I can’t believe in just two days it will be Thanksgiving again, then soon after Santa will arrive. This year seems to have gone by so fast to me and at my age I could stand to have it slow down a bit.. We were invited to our youngest son’s home for dinner but he put in a request for me to bring my blueberry torte. It’s his favorite dessert so I wasn’t surprised when he called in his request.  So I will be headed to the store in a bit to pick up the ingredients for that and taco dip that they like. I’m looking forward to not having to cook but not having leftovers is a downer lol. I love cold turkey sandwiches!

We shopping yesterday after I got William’s Christmas/birthday list and surprisingly it was pretty small. All he had on it was come cd’s he wanted and money of course. The problem is, after we got home and I was talking to him the cd’s we bought aren’t the ones he wants the most. The ones he really wanted they didn’t have so I bought the others. Well, what I might do is call the store and have them order the other ones and just exchange them when they come in. It seems every year I end up buying something they either don’t really want or I find out someone else has already bought it so I end up having to go back, return that and find something else to buy for them. Just once I’d like to get it right the FIRST time lol. Is that too much to ask? Oh well, what’s a grandma to do.

I’m not sure if I told you before but there is another baby on the way in the family. My sister found out she’s going to have a granddaughter yesterday. We are all excited about that as the boys out number the girls in the family so this will help even things out a little. I have 4 grandson’s and 2 granddaughter’s. Terry has the most girls in the family. She has 3 grandson’s and 4 granddaughters and a great grandson. with one on the way. Rhonda has 2 grandson’s and Jodi has one. I’m thinking this baby will be the last unless Rhonda’s daughter decides to try for a girl. Trent says two children are all he wants and I know my kids are done and so are Terry’s so we will enjoy these baby’s as long as we can.

Bill’s mom has been moved to the rehab facility but she’s having a hard time.. They fused the vertebrae’s in her back on Friday which went well but she seems to be very disoriented. We are now wondering if she’s getting dementia. She’s saying the strangest things now and can’t seem to remember what’s going on or where she is. I hope it’s just the medication that’s causing that but you never know. She’s even pulling the IV’s out and trying to get up and leave. It’s so sad to see.  I hope she’s better by Christmas and will be able to go back home by then.

Well I better get to the store so I can make those things tomorrow and have them ready to take. I wouldn’t want to disappoint my son now would I? Take care and I will be around later. Hugs from me to you

I got this email a couple days ago and laughed when I saw it. Who in their right mind would send a perfect stranger all their money? Not me, that’s for sure. What worries me is there probably is someone out there who will fall for this and lose every thing they have. There is an email address and a phone number included in here but I’m deleting that just for that reason. I would hate to be the one they got the information from and contacted these creeps only to regret it later..

Hello ,
My name is Mrs. Maria Johnson. I am a dying woman who had decided to donate
what I have to you. I am 60 years old and was diagnosed for cancer about
2years ago,immediately after the death of my husband, who had left me
everything he worked for. I have been touched by God to donate from what
I
have inherited from my late husband to the you for the good work of God,
rather than allow my relatives to use my husband's hard earned funds
ungodly.I will be going in for an operation,and i pray that i survive the
operation. I have decided to WILL/donate the sum of $10,500,000(Ten million
five hundred thousand dollars) to you for the good work of the lord,and to
help the  motherless,less privileged and also for the assistance of the
widows.
Presently,I have informed my lawyer about my decision in WILLING this fund
to
you.I wish you all the best and may the good Lord bless you abundantly,and
please use the funds well and always extend the good work to others.Kindly
Contact my lawyer through this email address
or you can call his private line. if you are interested
in
carrying out this task,so that he can arrange the release of the funds
($10,500,000.00) to you. My lawyer's name is Barrister Walter Anderson.I
know
I have never met you but my mind tells me to do this,and i hope you act
sincerely.Thank you and God bless you.
Maria Johnson

Bill’s mom is in the hospital. She’s 87 years old and I guess she has 2 cracked vertebrae and has been in excruciating pain the last month or so.  We have no idea how that happened and the Dr. said she could have had it for a long time and just gradually gotten worse. They are going to try to fuse them either today or Monday, it all depends on her blood. She’s on blood thinners so they have to take her off of that before they can do anything. If that’s successful she will be going into a nursing home for rehab. Hopefully it will be temporary and that she won’t have to stay there. She lives in a senior apartment complex and I know she would hate to have to leave it and live in a nursing home the rest of her life. I hope not too.

I am going to roast a chicken in a little bit then make creamed chicken and biscuits. We will have Devan and Brody tonight because Jon and Josh are leaving for up north for deer hunting. The last time I watched the kids I made chicken and biscuits and Devan loved it. My daughter said she talked about it for days and told her mom that she has to find out how to make it lol. There might just be enough left for them to take home with them for tomorrow.

