More family

This is Grace. She is growing up so fast and is getting prettier every time I see her, as is Annie her sister (picture following Dan's). Grace is very caring and very much like her mom. And oh, my kitchen is such a mess. These pictures were taken right after breakfast and nothing had been cleaned up yet.
Dan is getting so tall. He's 13, but he doesn't realize that teenagers are supposed to sleep later than 7:30 a.m.! He and I love to spar with each other. He often wins!

This is Annie on her daddy's lap (Quinn). She's almost 11 and very affectionate. She's the only one who gave me a hug without my asking for it. Love that.

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Last night my oldest daughter came into town with her husband and her children. We had a really nice time of talk (no TV) and we finally stopped talking a little after midnight. I was falling asleep, I was so very tired.

I barely woke up in time to get ready to go to therapy, but I was able to make it with a minute to spare. If you know me, I'm always EARLY. I can't stand to be late. I guess one minute early is still early.

Anyway, the pictures are labeled and are Becky's family. Becky wouldn't let me take her picture. She's still in a lot of pain and can't really sit down well. She is still laying on the couch or in bed a lot.

They'll be back tonight to pick up their stuff, which they left here so they could spend a day at The Beach.

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Family

Jack is so shy. He usually has his hand in front of his face, but I was able to get a quick picture of him with his hands down. He's so cute.

See, here he is trying to hide from me. So we play a game where I cover my face and "hide" from him. Eventually, he lets his hands down. I just love this child.

This is Ellie Mae, posing for me. Yes, that is not a design on her shirt, but because she was wearing a hungry shirt, we could call it I love my breakfast (the shirt is talking there).

I just dropped in on my youngest today and spent about five minutes visiting. These are the only two children that are still at home, until the new baby comes along. The other four are in school. The new baby is a girl, but no name has been picked yet. Cyndi looks beautiful, as always, even without make-up, and she is carrying a basketball under her shirt. LOL.

I was glad to have these few minutes with her, the children, and even Shandon who was working on his Viper. Jack was helping him. So sweet.

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Physical Therapy

I started physical therapy (PT) yesterday. This is supposed to fix me up for good. Walking is the goal.

I had a second spinal epidural last week and handled it about the same as the first one except my legs didn't go numb, just my head. I had a difficult time with the head. I felt dizzy and light-headed for almost an hour. So, of course, I had to remain in the small cubicle until I could prove that I could walk a straight light. After an hour, they put me in the waiting room for another half hour and then I decided I was walking out. And I did.

They also -- on that same day -- scheduled me for physical therapy. That started yesterday. It wasn't too bad and I was given three exercises to do at home until tomorrow, my next session. Then he (Mike) will give me three more, at least that's what he said. However, the last two we tried, I couldn't do -- no stability in my left leg.

I realize it's been ages since I BLOGged, but since after the epidural I was incapacitated for a couple of days -- you see it doesn't work on me as it does other people -- it makes me feel worse for a few days, then heals up. So after healing up it was the weekend and since Alan is feeling so well he is constantly planning all these things for us to do.

The best news is that I saved almost 25 percent using coupons this week and our food bill was the lowest it's been for a couple of years. And...the main items I bought were meats. Even with all the extra meat (and no coupons, of course, for meat) I did very well, and Alan is pleased.

It's almost time for my 50th high school reunion -- 3 weeks. Can't wait.

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Day Seven

Hasn't been too bad today, at least not until this evening.

I was telling Alan today that I am so very happy that we purchased a new a/c-heat pump earlier this summer, actually it was in the cold spring. It has been doing its job.

Every day this past week I had intended on going swimming in the a.m., but each morning as I stepped out on the open porch, it was too hot, so I just went back into the air cooled house and stayed put. We keep our thermometer at 79 in the summer, 69 in the winter. And 79 is just right for me and Alan, except when I get those hot spells a few times during the day.

Tomorrow is church. I hope the a/c is working well. I don't do heat at all. I never have. My mom used to tell me to just sit in front of the fan and not to move. So, if the porch wasn't breezy enough, I'd head indoors and sit in front of the fan and read a book or work a puzzle. I can't believe we didn't have any air conditioning back when I was a kid or when I was growing up. We didn't have air conditioning until we moved to Cincinnati. And except for a few well placed fans we did okay.

