Signs of Spring

Hey, Y'all,

Out in my front yard, things are growing...and I can smell Spring in the air! My round flower bed has wildflowers from last year coming up and also the day lilies that I planted there in the spring of '08 are coming up. A row of daffodils are up in the front yard not too far from the road. Irises are coming up in several places as well. I haven't really checked out the hummingbird vine or the roses, but that will come later this week.

Last evening our neighbors came for the Monday evening meal, and afterwards we played a game created by their youngest, Gabriel, who is eight years old (well on his way to nine). His game was well thought out, and very creative. We had really good fun during our meal, talking and discussing things of interest to us all. Our meal consisted of huge salads with hearts of romaine lettuce, dried cranberries, pecan pieces, mandarin orange slices, feta cheese, grape tomatoes, and baked chicken strips.

The chicken strips had been dipped in beaten egg, then rolled in cornflake crumbs that had been mixed with dried rosemary, grated parmesan, dried basil, paprika, garlic powder, then placed in a baking pan lined with foil, and had some olive oil and a 1/4 stick of melted butter. I then cooked them for about 45 minutes at 350 degrees. Yum!

For bread, we had mini croissants that had been warmed in the oven just after it had been turned off. Dessert later was butter pecan ice cream and fresh strawberries.

Because we didn't have time to play dominos, we decided that they could come back today and play a while this afternoon. That is what they did, and we had a really good time this afternoon.

Imazo called me this morning and we talked for awhile. She sounded much better and told me she had been doing laundry this morning (which shows real progress on her part) and I was so glad. I told her I had been doing laundry this morning, too. I'll bet she has hers folded, but mine isn't yet. I have been sewing today, and will probably fold clothes tonight (after while). Yes, I am a procrastinator, but first things always come first. Clothes can always wait (they aren't going anywhere that I know of).

Speaking of clothes, Gramps came out of the bedroom yesterday afternoon, and told me that someone had put all his dirty clothes into a different hamper. He has been using a folding net hamper, and his clothes had been put into a hamper that has been underneath the net hamper. Of course, he was the one who had changed the clothes from the net hamper into the plastic one, and just didn't remember doing it. I didn't see him do it, of course. So I just said something like, "Wow, what about that? Who do you suppose it was?" He said, "I don't know, I just came in and there they were."

So I said, "Hmmm. I don't know either."

Tomorrow, I will be going in to Knoxville to take Imazo to get her staples out of her incisions at the surgeon's office and probably we will pick up Mae and all go out and grab a bite to eat. Then I will have to head back to New Market, check on Gramps and then go for my check up with our family doctor. I have lots of things to complain about to her. She will probably go "whew" when I am finished. ha ha.

In the spirit of Spring, I did a new arrangement of flowers for my kitchen table, and the picture of it is at the top of today's posting.

Well, this is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for tonight. I hope each of you has a peaceful night and a good day tomorrow. Love to you all. Bye for now.

A Visit With Imazo

Hey, Y'all,
I was able to go and visit with Ms. Imazo this morning, and was glad to find her feeling a little better and sounding a little better than when I talked with her on the phone yesterday. She was up and finishing her breakfast when I arrived at her home.

This morning, I was up at 7:30, took my shower (I know Imazo must have appreciated that, Ha), and Gramps and I had breakfast around 8:3o. I flew around and collected the trash so I could carry it off to the dumpster on my way to Knoxville.

Imazo and I took a run to the bank and the drugstore, and took care of things there that needed to be done. I went in with her in both places just in case she was unsteady on her feet. We joked about if she should start to keel over, I could catch her, and people would be saying, "Look at those two little old drunk ladies, weaving around", and she said "Yeah, people would be saying, 'looky there, they landed on the floor'". Ha, we just had a good laugh or two.

We went back to her house and sat at the dining room table (where many conversations have taken place over the many years), and she told me about the years she spent working at the Standard Knitting Mill and how she had begun working there at the age of 16 and worked there for 45 years, then worked at Proffitt's for seven years and then retired from there. It was extremely interesting to hear about her work.

Her associate pastor from her church came to visit while I was there, and we talked about many things, including the fact that he knows where I live in New Market. He is a really interesting person to talk to, as well.

Jeff's wife, Peggy is still not feeling well. It seems that is a bad old bug that has her in its clutches. Get well soon, Peggy!

