Another One Bites the Dust

As the song goes, so does the weekend.  Another one bites the dust.  Boy, it just seems like it was Friday afternoon.  We had a great weekend.  Yesterday, I told you about the white squirrels and the pumpkin patch.  Today we got up and went to church.  It was what we call "herd" communion.  That is where you just walk out of your pew, walk down the aisle, at the front where it opens up to the alter Pastor stands.  There he passes out the wafers and blesses you.  You turn and head back to your seat across the front of the church and an elder is there giving you the wine.  It is like cattle herding into a cattle car.  They say it goes faster, but to us it does not feel like communion.  Before church began, we were sitting up at the front settling in.  Aubree looked up and saw Mike in the choir loft.  She yells, "Uncle Mike."  That is the first time any of the kids yelled in church.  After church, we went to Grandma's for dinner.  It was Mike's birthday celebration.  It was nice.  There was a crowd:  Grandma, Grandpa, Steve, Amelia, Koleen, Dot, Aubree, Mike, Lorna, Kyle and Kaleb.  It is always a good time when we get together.

Steve made it through church and dinner.  After that, he hit the chair in Grandma's front room and was out. He slept through Tinker Toys and loud laughs.  He woke up and we headed home.  When we got home, he took another nap.  He is still resting now.  Church and dinner wore him out.  His stomach has not bothered him today.  He ate a great meal.

Koleen left after dinner and headed back to Columbia.  It was so nice that she and Dot came for the weekend.  We had a great time.  I sure do miss her!  Hopefully, she will be coming home for Thanksgiving.

We Skyped Elizabeth in Prague yesterday.  She was getting ready to go out for the evening.  She said she is having fun.  She is sure seeing a lot of sites.

Still having issues uploading pictures.

Having Fun

Koleen and Dot.

Koleen and Kaleb.

I am posting early today since I didn't make it last night.  What a day Friday was.  Steven woke up around 4 am and was sick.  I think it was the smell of the furnace that started choking him and then it was down hill from there. After he was sick, he was able to go back to sleep.  He slept until 9:30 or so and then went to get his hair cut.  He was getting to be a real "hippy" boy.  He feels better when his hair is short. After getting his hair cut, he drove to the coffee shop where I was lunching with a teacher friend of mine.  When he got there, he did not look like he felt well.  He visited with us for a few minutes and then went over to visit with our friend, Butch, who was having coffee and reading a paper. They had a nice visit and then we left.  About 15 minutes later, just enough time for him to get home, he called.  He was really sick, again.  The teacher across the hall watched my kids and I took off for home.  I got about a mile away from home and he called.  He was doing better and through getting sick. I went back to school.  I am concerned that he will get really short of breath when he is getting sick and possibly pass out.  Sometimes when he is sick, he has a difficult time breathing.  After school, I went home, and he was sleeping.  Aubree was in bed next to him watching Sponge Bob.    I woke him up to see how he was feeling, and he just said tired.   He went back to sleep and I woke him up when Kay and Dot got home.  I asked him how he was feeling and he said better.

Koleen pointing out Kyle.

Stretching before the game

Off to block some Wildcats

Team after the game.  Kyle is in the center.  You can see his full face.  

So, Koleen, Dot, and I went off to Monett to pick up Mike, Kaleb and Lorna.  We were off to Cassville for the Cub's game.  We took our big car, but Mike drove.  We got to the game about 5 minutes before it began.  I must tell you how proud I am of the Cub's football team.  They were reborn this week.  They were quick on their feet, followed the ball, held on to the tackles and basically played great.  They had some great plays.  The Wildcats won.  They are the defending state champs.  Kyle made some fantastic blocks and tackles.  He was on the ground quite often.  His white uniform was so dirty at the end of the game.  He would have been a perfect candidate for a Tide commercial.

 Koleen and Kyle after the game.  The perfect picture for Grandma's digital frame.  

The battle lines are drawn in the sand. Fire away!

I really don't have a lot to tell about today.  It was really just a run of the mill day.  Steve stayed home again and caught up on his rest.  He did leave the house to get a Big Nickel and Mt. Vernon paper.  He is on the prowl for a muscle car.  His dream car is a 68 GTO.  He has located one in Miami, OK, but purchasing it is another thing.  He is willing to do odd jobs for loose change.  Of course, his work hours and duration are limited so it may take him quite a while to fill that piggy bank.  He is in great spirits tonight and the odd jobs comment was his idea.  He is here with a great big grin on his face.  Funny Guy, Steve.  I love it when he is feeling better.  It makes me feel like the old Steve is back.  His sense of humor and orneriness return if only for a little while. This gives me hope.

