Gayle....I just felt so relaxed reading your post. In your writing you seemed so content and it transferred right on to me.

I've had too short a weekend...as usual.. :) Didn't even get dressed yesterday, just not feeling like I should. Still have that cackling noise going on and I'm not liking it one bit. Also still have a cough, not a really bad one where I'm hacking all the time, just once in awhile I have a deep cough and then well....we all know what happens.... lol.

I got upset with my husband, (gee, who'd a thought?). I was sitting at my computer when he came home from playing Cowboy Shooter. I was printing out pictures for my friends Mom and putting them in a small album. He asked how I was feeling and I told him not really any better or any worse. Then he pops off with "what'd I do now?" Being as I wasn't feeling the greatest, I popped right back that "not everything revolves around what you did or didn't do. Why because I don't feel well does that have anything to do with you?" I honestly very seldom confront him, I usually just hold it in, but he is always asking this question and it makes me insane. Okay...enough of that.

I have been busy online looking for other jobs. Even if it's part-time (with my bus schedule) and could work into more hours in the summer months. There really isn't much out there. I can do office administration and I've worked retail as a department head over mens, ladies, and children's clothing and then as a stock room supervisor. Everyone wants all these degrees. I will continue to look and once I feel better will start right after the first of the year (try to beat some of the school and college kids) going door to door at places of business and putting in a application or leaving a resume. Sure hope something comes along, I'm a hard worker so I just have to be patient. I really want to start putting some money back, for myself.

Today I slept in just a tad and as of yet (12:06) still haven't gotten dressed. Don't really have anything on my agenda until later so why dirty some clothes...lol.

Tuesday Ricky will be 21 and has to work until 7:30 so I told him last night that we would take him out to eat this evening where ever he wanted to go. His favorites are Red Lobster and Outback. Can't believe my baby will be 21. Where did the time go?????

You know Janet, when someone is irritating to us, just about no matter what they say, it sets us off. I don't know why that is, but I find that it is true. I'm sorry you have to feel like you can't say/do whatever you want, that really isn't a very healthy way to live.

Maybe with another job or one to supplement the bus route, and your mom's house to live in, you could make a move???

Been thinking of it Gayle, it's just gonna take some planning. Oh please don't think I can't say or do what I want. I do...believe me, probably too much, lol. But when it comes to arguing or dealing with that kind of stuff, I just try to avoid it. Not worth the aggravation.

Had our office party last night at my bosses house. She is such a dear friend. Husbands were invited too. Got to be with my best friend and her hubby too. They are just such good sweet Christen people. My bosses hubby is 59 and the retired police chief. Sweet people. I am trully blessed. It was a fun night played po keen oh. Gary won just about every other game. lol. Then I won the grand prize. 2 wine glasses and a bottle of wine from our local winery. Satek Winery.
Today didn't do much. Gary left a little after 5. I hate it when he leaves. I feel like a piece of me is missing when he is not here. He goes back to Dr on Friday for his back. Not much else going on. Jennifer is out with friends. College kids. lol.
Have a great week everyone.

Janet, I hope you're feeling better!! This isn't a good time to be sick. It was so nice talking to you the other day!!

Linda, it sounds like you had a good time at your Christmas party!! How nice that you won a nice prize!!! I wish that you were on here a little more......you're missed!!!

Sorry, I haven't been on much again!! Glen and I went to Joplin for a couple of days to finish up our Christmas shopping. Actually Glen got his own Christmas gifts......he bought himself a scuba outfit and all the stuff that goes with it!! Plus we got him a new suit and a dress jacket.......he needed them so badly!!! He spent enough that I'm not worrying about getting him anything else!!!

I'm not wanting much for Christmas.......I did make out a small list of a few things I wanted but nothing expensive. I really like being able to buy things on e-bay so I'm content with just having that!!

Anyway, we got our shopping done......or figured out who we were giving money to!! LOL I think that next year that's all we're going to do.....give money.

This evening we had our Christmas play with our children's church kids. It went really well!!! I'm so glad that it's over though and I don't have to teach Sunday School for a couple of weeks since they fall on holidays!!! I could use the break.....even though I have great kids. Maybe they'll feel more like listening and sitting still when we come back from break!!! Ha Ha!!

