Sad, Sad Week

This last week has to be the hardest week I have ever went through. My sister in law went to the hospital monday and by the next day she was gone. Not to mention all the other deaths that happened last month and folks having surgery. I feel soo drained and unresponsive to any thing good and funny. This is one of those time when you have been punched in the gut and there is nothing you can do about it, but to eat the pain of it all and try to get back up.

I have always thought it to be best to go quick and have no suffering, instead of having a long drawn out illness. I have come to realise that that is all and good for the person who is dying or has died. BUT for the folks left behind the truth is quiet the opposite. To have someone hanging on deaths door gives the family time to adjust to the fact that the person is going to die, but to have someone ripped from life so suddenly, leaves one doubting that the event ever took place and yet you know it has cause your heart is the heaviest it has ever been.

I have been trying to compose a short bio of my sister in law, how she came into our lives and what she brought to it. I was sure I could whip it out in no time, but no I am having a heck of a time getting my head into it. My emotions keep getting in the way. *Sigh*

It's weird how funerals get a person to think of their own mortality and what sort of things they want to happen at the event of their death. I have been thinking on this alot this last week.

Okay sorry, but this is getting too depresssing and I wont subject to this dreariness any longer.
I'll try again next week.

Little Heather

I was going to tell you about my fabulous trip to the Army Surplus grave yard (I believe that will link you to my pics on facebook), but instead I have even better news!

My little namesake niece was born yesterday morning after a long wait.
SIL's water broke Friday morning, labor started Saturday morning and little Heather was finally born Sunday morning. She was already five days late and us old ladies were starting to get obnoxious and annoying. So thank goodness all will settle down soon for them. Well after all the visiting!

The phone has been ring non-stop since that Friday morning. Sleep, what's that? My big and large family needed updates and I, being the one designated to reveal the updates, was a busy old lady playing phone tag with everyone.

Okay, NOT as busy as SIL obviously! That girl is such a trooper, natural child birth with NO meds. Not that I have ever had a baby, but I can NOT say that I would have been that brave.

Momma and baby are doing fabulously! Daddy, well.......Naw, just kidding! I am so proud of him, he really held it together and was a stand up (literally) kind of guy. He really did amaze me, I thought for sure he was going to get sick or pass out. LOL!

My other brother has generously offered his car for me and the proud grandma to go see them later today. Yes, I am taking him up on his offer!

Be back eventually! LOL!

Lawnmower Man, Music and a Storm.

Well yesterday was a really good and productive day with a stormy forecast.

Tuesday I called brother J and found out he was going to be free for the next few days from work. He is starting his own lawn maintenance business on the side and well.....you know just how much I really hate to deal with the yard (like haven't touched it in two or three weeks). One topic lead to another and voila, I have my own personal Lawnmower Man!

I also talked to sister J about the music SonIL downloaded for me to my MP3 player. Next thing I know she is giving me homework to list some of my favorite artists and songs. I emailed her the list several hours later. A looooong list! I really like most all types of music from the 40's to about a decade ago and from rock n roll to country.
It was a very difficult piece of homework... "Oh I like that song!" Now come on brain, who the heck sings it?? What's that song that Cinderella (Not the cartoon) did way back when? Very difficult task indeed!!

From my understanding they were going to leave at noon, so as usual in my mommy mode I called several times, mostly to make sure he was up and on schedule. I know I can be a pain in the rear sometimes, especially with him. What can I say, he was the baby when I was still taking care of the kids and living at home. We were/are tight like that.

On to yesterday's events...

After calling him (and yes he was still asleep), I started to look for something.
I can't remember what that initial item was, cause I got lost in dragging out all of the items in the kitchen closet and tool cabinet. Seriously I had stuff everywhere! Every surface in my kitchen was littered with this and that, from paint supplies to screws and nails and JUNK!

I was sitting here taking a break from my work and checking my pages (which were dead, btw). A knock on the window scares the Cr** out of, Whiskers (who was sitting in that window), made me jump up and cuss and the dogs all start with the barking.
Surprise! It was hubby, who was laughing his head off at all of us fraidy cats!

Two minutes later brother showed up. Okay now..this boy (not a boy anymore, a 30 yr old man) was just too cute being all professional with me like I was a client (well really I was, I did pay him). I was resisting the urge to bust out laughing! Asking questions of what I wanted and not. Just way too cute! I had to leave him to it or I wouldn't have had the heart to let him do it.

