Dannity Update...

A lot has happened since my last entry.

I am having problems with my computer at home so i am typing this entry at work.
When i can figure out my modem problem i will type a more detailed entry about Dannity with pictures and everything!

Dannity has gotten much much better! Infact she may be coming home sometime this week!
She still has a feeding tube but she is able to eat regular food. The poor baby has had an IV in so many places on her body that she looks like a pin cusion! At the beginning of all this they had to put a main line in her groin and in her neck but now she just has an IV in just her hand.

She still only smiles at the kids when they make funny faces at her but she looks at us adults with this look that says..."Whadda you want?" but she does reach for me and wants me to hold her. I think adults must represent all the little procedures that have been done to her over the last month.

Her 1st birthday was December 18th and we had a little party for her. She was a bit overwhelmed. The weather turned bad that evening with ice then thunderstorms (only in St Louis!) So me and the other kids spent the night at the hospital. On the intensive care floor they have things available for family that stays over so we were very comfortable in a small waiting room with cots that we had just to ourselves. It was like a slumber party!

I need to get back to work now. I will write more later with hopefully some pictures!

Dannity may be coming home this week! Yeah!!

Till later.. Ü

More Updates...

Again I am at the hospital typing this entry. When i get home and can figure out my modem on my computer i will post a more detailed entry on Dannity's progress.

Right now i can tell you that she is getting better and better every day. We have been very worried for her. She is still in intensive care and is still on a respirator but her lungs are starting to look better and the infection is starting to clear up. Today they stopped the medication that keeps her in an induced coma. She opened her eyes for the first time in weeks it seems! She was so excited to see us that her heart rate went up. We were just as excited but needed to let her rest.

Please keep praying for her. God is listening.

My daughter created a blog thru the hospital on a website called "Caringbridge.org" it lets the families of patients post updates on the patients progress so loved ones and friends can keep up to date. I'm not sure how to put a link on here for it but if you want to look at it just go to that website and type in "Dannityfox"

Thank you for all your prayers.

Till Later...

Update On Dannity..

In my last posting i told everyone that Dannity was going to have a risky scope test the next day. That evening we had the Pastor of my friends church come up to the hospital and babtize her. She had the test the next day and it just showed some inflamation. We were worried that she may have aspirated something into her lungs. They took a sample of some secretions and tested them and they came back negative. She is still on a respirator but each day her stats keep getting better. They have her in an induced coma to keep her calm so that she doesnt mess with the tubes and wires all connected to her. They had to put a main line into her neck because the IVs in her hands were colapsing her veins. It has been over a week and they still dont know what is causing the pneumonia. I'm sorry if this update seems rushed. I am again at the hospital typing this.

Thank you everyone for all your prayers. Its helping.

~Terry Ü


Till Later....

Please Pray

Please pray for my little granddaughter Dannity.
She is still in the PIC Unit on a venilator.
I am at the hospital right now on the Ronald McDonald House waiting room computer so i really can not go into detail what has happened since my last posting. Tomorrow she is having a procedure where they take a scope with a camera and go into her lungs to see if she has aspirated anything.

Please pray for her.

Please.

Till later...

R.E.M.

I just had the freakiest dream.
I have to write it down or i'm gonna forget it.

