Power Plate.

Tonight's picture is one Don took of me on the Power Plate yesterday. It's a full body vibration machine, and it's great. It's really good for my bone density and my back. I miss it when we're not at home. (My hair's in a pony tail; who would believe my hair would come back like this?)

We're getting ready to make a trip to OKC tomorrow; just a day trip. We've got a few errands to run, but we'll get to go by and wish happy birthdays to Mason and Trish. Their birthdays are coming up this month. That will be a treat for us. This will be our first trip in the 'new' van other than just out to play cards. There's little chance of rain, so I'm glad of that!

Today is the end of August; time sure flies! I thank God for an extension on my life.

Happy Birthday, Judy!

Tonight's picture was taken last August 25th, a little over a year ago. It's when we went out to eat with Judy and Aki and it's the last time we saw them. Judy goes to Japan so much, and we never seem to go to Houston when she's there. I'm so happy for her to get to go to Japan a lot, though; she loves it! Their son is graduating from college in Tokyo, so they'll be gone there when we are there in October, too. We stay in touch though, and we make our time together count. We've been friends since we were 12 and I don't have a better friend in this world. Judy, I hope today has been wonderful, but you know to celebrate every day, I know!

Today's been a busy day communicating. It's getting close to our reunion in DC and there is a lot of mail going back and forth among those of us who are going. What a spin! Judy will be gone to Japan, so she won't be there and we'll sure be missing her. I talked to her on the phone, today, though. It's also time for Don to get registered for his reunion, which is in Oklahoma City as soon as we get back from Houston. It's going to be a real reunion season for us!

I did power plate today, (I do almost every day) and Don got a picture, which I'll post soon so you'll have a better idea of what mean when I say that I power plate. I'm grateful that we have the power plate because it is very good for my back and my bone strength. Raquel Welch works out on a power plate; that encourages me! I know she has boobs, but it still encourages me; remember, I'm easily entertained and easily encouraged! I have bones and life and I thank God for that and want to take care of both bones and life!

As Sundays go . . .

The picture tonight is one Don took of me today. See, I've eaten so many tomatoes that my clothes are turning red. I'm so enjoying the tomatoes! Thank you, Kristy!

The Mexican restaurant was closed, again, so we went to the Deli with David and Dorothy. That was good, too; I got chicken livers! That's another treat for me, because I never cook them and I really do like them! Then we came home and took a nap, That's another treat for me. Then for supper we had left over roast and gravy and TOMATOES! Needless to say, today has been a good eating day for me.

I did my good deeds for the day. I put new elastic into a skirt for a friend at church and bought an airline ticket for another friend at church. Both those are details that I'm not crazy about doing; but I like doing it for someone who can't do it, so it's a blessing to all of us. I sure thank God for returning the feeling in my fingers so that I can sew and for giving me the ability to dig through airline scheduling! I've seen times when I couldn't do either, so it's great to be able to accomplish tasks that I once couldn't accomplish.

Tomato land.

Tonight's picture is of Frank, Joan, our friend who takes care of our house when we're gone, Kristy, who brought TOMATOES and Dorothy. Kristy's tomatoes have been such a treat today. I ate them for breakfast, lunch and supper! This is tomato land because I have to eat them or they'll go to waste, and I love it! I thank God for generous friends and for making tomatoes; what if we had no friends and no tomatoes? Maybe you don't like tomatoes (Don doesn't.), but we are so blessed with so many choices to eat and abundance of foods we like. There are folks in the world who aren't so blessed, so I'm really grateful to have plenty to eat and especially plenty of tomatoes this week!

Today a girl at church turned 40 and her husband had a surprise party for her in our fellowship room. It was pretty cool. Lots of her relatives came from 2 or 3 hours away and lots of folks from church came, so it was a really fun time. She really was surprised, so it was fun to be able to participate. They had pizza and cake, so it was a treat to me to have pizza, even though I'd already had a tomato sandwich. Don doesn't like pizza, so I don't eat much pizza or I'd eat too much since he won't help. Anyway, it's been a real treat day for me; pizza, plus plenty of tomatoes. Oops, I've got some sewing I'd better go do; been too busy eating!

Hand and Foot Canasta, again!

