Happy Monday...

Hi,

I hope you had a nice weekend. It's so cold up here in Ohio. It got down to 1 degree last night. That is cold!!! I think it's up to 23 degrees now... WOW, heat wave!!!

Dad drove up to Columbus on Thursday and I met him at Bobby's and brought him up to Marion. We went out to dinner that evening then Friday morning dad helped me out with a few problems I was having with Photoshop, then after lunch I took him down to Bobby's. On Saturday, Bob and I, along with Bob's parents and Terry all met at Bobby's for a early Christmas celebration. After having Brunch we went to the Franklin Park Conservatory then we came back to Bobby's and had dinner then we opened presents. Below are some pictures.

Were all sitting around Bobby's kitchen table. We just finished eating a great Brunch that Benita fixed.

Benita is working hard in the kitchen

Bobby is having fun picking on Bob

Dad headed home on Sunday. It was great to spend some time with him. I hope to be able to see him more in the coming year. Time just goes by way too fast....

Is everyone done with their Christmas shopping? All I had left to get was a couple items for Bob & Terry's stocking so I picked them up today. I also finished all the grocery shopping for Christmas Eve and Christmas day dinner.

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday...Take care and enjoy the time with your family. Love to all of you.

Hope you had a nice weekend...

Hi,
I hope everyone had a nice weekend. Bob and I had a very busy one. We left out Friday afternoon for a road trip to West Virginia and after making a pit stop for a minute at Bobby's in Columbus we drove to Mickey's in Ravenswood. Mickey is doing well after his surgery. He is still in physical therapy but seems to be progressing very well. After a nice visit with him and Christal we drove down to Joy's. It was great to see the new bathroom Charley has built onto their house. We went down to Charleston and had dinner at Laury's then we went back to Joy's house and visited for a while.

The next morning, Bob and I drove back to Columbus. We did drive through Ripley to see all the changes there. We spent the afternoon Christmas shopping then we checked into our hotel in Columbus and attended Bob's company Christmas party Saturday evening. His company gets a room for every employee and they have a nice dinner, and the next morning they have breakfast for us and then you go home. It's really a nice time.

Before leaving Columbus we picked up a couple more Christmas gifts then we headed home. It was a really busy but nice weekend. It's always great to visit with family and to also visit with friends.

Everyone have a nice day. Take care.

It's been 3 years now......

Three years ago today, mom went to heaven to be with the Lord. I miss her so much, but I have comfort in knowing that she is no longer suffering and that she is happy. Mom, I miss you and I love you. Some day we will be together again...I look forward to that day.

Is it cold where you are?

I hope your staying warm...It's really chilly here. No snow yet but I think certain parts of Ohio are getting snow.
I wanted to thank everyone for praying for the family I posted about before. They are struggling but with God's help they will get through this. It's the kids that are so sad. They are so young.
Take care.

Special Prayer Request

Hi,
When you say your prayers can you remember the family of Heather Mollenkopf. She was killed this past weekend in an auto accident. She was only 38 years old. Her husband is a deacon at my church. They have 3 children, ages 5, 8, and 10. The family is in shock right now as you can probably understand.
Thank you.

It's a little chilly!!

Hi,
I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. I'm sure you ate way too much turkey, mashed potatoes and don't forget the desserts. I don't think you can have a good holiday unless you over indulge in something good.

Gatlinburg was a lot of fun. It was very crowded though. When we got there on Thursday it took a long time for us to get from Pigeon Forge through Gatlinburg to the Inn we were staying in. The traffic was bumper to bumper and the streets were loaded with people. Shortly after we arrived at the Inn, dad got there. After we unpacked we walked down to the main street in Gatlinburg and did some touring. There are so many shops and great things to check out. We rode a sky lift to the top of the mountain which was just beautiful once you got up there. Bobby and Benita arrived about 7:30pm then we all went out to dinner at Calhouns. Very good food...

The next day we spent the day just touring around Gatlinburg. There is so much to see there. I loved going down the side streets to what they have set up as little villages. They are brick lined streets with little shops everywhere. It's was fun to turn a corner and the excitement of what you may see. We visited the Aquarium which is always nice. For dinner we went to Maxwells and Maria & Mike joined us. The food there was also very good.

The Inn we stayed in was wonderful. We rented out the whole Inn, which has 6 bedrooms. It was great to have the place all to ourselves. The owner stayed long enough on Thursday to show us around then she left and didn't come back until Friday morning. She made a Continental breakfast for us and gave us fresh towels. We enjoyed being there alone and having full run of the place.

I will post some pictures as soon as I can. Take care.

Good Morning

Hi,
I didn't realize until this morning that I haven't updated my blog in a while. Sorry....I will try to do better from now on.

Bob, Terry and I went to the Columbus Crew (Soccer team) championship game last week. I'm not a big fan of Soccer but Bob loves it. He played Soccer all through Jr and High school and he used to referee when we lived in Florida. Terry has really gotten into the sport also since he has moved to Columbus. Anyway, Columbus won so now they go to the "Superbowl" of Soccer in a couple weeks.

I had a Bone Density test done this past Monday. Since I have been off my hormones for a year and with mom having Chronic Osteoporosis my doctor wanted to make sure my bones are okay. Everything came back fine. So it looks like my bones are good bones...Yeah!!

Mickey has his shoulder surgery today. I talked to him Monday evening and he was a little nervous but I think he is looking forward to getting this taken care of. Please keep him in your prayers.

We are going to Gatlinburg for Thanksgiving next Thursday. I've never been there so I am looking forward to seeing all the sights. If everyone shows there should be about 12 of us. It should be a good time.

I am going to the "Y" this morning to walk and also for my water exercise class. I just LOVE getting in the pool. Sometimes I stay in the pool after the class and swim around for a while. It's so much fun.

Have a nice day and for the ones of us up north, stay warm.

It's Friday...

Hi,
We are having a absolutely beautiful day here. My windows are open and nice cool air is circulating through and right now it feels great. It's supposed to turn cold tomorrow and we have a possibility of snow showers tomorrow evening...Winter is on the way!

I am so proud of myself..I joined our local "Y" last week and I have gone there every day this week to walk. They have a great walking track that once you go around 8 times you have walked a mile. It's really been fun. I plan on using the pool and also starting on some of the machines to help me out with my abs and my "bye-bye" arms.

I went to my Podiatrist yesterday for a follow-up appt. with my foot. If you don't remember I have a condition called Neuroma, which is a swollen nerve. My doctor had me on anti-inflammatory medication which works great when I'm on the meds but once I complete them the nerve swells again and it causes me pain at the ball of my foot when I walk. So he decided this time to give me an injection of steroid in the nerve. This process seems to be working fine so far. My foot feels great today but we will have to see how it goes. If this doesn't work then the next step is to surgically remove the nerve. I don't know if I want to do that. I may need to go to another Podiatrist to get a second opinion. I will keep you updated.

Well, that's about all that is going on up here. Have a good weekend. Take care.

It's Election Day.....

Today is the day we've all been waiting for....Have you voted yet? Bob and I are going to go this evening when he gets off from work. I can't wait for all of this to be over. I am so sick of the TV commercials, phone calls, fliers in the mail and seeing the signs everywhere. I just hope and pray that our new president does a good job and the state our country's in begins to look better.


I decided to join our local "Y." A friend of mine works there and she took me for a tour last week and by the end of the tour she had me convinced to join. There's a fabulous walking track on the second floor so I plan on taking advantage of that and also they have water aerobics and water exercise classes that I want to participate in. I ordered a bathing suit off of the Internet but I really dread putting it on. It's not going to be a pretty sight!!!

