FEBRUARY LEAVES A MEMORABLE MARK

PAT,PAT,PAT, Oh that's just me patting myself on the back. Today is the last day in February which in my world is designated "tax month" and even with all the interruptions this month has held, daughters,#2 sons and our taxes are ready for copying and signatures!! Another accomplishment that wasn't easy to come by with the hospitalization and death of father-in-law. But it's done,pat,pat!!!!!
March goals of organizing my sewing shop and getting a new blackberry and raspberry patch started are going to require some participation from the weather I think. I have no heat in my sewing shop and I can't very well sit things out in the snow! So we'll see how it goes,this first week sounds like it's already a snow-out!
Today has been a day of much needed rest for me,I'm battling this cold and didn't sleep well again last night so I stayed in bed until 10:30 this morning just resting. I don't think anyone would have appreciated me coming to church today all red nosed and red eyed,sneezing and coughing. Hubbie and daughter went to teach Sunday school and they came home as hubbie's not feeling well either.I think some sunshine vitamin D is needed. When they came home I had lunch already started and was peeling apples for a baked apple dessert. #2 son is on his way back from Savannah,Ga.where he has been on a fishing trip with some friends since Thursday,they didn't catch any fish and he said he would be late getting home. It will just be #1 son and d-in-love,g-son and daughter for lunch.
Today is a cloudy dreary looking 40 degree day,good for me to stay inside out of the weather for a day. Hubbie and bro-in-law went over to the old house to finish painting the ceilings this afternoon. Daughter went to a dog sitting job for the week and I was left alone,ahhhhh.
The news from Chile is that over 700 people were killed in yesterday's earthquake and they are thinking that number will rise,so sad. It is a scary thought to think about 2 earthquakes in 2 months?????? This month of February has been a record breaker in a lot of places,in New York it is the snowiest month on record with 36.9 inches. Around here I don't know if it has broke records but I know it has been many years since we have seen anything like the weather we've had,snow,ice,flooding,high winds, not your typical sunny south weather for sure! Here are some memories........Snowy icy roads claimed many victims,the vehicle repair shops got a boost of business during this month and snowplows became an almost everyday sight. God has a plan for all His children,invite Him into your heart so your included.Good Night and God Bless.

EARTHQUAKE #2 IN 2010

Woke this morning to devastating news,another even stronger earthquake, 8.8 on the Richter Scale , in Chile this time causing tsunami warnings everywhere along the west coast and Hawaii.At least so far the death tole is lower than in the Haiti earthquake that happened only about 6 weeks ago. The building codes and infrastructure in Chile is better than that in Haiti.But to the people who did loose loved ones this is a mute point. The devastation looks very scary. Thank the Lord the mother and family of my friend from church are all safe and well tonight. I prayed all morning this would be the case and I'm sure I wasn't the only one praying for this family. It is a scary thought that this has happened twice already this year!! This quake happened at 3:30 am so many people were asleep and thankfully a lot of homes withstood the violent shaking,although some did not as you can tell from the pictures. These people need our prayers right now for sure.
As for my day,market was slow today,it is still very cold only 36 degrees today with sunshine,so I guess most people stayed in the warm house today. However,I'm very thankful for what I did make as it wasn't a total wash out like some of my neighbors had.
After market I went by to look at the painting job hubbie and bro-i-law are doing at the in-laws old house,it is amazing what a fresh coat of white paint does for things!
I left them to finish their day's work and came home,unloaded,took a coffee break and watch Carolina win a game for a change!! Hubbie came home,we did the evening chores,picked up a pizza and headed over to bro-in-laws to make some decisions and tie up some ends as this first week of family elders (ohh! what a depressing thought) comes to a close. We are prayerfully hoping that a tentative plan for the old house becomes reality.
My cold is a little better tonight,at least the dripping nose has slacked off,thank the Lord for that as it would have been hard to sell cakes under those conditions,haha.
Thanking the Lord for the blessings of today,praying for the people affected by todays earthquake all around the world,may they find comfort in our gracious Savior,Jesus Christ.
Good Night and God Bless.

VINTAGE TREASURES

BRRRR!!!! Another windy cold winter day. Slept well last night,don't know if it was the Nyquil or just being dog tired. My cold is still hanging on,my nose is totally untouchable today from all the blowing I did yesterday,I'm glad I have no where to go today. I baked cakes all morning which helped warm the house up nicely. I have 2 orders for tomorrow,maybe customers will brave the cold winds to come out.
After lunch I continued to sort through all the things we brought home from in laws house.This old tin was filled with trims and ribbons used in her sewing supplies.It is very heavy and I was delighted when I opened it and found this painting on the underside of the lid. There is no markings anywhere on the tin,I would love to know the significance of the painting! I love vintage things and the surprises they contain sometimes. I found another interesting tin but the pictures I took were all blurry and I'm to lazy tonight to retake them so that will be another days topic!
This "How to make Draperies" book was from 1934 and this is a pair of vintage wooden shoe stretchers. I was able to find both these items on e-bay and they weren't worth that much.It always amazes me that you can find anything you have on e-bay. I looked for the tin above for a while but with no markings it will take a while to look through all the tins to see if there is one on there. These lamps were an after thought on my part,they were in the donate pile and the thought hit me about the lamp I sold at a garage sale after my mother died that I have always wished I had kept,so these 2 became mine,I'll say one thing they are different and will make good conversation pieces! One is carved wood and the other brass,both have unique shades.
I finished my afternoon bagging my Avon orders and stamping the books. I have less than $300 to go to meet the goal for the set earning percentage and I have 2 more campaigns to get it.I'll put it in God's hands! Out in the cold to do chores and then to finish work at church made my nose even redder tonight,I sure look like Rudolph tonight. I iced,wrapped and labeled all my cakes tonight,finishing about 10:30. Listening to the news about the 7th snow storm in the northeast,guess I'll stop complaining about our weather!!! Some places have 30" of snow and there are millions of homes without power. And there is another storm coming even for us next week!
God has a reason for all this weather as well as all else that goes on,if He brings us to it He will get us through it!!!! Good Night and God Bless.

