" Country Roads, Take Me Home"

I must admit that I had no idea how today would turn out when I woke up this morning. Katie had her friend spend the night and I was pretty sure that I was going to let her drive her home. I have let her do it once before and she did pretty well.

Kate has only driven about a half a dozen times thus far with her drivers permit. When we left the house I thought, what the heck, we have plenty of time so I was going to let her drive around a bit more. So off we went. " Take a right turn here." I said and off we went.

I thought that I knew where we were going. Really I did. But after going several miles out of town, not seeing anything familiar, I knew that we were lost! Katie's friend was being very quite (for a change) as I secretly was starting to panic. Katie in the mean time was doing great. She was getting much more comfortable with handling my car. In a previous driving session, Katie felt uncomfortable doing 55 M.P.H. , so I told her to drive the speed that was comfortable for her. That was 39M.P.H. in a 55M.P.H. speed zone. But that was fine I told as other cars would pass if they wanted to.


We were in the middle of nowhere. But it was o.k.
We had a full tank of gas, plenty of gum, no map and no bars on any of our cell phones.

Must take deep breaths, I will be fine. Katie was doing fine. After driving for about 40 minutes, my Katie was now doing 55M.P.H.! And she was having a great time. The one thing that I have to consistently remind her of, is that she drifts to the right. There was much improvement today but still too much drifting!

So back to having NO CLUE where we were. There were some roads in which I recognized the names of. At these times I would make her turn on to them in hopes of finding a small town that I recognized. We even passed the sign that read "Devils Prop"! This is an amazing place to go hiking or just sit and enjoy the beauty. But my husband Jake always took us there and all that I knew was that it was far from our home. Yikes!

This is an actual photo of "Devils Prop" which has been around for hundreds of years. Back in the 1800's, young folks from our town would take buggy rides out there. It would take them all day to get there.

So now that Katie and I know the way, I told her we would go this spring and take a picnic lunch and our camera's! But in the meantime we are still lost. We went through two that I know of, possibly three counties.

Finally we came to a tiny town that I remembered driving through many years ago before Katie was born, but couldn't remember geographically, where it was in relation to our town. Katie slowed down through the tiny town when I spotted a nice looking young man. At which time I instructed Katie to CAREFULLY pull over and stop. The nice looking young man was very polite in giving us directions to the highway that we need to get back home.

I heard the angels singing after I thanked him and Katie pulled back out onto the road. We got on the highway and were on our way in the right direction. Finally! Hallelujah! I finally KNEW where we were going. And why don't we have a damn map in this car, is what I asked my husband when we finally did get home. At least I can read a map!

Katie then had to actually drive in traffic of a larger town to a four way stop light in which she had to make a left turn with cars all around her. She did great! And the rest of the TWO hour trip was a piece of cake!

My initial intention was about a 45 min. drive. Oh well, the more practice the better. And thinking back on it now, we did have fun. I think that Katie will be a very good driver. Once she learns to stop drifting!

Just to let you know, I have a fear of getting lost and will have a panic attack when I do. When I was 17 I got very lost with no money, hardly any gas and of coarse no cell phones back then. Or GPS. Not that I have one now! It was in a very bad neighborhood in the southside of Chicago. I did eventually find a street that I knew, but this is why I panic when I get lost now.

When we knew we were lost, Katie said to me "Relax mom, I'm a truck drivers daughter. It's no big deal." Well how about that? Maybe I will be able to relax one day after all!

"A Minute, Hour, Day. A Life"

Wow I guess I am feeling a bit overwhelmed as of late. The last straw being the fact that Kate is having surgery next week. She has never had a surgery before. She seems very "Matter of Fact" about the whole thing while I am secretly hyperventilating!

So just bear with me as I am going to now ramble to release some of the tension and stress that is flowing through my veins as I type this!

O.K. where do I start? I woke up. That's good right? I went and cleaned my peoples house. Did an excellent job. Cleaned and polished all of the kitchen cabinets.

Washed four of the ten ceiling fans. along with all of the regular cleaning. Two bathrooms, three bedrooms, kitchen, living room, dining room, utility room, hallways, floors windows.

Oh crap! That just made me tired!
So than I went to the pharmacy to pick up Kate's prescriptions for after the surgery.
Did I mention that I am a bit nervous about the surgery?
I went home and walked the dogs. I'm hungry now!

Had a small sandwich. Watched my soap. Took a bath. Picked Kate up and went shopping. What a weird experience that was! For some reason, everything that we needed required help in finding. We only bought a few things but had to ask five times where these things were.

