Grandaddy Joe

   I received a call today from Grandma Cat. She told me,"Well, your dad has something to tell you"
My reply was, "Dad, what have you blown up now?" "Nothing he replied, just a little fender bender.
Mom is in the background shouting, "Tell her the rest".
  Yes, it WAS a little fender bender. He just drove his little S-10 pickup under the bumper of a SUV.
It damaged his hood, radiator, fender, and I don't know what else. It just messed up the other man's bumper. But, there was drama.  The other man got out complaining of back pain. There were 3 or 4
police cars there, a fire truck (you know how dad loves a firetruck), and the ambulance. Yes, ALL the other passengers were transported by ambulance to the hospital (2 adults, 2 children in car seats).
   Dad had to have the little truck carried home. He's going to repair it himself.
   I had just told him yesterday I didn't like him driving to Virginia to go to the doctor by himself. I always thought if he got in a wreck it would be there. But no, it was on the same road he travel every day.
   Don't call and ask him about it. Just wait and see if he mentions it to you. That's about all the drama for today!

Thought for the Day

Nothing new to report.

THE END.

Second Day of School

"Zoom In"

    I got up early this morning, just to see this...... three little babes waiting for the bus. Well, only two can actually get ON the bus. Izzy just stands by to wish them well. Lauren heard me banging

on the sliding glass door in my dining room. I finally moved the stick, so I could open the door.

It was fun talking to them before they left for school.                                                                                   

    I talked to Eli last night. He has had some adjustment problems in the past, moving from school to school. This year though he seems to be excited. He has a couple of kids in his class from last year.

I am waiting to hear from Chris. Last night was the first night of his Theater class. I want to hear all about "college life".  "He's a MAN" now, you know. His mom hears those words often!

   Tristen and Nate, hope school isn't as BORING as it started out. Exciting things I'm sure are yet to come. Hey Tristen... any cute guys?

   Have fun at school all you little people........and older ones too! Give me a call and let me know how things are going!

Last of the Summer Vacation

The kids came back from Myrtle Beach with these little folks. I forgot what they named them.

   Today was the first day of school. I had plans to get up early, and watch the kids get on the bus, but
I didn't wake up. My eyes didn't pop open until 7:30 and the bus had already come. Sherrill told me he
was able to see them off, but you know most men, they don't think about a camera. So, I'll have to try again another day.

  Eli started classes today, Isaac started a few weeks ago, and Chris has his first college class tonight. Oh, and FYI, Isaac pooped in the pot. I'm sure that news just made your day.

Kenny, Luke started school, and Catherine started her new preschool and gets to ride the short bus.

I'm so proud of all these "school kids".

Some Good Eating

   There's been some good eating around this place!  Last week while Sherrill and I were in Mt Olive we went by the "pig store" (Piggly Wiggly). I wanted a pineapple cream cheese cake and Sherrill wanted coconut. They sell them whole, and half. So, I was able to get my 1/2, and Sherrill got his 1/2 coconut. He got a little sad and said it reminded him of his mom's coconut cake. He has eaten all of his, but I still have one slice waiting for my bedtime snack.
   We had a great lunch today. Since it has cooled down, I can use my oven more (I hate a hot kitchen). So today was baked chicken, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, and beans. Our bellies are full now. He's out walking Jack, and I am in charge of moving the sprinkler while he is gone. Gotta water that rye grass. The seeds cost too much to let it die.
  It's been a quiet and peaceful day. Sherrill and Jack were able to get a nap without the phone or doorbell ringing. I sat back and watched movies and read. Now that's the life!
  I think the schools here start tomorrow. I will be hearing the air brakes coming down the road.
Do they have air brakes? Whatever they are, they are loud.
  Hope all of you had a great day!

Yard Sale

I got this today at a yard sale. It's for the kids when we ride the horses. Retail price is $49.95. I got mine for $4.00. Yes it's pink and yes even the boy's said they would wear it. Tally-ho!

Seth

We haven't seen Seth in awhile. Kat sent me this picture though.
Remember the "Where's Waldo" game back in the 80's? I guess now it is going to be
"Where's Seth and Meghan".

