by the time he parked and came to the radiology department. It was interesting - this is pretty much the position my leg was in while a technician named Sabrina did the ultrasound. She started in the groin area and moved all the way down the inside of the leg.  The good news is the preliminary report says NO CLOT.  I think Jennifer is going to have me come in to the clinic tomorrow to make sure I don't have phlebitis or deep tissue infection. Note to self - "be more active". That is going to be hard to do since being too active brings on more episodes.

I decided to walk around the house yesterday and Dwight joined me. I noticed more leaves are falling  every day.

If you look real close, you can see the pieces of glass that are always in this area of our back yard. Evidently the people who lived her long ago used to burn their trash in a barrel and these  shards are what is left. We have lived here for 37 years and during that time, we tried to have a garden twice.  Dwight has always been amazed by the things he dug up out there. Old bottles and jars. I mean - OLD.

Dwight walked up the little "path" that leads to a cul de sac in the big neighborhood behind our house. We can't see where anyone has used it in a long time. Evidently those people either moved or don't need to catch the bus across the road from our house anymore.

We have no idea what kind of plant this is - what the pods are - what the long strips of woody material are from. It is a mystery. It is a climbing plant of some kind.  I wish GiGi was here - she would be able to tell me. My mother would have been able to also.

This is the first time I've noticed the back of the house since they took the old oil drum away. It looks kind of bare doesn't it? As we were walking past the new HVAC unit on the side of the house, I was thinking about how happy we have been since we bought the new system and switched to natural gas. It is not only cleaner and quieter - it is much cheaper!

I pulled out the next album I'm planning to scan pictures from. It is the album Roseanne bought me to highlight the pictures we took from our grand adventure that took us to Maryland, DC, New York, England, France, Virginia and back home in the summer of 2001.

Lee had called to get our mailing address and this week I found out why. He had this lovely card made up with a picture of his beautiful Mom, Ennis. I know, she looks like a movie star doesn't she? Her recovery has been so slow. I wish there was more Dwight and I could do. I can't even help sit with her and that makes me sad. Dwight keeps promising me he is going to take me to see her again. I think we need to call first to make sure she will be in her room (and not our and about or getting PT) so it doesn't end up like the last time we tried to see her.

Gigi's daughter brought us these flowers. She said they were old and messy but I think they are beautiful. I will keep them as long as there is color. The funny thing is I had just been thinking I might call and order some flowers. I have always bought flowers on a regular basis - from the grocery store if no where else. I love fresh flowers. They make my day better in every way.

I will close today's post with a picture Jessie sent me of Page in her new outfit. She looks like she should be sitting at a small cafe along the River Seine in Paris doesn't she? Maybe one day. So pretty soon I will be putting some older pictures on here. I'll try not to put too many. I am really enjoying looking at the older pictures again. Kim was going to come over and do my toes tonight but time got away from her. She has such a busy schedule and I hate to ask her but Dwight has made it perfectly clear that he isn't going to do it for me. I am almost tripping over my stupid toenails they have gotten so long. Just kidding.

First day of school for many local friend's...

Today was the first day of school for many of our local friend's children so I was getting text messages with pictures all morning and afternoon.

Our big "Boy" started first grade. His Mom was very proud of him. He has also adopted a new name - "Coyote Boy".  Pretty cool.....

His little cousin down the road started Kindergarten.  She told her Mom and Dad she did not want them to walk her to her classroom because she knew where it was. Of course that made her Mom's teary feelings worse. The sun was shining too bright in her face bless her heart.

Here are the twins! Aren't they the cutest things? So different and yet  .....

KK started middle school also. I love how protective she is of her sweet little brother Liam.  It was his first day of school also.

Linda wrote, "1st day went well. All love their teachers, even Abi!!"  Barbara's grandson Michael will be in the 8th grade this year. Oh my goodness - his poor Mom is having a hard time.  I am still having a hard time with Page going to middle school so I can definitely relate. Whew - I just got the past three days caught up.  I cancelled my acupuncture appointment for today.  I feel bad about cancelling again since I cancelled one last Monday. Hopefully I will start feeling a little better if the Tussein starts to work.  Dwight went down to Gigi's to help Pam and Leif move some stuff this weekend. He brought home a box of older pictures and today we scanned the ones we wanted. He said there are more so hopefully he will bring some back when he returns these. I'll share them as we go along.   

Yesterday.....

I started taking Tussein again yesterday - just two small doses a day to see if getting rid of some of this mucous will help me stop getting so sick every day. I am tired of feeling so bad all the time. Debbie came by before the meeting to pick up the pimento cheese Dwight had bought her.  She was looking forward to taking it home to snack on. She also wanted to let me know she would not be able to go to the coast any time soon.  I certainly understand.  She will celebrate her 25th year of pioneering at the end of this month.  She has been such a good example to so many but especially to me.  I listened in to the meeting and enjoyed Dwight's talk. He really is an good speaker. The WT study was excellent. I used the WT I had downloaded and studied really well. I'm going to start doing it that way awhile.  After I  mark it, I can send it to my Kindle which I will take to the meetings. It will cut down on how many books I have to take to the meetings which will be a big help for me.

I had let Toni know I had two Saree's that were given to me by a former BS of Vera's. She had even showed me how to wrap them. I found a site on-line that shows many different ways to wear them and shared that with Toni too. The one above is the more formal of the two and is big enough to wrap in many exotic ways. I find it to be heavy so would probably only wear it in cooler weather.

I love the vibrant color of this one and it is much lighter. The fabric is very nice and the color looks great on Toni.

I also gave her this poncho. I either bought it from a shop in Chapel Hill that sold cool items from countries like Peru or my ex-boss brought it to me from one of her trips overseas when she bought her own. Either way, I have only worn it several times and feel Toni will get more use out of it.

Clay and Dwight got caught up with their fishing stories and at my request, he went back and looked at the tile around my tub. I was going to see if he would remove and re-do it but he and said it could be fixed so that it will look much better. He doesn't really do tile work anymore and has started his own business so I hope he will be able to find the time. He said he might could do it on Wednesday.  As I was writing this and looking at the pictures, I remembered that I was the coordinator for their wedding.  It rained that day and we had some mishaps in the dressing room but everything worked out beautifully and the reception was very nice.  At the end of they day - they were "hitched".