Back in Hell/Happy Birthday Jimmy

Well I'm back in hell, been back since Oct. 4. I suppose it's for the best since I would be home by myself with the heat, electricity on all the time and buying food, gas and stuff all the time. At least it doesn't snow here.

For shits and grins, we looked at the Saudia flight schedule and apparently if we buy our tickets now, they are more than 1/2 of what we pay come March, so I'm looking at a return date of May 26-A Saturday. Woo Hoo.

today is my son's 30th birthday. I can't believe he is 30 already, where does time go? This is a picture of Jimmy and James on James's first day of school in August

I am stitching again and I'm happy to be stitching! I finished a couple projects and working on another one.

I saw this on Facebook and just couldn't help posting this. I think it's a hoot!

Homeward Bound

I will be HOME in the USA Monday morning around 9:30AM! 12 hour non stop flight with no booze, screaming, ill mannered, un diciplined, obnoxious brats, stinky, unwashed people.
With any luck, both my kids will be in Concord when I get off the bus, at least I hope so.
Looks like it will rain all week too.

Hey, a post from me!

How about that shit? I posted.

I've been to the states and back. Had fun, spent too much money, spent too little time with my kids and grandsons, and parents, sister and nieces, or at least it always seems like I do.

I got fat, blood sugar went way out of control despite watching what I ate.
I went to the gym at least 3 times a week, mostly 5 days a week.

Found some good places to eat in the local area.
Went places we haven't been before.

Watched the sunrise from the top of Mt. Washington, 6288 feet up in 60 MPH winds
Went zip lining on Wildcat Mountain WOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOO!

Got some house painting and cleaning done.

Spark On!

Now I'm back in hell until May.

I'm here

Jsut a note to say I'm still here.

I DID find out "the rest of the story" or the "real story" from what happened in October regarding my family.

No stitching yet.

2 years!!!

Well, I'm a couple days late with my announcement.
It's been 2 years since I quit smoking and I'm damn proud of myself for not smoking. It was hard a few times but I'm over it.

I've been back in hell for a month now and it seems like forever since I hugged my grandson for the last time, hugged my daughter and son.

It is cooling off here, only in the high 70's low 80's in the mornings but I'm just too lazy to get out there and walk.

World Diabetes Day

Today is World Diabetes Day. For more information please read these:
http://www.worlddiabetesday.org/en/the-campaign/about-wdd
http://www.everydayhealth.com/health-report/world-diabetes-day-resource-guide/world-diabetes-day.aspx

Yesterday (Friday the 13th,) was our son's birthday. He was born on Friday the 13th but sadly it has been an unlucky day for him. I did call him and sing Happy Birthday but our conversation was not at all happy. He could use lots and lots of prayers and positive thoughts so he can get his son back.

We had a "pre-Thanksgiving" dinner yesterday to try out some new recipes before we decide if we want to keep them. Fresh red peppers wtih green beans is a keeper while Baked Sweek & white potatoes is nasty. We also tried a Cajun spice rub on the chicken I cooked and that is a keeper too, we just need to make a liquid out of it so we can inject the turkey. So now on to try more recipes.

Another day

Here is the Diinky-Dyes Biscornu, it came with the scissors too!

So a couple weeks ago, after 7 years my DS and his girlfriend broke up. She left with their 3 year old son (my grandson) and moved back to her parents house. I am absoultely devistated, hurt, broken hearted and all that goes with it knowing I will lose my grandson. She told me she will never deny me seeing my grandson nor will she ever deny my son seeing him. As much as I would love to believe that, what is going to happen a few years down the road when/if she finds someone else or moves away. It just hurts so bad. My son is trying to get custody back but I don't know how well that will go. The sad part is, I can't seem to get in touch with my son, I've called and left messages but he has no over seas calling plan so if he doesn't answer his phone, I can't talk to him. He has no internet connection either.

I've gotten back to exercising and trying to eat better, and by drinking 2 litres of water a day my blood sugar numbers have gone down. I haven't lost any weight yet but I'm trying.

I was sick on Friday, fever, body aches, headache, tired & blah. Plus I had a severely pulled back muscle that hurt like a son of a bitch. Every time I tried to move or sit up, I saw stars and it took my breath away. The two were totally unrelated because by Saturday, the "flu" bug was gone but it still hurt like crazy to move. Sunday I was better and got back to exercise.

I'm trying to plan a "healthy" Thanksgiving dinner, I have the turkey already and trying to think of better side dishes. I did put up the Thanksgiving/Fall decorations, but I will NOT PUT UP CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS! Christmas SUCKS right now!

There's no place like HOME!

I've been home for 24 days now according to my ticker, wow, where did time go? It's rained for most of the time I've been here.

