Wow! Last post of the year already! It seems that this year has gone by very fast. I always heard older people say that time moves faster when you're older. I thought that was just a saying, but I think it's true!

We both woke up sick last Sunday so it was a very good thing that we cancelled our family Christmas! Bill asked me what size bat I used on him during the night. We stayed home from church and barely moved from the couch. Bill started to feel better during the course of the day, but I did not. I had even decided to go to the dr. just to see if I really had the flu instead of just a cold. When we woke up Monday morning, we both felt fine! I hadn't felt that good for a couple of weeks! Maybe just the thought of going to the dr. did the trick!

Kayden and Kiyann came over Tuesday afternoon to open presents and they had a good time. They were both happy with their gifts. Wednesday we went to Ryan's with their gifts.

We spent a quiet Christmas morning at home and then went to Emily's for dinner and gifts with them. Of course we had too much food and I have enough ham leftover to feed a small army! Bill has decided he wants to start using his computer again and spent 2 hours with it after we came home loading programs. For a first time in a long time, 2 hours was a pretty long time, especially with his short attention span.

Our best Christmas gift was that Ryan actually talked to Mistie and arranged for the kids to visit this week-end! They hadn't gone to their daddy's since before school started in August, and he barely made an effort to call them! We took them over last night. Usually Kiyann cries the entire ride and after we leave, but there was not a tear this time and she was actually in a good mood when we left!

We have no plans for the next couple of days. We're going to try to take Joe and Tina their gifts Monday when we take my car for an oil change and then Christmas will be over! I usually leave the decorations up until the first of the year, but I'm ready to take it down and get it all back into the attic.

For the last couple of years I've tried using a "word of the year" instead of making resolutions that are never kept. The first year my word was freedom and it worked well. Last year it was organize and that didn't work at all. This year I'm picking the word discipline. Bill and I have noticed that we've gotten into a bad rut of getting up, breakfast and meds, watch tv/read/knit/puzzle books, eat, watch tv/read/knit/puzzle books, eat, tv...well you get the idea. We've talked about needing to change this, but it's just talk. So, we're going to try using a written schedule, even if it says at 10 am Bill walks on the treadmill while watching The Price is Right. We haven't done anything on the next phase of the remodel, which is put the rooms that are done back in order so that the other 3 rooms can be done. So, we're going to try this and see.

We did do something that we had only done once in the last 25 years and that was get our pictures made. We had done it 13 years ago for my mother's 70th birthday and that was it. So, for Christmas, we did it. I've had the pictures in downloadable format for awhile, but as we were giving them as gifts, couldn't post them. So, now that everyone has gotten one that was getting it for Christmas, here they are.

I hope everyone had a good Christmas and will have a happy, healthy, prosperous new year! See you in 2015!

Posting early again this week. It's been a busy week, and was supposed to get busier, but I think now that's not going to happen.

Emily and I had a good time shopping Saturday. I spent a whopping $15 and that was for lunch! We had to detour to her dad's to pick up the turkey fryer. It was her step-mom's birthday and she was supposed to go to lunch with her oldest son and his daughters. But, he didn't show up so she went shopping with us. We got home about 6 and I fixed Bill something to eat. We hadn't had lunch until about 2:30 so I wasn't hungry.

We went to church with Emily Sunday and watched Kayden get baptized. He said it was the first time people had clapped just for him! We had our Christmas dinner at church that evening and then I sang during the evening service. We were pretty tired by the time we got home.

I finally got some shopping done for Bill this week. Except for a few small things I think he's set. He's so hard to buy for now. Still have to get them wrapped, but at least he won't have empty boxes under the tree.

I started getting things ready for our family Christmas Sunday afternoon. Made a ranch flavored snack mix and yesterday made some fudge with Brianna. But, this morning, we decided to cancel it. Joe and Tina have to take their son Joey back to the airport in Atlanta so that he can return to his unit in California. Amanda, Ryan's wife, and her daughter Tori both have the flu. Kayden and Kiyann have the stomach virus (which we have now been exposed to) and Ryan, Bill and I all have colds. So we decided it was better for everyone not to have a get-together, at least not now. We're going to Emily's for Christmas dinner so we'll exchange gifts with them then. I told Kayden and Kiyann's mom that we would get them one day while they were on break and they could open presents. I don't know when we'll get with Ryan's and Joe's, but we'll find a day, and I told Christopher, Bryan's son, to come any time to get his gifts.