WORKING THROUGH THE COLD WITH A COLD!

Well,Yuck!! The head cold that has been threatening me for over a week finally caught up with me last night. I guess it is true that stress lowers your immune system because this cold became full blown overnight,I didn't sleep more than a couple hours and was up and down all night trying different things to help me sleep. I have felt like crap all day but have had to work through it,I probably would have felt just as bad doing nothing anyway.
I did paperwork this morning since I opted out of it last night when only my back was hurting,ha!! Now it's all I can do to keep my nose from dripping all over my papers. My back is fine today after laying on a heating pad all night.
After lunch I went over to the old house to meet sis-in-law and bro-in-law,we washed walls and windows all afternoon. It is amazing how nicotine from cigarette smoke yellows things.
We got a lot done and when hubbie got off work he brought his truck over and we loaded up the old furniture and brought it home.This is a bedroom suit hubbie's parents bought in the early 50's,there was only these 2 pieces and a mirrow that goes on the shorter piece,we have no idea what happened to the bed that must have come with them.These old trunks were in the attic filled with pieces of material,the old leather suitcase must have been a load to carry around. A hand crank ice cream churn and another old solid oak small chest of drawers were other items chosen by daughter,her house will look just like mine one of these days with all her old memories collected.
Mother in law was a crocheter and made many afghans which I brought home so daughter will probably fill one of her old trunks with them for safe keeping.
We got everything unloaded and did chores in a cold cold wind that has held the temperatures in the 20's all day even with the sunshine.That wind just cuts right through you. After supper I took a short break on the couch with my 4-legged kids who felt good and warm snuggled up to me while we watched Survivor on TV. Then it was back out in the cold to go work at church. I am looking forward to a hot bath,a dose of Nyquil and a long restful sleep tonight.
I can feel God working in my life right now I'm just not sure which direction He wants me to go just yet,ever feel like that?????
Good Night and God Bless.

MOTHER NATURE DEFIES WEATHERMEN AGAIN!

Hallelujah there is no snow on the ground this morning!!!!!Meeting with our lawyer early this morning went exceptionally well,learned surprisingly good news. I think I can see the light at the end of the tunnel coming into view!! Delivered the cake order and did a little grocery shopping before it was time to pick g-son up from pre-school.Went by the old house and helped sis-in-law load her car with donation items to drop off on her way to pick up her niece from her pre-school. G-son and I came home ate lunch and I dug out some more papers to take to the lawyers office. After a couple phone calls we headed back to town to deliver the papers,g-son went to sleep in the van.
After carrying him in and getting him settled on the couch I started yesterday's laundry chores.Between loads I carried boxes in out of the truck and began cleaning and putting away all the things we brought home from the old house. As I climbed the steps to the porch carrying a box with a large pressure canner in it something caught in my back,I couldn't get my breath or move for a minute or so. This has happened before but this time it sure hurt worse. Still as I type this tonight about 7 hours later I can't get a deep breath without a stabbing pain in my middle right back,uuuhhh!!!!!! I hate this aging process!!!!!!!
I still worked some this afternoon,just carried lighter loads and went slower. After supper I took a break and watched American Idol on TV while I layed on the couch with a pillow rolled up against my back for pressure. My goal was to rest only a short time then hit the paperwork.One look at my desk which has been untouched since father-in-laws death last Thursday except for actually a few more additional papers and my painful back said ,pleaseeee nooo!!!!
So I'm putting off even my weekly paperwork until the morning in hopes that sleeping on a heating pad tonight will ease my back and a good nights sleep will clear my head of today's figures so I can start tomorrow with a new series of crunching numbers. Anyway I still have 4 days left in tax month!!!
Today's weather has once again defied the weather forecasters with only a few blowing snow flurries with some sunshine,but the temperature has been in the mid 30's. Tonight at 10:45 it is 26 with a whipping wind, a good night for the heating pad!!
Tonight please join me in praying for my family,that God would give us the comfort and peace that we so much need at this time,Lord help us understand and forgive in ways only You can provide,Lord I pray this especially for my children and my niece and nephew.
Good Night and God Bless.

SIFTING THROUGH 50+ YEARS

Up early this morning,hubbie took today off so we along with bro & sis in law could work getting in-laws old house cleaned out. We started about 10:00 and except for about an hour lunch break and dump run we buried our heads and went through everything in the house and attic,(cough,cough) some of the attic stuff hadn't been touched by anything but dust in many years. We hauled 1 large truck load of trash to the dump and have at least 1 more load to go plus a large load to go to Goodwill. We brought home a truck load,#1 son who helped us all day brought home a truck load,niece came by and claimed her suv load,daughter claimed her suv load and #2 son stopped by on his mail route and choose a couple things he wanted ,bro & sis in law took a truck load to their house. It is amazing how much stuff you can accumulate in 50 some years. We divided some antique furniture that was there and will go back to get it later. Hopefully the pile of donations on the front porch won't cause a break in over night.
We got home around 6:00 tonight,unloaded #1 son's truck and put ours in the carport and covered it with a tarp,what in the world I'll do with all that stuff I don't have a clue!
After evening chores we ate a light supper then hubbie ran to the grocery store for a gallon of milk and a couple other things I needed to bake a cake order for tomorrow. It is suppose to snow in the morning but I'll have to fix these cakes for this order just in case. Today has been on the dreary side,causing concern for what we had sitting outside a few times because it looked like it could rain any minute but never did.It got definitely colder this evening and has that snow feel in the air. Oh well it's been over a week without any flakes flying so I guess it's time again!!! I have an accomplished feeling tonight for all the work we got done today,I hope it doesn't snow out my meeting with the lawyer in the morning as we do need to make some decisions about the old house.One of my favorite places to visit when I'm out and need a peaceful place to regroup!
God puts beauty in our paths everyday,too bad a lot of time we miss out on it. Open hearts and minds are a blessing only we can control. When you open your heart to God the world takes on a beauty their is no comparison to. Good Night and God Bless.

