It's Spring! The Earth is Renewing Itself-Time To Plant To Grow and To Change...

[Gail Norusis]

Spring seems to have sprung in many parts of the country whether we wanted it to or not so I think it's time for a new discussion page. Yesterday was the first official day of spring I believe; even though most times in northern Illinois when the calandar says it's spring it still feels like winter. This year is quite different as we have been having summer like weather, and it will be interesting for us to track the weather patterns across our various parts of the country as the spring and summer progresses. Come join in everyone and share your spring thoughts and ideas.  

[Gail Norusis]

Colleen,

I remember that Thomas Kincaide had a store over in Kansas City at one time too. I think I remember reading one time that he sold the business and then they closed the free standing stores or something like that.

I sometimes would take my cloth bags to the grocery or WalMart but a lot of times I could tell the checkers didn't like to use them because they don't fit right on those little carousel things that the plastic bags are on so they are harder and slower to pack and then one checker told me that checkers didn't like them because they could have germs on them from previous usage so i just gave up using them for the time being. They hold so much more than the plastic however that sometimes they would end up being too heavy for me. So now I just end up keeping them in my trunk in case I do need them for something.I figure eventually,like California,the state will make them illegal and then I will already have some. I know Oregon is a big recycling state-i wonder if they can use plastic bags there-weigh in on this Debbie-if you see it.

I know what you mean about wondering where the time goes and not really feeling any older inside your head. The bad thing is we don't appreciate being able to do things and wear things and how we looked when we were younger because we didn't know any different back then and we thought that we would be like that forever. Unfortunately, that's just something we cannot know ahead of time. But look at it this way Colleen-we are now the cool grandmas!

I am not baby sitting anymore  because Jenny has permanently changed her hours so that she can be home before Adam goes to work. Plus we didn't see them for a couple of weeks when i was sick again. We did all go out to dinner last night after the visitation and we will probably go over there tonight.  Jenny did ask us to babysit in a couple of weeks so she can go to a purse party but we aren't going to be around so maybe Adam's mom can do it instead.

We don't have any plans for this weekend again. Last month we had something just about every weekend and now this month we don't have much at all. That's just how it goes-it runs in spurts.

You will be very busy trying to keep up with Owen this weekend. I know exactly how energetic he is because he is the same age as Kendall and I know what she's like.She can just go and go and go-but then when they are so peacefully sleeping you look at them and your heart just melts. Have a fun weekend!

Gail

 

[Colleen]

Hi Gail,

 I know what you mean about not seeing the kids for awhile. With ours though we will not see them for awhile and then all of a sudden they are here every week-end.  We are going thru the every week-end now. Ethan's birthday is coming up in a couple of weeks and we will all get together then also. We have a lot of birthdays now and then they will stop for a short while and then there is one more then it is the holidays. My oldest granddaughter turns into a teenager on the 14th of May. I think it is hard for me to remember my brain is not working right. I have been watching cartoons and Green Eggs and Ham for two days. If we play one more game of candy land I am going to go bonkers. It has been raining here all day and so we could not take him outside. This is not a good thing.

 They do not seem to mind using them at our store. They have a little hook on the carousel the they hang them on and then wrap the handle around the pieces that hang out ( where the plastic bags hang) The girl that packed mine said that she uses hers all the time. They had a big push on buying their bags in our area so I guess since they did that they cannot complain when we use them. They are usually careful about how much they put in a bag but I usually tell them before they start packing. If my back is hurting I have to have one of the guys put my groceries in the car. So I guess they would rather pack light then have to go out and put them in the car for me. Ron is usually home to unload so it makes it easy.

 The weather here has been really chilly. We have had rain all day today. They keep saying that it is going to get warm but they are usually wrong. It was supposed to be in the 60"s today and it barely got to the upper fifties.  It is crazy we were burning up in March and now that it is April it is going to cool down.I am glad that I did not put my sweaters away.

