Yee Haw!!!

Diane and Randie have now spent the last day on their vacation. They were at the Stampede most of the day but got rained out the last half hour, which really isn't bad, because they haven't had any bad weather on the trip that altered their plans. However, they both are anxious to get home tomorrow. I'll pick them up at the airport sometime around 7:30 p.m.  IF the flight is on time.

Our Day

While Diane and Randie spent the day in Calgary, Jon, Lois and I went to the Farmer's Market in Davison, Frankenmuth for a chicken dinner then Birch Run to shop. Rachel took care of Jessie and they went to Play Place, lunch, Irma's Custard, a nature center then home. Jessie had a really good day. We all did !!!

Haven't heard from Diane, but I'm assuming they are having a great time. Tonight was the stampede!

 Waiting for our dinner.

 Jane went, too, to Play Place to be with Rachel and Jessie

Jessie really likes this swing.

On The Way To Banff then Calgary

Today Di and Randie boarded their bus and headed to Banff then on to Calgary. They will be there through Sunday and attend the Stampede and it's activities. Plus, a former boss of hers lives in Calgary and she is hoping to connect with him while there.

Diane has taken hundreds of pictures and I just don't know which ones to choose. They are all so beautiful. These are from their trip to Banff this morning.

She Finally Made It

Lois was supposed to arrive in Michigan last night at 12:34 a.m. (really today), but her flight was cancelled in Haiti due to the plane's windshield being cracked by hail in the US. She tried again today and finally made it to my front porch around 10:00 p.m. She's pretty tired.

The following is from Diane and Randie's day today ...

Driving into Banff.

 In Waterton, Alberta, Canada

The Prince of Wales Hotel

Waterton, Alberta, Canada

In Waterton

Sleeping On A Train

I was going to say I've never seen an Amtrack train before but then I remembered some friends and I took the train from Sarnia to Toronto, Canada many, MANY years ago. I don't remember what it looked like, but I'm sure it didn't look like the one Di and Randie and on. It's pretty impressive.

Di mentioned earlier that it was actually 2 trains with 2 engines. At some point one train would go one way and the other another way. Can't remember where.

I have to share Diane's account of her sleeping experience from last night:

"I felt like I was in a trunk of a car going 100 miles an hour over uneven washboard road while my captors piped in ambience sounds of train whistles all night. Randie must feel like she's in the back of a pickup laying on a blow up mattress. She's sleeping like a baby."

I got these pictures as I was in my non-moving bed, laughing at her experience at that exact moment.

They have reached their train destination: Glacier Park Lodge, East Glacier Park. She just sent me a picture of their room. One was of a floor fan plugged in. Her comment? Room air conditioner. It was 93 degrees earlier and at that moment, 83 degrees.

If you've read Anonymous' comment from yesterday, somewhere in Montana there was a 5.8 earthquake with many aftershocks. Hope they won't be rocking tonight!

Tomorrow they tour Glacier National Park via the Red Jammer Bus. 

Sweet dreams, Diane and Randie!

To Anonymous in Montana

I got up at 4:15 a.m. to take my sister, Diane and Randie to Metro Airport for their flight to Chicago. From there they went to Union Station where they boarded an Amtrek train for their 29.5 hour trip to Montana! They will be staying at the Glacier Park Lodge for several days. They will then board a bus and continue their rail tour to Calgary! I'm loving seeing Diane's pictures. I'm waiting for the Montana pictures!

Thanks, Montana Anonymous !!!

What a nice thing to say, that I made your day. I felt very special. I hope my posts will continue to be uplifting and even amusing to you and all.

I was going to post pictures of Jessie's "new bedroom", but it's getting a bit late, so I'll work on that tomorrow. It used to be Pepto Bismol pink - all of it - ceiling, too. Now it's fit for a Princess. An artist friend of mine drew and painted a brick wall, a castle, butterflies and a very large tree on the walls. I will post these awesome pictures tomorrow.

