Funny little fish...

...who really really likes the camera!

ABC's

A- My AIR CONDITIONER is set on: 74-I get cold way too easily




B- My BEDROOM theme is: Still trying to figure out how I want to decorate it-although my bro in law is about to install pillars from the sitting area into the main part of the room!!


C- The CAR in the driveway is: There are 4 out there I think-My Infinity, Stephs Lanser, the Jetta & Ricks old truck



D- My DESK looks: its a little organized because I just cleaned Sat



E- The EXACT time I wake up daily is: About 8


F- The FIRST thing I wash in the shower is: my hair



G- My GARAGE is filled with: crap..lol..even tho I go thru & clear stuff every few months, it seems the people who live here think its a dump because we dont park cars in there..maybe I need to start.



H- My HOUSE is: big & unfinished



I- If you peeked INSIDE my bedroom you'd see: the ironing board I keep telling myself Im going to use TODAY so why put it away..lol



J- My favorite JUICE is: none




K- The best part of my KITCHEN is: my vintage stuff..oh & the standing mixer Rick got me for Christmas!



L- The LAST person who visited my home was: My niece Dannylle!



M- The last piece of MAIL for me was: probably a bill


N- My NEIGHBORS think I'm: dunno-dont really know them yet



O- If you OPENED my fridge you'd see: lots of fruit.



P- My last house PARTY was: New Years Eve


Q- A QUICK meal I like to fix is: Spaghetti! Yum!





R- My favorite ROOM of the house is: my office



S- The SHAMPOO brand I use is: Suave



T- My largest TELEVISION is: too big.



U- UNDER my bed you will find: carpet..lol



V- The last time I VACUUMED was: Sat


W- Looking out my WINDOW I see: ShA beautiful view of all the trees on our property & the wide path to the top of the hill



X- I wish I had X-TRA: time with Rick ALONE!



Y- My YARD is: big & quite uninteresting-it really needs some help.



Z- ZZZZZZZ My bedtime is: whenever I get tired-usually between 10-12

Soo many butterflies!!

When I left the house this morning to go workout something in my flower bed caught my eye...there were about 5 large butterflies fluttering all over my butterfly bushes! Now Ive had butterfly bushes in my last garden but I never had so many butterflies be attracted to them! Could it be due to being in the 'woods' here?

Wow!!

I keep telling myself I will begin posting again...then think that since it's been soooo long that it's just too much to catch up on..soo here I am-Im just going to start over!!

We spent the 4th at Smith Mountain Lake. The weather was great & a good time was had by all.

On the 7th our niece, Dannylle (Rick's brother Danny's oldest) arrived for a visit!! We have been doing the tourist thing in DC showing her all the sights-thankfully the weather has cooled off. Her first few days here we were in tripple digits!!

Here are a few photos...

The girls with their Uncle Todd

Cooling off in the sprinklers-it was about 104 out!! And VERY humid!

I told them to look like...aawww Mom..again?!?!

Infared camera..

SPRING IS HERE!

So the guys had to break out the mower last week. They have been two busy guys-raking leaves & whatnot. This yard need LOTS of work let me tell you! Yes I know I said I wasn’t going to put beds in like at the last house, but now that it’s warm & nothing is shooting up out of the ground, I feel a little lost!

And then there was Easter...it was really nice. Ricks cousins hubby & his Mom Sister in law & her husband along with their grandson, came over & had dinner with us. Sadly though, the only "kid" here that wasn’t out of town was Justin, so he got to have an egg hunt with the 5 year old. He was a good sport about it all.

Flourless cake..it was actually a torte-but I had attempted 3 recipes 5-6 times & wasn’t very successful at a flourless cake.

Relaxing after dinner watching a very interesting Dirty Jobs-he was in a mannequin factory & kept making comments about the 'body parts'.

And finally-we had Justin take a photo of us out on the deck because the leaves were beginning to come out on the trees...I had wanted a family photo--aahh maybe next time.

My Mother in law--

Over three months since an entry?!? Well things haven’t been exactly normal around here. Here is an update for those who don’t know yet...

Mid December we moved Ricks Mom in with us. She had COPD and although she wasn’t doing too badly, she kind of needed a little supervision. We sailed through the holidays with only one hospitalization trip. She was getting around as well as could be expected but it seemed every week or so we landed in the ER & usually she had to stay a few days.

Well at the end of Jan it looked like she had developed pneumonia. It was really a slight case-not even enough for them to truly say that’s what it was. So back into the hospital she went. By the next night she said she was feeling good, that they thought it was pleurisy & not pneumonia & they were probably going to let her go home the next morning. So the next morning Rick & I went to check up on her she said she had a rough night & that now she wasn’t sure it was pleurisy -she wasn’t coming home.


Well it just so happened that that morning it had begun to snow again--and it was really really bad on the roads. No plowing had been done & I was really glad Rick was here to drive! So we told Mom that we would probably just be going home & hunkering down because we were due for 30 or so inches of snow.

By 5pm that night we got a call from her Doc. She had begun having trouble breathing even with her bi-pap so they were moving her to ICU so she could be watched better. I left the house right away while Rick finished cooking dinner & by the time I got there they were getting her ready to put her on ventilation. Her bi-pap just wasn’t doing it.

They let me in for a few minutes to say hi but she was struggling so badly I think her co2 was already rising because she didn’t even squeeze my hand-she was out of it. I called Rick so he could let everyone know what was happening & his cousin came down to sit with me. About 20 minutes later they let us back & she look sooooo much more relaxed! But her heart rate was still in the 140's & her BP was really low (not normal for her, it’s usually high & she takes meds for it). So we were in the wait & see hold pattern.

Within a few days her BP was normal as was her heart rate, but it was beating abnormally. On the 5th day they "zapped" it to try & trick it into a normal rhythm but it didn’t work. At this time her blood gasses began coming back abnormal - she was beginning to retain co2 & by the late afternoon it was at the level where it causes brain damage & organ failure.

This is when, after talking with Hospice & them telling us she would never come home again, that it was time to let her rest. Being that it was Steph's birthday, we decided to wait until the next day, but if she began heart failure of anything else we told them not to try & revive her-she had been through SO much already!

The following morning, with the cousins & Hospice, after they removed her tube, we were with her while she passed as though she was asleep. It was very peaceful & quick-she didnt suffer at all.

She was the last parent & we miss her a lot.

Rest in Peace Myrna. We love you.