Saturday, March 31, 2007

First thing Sunday morning Amber and I and my sis-in-law Tammy and her two kids are heading to Kentucky to see Rachel and kids! We'll only be gone a few days. Everyone stay well!

Monday, March 26, 2007

Outdoor Observations


Today was another very lovely day here. The temperature reached the high 70's according to my outside thermometer. I spent as much time as possible outside just enjoying it while I could.

After a dinner of meatloaf, baked potato and green beans, I grabbed my after dinner french vanilla flavored coffee and headed out to the back yard to catch a few more rays of sunshine before the sun sets and enjoy the bird sightings and peacefulness.

I love to watch birds. We have a pair of red-headed wood peckers that seem to have set a nest up in one of the hollow trees in the small wooded area behind our yard. The male was hopping around the tree in what looked like some kind of a dance, but I suspect he was gathering bugs to feed the female who stayed inside the tree where I suspect their nest to be. He would return to the hole every so often and stick his head partially in the hole and remain there a few minutes and then begin his 'dance' once again. I guess it's probably rather mundane musings to most of you, but I find it fascinating to watch them unobserved. They are not close enough for me to take a picture and my digital doesn't have any zoom control on it. It's a starter digital, and I now think I am going to need to upgrade just for this reason. Since my camera isn't capable of photographing them so far away, this picture is one I found on the web but it looks almost exactly like the ones in the wooded area.

I also saw several blue jays and there are two sets of cardinals living in this same wooded area. There were a zillion robins out there searching for worms in the yard and some of them were even brave enough to come within a couple feet of where the dog was sitting doing what she does best......keeping a watchful eye on her boundries!

The weather tomorrow is supposed to turn much cooler and they are predicting rain showers and thundershowers for the rest of the week. Oh well, I am grateful for the last two beautiful days that assure me that spring is eternal and will arrive as it always does.....in it's own good time!

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Meet Hunter! This is Amber's little brother, same dad - different mom. He was missing Daddy, so he came to spend the night with daddy. He's eating some left over birthday cake and some ice cream. It's a shame that these little ones are always made to suffer in a domestic break down. He is such a loving little boy.....he can be naughty, don't get me wrong, but for the most part he listens to Bumpa and Mema when we tell him something. Although we try to leave the discipline to 'Dad', sometimes we have to step in when dad is in another room or outside and doesn't see what is going on. But I would rather leave it all to dad so I can just be a "Grandma"!

In spite of all that this child has gone through in his home environment of domestic violence (condoned by the court systems from my point of view as they won't award my son the custodial parent) he is relatively unscathed! He does tend to break down and cry when he doesn't get his own way and it takes him a while to get over his 'attitude', for the most part he is a pretty happy-go-lucky kind of boy! He will be 5 the end of May and I'm sure we will be hosting a birthday party for him too!

Sunday, March 18, 2007

The Birthday ~ March 17th, 2007

The Chocolate Mint Cake with whipped frosting....and yes it's green for St. Patrick's Day!
Amber and her Daddy!



And what's a birthday without birthday balloons!

And opening up some presents!







We had pizza and crazy bread with sauce, soda, the birthday cake and cookie dough ice cream. Her daddy bought her a Boost Mobile cell phone. We got her 3 summer outfits and she got nail polish, craft items, and money from Aunt Tammy and Uncle Scot and their kids, Telyse and Kameron, a summer outfit from Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Heidi and their boys, Trenten and Ty, and another summer outfit from Aunt Michelle and Uncle Glenn, Steve, Emily and Drew, and another summer outfit from Uncle Brian, Aunt Vanessa and David, Elijah and Rebecca, and money from Uncle Joe, Aunt Roxanne and Deb and Denise. Her mom and step-dad got her some of those new fangled shoes with wheels in the heels, called Heelies!

Some of the guests:
She says this was her 'best birthday' so far. Of course it's only her 12th one....anyway, we hope you have many more Amber, and our wish is for all of them to be happy!

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Spring ?

Update: Well, they were wrong.....we didn't get the snow or even the rain for that matter....Yippee!



I was just outside walking around, looking at the new growth on the trees and bushes. This picture is outside my back door about 20 feet away. I can't believe how fast the buds on this maple tree are sprouting. I don't know how good the buds will show up against the pine tree but I think if you look close you will be able to see them. I think they look like red velvet!

I also saw some pussy willows, but I have to go to another area of the yard to take that pic and I didn't put a coat on, so I didn't want to stay out too long. It's not bad, almost 60ยบ. but not warm enough for me to be out there in just shirt sleeves. I know, I'm a wussy!

Most of the snow has melted now, except for the spots where it was deeply drifted or the snow was piled from shoveling/plowing. It is supposed to take a turn for the worse again with the return of winter weather for tonight and tomorrow. They predict that there might even be enough snow to shovel again......I HOPE NOT!
I'm more than ready for Spring to stay!

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

OWWWWW!!!!

I was awakened this morning with a severe pain in my right calf. I could hardly even move my leg it hurt so bad. So I jumped out of bed and fell right on the floor. I had such a knot in my calf about the size of a golf ball! Man.....that was terrible! I don't know what causes them. Some people say the lack of potassium and others say to drink plenty of water. I drink lots of water, and I eat food with plenty of potassium. Now what.....any ideas floating around out there?