We are talking Wal-Mart here people! We know our Wal-Mart! Truly at the moment I feel as though my life is a surrealistic canvas that is just floating by my minds eye.

Oh I forgot to mention that before I picked up Kate, after I cleaned my peoples house, I transplanted ten plants. Yes ten plants on my dining room table. Dirt everywhere.

They were mostly mom's. They needed more room. So here I am.
Right now if you were to ask, " Di, What would you like to be doing and where?".

Here is my daydream as that's all I have right now.
I am in this GIGANTIC hot tub in CANADA with ALL of my blogger friends.

And there is wine involved!

"Surgery? Yes. How Many? Don't know yet."

Today was the day. The day that I took my Katie girl to the Ear, nose and throat doctor to find out why she can't breath very well.

We were there for two hours. Both of our stomachs letting the world know that we had no time to eat before the visit!
I was so hoping that the Doctor would tell us that Katie had a severe infection and would require more antibiotics but unfortunately this wasn't the case.

After a CT scan and poor yet brave Katie having a camera shoved all over up her nose, it was determined that she has two large cysts in her sinuses that are nearly blocking them off.
They AREN'T polyps. Polyps are growths. Cysts are fluid filled. By the way the Doctor did seem impressed that I new the difference! Little did he know that my husband had three nasal polyp surgeries and I have had cyst surgeries.

That's just between you and me, after all I feel that I deserve to feel somewhat intelligent at least occasionally!

So one week from tomorrow my baby, yes she still is my baby, will be having surgery. She will go home the same day. Her nose will be packed but she will have little tubes in them that will allow her to breath.

The Friday of the same week the packing will be removed and she can go back to school the very next Monday. Jeez, does it ever end! I feel awful for her. She appears to be fine with it but she was asking me exactly how he was going to do it.

The procedure didn't sound nearly as complicated as my husbands, yet I am sure that it won't be pleasant. Katie doesn't seem to be nervous, but when my husband asked me if he should come home for that day, Katie said yes.
Katie has never had a surgery and I am a bit uneasy. So we will pray, a lot. And I am sure that it will all go well. After all, people her age heal in about three minutes right?

Surgery, part two.

Ruby

Now here is my Ruby girl. Isn't she lovely? Eileen, I know you can appreciate her beauty!

Ruby has been having issues with her appendix. Well that's not what it's really called, but it is the equivalent to our appendix!

Tomorrow morning I have to take her for x-rays to see what the next step for her will be. She is only three years old and is a very sweet, energetic, loving, spoiled and jealous little dog.

So the drama continues. If you are ever bored please remember that you are always Welcomed to my world!

" Sisters in Faith Award "

I feel bad about not accepting this award sooner. The truth is that I had forgotten about it as there has been so many things going on around this house lately!

One of my closest blogger friends, Eileen @ " Ummas World "
was thoughtful enough to pass this award onto me.

Thank You Eileen! I would award this right back to you if you hadn't already received it.

I think it would be safe to say that we have been through many emotional and spiritual trials together this past year and it has brought us closer together.

I am posting the origin of this award just as Eileen did so that you can understand it's meaning.

Well, I wanted to make sure I understood exactly what this award was all about so I went in search of the creator of this award and I found it was Karinann @ Blessings for the Day. Her blog is beautiful and spiritually enriching.
In her post about this award she wrote:
"For my final post of 2009 here on Blessings, I thought I would celebrate the gift of spiritual sisterhood. God has used this special medium of the blogosphere to bring many of us together who might under the usual circumstances of life, may never have crossed paths.
I am grateful for those who have joined me on my spiritual path.
As 2009 ends and 2010 begins I wanted to say thank you to all of my spiritual sisters who help and encourage me along this journey of faith. To do this, I created this little blog award called The Sisters In Faith Award."As a recipient of this award you are asked to pass it to those who reflect the spirit of this award and the instructions are:

1. Pass this award to sisters who have been blogging with you from the beginning.

2. Include at least one new Sister In Faith.

I loved the idea behind this award as I have made so many great friends from this medium.

Spiritual sisterhood! I love the way that sounds. My very first follower was Marcy @ "Blessings Each Day" and I know that Eileen has already passed this onto her, if she hadn't already, rest assured Marcy that I would have.

So first I am going to choose two followers that have been with me from the beginning and than one new follower whose blog
I am now addicted to!

Weather or not they choose to except the award is totally a personal choice. Either way I just want them to know how much I have appreciated their comments, emails, constant friendship and support!