We met up with Bobby, Benita, Terry, Jason, Colton and Eli for dinner Saturday evening. We went to J. Alexander's in Columbus. The food was so good, especially the steaks... YUM!!! We all pretty much waddled out of the restaurant. We were good though and didn't order dessert. But we probably ate enough calories for a couple days worth of meals.

Joy had her surgery yesterday and I'm glad all went well. I believe she is coming home on Wednesday. I talked to Kathy yesterday evening and they are fine. She loves her new house. I told her she needed to send us some pictures.

Bob and I put up my Christmas village the last weekend of October. It takes us 3 days to get it up. I now have 62 buildings, and a bunch of elves figurines. I will take a picture and post it on here so you all can see it.

We've been having our fall craft shows. So far I've gone to a couple of them. I just love looking around and seeing how creative some people are. There's 4 more this month and I believe there's one in December. When I was leaving the one I went to on Sunday there was a booth selling Kettle Corn....Oh, how I love that stuff. Anyway, I had to buy a bag, of course. So good!!!

Well, I am off to the "Y." Everyone have a good day. Be sure to vote!!! Take care.

Where has the time gone....

Hi,
Sorry it's been a while since I've posted...I hope everyone is well.
Were doing fine. Bob left out this morning for a business trip to Charlotte, NC. He will be back home on Friday.

I decided to pull out my winter clothes today. It got down to freezing last night and it's supposed to be in the low 30's again tonight. It was really chilly in the house this morning. I haven't turned the heat on yet, but we have been using the fireplace. There's nothing any better than a nice fire when it's cold outside. I Love It!!!

My next door neighbor has started having a ladies bible study in her home once a week. I was kind of cautious about going at first but it was really nice. Their not promoting any particular religion, it's just several ladies on our street getting together and reading the bible. We all lead such busy lives that it's nice to visit and get to know each other better.

Bob and Terry went duck hunting on Saturday. This was the first time they had taken the new boat out. Everything seemed to go fine except it took them a couple tries to get the boat lined up so they could launch it. Unfortunately, they didn't see any ducks but they still have several more weeks left in the hunting season.

Bob and I went to a cookout Saturday afternoon at his general managers house in Columbus. He lives in the rich area of Columbus so I knew this house was going to be pretty grand. You should have seen it...WOW!! What a house... It cost them 850 thousand dollars. When you entered through the front door there was a grand staircase that was absolutely beautiful. The house is 5000 square feet. It's huge!!! The best part was the kitchen. Besides being one of the biggest kitchens I have ever seen, it has a island that is 7 ft by 7 ft. Of course the counter tops are granite. I definitely would not want their mortgage payment, though. It's around eight thousand dollars a month. I could think of other things to do with that money.

Bob and I will be married 14 years tomorrow. It's hard for me to believe we've been together that long. Time has gone by way too fast. Were going to put up my Christmas village this weekend. It takes about 3 days to get it all up. It's a lot of work but it's beautiful once we get it all done.

Well, that's about all that is going on up here. Take care.

Nice Weekend.....

Just a note to say "hi" and to wish everyone a nice weekend. We don't have a lot planned so I hope to have a couple nice, lazy days. Take care.

WHAT WE ALL SHOULD LIVE BY....

Live Simply

Love Generously

Care Deeply

Speak kindly

Leave the rest to God....

Redneck Smoke Detector.......

This is too funny!!!!!!!!

What beautiful weather we are having.....

It is absolutely beautiful up here in Ohio. We couldn't ask for better weather. I have spent the morning outside working on a couple projects. I put new caulking around a large window we have on the back of our house. With winter on the way, I want to keep our heating bills as low as possible.


I decided to clean out our storage building. It's amazing how much stuff has accumulated in there. The building has become a catch all for items we don't want in the garage. I emptied everything out and I got it all sorted. There is quite a lot I am throwing away. I know the trash guy is going to hate me this week. The building looks a lot better, though.

Here is Terry's new address: 4954 Kristie Falls, Columbus, OH 43221. His e-mail address and cell phone number are staying the same. Here they are in case you don't have them. His e-mail address is: tla2420@yahoo.com and his cell phone number is: 614-271-8222.

Also, I want to wish Joy a "Happy Birthday". I hope your day is a good one....

Take care everyone.

Sorry - I just had to do it......

NEW TORNADO POLICY for Cincinnati and nearby areas.

In case of possible tornadoes sweeping through the Cincinnati and nearby areas, we ask that all residents take shelter at the Paul Brown Stadium.
We are certain that a touchdown will not occur there.
Thank you for your cooperation,
National Weather Bureau.

Quick update on my tests.....

Hi,
I wanted to let everyone know that my doctor's office called today with the results of my Stress Test and the Echo cardiogram. Both test came back fine. They didn't show any abnormalities.

So for now, it looks like the pain I was having was from a pulled muscle. Thanks to everyone for you prayers. Love to all of you.

What a week I've had.....

Whew...This has been some week. I'm sure some of you have heard about my current health problems. Well, this is what's been happening. About a week ago I started having a dull, annoying pain in my upper chest area so the first thing I did was take my blood pressure and it was elevated. I called my doctors office and I was able to go right in. When I got there my blood pressure was still high so they did a EKG which turned out fine. My doctor put me on Diovan and scheduled me for a Echo cardiogram and a Stress test.

This past Wednesday evening after I got home from church I started feeling bad and nauseated so I took my blood pressure and it was high so I told Bob I wanted to go to the Emergency room. When we got there they did a EKG, chest X-ray, blood work including a CBC and all of these test turned out fine. My blood pressure was still elevated so they admitted me into the hospital. The next morning they did a Echo cardiogram and it was so amazing to see my heart and watching it pump. My doctor came in later that morning and said I could go home, which I was glad of, and for me to go for my stress test and she would see me in her office next week.

So, today I had my stress test. They said my goal was to get my heart rate up to 141, which I did. I walk on a treadmill at home so I think doing that made taking the stress test a little easier. I made it through the test fine. After they completed the stress test I was injected with radionnclide and then I had to go eat something with fat in it and then go back and have images of my heart taken. I go back on Monday and they will again inject me with the radionnclide product and repeat the heart images. On Tuesday, when I see my doctor I hope she has the results back on the Echo cardiogram. I'm not sure if she will have the results by then on the Stress Test.

One thing that we think may be causing the pain in my upper chest is on Labor Day I moved some furniture on my own. Bob was out hunting and I was too impatient to wait on him to get home so I went ahead and did it myself. The pain started two days after I moved the furniture. I can rub the area where the pain is and take Tylenol and it feels better. So, my doctor doesn't think the pain is associated with my heart but I guess you never know. As far as my blood pressure I'm not sure what is causing it to spike. Hopefully, these test will reveal that.

Once I find out what is going on I will be sure to let everyone know. Thanks so much for all of your concern and prayers. Take care.

Good Morning

Hi,

I hope everyone had a nice Labor Day holiday. We had really nice weather up here. Some rain would be nice though. The weatherman said this morning that it "may" rain next Sunday. We haven't had recordable rain since the end of July. We've been watering my fragile flowers and plants but the other ones are having to suffer through. Hopefully, rain will come soon.