Tomorrow is Damon's Mother's funeral so we'll be going to that and bringing Dean and Karlie home. Damon gets out of jail for 6 hours to attend the funeral. I hope the funeral goes well.....because the family doesn't get along too well. Our pastor is doing the service and he's handled families like this before so I know that he'll do a good job for them.

We're having our "Christmas" with the kids on Friday evening so I'm going to be pretty busy for the next few days getting things ready. I guess it's been decided that we're having "Mexican" food!! That's alright because we can fix that to go with our diet!!

Love ya'll and I'll talk to ya' later!!! Hugs!!!

It sounds like you had fun, Linda! I hope the funeral goes smoothly, Diana. How much longer is Damon away for? Karlie will be happy to see him!

I went over to Jessie's yesterday. The kids got 2 new puppies for Christmas. They now have 10 little dogs running around the house! 3 yorkies, 5 Japanese Chins, and now 2 pomchis (pomeranian/chihuahua combos). They are just beautiful, and very sweet. I think Jess and Steve are completely out of their minds, by the way. Listen to this...we think one ofr the Chins, and maybe one of the yorkies are pregnant. Who's the daddy? Who knows? :confused::confused::confused: Nobody seems to be upset about this, so I kept my mouth shut.

Brandon has had very bad hives over the past couple of years. Thursday night, he felt his throat closing up, which was one of the fears they have about these kind of hives. They have an epipen, but didn't need to use it. They called an ambulance, and by the time they got there, the benadryl kicked in. They have to use the epipen if it happens again. The thing is that he is only 10, and too young to be left to take care if himself. Jessie is keeping him home, doing home schooling, until January. She is looking for a specialist. I looked it up, and it seems to be angioedema, which can be very difficult because sometimes they can't find the trigger that causes the hives. I didn't tell Jessie that, but I am sure she knows. I get external hives, and they are very painful. Mine go away with a cream that I have. I cannot imagine how painful poor Brandon's must be, since they are internal as well. He has been tested inside and out for allergies, and has come up negative for everything so far. That doesn't mean anything to me, since I also come up negative for almost everything, and still get hives.

It would be wonderful if they could find the cause! And no, he is not allergic to dogs!

Judy, hives can be caused by topical things, such as laundry detergent or other things like foods, medications and such. Gary gets hives when he eats high potassium foods such as tomatoes or milk - but - it only happens when his blood level of potassium is high and THEN he eats a high potassium food, it doesn't happen all the time. It took us forever to figure out what was happening. Also a few years ago, he and a friend of his got hives off and on for several weeks, and we never did figure out what was causing them. It was very frustrating.

I would think a teacher at school would be responsible for administering the epi pen, if he should need it.

The 2 fourth grade teachers are just awful! One of the teachers at the school, transferred her own daughter out to another school for fourth grade. Jessie just does not trust them.

Oh dear Judy, that's just terrible! Of all the people we SHOULD be able to trust, teachers should be high on that list.

Poor Brandon!! I hope that the cause can be figured out. And it is scary to think that his throat is closing up.

Dean is so funny!! In between breakfast and lunch he usually gets a little snack of crackers or something. This morning I gave him a little bit of cereal and told him that he was NOT to give it to the dogs. Later I checked on him and he had poor Reuger in a head lock and was getting on to him!! I gathered that Reuger had eaten some of his cereal......but even funnier than that was that Jazzi was eating another bit of cereal while he wasn't looking!!! So funny!!! He really keeps us laughing!!!

Poor Brandon...rashes are not fun especially if they cause any kind of discomfort. I still have the rash (look more like zits) in my arm pit area, but it doesn't cause me any problems.

Are Steve and Jessie breeding the smaller dogs? Or just the bigger ones? I didn't know they had so many...wow. And I thought my 5 were driving me crazy. If I had 10 in the house they would have to put me in a straight jacket...lol.

We are loading up getting ready to head to Houston tomorrow. I'm looking forward to seeing the kids. Gary was sure we couldn't get everything in the car, but YAY!, we did! It has been hectic getting myself, Gary, my mom, and 2 dogs ready to go. WHEW!

