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HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

Tis the season...

Work is done for this year, no more school until January 4, 2010. Woo hoo!!!

Yesterday Rick and I loaded up the car and I drove all our Christmas presents to Pittsburgh for our visit with family. This year we are all meeting at Kelly and Scott's home for our holiday. Rick and I will be going down early and Jennifer, Todd and Hadley will be joining us on Christmas day.

Evelyn came back to Ohio with me to spend a few days with Mimi and Papa. Tonight she went to a Christmas party with Nona, Todd and Hadley. Santa gave her an early present at the party! Both Evelyn and Hadley were all dressed in their pretty Christmas dresses and were beautiful!

Rick and I went to dinner while the kids went to the party. We had a nice dinner at Rockne's and picked up my medicine at Giant Eagle. Tomorrow is my surgery to remove my cyst on my finger. I'm not too worried, but then again...

I'm going to Gary Pennington for my surgery. He's a plastic hand surgeon at the Crystal Clinic. I've heard wonderful things about him and have a lot of faith in him. I need to be at the surgery center at 11:30 and as of this time, surgery is scheduled for 1:30. It could be earlier, but that remains to be seen.

I'm not expecting to be very incapacitated by this surgery. I'll have a splint to keep it from bending, so I think the pain should be minimal. (At least I hope so!)

I've not done too much sewing for a while, so there's not much to talk about that way.

Merry Christmas!

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:

Busy, crazy and sweet, all in one week!

Wow, what a week this has been.

Monday was a regular work day.

Tuesday and Wednesday was a visit to PA to help with the children at Kelly's house. Everyone there is so sweet...Evie had school, but she was there in the morning and right after school. She's a dear. Anna and Nathan...what sweet kiddies. Little Vivian is so darling. She's a calm baby and very sweet already.

Thursday and Friday was back to work and what a day it was today. It's been Spirit Week and the kids (and staff) were spirited, to say the least. Today was just over the top busy. Thankfully it's over and I'm off all next week

I've not done any sewing, but I did get some time in to straighten up the sewing heaven and make some baby hats. They are so darling and they are becoming my charity project for this year. Blankets and matching hats to go to Children's Hospital.

Tomorrow is homecoming at Kent State, so we'll go to the parade in the morning. It's always fun to see the fraternities and sororities on their floats.

Sorry no pics today...just too much to get done.

Welcome, welcome, welcome!!!

Vivian Kelly has arrived!

This morning at 12:47, Thursday, October 1, 2009, our newest grandchild, Miss Vivian Kelly, has made her appearance.

She is 6 pounds and 6 ounces. She is presently cuddling in her mama's arms. Congratulations Kelly, Scott, Evie, Anna and Nathan.

I'll be seeing her when dawn breaks. Mimi is on cloud nine, by the way!!

God is SO great!

Baby?

Kelly went to the hospital today. She called about 8:00 and she's 4 cm. I'm trying to hold tight and am waiting to hear as to what I'm going to do.

Maybe we'll have a grandchild on 9/30 or 10/1!! Woo hoo!

Monumental week filled with blessings

Today is a rainy day. I like rainy days once in a while. In northeastern Ohio we get a lot of cloudy days, living near Lake Erie lends itself to that. But today it is rainy, lots of rain, but no thunder and lightening. I must admit, I like those days, too. Just something comforting in a rainy day or thunderstorm. Weird? I don't know, it's just me.

A couple of monmental things happened this week. Hadley Rose learned to walk on her own last weekend. We saw her and her momma and dada on Thursday. She is such a little peanut, to see her walking was very emotional. She totters back and forth, sometimes waving her arms and being silly. It was very sweet.

On Friday morning, I received a call from Evelyn about 7:20 a.m. at work. She was sobbing. When she told me why, it was cause she was missing me. She had had a dream that I was sleeping in her bed, but I had to leave and couldn't say goodbye. We talked for a while and she settled down a bit. It was so sweet and heartwrenching. I love that little girl. She fills my heart with such love.

Each of my grandchildren holds a special place in my heart. Evelyn was the first and she is such a sweet and loving child. The twins, Anna and Nathan are so much fun. They are so much alike, yet so different. Anna's mama and dada tell me she's bad (wink). She has a little devil in her, that's for sure, but she is a sweet and loving child. Little Nathan is such a sweet boy. He's been through a lot in his little life...he was allergic to milk and it was so hard on him. The doctors never figured it out, but when his mama did...boy that little guy feels soooo much better. He is a lover. He knows what he wants, that's for sure. I guess all of my grandchildren do. Hadley is the first child for my second daughter and her husband. She was born with some difficulties, but you would never know it. She had come through brain surgery with flying colors and she is right on track developmentally.

