A-Hem . . .

Drum roll please . . . . . .
I slept for four and half hours straight last night . .  OK, this morning.  It was after I about had a coronary coughing, but that cleared enough congestion that I set a record!!!

How sweet it is!!!

Can not say how grateful that I have been born and can live in a country where we can get medical help when we need it.  It does cost a lot, but the more I talk to friends in other places, the more blessed I feel.

Dear Jon . . . . ..

Sorry my coughing kept you up last night.  I will try to do better tonight . . . shall I sleep in the back yard?  Would that help?

Love,
Me

Just a Fun Day . . . and Then Some!

We finally got a visit with the my dollies yesterday.  I had such plans!  But my poor tired ole body just wasn't up to so much, but I think we can call the day a success and I didn't over do it so I can keep getting over the cooties that have been  plaguing me.

When Rob and Brianna dropped them off, on the way to the temple, I had omelet ready and the toast on its way.  We had a big filling breakfast with Papa hanging around  the perimeter.  I think he must like to stand back a little and just take in the "scene".  Then the girls and I took off to Wally World to get supplies for their cook out with Papa.  What a good sport. When I asked him how many grand kids he wanted to cook out with, he just told me to bring them on.  Or perhaps he just knew something I didn't know.

I had a moment while at Wal-mart.  We stopped at the fish tanks and watched the little fish going in circles.  We watched and watched .  . and watched some more.   I started to feel antsy to get on home but a little thought popped in my head, "these are roses".  Hmmmm, so I listened and realized, that is one of our biggest roles roles as grand parents is to . . . just STOP and give them time to smell their roses.  What is a better gift for these youngsters who are living in such a frantic world?  By the time we left, they were even ready to go.

So home we went and found out that Papa already had the fires going to roast the hot dogs.  The boys showed up and the party was on!!  We have the world's ugliest back yard.  I got a good "start" summer before last, but ran out of energy and $$ so it has just sat, a lot.  But the kids, those sweet kids, who have so much to teach us found no problem and had a ball.

I have a "hill" that was hauled in and dumped years ago.  I saw some men scooping and clearing a street nearby, after summer rain storms.  I asked if they would like to unload all that sand somewhere nearby and they jumped on the offer.  It was to plant a weeping willow tree where the branches could hang down into a little pond/fountain set up.  Still have no tree or water "feature", but boy does that hill keep kids busy.  Two of my own have dug in it and now it keeps the monkey herd busy.  If I ever do get around to all those plans, I will have to leave part of that hill just as it is!

What is funny, these little creatures were clear across the back yard from where papa was enjoying a pretty calm time tending the fire and hot dogs.  This was the secret I think he must have known.  Only Lincoln seemed to visit once in a while.  He must have known that is what would happen, sneaky old man.

I have accumulated a few outdoor toys at yard sales, and they usually get played with by kids who are now too big for them, but as long as they are having fun, who is going to complain?  Add sticks, branches, rocks, a couple of big old tow chains from my dad's house, little shovels that are just their size and let the party begin!  They dug, pushed, dragged, swung and scared me every time I walked out (gotta make sure there are no sticks over a foot long) to their heart's content.  Some how, the boys were much dirtier when it was over.  Go figure.  I can assure you that my little dollies were digging and flinging  the dirt just as hard as the boys were.   I should have gotten some good black mail pics before they got dusted off!

Then Papa decided to get a little excitement going.  He really is a little pyro in disguise.  We still had some Christmas tree trimmings and he threw those on one at a time.  The kids really loved that!   They each had an assigned bucket to sit on for their viewing pleasure. . . . but this load was just to good!  Crazy old man, I sure love him.




 . . . .  and then, as all good days, it started to wind down.

When we were dating my oldest brother's youngest child was born.  Jon would just reach over and take him and snuggle up.  He knew just what to do, even with the youngest babies.  Talk about impressing your girl!  He was even willing to change diapers.  I don't think he ever changed Clay, but he was willing by golly!  If you are wondering, no, that didn't disappear after we got married.  I have some pretty funny pictures of him coming in for the "kill".  But yesterday, this is all he needed to do . .  and he was most happy to do it! . . .  and someone sure looks like their mama in this picture . . . definitely a mix of both parents.

And now I bid you adieu, to enjoy my slumber.  I have at least two hacking sessions lasting 30 minutes of longer each night, so I am going to retire earlier to get enough sleep for tomorrow . . . so I can make Jon's life miserab . . .  I mean help him work on projects!  . . .  sure hope this makes sense . . I'm not even going to proof read this!

Be Careful What You Wish For . . . Yet Again!

