Rocking Motorcycle

My dad just sent me pics of the rocking motorcycle that he's making for Jenna. It's the first woodworking project that he's really worked on since all the trouble with his leg last year. Jack and I had found the plans for it before all that happened, then the trouble happened, so the motorcycle got put on hold.


We saw it in progress when we went up for Christmas last month. It was gorgeous then. Dad said that working on it was wonderful therapy. He and mom are going to be passing through in February and will drop it off then. I've already talked to Lance & Jessica about getting together at the house for dinner or something so Mom & Dad will be here when Jenna sees it for the first time.

Playing Catch-Up...

Yes, I've been pretty lazy with keeping my page updated here, so here goes a whirl-wind update...

I got laid off from my job right before New Year. Oh Joy! I've applied to a few places that looked promising, and have a job interview on Monday. I've been using the time to work on the shelter project that I mentioned in a previous post. We're moving right along with that - we're just about ready to start fund-raising as soon as we get a few little details nailed down.

My huband's job future isn't looking too secure, either. The place he works has been bought out by a Canadian-based competitor, who is slowly shutting all of the US plants down. His plant was shut down for 2 weeks in December (which is just about unheard of) and is scheduled to shut down for another 2 weeks, starting this upcoming Tuesday. Rumor is that it won't start back up again, but, at the same time, the company is investing quite a bit of money in some upgrades during the shut down, so you just don't know what to expect. Common sense says that they wouldn't be pumping money into a place that they're getting ready to shut down, so we'll just have to see what happens. Still, it makes it a pretty grim place to be right now.

Since we're just not sure about the financial future, we're making cuts where we can - getting an antenna for the TV so we can drop the satellite, dropping an ISP that we don't use anymore but kept anyway because it was convenient, forgoing the vacation that we wanted to take this winter in favor of staying home and saving some money, that kind of thing. I'm glad we have a side of beef in the freezer, and some chicken. Might be that and Ramen noodles for awhile...

I'm thankful for what we do have - we have our health, and we both have the skills and ability to find other jobs, even in a down economy. Neither of us are too proud to do whatever it takes to get through the rough patches. I'll go work at the fast-food joint in town if I have to.

Jack's daughter and her family are buying a house not too far from here. they both work for the board of education, and there's always a need for teachers and teacher aides. They decided that the little house behind us was too small, especially with a baby on the way. They're having a boy this time, so they'll have one of each. The house that they found is very nice - 4 bedroom with a couple acres in the country, on a road that never gets extra traffic. The back yeard ia about a half acre fenced, so they'll be able to let the grandbabies run loose and not worry about them. The price is very good, and the interest rates are incredibly low right now - it is most definately a buyer's market.

My son is taking his role as a father very seriously. He wants to be a positive force in his daughter's life, and I'm very proud of him for that. Lots of guys his age and in his position wouldn't give a flip. He's thinking about joining the National Guard as a way to get some training and income without some of the travel that is involved in joining the military. He wants to get training as an electrician, which I think he'd like a lot.

A couple obligatory pics of the grandkids:

Gettin' ready for the holidays...

So Jack and I have decided that a few, well chosen gifts are the way to go this year. Not necessarily the most expensive, but thoughtful and really in tune with the intended recipients. I broached the subject of perhaps not getting each other any gifts since we usually just go get what we want anyway, but he's already got one for me picked out. Well, rats... now I have to find something he'd like that he hasn't already bought. Hmm....

I spent much of Friday on the computer, doing my Black Friday shopping. The people that get out there at 5:00am can have it. Every time I've attempted to get those "deals", the one I went after sells out right before my turn in line gets there, and the stuff that I do find and buy, I find cheaper 2 weeks later.

I'm making some of our Christmas gifts this year, mostly quilts for the little ones on the gift list. Jenna is a Backyardigans nut, and I came into a piece of Backyardigans character fleece that will make a very nice backer for a flannel top. I'm thinking some large patches, ragged together on the top, and tied instead of quilted. The fleece will limit how big it can be, but it will be the perfect size for a 2-1/2 year old to drag around where ever she wants to.

For Kayla, I have pink flannel with white kittens on it (of course I'm going to do kitties for the new baby! Mawmaw *is* a cat-nut after all!) along with some purple and white flannels. I'm thinking about rag quilting this one, too. Flannel makes such a pretty rag quilt, and it's quick.