 Ron bought another tractor yesterday. I cannot believe that he bought another one.     We are starting to look like a tractor junk yard. He is always going to fix them up so that he can sell them but is just never happens. He has the cage all ready for the guinnies but no birds yet.  The man is going bonkers. He needs to get another hobby one that does not take cutting holes in the shed and buying more garden tractors that do not work.  If you can Gail try and find things for Greg to do when he retires now. So when the times you will have things ready for him to go right to work.  I wish someone would have told me that before Ron retired. Do not wait for Greg to come up with soemthing help him out or you could be like us and have junk all over the place. I sometimes thing that Ron and Jerry are long lost brothers. From the way Barbara talks Jerry does the same things Ron does.  They could just collect junk and put electriecity in anywhere the wanted and Ron could go around feeling the walls to make sure that they do not feel hot.  That is his newest thing now feeling the wall where he put the plug in for the air conditioner.

 Well I guess that is all the whinning I will do nonight.  How is Brent? Is he doing okay since he went back to work?  That was nice that they let off to go to the funeral. Not many companies would do that right now. 

 Well I better go. Owen's movie is almost over and I think it put Ron to sleep so I will have to go and fix the dvd player.

    Have a good week-end.

      Colleen

[Gail Norusis]

Hi Colleen,

Are you an expert at Candyland yet? I hope Owen lets you win sometimes. I'll bet you're very tired after this weekend. You'll need a few days to recuperate. I'll bet it's hard to believe that your granddaughter will be a teenager. So far Kim is lucky and her oldest daughter is pretty level headed but as we all know with teenagers you have to be prepared for anything as they are not generally known for their good judgement. You get alot of gray hairs during the teenage years.

We didn't do much of anything this weekend.Just hung around. The weather has been windy and cool with some nightime storms. We are having temps in the fifties which is much more normal for this time of year than the eighties that we had in March.I hope Debra had some decent weather for her winery trip.

So Ron bought another tractor-have you ever counted how many he has? I don't worry too much about Greg bugging me when he retires as he will probably just golf alot more and he loves going out and working in the yard. It's the winters when he can't golf or work outside that I worry about. I know deep in his soul he would like to be somewhere warmer but he also knows deep in my soul I don't want to leave the kids and grandkids so that would be a huge problem as I doubt we would have a summer home and a winter home and I know he wouldn't be a snowbird who RV's during the winter. However since I spent my whole adult life with my parents far away and the kids barely knew their maternal grandparents because of that I would like to do things differently-so it seems we are at cross purposes here.

Maybe Ron feels the wall by the airconditioning plug because you guys had that fire from that other electical receptacle. He just wants to make sure he did it right.

We had our first homegrown asparagus this weekend. Greg said some of it froze from the cold nightime temperatures. So it may be a bit before we get more. What a weird spring. We have trees that normally don't flower until May that are already done blooming.

Well,I have to go pick up our tax return so I'll see ya later.

Gail

 

[Colleen]

Hi Gail,

 I am not an expert at anything. I cannot play checkers either. Every game we played Owen won. He can ask more questions then any other child I know. He asks questions about everything. At least he hasn't started with the why after you say everything.  We really kind of miss him now that he has gone home. He is fun to be with. He does not ask for a lot and he took a nap one day which surprised both of us.

 Our weather is cool here also. We had rain but not like they had in Oklahoma and Kansas. They said they spotted 120 tornados Sunday. That was scarey. THey were talking about the storms coming our way but by the time they reached here they had calmed down a lot. Now we are supposed to  have more storms Thursday. Hopefully they will not be bad.

 I do not blame you for not wanting to move away from the kids. If Melissa and her family have to move because of the Army I do not know what we are going to do. It is bad enough that they are in Fort Leonard Wood. Kaylee and Ethan are growing so fast that it is hard to keep up with what they are doing as it is.  Kaylee is really talking now. She has attitude also which is kind of cute but it won't be when she gets older. Yesterday I was talking to Melissa and Kaylee was biting Ethan and Melissa told her to quit. She told her that she was not supposed to bite and she told M. that she knows. So M. put her in time out and she told her I love you. She has learned that when she says that she can get what she wants.