Tonight's picture is one Kristy (Jo Ann and Frank's daughter) took tonight. Kristy came for the weekend with her mom and dad and we went out there to play cards with them. Joan and Dorothy and David went with us. The men beat us 2 out of 3 games; ugh. Kristy played with the men. You can tell we were having fun, anyway. This is Jo Ann with Don and I.

Tonight is the night that mars is supposed to be very close to the moon. I hate the idea of being up until midnight to see it, but we'd sure like to see it. I'd better go look and see if it's cloudy; if it's not cloudy, surely we can stay up to see it. Wonder if I could get a picture of that?

Today was cool. We left home just before 3 and went and picked up Joan and David and Dorothy. Then we all went to Altus to have dinner at the Western Sizzlin Restaurant. They have a special for seniors from 2 - 5, so we got the bargain. Joan never eats after 3 p.m. so she only had a glass of tea and visited with us. It was fun. Then we came back by Jo Ann and Frank's to play cards. It made a fun day.

Kristy and her husband have an awesome garden and she brought us about 10 pounds of tomatoes! Woo hoo! I LOVE home grown tomatoes, so I'll be eating only tomatoes for the next few days. Yum! I thought I'd had my last home grown tomato for this year, so this is such a delight! God is so good to give us great friends, even bearing fresh tomatoes!

Ready for something . . .

Tonight's picture is one Gretta sent yesterday of Elena. It's not too clear because it's from her phone, but it's clear enough to see her big smile and her hands; she's all ready for something and can't wait to get into it! I wish I had her energy! I thank God that she's so happy and healthy!

I made our reservations in Branson for next month. We're stopping there on our way out to see Gina and Gretta and their families as we're on our way to my reunion in DC. We'll spend 4 nights in Branson. We won't do shows, I don't think. We'll just relax at the resort. Right now that's all we have planned, but we may change our minds once we get there. We have reservations in the Shenandoah Valley to stay a couple of days before the reunion and then we'll stop there on our way out of DC for a few days, too. It's an area I've always wanted to visit and we'll be in the area, so this is our chance. While we're in DC we have scheduled a trip to the White House with a bunch of my classmates. That will be fun just because of the company. I've got to start thinking about what clothes to take. This time of year is tricky; it could be hot or cool, so I have to be prepared for both. Layers; maybe that's the answer!

This is so fun!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1bQ1yHbCfU

Tonight I'm putting on a video instead of a picture. This video is about the Celebration of Freedom that we have every year in Hobart and this video is from this year. At #231 you'll see our granddaughter, Grace, painting at the Arts on the Square. Her sister Sadie is standing there and you can see her arm with the bracelets. I am standing there with the red top; you'll see my black cord (necklace); you've got to watch quickly or even stop the video to see us. :) At the quilt show you'll see my neighbor Hazel and our good friend, Joan, who was on the blog at the card table in last night's post.

These are good memories. Our friend, Tom Rose, came to see us the week before the Celebration of Freedom and we talked him into staying a week so he could participate. He's in that poker run on the video, somewhere, but I couldn't spot him. Maybe he'll know where he was and pinpoint himself on the video for us. It was a great week to have him stay with us and spend that great weekend of celebration with us and with Trish and Rob and the kids.

I thank God for the great times to treasure and the memory to relive it over and over. What fun! Consider this an invitation to join us anytime, but especially for the Celebration of Freedom. It's a fun weekend and we'll make room for whoever can be here!

The other side of the table . . .

The picture tonight is of the other side of the table when we played canasta the other night. On the left is our friend, Joan, who looks after the house and mail for us when we are gone. She is such a good friend! Next are our friends, Frank and Jo Ann; they, too, are good friends! We have traveled a couple of times with them, but mostly we play cards with them. Jo Ann retired from teaching last year, but she's subbing, now, so I don't know if they'll ever be free to travel much with us. We thank God for great friends like these folks.

Today has been amazingly cool, here. It was such a break after 108 yesterday! The cool front blew in last night and we woke up not only to cool, but also to piles of windmill weeds. Ugh. We'll leave them for a few days in hopes that the wind will blow them somewhere else. Eventually we'll have to go out and gather them. That's a terrible chore, but I'm so glad to be able to do it! It was cool enough to do it, today, but it was too windy. More would have blown in as fast as we could gather them into bags. I'll have to get some pictures of the weeds for the blog soon.

108 is really hot.

Tonight's picture is of two of our favorite people: David and Dorothy, at our house playing canasta Saturday night. We are so thankful that they can still play and that David feels like it most of the time. We think they do awesome and we are blessed to know them.

