I'm back...

I've been back a week but have been so very busy that I couldn't update. I'm so far behind that I have just come to the conclusion that I will NEVER catch up. If I haven't commented on your blog for a while - I apologize. I try to get them all read but just can't seem to get it all done.

I had a great time with my grandchildren. They were a little bit shy when I first got there but warmed up quickly. Katy was really attached to me and Zachary wanted to do whatever Katy was doing with me. I would frequently end up with both of them on my lap - not a bad situation at all. I hated to leave them and I tried to prepare them for the fact that I'd not be there when they got up the next morning. I told Katy that I had to go back home to take care of grandpa (the big baby) because he missed me. The next day, Katy went into the bedroom where I'd been sleeping and said yep, I was gone home to take care of big baby grandpa! It was so funny.

I started calling Zachary "little man" when I'd talk to him. One time, I said it to Alexander. He said, "that's Zachary. I'm big man." So we had big man (Alexander), little man (Zachary), and baby man (Tristan). Katy was "Sis" a lot of the time. I don't know why I do it, but I love to give the kids little terms of endearment. I've called Isaiah "bubba" for most of his life, along with several other things. LOL! Anna calls him bubba, too. She gets very excited when she sees her bubbas!

Ron survived his week without me (he had Keith and Lindsay here making sure he did). He was glad to see me and isn't in any hurry for me to take of again any time soon. Next time, he'll have to go with me and we'll get a hotel where he can relax in between visiting the kids. LOL - they are quite active and I think a place for him to retreat would definitely be in order.

Shaun's ship is headed back to the Middle East and we're none too pleased about it. He just got home March 2, 2012 and they expect to be headed back out by the end of August for another 8-month stint. They have already been underway the whole month of July doing maneuvers so they won't get much home time before they pull out. Not too easy for Jenny to handle another winter without Shaun there to help. Thankfully, one of the neighbors has offered to haul trash carts down the street (they have to take them to where the paved road begins) and will help with other things while Shaun is gone. They have some really fantastic neighbors.

Ron went back to the neurologist for a follow-up visit and medication check. The tremors bother him more than anything and his memory (or lack of) bothers me the most. He got a new medication that is supposed to help the tremors (this will make pill #3 and medication #4 - one is a combo pill - that he'll be taking). The doctor also took a look at his latest CT scan and said he has a mild case of hydrocephalus (water on the brain) and it's causing pressure in the areas that deal with short-term memory. The only treatment is a shunt and he is not willing to do that at this time. So, we just have to find a way to work around the memory problems (and they are getting much worse). The doctor may increase Ron's Aricept. His next appointment is in three months so we'll see what kind of changes there are between now and then.

I'm in a training class all week to become a company-certified trainer. There are going to be eight of us who will be responsible for teaching everyone in the plant (nearly 1,000 people) how to do a certain function (corrective action/preventive action [CAPA] plans). The company is changing gears and rolling out a new method for this CAPA procedure. So far (after day 1), it's going well and I think I'm going to enjoy teaching the procedure to people. That's today. I may not be so certain come Thursday or Friday.

I"m going to be hosting a new give-away in a couple of weeks. This one will be in honor of us going to see the Oak Ridge Boys this September. Be thinking about your entry.... I want to know the wildest dream(keeping it CLEAN - no sexual fantasy) you've ever had about a movie star or music star. I'll pick the story I like best (clean and entertaining) and that person will win a special prize (I'm still in the planning stage for this but I will say that it involves the Oak Ridge Boys). I'll even ship out of the country so all of can can join in.

I'll hold the give-away open a couple of weeks after it's posted so you have time to think about what you want to write. When I pick the winner, I'll tell you my wildest dream (pretty far-fetched, perfectly clean). I've had a lot of time to day-dream and night time dream about some of my favorite acts (I am, after all, OLD so there have been a lot) and TV shows. For instance, when I was a kid, I used to dream that our house was in the Old West and frequently a scene between Cowboys and Indians would take place - but more of the comedy variety like Bob Hope in the old westerns. He was one of my very favorite actors/comedians. Yeah - I was weird even back then.

Have a good week! I'll post some WA pictures when I get a chance to get them off my phone.

Hold down the fort!

I hope you all are doing well and surviving this heat we've been dealing with. Triple-digit temperatures has a tendency to make people grouchy and a bit crazy. Not that I'm talking about "me" you know.... not much anyway. The heat is handled quite well at my house (PTL for air conditioning!!!!).