I do have to say that the battle has begun.  Last night, it got down to 39 here.  Of course the house was not that cold, just 71.  He woke up "freezing".  So, today he turned on the house heater and it is now on. He set it at 75, which doesn't seem like it is bad, but now the air conditioner is off and there is not air circulation. I must tell you that it is warm in our bedroom.  I have finally convinced him to turn on the overhead fan.  I am a little worried because he put the remote control on his bedstand well out of my reach.  He thinks he is being tricky.  If the truth be told, if he turns it off, I'll just wait until he is asleep, turn it on, and cover him up with another blanket.  I tired to tell him that maybe he needed some flannel jammies, but I got no reply to that suggestions.  I think they might make some with footies in his size.  :)

Dark Ages

I just have a few things to say before I tell you about our day.  We are watching a History Channel show about the Dark Ages.  It has made me realize that no matter how bad my day was...it could always be worse especially if I lived in the Dark Ages. Oh, my gosh.  How on Earth did those people survive just their daily lives?  I freak out if a student sneezes in my direction.  I would be a basket case with all the germs and filth back then. Yucky!  Also, I am not a big fan of dog meat.

It was another good day in the Now Ages.  Steve caught up on some much needed rest.  He also had to go to the courthouse to get my Mustang licensed.  He is lucky I had all the paperwork in order.  :) I am glad he likes to handle that kind of stuff or maybe he just wants to get out of the house.  Either way, I am a winner because I don't have to deal with it.  Call my Lucky, Lucky, Lucky.  We went for a short visit to see Grandpa.  I did some internet research for him on a cross plaque he made.  I delivered it.  While we were there, Steve got chilled and started to not feel well.  All the way home he was covered with a blanket and slept.  When we got home, I changed his bandage and warmed a blanket in the dryer for him.  We are now watching tv.  We just got off the computer from Skyping with Koleen and her friend, Shaun.  I know I have raved about Skype before, but I must do it again.  It is a wonderful thing to talk and see people that are away from you.  It has been a blessing for us to talk to Koleen and Elizabeth.

I believe when I finish blogging, I am going to relax and read my book.  I am almost finished with it.  It is called The Ensouling.  It is a debut novel by Mark Petrik.  It is a medical/science fiction thriller.  Not really a genre I read, but I am glad I got out of my box and tried this one.  I am not sure what I will read next.  Eknee, meknee, myknee, moe.....

This is Opa's letter: O

Opa and I are babysitting this evening.  Amelia is playing volleyball at a local church. We had dinner and a bath already.  We are just calming down before we have root beer floats.  Luckily we all ate a good dinner :)  We are resting in bed.  I am posting, Aubree is playing a number game the Ipad and Opa is sleeping.

Aubree is really into recognizing letters.  Her favorite game it to find peoples' letters. By this she finds the letter that the first name begins with.  O is Opa and Oma's letter.   K is Kay's letter.  S is Samurai's letter and T is Tia's letter.  She is actually very good at this game.  We try to lean new letters everyday.  Today we learned L on the Lisboa postcard that Tia sent.  L is the letter for love and Laurilai at daycare.  She is also getting her letters down packed.  We love to took for letters and read our magazines:  High Five and Our Big Backyard.

Steve had a good day.  He rested most of the morning.  When I got home for lunch, he was just resting.  After I left, he went to Marrionville with Grandma and Grandpa to get some apples from the orchard.  They had a nice time.  When he got home, he had to go to get Samurai from the groomers.  He then rested until dinner.  I know it sounds like he is resting a lot, which is true.  I'm not concerned because he is tired because he is doing more things and this wears him out.  He is feeling better and therefore wants to venture out of the house more.  I am excited about it.  I know it makes it hard since he is usually sleeping when we are awake, but I think he is healing when he is resting.  Our next adventure is oil change and haircut.  I am hoping that it will be later this week.