We will travel to Oklahoma on the 26th or 27th to see Gary's sons, grandsons, and sisters. We are never sure when we will come home, usually before New Year's Eve, but we usually just play it by ear. I'll have the iPad and will check in but won't post as much as usual.

I hope everyone has a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

Merry Christmas Gayle!! I hope you have a great trip!!

I am getting the house ready for Christmas. I am cleaning and doing laundry tonight and probably making up beds for our parents. Tomorrow I am working a half day (I have worked through my lunches this week to make up the time!) and we will go grocery shopping after work. We need to make it to Costco and another grocery store. I'm sure the traffic and last minute shoppers will be terrible! There are a few more things I need to get for Christmas dinner though, and it's the only time to do it. I will also drop off my Christmas presents for my grandma and for my brother and his family before we head home. On Saturday, my parents will be arriving, and on Sunday, Scott's parents will be arriving. Then, on Monday, they are all leaving and we can relax :D

I think we are heading up to the cabin for New Years and we'll do some ice fishing! We're keeping our celebrations low-key this year :) I can't wait to see the pups running around in the snow up there! They have more there than we have. Should have moved Christmas there this year! :(

Safe travels Gayle! Have a wonderful time and of course, pictures are a necessity. Didn't do much today, except for cleaning the kitchen a bit and laundry. Laundry is a never ending job it seems.

I'm busy today so I don't have time to catch up on the reading......but I hope all is well!

We're having our Christmas with the kids tonight. I finally got the presents wrapped a couple of days ago and cleaned part of the house yesterday and am working on the rest of it today. We're cooking Mexican food for tonight.....so that will be easy and different.

Tomorrow I'll be able to catch up and spend more time on here. Christmas we'll be opening gifts with Dae Lynn and the kids so that will be nice. We're just planning a simple lunch. On Christmas Eve we'll probably be going to Glen's Aunt's house. She always has a big party and that's where Glen always celebrated Christmas because his house was too messy to have it at home (remember Glen's Mom was a hoarder).

I'll talk to you later!!! Hugs!!!

I went out for a bit today, and then decided to just come back home. It's snowing lightly, but it feels damp outside. I was going to get my nails done, but I would rather stay in.

The last gift has yet to be decided upon. I promised Mackenzie a cell phone, and a prepaid monthly plan for a year. She, being 14, wants a fancy phone. She could pay for most of that herself with her Chrisrmas money, but the $45 plans only cover basic phones. They don't have real wireless, etc. I left it at....either get a lower priced, less fancy phone, or pick something else. She is calling PopPop to see if he will get her an ipod for Christmas, and then she will have all of the functions she needs. Her ipod fell into the kitchen sink into a pot filled with water, and that was the end of that.

I have to admit that I have no patience for all of these discussions and phone calls back and forth about this. I'm a very "cut to the chase" person, which is why I was a good teacher. All the other crap is just a distraction, and most of the time, the answer is still NO, or these are your choices.

Whatever! I do want her to be happy, I just do not want to be involved with her parents trying to figure out what I already know.

Other than that, I gave out all of the gifts except for my family, and enjoyed that tremendously. I have stocking stuffers for the kids that I will wrap tonight, I will write 2 checks - one for Jess, and one for Steven, and then go over there.

My friends are coming up this week, so it will be busy and fun.

Have a great trip, Gayle.

That reminds me Judy. I need to get the boys their cell phone too. Which they don't deserve. One for losing his and the other for not getting good grades. Of course they will be getting the free ones. I have them on my family plan so it's just $10 each monthly.

I went out to eat, then went to buy a few groceries. Came home and wrap the presents. Boys are so excited they keep trying to peek inside my room :D

Have a safe trip Gayle.

Happy Christmas Weekend everybody!! I have been busy the last few days just like I'm sure the rest of you have... cooking, baking, wrapping, etc. We will go across the street to my brothers tomorrow for our family Christmas with our nieces and nephews and their kids. It's nice that we are on our next generation of kids..it's fun to have little ones around for Christmas! I won't get to see any of my kids, but we talk on Skype every couple of days:D

I love you all, and I hope you have a very Merry Christmas:presents2:

We are still trying to get things ready for company tomorrow! We have all of our groceries bought now, and a last minute gift bought for Scott's dad. I need to empty the dishwasher and hand wash some pots, finish the last load of laundry, and clean the bathrooms! I just made some devilled eggs and put them in the fridge for appetizers tomorrow.