It was night time and i was at home. It sorta looked like my house that i live in now but then again it didnt. You know how dreams are but i knew in my dream that it was my house, So.. I told myself that i needed to go outside and look at something. When i went outside i didnt have a porch. I just had like three concrete steps that would get me out of my house. When i came out of my house i was like on a roof somewhere. I started to walk towards the edge because i needed to check something out. I walked across this area that was full of buttons and light bulbs and things that would be on a roof that you arent suppose to walk thru. I get to the edge and look over onto the city. The city was dark and quiet and creepy looking. It reminded me of Gotham City. Just ominous and looking like trouble. So i made my way back to my house and when i get to my steps i notice that there are two people sitting there. I cant make out one person but the other person is a woman who looks like she was crying. I walked passed them and into my house. When i get in there everyone is sleeping except for my mom (she passed away two years ago). I whisper to her, "Mom, we have got to move out of here as soon as we can!" She then tells me ok but right now she is gathering up and organizing some pictures so that i have them when she leaves. I start to think about her plants and the ones that i havent killed and i think to myself that i need to water the gardenia plant or maybe put a bag over it so she doesnt see that its dying. Then i notice other people milling around the inside of the house. I cant really remember who they were but i remember thinking they were some of my exhusbands family. They were moving around the kitchen. Next thing i know me and my daughter are in my backyard. It looks like my backyard but it isnt my deck but instead its a stair case sideways leading up to my back door. Its still dark and the porch light is on but my daughter and i are in some sort of little vehicle. Its little enough to fit up these steps. I am sitting in front driving it but i am facing backwards and my daughter is in the back facing me. I know i have to drive this thing up the back steps and thru the back door. I start to drive it up the back steps but realize that its not going to fit in the back door. My daughter tells me its not going to fit and we are going to have to go back down the back steps. I tell her to hang on and we go baboom baboom baboom down the steps. I ask what kind of vehicle this is and my daughter tells me its an ambulance. (it didnt look like an ambulance). So i maneuver this thing thru mud in my backyard and try to fit it thru the side gate but just then someone comes thru the door. He looked like some actor that i cant remember and he walks straight over to my back gate which is way wider than the side gate. He talks to my daughter and im not really sure what they were talking about and then leaves back out the side gate. Its daylight now and in my mind i am thinking that all these people at my house are getting ready to leave to go camping and that my daughter and i must be doing that too. I asked this actor guy if everyone has left and he says no. My daughter tells me that this vehicle we are in will not fit thru the side gate that we need to take it thru the back gate and down the alley because she says that is how she brought it in. So before we do that i go to the back door to make sure that it is locked. The bottom lock is locked but the top lock isnt. I realize the dog is outside so i let her in. I then try to lock both locks with my key but the top lock wont lock so i ask my ex husbands mom, who is dressed in her nightgown and robe, (and who died several years ago) to help me lock the top lock. She smiles at me and locks it. Then i get back in this vehicle thing and realize that it looks like my grandsons big yellow dump truck but bigger. I start to take off and realize that my daughter is sunbathing in the back of this dump truck wearing a red polka dotted bikini.

Then my phone rang and i woke up.

What a weird dream! I remember that i had a weird dream earlier and had woken up but i dont even remember that one. I like to analize my dreams but that one exhausted me just remembering it! Later i'll look at it again and maybe analize it again. I told my daughter about this dream and she just laughed and laughed. She said it sounded like a stress dream. She's probably right!

Till Later...

Another Update...

I'm not really sure where to start.
Since my last posting a lot has happened.

Lets start with my car and the kids.

My ex husband got up yesterday and couldnt find the key to my car. If you remember, in my daughters rush to pack up the car, she lost her car key. The key to my car. The only car we have that she took to her dad's for Thanksgiving. He lives two hours away from me. Because the baby got sick and was sent by ambulance to a hospital back home in St Louis, my car and my grandkids were stuck at my ex husbands house. So he couldnt find the key. Lucky for us i have the backseats that pull down in my car so one of my granddaughters were able to get in the trunk and pull the little lever and pop open the trunk. They dug through my trunk and all the things in it and found the key in a tennis shoe. His wife drove my car and my grandkids home and someone followed in another car to take her back home. They were nice to me when they dropped them off but according to my daughter and my grandkids they were complaing and acting as if the whole incident was a big inconvenience to them. My ex can be a real jerk sometimes but that's another story for another time.

Now on to my little hunny gurl.

I went up and seen her in the hospital yesterday. She looks so pitiful that i just want to cry. They had to intubate her (put a tube down her throat into her lungs) and they have a feeding tube in her nose down into her stomach. She has a montior on one foot and some sort of cuff on the other. She has an IV in both her hands that are on boards with tape wrapped around them to keep her hands straight. She has this big tube laying acrossed her chest and has little pads stuck to her chest. She is hooked up to two monitors and has several bags of fluid dripping into her from her IV. They have her sedated so that she doesnt mess with any of this but they have her little hands restrained, strapped down to the bed.

When they were putting the tube down her throat she tried to bite them. lol. She's a little fighter that one is! Our family pediatrician came in and she was awake. She tried to wave to him in her little baby way even though her hands were strapped down.

While i was there the sedation medication started to wear off while they were suctioning out her lungs and just adjusting all the tubing. She kicked and she pulled her arms and she just tried to get out of that position. She likes to sleep on her side and they have her on her back. She looks comfortable when she is sleeping but i know she would prefer tobe on her side. I rubbed her hair and her her feet and sang "High Hopes" and "Ive Been Working on the Railroad" to her. It seemed to calm her down. Oldest Grandgirlie came with me and she sang songs to her too.