So, Bill and I have lots of snack mix, fudge and peppermint bark to eat, plus some cookies. I still want to make some more candy but we don't need it! But, it's Christmas so I probably will make it anyway!

I had noticed this week that the pageviews on here have skyrocketed all of a sudden, but they seem to be older posts except for the post a couple of weeks ago. I looked at the stats and the blog has been linked to mylvad.com, which is the website for people who have the pump that Bill had! I just hope that there will be something in the posts that will help someone.

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and is able to celebrate with family and friends. Merry Christmas!

Posting early this week. I'm going shopping with my daughter tomorrow and don't know when we will be back. So, it's easier to do it today since I know some of you check this in the morning.


I didn't make it to church Sunday. It was one of those days when my body said to stop. But Bill went by himself.


Did the usual grocery shopping/errands on Monday and got the Christmas cards addressed and ready to mail. The things that I had ordered also started coming in so we were going through packages.


Bill has tried to come down with a cold. He's been stuffy and his voice is very deep. But he says he feels OK and he hasn't had any fever. There has been so much sickness in this area, colds and stomach viruses, that I told Bill we just need to hibernate and become hermits in the winter!


We did get some very bad news on Wednesday. Bill's son Joe called and said that his oldest son, a step-son he had raised from a small child, was found dead in his apartment. I think he was about 25. He was diabetic and epileptic and they think the cause of death was a sugar issue, but I don't remember now if Joe said it bottomed out or skyrocketed. Anyway, he missed an appointment Monday and when people went to his apartment to check on him they found him. And it seems like the county coroner in the county he lived in needs a lesson in tact. Tina, Joe's wife and Esteban's mother, found out by a voice mail from the coroner stating that he had the body of Esteban and needed to know where to send the body! They were not notified by any other source before this call.


Bill and I discussed it and we decided not to go to Georgia. He's going to be cremated and there is going to be a very brief viewing for his parents and brothers and close friends. I don't know if Tina's father will go or not. We both have parts of us that say we should be there for them, but other parts that say they will understand that we are not there. I don't think they expect any out of town people to be there.


Last night I got news that a classmate had passed away yesterday. She just turned 60 on the 2nd. It's unclear what the cause is there, but it was a shock to everyone, including her family.


On a good note, our grandson Kayden is being baptized Sunday! He's very excited about it. I need to let his daddy and other grandparents know so maybe they can come to see him. Note to self: send texts as soon as this is posted.


We're having dinner tonight with some good friends and we always have a good time with them.


Tomorrow is also an anniversary of sorts for us. It will be 2 years that we came home from Florida for good. At times it seems like things are still very new and fresh and other times it seems so very long ago.


So, there you have it, the synopsis of our week. I'm sure more has happened, but my mind is blank. It's my low point time of the day so I need some caffeine and chocolate. The caffeine is easy, but I don't know if there's any chocolate or not. May have to just settle for sugar! Have a good week everyone! Now to send those texts...

We've had a very busy day today! It took us a couple of days to recover from our travels and get things unpacked, washed up and put away. I've been down in my back for a few days now. I'm beginning to think it's the mattress, but I don't know. I've been stressing over Christmas some. We're doing the family Christmas the 21st and I hadn't bought the 1st gift until on our way home from Illinois. So, it could be that. But, most of the gifts have been ordered and a few more bought, so feel better about it now.


Brianna, our 15 year old granddaughter, had a winter choir concert for school on Thursday. We went and they sounded really good. Bri had a little solo that we didn't know about and I could have cried she sounded so good. I hadn't heard her really sing for a long time.