  We have had some asparagus also. The weather has not been cold enough to freeze ours. We are not getting a lot at one time though. We have to pick every other day or so but we still do not get enough to fix. So we just put it in the crisper and wait till we get enough. Our asparagus is not growing as good as it use to we think some of it died. We use to grow garlic and that all died out also. I wish Ron would plant more of that because it tastes much better when it is fresh. It also keeps some of the animals out of the garden.      

 It was probably nice for you and Greg to stay home this week-end. That gave you more time to completely get over the flu that you had. There is a lot of people getting sick around here and I think it is the weather  you never know how to dress one day to the next.  When Owen came to stay Danyielle had to pack summer clothes and winter clothes so he would have something no matter what the weather was.

  Well that is about all from here. Will talk to you later.

     Colleen

[Barbara Smith]

Colleen, I was just thinking about you looking for a dress, and I remembered a web site that I bought a couple of tops from that you may want to look at because I know they have dresses too. It is OneStopPlus.com and it's for size 14 up to like 100. So since I fit in that range I looked on there. I saw their ad on TV. Come to think of it; I bought a seersucker dress a couple of summers ago from there; and I still have it and wear it quite a bit during the hot weather we have here. It has short sleeves and an empire waist and pockets. It sounds like you had a busy but fun weekend. My fibro kept me down yesterday; so I literally went to bed around 5pm. It does me that way sometimes; and I have just quit fighting it. I was so sorry to hear about those terrible storms. It is some cooler here today so I can tell that the weather wasn't that far away. Poor Ron and his tractor thing. Poor Colleen and her Ron thing. I was becoming so grouchy for a while that I just distanced myself from the whole family. It seemed like every little thing I needed Jerry to do he thought didn't need to be done, and so after seeing the garbage overflowing for the umteenth time; I decided I was about to blow so I just went in the bedroom with the cat and put my gown on and turned on QVC. I resisted ordering anything this time. Do you sometimes think that QVC is moving toward the younger women with their fashions? Mabey it's just me. Your grandchildren sound so cute. My babysitting consists of watching the "grand pets". Joey brought his dog Ruby to stay with us the other night while they went to a rodeo. She is an inside dog, and she just jumped right up in the bed with us and tried to give her toy to Auto kitty so he would play with her. They get along really well. She is a rescue dog from the shelter and was used to cats walking all around the shelter where she lived. She was one day away from being put to sleep because no one would adopt her (she has pit bull in her). I'm so glad they got her. She is one of the sweetest dogs I've ever seen. It breaks my heart to think of all the good little animals that get put to sleep because no one will take them. She does all kinds of tricks. And she is bilingual; because Joeys's girlfriend speaks spanish, and she talks to Ruby in spanish too and Ruby understands what Lisa says. Well, hope you have good luck finding your dress. I am so in to comfort at this point in my life. But it's nice to feel pretty too when the occasion calls for being a little more dressy. Did you say the wedding is going to be outside? You definitely need to wear something comfortable if it is. Take care. Barbara

[Colleen]

Hi Barbara,

 Thank-you for the ad for the dresses. I am still looking for something. The wedding I am going to is an inside wedding and the one Gail is going to is an outside wedding. If this was an outside wedding I would be wearing  pants and a nice top. I do not think that I would get dressed up to sit out side. I do not like having to get dressed to go to this inside wedding. Give me my jeans and a t-shirt. I like comfort and a good pair of sneakers.

 I feel so bad for you having fibro. I hear so many people talk about the pain and that they just give up and go to bed and sleep.  I cannot imagine being in that much pain. So take your medicine and get the rest you need when you do not feel good. You should have come on here when you felt grummpy. We could have gotten grummpy with you. It would have been fun. We could have all got whatever was bugging us off our chest.

 The dog sounds really cute. It is funny that the dog gets along with the cat.  What does Auto kitty think of the dog? I hope that it is mutal feelings. Our dog is too ruff when she plays and probably would not get along with any other animal. She is four months and we will be glad when she gets just a little older so she will stop some of the things she is doing.  She is still at the biting stage. She is cutting teeth.

