I have to share this with you

A guy is driving around the back woods of Montana and he sees a sign in front of a broken down shanty-style house: 'Talking Dog For Sale ' He rings the bell and the owner appears and tells him the dog is in the backyard.The guy goes into the backyard and sees a nice looking Labrador Retriever sitting there.

'You talk?' he asks.

'Yep,' the Lab replies.

After the guy recovers from the shock of hearing a dog talk, he says 'So, what's your story?'

The Lab looks up and says, 'Well, I discovered that I could talk when I was pretty young. I wanted to help the government, so I told the CIA. In no time at all they had me jetting from country to country, sitting in rooms with spies and world leaders, because no one figured a dog would be eavesdropping.' 'I was one of their most valuable spies for eight years running. But the jetting around really tired me out, and I knew I wasn't getting any younger so I decided to settle down. I signed up for a job at the airport to do some undercover security, wandering near suspicious characters and listening in. I uncovered some incredible dealings and was awarded a batch of medals.' 'I got married, had a mess of puppies, and now I'm just retired.'

The guy is amazed. He goes back in and asks the owner what he wants for the dog.

'Ten dollars,' the guy says.

'Ten dollars? This dog is amazing! Why on earth are you selling him so cheap?'

'Because he's a liar. He never did any of that stuff!"

An early Thanksgiving gift

We (me especially) had a great afternoon at work today! Down the road from our school, a new bridge is being built. Construction workers broke a water main and school was dismissed early!!! WOO HOO! Talk about a Thanksgiving gift!

Today is the only day we had school this week. Needless to say, attendance sucked! I had so many phone calls, notes, parents coming in, kids calling themselves off, kids calling their friends off and all kinds of craziness that I didn't know if I was up or down, coming or going, whatever!!

The students were sent home at 1:00, leaving me to finish my day without all the craziness and interruptions of this kind of day.

We (staff) have the option of taking Tuesday and Wednesday off. We could take compensatory time if we had it or we could work extra hours and take those off as we wanted. Now I'm a little strapped for sick leave (due to family issues, etc. over the years) and don't want to take my comp time in the event I need it later on in the year. Therefore, I was planning to work 4 extra hours so I could take off half a day on Wednesday. Since school let out early, my extra hours were made up before the day got late. Hurray!

Thank you construction workers, you made my day!

My guy is home!

Hurray! I brought my dear, sweet hubby home yesterday!!

The surgery went well, he's home and recuperating nicely. I want to share my good news with the world.

Dear Father in heaven, thank You so much for seeing to it that Rick was so well cared for. My human instincts lead me to worry, but I know You are in charge. I praise You for all you have done to bless my life, and the lives of my family members. Please continue to lay Your hands upon each of us and bring us health, well being and draw us closer to You. In the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ, Amen

Traveling between home and the hospital

Rick remains in the hospital. He's still on clear liquids and having his dosages of IV antibiotics. One of the doctors in Dr. Uhall's practice came to clear him for surgery (Dr. Uhall has the flu, so he's not seeing anyone for a while). Later in the morning the surgeon came and said he would be operating on Rick tomorrow, Monday.

At this time the surgery time is not scheduled. We will wait to hear that later today.

I came home to do some laundry, rake some leaves and put in a batch of banana muffins so that I'll have a healthy snack while I'm at the hospital tomorrow. I haven't gone to the restaurant/cafeteria there as yet, but maybe tomorrow I'll have to since I'll be there most of the day.

Rick is resting comfortably with the exception that every time he gets to sleep, someone comes in to take his "vitals" or give him a pill or check to see if he's gone to the bathroom! Ah, the joys of hospital stays!

No raking leaves THIS weekend...

Today's post is a quick one. I'm just home from the hospital long enough to get a shower, play with Gracie and give Lily a little love before going back to Rick.

He was up ALL night with what he thought was heartburn, but no...it's a blocked duct of his gall bladder. Poor boy was in lots of pain and after almost begging him, he allowed me take him to the hospital about 4 a.m.

He was given morphine; some ultra sounds and xrays were done. The verdict is his gall bladder is inflamed and he's developing an infection. Today they are giving him IV antibiotics. Tomorrow Dr. Uhall will evaluate him and clear him for surgery.

When I left him he was going to sleep. I'm home to pick up his pillow, his shaving kit, some nicotine gum and Lifesavers. He's on clear liquids, but was okayed to have the lifesavers and Sunny D.

More later.

Feeling better, finally

Happy Halloween

It's been a long haul. I've had the flu or some such nuisance and I've been off work for 6 days now. I still have the dibilitating cough, but it's not producing any dark phlegm anymore and the fever has been gone for a couple of days now.

We have a teacher at school whose husband has cancer. He was diagnosed late last spring and it's very serious. We folks at school often make meals for families dealing with such situations, but I don't usually make meals. Mostly because I don't cook much and I'm not the greatest cook in the world. However, I did volunteer to make a meal this time.

The family has three girls and when I asked the mom what they like to eat, she mentioned they LOVE macaroni and cheese and the meals that had been prepared for them were lots of meatloaf and other things, but no one had made mac and cheese. WELL NOW, mac and cheese is right up my alley and I make a "mean" mac and cheese. So, here's how my menu goes...

Brains Au'Gratin (macaroni and cheese)

Spooky Tidbits (buttered veggies)

Haunted Moons A'Rising (dinner rolls)

Goblin Delights (cupcakes)

I made some halloween napkins, pictured below. Not the greatest pictures, it's really gloomy outside and my indoor lighting leaves a bit to be desired, but it's the best I have to remember them:

Rick is supposed to bring home a box from work that I'm going to wrap to pack the food into. I'll deliver it to their house later this afternoon. I just emailed her and they are at the hospital for treatments today, so I guess they eat around 4:30 or so. I hate to have her reheat it, so I'll probably deliver it around that time. That way all they will have to do is heat the rolls and that's optional.

After that I'm going to go to Jennifer's house and visit them. She has things for me to take to Kelly's house for Vivian. We are taking Guinness home tomorrow. It's good and it's sad, too. He's been good for Gracie, but it's not his home. I know Lily will miss him, she loves to torture!! I'm sure he will be excited to see his mama and dada, too. He's a good boy. Talking to Kelly today, she said the neighbors are missing him. :)

The plumbers were here this morning for drain maintenance and they left me a mess. I got it cleaned up, but now I have to finish getting me ready for the day.

Beauty

I've been remiss in writing for quite a while. My life has been full, yes full of life, love and blessings.

This picture is a site that Rick and I took in while we hiked a little in Zion National Park.

We were on the trail and these beautiful trees were below us. I had to have a picture and even in the low light because of the time of day, it turned out lovely.

Then, on the flip side of natural beauty is the downright craziness of Las Vegas itself.

Rick and I had a wonderful week in Las Vegas. We really enjoyed ourselves and had lots of fun. When we returned, guess what? Swine flu has hit my high school! YIKEROO! We had 380 kids out one day. So, it was rush, rush, rush, try to get all the absences entered and then I get sick. I often get some sort of respiratory thing after flying, but this time it went full blown and I have something with a fever, and all the yucky stuff associated with it.

I'm missing my grandchildren. With being on vacation, then coming home and getting sick, it's been a looooong time without grandbaby lovin.

Absolutely no sewing has gotten done with all the hoopla. I have plans for Vivian's quilt in my head, then it's time to come up with an idea for the new baby due in April.

Enough for now, time for a nap and more Tylenol for fever.

Last pic, the handsome man and his wife in the beauty of nature: