The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 4,100 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 7 years to get that many views.
Finally, a rather tumultous year has ended. It really wasn’t that bad, but definitely we had to be flexible with our plans. It was very rewarding to help out with many of our family members and I’m happy to report that everyone is doing pretty darn good at this point. We heard that Justin may not have to reconstruction surgery for now and he can actually begin to get up and walk around. Niece Juli enjoyed her 2 weeks home in Arkanas. We were so thrilled to see her and see how well she was feeling. Now we need to keep the prayers going that she gets good results on her upcoming tests. Mom is also continuing to get stronger and feeling more independent each day. It was wonderful to see her at home and resuming her everyday activities.
Received sad news yesterday that Princess passed away yesterday. For those of you who may not know. She wandered into Doug and Juli’s yard in Florida a few months ago. She was an extremely homely little dog but was so ecstatic when you would reach down to rub her tummy, which was a little difficult because of the size of her teets. She had all sorts of weird issues, but one couldn’t help but love her. At least she passed away while living in a loving home and not off in the wilderness by herself.
We woke up to several inches of snow this morning in Naco, AZ. It was crazy. When we drove here from Kansas, we had the whole back of the truck packed with suitcases, golf clubs, etc. The back of the truck ended up being full of snow, so everything had to go in the back seat, which also took away my comfy sleeping area. Denny piled everything in the truck and we left around 8:30. After breakfast at the golf course, the 2nd photo is of the putting green at the course, we headed toward Sierra Vista which is about 26 miles west. They only had about 1 inch and the roads were clear. While in Sierra, I had 2 cortisone shots in my heels. I so hope they begin feeling better in a day or 2. She told me to stretch, stretch, stretch several times a day. She also told me there is a fairly successful surgery that releases the tendon that causes this heel pain. We will see how I feel by the time we get back to Arizona in late February. At least I feel like there is still some hope for a permanent solution for this awful pain with my feet. After the shot, we drove into Phoenix where we are now settled in at Mary’s house. We will pick her up tomorrow at the airport. She has such a terrific place and it was in the upper 50’s here. Our friend Tom, who lives in Silver City, NM, always blames the awful weather on Denny and I. It is a little strange on how many snowstorms we drive through when we come here for the winter.
This is our 15 th wedding anniversary. We celebrated tonight with dinner at the Black Angus. The BEST prime rib we have ever had anywhere. Actually melted in your mouth. What an incredibly exciting marriage we have had. We have had our share of not such great times, but the good times certainly outweight the bad. We’ve pretty much done all of our dream trips on bicycles, motorcycles and dirtbikes. The one trip we still hope to do maybe next year is to get on the Inland Passage ferry and get on and off with our bicycles. Hopefully that will happen summer of 2014. Denny has introduced me to so many adventures that I never would have done. When he met me, I had quite a few fears, and over the years I’m pretty much fearless except for snowmobilling. Also, when we first met, he wanted to take me to Hawaii but I said that I couldn’t fly over water that long, it would be too scary. Now I don’t even think twice about it and we will be going there next Sunday.
We have been blessed to have many friends in many places. Happy New Year to all of you and hope to spend time with all of you sometime throughout the year. The other real blessing that happened to me this year is that I have no neck pain. Zilch I noticed in September that it wasn’t bothering me and even after playing golf on Saturday, whic is a real test, I had no pain. That is the first time in 9 years.. Praise the Lord.
Thanks for joining me on the blog. Love to all of you. Jbird
Home sweet home. Since Denny drove 790 miles the day before we only had a 6 hour drive on Friday and I only slept 1 hour. We arrived around 2 and got checked into the San Jose Lodge. It’s kind of a funky old motel with a restaurant and bar. Right now we are watching Jim Gaffigan on the Comedy channel. I looooooove him. Someday I want to go see him in person.
We had fun yesterday catching up with our buddies at Turquoise Valley. Dale a friend who lives in the rv park fulltime told us a funny thing his sister said during a recent vist. He was showing her the flyer about the events at the course and bar. One of the events is “TGIF” She said “it’s f#$%^&* Friday here everyday”. This is true. It’s a very laid back existence.
