Stuff and more stuff!

Well, I finally received a call from the doctor that performed my colonoscopy. The office called this morning and informed me that the biopsy came back benign. I was confident that it would. The gal calling also told me that the Doctor would like me to remember to call and schedule another one in two years. YEAH......RIGHT!!!! I told her I understood and hung up and started laughing really hard. There is no way in HELL that I am ever going to do that again. The preparation for it is soooo terrible and I will not subject myself to it again. If they can come up with some other way to get the 'cleaning job' done, maybe I'll consider it....but if not....I'll just keep laughing ever time they try to schedule one. Enough said about that!

Are all of you prepared for the little gremlins and goblins that will be appearing on your door step tomorrow evening? I am totally looking forward to seeing the little ones dressed up in their Halloween best! Heidi (my dil) and Jeremy did pumpkins with their boys last evening and she took some pics of the big event.
The biggest boy is Trenten and he will be 6 on Sunday. The little guy is Ty who is 5 months old. Ty is our fourteenth grandchild! And the fourteenth is just as precious and special as the first one was! I thought that Naive would have sent me a picture of Drew carving his first pumpkin too, but she may have just gotten too busy to get on her computer and send it to me.

I will have pictures tomorrow of my little 'gremlins' dressed in their costumes as they come trick-or-treating to Mema's house. I will post them as soon as I can.

You all be careful.....and watch out for low flying witches and black cats!!

Cackle, cackle!

Full Circle

Okay, it's almost November. November in our household means deer hunting! Hubby is leaving Monday the 13th for his annual trip to the U.P. Last year was a bad year for deer hunting. Yes, he got his deer, but as many of you will remember he also had a heart attack back in the woods, 4 hours from the nearest hospital. Let's hope this year is better!

I have a beef about hunting this year though. Although our freezer is almost devoid of venison and as much as we could use the meat, I don't really want him to leave this early and be gone for so long this year. The last few years I haven't minded him going for 2 weeks. But the last few years we also had been able to spend quite a bit of time together before he went. Not so this year. For whatever reasons, this year we haven't spent much time together recently, one on one! I know the reasons, but there is no point in going into them here and no point in hashing them over once again. Suffice it to say, that I am feeling rather alone and lonely even though I have many loved ones living in close proximity to me. I'm sure it has a lot to do with the same old issue of not feeling that closeness, that connectedness (new word?) to each other. I've been feeling this lack of being connected for some time now. I don't know if he's not feeling well or is just tired from working so much overtime. I think it isn't that he doesn't feel well though. It just seems like he doesn't have time or isn't willing to make the time for 'us'! Like he is so sure of 'us' that he no longer has to invest time in 'us'. I believe that it's a good thing to be sure of your partner but on the other hand, it's not a good thing to think that just because you are secure in your love for one another that you don't have to stay close and connected. It still takes work and he isn't working at it right now.

Dang....I miss him already and physically he hasn't even left yet.

I thought that writing and venting would make me feel better but it hasn't. Maybe I didn't vent powerfully enough!

The Birthday Boy !

Just got back from Drew's Birthday party. The little lad is now 2! The picture is of Drew and his Mom blowing out the birthday candles (he needed help) and his big brother Steve. Hub didn't go; he isn't feeling well. Heidi also is ill and couldn't make it, but we had a good time anyway.

I think 2 year olds are overwhelmed with large groups of people. He didn't really know what to make of it all. But it was close to bedtime too, so he was getting a bit tired and just a little cranky! But he was still a good boy. He liked his presents and wanted to play with the toys and pushed the clothes aside. Very typical of a child.....Mom and Dad liked the clothes though!

The party was a "Nemo" theme since he is fascinated with anything Nemo right now. In fact, when I had him 2 days this week, we watched the Nemo movie 8 times in those two days! Bumpa and I gave him an outfit and also a big squishy Nemo. His brother and sister gave him 'Bruce' and 'Dorie' and a Nemo plate, bowl and glass. He also received a Nemo book, some Nemo cling-on stickers for the window or mirror, more clothes, cars (another favorite of his right now) and a big car set from Mom and Dad. I'm sure I've forgotten to mention some of the things but if this was all he received he was still doing good! Happy Birthday Drew!!!

Procedure completed and home again.

Just a short post as I am still very groggy. I wanted to thank you all for your good wishes, thoughts and prayers. The preparation was really the worst part since I slept through the actual procedure. Thank goodness for medication!

They found several small polyps and they were removed and sent in for biopsy and I should know the results of those in about a week. Sorry to be so short, but I really need to go and sleep some more.

Thanks again!

Preparing......

Okay, it's Sun. Oct. 22 at 12:21 AM and I have started preparing for a medical testing procedure to be done early Monday morning. I don't want to go into great detail about what it entails. Suffice it to say that the procedure won't be done from the waist up. Nelly works for doctors who do this all the time. If they email you with questions, Nelly, just ignore them!

So from here on until after the procedure Monday morning, I am allowed no solid food. Only clear liquids, which can include broth, jello, coffee, tea, soda, fruit juices without pulp, popsicles, Kool-Aid and hard candy.

