The pond is nice, Lindsey. We put some stuff in to help with the algae and some blue coloring to make it look better. We're very careful about what we put in though because Glen wants to make sure his fish are alright and I want to make sure that my water lilies are alright!!! It's a small pond but just perfect for swimming!!!

With all of the hours that you work, Lindsey, I wouldn't think that you'd have time to do much more than you're doing!!! You should have had a friend or neighbor come and water your plants while you were gone.......or you could have paid a neighbor kid to do it.

Janet, I hope you get some relief soon. I don't like you being in pain. Hugs, Dear Friend!!!

It sounds so nice!! I haven't been swimming yet at all this year. The water is so high at the lake where Scott's parents have a cabin, that the beaches are totally gone. The concrete pads at the boat launch are about 10 feet into the water, and the gravel slope is just a steep drop because it has all been washed away. The docks are all underwater and they even moved a whole general store about 40 feet to higher ground so they wouldn't lose the building! But at my parents' lake, I don't think it's so bad. Maybe we'll find a beach this weekend :)

I didn't think about asking someone to water our plants over the weekend because we were supposed to have thunderstorms :rolleyes: Instead, we just got the heat. Actually, the storms did hit the city, but we're 20 minutes away and got nothing!

This week so far I haven't done any overtime so it's been nice! We've been getting home around 6:00. I really want to start being in bed around 9 or 9:30 but when I need to get stuff done, it just doesn't work out. A few hours isn't enough time to make a meal, clean up, do other housework, and relax!

What a shame that you lost your plants! Are you going to replace them?

I still haven't done my deck boxes! We had out houses painted, so I didn't plant. I'm going to get some very easy greens, I think. I have a pot of coleus, which I take in for the winter, and a pink flowering plant that seems very hardy. Steve gave it to me for Mother's Day.

Woohoo, we got good rain"

Hurray!!!

Mom wasn't feeling well today...didn't look good either. I didn't take any pain pills just in case. The neurologist called and they have me scheduled for 8:45 am on Friday for the MRI. Finally, but can't believe I have to wait. What's wrong with these people.

The nurse came today and validated that I thought Mom needed to be in the hospital.... so... here we go again. Blood and mucas in stool, very, very weak. She looks so bad. I took her in at 3:30 m and left the hospital at 8:00. I'm just too sore and tired to stay. Both of my brothers are there so they can handle things tonight. I'll head back over tomorrow.

My prayers are with you, Janet.

Thank you Judy. I'm with Mom at the hospital. She acts a little better, but doesn't look so good. Her legs have been swelling, but today, even her face, looks swollen around the eyes. My brother Jerry will be here sometime around 1:00. I'll probably stay for just a bit after he arrives and then I'll leave. My other brother will be here around 4:30 but of course can't stay long, other things to do, ya know. Can't believe he can drive to another city to visit her two days in a row, but hasn't been to see her for 17 days just 3 miles away.

Okay.......lol....I'm done.

I'm sending you and your mom good thoughts today Janet.

Hi All! Home from Oklahoma. Lots to do, more later.

Janet, hope your mom is doing better soon. Maybe discharge to a nursing home would be the best strategy.

Janet, I just saw on FB that your Mom is in the hospital again. I'm so sorry. Maybe with her there you can get some rest for your arm though. You need to take care of yourself. I agree with Gayle......maybe it's time for a nursing home. You can't keep doing all of this much longer.....it's starting to take its toll on you.


Gayle......I'm glad that you're home!!! I hope you're all relaxed and de-stressed!!!!

Just for Janet!
http://ageofaustin.wordpress.com/201...gram-director/

“Respite Means Time to BREATHE”

Thank you for that Gayle. Reading it really made me feel that it's something I MUST do, to save my health and my sanity.

Today I went over to have the MRI done. Those machines are very tight fitting for an overweight gal...lol. It crunched me up so tight that it made my shoulder and arm hurt so bad, plus it was so uncomfortable to breath. So....I have to go back with a 'driver' and be given a seditive of some kind. They should make 2 sizes of those machines.

I left there still in pain and went to the hospital to see Mom. She looked horrible when I got there and then she started crying. She was feeling really bad. She cried on and off throughout the morning. The Dr is considering putting her on some kind of antidepressant. She ate a decent breakfast but vomited her lunch. She only ate a couple bites. She was also having trouble breathing and taking a deep breath so they put oxygen on her and were calling in her cardiologist. To top it off, the C-dif is back, so it's not going to be a nice at all for a few days. I feel so bad for her and wish she didn't have to suffer so much, it just breaks my heart.

