One day this week Faron and I baked German Chocolate Cupcakes - from a mix, mind, but let me tell you, those puppies were GOOD!  I don't think I'll ever bother with layers again.  I think the cupcakes are much better!   

And then the next day Darla came up to visit, bringing her laptop and lunch (salads from Wendy's) and we had the cupcakes for dessert.  We had a good time playing poker online and chatting.  She was kind enough to load the dishwasher, too.  And after she left, Hazel called and asked if I wanted to play a couple of hands of Bananagrams.  Sure! 

We played 3 games.  I won the first, she the 2nd, and I creamed her the 3rd, but the poor girl was operating under a distinct disadvantage.  Make a word outta them letters, woncha?

Those are the ones she had left when I called Bananas.  Poor Sis.  (Kheheehehe!)

Yesterday, Friday, was a lovely, warm, harbinger of spring, and I just had to get outside.  So I got dressed (gasp!!) and went to get the mail with no difficulty, and as I was opening the mail box, Jason came up in Tiana's truck, saying he was going to get started on the latest of his and his dad's projects, which was to put some big stumps that wouldn't burn into the pickup trucks so they could be hauled off.  Jason's game for any project involving the Kubota, of course. 

While he got started there, I took my scooter out on the porch to practice, since I haven't used it much all winter.  I zoomed around and around the porches, getting from making a 3pt turn at each end to a simple one point turn, and then I really wanted to get out on the road and zooooooom!  One obstacle, the stones the guys spread on the earthen ramp they'd built for me last fall.  When Jason tried to ride the scooter on them last fall, he got stuck.  But we've gone through a winter, and I really wanted to go out on the road...

Jason by this time was at the bottom of the hill with the tractor and a pickup.  I did think to bring the phone, dropping it into the basket of my scooter.  You know what's coming, at least in part.  I drove off the wooden deck of the porch and right down into the stones.  I gunned the motor, hoping to spin over the top, which, of course, only made the wheels (especially the tiny swiveling stablizer wheels0 dig right into the 6" of gravel. 

In my great wisdom, I jumped off the scooter (Ok, I slid off)  stood up and walked around to the back, where I flipped up the knob to release the free wheel, disengaging the drive on the wheels, so that it could be pushed.  Then, and here's where my intelligence is greatly highlighted, i squatted down behind the scooter to yank on the back frame to pull it back up on the porch.

Long time readers will know that I simply cannot stand from a squat anymore.  I have no lift left.  It's been more than a year since I've gotten myself into such a predicament, but this was a doozy. 

There was no one around.  I was on the opposite side of the house from where Jason was working.  Faron wouldn't be home for more than an hour, and I'm sitting on the damp, sharp stones.  In a dress. And the sun was setting.  DUMB!

I couldn't reach the phone. I was behind the scooter while the basket is in the front.  I screamed for Jason first, but got no response, so then I figured I'd better crawl around the scooter to get the phone.  OH MY KNEES!!  Mostly I scooted on my butt.  (OH MY....)  Finally got close enough, but the top of the basket was too high for me to reach in to get the silly phone.  So I whacked it from the bottom to make the basket come off its sliders.  Took a few whacks, but finally basket and phone went flying.  In fact, the phone flew too far.  I used the basket, upside down, stretching myself along on my belly to reach, to drag the phone toward me.  I called J.  No answer.  Of course, he's got the tractor running. 

Then I called Hazel.  "Hey, whatcha doin'?"  She said she was just sitting there lookin' at Magaly and Ron.  i said, "Why don't you put them in the van and come on up?"

I explained what happened so up she came.  By the time she got here, Jason's phone had gained his attention and I was telling him to get himself up the hill toot-sweet!  

So, he rode the tractor up, and that was a good thing.  Turned out that I got up by holding on to the bucket, Hazel and Jason on each side of me.  Hazel said, "Hey, buy a Kubota - you can lift the Mother-Lode!" 