Today it was 108, here. No telling what the heat index was. Real hot is what I know for sure! The high tomorrow is supposed be 84, so it's one of our interesting weather patterns! We're going to love it! It will be a good time to go to the reserve; wonder if we can make that plan for some day this week while it's not so killer hot.

My ankle is healing; I still thank God that I can keep walking and it really hurts only enough to remind me that I sprained it.

I was fresh out of pictures for the blog, so Don took this one a minute ago. Things are pretty much regular around here. Sunday went well for us. The Mexican Restaurant was open, so we got to do our Sunday lunch there with David and Dorothy. After lunch I went to the nursing home for a devotional and then I visited a while there and then went to visit a couple of friends in the hospital. It was a nice, restful day.

My ankle had to be iced tonight. It still tends to swell since I strained it again getting the remote. I guess I have to realize I'm not 18; I just feel like it. I thank God that I feel 18 even if my body is not convinced.

Stressed that ankle, again.

Don got this picture of me tonight as I was getting ready to do the blog. It's been a busy day. I don't know that we did anything important, but just piddled around here. I did make a peach cobbler to serve when we played canasta here tonight. The guys won 2 out of 3 games, but they were all close so it was still a fun time.

I look forward to lunch at the Mexican Restaurant tomorrow; they were closed last week, so I'm having withdrawals!

Oh, I dropped the remote for the TV this morning and when I got down to get it, I leaned on my weak ankle and stressed it again. Ugh. It hurt a lot and was swelling, again, so I iced it today and it's better. How lucky can I get? It has been so much better that I didn't even think of it when I got down to get that remote, until the pain hit. It responds really well to ice, so I'll keep after it with the ice. Certainly I'll be more alert to pampering it, too. I am so grateful that I can manage to keep going with it; it has really been so mild.

Stepping out . . .

This is a picture Don took before we left tonight to go out to dinner with David and Dorothy. A company they have a farm loan with was having a customer appreciation dinner and they invited us to go with them. We went with them last year, too, so we knew it would be a fun evening. It was a nice drive over to Altus and then we had a great steak dinner. I don't normally even like steak, but every year these steaks are so good, so this was a really nice treat.

Today we got the house cleaning done. We were long overdue, so it feels good to have it done. I keep giving thanks for my ability to clean the house. It is so precious to me after going through a couple of years when I really couldn't do it. It is also such a huge help that Don will do the vacuuming. I get everything ready for him and set up the vacuum and all that, but he drives it all over the house; that saves me a day of work! I do all the hardwood and laminate flooring, which is a lot, but I CAN do it and I love the new flooring! I'm all smiles tonight.

RIP, Jim.

Jim was my big brother and he would have been 70 today; he passed away a year ago in June. This is one of my favorite pictures that comes up a time or two every day on my screen saver setting. This is Jim with our sister, Ruthie, when she went to visit him one of many times. I thank God that she was close enough to visit from time to time and I thank God for a wonderful family for great years of growing up from Nashville to Japan and Tucson. I feel like I was a blessed little kid.

It's interesting how life evolves. I went from a blessed little kid to a blessed little old lady. I had my ups and downs, but God was good to me the whole way. I thank my Mom for making sure I knew God and realized that all I ever have had has come from Him.

I didn't get the house cleaning done today. I got started by changing our sheets, but I remembered I needed to report my sales tax for last month by tomorrow. The printer didn't want to work, so I spent most the day at war with the printer. I finally thought to restart the computer and it worked! Such simple things become mountains for me to climb. I got it done, though! They came and took away the crashed car today, so I don't have to look at it, anymore. We 'live' in the 'new' Venture, now, and we're pleased. How blessed we are to be alive and well! My ankle is doing VERY well, too. It's the mildest sprain I've ever had, so I give thanks, again! It's not even swelling anymore; just aches, some.

Elena loves play dough!

Tonight's picture is of Elena enjoying a gob of Play dough. Anything that brings this kind of smile is a good thing, in my book! Elena is 3 and a half; not a toddler, anymore, but a precious little girl.

Today I finished up ordering some vitamins we get from different places. I get most of them from 2 different places, but there are a few odd things I have to pull in from different places. It's a hassle, but I'm just about done. I have two more to order tomorrow. Then I'll be all set until June, when I'll order, again. I'll have to throw them a few times, but the ordering is done. What a chore.