Sister downloaded all the songs she had for me from their external hard drive.
4GB!!! YIKES! That is a lot of songs! It is going to take me forever to go through them all and only pick 2GB of them to put on my MP3 player! We had a good time chatting, while I continued on my task of organizing and putting things back in place.

I broke my rule of eating out and sister and I went to Micky D's to get supper.

Speaking of food...Earlier this morning my landlord dropped by and gave me a huge bag of plums. There was no way we was going to be able to eat it all, so I asked brother if he would drop them off at mother's on his way back home. He said yes.
(I'll have to call mom and find out if she got any of them, brother was eating a lot of them)
Good since your going there, you can take this..and this..and that. This is for sister M, this is for Boo and that is for Mom, oh yeah and this is for sister E and go ahead and give this to Dad(just to aggravate Mom)!

Back to the end of my story...

Brother worked his skinny little butt off and at times I was very worried about him. I happened to have looked at him in passing and the veins on the sides of his forehead looked like they were going to burst! It was a little freaky!

But my Yard is done all the way around and with trees trimmed! I have only managed to do that a few times and it takes me all friggin day! AND at least two days to recoop!

They were getting ready to leave and we could tell a storm was rolling in. Loading up the truck with all my offerings for them and other family members, the storm was moving in very fast. It went from calm and a little hazy with noise in the distance, to heavy wind with the storm practically on us. We was rushing back and forth to get all the stuff as quickly as possible.

The peach tree has been so heavy with peaches that the largest branch was laying on top of the house. I went out with arm full of stuff and had no problem walking under the branch. With the wind picking up as harshly as it did, it moved the branch and it was now drooping down on the steps. I had to duck to get under it.

Just after they pulled out and was on their way, I was showing the branch to hubby through the door window. Right before our eyes the wind picked up the branch and broke it, leaving it blocking the steps to the porch.

Brother Come Back!!! I have some more work for you!! LOL!

What does the word "Family" mean to you?

Sister and I were talking about family.
BIL is having this thing (I can't tell) soon and had told sister that he did not want it to turn into a family affair, so he didn't want anyone to come.

If you don't get it, here is a hint..think "My Big Fat Greek Wedding". Where her family is large and loud and in your face..ALL.THE.TIME! Yeah that's my family, minus the extended part. Just Mom, Dad, kids and spouses and grandkids...the family is 17 and growing. Every event that comes along, the monarch of the family (MOM) insists that the whole family is involved.

I totally get BIL's decision.

I know a lot of folks that when they say family, they are talking about those who live in their house. All of us in my "family" wish (no..dream, no..beg) for this to be true for us, sometimes.

I recall another time talking to sister and she said they were going to have a family day, of course she had to specify that that meant just her, her hubby and Boo!
Isn't that sad!!

I also find it to be a little ironic that practically everyone of us kids have chosen spouses that are either from a small family or don't have or want close ties to family. Is that cause we secretly long for that type of family dynamic? Or is it that, we are ensuring we can still have our family as the super power in the relationship? BUT then the question is why did these poor souls chose us with the packaged deal? Was it cause they secretly wanted a large close knit family? Or were they thinking that they could help us break free from the insanity?

I think I need to revise the word family to the word MOM. LOL!!!
Yes I am totally digging my grave (one scoop of earth per word, that mom doesn't like) as I type! BUT hey, it's my blog!

My point...ummm, I don't think there is one. You have just stumbled into rambling questions that pop into my brain!

What does the word "Family" mean to you?

Phone Conversations

Conversation with Becky (bf) and Mike:

The other day, I call their house.
Mike.. What do you what?
Me.. To talk
Mike.. Not to me
Me.. Obviously! LOL
Mike.. She’s in the house, call back. (he is usually always outside in his shed)
I immediately call back and it’s busy, again busy.
I call someone else, someone is beeping in.(I ignore it)
I call Becky back.
Mike butts in and says..I was trying to call you, to tell you I forgot to hang up the phone!
Me..Your Alzheimer’s kicking in already!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Today, Becky answers the phone.
Me.. Where is your hubby? (He is usually the one to answer the phone)
Becky.. In bed
Me.. Well, I actually did what to talk to him this time! What is his cell phone number?
Becky.. He is in bed, asleep!
Me.. I don’t want to call him, LOL, I just want to confirm his number!
We both are laughing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Conversations with sister M and her hubby:

Phone rings,
Me.. Hey!
Sister.. You rang?
Me.. Yeah
Sister.. What did ya want?
Me.. Nothing.
Sister.. Are you bored?
Me.. Maybe!
Her hubby resounds in the background. If your bored, go to church!
Me.. What I am I supposed do, walk! (As if)
Her hubby.. Jesus walked everywhere!
Lesson learned, don’t talk to him right after he gets home from church.