Flight went well, left on time and arrived on time, pleasent flight. Made the flight connection to get an earlier flight to Boston but it didn't do much good since I had just missed the earlier bus to my sons. I made it to his house by 3PM.

I got home Tuesday afternoon, renewed my driver's license, picked up mail, went grocery shopping and got to my house by 3PM. It IS good to be home. DIL and DGS stayed with me for a few days.

I bought a brand new Jeep on Thursday, picked it up on Friday after I got home. I got to see my Daughter and oldest grandson for a couple days too. I got a 2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee, dark steel blue, with lots of nice plusses like satellite radio, a/c that works.

Went to the Dr and they are pleased with my progress and congratulated me. (WOO HOO!)

I haven't stitched but i have fondled my new stash.

My father had a heart attack a couple days after I got home but he is ok now. They still can't do anything for the bad arteries so he is now on oxygen 24/7 for the rest of his life. He is still planning on coming up to visit in September.

It's Bike Week here in New Hampshire, lots of nice bikes all over. I went up to one place today and looked around but I am going to the main event tomorrow just for the thrill!

House looks ok, garage is almost done, nothing leaks that I can tell.

It IS good to be home!

Another week in Paradise

My father went home from the hospital last week. He has blocked arteries that are in such a place that they can't get to and do anything with so he has to be careful. They gave him blood thinners and he almost blead out. He told the nurses he was having a miscarriage, at least he still had humor. He had to have 4 units of blood. So now they have to figure out what they can do for him. He said he has too much left to do in his life to give up.

I was doing so well losing weight but I guess I set my hopes too high. I gained back 3 pounds in 2 weeks and I can really feel it. I sucks. I have watched what I ate, exercised and tracked everything. I'm just wondering if lowering my thyroid pill dosage has had something to do with it. I need to talk to my dr. about that. I'll just have to work harder.

One more week until I go home. It's kind of mixed feelings now, kind of bugged about leaving DH behind (for those of you that know the story) but yet I want to go home and drive, smell fresh air, and not have to rush around the store every time I go. I want to hug my kids & grand kids, I want to see my family & friends.

I'm working on a SAL project and hopefully I can get it done soon.

SparkPeople Day at a Glance Calendar page:
May is Better Sleep Month. Turn your back to the clock. Studies show that watching the clock when you're in bed makes you more anxious and less able to fall asleep. Move the clock so that you can't see it when drifting off.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to my faithful readers like Doris and I suppose you lurkers too.

Still keeping up with the bootcamp at SparkPeople, these exercises are a wee bit more challenging that the last boot camp but I get them done. I do the Leslie Sansone videos almost every day for cardio since it's way too hot anymore here to walk outside. No significant weight loss yet but hopefully soon!

15 more days and I'll be having Irish coffee or beer for breakfast, WOOO HOOO can't wait!

Dad still isn't much better, they did find a couple ateries that were blocked but they are in a place that they can't do anything about them, so all the drs. can do is treat him with medication. They gave him the wrong medication last week and it cause major bleeding problems so he had to have 2 units of blood in addition to a blood transfusion. He's on a liquid diet but has been taken off his nitroglycerine drip. Please keep my Daddy in your prayers, he has 3 young GREAT-grandsons to keep up with for a few more years.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!

I may be 51 and my Dad 88/89/90 but I still call him Daddy and today is Daddy's birthday! I am going to have to call him later. He isn't in the best of health, he can't hear well, he doesn't drive much but he still tries to be active in the Shriners & Masons and he tries to get out. He has 3 Great-Grandsons to spoil. My oldest grandson calls him Dear, I am not really sure how that started but I think when he was 3 my parents came to visit our house and Ty was there and heard my mother call my father Dear a few times so he picked up on it Even though Ty is 9 years old he still calls him Dear and Dear loves it.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!

Today would have been

My wedding anniversary if I had of stayed married to my first husband. We met in December, married February 3, told me he wanted a divorce February 15, went to Santo Domingo, DR and got a quickie divorce and I had the divorce papers March 4. I was 19, he was 26(?) He was a real scum bag. When I married J, he went to apply for my military benefits and found out that the Marine Corps did NOT recognize the divorce decree from the Dominican Republic and considered me married to my first husband. SO we had to go to a local lawyer at OUR expense and have the divorce decree validated. That took SEVERAL months but they did pay DH all his back benefits from the day we were married. That would have been 32 years ago.

I did my walk this morning, 40 minutes, ready for the boot camp workout for today. I also jogged a bit today but not far, I'm trying it slowly.

I talked to my mother the other day and she is ok after her accident. She said if it wasn't for the snowbank she went into, she would have gone down an embankment which could have been worse. She did over $3,ooo damage to the car but they said it was fixable.

Had a go round with the vacuum cleaner today, I think it won. Nothing gets up the white cat hair or the crumbs anymore. We did talk about having the carpet ripped up and either tile or linoleum laid down.

So anyway, that is my day so far.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TY!

Today is my oldest grandson's birthday, he is 9 years old! I can't believe he is 9! I was there when he was born, it was a bit traumatic, we almost lost him and his mom too but today he is a fine, sweet 9 year old! I have only been with him for 1 frikkin birthday and that really sucks. I hope he has a GREAT birthday! It's so depressing because I was HOME to celebrate his birthday 1 year ago today.



I don't know what happened when I logged in but it told me that my account didn't exist. No matter how many times I retyped my user name & password, it said the account didn't exist. I don't know if someone hacked it or what but I changed the password.

As much as I cry, bawl and hurt at this time of year for not being able to be home, I am glad I am not home right now. I would probably be sitting in the dark with no heat. A major ice storm hit New England and many are without power right now. I called my son in New Hampshire yesterday and they are fine. They have power but ALL the surrounding towns don't! Our daughter in Maine is fine too so that is a relief.

I finally got up the ambition to walk again yesterday. While DH was home for the holiday, I did't do much like I should have so now I have to make up for it. I found those 2 lbs I lost too so now I have to make them go away.

I have been stitching again, I am trying to finish up a 9 year old UFO Mill Hill bead kit. Hopefully I can finish before too much longer. This is what I did, starting picture is on the right, what I have done so far on the left:

Remember all those planes I talked about last month? The ones going over one after the other non stop? Well they are all back, picking up all those hajji's they dropped off last month. I hope they get every last one of them and get them the hell outta here so I can go out shopping.

Well, I'm off to do something creative.

Happy Birthday Jimmy!

Keep watching this space!

It's a boy! Happy Birthday James Russell! Today is my son's 27th birthday. He was born on Friday, November 13th at 2:55AM in Alabama. I sent him a blood pressure monitor for his birthday. Not much but he really needs to keep track of it.

My internet was down last night. Apparently it was out in a lot of places here.

I am desparately trying to get this stupid iPod thing right. I got one for free from doing surverys over the past several years. I had enough points to I got one in July. It's an iPod shuffle, the itty bitty one. Ok so I had my Dd help me set it up and open an account, added music and away I went. Got a gift card with another bunch of points from another place, added music. Ok so I had to back up the iPod for when I brought it back here. Or at least I thought I did. I had 5 discs of music, or at least 5 discs. Get back here, plug the thing in, set up the account here, start plugging the discs in and the music is all over the place. It's in so many files on this hard drive and i just can't figure out how to get them to my Apple iTunes account. It has junk from files I had no idea I had in this account that have no relevance to music. I'm about ready to delete everything and start all over.

Last night I fixed Lasagna Primavera, it was another GREAT recipe and a keeper.

I stitched a little bit more last night too.

Remembering Mrs. Day

If I remember correctly today, November 3rd would have my mother-in-law's birthday. I think she would have been 80 something. I knew her from the time DH & I got married in April 1977 until she passed away the end of April 1979. She hated me at first and we didnt' really get along because I wasn't the one she wanted her son to marry, but when I gave birth to her one and only grandDAUGHTER she loved me and her only grandchild. We got along ok, I had to rush to Arkansas in November of 78 to take care of her when she got sick. She had a stroke which left her paralized and barely able to walk. She then went into kidney failure in the later months, went into a coma in early April and passed away. My DH - her only living relative was overseas in Japan in the Marine Corps and was able to come home to visit her for Christmas then had to return to Japan. He then came home when the Dr.'s advised me to call the family. He got home in the early moring hours and was home about 4 hours when we got the call she passed away. He never got to see her before she died. It was difficult trying to take care of her and a 1 year old baby by myself and barely getting by with almost no money. But DD & I made it. I really wish I had gotten to know her better and now I never will. She was the only family my DH had left that he knows of. I miss you Dorothy.

Ugh, I feel like shit. I slept for 12 hours, achy all over, stuffy nose, headache, fever and all that. I've been drinking green tea for 2 days now. I hope this whatever it is goes away, I need to go grocery shopping Thursday.

DH took my passport paperwork today so hopefully he can stop by on his way home from work to get it dropped off at the consulate. I hate to give up that passport, it's got my visas in it from Thailand, Cambodia, & Singapore.This will be like my 4th passport since I've lived here, counting the one that was stolen.

My mom is out of the hospital again and she says she's doing ok. They have her leg bandaged and they said the skin will peel off. EEEWwww, I hope they can get this under control for her.

Last night I made home made chicken soup. I think I put too much pepper in it though. Where's the shots of Jack Daniels when I need it?

What a day!