Ok, back to the holiday weekend. Bob turned 46 on Saturday. Happy Birthday!! I've been looking for a small antique desk to put in our spare bedroom and finally on Friday I found it. I walked into the Salvation Army store and there it was. It is absolutely beautiful and it only cost me $90.00. I also went to Sears and bought us a treadmill. So, on Sunday Terry came up for Bob's birthday and he helped us carry the desk into the bedroom and he helped take the treadmill downstairs. WHEW!! What a job that was...Bob also bought a duck/fishing boat and with Terry's help we got the blind set up. Now Bob and Terry are ready to go duck hunting. Below are some pictures of the boat.

We got a great deal on the boat. The boat is 18 ft. long. It came with a Trolley motor and also a 40 hp motor. The trailer and duck blind was also included. Everything is in camouflage. Bob was able to get a blind spot at Delaware Lake so he and Terry are ready for the season to begin. Better look out ducks!!! Bob and Terry are coming after you....

Bob went Dove hunting yesterday morning. He came home with 4 Doves. They are so little. It takes like a dozen just to make a meal for a couple people. I've never had Dove but I've heard the best way to cook it is to wrap the meat in bacon first. Maybe one of these days I will give it a try.

Terry moved into his new apartment on Saturday. Once I get his new address I will post it on here. He wants to get everything set up before we go and see it. It has 2 bedrooms, 2-full baths and 1 half bath. It's two story with the bedrooms and 2 full baths upstairs and the half bath, living room, kitchen and dining room on the main floor. He said it also has a fireplace and a garage. Sounds really nice.

That's about all that is happening up here in Buckeye land. Oh! I almost forgot. The Buckeye's won on Saturday...GO BUCKS!!! Bob is so happy football season has started and our cable service has added the Big Ten Network which will make possible for Bob to see every OSU game. It's a good thing I also enjoy football since that's all that will be on our TV for the next several months.

Have a nice day.

August is going by way too quickly....

Where is all the time going. Before we know it the month of August will come to an end and September will be here. Fall can't get here soon enough for me. Fall is my favorite season to decorate. I usually don't put out my fall decorations until Labor Day weekend but I just couldn't wait any longer. I've put out my fall decorations in the house but I will wait until the first of Sept. to put out the ones for the front porch. I will post some pictures once I get it all done.

We got a postcard from my husbands parents and they are now in Juneau, Alaska. They've been traveling since the first of the year. It will be sometime in October, I believe, before they get back home. Since their retirement a couple years ago they've been traveling across the US and Canada with the Airstream group. They are usually home from Oct-Dec. then it's back on the road again for another 10 months. They just love it but I don't think it would be something I would like doing. I enjoy being home too much to be gone for that long length of time.

It's time for me to close. Have a good day.

Happy Tuesday.....

Hi,

I hope everyone is having a good day. Mine has been pretty busy. We've had very cool temperatures up here the last couple days so I decided to take advantage of that and work outside. So after Bob left for work this morning I pulled weeds and sprayed weed killer in all of my flower beds. While I was out there I also took care of some watering. It was great to be outside and not be miserable because of the heat or the pesty mosquito's.

Bob is heading for Crawfordsville, Indiana this afternoon so I also cleaned out the truck and vacuumed it for him. Aren't I a nice wife.....:) He has to attend an Environmental Managers meeting so he won't be back home until Friday evening. I usually have a project planned when he is gone but this week my schedule is clear. I'm not sure what I'm going to get into but I'm pretty sure I will find something to keep me busy.

In my last post I mentioned we were having a tree removed in our backyard. Well, they were able to get the tree down and also trim up several other trees for us. We have taken down 8 trees so far. There are still 6 trees left and we plan on keeping those. Even though we have taken down so many trees there is still shade in our yard at different times of the day. But before we took down the previous trees we had a lot of problems getting grass to grow because the whole yard was pretty much in shade all the time. It definitely looks a lot better now.

I got my hair cut. I won't let the person who cuts my hair go any shorter than my shoulders but we did put really short layers in it this time. Right now the layers are a little shorter than I like but it looks a lot healthier and it's full of body. It was amazing the pile of hair on the floor when she got done. I didn't realize it had gotten so long.

Mel, thanks for sending me the picture of the Orange Park, FL sign. That definitely brings back memories.

I went back to my Podiatrist yesterday for my follow-up appointment. The last few days my foot has been slightly bothering me again so he put me back on the anti-inflammatory medication. It does feel better today. Not sure what is causing this nerve to swell but there is other treatments he can do but he is hoping the medication will totally take care of it. I guess we will see.

Well, I didn't mean to write a book today. I guess there's been a lot going on. Have a good day.

Good Morning to everyone....

Hello,

I hope every one's day is starting out well. I have a situation here that I'm not sure how it's going to work out. We have a huge Ash tree in our backyard that we decided we wanted to have removed and we've been waiting for the rain to stop so the ground would dry out, so anyway it hasn't rained in 2 1/2 weeks so the tree cutting company got here yesterday and started taking down the tree. Then guess what happened....It started raining yesterday evening.....Wouldn't you know it!!!! So I am hoping that the ground was so dry that it just sucked in all the rain so when they get here this morning their able to bring their trucks onto the lawn. Guess we will see when the guys get here.

It was such a beautiful day on Saturday so Bob and I took the motorcycle out for a ride. We ended up riding for about 2 hours. One good thing about this bike is the seat is much more comfortable than the other bike we had. If you rode for a long distance on the other bike you would lose feeling in your backside. Not pleasant at all.... We went to Columbus Saturday evening and had dinner with Terry. Terry is so busy with his classes. Summer semester ends next week so he is getting ready for finals. I believe he has a 2-week break before fall semester begins.

We got to see Bobby, Benita and Robert on Sunday. They came up to Marion to do some school clothes shopping at Steve & Barry's then they came by the house and after a short visit we went out to lunch together. It amazes me how much Robert keeps growing. Every time I see him he is taller. He turns 16 next week. That is so hard to believe....

Joy, thanks for the pictures you took at the reunion. I remember very well the hill to the cemetery. The worse part for me was climbing the bank. Once I got up the bank then climbing the hill to the cemetery wasn't bad. It's really pretty once you get up there.

Melanie, I enjoyed looking at your pictures from Florida. When you went past Jacksonville do you remember seeing a sign for Orange Park? That is where I used to live. We lived about 30 minutes from St. Augustine so we used to go there quite often. There is so much to do there and it's a very beautiful area.

Well, that's about all that is going on up here in Marion. Have a nice day.

The month of July is almost over.....

It's amazing how quickly this month has gone by. Before we know it we will be shoveling snow. Sorry!! I know, not a good thought....

I took a friend of mine from church to therapy today. Tomorrow she needs to go to a doctors appointment so I need to pick her up at 10:00 for that. She told me to bring a book so I guess the doctor is known to run behind. I guess there's nothing like spending the day at the doctor's office. Yeah, for me!!!

Our VBS starts this evening. Last year I worked in it but this year I'm just going to attend and not work. We usually have a wonderful turnout. Last year our attendance ranged between 260 and 290. One thing I'm not crazy about is it starts at 7pm and doesn't end until 9pm. Too me that is pretty late but I guess that's the way it's always been.

We had a bird to build her nest on one of our bedroom windows. I enjoyed watching the eggs hoping to see them hatch and also watching the babies grow. The momma wasn't happy when she would see me looking out the window but I was able to get a few good pictures of them. The babies flew out of the nest a few days ago so this past weekend Bob and I took the nest down. Here are some pictures:

The birds would just sit for a long time with their mouths wide open waiting for momma to come back and feed them. It was so funny to watch them.

I talked to my dad this morning and he is getting ready to take a trip to VA to see his brothers. All 4 of them don't get together very often so I'm glad they've planned this gathering. I look forward to seeing all of the pictures.