I sure can’t complain about the weather lately. The temps have been in the 50’s and I remember last year we had snow by now. I put in an odor for snow Christmas Eve then melt the day after Christmas. We’ll see how well that works lol. Keep your  for us ok.

Saturday Eric and I went birthday shopping. The kids so look forward to that and it's a lot of fun for me too. He got lucky and was able to pick out a few things he wanted because I got lucky that it all was on sale and a couple of them were on clearance and he was able to stay within the budget I give them. After he picked out the things he wanted I had him help me pick out some Christmas presents for his sister. I told him to remember not to tell her and ruin her surprise and he said he wouldn't. I'm sure he won't either as he's very close to her. Those two think nothing of giving each other a hug and a kiss good-bye and I love seeing that. I was also able to get a few more Christmas gifts bought for the other grandchildren too at the same time so it was a very good day. On top of that the store gave me a $10.00 gift card for spending $150.00. That sounds like a lot I know but I have a lot of grandchildren lol. I can't beleive I'm almost done with my shopping already and it sure feels good.  Of course we always have to go out for ice cream after our shopping trips which is my favorite part other then spending the day with the kids. 

I need to make an appointment for a haircut, I'm looking pretty shaggy these days and I want to color it too. I've thought about letting my hair go and find out what color it really is or just how gray I would be BUT  I'm not sure if I'm ready for that yet lol. I'm young at heart and want to look the part too hehe. Some say I act the part sometimes .  Maybe I'll color it red. What do you think. I remember one time when my mom colored her hair and it truned out orange. She called us over to help her and all we could do is laugh. She laughed too but was in  a tizzy about what to do. I told her to call the company and ask them. She did and they told her what to get to fix it. Now I wish we'd gotten a picture of her in her orange hair lol. Ah, the good old days!

So, what have you been up too? I'll be around to find out. Until then....

We can never ever thank them enough for what they do for us. We owe so much to all the men and women who leave their families every day and go into harms way today and in the past. Because of them we live in a free world and not have to be afraid of what we say or do. I can’t imagine as a women living in a country where a man could kill me just because he thought I did something he didn’t like or tell me how many children I can have. Those of us who live in a free world are the luckiest people in the world. God Bless each and every one who has served or are serving. My gratitude has no bounds.

Bill is a veteran. He served 4 years in the Navy. He got out of the Navy shortly after Vietnam started so he was never there but his brother was. Al was a paratrooper and was right in the thick of things. I remember when he came home and how happy and grateful we were that he was one of the lucky ones who did make it home. He was a changed man though from what Bill tells me. Al was already in Vietnam when we met and married a year later so I didn’t know him until after he was discharged. We had a welcome home gathering at his parents house and I will never forget what a friend of theirs asked him. He asked Al if he ever had to kill someone. I was shocked! What a insensitive and terrible thing to ask someone who just got home and knowing he was in the mist of it all. Al just looked at him and said “It’s either them or you and I choose to live”  He lived with us for awhile and he had such awful nightmares. You didn’t dare try to wake him up by shaking him, he would come flying out of bed with fists flying. Some days when it was just him and me at home and the news was on I would watch him as he watched that. You could almost see in his face that he was right back there in the jungle again. I told him he could change the channel if he wanted but he would say no, that he was ok. Sadly All died at the age of 39 from agent orange. So thank you Bill and Al and my brother Leroy, my aunts & uncles my nephews and cousins, friends and  all of you wonderful and brave men and women who helps and helped keep our country safe.

I SALUTE YOU!

Wow, where has the time gone?! I can’t believe Eric is 11 already along with Josh who turned 11 in March. The girls are 9 & 8 and are such a joy. Then when I think William is going to be 18 just blows my mind. They are all getting so big and growing so fast. And then there’s our little Brody who will most likely be our last grandchild so I am going to savor every millisecond while he is still a baby. We were at our son’s yesterday for Eric’s party and had a great time. The kids all get along so well and love being together. Of course we had the Packer game on and that was the bad part of the day as they lost. Next weekend I will take Eric birthday shopping and out for ice cream. When I buy their savings bonds I always get a gift receipt to put in their cards so he thought it was a gift card for $50.00 lol. I guess they don’t remember from year to year that I get those for them.

I can’t get over what a grandma’s boy Brody is. Of course I’m loving it but when we are together and when he sees me he heads right for me. Yesterday he got his fingers pinched in a door and he started crying and came to me. instead of his mom. She held her arms out for him but he wanted grandma. It doesn’t bother her at all and in fact she thinks it’s cute and said when grandma’s around he’s her boy. It was just a little pinch and didn’t even leave a mark but, on those tiny fingers it had to hurt. I love it though and am glad that it doesn’t bother my daughter. I’d hate for her to be jealous but then she’s not like that at all.

