Guess what mom, we are still alive!

Mom has sworn for years that I don't know how to cook.  That always made Tom mad, because I love to cook if I don't have her standing over my shoulder telling me what to do all the time.  I just gave up. So, we have been living alone for 2 weeks now, and we are both still alive...and not hungry!  I do know how to cook!!!

Where have I been you ask???

Well, a lot has been happening in my life.  I can't go into detail for most of it, but has been VERY stressful to say the least. Tom and I are starting a new life together and working on issues that we have and trying to move on with our lives.  It is proving to be a good move for us, I feel.  But, it is a work in progress.

At first, we had decided to move to Kansas City to start this new life.  So, I got my resume out there and got a job with the 2nd interview I had.  Pretty good odds, I think.  We had a house lined up and put our notice in at work.  My boss cried (and so did I!!) but she accepted it and was happy for me.  She knows what is going on in my life and wanted the best for us.  Well, after some serious discussions, we decided that we really needed to stay here for several reasons.  I talked to my boss and she was very happy that I told her that I was going to stay...for now.  I told her a year but she is determined to make it last 2 decades!!  We will have to see about that. So, for now...I am still at OTSCON and Tom is unemployed. 

After calling both the folks who owned the house we were suppose to move into (sorry again Beth & Lucas) and the new job we started looking for a place to live.  We knew that we had to move from the house we were living in and to a new house.  So, after looking at one house, we found one that was right around the corner from mom and believe it or not Kris!!!  We have moved into Columbia and so far (only 2 weeks) love it.  We are learning what it is like to have neighbors (our neighbor happens to be the vice-president of OTSCON!), noise, and traffic.  We are so stoked about having high-speed Internet, cable, and pizza delivery!!  It doesn't take much to made old people happy.

Alayna is happy that we are staying in Columbia.  She has a room at our new house.  She stays here about 1/2 of the time.  She likes riding her bike here, but has not been here long enough to make any new friends.  We are in a different school district so she doesn't know any of them.

Mom is pretty happy living alone, but found out how lonely it is without someone to talk to everyday.  I think it will get better as time goes on, but it will take a little bit to get used to the quiet!

I guess that is enough update for now. 

Waiting for the week-end...

I am so glad that the week-end is almost here.  I know I need it - really bad.  We are going to be busy for part of it, but hope to spend Sunday watching the races and chillin' out.

Kristi and Alayna are heading down to West Plains to see some good friends.  They will be there all week-end and are looking forward to fishing, visiting, and hanging out.  Kristi has put in a lot of overtime in the last few weeks and really needs a break.  I think this will be good for both of them.

I am not sure about Brian and what he is doing - have not talked to him a lot lately.  He has been putting in a lot of overtime as well. 

Oma is going to sew this week-end and keep up with her growing hummingbird collection.

Tom and I are going to couples night tomorrow night at the ceramics studio.  We have become addicted to that studio.  We love to get something and just let our imagination run wild.  Tom has been working on a LARGE 4 piece light house.  It is going to be beautiful.  I am going to work on a stepping stone.  I am not sure what else.  On Saturday, we are going to a car show in Jefferson City.

Hope you all have great week-ends planned.

Guess it is time for an update!

I am really not sure why I don't update more often.  I am on the computer a lot, but seem to be on Facebook or playing cards.  I don't know why I don't just do an update. 

We have really been having trouble adjusting to our new life with Tom home in the evenings.  I didn't think we had gotten into such a routine until it up and changed.  So, after about 6 weeks we are slowly getting into a new routine.  It has been difficult for Tom and I as well.  We had really forgotten that we were married with never seeing each other.  Something I never thought we would experience.

We have started going back to church.  I didn't realize that I missed it so much.  We have not found a church home yet, but are working on finding the right one for us. Kristi and Alayna have been going to Uncle Bob's church and Oma has been going back to the Lutheran church. We have had to miss 2 weeks and I am ready to go back on Sunday.  That is a good thing.

Alayna has been struggling with her weight.  She has the opposite problem as her mother and I - she can't seem to gain weight due to her ADD medicine.  We have had to resort to medicine-free weekends to help her gain weight.  She did a lot better - gained 3 lbs in a month.  However, the family goes through hell on the week-ends.  She is a wild child!  She is almost done with 1st grade, and has made progress in the right direction thanks to the medicine. We have a parent-grandparent-teacher conference tomorrow night to check her progress before school is out.  This way we can find out how far behind she still is and what we will be looking forward to once school starts again.  She got all her hair cut off and FINALLY lost one of her top front teeth last week.