Maybe I just wasn't feeling Christmasy because I was done everything so early this year! All the stress and hustle and bustle of today is making me feel a little more in the spirit! And knowing I'm now on holidays for 10 days!!! :D

Today I had to take my little Joey to the vet to have his teeth cleaned. His have been the worse of all my dogs. I was a little worried because I knew he was having some pain so I didn't want to wait any longer. I just put it on the charge card. Turns out he had 3 pulled and 4 fell out while they were being cleaned. On a scale from 1-5 (5 being the worst) Joey's was a 4. His gums had infection so they washed out as much as they could. He has to take antibiotics and pain meds for a week. My poor baby!!! Joey only has 9 teeth left.

The rest of the time I just played games on the computer, napped and spoke with a great friend on the phone.

Merry Christmas from Branson. Love you all.

Merry Christmas to you too, Sandy! Hope you are feeling better!

Picked up around the house a little bit and mostly just been lazy. Now...it's 9:01 and Rick is asleep on the couch, Ricky's in the kitchen eating leftover pizza and on his computer.....me.....I'm in bed on my computer and watching Dog the Bounty Hunter on TV.

Merry Christmas everyone.

A nice Christmas day so far. It's mid morning and all the presents are opened. Breakfast is done and everyone but me, Emma and Abi are napping. I have Janet's dressing in the crockpot so not much to do for a bit.

Have a happy day everyone!

Merry Christmas!!!

Kiddos open presents in the morning. I send them off to aunts house where they are going to spend the night. I'm back to my books trying to get 7 sections in for my test tomorrow.

We all slept in this morning. Rick was the first one up but didn't because he didn't want to deal with the dogs and making coffee. I woke up a little after 10 AM...couldn't believe it and Ricky woke around noon. As we got up we had coffee and cinnamon rolls for breakfast and then leftover pizza throughout the day.

We opened our gifts around 12:30 I think it was. Rick rec'd a manual for some specific reloading size, a Boresnake to clean his rifle or something, ear muffs and a watch. Ricky rec'd 3 pr of jeans, a game camera, some tools and SD cards. I rec'd a Crockpot cookbook (with really easy recipes) and a wireless keyboard and Ipad jacket for my IPad. Also rec'd 5 lottery tickets that netted me a whole $1.00....lol.

Most of the day I was lying on the couch and the boys were out in the garage doodleing. Rec'd a phone call from one of my friends and a text message from another. Also rec'd a text message from one of my nieces. That's been the whole day. Oooops....forgot, while the guys were out in the garage I did my usual pay the bills and get the deposit ready to go to the bank.

Tomorrow, is going to even top today....I'm going to go through the Christmas decoration boxes that I haven't put back up yet...clean them out and then while the boxes are down from the attic, I'm going to clean the attic out and start getting rid of some stuff. Then I will put the Christmas decorations back in the attic and call it a day... :) Man...that made me tired just thinking of it. Oh I don't think they'll be in, but I need to call the attorney's office so my brother can be satisfied.

Life is grand!

We had a successful Christmas! Our parents got along great, and it sounds like Scott's parents might be making a trip to the cabin for an ice fishing weekend in the next couple of months. His dad was really interested, his mom not so much, but we'll see if it happens. There were a lot of laughs and a TON of food! We won't be cooking for a week.

My parents loved our presents to them so that was great! My brother and his fiance gave us a Whirley Pop popcorn maker with theatre popcorn. I have wanted one forever and was going to put one on our wedding gift registry lol! They also sponsered a goat for a Maasai family in Kenya through Ten Thousand Villages, in our names. I think that was the best gift of all.

My parents got me a Sony E-Reader and I love it! I also got a gift certificate at Jysk (just like IKEA) and some money :) I didn't get a tablet from Scott, but he just found one on dealfind today so I purchased a voucher with my Christmas money! It's a Google Android 2.2. Regular price is $399 and I paid $85, with free shipping! I can't redeem it until Jan 6 though. I will have it sometime next month! Anyways, now for what he DID get me ...:) He gave me a gift certificate for Chapters/Indigo so I can buy some books, or get some for my new E-Reader! He also gave me a bath caddy thing that holds a book, because I always complain about my arms getting sore when I read in the bath lol! He also got my this big beautiful jewelry box I've been looking at every time we go to Costco! I just have my jewelry sitting all over the house because I have nowhere to put it. Now I do!