 Well guess I better go and try to get some things done around here before I go to bed.

       Colleen

[Barbara Smith]

Colleen, luckily the cat likes the dog; and they play with each other. When Ruby brings us one of her toys, the cat, Auto will come dragging in one of his little toys too. They kind of remind me of kids trying to see who can get the most attention from us. When Auto gets tired of playing, he sits up on his back end and just boxes Ruby on her nose like he is throwing a one two punch at her; and she jumps back and stops nosing him. We were so afraid when they first were together; but I have pictures of them both laying on the foot of our bed sleeping together. But I do think the reason Ruby gets along so well with him is because of being at the shelter with cats who were allowed to roam around inside the shelter. I couldn't remember if it was you or Gail that were attending the outside wedding. One of our sons said when he gets married he wants to do the ceremony out here in the pasture and then do a cookout for the reception. Something tells me that this will change once his fiance hears this; but our boys are just homegrown not fancy guys who like cookouts and fishing and such. One has a girlfriend who likes these things; but the youngest has a girlfriend whose recreation is shopping. I know we can't chose our childrens mates; and I try to keep my mouth closed. It is just so hard for me to imagine young women who don't cook or wash clothes. But I know things have changed a lot and sometimes I feel like a dinosaur talking about the way things used to be. Yes, I do get a little discouraged with this fibro and how it can just knock me off my feet. I used to be so active, and this time of year I would be out planting and working in the yard. But I guess this changes in weather stirred it up; and even though I used to not take medicine I find that now that's one of the first things I plan for if I am going to be out for a while. Your puppy is just feeling young and happy. They sure can do some damage with those sharp little teeth. One of ours used to drag up long limbs that Jerry had the boys cut around the pond and bring them all the way to the house and then they would have to take them back out to the brush pile. It was like a game for him. By the way, Jerry slowed down the other day when he saw some old rusty back hoes and tractor stuff on the side of the road for sale. I told him don't even think about it; but it makes me nervous that he will go back and drag something else in. I remember once my SIL said '"well, just think of it this way, he could be running around chasing women or going to bars" when I was complaining about some piece of junk he had dragged in; and for a brief moment; I hestitated when she said that. ha ha Oh, well, you and I got the junk collectors. Wish something he has brought in here would have some hidden Van Goh painting stuck inside it; but my luck he would just toss it or worse yet; burn it. That's another of his favorite past times is burning things. He caught our whole pasture on fire once when he was "digging a trench" and the firemen thanked him for helping them put it out. They never knew he was the one who started it. Take care, and good luck finding your dress. Barbara

[Colleen]

Barbara the more we talk the more I think that Ron and Jerry are long lost brothers. There is no way of stopping them if the get it in their heads that they want to pick something up. Does Jerry stop and pick things up that are laying on the side of the road? If Ron sees something that looks like a tool or a good rope he will stop and pick it up and keep it.  A trash can fell off the back of a truck and rolled down a hill and he went back later and picked it up. He thought he gave the man enough time to go back and get it if he wanted. THey do keep things interesting though.

 That is so cute. The cat and the dog playing with each other and bringing the toys in trying to get more attention.  We have to take our puppy and have her fixed. She will be six months soon and we do not want her to have puppies. Are you having a lot of trouble with tics in your area? We put medicine to keep our dog from having tics but everytime we go to pet her we find a bunch. I feel sorry for the poor little thing. They have to hurt and make her sick. We try to get them off of her as soon as we see them.

 I cannot garden like I use to either. My back gives me trouble and I have to rest so much Ron would rather do it himself. He is good about planting flowers for me and taking care of them. We both go out and pick the vegetables but he picks more of them then I do. I can pick the beans and sugar snap peas because they are growing on a fence and I can reach them. Ron will pick the bottom ones and I will pick the ones on top. This is getting boring now. SO I guess I will stop.

 I hope  you are having a great day and your fibro is not bothering you too bad today. take care

     Colleen

[Gail Norusis]

Hi Colleen,

Kaylee is sounding so cute and feisty now that she is bigger. It's hard to believe that in a few more months she and Lachlan will be two! Wow! Time just flies.