Today we had Kayden, Kiyann, McKenna and Brianna. Kiyann wanted to help us decorate the Christmas tree. The tree we had been using was one that you attached to the top of a pole and it flowed down to the floor. It was pre-lit with white lights and red "berry" lights and was very pretty. We couldn't put many ornaments on it because it was built in rounds instead of branches. Anyway, when we got it up and plugged in, the top half was out. We couldn't find which bulb it was, or if it was a fuse, so, off to Walmart we head to get a new tree. We found one that would be manageable for the 2 of us to manhandle to the attic (I think). It is pre-lit and comes in 3 pieces. So we got it up and Kiyann and McKenna decorated most of it. It looks pretty good, needs to be spread a little, but now that it's getting dark out I don't notice the gaps as much.


After they got the tree done I fixed 70 pizza rolls! Bill and I had a sandwich, but they ate all of the pizza rolls. And, after lunch we baked cookies. Of course we cheated and did the premade ones. Soon after that their moms came to get them and the house is very quiet now...for a bit. Ryan and Amanda and Tori are coming to get a day bed out of the attic and staying for dinner. I've put lasagna in the crockpot. It's an amazing recipe and Amanda asked if I would make it. It's much easier than the old fashioned way, no pre-cooking the noodles.


Bill went Christmas shopping yesterday. I have to give him a pretty specific list, so I know most of what I'm getting. But, I did put jewelry down and he knows he can get any kind of jewelry. He told me the saleslady really liked what he bought! One thing we are going to do is upgrade our phones so that will be part of our Christmas. I don't have a clue as to what I'm getting him, and he's no help when it comes to a list!


That's all for this week. It's time to start getting the Christmas cards addressed and ready to go!

We had a good visit with family and friends in Illinois for Thanksgiving. The trip was uneventful on the way to Illinois, with the exception of a trucker deciding that we wanted to share my lane. I think the sound of my tires hitting the warning strip on the shoulder woke him up a little. He had been weaving some before that, but always going to the right instead of the left. But, all is well, nothing and no-one hurt.


We were at my brother's for Thanksgiving and it's a good thing they have a big house, and not all of the family was there. But, in addition to 15 people, ranging from 2 to 83, there were 5 dogs...5 BIG dogs! All of them have very pleasant personalities, including my nephew's 2 pit bull mixes, but they wanted to play with each other and the people...in the kitchen! Bill didn't move much, in case of being knocked down.


It did snow most of the day Thanksgiving, but didn't start sticking until late afternoon, about the time to head back to Mom's! I wanted to leave in time to get there before dark, but that didn't happen. There were a couple of slick places, but the road crews were out. There was only a bare covering on the ground, but it was pretty to watch while it was happening.


Sunday Bill and I had breakfast with my best friend from high school and her husband. It was a very enjoyable meal, that would only have been better if we had all gotten our food at the same time! Cindy didn't get hers until we were almost finished eating, and it turned out that she got my meal and I got hers. There were some other friends from school there that I hadn't seen in years, but they were there before meeting with the funeral director to plan their mother's service, so I didn't visit with them.


We left earlier yesterday morning than we usually do because the weather report was calling for freezing rain. We did find some, not too far from Mom's. But, Illinois was on top of it. The roads were pretreated and the salt trucks were out in force. The trees were beautiful with the ice on them. I was really glad when the ice changed to just rain! We got home in the early afternoon, got the car unloaded, reported in that we arrived safely, got the bills paid and ordered pizza for dinner. And boy, did it feel good to sleep in my own bed last night!


Bill did pretty good on the trip. He does get overwhelmed around a lot of people which confuses him. He did do too much sitting, but with cold weather he could go out much and the house is small so there wasn't a lot of walking space. But, he did drink more water than he usually does, without me prompting him.


So, now time to concentrate on Christmas. We're supposed to have our family Christmas on the 20th, with 14 people coming, and I've bought only 1 gift! The tree is still in the attic with all of the other decorations. Kiyann, our 7 year old granddaughter, wants to help decorate the tree this year. She did 1 of their trees all by herself so wants to do more! But, if I don't get on the stick, there won't be any family Christmas this year...hmmm!


I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving however you celebrated.