Tomorrow I'm cleaning house. It's long overdue, but I couldn't do a very good job when I had all these pill bottles strung all over the place. It really needs it and it may take me a couple of days to get it done. There's always something I need to do, but the great thing is that I can do it all! This time 3 years ago I was weak as a cat and had to have help. Don is a dear to vacuum for me, now, but otherwise I am able to do it all. I could do that, too, but he's so kind to help me and I really appreciate his help. I thank God for him and for my health!

Bubba and Dolly.

Aren't these two the cutest? This is Bubba and Dolly; Elena calls Garrett Bubba and she's a dolly in my book. He is a tremendous big brother for Elena; God knows who needs a baby sister!

Today I've worked all day inventorying our herbs and vitamins. Tonight I have to place an order for them so that I'll have enough to throw them, again, in October. This is so hard for me and I'm probably getting a lot of it wrong. Some things I had to count about 5 times. I just lose numbers! But, I thank God that I DON'T have peripheral neuropathy and I CAN handle the pills. There was a time that I couldn't even play cards, let alone count out pills into the right containers. I'm grateful. If I miscount, then we'll either have some extras or do with a short supply; it's not life shattering. It brings a smile to my face when I get a picture like the one on the blog tonight in my email! It's a great boost to a stressing day of counting.

My ankle didn't swell at all today! It only hurts when I touch it or twist it, so I just be careful. Again, I'm so blessed!

Off to the notary public.

This is a picture Don took this morning as we were headed off to have our signatures notarized for the insurance papers. It was good to be done with all the paperwork involved with filing a claim. Tomorrow someone will come to get the crashed van and I'll be glad to not have to look at it. It gives me the creeps every time I see it. I've got to go get my Overseas Brats tag holder off of it before it goes; I almost forgot it.

http://www.openmyeyeslord.net/LifeOnTheTrain.htm

What a delight this sight is. When we lived in Japan, we used to go to the train station and see off our friends as they were coming back to the states. We had 'breathed and bled' with these people for 2-4 years and when they left we never dreamed we'd ever see them again. It was a very emotional time. Of course we promised to write, but many of us lost each other. Thanks to the Internet and lots of really hard work by some people like Rick Winegarden, who was buried today, many of us have been found. We have reunions every two years for anyone who ever went to Itazuke to school. An Itazuke friend sent this to me today and it reminded me of those emotional send-offs; besides that it is a very special piece about how much people mean in our lives. I hope you enjoy it. I thank God for all the folks on the 'train journey' of my life.

Found the other puzzle!

Tonight's picture is one I took of the second puzzle that we worked when we spent that week at Runaway Bay. That's Garrett, holding the box, then Grace, Tricia and Raynie. Raynie was a big help. :) She kept us uplifted as we were so frustrated with this puzzle. It was hard because none of the pieces were fun. There were only two faces to find. the rest all seemed the same. It was more work than fun, but the challenge wouldn't let us desert it. All in all it was a fun thing to do together and great memories.

We used to glue together every puzzle we worked and I'd hang it on the wall. We ran out of walls. This puzzle would have never made glue, anyway. It just wasn't a puzzle we loved; we worked it, but we didn't love it.

Today has been a better day. Lots of relaxing. I've iced my ankle 3 times and kept it elevated a lot. It's doing great. It's the best sprained ankle I've ever had. Sometimes I even forget it sprained, but I get a pain pretty quickly to remind me. I look down and it looks like I'm carrying a tennis ball under my ankle, but it's not swollen except right there in the joint. Usually my foot and leg swell and my ankle looks a lot like my thigh. This is really a mild sprain, I think. Whew; I sure thank God for a mild sprain when I could have broken a bone!

RIP, Rick.

Don took this picture this morning before the day got so hairy. We went yard saling and found some great bargains. We were headed home when we saw a sign for one we'd missed, so we went there a bought a few things. We went out to start the van and it didn't even click; silence. We were lucky that this sale was about a mile from the shop where our friends do all the repairs on our vehicles. So, we walked over there and Gary and Terry were there. Gary took us home and went back and got the van later and returned it home after fixing the starter, which had started it's last start. We were counting our blessings that it wasn't any worse, when I checked my email.