Today we are playing golf with Janet and Chuck at noon. I’ve got long underwear since it will be slightly chilly while we are playing. Tonight we are going to Rosas which is a wonderful Italian restaurant. You have to preorder the lasagna because she only makes 1 pan of it a night. I always have Shrimp Florentine and a benedryl : ). I have a feeling I’ll be taking a lot o benedryl these next few weeks with all the eating out. Last night I had nothing I could wear that felt okay on my skin. Just the sheets felt okay.. It’s such an icky feeling.
I forgot to tell you about Becky’s daughter’s family and something cool that they do. They have a basement full of Lego towns and airports and trainstations. There must be over a million lego pieces in their basement. It’s very cool and apparently there are conventions for people who build things with legos. Interesting passion. Love it.
Tomorrow I’m going to hang out with Betsy and Laura. They are my fiber and golf buddies. We’ll do a little walking around Bisbee which is like going to the gym for an hour because of all the hills you go up and down. Monday we plan on heading to Phoenix. It is supposed to snow here so we may have to watch the weather once again. One has to be flexible when traveling in the winter.
Ooooo. Just saw movie trailer “Texas Chainsaw Murders in 3D” Where’s my scary movie buddy Mitzi!!!!!!!!
I think Denny broke records today for how many miles he drove today. 790 miles. 13 hrs and 10 minutes. I probably slept about 6 of those hours!! In my defense, I did offer a couple of times to drive. We went through all sorts of temperatures, the highest being 55 degrees. It will be very cold here in the morning. We are just about 5 1/2 hours from Naco.
I read one book today, “Oddly Normal”, a true story by the father of a gay son. It was interesting to read all the different diagnoses the boy was given over the years. It ended on a good note and I was happy about that, even though I usually don’t like happy ending books. Don’t ask me why, I guess I don’t think life is like that. Now I’m reading a Stephen White book which will be his last in the series using Alan, the psychotherapist as the main character. I’ll miss that series.
Why is it when you check in to your motel room and turn on the tv that every channel is on a commercial so you can’t tell what is on that channel right away. I spend an hour channel surfing until I can see something to watch.
I have extremelyy itchy skin tonight. Hate to have my clothes touching me. We stopped and ate at this bar. I ordered a ribeye and unfortunately it was marinaded in Worchestshire sauce or something like that. I took a benedryl but sometimes that doesn’t help my irritated skin. Yeck..
Looking forward to Naco. We have a tee time for Saturday. The weather doesn’t look all that great but if it isn’t windy it should be tolerable.
Heard from Aunt Ruth and Meeko and Jumper are fine.
The lake had a foggy mist rising from it this morning. It was only 10 degrees. I think if you click on the photo it will become bigger. I have 4,059 views on my blog now.
Finally it looks like we will be able to head out of town.
Today we took Meeko and Jumper over to Auntie Ruths. We are going to miss them but it will be nice not to have to wrestle with them while traveling, and stop and take them for walks, and holler at them to stop fighting, and not have to pay an extra $10 0r $15 for a motel room, and not have to take a chicken bone out of their mouth while walking around a truck stop, but….we will still miss them bunches. We also had lunch with Becky from Texas, her daughter and granddaughter and Ruth. Then we stopped by Billie’s and looked at some of the kids Christmas presents. Elliot’s little trampoline finally got assembled and she is so cute hopping up and down in it. It looks pretty safe since it has a net guard all around it. Kyler showed his skills shooting his arrow into a hay bale. Pretty impressive. We didn’t get home from Topeka until 1:45 so we decided to just leave on Thursday. I was fretting about how much I was packing so Denny got me another little bag. We have to pack for both cold and warm weather and golf outfits and bicycle outfits. Got all of that done. Tonight I’ve been untangling yarn to take with me and downloading some Itunes. Both of those chores took me much longer than anticipated but I finally have it all done. The Itunes thing turned into a big thing because I have too many computer authorized. Well, how am I to deauthorize when 2 of the computers are gone? I read where I oculd go to my account page and deauthorize all 5 computers and now I can start over again. I was very happy to find that out. So now I have my yarn all balled up and my music loaded and my pills organized. I’m also taking my dermabrasion machine so Mary and I can look on line to see how it works and we’ll make our faces boootiful for Hawaii. I may do a whole body microdermabrasion.