I also drew one of our nieces' new baby in the family drawing. Kennedy is 5 weeks old now, abosolutely adorable, and her room has been decorated in, get this - Pink John Deere Camo. Some strange looking stuff, to say the least... I got the last of it that the fabric store had.

I need to finish the quilt I'm working on for the couple at church, too, before I can start any of the others. I should have the bulk of it finished tomorrow, just need to do the binding. It's a neat design that I thought up after seeing an afghan done similarly. I quilted 6" wide strips, 7 of one fabric, 7 in white, then wove them together. The "quilting" is consisting of stitching the strips together to keep baby from getting caught inside them, and some colorful buttons at the intersections.

So yeah, I'm gonna' be busy...

Jack thought of a great gift for our son-in-law. He is the head baseball coach and an assistant football coach for the local high school, along with some little league referee tossed in there in his free time. We ordered an engraved whistle for him, in a nice wooden box that will be engraved with his name, the high school name, and the mascot's paw prints (bear).

For Jack's mom, I took a picture of her with all of her kids that we took this summer and put it in a scrapbooking layout. Part of the layout included all of their names in a Scrabble letter layout. Then I sent it off and had it made into a puzzle. She loves Scrabble, and she likes puzzles.

I have gifts for my mother and Jessica, but sometimes they read my blog, so I'm going to keep mum on it.

Now to figure out what to make/get for my father, Jack's father, my sister & her boyfriend...

My Mother and Wiley...

I made a scrapbook page for pictures of my mom with her newest little dog, Wiley.

Yeah, he's cute, and he knows how to use it, too....

Anyway, what I'm so excited about is that I made everything for the page myself, using PhotoShop Elements 6, nothing from a designer who knows how to do this kind of stuff. Woohoo! Yeah, I know, it's relatively simple and all, but I thought it turned out really nice. Go with me on this, let me have this moment of accomplishment... :o)

Then I thought to myself "Self, you've seen dozens of people make quickpages and share them with others, you've taken advantage of what others have shared, why not give back to the scrapping community?". Soooo...

If you go to http://www.4shared.com/file/66014816/b82cc5e3/Puppies_Leave_Pawprints_QP.html, you will be able to download this page, minus the pictures of my mom and Wiley. Most of the scrapbooking progams will recognize the file - it's a .png format. Just set your page size to 8x8 with 200dpi and pull this into your page, then put your own pictures in behind it and line them up.

Happy News

I can't stand it any longer... I've been waiting for a picture, but that's going to be awhile...

Jenna, our 2 year old granddaughter, was wearing a rather interesting t-shirt at church Sunday night. It said "I'm the big sister-to-be". I wanted to get a picture of her wearing that shirt and post it here, but nobody can hold still long enough to get kid, shirt, and camera all in the same place at the same time.

Jessica & Lance are thrilled. Jessica says she thinks the baby will come in May.

The little house behind us that we were fixing up for them has been put on hold for various reasons. I guess we'd better get back on it, huh?

My New Little Brother

My parents came down this weekend and stayed in their camper at the KOA. Some friends of theirs were already in Knoxville, at a campground up there, then came to visit us. Mom & Dad met them.

We all went to the flea market today. Mom picked out my new little brother.

Meet my Mom and Wiley.




Wiley is Mom's birthday/retirement gift to herself. He's 12 weeks old and shouldn't get any bigger tan 4 or 5 pounds. He already has Mom wrapped around his little paw.

My sister had sent Mom a picture message, showing her an apple pie sitting on my mother's stovetop, with a piece missing out of it, and the caption "Mmmmmm....". I took the picture above and sent it to her, saying "We'll see your apple pie and raise you a Yorkie."

She answered "AW CRAP! Not authorized! 1 Ralph, 1 Sam (referring to the Yorkie and Burmese cat that mom already has), the roster is empty, no names left." The critters Mom already has are neamed after a Bugs Bunny cartoon, where the wolf and the sheepdog are clocking in to start their day, and they're saying "Mornin', Ralph", 'Mornin's Sam" to each other. My first thought when reading my sister's comment about the name was 'Wiley E. Coyote, Supergenius'. I showed the message to Dad - he says "Wiley". I showed the message to Mom. She says "Wiley". So I sent a single word back to mys sister - "Wiley". Her reply? "That's exactly what I thought, too." Man, it's scary when a family is on the same wavelegth like that!


