We are trying to catch up...

It has been a very busy summer and as I look back on my previous blogs I realize a lot has happened since March.

Mom was finally able to get the hernia operation and she had a long recovery time but was able to get back to a sort of normal life again.

I will have to think back about the summer and then update this blog....... so much more later.

What a weekend this has been........

What started out as an expected quiet weekend turned into quite a whirlwind. We expected to take Mom in for a routine hernia repair surgery on Friday morning and ended up spending the weekend in the hospital. She started having pain in her left leg on Tuesday and it gradually built up so by Friday she was in a great deal of pain. I took her to have a massage on Thursday, thinking this would help her relax. We all thought the pain was a pulled muscle. Apparently, it wasn't. She was in so much pain that the Doctor wouldn't do the hernia surgery and sent her to the hospital for pain management. They loaded her up with morphine and by 9 PM on Friday she was doing okay with a few aches in her leg. They did all kinds of tests (CAT scan, MRI(s), x-rays, blood test) and tomorrow I will schedule an appointment with the Doctor to see what the results are. My guess is they won't be able to tell us what caused the pain.

It seems like Doctors just shoot in the dark like the rest of us in trying to determine what is going on with the patient. It is also very frustrating when the Doctor's don't have any sense of urgency when the patient is experiencing a great deal of pain. We had to wait for 3 hours for the Doctor to show up at the Surgical Center with Mom screaming her head off and the nurses couldn't give her anything.

I have heard a lot about this Doctor that Mom has for her surgery over the last few days and I think it is time to find someone else. His reputation is that he is also slow and late and never is on time. When Mom had her gall bladder done we waited for 2 hours for him to show up and this time it was 3 hours.

Well, in any case, we are going to have to go through the whole thing again in a few weeks because she definitely needs to get the hernias fixed. They did find 2 more hernias doing all this testing.

On Friday, we are going to pick up Emilee and Ashlyn and have them for the weekend. We are so excited! I plan to get them some new dresses and take them to Primary on Sunday. This should be something really new for them.

Well, we have a busy week coming up and the weather is suppose to be getting warmer so we can finish planting in our backyard. Yeah!!

More later.............

It's been a while......

It has been a while since I posted here and I can only say that we have been a little busy. Not a very good excuse but that's all I have.

Sid finished a project in our backyard of putting in a new shutoff valve for our water line. This has been a pet peeve of his since we moved in that he couldn't shut the water off to fix the leaky faucet in the backyard. He has started putting in the new brick along side of the house now. We have also started planting a few flowers for the spring. The weather has started to get a little warmer now so we are anticipating a spring flower garden.

We are planning on picking up Jason's girls in a couple of weeks and have them for a few days. Jason is planning to fly into Las Vegas and pick them up so he can have them during Emilee's school break. We are looking forward to seeing them again.

Craig and Stef had the opportunity to spend a couple of weeks in Scotland and got home in time to save Stef's Mom who was babysitting. They only took 800 pictures ;-) and we are looking forward to seeing them. Stef was able to visit St. Andrews Golf Course but it was covered with 4" of snow at the time. Sid was still jealous...............someday he will get to see it.

Dad had a test done to see what can be done about his throat and we still have an x-ray that needs to be done next week. After that we will see the Doctor and see what his options are. Mom and Dad have decided to go ahead with her hernia surgery and we will schedule it soon. So more medical issues but hopefully they will help improve both of their lives.

That's about it for now. Happy Daylight Savings Time!!!

Helping little brother.....

This weekend we helped Brad with a project at his house. Michelle, Tayler and I painted her room a beautiful gun metal gray. Oh to be 14 again and willing to live in a cave! According to Michelle it will be covered with posters before long and no one will know what color the walls are.

Sid, Dad and Brad all worked on tearing out a wall and shower to begin work on a new media room. This is quite a project and will take some time but they seem excited about it. Sid really likes to remodel (just take a look at our last 2 houses) so he is right in his element here.

More later......

Grand-dude

Sid decided he needed a new motorcycle for our anniversary. This, he guarantees, will make his life complete and he will be happy for the rest of his life. This sounds a little familiar after 33 years but what can I do but go along. I would say, '..go along for the ride.' but as you can see there isn't a place for for anyone else to sit on his bike.

He looks pretty happy, doesn't he!!

Finished First Part of School

I completed the first part of the courses for creating a website. It has been a fun class and I have learned some HTML and CSS. I now have just enough knowledge to be truly dangerous but totally intrigued. I am excited for the next class on Dreamweaver. I plan to create a web site for our townhome association for practice. This could be the start of a new career but will probably just be a fun hobby.

When I get the site done I'll let you know and be soliciting feedback. Wish me luck!