We hope to be in Naco by Friday afternoon. We plan on driving 12 hours tomorrow. One good thing about not taking the rv is that I can help drive. We’ll have the back seat set up with a pillow and blankie so we can snooze off and on. Me more on than off. : 0 I always start out the morning in the back seat and sleep for 3 hours or so.
Prayers for my sister Judy. She was at the emergency room last night with a major bloody nose. They had to put this little baloon up her nose to stop. She said it was really painful, so she is resting the next few days. She wants prayers that they will be able to fly out on New Year’s eve. Not sure what flying would do to your nose issues.
One thing I will miss about the holiday season is getting Christmas cards. It is fun to get mail and hear from everyone. There are times during the year that I think I’m going to sit down and write notes to people rather than email, but…I never end up doing it. Maybe this year. Still trying to decide if I am going to give up Pepsi on New Years Day, during the cruise when I’m sure they will be serving Coke, or wait until my birthday on the 29th next month.
It seems like such a strange day. We were initially going to be gone by now, so we didn’t put up tree or anything. But…it also seems to be okay. It’s cold out and windy but no snow. I did see an eagle a little while ago and hoping the little ducks on the lake survive the day with him flying around. It ‘s kind of funny because when they see him they all go under water. How did ducks learn that an eagle is dangerous and to hide?? We are spending the day at home, maybe doing some packing for Arizona and Hawaii. I promised Denny some chocolate chip/peanut butter cookies. Talked to the kids this morning and they were all happy with their presents. Elliott doesn’t have her little trampoline yet because Billie was up until 2 am trying to figure out how to put it together. Maybe today she’ll get it done. Elliott will love it because she loves jumping up and down. I am sad that I haven’t talked to KC. Hopefully that will be something that will repair in 2013.
We went to see “Lincoln” yesterday. Daniel Day Lewis was fabulous as Lincoln, but unfortunately I fell asleep for most of the movie. The theatre was full and we had to sit down in those extremely close seats. Don’t know if that is what made me drowsy. But I also slept through “Breaking Dawn” so maybe I can’t go to the movies without being totally caffeined up. Denny really enjoyed it and I did see bits and pieces and Tommy Lee Jones was really great and I think he should get Academy Award for supporting actor. We also watched a pay for view movie called “Trouble with the Curve”. It was sooooooo predictable it almost pissed me off. I don’t like movies that everything comes out perfect at the end. Today I’ll probably watch a lot of Lifetime movies. Can’t go wrong with them.
Denny just made my day. We went to the Masters last spring and bought some things from John Daly and he autographed them for us. We wanted to have them for the golf tournament. Well, he couldn’ t find them anywhere. After all these months he just found them!!!! Merry Christmas.
Time to get productive. My friend Judy gave me a book called theLanguage of Friendship. I just opened it a minute ago and here is the quote that was on that page.
“Let us be what we are and speak what we think and in all things keep ourselves loyal to truth and the sacred professions of friendship” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow I like that
I’m glad the world didn’t come to an end on the 21st but I will be glad when 2012 is over with. Today was to be the day loading up the motorhome and heading south tomorrow, but with a major storm in the west, we have had to put our departure off for a few days and now probably won’t take the rv and just drive the truck to AZ. Good news is I can be kind of a lazy bum part of the day.
We’ve had a busy last few days. We went to Arkansas last Wednesday. On the way we stopped and saw my brother John and delivered his Christmas presents. He was excited about his upcoming 61st birthday and his pizza party he is going to have. He’s doing okay but seems fragile. I hope he makes it through the 2013 with no falls.
