What's outside your back door?

This is what a Michigan winter is supposed to look like!



We have been under a 'lake effect snow warning' for the last two days. The funny thing is, this time they were right. All of the schools in this area have been closed for the day. We have about 6 inches of new snow out there and it continues to snow ~ sometimes it's so hard you can hardly see the trees in the back yard and other times it is just a few flakes drifting softly and silently by the window.

Makes me more grateful for my fireplace and coffeemaker!!!!

Our little Drew was at the hospital Thursday for a stomach virus that left him dehydrated. Poor little man! He is on the mend, but he did SHARE with Naive and Mr. Naive. I spoke with them this evening and they are all starting to feel better except for extreme tiredness as a result of being so sick and not getting enough if any rest! Friday night she called and asked if I had any watermelon in the house....it was the only thing that sounded good to her. I told her I didn't but I would go to the store and get some and deliver it to her....I help when I can!

Our oldest son, Brian, came over for a visit on Saturday. He had his two boys with him, David (10)and Elijah (3). Normally Elijah sticks pretty close to his daddy while visiting but not this time. After several hours, Brian said they needed to head back to their house and Elijah immediately started crying and carrying on that he wanted to stay at 'Mema's house' and didn't want to go home. He ran to me and climbed up next to me and told me he wanted to stay. I held him for a few minuets and proceeded to tell him that if daddy said he had to go home then that is what he must do. I asked him if he wanted to go see his baby sister, Rebecca and his momma and he said NO. To make a long story short, he finally quit crying and decided he would go home this time.

On top of everything else going on with hubby, he had his yearly cardiac stress test done Thursday afternoon. He passed with flying colors and the cardiologist even changed some of his meds to generic ones to help keep our costs down. Yipee! Mine is scheduled for March 8th. Since I usually fail mine, please keep your fingers crossed and wish me luck!!!!

Never Ending Story ?

Well, hubby had what we thought would be one of his last dental visits today. We weren't very happy with what we were told. He has to go back to the oral surgeon one more time.

It seems that the last time the oral surgeon cut his jaw open to remove some bone growths, he didn't close it completely or correctly or the stitches didn't hold and let loose prematurely. Not that it matters why, the fact remains that he has to go back! The bone was left exposed and now that part of the bone is dead! So the dead bone now has to be removed! NICE!!!! And the only way to do that is to open up his jaw again and cut, chip, grind the dead bone away, and then sew it back together one more time.

Needless to say hubby is not at all pleased about this situation. I told him that what ever fee they think they are going to charge for this surgery will not be paid for by us. I don't care if the oral surgeon has to eat this bill.....the last one cost $1,498.00, we are not paying again. I'll take him to court before we will pay again! In fact, I think he owes us some money for all the suffering he has put hubby through. And poor hubby has no more time he can take off from work for this. So, like the last time, he will have it done late in the afternoon one day and return to work the following morning. And once again his diet will consist of soup and milkshakes.....oh, yeah.....and pain medication!

Tagged!

I've been tagged by Smalltown RN, who by the way, has a great blog. Stop in and visit her!


The 25 Question Meme



1. If you could build a house anywhere, where would it be? Somewhere in the Rocky Mountains near Denver.


2.What's your favorite article of clothing? I guess this time of year I would have to say my sweat pants and comfy fleece top!


3.Favorite physical feature of the opposite sex? I have to pick just ONE? How about eyes....followed by smile with tushy running close!


4.What's the last CD that you bought? Bought Christmas CD so I could play the Christmas carols I like whenever I wanted.


5.Where's your favorite place to be? Anywhere with my hubby.....but I prefer to be on a drive through the countryside with no destination in mind and hubby next to me!


6.Where is your least favorite place to be? Stuck in a traffice jam!


7.What's your favorite place to be massaged? Now, that is a hard one.....my back!