FUNERALS, CELEBRATIONS OF LIFE?? NOT SO MUCH!!!

Death seems to be in the air around here right now! This is Goldie who came to live with me after d-in-love went to part time at her office. After litterly coming back from the dead when she first brought him he has lived a lively fishes life here.That is until Friday night when he didn't eat and was swimming on his side and not surprising I found him floating belly up Saturday morning with his tank mate a black molly swimming circles around the tank. When I scoped Goldie out and gave him a burial in our underground sea Molly calmed down. D-in-love is going to bring me one of her large gold fish to keep Molly company. This is a picture of Molly and Goldie in happier times!! Funny how even the smallest fishes seem to live happier,more active lives when they have someone else around even if they don't seem to like each other very much and compete ferociously for the same morsel of food or the same space in the underwater hollow log.
That is the thought that ran through my mind repeatedly today at my father-in-laws funeral. Since the loss of his wife last year he just has not had a will to live,and to be around them you would have thought that they had nothing to do with each other or anything in common and each would not hardly know if the other one was gone.But this evidently wasn't the case in their lives either because after she died he didn't want to go anywhere or do anything,he stopped doing the things he had always loved to do and would often be found staring at a TV screen that was not even turned on. He just sort of wasted away until his body just gave out and he seemed to embrace death as it grew closer. My hope tonight is that he is rejoined with his wife and they are hand in hand again.
This has been a really loooonnnngggg day!!!!!!!! Tonight I feel like a balloon that just had all the air let out of it. Everything in my body mentally and physically is absolutely spent tonight and I can't wait to lay my head on that pillow and shut my eyes in the hope that sleep comes quickly and deeply. I hate funerals,I don't care who's they are, I wonder who came up with the idea for funerals and why??? They just seem like torture for the loved ones to sit and go through a sermon about the life of their loved one. Memories good and bad are conjured up while tears either flow freely or are choked back. Why can't we just meet with friends and family, share stories and memories, say a prayer,have some music,that would be what I would call a celebration of their life. I think we Baptists seem to want to punish ourselves in the name of Do-goodness when it really does no one any good. Sadly today there was no celebration of fa-in-laws life, only reminders of unanswered questions.
Tonight has been days in coming and the relief is welcome that officially this chapter is behind us.
Now we deal with the aftermath as it rears its ugly head. We are still in limbo,not knowing if we can get a death certificate or what name will be on it.I went ahead and made an appointment with our friend/lawyer for Wednesday morning to see what our options might be in all area's in each scenario so we can better decide which way to go. Why can't things ever be easy????? Tomorrow is still cleaning out the old house day,we have luckily inlisted the help of #1 son and my nephew,that should make the job go faster to have their extra muscles! So looking forward to getting back to normal,if I can figure out what actually is normal for me anymore. Starting last fall I lost the reality of what is normal for me,1st the construction projects,as soon as they were finished the snows started and haven't stopped and now this sickness and death in the family,whew!!!! Normal, what's that???? I have a feeling I'm going to have to find a new normal when all the dust finally settles.
One thing that never changes in my life is the love of my dear Lord and while all this worldly stuff seems to be crashing all around me,His love shines even brighter,I just have to lean harder on Him. He is the love of my life and I know that He loves me just as much.As I prayed for strength today He provided me exactly what I needed!
Good Night and God Bless.

JUST ONE MORE DAY!!

Church this morning was inspirational and I have such a caring church family I feel so blessed. We had our regular family lunch after church with all 4 kids and g-son. Hubbie and I went to tie up some loose ends this afternoon before going to bro-in-laws to have supper from all the donated food,it's always so nice for both our families to get together. Daughter was the only one missing tonight as she has a dog sitting job. Talked to one of my brothers tonight,he just got back from 3 weeks in Australia where his wife is from,they went to see her mother and brother. He sounded like he really enjoyed it and said it was awesomely beautiful over there. This was the first time he ever flew in an airplane and he said he didn't much like that part.He said it actually took them 36 hours from the time they left Brisbane to get home with the extended lay-overs at the airports they flew into.
All is well so for with the family handling f-i-l's death,I'll sure be glad as will everyone else when this time tomorrow night gets here. Again,thanks for your prayers out there in blogger land! I know God will give us strength to get through tomorrow as he does every other day. Good Night and God Bless.

FIRST FEBRUARY MARKET DAY

First market day in February and first in about 4 weeks. It is a gorgeous sunny day temps around 50. D-in-love dropped g-son at market so she could go to this huge event held in the WNC Agricultural center arena. At this event you can consign your children's out grown things or just go purchase baby and kids things for a great price,win,win either way. This is like a mega garage sale with only children's things,I wish there had been something like this when I had 3 babies growing up.
Hubbie brought g-son home and I had a pretty good day at market.It seemed long as I think I'm coming down with a cold. After market I met sis-in-law and niece and nephew to pick out some flowers for the funeral. Got home around 5:00,yea, we had trouble making up our minds!!! Nephew's fiancee came along and that made 4 women trying to pick out plants and flowers, so now you know!!!! But the end result was good!
Hubbie and I both are under the weather tonight so we are occupying the living room furniture very well. I hope my Airborne works like it usually does overnight!
Thanking God for all his blessings tonight as he gives us strength in the coming days.
Good Night and God bless.