The nurses were all very nice and thoughtful. I felt that i was in the way when i was rubbing girlie's hair but they told me that i wasnt, that they wanted the baby to be comforted. Then right before we were leaving last night the nursing shift changed. A nurse came in and she was very nice but she was hard to understand because she talked really low and through her teeth. She never seemed to open her teeth when she talked!
As i was standing there rubbing baby girls feet and hair she started speaking to me. I could barely understand what she was saying. She was saying it with a smile but i just couldnt hear her. She said it to me again a little louder but still with a smile. This nurse told me that she didnt want anyone touching the baby unless she was aggitated and needed comforting. She said that they want her to stay calm and if everyone was touching her that wasnt going to happen. She told me that i needed to tell that to everyone that came to see her. Um. Ok.

So when my daughter came back into the room and the nurse left my daughter asked me if something happened because i looked a little aggrivated. I told her what the nurse said. I told her i understood what the nurse wanted and that she just wanted what was best for the baby but i was still going to touch the baby. My daughter said she agreed. She figured it was just that nurses style.

So as i was leaving i went over to baby girl and started rubbing her hair and her feet and i told her i loved her. As i leaned over the bed a buzzer went off. Apparently when you touch the bed this happens. The nurse came in and smiled and mumbled something to me thru her teeth. So I said to her...

"I didnt quite understand what you just said but i'm sure you were telling me not to touch her". Then i smiled.

She smiled back at me and said, "You touched the bed and made it beep".

Then we laughed and she patted my back.

Dont touch me.

Till Later...

Another Update..

My daughter called me earlier at about 2:30 am to tell me that her and the baby have made it to the hospital here in St Louis.

She called me back about 2 hours later to tell me that they have the baby admitted and they have her in the ICU. She said they have her hooked up to all kinds of things. Having her in the ICU scares me. One good thing is that there is one nurse per child. The doctor told my daughter that when babies are sick like this they put them in the Intensive Care Unit to keep a really good eye on them.She said it's because there is a possibility that when a baby falls asleep being this sick that they could stop breathing,

I am so glad they are back home in a really good hospital.

I know i only have 7 followers but if you read my blog...please say a prayer for my little Sugar Sweet Hunny Gurl.

Till Later...

Update..

Since my last posting my daughter called me upset.

She said her dad's wife went up to the hospital to sit with the baby while my daughter went back to the house to get some clothes and pack up the car. While she was at the house her dad's wife called from the hospital to say that they were going to transport the baby to another hospital because she was getting worse and this hospital did not have a Pediatrician on staff.



What kind of a hospital does not have a pediatrician on staff?!?!?!?!



They told her that they were going to send her to a hospital in Springfield Illinois, an hour away north of where she is or to a hospital in St Louis 2 hours south from where she is. As my daughter was rushing to get the things in the car her car key fell off her key ring. And now she cant find it. She doesnt know if it fell on the ground or if it fell in the trunk. And the trunk is closed and the trunk pop is broke. She borrwed her Dads truck to get back to the hospital and she called me on her way back. I could barely understand what she was saying because she was talking fast and crying. I told her to calm down and get back to the hospital and i will talk to her dad. I call him and he tells me that he doesnt know WHAT is going on. He says that they will have to look for the car key in the morning when there is more light. He started to get an attitude with me and i told him that all i'm concerned about is that the baby is ok and how my car and my other grandchildren are going to get home. He tells me that they will get my car and kids home by morning.



So just now my daughter calls. She is in the ambulance and they are on thier way back to St Louis to a hospital here. I am glad they are bringing the baby back here to St Louis. I'm a little bothered that my other grandchildren and my car are still at my ex-husbands house. I need to have my kids home. I worry about them when they arent home.



I have a really sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.



Till Later..

Thanksgiving.

I was a little sad last night. In fact i had a good cry. My daughter and my grandkids left last night to visit my daughter's dad for Thanksgiving today. That meant that they wouldnt be here with me on Thanksgiving.

I knew about this for a while. It was his turn in his family to have the Thanksgiving dinner so his whole family was going to his house for the holiday. He owns a bowling alley so he was having this big shin dig there. Dinner and bowling and kareoke. He lives about 2 hours away so my daughter and the kids were going to go up there last night so that my daughter wasnt too tired from driving and she could enjoy the day. My sister and i were going to go to my brother's house for dinner with him and his kids and kids-in-law and all his grandkids. My sister and i opted for a quiet day at home. I never have a quiet day at home so this was a nice opportunity to cook some turkey and have all the fixings and just lay around all day watching TV and doing nothing.

But when they left last night i cried. I miss those crazy kids when they are gone. Littlest grandgirlie wasnt feeling well. She had a runny nose that we thought was just a cold brought on by some major teething. A couple weeks ago we took her to the doctor and they had to give her a breathing treatment of albuteral. Her older sister has asthma. I had asthma as a kid. Now little girlie is showing all the signs of the same thing. So after her last incident they sent her home with a nebulizer and we picked up some medicine so that we could give her a treatment at home whenever she needed it.

Yesterday we decided that since she had a little cold that it would be a great idea to bring that nebulizer and the medicine incase she needed a breathing treatment. But we couldnt find the medicine. We searched the house up one side and down the other and we still couldnt find it. My daughter said that if she needed a treatment she would call the doctors exchange and have them call in a prescription.

Well she needed a breathing treatment and the pharmacy in the small little hicktown he lives in was closed. So she took her to the emergency room at this little town hospital.

Thats where they are at now. They checked her breathing and it was at an 85. It should be at 100. They put her on oxygen and hooked her up to an I.V. and then took a chest xray. Then they drew some blood. They came back and said that she has pneumonia in one lung and they are going to admit her for observation overnight.

I feel totally helpless.

My daughter depends on me for support. Because i work in a doctors office my daughter depends on me when it comes to the childrens health. I wish they were home. I wish she was at a Children's Hospital and not some small town place. I told her if she didnt feel comfortable there that she should request that they transport the baby to St Louis to a childrens hospital. I asked her if it was just for observation and she said yes. I asked her if she felt comfortable with the baby being there and she said yes. So they are staying.

I could hear babygirl in the background. She sounded miserable. I cant believe how quickly it came on her. The nurse told my daughter that the same thing happened to her daughter. She put her down for a nap and when she woke up she was very ill.

I'm praying for her tonight.
I cant wait for them to come home.

Till Later...

P.S. I found her medicine. Someone had put it in the refrigerator!

I Deleted My Last Two Entries.

Sorry.

They were about not knowing where my daughter was and then about when she finally came home.

She's home safe now

I deleted them because i am mad at her.
She was passed out drunk at a friends house.
We missed an important doctors appointment because of it.

Till Later...

Sticker Shock..

The picture below is what i paid for gas this morning.

The picture below is what gas was at the same gas station on my way home from work tonight.Can you see that it says $1.49??? You all may be bored with my obsession with gas prices but i am just sooo tickled that the prices just keep falling. If gas gets to be under $1.00 i'm gonna celebrate by doing something wild and crazy! Any suggestions??

I wrote the entry below in my AOL Journal on 8/20/2005. This past Summer i reminded everyone of this entry but that was when gas prices were almost $4.00 a gallon.

Flatulent

What is up with gas prices these day?

Ya know, I dont claim to be an expert on that whole oil embargo, Department of Energy, Cost per barrel mumbo jumbo. I couldnt talk my way out of a paper bag with it. I just dont get it. Whatever happened to the days when you could say "fillerup" and then hand the guy a ten dollar bill?

I remember when gas was .43 cents a gallon. I also remember back in the '70s when you were limited to 5 bucks worth of gas. Those were the good ol' days.

Now, i'm searching for gas less than $2.55 a gallon. Dang! Just typing that irritates me! A year ago i was having a fit having to pay $1.73! I told myself then, if i had to pay over 2 bucks a gallon i was gonna shoot my car and take public transportation.

I dont like buses.

My car got a reprieve but my pocketbook didnt. I can not believe i am actually paying over 2 and a half dollars for gas! That is just ridiculous! I know that my friend in Cali will tell me that he pays over 3 bucks a gallon already. Look..you live in LA! All the movie stars live there and they can afford to put 60 dollars in the gas tank every other day! I'm small town America! Idontwannapaythatmuchforgas! I need a bicycle. Yeah thats it. No wait. It rains. Then there is snow. Jeez. These oil companies really got us by the~ ahem~ throats.

Hey, at least im not the guy in the Hummer that passes me everday on my way to work. No...i'm just the one that, in the 100 degree heatwave has all her windows down at 7am in the morning on her way to work cuz she doesnt wanna use up all her gas on air conditioning.

Man...that stinks.

Till Later...

Singing..