Kristi is finally done with school for the summer.  She needed a break.  She wants to spend a lot more time with Alayna - and we want that as well.  Tom and I have a lot of things we want to do together and hope to be able to re-connect and do some stuff as well.  I think Alayna needs some "mommy-time" as well.  It will help all involved. Kristi and Alayna plan on going to see their good friends Lacy and Kevin in West Plains over Memorial day.  This will be a good get-away. 

Oma is doing well.  Is not feeling well at all, but when you are 80 everything hurts!!  She was trying to walk into the house today and nearly fell.  All of the sudden a pain shot through her hip and she couldn't move.  She is still quilting and has made several to give away as graduation gifts. We want to go to Arkansas again to check on the graves, but neither of us really want to go.  So, this has been put on hold.

Brian has been really busy with work.  They have a project to complete by a deadline and I am not totally sure they are going to make it without a lot of overtime.  Last week he said he worked 65 hours.  He is dead on his feet some days. He is getting ready for his vacation - 8 days in Mexico.  He is in a destination wedding and is really looking forward to getting away.  He finally gets to use his passport!

I have not been in my scrapbook room in about a month.  I have been so busy with other stuff that I just have not gotten to spend time in there. I hope to be able to get back in there soon.  We are going to help a friend down the street with her garden.  This way we can both benefit from the fresh veggies.  We need them since Alayna is a veggie freak!!  She asked for spinach the other night!  That is my girl.

Tom and I are going to the air show on Saturday of Memorial week-end.  Then, the next week-end is the race at Kansas.  We have several other things around here we want to do, but other than that we will be at home.  Ready for some quiet time.

Medically, we are not the perfect family....

This has been a bad week - medically for our family here in Columbia.  It started on Monday when I had to have an emergency visit to the dentist.  I know you are jealous, you wanted to be in the dentist chair didn't you?  Go ahead and admit it.  Anyway, back to my saga...One of my temporary fillings fell out and was starting to hurt.  The dentist put in another temporary filling because my dental insurance will not allow another root canal until July - really, that is when my FSA money is renewed.  So, I hope this temporary filling last until July 5th.  It does feel a lot better now.

Then on Tuesday morning, I got up and Oma was sitting in her chair.  I could tell she wasn't feeling well and sure enough her heart had been doing the cha-cha.  She told me that she was going to stay quiet for the day.  I told her if needed, call me and I would come home and take her to the doctor.  We think the issue was that she had to stop her blood thinner to get a shot in her back on Monday.  So, we are hoping that it will get better with the restarting of her medicine.  She is feeling better today.

On Tuesday night, Tom told me that he thought I was contagious because his eye was watering and really itchy.  He used me allergy eye drops and thought that would help.  On Wednesday morning as soon as I got to work Tom was waiting for me.  He looked terrible. Right eye swollen almost shut, watering terribly, and very itchy.  He said that he couldn't see very well either. I couldn't believe that he said he was going to the doctor.  He must have been hurting.  After our family doctor took one look at his eye, he told Tom that he was not leaving and needed to see a specialist right away - there was something wrong with his eye and it needed to be seen right away.  After about an hour of Tom sitting in the room with the lights out (light made it worse) the doctor had an appointment with a specialist - right away.

On to the specialist he went and I met him there.  After about an hour, finally a diagnosis of a ulcer on his cornea.  Very serious and if it doesn't get treated right away then it could lead to emergency surgery and a cornea transplant. So, he got drops to put in his eyes every two hours and ice packs until he sees the doctor the next day.

Today, we went back and both ulcers are looking very well.  One is healed and the other is about 1/2 way healed.  He said that eyes heal very quickly, but it was good that Tom seaked treatment right away.  He goes back in one week to make sure - unless he gets worse.

After I got back to work from Tom's appointment, Kristi called and asked if it was OK that one of her legs is very swollen and warm.  I told her "NO" it is not ok, call the doctor right away.  This could be serious.  So, she headed off to the doctor who suspected a blood clot.  Luckily, no clot but she is still having issues today.  She is going to call the doctor back to see what to do next.  This is very concerning.