It is so confusing to know what to wear as one day it is 50 and the next it is 70. How goes the dress hunting? Don't put it off for too long so that you are left at the last minute with nothing. I know that you sometimes have a hard time making a decision. I have to remind Greg soon to plan on what he is wearing too so that he has time to shop if he needs to. My favorite store Fit For a Queen was having another 30% off sale so I went up there yesterday to look for something to wear. I'm so concerned about being outdoors in Georgia because I get overheated so easily but yet I don't wear sleeveless because at this stage I no longer have attractive upper arms. I found a twofur that is a tank with a kind of fluttery short sleeve cape type thing over it. It is silk so I know that is very lightweight in the heat and it was black,white and gray floral so I will probaly wear a pair of slinky type black ankle pants with it or maybe even a pair of gray capris that I have that are kind of dressy and probably silver sandals or black embellished sandels. I have a little silver sparkly purse from Jenny's wedding that would work with it too.So I will be kind of dressy casual which I think will be appropriate. It's hard when you're going to be away from home and can't go back to your closet at the last minute if you change your mind.

Well Greg went to the doctor yesterday and he has bronchitis-that's what the lady in his office has too-I guess that must have been what I had too except that i never went to the Doctor with it. Greg said the doctor had a student in there with her that was really bugging him-I think because he just wanted to get in and get out and so he was not very patient with this poor student which is pretty unlike him. I told him med students have to learn somewhere.

It sounds like Biskit needs something stiff to chew on. I never gave our dogs rawhides because I've heard so many horror stories about dogs swallowing chunks and getting their intestines blocked. I used to buy bleached bones from the Fosters and Smith catalog or sometimes the pet store. They were nice and hard for those puppy teeth to chew on and were so hard that they didn't get splinters of bone until the bones got really old and then I would throw them away and replace them. They last a good long time. Maybe you need to try another type of tic medicine if this one isn't working because those darn ticks can carry all sorts of stuff and the deer ticks carry lyme disease. Ick! Hate Ticks!

Boy,you and Barbara are really kept guessing by what Jerry and Ron are going to drag home next. When he leaves the house you must always wonder if he is coming home with a new "treasure."At least it makes life interesting if a bit messy.

I'm not much of a gardener anymore. I used to have flower gardens but I no longer do. Getting down there on hands and knees and pulling weeds is no longer fun. Plus I always get rashes on my arms and I don't like to wear garden gloves I like to feel the soil on my hands. Just like I don't like wearing gloves to wash dishes-it seems like the dishes are too slippery with gloves but maybe it's just me.

I wonder how Debra enjoyed her winery tours in your great state. Well must go and see what else is up in the cyberworld.

Gail

[Gail Norusis]

Hi Barbara,

I hope your fibro is feeling better today. It sounds like it is affected by the weather-is that so? It's hard to know when a flare will crop up next. Have you had it a long time? And will it ever go away or just go into remission. Sorry for asking so many questions but I don't know too much about it and like to learn things. I think it's considered an autoimmune disease like RA so are you treated by a family doctor or a rheumatologist. I do know it's a disease that's hard to diagnose and hard to treat and when it flares it can make you miserable. I am thankful every day that my RA is under control because I remember how my Dad suffered with the pain of it and how he used to say that he sincerely hoped that none of his kids would ever get it. Unfortunately he didn't get his wish since I was diagnosed with RA almost 15 years ago and just recently my sister was diagnosed with possible lupus and an autoimmune eye disease. We didn't find out until after Dad died that he had lupus too-it was in the autopsy report. Okay-enough with the diseases...

I think some of the newer lines on the Q are geared toward the younger clientel. I guess they need to start picking up younger shoppers or they will not be able to keep going. I know the motto line is cute but seems to be cut closer to the body for the younger set. Of course to me the younger set is people in their forties and the ones in their twenties or thities are mere children. Anyway,there has been so many changes on the Q over the 20 years I've been watching-lots of people and items have come and gone and even the selling does not seem as relaxed and laid back as it once was. I used to keep it on in the background for company when i worked around the house during the day. Now I find myself DVRing many of the programs that I want to see and just skipping over them to see if anything interesting was on the show. I guess after 20 years most of the hosts can't say anything that I haven't heard many times before.