Craig's Family

Here is a picture of Craig's family that I took in August. He has gone through a very uncertain time at Sun because of layoffs but has come through it still employed. Yeah!

Because of the changes and downsizing he was given the opportunity to travel to Edinburgh, Scotland to help transition a product line to the Beaverton facility. So he bought Stef a ticket and they are there for 2 weeks. We can't wait to hear all about their trip. Stef's Mom has been staying with the kids. I'm sure she will be ready for a rest when they get back.

Ruth's Progress

As you know, Sid and I moved to St. George last year to help Dad take care of Mom. We did such a good job that we could move out of their house to our own home last July. Well, Mom has been progressing very well and continually improving. We are pretty proud of her and what she has been able to accomplish. She still has a long ways to go but she is trying and getting better all the time.

We go to the Summit Athletic Club three times a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday for her to walk around the track with her walker and work on the weight machines. She has worked up to a little over a half mile and we are working on lengthing the time she walks so there are fewer stops to rest.

For Christmas she got a gift certificate for a massage and found that it helped her so much and improved her ability to move her left arm tremendously that Dad bought her a 3 pack. She loves those massages!!!

She had her gall bladder removed on Feb. 6 and was able to recover from that surgery with very little pain or affect. Thanks to having a massage the day before and all her hard work at the gym. She is back to her normal workout routine at the Summit now. The Doctor wants to do another surgery to repair an old hernia that is getting bigger but we are still trying to decide if we are going to do that or not.

Mom's biggest problem now is her short term memory is still mostly missing. We are working to help her improve that but it is tough. She realizes that stuff is missing and gets frustrated but she is trying most of the time.

More Grandkids

We had Jason's girls here during October for Ashlyn's birthday and had a great time. It is very different having 2 little girls running around the house. The dogs were going crazy for awhile but they finally got used to them.

Sid was working on remodeling our bathrooms and had an accident. He cut his arm and we had to rush to the ER. The little girls were quite excited and didn't like all the blood on the driveway so Grandpa Truman helped them clean it up. Quite exciting around here for a bit!

Grandkids - ain't they great!

Last summer we took a trip to Vancouver and Portland to visit. Sid and I went to stay at Craig and Stef's to babysit the kids while they ran the Hood to Coast Race. They have been running in this race for 4 years but Craig swears this is the last time, but then he says that every year.

We had a great time and so enjoy getting out of the heat in St. George to spend time in Beaverton.

Aunt Barbara Price

Sometime before Thanksgiving, Aunt Barbara (Dad's older sister) was diagnosed with Melanoma again. She had it about 5 years ago on her foot and has been cancer free until now. It has progressed throughout her entire body and she was told she has about 6 months to live.

We organized a little family dinner for the brother and sisters of Dad right before Christmas at our house. This is the gang with the exception of Donald. The order is Spencer at 87, Barbara at 85, Donald would have been 83, Alma at 81, Helen and Ellen at 78. I found out that their birthdays are close together, Barbara's is 12/28, Helen and Ellen is 1/5, Dad is 1/25 and Spencer is 2/5. We were going to have a birthday party for them all but Barbara has had a turn for the worse and so it has been postponed, maybe canceled.

As of today, Barbara is not receiving visitors and is having a very difficult time. She is on Morphine constantly now. We hope to be able to see here sometime this week, if she improves. It doesn't look like she will make the 6 months the Doctor gave her.

Snow in Dixie

This has been a very unusual year for weather. It has snowed 3 times this winter which has to be record of some kind, besides being cold, cold, cold!!! The first time it snowed was right before Christmas. I thought I would have a white Christmas for the first time in my life, of course, Sid just laughed and asked why would I want that. But we got snow on Christmas Eve while we were driving around looking at the lights. That was fun! Mom and Dad went with us and we had a good time. Dad said he hasn't ever had a white Christmas either.

Sid wasn't sure his precious truck could withstand the snow but it did very well.

Here are a few interior shots of the living room and new kitchen and table.

Our New House

We moved into our new townhouse in June 2008 after we remodeled. We were pretty fortunate to have tenants that didn't totally trash the place so we only had to make the changes to make 'Me' happy. As Sid will testify, it is all about ME. ;-)

Anyway, here are a few pictures of our place after the remodel. We painted every room and changed from pink to various colors of tan and brown.

Day 2

Well, this is day 2 of the blog and I'm still trying to figure out how to make it cute and fun. The dogs are sleeping here on the couch beside me, showing their support while I struggle with this.

I started taking a class at Dixie State College on how to create a website and, even though, I'm only half way through the class it has helped a lot with setting up this blog. My goal is to be able to start a little side job of updating existing websites for small businesses.

Blast off!!

This is our first blog. We are certainly coming into the 21st Century. Please be patient with us as we experiment with the new technology.