Tomorrow, Alayna has her month ADD appointment. We are praying that she has not lost any weight, otherwise the doctor will be VERY upset.  She can't afford to lose anymore weight.  Otherwise, the medicine is doing a wonderful job.

So, Brian is the only one that is still pain free!  Let's keep it that way.

Sunset in Louisville.

While we were at dinner the last night in Louisville we ate at a really nice restaurant and it was perfect - all meals under $10 and the food was great.  This is one of the pictures that Tom took that night.

The Tsunami has hit us in Columbia

Well, it took a month, but the effects of the disaster in Japan has struck here.  Tom and I work at a Japanese automotive OEM (Original equipment manufacturing) company.  We make parking brakes for cars that are mfg in North America.  Well, the car companies have dropped their production to nearly nothing resulting in a reduction in workforce.  We released all our temps on Tuesday and asked for volunteers to take a lay-off until at least July 8th.  Also, 2nd shift was cancelled and the OTSCON employees have been moved to 1st shift.  So, Tom is going to start working daytime hours as of Monday.  This is wonderful news for us for a short time, and just about the time we get used to these hours they will move him (I have a feeling).

At this time we both still have jobs, but I don't know what the future holds.  But, for awhile we will be a family again!

Day 2 in Louisville

Lets put it this way, I am exhausted.  I got up this morning before everyone else, so I went down to the workout room.  Spent 30 minutes on Elliptical and 15 mins on treadmill.  After showers, we headed out to drop Tom off at the truck show.  I was not really happy  with them.  They made me pay $8 to drop him off.  I was not a happy camper and told that lady such.  It would have been quicker and easier to drop Tom off at the corner and let him walk.  There were probably a million people there - I really don't think I am kidding either! 

Alayna and I headed over to the zoo.  It was not as good as we expected, but we did walk through the whole zoo.  Tom had our good camera, so I had Kristi's and it is not good in the sun.  You can't see what you are taking a picture of because you have to look at the LCD on the back of the camera.  We got a couple of good pictures though, but not very many.

After we were done at the zoo, we went to Archivers and then to Toys R Us. Then started the adventure to try to find Tom.  He was dropped off at a gas station - not like there is only 1 in Louisville!  I had my IPhone going crazy with streets.  He was on Preston and I typed in Poplar. Once I figured out my error, we went right to him.  Boy, was I happy to see him!!!

He really enjoyed the truck show, only took 829 pictures.  I think he will have to go back :).  

We are now at the hotel, watching scooby doo and waiting to leave for dinner on the river again.  We are going to another restaurant - and this time Tom will bring the camera. Alayna has been an excellent girl today.  Very patient, even when I was about to tears trying to find Tom.  She told me that it would be ok, we would find him - and we did. 

Dinner on the banks of the Ohio river.

We went back into Indiana tonight and had dinner.  She took her mom's camera and took some pictures. Most of these are her handiwork.

The skyline is Louisville.

My seamstress grandchild

This week was spring break for Alayna and to keep her from getting bored, Oma got a sewing box together for her to use.  It had pins, needles, thread, etc.  Alayna also had Oma's box of scraps.  She made several doll dresses, one of which was a suit for her barbie.  She has a good attention to detail and does everything from her memory.  She is very creative. 

She got in trouble for going through the 80 fat quarters that Oma got for her birthday, so I went to Jo-Ann's and picked her up a 5 or 6 fat quarters.  She was very excited!  She took the material, pinned the edges, and sewed this multi-tier skirt.  I was so impressed.  She did this all by her self while Oma took an afternoon nap.

I really think we have something with her.  I am going to take her to a fabric store down here to see if they have a few pieces that she might want to make something out of.  I am thinking of getting her a kid sewing machine for her birthday.

Night before the big day...

Well, tonight is the last night that my mother will be in her 70's.  Tomorrow, she begins the 80th year of her life on earth.  She has seen so much in her lifetime and has watched so many of her relatives pass before her. 

I have been working on a birthday party for her for about 6 weeks now. I am really surprised that she has not figured it out yet. She know that she is going to lunch tomorrow, but  doesn't know about anything else.  It is not going to be a huge party, but it will be nice to have family and friends there to give her well wishes.