Wiley won't be ready to leave the breeder's place for another week or two, but when he does, Sam, the other Yorkie, is in for a major shock to his little world. :o)

GC is home!

Jack's dad came home today. His appetite is up, his color is good, his voice is strong. It doesn't take much to tire him out, but that's to be expected. The drugs he was on for pain right after surgery worked really well, too. He commented to Jack today that "They were really good with that surgery - I didn't hurt a bit..." Um.... The good news is that he isn't taking anything for paind now - he doesn't need it. Yay!

Update on Jack's Dad

Jack's dad is doing great! The last of the tubes and IV's were removed and disconnected today, he's feeling pretty good, alert, and ready to come home. If his bloodwork is good, he should do that tomorrow.

Yesterday we found that percocet makes him goofy. When asked if he knew where he was, he answered, "Sure I do!". When pressed for his location, he said "Well, can't you see? I'm right here!" He had his nurses rolling. One of them stopped us this evening and said "Your dad is a hoot! We've loved having him with us."

Just a quickie here...

...as I'm on my way to take a nap.

We rode up to Ohio last Monday to visit with my folks for a couple of days. The campground had no reservations & it was supposed to rain, so we didn't expect any business for the first ahalf of the week. I wasn't too sure about riding the bike for any distance - I'm convinced I cracked my tailbone when I fell in the basement a couple of weeks ago, it's quite sore, and I had no clue how it would react to 7 hours in the saddle. It actually was more comfortable than if I had sat in the car for that long, so it was all good, even the rian. I was just happy to be out and about with my sweetie, on the bikes.

Monday was Dad's birthday. He didn't know we were coming, but wasn't all that surprised to see us, either. He said "Not much you do surprises me - you're too much like me". I guess there are worse things in life than to be like my dad. :o)

Got to visit with my friend Ruth on Tuesday, (Ruth, I'll get those pics posted as soon as I can get them downloaded from the camera) and go riding with my sister that evening (no rain). We got a call that Jack's dad was on the way to the ER with a possible bleeding ulser, but we were told we didn't need to rush back right away.

We rode back on Wednesday, also in the rain. Our plan was to head straight for the hospital, where Jack's dad was still having tests done. North of Knoxville, we weree tooling along at the speed limit, +/- 5mph, when we rounded a curve to find traffic in front of us stopped. The tractor trailer came to a sliding halt, sideways, as did the one *behind* us. Must not have been our time to go, is all I can figure, because both truck drivers did wonderful jobs of getting their rigs under control without anything more than the seats of all of our respective vehicles getting hurt. I know mine probably has a permanant crease right up the middle of the leather from the pucker moment I had....

We got to the hospital to find out that GC had had a mild heart attack. The ulcer was being pushed to the back burner while they dealt with that. Thursday, he had a heart catheter which showed 100% blockage of at least 1 major artery, and his heart was only pumping a 40%. He was transfered to the best heart hospital in the area and underwent a triple bypass yesterday morning. The doctor was very pleased with the results, sys the heart muscle itself was weak from lack of blood flow to it, but that no damage had happened yet. Woohoo!

Jack went in to see him this morning before we left the hospital - he was awake, alert, and giving the nurses a hard time, so he's doing *great*! The talk is that if he continues to improve today, he may be moved to a regular hospital bed this evening. The digestive/ulcer thing that brought him into the hospital was a major blessing in disguise!

We stayed the night in the ICU waiting room with Jack's mom last night and have come home to catch a shower, nap, and a load of laundry before going back. The campground has been on autopilot since we've just stopped in long enough to check the bathrooms and say hello a couple of time since this all started. Luckily, everything was clean going in, and a note on the door explaining the situation tends to bring out the best in people. We stopped in this morning before coming to the house to meet this weekend's guests, and we had a houseful this time.

Anyway, that's what *we've* been up to... I'm going to bed for a bit now.