The cardiologist did take me off one of my meds because that med was causing fluid retention in my feet and ankles but he didn't say anything about expecting some side effects from going off it.

Anyway, the knot is gone now but it remains very sore to just barely touch it. It's seriously going to hamper my walk today!!!!

Friday, March 09, 2007

Echo-cardiogram.....piece of cake!

There really isn't anything to one of these. I suspect it's basically the same thing as an ultra-sound they do on pregnant women to check on the baby. They didn't have ultra-sound when I had my kids. Or at least if they did have them, they weren't done routinely. So I asked the gal doing the echo if it was a boy or a girl? She looked at me rather strangely and replied, and I quote "it's not a baby, it's a heart!" Some people just don't have any sense of humor!!!!

I asked her if she could tell me anything and her response was, and again I quote, "I don't do the doctors job of revealing the results and he doesn't do my job of operating the echo-cardiogram machine." SORRRRRY! I think she needs to find a new job.

I did get the results of my stress test though. It is the same as before, nothing has changed. So unless this echo shows something other than what the doctor thought it would, I am good to go for another year anyway before I have to go and visit them again.

Thursday, March 08, 2007

Test Completed



Well, here I am. Back home from my stress test. This was a totally different kind than I have had before. I still had to walk on the treadmill, but since they couldn't get my heart rate up where they wanted it during the last test, they opted to do a chemical stress test. They inject the chemical directly into an IV in your arm....in fact they run a new line into the IV, sort of like a piggyback line. It makes your heart rate rise.....FAST and you feel really hot and short of breath and you think you can't get enough oxygen into your body. It makes you feel really funny, almost drunk like.....light headed and disoriented. Then I got this terrific headache.....worse than any migraine I have ever had!! It lasted for about 2 hours. Thank goodness it is gone now.

I don't know if I passed or not. Their 'nuclear computer' wasn't working properly so they couldn't read the results. The doctor did say that from all the other information the gleaned today, it looked good. Except.....for when he listened to my heart. He heard a murmur that had never been there before. He thinks it is in the Aortic Valve and it isn't something terribly awful. Just something that I would need to take antibiotics for before any kind of medical or dental procedures. I have to go tomorrow for an Echo-cardiogram and then they will know more.

So after all this, I really still don't know anything.....except I am still alive because I'm sitting here typing!

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Stupid cold and stupid stress test!


Okay, here's the skinny.....I have a terrible head cold. At least it's still just a head cold although I am starting to cough, which is a bad thing at the moment. I'm scheduled for my yearly stress test tomorrow morning at 8:00 AM. Which means no caffeine for 24 hours prior to the test...can we say "CRANKY"!! So, here I sit feeling rotten, all cold and can't get warm, with the snow still falling outside.....where the heck is SPRING! And on top of that, I am without my car once again. Hubby's truck has decided to leak antifreeze and is torn apart in the garage in the process of being repaired! So, without my car, even if I felt well enough to go anyplace, I wouldn't be able to. Oh yeah, back to the coughing part.....if I am coughing, they can't do the stress test. The reason being that I will have to lie still for 30 minutes while they take pictures with some kind of scanner after the test and if one coughs, it makes the heart move and they can't get good pictures! I don't really want to do this stress test anyway, but as long as it's scheduled, I would just as soon get it done with. The thing is that I have only passed two of these stress tests in the last 14 years. When I fail them (and I'm not sure if any studying will help) the cardiologist seems to think that he needs to do another heart catheterization to see if everything is working correctly or if the test was just a fluke!

So, I guess I should just stop complaining now......it isn't doing any good anyway....it's still cold and snowy outside, I still feel like crap and I still have to go without my coffee! Oh Calgon, take me away!!!!!

Monday, March 05, 2007

Happy Birthday, Dear Hubby, Baby Sister and Friend!

Here's a birthday cake for all of you, Dear hubby (March 4), baby sister (March 5) and my friend RJ (March 4)!

Really wish we could all be sitting around the same table sharing some of this birthday cake. I wouldn't even have to worry about the calories in the cake.......my theory is that if you're eating with friends, there are no calories involved!(It's my story and I'll tell it the way I want to).

So, I hope all of you had or will be having a nice time for your birthdays! May you all have many more and may they all be happy!!!

Friday, March 02, 2007

One of Childhood's Joys

Remember when as a kid you were allowed to lick the bowl? That's what Amber is doing here ~ licking the bowl and spatula after she made brownies. I just had to take a picture of her before she finished licking and washed her face! This sweet 'tween' will turn 12 on St. Paddy's Day. She is going to have a slumber party here that night. But around 4:00 PM we will have her cousins and aunts and uncles over for some pizza, followed by birthday cake and ice cream.

Amber's mom informed me that they will be moving in a few months. Farther north than they live now; approximately 86 miles north. Which means we won't be seeing her as much. :( If we were to pick her up on Friday and take her back home Sunday evening we would be driving about 345 miles for two round trips. Not that she isn't worth it....she IS! It's just with the price of gas and the amount of time spent traveling we would be better off if we could get her during vacations so we could keep her longer than 2 days.

Well, I need to go and tuck this little sleeping beauty on my couch in her own bed before it gets too much later. Maybe, I'll just watch her sleep for a few more minutes before I wake her enough to walk to her bed........sleep tight, all! ZZZZZZ