My Daughter-In-Law, Jocelyn

I am very lucky to have a wonderful daughter-in-law who is married to my stepson, Joe. They are both very special people that I have learned to love as if they were my own. Joe is the strong (and I mean strong, as in physical strength) silent type with not alot to say but is alot of fun and makes me laugh (Sorry, about the Black Lung disease, Joe!) Anyway, he was brilliant enough to find himself a wife beyond compare who is kind, gentle, funny and loving and accepts Joe just as he is (Joe has been known to operate on "Joe Time" which can drive his wife and his dad absolutely crazy) This last weekend while at the lake with us she chose to fore go a pontoon ride after dinner as she wasn't feeling real well - So, Joe tucked her into bed and we left her home to rest. She joined us when we got back but complained about it being hard to breathe and a pain in her upper chest - She felt somewhat the same next day but fought me to help dust, vacuum, make two beds and generally clean as we had guests coming the following weekend to the lake, without us. Naturally, I wanted the place to look nice for them. We all left the lake at the same time on Sunday and you can only imagine our horror when we found out Monday morning that the pain had gotten bad enough that they went to the ER late Sunday night. This 30 year old wonder woman had been diagnosed with a blood clot and was immediately checked in for the night only to undergo rounds of tests and new medications. Pulmonary embolism we were told. We were worried sick and I personally felt awful having let her actually help with cleaning that same day. We are pleased to report that she went home the following day along with some new pills that she'll have to take for 6 months and I'm sure a newfound or renewed appreciation for life in general. We thank God for her and Joe's good sense to go to the hospital that night and for the rapid recovery and wisdom and speed of the doctors - Keep her in your prayers for us as this is a one-in-a-million kind of gal. We love you Joc!

Making A Deposit or A Withdrawal?

This morning while driving my hubby out to a local trade show,I made a conscious effort to tell him about the couple of things that he had done while I was at a work conference the end of this last week, that I had appreciated he had done for me.

One, he had "leveled" the washing machine so that it didn't dance around the laundry room floor any more - Two, he had made a great stock decision that resulted in him making more money than either of us could made in one day of work - Three, he had cleaned up the house before I came home from my conference, and four, he made it known to his business partner that he would go in early to the trade show so she could come later so that he could leave early to take his wife to dinner - very clearly, to me, it showed a priority for him to spend time with me.

I made "deposits" into his emotional bank account which told him how much I loved and cared about him. It also made me think back about the times I had made withdrawals in that emotional bank account of his - The time I told him that his ability to grill meat was poor, at best, and how he was a "hack" at staining woodwork (you're really not any of those things honey) but it was a reminder to me how much I personally prefer deposits to my bank account from him ("I'm leaving the trade show early tonight to take my wife to dinner" - clearly a priority for him over work)

While my husband is already rich, not necessarily in money, but in friends, family, honesty, thoughtfulness, integrity and his heart, I've decided, in the case of this bank, it's more fun to give than to receive.

WE'RE HAVING A BABY BOY...(okay, we're not but....)

Carrie and Jonathan are! Yes, how lucky can you get? I was out of town at a conference the end of this last week and got a call on my cell from Carrie around 6 p.m. Thursday night. I guess she had tried to call earlier as I noticed her number on my cell and had called her back but didn't get an answer - never dawned on me this could be big news - When she called back, I got the "news" - "Jonathan knew the baby's sex and I couldn't stand not knowing - It's a boy!" I could hear the excitement in her voice.

Having 5 granddaughters is awesome and I love spending time with them painting nails, doing hair, scrapping, talent shows at the lake, etc. but a little baby boy? I well remember my little baby boy who is now a 22 year old man and how he was by far the most affectionate of my three kids - The girls were affectionate to a degree but were not "lovers" like my baby boy - I couldn't sit down without him jumping into my lap or putting his chubby hands on my cheeks telling me "you're my girlfriend Mommy" or the time he said he was never to going to move away from me. Those are the things a Mom loves to hear - We spent hours coloring, building with legos, reading books (A book is like a good friend), playing pogs, battleship, and having him place me in his newest wrestling move - We went through some very difficult times together and at times I think I leaned on him more than he leaned on me. We doctored, together, an aging cat, probably far beyond and longer than we should have but we did it together out of love for the cat and each other. Now I know that while I love spending time with him, I no longer want him to live with me forever or be dependent on me like he was when he was little - I want him to find his way in the world, and experience the joys and unfortunately some of the trials that life will likely pitch to him. But, no one ever said that from time to time, I couldn't regress back to that time when he was snuggled in my lap and remember how sweet that was and how much I loved all the things that came with a little boy. Now, you will be blessed to have that experience Carrie and Jonathan, in addition to your ponytails, barrettes, nail polish and life of pink. Hang on for it's quite the trip, same but different, and you will both be better because of it.