Father's Day

I did make it to Ohio for Father's Day - a day late. He didn't know I was coming. Melissa just told him on Monday that dinner was on it's way. What she didn't tell him was that I was stopping at the grocery to get some steaks to grill out. I walked in and asked "Did anybody order any steaks?". It took him a moment. Mom was pretty dumbfounded, too, which doesn't happen often. :o0

We had a nice dinner, then went to see the new Indiana Jones movie. Very good movie. Yesterday morning I had breakfast with Danny. He's doing OK. His job future is in question since his employer was bought out by a competitor, his living arrangements aren't working out too well (he lives out in the middle of nowhere, with no vehicle to get back and forth to anywhere with), but he seems to be managing. He wanted a dose of real life, he's got it. He did admit to me yesterday that "The real world really kind of sucks, doesn't it , Mom?" Heheh, yup, it sure can, son. I've told him that if he finds himself without a job, head on back to TN and we'll work on knocking out his school. He has a class and a half left to earn his diploma, and the job market here might be better than what he's looking at up there. He'd definately have something to drive to be able to get to work, which is always a bonus. I'm not getting my hopes up, though, and I'm not expecting him to stay if he does come down. I just hope he finishes his school, and if I can help him do that, I'll be a lot more comfortable when thinking about his future.

Anyway, a great visit with dad and son. It was wonderful. :o)

In case you were wondering what my dad is up to, how does up to his knee in mud sound? Okay, errr... dirt.




Yup, that's Dad, playing in the dirt at the Tick farm. They now have water, and this is their water meter/main spigot. I guess this picture proves that boys will be boys, no matter what chronological age they get to be. :o)


You can see Dad's prostetic leg off to the left side of the picture, complete with a black sock. I'll bet it's a gold-toe, too. He loves those things.


My sister wants to take Dad to see the newest Indiana Jones movie for Father's Day. I've been invited, but I'll have to see how it's going at the campground. If I can, I'll sneak away Saturday night and be at their place in time for the movie on Sunday, but it will be a last minute decision, based on what's happening around here.

Another update on Dad, from Dad...

Yes, it's been forever since we heard about my dad. It's hard to believe that this time last year, he was told that he needed to have a fairly routine arterial bypass surgery performed on his left leg. They didn't feel that it was an emergency situion, though, so they scheduled it for July 2. Then, 4 weeks and 5 surgeries after the original surgery, on August 1st, he ended up with an amputated left leg. It is not how I would suggest spending quality time with your family, but it did bring us all closer together than ever. And now we get reports like this from time to time from my Dad:

Mark Young's Sporatic Condition Report - 16 May, 2008

Good evening one and all. Time has been passing quickly and it has been a while since my last report. Of course time flies when you are having fun and I suppose that I have been having about as much fun as I could be at this time. My progress seems to be growing upon its self and just about the time I feel real happy about doing something for the first time or maybe better, some other new and improved something comes along.

I have been working a full 8 hour day for some time now, but in the past three weeks, I have been going out and performing actual hands on work. The first four hours of the day are spent at the hospital repairing locks, changing lock cores and preparing my in-house lock shop. The afternoon is spent back at the home office desk monitoring the phones and making distribution runs – it is a loooonnng hallway. I also spend some time in the lock shop making new lock cores and cutting keys. So far I have been able to create what I hope to be all the worksheets I will need while changing all the cores (about 1500) in the hospital.

Another project we are running in parallel to the core changes is a survey of the condition of the doors. There are over 2700 doors in the building and most of them are over 20 years old and have been used heavily all that time. The hardware is just about shot and many of the doors are a bit beat up. The facility manager wants to have a program of refurbishing the door system and wants to know just how big his problem is. It is big.

The past three days have pretty much been go in to work, hit the floor running (well, sort of) and not sit down until lunch time some four hours later. Today my watch had stopped and it was well after lunch time before I decided to sit down for a few minutes.

Last night I removed the face of the truck’s dashboard and pulled out the radio. A new one was installed three weeks ago but the front speakers have quit working and I was hoping it was just a loose connection. It still might be a loose connection, but not the ones I could get to. Wiggling around in the floorboard was not nearly as easily as it used to be, but it can be done. Of course wiggling around in the floorboard is something that becoming less easy well before now.

A couple of days ago, during a rare dry day, I got the weed whacker out and ran it around the yard. It took a while, take one step – plant the feet – whack a weed – take a step – etc – etc – etc…. I was a happy tired when I got done.

Last weekend we went down to the Tick Farm and while Barb mowed the grass, I puttered around with the trailer and the digging out of roots that were unearthed last fall when we had the yard landscaped. I spent the day walking around on the less than flat gravel driveway and up on the steep of the hill side, most of it without the cane.