I'm home for the evening but will head back to the hospital in the morning.

Janet, are you having the MRI done tomorrow? I'm sorry to hear that your mom is not feeling better. I think an anti-depressant is a good idea. I hope they can get her stabilized.

No....I can't have it done tomorrow. Their computers were down so they couldn't reschedule. I have to call them back first thing Monday morning for a new date to go. I have never had a problem with confined spaces before, but it did this time along with the pain. Is there any other way that it can be done? I'm not a small female and I mean I was all scrunched up in there. Very uncomfortable. Anyway...I'm gonna try it and see what happens.

She takes so many meds now....I hate seeing them add to it. If it will help her okay...but I hate for her to have to take more. The Drs. know best, but I will question it with the other meds being taken.

They do have different kinds of MRI machines, there is a more open MRI, but probably not at your location. So, sedation is the best option, I think. Sorry you have to reschedule. I've never had an MRI, but I've seen them done.

I know you don't want her to take any more medication - but sometimes a little antidepressant really helps, it is usually protocol in any catastrophic illness like your mom has. It helps people to not feel so badly about their circumstances. Gary takes an antidepressant, and he is the most NOT depressed person in the world. But because of his heart failure, diabetes, lung problems, etc. the doc wanted him to take one, and I think it helps a lot because you can get really down about your circumstances.

I am planning a full day today. If you remember, Gary is still in OK, so I am a freebird all day!! LOL! I'm watering the yard right now. At about 8:00, I'm going to my favorite Mexican restaurant for breakfast. Then I'm going to the farmer's market. My squash just didn't do a thing this year so I want some summer squash and whatever else might look good there! No tomatoes though, as you remember I'm not supposed to eat them (well not many), and when I got home I had 12 large ones and 55 cherry tomatoes that were ripe. I'm gonna have to give them away!

After that, I'll bring things home and putter around here a bit. Then I'm going to the Container Store. I found a slide in plastic box that fits perfectly in my bathroom lower cabinets. The are narrow and deep and I have to get down on my hands and knees to see what is further back than right on the front edge. It's a pain, so I stopped by the Container Store yesterday and found the perfect box - actually it's a slide out drawer that fits right into the cabinet. now, I can open the cabinet door and slide out the drawer and all my things are in perfect reach. I only bought 1, to make sure it would work, so today I'll go back and get 3 more.

I'm going to take all my big tomatoes out, they are finished producing. I'm going to plant some new tomato plants for fall tomatoes. I have some green beans, and they all have lots of beans, but they are tiny beans and the beans don't seem to be growing any larger, so I may take them out too, who knows! LOL!

Busy day Gayle! How nice to be able to do whatever you feel like!!!

Janet, if you take the sedative, that should put you out, or at least make you very relaxed. I think an MRI is about 45 minutes. I hope you can tolerate it, or you will have to travel to a place that gives open MRI's. If you weren't in pain, that wouldn't be so terrible, but you need it done right away.

Sucks!!!!

I cannot tolerate the closed MRI, but in NYC, I had a lot of choices. I wasn't in any rush either. I hope you get to do it early on in the week!

Mom needing more meds is the doctor's job, not yours! You have enough on your shoulders right now, and anti depressants are very widely used with chronic illness. I think Jessie takes them.

Mackenzie was AMAZING last night!!!

She was so nervous, she spent the whole time telling poor Jessie how much she hates her for making her do this! She told her, "I don't care how this turns out. I will hate you forever!"

She went up to sing, looking so beautiful, and Jessie and I were hanging onto each other with nerves. She sang like she was born singing! I kept punching Jessie's arm, and shaking I was so moved! Jessie had tears in her eyes. Mackenzie owned the stage, the song, and the audience!

She just opens her mouth, and such beauty comes out! She has a real gift. I am so thrilled for her! She was really happy and smiling when she was done! She said it feels really good to be able to sing like that. She smiled from head to foot! She was most happy though that it was over! Poor kid! She really had stage fright.

Some of the famous performers told her how wonderful her voice is. She is too young to understand how important that is. Jessie was happy though. I am clueless as to who they are, but it made Jessie very happy.

I will try to get pictures.

Judy, maybe she could take a bit of Inderal (propanolol) - it is widely used for stage fright. Of course, she is young, so you'd need a doctor to prescribe the correct dosage for her and her stage fright. I feel like I am always pushing drugs for things, and I am one of the most anti-drug people I know. But sometimes, drugs are good. Inderal for stage fright is one drug that is very good. It is extremely cheap too.

Jessie probably wouldn't allow it. Steve, for sure wouldn't! They are over protective of the kids, but it is a good idea!