THE NAME GAME

We got a lesson today in the importance of your name. As we met with the funeral director this morning to tie up loose ends,thankfully hubbie's mom and dad had already made their own arrangements and it was so nice believe me. I've been on both sides of this as my parents didn't have prearranged funeral arrangements and I'm here to tell you you can save your children a lot of trouble by making arrangements ahead of time. Hubbie and I intend on doing just that as soon as we can financially afford to. Anyway back to the name game, hubbie's father didn't like his name so he had it changed to an initial name,JB and this is how he was known,all his business was in this name,banks,property deeds,SS, veterans,everything, but we found out today that the state won't issue a death certificate in initials without the original legal documents where he had his name changed.And that's not all, somewhere along the way early in their marriage they decided to add an e to the end of their last name with no documentation,so now his birth certificate and social security card don't match the name on any of his business, banks,deed,etc.SOOOOOOOO needless to say all 4 of us spent the day searching through papers,we did find the documents where he changed his name officially to JB,but there is no papers to explain the added e. At least this has occupied our minds for today,as we have an extra day to wait for the funeral because the funeral home was booked all weekend already and we had to push ours into Monday.
We found some interesting things in our search today anyway, some old,some just interesting!!
G-son stayed with us this afternoon after we picked him up from pre-school,he took a long nap and then was very good while we worked.
After we got home and g-son went home,we snacked for supper then went to finish work at church. Hubbie doesn't feel well tonight and went to bed early. Daughter was finishing her baking when I got home so I iced my caramel,chocolate and coconut layer cakes tonight. It's hard to get back in the swing of things after almost a month of no market. The weather is suppose to be really nice tomorrow so maybe it will be a good market day. My back hurts after icing just the few cakes I have for tomorrow,makes me wonder how in the world I do 3 and 4 times this many during the height of my season!!
Today has been a beautiful day with temperatures in the upper 40's and sunny,it makes the snow of last week seem like a distant memory until you look around at all the piles that are still hanging around.
Good Night and God Bless.

DEATH IS BUT A PATH THAT MUST BE TROD

This morning at about 6:15 father-in-law gave up the fight in this world and moved on to the next. The nurse at Elizabeth House said he passed very peacefully,that is what we prayed for.
Thanks to all my blogger friends for all the prayers,please keep em coming!
We will be making arrangements tomorrow.
Good Night and God Bless.

HORSEBACK RIDES AND TAX TIME

Re-filled all the bird feeders while I was outside doing morning chores today,brrrrr!! Cold morning again brings many little birdies flocking to the feeders,they are getting braver,some even coming to the feeders as soon as I moved on to another one. It's funny how they stay hidden in the trees until I go out there with the seed,once I'm back inside it is like a fluttering sea of flapping wings out there where only minutes before there was empty silence.
After exercises and breakfast,I did some paperwork so I could go to the bank while I was up town picking up g-son from pre-school. We went to a couple of discount grocery stores up town after I picked him up.At one of the stores there has always been this horse outside,I've never seen any kids riding on it, so I didn't think it even worked. G-son had to try it out and I didn't have a problem with that since it only cost 25 cents.And let me tell you that smile was well worth that 25 cents and I was impressed at the long ride he got. What simple pleasures bring so much happiness to our small children if we take the time to indulge with them.
That is one thing g-son has done for me,before he came along I was always hurrying and never stopped to "smell the flowers" as the old saying goes. Now with g-son I routinely stop to "smell the flowers" and just like this morning outside this store in the blazing cold wind I was once again rewarded by his ear to ear smile as this horse came to life and gave him a long and active ride.
After one more stop we headed home for lunch,he almost went to sleep before we got here. After we ate he got cozy in his favorite chair to watch TV and it didn't take long for nap time to catch him. I did paperwork and worked on #2 sons and daughters taxes while he slept.
Hubbie came home just as he was waking up and he wanted to go to the barn but it was too cold for him outside,he went down to daughters instead and watched as she got ready for a dinner date tonight.Bernie and Dolly went outside and I let them in the back door and by the time I got into the living room this is how I found them,tell me it's not cold outside!!!!!Don't forget to support your local Girl Scouts,we did our part,yummm.
Finished #2 sons and daughters taxes,that only leaves ours,maybe tomorrow?????? They were happy with their refunds thanks to the new Making Work Pay credit.
F-i-l is failing fast,oxygen level down to 80% tonight,prognosis is now days instead of weeks like they said Sunday.
#2 son came up and traded haircuts with hubbie tonight,he has a fishing trip planned to Savanna,Ga next weekend,hopefully he'll get to go!
Listening to the wind howling outside,it is 25 degrees but the windchill is near 0 ,I guess I missed the forecast that said we'd have this high wind tonight.
Praying for God's comfort and peace as our family waits for the passing of f-i-l. Give us the strength and grace to move forward. Good Night and God Bless.

THE BRIDE AND GROOM OF MT. PISGAH

When the snow's just right,you can see the groom in his top hat leading his bride,her train flowing behind....
Can you see it???? Click on the picture to enlarge it after you read the next line.
From a distance,it really does look like a man (left) standing beside a woman (right) in a veil and long dress with a train curling down behind.
As legend has it a young couple fell deeply in love,but the girls father wouldn't allow them to marry. They were so much in love,however,that they decided to run away and get married,even without parental blessings.The couple planned everything in secret,and one cold,snowy night,the young man came to the girl's house and they stole away under cover of darkness.Her father heard them leaving and chased after them.The couple ran up on Mt. Pisgah to get away from him,but the father was staying close behind,threatening to kill the young man. Unfortunately,in their haste on the dark,cold and icy trail the young couple clinging to one another missed a turn in the path and fell off the mountainside. The girls father found them,and knew he had caused the tragedy. Forever after, so the legend goes,whenever it's cold and snowy,you can see the "bride and groom" in their wedding finery on the side of Mt. Pisgah.
It's obviously a rock formation that ices over and stands out white in winter,but ask yourself why it takes the form of this couple???? These mountains are full of legends such as this and if you research some of them you might be surprised at your findings. Who knows if this one has any foundation but the bride and groom legend sure is more romantic and interesting than just an icy rock formation,right???
Okay, can you tell this has been a boring day of housework and laundry!
Hubbie and daughter went to see f-i-l tonight and he was unresponsive,the nurses said he had really fell off a cliff today,maybe for his benefit it won't be much longer.But I find it very hard to pray for death!!!!????
Was trying to watch the Carolina/Ga.Tech b-ball game,but being a Carolina fan I just had to cut it off!
It has been a sunny day but the temperature was only 35 for a high,it is already 23 at 10:30 tonight.
Good Night and God Bless.

