This has been a week! Monday we drove to Dyersburg, TN for lunch at Applebees. They were giving veterans free meals that day. It's about a 45 minute drive, but very pleasant, so we had a good outing.

Didn't do anything exciting the rest of the week. Bill did decide to use his treadmill a couple of days, which is a first in a long time. It got really cold on Tuesday and Wednesday, and I think there were reports of a few snowflakes Tuesday morning mixed in with rain. I didn't leave the house again until Friday! Kiyann had an accident at school and needed some clothes brought to her. Mom was at work, step-dad didn't hear the phone, so grandma ran to the store and picked her up some new clothes and then took them to the school. Got her changed and sent back to class and brought the clothes home to wash. Such excitement!

Today was the big day for Ryan and Amanda. They wanted something different and simple and they got it. The wedding was set for 4 this afternoon. At noon I got a text from Ryan that they couldn't reach the preacher. At 1 I got another text that the preacher had decided he couldn't marry them because the reason for their divorces was not adultery. They were told they could still use the church, but would have to find someone else to perform the ceremony. Amanda's brother is a licensed minister so he could do the ceremony, but they decided to just have it at their house. So, we packed up folding chairs and lawn chairs and off we went. Things were a little crowded, but we all fit. The ceremony started at 4:08 and they were pronounced man and wife at 4:10! They decided that they didn't want to say any special vows so it was very short and sweet. I just hope it is actually legal! We took Amanda's parents home when we left. Her dad has brain cancer and wanted to sleep in his own bed. They had spent the night with them last night.

I'm trying to write a short skit for the youth at church. I've been asked to sing with the youth for Christmas and every time I've listened to the song I've had pictures in my head. So, I talked to the volunteer youth leader this morning and she liked the idea. I've got to really get moving on it because we don't have much time!

We got our next appointment date. It's January 6th. I was hoping it would be a little later in the month instead of so close to the holiday. The only tricky thing will be the weather. We may be leaving earlier than necessary, or staying longer somewhere if the weather doesn't cooperate. We'll just have to play it by ear.

All for this week. This mother of the groom is tired!

This time change has been horrible for me! Usually I like this one, but not this year. As I read over last week's post, I saw at the end that I had mentioned setting an alarm now since we were sleeping later. Since the time change the latest I have slept is 6. For the first couple of days I was awake at 5:45, then 5:15, then 5. Finally yesterday and today it has been 6. And, I'm having to stay up later, just to get sleepy! It's reminding me of a Stephen King book where an elderly man keeps getting up earlier and earlier until he's not sleeping at all...and the things that creep through the town in the wee hours. If you haven't read Insomnia, it's a pretty good book.

Other than not sleeping, and Bill has also been getting up earlier, we didn't do much. We've had rain and wind and colder temps so we've pretty much stayed in. Bill did finally go to the apartment and use the treadmill yesterday afternoon. He and Ron bought a new battery for the generator and it's now ready to go.

We made a run to Ryan's Thursday evening and then to Mistie's to take her Kayden's school pictures he had left at Daddy's. I think Mistie was a little uncomfortable while we were there because her current in-laws were also there. But, she's still family, and we know how it is with new family members.

I've seen a lot of posts on Facebook since the first of November of being thankful. While I'm glad to see that people are thankful for many things, I wonder it they are thankful only in the days leading up to Thanksgiving, or are they thankful every day. That's one of the reasons I don't post daily thanks. I'm thankful for many things every day of the year, and try to remember to thank God daily for his blessings.

I'm also not liking the "Countdown to Christmas" that Hallmark channel is doing. Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas movies. But, I don't like them starting right after Halloween. Thanksgiving is becoming the forgotten holiday and it used to be the holiday that ushered in the Christmas season. So, I'm not watching any Christmas until the day after Thanksgiving (unless It's A Wonderful Life is on Thanksgiving night).

 

OK, those are my rants for the night. We have birthday/anniversary fellowship after worship service tomorrow. We usually have chicken, but my buddy Larry has told me we're having ham this week. I've made a chocolate cake to take. Hope everyone has a good week ahead.

Wow! I just realized when I logged in that there have been over 16,000 pageviews! For them to continue to grow, especially now that we're on the downhill side of this journey, is amazing!

Our week was OK, busy at times and boring at other times. Brianna came over after school on Monday and we did a little shopping. We were only supposed to get some specialty yarn for a scarf for her. She had wanted yellow but they don't make it in yellow so I wanted her to pick the color. She found the color and then talked me into a T-shirt and some leggings, plus a snack and drink. Then I had to get her sister something of course. What can I say, I'm an easy touch!