Her hubby states (in the background) I’m going to take a nap. Don’t bother me.
Me.. Jeez! Sounds like he really needs a nap! Mr. Grouchy!

The next day..
Talking to sister, I hear her hubby in background.
Me.. I thought he was going to take a nap? Oh, yeah that was yesterday!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Conversation with Boo:

I was actually talking to sister M, but niece Boo kept butting in.
This had me and my sister M roaring with laughter!

Me.. What are boobies made out of?
Boo.. Water and air.
Me.. So if I was to poke a needle in my boobies, they will deflate?
Boo.. NO! giggle giggle!
Me.. Then your theory doesn't hold up!
Boo. Okay, do it! Go ahead and do it..Do it..Do it!
Me.. Believe me honey, if it would work, I would have done it years ago!
Boo.. Giggle giggle!

Nathaniel's Picture

Thanks to my father, just before he went into the hospital he managed to get a pic of Nathan.

While sister was in hospital, I was told that I would be able to get a pic of him off of the hospitals website..but not until she and baby were relaesed.

I waited and waited and checked everyday. I called the hospital to find out what was going on. All I got was they are a little behind, it could be another week or so. It's been almost three weeks and they still haven't posted it.

Nathan was a week old when I got this pic via email. Now I know these people (parents, aunts, uncles and grandparents) have been taking pics like crazy and I get One pic and I only got that after complaining to Dad.

Oh well, I guess I'm going to have to go on a trip and take pics myself!

Isn't that smile soo cute and how about those chubby cheeks?!

In response to this posting...My SIL sent me these:




Thanks sister J!!

Nathaniel

Last night my mom called to let me know that today would be the day. A scheduled C-section at noon.

From noon on I purposely stayed off the internet, just so I wouldn't miss the announcement. 2:30 rolls around and still no word. My SIL called, wanting to know if I had heard anything yet, nope nothing yet. We chatted for awhile and then about 10 minutes later she calls me back to make the announcement.

My nephew is finally here, at last! She forgot to get any info, just that sister and nephew are both fine.

I called the hospital and some lady answers the phone. Deep down I knew it wasn't my sister, but after having a kid, maybe it was. Maybe her voice had changed, from all the drugs.
I asked for her and got a no, I asked if I had the right room..yes.
I was confused!
Then the dude laughed!
My BIL, such a crack up!

This little bundle, turned out to be not so little. Okay well I was thinking that he would be a ten pounder, but thankfully he was only 8lb.6oz. 21 1/2 long.

I was then passed to my sister.

She said..He had been moving around and kicking, up until around 11:30. Then he calmed down, like he was taking a nap. They took him out and he started hollering and continued to holler, the whole time she was in recovery.

I'm like..Heck yeah! I'd be crying too, if someone reached in and snatched me out of my warm happy place. It is a cruel cruel world! Either that or he just really doesn't like to get woken up!

He finally stopped hollering when they brought him into the room with her.

No pics will be available till Monday, I will be sure to share that with you as soon as I can.

Mom calls..She says, he is as cute as a button. (I have never thought of buttons to be cute) He has light brown hair and pale eyes (Those will probably change).

Grandma's, what can ya say!
They tend to get all mushy inside!
I am just as guilty with my grandkids!

Congrats Baby Sis and BIL!

One down, one more to go!
The next one is due in August.

Sad, Sad Boo

This is going to be an usually long post, so please bear with me.

This month of January hasn't been very kind to Boo (my niece) or her mother (sis).



Her month started on the 3rd with a whopper of continuous asthma attacks. She has everything that is needed to control these attacks. So my sister being the wonderful mother that she is, was getting up every 1 to 2 hours to treat Boo. This time it was different. More frequent attacks and more intense than usual. (Boo's asthma is the coughing kind, not the wheezing kind. Until she was diagnosed with it, I had never heard of coughing asthma.) My sister was really getting super concerned, cause you can only give breathing treatments (I think sis said) an hour apart. After a week an a half of barely getting by on those treatments, she suddenly had one ten minutes after her last dose.

