A Year of Change

We’ve been sleeping with the windows wide open and it’s been cool at night making for some good sleep. It’ll be 80 plus in a few days and probably stay that way for the next 3 or 4 months so we’re trying to enjoy it while we can.

Both boys made it to school and had a good day. We’re going to see if the doctor will release the big guy for baseball tonight. Not sure if she will or not and the league requires a note before he can come back.

Mom walked the kids to school yesterday and then I picked her up so she didn’t have to walk home. She went to the office for a few hours while I was at therapy. My knee sure swelled up yesterday so I had to take it easy and ice it later in the day.

The big event of the day was Aunt Ali taking the oldest guy to the book store. Mom was cooking dinner and I was icing and we called her and she jumped right up and was out the door on the way to pick him up. Not only did she take him there for his new book, she also bought the youngest guy a small stuffed animal so he didn’t feel left out! She wins the Aunt of the Year award! WOW!

The news of course just won’t let the Oklahoma tornados go. They’ve all sent anchors there and it seems like they’re hoping for the death count to rise. Now they’re showing pictures of actual kids who perished all for ratings but they act like they really care. Amazing that none of them can figure out that we, the people, don’t really want to see that sort of thing. Typical media, they just push and push any tragedy over and over. It must sell otherwise they wouldn’t run it I guess.

The Pres must be loving it as it’s a distraction from all the trouble he’s in. Today an I R S offical will take the 5th, meaning she’ll refuse to talk, nice, really really nice. And of course our Pres says he knew nothing about it even though his Chief of Staff, White House Counsel, and countless others now did (it was just discovered). He though says he didn’t know, right. If he didn’t know, he should fire his entire staff for not telling him and we should fire him for being so out of the loop. Have you noticed the trend, when there’s good news, he takes the credit but when there’s bad news, he plays dumb! How’s that for our Commander in Chief, pretty pitiful if you ask me and thankfully the majority of Americans think so too. Looks like the shine is finally coming off the golden goose.

So aren’t you glad I’m back to set you all straight. One more and this is a real laugher, Anthony Weiner, the disgraced fired NY congressman who texted photos of well, his “weiner” to under aged women, while married, announced his candidacy for Mayor of New York! And his wife is in a video with him supporting him! Are you freaking kidding me, what the hell has happened to our country. He’ll probably win!

Time to run, that’s plenty for you all to chew on for the day. I think we should all move to Wyoming and run for office and make our own little country, just kidding but it’a almost that bad.

Hope Pa Don is doing better, I think they moved him to a rehab kind of nursing home yesterday where they have a wound specialist that can help his leg. Dixie has now taken charge and no longer listens to what the doctors say, and is now thinking on her own and questioning them. She learned this the hard way as they really jerked him around and almost killed him. Good for her, Don and all of us are lucky to have her. As I said before, just because a guy has a title (doctor, lawyer, dentist,whatever) doesn’t mean he’s qualified. (like the title President!)

Time to run as we all slept in until 6:30. Have a great day, buy some extra food, guns and ammo and physical gold and silver! (I could go on but think I’ll ease you all back into it, ha ha)

God Bless

I remember my Mom and Dad taking us to a musical dinner theater production of Oklahoma when we were kids (remember Uncle T and Aunt Robi). When they sang the theme song Oklahoma the words were something like… Okkklahoma, where the wind comes rushing down the plains…… and I guess whoever wrote the song knew what they were talking about. How devastating yesterdays storms were and they’re supposed to get more today which will be true if they get our weather which is pretty much expected. Thankfully Aunt Myrna is ok as the misses saw her on Facebook this morning.

Here its like a hospital. My knee is getting better but I’m still sore, the misses neck hurts, although she doesn’t really complain, the oldest was nauseous and his head hurt at school so he came home and the youngest guy had a headache in the morning that kept him home. We’re taking him in tomorrow for a check up including blood work as he’s been hurting for a while.

I have PT this morning at 11 but before have to jump on a c call with the misses and some e commerce firm out of New York. She’s pretty busy every day doing this and that.