Our brother-in-law in Houston sent me a copy of the obituary of my good friend there, Rick Winegarden, who was a classmate at Itazuke. We weren't there at the same time, but we've gotten to be good friends at the reunions. He's just the kind of guy who is the life of any party and everyone loves him. He lived his life fully and with compassion; now, he is at peace and it's up to us to celebrate his life and thank God for the opportunity to know him in this life.

So, I spent a lot of time at the computer and got up to fall because one leg was asleep and was like an anchor rather than a partner in the attempt to walk; sprained an ankle! Don immediately grabbed an ice pack and I put ice on it right away. It's doing very well, so it could have been lots worse. I'm so grateful I didn't break a bone! It's time to take a bath and then ice it and elevate it, again.

What a day. I'm glad I didn't wear make up today; this is how I look most days. I had too many opportunities for make up to run, today, so clean face was the best approach to this day. Rick's body is gone, but he will always be in our lives because we'll keep him in our memories.

Cards, again!

Tonight's picture is one I took last week, but we went out to the Meier's house and played, again, tonight! I forgot to take the camera tonight, so I'm using a picture from last week. This is Don and Jo Ann. We only played two games and the women won one, and the guys won one. I guess that's fair enough; it was fun!

Today was haircut day. I gave Don a haircut and went out to David and Dorothy's and gave both of them haircuts. I'm so pleased that David is feeling better; better enough for a haircut and a card game; that's pretty good!

I sure give thanks for family, good friends and health! I'm headed out to watch for some shooting starts. Maybe I'll last long enough to see one!

Almost done.

Tonight's picture is one I took of the rest of the group, playing cards last Friday night at Jo Ann and Frank's house. That's Don's legs in the picture; then Jo Ann, Frank, Dorothy, and David turned around peeping at me. Those guys cut us no slack and beat us every game! I guess they played so hard it made David sick; he's down with congestion and taking antibiotics, bless his heart. He goes through this about every 6 weeks; it's kind of a cycle for him. Hopefully he'll be feeling better in a day or two.

I got the car just about finished today. It's starting to feel like we can 'live' in it. You know, we spend lots of time in it. The front seats couldn't be exchanged with our van because all the electrical stuff under them didn't match; being computerized it just wouldn't work. So, we had to keep the newer front seats. They didn't have pockets on the back, nor arm rests, so I had adaptations to make. So, I've come up with two pockets to hang on the seats so we can have our 'stuff' with us. I've also made a console that has two drawers to keep more 'stuff' and a cushion on top for us both to use as an arm rest. Man, it's hot in that garage! I just did bits and pieces here and there all day, but I'm nearly done. I haven't even counted all the sun glasses we have. I'm a nut for sun glasses. I don't wear them so much anymore because they hinder my vision since I have these cataracts. I used to get migraines and the sun was a real issue, but I have only had a couple of migraines since I had cancer, so I'm not so hooked on sunglasses like I used to be. I sure thank God for taking the headaches; I can't imagine how they could have been connected to the cancer. Maybe they were connected to stress and my effort to de-stress is working for the migraines, too??? I really don't think I do that well at it, but something is sure working!

OH! The Direct TV guy came and finally got the receiver in the basement, so we have TV down there, now. I can go down into my 'den' and sew and even watch TV. Cool! I even know how to turn the TVs on, now. I used to have to get Don to do it for me when we had Dish. There are a few shows that I like, so if I can just learn where they are I'll be in good shape. The kids will like having TV in the basement when they're here, too.

Happy Birthday, Dorothy!

The picture tonight is one Davy took of Don and I crossing the river as it entered the ocean in Waipio Valley. I was tired that day, but I'm recalling it and wishing I was soaked in that water today! I'm soaked in sweat and viewing this picture brought back sweet memories. I had on crock flip flops and the current was really working to sweep away my shoes. I was struggling to stay up right, but I had to hang onto my shoes, too! Thankfully, I had my hiking stick with me. We went back the next day and I wore my tennis shoes; that was a better plan. Then we hiked up the mountain on the other side. Great, great memories!

Today I am so exhausted. Our friend who works on our cars, here, has had our 'new' van for over a week. He knows that we take lots of long trips in the car, so he was going over it with a fine tooth comb to make sure we are ready to travel. He did all the mechanical stuff and it's ready to roll, now. So, Don and I took on the job of cleaning it. Man, I've never seen such a dirty 'clean' car. Those people had run it through a car wash, so it looked pretty good, but before I could 'move into' it it had to be cleaned. I can't imagine how they managed to get that car so dirty! There were gummy places with tons of dirt stuck to it all over the inside of the rear door; I found scraps of duct tape, so I'm sure they had duct tape all over at some point. I wonder what's up with that? Anyway, I got it all off, but it took a lot of elbow grease. It was 100 in our garage where we were working on it, so it was no picnic! Don vacuumed all our floor mats to get the glass and dirt out of them and then I scrubbed them. They look really nice in the 'new' van. I washed all the windows and scraped off their Pennsylvania safety sticker (the guy who owned it lived in PA, but when he died his daughter hauled it to Texas, where they moved). Tomorrow morning I will go out and put all the stuff we'd taken out of our van into this one. Then we'll be ready to travel! I'm so grateful to be alive and well enough to work on cleaning this car; I'm whipped, but so blessed!

Today we are celebrating the birthday of our good friend, Dorothy! We partied at their house Monday night, playing cards. God is so good to give us riches like tremendous friends and wonderful health!

There's a moral to this story!

Sadie took this picture when we were hiking in Gatlinburg, back in June. Not much new here today, so I'm posting a story with a moral. I learned the art of napping when I had chemo. I never have time to nap anymore, but napping is a sweet memory. The story is about a bear, so it reminded me of the bears we saw in Gatlinburg, but I never got any pictures of them. I'm glad we didn't see any when we were hiking! I'm thanking God for naps today and for Sadie to hike with me and get my picture!

A bear was walking across Rainbow Bridge (Old Hwy 40 at Donner Summit, Truckee, California) on Saturday when two cars, also crossing the bridge, scared the bear into jumping over the edge of the bridge. Somehow the bear caught the ledge and was able to pull itself to safety. Authorities decided that nothing could be done to help Saturday night so they returned Sunday morning to find the bear sound asleep on the ledge. After securing a net under the bridge the bear was tranquilized, fell into the net, lowered, then woke up and walked out of the net.

This old bear made a wrong move and found he was hanging by his nails. Somehow he was able to pull himself up onto the ledge where he saw he was in a very bad, impossible situation.... and what did he do? Yep, he took a nap and, sure enough, the Lord took care of the situation while he was asleep.

There is a moral to this story, you know:
The moral of the story is that when confronted with a bad situation, sometimes the best solution is to take a nap and let the Lord take care of the rest.
=========================

I think I'm going to take a nap right now. The Lord is on the job.

Happy Birthday, Doris!

The picture tonight is one I took of Doris, holding her grandson, Logan, when we were in Houston back in April. Today is Doris' birthday, so we're celebrating her today. It's fun to celebrate Logan, too; he's a precious guy and probably nearly grown, now. They grow up so quickly!

Today we got up early to go with some others from church to the funeral of a precious lady whose granddaughter goes to church with us. What a precious family that lady had and we were so pleased to participate in celebrating her courageous and creative life. Life is so fleeting and we give thanks for her life and ours.

Tonight we went out to David and Dorothy's house to play cards with them and Joan and Floyd. Dorothy makes the best ice cream ever; even better than Blue Bell. She's amazing! She made it with Splenda, even so I could have some! Yum!

As down as it gets.

The picture tonight is one Don took as we were leaving tonight for church. Tomorrow my hair will go back up off my shoulder. When I wash it, I like to wear it down for a while; then it starts to bug me and up into some knot it goes. This is as down as it gets; I don't know how women stand to have their hair long and down on their neck and in their face. I never could do that. Whenever I've had my hair long, I always collect it somehow. It looks straight because the weight pulls the curl out, I guess. When I wash it, it's all curly, though. It's pretty much a pain to comb through and dry. I can't bring myself to cut it, however, last week when I had glass all in it, I was tempted to tell Don to just cut it off. I got over that temptation really quick, but if Gretta had been here, I'd have let her cut it! It survived, and I'm getting more and more accustomed to wearing a knot. My grandmother used to braid her hair and then wind it up into a braided knot on her neck. I can imagine doing that, but it's not long enough to do that, yet. This is quite a mop of hair for someone who was absolutely bald 2 and a half years ago! God is so good!