Where Did You Get Those Pants?

This is a photo of Kyle and his dog, Butters (his real name is Buddy but Kyle insists on Butters) - As usual, the two of them were having a "love fest" together as they are best buds and hadn't seen each other since he left for college. By the way, where did you get those pants?

Boy On A Boat!

After taking Grandpa out to dinner for his birthday, we all went for a pontoon ride on the lake and were driven around by "the boy" - I also took another pic of Jess and him, with Butters, that she may like. Thanks for the ride!

Dad's Dinner Out at the Lake

Dad is so hard to buy for these days that instead of an actual gift, we decided to give him the gift of time and family. We all (Kyle, Jess, Joe, Jocelyn, Dad, Bill and I) went out for a nice birthday dinner up north and fussed over him. He had a good time and continues to tell the waitress when he's finished drinking his Manhattan that there must be a leak in his glass - I wish I had a dollar for every time I've heard that.

My Dad

This is a pic of my 86 year old dad in his fishing uniform - He had such a good time at the lake this past weekend and even walked up and down the 39 steps to the lake on three different occasions - He had plenty of stories to tell and slept like a rock after all the exercise on the lake steps and helping the guys with getting the water toys out of the lake for the season!

Two on a Swing

Jess is always looking for good pics of her and Kyle together so she suggested we do one on the swing that the kids put together and stained. As usual, we couldn't get Kyle to take off his hat and the Eskimo girl he was with (Jess) just didn't make for the perfect pic she was hoping for.

The Card Hat

Kyle and Jessica made it for the weekend at the lake too and after playing several games of Phase 10, Kyle said he was tired of holding his cards. Jessica suggested he invent a card hat so that he wouldn't have to hold them - Kyle immediately picked up on that and went about proving to her it wasn't going to sell millions. The bottom line is we had a really good laugh about it and agreed that it needed more perfecting - Just like her other invention of the eye glass hat - This consists of your eye glasses disappearing somewhere inside the outside part of your baseball hat? Once again, back to the drawing boards!

Have Rods Will Travel (Fishing, that is)

Grandpa, Bill and Joe decided to break in the new pontoon by going fishing this last weekend and were gone for several hours. They caught some fish but nothing you could either keep or wanted to keep but they still had a good time "testing the waters"

The 35W Bridge Collapse

Today we decided to go downtown to see the bridge collapse - All we could say was "unbelievable" when we saw it and this was 1 1/2 months after it had happened, and alot had been cleaned up, cars removed, etc. - I can't even imagine what this must have been like for the people involved. Bill said that after seeing this, he can't even imagine what the World Trade Towers must have looked like as the bridge collapse itself looked like a war zone of sorts. We needed to see it (along with hundreds with us on the bridge today)to really feel what happened. Incredible......

Brownies

Tonight was my first official meeting as one of three troop leaders for my granddaughter Kylie's Brownie troop. I don't know who had more fun, me or the girls. I've been deemed to be the "craft" person of the troop and for our first project we talked about all the people that were hurt or afraid as a result of the 35W bridge collapsing recently. We talked about how much better we felt when we were afraid, hurt or sick when someone took good care of us or tried to cheer us up - So, we made cards that would cheer those folks up and especially focused on how frightened those kids on their school bus must have been when the collapse occurred. We had lots of fun and made many cards all of which will be forwarded to the school bus children's school for them as our way of trying to cheer others up when they are afraid. We also received our first official badge and as you can see we were quite excited by that.

Anchors Away!

Guess what man finally got that fishing pontoon that they've been wanting? My only request was that there is a place for little girls to use to go potty when they are out fishing with Grandpa. Ahoy Matey!

Summer Twins Fun

Here's a picture of our son, Kyle, (makes a mother proud, huh?) and his girlfriend, Jessica having "buckets" of fun at the Minnesota Twins game this summer before leaving to go back to college at UND for their last year. Those crazy kids, huh?