Maybe when she gets older....

Got up at 6:00 this morning and started in on the garden. I pulled out all my spring tomatoes, they were beginning to look really ragged. We are lucky in Texas, I can plant new ones now, and have more tomatoes in the fall. Oh yeah, I'm not supposed to eat them, but one every now and then is OK, right????? :D I think I'll only plant 4 tomatoes, now watch, I'll come home with six! LOL! I'm going to try some peppers and summer and winter squash. For some reason, I never have any luck with squash, but I'ma try again! :p.

Well, I'm off to shower and go get something to eat, then to the garden center, then pick mom up for lunch, then home, then to the train station to get Gary at 5:30, then out to get something to eat with him. I hope the train is running on time!!!

Did it all work out Gayle? So much energy! You are very lucky!

Gayle.....you ARE busy!!! Do you have squash bugs there? If so, then you need to start spraying them as soon as your plants come up. They kill the plants once they get started on them. We only got a few squash from our plants before they died and Glen's talking about planting more too.

Judy.....I'm so glad that Mackenzie's performance went so well!! I'm sure that "your buttons were about to burst"!!!! She'll get over the stage fright the more that she's in front of people. Also the better she knows her songs will help too. When I sing a song that I don't know well then I'm more worried about messing up.

Janet, I hope you get your MRI soon and find out what's going on with your arm. I'm ready for you to be better!!!

I'm finally done with all of my tests. I've had several blood tests, a sonogram, and a c-t scan and found out that I have a fatty cyst on my liver. It's nothing to be concerned about and hopefully by losing weight I can help it. I have a doctor's appointment in the morning to discuss things over with her. I wasn't really worried about it but I know that Glen was.

Jessie had that Diana! They even did a biopsy, and it hurt her for a long time after they did it. I am so glad that you are okay!!!

Whew!

Gayle...you make me so tired...:D I don't have anything planted...not even some flowers.

Diana...you let us know ASAP, so we know you're alright, okay? I want you happy and healthy.

Today I didn't do anything but get dressed... lolol. I didn't even venture outside in this heat and humidity. It's our county fair week and it seems every year it gets hotter and more humid. I feel so sorry for the kids and the animals. Last year I didn't even go because of the temps. Can't think of anything else I've done for the day or that I plan to.

Diana, I have a fatty liver, too! I was told it's something that can happen if your gallbladder has been removed or isn't working properly.

I went up and pulled baby duty friday night, then sarah and i went to ihop for breakfast while getting oil changed in my car. Then we went grocery shopping for her mommy. Abby and I slept in a little this morning, ate breakfast and I headed back to Houston. I'm in a really happy space in my life now.

Still no divorce but closer. Hubby is still sending texts wanting to get back together. I told him that I won't go back, but he doesn't get it.

The owner of the little house I want agreed to let me rent until the divorce is over, but she wouldn't repair anything going out. I passed on that offer and will wait to see if it's available when the time comes, hopefully in a couple weeks.

Gayle, did your man make it home?

I have an appt with the plastic surgeon tomorrow and hope to get released, but I still have the one place thats not healing well.

Yep Sandy, Gary made it home. The train was on time which it is more than not, but occasionally it can be late and sometimes REALLY late. Once when I was coming home, the train I was to get in Ft. Worth was going to be 8 hours late. :eek: I called my daughter who lived in Austin and said, "COME GET ME" :D It's only a 3 hour drive to Ft. Worth from Austin, so we were home before my train even left Ft. Worth.

I just got out of the shower, but I got everything accomplished I wanted to do today. It took stops at 3 nurseries to find all the plants I wanted, and I stuck to my guns for once and only got 4 tomato plants. I also got one eggplant, one pepper (I still need to get a jalapeno plant) and one pretty cuban oregano plant. I got some squash seeds and will plant them tomorrow.

I only planted the tomatoes this evening. I had to put shade cloth around the cages to keep them a little cooler since they are young and tender. It took some time to cut the shade cloth the right size and get it attached to the cages.

Then I had to put another soaker hose out in the garden. I had been using an overhead sprinkler and with the shade cloth around the cages, I was afraid the tomatoes wouldn't get enough water. Plus, you are not supposed to sprinkle tomatoes because there are soil born diseases that can splash up on the tomatoes from a sprinkler. So I had to put another soaker hose out there. And it was my homemade soaker hose. I wasn't happy with my regular soaker hoses, so I had taken a regular hose and drilled holes in it so it would leak more water in less time. Then when I got the tomatoes planted, I had to drill some more holes so the water would come out right on the tomatoes.