The boys kind of cleaned their rooms yesterday and the youngest guy slept for 3 or 4 hours during the middle of the day. I think after 2 consecutive sleep overs, he was worn out from the weekend.

The grass is green as we had a pretty good rainstorm in the afternoon (which is not good for Oklahoma today) and then the sun came out.

Not much else going on but again, after watching the tragedy in Oklahoma, hopefully you appreciate life more. Try to do something nice for someone today, including yourself. Make plans to do something this summer that you always wanted to do but never did, try some new kind of food, read a book you never got around to, take up a new hobby, it’s never too late (Uncle T is taking piano lessons!), let those petty things go and most of all, tell those you love, you love them. Ok, there’s your spirtual lesson for the day. Remember when todays gone, its gone!

Here’s a thought for the day….

47% of our Congress members are millionaires. The craziest part is, they tend to get richer in office. And, that is no coincidence. They get richer in many unsavory ways.

One way is by using private information they obtain in office to make trades in the stock market. And, although they’re not supposed to do that, it’s pretty obvious that they do… Right before the stock market crashed in 2008, many of them invested in instruments that went up in value because the market went down.

…Then, there are earmarks, where Congress people secure federal money, as in your tax dollars, for projects that will benefit them directly. Take Nancy Pelosi. she owns an office building in San Francisco. She secured about $900 million in federal earmarks to build a light rail system that would, surprisingly, stop right by her own building. Once the project is completed, the value of her building could skyrocket 150%.

… Then there’s the revolving door, where members of Congress agree to do the bidding of lobbyists and corporations while they’re in office. In exchange, they get big fat salaries at jobs when they get out of Congress.

79% of members  of Congress who have left office since 1998 have gone to work as lobbyists.

The bottom line is, Americans, almost half of your Congress people are millionaires and many of them got that rich by using their powers in office.

Do you really think they’re there to represent you? Or to gain wealth for themselves?

Take care and God Bless.

Due to the Memorial Day holiday coming up, today is the kids last Monday of the school year! I’m sure the week will go fast as they all do these days. It’ll be 1 week tomorrow since my surgery meaning I have only another week until I can lose these frickin socks. My leg or knee hurt last night which is probably because I didn’t take a pill. I also probably did too much.

The day started with the oldest and I going to his baseball game. Some of the mom’s told him he was a hero and the dad’s too said he did a great thing in standing up for his classmates. We lasted until the 4th inning before my leg was aching. Then it was off to home where the boys played for the rest of the day. The sun was so hot I burned my arms sitting there watching the game as we didn’t have sunscreen with us. It was hard for Jag to watch and not play. Oh yeah, the youngest walked into a metal pole with his head down at the park when they were playing. He has quite the goose egg on his forehead.

Mom went to the nursery for some plant pots and was gone for what seemed like hours. She also went to register both boys for swim team which cost a small fortune these days. My neighbor and I turned on our sprinklers and he informed me that our neighborhoods watering days are Thursday and Sundays but only after 7pm. Looks like our grass will be brown before you know it with those restrictions.

Here’s a comment from Annette,

Annette says:

We keep forgetting to tell you about the other night (no one repeat this) when the oldest was melting down. He was upset over something and out of nowhere, he told Mom it was all her fault that he, and I quote, “can’t eat sweets, can’t have a bunny, can’t have a cat, can’t have a hamster, can’t eat cake” and on and on. His logic was that anything he’s allergic to was given to him by his Mom when he was in the womb! Of course we didn’t have the proper reaction as we both laughed which pissed him off more. It was just funny that he went this far back to blame Mom for his current meltdown.

Ok, yesterday we, or should I say the misses, did a little yard work while the youngest, you guessed it, wrapped up his morning playdate before heading to his friends house to continue the playathon. When he arrived home he went straight over to his other friends house across the street who, you guessed it, ended up spending the night with us! The oldest helped Mom and I clean up the house in the morning and then sometime during the day, went down to the little park (as opposed to the big park) to play. Later in the day the youngest came home soaking wet as he jumped in the creek to save his friend who fell in. Turns out his friend Matthew really didn’t need help but pretended to by calling for help. After Ty jumped in up to his neck, Matthew said to the misses (who just happened to have walked down) and I quote, “you have to admit, it was pretty funny” referring to our guy jumping in. Needless to say, Mom didn’t think  it was very funny at all and scolded Matthew and will be calling his parents today. He said to the misses, “you’re not going to call the cops are you?” I’m not sure what she said but at 9 years old, that would be a concern, ha ha.