So now our company is gone and we can just relax. I think I will be laying on the couch and drinking water all day lol... Even our parents out-partied me last night :eek: They were all still playing cards and drinking egg nog while I fell asleep on the couch with the dogs! Boy, I'm just not as young as I used to be!

Sounds like your Christmas turned out beautifully Lindsey!

Ricky had to work today and Rick was out in the garage doing whatever it is he does and I cleaned out the attic. Took all the decorations down and put them away. My house is back in order...well sorta....needs cleaned up a bit, I did sweep the floor, but I need to do a few other things that will just have to wait. I'll be busy most of the day tomorrow so maybe I can catch up on housework Wednesday. Glad the hard part is over though.

Feeling better as long as I take the mucinex. We really like Branson and are getting sad that we checkout Wednesday, but are getting homesick.

I decided to try for a refund for the tablet I bought a voucher for today. After some research we found out it's a piece of crap! The site advertises it at $399, but it turns out there's hundreds of them on ebay for $60 or less. From reviews, it is super slow and many of the apps are Chinese and you can't switch them to English! So hopefully we'll get the money back and I have decided I don't really need a tablet. My e-reader does internet and books, and if I really need to play a game I can use Scott's smart phone. My next phone will be an Android phone too so it might be pointless to have a tablet too. I thought I would use it on the treadmill and play games while walking or something, but who am I kidding? I haven't used the treadmill in months!

It has been such a lazy day! Even the dogs have been sleeping, and just getting up for pee breaks! Scott has been playing games on his cell phone all day long because I didn't allow him to play games while we had company. I did catch him on it a few times anyway though. I have been figuring out my ebook and looking online for boxing day or boxing week sales. We're going to the city tomorrow so I'll be spending some Christmas money I hope!

Have fun spending your Christmas money, Lindsey!

We are leaving in the morning to go to our friends ranch for a few days. Mike gets antsy after a few days of sitting around, so it's off we go!

I guess I'll be shopping for new tennis shoes along the way. I wear Sketchers, the kind that have the thick rounded sole that rock when you walk... Anyway, my niece told me that I can't wear them any more. She is a Volleyball coach, and she won't let her girls wear them because they are supposed to be bad for your back and knees, according to a recent study:rolleyes: At least she watches out for me, lol!

Today has been somewhat productive...lol. I did get up earlier than I have been lately. I think it was around 8:00 and had some coffee. Rick was already gone to work and Ricky was getting up too because he and a friend were going to do some car repair in the garage. Here it is almost 5 pm and I don't think they've done much of anything yet.

I waited for the roads to clear and then headed to town. Needed to go to Mom's and see if there was any mail. After a whole week there were only 4 pieces so it's slowing down finally. Then I went to a hardware store to pick up a heavy guage wire so I can finally hang the mirror that was at Mom's. After that headed to Wal Mart to get a few grocery items...not much, just a few things.

I'm back home now and well...you can probably guess I'm on the computer....LOLOL.

After getting back from the vet, we didn't do a whole lot. I got an email from Groupon Getaways, and then I got thinking about our honeymoon again so I looked up some trips. Around 3:00 we got ready and headed into the city. I couldn't find much I liked at the mall, so we headed to Jysk and I almost bought some shelves for the bathroom, but we decided we should measure first. We went to Montana's for supper, and then we went glow bowling! It was a good date night for us. We don't get out often.

Now we're home and I think we're going to head upstairs and watch a movie on the big screen. I am almost ready to go right to sleep!

That sounds like a fun day/evening, Lindsey. You and Scott need to have some fun relaxing times together.

I must say I have done the same thing, bought something only to find out it has bad reviews. I finally got a stove I like after three tries. At first I didn't find very many bad reviews (about the fan that blows hot air on you when the oven is on), but now there are quite a few reviews that alert people to that problem. It must be a new thing to have an internal fan running when the oven is on, because our final stove has one I can hear running, but it blows out the top back of the stove, not out the oven door!!!