Ruby is a very lucky dog to have been saved. Sometimes I find myself in tears when they show the commercial with all the sad little animals and play that In the Arms of Angels song. It's so sad. There are so many pit bulls and pit bull mixes in the shelters-they got so popular and then many people realized that they were too much dog for them and just gave them to the shelters. We always used to have cats and dogs together in our house until Greg became allergic to cats. They always got along really well because they were brought up together and would always snuggle together to sleep.

Speaking of backyard weddings-one of Jenny's friends was going to use our backyard with the covered deck and the koi pond for her wedding ceremony and then just have the reception somewhere else. She was going to have The Choirboys sing like they did at Jenny's wedding. But then they changed their mind and they went out to Vegas to get married instead. So you never know what your kids might decide to do. Some kids are very practical and want to save the money that they would spend on a big wedding for a downpayment on a house-so they would be more than happy to have an outdoor wedding and barbecue reception. It's all a matter of taste and if the girl has her heart set on a fancy fairytale wedding or not. I too have a hard time understanding a young woman who does not cook or do laundry. Although Jenny never really cooked that much until she got married-but she did her own laundry from high school age  on. Who does this young ladies laundry if she doesn't do it herself? That's okay if you talk about how things were done in the dinosaur age-I do that too-and things in the dinosaur age weren't all that bad-new is not always better. After all a fine wine needs to be aged.

I love hearing you and Colleen talking about the adventures of Jerry and Ron. If Greg is bugging me I can always think-"well at least he doesn't do that." My big issue with him is when i'm trying to watch a TV program with singing he always has to sing along with everyone. Don't get me wrong-I love his singing but not when I'm trying to listen to someone else sing-one of the other Choirboys has the same complaint about him-they'll be trying to listen to something and he'll be singing along instead. I'm sure that lots of times he doesn't even realize that he's doing it. Oh,well-if that's my worst complaint I guess life is pretty good.

Gail

[Barbara Smith]

Colleen, yes, Jerry and Ron are definitely cut from the same mold. Jerry has gone back to pick up some piece of junk that is laying on the side of the road and he cruised around the back of K-Mart when they were closing down the store and pestered the people working there until they finally agreed to let him buy some of the shelving they were taking down. His big plan was to "sell" the shelving and make this big profit. Don't guess I need to tell you that it all ending up in his shop and now he proudly says he is "happy" that he decided not to sell it since it is great shelves and he would have paid triple for it. You know what, Paw Paw used to pick up stuff in the road too. He went back to a spot for 4 days waiting for someone to pick up this old rusty hammer and when they didn't he stopped and got it. Joey brought the hammer up here the other day to ask Jerry if it was his since he was cleaning up things In Paw Paw's shed; and Jerry said no, but it's a perfectly good hammer and just to clean it up and it would be as good as new. He even had a big jug of some cleaning stuff he had mixed up for just that very purpose. No telling what all there is in his shop.  We are also having a terrible time with the ticks here. Our poor dogs are getting them so bad. We are using the tick medicine on all of them; but living in the country with deer and such just seems to make it worse. And with the weather being so strange this year; I think that has something to do with it too. Ticks are just the most gross bug and years ago they used to sell this powder stuff called Sevin dust at the farm store; but I think it was bad for people and animals; so they don't sell it now; but we used to dust it on our dogs and they hardly ever got a tick or fleas. I know the pesticides that have been used had killed off almost all of our honeybees; but now they are beginning to come back. Paw Paw used to have bee hives, and he fed them tons of sugar water, and his honey was delicious. He used to sell jars of it at the feed store. But then his bees started to die, and he had to stop doing his honey. Joey is thinking about starting up using his hives again; and I think it would be a good hobby for him. Did you know a bee flys in the exact same line to and from the source of nectar. If you are in their line of flight they will bump you once and then if you don't move they will sting you. I learned a lot when Paw Paw was doing this. By the way, Jerry mentioned the other day that he wants to run an electrical wire from our house 700 feet down the side of the driveway and put a gate in at the road. I'm praying he forgets this. Take care and happy junk hunting. Barbara

