EEK...The Water Police!

Hey, Y'all,
I have some more pictures to post this morning. I did not have any additional food last evening, no hot chocolate, either. I haven't done anything of any consequence this morning except to make my apple pancakes for breakfast and enjoy them as I read from one of Patricia Cornwell's latest books, "Port Mortuary". It has been a while since I have read one of her books. I just finished reading "The Bean Trees" by Barbara Kingslover. I gave it to the sweet techie that helped me with my stress test so she could read it and either keep it or pass it on to someone else. It is one of those books I bought while in Illinois. 

In Downtown Square

Playing at Kitchen table

Playing Dolls

Ellie likes playing with the green plastic bucket the toy soldiers are kept in.

End of day Family quiet time with Bible Story and prayer

Those are most of the pictures I took while there. This last was not a posed picture. It takes place every evening and I am sure helps everyone stay on an even keel during the days. 

Whitney stays quite busy every day, because along with being a pastor's wife and having those duties, she home-schools their four children. She is a wonder, (and I wonder how she does it), and I love her dearly. They are all very dear to me and I miss them. 

Well, when I took out my trash this morning (I ran out in my nightgown because I didn't want to miss having the trash out in time), I noticed a paper hanging on my front door knob. I looked at it and it apparently had been left early this morning. It was a warning from the water patrol that apparently I had watered my yard on the wrong day. (Who knew I was breaking a watering law?) Not I. Anyhow, we are in a first stage drought and can only water on certain days. I know my yard is watered at around 3 a.m. so that it does the most good. Apparently right now, there are just two particular days that a person can water their yards. I guess they have to get up pretty early in the morning to catch it being watered at 3 a.m. huh? So, it was just a warning. I came in and immediately turned the automatic sprinkling system to off. I don't know how to set the dad-gummed thing, so it will have to be reset by a grandson or my daughter. Oh, well. At least they won't come and fine me $500 a day. That would really hurt, huh?

Well, now to get some of the things done that I intended to do today. Maybe. ha. I just called my family doctor to get the results from my bloodwork I had done almost three weeks ago, and they are going to have to call me back after they check on it. I joked that maybe they were reluctant to call me because maybe I am dying and they don't want to give me the bad news. ha ha. The receptionist laughed like I expected her to. 

You know, I was thinking yesterday while I was watching some of the people at the diagnostic center (I do that a lot - think- I mean) and observing how they have difficulty getting around. Some of them have to use canes and walkers and some have the portable oxygen tanks. Some of them have swollen ankles and have to wear shoes with no back to them. Years ago, they would not still be living. Natural causes would have put them into their graves. Medicine has allowed us to live beyond what would have been the end. Has it improved our quality of life so much? We still die, many times in more suffering than it would have been long ago. Would I want to have a feeding tube in to prolong my life? No, I don't think so. Anyway, this is not the avenue my thinking took yesterday. What I was thinking about is "them" versus "me" and not really putting myself in the category of "those poor people who have a hard time getting around". Yet, I do have some difficulty because of a bad back, but it has been a part of my life almost forever. I am just not to a "walker or cane" stage yet. 

Well, that is enough philosophizing for today. Much love to each of you, my friends and family. This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for today. Bye for now. More later.

Some Illinois Pictures

Hey, Y'all,
Well, here are the pictures that I took in Illinois. I had such good fun with my family there. I will try to put comments under them. 

Noah and his Smokey Bear

Austin peeking over the couch

Painting Magnets that Grammy brought

They are painting magnets, too

We went down to the town square and did some shopping

Hannah, preparing juice for breakfast. Hannah is a wonderful help to her mom.

Ellie is waiting for breakfast. She helps too.

 Well, those are some of the pictures that I took of the children while we were playing. Now some pictures of the countryside. Some of them have the grands in them.

Yeah, This proves I was really there...ha ha. They are showing me how to use the I-Pad 

                                 Beautiful Mommy Whitney

Well, More pictures tomorrow. We really did have some fun while I was there. Today, I went to the church to do some more work on inventorying the music library, and then came home to wait awhile to go finish my stress test. I do want to make a correction on that. I did not have an isotope injection, rather it was a chemical stressor. Today, I had the isotope. It allowed pictures to be taken by the same machine as yesterday, but I reckon maybe it glowed inside me for the pictures. Anyway, it is over with for this year. Next week, I get to go have my pacemaker checked to make sure my battery is still doing its job. They can also tell if there have been any extra stress episodes since I had it checked six months ago, and they can tell the hour and minute they happened. Isn't that amazing? My technician was very good with the needle in my hand, and I hardly felt it! That is the kind of techie I like to have. 