Rainy nights and Mondays

During supper, it started raining.  By the time we were finished, it was pouring and the sky to the east and south were really really dark.  We looked on the National Weather Service site and saw that there was a red and yellow cell by Joplin.  It looks like we will be getting storms for a while.  We sure need a little moisture.  It is getting dry again.

Steve had a wonderful day.  He woke up, and decided to go to the Wise auction.  It was a place where they sold lumber:  Wise Lumber.  I am not sure what he was looking for.  It was a great day to be outside.  He stayed there quite a while.  He got to visit with several people that we don't see very often since we no longer live at the farm.  To my knowledge, he did not buy a thing....but we must keep in mind, that I have not checked out any of his hiding places yet.  I don't care.  It is just fun to give him a hard time about things like that.  Who knows what he could have brought home.

He felt good until late in the afternoon.  Apparently, he was on his way home and started feeling sick.  He did make it home before he did get sick.  I was not home because I had a parent meeting.  When I got home, he was resting.  He rested until supper.  He ate a good meal and is currently watching Pawn Star reruns.  He is sitting in the "Lazy-boy" and playing with Samurai.  Samurai has to be careful with Steve because I think if Samurai got tough he could take Steve down.  We are very lucky that Samurai is such a good boy.

Amelia is sitting at her computer working on some homework.  She is trying to figure out a book to read that she can write a literary analysis.  The teacher suggested books like Tom Sawyer or Huckleberry Finn.  I have thrown out several titles but she has not jumped on any.  I think she is researching some more titles.  So far, she has not decided on one.

Elizabeth is still in Europe.  She has left Spain and is now in France.  She is traveling by herself.  So far, all the people there have been helpful.  She is meeting several friends that live or are stationed there.  According to her email today, she is having a wonderful time.  I have not seen any pictures yet.  They are on Facebook so we have to use Amelia's password and account.  I'll keep you posted on her adventures.

Koleen is fine.  She is coming home this weekend for a visit.  It will sure be nice to spend some time with her.  We are planning on going to the pumpkin patch and getting our fall pumpkins so we can carve them soon.  We try to do normal things when she is home so that she feels like she is really at home.

Not Sunday night already

It is hard to believe that it is already Sunday evening.  My the weekend sure flew by.  I really don't want to go back to work tomorrow.  I know I not special. There are probably millions of people all across the country feeling the same way.  I really have a hard time leaving Steve by himself while I am at school.  Luckily, I don't have any lunch duties so I can come home at lunch and check on him.  That helps unless he is not feeling well when I come home.  Then it is even harder to leave to go back for the second half of the day.  If you were here, I would serve you cheese with this whining.  :)

Today was a good day.  We got up and went on an adventure.  We drove to the place where they have the Powerchutes.  Unfortunately, no one was flying. Steve thinks I need to experience the flying.  I don't know if I agree with that or not.  I am not the world's best height person.  I hate climbing ladders and anything to do with being off the grown.  After we found out no one was there, we headed off to Apple Butter Makin Days....again.  Steve thought we needed to walk around a different part today.  We did but the trip was short.  Steve started not feeling well.  We stopped by the stained glass studio off the square.  This is an activity that we think Steve should start when he feels better.  The gal with teach him the techniques he needs to know to create beautiful pieces of art. She also has studio space for her students to use when they are not in class.  I am hoping that this has inspired him.  I think maybe a month after his last chemo, he will be able to start the classes.  Steve is very talented in all he does, and I know he will create some beautiful masterpieces.

After our walk about, we came home.  We watched the Colts beat the Chiefs.  We are not Chief fans, so we were not upset when they lost.  I have never been a Chief fan.  I have a theory about them.  Whenever they are doing great, hang on a week or two and they will disappoint you.  HA.   There are a lot of people in Mt. Vernon that are really big Chief fans.  I am sure that I will hear all about this game tomorrow.  We ate some dinner..a dish I call Italian chicken.  It is just chicken tenders cooked in Wishbone Italian salad dressing.  We got ready to eat and Steve's stomach started bothering him.  I thought it might be the dinner, but it was something he wanted.  He did eat some, but not enough.  He is resting now while he is watching Swamp People.  (not my favorite show) The poor grammar really kills me.

Tomorrow, I am not sure what is going on.  I am hoping that he will rest again and start to feel better.  Koleen comes home this coming weekend.  It should be a good week and weekend.