" The Heat is On "

Oh my is it hot outside ! Today 90's, the next four days, 100's. No rain insight. I can't even remember the last time we had rain.

Katie's surgery went well. Better than the last time. However the surgeon also found a cyst as well as the polyp that he originally spotted. So it's good that we found it early. 

Kate is cranky and not feeling so hot. She is on a mega dose of Augmentin, which in and of itself, speaking from personal experience, makes one feel like crap!!

All in all though she is doing much better. Thank you for your concern and prayers.

I'm very busy these days so I don't know how much I will be around. I was able to get caught up with everyone this morning but with this heat and Kate being down, it's been a bit slow going here if you know what I mean!!

Take care, stay cool and God Bless.

" A Morning Glory Story " Happy Halloween, Kate !

A few of you have expressed some interest in my Morning Glories. As it turns out I actually have a little story about them. It involves Katie Rose.

Katie was always a very serious child. There was a while there that we thought something was wrong with her. She would never smile or laugh. And then one day, her big sister got her to laugh. That was a huge relief but she remains a serious young woman to this day.

My youngest daughter, Katie, has wanted me to do a post about her. Since she will be having surgery on Monday, I thought this would be a good time.

Before I tell this Morning Glory story I have to explain why I am posting Halloween photos of Kate. I went to find a few photos of her when she was younger and closer to the age in which the incident took place.

Katies' first Halloween. She was a Bumble Bee. She is still very serious.

I ended up finding a stack of Halloween photos of her. At first I thought posting Halloween photos would seem silly in June but on second thought, does it really matter? I don't think so.

The Morning Glory incident took place several years ago. It was before I got into gardening. 

Something that Katie never took an interest in and still doesn't. I'm thinking she was about five years old. So that would be about twelve years ago.

Katie as " Dorothy " from " The Wizard of Oz ". I do believe this was the first  dress that her big sister Ginny, made for her in her High school sewing class. Notice that Katie has learned to smile now!!

One day I decided to plant some Morning Glory seeds that I had bought. I thought they were beautiful so I would give it a go.

It took me several years to get gardening down. 

Lots of experimenting!!

You may or may not know that when you plant the Morning Glory seeds, it is suggested that you nick them with a knife or soak them in water overnight. It speeds germination. I chose the latter.

Kate as a Flapper girl, third from the left. Katie was an EXTREMELY shy child. She didn't want to interact  with other children at all. If it wasn't for this Pre-school that we found for her, I don't know what I would have done. The teachers were very good and understanding. She eventually warmed up to other children and made several friends there.

I went out in the yard to plant my soaked seeds. As  I  planted the seeds, the water that they were soaking in turned muddy from my fingers.

I don't like to wear gloves while planting. I need to feel the seeds or roots of the plant in the dirt.

Of coarse my sweet yet serious little Kate was in the yard with me at the time. She was standing just a few feet away from me. Piddling. Yes I said an old word. Most of you know what it means. If not, Google it.

Katie and her big sister, Ginny, who still if she could would  go trick or treating !
This was about the age Katie was when the Morning Glory incident happened.

I had left my little bowl filled with muddy seeds a few feet from where I was weeding and making holes for the seeds.

The bowl was close to Katie.

I turned towards Katie and asked, " Honey, would you hand Mommy that bowl sitting right there?" as I pointed at the bowl.

Katie in her Witches costume. I am very proud of this costume. I leaned to sew on my own with the help of a "Dummies" guide book. This was one of the nicest dresses I made. My Katie is very handy too. She also is blessed with common sense. Except for maybe in this story. But she was just little after all!!

I turned back to what I was doing, waiting for Katie to bring me the seed bowl.

" Here Mommy." Katie said.

Perhaps you can imagine my surprise when Katie handed me an empty bowl. I was puzzled.

I asked, " Katie, what happened to the seeds in the bowl?".

To which Katie replied innocently, " The bowl was full of mud Mommy. I threw it in the dirt." !!!

Throw it in the dirt she did. Of coarse there was no chance of me finding the seeds at this point. It was so cute that I couldn't be angry with her.

But I'll tell you what. Those seeds took. And they grew. They took over the entire fence that year.

The actual Morning Glory plants that Katie " Planted". They still continue to come up  every year.

Those Morning Glories still continue to come up there every year. Some years better than others. It's pretty shady in that area.

Since that year Katie has grown into a wonderful, smart, clever, artistic, funny, moody yet loving young woman. And I suppose she was the one that really got her Mommy loving those Morning Glories. They were particularly beautiful that year.

I guess I would say that my Katie grows as beautiful and wild as the 

Morning Glories.

" The Week That Kinda Sorta, Well... Sucked !"

Last week was pretty nice. I took the week off of my part time jobs. I enjoyed not having to leave the house much. Just do things around here that I wanted to do. Yes, last week was pretty nice.

This week however started out with bad news. 

Katie was going somewhere with the car on Sunday. I don't remember where right now and it doesn't really matter.

Jake just so happened to be standing in the driveway, facing the car, when he noticed something on the tire. He stopped Katie and upon closer examination, noticed that the steel belts were popping through both front tires all the way around the tires.

These tires were only fourteen months old. I don't even put 10,000 miles a year on my car.

Of course being that it was a Sunday, I couldn't do anything about it until Monday after Jake would be gone to work.

When I did take the car in I had to buy two new tires even though the tires were still under warranty. And that is because way back last winter when Katie had a flat tire after accidentally driving in a ditch, the tie-rod got bent when she backed out of the ditch.

So the part was ordered and I returned on Wednesday to have it replaced and the car aligned. The good news is the car rides like new once again. Bad news, it costs about $500.00 in repair work.