Good night!

July 5, 2017

My last post said, "I Can't Believe It's May 1". Well, now it's July 5. So much has happened in these 2 months that I hope to go back and publish at least some pictures. I really do miss blogging.

I think I mentioned that we began going to a "new" church in February. One that had a Special Needs Class at 10:00 a.m. for Jessie. The picture below is her special spot she runs to in her classroom each Sunday. Her comfort zone after walking through a crowded lobby, taking the elevator downstairs and walking through the children's area. She actually enjoys going to church each Sunday, and so do I !!! I am thankful that there are willing workers to be with Jessie and the other 2 boys in the classroom.

I Can't Believe Tomorrow Is May 1

Where did April go? I have no idea.

The past couple of weeks have been very busy. We emptied Jessie's bedroom, it was painted a robin's egg blue at Jessie request, and then an artist friend of mine has been painting murals on the walls. I can't wait to share the finished room to you. It's absolutely adorable. It is the most inviting room in our home. I wish I could do something like that to my room.

 Jesssie's Art and Gym classes took a break for a couple weeks but starts up this coming week. One of those days Jessie, Rachel, Diane and Brent met at Play Place for the morning, then lunch out.

Another day they all met at the mall and walked around. Jessie was pretty crabby that day and a couple days prior to that, complaining of the side of her throat and mouth hurting her.

That afternoon, she pulled what looked like a polished stone out of her mouth. I searched her teeth to see if it was part of a tooth, but I couldn't find a broken tooth. Besides, the item she pulled from her mouth was very smooth.

L-o-n-g story short, it's a TONSIL STONE !!  Ever hear of one? Me either. Jon hadn't either. You'll have to look it up on the internet to see what it is. Poor kid.

Only thing I can say is, this is par for our family - weird things usually happen to us.

A couple days after that incident, she returned to "normal", whatever that is. No pain, anyway.

Jon went to Indiana to visit his best friend last weekend.

I've been learning what I can eat since being diagnosed with many allergies. I'll have to look back at my blog to see if I've mentioned that before I give you the whole story again.

I've missed visiting with you. I've missed recording my daily events, if only for myself in years to come.

Here's to a great MAY !!!

He Is Risen! He Is Risen Indeed!

Happy Easter to all my family and friends who follow me. Jon had to work so it was just Jess and me for most of the day. Unexpectedly, Jessie slept in until 9:15 a.m. It took her only a couple minutes to find her basket, because I only hide them upstairs now.

Easter baskets are filled with very little candy, but wrapped presents.

After Jon got home from work Jessie helped him find his basket since he couldn't find it. That's just too funny because it was almost in plain sight.  Then she helped him open his gifts. Diane and Randie came for dinner and stayed to visit for several hours. It was a really nice day.

A special blessing to me was that Jess and I watched Woodside Troy live at 11:30 a.m. on my iPad and Jessie sat next to me on the couch and sang the songs along with me and listened to the entire service. I was so blessed by that. Thank you, God, for a sensitive, spirit filled daughter who loves you !!

Getting Ready For Easter

Jessie was insistent on buying the bunny ears and bow tie a week ago and decided to wear them today. She gets so excited about any holiday that's coming up.

This year I did not decorate for Easter like I've always done, so I haven't heard about "ten presents" in her basket yet. I'm sure I'll hear it on Saturday, though.

Thanks to Jessie, we laugh in this house every day.

We are repainting her bedroom and the other night she went in to her room and said, "Bye, bedroom!"  "By bedroom!"  Walked out and shut the door. Guess she's ready for a change!

National Siblings Day

In honor of this special day,

I am posting pictures of the 3 of us "kids" ...

Christmas 2007

Our last Christmas with Ed,

who passed away July 2008

My 60th Birthday Party

October 2012

Jess At Art Class

I "stole" this picture from FB last night. Diane, Brent's mom, posted it of our "kids" at Art Class yesterday. Jessie loves arts and crafts. Considering the fact that she's tactile sensitive, I'm amazed that she's holding a wet painted egg.