We arrived at my Mom’s Wednesday evening. It was so good to see her and be with her. She continues to do well and is attending her exercise classes and does her exercises the therapists gave her. She walked the hallways without the walker and her goal is to be free of the walker, but I told her that she is still a strong woman with or without the walker and is also an inspiration to all of us. The best part of the day was when Judy and Marvin came over to play bridge. We played for about an hour and Mom and Marvin whooped up on us and gave us no mercy. We kept teasing Mom that she was trying to act like she was weak and she was so mean with her bids!! It was fun. That evening we went to Judy’s and Denny cooked dinner for us and Juli and her kids. I wish you could see how wonderful Juli is feeling. She has energy and food is tasting good to her again. They will be here until New Year’s eve. When she gets home in January, she’ll go through a regimen of tests she will begin chemo if that is the direction the doctors decide to go. Prayers needed. I do believe that prayers have taken her through her grueling surgery and recovery and the radiation/chemo therapy. Prayers have given her an optimistic outlook and has given her the strength it takes to go through this battle. I am so inspired by her and my Mom.
When we got home Friday and I stayed all night with Billie. She had to work this weekend and Cade had a hockey game in St. Joe, so I stayed with Kyler and Elliott during the day and Denny and I watched all the kids last night.
Today will be kind of a quiet day. Denny is cooking a turkey. The lake is shrouded in a light fog and it is very cold out. I think the high tomorrow is to be 15 or something. My big goal is to patch up the boat cover. With my new heavy duty sewing machine and denim needle, I hope to be successful. I’ve never dealt with anything that heavy.
Thankfully the groomer was able to tell us why Jumper’s face is so stinky at times. Apparently it was his eyes and they can get a little infection around them. She cut away a lot of the hair around his eyes and said to put neosporin under them if he gets stinky again. I am so happy because he is so cute and cuddly but when he is stinky the last thing you want from him is to be cuddly. We did make a difficult decision but a good one regarding Jumper and Meeko. We are going to leave them with Auntie Ruth instead of taking them to Arizona with us. It was going to get complicated. It will be hard to be away from them for such a long time, but they love Ruth so they will be fine.
I hope everyone has a great Christmas and a great New Year. We will celebrate 15 years of marriage this year. Whoo Hoo.
Just finished watching the news and 2 policemen were killed tonight in Topeka. The shooter is still at large but they may have him cornered in downtown Topeka hopefully. @ more families who’s holiday will be extremely sad. Not sure what happened. Apparently there was a suspicious vehicle at the Dillons at 12th and Huntoon. Police responded and something caused a shootout.
It’s all too much. So many crazy comments going on out there regarding the Friday shootings. I actually may do my first unfriend on FB due to some comments that were made today. I don’t do much on FB but make a post that something has been posted on my blog. It is so full of just forwarded stuff which I don’t care about. I also am disappointed that they are putting a few shooting victims on there. There is one of this little girl. What upsets me about it is that there were 20 little children, not just one. They all had a cute smile, they were all wonderful and special.
Denny and I started our day going to the Methodist church in Wamego. It was a nice service. Lots of young families and their kids. We’ve been going around to different churches. AFter we got home, he finished the doors for the cabinet and I worked on my quilted table runner. I had stuff all over the dining room table, the counter, the ironing board and a card table. I was beginning to get glares from Denny and he did remind me that my studio was available again. I finished up what I could and have picked up all of my little messes so he will be happy in the morning.
Billie and the kids came out last night. This is what the first 10 minutes was like. 1. I give the boys their little lego kits to build something. Right off the bat, Kyler rips the plastic bag open and little legos all over the floor. Of course, Jumper things he needs to help pick them up and we get one out of his mouth. 2. Elliott is in the living room and drops her binky. Next thing we know, Jumper has the binky in his mouth and Elliott is having a cow. We retrieve it and sterilize it and she is happy again. Note to self to buy Jumper a dog pacifier. 3. Elliott opens her giant Tinkerbell drawing pad with crayons. Next thing we know, Jumper is in the living room with a half eaten crayon in his mouth. We retrieve it and don’t think he swallowed any of it. After all of that excitement, everyone calmed down and the boys built there lego things and Elliott went from coloring to playing to acting like a puppy to drawing, etc. It was a fun few hours. Wish we would have more of them. Billie’s wound is all but healed. I was really impressed with how great it looked and without much of a scar.