Here's some photos of Jason at work:

You'll note that besides getting rid of stumps, there's a pile of dirt down there to be leveled off, and a lot of building refuse to be cleaned up all around.  There are several other piles of dirt to be distributed, too. 

This is the spot where the backhoe lay when it rolled.  Those brown things are pine cones, btw.  The wind has blown so much that the tree behind our house has pine cones just abou tall over the neighborhood!

There's another place where Faron's burned bits and pieces, and you can see still more work to be done before grass can be planted.  And we want the grass to grow before May 9!

Jason's really good with that machine - here's using the rear blade to break a bigger stump apart. 

Didn't take long to fill up his truck.  Tiana's truck was already parked in front of the pole shed, full of stumps to be dumped. 

Oh, and here's the scene of my crime.  (The way Hazel and Jason reacted - "You're grounded to the porch until we figure a safer way for you to get off the porch!" - you'd have been sure it WAS a crime!)

You can see two indentations where I dug my wheels out while I waited to be rescued.  When I was safely on the porch again, Jason reached down and with one arm and one good pull, yanked the scooter out of its prison. Creep.  Made it look so easy!

It was one of those days where everyone seemed to feel the need to be outside.  Our neighbor across the road was out on his tractor:

Jack's kind of manic about keeping the road's edges neatly trimmed, on both sides. 

And our neighbors on the next ill had their's out, moving firewood. 

And then of course, there was me, newly grounded, but still loving my wheels:

Faron still has some painting to do on the porch rails.  He used the last of the paint on a blustery November day and decided it was just too cold to be painting so he didn't go out and get more then. 

All in all, it was a busy day.  Hazel just called as I type this to ask how many bruises I have from my adventure.  She said, "The way you bruise you probably have a polka-dot butt, from sitting on those sharp stones!  How's that for a blog picture?"

Indeed!

me<><

I know, you probably all thought I'd hitched a ride on a slow boat to China - or maybe you wish I'd done that? 

Anyway, here's the deal, I've been really, very busy, what with preparing for the wedding reception and whatnot, and on top of that, I've had cataract surgeries on each eye.  I hadn't realized how difficult it had become for me to see, and how much editing photos, and even typing more than one or two lines, had gotten until I had the silly cataracts removed and now I have GREAT vision!  I can see more clearly, I think, than I've ever seen in my life.  Amazing!  So I'm back.  Still very busy, but hopefully I'll find more time to post here, now that I won't get a headache doing it. 

I've spent an inordinate amount of time on the Internet, searching for things and services we need for the wedding.  Did you know you can't (or at least I couldn't) find someone to do a pig roast on the Internet?  At least not in Cogan Station.  There is no entry for that in a phone directory, either.    But we've talked to everyone we know about it and finally a workmate of Faron's recommended someone and after I'd spoken with him for about 5 minutes, he was hired.  So that's taken care of.  Our reservations for the wedding trip itself are made, and our Federal Income Tax refund almost exactly pays for that.  Pretty cool, eh? 

Derek's even more brilliant than before, learning new words and skills all the time, and wow, the first time he said, "I love you, Mammaw," on the phone, I just melted into a puddle of grandma-ooze.    Amy's posted some new videos of him and his athletic prowess and just sheer Derek Charm, here:

http://www.xanga.com/lilabu/694093019/no-need-for-introduction/

And, the new baby is T-14 days and counting.  Amy's scheduled for a C-Section March 16 at 6 am, so we should have word by 9 am. 

Not to be outdone, Jason sent an email today which says, "Good News!" in the subject line, then, on the inside, "Your new grandchild," followed by this photo:

A brand new, 2009 VW Jetta, diesel.  Now that T's started working at Geisinger, her truck was costing a LOT for gas, a line-item they've not had in their budget when they were both working full-time at the Williamsport Hospital, which is only about a block from their apartment. (They'd actually have to walk further from employee parking than from their place.)  And the other day, the alternator started to act up in Tiana's truck, an event which caused Papa Faron to go bonkers, worrying about his new daughter on that long trip in a faulty vehicle, so he gave up the appointment we'd scheduled for this past Thursday to have his car inspected, so Tiana's truck could be fixed right away.  And then, since they'd planned to go away for the weekend, and the inspection on our car ran out last night (it's in the lot at Hudson's garage, waiting for inspection tomorrow) they were without a vehicle they felt good about driving very far.  So they went out Friday morning, "Just to look."