8.Strong in mind or strong in body? Another tough question...both I guess, although as I get older my mind and body seem to be falling apart at an alarming rate of speed! LOL


9.What time do you wake up in the morning? Usually around 4:30, but I go back to bed after an hour and sleep until around 7:00.


10. What is your favorite kitchen appliance? My coffee maker!


11.What makes you really angry? Meanness!!!

12.If you could play any instrument, what would it be? I play the piano but I would love to play guitar.


13. Favorite colour? Blue!!!


14.Which do you prefer...sports car or SUV? An SUV.....I can go four-wheeling then!


15. Do you believe in an afterlife? Yes, of course I do.


16.Favorite children's book? "Stand Back Said the Elephant, I'm going to sneeze!"


17. What is your favorite season? Spring, but I like them all really!


18. Your least favorite household chore? Cleaning the glass doors on the fireplace!


19.If you could have one super power, what would it be? The ability to heal!


20.If you have a tattoo, what is it? I am such a scardy-cat....I will never have a tattoo! I know....wimpy, huh?


21.Can you juggle? Only tasks, not any objects!


22. The one person from your past that you wish you could go back and talk to? There are three people and I can't choose just one...they are my deceased mom and dad and my late-first husband!


23. What's your favorite day? Any day that hubby and I can spend the whole day together with nothing we have to do!


24. What's in the trunk of your car? Spare tire, jumper cables, blanket, windshield washer fluid, some tools.


25. Which do you prefer, sushi or hamburger? Since my allergy to shellfish made it's arrival, I don't eat any fish, so hamburger it is!


I tag:

V

RiverRat

Tracy

Connie

Copy and paste this into your site and answer the questions and please let me know so I can read your answers.

Turn around and they're grown!

Normally I would leave all bragging rights to parents. But since Naive is way too busy to post anything at all lately, I have the honor (or should I say....TOOK) of showing off her daughter dressed and ready to appear on the "Snowcoming" court at the basketball game Friday night.

How old do you think she is? She is 14 years old and will turn 15 the beginning of April. Really! That's all the older she is....she looks older though, right? I never, ever looked like that when I was 18 let alone 14! I say we put that girl in a cooler on ice somewhere for at least the next 4 years. I took this pic of her when they came to drop Drew off until they were done taking pics of her at the half-time festivities. Her brother is the one that I wrote about recently turning 18.

Yeah, I have to go now and pout and whine about getting older myself!

Dog Nights of Winter?

Now, I've heard of 'dog days of summer' but I've never heard of 'dog nights of winter' or anything close to that. Yet the past two nights, my beloved fur kid has decided that from 11:00 PM on, it is play time and is displaying the need to go 'outside' repeatedly. I don't mean two or three times. NO, I mean like every half hour. She doesn't squat and pee or hunch up and drop her poo. She runs around smelling the ground and the bushes. When I call her she does return to me and comes back in the house only to repeat this behavior again and again.

I know, y'all think I'm crazy to allow this bizarre behavior, but if I don't let her out, she stands in the middle of the family room, stomping her front paws and barks at me creating so much noise that I am sure she will wake hubby up! And believe me when I say I learned a long time ago not to wake hubby up when he is working overtime. He's worse than a she bear protecting her cubs!

We have just finished playing this nightly game and I told her this has to stop. She gave me a strange look, turned and ran upstairs to find her sleeping spot(See above photo). Well, at least we're done with this game for tonight. At least I hope so!!

Just Relaxing.....

and enjoying the quiet and tranquil Sunday morning. Amber is here, but at almost 12, she is fairly quiet and really doesn't make much noise. She's a cuddler in the morning and will sit for a long time next to me or Bumpa in front of the fireplace just watching the fire and looking at television.....and she didn't even want cartoons on this morning. She wanted to watch the Discovery channel which is one of my favorites too!