Next, I had to put pine straw around the plants - that also keeps the roots cooler and keeps the water from evaporating so quickly. All in all that was a big job. Last I had to rig up a sprinkler where I had robbed the soaker hose (in my okra) and then put back the bunny fence.

WHEW! I'm tired. But it was a good day and Gary is home safe and sound. My summer class starts tomorrow - I'm ready, but it's always a big day!

You guys are all so busy!

Scott and I went to visit my family at the lake this weekend. My aunt and uncle were up there too. I actually had to work late Friday (:rolleyes:) so we didn't get to the cabin until about 9 pm. Some other guys were out at their cabin and were visiting my dad and aunt and uncle (my mom had to work Saturday so she was at home) and they were all drinking around the fire, so we didn't get to visit much and we went in to bed early. I think my dad came in at around 3 am. How funny is it that my dad is 30 years older and can have later nights than me? Lol

On Saturday everyone went golfing but I stayed in and watched tv because it was kind of drizzly outside. They got soaked! Later that night, my mom came out and we looked through all of our Europe pictures.

On Sunday, Scott and my dad and I went fishing, while my aunt and uncle went golfing, and my mom stayed back to cook chili! We were fishing for pickerel, with no leader on my line, and not long after casting I got a bite. It was so hard to reel in! I finally got it right to the surface of the water and it was at least a 10 lb jackfish! Biggest fish I've ever caught! My dad tried to get the net under, but at the last second, my line broke! I should have kept a leader on it. Oh well! At least we all saw it. We didn't get any other bites and we went in when it started raining again!

I really wish we could spend more time out there but with how busy summer is, I don't think we'll get there again until September :(

My doctor appointment went well. She's wanting to change some meds and add some more but I asked her to wait for awhile to see what being on this diet will do. My blood pressure is really good and my blood sugar is coming down a lot so my A1C will be much better next time. My cholesterol and triglycerides are high but hopefully will come down.

I have "fatty" liver and a fatty cyst on my kidneys......nothing to be overly concerned about and as I lose weight should diminish. I have to go back in a month to check my liver enzymes and see how things are going with my diet. I really like my doctor!!! She's so easy to talk to!!!!

I'm so glad that it's nothing that you can't do something about. Your Dr sounds like she listens to you very well. You're very lucky.

My MRI is re-scheduled for this Thursday. I'm going to see if my brother Jerry can run me over since they will be giving me a sedative. I'm so frightened and I don't know why. I hope it knocks me out because I think I was more terrified of the tight fit than I realized. I can't quit thinking of how I felt as I was being moved farther into the machine. I wish it was already overwith so I wouldn't think of it all the time.

Just lay there and get some well deserved rest.......take a nap!!!! If you're too anxious about it ask your doctor if he will give you something before hand. I had to do that once before I had surgery.

They are giving me a sedative, so Jerry is going to drive me over.

Janet, I hope everything goes well, and that they find the root of your problems!

Well folks I did it again. I found two more tomato plants this evening that I just HAD to have. Remember I said I went to three nurseries on Saturday looking for plants. Well, one of the things I was looking for was heirloom tomatoes - rather than hybrids. Of course, in the three nurseries that usually ALWAYS carry heirlooms, none of them had any, so I got all hybrids. Well today we went to Whole Foods, an organic grocery store, and wouldn't you know it, out front they had the exact heirloom tomato plants that I was looking for. And of course, I bought them! Sigh. I also got 2 jalapeno plants that I couldn't find on Saturday either. Oh and I also got 3 crookneck squash plants. I had bought squash seeds on Saturday, but since they had really good looking transplants, I just went ahead and got them. I'll save the seeds for next year.

Diana, we do have trouble with squash borers, so I am going to get some BT (bacillus theringensin - sp?). My organic gardening book says to spray the plants weekly with BT to control the borers. I hope it works. My biggest problem with the squash I planted in the spring was that the female blooms wouldn't open, so they didn't get polinated so very few of them grew into mature squashes. I'm hoping these are a different variety and I won't have that problem!

You got shy little girl squashes! Hope these are more forward with the boys!

We had a speaker with heirloom veggies at one of our womens network meetings. She had such beautiful pictures of her plants! She gave out a lot of little plants to us, and I gave them to Jessie. I was having my house painted, so I couldn't put a box out on the deck until the first week of July. I figured this was too short a season to grow anything.

Yesterday was Brandon's 10th birthday. I went over for cake, and got to see everyone. I stayed away over the weekend. My ex was there, and Steve's mom. I love her, but there is negative tension when they are all there, so I keep away as much as possible. Jeannie is a lovely woman, and Dennis, her boyfriend is a good man. I also like to keep away because the kids are closer with me, and I want her to have their attention when she comes up. I did get to see them at Mackenzie's show though.

