AT THE DENTIST

In the last 2 weeks I've had my teeth cleaned, a filling replaced, and a root canal.  Today after my root canal my dentist shook my hand and said, "Well Nene, it's been a pleasure to see you again!"  I said, "Yeah, it's been a real blast for me too."  :0+

(I was going to post a picture of a "lego dentist" but the image uploader is down.)

O HOME BELOVED

O Home Beloved

O home beloved where'er I wander.

On foreign land or distant sea,

As time rolls by, my heart grows fonder

And yearns more lovingly for thee!

Tho fair be nature's scenes around me,

And friends are ever kind and true.

Tho joyous mirth and song surround me,

My heart, my soul still yearn for you.

      I've been visiting my parents lately.  My husband and I went to pick them up, spent a couple days at their house and then brought them back to ours for about 6 days.  Then we took them back home and spent 4 more days with them at their house. 
      After we had been at their house for a few minutes, my mom said, "Oh, it's so good to be home!  There's no place like home!"  I know my mom loves her house and her town, because it's where she grew up.  She lives in my grandparents house that she and my father bought from them.  We have since bought that house from my parents and will own it completely when they are gone. 
      My mom is 85 and my dad will be 85 in April.  They both use canes to walk, and in truth, Dad should be using a walker.  Dad falls all the time and in his last bad fall, separated his shoulder.  Mom has had cancer twice (breast cancer and colon cancer) in a year and then a serious hernia operation right after that, which was pretty hard on her.  She says she has "chemo brain" - memory lapses from taking chemo medication, but her memory has not gotten any better since she went off of the chemo pills.  All in all, I have been trying to get them to come live with me, at least during the winter.  They live in a town that is about 7500 feet in altitude and gets some pretty heavy snows.  There are several people in town that come and make sure their driveway and porch and sidewalks are always clear of snow, but if those people are one day late, my dad is out there with his snow-blower trying to do it himself. 
      I tried having yet another talk with my parents to try to get them to come live with me - or even live with any of my other brothers or sisters, but my mother emphatically refused.  I think if she would agree, my dad would also, but she is the one saying no.  I have prayed about this and asked all my brothers and sisters to pray about it also, so my parents would come to the decision to live with me.  It's really hard to see my parents so old and frail and forgetful.  I know they love their home, their town, the people in it, and their life, but I also know that at some point, either they will have to agree or we will have to resort to stronger persuasions.
      I couldn't help remembering my mother's cry of "Oh it's so good to be home!" when we reached home ourselves.  There really is no place like home. 

IT'S NOT A JUNGLE OUT THERE ANY MORE

For the past week, my husband and I have been working on our backyard.  I pulled most of the weeds one day and they were big weeds - like tumbleweeds!  I filled one corner of the yard with those.  The next day I attacked the "Jungle" - a section of our yard that was so overgrown with weeds and new tree sprouts that I gave it that nickname.  I wasn't sure we could even get that section of our yard ever looking normal again,  but after today, I finally have hope.  One of the big problems was those hated vine things that grow along the ground everywhere.  I pulled and pulled and pulled those up today.  My husband even got in there and trimmed the crepe myrtle and the pine tree.  Then he started running all that through his chipper.  He wasn't able to run the tumbleweeds through the chipper, because the first time he tried it, it came to a dead stop.  Then he had to take it apart and get the tumbleweed out (that had twisted and wrapped itself around the blades).  He still has a pile of bigger limbs and the pile of tumbleweeds to chop up.  He said he'd take his chain saw to the bigger limbs and his machete to the tumbleweeds.  I wished I had taken a "before" and "after" picture to show you the difference, but I didn't.  Once we're done, I'll at least put up an "after" picture.  One step at a time.  We have a huge lot and still have a whole lot ahead of us.  In the latter part of October we're going to rake up all the bark (they used for ground cover) in the front and lay rock.  My back aches just thinking about it.  Our goal is to get our whole lot zero-scaped (except where the lawn is in the front and back) so that when we go on a mission, all someone will have to do is spray the rocks to kill the weeds, and mow the front and back grass. 

FAST MOON RISING

I just happened to look up and see the moon peeking up just above the mountain top.  By the time I ran to the next room and got my camera, it was already up!

BARBIE'S NEW FURNITURE

This is the Barbie furniture that I made while I was in Ireland.  I gave this to Gilbert Girl's youngest daughter as part of her birthday present.  I also bought her a Fairy Barbie (what she told me she wanted) and a Jacob (from Twilight) doll to be boyfriend to her Fairy Barbie. 

HE CAN READ MINDS!

Me (thinking):  I need to tell (husband) to bring me a Peppermint Patty while he's in the kitchen. 

Husband:  Do you want me to bring you a Peppermint Patty?

True Story!

NEITHER RAIN, NOR SLEET, NOR DARK OF NIGHT.....

Last night my husband and I went to Sam's Club to get a few things (which is where I saw "Motorcycle Mamma").  We left there and went to Office Max and when we came out it was raining.  I love the rain.  I love the lightning and the thunder and just love the rain, whether I'm inside or outside.  I never minded the rain when we lived in Ireland.  We could tell that it must have been raining pretty hard while we were in Office Max, because there were big puddles everywhere and we saw lots of water running down the sides of the streets and in the intersections.  Coming up the hill towards the turn-off to our street, there was so much water running down the hill that it would splash up on the windshield and we couldn't even see to drive, so my husband had to slow down.  The street that we turned off on to get to our street was really flooded.  We exclaimed again how hard it must have rained while we were in the stores.  As we were turning into our driveway, I noticed something on the planter wall beside our mailbox.  I had my husband stop just inside the driveway and I got out (in the pouring rain) to see what it was.  He thought I was crazy to get out in that rain, but I knew I had seen something.  There sitting on the wall beside the mailbox was 2 packages of books that Amber had ordered online and had sent to my house.  When I got in the house I opened them to make sure they were all dry.  Luckily they were packaged in plastic bags, so everything was dry inside.  What was my postman thinking?  Granted, I didn't go down to get my mail that afternoon - mostly because my mail never comes at a regular time everyday.  My mail can come anytime from 11am to 7 pm.  I've even had it come at 8:30 pm before.  What if we hadn't gone to the store?  It would have sat there all night!  Anyone could have come by and helped theirselves.  We have had problems with our mailmen leaving packages at the end of our driveway.  I know it is a bit of a hike up our driveway to our house, but come on, the UPS and Fed Ex guys don't mind!  We have found packages beside our mailbox, behind our mailbox, inside the wall, and in the bushes.  I have a large mailbox, but I had to get a locking mailbox, because of having mail stolen out of my box.  I have the larges locking mailbox that I could find.  I guess I just need to make sure we get the mail before dark every day.