Yeah, happens to all of us.   

But Papa's very pleased that his girl has a safe car, and Jason and Tiana fight over who gets to drive where and when, except of course, she'll be using it to go back and forth to work. 

Faron's continued to finish small jobs around the house, like finishing trim work in the dining room and living room, and some in the kitchen. (The dishwasher, which we've had for more than 2 years, is finally trimmed in with wood, AND it's painted!) There are a dozen or more small jobs like that to keep him busy until he can get to work on the landscaping, but he's chompin' at the bit to do that! 

My Daytimer is in hot usage again, for the first time since I stopped working.  I have pages and pages of things we must do, money we need, people to be written to, phoned or accosted. One by one, they're all getting taken care of, more easily than it seemed when we first made the lists, which seemed very, very intimidating.  Glory, there's a lot to do for a wedding with three receptions, especially when it involves an almost total home remodel along with it.

So you'll forgive me, I hope, for my absence, and for the sporadic nature of posts until after the wedding.  I'll try to keep up.  I have some terrific photos of stuff that's happened in the past couple of months, but who knows when I'll get to post them?  Hopefully sooner than we both might think...

me<><

I'm not even sure that the video will be entertaining to anyone but those of us who were there, but it is a flavor of our family and the insanity that ensues when more than a few of us gather!

But I'm ahead of myself.  First, I have a few more photos of our wee lad to share from the two different days he and his parents visited with Faron and me. 

I love this one.  I waited until the 2nd day to try to pick him up and he was happily engaged with CRACKERS! (which he shouts in a growly little voice for some reason) and I taught him the game my dad did with all of us, kids and grandkids.  "Gonna bore a hole and a don't know where...think I'm gonna bore a hole, right....through....THERE!"  The whole time my hand is moving in a circular motion, "boring" ever closer, up and down from head to toe, surprising him under his arm, or on his belly.  He loved it as you can see.

I also like this photo:

 

Face to face, his little cheeks stuffed with Ritz crackers.   

This was our gift to him, a tabletop easel, as he's so tiny a regular child-sized one would be much too tall for him.  He loved it,knowing right away how to put chalk to board.  The other side is a white board, but we all decided he's a bit young to be trusted with a dry-erase marker.    Te little red circle is one of several magnets that came with the set to hold sheets of paper in place for drawing.  We got him a ream of cheap copy paper and some chunky crayons as well. 

He is just so sweet!  He began calling Faron "Bompa," and his word for Grandma seems to change every time he says it, but usually ends up something like "Maaaaameee".  I don't care what he calls me.  I always wanted to be called Grandma. Now that there's someone to call me that, I don't give a rip.  Whatever he calls me is fine.  I'm just glad he does!

Moving on, Jennie spent New Year's Eve with us, but her way of greeting 2009 was the same as Uncle Faron's, not Aunt Cin's.

(I did get prior permission to share that photo...)

And Stacy and Magaly came over one afternoon last week. We had a lovely visit. We got Maggie a sticker maker, which was a huge hit.  Our refrigerater, which Maggie deemed "boring" is now beautifully decorated with newly made stickers! 

A lovely self-portrait Maggie snapped, complete with thumb. 

Tiana's parents' visit was wonderful.  We are very compatible, as Tiana and Jason knew we would be.  I must take a photo of their gift to me - perhaps this weekend when the dining room is finished I'll do that. 

And the last "official" Christmas gathering happened this past Sunday evening, when Terri and Robin and their kids joined this part of the Matthews clan (including of course, Jason and Tiana) to exchange a few gifts and mostly to have fun.  We all got our favorite Chinese food, ate, exchanged gifts and then visited and played a game.  I hope these photos and the video convey just a bit of that!