This is a lot of natter about things other than my physical condition, but I am excited about finally doing something constructive.

Oh, by the way, most of the walking and standing I have been doing for the last week or so has been without the use of my cane. It is still around, but I do have a problem of remembering where I left it last. When I pull my work cart around the building, I am using it a bit as a cane I suppose, but not leaning on it as much as just having it there if I need it. I do know that I can move faster without the cane than with it.

I have had to go to the leg store and have some adjustments done to the leg. My stump continues to shrink and the socket needs to be shimmed when it gets to be too loose. The tech says we can do this a couple more times and then they will look into making a new one. In a perfect world, there would be no shims in the long term usage leg. Other than that, the leg continues to perform as advertised.

It is not a stretch to say that I am tired in the evening and more than ready to remove the leg when I stop, but for the most part I am satisfied with what I have been able to accomplish during the day. I really do not know what sort of maximum performance I can expect to achieve with my leg, but I do know that my progress has been rapid lately. Let’s just hope it keeps on keepin’ on.

Barb has been doing well. She goes to work each day knowing that it is one day closer to her impending retirement. Preparing the house for sale has kept her, Melissa and myself busy, but the progress is slow. We still have two rooms to paint and a lot of work in the garage to do before we think it ready to put on the market.

As always, I Sincerely thank you for your continued interest and support.

Mark

Yayyyyy Dad! The hospital that he talks about doing the maintenance in is the same one that his surgeries were done in last year. His boss would visit him *every* day, and make sure that whatever Dad neede or wanted (within reason...), he had. If you're going to be stuck in the hospital for a few weeks, make friends with the facilities manager first. :o)

OK, Labels have Arrived...

I've decided to add labels to my posts. It'll make it a lot easier for me to find my own blasted recipes, 'cause chances are that I've not saved them *anywhere* else. I've gone through and labeled some of the old ones, but haven't made it through all of them just yet.

It's official - my parents are retiring this fall. Mom is eligible in September, Dad can follow her in October. They're getting their house ready to sell and will put it on the market sometime in the next few months.

If it sells as fast as their previous house did, they're going to be living in their travel trailer with their cat and little dog for awhile before they can move to their retirement land. Of course, if they sell their house quickly, that will be that much sooner they can begin building the house on the retirement land that they want to build.

The house I lived in when I was going to high school was in the same little town. 20 years ago, Mom decided to put it on the market for an outrageously high price, just to test the waters, so to speak. The stinkin' thing sold in a week - somebody came along and made them an offer they couldn't refuse. We had 30 days to find another house (the one they're in now), buy it, and move. Dad has added a *lot* of woodwork to the place - built in book cases, parquet flooring, hardwood flooring, shelves, all kinds of beautiful woodwork. It can only help, right? :o)

Blast from the Past

My sister has been busy scanning old family photos. She sent me this one yesterday:

Gosh, I was such a cute kid. What happened? Anyway, that's me, with my grandfather on my Dad's side on what was probably my first motorcycle ride. He passed away when I was 11 or 12, but I still remember being tiny and sitting in his big rocking chair with him. I have that rocker now.

Seems like it's a grandpa's job to give their girls their first rides on the really fun toys. Jack takes Jenna for rides on the tractor every chance he gets, she loves it. I'm sure she's going to adore motorcycles - the child has no fear whatsoever. This is a good thing in many ways, although it is probably a good thing also that her mother knows Miss Clairol really well already, as I'm sure Jenna's fearlessness will be the cause of a multitude of grey hairs for her mother.

Update on Dad - He's a PT Graduate!

Got this from Dad a few days ago:

Good evening all,

And a good evening it is, for I are now a gradjeeate. I gradjeeated from therapy today, attending my 31st session. It was a very bittersweet moment. It is something I have looked forward to, but not really thought about it much. Seems as
though they had taught this old dog all the new tricks he could handle.

I cannot say that I will miss the work, the sweat and the grunts and groans, but I will definitely miss Karen and Nedra, my therapists. They firmly, caringly and gently guided me along, always setting new and higher goals, but letting me work at my pace. They undoubtedly love the work they do and it reflects on how they carry out
their trade. I cannot speak highly enough of them.