I hope we don't need paramedics once she enters the room and finds out what is going on! 

More about the party later.

Hello all...

We have been busy little beavers. We went to Kansas City twice for birthday parties for 2 special 2-year old boys.  It was nice to see everyone and wish that we saw these people more than just once or twice a year. 

We have been healthy - except for Kristi who got a terrible flu bug and missed a week of work.  She is finally back to normal.  I really don't want to get sick, but we have so many people at work sick that I am surprised that I haven't gotten sick yet.

I have been trying to catch up on my scrapbooking. I am working on March 2009 now. So, I am only 2 years behind.  I have several pages done that need journaling.  I have crop to go to tomorrow, but I think I am going to stay at home and work on a few of these journaling items.  I think I will get a lot more done here instead of trying to move my stuff there and back. 

I am also going to try to call some of mom's friends for her birthday party.  I finally got a room for us to have this party.  It is amazing that she has not caught on yet!  Thanks to my sister-in-law, Gail we now have a reason to go to the restaurant.  I told her that Gail wanted to come down on her birthday and I told her that we needed to go out to lunch on that day.  So, we can get her there fairly easy I think.

Alayna got an award at school today for her improvement in focusing.  I am so glad that they did this, it shows Alayna that people are taking notice to her new learning habits.  Now, we have to work on catching up with her peers. She has started painting - and loves it.  When she is painting, she is totally involved in what she is doing.  She wants it a certain way, and knows what she wants.  She is very artistic and this really shows in her card making and painting.  She is really interested in oil painting, but I have to work on that.  She is treading on an area that I know nothing about.

What a difference the medicine has made.

Went to Alayna's parent-teacher conference tonight.  Really, it was grandparent-teacher(s) meeting (her mother is still very sick and at home in bed)!!!  Her report card was amazing this quarter.  She has come a long way from the first of the year.  Last conference we were talking about her lack of focus and how it has hurt her ability to learn math, reading, and writing.  This time the conference was totally different.  We were talking about how far she has come since she started on her medicine the first week of January. We have noticed a change as well.  She can scrapbook with me now and makes really neat cards and layouts.  She also has become more accomplished in reading and writing.  She is still not to the level of the other kids in her class, but is making great progress. 

I am so proud of the change she has made in a short time.  I wish the doctors would have listened to us a year ago when we tried to tell them that she was losing ground.

Exciting week-end

This week-end we are going to Kansas City for Kane Shepard's 2nd birthday.  He is the grandson of our friends Terri and Daryl from Denver.  We are really excited to see Terri and Daryl, OK... and Kane.

Next week-end we are going back to Kansas City for Kolby Eiman's 2nd birthday.  So much to do in the 2 days off, but we will have fun.  Can't wait!!!

Kristi has the flu

Poor girl has been sick since Sunday night.  She has been throwing up and high fever and doesn't really care about anything!  I don't want it - so we are staying away.  We have had Alayna since Sunday night and won't take her back until her mom is totally feeling better - or when we get tired of her!!!

mom's visit to the doctor today

Mom had an appointment today with her heart doctor.  He said that she will see more of these "episodes" because of her age.  Her heart is just tired, and can't always run right.  The question lies in whether these are hurting her quality of life.  He said that she probably has been having these for years, and they are now getting to the point that she is feeling them or noticing them more. He is going to up one of her medicines for now and she has to call him each time she has an issue.  Then, he will analyzes the times and frequency when he sees her again. So, right now we are in a holding pattern.  I am glad that he didn't dive right into surgery - but that is still a possibility.

A nice Valentines week-end

We have had a nice week-end so far.  We went to Grand Cru restaurant for a nice early dinner with my hubby and my mom.  It was really nice, one of those places that you go to once in a while.  After that, we went to Missouri United Methodist Church for an organ concert.  I could sit and listen to that pipe organ for hours.  We had a really nice time.

Today (Sunday) we all invaded Kristi's apartment for a much deserved BBQ...yes I said BBQ.  We did hamburgers, hot dogs, and pork Steaks.  Alayna made Gail's cheesy potatoes and so this make another generation that makes this wonderful dish.  I think Aunt Gail would be proud of her. Granny and Grandpapa came over as well to enjoy some time with the family.