Bumpa slept in for a change. He needed it since he worked 6 days this week and had more oral surgery done Thursday late afternoon. The only thing bad about sleeping in for him is that he went too many hours without his pain meds and now he will be miserable until the pain meds he just took, kick in! Poor man. We thought that the oral surgeries were all behind him and then he went for one simple little procedure that would have been nothing for him, and they end up cutting his entire upper gum from one side to the other and grinding some bone growths off. OUCH....AGAIN! Now, this time he is done. Because he won't let them in his mouth again....no matter what. He is hungry every couple hours because all he can eat is soup and milkshakes and neither of these stick with him very long. I'm spending most of my time in the kitchen making soup or cleaning up. I don't mind though, it's the least I can do for him! Besides bring him his next round of pain meds before the last ones wear all the way off!

Things will be better tomorrow, I'm sure.....at least I HOPE !!!

Getting old....who me?

Today, the ninth of January, my oldest grandchild, Steven turned 18! EIGHTEEN.....how on earth did that happen? When did I get old enough to have a daughter old enough to have an 18 year old child? I don't feel old....maybe a little, but only on the outside....the inside still feels very young!

I sit here amazed at how fast time seems to slip by. I remember the day we were at the hospital awaiting the birth of this, our first grandchild. He was born by emergency C-section and I was the second one to hold him. His father was the first. I got to hold him before his Momma even did! His father's mom was also there, but she thought since I was the mother of the 'momma' I should hold him before she did. That was awfully nice of her as I know how eager she was to get her hands on this darling shared grandson. It was a little like holding my first child, this new baby's momma, all over again. He was so perfect, so loved, so wanted!

As he grew, slowly it seemed at first, he needed me to be his playmate when he came to stay at 'Grandma's' house while his parents occasionally went out or ran errands. Darkwing Duck was a popular cartoon at that time and this wonderful little boy was infatuated with this show. He pretended to be Darkwing Duck. On the show, Darkwing Duck (DW) had a sidekick called Launchpad. In Steven's interpretation of DW, he had his 'sidepick, Yawnchpad' (his words)! And I was Yawnchpad! I played along, a willing participant in his 3 year old fantasy! Not only a willing participant, but a willing participant who thoroughly enjoyed every minute of the 'pretending'!

Happy Birthday, 'Darkwing', with tons of love from your 'sidepick, Yawnchpad'!

Wow, it's quiet! Too quiet!

Okay.....the visit is over! I guess I need to tell Slick, Nelly, and Chesney Girl how sorry I am that they didn't receive the invite in the mail. I'm sure they must have gotten lost.....errr, yeah, that's it, that's what happened! Okay, not true!

Clew's hubby was coming up this way to pick up a snowmobile he had purchased and they thought it would be a great time for Clew, Mr. Clew and Incrediboy to visit Naive and family and get the boys together to see how they would react. There was only one problem...Drew had been sick and not sleeping at night for more than an hour or two and Naive and Mr. Naive were exhausted. Clew and Mr. Clew weren't due to arrive until between midnight and 1:00 AM. NO ONE wanted Naive and Mr. Naive and Drew to miss the chance to get some much needed rest and since I only live about a mile from Naive and Clew knows me already, it would be best if they stayed here Friday night.

They arrived between midnight and 12:30AM and Incrediboy woke up some and they stayed up for a short visit and then turned in. My hubby had to get up at 2:30AM to get ready for work and never even heard them come in. My dog, Prancer, didn't even bark......but they brought a 'KID' in and she loves kids!

I woke at 7:15 AM and decided to get up and turn the coffee pot on. They awoke shortly after around 8 AM and came down for coffee and a breakfast of pancakes and bacon. Everyone then showered and Mr. Clew left to drive to another city to pick up his snowmobile and Clew, Incrediboy and I waited for the call from Naive stating they were up and ready for company. So we headed over there to see how the boys would react to each other. They were a little shy at first and neither one wanted to share, but hey, they are only 2 and 3, what do you expect? They didn't do too badly and they settled down to play. I left to go home and await hubby's return from work.

