OOPS We Did It Again!

I had to take a quick trip to August 31st, 2019 to see what I had posted about this special day. What's so special?  Today marks 46 years of marriage to my best friend and co-conspirator in married life!  Happy Anniversary Jack.  Yes, oops we did it again.  Managed to make it through another year.  I will say that this year has been a year of firsts.  For me it was the first time for wearing masks outside of the operating room.  For you, a first for wearing a mask anywhere and everywhere.  Firsts for living through a pandemic that changed how we worked, played, traveled, or even going to the dentist! First year since we married that my Mom hasn't wished us a Happy Anniversary. First time I have not been a working gal in ages and ages.  I know for many in this world there are first that have changed their lives permanently.  We now have friends who are widows and friends that have passed. We're getting older and we know that will become a...dare I say this.."New Normal".  Walking this morning gave me time to reflect on these past 46 years.  There were times that made wonderful memories I have stored in my heart.  Like a treasure chest of happiness. I don't want to forget the hard times though. They were the school of learning that paved the way to better decisions and the ability to give our kids advice they really didn't want or need!  I have much to be grateful for.  We have had the support of our families over the years and good friends who were a comfort and a good time, depending on the day!  So for now I'll hug my memories while I still have them in a mind that's not completely gone yet! I'll say what I always say about life. It goes fast, stop and smell the roses and don't panic...it can always be worse! But mostly I hope it will always be better:

Here's to a moment caught in time...the best first date ever!

Here's to more dances in life with you!

Here's to more adventures and cool cars!

Here's to staying in the boat of our crazy life!

Here's to our littles who grew up:

To be good men, wonderful husbands, and fabulous dads and who brought us Grandkiddos as a gift for giving us our gray hair!

Happy Anniversary! 

I Hate To Admit It

 One of the things I think I do fairly well in life is cook. I enjoy making a meal for my family and now for just Jack and I most of the time.  I do usually gather the kids and grandkiddos for a once a month meal here at the Pines.  I like to try different recipes now and again.  I have found a few that have become some of Jack's favorites that he requests for dinner or special occasions. He loves my shrimp creole and wants it for Father's Day and his birthday.  Today was one of those special days as it's his birthday.  Happy birthday Jack!  I made shrimp creole on Sunday and today I made another shrimp dish he enjoys.  I always tell him it's his birthday week and I will make his favorites all week.  So what do I hate to admit?  Well, one of his favorite cakes is Texas sheet cake.  It was a recipe from his Mom and I made it my own by changing the frosting part. I actually double the frosting and it's really almost like having fudge on top of cake. I always get requests from my coworkers when it's a carry to please bring that.  When Jack said he wanted a Texas sheet cake for his birthday I had a brilliant idea. I would make the cake into a layer cake instead of the sheet cake since the sheet cake is so big for just the two of us.  A layer cake would be a bit smaller.  Wellllllllll......it was looking like a success until the frosting part.  Then it just didn't come out like I planned!

I will say this..it tasted good...I guess you could say this cake was the bomb..literally.  Happy Birthday Babe! I'm glad I can still make you laugh!

 

A Different Type Of Patient

 Arnold..aka Arnie...had his surgery on Tuesday to fix the torn ligament on his back leg.  He did good but the Vet said it was a really bad tear and will take time to heal.  I still can't believe he did so much damage to  his leg when he fell off the car seat.  He never yelped or whimpered ever..just limped or hopped on 3 legs. Now he has a big incision and came home with the "cone of shame" as they call it.

Here he is on the way to the doggie hospital.  He loves to ride in the car but I felt bad knowing he wouldn't be too happy when he had to stay and I had to leave.  He's such a good dog but inside the clinic he kept looking at the door to leave and I felt like the bad guy!  

That cone made it impossible for him to eat.  Not sure how he ate at the vet's but we took it off for him here.  He hasn't touched the leg but if we leave him at home for any time we'll put it back on.  He's not a super active dog unless he thinks he may get some food! We're really going to try harder to get more weight off of  him which will help him walking and us having to carry him up and down stairs to get outside.  He gets his stitches out in 2 weeks and it will take a minimum of 8 weeks to recover.  I hope my back holds out picking him up and carrying him!  I thought I was free from patient care after I retired.  I didn't bank on this different kind of patient care!  Heal good little Arnie! 