After a horrible night, I am realizing that I wanted to clear my lungs and that must be what is going on.  Mr. Mucus is packing his bags and sloooowly moving out.  So for the next couple of days a horse will be hanging around in my sore throat  and it will hurt like crazy, but progress is progress .  I can walk the length of the house now without getting a little out of breath . .  that would be the good news?

Seems like a good day for a little . .  something, so tired of laying around.  Wish I could sleep all day like my dumb little pooches!  The ones who have been growling every time I try to shift and get comfortable . .  can't disturb the little princesses after all, right?  They have kept my legs nice and warm so probably shouldn't complain.

A Sad Thought . . . .

I am busy hacking up a lung (hopefully because my lungs are clearing themselves?)and can't sleep so here I sits, watching a Hallmark movie.  It's called A Kiss At Midnight.  I have seen it before and it has the typical ending, happy (Heaven forbid!).  Before Christmas when I was sick, the second time, I watched a lot of these and yes, they are predictable, but what is wrong with that?

When Sarah came over, she just couldn't stand to watch them because they were "so predictable".  It made me sad that she felt like that, perhaps understandably, but still sad.

I can kind of understand because that is how I have come to feel about many of the old movies from the 40's and 50's where a couple meets, gets married a week later and live happily ever after.  Those may explain why the divorce rate took such a big jump as people who fell for that myth found their marriages to strangers falling apart.

It is sometimes amazing what is considered entertainment these days.  So much violence, immorality, evil and portrayals of the worst part of mankind.  Now that is sad . . . and frightening!

So do I believe in the happily ever after idea?  Yes and no.  I don't believe in a life with out bumps, nor would I want a life like that.  We do have to experience some of the downs to appreciate the ups, and growing from the challenges can feel so good when a person looks back and remembers drawing closer to a friend, spouse, sibling, or other loved one.  But in the meantime, give me those slurpy, sticky, sugar coated, predictable movies, where they find each other and get married  . .  after they have a chance to get to know each other!  (In this movie, they got married a year later)

HA HA HA HA HA HA . . . Laughs On Me!

I lived Holbrook, AZ for ten years.  After I took things into my own hands, I don't think I ever had frozen pipes.  In fact everyone in the neighborhood learned to call me when they had frozen pipes, because Sharron is a NUT, but her water would still be running, slushy, but running!

So why are my pipes frozen this morning?   Duh, didn't feel like messing with this last night!  The picture was a good idea.  When saw the heating pad peeking through, I took big binder clips out and wrapping tighter around the heating pad to keep the heat in.  Yes, that is the old wool army blanket I was mending last week.

A FAVORITE MEMORY:  Holbrook is in a high desert at about 5,300 to 5,500 feet.  All of the land around it is higher so the cold air would sometimes all sink into that area and it would get COLD!  One winter we had all kinds of freeze warnings that we were going to have some very cold weather, night and day, for an extended time.  Now keep in mind, we didn't have central heat.  My poor skinny little kids!  They were getting a little modest by that time and they had to dress in front of the wall furnace or turn blue.  It was especially hard for Mariah, she had the hardest time with the cold and she was the oldest.

So this one time, I decided that more desperate measures had to be taken.  Jon didn't think it was necessary, but I was the one stuck at home getting three kids ready for school.  Since our pump house had a big hole in the roof (from pulling the pump when it broke down, another winter adventure) so just a space heater wouldn't be very effective  Warm air comes up out of the well hole and usually keeps the well head from freezing, but not always, so I didn't trust the box over that either.  So the night before I REALLY annoyed Jon by insisting that we cover the roof hole, wrap the well head with the heating pad, wrap everything to do with the well with extra blankets and then cover it with the big old box to keep the cold air from it all.  The next morning we had slushy water.  Wish I had owned a digital camera at the time and had known what was going to come out of the faucet.  I kept it running until the water was a little warmer from coming out of the ground, not just the pressure tank.

A-a-a-a-a-a-h . . .

Antibiotic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .check!
Pot of boiling water . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .check!
Vaporizer steaming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .check!
Heating pad for swollen glands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . check!
Nebulizer . . . . .  breath deep ;-D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .check!
Nice warm socks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .check!
Nice soft baggy pj bottoms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . check!
Slightly rude sweat shirt worn to wonderful softness . . . . . check!
Green jug full with slightly fizzy cool freshness . . . . . . . . . .check!
Bowl of left-over cheesy broccoli soup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . check!
Fresh salsa, warmed gently to perfection . . . . . . . . . . . . . check!
Cute little round chips for dipping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . check!

Artichokes, steamed and ready, in case hunger strikes . . .check!
Tylenol, down the hatch  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .check!
Bills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DRAT!
Check book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .DRAT!
Hey, even on nights like this reality is still lurking  . . . . . . and at least I have a reason to pull out the check book!