Well, that's about all that is going on up here. Take care and have a good day.

What a beautiful day....

Hello,
I hope everyone is having the great weather that we are having. It was 63 degrees outside when we got up this morning. It's in the high 70's now. I LOVE IT....Just wish it would stay this way. Oh, well, I can dream!!

Bob and I went to Columbus this past weekend and had dinner with Terry. We went to a great restaurant in Easton. Everything was so good. It was great to spend some time with Terry.

A friend of mine from church had total knee replacement surgery and starting today I am taking her to her therapy appointments. Looks like she will be going 2 to 3 times a week. She has had so many struggles in her life. She had polio as a child and because of that she has a lot of problems with her legs. She's unable to walk without the use of a walker or crutches. She has also battled and won her fights with breast and ovarian cancer. She is such an inspiration to me. Even though she has suffered through all of these ailments she always has a smile on her face and she is so upbeat. I can definitely learn a lot from her.

I hope everyone has a nice day. Take care.

Friday is here.........YEAH!!!!

Hi,

I hope everyone has had a nice week. Mine has been good except for Wednesday night. About 10 minutes after Bob and I went to bed the alarm on his BiPap machine goes off. It liked to scared us to death. We unhooked the cords and replugged them in thinking maybe something had come lose then we restarted the machine and it seemed to be working fine until 1 hour later. I was sleeping so good when all of a sudden we heard a loud, "BEEP, BEEP, BEEP" again. This went on all night. Every hour or so the thing would start beeping. But when it wasn't beeping it worked fine. How annoying is that!!!!! We got a replacement machine yesterday and the company is trying to figure out what is wrong with Bob's. Bob and I were exhausted by yesterday evening. I fell asleep on the couch about 8:30 and Bob woke me up at 10:00 to go to bed and I don't remember anything until the alarm clock went off this morning. I was so tired...
I think I may be getting old. I used to be able to stay up all night and it didn't bother me but now I have to get at least 6 hours of sleep or I don't function well.

Okay, enough complaining...

What a beautiful day we've had in Ohio today. The humidity is very low and it's just nice being outside. I had to go to the grocery store this morning but when I got home I worked for a while in my flower beds. With all the rain we've had my flowers look so pretty this year.

Any plans for the weekend? We may go to Columbus Saturday and have dinner with Terry but other than that we don't have anything planned. We got the hot tub refilled and it's ready to go so I'm sure we will be hanging out in it some. What's so nice about a hot tub you can have the water temperature as cool or as warm as you want. So, you can use it in the summer as a pool and in the cooler weather as a hot tub. Ours is pretty large, it will hold 6 people, so there's lot of moving room for Bob and I.

That's about all that is going on up here. Take care and have a nice weekend.

Another Monday has rolled around....

Good Morning,

How is everyone today? Were doing fine. I got my carpets cleaned on Wednesday. Stanley Steamer sure does a good job. When they left my carpets looked brand new. Their quick also. They did my dining room, hallway and master bedroom in about 45 minutes.

Welcome home, Charlie Brown. It's great to have him back on American soil. I'm sure he is glad to be home too.

Bob got himself a new toy. He is so thrilled with it.

We had an adventure on the bike Saturday. We decided to go to Delaware State Park and take some pictures. When we got close to the park we could see off in the west a very large black cloud that looked like it was going to burst at any moment. Unfortunately, there isn't any covered picnic areas in Delaware park so we got off the bike really fast and took a few quick pictures then we got back on the bike and we hoped to get ahead of the storm but guess what....it started pouring. By the time we got home we were drenched. We had to wring out our clothes before we could walk in the house. It's a good thing Bob and I have a good sense of humor.

I have several errands to run today. So this morning is going to be pretty busy for me. I didn't do much to the house over the weekend so I need to also do some cleaning.

Have a nice day. Take care.

Good Afternoon

HI,
I hope everyone had a nice 4th of July. Ours was good. Bob worked until 3:00 that afternoon then when he got home we fired up the grill and smoked a chicken. YUM!!! On Saturday, we went to our local County Fair and we took part in the auction for the livestock that the kids of employees of Nucor had in the show. That was really interesting to watch. Terry came up for a visit on Sunday. It's always nice to see him and spend time with him.

I went to Columbus this morning and Bobby, Benita and I went to breakfast together then we went to Westerville and checked out some of the shops then we went to Trader Joe's. It's a health food store. I love soup but I usually don't eat it because of the high sodium content but at Trader Joe's they have soup that is extremely low in sodium and surprisingly it's good. So I am now stocked up for a while. I got to see Bobby's new grill also. Wow!!! That thing is huge. So nice....I am looking forward to an invitation to come down so he can fix me something good to eat on it....Hint, hint, hint!!!

I'm getting my carpets cleaned on Wednesday. It will be 3 years in September that we had the carpet installed. Were just having the traffic areas done. There's not much carpet to do. Just the dining room, hallway and master. The rest of the floors are hardwood. We decided not to have the carpet in the basement done since it still looks nice and clean.

Well, that's about all that is going on up here. Take care and have a good week.

Happy 4th of July

I hope everyone has a nice holiday today.....Take care.

It's July already.....

Hi,

Just where has this year gone to....It's amazing how quickly the time is going by. I'm also amazed by the weather we've been having. It rains here at least 3 times a week. My flowers love all the rain but it has brought out the mosquitoes which we can do without. It was really chilly yesterday morning. I was tempted to put on a light jacket. But instead I suffered through the chill bumps and got busy to warm up.

Bob and I won't be able to go to dad's over the 4th of July holiday this week. The General Manager of the plant that Bob works for has moved on to another GM position within the Nucor company and the Controller has retired, so for right now the Managers are running the plant. They've been having some equipment problems which has gotten them very behind in orders so Bob and the other managers got together and decided not to close the plant over the 4th of July holiday as previously scheduled. Since the managers are making the production employees give up their holiday off and work, the managers decided they would work also. I really hate it that Bob and I can't go down to TN this week but we will plan on going down another time. I'm glad Bob and I had already been down there about a month ago over Memorial Day weekend. It makes not being able to go this week a little easier.

I decided to buy a trampoline. I never imagined just how hard it is to jump on one of those things. The first time I got on it I just started jumping and after a couple minutes I could really start feeling the effects. What I have found out is on a trampoline your heart rate goes up really quickly so your supposed to do warm up exercises first and then start jumping slowly and working your way up. Also, you use muscles your never thought about because you have to hold your balance. I think it's going to be fun once I get the hang of it. I went walking yesterday at one of our local cemetery's. I know it sounds odd but there are a lot of people that walk there. It's really interesting to walk around and look at all the monuments. Some of the monuments are as large as a car. This cemetery is centuries old and I think some of the monuments are the same age. Since my foot is feeling better I am enjoying walking again.

That's about all that is going on up here. Take care and have a nice week.

Foot is better

Hi,

Just a quick update to let everyone know that the medication is working and my foot feels a lot better. It's still a little tender but I guess over time the medication will take care of that.

Have a nice day.

Good Afternoon......

Hi,

How is everyone doing? Well, it's the start of another week already. Bob got home safely last Thursday afternoon. After I picked him up at the airport we went by a Health Food Store in Columbus to see if we could find some low sodium soups. We found 3 different ones that only have 140 mg of sodium per serving. I didn't think they would taste very good but surprisingly they are wonderful. They are so good that I came close to licking the bowl. Maybe it's just the excitement of being able to eat soup again... Since we don't have a health food store in our area it looks like we will be making a trip to Columbus every couple weeks or so to stock up on soup and a few others things we bought.