My wear time is up to about 9 hours three days a week and 5 to 8 on the other five. Now that I will no longer be going to therapy on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I will be
staying at work at least 6 hours a day, 5 days a week. Those are the 9 hour days, so I will soon be at 5 nine hour days per week. It looks like I may be going back to work full time soon and those days the wear time will go to 11 hours, at least.

Considering how much wear time I have been getting and the increased walk time, the problem with irritation and rash has decreased considerably. I still occasionally get a little, but not anything like it was a month ago. I am still having spasm problems in my hip, but that should diminish as the muscles get stronger. Conditioning is something I need to work harder at.

It is hard to believe, but six weeks ago I was just beginning to walk with the cane. Now I do it regularly and have not been taking my walker along with me to work as a back up this week. On Tuesday I walked about 1/4 mile at one time during therapy. It is very good to walk into a Lowes or a Wal-Mart and shop around a bit without using a wheel chair or walker. If I will be there for any length of time, I will use a cart if available. Stamina is still not a long suite, but it is improving.

The progress curve has taken a steep climb in the past few weeks, but there is still a long way to go. I guess I know pretty much what to do, now I have to learn to do a
whole lot more of it.

Thank you all for all your care and support.

The "Nedra" that he's talking about was a couple of years ahead of me in school. She was a fellow band geek. If I remember correctly, she was in the percussion section. Anyway, life is good, and God is wonderful!


We've all had the crud in our little corner of the world. Danny is the latest victim. He's plugging away at his schoolwork, though, and getting through it one day at a time. He's working on a class in automotives right now. I am so glad Jack knows this stuff - apparently, the book has taken some pretty basic information and made it as confusing as possible. I wouldn't have had a clue on how to help him understand it. Yayyy Jack!

Danny sent in his application for the the Automotive Technology program at the Tennessee Technology Center in Athens - it's about 35 minutes away, a two year program, and has execllent completion and job placement stats. There is a waiting list, but the counselor said that there would probably be an opening by the fall. Go Danny, go Danny!

Even though he's finishing his high school classwork through homeschooling, he will still be allowed to walk with his graduating class in Ohio. We're shooting to have his classwork all done by the middle of March so he can graduate on May 30th. Ruth, Ann, you guys doing anything that night? Wanna' go to a high school graduation? Not that I'm proud of my kid graduating or anything...

One more thing....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HEATHER!!!!!

Next year, we hit the 39 and holding pattern, eh? :o)

Updates, updates...

Yup, it's been awhile.... again. Blame it on the scrapbooking...


Dad goes back to work in the morning. Yay! It's light duty, half days, but it's a start in the right direction. :o) He's still learning how to maneuver around on his leg, and it's needed to be refitted at least once, which is all part of the process. The therapist said that most people don't need it refitted quite so soon, but she also said that most people don't push themselves to become mobile as hard as Dad does, either, so there.


Jack and I made a whirlwind trip to WVa and Ohio last week. My step-step grandfather (sounds confusing, doesn't it? My grandfather remarried after his first wife (dad's mother) passed away, then after *he* passed away, his second wife (step-grandmother) remarried, so now you see how a step-step relative is created) was diagnosed quite awhile ago with cancer, and hospice was called in a couple of weeks ago. He's been part of the family for 20 years or so. We went to WVa to visit with him on Monday. He wasn't in such bad shape that he didn't know who we were, so we had a nice visit. He slept most of the time while I talked with Grandma about crocheting and quilting. I don't quilt, but you should see some of the quilts that she's done. She takes old ladies handkerchiefs and folds them just so, stitches them to a block and embroiders around the edge to make butterflies out of them. Absolutely beautiful!


We didn't stay long, maybe a couple of hours or so, then zipped over to Mom & Dad's in Ohio for dinner on Tuesday.

We spent Thanksgiving with Jack's parents and family. Just about everyone was there at once, making it a very chaotic and happy place to be. Somebody said something about needing a scorecard to keep track of which kid belongs to which parent that sparked and idea in my puny little brain about a Christmas gift for his mother, who is quite possibly one of the most difficult people in the world to come up with a gift for. She has everything she wants already. Anyway, may I present the reverse family tree?





Instead of listing all of Jack's parents' ancestors, I listed all of their descendants, along with current spouses (or is it "spousi"?) I'm having it printed in a 12 x 12 format and will have it framed. I'm pretty sure that she won't get two of these.