Now, we are watching You Tube stuff and visiting.  What a nice way to spend the week-end.

What a way to start the week-end...

On Friday morning about 3 am, mom's heart decided to act up again.  She didn't wake me up but instead decided to go to her chair and see if it would get better.  It did, but left her feeling run down and tired.  So, she called the doctor (after I told her twice to do it before that) and they said to go to the ER to make sure her heart is behaving. After a few tests, they decided that her heart was doing fine now - and that she did have another episode. She had to go see her cardiologist on Monday.  We will see what the doctor says this time.  He said that she will have to have a pacemaker, so she may have this gadget before her 80th birthday.

We have rested this morning and are going to go have a nice dinner tonight (all 3 of us!) and then to the church for a organ concert. Tomorrow we are going to Kristi's house to help Alayna make a valentine dinner for her mom.

Hope everyone has a wonderful week-end and enjoy some time with your loved ones.

Scrap book

I have been trying to  catch up since I am so far behind on my photo's.  I am currently working on March 2010, so I have made some progress.  It would be a lot more progress if I didn't have a 7 year old helper, but she is learning.

I need to take pictures of the last few pages I have done.  One spread is taking me about 2 weeks to complete, because I keep adding more tidbits and changing a few things. I got a couple of new gadgets and of course Alayna loves them as well.

This week-end I hope to work on a couple more items.  I have 2 more cards to make and want to finish these pages.

Watch what you say....

I have been working on setting up a scrap area for Alayna since she is able to focus more and now is getting into scrap booking.  Anyway, I bought her a container and filled it with some stuff that I found on clearance last over the last few weeks.  Last night when Alayna went into the scrap room to make something for her mom for Valentines day - she looked at her new container and promptly said "What the Hell?"  Now, I guess that we will have to watch what we say....damn it!

Well, hello everyone.

I am not sure what my problem is, but blogging has not been part of it. I guess I should go to my room and think about what I have done wrong - for at least 5 days.  No work, no fun, nothing...just thinking about it.  OK, so we know that is not going to happen, so I guess that I will have to get better.

We have been busy.  We really had a trying week with the Blizzard of 2011.  I tell you, we have had more snow (in 1995) but this seemed to be a heck of a lot more snow for some reason. We had 20+ inches in most of our yard. We had a heck of a time finding someone to plow our drive because we were not the only house that needed help.  We finally found someone who promptly plowed all the snow in front of the garage and doors to the house.  So, after about 4 hours on Friday night and 2 hours on Saturday morning we have blasted thought about 75% of the mountain.  I personally don't want to see another snow shovel for a LONG time!!

Alayna has been doing SOOOOO much better.  The doctor put her on a very low dose of an ADD drug and it has made a world of difference.  She is so much quieter, more focused, and much happier.  She does have a few issues with her emotions (she is such a passionate child). She is beginning to understand how much fun she can have when she focuses.  We have been scrap booking a lot.  She said that she wants to be an artist when she grows up "because they make the world pretty" which I love.  She is very detailed orientated and once you show her how to do something (like making a card) that she runs with it. 

Tom has not had a good few weeks at work.  They keep adding more stuff to him, but won't give him any help.  He is just about to the end of his rope I think.  Not to mention, he really misses being at home at night with his family.  Once in a while is OK, but for 5 or 6 days a week is getting really old - really fast.

Mom is getting ready to turn 80 in March.  I have been thinking about her birthday and trying to decide what to do for her.  Well, I finally decided that what she would like more than anything is have her family all together to celebrate her special day.  So, we are all meeting at a local restaurant and going to try to surprise her (if I can do that with her living here!). We are also going to do an "80 birthday blast" for her.  Give her 80 of something....like buttons, depends, what ever you can come up with.  I think this will make her really happy since she has everything she really wants.  If you are reading this and want to join us - let me know.  We would love to have anyone!

Guess I better get to bed.  I know it is early, but I am old and old people have to go to bed early!!

Hey! What's up??

Hello all, 

We have been busy, as usual. Seems like this is getting to be the norm instead of something out of the ordinary. I don't know when or where this change was made, but I would like to go back to a slower life!!