A HUGE THANK YOU to all who have given me hugs and support, you don't know what it means to me right now.
So it's time to fly again.
My mom was admitted to the hospital again yesterday with that MRSA leg problem again. Her leg IS improving but she had a nasty looking spot on her leg and her dr. wanted it checked out. So she is having vascular surgeons look at it. My father has to have his colonoscopy on Friday so I hope I can find out how he did by 3PM when my flight boards.

It was a simply beautiful fall day here, exactly like my childhood memories of fall. Extremely beautiful, vibrant colors and leaves raining down everywhere leaving piles to swirl around. The smell is wonderful outside, between fireplaces burning and the leaves, yes, it's fall. Probable the last time I will see a full peak fall for years to come.

I got 2 bags packed, I know they will be over weight but I have tried several times to pack & repack & take out stuff that I suppose I could do without but made sure my stash was in there. I don't give a shit. I suppose if everyone said that, the planes would never take off but I am leaving for 8 months. My carry on is heavy too but I have a shit load of new pills, diabetes test strips & reading material about all this diabetes stuff that I can't pack in my bags. I'm sure I'll get into trouble with those too.

COME ON JUNE! I really hope these next 7 1/2 months zip by. Maybe if I start planning my meeting with Velda & Mary and I HOPE M2 now, it will go faster, what do you think ladies?

I leave my house at 8AM Friday morning to get to the bus before 11AM so I can get to Boston for a 4PM flight. An 7 hour flight, a 7 hour layover, another 5 hour 20 minute flight and I'll be back in hell at 6:30PM local time Saturday night and hopefully back at the house by 8PM. IT all depends on how many nasty, stinky other flights have come in and how miserable Immigration & customs wants to be.

I am exhausted right now, got up at 4:30AM, took DH to the bus station, went back to the motel and dozed off for about an hour, drove home raced around the house to pack then had to go out for 2 hours driving to town and back for more perscriptions, run around the houes more, up and down. I still have more to do so I'm signing off from the free world of the USA.

Enjoy all your female freedoms that you are entitled to in the free world!

Another update

My mom is home from the hospital. Her pneumonia is cleared up, her leg is ok but still needs to heal. She has a walker to use and has to keep her leg up. My sister was able to get her a form of "meals on wheels" for awhile but my mom didn't want it because they deliver the meals at noon and SHE doesn't eat until dinner. Sheesh, take them for crying out loud.
Dad is better and has the splint off his arm.

Well the latest blood test result of mine says my thyroid numbers are within the normal range but I am now being diagnosed as a diabetic. Like I really need this one now. So I have still another dr appt on Monday afternoon after office hours so they can give me yet another pill to take and show me how to use a blood glucose monitor. How fun.

I can't believe my vacation is over, I really could use another week to get things straightened out but my visa that allows me to get back into hell, rather the place I have to go will expire soon and I NEED to get my US passport renewed before January.

The fall colors are at their full, vibrant peak right now and so much MORE vibrant and pretty than last year. It's supposed to go down to 38F tonight. Looks like we will have a fire in the fireplace.

Our friend came up yesterday and spent the night. He is a great friend we know from that "hell" place. He came up from Boston and brough these WONDERFUL, heavenly cookies from a bakery down there.

Guess I better go and get things done.

My mom has MRSA

I talked to her this evening and she sounded terrible. My sister said she is doing better, her leg looks a little better but she was having a blood transfusion. Mom has MRSA, http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/mrsa/DS00735/DSECTION=causes
If you are reading this, please say extra prayers for my mom.

My son & his family went home today but my daughter & her son are supposed to come up on Saturday.

It is supposed to rain until Monday due to a hurricane coming up the east coast.

Update from me

My father called this evening to tell me my mother is in the hospital with pneumonia and her leg hurts so bad she can't walk. He said she is not doing well at all.

For those that haven't seen me, there are certain cross stitch message boards I belong to but I can't get to them. I can't log on to Runboard, haven't been able to for a while now, it just doesn't load at all. Yuku is super slow all of a sudden or they are "updating" their site.

My parents are not well at all, my father fell and has a possible wrist fracture and has a splint on it, he cut himself in 2 places because he wears glasses. My mother went on a bus trip to NYC and had pneumonia when she got there and had a MAJOR problem with her leg and had to go to the ER in NYC. She still hasn't recovered but is home. My father has to go have a colonoscopy next week because he is bleeding internally from someplace.

My son & his family have been here for his vacation and we have been busy.

It is getting colder here and the fall colors are here already. S

I went to my Dr. the other day and she said I was doing very well, she was pleased with my weight loss, and my blood pressure was 104/60. I had to have more blood work done today and wont' know the results until Monday.

So sad to think that I'll only be here for 2 more weeks.