I've also put together an 11 page layout of pictures from our wedding, some more layouts of Jenna, and one of the cats. I'm particularly proud of the cats layout since I designed all of it, from the background to the embellishments. The only thing that was designed by somebody else was the dark gray mats that I used behind the pictures. It took me awhile, but I'm pretty thrilled with the results.

On a side note, I'm very glad that we went to see my grandfather this past week. He passed away Saturday. He's been in a lot of pain for a very long time, he believed in God, and he had asked for salvation wayyyy back, so his passing is not a bad thing. He's probably sitting up there with my other grandfathers laughing at me about my newest obsession as I type. :o)

So I went into the office today for the first time in.... well, gee.... I don't remember. It's been that long. I've been perfectly content to work from home. LogMeIn.com is a most wonderful thing! But, when you're training yet another person to take over yet another aspect of the job you used to do, you really do need to be there hands on with the person. My boss has decided the he needs me to concentrate on getting the new inventory control system up and running, so he's handed over doing the monthly financials to his accountant. I needed to bring him up to speed on what I'd been doing, where things were located on the computer, and show him how the software works out. Happy, happy, joy, joy...

I ended up staying all day. I was having an issue with Crystal Reports that I needed to talk to tech support about. Got that issue resolved about 5:00 this evening, but then ran into another one. Grrrrr.... I decided to fight that one another day.

I've learned how to put up board and batten siding in the last week or so. We're putting it on the cabins at the campground. The sides look really good on the ones that we've gotten finished so far, but it makes the roofs look weird - they're still just plain old sheet metal, painted primer gray. I'm hoping by spring that we'll be able to start putting the tin roofs on them. They'll look a LOT better then.

Talked to Dad a couple days ago. He's doing pretty well. He's reached a point in his therapy where his stump needs to heal more, toughen up some, before he can go any farther. It's got him frustrated, but he's been assured that this is normal. His stump is very sore where the bone still wiggles around some. The therapist and prosthesis maker are trying to relieve some if the pressure with adjustments to the leg itself, but they don't want to make any drastic changes, so it's just a tweak here and there. When I talked to him, he was working on a job he'd been contracte to do to make some molds for somebody, so he's getting back into the swing of things one day at a time.

Mom, OTOH, managed to scare the bejeebers out of me when I talked to her. Anytime she starts off a conversation by saying "Now, I didn't tell you at the time because I didn't want to worry you...", I know somebody has been in the hospital or real bad sick. Seems the weekend before Halloween, she got to feeling light-headed and sick. She ended up spending a couple days in bed, then went to the doctor's office. Her blood pressure was 80/45. *WHAM* "Into the hospital with you, Mrs. Young....". Severe dehydration and stress were listed as the main culprits. She's doing much better now, which is good.

I'm really enjoying the digital scrapbooking. I've found a program called ScrapBook Max that works great and cost $40.00. It comes with quite a few templates and things preloaded in it, and you can add your own finds to it. I've come up with a couple more small pages for the grandbaby:

Here she is dressed up for an old fashioned beauty pagent at a local festival.

Gotta' love that grin!

I think I'll work on our wedding next, and then maybe Jessica's wedding. I am having wayyyy to much fun with this!

Catching up...

Yeah, it's been awhile since my last real update on life. It's been a wee bit busy at the campground, which is a good thing.

In "Dad News", he's up and walking around on his new leg pretty well using a walker. My sister says she'll come home in the evenings to the sight of him out on the sidewalk, moving along quite well. In his therapy sessions, he's working with a cane, so I imagine that will be the next step. He says that once he gets pretty good with a cane, he'll probably consider going back to work. In his words, things are not progressing as quickly as he'd like them to, but much faster than his therapist thought they would. He's completely off the pain meds now, which means he can drive. He's been taking himself to his therapy sessions and pretty much wherever else he wants to go.

He and mom came down for Columbus Day weekend. They brought their trailer and stayed at the campground. They went to church with me that Sunday morning, and it really drove home just how much we have to be thankful for. The pastor's message that morning was about how our bodies are just clay pots, and sometimes the pots get broken. But sometimes, the reason the pot gets broken is so that the light inside it can shine out all the better. Yeah, God knows who's going to be there for a particular message...

In "Grandbaby News", Jenna is walking now. You can't keep that child still. It's wonderful! :o)

Spook, the new furry child, is adapting quite well. He's adopted Jack and I as his parents, but he's still not so sure about his new siblings. Harry wants to play with him, but I don't think Spook quite knows how. It's funny to watch.