Boy the weather sure was nice over the weekend and according to the weather man it will be nice for most of the week. We are finally having an Indian summer. I think it’s the first time in years we’ve had one. As much as I hate to think of it, now would be a good time to get the Christmas decorations put up outside. Last year we got snow and cold so early that I didn’t even put them up. I didn’t feel like standing out in the cold and freezing my tush off just for that.

Well, the carpets need vacuumed, the kitchen and bathroom floors need scrubbing and there’s some dust that needs to disappear so I better get at it. I want to take a walk later too as it’s such a nice day. I be around on and off during the day to see what you’ve been up too. Until then,

HAVE A FANTASTIC DAY!

We heard several fighter jets flying over our house and wondered why until we remembered the president is in Madison today. If I’d know what time I might have been able to see Air force One fly over head.  When I was in Seattle we went to the Boeing museum and in there they had Regan’s Air Force One plane there. I’m sure it’s a lot different then the one today is but it was very interesting to see. They had the red phone along with others, Computers that today they would be antiques. His chair of course was plush compared to the rest and the media room was pretty cramped. I’m sure security is pretty tight in Madison right now.

I’m going to make potato soup for supper tonight. I made a ham yesterday and I can’t let that bone go to waste now can I?  I love soup and could eat it almost everyday. When my mom was alive she loved home made soups too and she would get so excited when I made it and took some over to her and dad. Now days I can’t make soup without thinking of her. As I’m putting it together I always think what would mom put in it. She was a wonderful cook and I don’t even come close to her but I try. I still can’t get my spaghetti to taste like hers and I never will because she never measured. She’d throw in a dab of this and a dash of that and it always turned out perfect.

I remember the first time I was going to have Bill over for dinner when we were dating and I wanted to cook it. Mom was there to guide me through but when it was time to make the gravy I really blew it. I mixed a glass of flour and water together and stirred until it was smooth and then I just dumped the whole thing in all at once. Mom yelled but it was too late lol. She managed to fix it for me and never hinted to Bill that I almost screwed it up and that we might not have had gravy with our dinner.

Eric’s birthday is coming up so I went to the bank yesterday to to get him his savings bond. Now you have to show them your drivers license when you buy one. I wondered why and the guy helping me didn’t know either. Are they going to keep you from buying one lol. Maybe it’s a way to find people who they are looking for for some reason or other. That’s the only reason I can think of for having to show your license. We”ll be at their house on Sunday for his party and then probably next weekend I will take him shopping and out for ice cream. I don’t like to take  him before his party as he might pick something out that someone else planned on buying him. That wouldn’t be good would it?

Well I better get started on my soup. Just the thought of it is making me hungry, I love potato soup!!!! So have yourselves a great day. I’ve been around to a few of you and will get back to more of you later. Until then…take care!

The kids sure had a good Halloween and the best part is it didn’t rain. It was cold though and a little windy but they sure had fun. My son said something that I’d never thought of before. He said “I love Halloween. There is no other holiday that brings a stronger sense of of community. Halloween doesn't care about your religion or nationality or what's for dinner or what you are proud of. It simply wants you to have fun, meet your neighbors and get a treat. So simple and so unifying. Everything should be as simple as Halloween.” When you think about it what he said is true. I love how the kids get so excited to dress up in their costumes and go around getting loads of candy. We don’t have near as many kids as we used to. In fact I bet we didn’t even have 30 kids this year.

I’ve been somewhat busy around here doing some spring cleaning. Yes you read that right. I didn’t do all the things I wanted to do in the spring so I’m doing it now. I got all the windows washed, summer clothes put away and the winter ones brought out. Cleaning shelves is a big pain too. Having to take everything off and wipe them down plus wipe the things on the shelves take so darn long.  I still have to shampoo the carpet and plan on doing that this week one day. But you know what they say about the best laid plans don’t you With just the two of us here you wouldn’t think it would get so messy but it does somehow.

My Packers lost yesterday to the Vikings. Brett showed he still has it and he beat his old team like I was afraid he would. I was ashamed of the fans at the game though, they booed him and I thought that was awful. I had hoped they had more class then that. Even McCarthy the Packer coach asked them not to boo him but they did anyway. They not only booed him when he came on the field, they kept booing him for several minutes. The camera zoomed in on him and he was smiling. Before the game when they interviewed him he said he understands but he still loves the Packers and has much respect and great memories while he was with the team. But Rogers is our QB now and he’s good too. All  he needs is for the front line to get their act together and  start protecting him like they should. He sure came back in the second half though and I was hoping they could pull it out but no luck. Oh well, there’s always next week.

Sorry I haven’t been around but I am heading to your place now. I hope you are all well and doing great.

Big hugs to each and every one of you!