WHERE IS THAT SNOW???????

Phone ringing at 5:45 am jarred me awake,nothing good comes to mind when the phone rings that early. This time it was the school recording saying school's were closed,I went back to sleep thinking there was a pile of snow outside. Imagine my surprise when later I looked out and there was absolutely no snow on the ground. I listened to the weather and they were still saying snow was coming so I waited a while and then leaving hubbie and g-son at home I went to deliver my Avon orders. None of the roads I traveled had any evidence of snow,but I talked to several people that had snow between 7 and 8 this morning. And I noticed the surrounding mountains definitely had evidence of a snowy early morning on them. I made all my deliveries but 1,which I'll do tomorrow and was home by 3:00. G-son and hubbie were watching TV and playing with a "spaceship" made from a plastic cookie container. G-son's imagination is really going at his age(3) and he is so fun to watch as he talks with his toys and pretends he is a "super hero".
Hubbie went to his meeting at Hospice this afternoon and said all went well.At this point they have no idea when he will pass but she said his kidneys were still failing despite the IV's he had at the hospital,and that artery is a ticking time bomb. Possibilities of it rupturing or sending off a killer clot grow greater every day and there is no way to predict when that may happen. So we are back in the stressful waiting game that we found ourselves in last year 10 days later in this same month. Hubbie said they were feeding him ice cream when he left because he had asked for some,but weren't giving him a lot of it because it was almost dinner time. I know this is a difficult time for my hubbie and his brother,join me in lifting them up in prayer if you would,thanks in advance.
After g-son left and we finished our evening chores,daughter fixed supper for us tonight. It was very good,she is going to make someone a really good wife one of these days!!
I did some paperwork while hubbie took a drive with her to check out a noise her brakes were making. I now have all my files switched to 2010 and have all my 2009 receipts organized for tax preparation.
Bernie and Dolly are past needing a haircut,so tonight is the night.Hubbie and I started grooming them ourselves to save money and also they always acted traumatized when I picked them up from the groomer.I don't think it was anything the groomer did,I just think they got upset being away from home for a day plus having all that happening to them.
They are pretty good when we groom them and are cooperative and it takes less than 2 hours to do them both including bathing. Here they are after we finished cutting their hair waiting for their bath. Bernie loves soaking in the warm water and he lays just like he is laying now with his head just out of the water. I put Aveeno moisturizing baby shampoo in the water to make it feel good to their skin and help keep their skin from drying out in the cold winter air. They are such sweeties,right now while I write this they are both on the couch wrapped up in blankets sound asleep. They will be making quicker trips outside until their hair grows back out some!This is the beautiful sunset this evening after a beautiful sunny day with temperature at 42 and just a light wind. Tonight it is cold again,at 10:30 it is 26 and by morning it will be 18 with wind.At least we are not supposed to get any more snow like some of our northern neighbors are getting already tonight. Hoping to get an early start on my housework tomorrow so I can start on taxes,oh joy!!!
Yesterday in church we sang Jesus Loves Me and it made me think back to when I had some health problems a couple years ago.I would be sick with worry and to relieve my mind from the worry I would sing Jesus Loves Me to myself over and over until I felt a peaceful wave come over me and I would be reminded that Jesus was with me as He always is.
Good Night and God Bless.

STRESSFUL SUNDAY

Another gloomy weather day, but it felt so nice to be in church this morning and for the time I was there at least it gave me a sense of normalcy that is very much missing from my life at home right now. After a rushed lunch with only #2 son in attendance,#1 son came and picked up hubbie and went with him up to the hospital to meet with Hospice about f-i-l. #2 son needed to go to Sam's Club,so he and I took his jeep and went to get some supplies for this weeks storm,haha. We had to get creative to get all our groceries into his jeep,but we did it with a couple things in my lap. We stopped by his house first,unloaded his things and went through some of his tax receipts,so I can get started on his taxes this week hopefully. While there hubbie called to say after a struggle between the new doctor and the hospice representative f-i-l was being moved to the local hospice center. Hubbie was upset because, #1(when they got there f-i-l was laying in a mess that needed to be cleaned up,#2(the new doctor knew nothing nor cared that he had been in the hospital for 5 days prior to his move to the re-hab center where this doctor took over,to them he had only been in the hospital since Friday,#3( the new doctor demanded that f-i-l be told what was going on and in front of witness's he had to agree. Luckily our pastor was also there and when f-i-l was asked if he wanted to go to Hospice he said yes, although other questions were answered with mindless answers. Unbelievable how a very stressful situation can be made so much worse! Thankfully it was finally resolved with all parties agreeing Hospice was the best place.
Daughter got in from her snowy weekend at the beach,D-in-love came over for supper,hubbie went out to see his dad once he got settled in to his room at Elizabeth House.
G-son is spending the night here tonight in case the weather gets bad and #1 son has to take d-in-love to work early in the morning. He played downstairs with his aunt T most of the evening. When hubbie came home we watched a little TV and then headed for bed.
Wonder what the morning will bring????? It is still 34 degrees at 11:30 but it is suppose to start snowing around midnight. We are just enjoying g-son right now and relaxing.
Thankful to the Lord for working things out and giving everyone peace with the difficult decision that was made today. Praying now that He take f-i-l in His hands and His will be done. Praying for strength for hubbie and his brother as they still look forward to a meeting tomorrow with the doctor from Hospice that will do their evaluation tomorrow.
Good Night and God Bless.

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY !!!!!!!!!! HERE IS A LOVE NOTE FROM GOD!!!!!!!!!!

ANOTHER SNOWED IN SATURDAY!!