I sing a lot in the car. I always have. I love music. It doesnt matter what kind of music it is either. It could be televevision theme songs, popular songs on the radio or just holiday songs. It doesnt matter. I just love music.
My Grandkids love music too. I can catch my 4 year old Grandson mindlessly singing the theme song from Scooby Doo or just singing the catchty diddy from the movie Madagascar..."i like to move it move it...i like to move it move it". Middle Grandgirlie just breaks out in song while she's dancing across the room and Older Grandgirlie hums all the time. She's the one with the great voice. She is 10 years old and was picked to be in Honors Choir at her school and she has a solo in the Christmas program singing Santa Claus is Coming To Town. I can catch her singing songs that she hears me singing to the baby. One of my favorites to sing to her is High Hopes by Frank Sinatra. Ya know...the one about the ant who has high hopes and oops there goes another rubber tree plant. She sings Bicycle Built For Two and I've Been Working on the Railroad and then in the next breath will sing a Christina Aguliera song note for note.

I remember when my daughter was about 2 years old. It was Christmas time 1982. The Cardinals had won the World Series that October and all was right in the world. We were in the car going somewhere and we were singing songs like always. We were singing Christmas Carols and Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire was one of my favorites to sing. "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire...Jack Frost nipping at your nose....". My two year old daughter always mimiced me and i could hear her in the backseat singing away.
"Chestnuts roasting on an open fire. Jack Clark nipping at your nose....".

Jack Clark was the first baseman for the St Louis Cardinals and i was sooo in love with him.

That tickled me. I sure would have liked Jack Clark nipping at my nose!

Till Later....

A friend of mine the other day reminded me of this date that i had went on a few years ago. Everytime we talk about it it makes us laugh until we cry. But on the day of the date i wanted to cry. I was so disappointed.

Some of you that have followed my AOL journal may remember that a few years back i was taking the bus to and from work. I had a vehicle that was too expensive to fix so until i saved enough money for a down payment for another car i decided i would carpool with a friend or take the bus. Sometimes when i needed a vehicle for certain occasions i would rent one for the weekend. Otherwise, i took the bus.

This is where i met this guy.

First mistake.

I was sitting on the bus stop bench waiting for my connecting bus when this guy got off a bus to wait for the same connection. It was late September and I was wearing my Cardinal baseball jersey. We had a Cardinal type rally potluck at work to support the Cards and their working towards the playoffs so it was a casual day and i was wearing my Cardinal garb. This guy saw me and struck up a conversation. I usually dont talk much to people on the bus or at the bus stop because i usually have my MP3 player in my ears but he was kind of attractive and i was in a good mood so we sat there and talked about the Cardinals. Then he asked me for my number. I thought, what the heck. I'd give him my cell phone number and i could get to know him better on the phone. So we talked on the phone a few times. He seemed like a nice guy. He worked a full time job but he didnt have a vehicle. I dont even remember if i asked him why he didnt have a car. A lot of pretty decent people ride the bus for one reason or another so it wasnt a big deal. We met for coffee on a few occasions and then one weekend i rented a car. He asked that when i rented a car if he could take me out somewhere nice. I told him that would be fine. He said he wanted to take me out to dinner and to a movie. So for a week i kept asking him what movie he wanted to see but he couldnt make up his mind. He finally told me that it didnt really matter what movie we went to see because he would just fall asleep during it anyway. I told him then that we really shouldnt go to the movies but instead that maybe out to eat and then bowling. He liked that idea. Then the day of the date came and he called me and said he wanted to take me to this Italian neighborhood hang out (bar) where a lot of his friends went. He was the type of guy that didnt know a stranger. He was friendly to everyone and everyone seemed to like him. I told him that i really didnt get into the bar scene and would really rather go out to eat somewhere by ourselves. He said that was fine.

Ok. So here it is. Our first actual date. I have the car so i go to pick him up at the bus stop. He gets in the car and i'm all excited about going out and i ask him which restaraunt we were going to. I'm thinking TGI Fridays or Applebees. Heck i would even take Ponderosa at this point. See...im sort of an old fashioned girl. If i'm asked out on a date i'm hoping that my date has made all the plans and arrangements and knows what we are going to do. So i ask him where we are going to go for dinner thinking that we are going to go somewhere nice. He tells me it didn't really matter. He wasnt all that hungry anyway because he had just had some Burger King.

Huh?

Yeah.

I looked at him and said..."You ate already? I thought we were going out to eat." I then told him that if he already ate then i didnt really want to go out anywhere and eat by myself. He then told me that he had this great idea. The grocery store up the street had a little dining area where we could order food from the deli and eat right there. Besides...he tells me....he has a $10.00 gift certificate he can use.

Oh Boy.