Terri found these fantastic trapezoidal boxes at Sam's club the day before we got together, for a great price, I presume.  She's a terrific shopper.  Her mama trained her well!  Never, ever pays retail.    My own box (the largest) was chock full of fun stuff - two - count 'em, TWO tea pots, including a Lennox "Christmas Tree" patterned "tea for one," pattern, and severa packets of loose tea.  Also included were honey sticks and a tea ball, and a box of soft peppermint sticks, just like my daddy used to get me! 

Robin got me a Grab-it.to keep me from falling out of bed like I did last summer!  The kids all got a charge out of using it for purposes for which it was not intended:

  

Ethan pulled Stefan's pants off a couple of times, and vice versa.  A rather easy task considering how baggy and low they wear the silly things.

Tiana and Jason got the kids gift cards for iTunes, all embelleshed with giant bows, which also came in for their share of unique uses.

Rachel and Tiana had a bow-battle, sticking the bows on their fists and battling across my lap.  No one - they decided instead to be BFFs.

The girls had a great time pawing through the box of my finished clay jewelry.  Well, Robin and Terri did.  Rachel can't be bothered with jewelry.  Yet.

Here they are setting up for Apples to Apples. This game is TOO funny!  Or perhaps you need Stefan and Tiana to make it really fun.  They are extremely creative in giving reasons why their cards should be chosen.  Here's a short video of Rachel taking one of her turns.I do hope you can get an idea of how the game is played - each person has 7 "red" cards which contain a noun, and there are green cards on which are printed one adjective.  As each person takes his or her turn, a green card is drawn and read, including a brief definition printed on the card.  Then the rest of the group chooses a card from their 7 which they think can best be described by that adjective.  Without revealing their card, each person slips them to the "chooser."  What then ensues is what you see on the video.  Each person starts screaming out crazy reasons why their word should be described as this adjuective.  Among Tiana's reasons for describing "Mad Cow Disease," as "insane," was, "Become the cow...."  She got the green card fo that one.  First one to collect five green cards wins.  I think Jason won once and Ethan the other. 

We played it twice through and I'd play it again any time. 

Overall our holidays have been great, even though I still haven't left the house.  It's wonderful to be so loved that enough people come in and out that I don't feel housebound even though I am!  God is very good indeed. 

To all those near and far who didn't get a Christmas card yet again, I apologize, but without much guilt.  2008 turned into a crazy, albeit mostly wonderful time, and Christmas cards, the expense of mailing them and just getting to them, were not on my agenda.  Maybe next year - I'll have photos of the happy couple to share.  Perhaps even one of a house if they find one. 

Oh!  Tiana's starting a new job at Geisinger Medical Center next month.  She's been looking forward to getting in there to expand her eperience in trauma and neo-natal respiratory care, and now she'll get to do that.  She's very happy about the job and so we're happy for her.  She'll continue to do per diem work at the Susquehanna Health System now and again, just to keep her ties there strong. 

That decision has broadened the possible areas for a house search, of course. 

me<><

Sorry for the delay, but more and more I'm discovering that socializing is wonderful but I'm so tired afterwards I don't really have the energy to document it!  At least not right away. 

So, the four of us shared our Christmas on Christmas Eve.  Tiana had to work all day Christmas, so it just worked out that way.  The curious thing is, that it still felt like Christmas!  I thought it would feel odd, but it was fun.  I was all stressed about Tiana's presents, this first Christmas buying for a daughter-in-law (to-be.) I wanted her to love every single gift, to be so happy that her mother-in-law could know just what to get her.  Vanity, I guess.    But more that I wanted her to know that Christmas is such a special time for us, and part of it is that sweet time of sharing gifts and laughing and enjoying one another.  Just us. The wonderful thing is how well Tiana fits.  It's always been just us three and adding Tiana seems so natural. 