1. Bernie @ " On My Own"
2. Wanda @ " Moments of Mine "

And my new follower:
Dee @ " One Foot Out of the Box "

And now the most important thank you of all, Thank you Lord for bringing these wonderful people into my world!

" It Seems Like a Long Time "

Well I have to say that it seems like a long time since I've blogged and I've really missed it. I believe that there is an old song sung by Rod Steward that is titled " Seems Like a Long Time ", and that song is what I am hearing as I type this.

As you know Kate and I ave both been sick. Katie is feeling better but still can't breath out of her right nostril so tomorrow is the day we go to see the Ear,Nose and Throat doctor to find out why.



I too have been much better but have acquired a ringing in my left ear for nine days now and it's not going away. I will mention this when we go, to see if I too may need an appointment. Or perhaps it's something that I'll just have to get used to.

I have been very busy this past week catching up on work at home, church and my peoples house that I clean. It was three weeks since I was able to clean their home so I just took my time.

Oh and my wonderful and handsome son had turned me on to a " Netti Pot " when my sinuses were so bad and I could not breath. This was wonderful and made me feel 95% better and completely cleared me up.
I would highly recommend the use of this. I went and brought my son a cinnamon roll and a Mountain Dew as a thank you to him while he was a work!


So yesterday was the first Sunday that I had been back to church since my mom passed away. I have been wanting to go back sooner, but if I would have went last week as sick as I was I probably would have scared people! I took some notes while I was there yesterday. I went alone as Jake had to leave earlier and Kate had spent the night at a friends house.
The following is a bit of what I wrote of my feelings while there.

As I sit here in my church home, the first time since my mother's passing, I can't help but feeling a little sad as she would sometimes come with me. I am sitting by myself feeling empty, lonely and melancholy. I am hoping by sitting through this service to gain some sort of comfort.

Our pastor opened the service by singing with his guitar, " How Great Thou Art ". I found it difficult to hold back the tears as it was both mom's and my favorite hymn. Pastor sang this at her wake.

Our opening hymn was " Lord, Open Now My Heart to Hear " which also seemed quite appropriate. We used " Matins " for the order of service and then heard the readings.

Nehemiah 8:1-3,5-6,8-10
1 Corinthians 12:12-31a
Luke 4:16-30

Our next hymn was " By Grace I'm Saved " in which the sixth verse of the song really tugged at my heart:
By Grace! On this I'll rest while dying; in Jesus promise I rejoice!
For though I know my hearts condition, I also know my saviors voice.
My heart is glad, all grief has flown since I am saved by grace alone.

So by the end of the service I truly did feel happy that I went. And yes I did have people giving their condolences to me but I handled it just fine. I don't think that I could have done as well a month ago.

Jake felt bad that he couldn't be there with me but it was o.k.
I was o.k.

So I guess we could say that I am back in the saddle again! I am taking a day for myself today. I'm not going anywhere. I am going to stay home and do whatever I feel like doing. I may even start baby Jacks quilt again today. I haven't touched it since November and it was supposed to be a Christmas gift.

Life does have a funny way of moving on with or without you. So I guess I'm going to start moving on with it.

" A Very Strange Day "

I really couldn't possibly think of a better title to this post. I tried, but that's the best that I could do.

I have been pretty sick all week. He (the Doctor dude) says it's an upper respiratory/sinus thing. When he looked in my throat he actually said ''Eww!". Nice. Not that I wasn't already feeling like total crap. At least I was able to attain some antibiotics. I have been struggling to breath and every time that I cough my left lung hurts. As I type this all that I can hear really well is an incessant humming in my ears.

I know, we have all felt this horrible from time to time, when all that we can do is helplessly watch the clock tick away waiting for the moment when we start to feel like our self again.

So why am I blogging about not feeling well ? It is because of what I had to do today. Regardless of how horrible I was feeling , I HAD TO DO THIS!

Today was the last day that my son, daughter-in-law, brother and I were to meet at my mother's house to finish packing her belongings and getting the last of the furniture moved. It's been forty-four days since mom passed away.

There was no way that I was going to stay home when I knew there was more of mom's things that I needed , yes , needed around me. We had been there at least four times previously , sorting , picking and packing.

I had taken so many of mom's things. Things that I put out all around my house. Things that I knew she would have wanted me to have. Mom had a lot of things. Everyone took some of mom's things. It was all fairly diplomatic indeed.

The first two weeks after mom's death was overwhelming to say the least. But we made it through. All of the things that we had brought home , I had very slowly and gently unpacked , piece by piece , as if each and every piece were a precious jewel.