I’m still limping around a little but my knee seems to be doing fine. My incisions look good with no oozing or anything. It does swell up after too much activity but I’m making good progress daily.

Today the oldest and I will head to his baseball game to support his team even though he can’t play. The doctor is firm about making him stay out a week but we’ll lobby hard for the Wednesday game as that’s a week from the day of the incident. There’s only 6 1/2 days of school left, hard to believe. Today Mom has to register both boys for swim team.

Pa Don is still in the hospital as far as we know. Dix has to find him some out patient care to help him recover when they let him out. We hope he’ll be ok.

Time to run, Ty and Ben are up but Jag is still sleeping. We’re watching the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremonies which brings back memories and reminds you just how old you really are! I know you know this but enjoy every moment, every day, as when it’s gone, it’s gone!

Take care and God Bless,

Good morning….the Mr. and I have been up since the demanding lab started barking at 5:00a.m.  I told her to go back to bed, but they only lasted 10 minutes.  I fed her some extra food at 9:30p.m. in hopes that she would not wake us this morning.  Bad dog.  The Mr. is ready to put her up for adoption, ha ha.

The big dog didn’t make a peep, but he is trying to climb up on the couch with us now and talking dog talk(growl, rowl, rowl)to us…he really wants to be on the couch.

The Mr. did too much yesterday…after the P.T. told him he could drive, he drove himself to the store to buy healthful fish for dinner, and comfort cookies for the boys. Carrying the groceries in wasn’t part of his therapy and his knee was very swollen by the time I got home from driving the 5th graders to 4 schools and a park. I have high hopes that he will stay put today with ice on his knee while the continual motion machine helps in his recovery.  Easier said than done when our house is disheveled. Thank God for James (who used to take care of his dad) for taking the Mr to PT as it would have slowed down his recovery if he didn’t make it!

The Tinikling Team had a blast at all of the schools they performed for.  I’m not sure if their teachers are trying to get Tinikling to catch on at more schools, but the audience was quite receptive at each of the schools.  The kids had many questions at the end of each performance which the team members were more than excited to answer.  I put a link to one of the videos at the bottom of the post…hopefully you will be able to view it.

The youngest brought a friend home to play after school and the oldest had a tiny bit of down time before the Musical Performance.  I grilled the healthful fish…halibut for dinner and both boys were MIA.  The youngest was across the street playing with Ben(his after school friend had gone home)and the oldest was chilling out, and not hungry…he had a huge late lunch at the park.

The oldest looked handsome as ever wearing his suit to the Musical Performance.  We have already gotten our monies worth out of the suit.  This is the third time he’s worn it in 10 days.

The performance was compiled from four different school bands.  Ours is by far the best, of course.  The oldest was really miffed that the other schools couldn’t hold the beat or the count.  I heard that from quite a few kids from our school.  I wish the performance was only our school…I hear from other parents that our kiddos are quite amazing.  I think I’ll crash the class on Tuesday.

Anyway, the oldest had a great time.  I thought for a minute that he might fall asleep in his chair, but he rallied and made it through.  The youngest called during the performance to tell me how upset he was that we left without him.  When I apologized for leaving him at home he asked if Jack could come over for a sleepover.  Jack was sitting behind me with his mom…You guessed it…Jack came home with us for a sleepover.  The boys are thankfully still sleeping…All three of them.

It’s time for me to make breakfast for the Mr.  I hope the video works.  The video is just a clip and not of the most challenging of the dances.  It will give you an idea of how much hard work goes into memorizing all the different steps that the P.E. teacher choreographed.