Lazy morning this morning,it is really cold outside so it is a good day to catch up on some paperwork inside. Hubbie called to check on his dad and they said there was no change. I think he keeps hoping he will slip on out without having to go the Hospice route again. He did some work around the barn to occupy his time this morning. This snow was a sticky wet snow and was still stuck to many things as the afternoon started out with bright sunshine.
The temperature only got to 36 degrees but the sunshine did a good job of melting this afternoon,now we have plenty of mud where the pretty white snow used to be. Hubbie and I had to muscle one of the new larger hay rolls into a position to feed in the barn this afternoon,I took a picture looking back to the house from the barn of the muddy drive that goes up to the barn,the snow melted off the drive everywhere but in the shady spots. Maybe that will melt tomorrow before we get more snow tomorrow night and Monday!!
Brother-in-law called from the hospital and said f-i-l was worse and that he had set up a meeting for him and hubbie with Hospice tomorrow at 2 so I guess hubbie's not gonna get his wish. That's too bad ,Hospice is a wonderful service,but it is hard on the family,it has a finality to it when Hospice gets involved and the waiting is tortuous. I still can't believe we were in this exact place 1 year ago. I'll be afraid to see February come around next year!
The birdie dining tables stayed full all day today,I love it when everyone gets along and big and little can eat side by side. Later in the day when the melting was slowing down this little guy looks like he is in a perilous position.(Better look up little birdie bird!!) Uh oh I'm watching to many Wow Wow Wubbzy cartoons with g-son.
We had a big chili and cornbread supper and #2 son came in tired from fighting the snow and ice all day delivering mail,ate and went home to rest. #1 son's family came later and after we ate we played cards while g-son played with his play-dough.D-in-love had a four square game and she and I played that,I had never played and it was fun.This winter has been a good winter for game playing and we always have a laughing fun good time,so it's good medicine for those cabin fever blues.
Hopefully we can get to church in the morning without slipping and sliding too much.
Give your cares to the Lord and rejoice. Good Night and God Bless.

WHAT WOULD FRIDAY BE WITHOUT SNOW!!!!!

Strange morning began the day,made a phone call to fa-in-law's assisted living facility to see if they had done their evaluation. They had, but then it got interesting,he said the emergency room had just called there wanting a phone number for f-i-l's family,but they couldn't find number to give them,1st strange happening????? A call to the emergency room told us he had been transfered back to the hospital from the re-hab center,so hubbie left and went to see what was going on. He was told he now has a new doctor and he had determined because of his respiratory distress that he was in too bad of shape for the re-hab center. This very issue I had pointed out to his regular doctor yesterday,but was assured that was the place he needed to be,2nd strange happening?????? The new doctor said he is going to do more test and wait for 2-3 days before making any decisions. Fa-in-law was given morphine to make him rest,at least he is not in pain.
Daughter and her friend left to head to Myrtle Beach,S.C. to run her marathon she has been training for the last 6 months and it is suppose to snow down there.
I spent part of the morning baking cakes,then looked out as hubbie came home and saw it starting to snow,what???? not here they said!!!!!!,3rd strange happening????
As soon as I got all the cakes out of the ovens we headed to church to finish work up there and it just keeps snowing harder and harder.My snow flowers are blooming again!!! I snapped this picture of hubbie's truck when we came home from church and the snow was continuing to come down at the rate of about an inch an hour.
Oh well after all it is Friday and this is the 5th Friday since December 18th that we have watched the snow pile up. On the news I saw that today 49 of the 50 US states have snow on the ground today,the exception being Hawaii,how about that!!!!!
I'm sure the sentiments displayed here are shared by many tonight.
I decided not to ice the layers I baked this morning,but to save them and ice them for orders as they come in maybe if the snow gets off the roads pretty fast tomorrow I can fill some Valentine orders. This snow isn't going anywhere overnight as it is already 26 degrees at 10:30 but at least it has stopped snowing for the time being anyway.
As the snow fell this afternoon the bird feeders got super busy,I had to refill, there was so much activity.Before it started snowing I caught this pair of House Finches filling their stomachs in preparation for the cold weather. I also spotted a large Mockingbird and a Yellow eyed Grackle at the feeders today but couldn't get photos,I'm sure they will be back.
Daughter called very disappointed as the city of Myrtle Beach had canceled the marathon because they had no snow removal equipment and were expecting 6" of snow by the morning. At least she is staying for free at her friend's aunt's house. I feel for her because I have watched her dedication in her training for this 13K race. I'm sure it would have been treacherous for the runners in this slick snow.
There were many accidents this afternoon as it made the roads around here very very slick. Thankfully all my family made it home safely.
I don't know any of these people but this gives you an idea how bad the roads got at about 5 this evening when everyone was trying to get home.This made for another boring Friday evening in front of the TV,I think I'm getting lazy or spoiled from not working on Friday night anymore! Hubbie called the hospital tonight and they said no change in f-i-l.
Still puzzled at the complete change in plans.
I'm ready for a bath and bed although I'm not the least bit tired,I think I'm just bored! We get maybe tomorrow with sunshine then more snow Sunday,oh boy! I told hubbie tonight I'm glad I started this blog this year because this is going to be a winter to talk about for years.
We just have to remember God knows what He is doing and He has a reason for all this,we may never know it but He knows and that's all that counts! Good Night and God Bless.

WHAT WAS SHE THINKING????????