Sister Love

My sister and I had a fun week together here at the Pines after her family went back to Chicago.  We shopped at our favorite places...the Parsley Pot...Grandpa's Cheesebarn..(I wanted to buy a T-shirt that said: I CUT THE CHEESE AT GRANDPA'S CHEESEBARN...But I didn't.) We had lunch at Village Pointe and found some cute things to buy there. There's a little shop downtown called: The Fig and Oak. We didn't find anything there but I had to take this photo of Midge.  

An angel? Well, maybe with a little devil mixed in! We found a little shop across the street called: Bagnabit and it took me back to the 60's with it's mix of incense, art, and other goodies.  We found a few things to add to our shopping day and had fun to boot!  We even hit the Dollar Store so we could put together a gift basket for the Dialysis unit where Midge was able to get her dialysis done here. The staff  was so nice and she wanted to say thanks. The way to a healthcare worker's heart is through the stomach so I made chocolate chip cookies and we got candy and some other things for them to enjoy. They loved it! One night we decided to head over to our little airport here in Ashland to see the sky divers.  

We have a sweet small plane airport that has skydiving classes.  Neither Midge nor I ever want to jump out of a plane but it was fun to see others do it!

Then we had this guy flying over:

He was zipping all around us.  Again, looks like fun but not my kind! On Sunday I drove Midge back to Chicago and spent the rest of the week with her to help her do a few projects.  We watched old family videos and labeled the keepers and threw out the rest. We cleaned out the garage and took lots of stuff the the Salvation Army drop off.  On Monday we even survived a tornado...I should say 2 tornadoes!  That storm took out power all over the suburbs but we were lucky that we only lost power for about 5 minutes.  The other towns near us weren't so lucky and there were tons of trees downed and the Chapel at Wheaton College lost it's steeple.  So my niece and I cleaned up the yard and deck and thankfully we had no other damage.  The only bad thing that happened was with Arnold.  I decided to take him with me so Jack wouldn't have to worry about getting home from work to get him out and Arnie loves to be in the car so it seemed like a good idea.  He was with my sister and I in her car when he slipped off the seat and somehow tore his ACL in his left back leg.  I couldn't get into a vet there so I made an appointment with our Vet on Saturday. He's scheduled for surgery on Tuesday to get it repaired.  He's not in any pain but of course he can't use that back leg.  So for now he has to take it easy and carrying him up and down the deck stairs to go out is not always fun! But he's a good guy and we'll get him better soon.  I realized I never took any photos of the storm or anything else out there. I must be slipping!  Tomorrow will be my first Monday that I don't have anything planned like family visits or trips anywhere.  It will seem weird tonight to not be thinking about the surgery schedule tomorrow, call schedule for the week, or making my lunch to take to work!  I have many projects of my own to get started on so I'm not worried about being bored.  Have a good week everyone!

It Feels Like A Vaca

It's been a week since I formally retired.  Everyone keeps asking how it feels to be retired.  Frankly, it feels like I'm on vacation.  It hasn't really sunk in that I'm done working.  My sister has been here this week and we've really enjoyed having her here.  We set up her dialysis with a unit here and all's been good so far.  My niece and her family brought her here on Sunday and they stayed for a few days before heading back home.  I'll bring Midge back on Sunday this weekend and stay with her in Chicago for a few days. Yep, feels like a vaca!  Ask me in another few weeks how it's going!  Here's some pics from this fake vacation:

My nieces kids were fascinated by my neighbor's alpaca..especially the new baby.

No fear when they met Temp the wonder horse...Connor and Ella were in love!

Yesterday Midge and I went up to see my Grandbaby Driana in her new home only a few miles from Lake Erie.  It was a fun and peaceful afternoon on the lake.

Sister love!

It was pretty windy out there and the waves were rocking! So pretty!

Of course we had to see this lovely lighthouse.  It's actually a private residence. Imagine the views and the sunrise, sunsets from here!

We found some pretty rocks and driftwood.

Lunch was a little picnic under the trees.

So yummy!  Maybe we were just hungry from all that lake air!

 Today it was Grandson Cameron's 13th birthday and we went to his home for his favorite bday dinner of pizza, wings, and an icecream cake.  

I can't believe this little squirt is 13 already! My oldest son's last teenager! It's been a fun week so far and we still have tomorrow and Saturday for some more adventures.  This is much more fun than work!