I don't blame Katie, Hell I may have tried backing out of the ditch myself. I actually did this once with our pick-up. But that's another story for another day.

Yesterday Katie had a routine doctor's visit with her ENT. Katie has to have her ears cleaned out every six months or so as she has eczema in her ears.

She also has had surgery in the past for nasal cysts and polyps.

  

She's been stuffy for a month. She's a bit paranoid about this. I can't blame her. She takes allergy medications regularly.

The news wasn't good. We both were fearing the worst. The ENT found another polyp. Oh my poor Katie. Her mood changed instantly. So did mine.

The surgery is scheduled for June 25th. The good news is that we caught it early and this surgery will be much less invasive than the last one. No packing! That made her a bit more relieved.

She had a horrible migraine for a week after the last surgery. The doctor assured us that should not be the case this time.

When we came home, all Kate wanted to do was take a nap. But not before telling me that the day after the surgery she wants Biscuits and Gravy, Ice Cream and mom's homemade Chicken with homemade noodles.

I'll be doing some cooking that day. I am grateful that I don't know how to make homemade Ice Cream. Please do not send me recipes or directions!!

So I guess that's life. You get a good week and you get a bad week. We'll muddle through.

Keep the Faith and keep on goin'.

I hope you all had a GOOD week!!

" Pet Peeves "

1. The lack of manners and the growth of rudeness in the world today.


Oh how I miss hearing "Excuse me". Am I the only one that remembers these words?


2. When people meet up with someone they know at the store and block the entire isle to talk.


I often run into people that I know at the store and immediately push my cart as far to the side as possible. It's not that difficult!


3. I absolutely detest when one doesn't own up to a mistake they've made. Excuse after excuse is given for their mistake or poor behavior.


Can't anyone say " I'm sorry, I made a mistake." anymore?


4. You will have to envision this one. 
You are driving down a two way street. There are cars parked on the opposite side you are travelling.
An oncoming car decides that they would much rather run you off the road or hit your moving vehicle head on then pull to the side and wait for you to pass. 


If the opposite car insists on coming on through, wouldn't they rather hit a parked car instead of a moving one? Or better yet, wait five seconds for the other car to pass?


5. You will not starve to death. Please do not attack the meal like a caveman.


6. Clean up after yourself in the bathroom.


7. Do something right the first time. It will not only save aggravation but it also saves time. You won't have to redo what you've already done!!


8. Please don't take your bad day out on me. I may have had my own.


9. Tailgating. I will slow down. And really, tailgating a Semi Tractor-trailer ? Do you really think you're going to move that big truck with your itty bitty car ?


That's just playing a dangerous game.


10. Pick up after yourself. Leave things as you found them. At home and at work.


What are some of your Pet Peeves ?

" M.I.A.? "

Again I find myself being a horrible Blogger. While I haven't been " Missing in Action " completely, I've been finding it more and more difficult to post these days.

I so admire those of you that post everyday or even just every week. I just seem to get so busy and then when I feel like posting, I don't feel as though I have anything important to post about! Such is the case today. Nothing really important but quite a lot has been going on around here.

We had a great Memorial Day weekend. Jake and I went to the theater to see " Dark Shadows "...

We really enjoyed the movie. Johnny Depp was excellent in the role as Barnabas Collins and the movie was done in true soap opera style. Very funny and enjoyable. It's been a few years since we've been to the theater together so it was like a real date !! Of coarse we ate lots of Popcorn and I had my Sno-Caps and Jake had his Chocolate covered Peanuts. We shared a giganto soda.

Sometimes you just have to splurge!!

After the movie we took a long walk ( Kate had the car) over to "Buffalo Wild Wings"...

We had never been there before. Did you know that you can get three free beer samples there? We didn't. So we had our samples, that was fun, and a couple of bottles with our wings. The wings are amazing!! We called Kate to have her come and meet us there. She had Mango Habenjero dipping sauce with her wings. It was very tasty but a bit too hot for this MaMa!! I stuck with my Blue Cheese sauce. It was all very delicious and we had a great time, just the three of us. Our other teen was at work that day.

Later that evening we grilled Ribs. I made baked potato wedges to go with the ribs. Salad too. All very good. The other teen came come that evening and we all had a great time outside just enjoying this awesomely wonderful weather we've been having.

This past weekend brought more happy, memorable, summer fun. We went to watch our granddaughter Sarah play ball. She is very serious about her game...

Thank Goodness her team won 28-29 as she was spending the night at our house that evening. She was so, so tired after that game !!

When we got her to our house and fed her, she perked up. Or it may have been after the milk shake Aunt Katie brought home for her !!

Another fun evening was had. The weather again was perfect. We sat outside and watched Sarah do all of her tumbling. I was amazed at how graceful she was. It was fun to watch.

When we went inside for the evening Sarah wanted grandma to braid her hair so it would be wavy in the morning. I used to braid Ginny and Katie's hair the same way.

It was a fun and busy day...

See what happens when you become a bad Blogger like me? You go on and on until people get tired of reading your post !!

I did something this week that I haven't done except when I've been in the hospital. I took a week off of work just so I can play in my yard and do things around the house.

I'm sitting in the the yard on the deck right now and it's just gorgeous outside. I've been out here since 6:00 a.m. Washed my car. Did a little shopping. Put some more yard ornaments out.

It's been almost the perfect week. The only thing missing is my husband. I really wish he were sitting with me right now. 

I'm already looking forward to the weekend when he comes home again. I wonder what this weekend will bring?

I wonder if it will take me weeks to post again?!

Oh well such is life, see ya!!