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!

After the turmoil of last week, this week has been pretty tame. Nothing broke or went wrong and no problems with family or medicines.

Our youth day kind of fizzled at church. The young lady who was going to lead the singing and sing a special with her mom was under the weather. So, the pastor led the song service and I ended up doing the special. The youth did sing in the choir and they sang Happy Birthday to the pastor as it was his birthday.

We've been plagued by a pack of feral dogs in the neighborhood. I think I've written about them before. It has gone from 1 to 4 to 6. They are pretty people shy right now, but our friend Ron has been attacked when he was walking Buddy. We are so glad we didn't run into them when we were Buddy sitting! But, they are now getting pretty bold and travelling in pairs, and they are hanging around the bus stop. We're usually up early enough to be watching, and I have a big stick by the front door in case they start bothering the kids. I remember getting bit by a stray dog as a child. Do you remember that, Mom? Luckily the dog was caught and didn't have rabies. All the dogcatcher here does is show up about 10 and sets a trap and then picks the trap back up at 3. She says it can't be left overnight because it could get stolen. Even when she's been told it could be chained to a fence, by the owner, she says a dog can't be kept in it all night (and she can't be called at night) because the dog would be bitten by mosquitoes. We've watched her and the cops sit and watch the dogs. One woman in the neighborhood has called our councilman and we've been told that the police chief is over animal control so I guess the next step is to call him. As Bill and I were walking yesterday evening, one of the dogs tried to approach us. That's when I was able to pick up the big stick. It's one of the newer dogs to the pack so it may not have been aggressive, but I wasn't taking any chances!

Our weather has been lovely, into the low 60s at night and low to mid 80s in the day. It seems like, since fall officially arrived, the weather changed immediately! We've been trying to walk in the evenings before it gets dark since it has been so pleasant.

We did make a quick trip to Jonesboro to pick up my other ring. I'm very pleased with the stone. It looks almost identical to the one that was in it! I noticed on the drive over that the cotton has opened. I couldn't tell if it was going to be a good crop or not since they are just not starting to defoliate. I've been able to tell the last couple of days, by my body. Today was especially bad. I woke up with a sore throat, headache and sinuses pouring, so I know it's harvest time. I'll be lucky to have a voice tomorrow!

Bill's "symptoms" have all disappeared, except for a cough that comes and goes. I think it's being back in this area too for him, but I'm going to mention it to Stephanie when we see her. He and I have had several conversations about his inactivity lately and how Mayo is not going to be happy, so he's trying to do more and move a little faster. He's also going to start wearing pullover shirts instead of button downs. I've noticed that he's not using his left arm at all when dressing and he says it hurts when he tries to use it. That is all from not using it and I think he finally understood it today. So we're going to try the polo shirts. I did catch him using his hand exerciser this week when he thought I was out of the room!

That's about it. I'm going to meet a couple of girls from the office for lunch Tuesday after their class. I think they're still hoping I'll go back to work as they've activated me in the system again and they are trying to take some tests in my name for certification. But, that's still not going to happen.

I've made all of our hotel reservations but one for our next trip. To get the hospital rate at the hotel I have to call them directly and I didn't want to do it during prime check in time. So, it can wait another couple of days.

All for this time...I've written a book. Hope everyone has a good week!

We have had a trying week this week. Sunday was the 2nd anniversary of the LVAD implant. I don't know if that matters to anyone but me anymore, but there it is.

Monday the Thunderbird overheated while we were going to breakfast. First time in a long time Bill wanted to go out for breakfast. We managed to park it and let it cool down and then were able to drive home with no problems. Called the dealer and they said to bring it in Tuesday morning. So, Tuesday morning we took it down and dropped it off...and then went out for breakfast since we weren't able to the day before. That afternoon I was trying to print the recipe I wanted to cook for dinner and the printer wouldn't work. I kept getting a message that it was offline and nothing I tried fixed it. So, I just downloaded it to my phone and read the recipe from there.

Wednesday Bill and Ron went to Memphis to pick up a windshield and then we picked up the car that afternoon.  I practiced some music while they were gone and then heard a noise in the computer room and the printer started spitting out some of the pages I had wanted to print on Tuesday! Must have had some gremlins! As we were getting ready to go to bed, the ceiling fan in the bedroom quit. The motor was running, but the blades weren't turning. Bill didn't mind it so much since he stays so cold all the time, but I stay hot at night (darn night sweats!) so I was afraid the room would be too warm, even with the air conditioning running. But, it wasn't bad.

Thursday we bought a new ceiling fan. Haven't gotten it put up yet. Ryan was going to do it last night but after working all day, and having some business to take care of afterwards, we told him he didn't have to do it. We are managing to get along without it.

It rained all day yesterday and boy did we need it! It didn't storm, just a nice steady rain. I did meet the school bus and took the girls home as it was raining hard at that time.

Today I met the youth of the church to practice for youth day tomorrow. They are taking over the service as far as the music goes. It's going to be interesting to say the least.

Bill hasn't felt really well most of the week. I think his work last Saturday wore him out more than he thought it would. He was very stiff for most of the week and had a headache every day. He also had a drippy nose and a cough. Last night he had a low grade fever. All of these could be signs of rejection. They are also all of the symptions of the virus going around. He's been better today and seemed to sleep better last night...but I didn't. He actually told me this morning to quit worrying about him! I just told him that's my job! He hasn't had any fever today so I don't think I'll need to call Stephanie Monday but we'll have to see.

So, as you can see, we haven't had an easy week, but it could have been worse!

Another week has passed. I always thought "old people" were exaggerating when they said time goes faster the older you get, but I'm finding out they were right!

I woke up with the cold/flu crud that has been going around on Sunday morning. I managed to get dressed for church and then stayed home. I barely moved for 2 days, but by Tuesday felt much better. When I showered Tuesday morning the steam loosened everything in my chest and I coughed up some nasty stuff. But felt instantly better.

Bill went to Jonesboro with Ron Tuesday to buy some tools which gave us both some apart time.

The rest of the week was rather dull and boring, with just normal things going on.

Today I went shopping in Jonesboro with Emily and Brianna and one of her friends. Bill stayed home by himself and detailed his car. I managed to NOT call him to remind him to eat and take his meds. He DID remember to eat lunch and take his medicine, so there's hope for us yet! We're both tired now and ready for bed, but we both had a good day.

We did find out this week that we are having ANOTHER great grandchild, due in January! And, it seems like we are the first in the family to know about this one. The circumstances are not all that great, but I hope everyone will make the best of the situation and not condemn for mistakes made. And, that's enough on that subject!

Our weather has felt like fall all day today and was in the low 50's this morning. It's supposed to be about the same tomorrow. Maybe I can start thinking about fall and winter now, changing out clothes and such. It's very hard to do when it's in the 90's!

All for this week. Hope everyone has a good week ahead!