Now I don't know how I would survive without it. Actually? I probably wouldn't. I just be a statistic.

Also check out: http://www.runnemederemembered.blogspot.com


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Six days

Well, it's been six days and today is the first time in those six that I've had to take a pain pill, and it worked right away. I'm doing so well.

I had some wonderful pink-bunny days this week. What's a pink-bunny day? It's a day when I just keep going and going and going. I may be late getting started each day, but once I do, I'm off and walking fast.

I didn't say "running" because I don't run any more.

I'm missing people like crazy. Grandchildren, cousins, children, siblings, friends. I guess it's because I can do things currently that I'm missing people.

I've read some good books, at least good from my perspective, so far this summer. My Kindle now holds 738 unread books, and 525 books I've either read or read a few pages and then deleted (or put into the archives). I need to go through my archives and finally delete those no-good books.

You can't really tell from the description whether you will like a book. For me, I've now decided that I'm only downloading books from Christian publishers, or books by authors I've read in the past, OR books mentioned by Glen Beck or Rush or Mark Levin.

So, tomorrow I'll get down to the pool before it gets too, too hot. Well that would be around 3 a.m., I suppose, but I can't get in before 9 a.m. Hopefully the water won't be too warm and I'll be able to keep cool for an hour or so before I have to leave the pool water and go home.

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my life

Well, I had a lumbar epidural steroidal injection (in the spine) to relief the horrible pain I've been having for 6 weeks caused by my sciatic nerve being out of whack. I had 36 hours of relief then the pain came back again. It's not as bad as it was on the day I received the injection, but it is bad enough that I don't want to do much.

I thank God, though, for the few hours of non-sleeping time during which I enjoyed walking FAST.

Today I'm heading out the farmer's market at Lunken Airport. That's a smallish airport near where we used to live on the east side of Cincinnati. There has been a farmer's market there every summer for at least 37 years -- as long as we've been out here.

Today I shall certainly buy tomatoes and peaches. Hopefully some cucumbers, and maybe some early corn. Melons -- Indiana Melons -- like a cantaloupe but bigger and sweeter.

I have started several exercises that are supposed to relieve the pain of the sciatic nerve flareup. I hope it works. So far--I'm waiting.

I had a bad spell last night. Poor Alan. I am so discouraged about my immobility after several hours of enjoying walking again. So he did something or said something that annoyed me, and I yelled at him -- just exploded and I don't even remember what I said or what it was about. But I do remember saying after the screaming and yelling: "At least there's something I can do, and I do it well."

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Fireworks

I know this is a little late. I know the 4th of July was a couple of days ago, but back problems and not being able to sit have hindered any posting on my part.

This post is a vent.

It was Sunday, the 3rd of July, and what to my ears do I hear? Fireworks. Not the in-the-yard type of fireworks, but real, over the roof, town-type fireworks.

You see from my deck I can see 8 towns' fireworks displays. Yes 8. And on the 4th of July it's quite a sight.

Well, this year, three towns decided to do their fireworks thing on the 3rd. Excuse me but the 4th of July is the 4th of July, not the 3rd. And that is the day we celebrate. Why would a town have the 'works on the 3rd instead of the 4th? The reasoning is beyond me. Alan thinks it's because people have to go to work the day after the 4th.

So what? When I was growing up and until recent years people went to work on the 5th of July and the parades and fireworks were on the 4th, regardless of the day following the 4th being a work day. No one cared. Fireworks were (and still are, I hope) a traditional way to celebrate our independence.

And another vent: The news media spent the 4th honoring our troops -- which I'm not complaining about per se -- but said little or nothing about the 4th being the celebration of our independence and the beginning of our country. Yes, we should honor our troops, upon which we depend for our current independence, but hey media folks, get with it. The 4th of July is the celebration of our independence. Give us a little history, if you know any, about how it came to be, how we declared to King George that we were going it on our own without his help. How George didn't like that and sent all kinds of troops to put us in our place. They lost their place, we won ours.

So, it's now the 6th of July and I'm just getting around to venting about the 4th. I love the 4th. I love the tradition. The parades. The picnics. The fireworks. The family get togethers. The celebration of our independence! And, oh yes, this year I was able to watch five towns' fireworks displays from my sunporch. The wind was blowing the other way, so the sound wasn't too loud this year, but I loved it, even if three towns were missing.


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