Ekua

Apologies for my over the top rant! I was sleep deprived and dealing with hysterical friends and trying to calm my nerves for teaching lessons!

And I get very passionate about things easily....I need to learn when to stop and let things go...I'm working on it.



to all!

podmom

Ekua We all care about you and know you are a passionate, kind, caring person that is concerned and anxious. Thanks for stopping back and caring for us. We all have our moments...I was getting worked up too. This has been an intense election cycle to say the least. I see you are on FF right now so I am going to post this and say hi then come back here and give a SO

podmom

keepsmiling Good luck with the Christmas shopping!!! I bought a couple things so far.....I need to get moving too

ML I feel for you doing the prep today it is so awful the only upside is you really feel good and cleaned out after I hope they see absolutely nothing so you don't have to do it again for 10 years!! That is sweet John is going on some of your Mlette outings with you guys. He sounds like a nice young man I surly hope he is and that they get married and have kids soon sorry I couldn't help myself

keepsmiling7

Thinking of you today ML.........
MLettie's young man is sounding very nice. Hope all goes will for them.

podmom

I see you up there ML how did it all go...oops pun not intended but there it is

MyrnaLynne

Well, the colonoscopy is all behind me now! The liquid diet all day was a breeze (like Yom Kippur, only then you can't eat OR drink for 24 hrs, so not nearly as bad - nice tea with honey, nice broth, nice juice) but ew, that prep, I was dreading it for a reason - it hasn't improved in 10 years at all! That stuff makes me want to barf - and I did, a couple of times (once Exorcist style, all over my dining room table - but luckily just mostly water/liquid stuff), but still managed to get it done. They want you to drink half the night before and the other half the morning of, too. Horrible. But I'd eaten a soft diet for days before the prep (yogurt, soup, pudding), so I didn't have to drink the whole gallon of poison before the 'fall cleaning' was done. Anyway, clean bill of health, didn't find a thing, good for another 10 years (and I am NEVER doing that again - I told the doctor that 10 years ago, but this time, I really mean it). never. Also was a little worried I might accidentally die while I was having that test (you never know), so was relieved to still be here and okay also.

So one big thing down, and now we have to clean off the dining room table/tidy up for the financial planner coming tonight to help us figure out retirement/rest of our lives. And then.. well, on to Thanksgiving, and holiday shopping, and then visiting Dad in Florida in December! Whee! (We still don't know if there's going to be a family Christmas or not - I think probably not.)

Oh I found out my Uncle went down to FL this past weekend and my cousin and her sister aren't going down in Dec to open the place up, like they did last year in November (and we went down there too, Mlette and I, and my son and his wife drove out and visited too), but are going down in Dec to visit their Dad (and step Mum) and work on putting the FL place up for sale/looking into that/getting ready for that. Going back and forth at 90, and to a condo on the 2nd floor, is way too much for Uncle Fred, so this is their last winter in Florida. His daughters want them to sell their condo in Connecticut too and move to assisted living/old age community closer to them, too. Bossy daughters.

The weather has stayed very nice so far... Winter can stay away altogether as far as I'm concerned! But it probably won't.

keepsmiling7

Glad everything went well ML.....
Now good luck with that retirement planning.

PODMOM.....you have more fall family activities than anyone I know. We have lots of grandkids fall birthdays, but since most of them are in college they prefer money. They never return it and it always fits.

Ekua

So happy to hear that MyranLynne!

I don't think you've seen these so putting them here too!!

keepsmiling7

It's good to have these great pictures on every thread!

keepsmiling7

Wish I were younger.......KaDee is going to be here in Austin December 7 for the first two episodes of "Shut Eye". Wonder if she will bring her guys along??

podmom

Thank you Ekua that was a wonderful surprise to see those pix at "the home" here

Oh keepsmiling I think you would be young enough to go it would be a hastle but would be so cool if you got to see them

Fall is tough here I guess it is just busy till after Christmas now. I really hope to go on a vacation this winter!!

You guys know about the family I have helped and gotten close to all these years through church, Well Jan ( the dear woman with CP that I helped out with....the daughter of Betty who died 2 years ago.....sister of Barb that took care of them both who is 70. Well Jan died this past Sunday afternoon. It was a blessing in that she was put to bed for a nap and didn't wake up but Barb was surprised and distraught of course. it was a very sweet night though. Such a huge blessing that Jan dies at home!! No hospital or anything which would have been so hard on them both. I was in the shower when the call came so went with a wet head and several others from the church were there plus our young new pastor who styed for hours till Jans body was taken away after midnight. We all gathered around her body and each all prayed...with the pastor ending the prayer. It was special and sad and sweet. She is in a much better place with "mommy and daddy" but Barb will need support. I stayed there till 2am but had to get a coupe hours sleep cause I had to go to Liz Monday. Tuesday I took Barb out to lunch and to Costco it was good to get her out. God over these years brought me ..for one reason I believe into deep caretaking of mom so I could understand Barb better and help her with more sensitivity I wouldn't have had otherwise.