"In the Clouds"

   I'm getting ready to go "in the clouds".  Different companies have unlimited storage data for your computer files. Amazon offers 5 G for free. Apple has theirs, as well as dropbox, and a bunch of others.
After the "crash of the Mac" I decided I better get a little better "tech savvy". I can take files from my Mac and open them up on my laptop at Kat's house, or anywhere. It connects laptops, desktops, tablets, and phones. This is some cool stuff!
   Today my goal is to get at least 10,000 of my pictures "in the cloud". If I store them with Amazon, they will be just up the road. Amazons servers are in Virginia. I am looking forward to this challenge. I think I can do it all by myself!
  By the way this makes 1700 posts on the blog. Now that's a lot of gossip! Come on now....join in!

Jerrud's and Cindy's Adventure

Just wanted to make sure everyone saw this post about Jerrud's adventure. I had missed it until just now!

What a ride! We started on Friday, the boys on bike and us girls driving truck. During the days the boys kept us busy filling water bottles and preparing food every 45 mins. Average speed for the boys was 20mph and for us girls 15mph. At night the roads were quiet and dark. We saw skunks,deer,fox,coyotoes,peacocks,and wild turkeys. We made it to Gettysburg around 6 in the morning and slept for 2 hours. At this point Jerrud was tired and cold. He went into the race with a head cold and it moved into with chest, so he had to drop out. I am very proud of him for going 225 miles. Our friend continued on and completed the race at 4th place.

Getting ready for Halloween!

   While I was at Sam's the other day I saw these. No, they don't come stacked on each other. They are single.  I bought a purple and orange one. They are pretty big, as cute as can be, and made in CHINA!
I'm getting ready to pull out my Halloween decorations. Let's get this cool weather coming.
  Oh Wendy, your dad seeded the yard with rye yesterday. Do you think it's too early?

NOTHING........to report

I have done NOTHING.
I am doing NOTHING.
I have plans to do NOTHING.
So, what's up with all of you?
If there are no responses, I will assume you too are doing NOTHING!

Luke

Me and Luke were sitting at the table during snack time and he say's
 Luke: How much does it cost to go to the zoo?
Mom: About $50. or so
Luke: So if it cost $50 to get in the zoo, How much does it take to get out.
Mom: ha ha ha ha that's funny So how much does it cost to go to your zoo??
Have you taken your kids this year?

School starts Tomorrow in Tea, SD

Hey Tristen and Nate
Does school start there tomorrow?
Let me know how things go.

Happy Birthday Brooke

Birthday Babe!

Jerrud......on the road again

Cindy just posted this on facebook. Jerrud is in the yellow. He's going to have one sore BUTT!
Oh Cindy, are you following this one in the car?

This is what it is all about......

Welcome to the Highway 212 Gut Check race site. The Gut Check is an endurance race across South Dakota via SD Hwy 212 where riders have 48 hours to make the 412 mile journey from the SD/WY border to the SD/MN border.

The purpose of this event is to raise funds and awareness for the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA). To find out more about the CCFA please visit: www.ccfa.org

Tid Bits

  Just a few little tid bits or updates on what has been going on.
  Grandaddy Joe went to the "burn Doctor" yesterday. Burns have healed up great, and he doesn't have to go back.
   The sherriffs department has had the neighborhood under surveilance. Someone from their department has been staked out in the culdesac by James's house. Don't know who they are looking for.
   James and his family are on vacation at Myrtle Beach. The neighborhod is quiet.
   Travis, Troy, and their wives are on a cruise, and Aunt Debbie has 3 of the kids. Have fun babysitting!
   Oh, oh, the MAC. The Mac is dead. A company in Raleigh (Not the Apple store) were able to move all my pictures and data to an external hard drive. I get to go pick it up SaturdayYeaahhhh! Now, just have to order a new Mac!
   I have 3 sewing projects I am working on. I'm waiting for a sale to go get more fabric.
   Sherrill continues to work alot. The hot weather slows him a little, but at least he is inside this week. He carried an a/c window unit to one house last week to cool the upstairs.
   That's about all for now!

Hey Sis,

This one is for you!

Happy Birthday Joey

Today is Uncle Joey's birthday. This picture waws taken in 1976.
Happy Birthday Little Bro!

Hey Nate.........

Did they let you win money playing Bingo?
Another photo stolen from Facebook.
Kelli B...... where are the pictures of Blake?
Looking good there Nate.

Can you Hula

Luke just bought 3 hula hoops and guess what he can hula hoop with all 3 at the same time. Amazing. I tried and what do you know I'm like the horse picture. Now can you Hula??