So we headed up the street. I told him that i didnt remember there being any little dining area in that store but i was willing to check it out. When we got there and went up to the deli the dining area consisted of two small square gray cafeteria tables. One table had two chairs. The other was missing chairs all together. At this point i'm starting to get upset. I'm not showing it but but its there. So we go up to the deli counter. Yes. The deli counter and we pick out two roast beef sandwiches wrapped in clear wrap and order a couple sodas. Then he goes to pay the lady and he can't find his gift certificate.

So i pay.

At this point i want to go home. We sit down and unwrap our cold sandwiches. He tells me there is a microwave somewhere if i wanted to heat it up. I pass on that because i want to finish this sandwich and go home. As we are sitting there in this "dining area" other grocery store customers are maneuvering thier carts around us doing their shopping. I think to myself that if i was with someone that i really wanted to be with then this little dining experience wouldn't bother me. But it was. It was bothering me BIG TIME. So we finish there and we get back into the car. He had no plans or any suggestions as to what we could do but all i could think of was that i wanted to take him home and go to Taco Bell or something. But instead we decided to go bowling. I was just hoping he had enough money to pay for that because i wasnt about to pay again!

I really can't remember much of what happened the rest of the evening. We went bowling and he paid and then i told him i needed to go home. It seemed as if it was one sitcom antic after another all night long and i was the character with the pie in my face. He was a really nice guy but i was disappointed at how the evening went.

The next day i called my friend Devin and told him about it. It was then that i laughed. And we both laughed. And we laughed and we laughed! And we still laugh about it today even though some of the events aren't all that clear anymore, i'll never forget sitting there eating while other customers shopped! Turns out he was a habitual gambler. He told me so. Told me he rarely has any money left out of his paycheck because he gambles it all away. Figures.

I'm usually pretty picky about the guys i like. My guy now has a pretty decent job, his own car and can take me to a nice place to eat. Cuz ya all know i'm all about the food!

I'm really not a high mainenenced girl but if you take me out on a first date you better be there to impress. I want flowers and unlimited dining and a nice movie where you might sneak a kiss.

Dont EVER take me some where where people are bumping into me with thier shopping carts while im trying to eat!

Until Later....

The Price Just Keeps Going Down and Down...

Can you believe this!

I stopped for gas this morning on my way to work and this is what i paid for Regular Unleaded! I can't believe the prices just keep going down and down! I don't know how much lower they can go. Like i said before, we were paying just at $4.00 a gallon at the end of Summer. The guy on the news said gas hasn't been this low in four years! I can actually fill my tank up for about $20.00!

Let's hope retailers follow suit this Holiday shopping season!

Till Later...

"You Got The Right Stuff....Baby..."

Thats my daughter (on the right) with her friend at the New Kids On The Block concert last Monday night. Natasha Beningfield was the opening act and my daughter said she put on a pretty good show. But when the New Kids On The Block came out she said it felt very nostalgic. She took a million pictures and sang and danced to all their songs.













The New Kids On The Block on a round stage below where my daughter was sitting.













The New Kids On The Block singing "I'll Be Loving You Forever".

My daughter got home from this concert about 3:30 am and came into my room to tell me about it. She was so excited! She gave me a big hug and thanked me for getting her the tickets. She said she had the best time. We sat there and looked at all her pictures and she told me about how they had aged but still looked fine and that they could still do the dance moves they did when they were younger. It was like she was a little girl again telling me about a wonderful time she just had. She thanked me again and gave me another hug.

Little does she know but this was a little nostalgic for me as well.


This picture was taken sometime about 1990. My mom is in the center of my nieces and nephew and my daughter is on the right in the back row. My mother and i were taking all the kids to the New Kids On The Block concert at Busch Stadium. In this picture we were on the McDonalds riverboat on the Mississippi River. We ate dinner there before the concert. My daughter was about 10 in this picture. She is 28 years old now.

Till Later...

What Is It With Some People?

I was driving home from work today on a four lane road that i take to and from work every day. Two lanes going one way and two lanes going the other way with that one lane in the middle for turning. We call that around here the suicide lane. So I'm driving home and i have to make a left turn into a store parking lot so i pulled into the suicide lane. I sat there waiting for all the cars to pass so i could cross over into the parking lot when a red sports car pulls into my lane right in front of me. She was wanting to cross over the other direction. She pulled into the lane so close to me that the front of our cars were almost touching. I thought she was going to hit my car. She was so close and positioned in an awkward way that i couldnt see around her to see if there were any oncoming cars coming. I looked at her and threw my hands up in the air mouthing "what are you doing"? Guess what she did. She flipped me off. She flipped me off!!! So i looked at her and said "you are actually going to flip me off when you are in MY way???" She turned her head away and avoided my look. Yeah. Thats right. Road rage at its finest. Finally i could see around her and crossed over. But that left me really frustrated. How DARE her flip ME off when she was the one in the wrong!!

