OMG

SURGERY  Back of my neck, and she lives!

Seems just the other day  I was going in for some spinal surgery.

Slightly more painful as the incicion was larger, and through muscle

Thinking, how bad could this be, I  proceeded.

Well, sweet Mother of God! It was like having an elephant c-section through the back of my neck.

I am with Matt  Mandy,  Savannah  and Quinn and they brighten my day.

But goodness, the pain!

Continue reading “OMG”

Katie

This would have been Katie’s 38th Birthday. It seems so strange to me when I think about it because when I see her in my mind, she is forever six years old.

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But I wanted to remember her, on this special day. For her birth was one of the most special days of my life.

So Happy Birthday, my little Angel. I miss you, and love you, and think of you always.

Katie's 37th Birthday from Dackel Princess Maribeth on Vimeo.

The Friday Five

It’s the end of the first week of November! Can you believe that? I feel like I have come full circle and here is why.

  1. I have been having Cervical Spine problems again. Very painful, and no matter what I tried, it just didn’t make it better.
  2. Pain medication is no way to live.
  3. I went back to my Neurosurgeon, and he agreed that surgery was the way to go.
  4. I’m trying to figure it all out in my head. And then the phone rang.
  5. Surgery, scheduled for Monday morning.

And that’s the story. I should be recovered enough for my birthday in a couple of weeks. One thing is for sure, chocolate cake with butter cream frosting will be a part of it!

A Funny Thing Happened…

So I was driving home after seeing Mandy, Matt and the kids. I was feeling tired and decided not to go shopping, but to just head home.

I was on rte 93, when I heard my cell phone ring. It was Jack and I answered it. But my earpiece was not hooked tightly and I was talking to him holding the phone, but decided to pull off the road to plug it all in.

Big mistake. Just as I did this a police car turned on their blue light and pulled right behind me.

I told Jack that I was being stopped and put the phone between the two seats. I opened my window, and I had two State Policemen on either side of my car. (I admit to feeling really intimidated. But I  must say, in all of my years of driving I have never been stopped or even gotten a parking ticket).

I was asked why I pulled over, and I told them that my cell phone rang with my husband calling, and I wanted to answer to make sure he was okay, (Hubby is 78 years old!), but since I knew I needed to be hands free, I pulled over.

So, while one of the officers ran my license and registration, the other officer lectured me about cell phones in vehicles.

Quite honestly, I wanted to cry. Growing up, my dad worked as a summer police officer on Cape Cod. Every morning we listened to all the things that had gone on during his shift. I always felt that getting any sort of ticket or getting in any sort of trouble with the law, was just not how I wanted to live my life. I really have never wanted to let my Dad down.

Dad has been gone for a long time now, but the feeling of leading a good life, one to be proud of has not left me.

So, I was stopped, and lectured, but was not given a ticket or warning. I was so relieved. I really believe in our laws and I even thanked the officers, sincerely, for their concern.

The Friday Five

Many things have been going on this week, things that are both marvelously good, and tremendously sad. There is nothing I can do about the sadness, but I can revel and enjoy the happy things. So here we go.

  • I am absolutely having a blast crocheting. My hands are doing well, and when I look at what I am doing, and see my progress, I am delighted.
  • Mandy sent me a picture of the two children playing. There is my darling Savannah teaching her brother. Isn’t this picture cute?

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  • I am enjoying the group, “The Knotty Knitters”. The ladies all gather and work on their projects and chat. What fun!
  • I am going down to help out with the two grandchildren on Saturday. I can hardly wait to see my darlings!
  • Saying goodbye is never easy. Someone I know, and I have loved for a long time is living their last days. Although I am terribly sad about this, I have amazingly wonderful memories! That is special!

TBT: Memories

I never go into boxes of my Mom’s stuff and look around. My guest room closet is full of envelopes, pictures and old letters that are in a box. Well, not one, but a few. On Tuesday, I was in the guest room and I opened the closet door and saw one of the boxes. I took it down and sat on the chest, and opened the box and started to look through it. Trust me, I now have several months worth of TBT pictures.

Recently, I’ve been missing Katie and as I went on looking at the pictures I came across three marvelous ones! And here they are.

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Be Nice!

Recently, I have been thinking about how people treat each other. You know, there are a lot of people spewing hatred, not just at political candidates, but at each other.

I will be 58 in a few weeks. Do you know what I have learned in all of that time? To be nice. Gosh, what is wrong with people?

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I see it day after day, people really going out of their way to be filled with hatred and to treat other people in a way, that they, themselves would not wish to be treated.