Me and the Cake

   A few days ago I decided I wanted something sweet. I get tired of Sherrill's Little Debbie Cakes, and there wasn't a cake mix in the pantry. So off I go to the internet looking for simple cake recipes......since there are only about a thousand of them! I go look in the kitchen for all the ingredients, and I only have ONE stick of margarine, and need to make the cake plus the frosting. Most of the recipes call for butter, but I never use butter. Then I remember, OH CHRISTY sent me some canned butter last year. I pulled out the jar, and yep it was butter, in a pint jar from May 2011. I opened that thing, stuck my finger in it and tasted, Yep, it's butter, I know because I don't like butter.
  I noticed that the cake was requiring almost twice the ingredients that is usually does, like a cup of butter instead of 1/2 cup, 2 cups of sugar, 4 eggs, etc. Well,, when I filled up the cake pans, they were really full.
The cake took longer to cook, and it was a little dense (I should have made 3 or 4 layers). The flavor was GREAT!
  Now for the frosting. I couldn't find a recipe for chocolate butter cream, but I used the other half of that jar of butter, powered sugar, cocoa, and vanilla, and I made me some frosting. And it was some GOOD frosting.
   Needless to say, the cake was gone in 3 or 4 days. We ate cake that first night before we even ate dinner!
That's the part about being old that I like! You can eat what you want, whenever you want to.
  Next time you want to bake a cake, look for Martha Stewart's recipe, and use real butter. If you don't have any, just give Christy a call!
   Thanks Christy for the butter. We gobbled it up REAL fast!

Jack and the Scratch!

 For days Jack has been scratching, licking, chewing,  rubbing, and generally acting CRAZY. He is even getting on Sherrill's nerves. I brushed him out real good, no fleas, but did have reddened areas where he had been scratching as well as some "no hair" areas. He just went to the vet a month or so ago. So....off to Google I go (one of my main sources of information).
   This is what I found:
A dog suffering from allergies may demonstrate one or more of the following:
? Excessive scratching of their body

? Spinning on their bottom (once worms have been ruled out)

? Chewing on their feet

? Rubbing their face on furniture and carpeting

? Recurrent ear infections

? Hair loss
      Jack has ALL of these problems, except the ear infections. Looks like he might be going in for some Prednisone!

Busy, Busy, Busy

     It's just one of those days. Hopefully a day of rest.
  Sherrill went with me to Raleigh yesterday to the Apple Store to pick up Mac. They can't fix it. Then we carried it to another company to TRY to transfer the data off the dead Mac. It will be a few days before we will know if that will even work. I'm still hoping.
  After we got back to Goldsboro we headed to Target. I still had to buy a clock radio, then I think everything will be purchased and I can turn my receipts into the insurance company. I still have to buy another Mac though. I'm still shopping around for prices.
  When we got back home, Sherrill offered to go to Walmart grocery shopping. I was tired, but after I had a quick snack, I was ready to go. Ugh, I HATE Walmart. We filled that cart to the  rim, and then some, and got outta that place. It's hard to keep Sherrill focused on one thing. He goes down the aisle looking for one thing, and comes back with an armload of different stuff. He's like a kid, when he is buying, he selects just one or two items. But, when he knows I am paying the bill, he loads it up! At least he was there to unload it for me! He never complains about the unloading. As for me, I _itch the whole time. Tristen, please overlook the mention of the dirty word.
  Anyway, the cupboards are full, the freezer is full, and I am preparing for a long cold winter. If we could just do away with these 90 degrees temps.
   Have a good day everyone. And, by the way, Isaac is doing great!

Update

   Kat just called. Issac is getting ready to be released from the hospital. This is the first time she has called today.......and it's 2:22! I have gotten a few text from her, and I was really getting worried. My final text to her was "What's going on". I was ready to call the chaplin and have him sent to Isaac's room.
   So, he's being discharged, with a holter monitor. They will go by the heart place tomorrow morning at 11:00 and have the results. His heart is beating a little fast. 
   Hang in there little Isaac! Gabba Gabba is waiting for you.
  

Isaac Update

I forgot to post after Isaac got to his room yesterday. Sorry!  
  Upon his return to his room, they continued to keep him sedated for a few hours. He had to remain still for 6 hours after the procedure. He woke up for a little while and watched his ipad, but became a little restless to they gave him some meds to put him back to sleep. His IV is in his foot.
  I talked to Kat around 11:00 (our time) last night. She was preparing to make a quick dash to the hotel for a shower and return to spend the night (Joe was remaiting at the hosp while she was gone). She is hopeful that they will release him today. I told her I think he needs to stay a few days just to be watched closely.
  I'm waiting to call her this morning. I am anxious to hear how Baby Isaac is doing.
  I promise to post after I talk to her!