We have been trying to deal with a situation in Pine Bluff, Arkansas.  Someone stole the headstone from my grandparents grave.  They didn't bother the headstone of  my great-grandmother.  I have had several different stories about what was actually stolen.  I have heard all but the concete pad, then I heard only the bronze part of the marker, then I heard only the granite.  So, I really don't know yet.  I will probably have to actually go there to figure out what to do next.  I am just not sure.  Oma is really upset about this, and wants to get it fixed.  We are just really not sure what to do next.  I understand that our headstone was not the only one stolen.

Alayna has been diagnosed with ADD.  This has taken several months to get to the part of actually taking medicine.  Kristi, the kindergarten teacher, the first grade teacher, and a couple more teachers had to fill out a report on her activities.  When the doctor reviewed them all, Kristi and I were the only ones you find at least 6 problems that indicated ADD.  The teachers all had 4.  You have to have at least 6 to be considered ADD.  The only reason that the doctor agreed to medicine is that everyone indicated that she is struggling with math, reading, and writing.  The doctor is also concerned about her losing ground instead of gaining ground in school.  She took her first pill today and didn't do very well.  This is the first time she has had to swallow a pill whole.  Tomorrow, we are putting it in applesauce.  Today, she got about 1/2 of her medicine.  I will let you know how this works.

Tom has really had a difficult few weeks at work.  If it isn't a problem with the material handlers not supplying his line correctly, then he is short employees.  He is just really struggling with this shift.  Starting on Tuesday, he will be adding another line to the 2 lines he already has.  Doesn't look like it is getting better for him.

I have been working on my scrapbook stash.  I completed 2008 finally and am now working on 2009.  I am up to March.  I could get a lot more done if I didn't have a 7 year old assistant.  We have been watching YouTube videos on techniques and that girl can be a sponge - and then want to try the technique when I am trying to work on a layout.

Oma is still having a few issues with her heart.  Not bad, but each one is getting her one step closer to that dreaded pacemaker.  In March, she will be celebrating her 80th birthday. I have been trying to figure out what to do for this milestone, but have not really decided.  I know what she would like, but I doubt that it would happen - so then I need a back-up plan. She has been quilting a lot lately.  Doing quilts for retired and injured vets. 

Kristi and Brian are doing OK.  They are both busy with work, and Kristi has some added stress with school. 

Happy New Year

Well, where I have been?  I didn't realize that it had been so long since I last posted!  I am a bad girl!!

Let me try to start this year off on a better note...or blog!!!

We had a wonderful New Years eve.  We went to St. Louis with Kristi and Alayna to go to a St. Louis Blues Hockey game.  We had a blast.  This was not the first hockey game I have been to.  My brother, Larry took me to one when we lived in Independence in the early 1970's. I don't remember a lot about that game, just remember how happy I was that Larry took me  to a game with him.  Funny, how that is the only think I remember about that event!  Anyway, we went to a new mall - in fact most of the malls in St. Louis are new to me since we hardly ever go to St. Louis. We went to the St. Louis Mills Mall and really enjoyed it. It was HUGE compared to our mall, but not the biggest I have seen.  The only reason I wanted to go there was because I had some coupons for Archivers and a small list of things I needed for a scrapbook I am working on.  So, we were able to go and walk the mall, enjoy Alayna's excitement while she bungee jumped, and ate at Johnny Rockets.  We had a nice time. 

After that, we headed to the Scott Trade Center and to watch the Blues play Phoenix.  I can't believe that the desert has a hockey rink!!!  The blues played really well and ended up winning.  Towards the end they gave up 3 points, but they still won.  After that we ended up driving home.  We were going to spend the night, but with the room rates near the Scott trade center starting around $150, we decided we could drive home cheaper than that.  We ended up talking most of the way, and made it home just after midnight.  So, the 4 of us saw the new year come in on I-70 near Kingdom City, MO. 

Tom and I don't have to go back to work until Tuesday, which make 10 days off work for me!  I needed it.  I don't know what I will do when I have to go back to work.  It will be a culture shock for me since I have been scrap booking and lounging for more than a week. I am working on 2008 pictures - am I behind or what!  I guess this is good, because I have something to keep me busy.

Alayna is at Kristi's and has been since Thursday.  It has been really nice and quiet here with her gone.  I had her the first part of the week since Kristi and Tom had to work and I was at home.  Kristi and Alayna both have to return to their daily grind on Monday.