Both of my daughters are pregnant, bringing into the world more children for me to love. I know it's hard to be pregnant sometimes, but it is one of the most-wonderful times of their lives. Kelly's due any time now, come tomorrow she's 36 weeks. Jennifer is still in the nausea stage of pregnancy, she is due in mid to late April.

All I can say is I'm blessed. I have two wonderful daughters and they picked great sons-in-law for me. God is good. He leads us through our trials; if we let Him, He handles the worry for us. I've had to learn this the hard way, but I truly know that He is in charge.

May God bless us all and keep us in His loving embrace.

In the Good ol' Summertime quilt

Ah, The Good Ol' Summertime is nearly at an end, and with that comes the time to mail off my In The Good Ol' Summertime quilt. I MUST learn to plan ahead and not wait. I seem to work great under pressure, but when other things happen in your life, well, waiting is not such a good idea.



Mine goes to ____ and she lives in _____, USA. I sure hope _______ likes this, it was fun to make and I'm pleased with it. I'd been wanting to do some raw-edge applique and that's what the flowers are. They frayed great when brushed with a semi-stiff brush, washed, dried and brushed again. They were fun.


I think you can click on the picture to make it larger.



I hope that ____ likes the back of this quilt, too!



My label at the bottom

What's that on the top??



Oops! I guess this is for Kim. I can't wait till she gets it!!

Back to Ohio, No baby yet!

I was with Kelly and her family on Friday and Saturday. Kelly was sick, turned out she had food poisoning. When she recovered, it was quick! Thankfully.

On Saturday Evelyn had cheerleading for pee wee football. The cheerleaders and the football team are all first graders. They are all adorable! Cheerleaders were so cute, such darling little girls! In this picture, Evie is on the top of the "heap"!




This photo is Kelly, Nathan with his juice and Scott.

Mama Kelly and Anna, makin' faces! --->

Mama & Anna ... See how Kelly's dropping?

I came home Saturday evening. Kelly is still in labor, but as of right now, no word! ;)

Baby update and new car news

I'm home from PA. I was there since Friday. Kelly came home from the hospital this afternoon; her labor has stopped and the new baby is still "cookin" inside Mama's belly!

She's on bedrest now and is officially on leave from her job. She's still having some contractions, but until things progress, well...you know.

I came home about 5:00 and Rick was ready for me to go with him to the car dealer. We have been trying to buy a new car since July. We wanted a 2010 Chevrolet Equinox with some extras. Those cars are a hot commodity! They are selling as soon as they get to a car dealership and we weren't the one who got there first. We tried to get one during the Cash for Clunkers program, but the cars weren't available.

We lucked out tonight and the dealership was wonderful to work with. It's ours! It's Cardinal Red, it's got all the bells and whistles I wanted, plus a couple more.

New baby?

I might be grandma for the 5th time THIS WEEKEND.

Kelly is 34 weeks pregnant and the baby is eager to come into the world. I'm on my way to Pennsylvania to watch children so she and Scott can do what's necessary without worrying about the other 3 kids.

Kelly's at the hospital and they have given her a steroid shot (to help the baby). They are hoping to hold off the birth until Sunday.

I pray that Mama and baby are doing ok.





BIG GRIN

Goals, productivity and blessings...

It feels like such a long time ago that I posted. As I have mentioned before, I blog for memories. If you like to read and share some feelings of your own, I appreciate it immensely.

I was sick with the flu for a few days a couple of weeks ago. I was so stressed out (whether from being sick or because stress ran me down and I got sick, I don't know) but things are better.

I got the outfits done for the grandchildren. I was down on myself for not getting them done for the twins' birthday. They were ready the next weekend and I gave all the kids their outfits this past Sunday. Here's a little pic of my productivity and my darling grandchildren. (VERY proud Mimi.)

The picture on the left is my entire family. We are outside the church just before the twins are to be baptized. Picture in the middle is Evie in her outfit. The picture to the right is (from left to right) Nathan, Evie, Anna and Hadley...all dressed in their coordinated outfits from Mimi.