My newest culinary discovery - almond flour. Yup, flour made from ground almonds. It can be used almost like white flour, has a boatload of fat, but very few carbohydrates. I've made pancakes and a spice cake with it. You need to use a little more egg to hold it together, but it makes some pretty yummy desserts that don't spike your glucose levels. Mmmmm....

I've been watching my statcounter stuff, and it appears that I've got a few regular readers who check this thing every day. I don't know who all of you are anymore, but thanks for hanging in there. Drop me a line if you ever get the urge. I know about Ruth, Heather, Ann, and Jack. Everyone else, I'm in the dark about who you are, but the speculating is most entertaining. :o)

Take care, and I'll try to write more often in the future...

It's a This-N-That kind of day

Nothing major, lots of little things.

Dad News

Dad is doing well. He brought his new leg home this week and is practicing around the house. They're going back to the Tick Farm this weekend to meet up with the contractor and oversee the work he'll be doing. Yay progress!

Dad has built plastic models of airplanes for as long as I can remember. Since he's been backing off of the pain meds and his thoughts have gotten less foggy, he decided to spend some of this abundant time he has building a new one. He's always built planes for most part, unless somebody contracts him to build something different. Anyway, the model club he belongs to had issued a challenge for this month's contest - build something you wouldn't normally build. And, to top it off, it is also British aircraft month. So, my dad created a non-conventional British aircraft:


He flies through the air, he's not something my Dad would normally build, and he's got World War II British markings. If you look closely, he's got a plane with German markings in his mouth :o)


Other things

My kitchen looked like an opening scene from Law & Order this morning. You know, the scene where somebody finds a body... I decided to try my hand at canning spaghetti sauce. I located lots of tomatos and started processing them. They need to be skinned and all of the seeds and water removed before cooking down into the sauce. They make an incredible bloody-looking mess! I was working on them last night at the sink and my husband asked whether or not I was trying to stuff a body down the drain. I ended up with 22 pounds of tomatoes, after the the skins, seeds, and water were taken out. They came in a 5 gallon bucket from one of the roadside vendors that populate east TN this time of year, home grown and pesticide free. They're in the pot now, simmering away, just about ready to begin canning. The house smells like an Italian restaurant. Mmmmmmm....

A local paper for one of the neighboring towns does something neat - on the front page every day, they feature a postive story. Yes, something beside crime, sickness, tragedy, and death. It is very refreshing to see that. The story on yesterday's front page was about a woman who took her first motorcycle ride - on the way to her 100th birthday party. I guess you're never too old to start doing something adventuresome.

Stubbornness

My husband and I are both stubborn. Now I know where he gets his from, and I've always known where mine comes from.

My dad is scheduled for his surgery on Monday morning. Jack and I found out a couple of days ago that he will get all of his time off for next week, which means that he can watch the campground while I go to my folks' for a few day. I called the parental units to let them know I was coming up on Sunday.

The maternal parental unit says "No, you need to stay there and take care of your business. It can't be without you for that long."

"But Mom, Jack will be here and he...."

"Does he know how to make a bed? Clean a toilet? Mop a floor???"

"Uh, yeah. He probably could show me how to make a bed faster.... Besides, if it were you, and your dad, and you had the opporunity to be there, where would you be??"

Complete silence, followed by a very small, "ok".

Hehehe, her own stubborness, used against her. Dad said that he was glad I was coming up if only to keep my mom distracted. She can be a bit of dramatist at times.

Jack gets his from his parents, too. They're in their mid 70's now, and still very active. They take care of about a 120 acre farm, raise cattle and horses, and go on hunts and trail rides regularly. They left this morning to go on a week long trail ride/wagon train up in the mountains. This evening, we get this call that they had to come off the mountain early because his mother had probably broken her wrist and was on the way to the hospital.

She arrives at the hospital, gets examined, and sure enough, she'd broken the two large bones in her wrist and cracked some of the smaller ones. The ER doctor told her to keep the wrist and hand immobilized and see her regular doctor on Monday for a referral to an orthopedist.

So, you'd think they would head home and take it easy, since she's not supposed to be doing anything with the wrist. Noooooo.... they went back up the mountain. She's going to ride in the wagon for a day, then come back to see the doctor. Stubborn, I say!