encouraging news and old friend

I know - two entries on the same day! Hard to fathom isn't it? I just wanted to share a picture I received from an old friend today so Kelly can see it too.

He sent an email to some of their friends asking us to get them caught up on what's been going on and sent the picture with the message. I told him I love the moustache and I do. It was so good hearing from him and his dear sweet wife. I also got some great news from my neighbor whose son is at Bethel and has been most of his adult life. I really appreciated him sharing the information with me and everyone else will be hearing it soon. Dwight turned the heat so that it will come on if it gets below 68 degrees which I'm sure it will. I'm so glad we have our new system. We have not be disappointed at all. Have saved tons of money. My neighbor mentioned they might turn their gas logs on and it hurt my heart. I know we had decided to not get them for all the right reasons but I've been wanting them so long. Now that GG doesn't live here any longer, we can't even go down and enjoy her huge wood burning fireplace like we used to. She would always call us for the first fire and we really loved it. I miss her and can't wait to see her next month.

cold rain, flowers, family and motorcycles.....

Woke up to a cold, rainy and dreary day today. Alice called me and asked me to listen to her meeting over the phone because her dear hubby was doing the WT so I did. I let Debbie know that was what I was doing so she wouldn't worry. It is supposed to be pretty cool today and tomorrow but start warming up a little bit on Tuesday with the high being 66 degrees that day. I guess we can say Fall is "officially" here.

I snatched a few pictures from my nephew off FB and love this one of Sidney with Ryan Kelly at Duke. It is so funny because my nephew is a Tar Heels fan and his dad Sidney is a Duke fan. What was nice is my nephew took him to a game at Duke that day and took the picture. Look at his smile.

He also took these two pictures of my sister Alice on his motorcycle, Beauty. He and his sister call her Big Al - the funniest part of that being just how tiny she is. She has watched her weight her entire life and now can't gain a pound to save herself. Dwight went to Costco today to pick up some Ensure for next week. When he got ready to leave he said, "do you need anything?" and I said "No, but you can buy me some flowers if you want to" and he said, "Yeah - right".

He walked in the door about 20 minutes ago and said "you need to start checking the toilet seat". I'm like - "Why"? He said, "because I bought you flowers" and I'm like, "are you kidding, that is so sweet!" Then he said - "why? you told me to" and that folks is about as romantic as it gets around here. LOLOLOLOL I was still thrilled though because I do love fresh flowers - any kind. I used to order flowers and have them sent to my office just to brighten up my day. Of course everyone was asking who sent them and I always told them the truth...I did. The last time I had flowers delivered to someone locally, I was very disappointed in the flowers for the amount of money they charged. Anyway, I guess I had better start checking the toilet seat now. 

iPhones.....and stuff.

Okay, Kelly is going to die laughing when she reads this. My sister Faye text messaged me Thursday and told me she was picking me up and taking me to buy an iPhone yesterday. She said I deserved an iPhone more than anyone she knew. I called her and told her I loved my little phone and didn't really have the money to buy an iPhone. She went on to tell me she felt the same way but her son-in-law walked her through it and she LOVES it now. She told me how they had a special and with the charger, case and everything, it wasn't but a little bit over $200.00. She also wanted to take me to lunch for some soup.  Dwight encouraged me to go with her and look at them since one of his friends and his wife had just bought them and loved theirs.  Mind you - the reason there is a deal on them is they are the iPhone 4 and not the new iPhone 5. I guess they will be cheaper until they are gone.

Anyway, she and her daughter took me and convinced me to get one. Since the contract on our phones was up awhile back, guess what? I got my iPhone FREE! Yep - bought the expensive case, a charger for the car and a few other things and only spent $117.00. I started having second thoughts right away. Then I got home and realized they had not given me my old phone back. Evidently they recycle them now. Yikes - I've had that sweet little phone for years and my whole life was in it. I could text messages without even looking at it. So I guess I'm going to have to get used to it. Yeah - I decided to go with the white one. I am so hoping Matt will have time to help me next week so I can use it fully.   I was also very excited to have some visitors today!

My beautiful Katrina, her handsome hubby and two beautiful children came by after a funeral they attended. It was so nice to see all of them. She is 5 months now and looks radiant. She always does anyway. She and her hubby assure me I will eventually love my new phone. We'll see. We have had some really warm days this week but according to the forecast, that will end tomorrow. It is supposed to get only to 61 degrees tomorrow. I had already decided I need to take the small brown lap throw with me to the KH for the meetings. I get so cold in there it isn't funny. Thursday I ended up with my pashmina across my legs and feet, Linda's pashmina across my arms and chest and Abi's little denim jacket across my stomach and I was still cold. I started feeling quite sick so Debbie brought me home a little early.

A few last pictures before everything starts turning brown. We seem to have much more grass toward the back yard this year. There is still one bald place toward the back of the yard but the rest of it is really green.

This just might be the best picture I've captured of Rex next door. I've told Alton I would love to meet him up close one day. I wonder how Miya would react to me having the scent of a dog on me? Little KK fell totally in love with Miya today and for once, Miya seemed to be on her best behaviour.

Sister and niece.....

My sister Faye and her lovely daughter came to visit with me today and I truly enjoyed them. They brought their lunch and I had a few bites of Faye's Taco Soup and a few bites of her BBQ pork. They also walked the driveway with me before heading back out.

I pulled this picture of Faye and her hubby from pictures on Facebook taken at the rehearsal dinner of her grandson a few weeks ago.

I pulled this older picture of her lovely youngest daughter from some old family pictures I had scanned. I showed them a lot of the pictures I've scanned so far. They both want to come over when Kelly is here a few days in several weeks. I did let them know she will be here only a short period of time though. The weather is a little yucky right now - hot and very humid. I got cool earlier and put my bathrobe on but now I'm sweating and getting ready to strip.