As we were getting ready to settle down around the tree to exchange gifts, Tiana offered to move my scooter. 

I think she likes it!

More proof - she sat in it to open her gifts. 

Jason played Santa and opened gifts at the same time.  He's clever like that.

Faron made a point of getting Jason a Kubota hat, just for when he drives the tractor.  Those guys are WACKO about that thing! 

We then shared our dinner and had a very nice evening. Jason had to work that night, but was back then next morning to take me to Hazel's for the traditional breakfast/gift giving insanity at her house, but I wasn't feeling well.  The cellulitis hung on through most of the holidays.  I missed the family party the Sunday before Christmas, and then Christmas Day at Hazel's.  But the family was great, in and out often, so I didn't feel isolated. 

Joe and Amy were up on the weekend following Christmas.  Here are just a few photos of that first visit - we had two good long ones that weekend.  Derek was asleep when they arrived, Here he is just waking up in Daddy's arms. 

And then we got presents to open, and he couldn't be bothered to sit up to open them. Instead, he rips off a teeeeeny tiny piece of paper at a time, and handed it to me, saying his "Naynay" all purpose "Thank you/You're welcome" word after handing me each piece. 

Joe finally got impatient and started ripping big chunks. 

He finally got off Daddy's lap and moved around a bit.  He loved the nesting Santas. 

And he also showed off his "gymnastic" skills.

He folds himself up like that from a standing position as Joe holds his arms.  Little monkey!

I have more photos of Derek and other stuff that will soon follow, I promise. 

me<><

Christmas cards with letters and photos are trickling in.  This came yesterday in a card from my niece Robin and her family:

Ethan will be 17 - SEVENTEEN!! - in March, and Rachel celebrated her 13th birthday in September.  They're so grown up, and quite handsome with it, if I do say so, proud great-auntie that I am. 

Ethan and Rachel are "my babies," almost as much as Jason is.  I babysat them from newborns, until Rachel was nearly two, and Ethan was 5.  That's when I went to work at the Cancer Society and had to give up having them every day.  But they still came often on weekends, sometimes one this weekend and the other the next.  Sometimes we'd do both the same weekend but that wasn't always such a good idea! 

They're both doing well in school, have  wide circle of friends, and have recently discovered that they care for one another.  They actually like doing things together from time to time. Ethan has a girlfriend, Sidney, who occupies much of his free time, which isn't much. Besides school, he also has a part-time job.  So does Sidney - in fact they work at the same place, although not on the same shifts often enough.

Rachel isn't yet interested in boys in any way she's willing to discuss.  She has begun to admit that she actually likes some "girlie" stuff.  Imagine!  She was sure it would never happen to her.  But she's still just as happy muckin' about in the creek behind their house or climbing a tree as she is spending hours at the mall with her friends.  She's an extremely loyal friend.  Most of the friends in her close circle are those she's had since she first started school.  Most of them call me Aunt Cin, too. 

These are all the kinds of thoughts I had when I looked at this photo.  Remembering a tough little Ethan punching his sister for no apparent reason, and an even tougher little Rachel walloping him right back.    Photographs are such treasures!  I love getting them. 

Each year an Internet friend sends photos of his twin daughters in their card.  It's been great fun watching them grow.  And the son of a woman we used to care for sends their family portrait every year.  As their sons are in the "marryin' and carryin'" phase of their lives, every year there's at least one or two new faces in their photos.  And of course, Sam and Lois always have a family photo taken on their family vacation in August.  But I'll let Lois share that photo.  It's an especially good one this year. 

So send me your photos.  I keep them, and pull then out from time to time to track the growth and changes in your children and the thinning and graying of hair in you and your spouse.  I just plain love pictures!

me<><

And night. 