I am not saying that we all need to go around liking everyone around us. That’s unrealistic, as we all are different people. What I am saying is, be nice.

Do you have family members that you really aren’t crazy about? Okay, so these relatives may not be your favorite, but my Grandmother told me once, that there was no excuse for being rude, or vicious. Family is family. Be polite. Be nice!

Forget about what we see on the news, or reality TV. I have to tell you, I’ve stopped watching news. I’ve become a fan of BUZZR, which is a Classic Game Show network.

Why, you might ask? Because I am so sick of lies, politics, nastiness and people saying terrible things about each other.

I know some people will say that it’s just politics as usual. Well, I don’t think so. People have been commenting on their “friends” FB pages, saying terrible things, because they do not agree with their politics.

People, life is short. Be kind.

The Friday Five

I’ve been amazed at the beauty around me this week. Our Autumn colors are at their peak, and it is simply breathtaking. As I was out snapping pictures I was thinking how much fun it would be if our trees were this color all of the time! Imagine living in a place with red, orange, yellow and coral leaves, all of the time!

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Then I started to wonder if we’d start taking this spectacular beauty for granted? Somehow, waiting for the leaves to turn, seeing how vivid they are each year and then the annual leaf fall and clean-up is part of the fabric of life.

On to this weeks Friday Five.

  1. The last Foliage train went through on Sunday. This amazed me, but also made me a bit sad, as it means that winter is on it’s way!
  2. I went to Weight Watchers again this week, and although I am holding my own, I am not really losing weight. It’s all okay, as I am enjoying fresh cider and apple pies. Diets are for another day!
  3. Yesterday I joined a new group. The Knotty Knitters! It is held at our Library in a common room, and we all bring our current projects and as we sit knitting or crocheting we chat like magpies! It is actually fun! Currently my hat for Savannah is just about done and I started Quinn’s hat yesterday!
  4. Hubby had his biopsy on Tuesday to see if the lesion on his face is cancerous. It was quite a large area and I am trying to play doctor and keep it neatly cleaned and dressed.
  5. I renewed my license this week, and was that ever an exercise in patience! Here is the thing. You walk in and take your eye test and they go over your paperwork. Good, right? Wrong, they give you a number, send you down the hall, and then you sit in a large room with other people renewing (That would be fine, as there were only about 10 of us), but you are also in a room with people who are trying to get their license back. Either they had drunk driving charges, and needed to present their rehab documents, or they had anger issues (one woman laughed, talking about how she had decked a cop) she had a document showing she had attended an anger management class, and then there were people who had work permits (from other countries), and were getting their licenses. I sat there for one hour and 30 minutes waiting to get my picture taken. My biggest gripe there was that I was an easy renew. Eye test, picture, pay, gone. But because we are all lumped together and the three women who only do eye tests just sat there, the 5 women trying to handle the difficult licenses were overwhelmed. I feel that easy renewals should be in an express lane.

So that is the week that was. Now I am onward and into another week! Have a good one, everyone!

TBT: My Grandmother & Her Sisters

This weeks TBT is a picture of my grandmother in her early teens, with her two sisters.

Sarah Matilda, was the eldest. She is sitting in the bottom left of the picture. I adored my Aunt Tilly! Tilly is my cousin Janet’s grandmother. She was so much fun to be around. She played the piano. Not classical, although I am sure she could, but her favorite was ragtime! And boy could she play! I rode my bike over to her apartment pretty often and we would have tea and eat cookies, and if I was very lucky she would go down to the common area and play the piano. Aunt Tilly was a dreamer and she always had time to listen to my dreams!

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The middle sister was Marionette Capelle. (Top left) We, (all the cousins) really didn’t know her much. I can count the times I met her on one hand. She married into a wealthy family, and after that sort of forgot her family back in Boston.

My grandmother, Mary Francis, (bottom right, blond hair) was an amazing woman. She worked tirelessly for many different charities and yet she always had time to listen to me as I was growing up. It was sitting with her on her sofa, wrapped in her arms, watching Lawrence Welk, that I recall feeling my safest.

I do have one funny story to share with you. After I married, and moved away, I came back home for a visit. I was sitting over tea with Grandma and I was doing my usual, non-stop talking, and I looked to see Grandma smiling broadly. “What?” I asked, unsure of what I said that was making her so happy.

“Well since you moved out, it is just so terribly quiet! I love listening to you and hearing about your adventures!”

So here they are. Three sisters in the early 1900’s. Born of the same parents, and yet incredibly different people. My grandmother passed away 32 years ago this December. I miss her so much. It’s kind of nice to recall her on TBT, so I can share her and my Aunt Tilly with all of you!