I went back to Liz Wednesday till tonight and we will go back there again tomorrow (for Graces first birthday..the 19th.... after a bridle shower at 12...Emily is coming this weekend for that and the Bday....so glad to see her till Monday

so I will probably be MIA till Monday or so.

Have a good weekend all

MyrnaLynne

OhPoddy so sad but ablessing Jan passed so peacefully and at home. You have stepped up and dealt withso many difficult things!

KEEPsmiling; youshould go and see KaDee snd if Jason isthere!

podmom

Thank you ML

Jan was so sweet....and could yell her head off and be a pip too....she knew what she wanted and usually got it it was a real education for me to get to know someone like her who could not talk or do anything really but move her one hand but she communicated really well with her eyes and her body language and her spirit. It makes me very happy to think of her spirit freed from her ravaged body.

I drove home last night in sleet. Winter came last night. Went from lovely and then the wind and sleet rolled through.

Heading back now after I get dressed but took a few minutes to relax ...catch up on emails and LALA land.

Skipping church but Emily is here so rarely. She stayed with Liz last night. She and I enjoyed the shower but it was large and the girl had so many presents that she opened so slowly I got really frustrated by the end cause I wanted to leave and get to the BDay party.....podad went early and played with the big kids all day so that was a help to Liz and Walter. . He was worn out by the time we got there around 4:30. His sister Anne came too which was nice of her.

I put a video of Grace eating her birthday cake on face book if you want to check her out. She had her own little cake which Liz put on her high chair and she was perplexed what it was. It looked like one of her many colorful light up toys but was mushy. Liz cut up some for her and once she tasted a lick on her finger she then started eating it up. This taste she liked lol

all

keepsmiling7

PODMOM........saw the birthday cake video......absolutely precious!

My daughter and son-in-law came this past weekend and had bad news. Jay's pancreatic cancer has reoccurred. Dec. he starts chemo again.....they are both very discouraged. At least we all had the wonderful trip in October to Germany, Vienna and Prague.

MyrnaLynne

Oh keepsmiling I am so sorry about the bad news. Prayers that the next treatment will work for your son-in-law.

Old doctor I shared an office with briefly came by to say hi - and say he'd come down with bone marrow cancer last December (had no symptoms at all), had chemo and stem cells last June - and here he is!

PodMom I saw the cake video - Grace looks so much like your Mom, to me. And wasn't sure about that cake stuff, but got into it enough to mush it all over her cute little face!

You had quite a time with back-to-back (endless) wedding shower and grandkid birthday party! PodDad is a real trooper, he steps up! Mr ML keeps saying he wants grandkids, but when the time comes to watch them or entertain them, I'll bet he's singing another tune!

I told him I wanted to get a little electric snow shovel/blower I saw in a catalog, because he's going to retire in the winter and not want to get out of his warm bed early in the morning, before I leave for work, and shovel the steps and the walk etc (we're landlords/homeowners, we have to do that). First he said no, he wouldn't get up and shovel, and then he said he thought the little snowblower was a bad idea and he'd shovel. Hm - almost all things he's thought were bad ideas turned out to be good ideas, so I'm probably ordering one! He used to shovel in the morning, when he got home from his overnight shift, and tidy things up before I left but if he's cozy in bed.. forget it!

We had the first dusting of snow and bitter cold too, right after the weather had been lovely and mild for so long. But Old Man Winter always shows up, sooner or later. Although last winter was SO good, hardly any snow, and what snow fell melted again - aside from that first rainy/freezing storm we had, that dropped the giant ice ball from the roof onto my car and smashed the window and the hood etc. That winter started with a BANG (literally). But the year before, we got 12 feet of snow and it was a nightmare... Hoping for milder again and not horrible but... who knows? It's the weather - unpredictable.

Glad we raked up a lot of leaves last weekend, because now they have some snow on them and it's too cold for Mr ML to go out and rake.

Mlette and I baked sugar cookies (cut out with cookie cutters and decorated with colored sugar and sprinkles and cookie stamps etc) and she went with me to buy the Thanksgiving groceries. I picked up a couple more things today, so I guess we're ready! Just have to bake a few pies before Thursday, and cook a feast Thursday morning. Nothing to it!

Oh poor Wen still recovering from her hands, and now her computer crashed/died! Luckily her son is an IT guy, but getting them to fix things in a hurry isn't always easy..