Tuesday and Wednesday were nothing special. The weather was very warm and windy. We were able to turn the heat off and open the door again. I was glad I hadn't switched the screen and glass.

Thursday, Halloween, was dark and rainy all day, but still very warm and windy. Kayden and Kiyann came by to show us their costumes. We only had about a dozen trick or treaters. This was also the first year in a long time that we actually bought some candy and turned the light on. But, we have some kids in the neighborhood now so thought we should do something. Just as the time frame ended we were put into a tornado watch, tornado warning, and severe thunderstorm warning, almost simultaneously. We got some rain and the wind picked up even more, but the brunt of the storm missed us. There was a tornado in a small town southwest of us. Most of the town has damaged and, according to news reports, there was a group of kids still out when the sirens went off. Luckily, a woman started gathering them into her storm cellar. No lives were lost and only 4 injuries were reported throughout the town, but there is a lot of property damage.

We picked Kayden and Kiyann up after school Friday. Their mom was going to a funeral in Tennessee and didn't know if she would be back in time. It's Ryan's week-end to have them so he and Amanda came to pick them up shortly after we got home and stayed for supper. We had a good time with the kids and they brought their dogs since they were treating the house for bugs.

Ryan and Amanda have finally set a wedding date...in 2 weeks! I hope they can pull it together! We are also getting a new grandbaby in July! This will be #25...or 26, I really do need to sit down and add them up!

Bill never did get "the flu" but his arm stayed very sore from his pneumonia shot for a week. My flu symptoms came back Sunday morning. It was a horrible breathing day until later in the afternoon. I finally started coughing and moving the junk around. Emily brought me a new inhaler Monday afternoon. I haven't had to use it yet and have felt much better. I think this has been a combination of flu shot, weather changes and just the normal "delta crud" that is prevalent in this area. I talked to some others who got the flu shot and they also got sick the same day.

I've started setting an alarm in the mornings. We've been sleeping a little later than we had been. I used to wake up when our neighbor started his truck at 6 to go to work, but now I'm not waking up until the 1st school bus comes at 6:45. I'm afraid we're going to sleep through Bill's meds time. The anti-rejection pills have to be taken on a pretty strict schedule. I'ts a good thing I set it because I slept until it went off this morning! And with the time change tonight I'll have to tweak the time some for a couple of days to ease into the change.

It doesn't seem like it should be November already. I'm actually starting to get into a holiday mood, and this is early for me! I could very easily put the Christmas tree up, and I never put it up before Thanksgiving, and usually wait until December to do it!

All for now. Thanks for checking in on us!

We've had a very good week. We were still both pretty tired Sunday so didn't go to church. But, it did us good to stay home and relax. We had Brianna Monday afternoon as she wasn't feeling well and I picked her up from school. It was nothing contagious or to worry about, just "girl stuff". When I told her I had been messing with my blog before I picked her up she couldn't believe that her grandma had a blog! Hey, I'm a "with it" grandma!

Tuesday Bill had his bloodwork done and we both got flu shots. Bill also got his pneumonia shot. Exactly 8 hours after getting the shot I was sick with coughing, sneezing, sore throat, headache and sinus drainage. Felt bad for exactly 24 hours so hopefully that's all the flu I will get. Bill didn't have any flu symptoms. His arm is still very sore from the pneumonia shot. He got that one in his left arm which of course is the weaker one.

The weather turned cold the middle of the week and I love it! It was 29 when I got up yesterday morning and the car was frosted over. But, the house was nice and cozy. After it warmed up a little we made a quick trip to Jonesboro to pick up Kayden's birthday present. Cotton picking has started now. There were lots of fields that had not been picked and those white fields are what I missed while we were in Florida.

Kim called in the afternoon and said that Bill's bloodwork came back fine so we can stay at the lower dose of Prograf. She also said that everything else looked good so he got enough liquid in him.

He went shopping with Ron today and they worked on the generator. The battery doesn't want to stay charged even with a trickle charger attached all the time. The got the posts cleaned and found a broken wire that was fixed and it should be OK now. Their little shopping trip gave me a few hours alone to do nothing! And that's pretty much what I did!

So, there you have the highlights of our week. It seems like we're getting very normal now and sometimes it's easy to forget all that we've been through. Normal is good!

What a long week! Bill's biopsy went well and again there is no rejection. The dr. lowered 1 of his anti-rejection drugs so he will have to have some bloodwork done this week. Our local lab can draw the blood, but they will have to send it to a bigger lab to run the test. He's also able to get his flu and pneumonia shots this year. So, Tuesday is another dr. visit. They also said that some of his other numbers were not as good because he still isn't drinking enough. So, we're back to the battle of pushing fluids. Stephanie knows that this has been a battle in the past.