I'm almost done with the herbs and vitamins I'm throwing. It will feel so good to be done with that chore. My next project will be ordering more so they'll be here to throw when we get back from our travels in October. I have to keep reminding myself that it's wonderful to be able to do this. I really do thank God for giving me the dexterity with my hands and the mind to keep it straight. (That's really a challenge!) When I was on chemo, remember I had the peripheral neuropathy and had so little use and control over my hands. I really do thank God that I totally recovered from that! My toes still are a mess, but they don't hurt. They just look bad. I guess I'll take a picture of them for the blog some day.

Happy Birthday, Susan

The picture tonight is David and I at the card game last night. I'd like it if Don would tell me my bra is showing, but he doesn't notice and I don't know. It looked fine when I left the house; I don't get how that works. Ugh.

So, here it is; just like we were. David only wears one suspender because the other suspender hurts him where the pacemaker is. He has to wear a suspender to hold his pants up because if he wears them tight enough to go without suspenders it hinders his breathing. I love it! I'm sure we make such a pair for the kids at church to wonder; him with his oxygen and one suspender and me with my knee bands. Ha; even grown ups wonder at my knee bands! David and I are just glad to be alive and if we can entertain some folks along the way, then that's a good thing.

Now, about the games. The men beat us all night. It was supposed to be mine and Dorothy's birthday celebration, but they had no mercy on us. We had fun, anyway; Dorothy and I are easily entertained! We thank God for precious friends who can enjoy simple games with us.

Our daughter-in-law, Susan is celebrating her birthday today. She's another blessing and we give thanks for her in our lives. She and Davy have joined us in Hawaii a couple of times, so we have memories to treasure from those times. Their son Bruce has played tons of baseball games which entertained us and their daughter Erica is our oldest granddaughter. We're so thankful for Susan and all the joy she has brought to our lives.

Jessie, such a doll.

Tonight's picture is of Jessie eating 'supper' before the championship game. She had played all day and there was never a break for a meal. Well, they started around noon, so they had lunch before they started playing. This was around 6 and Jeff ran and got a huge bunch of bananas; it was all they had time to eat. Bless their hearts; they played hard. Jessie is such a sweetheart; I treasure the memories of this tournament.

Today I finally finished this batch of herbs and vitamins that I've been throwing. I've got to do more, though, so I'll be ready for our fall travels. It feels good to be done with this much, though.

We're going to play hand and foot canasta with Dorothy and David at Jo Ann and Frank's house tonight. We haven't played in a long time due to our travels, so this will be fun. I've got to get cleaned up and get ready to go. We have thunder storms around us, so I need to shut down the computer. I think the storms will miss us, but it has cooled it down a little, I think. I'm sure the farmers would like some rain. I thank God for the farmers. Farming has to be something in your blood. We really have to have farmers, but it is such a risky business. They amaze me and I marvel that they continue to farm with all the financial blows they take. Weather is more important than whether to take the umbrella or not for them!

Jeff explains.

Tonight's picture is Jeff without the hat and sunglasses! We were visiting after dinner after the games last Thursday night. He reminds me of Tom Selleck, but I think he looks better.

Today has been interesting. I've gone through all the processes of scheduling a cruise to Alaska. It's a thing we've been putting off for about 5 years. We were close and even had a confirmation number; in fact we still have it on hold. But, I don't think we're going. We just aren't in a good place to go on a cruise. It's so far to get to the water! We considered driving, but realized it would be cheaper to fly; either way it's a lot of money and a lot of travel. So the day has been sort of a roller coaster ride. I still haven't finished the herbs. I'd better go get that done before I knock over what I've done and spill them everywhere. Perish the thought, as my mom would say!

Right now it looks like we're going to stay home for a while. We thank God for our home and we do love it here. We take these notions to travel from time to time, though. There are places to go and people to see. For now, we're going to be happy to go to Lone Wolf (9 miles) to play canasta tomorrow night. :) We thank God that Dorothy and David are healthy and will be going with us. Woo hoo! Dorothy's birthday is the 11th of this month and mine was yesterday so we'll be celebrating our birthdays, no doubt.

I took an off day.

Tonight's picture is of Jessie and Jeff last Thursday after the first game we got to see Jessie play. Jeff coached the team and we were really proud of both of them.

Today started early. We had to get up at 6 so we could have two of the cars at the local tire place. They took the tires off our crashed van and put them onto the van we drive around town because they were better tires. We've got to get the things we like off the crashed van because they will total it, and we might as well get what we can from it.