Today, I had the very great pleasure (pun unintended but it works anyway) of meeting my great-great-nephew, Kael James today.  He's 6 weeks old, and my is he a lamb!  He looks just like his daddy (Erik James) did at this age, so it's fun watching the various expressions move across his face and then suddenly realizing, "Oh, he does look like his mommy, too!"  Here are a few photos of this momentous event:

Under great duress (not!!) Kael and I snuggled together on the sofa while Grandma Darla and I chatted and Grandpa Duke and Great-great-uncle Faron worked on finishing up the porch electrical stuff. 

Kael is one of thsoe soft, "moophy" babies, who just sinks against one's breast, totally sure of his welcome.  Of course, he's right.  He's 100% welcome! 

Great-Grandma Hazel took advantage of his proximity to come up and pay a visit, too.  Here she's got him smiling and otherwise entranced:

Can you believe that mop of hair?

Check out the shadow on the wall.  It's from The Hair!

After a while, I realized he'd probably sleep better if I put him down, but I couldn't let him get too far away.  I just propped him against the sofa pillow between my legs and took photos.

Beautiful!

Duke and Darla were taking him with them to Duke's company Christmas party tonight while Erik and Amber have their first "date night" as new parents.  I repeatedly volunteered my services as a babysitter until Darla assured me that they WANT to take him and show him off.  Duke's a besotted grandfather, which is sweet.  He was a good daddy, of course, and we expected Darla to be enchanted, but Duke stopping to check on Kael every time he passed through the room was downright adorable!

Finally, here's a photo of our house with its new Christmas lights.  A first time for us!

Took me a moment to realize it, but the "breaks" in the lights are where the pine trees in front of the house are between Faron and the house as he took the photo.

As I said, beauty, day and night!

me<><

Jennie called early last week to ask if I'd help her with a school project on the coming Friday, and if she could spend the night.  Of course, I said yes to both, and when I got off the phone I told Faron that Jennie was coming to spend the night, etc.  He said, "Why does she even bother to pretend she's going to stay?  You know she'll call her mom at midnight to go home!" 

Well, Friday evening came and Jennie and her family came up, and while Cathy, John and Aaron were still here, I repeated Uncle Faron's comments.  Jennie marched over to his room, where he was stretched out watching the news and she said, "Uncle Faron, did you really say that!?" 

After exchanging several teasing remarks, they ended up by making a bet ($5.00) that Jennie wouldn't make it all night.  All evening, they taunted one another with how they'd each spend that $5.00. 

Jennie's project was to create a poster for her Technologies class, featuring a well-known structure.  Jennie chose the Eiffel Tower.  The project had to exhibit some creativity.  After chatting about it, and eating a lot of Grasshoppers cookies, we came up with a plan, to make a 3-D model from construction paper for the centerpiece of the poster, with various facts and figures in bubbles or balloons surrounding it.  My input consisted of helping her to make the model work. 

First thing we did was to draw a template from which to cut each of the sides.  Our first attempt was a bit off.

We decided it looked more like something from "Lost In Space," than Monsieur Eiffel!

After some research and some tweaking, we finally perfected our model and cut out the construction paper version.  I'll tell you one thing, in my day, "heavy" construction paper was heavy. Nowadays, it's as flimsy as can be!  But our model turned out pretty well, all things considered.

You can see bits of the Scotch tape we used on the inside to tape the two sides together.  Later we got wise and carefully peeled that off and replaced it with black electrical tape.  Smart, eh?  We thought so. 

So Jennie was happy with the creative part, and wanted to do the rest of the poster herself.  I hope she posts here what her teacher thought of the poster - better yet, a photo of the finished poster AND the results! 

Jennie called after she read this to tell me she'd gotten a 95 on the poster!  She promises her mom will take a photo of the finished poster and email it to me.  I promise to post it here if she does.  Congrats, Jennie! 

Back to that bet...Jennie slept on the recliner in my room, and as we were all getting awake around 7 am, Jennie yelled over to Faron, "Uncle Faron!  I made it!  Gimme my $5 please!" 

He brought it right over. 