Good News....

Kat said they should be moving Isaac to a room soon.
I still haven't spoke to her, but should hear more in a little while.
Whew.......how much longer?!

Another Update

   The cath is over. The valve and stent are in. Have not talked to Kat yet (only text). She did say they traumatized his vein. When you google it, you get stuff like can cause hematomas, aneurysm, and death. It comes from putting a large catheter in a small vein. It can tear it open. I had to get off Google. It was stressing me out!
   Wendy, please see what you can find about this!
   I will know more when I actually get to talk to Kathy. I'll keep you posted.

Isaac Update

Isaac has gone back for his procedure. It may be a couple of hours before we get an update.
Keep on  praying!

Wednesday is the DAY

   Isaac goes in tomorrow for his new heart valve. I forgot the name already. He is the first one, scheduled for 7:30 Las Vegas time. I will be a nervous wreck, as will his parents I'm sure. Joe is in Las Vegas working, so he will be there for the procedure.
   Please say your prayers tonight. This little fella needs some "smooth sailing".  

James McKeel 12/5/1902- 8/3/1980

   Last night Sherrill and I were sitting back talking, and I realized that his dad had died the first week in August. I couldn't remember the date, so I decided to look it up this morning. He has passed away on August 3, 1980. That was 32 years ago. Whew, that's a long time.
  He was such an easy going, laid back kind of person that enjoyed swinging under the shade tree. I think he liked staying outside so much to get away from the women inside.
  We miss you!

Grandma and the Lizard

   Today after lunch Sherrill and Jack went to take a nap, so I decided I'd vacuum the house (trying to get a jump on tomorrow's chores). I get everything done, then head to my room. I am just zooming right on along, and saw a lizard sunning in front of my sliding glass door, inside, on the carpet. "SHERRILL", I yelled at the top of my voice. He jumped out of bed and came to the rescue. There that little lizard was, just sunning himself, he didn't even move. Sherrill asked for something to catch him with. WHAT! Just reach down there and grab him. I handed a pink bandanna I had washed for Meghan. He reached down, covered the lizard and scooped him right up. He carried him outside and released him on the back patio (that's where the lizards like to hang out). He walked away like one of his back legs might have been injured. But, he's alive.
   I have to tell Carter about my hurt lizard. He has been collecting bugs, and I keep telling to release them at night so they can go find their moms. He will be looking real close for my lizard.
  This lizard reminded me of Grandma Cat's lizard story.
   I had carried mom to Florida to see Aunt Louise. I stayed in a hotel, but mom wanted to stay with her sister. The both of them were sleeping in the same bed when mom felt something on her leg. They pulled the cover back and there was a lizard. Mom started screaming, and Aunt Louise just picked up the lizard, threw him against the wall and said, "Go on to bed Cat, he's dead now". Believe me, the next day mom moved in the hotel with me
   I'm just glad this lizard decided to stay on the floor and  not get on the bed.
   Sherrill said he (the lizard) probably came in last week when they were working on the spa. They had left the door open while going in and out.
   I'll be looking extra close before I go to bed tonight!i

More of the McEwan Kids

Catherine and Isaac

Jacob AKA "Big Mac"

Isaac



 

Looks like everyone is having a great time.
Christy and Kat have been going to Yard Sales. You know how much these two girls LOVE a bargain!

Catherine and her snack

Kat just told me she had posted this on facebook, but it didn't show up on my page. Just thought I would share. Catherine can't usually eat alot of regular food due to her allergies, but these seem to be perfect! Oh, Kathy, Eli, Chris, and Isaac are in Utah. They go back to Vegas on Sunday. Then Isaac's heart cath/ valve replacement is on Wednesday.

What did you do today?

   I decided it was about time for me to get back to the grind. I pulled out the sewing machine, went to the garage (my studio) and pulled out some fabric, and started sewing. I had a new pattern I wanted to try out in a small size, so I selected some "kiddie" fabric (chickens and owls) and went to work. By 5:30 I had most of it completed. I still have to put a boarder around it, and put it all together. Not too bad. This is what it looks like.

As you can see, it's not very big, but it will be just right for a child to cuddle up with while watching TV. Once I get that boarder on, just perfect!

Jake

Doesn't it give you the warm and fuzzies knowing Jacob can shoot a gun.