Getting up at 6 was a rude way to start my birthday, but after that it was a really good day. I put the herb throwing on hold for today; just didn't want to fool with it and it was my birthday, so I didn't. Now I really have to get it done tomorrow. Ugh.

Every day is like a birthday to me; I celebrate every day. I'll have to get serious and finish the herbs tomorrow, though. I will celebrate that I can do them and take them! When I was on chemo I couldn't concentrate enough to throw them, plus the doctors didn't want me to take anything other than my chemo. (That was a mistake; I shouldn't have listened to that. I think I would have felt lots better if I'd taken some things to build my immune system, but I opted to do it their way.)

Another Venture lives with us.

Two Ventures ago I wanted a white one. So, we got a teal one, then a blue one, and now a white one. This one has some issues, but it is NOT crashed! The AC doesn't work, but we have a great couple of brothers here who will fix the AC. We like our seats better, so they are going to trade out the seats for us, too. Then it will feel like this car is part of the family. We got it for a great price, from the original owner's daughter (original owner died). It's 6 years newer than the one we had; it has 64,000 miles fewer miles than the one we crashed, and the headlight lenses are CLEAR, so we can drive at night! So, we move on with life and look to plan the next trip very soon. God didn't heal me from breast cancer so we could become hermits, so off we go as soon as we can!

I still have herbs to throw; haven't gotten to that, yet. It's a must do thing, so I'm off to get busy with it! Enjoy every moment of life!

Sweet memories!

Tonight's picture represents a really sweet memory. It was so fun to be there to see Jessie play through to the end of the tournament last week. This picture I made after the presentation ceremony, when Jessie was so happy and we were so proud. We thank God for the opportunity to go there and spend that special time with Jessie and Jeff. I keep bragging about Jessie, but Jeff coached her team, so it was a great success for him, too, and we are super proud of him, as well.

I spent all day yesterday shopping online for a car to replace our smashed Venture. I wasn't too excited about anything I found; I got up this morning and looked some more and FOUND a venture in Gainesville, TX that looked right for us. We drove down there and bought it, today. We thought it would take a couple of hours, but it took over 3 to get there. So, it was a long trip (looking at it, driving it and then over 3 hours back). So, now we have to clean out the old Venture and get this one ready to go. We';re thinking about swapping some seats, etc., so it'll take some adjusting to make the switch. What matters is that we have a car, so we can continue our travels as planned. Whew.

Tomorrow it's time to start throwing herbs and vitamins, again. Here we go; on with life! We thank God we get to go on with life!

Keep celebrating, Kyle! Thanks for cutting us slack!

This picture is almost a year old; I took it when we were visiting in Indiana last October. It's Kyle, who turned 13 on the 29th when we were up to our ears in Jessie's softball tournament. I had no clue what day it was; my only clue was that we were at a softball tournament. So Kyle's birthday slipped up on us (we sent a card before we left, so I didn't totally forget). He was so kind and just wrote back to tell Jessie 'way to go.' He's been through tournaments, so he knows how consuming they are. Kyle had a birthday sleepover the weekend before his birthday, so he's in full celebration mode, I hope. It's a little scary for his folks to have a teenager, but he's a great kid, so I suspect they are more proud than they are intimidated by having a teenager. We're really proud of Kyle!

Today I wasn't as sore as I expected to be. In fact all the little sticks I'd had from the glass were healed, already. When I went to bed I was so aware of all the places where we'd picked out glass and wondered if there was more I'd find later. This morning all those sticks were fine and I found no more glass. That's a relief. I keep finding glass in things like a couple of books I was reading and my purse. Tomorrow we'll clean out the car. We expect they will total the car, so we need to get everything out of it. I've spent the day looking online and in the paper for another vehicle. I never like shopping for a car, but we need wheels for the traveling we want to do. My two favorite cars are Astro and Venture vans and they don't make either anymore; we'll figure out something.

It gives me the creeps to even look at the car. I keep having flashbacks of the accident. What a blessing that we only have to replace the car. My Military Brat sticker was on the window and the window is gone. I hope I find the sticker in the car, but I suspect it's gone. It could be my head that was blown away in that wreck, so I can only give thanks and praise to our Father who looks after our needs. My Military Brat sticker may be gone, but I'll always be a Military Brat at heart and no accident can take that away from me.