Have a lovely day…our prayers are with Grandpa Don.  He is back in the hospital and not doing as well as we would like.

God Bless

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Here’s two comments,

1. robi says:

   May 16, 2013 at 4:31 pm

   YEA JAG – I have no tolerance for bullying! If there is a next time do as Grandma always told Billy – 1 punch straight to the nose! Hope the knee is on the mend mister.

   Reply
2. Annette says:

   May 16, 2013 at 4:37 pm

   Tell the oldest that I’m really proud of him. Sounds like the security at that place is a little lacking. What are you going to do with yourself all alone. I’m sure the dogs will be glad to keep you company and lay under your feet or legs or next to you anywhere you happen to be sitting. Take care you guys and no more injuries.

   The oldest ended up going to the doctor yesterday after lunch where we were told to keep him out of sports for a week or so. His headache is gone so we’re going to lobby for him to play baseball starting Sunday as he has 3 games in 4 days and the team needs him. He has his tinikiling performances today at 4 different schools. Mom of course, is one of the drivers.

   Her event went well with 20 or so out of the 37 expected showing up. I guess it was a success. Meanwhile I had PT and had enough range of motion to ride the stationary bike for 8 minutes. My leg was tight for the first few minutes but then loosened up. I have a pretty (as in qualified) good little girl who is my therapist. I think her name is Daniella. I’m back down there at 9:30 am this morning. The misses is washing my stinky compression socks right now, they’re the white knee highs you have to wear for two freakin weeks to avoid blood clots. No one told me about this before surgery!

   The misses sure looked beautiful yesterday in her yellow dress that we bought for Kristin’s wedding in Hawaii probably 8 years ago. She had a busy busy day going downtown and then rushing home to take the oldest to the doc before running back downtown for her event from 5 to 7. They say our guy has a concussion although I don’t know how they tell. He had all kinds of balance tests and stuff. I think he’ll be fine and he has his music performance tonight at 7:30 so he’ll miss tonights game anyhow. They’re worried about him getting hit in the head with a baseball but like I said, we’re going to ask if he can start playing this Sunday.

   Everyone but me is leaving around 7:45 so I’ll need to shower and get ready for Uncle T to take me to PT, thanks in advance! Whoops, Uncle T just called and said he can’t take me as his cleaning people and yard guys are coming, soooooo, if anyone’s around that can drive me, give me a call! I guess he got the time mixed up as he thought it was at 1. Maybe I’ll have to try to drive myself, we’ll see.

   Time to run, take care and God Bless, p.s. you know who sure is having a bad week!

here’s a comment from yesterday,

Annette says:

First off, here’s a couple comments,

1. Annette says:

   May 14, 2013 at 2:40 pm

   And you wonder why we don’t trust our government! Maybe the press will head back to the middle, wouldn’t that be nice.

   Reply
2. Robi says:

   May 14, 2013 at 4:19 pm

   Hope all went well with your knee! I had the same thing done about 12 years ago. The worst part was physical therapy but I guess it is necessary. I knew you couldn’t stay away from the blog for long – hehe!

   I hope so Annette, this is the first time that mainstream media is reporting on these scandals. Yet I can’t believe even last night Harry Reid goes on tv to perpetuate the lies told earlier by the Pres saying Benghazi is a side show, these guys must think everyone will believe anything they say, even though facts stating otherwise are staring them in the face. Wow, it shows just how delusional these politicians are.

   And yes Aunt Robi, I’m back on the blog but not like before. The misses just needs a break. Besides I’m sure you all enjoy her posts (she uses pictures) more anyhow.

   My surgery went well, I woke up a bit after 11:30 and we left around 12:45 for the 90 minute drive home. The rest of the day was spent on the couch with my leg in a motion machine and another machine that pumps cold water around my knee. The worse thing is I have to wear these knee high white compression socks for 2 weeks! It’s so you don’t get blood clots they say. Anyhow I guess that’s not too bad compared to the misses job which is waiting on me hand and foot, or should I say, hand and knee for the next week at least!