My next project that had a huge time limit was the alteration of a swimsuit for my great niece Allie. Allie is a little like Aunt Helen...a bit on the chunky side...and her "tankini" was a little short and not quite wide enough. Well, that project got completed and a sweet phone call of generous thanks from Allie made it all worthwhile.

I'm now working on my "In The Good Ole Summertime" quilt swap. With all the other projects looming over me, I had a hard time coming up with my inspiration. Once those projects got completed, I got my vision and my small quilt is in progress.

Once that is done, it's time to design another Grandbaby Quilt for my soon-to-be-welcomed-into-the-world grandchild. Grandchild number 5 will be born (hopefully in the middle of) October. We don't know what gender this child will be, but there will be at least one quilt for the new mama to pick from. I've got a couple of ideas...nothing concrete as yet.

I want to get working on my Flying Geese in The Forest quilt. That's come to a bit of a standstill for now, but I have many scraps cut to size and ready for sewing.

Christmas ideas are swimming through my head. Not sure just yet what I want to do, but if I can find some plain jammies for grandchildren in assorted sizes, that might be a great idea. Who knows...maybe no homemade presents this year...just thinkin'.

I've got to think more about another Grandbaby Quilt!! Grandchild number 6 will be coming our way sometime around April of 2010!! Yeppers!!!

So much to be grateful for!

This & that + a little

Ok, let me start by saying I'm feeling better and going back to work tomorrow. I came down with a bug while visiting the "Pittsburgh Grandkids and family" last Saturday. We had planned to spend the night, but I got the chills and the achey breaky muscles and we returned home. While I was there I had a good time. Those kids (all of 'em) are so danged cute!!

Secondly, the outfits are done. I was making outfits for the twins' birthday. Things didn't work out well and they didn't get done. Let me sum it up by saying NOTHING went well in this endeavor. They ARE done and they are really CUTE, so all is well.

I'll take some pictures of them tomorrow and post, but for tonight I'm going to pass.

We're going to Pittsburgh this weekend, too, so I'm going to keep my fingers crossed that the "bugs" stay away from me! I don't wanna get sick anymore.

And on a really happy note...HAPPY 8th ANNIVERSARY, KELLY AND SCOTT!\

Happy birthday, my darlings!

Today is a VERY special day. Annabelle and Nathaniel are two!!


Annabelle and Nathan

They are incredible babies, excuse me--toddlers. They are just so wonderfully happy and full of fun! They make us feel so special to be a part of their lives and to have them in ours.

Happy birthday, Anna and Nathan!

40 weeks to go!

Kinda sounds like a gestation period, doesn't it! Well, in a way it is. In 40 more weeks of work, I will get to retire! It's not a baby, but baby will I be happy!

I started to work on Monday of this week and I survived the whole week! It was pretty uneventful except for a small tiff with a co worker. I normally don't snipe back, but Friday I did. I get tired of stuffing my feelings and this person is "always" right about everything, so she thinks. I normally say nothing when she hurts my feelings or just is crabby toward me, but not this Friday. I surprised the other two women in the office, they didn't know what to think! *tee hee*

I got all my files cleaned out, all my binders cleared of materials from last year and all the mailboxes are in order for the school. All in all it was a pretty productive week. I even made a weekly countdown calendar to the end of the year. I'm gonna have a fun year as much as possible!

Today I woke about 6:40 a.m. and Rick wasn't in bed. I called out to him and he wasn't home, either. The man (horribly busy at work) got up and was working at 6:00 a.m. I took him some breakfast and then got busy in my sewing heaven.

I cut out the birthday outfits for the twins. I straightened (organized) some of my "stuff" and took bunch of things out to recycle and throw away. Slowly but surely things are looking better up there. It was hot, not much air movement, so I would come downstairs and relax to cool down.

When Rick came home he took a little nap so I went back upstairs and did a little more work. I can actually see some progress. I want to get it all organized, it's SO much easier to work when it's nice. Someday, when I get it all fixed up, I'll take a picture or two and post it here. Right now it would scare the bejeezers out of some folks.

Dinner at Outback and it was delicious. The weather has turned cool and it's so nice. I even had to turn the heater on low when we were driving home...just a tad chilly.

Rick is working tomorrow, too, so I'll get more done. Maybe I'll run to WalMart and pick up a few things and a shelving unit or two. That will make a huge difference.

Dear Lord, Thank You for everything. I pray You guard my family and loved ones against harm. Help me to be a good person. Please keep us safe and healthy. In the name of Your son, Jesus Christ, Amen.