On top of all this I have to take some medication that will flush my system "sparkling clean". I believe I will be up most of the night with the 'cleaning my system' part of it. So, not only will I be grumpy from being hungry, I will also be grumpy from lack of sleep!

I originally thought that we would just leave the house on Sunday early afternoon and go for a long ride to distract my thoughts from my deprivation from food, but I have been told by others who have had this procedure done that that will not be a viable option for me as I will need to remain very close to the porcelain facilities for the afore mentioned cleansing! GREAT!!

Since I didn't get any response from anyone who was willing to go to my mammie mashing in my place, there is no need to ask for volunteers for this either, right? All righty then.......see ya later!!!

Birthdays, Birthdays, Birthdays.......

This is the month that we have the most birthdays. Our daughter, Naive, turned 38 yesterday. I don't remember getting old enough to have a child that old....something must be drastically wrong for this to happen! One of our granddaughters is turning '3' today. She's pictured on the right.....a little cutie, and I'm sure the only reason her parents have let her live to be three! We will have cake and ice cream tomorrow night for her and give her birthday presents then. I talked to her on the phone this morning and wished her a Happy Birthday and she said, and I quote, "I got make-up on and I'm big today!" Little things make three year olds happy ..... put a little make-up on a three year old girl and everything's right with the world! At least, her world!!


On the 26th of this month, our little Drew will turn "2"! He is one of the sweetest little boys I know....of course I could be just a little partial. Drew shares a birthday with one of my nephews. Drew is pictured in the photo above with Naive and Mr. Naive.

On the 8th of October, our youngest son turned 27! I don't know how that happened either! Here is a photo of Jeremy....
As you can tell by the photo, Jeremy may have turned 27, but he's still 16 at heart!

My husband's Grandmother turned 89 on Friday the 13th; my great-niece in Colorado will turn 18 on the 28th and my first born niece's husband will add another year to his life on the 30th.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ONE AND ALL!!!

Dentist Office

Hubby visited his dentist yesterday. He had some extensive dental work done requiring him to remain home all of yesterday. He came home with a script for some pain medication which I took to the pharmacy and had it filled for him. The pain medication makes him sleepy not long after taking it. He will be home from work today as well. One can not work if one can not remain awake! He is pretty miserable anyway. His face is quite swollen and without the medication he is in a considerable amount of pain. I'm certain he will return to work Wednesday.....at least I hope so. I love him and I feel sorry for him, but dang, he really interferes with my normal routine. See, it's all about me! Just kidding....I really do feel sorry for him. I am taking good care of him......soup, jello and anything else that he feels he can eat. I am tired though.

The night before his dental work, one of our sons called and asked me if I would take him to the emergency room. He was running a temp of 105 degrees and he said something was swollen on the roof of his mouth. His significant other couldn't take him without waking up their small children and dragging them along, so what's a mom to do except get dressed and make the ER trip. After he received a shot of an antibiotic in the right buttock (which was good for a lot of moaning and carrying on by him and a stifled chuckle by me) and a written RX for some more antibiotics and some pain medication, I returned him to his house and came home. I got home about 1:30 AM.

I'm thinking that in another day or so, they both need to share their pain meds with me......I'll be ready for a much needed rest by then!

MICHIGAN CHILL

This photo is from a ride last Sunday. It was a beautiful day and probably the very last day that we, here in Michigan, will have temps in the 70's and so much sunshine this year! It was really nice.

This week has been very chilly and breezy. The temperature dropped down to below freezing on a couple of nights and we have had frost/freezing warnings and high wind advisories posted. The winds have caused many of the colorful leaves to begin an early descent toward the ground. Hence, many of the trees are "naked" at the top while sporting a full array of color around their mid-section. I don't know why, but this reminds me of a groomed poodle! Strange, I know....but sometimes I'm just strange. Some of the trees are just plain bare at this point and still there are a few that haven't even begun to change color. I suspect that those that haven't turned already are in the oak family and they usually turn brown anyway.

We are finally warm in our house again. Thanks to the 'furnace doctor' and being $3200.00 poorer. But it is well worth it to know that we won't have to worry about it for the rest of this winter at least.

Hope you all stay warm!!

Halloween Swap!!

My Halloween Swap partner Mary Anne sent me these lovely goodies. She couldn't have known that today was the perfect day for them to arrive! We just found out that we need a new boiler/heating system at a cost of $3200. And we need it today! And just two days ago, Hubs truck starter quit working and we discovered that my car needed two new tires, pronto, for safety!

It was just the most cheerful thing that could have happened to me after that bit of bad news. The package contained candles, a witch wind sock, a light up pen, some pumpkin faced candle holders, wonderful stickers I can use in my scrapbooking (they will be an added bonus near the pictures I have taken of the items!), a Halloween wall decoration, and an adorable little bear wearing a witch hat, a lovely little pumpkin decoration, and some really cute little stickers that she had adorned the package with. It all came wrapped in orange and black tissue paper with the pumpkin stickers attached. And enclosed was a nice little note from my newest friend. Very lovely, indeed. Thank you so much, Mary Anne, and keep your eyes peeled for your Halloween package!