We had a good visit in Clearwater with Bill's sister and husband. We stayed at a little resort at the beach and walked to the beach every day. Bill got a good workout. The weather was wonderful, in the mid-80's and no rain at all.

We let the GPS bring us home today instead of going the way we usually go. We stayed the night in Macon, GA and it took us up to Chattanooga and then across Tennessee. We usually head to Birmingham from Atlanta and then up to Memphis, or Jackson, TN, depending on my mood. This way wasn't bad and was supposed to be faster, but I don't think so. With meal and gas stops it took 9 1/2 hours. We are both pretty tired and it is COLD here at home! We turned the heat on to take the chill out of the house and of course Bill stays cold, although it was pretty cool in here. I'm not looking forward to the higher gas bills, but it's only money. We're going to call the chimney sweep in the next couple of weeks to get the chimney done. It hasn't been done since 2010 (although we were gone for 15 months) so I want it cleaned before we try to have a fire.

All for this week. I'm whupped and probably won't be able to stay awake much longer!

We have arrived in Florida for Bill's biopsy. This time the weather cooperated and we had no rain. The last few times we have driven through monsoons. Traffic was heavier in Alabama than usual, must have been a college football game in the area, but was much lighter in Florida than usual.

We had another week of frustrations. We had to change from DSL to fiber-optic internet. We were supposed to activate it on Monday, but the equipment wasn't due to be delivered until Tuesday. So, I changed the appointment to Thursday in the hopes the DSL wouldn't be turned off. Within an hour of re-scheduling the DSL was turned off. I was able to use my phone to get online, but I didn't like not using the computer! Just shows how dependent we can become on something! Bryan came over and got us activated. It went very smoothly and I probably could have done it. But, as I told him, if something had gone wrong, I would have had to call him anyway, so it was better to have him there at the start!

Bill had a good week. Spent time with Ron and Buddy. He's doing a little more around the house now. I've come home twice to find the vacuuming done and things picked up. Of course he has 2 main chores, making the bed and taking out the trash. The only time I remind him of the trash is to take the can to the curb on pick-up day.

He still has good days and bad days as far as memory goes and sometimes when he gets a certain thought in his head he worries over it for 2 or 3 days. But, at least he is thinking about things! On our trip yesterday we were passing a fireworks stand in Alabama and I asked him if he needed any fireworks. He calmly told me that they wouldn't want him in there. When I asked him why, he got a silly grin on his face and said "Baby, I'm hot"! Sometimes I just don't know about him!

All for tonight. We've gotten everything unpacked and drove to our favorite pizza place for dinner. We actually some home this time. We were both too tired to eat much. Of course we can always eat it tonight or tomorrow for lunch. We have a full fridge here so it will keep a few days. I'll update this again and let you know how the biopsy goes Monday. I don't know if I'll get it updated when we go to Clearwater. I don't know if the resort has internet or not. Just keep checking back. Goodnight all!

Another week has come and gone. Thankfully it was a pretty calm week. All of our hotel reservations are made now. I had to change one of them. We heard from Bill's sister and were told that there was still lots of road construction near the hotel I had booked. I had checked with the state's construction website and it said that the construction was complete. But, I took Don and Shirley's word for it and changed the reservation. We are now staying at the little resort we had stayed in when we took Brianna with us. She asked us if we were going to have room #7 again! That trip was 6 years ago, and she still remembers the room #!

We had lovely weather this week and got a heavy rain this evening. Supposed to rain more in the might and get some thundershowers and then turn much colder. The high today was mid 80s, tomorrow not supposed to get out of the 60s and into the low 50s at night! Fall has definitely arrived.

Allergies have been horrible again this week and today there were crop dusters all morning so defoliation has begun! I'm glad we're getting out of town!

My lunch with the girls from work was wonderful...3 hours at the restaurant! But, we tipped our waitress quite well and she didn't have to do any extra for us. We'll have to do it again before they get started again.

We were going to go shopping for some new polo shirts for Bill as they are easier for him to get on and off, but I went through his closet and dresser and found several that should fit. But, we are both going to need some new clothes before long. I just hate to go clothes shopping!

Today was a baby shower at the church for one of the young mothers. The girl's grandpa came and visited with Bill while we were at the shower. He and his wife have been good friends for several years...until they moved away. Bill was glad for the visit!

That's about it from here. The next update will be from Florida. Hope everyone has a good week!