I've been having problems with the ball of my right foot for the last 6-weeks or so. It feels like it's bruised and it's painful when I walk. I hate to go to the doctor so I usually put it off until I have to go. Well, I thought since it's been going on for this long and it's not any better I guess I had better have it checked out. So I made an appointment with a Podiatrist for this morning. I was worried he would tell me I have a cyst but it turns out he thinks I have Intermetatarsal Neuroma. What is that you ask? Well, in layman terms it's a swollen nerve. They don't know what causes it but they do have a medication that seems to help. If it happens not to work then he said the next step is to inject steroids in the area. If that doesn't work then the only other option is to do surgery. He said he thought the meds would take care of mine and I'm to take the meds for 30 days. He said by that time it should be fine. I hope so, I guess we will see.

That's about all that is going on up here. Take care and I will update again soon.

Hello Everyone

Hi,

I'm home after a weekend away in Columbus. I know we didn't go far but it was nice to just get away for a couple nights. We went to the last home game of the season for the Columbus Destroyers on Saturday evening. Unfortunately, they lost but it was still a lot of fun. Our hotel was really close to the arena so that made it nice once the game was over not having to drive back to Marion we just walked a short distance to our room.

On Sunday we went to a nice breakfast buffet the hotel had then we toured around Columbus. We went down to German Village and the Brewery Districts. We also went over to Easton to locate a Health Food Store, I have been looking for low sodium soups, and then we met Terry for dinner in downtown Columbus to celebrate Father's Day together.

Bob had a flight that left out this morning at 6:30am for Charlotte, NC. So we got up really early and I took him to the airport then I drove home. He will be back on Thursday. Needless to say I am so tired right now. But I did get my bag unpacked and things put away. But other than that I'm not too energetic today. Once I get caught up on my sleep I will feel better I'm sure.

I hope all the father's out there had a nice Father's Day.

It's going to be in the low to mid 70's this week. YEAH!!! I am so excited. To me it's been way too hot.

Have a nice day. Take care. Teresa

I'm tired!!!!!

Hi,
I have spent the morning pulling weeds and fighting bees... What a combination, huh!!! The temperature has been in the low 90's so I decided to get out real early this morning and take care of the weeds around my plants and also do some trimming of a few bushes. I have one bush that blooms beautiful purple flowers but once the flowers are spent your supposed to cut them off and new ones will come out. Well, as you have probably guessed the bees also love the blooms. I usually go ahead and trim when the honey bee's are there, I just try to keep an eye on them to make sure they don't get too close to me but when the bumble bee showed up I decided he could have the whole bush if he wanted it. I'm definitely not stupid!!!! I'll wait until this evening when the bees go to bed to finish, I guess.

Bobby, Benita, Bob and I went to the Destroyers football game Saturday evening. It was nice visiting with them and also going by their house and seeing all the changes they have made to their landscaping. The Wisteria smells so good and the blooms are just beautiful. When they get everything completed it's going to look great.

Bob's allergies are really bothering him. He sniffed, sneezed and felt bad most of the day yesterday. He decided to stay home from work today. Hopefully he will feel better by tomorrow.

That's about all that is going on up here. Take care.

Rain, rain and more rain......

Hi,
I hope everyone is doing fine. We are doing good. If the rain doesn't stop soon I may need to go out and buy a boat. It has rained here for over 24 hours now. At times the rain is slow and steady but other times it's coming down in buckets. The thunder and lightening kept waking us up last night. It was the type of thunder that rattles the windows. In other words the really scary thunder...I'm glad it's over for now. The way I understand there are more showers on the way.

I need to do some more bragging on Terry. He has made the Dean's list at school again. He is doing so well and we are so proud of him. He just started summer semester and the classes he has are Accounting II and Business Law. With him working full-time he's only able to take 2 classes a semester.

That's about all that is going on up here in Ohio. Don't we live such exciting lives....:) Oh well, I would rather have a boring life and be happy and content than to have a lot of drama going on all the time. Have a nice day. Take care.

Were Home!!!!!!

HI,
Happy Memorial Day!!! I hope everyone is having a nice day. Bob and I had a great time this weekend visiting with dad and relaxing at the lake. I love going out on the porch and sitting on one of the swings and looking out at the lake. The lake was really busy this weekend with pleasure craft traffic and people swimming and water skiing. We were lucky that we also had nice weather while we were there.

I'm so glad the drive home is over with. It takes us a good 8 hours to make the trip. But, with today being a holiday the traffic was light especially in the 3 major cities we have to drive through.

I am going to go and relax for a while. Take care and have a good day. Teresa

Upcoming Holiday Weekend......

Hi to everyone,

The Memorial Day weekend is almost here. The grills will be fired up, lawn furniture will be taken out of storage and set up, hamburgers, hot dogs and all the great BBQ items will be bought, potato salad, deviled eggs and baked beans will be made and families will get together to celebrate and remember our troops who have fought so hard to give us the great life that we have in the United States. As you are enjoying your time with family this weekend be sure to remember the ones who are responsible for giving us our freedom.

Bob and I hope to be on the road by 1:00pm tomorrow. That should put us at dad's around 9:00pm. We plan on coming home on Monday. I hope everyone has a nice weekend. Take care.

Today is my birthday!!!!!

Hello,
I turned 47 years old today. WOW!!! It's so hard for me to believe that I am so close to the 50 mark. I'm just glad I don't feel like I'm 47 years old. That would really be depressing....

It has been a very nice day for me. I went to Walmart to pick up a few items then I went to our local nursery and bought a ton of flowers. I spent most of the day putting the flowers in pots that I have put on the front porch and my back deck. Usually I have purple flowers on my front porch and red on the back deck but this year I also added pink, white and red/white mixture. The color should be really pretty throughout the summer.

Thanks to everyone who has called me, sent me cards and comments on myspace for my birthday. Have a nice week. Teresa

It's Monday again.......

HI,
To all mom's, I hope you had a nice Mother's Day. Mine was really good. Terry came up and we went out to dinner then we visited at the house for a while then Terry and I went downtown and he helped me look for a piece of furniture for our spare bedroom. The weather wasn't the best but I guess you can't have everything.

I just got word that Charley made it fine through surgery and everything went well. He is in some pain but thankfully all is good.

Bob left this afternoon for a business trip to Crawfordsville, Indiana. He will be gone until Friday. I am hoping if all works out as planned to have the spare bedroom done by the time Bob gets back.

Have a nice week. Take care. Teresa

Were over the hump....

Hump day has passed and it's down hill the rest of the way to the weekend....I hope everyone is having a nice week so far. Mine's been pretty busy. I finally got the spare bedroom cleaned out now I am trying to decide on what is going back in the room and how I want to arrange it. For some reason I am having a hard time making up my mind.

I spent yesterday morning making chocolate covered pretzels. YUM!!!
Myself and another woman at church make goodie bags that we pass out to people who purchase the Angel Food boxes that our church passes out the last Saturday of each month. We try to come up with different ideas each month so this month we elected to make the pretzels. They are so easy to make but very time consuming. Of course you can't make them without eating a couple. They are so good!!!

I need to run some errands today then I plan on cleaning the basement. I've decided instead of grilling out on Mother's Day I want to go out to eat. Now I need to decide where I want to go. Decisions, Decisions.... It's nice to live in a city that has some restaurant choices. I do think we are going to wait until 2 or 3 in the afternoon before we go to eat. Maybe it will be easier to get a table.