Tomorrow, I'm getting on one of these:


(Compliments of Boeing Images)


And, heading here:



Image Google Images

 To see these:

I'll be back next week. Expect pictures... That's my plan. Lots of pictures.

Have a great week and I hope you all have a safe and fun Independence Day celebration!

My own version of Sunday Snaps

Thanks to Diane over at Southhamsdarling. She does Sunday Snaps nearly every week. I don't usually have what I consider good pictures on a weekly basis to post, but this week I have quite a few that are worth sharing today. These are from our local arboretum and although I took them with my phone, I think they turned out very well.

Today's post brought to you by the letter "C"

Cookies
Coke (diet)
Candy
Cake
Cupcakes
Caramel
Chocolate
Cocoa
Calendula
Cool


There are LOTS more words that are graced by the letter C. Notice one BIG one that is missing from my list? Cancer. Yep, that's right... It's not only missing from my list but it's also (more than likely) missing from my body, too.

{happy dance in KS...} I have to go back in six months to have the spots re-checked but it is very probably benign cysts.

Wordless Wednesday

The Stare Down

The Stare Down, part II



GG, Anna, and Isaiah



My weekend....

It's been a very busy week! I had tons of stuff to do at work (getting more involved and it's great - I love it and they really seem to appreciate what I bring to the table) and had one of the lovely "boob" checks on Thursday afternoon. Friday afternoon, I get a call from the women's center and the technician says, "I don't want you to worry all weekend, but can you come back in Monday morning for some more pictures? The radiologist has some extra shots he wants taken of your left side." Monday? Seriously? But don't let it affect my weekend? Seriously?

Well, I am having oral surgery tomorrow to remove a tooth that is broken down into my jaw bone so Monday morning is out. So, how about Tuesday morning? No, I have lots of meetings then. Can we do a late afternoon appointment again (it had been 4:15 Thursday). No, the radiologist needs to be here to look at the films as they're done. So, I have an 8:00 AM Thursday appointment. Now, I find myself thinking about game shows...

"I'll take Boobs for $500, Alex."
"Pat, can I buy a boob?"

{sigh} It'll be fine... more of an inconvenience than anything else since I'm already taking tomorrow off for the oral surgery.

Yesterday, we headed to KC to visit my mom and to join in her "housewarming" celebration the retirement center hosted for her. It was very nice and she had a great time.

Last night, since we were in KC, I wanted to go to eat at Arthur Bryant's BBQ. They're famous - really famous - for having outstanding BBQ. Although Lindsay is a vegetarian, we figured they'd still have stuff like baked potatoes, cole slaw, fries, and macaroni and cheese. Nope... they have fries and cole slaw. Nothing else that is vegetarian-friendly. Unless, you consider their peanut butter and jelly sandwich (for $3.99). Lindsay said that would be OK - she'd have a PB&J and fries. Wrong again... They have a sign posted that basically says the PB&J is for kids under 11 ONLY and for dine-in only. No carry-out, no adults, no drive-through. Kids under 11 only - no substitution, no excuses, no reasoning - health, personal preference, dietary restrictions, or any other reason you can use. In fact, if the staff sells a PB &J to anyone who can't prove they have an 11 year old child with them, that person can be fired. Seriously? We walked out and went to Bob Evans instead. Wasn't BBQ but it was very good.

Today, we all went to lunch at Golden Corral and everyone had a great lunch. Lots of vegetarian-friendly dishes there.

Better get... I have to be at the dentist's office early in the morning and it's been a long, tiring weekend.

Happy father's day to all the dads out there!

Winners!!!

I'm happy to announce the winners of my book giveaways.

Congratulations to each of you! I will be in contact to let you know how to get your book. Pat, Melissa will autograph and send her book directly so I'll need to get your mailing address.

I would like to do more giveaways but I'd also like to get a little bit more involvement. What would you all like to see next? It's got to be within my budget (fairly small) and something that has broad enough interest to get some participation.

Have a great week!

You know what a city-wide garage sale is like?

Black Friday shopping!!!! Crazy people doing crazy things. It was like people rushing to get to the sale to make sure they had the best opportunity to buy stuff belonging to someone else. It was amazing. There were people turning left in front of others, stepping out into the street without looking for oncoming cars, putting their cars in reverse and starting to back up without looking, etc. And, that was just the stuff that I did.  LOL - j/k... That was really just a few of the things I saw others doing.