Seeing those precious jewels those first few weeks was also very , very hard for me. I found myself wondering if I had done the right thing by putting everything around the house so soon. My husband also questioned my judgment on this as he would catch me holding something or looking at something that would make me cry.

So I would look . And I would hold . And I would read . All of mom's precious jewels . All of the things that were meaningless to others . As the weeks went by these same things that made me cry in pain as my heart felt broken , now gave me much comfort .

So much so that I HAD TO DO THIS today. I didn't think that I would be able to go back there again. But I did . It took me three hours to get myself together breathing heavily from this infection. But I did it. And I am glad that I did. My mind is at peace now . And I found the one photo album that I couldn't find before. The one with my mom , dad and me at Disneyland when I was seven. Mom was going to give it to me but kept forgetting to look for it .

Don't worry now mom , I found it .

"Infections,Permits,and Thrift Shop Finds!"

What a week this was! My husband and I had a whole day alone on
Monday, ya, it was a good day!

But you know , I was starting to feel a little funky. But it was all good.
Despite the strange feeling that was coming over me I decided to drag the husband to the thrift store anyway!

I was so glad that I did! We found some fabulously funky mirrors
that will go perfectly on our living room walls when we paint and redo!

Check this out. Please keep in mind that taking a photo of mirrors
was a bit tricky, so I just hope that you can see the detail!



They are soooo retro-ly beautiful and were only one dollar a piece!

This next find, the husband and I found a few weeks ago. Let me tell you,
he is so looking forward to hanging this very heavy mirror over the fireplace!




Well this should prove to be a fun project! O.K. so now that my throat feels like it's closing up on me, I shall move along! Let's see, where were we?

The husband left on Tuesday and I felt worse! In the meantime, my Katie still cannot breath out of her right nostril. However she is feeling better and here is the news that you've been waiting for...

Drum roll please........

Katie passed her Illinois Drivers Permit Test with 100%!!!!
And now she wants to drive!

My car!



I cannot put into words my feelings about this.
Pride for her and fear for me, I suppose!
This weekend we are going out to my mothers house for hopefully what will be the last time, to pack the rest of her things up.

The town she lived in is the perfect little town to drive around and around in. Not much traffic and a large parking lot. If Katie is good to her mother between now and then, perhaps I will take her driving if I am feeling well enough by then.

I have, so to speak, started holding the car keys over her head as an incentive to get off of her butt and help me more around here.

So far, so good. After all, driving is a privilege, not a right. Especially with my car!




If any one has an old beater out there that they would like to donate, please let me know!




O.K. so Wednesday was bad, I was even sicker. I just laid around all day.
I really wasn't able to do anything else. I did make a doctors appointment for Katie as she had been on antibiotics for several days and her right nostril was still completely blocked. So I called the doctor for an appointment for her.

Thursday was even worse. I had a fever, splitting headache well you name it and I felt it! I picked Katie from school, this in it self proved very interesting as I was extremely dizzy! Whooo!

As we were driving to the doctor, Katie commented on how lousy a job I was doing driving! Ya think! It was all I could do to keep from passing out! She said " Your not doing to good with your braking there mom, I could probably do better than that!", to which I replied
" You are probably right!".

And yes she wanted to drive but she hasn't driven in any traffic yet, so my answer was a firm yet sickly sounding " No "! Like I really wanted to deal with that while I could barely hold my head up!





So into the doctors office we go. The news is not so good. Katie may have a polyp in her right sinus. So we have to go and see an ENT doctor.
We are familiar with them both here in our town as my husband has had two nasal surgeries on polyps himself. He prefers one doctor over the other but the other is gentler, so we will have to take Katie there.

Hopefully, all she has is a severe sinus infection and won't need the surgery. It is not a pleasant thing to go through, it's really awful.

So we need to pray that it's just an infection, as that surgery has a painful and nasty recovery to go through. And I really don't want her to have to go through that.

As for me, I have an upper respiratory/sinus infection. Got my self some antibiotics so I'm good to go. Well not quite but I will be soon I hope.
I am sooo behind on housework, church work and haven't cleaned my people's house in two weeks!

I did warn them that good help was hard to find these days! They don't care, it's just more work for me next week!




And so today when I woke up, I felt much better. However I am still having difficulty breathing well. This is tempting me to get up and do things but I know all to well what a mistake this would be.

I hate sitting around, even when sick. But this hit me hard and fast,
so I will try to be a good girl and give myself one more day to feel even better.

It will however be a challenge.

Wish me luck, will ya?