Gary's asthma is a little better today of day 2 on Prednisone. He says he feels a little better and his oxygen numbers are better too. But the Predinose messes up his blood sugar, it gets so high and we have to keep a close eye on it. We are having a good visit in OK. I know Gary enoys seeing all his family.

Ricky had the day off so he helped me hang my mother's mirror. It looks so nice it's hard to not keep looking at it. Almost feels like it's still on Mom's wall when I look at it. I've grown up with that mirror on the south wall of her living room and now it's on the south wall of my living room. I absolutely love it and I had no idea it would make be feel this way.

I was going to give the dogs a bath today, but that didn't happen. Just didn't have the energy...maybe tomorrow. They need it bad. I may shave most of them completely down so I don't have to brush or comb them. I want to keep my little Joey longer so I'll just give him a trim.

Gayle, my oven does that too but it's a wall oven so it can't vent anywhere else!

Janet, I'm so glad you finally got that mirror hung!

Today, we got up and headed into the city to meet Scott's sister for lunch on their way home to Edmonton. Their daughter is sooooo adorable! She was in a good mood too. I like babies when they're happy lol! After lunch we did some looking into wedding stuff, which I've already written about in another thread. While we were in Costco, I also bought a new blow dryer and curling iron. Scott bought a new electric razor. His parents gave us a Costco gift card for Christmas, so there went that!

We finally felt it's been long enough that we could maybe look at the leftovers in the fridge, and we warmed some up for supper, threw some out, and put some in the freezer for another time.

Now, Scott's gone back to the city to visit friends, and I'm holding down the fort with the dogs! These last few weeks I have felt so exhausted all the time, and all I want to do is sleep! I think I will be heading to bed early again tonight.

We are headed back to Austin today. We planned to stay at the lake a couple of days with Gary's aunt and uncle but they have a stomach bug that we DO NOT WANT, so we will just drive home today I love staying at the lake but I will be glad to be home.

I developed a sore throat and the sniffles last night so I stopped and got some zinc lozenges and took them all night and this morni g. The sore throat is gone and the sniffles have not gotten any worse. I hope I can beat it back. I don't have time for a cold.

Sounds like everyone had a great Christmas!!

Sandy, you're going to have to let us know what all you did in Branson!! It's a great town with so much to do!! We love to go there once in a while and I've heard that Christmas is a good time to go!!

We had a great time with the kids on Friday before Christmas. The only thing was that it wasn't long enough doing it in the evening. The grandkids all spent the night....except for Daya. She's not real social.....like her Dad!! Glen made breakfast the next morning then they all went home to get ready for Christmas at their own homes.

On Christmas we had Dae Lynn and the kids to open presents with. I miss having my kids be that age!!! It will be so hard when they move out!! I had made a list with some small things that I wanted and Dae Lynn made sure that I got them!! Then.......Glen gave me a present.....and it was filled with glass!! He had bought the greenhouse that we looked at a while back and had been working on it at the shop!! It needs sooooo much work!!! I've always wanted a greenhouse so I'm really excited about it.......just not the work!! I'm afraid that by the time we're all done and finished we'll have as much in it as if we'd have bought a new one but.....oh, well. So I've been going over to the shop to help him work on it so he can move on to other things. Today we're getting ready to paint the primer on.

We have a few more parties to go to yet so we're still busy. On Friday we're going to Glen's sister's for a party with Glen's family. Then the girls are planning a New Year's party here at the house......then we have a Christmas party with my family on Monday......Whew!!!

Today I was able to get the dogs groomed and bathed. I think this was the 2nd time since Mom passed in August. I just couldn't seem to get up enough ambition to do it. They all look so much better. I cut all of them down really short except for Joey...I'm ready for him to be in long coat. He's my baby and I really prefer the long coat, just don't like taking care of 5 of them.

I started around 10:30 I think it was and finished at 5:15. It absolutely wore me out. I have one of those wash tubs that I put in the bath tub so I don't have to be on my knees for so long. Then have a card table all set up in my bedroom to do the grooming. After getting everything out and then putting it all back up and then sweeping the floor....it's no wonder I kept putting it off.

Then I took a relaxing shower and now...of course I'm on the laptop, in bed.

Janet, you make me tired!