   Today I have physical therapy where I’ll start riding a bike and doing other exercises right away. They get you going right away so no scar tissue develops. I also have to go tomorrow and Friday but will need to get drivers as the misses has her big event tomorrow and is driving the kids tinikiling team all day Friday to different schools for performances. Uncle T has volunteered (or was roped into it) to take me Friday and I think the misses is asking her friend Andrea to take me tomorrow.

   Neither of us slept last night. They tried to give me 2 pain pills when I left but I said I was doing ok but they convinced me to take one. When I arrived home at 4 I took another and that was it. They wired me keeping me up until midnight but at least I got to watch Leno skewer Obama on tv. He and Harry Reid might stand up there and say it’s all the republicans fault but the whole country is laughing at them and obviously (finally) doesn’t believe their lies anymore. I’m sure there’s a few die hard Obama lovers who can still somehow justify them lying to Congress, using the I R S as a political weapon and stealing the presses phone records but the majority of the American people no longer believe them. I think it’s the I R S one that finally turned everyone as no one really likes or trusts them.

   Oh well, I’m sure some of you wish the misses wrote the blog but she’s making breakfast and taking the oldest guy to school at 7. I need to figure out how to shower this morning as I can’t get my knee wet. They’ll change the dressing at PT but that’s at 1pm.

   My doc says I have great knees but had a lot of scar tissue, probably from weight lifting and years of activity, and a tear that was flapping or clicking every time I bent my knee. The say you get what you pay for and that sure seems to be true. In Vail, my nurses, anestheologist (who’s now a friend and wine client), and surgeon were all really great. Yes I could have gone to someone down here but if I’m paying the same out of pocket, for anyone in the family’s medical care, I’m getting us the best doctors I can find. We did this with the misses neck, the oldest guys elbow and my knee and I’m glad I did. Just because a guy has doctor or lawyer after his name doesn’t mean he’s any good! Remember that!

   So take care and God Bless and in lieu of flowers, you can send the misses chocolate for taking care of me, ha ha.

I check in at 8:30 and hopefully will be out around 10 or so after 45 minutes of surgery for a chrondoplasty which is where the smooth off cartilige on my right knee. We need to drop the kids at 7 at school and head up the hill. I can’t have food or drink although I’m calling to see if I can have coffee in a few minutes. Not a good week for the misses to do everything as she’s super busy at work and I have therapy Wednesday and Friday. I think Uncle T will take me on Friday as the misses is not around.

Here’s a comment,

Annette says:

Ah…the countdown begins.  The kiddos have only twelve days of school left in the year, and I don’t have a plan for their vacation yet.  I believe the school offers a summer reading program and I always get the “Bridge Books”…workbooks so the kids don’t feel the impact of what is called the “Summer Slide.”  The Summer Slide is what happens when the kids don’t practice what they learned during the school year over the sumer…they “Slide” backward and have to relearn things at the start of the year.  I have them do the workbooks just to keep some structure in an otherwise free and lazy summer.

Yesterday was a nice Mother’s Day.  The oldest and the Mr. went to the neighborhood nursery  and bought Grandma two more geraniums…this time they were Giant.  I’ll take pictures and post them tomorrow.

The youngest brought me breakfast in bed.  My delicious breakfast consisted of, Gorilla Munch cereal, four organic oreo  cookies, four tortilla chips(the chips and cookies were staggered to make a lovely pattern) and a non-alcohol ginger beer. Yum?

The youngest and I took a short walk together while the Mr. and oldest were off running errands.

We all went up to Evergreen for Mother’s Day Brunch.  Uncle T., Auntie B., Gandma and the four of us.  We had a nice time visiting and eating too much.

After that we ran home, changed clothes and went to Grandma’s  to plant 13 gallon size geraniums and the two giants.  The planting went very fast with the help of my three men and her yard looks amazing!

After planting we stopped by the nursery one more time to pick up a couple of blueberry plants and three small geraniums for our house.  I planted in the front yard and the boys shot their bows and arrows in the backyard.  I still need to find new pots for my front porch that are tall and black…not so easy to find.

We had a nice mothers day and the countdown to summer begins, God Bless