Have a good day. Take care. Teresa

It's May already!!.......

Is this year going by fast or what? I remember when I was growing up hearing people say, "as you get older, time goes by faster." I didn't believe the statement at the time but I do now.

Any good plans this weekend? We have to go pick up a suit Bob bought that is being altered then we have a arena football game to go to on Saturday evening. That's about all we have going on.

I hope you have a nice weekend. Take care. Teresa

What a beautiful day we are having....

Hi,
It couldn't be any nicer up here in Marion today. The sun is shining and the temperature is just perfect. I went out this morning and worked in my flower beds. In about 3 weeks I can buy my annuals to put in my pots that I have around the house. I usually get impatiens and Verbena's but I'm thinking about going with something different this year. The nursery I go to usually has a good selection.

The guys that we've had working here for the last few days are going to finish up this afternoon. What a difference they have made. Everything looks so much better. The best part is we didn't run into any problems, which is very unusual.

I went to the grocery store this morning and it's getting ridiculous the prices of food now. Everytime I go to the store the prices have gone up. The high gas prices is really going to hurt the businesses that rely on summer travelers. I don't know what needs to be done but something has to happen to stop all of this. We plan on going to dad's in July and by then they are saying gas will be $4.00 a gallon or more. I hope they are wrong but if not it's going to cost a fortune just to fill up the tank. Okay, I've done enough venting..... Sorry!!!

Have a nice weekend. Take care. Teresa

Good afternoon

Hello,
I hope everyone is having a good week so far. Ours has been pretty productive. I am still working on spring cleaning and the work is still being done on our house. So far they have finished the cleaning of the vinyl siding, power washed the driveway and the front and back porch. Yesterday they replaced the ceiling of the front porch with plywood and today it is being painted. They still have to paint the front and back porch floor, repair some vinyl siding where some brackets were removed, and put in a new back door. It will be great once these projects are completed.

I worked out in my flowers today. My Hosta's are just now starting to peak out from underground. We've had a lot of rain so all of my plants are sprouting up really quickly.

That's about all that is going on up here in Marion. Melanie, I got Stanley in the mail and I will get everything mailed to you by the end of the month. Were having fun getting everything together. I don't know who thought up that project for the kids but it's a great idea.

Take care and have a good week.

It's starting to warm up.....

Hi,
What crazy weather we are having!! It's in the 30 & 40's one day and in the 60's the next. I just worry about my plants. Hopefully they will survive all the weather changes.

Bob and I went to a home show on Saturday. We enjoy just looking at all the new products plus it fun to get all the free stuff too!! We got in the home improvement mode later on that day and we put up a new light fixture in our home office. What a big difference it has made.

Today is tax day!! I guess it's one of the most hated days of the year. Bob spent Sunday evening doing our taxes. He usually puts it off until the last couple days since most of the time we have to pay. I'm happy for the ones who will be getting the extra check in a couple months. I'm sure the money will come in handy.

We are having some projects done this week to the house. One of the elders where I go to church has his own business of doing home improvement projects and he's going to be here the rest of this week. Several months ago he took care of a couple things for us so we decided to have him come back. He is going to replace some vinyl siding on the eaves of the house and paint the soffit all around the house along with the roof of the porch and the porch floor. Were also having him power wash the driveway and seal it. I'm so excited to get these projects completed.

I hope everyone has a good week. Take care. Teresa

What a nice weekend we had.....

Hi,
I hope you were able to enjoy nice weather this past weekend. It was beautiful up here in Ohio. It wasn't too hot or too cold, just perfect. Saturday evening Bob and I went to Columbus to watch the Destroyers play. They won which was great!! They are now 2-4. Not a great season so far but there's several more games to go.

Terry came up and spent Sunday afternoon with us. We grilled out steaks, YUM!!! After lunch we went to Black Wing in Delaware so Bob and Terry could practice at the shooting range. Did I tell you all about Terry's new position? He still works for the same company but he now works in the office instead of the warehouse. He took over the position of Accounts Payable from a person who was moving to another state. Terry has never worked behind a desk before so he wasn't for sure if he was going to like it or not but he loves it. He stays pretty busy which he prefers.

Have a nice week and I will post again soon. Take care.

April Fool's Day

So, today is April 1st. Have you played a joke on anyone yet? Bob and Terry are really good at trying to play jokes on me so I'm waiting to see what they do. It's hard to believe that April is already here. It is nice to hear the birds singing and to see some of my plants starting to pop out.

The hot tub is beginning to look really inviting. We do need to drain it and fill it with fresh water. With all the rain were having we may wait for a couple weeks since we drain the hot tub into the yard. There's enough standing water on our grass now as it is. We really enjoy going out in the evening and lounging in the hot tub while looking at the stars. Bob made a joke last year that we needed rubber ducks to play with while in the tub so I bought several from a person on ebay. There's one that has on a football outfit, one is red and has devil horns, one is dressed like a soccer player and then one looks like a regular rubber duck. So cute!!!

I am putting away our winter clothes today. We store our off season clothes in the basement so I am going to be going up and down stairs for a while. At least I will get my exercise today.

Have a good day. Teresa

It's Spring

Hi,

Did you all have a good Easter? I wonder why Easter came so early this year. Who out there determines what date on our calender Easter falls on??? Just a question I will throw out there for anyone to answer.... We went to Bobby and Benita's for dinner. The food was great of course and we enjoyed spending time visiting with them.

We got bad new last week that Skybus no longer will be going to Chattanooga. So for now we are back to driving again. They did say at some point they hope to add Chattanooga back on so we will see I guess. Bob has several things already scheduled the week of July 4th at work so were not sure now when we will be going down to dad's. He may be able to reschedule some things, not sure yet.

Now that the water is starting to recede some I can get out and clean up the twigs and branches in my yard. It won't be long before the grass treatment begins so I do need to make sure the yard is clear and ready.

Everyone have a nice week. Take care. Love to all of you.

Happy Easter

Just a note to say, I hope everyone has a nice Easter. Don't eat too much candy, though!!!! Take care. Teresa

Happy St. Patricks Day

Good Morning,

Did you remember to wear green today? Of course, I say that because I forgot. It wasn't until I got to Wal-mart and everyone had green on that it hit me what today is. Then I get in the truck and what's playing on the radio but Danny Boy!!!! Yep, it's definitely St. Patricks Day!!!

Sorry, I haven't updated in a while. We are finally getting uncovered from all the snow we got. The final total we heard was 14 inches for us and 20 inches for Columbus. We still have some snow in places where snow was shoveled into piles but that's about it. Now we are getting rain. Do you know how much we DON'T need rain. My yard looks like it has a couple lakes in it now. Oh well, I know I shouldn't complain. It will all dry up eventually and then we will be begging for rain. I guess we are never happy are we?

We went to our season opener of the Columbus Destroyers Saturday evening. We absolutely love our new seats. Having the table and being able to eat at the table and watch the game is great. I will try to take some pictures so you all can see what I'm talking about. Unfortunately, our team lost but it is early in the season.

What Easter plans do you all have? Bob, Terry and I are going to Bobby and Benita's for Easter dinner. I am really looking forward to visiting with them. I can't believe it's almost Easter already. This year is going by way too fast. We have a candy making factory here in Marion so I went there this morning to get candy for Bob and Terry's Easter basket. They have a great selection. I could feel myself gaining weight just by looking at all the chocolate. I did splurge and buy for myself a chocolate covered caramel. Oh, how I love those and it was so good!!! YUM....