Up and busy this morning,the wind has stopped,thankfully we didn't loose our electric. The sun is shining but it is 19 degrees outside,it didn't take me long to do my outside chores!! After breakfast and exercise I bagged my Avon orders and stamped my books,packaged 1 order up to ship to Florida and another that has to be delivered today. Decided to eat lunch here before running errands in town. After I made all my stops and actually made 2 Avon deliveries,1 from last campaign that was still in the van,I got home around 4:30. While I was our the doctor called and said fa-in-law's condition is deteriorating quickly. He now is on oxygen,has full blown pneumonia,is back in renal failure, his white cell count is 20,000 even with an antibiotic,and he has become very uncooperative. He will be moved to the re-hab center as soon as a bed opens up,but he will be evaluated by Hospice tomorrow.
Shortly I received a call from the hospital saying they would be moving him around 6 this evening. He is in a semi-private room there,but I don't think he's aware he's even in a different place. No one can believe how fast his condition has deteriorated. The doctor said today when she said he would not cooperate that for any one to get better they had to be willing to try and at this point he just won't do it. I watched my father do this very thing,he had lung cancer,they operated but found it was in his lymph system and although he came through the surgery fine he decided he did not want to live with cancer. He lived about 2 weeks after the surgery,refused to eat or drink,or cooperate in any way with any thing anyone tried to do so we honored his unspoken wishes and let him pass,he was 81. This was especially hard for me as he died in June and his first grandson who is now my #1 son was born in October.
Hubbie and I worked for a while at church tonight and have a busy day tomorrow trying to tie up some loose ends and for the first time in a while the Market will be back open Saturday considering it doesn't snow tomorrow night,so that means some baking will need to be done tomorrow. This is the most disgusting thing I've seen in a while,she even has a crown of thorns on her head. What could she possibly be thinking!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Forgive her dear Jesus for she knows not what she does!!!!!!!!!!!When I saw this on Yahoo as one of their headlines I could not believe my eyes. Some people will do any thing for publicity,I've never paid any attention to her any way and now for sure I would never want to have anything to do with anything of hers. One of the critics said this time she didn't even have to take her top off to stir up controversy. What kind of examples are these stars setting for the young impressionable girls in the world right now.

Thanking God for all the blessing He pours out for me daily. Good Night and God Bless.

STUMPED!

Waken by a phone call from fa-in-law's doctor with bad news. She said he was back in delirium this morning,and was getting pneumonia from aspirating even his saliva. She said the ultra-sound on his arteries was very bad because not only was his only open artery now 80+% blocked but it had an ulcer in it that was breaking up and throwing clots,soooooo,needless to say her prognosis wasn't good. He is being transfered to a re-hab facility so he will get more attention and then the rest will be up to him. She said his body was strong but his will at this time didn't match.
The sun is shining,it is blowing snow and the wind is howling this morning. G-son finally got to go back to pre-school today,#1 son is going to pick him up because has no work to do in this wind. It is almost lunch,I usually do all my blogging at night but this morning after chores,breakfast and exercise,I think I'll wait until after lunch to start any tax work,UHHHH!!!!!
G-son came after lunch and is in a super mood today. Saw 2 new birds at the feeders today. This iridescent feathered Starling I have seen before but can't remember getting a good picture of him. I first thought it was a crow until I saw the long yellow bill and the short tail feathers. But I am stumped on the identity of this brown bird,with his defined lines of color change,when I first saw it I thought it was a Robin but in all the pictures I see Robins have yellow bills and this fellow has a dark bill and no white striping around his eyes.I spent quite a lot of time searching on the net for his identity with no luck. So if any of you bird watchers out there have a clue or just a guess please chime right in. Thanks!
MYSTERY BIRD!!!!!!!
We are having a very windy day and trees are blowing down all around,I just keep praying we'll keep our electric. G-son really gets worn out at pre-school,he is sleeping so soundly this afternoon the dogs barking doesn't even make him wiggle.The afternoon sun even in his face didn't bother him today!
I payed bills while he slept and made some phone calls. The hospital didn't transfer fa-in-law today, that will be tomorrow if he makes it through the night. Hubbie and his brother went alone tonight to see him,my throat is a little scratchy and with the wind blowing as hard as it is someone needs to be here. When I went out to do the chores this evening I was surprised by hard the ground was already frozen and the remaining snow was very slick and frozen. The high temperature today has been 30 degrees with the chill factor in the single digits,brrrr!
Tonight the wind is really whipping harder than it has all day,trees are falling. I pray no one gets hurt in this wind storm.Some of the surrounding counties have blizzard warnings. But so far snow fall here has been very light,let's hope it stays that way!
I am watching the Carolina/Duke basketball game but decided I had better finish this post and publish it before we loose our power. Update on fa-in-law is not good,he can't even talk plainly tonight and is doing very poorly, hasn't eaten and had to have oxygen to ease his breathing struggles tonight.Doesn't look good at all.
Well it is 10:45.the lights are flickering,it is 24 degrees,chill factor near 0, so I'm going to publish this and hopefully finish the ballgame. God is in control!!!!! Good Night and God Bless.