Colleen said:

Barbara the more we talk the more I think that Ron and Jerry are long lost brothers. There is no way of stopping them if the get it in their heads that they want to pick something up. Does Jerry stop and pick things up that are laying on the side of the road? If Ron sees something that looks like a tool or a good rope he will stop and pick it up and keep it.  A trash can fell off the back of a truck and rolled down a hill and he went back later and picked it up. He thought he gave the man enough time to go back and get it if he wanted. THey do keep things interesting though.

 That is so cute. The cat and the dog playing with each other and bringing the toys in trying to get more attention.  We have to take our puppy and have her fixed. She will be six months soon and we do not want her to have puppies. Are you having a lot of trouble with tics in your area? We put medicine to keep our dog from having tics but everytime we go to pet her we find a bunch. I feel sorry for the poor little thing. They have to hurt and make her sick. We try to get them off of her as soon as we see them.

 I cannot garden like I use to either. My back gives me trouble and I have to rest so much Ron would rather do it himself. He is good about planting flowers for me and taking care of them. We both go out and pick the vegetables but he picks more of them then I do. I can pick the beans and sugar snap peas because they are growing on a fence and I can reach them. Ron will pick the bottom ones and I will pick the ones on top. This is getting boring now. SO I guess I will stop.

 I hope  you are having a great day and your fibro is not bothering you too bad today. take care

     Colleen

[Colleen]

Hi Gail,

 I bet Lachlan is starting to talk a lot also. They both are just at that cute age where they do things that make you laugh.I am sure that it does not always make their parents laugh but the grandparents get a kick out of it. I am finding more and more that if the  kids are here I let them get away with things that I never let their parents get away with.Like giving them a snack before dinner and not getting upset if they do not eat. I never hear the end of it either. THey always tell their kids that we are not the same people we use to be when they were young.

 I did find a dress today. We went to Penny"s and my daughter Amanda talked me into this dress. It is multi colored, sleevless but does come down past my knees. I also got a little jacket to go over it and it is black. The trim is all in black on the dress. I told Amanda that if Ron did not like it I was taking it back. He did like it though so I guess I will wear it.

 I hope Greg is feeling okay today and he does not give the bronchitis back to you again. This year is so crazy with everyone getting sick. Just take care of yourself and take a lot of vitamins and vitamins C. That is supposed to keep you from getting sick. I do not know if it really works or not but that is what I have always been told.

 We have to go to a birthday party for Ethan Saturday. I have no idea what to get him. He told me about a new game for one of his video games but they are not out yet so I will have to think of some thing else.  So I will have to see what I can find. I wish I could get him into something other then video games. We have bought him just regular board games but he will not play with them.  Kids are hard to buy for. He is going to be six. I cannot believe it. It seems like yesterday he was  a newborn. I am really starting to feel my age everytime the kids have another birthday. When the oldest turns into a teenager  then I am really going to feel old.

 I could never wear gloves when doing dishes.  LIke you I thought they were too slippery. I was so glad when we got the dish washer. I do not like wearing gloves for anything they just get in the way. When I worked in the nursing home and had to wear them when taking care of a patient they use to drive me crazy. If you got them wet it went down inside the glove. That was uncomfortable.

 It will be nice to hear what Debra has to say about the winneries in Augusta. My daughter said that they have built some new ones over there and they are really nice. We are going to have to check it out again. That part of the state is really pretty. We have a lot of rolling hills and when you get  on top of one and you look down it makes a beautiful picture.

  Well that is all from here. I hope Barbara does tell us a little more about fibro. I do not think that it is curable. I know woman that have it but do not know anymore then they are sore all the time. That is just so sad to be in that much pain and not be able to do anything about it.  I am whinner and would be whinning all the time. Barbara is a much braver personer then I.

    Colleen