THE LAST NICE SUNDAY OF THE YEAR ?

Well, the weekend of the big "Blogarita Festiva" is now a thing of the past. Hopefully it will become an annual event with some other family get togethers thrown in, like a picnic or something.

I understand that some of the lovely(?) ladies saran wrapped my garage door! Hubby is the one who found it at 3:30AM Sunday morning while trying to leave for work. He opened the garage door and his first thought was (remember it was very early in the morning and he was still a bit fuzzy from not getting enough sleep) 'what kind of a spider makes a web like that?' When he told me what his first thought was I couldn't help but laugh at him....sorry, hubby! So I didn't even get to see it. I am told that they took pics of it though and I can't wait to see the pics!!

I didn't get to hang out with the 'girls' very much due to the fact that another grandchild, Amber, was here for the weekend and she arrived from school with a temp of 101.3. So, I couldn't very well go over to Naive's
and leave a sick child here alone nor could I take her with me to infect everyone over there.

By Sunday, Amber was no longer feverish although she was still coughing, so we went for our ride to the lakeshore and walked on the beach. Then out to dinner and back to Amber's home to drop her off and then to stop at our son, Jeremy's home to have birthday cake and ice cream to help celebrate his 27th birthday.

Now I am anxiously awaiting new posts from Clew, Chesney Girl and Nelly to see what they thought of the weekend!

Miss you girls already!!!

This picture is for Drib.....

The girls had me take this picture for the Dribbler .......no offense intended. I can't post pics of their faces until I get permission from all of them to do so. Don't want any lawsuits on my hands!!! LOL So this will have to do for now....they all stopped by for a short visit with me while Naive was dropping Drew off so they could go out to lunch and, God only knows, what other mischief they were planning on getting into! I had a veggie tray and dip and some festive mini cupcakes waiting for them. You know, to tide them over until they reached their destination.

I didn't get to hang out with them last night because Amber came for the weekend and arrived with a temp of 101.3 and coughing. Maybe today she will be feeling better and Bumpa can stay with her while I spend some time with them scrapping. I sure hope so.....I want to get some more pictures for blackmail.....er, I mean for my scrapbook too!

One last walk on the beach!

This weekend is supposed to be lovely here in West Michigan. Sunshine and temps in the high 60's to mid 70's.

I would love to take a ride to the lakeshore with hubby and walk on the beach for one last time this year. I find walking on the beach very romantic and relaxing. All except for having to listen to the noises the gulls make trying to entice us to feed them something.

The ride to the lakeshore is always pleasant too. The way we take goes through many forests and small wooded areas and the colors should be beautiful with the sun shining on the different colors of leaves and foliage.

And another added bonus.....because it will take up most of the day, hubby will take me out to dinner! What more can a girl ask for on a beautiful autumn day!

Hope the rest of you have a great Sunday, too!

Been here and gone....where was I?

Hey, I just realized that I had an anniversary last month. On the 29th, I had been blogging for a whole year. It came and went un-noticed by me! How come I didn't remember...was I too busy, what was I doing that day?

Oh, that is the day of the cold air funnels over the Big Lake and the out of season tornado warning. No wonder I didn't remember.

I should have baked a cake or something to celebrate....oh well, too late now.

Happy Blogsversary to me.....a few days late!!

RIDE FOR COLOR!

October 1st and we went on our first color tour ride this season.

We took Amber with us and one of our nieces, Telyse. She is 9 1/2 but she and Amber have always played really well together and we thought if Amber had someone to help keep her occupied, she might not complain and get bored as easily. We were partially correct.....she didn't get as bored but instead of having one little girl to complain about things we ended up with two!

Fifteen minutes into the ride they complained that they were thirsty. I repeated to them that I had asked them if they wanted to bring something to drink along and both had told me "no". I guess I misunderstood. "No" meant they didn't want anything to drink that we had at home, they wanted us to stop and buy them something. I laughed and told them that they would have to wait. We would be stopping to have some lunch in a while and they could get something to drink then.

As we looked at the red, yellow, orange and mauve leaves, they played tic-tac-toe in the back seat and some other games. Hey, they were quiet and that was a good thing! Then they started talking about hearing stories of when their moms and dads were little and had to endure hours spent riding in the car and inevitably ended up arguing in the back seat. So they started THE GAME. You know, the one where one says "She's touching me, make her stop touching me!" and the other responds with "She's looking at me, tell her not to look at me!" When they are just playing it isn't so bad....but we know it always escalates into the real thing, don't we Moms and Dads?! Sure enough, that's exactly what happened...after one of them said "She's breathing my air!", I told them that is enough and to stop it and get along or we wouldn't be stopping for any food. Success! Now they weren't even speaking to one another.....ah, it was bliss.....nice and quiet for a few miles until they once again became friends and chatted amicably in the back seat for the duration of our outing.

We stopped and ate and then headed back to drop Telyse off at her house and then came home. Normally Amber would go home on Sunday evening so she wouldn't miss school Monday morning, but she doesn't have school Monday, so she will be staying with us and I will take her home sometime on Monday.....unless she talks me into one more night and I drive her to school on Tuesday! She's a good talker.......