At lunchtime, I fixed us a can of soup and we had sandwiches and crackers with the soup. It was very pleasant and she was going to take a nap after I left. I got home to find that Gramps had fixed himself some peanut butter and jelly on bread and had a cup of coffee.

We are having a big salad tonight with chicken strips as the meat in the salad, and in the salad we will also have mushrooms, mandarin orange sections, nuts, dried cranberries, feta cheese, grape tomatoes, and anything else I can think of to put in it. We have raspberry vinagrette dressing or ranch dressing. The greens are hearts of romaine lettuce. For dessert we have butter pecan ice cream. Of course, it is the evening when our neighbors come for dinner and games. What fun!

Well, I need to go get busy in the kitchen for a while. This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for now. Much love to all of you. Bye for now.

Imazo Home - Bonnie's Birthday

Hey, Y'all,

Imazo came home yesterday morning, even though she was not feeling quite "up to snuff", but after the nurse walked her around awhile, they determined that she was doing too well to be transferred to the transition unit for therapy.

Family spent a few hours after she got home, trying to call her, but the portable phone she had next to her as she lay on the couch was not charged enough for her to receive calls on it. Of course, not being aware of this, she got several hours of rest. Mae did go by her house around 1:30 and saw that she was doing pretty well.

Last evening, she called to let me know that she was doing okay, after she had gotten my message on the answering machine. Today, she was scheduled to go have her hair fixed, and grandson, Tom, was going to take her. I hope she did well at the beauty shop! OOPS...I heard later from Mae that Imazo was not able to go and was still feeling bad. Jeff went to her house to make some soup to feed her. According to Mae, Imazo was still feeling light-headed.

Also, last evening we celebrated Gramps' sister, Bonnie's, birthday with salad, pizza, and dessert. We also played dominos until about 10:30 p.m. It was really great fun! Her neice, Donna, and Donna's husband, L.D., brought Bonnie to our home last night to celebrate. The dessert was chocolate eclair dessert. Most of us had seconds, and then today for lunch, Gramps and I each had a piece of pizza and some dessert.

Pictures above are of us playing dominos and of Bonnie in her "birthday shirt".

More later. This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for now. Love to all of you, my readers. Bye for now.

Update again

Hey, Y'all,

Well, I didn't go into Knoxville today, but I have talked with Imazo. She is not feeling too well today, and is not arguing with her doctor about going home yet. She told him that she didn't feel like going home today when he came in to see her this morning. She is rather short of breath, and still having occasional chilling. It is my opinion that perhaps she has been running a low grade fever. Imazo told me this afternoon that she has been feeling kind of sick at her stomach and light-headed.

A therapist came in to see her this morning and took her for a walk down to the nurses' station and the doctor has told her that she would be transferred soon to the transitional unit for therapy so she can get back on her feet.

I did go out this morning to do a little shopping and have been back for a few hours. I will be making pizza sauce tonight to use tomorrow evening making supper for Gramps' sister, Bonnie, his neice, Donna and her husband, L.D. Today is Bonnie's 80th birthday. (Happy Bitthday, Bonnie Jean).

Gramps was up wandering around last night and tells me that he got lost in the house and went outside for a few minutes. I am not sure if this is true or not, but I certainly hope it is not. We have no lights on at night outdoors, and I am pretty sure that he is just confused. I have 3 night lights through out the house, and it makes it pretty light inside. We only have four rooms in the house, plus the bathroom. I guess I am going to have to put some kind of locks on the doors to keep him from going out. We already have two locks on each door. Maybe one of those locks that you slide the lock into the slot would be good to use. The only door that has really concerned me is the door to the basement.

I have posted a picture of each side of the quilt that I am making for my grandson, Will (B.J.), and of course, it has not been put together yet. I like to lay out the pieces in the floor before I start assembling a quilt. I have yet to do the applique stitches around each flower, but at least I know how I want to put the quilt together. I will post a finished picture of each side when it is finally finished.

Well, I have rested awhile so I need to get up and get busy. This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for now. Hope each of you has a good night's rest and a great day tomorrow. Bye for now.Love to you all.