Today is very hot. A good pool day!

Days like today and yesterday is when I miss having a pool....the only time. LOL. I don't miss the keeping it clean part at all. Today the nurse is coming for Mom.

I'm in such a sleepy bad mood because of little sleep last night. I honestly don't remember how we got along without air conditioning. I was lying there in bed sweating until I put the fan directly on me. I was able to sleep, but woke up a few times during the night. I'm staying in again today because of the heat advisory. As soon as the nurse leaves I think I'll be heading back to bed.....yawn.......

Judy, someday I will visit you, and I will lay by your pool all day every day!

Yesterday I got home and made supper while Scott put Layla in her wheels and went for a walk. When they got home, we ate, and I started getting such a bad headache. I finished eating and felt nauseous too so I told Scott I was going to go upstairs to rest my eyes. The next thing I knew, I woke up with my face planted in my pillow, and it was after 10:00! I went downstairs and found Scott fast asleep on the couch too :rolleyes: I woke him up, got ready for bed, and passed right out again. This is the first day in a long time that I can say I'm not tired!

I also got an email from my best friend's mom yesterday. She sells candles at home. She said she was going to make me an offer she makes to special people for their weddings, and if I want any candles or centerpieces, she will supply me with them, her treat! I was not expecting that at all!

I just checked online and there are a few things that I like, but in the catalogues they are SO expensive! I don't really want to put her out that much... but I do realize there's a mark-up from the price she pays. I just don't know how much of a mark-up! Does anybody else know? There are some really nice tealight holders, but if I were to put them on approximately 18 tables, it would cost over $600 based on the catalogue price. That's way too much!

Lindsey, I would talk to your friend. If she does this for others she may already have a supply to loan out. That's really nice of her!! Candles with a little round mirror underneath is really pretty!!!

Janet, I hope your air conditioning is fixed soon......it's been waaaayyyyyy too hot to be without....even for a day or two. We've been over 100 degrees here for the last few days and the crops are really hurting. At the moment we have a storm brewing near us and we're praying that we get a good amount on the crops!!! Every bit of rain is money in our pocket!!!!

Gayle, you can also use Seven dust and spray on your squash. That's something that's pretty easy to find and works really well.

I'm watching Dean and Karlie today......and right now it's tough!!! Dean's into EVERYTHING and hitting his sister. Uggggghhhhhhhh.........

Besides Dae Lynn moving in......mess still not cleaned up.......taking care of the kids......Glen's not happy with me either. I seem to ALWAYS be in trouble for one thing or another........and I'm so tired of it. I've tried talking to him but he always turns it around and it's not even worth having a conversation with him. I think that I'm just having a bad day......hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Judy, that was nice of you to stay away when the other grandma was there - I have the same thing with my grandkids other grandma. Yes, I hope my new squash plants are more forward than the old ones! LOL! ;)

Lindsay, I don't know anything about candles, so I am no help at all.

Diana, I imagine that Glen is feeling a bit stressed from all the hubbub in the house too, so that may be part of why "you" are in trouble. I know what you mean about the heat, so so terribly hot. It's been over 100 for 20+ days now and we are only at the middle of july. August is our hottest month, and September can be unbearable too. Oh well, might as well just go with the flow.

I just worked today to get my class together for tomorrow. Actually i have a guest speaker coming, so it wasn't too tough! :D

Today has been a bit of a long one. The visiting nurse came to check out Mom. She can see that Mom is weaker than before the hospital stay. She hasn't used her walker since she's been out of the hospital. We've talked about this before and I told her I won't be able to handle it if she becomes wheelchair bound, so she said she wants to try the walker tomorrow.

I've been having a little of a pitty party and it's really for no reason... lol. We only have 35 days left of summer break and I haven't done anything constructive or for fun and haven't been anywhere. Time is sure going by fast.

Tomorrow I'm suppose to get my haircut. It doesn't really need it that bad, but Mom is wanting hers cut. If I can get her to the car I may let her take my appointment and then schedule me a new one.

Thursday will be the MRI. I'm taking a pain pill before I go and hopefully I'll be knocked out so I won't notice the tightness. I wish they could put me in feet first....it would make me more comfortable. Oh well....we'll see. I just don't want it put off any longer. Decided Ricky will take me over and then my brother Jerry will pick me up. That way no one will have to sit around waiting on me. I really hate to inconvience people.

Looking forward to tomorrow.....