I also "snatched" this picture of Marlan from FB. I thought it was a really good picture of her with her friend/co-worker/boss Sherry.

And this is sweet Miya's back while she was sleeping on me. I love the colors of her hair which is a good thing since I wear it everywhere I go.  So today was an okay day all in all.  I also heard from my dear friend in Hawaii tonight.  She is going to have surgery on her hip because the pain has finally gotten so bad, she can't endure it any longer - even with drugs.  They had their house torn down and re-built and they are back in it now.  She lives downstairs and her daughter, son-in-law and grandson live upstairs so it works out well for her.  She hopes to be able to come see me next year.  We'll see.  I would like to see her.  She has been a loyal friend through the years.   

Good friends........

So here we are on the second day of the 10th month of the year. Autumn has always been a great season of the year - a welcome respite from the oppressive heat our area experiences during the summer months. Our neighbors asked us if we wanted to go with them to visit Ennis last night. We had already decided we were going today after my acupuncture appointment so Dwight said we would wait. I am so glad we did. Evidently Ennis has been non-responsive for awhile now but today she was wide awake, smiling and talking. You have to get down close and listen really good but she answered me and I understood what she said for the most part. Especially when she told me she loved me. She even ate some ice cream and applesauce they said. I know it can change again on a dime but I'll just be happy and appreciate it for what it was to me - a wonderful gift. To see her beautiful eyes light up as she smiled and tried to answer made me very happy.

This is another thing that made me smile today. I got a card from my sweet friend Katrina from when they were all at the beach last week. It was so sweet of her to think of me.

As you can see from the picture, her little baby bump is really starting to show. She had pictures of her latest ultrasound on her blog this week. I can't wait to meet her little girl when she is born. I don't think they have a name planned yet but I'm sure this little one will be just a special as her other two babies are.  My friend Marlan has truly been blessed with a wonderful family.  I'm still scanning pictures and finally finished with the first box.  Dwight was just telling me he is starting to get excited thinking about our upcoming week in November down
at Outer Banks. He talked to GG on the phone for a little bit tonight and said she sounds really good. He told her we were coming down and she was happy to hear it.  I'm looking forward to my appointment next Tuesday with my Radiation Oncologist. I'm going to start trying to come off the oxycodone.  Kelly thinks it is time and I have to agree. Hopefully I can do it in a way that doesn't cause me too much distress. I love the picture on the left I scanned of Jen and Kelly when they were down at the cottage one weekend some years ago. They pulled the sofas closer together, put all their junk food and "drinks" between them and watched a lot of TV together. A perfect girls weekend.

Another picture that makes me smile is this one of Max. He belonged to Douglas and Jessie and was absolutely the sweetest cat in the world. Everyone loved him as soon as they met him and he loved them right back. It was so hard when he died and I was actually very concerned for Douglas for a few weeks. I love all animals and especially cats but every once in a while, one comes along that steals your heart.

And this would be one of them - our dear sweet K.C. who was such a love from the day we got her. Dwight and I both cried like babies when she was killed. She is buried out back with so many others we've had through the years. Another Tuesday has come and almost gone....good night.

Last day of the Ninth month of 2012

Wow - this year is winding down. Dwight went fishing this past Wednesday and came home Friday morning. I was happy that Geral was able to spend both nights with me. She took me to my acupuncture appointment on Thursday and asked a lot of questions. She didn't bring clothes for the meeting so we listened in on Thursday night. Matt gave the part about our young people and at the end, he just talked from his heart and it was wonderful. Alice and Sidney also visited me on Thursday which was nice. Miya climbed up on Sidney and won his heart. We have lost several people to death these past few weeks. I'm beginning to think this is going to be something that happens more often as we get older. Never easy though, no matter what age you are. Sweet Patsy brought me home from the meeting today. I was worn slap dab out when I got home. My tongue is still doing it's thing every day and yep - it is getting old. We had some visitors at the meeting today which was nice.

I sent this picture to my neighbor today asking him if he can remember about what year it was taken. I'm almost sure it was around 1979 though. I think I was working for the Patent Attorney or had already joined TRW Environmental Engineering. As I said - I'm almost sure it was around that time.

I believe this one was taken in the early 80's on a trip to NY. This is at Wallkill. I'm not sure which trip it was. They all seem to run together. I have another one from another trip and have pants on in that one too. That was before we had to stop wearing pants for tours. I haven't been scanning very much this week but I need to get back to it. I picked up a 32gb flash drive to save all of them on. Today has been the first day that the coolness has stayed in the air all day. Please don't let it get too cold too fast. 

Was it really 12 years ago?

I am finding it hard to believe another year has gone by. At times it seems fast and yet, for me it has slowed down somewhat. I have really missed Page this year. Even when she was here the few times they came, she pretty much stayed away from me - not wanting to "bother" me as if that was possible. Of course we all enjoyed our time together last month at the beach but that seems so long ago now.

As mentioned before, her "other" grandmother has her pictures made on her birth date each year. Her Mom put them on Facebook last night so I snatched them so I could send them to Kelly today.

I'm not going to put all of them on here but thought I would add just a few of each outfit they had her wear.

I have been hoping we might get up to see them next month but to be honest, I'm not sure that is going to work out. I am so looking forward to seeing all of them together in November. Now to come up with a solution as to what we are going to do with Miya while we are gone. Whatever it is has to involve her getting her medication each night.

So out little girl is officially growing up - too fast. She seems to have settled in at her new school. Jessie is waiting to get her first report and will then know if things need to change. I am so hoping she has a good year and that it will prepare her for Junior High next year. Yikes!!!