Yesterday Kelly came up and we traded services.  I gave her another lesson (the first was on her regular cleaning day) on using her laptop and she helped me to unpack and place much of my Christmas decorations. I put the tree together while she climbed up and down putting Santas on the shelves in the livingroom.  There's still a good bit to be done, but just getting that much accomplished felt pretty good to me.

The cellulitis in my foot is nearly cleared up.  After being out of bed for a few hours yesterday, it was tender today so I stayed in bed again today.  And I have a good part of my Christmas shopping done now, after an assault on Amazon this week, so that feels pretty good, too. 

I feel a nap coming on.  Hope all is well with all of you!

me<><

From Queen J'fer Herself, one of my Internet friends who participates in a "Secret Santa," exchange we've done for several years now.  The first year we did it, I had Jennifer's name.  And now she had mine!  This is such fun! 

My package came the other day, and we'd been occupied with other things and I just wasn't thinking about it, so getting a package Just For Me seemed so ... FUN!    When I opened the standard issue brown cardboard box, with the standard issue postal labels, I found a lot of bubble wrap.  After opening that, this is what I saw:

One of the odd thoughts I had was that I'd just last year finished up a roll of that same paper on the lower package, that'd lasted forever, it seemed! 

This is what was in the top package:

And let me tell you, this is some FINE chocolate!  Much too delicous to actually chew.  One must let it melt on one's tongue to truly savor it's excellence. 

And the bottom package contained this:

Very nice - I mean, really very nice - writing paper.  I love stationery.  And this is the nicest I've ever owned.  I usually wait until Current has a Buy One Get One Free sale and stock up, so it's nice stuff but not NICE.  This is a lovely, finely textured paper, and oh, the luxury of 100 sheets!  I'm very pleased! 

Faron had an appointment with the orthopedic surgeon yesterday, to get the results of an MRI he'd had done last week on his knee, and to discuss surgical options.  He knew he'd have to have surgery, but it was a question of The Big One, where he'd miss a couple of weeks from work, or the Quick One, where it's just a few days.  Well, it's the big one.  He told Dr Bailey that he'd like to wait until after Jason's wedding, as he really hasn't time to take off now for up to a month.  Dr Bailey gave him a knee brace and said, "Call me when you can't stand it anymore." 

This is one of those times when I feel sad that I'm not working anymore.  If I were, he could have the surgery now, no problem.  But there it is.  Please pray the brace is of help in keeping the pain under control, and that he can last until after the wedding brouhaha.

That bit of cellulitis in my foot is still playing up so I finally gave in and called my dermatologist.  He can't see me until the 16th, so I'll just have to sit tight until then.  As long as I'm not on it much, it doesn't get worse, at least. 

That's the news!

me<><

(only in the sense that he's the only one I gave birth to - none of the rest of the children of my heart need to feel slighted in any way, please!) I am finally updating my danged blog!  He's tired of looking at Halloween kids!  So, he requested two photos to be shared:

First, him on his dad's new (Brand spankin' new) Kubota tractor:

He's spreading stones on the expanded driveway, that allows one to drive right up to the new porch, so that we don't have to worry about tripping over stuff in the dark.  He's eally good with the front-end-loader, having had several days of practice with that.  He's working on the back blade. 

And he wanted you to see his dad learning how to play Wii Golf:

Faron got a big kick out of it.  Kim had invited all of us over for lunch a few weeks ago, and Jason and Tiana brought their Wii accessories and much fun was enjoyed by all. The hot sausage sandwiches were excellent.

I have a couple of more to add - this is our normal Thanksgiving Day activity, whether we're at Kim's or at our house, as we were this year:

Everyone has his or her favorite beverage and we pass the newspaper store flyers around the table, while those who plan to brave the madness clip coupons and make lists.  Tiana was the only one going out, but that didn't stop the rest of us looking! 

And then two more photos.  Last week was Kim's birthday, but she was ill with one of those awful bugs going around, the kind that leaves one in no doubt that food is the enemy.  So we waited until she came to her senses, and Saturday afternoon at 3:50, Hazel picked me up, and we went to get Kim and they told me we were headed to State College to go to either the Outback or the Roadhouse.  Ok.  I have no commitments so let's go! 