After I left the Heart and Vascular Building, I stopped at the local library to return "The Help". If you have not yet read that fine piece of fiction, you should. (Or at least, in my humble -probably not really humble- opinion you should).

I had supper a little later at the Colonel's place (KFC) that is, and it was delicious. When I went in, I took almost six dollars in to pay for it. When the lady behind the counter told me how much it was, I lacked about thirteen cents. I told her that I needed to go back out and get the remainder, she said, "That's okay, just forget it".  I guess I must look kind of poor or something. Anyway, I said, "Thank You". I never like to deprive anyone of the feeling of doing good to others. It is a wonderful feeling to be able to help someone, isn't it?

That was just my second meal of the day, because I had a good breakfast this morning, and I will probably have a cup of hot chocolate before bed tonight. I did enjoy the meal  tremendously, though.

I need to do catchup stuff tomorrow, like go through the house and make sure I have all the bills in one place so I can pay them, and make the bed up with clean linens, and sweep the house, and maybe even really straighten it all up. I did get my suitcase unpacked yesterday. Yay! Good for me!

Well, this is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for today. Much love to each of you, my friends and family. Bye for now. More later.

 

Chemical Stress Test, Anyone?

Hey, Y'all,
Well, here I am back in my own little messy workroom. Today has been a busy one for me - jumped right back into daily life as I know it. I got back here to Bedford around 7:30 last evening from Illinois. It was great fun being there with my family and I wished it could have lasted longer, but one doesn't want to wear out one's welcome...

This morning, I was up with the birds (don't ask me which ones, they have not identified themselves) around 6:20 a.m. and soon was eating a scrambled egg with toast and jelly. Then I took my morning medications and drank lots of water. At about 8:45 I left here to pick up my rider, Vicki, and we proceeded to the Bible Study at Countryside Bible Church (Carol and Daryl's church). At around noon, I dropped Vicki back at her home and returned home myself. 

At around 12:45, I left home and drove to the Heart and Vascular Center which is not far from here and checked in for my chemical stress test. If you have never had one of those, here is what takes place: You can not eat or drink anything after 8 a.m. (Hint: eat breakfast around 7 a.m. and drink lots of water before 8 a.m.)

First they let you sit for a while, so you can think about what is to come, and let your blood pressure elevate. Then you go back to a room where they find a vein to insert a needle (not an easy thing to do on me, but they did a good job - it has to be done in the back of my hand because of my deep veins - I would never succeed in becoming a junkie). Then they attach a bunch of electrodes to your upper body, and then inject an isotope into your vein, and tell you to swing your legs back and forth to make the stuff circulate good. Oh, yeah, they keep a check on your blood pressure the whole time. Now - as for the internal effects of the isotope - you get a quick headache - feel dizzy- and just generally have a weird feeling. After about four minutes, the effects diminish and you feel better. They give you some caffeine to drink, which helps you feel better. They remove the wires and all but three of the little pads they are attached to.

After you do the weird feeling thing, they send you out to wait awhile and then you can have a snack while you wait. I took some tylenol with me today so that I could take care of the headache after the injection. In about 20 minutes or so, you get to go into another room, and they remove the needle in your vein. You lie down on your back on a narrow table and put your hands above your head; they place a wedge under your knees for comfort. You are then moved into an open machine kind of like one of those that a lot of people hate to be in that are claustrophobic. You lie very still and the machine moves slowly around you and takes pictures of your heart. That takes twenty minutes.


Following that, I went back out for a few minutes and then went into another room for an echo cardiogram. This is done with a sonogram machine and the technician holds this sonogram dohickey under neath the breast and you can hear your heart going swish swish swish (blood going through your heart) and then moves it to the diaphragm and does the same thing. It is quite interesting, you know. All the technicians are wonderfully nice and do a great job! Thank you all!


Well,that is what took place from 1:15 to around 3 p.m. today. This afternoon in about forty five minutes I will be going to my church for supper and choir practice. I should be home by 7:45 this evening. That is my Wednesday for this week. Tomorrow, I get to go back to the Heart and Lung center and finish my stress test. Another injection and more pictures will take place at that time.


Tomorrow, pictures from my visit in Illinois. This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for today. Much love to each of you, my friends and family. Bye for now. More later.