Heard an interesting idea today to do something in honor of the victims from Friday and I think I’ll add 2 more for the policeman. In remembrance, do 28 kind things. Examples, put a little more money in the Salvation Army kettle, call someone who may be needing a call from a friend, call a family member who you might not have talked to for awhile, purchase a gift and put it in one of those boxes that organizations have in businesses to donate to a needy family.
Time for bed, have morning pt appointment. Justin also goes to the surgeon tomorrow so we’ll find how when his next surgery will be. I have posted an interesting article up in my Huffington Post Page. Called “I Am Adam Lanza’s Mom” A story about a mother who has a mentally ill son and the conflicts she runs into trying to get him help.
There is a photo of my nook bags. They will be good for when you travel and can protect them when in your bags. Guess I’ll need to make some masculine looking ones?
As most of you are, it feels weird to be sitting at our little lake house knowing that the families in Newtown are devastated. I was riveted to the television for a few hours yesterday, even though they kept repeating many of the same stories. Then I got nervous as the day went on because I knew the news reporters would start putting microphones into people’s faces and ask that stupid question “how do you think the families are feeling”. I hate this part of the process of any major tragedies. Then I start getting cycnical about who are going to be the victims who come out and start telling their story first and get all the attention, knowing that there are many out there who want to keep there feelings private. Who will be in People magazine next week. I am one who will watch if there is a new story about it, or open up a story about it online. I do want to know what happened to this Adam to drive him to do this horrific act. I can’t understand the motive of going to the school after he killed his Mom. From the beginning, they said the Mother was a teacher and was one of the dead at the school. So then one would think he was going after his Mom. With her not being there, I can’t imagine why he thought he needed to go to the school. Then we’ll have to go through the endless Gun Control conversations. I am for gun control but at this point, so many crazy people have their guns already, what does it all matter? I talked to a good friend this summer about gun control and I was shocked about his comment back. He said something to this effect, “I have right to have the kind of weapons that the enemy will have”. Wow. I guess I had never talked to an NRA person in real life. Is that really how they justify having assault weapons? All I know is that I don’t have any guns anymore because I did some stupid things when I had them in my hands and I lived with people who were stupid with their guns.
Still suffering with stomach issues. I know this may be too much information but it seems like everything has come to a halt and won’t make a left turn?
Denny has put his shorts back on for the day. Haven’t seen his legs for about 5 days now.
Having some fun chatter on emails regarding upcoming bicycle trip in New Mexico this July.
Off to the cutting board to cut many squares.
3698 views so far on my blog.
Just watching the news regarding the Connecticut shooting of school children. It is soooo horrific. Details are just coming out as of noon today. How incredibly sad for so many families. How will the little children forget this. God, please help these families through their grief and pain. Amen
It’s such a dreary day today and this news makes it drearier.
I’ve got some sort of stomach bug. Think I may have got it from Elliott and Cade. Apparently there is something going around. We are hoping Denny doesn’t come down with it because we are going to Arkansas Wednesday. We don’t want to take any germs down with us to see Mom and Juli. So anxious to see both of them.
Was happy to be hear for the Christmas holidays, but bummed about stomach thing. Had to miss a gathering last night and will miss a party tonight and was supposed to have all the grandkids over this weekend and had to cancel that. Rats.
Trying to decide what project I would like to do today. Denny moved in the cabinet he built yesterday. It was a little scary watching him move it inside as it is very tall, but as always, he managed to get it in without it squishing him.
Jumper is a chronic licker.He licks everything in the house, the furniture, blankets, my clothes, his feet, his toys, Meeko’s ears. He especially likes to lick the divan. I looked up “dog licking too much”on the internet. It sounds like an anxiety disorder. Said that medication may help. I really don’t want him to be on antidepressants, so I am working with him verbally to see if we can get him to stop. So….there is a lot of “stop licking, stop licking, good boy” going on.
Off to a project.
jbirdworld 