Well, go we did.  We wneded up not paying attention, going all the way out to Snowshoe!!! and then having to try to figure out how to get to State College, and more specifically, the Outback, in the dark, when something was going on at the Bryce Jordan Center, which meant some streats were blocked.  We drove around (and around) State College for over an hour, and finally got there.  Dinner was wonderful.  We ate and ate and ate.  So, here are a couple of photos:

They were trying not to laugh, since the previous shot had them both with their mouths wide open, laughing at one another. 

And I was trying not to blink. 

I was TIRED after that.  I slept much of Sunday and Monday although I can't say tht I had any extra pain.  Just couldn't stay atwake.

And finally, my dear friend Anne Ivy, in Fort Worth Texas, and her children (Jessica, Kirstin, Jonathan, Alexander, Charles and Dmitry) lost their husband and father this past Saturday, after a sudden, shockingly fast cancer diagnosis.  They'd only known he was that ill for a few days before he went Home to the Lord, and blessedly, Don never knew it.  He went into the hospital 2 weeks before, to, as we all thought at the time, narrow down the bug that was causing his pneumonia.  They have a lot to work through but they are a loving, devoted family with a lot of extended family support, and lots of goodf friends, including the One who matters the most!  Please try to remember them in your prayers if you would.

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Here they are:

The Incredible Hulk (aka Aaron) and "Ms Millionaire," for those of you familiar with the local high school's mascot, or, as someone pointed out, she also has a look of Dr Seuss.  That's our Jennie, btw.

That's it, and technically, showing up after 9 pm as they did, they were "illegal," Trick or Treatrs! 

They both had exceptional report cards btw.  Ms Jennie is extremely bright but very quiet, and Aaron is at the top of his class in reading ad comprehension.  Rachel also had a good report card - she made the honor roll.  Ethan hasn't gotten his report card yet, but he had an excellent Interim report a few weeks ago, as did Stefan, so it looks like all the kids are bucklin' down for school this year!

Poor Cathy and her family have so many demands on their time for May 9 of next year!  First, it's he day of Jason's and Tiana's wedding reception, which is, of course, the number one priority. Then Cathy found out that Aaron's challenger league baseball tournament was that weekend in Virginia Beach, and he really wanted to go there.  Now she's found out that her stepdaughter, April, will gradute from Duquesne University that SAME DAY!  April's husband, Harry will graduate from Carnegie in the same time period, although the exact date isn't yet known to Cathy.  Rightly so, they've decided April's graduation is the priority, but I know that Cathy'd love to be able to do it all!

Our Tiana had some kind of disquieting news this week.  I think I may have mentioned previously that she'd hurt her back and was to have an MRI this past week.  That was Wednesday.  It was Not Fun, but at least it was out of the way.  She got a message on Thursday from her doctor's office to call as soon as posible Friday morning, and it turns out she has a herniated disk and they wanted to know her preference of surgeons.  So she requested Dr Tufaha.  We've all told her that being referred to a surgeon doesn't necessarily mean that she'll have to have surgery.  So please pray for our girl.  She's a bit rattled about that.  One thing's certain, at least - No Indoor Skydiving for this Bride in Las Vegas!

I had part two of my sleep study the othe night and I am getting a C-Pap machine soon.  Had a miserable night at the study, but it wasn't the mask that made me iserable so much as being connected, flat on my back, to all of those leads and wires and such.  I woke at 4:15 or so with my back just splitting.  I re-arranged my legs and arms if every position I could think of without removing one of the leads.  I lay there another half an hour before calling for the technician to release me from my prison! 

The contractor's officially finished up their work here this past week, and Faron's got the railing on the porch nearly completely painted.  Today Jason and Faron are puttering, having pulled out all the tractors and lawnmores to get leftover building supplies properly stored. 

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