Off to the emergency room they went. They fix her up and monitored her and send her home after feeling much better.

Later that same night, she was rushed back to the emergency room again. This time they pumped her up with steroids and kept her till morning, sent her home with some new meds.

I talked to her briefly the next day on the 13th. Her voice was so harsh from all the coughing, it sounded like she had swallowed a frog. She accused her mother and I of laughing at her voice. I admit it, it was funny!

A doctors appointment (5 day later) to check her over revealed ear infections in both ears. Five more days later, she was running a fever 103.6, after a nice bath and some more meds it got down to 101.2 by the next day.

The very next day (25th) she was complaining of sever pain under her arm, down her side. She couldn't lift her arm, do to the pain. Sis talks to her doctor and she sends them to the emergency room again. (She should have her own private room by now) They determine that while she was playing with her cousins, the hard headed doll that she got whacked with bruised the rib muscle.

Also on the 25th Boo got busted at school for giving one of her old inhalers to a friend. This girl conned her big time! She told Boo that she also had asthma but only had an inhaler for at home and needed one for school. My kind hearted and naive niece thought she would help her out.

Sister gets home that evening and niece tells her she needs to call the principal. Sis thinking..What now?! It has been a very exhausting month for my sister, my heart goes out to the girl. She was interrogated by the principal 3 times and the conclusion was that she was telling the truth and was very gullible (Okay! I threw in the gullible).


This trouble at school got her four days of In School Suspension and a months worth of grounding at home. Boo tells her mother that daddy said..No phone, no going to friends houses, no friends over or spending the night and no tv. Sis..the wheels are turning in her mind..NO TV! She has to plead with hubby for this one. If she can't watch tv, than niether can I! Thankfully for Sis's sake that was a misunderstanding! I do feel badly for Boo. She was honestly trying to help out a friend,(Not knowing she was lying) (which is what we want them to learn) but is having to get punished. Sad, Sad Boo!

Also on this horrible 25th day of January (which will go down in Boo history), Sis noticed something wrong with Boo's eye. Discolored with some red spots in the white area.

Finally that day was over, but wait there's more!

The next day Sis gets a call from the school nurse. Boo went to the nurse and said.. My eye is bleeeeeeding! (you can totally hear that whine, can't ya?) There is nothing to be done about it, the day went on. Boo gets home from school and complains of blurry vision. Sis looks at the eye, under the lid is nothing but blood. Not oozing, but filling up. Back to the hospital they go. The nurse says..You again?! All of the heavy coughing that she has been doing cause of the asthma, hemorrhaged a blood vessel in her eye.

Throught all of this time the asthma attacks were still present, just not as sever as the two visit to the hospital. Sis's hubby last sunday had noticed that the curtains behind the couch were about to fall. So after church he decided to fix it. Now, these are curtains that most of the time never get touched, since the window don't open. When he pulled them down, they found mold! It was all over the window frame and even on the curtains. The condensation had molded the whole area.

They proceeded to clean all curtains and bleach every window in the house, wether it needed it or not. Now, Boo's attacks are done to one a night, instead of every hour or two.

What a freaken month!! I think Sis might be due a vacation!



I also have windows that never get used, you can bet that in the morning I'll be checking behind every curtain. I might just go ahead and wash everything just to be on the safe side!

Soo you DO believe in Santa Clause!!

Phone convo with sister…

Me...What was the most memorable Christmas present?
Sister...One year, I wanted a cabbage patch doll. I was opening all my presents and was disappointed there wasn’t a cabbage patch doll!


There was a knock at the door and I answered the door and there wasn’t anyone there, but there was a present.

Dad‘s yelling who is it?
S...Nobody, just a present!
Dad...Well, who is it for?
S...Looks at the tag and yells… IT”S FOR ME!!
It was the cabbage patch doll she'd been wanting!

M...Who was missing from the room?
S...Nobody, everybody was there.
M...Who was out of breathe?
S...Nobody.
M...Oh! Soo you DO believe in Santa Clause!!! LOL!


Niece and sister convo…

Niece...This year I am going to find out for sure if there really is a Santa Clause!
S...How are you going to do that?
N...I’m going to check Santa’s handwriting on the tags, if it looks like yours or daddies then I will know there is no Santa.


I told my sister to take all the tags to work and have someone else do them!


Niece finds her letters to Santa in her mother’s room.


N...How did you get my letters to Santa?
S...Santa said we could have them for keepsakes.