Today, It's All About Grandpa

Today is my dad's 86th birthday and while we've notice some changes, he still is able to live alone, does all his own cooking, still drives (and 9 times out of 10 even gets to the right place), can parallel park a Buick Lasabre better than anyone I've ever seen, cleans his own apartment, does his own grocery shopping and his own laundry. He's done a pretty good job with all of that since my mom died suddenly in 2000 and doesn't want to be taken care of or fussed over at all. Bill keeps telling me what good shape he's in to be able to do all these things and that we can only hope to be in that good of shape when we're 86 - We all had a fun party with dinner at our house tonight and his favorite ice cream cake and all in all, I think he had a pretty good time. His 6 granddaughters hugged him a hundred times and I think I heard them sing him "Happy Birthday" at least 3 or 4 times. There's nothing better than a good birthday party with people you love - Happy Birthday Dad!

"Pimping" My Blog

I told one of my daughters, Carrie, that I had decided to start a blog like so many people seem to be doing. Primarily so that out of town relatives could see what we were up to these days. She said, "Have someone pimp it for you then Mom" - What???? That sounded terrible to me until she explained that there are people out there who, for a fee, will design your site and basically "doll" it up. She knew of someone whose work she really appreciated and steered me toward her, Jennisa. Jennisa is a stay-at-home mom in South Dakota with a knack for this kind of thing and after an initial email to Jennisa on Friday night, by Sunday night, I had a fabulous new look. I was able to dictate "my favorite colors", the type of paper I liked, scanned and sent her pics of my family to include in my header and asked if we could include a butterfly as my mom (who died suddenly in 2000) loved butterflies - I also asked her if she could include stitching on my name in the header as I love to scrap and frequently use that technique in my work - Sooooo, I can't take any credit for it, but Jennisa can. She is fast, inexpensive and does whatever you'd like so check her out - she's listed in the right margin of my blog and I can highly recommend her. I also found out that her husband is originally from Aberbeen, S.D. which is my husband's hometown too - small world, huh?

Absence Makes the Heart ALWAYS Fonder!

Bill was with guy golf friends all weekend up in the Lake Vermillion area so Buddy and I were "home alone" - I met Nancy Webb for dinner Friday night (She was a golf widow too) and then proceeded to spend the rest of the weekend scrapping at home. Isn't it funny about how you look forward to those times by yourself to do whatever, then as soon as they arrive, you are missing that someone special and can't wait for them to come back home. We both had a nice weekend "doing our own thing" but there isn't anything better than getting "my man" back where he belongs - With me!

P.S. After playing 4 rounds in three days, I think he deserves a nap, don't you?

Our "Best Friend"

This is our dog, Buddy - He's originally from South Dakota and while he was loved there, he presented some issues to his previous owner (Bill's sister's family) and Bill took him in and brought him back to Minnesota while he was out there pheasant hunting. Buddy was not very socialized and demanded alot of time and attention, all of which Bill had little when they were first brought together - I came on the scene in late 1999 and while I had never had a dog, this one stole my heart. Yes, he has issues but here are some pics of him doing what he does best, guarding the house while we are away at work and relaxing from the rigors of his day in doing so. Bill has accused me of babying him but with such an important job of guarding the house 24-7, can't a guy expect alittle TLC? I think so!

My Happy Place

I'm actually "practicing" attaching photos to my blog but decided that a good subject to practice it with is pics of my "happy place" - Yes, that's where I escape and let whatever creative juices God has given me to flow and I easily forget what time of day it is and who is even around me when I'm in this room. These pics are one of the bedrooms in the house that I've taken over as my "scrap space" and I've also included some pics of a Halloween house I recently made to have in the entryway foyer as another Halloween decoration. Needless to say, I had fun copying it from a magazine spread and the rest is history. Fortunately, my wonderful hubby, Bill, never asks what this hobby costs me - He just smiles and leaves the room!

I'm "IN"

After enjoying my daily visits to my two daughters blogs and keeping up on their family's daily events and activities, I've decide to "give in" and join the blogging generation and start our own little family blog.

My primary reason for doing it is not because I think we are so interesting, but more because it's a way for me to communicate regularly with my hubby's family who are widely spread through the USA and there are too many of them for me to remember all their email addresses.

My daughters, Lisa and Carrie, do this so that their out of town relatives can keep up on the kids and I know they totally enjoy feeling as if they are present in their lives even though they are far away.

I'm also just "nutty" enough that I can have some fun this way and keep others updated about what's going on in our family (Bill, Betsy and Buddy (our yellow lab, of course)

So, on with technology and joining the new millennium generation! Watch out, here we come!