Speaking of candy, guess what I am going to be making this week? Homemade suckers.... Why am I making homemade suckers you ask. Well, my church participates in a food program called Angel Food Ministries. Anyone in the community can purchase boxes of food for a low price and the distribution is done at my church the last Saturday of each month. Back in August of last year myself and another woman at church started making little care packages that they pass out to the people when they come to pick up their boxes of food. We either do little baggies of homemade or store bought cookies or bags of candy. In each bag we also put a card which has our church phone number and times of service. For this month we decided to make bouquets of suckers. So, we came up with a recipe to make the homemade suckers which surprisingly are very good. We plan on putting a ribbon around the suckers and punch a hole in the card and attach it to the ribbon. We usually have around 160 to 200 people so we have a lot of suckers to make.

Well, that's about all that is going on up here. Take care and I will update again soon. Love to all of you.

Howdy

Hi,
I hope everyone is doing fine. Bob wasn't feeling well over the weekend. He has problems with his sinuses anytime the weather changes and this past weekend we went from frigid cold to 50 degree temperature. He seems to be doing some better this morning. Joy, I'm sorry your not feeling well. Hope you are doing better.

Thanks for the comments everyone sent back to me regarding the hook n' latch rug I did. I thought when I bought it that with the vibrant colors it would look great hung on the wall but it even looks better than I thought it would. Bob and I did get a shelf hung up in the living room yesterday. Now I need to decide what I want to display on it. We finally picked out the glass insert yesterday for the fireplace in our living room. I went to Lowe's this morning and ordered it. In the living room the wood tone is light and I have used black as my accent color so we decided to get the glass insert in solid black. I'm really excited to see what it's going to look like.

I need to do some bragging on Terry. He got a letter from school (Franklin University) telling him that he made the President's list last semester. He had a 4.0 grade point average. If all goes to plan he hopes to graduate in December. He's been talking about adding a minor, so if he does that then he will need to go another year. He's also mentioned going for his Masters and that would take another 1 1/2 years. He may decide he's had enough school come December and stop taking classes for a while. It will be interesting to see what he does. Way to go, Terry!!!! We are very proud of you....

Marion made the news again last week. We had a visit from former president Bill Clinton. He was here doing campaign speeches for Hillary. I didn't attend his speech but from what I read in the paper it was a packed house. Ohio has their primary tomorrow. I still haven't decided who I'm voting for. It will be amazing to see if this country elects a woman president or possibly a black president. Or maybe it's going to be another Republican. I think Huckabee would be good but from what I've read his chances are pretty slim right now. Oh, well, I guess we will see soon enough. I believe the good Lord will take care of the situation and make sure the correct one is put into office.

That's about all the news from here in Ohio. Take care and I will post again soon. Love to all of you!

Terry's birthday

We got together with Terry today for his birthday. He chose to go to Molly Woo's restaurant in Columbus. Bobby, Benita, Robert and Benita's two sons, Jason and Josh also joined us. Happy 28th birthday, Terry!!!!

Happy Saturday

Hello,

I hope everyone is having a nice Saturday. Bob is still sleeping and I've been watching some home improvement shows I had taped and also my soaps. I used to watch 4 different soap Operas but years ago I decided that was way too many so I quit watching all of them but one. For some reason I can't give this one up. I've been watching it since 1979 and I just love it. Right now it's going through a slump which most soaps go through on occasion but it's still really good. I will probably continue watching it until it's cancelled which I really don't see that happening.

My day started out this morning with a plumbing issue. We have a RO unit (Reverse Osmosis) which provides us with filtered drinking water. The unit is under our kitchen sink and the faucet for the drinking water is next to the sprayer on the sink. When I went into the kitchen this morning it was running and water was leaking from it under the sink. I can't figure out what the problem is but I did shut the water off to the unit and I'm waiting for Bob to get up so he can check it out for me. If he's not able to fix it then I guess we will be calling in a plumber on Monday. I guess this is just one of the things we have to go through in life.

Well, I am going to go. I'm starting to get hungry. I hope everyone has a nice weekend and I will post again soon. Take care.

Glad to be back home

Hi everyone,

It's so good to be back home. I really enjoyed my trip to TN and it was good to see Dad, Joy, Charlie, Robbie, Brandy, Ariel and Ben. Dad, Charlie and Robbie spent a couple days working on dad's disappearing fountain, which is going to look great once it's completed. Thankfully, they had great weather to work in. Joy, Brandy and I were able to visit with each other and work on some things in the house. On Saturday. we all went to Johnny & Chris' for dinner. Maria, Mike and Virginia were also there, so it was great to be able to see everyone. Also, thanks Chris for a great lunch.

After we left Johnny's we went to the cementary for a few minutes. We put a beautiful bouquet of flowers on moms grave. Thanks, Brandy for arranging the bouquet. We all know how much mom loved roses so the arrangement was red roses and white carnations. Since Valentines Day is this month it also seemed fitting to have the flowers to be red and white.

From the cemetary we headed to the airport so I could catch my flight back to Columbus. I am just thrilled that Skybus chose Columbus as their main hub and that they added Chattanooga as one of their stops. It's great that I can fly to dad's in 1 hour 10 minutes compared to 8 hours if I drive. The fares are also very low which is a great bonus.

I hope everyone is doing good. For those who are waiting for me to reply to their emails I will do that as soon as I can. I am trying to get caught up on everything. Take care and I will post again soon.

It's snowing.......

Hello,

We woke up this morning to about 3 inches of snow and the weather man says we could get up to 6 more inches today. Didn't Buckeye Chuck say spring was on the way??? I do love the snow but it's just bad timing. I am flying to my dads tomorrow and I need there to be good weather for our flight. So anyway, I bundled up this morning, went outside and shoveled our driveway so that way if we do get a lot more snow it will be easier to shovel again later on. I try to keep our driveway and porch clear so there will be less chance of someone falling and also less tracking in the house.

Like I mentioned earlier I am flying to Chattanooga tomorrow afternoon to visit with dad for a few days. That is if the weather cooperates and the flights aren't cancelled. I will be flying back home Saturday evening. Please keep me in your prayers that we have a safe flight.

I have a ton of things to do to get ready for my trip so I had better get busy. Take care and I will talk to everyone in a few days.

I hope everyone is having a good day. We woke up to a lot of ice on the roads and a dusting of snow. We have gone from 60 degrees yesterday to 30 degrees today. Please continue to keep the people in TN and AR in your prayers. I did talk to a couple friends of mine in AR yesterday and thankfully they are fine but there was a lot of people who weren't as lucky.

I went to our local mall this morning and did some window shopping. At some point I would like to change my bedroom curtains and bed coverings. I came across a couple I like but I haven't made up my mind yet. Our mall was sold about 6 months ago and it's always fun to go by and see what new changes they have made. We are supposed to be getting some new stores but they won't tell us yet what they are. It's all so exciting.....

Everyone take care and I will update again soon.



THIS WILL MAKE YOU STOP AND THINK!!!

CELL PHONE vs. BIBLE

I wonder what would happen if we treated our Bible like we treat our cell phone?
What if we carried it around in our purses or pockets?
What if we flipped through it several time a day?
What if we turned back to go get it if we forgot it?
What if we used it to receive messages from the text?
What if we treated it like we couldn't live without it?
What if we gave it to Kids as gifts?
What if we used it when we traveled?
What if we used it in case of emergency?
This is something to make you go....hmm...where is my Bible?