"Our" Baby Travis

Two weeks ago Chris' daughter-in-law, Ashley, married to Sean, gave birth to a beautiful baby boy. Unfortunately he took over 24 hours to arrive, but he is doing well and Ashley is recovering nicely.
We went to Chris' last night for dinner and Sean, Ashley and Travis came so we could see him. Jessie won't go in their house because of the stairs leading up to the doors. I wanted to share some pictures with you - and have them for my book ...

 Jon got to hold Travis first.

We were a bit skeptical whether or not Jessie would like the baby or 

how she would react. She did wonderful! She was mesmerized by his tiny

feet and hands.

Travis has a good hold of Jessie's thumb! She loved it.

Isn't he adorable?

Travis got passed around a lot, except to his

Momma Ashley who graciously watched us hold her son.

Daddy Sean changing his son's diaper.

Sean took 2 weeks off of work to help with the baby

while Ashley rested. He's off to a very good start as a husband/father!

Me

I 
I thought I'd just put a picture of myself on the blog. It was taken yesterday at Rox's Craft Day. In my carry bag are the photos that need to be identified and put in photo albums. As you can see, the bag is pretty heavy.

Today I worked all day upstairs in Jessie's room and downstairs on the computer finishing up paperwork for my Income Tax appointment. A VERY profitable day!

Jessie's Day

Angie took Jessie to the Farm to see all the new baby animals. Here she's petting a baby goat. Our friend, Annika, works there and she always shows Jessie the animals.












Annika was grooming one of the horses when they got there. This picture is too funny. Looks like she wanted to pet the horse but wasn't quite sure if she should get too close.

I went to Rox's house for the day to work on my pictures - a Craft Day. There were 8 of us total. We all brought something for a brunch, then we began working on whatever project we wanted to do. I am very far behind with my pictures and I spent several hours putting them in order so I can put them in a photo album. I have always put them in albums as soon as I got the pictures. I stopped doing that after Bill passed away and now I have to get caught up. Both Bill and Jessie always looked at photo albums very often. Jessie still does.

Here's 3 of us ... Me, Brenda and Rox. I forgot to mention that we spent quite a bit of time laughing, too. It was a very nice day and we all want to do it at least once a month.

High School Musical

As far as I can remember, I went to my very first high school musical tonight. I probably wouldn't have gone, either, if it wasn't for the fact that my friend, Dawn's daughter, Caitlyn was Sour Kangaroo in "Seussical The Musical".

There were quite a few kids in the audience and the kids were thoroughly captivated, as well as the adults, too.  It was extremely well done and all the performers were excellent. When they did a curtain call at the end, all participants took stage - all 115 of them.

This performance was just as good as anything I've seen at the Macomb Center for Performing Arts. Way to go, kids!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

I LOVE corned beef and cabbage meals. A "boiled dinner" as my mom used to call it. We had it often when I was growing up.

Unfortunately, Bill wasn't fond of it and Jon isn't either. That means I either make it for myself, go out to eat, or don't eat it.

Last year on St. Patrick's Day, I met Diane (she didn't have a job then) and Randie at a restaurant near their house and had the corned beef and cabbage.

This year Diane is working so just Randie and I went out to eat. (As a side note, Diane doesn't like this meal either. I didn't remember that growing up.)

Unfortunately, I've been recently diagnosed with Eosinophilic esophagitis. I've had allergy testing and CABBAGE is one food I am allergic to. Go figure. So, I had to go cabbage-less today. Other than that, the meal was super good. The carrots were the best I've ever had. The mean was lean and not salty. Just perfect.

I hope you had a nice green day.

Happy 60th Birthday, Diane !!!

What could be nicer than celebrating my own birthday? Celebrating my sister's! Today she turned 60!