HOSPITAL DA JA VUE , HOPING FOR DIFFERENT RESULTS

Wow,finally a good,undisturbed nights sleep. I do feel refreshed this morning and my eyes no longer are red and burning making me think I'm getting Pinkeye. After chores,breakfast and exercises I started laundry and housework for the day. The phone kept interrupting my work but it meant I was getting frequent breaks so that's not all bad! Several Avon orders came in and then I get a call from the assisted living facility where Fa-in-law was, the man calling was the same man I talked to Sunday.Funny thing today he didn't remember anything he told me Sunday,now he is saying they have to evaluate fa-in-law and then determine if they can re-hab him there. I told him his doctor had already said they could not give the care he now needed,but he was insistant on their re-hab center which I've seen and is equipped only with stationary bikes. They don't even have foot plates on their wheelchairs. You never say never and I had to bite my tongue,but I hope the doctor sticks by her guns and convinces them to discharge him. This is like a bad dream,it seems to keep coming up!!
I was just finishing the housework when hubbie came home. We did the chores and ate a hot dog for supper in order to get to the hospital a little early to surely catch the doctor on her rounds. Fa-in-law looked and responded better tonight and we were glad to see he was feeding himself tonight,he was making a huge mess but he was partially laying down,at least he has control of both his arms. Brother-in-law and sis-in-law came up there also.As we sat there looking at one another it occurred to me that it was 1 week short of a year exactly that we were here at this same hospital in this same situation with mother-in-law. What we went through with her was eerily similar. She also was sent home from the emergency room Sunday night with mild de-hydration,only to be sent back in an ambulance on Monday to be admitted,found to have had a stroke, she died 10 days later.Unlike fa-in-law she was in very poor health,had not been eating and had a compromising heart condition along with being almost completely crippled with arthritis all over her body.February is not going to have many pleasant memories for our family if something happens to fa-in-law also this month.
I still feel this is a strange coincidence that two years in a row here we are,the four of us sitting in a hospital room. We waited for over an hour, but no doctor.I went to the desk and they told me sometimes she does early morning rounds. However they did tell me that his renal failure looked better today but his potassium level was really low and would have to be attended to. The artery ultra-sound showed greater that 70% blockage in the only good artery he has,which isn't good,I'm sure that's what caused the stroke. He was not happy tonight, he knows he is in the hospital and he recognizes some of his troubles,especially the incontinence issue and is very troubled by that. He told hubbie he didn't think he would get any better. He has always been very independent so he may not deal well at all with the fact that he can't do certain things for himself any longer. But like I talked about last night,quality of life is an issue that each individual must deal with in their own way. At my age I would fight like crazy because I have hopefully a lot of years left after recovery,but at 84 I'm not sure how much fight would be left!! I've dealt with this personally with my dad and seen family and friends deal with elderly who just get tired and give up the fight,when this happens you have no choice but to honor their wishes. I hope fa-in-law hangs in there,he is physically very strong and healthy but his mental state has got to follow suit and we are just praying right now that it will.
As we drove home tonight the fog was getting very dense and we are supposed to get snow and very high winds tomorrow,winter is just not going to let up. The high temperature today was 39 and it was cloudy all day,at 10:30 tonight it is still 36 but feels much colder with the humidity and wind that is just now starting to blow. Hopefully the doctor will call in the morning and hopefully I'll get to talk to the analyst who will help us decide where to place fa-in-law for the care he needs,I'm really tired of wondering about that.
It's all in God's hands,He already knows what's going to happen and he will guide us through whatever is to come for we have to recognize ,His will,Will be done!!!!!
Good Night and God Bless.

MORE ICE PICTURES , A DAY OF WAITING FINALLY ENDS

Here are some more ice storm pictures from our area from last Friday's Ice Storm.Click on the pics to get a better view.Hopefully this ice won't hurt the apple trees,looks like it might help with the pruning! These pictures were made on Sugarloaf Mountain. Hubbie's parents were both raised on this mountain and when our kids were smaller we farmed his grandparents farm after his grandfather died. I have some wonderful memories from those days. I never knew my grandparents as my parents were older when they married and all their parents had passed away so it was fun to have a grandmother and I must say this special lady treated me as her granddaughter from the very beginning and for as long as she lived. Her place was magical in a lot of ways for me,it was mountainous,with poor soil and had creeks running all through it. A lot of it was pure undisturbed forest inhabited with wildlife and plants and flowers that are found no where else. I wish hubbie and I could have afforded to have bought it when granny died,but we couldn't. I know from experience that because of it's elevation,winters are more harsh as these pictures truly show. Granny died from natural causes as far as we know. When she got frail everyone wanted her to go get test done to find out what was wrong but she refused. One day she said to me "what good is it gonna do me to find out I have cancer or what ever it is,I'm 85 years old and I'm tired". This made a lot of sense to me and I stopped praying that she live on,I thought that was selfish,I just prayed for her to be pain free so she could enjoy the time she had left and that prayer was answered! Sometimes we want to keep people around so we won't have to suffer the hurt of loosing them,not considering what their quality of life may be.
Today has been a day of waiting,I got up early,put in my calls to the VA and rest homes and then waited for return calls. I sent in an Avon order,played with g-son and waited some more! After 4 hours the lady at the VA called back and said that long term care there was not an option, the rest home we were hoping for called back and I'm still smarting from their pricing, $3500-$4000 a month and they don't take medicare,medicaid or insurance. Wow,who can afford that??????
Haven't heard anything from the doctor so probably no news is good news in this case. We'll be going to the hospital when hubbie gets home from work,he is usually off Mondays but with the weather predictions and his already several weather related missed days he decided to work today. In the meantime I'll just wait!!
I thought I was going to get a nap with g-son this afternoon and I could have really used one today,but g-son got his second wind and he was doubly active for the rest of the day!
#1 son picked him up,we ate a light supper and headed up to the hospital,picked up brother-in-law on the way. Luckily the Doctor was still there when we got there and came in to talk to us. Father-in-law has had a pretty bad stroke,probably either Friday night or Saturday before he went to the emergency Saturday night. Why they did not find it at the Emergency room Saturday night is a mystery????? It is in the front right side of his brain,affecting his comprehension, thinking,and his fine motor skills,such as eating and drinking. He has no drooping and only slight loss of motion in his left arm,they have not tried to get him up to walk yet,he is still in a lot of pain in his back when they move him. He is still saying crazy things and answering questions with the wrong answers but that is going to be normal from now on. They are going to do some more test to check his arteries,one of which we already know is 100% blocked so we are praying the other one is still only mildly to moderately blocked. Then he will start re-hab to get an exact idea how much damage the stroke did. He looks fine and seems satisfied for now. He had a super male nurse tonight,he was so nice and efficient with him,got us coffee and extra chairs. Some people are just cut out for the patient care business and he was one of them.
We left ,dropped bro-in-law off and came home. I am so tired tonight,mentally and physically I just want to get a hot bath and lay my head on the pillow tonight.
Thanking God tonight for intervening in this situation,it had to be God's doing.If the boys hadn't turned over dealing with his nurses at the home to me yesterday and if I hadn't stood my ground and not did what they wanted us to do,forcing them to make arrangements to get him back into the hospital he would have died. I felt God's hand last night as I lay in bed normally I would have been second guessing myself all over the place because that's just me,but not last night,there was no doubt in my mind that I had done the correct thing,I was totally at peace. What a wonderful God we serve. Good Night and God Bless.