On a different note....
When my daughter was about 10 or 11 she was a big New Kids On The Block fan. She had everything they ever made for those boys. She had posters and pins and bedspreads and pillows and dolls and shoes and tshirts and hats. You name it she probably had it. We went to several concerts and even drove across the state to see them and ended up staying in the same hotel as they did. So this year when the New Kids On The Block announced that they were doing a reunion tour i knew i had to buy her some tickets for her 28th birthday in August. Tonight is the concert. She dressed in black leggens and a silver shimmery flowing tank top with a black leather jacket over it. She wore black boots that zipped up to her knees and hid her camera under her armpit. She's come a long way from the Hanging Tough Tshirt and the air brushed blue jeans that said NKOTB.
As she was leaving she told me that if there was an after party, her and her friend were going. I told her to make sure she aired up the back tire and to bring extra clothes and shoes just in case. Its kinda cold tonight.

I'm still her Mom ya know....

I'll post pictures of the concert tomorrow.

Till later....

WHAT THE...?!?

I saw this on my way home from work last night and i couldnt believe my eyeballs!! I had to do a double take! Yes ladies and gentlemen...gasoline is $1.99 in St Louis Missouri! Woooohoooo! Not much more than a month ago we were paying just at $4.00 a gallon. Seeing this makes me nervous. I better fill up before it skyrockets again!!!

Oh...We have a new President.

Right on! Right On! Right On!

Till Later....

Voting Day.

I woke up this morning at 4:30 a.m. so i could get to the polls early The news was telling everyone that the lines would be long. They werent kidding! We got to our polling station about 5:30 and the line was already wrapped around the building! By the time my daughter and i got into the building and actually voted and were leaving the building, it was almost 7:00 am!

The polls are just about to close here in Missouri and the lines are still long at some polling stations. They say as long as you are in line at 7:00pm you are entitled to vote.

I remember the last presidential election. My oldest Granddaughter was 6 years old and she went with me to vote. When it came my turn to go up and vote a woman with a camera from the St Louis Post Dispatch asked me if she could take my picture as i voted. I told her that would be fine. So i went to the poll and started casting my vote. Grandgirlie stood there and watched. I could see out of the corner of my eye that Grandgirlie wasstarting to pose for the camera. She gave the lady a thumbs up. She winked at her. She gave her two thumbs up and on and on. Finally i was finished voting and placed my ballot in the box then the woman asked me some questions and then we left. The next morning our picture was in the paper. It was a really nice picture showing me voting (but not revealing my ballot) and Grandgirlie looking at my ballot very intensly. The caption read, "Fox brought her Granddaughter to the ballots so she could see how the real thing worked". I am sooo quotable!

Remembering this story today made me think of something. My oldest Grandgirlie is 10 now. In four years, at the next presidential election she will be 14. The next presidential election after that she will be 18 and able to vote. I hope that by example she will understand how important one vote can be.

My father always told me, Never discuss Politics or your salary. It always causes arguments.

I will really be disapointed in this country if they do not elect the right man for this job. A wise citizen of this great country we live in would look at the last eight years and know that we need change.

I cant wait to find out the results!

Till Later....

48 Hours...

Are you ready???

Remember to vote!

Till Later...

If I Wasn't Such A Procrastinator...

AOL Sucks!
But you all already know that.

Just now....
A few minutes ago......(actually earlier today about 10:30 am)
As i was finishing up saving my private journal....

Stoopid Stoopid AOL cut me off and this ~~~>People Connection Blog: AIM Community Network
site appeared in place of my journal. Thank God i only had a month left of that journal to save. It was the first month of my ever journalling on AOL but thats what i get for procrastinating.

Dont you think if AOL says that AOL journals is closing on 10/31/08 they would alteast give you till Midnight?? Ugh i want to say a dirty word!!

So now if you click on a link to an AOL journal you will get the above link or this ~>This page contains information regarding the shutdown of AOL Hometown and Journals (blogs) - AOL.

I have a feeling AOL is getting rid of its features and then are going to tell us they are closing thier doors except for email sevices. Mark my work. I betcha.

MSN is looking more and more attractive as the days go by.

Till Later...

You're Driving Me Ape!