Yesterday Randie gave Diane a party at The Bath City Bistro in Mt. Clemens. Randie's family was there and Jon and I went after a meeting at church. Pizza, salad, drinks and cupcakes were enjoyed in between playing "feather bowling".

I looked it up on the internet and the game is actually called "Belgian Trough Bowling". There are 3 lanes in this building which makes it the largest such sporting facility in North America. Huh. Didn't know that!

Look it up for the description on what kind of bowling it is and how to play. Even I was able to throw the wooden disc without hurting myself. Walking on the trough, though was a bit tricky. Everyone had a lot of fun.

Happy Birthday, dear sister!

You are dearly loved.

Yesterday's Blustery Day

For over 12 hours the wind  blew constantly. Power lines came down, trees and large limbs fell, brush fires and a house burned within a couple miles of us. I had a couple of appointments that I couldn't change so I ventured out. Driving was challenging. It was a both-hands-on-the-wheel kinda day. Intersections were interesting. Many were out so we all know what to do when that happens. But then you'd have lights that worked and one minute you could see what you were supposed to do and the next the lights were pointing up to the sky! People freak out over the smallest problems!

Thousands upon thousands are without power. DTE sent me a message that said that they had never had so many people without power - ever! Crews were coming in from various states to help. We are so blessed because we have power! I don't know why, especially since they have no power across the street and may not get it back until Sunday! I'm so thankful we aren't running our generator.

The Shack

Jon and I did something we have not done in many months. We went to the show. We saw "The Shack". I read the book when it came out about 10 years ago and really liked it. The movie was spell binding. Both of us enjoyed it. I would highly recommend it.

What A Klutz

Saturday Jon and I spent quite awhile cleaning out the front hall closet and the coat closet, getting items ready for the Salvation Army. Plus laundry. Plus paperwork. By the afternoon I was pretty tired. Sometimes when that happens, my left foot doesn't always lift high enough to clear a step. Most of the time I'm able to catch myself, or my guardian angel grabs me and keeps me from falling.

Not so that afternoon. I stepped up the one step that separates the "old" part of the house with the "new" part, but didn't clear it. I tried to catch myself, but that didn't happen. I began to fall, banged the left side of my head on the plaster wall (it didn't give!), landed hard on both my knees and chest then hit the right side of my head on the doorway wall plus my right shoulder on the door jam, both plaster.  THANK GOD that Jon was home, because I knew I couldn't count on Jessie. The last time I fell I asked for her help and she said, "No thanks!" and refused to come help me up.

After I was finally able to get up with Jon's help, he got me an ice pack and it took turns on both sides of my head, my knees and my shoulder. My "new" knee is swollen, as well as my right shoulder (my surgery shoulder). Today was a rough day. I've been moving and walking as much as I can, but I am uncomfortable.

When I was sitting on the couch with the ice pack, Jessie kept laughing at me. Laughing that I fell. After about a half hour of that I about lost it with her. She finally settled down. I realized later that she was actually scared and the only reaction she knew to do was laugh.

I guess she takes after me. Whenever I'm afraid, I tend to laugh. I remember one time where my mom went out to the patio through glass sliding doors, closed them, did what she went to do, then tried to walk through them to get back in the house. It scared me, yet my first reaction was to laugh hysterically. She did NOT appreciate that. Like they say, what goes around, comes around!

Prayers as I heal would be appreciated.

Happy Birthday, Brent !!!

There was no Art or Gym this week so alternate activities had to be found. Yesterday Jennifer took Jessie to Play Place and today Rachel and Jessie met Brent, his mom and his aide at the bowling alley. They played one game to celebrate Brent's birthday, which was this past weekend. Then they had lunch at McDonald's.

For Brent's birthday, I made him a collage of pictures of him and Jessie over the past year. It turned out pretty nice, if I do say so myself. Now Jessie wants one, too!