Hey,Y'all,
Well here I am waiting for time to leave for the airport to return home to Texas. It has been wonderful visit and I am sorry to have the visit to be over. There has been time to spend with all my great grands individually and together. I hope that they will remember me fondly when they think of me. Also, Daniel and Whitney and I have had time to converse together.

Right now I am sitting in Daniel's office as he works and Whitney is with the children in a church related activity. Later, we will be heading to the airport for me to catch my flight. Hopefully, I will be able to (if it flies low enough)Ha ha.

Yesterday afternoon we went to a fast food place called Michael's for lunch. YUM! I had a pizza burger. It was pizza bread topped with meat, sauce, mushrooms, onions, minced green peppers, and melted cheese. I was able to eat only half of it and took the remainder home, and had it for supper. After we had lunch, we went back to the downtown square and went to a quilt store, where I found some notions that my grandson so sweetly purchased for me. :)

They have a very active life with four children and being in the ministry. On Sunday evening they had a small group of people who came for a get together where they had a discussion time.
More on this later. It is almost time for me to close this out.

This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for now. More later. Much love to each of you, my friends and family. Bye for now.

In Illinois

Hey, Y'all,
Well, here I am in Central Illinois visiting my grandson and his family and having a grand time and trying to do my blog on his laptop. Wow! i had a really good flight here, and my arms didn't get too tired (flying here) because it was only an hour and a half flight. ha.

I thought I had really planned well for my visit, but when I got ready to take my medications on Friday evening, I discovered one type of blood pressure pills that I had missed packing, and realized that the bottle of eye drops I thought I had packed was actually the empty one. Both medications were really important for me to have. So then the problem we faced on Saturday morning was how to get those two medications. The eye drops were important because they are for glaucoma treatment. They keep the inner pressure reduced in my eyeballs. So - what to do?

That thought occupied my mind in the wee hours of Saturday morning. Fortunately, since Daniel is pastor of a fairly large church, he knows several physicians, and called upon them to see if they could perhaps provide a solution to my problem. One of them called in a one month prescription for the eye drops (which was due to be refilled) and the other called in a prescription for one week's worth of the blood pressure medication. I had prescription numbers for both of them with me. Whew! Problem solved. That convinces me more than ever that it is wonderful to know somebody that knows somebody. More than that, I know that God provides answers for us and takes care of us, even when we are not aware. I do know that a lot of prayin' was going up and He does answer prayers!

We have been having a lot of fun since I have been here, too. The whole family came to the airport to pick me up, and I was so very happy to see them! When we got back to the house, Whitney had a great supper ready to put on the table for all of us.

We had supper and then sat around watching a little television and catching up on news. I got some really great snuggles from my great grandchildren. I will have pictures to post when I get back to Texas. So I won't tell too many of the stories while I am here.

I brought some craft things with me, so the four grands and i spent a good part of late Saturday morning (after Daniel and I picked up prescriptions) doing some painting and coloring. Pictures to be posted next week.

Yesterday afternoon, we took a drive to see the Illinois River and the trees whose leaves are changing colors. It was beautiful and reminded me so very much of driving in the Smokies. Then we stopped in the Washington Town square, and visited a few of the small shops located there. It reminds me very much of the small town of Jonesborough, Tennessee which (by the way) is hosting the International Storytelling Festival this weekend, which I had the priviledge of attending for so many years.

This morning, we were happy to attend church this morning and worship the Lord. Daniel was priviledged to baptize two young people and also preached the sermon. I enjoyed both.

Lunch today was delicious, and this afternoon we are watching a movie and relaxing together. it is really neat to see kids snuggled up to parents and having a good time together. 

This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for now. I am going to enjoy the rest of the day with my Daniel, Whitney and the four children, Hannah, Austin, Noah and Ellie!  Yea!

Bye for now. More later.

Preparations

Hey, Y'all,
Well, it is mid week again, and I have been somewhat busy getting ready to visit my grandson and family in Illinois. On Friday, I will arm my alarm system and leave for my visit. My next door neighbor, Cooter Jones, (an old fellow from Alabama who knows how to shoot the eye out of a fly at sixty paces), will also be on alert watching my place, so I have no worries about my home while I am away.

I have my suitcase just about packed and I have been cleaning out my fridge, and getting my kitchen put in order. I have also got the quilt pieces arranged for placing on the quilt strips. Yesterday was laundry day, and it is all put away. I even pressed a few pieces with the iron (almost agin my housekeepin' practices). Didn't want to embarrass my family in Illinois with wrinkled clothes. Ha.