Oh, and one more thing. Unlike our cell phone,we don't have to worry about our Bible being disconnected because Jesus already paid the bill. Makes you stop and think ,where are my priorities? And no dropped calls!

Happy, Happy Monday

Hello,
I hope everyone is doing well today. To all you Superbowl fans I hope you were cheering for the NY Giants. What a great game it was!!! Bob and I were glued to our seats clear up to the end. Terry, I know you are happy with the outcome. Don't you wish now you would have placed a bet???? Just kidding.... There were a few good commercials also. If you missed any of the commericals you can go to www.myspace.com/superbowlads and catch any you missed.

My blood work results came back and all is very good. I don't eat the correct foods like I should to control my cholesterol so I'm lucky that the medication I am on keeps my numbers on track. My hair feels so much better since I got it cut last week. Thanks, Joann!! It definitely looks healthier with the dead ends cut off.

We have a town celebrity that makes an appearance once a year and Saturday morning was his moment. Drum roll please..dadadada....
BUCKEYE CHUCK!!!!! He is the official groundhog for the state of Ohio. People come from near and far to see what Buckeye Chuck has to say. We have a local TV station that sets up a stage and the owner of Buckeye Chuck brings him out of his burrow to predict whether or not we are going to have 6 more weeks of winter. Marion feels pretty important on that day because we draw in TV stations from Columbus and other surrounding cities. The citizens that decide to join in the fun are there before sunrise and once Chuck makes his prediction then they serve coffee, tea and Spam sandwiches. Yes, I did say SPAM sandwiches!!!! Not sure of the reason for that but I guess it's been a tradition for years. I'm not a Spam lover so I think I would have to pass on that part. But anyway, Chuck predicted we are going to have a early spring but his competition Penxsutawny Phil said we are going to have 6-weeks of bad weather. So I guess we will have to see who ends up being correct.

Bob and I went to a Ducks Unlimited dinner Saturday evening. There are a lot of duck hunters out there. The place was packed. The meal was very good and they had a silent and live auction. You could also buy tickets for different raffled items. We didn't bid on any of the auctioned items but we did buy a few raffle tickets. Bob won a shirt and hat. We got a set of Ducks Unlimited coffee cups and on each table was a centerpiece with a duck decoy on it and I won that. It was a nice way to spend a Saturday evening.

Well, that's about all the happenings up here. I hope everyone has a nice week. Take care.

It's cold....Brrrrrrrr

Hello,
I hope everyone is doing fine. We are pretty cold up here. This morning the windchill was 6 below zero. The wind was blowing at speeds from 20 to gust of 60 mph. During the night last night it sounded at times like the whole house was going to fall apart. They did predict 1 - 2 inches of snow but we didn't get any at all.

I had to go this morning to get my blood drawn for my cholesterol check. My doctor has me to get it checked every 6 months. So far my numbers are usually pretty good and I'm sure the medication I'm on has a lot to do with that. My doctor hasn't called me yet with today's results. I should hear from her tomorrow.

I'm so excited about getting my hair cut tomorrow. It's been several months since I've had it cut and it's way too long. I'm too scared to get it cut short so usually I don't go above my shoulders but I do like having layers because it makes my hair appear thicker and have more body. To my horror, a few gray hairs have started appearing.... of course each one is named either Bob or Terry!!! But one thing I think is so funny is Bob has more gray hair than I do and he is younger than me....hahahahahaha!!!

That's about all that is happening up here. Take care and I will update again soon.

Hello to everyone

It's another cold, brisk day in Ohio. We've had about 1 inch of snow on the ground for the past week. The temperature has been staying in the teens to the low 20's. I know a lot of people don't care for the cold but I just love it. I think I love it even more since I have started into these hot flashes. Boy, are they miserable sometimes but thankfully they don't last for long.

As most of you know Bob was in NC on business last week and thankfully he made it home safely. We enjoyed having a nice quiet weekend together. I was so excited to show him the room I painted in our basement. He was blown away at how nice it looks. He was also surprised that as many times as we talked while he was away I never said a word to him about what I was doing. Believe me it was so hard not to tell him what I was up to. But it was also kind of fun to keep it quiet too!!!

I have a lot of errands to run today. My cabinets are getting pretty bare so I guess I had better make a trip to Meijer's and Wal-mart. Both are having some great sales this week. I need to go to the library also to return a few books I have checked out. Maria, I think I will check out the Patterson book you were talking about. Let me know what you think about it also.

Well, that's about all that is happening up here in Buckeye land. I hope everyone has a good day. Take care.

Hi there!

It's another Monday morning and up here in Ohio it is very, very cold. Right now it's 12 degrees outside..brrr!! I hope everyone had a nice weekend. Bob and Terry went hunting Saturday morning for the last time of the season. They seen a couple ducks but I guess it was just too cold for the ducks to be out flying around. The lake had a thin sheet of ice on it so the ducks were not able to land in the water. The decoys that Bob and Terry set out weren't moving well because of the ice so they weren't able to outsmart them ducks!! Oh well, I do know they had a fun season of hunting. Now they have to totally disassemble the blind by March 01. It had better warm up if they want any help from me!!!

I put some pictures of the duck blind and other photo's on myspace site. If you have a chance go check them out.

Bob and I get season tickets every year to the Columbus Destroyer arena football team and this past Thursday we had to go to a open house at the arena in Columbus to decide if we wanted to change our seats that we had last year. We didn't really have any plans of changing but when we got there we found a great section up in the area of the box seats that are called "Terrace Seats." It's a half moon shaped table with 4 chairs that's up next to the railing. They are great... We are so excited to be able to get these. We were lucky because there was only one left. The view of the field is great and with these seats also comes a buffet, waitress staff and tons of moving room. There is also a small TV on the table with 33 cable channels. So you can watch the game and also watch TV at the same time. Too cool.....

Bob leaves tomorrow for Charlotte, NC on business. He will be gone until Friday. I do miss him when he's away on business but this week I have a lot of work planned so I am going to be staying pretty busy. There's a room in our basement I plan on painting and I also have some volunteer work planned up at my church. I also have Shrek the Third to watch. I just love those movies...

I hope everyone has a nice day. Take care and I will talk to you again soon.

Good morning to all,



I hope everyone had a nice weekend. Bob and I have been so busy the past several weeks that we decided we weren't going to plan anything this past weekend. It was nice to just lounge around and only do what we wanted to do. Sometimes you need time like that just to recharge.



I have a lot of running around planned today like grocery store, bank, post office, etc. My plan was to do all of these things yesterday but I got too involved in cleaning house and washing clothes and the next thing I knew the day was gone.



Have a nice day and I will update again soon.

My Beginning Trail

Hello Everyone,
I thought since there are several people in my family who have blogs, I would also give one a try. So here it goes.....

Since this is my first time at having a blog I would very much like some feedback from all you veterans out there. All of you have such nice looking sites with personal pictures, different designs and colors. At some point I hope to have all of that but right now my goal is just to be able to create a post and get it on the site for everyone to read without losing it along the way! I guess time will tell whether or not I am able to accomplish that.

All is well, here in Ohio. We had a warm front to come through a few days ago that brought in Spring like weather but it has since passed by and now it is cold again. Bob is loving the colder weather for hunting. He and Terry have gone duck hunting several times already. Myself, I stay home where it's warm and let them trudge out in the woods and the cold. But they seem to be enjoying themselves. I do provide a nice warm meal for them when they get back along with a listening ear to all of their hunting tales.

I hope all is well with everyone and I will do my best to post often. Take care and I hope you come back to visit me soon.