Busy Mid-week Day

Hey, Y'all,
Today started off as a busy one. We had run out of milk, so I left here at 8 a.m. and went to the grocery store, also filled up the car with gas, and hurried back home. Upon arriving home and carrying in the groceries, putting them away, I got out a couple of cereal bowls, cut up two bananas, poured milk into them both, and then fixed the coffee maker to be ready to drip for coffee preparation.

After I got Gramps up, we had breakfast, and I had intended to immediately leave for Knoxville to take Mae to get some stuff she needed, and to visit with Imazo in the hospital. Just as I was finishing up my breakfast, Mark called and asked could they come over for a few minutes. Of course, we are always happy to see them. So I said, "sure, come on over".

They came over and brought me an apple corer (I had been searching for one), and we chatted awhile and I showed them my quilt squares. After they left, I headed into Knoxville, and picked up Mae at her home, we did some errand running, and then went to eat at a place called Gunther's which is mainly a fish restaurant. It was really good food We left the restaurant and went to visit with Imazo for a while.

When we got to Imazo's room at the hospital, we thought she had makeup on her face. However, no makeup, so when we left, we mentioned our observation to the nursing desk. Hopefully, if she does have a fever, they caught it. She told us she had been chilly and had put on a sweater and gotten back in bed. She showed us her tummy where they had taken the gall bladder out. I teased her about it, and said, "Doggone it! I left my camera at home. A description will just have to do." ha ha.

I took Ms. Mae home then, and then proceeded on home. It is now about 5 p.m. and my eyes are about to shut. Hope what I have written makes sense. This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for today. Love to all of you. Bye for now.

Still Improving

Hey, Y'all,
I just got back from Knoxville, where I saw Imazo, after having had my right eye lasered to break up the secondary membrane that was growing and covering the lens that had been replaced during cataract surgery in 2001. Hopefully, my vision will improve soon.

Any time I drive to West Knoxville, it is always an adventure. Today was no exception. I was to go out 1-40 and exit onto I-140 (Pellisippi Parkway) then exit from I-140 onto Kingston Pike. Well, I just politely passed the (confusing) exit and as soon as I did, I just kept going and exited onto the next exit, turned left and went on to finally make a left onto Kingston Pike. So, I made it okay, and probably a lot easier than if I had taken the Pellisippi exit.

I had no problem then and made it into the proper building and checked in, and of course had paperwork to fill out. The actual appointment took no more than a few minutes and then I was out of there.

When I left there, I went on to the hospital and visited with Imazo. She was looking much better than when I last saw her. She told me both her doctors told her today that she would probably be going home tomorrow. I brushed her hair for her, and told her she was safe because I didn't bring my camera today to take her picture. ha.

Imazo had had a lot of company this morning. Her neice, Wanda, came to visit her this morning. She had also had several others to visit. Her heart monitor has been taken off, but she is still using oxygen, and the IV has been taken off. She was also able to get up to clean up this morning. She is not eating a lot, but she is eating what she feels like eating, and of course, still has some soreness.

I arrived back home to find that Gramps had been up and eaten, then went back to bed. I plan on working on Will's quilt some more this afternoon. I am ready to put the flowers on the quilt blocks and will do so today. It is exciting to be ready to actually put it together and see it grow.

Well, that is about it for today. Thank you for all the prayers on Imazo's behalf. I know that many have been going up for her. This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for now. Bye, Y'all.

Update on the Update

Hey, Y'all,

Imazo has had her gall bladder surgery and is in her room recovering. She did very well, and is happy to have it over with. The surgeon was able to do the operation laporiscopically, so that was a good thing. She very likely will be able to return home tomorrow. I hope to be able to visit with her after my eye appointment tomorrow.



Jeff and Peggy were able to be with her this afternoon and evening. In fact, I just finished talking to Peggy and Imazo. Imazo sounded really good, and Peggy said she was looking a lot better.



My neighbors just left a few minutes ago, and we had a really great time (as usual), and look forward to next week. We played dominos and had a fun time laughing.



I will soon be able to really start putting together the quilt I am working on. I got all the wonder-under ironed on to the flowers for the squares this afternoon. My dishes are washing in the dishwasher and I only have a few pots to handwash.



Well, that is about it for today. I am thinking bed will sound good after while. No sleepy time today; I didn't even feel like a nap today. I like it when I don't get sleepy during the day. This is Blabbin' Grammy sgning off for now. Bye, Y'all.