While I was in Walmart this morning doing a little last minute shopping, I was talking to a checkout lady and we were talking about being happy versus not being, regardless of our situations, and it is refreshing to talk to other Christians about the way we meet life. 

I still don't have the results of my bloodwork back from the doctor's office. This morning, I drove to the doctor's office, presuming mistakenly that the report would be back since the blood was drawn ten days ago. Well, duh! It wasn't back and I was informed that they would call me when they had it back. Oh, well, so much for rash assumptions. Ha.

Tonight is supper at the church and then choir practice. Tomorrow I am planning on doing a little more music inventory. I will be reminding Karen to bring her laptop tomorrow to church so that I can actually enter the info into the spread sheet. 

Last evening, I enjoyed going out to supper with Carol. We ate at Cheddar's and I had the braised roast beef with mashed potatoes and carrots. OH my goodness, it was so yummy, and I couldn't really do it justice but I did my best but left at least half of it. I knew if I brought it home, I would probably not eat it, but toss it out. 

This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for now. Much love to each of you, my friends and family. Bye for now. More later.

Doin's this Past Week, and Happy Birrthday wishes!

Hey, Y'all,
This has been a rather quiet week, but then most of them are. On Monday, I went to see my family doctor for a check-up, and we had a good time chatting. You know, I always enjoy talking to people. She said something that I found to be quite amusing. She is of Chinese descent, but I do not know if she is American born or emigrated from China. She has somewhat of an accent, and we were talking about my being from Tennessee. She said, "You don't have much of an accent." I replied, very seriously, "I have been to college for four years,". Then she said, "Oh, I see, college refined the accent pretty much out, didn't it?"

She must have thought that people from Tennessee talk like hillbillies. I should have done the hillbilly speech for her, and she would have enjoyed hearing it. A teacher who taught with me back in Tennessee was so back country speaking it was embarrassing to see her as a teacher. I think she really spread it on, on purpose. Just to let those teachers who read my blog, it was not one of you all. Her first name was Brenda. 

I did get my pantry cleaned out this week, too. I made a list of the items in it, and discarded the out of date canned goods. I put their contents down the garborator, and put the cans into the trash. I have a pile of stuff on the kitchen counters that needs to go into the trash as well. In the morning, I will tackle that little job. I just recently learned how to do an Excel spread sheet, so I think I will do a spread sheet on the items in the pantry. Ha. 

I worked some more on the music inventory at church this past Thursday, and it is getting much closer to being completed. Wednesday night at the beginning of Choir practice, Karen, the music director started making an announcement to the choir about my work. She said, "I don't want to embarrass her, but I want to brag on Ruby...." I stood up and lifted my arms and twisted around as if to say, "It won't embarrass me!" Ha ha. Of course everyone laughed and clapped, then I sat down. Ha

I had lunch today with some of the regulars who eat lunch together on Sunday after church, and met a couple of people I had not met before. The lady, whose name is Patsy, and her friend, Carlos, who is her assistant, entertained the group with stories about how she learned to run at the age of fifty. Of course, I have known how to run for a long time, just not 5 K and 10 K running like she did. Ha. She, of course, was talking about distance running. I do well to walk where I need to. I could not believe it when someone told me she is 80 years of age. She doesn't look a day over 65. I really enjoyed getting to know Patsy and Carlos. I look forward to more times with them. 


I am hoping to finally get going on Teresa's quilt in the morning. I also have to check on the air in my tires. The little light came on in my dashboard this morning that tells me there is a loss of air in one of them. It is probably the spare tire in the trunk. It is all connected up electronically. I think I will go to Wal-mart in the morning and let them check it. I will have a sausage egg biscuit in the Mickey D's and do a little shopping while I wait. Hmmm. Sounds like a plan to me.


Grandson Matthew came over yesterday and mowed the yard and replaced some sprinkler heads in the yard for me. I also spent some time having fun talking to Teresa via Skype. She is doing well and they are quite busy during the weeks. 


The weather is cooling off now, and that is wonderful! I have three good friends who have birthdays this week. Today is my friend, Judy Rogers', birthday, and Tuesday is her husband, Gene's, birthday. Tomorrow is Tanya Johnson Low's, birthday. It would also have been my Sweetie Pie, Dub's birthday. He would have been 85 years old.  Happy Birthday, Judy, Gene, and Tanya! I love you all!


Well, I reckon that is about all I have to chat about today. This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for today. Much love to each of you, my friends and family. Bye for now. More later.