A couple hours later, the phone rang and it was Naive telling me that they would all like to go out and get a bite to eat and the "boys" wanted to come to stay at "Camp Grandma" and would I take them. Of course I said 'yes' and they brought them over and then left to eat. The boys played well, and no one cried upon the parents departure......thank goodness!!! They had some supper and then played some more, but it was evident that they were both tired!

While watching Monster Trucks on TV, Incrediboy fell asleep on my lap and Drew just stood nearby staring at the TV. Naive then called to say they were in the driveway and we opened the big garage door to let them in.....and subsequently back out.

Now, my house is quiet....almost eerily so! I think I like the hustle and bustle of two little boys fighting over the same toy to this kind of quiet......maybe I'll have to borrow them again.....SOON!

Overnight Guests

OMG! I am so excited....I just found out that Clew and Mr. Clew and Incrediboy are going to head this way tomorrow evening and instead of staying with Naive when they arrive very late at night, they will be staying overnight with ME! Isn't that cool! I can't wait to see her again and this will be the very first time that I get to meet Mr. Clew and Incrediboy. I can't wait to see Drew and Incrediboy together and their reaction to each other on Saturday. Wouldn't it be wonderful if they hit it off as well as their 'mommas' did and they become fast friends forever too!

I am so looking forward to this and the enjoyment we will all reap from each others company once again!!!

Hurry Clew, I'm gonna have trouble waiting.......

Gerald R. Ford......

.....finally laid to rest in the spot he chose on a slight grassy hill with the river flowing by below outside the Gerald R. Ford Museum. It is a pretty site with some historical significance of its own. I believe they said it was originally the site of an Indian burial ground.

Quite a lot of excitement for the city of Grand Rapids! In yesterday's post I mentioned something about airplane sounds reverberating in the air. I have since found out what they were and what they were doing. They were the 21 jet airplanes practicing the fly by they were to preform at the close of the graveside service. They were back in full force this morning before the funeral began. The events today were running behind somewhat and the jets were in place, but because of the delay had to circle the area above our home and the nearby city of Wayland to the south of us. They even had to have a refueling plane in the air here to refuel the planes since they had to circle for such a long period of time. The sound of planes overhead is a bit unsettling to say the least. I think we are very fortunate to not have been in a war zone......I know the noise would have eventually gotten on my nerves if I had to live that way on a long term basis.

It was pretty awesome to see them all in the air though....in spite of the noise!

The Gerald R. Ford Museum is a building that hubby worked on with his ex-late father-in-law. His ex-late father-in-law was the general contractor for the construction of this building/museum and hubby worked for him at the time. The last job hubby did in this building was to vacuum the entire building and dust it so the occupants could smoothly move in.

Jan. 2, 2007

Today Gerald R. Ford arrives in Grand Rapids to be laid in his final resting place at the Gerald R. Ford Museum. I watched some of the funeral service on television from Washington DC earlier.

Now I am listening to the sky above my home in southwest Michigan reverberate with the sound of several airplanes. I wonder if this is what the skies over Hawaii sounded like on that fateful day in December now known as Pearl Harbor Day? It is not time for the plane to land at the airport in Grand Rapids several miles away from me as of yet. I can only assume that the planes in the sky are some form of security making sure it is safe for those landing at the airport to do so. They are not due to land until about 2:15 PM and the motorcade will proceed down Patterson,a street near the airport that will be closed to other traffic at around 2:00 PM. My hubby works near the airport and this street closure will effect his drive home. He gets out of work around 3:00 PM.....my thoughts are that he will be a bit late today.

Having had my first husband and the father of my children pass away back in 1975 I can understand how difficult this is and I can't help but think that Mrs. Ford just wishes all this were over and she could have some privacy. And yet, this is such an historical event that she must see the need to share it with the public.

Rest In Peace Gerald R. Ford