Our little town had their city-wide sale today but a lot of people opened 4:00pm to 7:00pm (odd hours - but some were open as late as 8:30pm) and then most were open 8:00am until NOON! That is an odd thing for me - I've never lived any place else that had such odd garage sale hours. It's so hard for working people to hit sales that are open during the day (so, I guess that's why some were open last night) and really hard to make it to all the sales if they're only open for four hours during the day. Plus, I watched Anna for a couple of hours so I missed a lot.

Last night, I picked up a really nice end table (antique) that is just like ones we had when I was growing up. The lady said they were antique - I said that my parents had a set so I knew they were old. I got one for $20 and I was really glad she sold them separately because I didn't need two. I picked the one that was in the best shape. The lion's mouth is the pull for the little drawer, which is perfect for my reading glasses.

I was looking for a nightstand for Ron, but didn't find one that was in any better condition than the one he has. I got a few things for my newest grandson (Tristan), a couple of shirts for Zachary, a shirt for Alexander, a bib, cap, and onesie (brand new) for my new great-nephew, and a mirror ($2) for my car that attaches to the headrest so when Anna's in her car seat, she can see herself in the mirror. She seemed to like it. I bought her a little V-tech ball for $1 and paid $2.50 toward a really nice structured umbrella stroller (it was $7.50).

I also got Ron one of the little mini Lean Mean Grilling Machines for only $5.50. It doesn't have the drip pan, but I can still fix him a hamburger without heating up a bigger skillet. I got a Christmas decoration for my porch for $8. It's a really cute Santa and tree that's made out of old barn wood and has lights. It's really cute. And, I spent $4 on 40 sheets of scrapbook paper. A lot of it is older paper styles, but can't beat ten cents a sheet.

All in all, it was a pretty good shopping day. I got quite a few great deals and didn't spend too much money doing so. I'll just have to keep looking for the nightstand.

Don't forget to enter one (or both) of the book giveaways! They end tomorrow...

Hope your weekend was great. I think mine has been pretty great.

Chicken Pot Pies

Thanks to Skippymom for this great idea! I've been promising Ron for over a week that I was going to make "nearly" homemade chicken pot pies. But, we had the fridge fiasco (that was a mess!) so I didn't get around to it until today.

I started out with canned white meat chicken, and drained the water off. I put that in a sauce pan and added a can of low-sodium chicken broth. (I could have used 1/2 of it since I ended up draining off a bunch of it, but this was trial and error cooking. LOL!) I added a bag of frozen vegetables and 1/2 of a chopped white onion, and ground black pepper. I brought that to a boil and let it cook for five minutes.

While that was cooking, I got out the store-brand pie crusts (cheaper than the national brand and just as good). I cut out tops from one sheet, with some left over that I rolled back out and made the bottom crust for one (I made individual pies). I took the other sheet and cut it into thirds and lined the other little pies. I poked them with a fork and baked at 425 for 6 minutes so they wouldn't be too soggy once I added the liquid stuff (I hate soggy!).

After the chicken and vegetables were done cooking, I used some evaporated milk and cornstarch to thicken the sauce. That's when I decided that I could have used less than one-half of the can of chicken stock. I drained off as much as I thought I needed to actually leave some liquid but not make the pies soggy. (Did I say I hate soggy?)

I spooned the chicken mixture into the shells, poured in the thickened sauce (I didn't use any butter at all), and topped the mixture with the shell tops. I popped them into the 425 oven and baked for 30 minutes (I preheated my stone while the oven was preheating).

I think they turned out very well - and they were delicious!!!! It did make a pretty big serving but since that was all we had, it wasn't too bad. Neither of us could completely finish our portion, though. I hated to toss what was left of mine but I did sacrifice it to the great garbage disposal.... We have the other two pies for tomorrow.

Don't forget...

To enter the book giveaways. #1 is an ebook and can be downloaded by anyone. It's written by a personal long-time friend and is set in my home state of Missouri. It's a murder mystery and has a pretty deep story line. #2 is written by my blogging friend Melissa Westemeier of Green Girl in Wisconsin blog. It's a love story with a twist. It's a physical book so only US residents are eligible to enter.

I'll use Random.org to draw winners next weekend. Don't be left out!