My office is getting new carpeting throughout the place and my office manager asked us if anyone wanted the plants that were in the waiting room. I marked my name down as yes, not really remembering what the plants looked like. Ive been there for almost 12 years and i dont remember what the plants look like in the waiting room! Dang i must keep busy!

So i was one of the lucky one's to get a plant. I picked a potted palm tree. Its Beeyoooteeful! It has four stalks and is very unique looking. I just brought it into the house tonight because we are expecting our first heavy freeze.

I was sitting here at the computer in this room with this big ol tree behind me and my little grandson comes in here and looks at me with his big cheesey grin and says...

Can i climb it like a monkey???

No you cannot climb it like a monkey!

So he proceeds to climb it like a monkey.


I have such control over these kids.

Till Later....

We Did The Mash...We Did The Monster Mash...

This past Saturday night i took my two oldest girlies to The 7th Annual Grant’s Farm Halloween thing. Grants Farm is typically a daytime attraction in our area. You take a 15-20 minute tram ride thru several acres of land full of all types of animals, deer,bison,antelopes, buffalo, oreo cookie cows...then they drop you off in this huge area where the kids can feed the goats or you can watch a bird show or an elephant show then go to the beer garden and eat and the adults can have a free complimentary Budweiser. (its the Busch family property and owned by Anheuser-Busch soon to be known as InBev something or other). But since its Halloween time they have it all decorated for the holiday and the event is held after dark.

So i took the girls. Little man would have been frightened. I can barely take him down the Halloween aisle at any given store without him shaking and crying. This Grants Farm Halloween thing turned out to be pretty cool. My oldest grandgirlie loves scarey stuff. Little girlie...not so much. Older girlie wanted to sit in the middle on the tram. Little girlie ended up in the middle but I had to stretch my arms all around the big scaredy cat!

We get on the tram and they turn off the lights and begin to tell a spooky story about a Mad Scientist. Ghosts and things are hanging down from trees and fake fog and freaky strobe lights are everywhere. We get to the middle of nowhere in the dark in the middle of all these acres of land and we have to stop the tram. Deer are running across the road and there are big long horned steer all over the place. I could have reached out the side of this thing and patted one on the head and pulled its horn. I think i may have been a little scared. I actually thought....would it be faster to run to the end of this trip or just sit here amongst all the Spidermen and Fairy Princesses and take my chance? I took my chance. We finally made it to the goats and the Mad Scientist show and worked our way around to the free beer...err....i mean the courtyard where they had pushed all the tables back and had a DJ and a huge dance area. We met up with a friend of older grandgirlies who was there with his parents. The DJ played The Monster Mash and the theme song to SpiderMan and they did the twist and the Cha Cha Slide and they even played some Hannah Montana stuff and we danced and danced. At one point a very lifelike Frankentein got out in the middle of the dance circle, recruited some adults and then did the duck dance. Then they played the Love Shack by the B52's and me and all the other adults were singing and dancing. At the end of the song when they say.."Your what??? Tin roooof....busted!" my granddaughter and her friend were amazed that we knew that. Probably cuz we were old she said. Thanks..

Fianlly...before we left all of a sudden i see my brother rushing towards me. He and his four kids...thier spouses and all his 10 grandkids were there. We hung out for a while and then we all left together.

All in all we had a really fun time. It cost $20.00 bucks to park but it was free to get in. I think it was worth it.
When we got home we had some hot chocolate with tons of whipped cream.
Whatta way to end a scarey night!

Till Later....

When Life Hands You Lemons Dont Forget To Stamp The Checks!

Yesterday came and i still hadnt felt the shoe drop on the loud disagreement i had with my co-worker. I just knew i would hear something. I just knew that it would get all blown out of proportion to make this co worker look good. But i heard nothing.
So yesterday i casually brought it up to my supervisor. I asked her if she had heard about what happened between me and this girl. She genuinely said she hadnt. I have known my supervisor for 12 years so i could tell that she wasnt pretending not to know. So i told her what happened. She said that maybe this other girl knew she was in the wrong so thats probably why she didnt say anything.
Probably.

But she did tell me that she came to her and told her that i had forgotten to stamp the back of the checks one day.

Oh brother...

See what i mean...

Petty....

Till Later...

This Grandmas Life

It's 2:30 am. What The Heck Am I Doing Up?

Today was one of those days.
(When i say today i really mean yesterday. Technically thats really Wednesday but since i havent been to sleep yet for the sake of confusion we will call this today).
Today was one of those days.

I was late for work.
I ironed my clothes in semi-dark and when i got to work i realized the white top i had on had some sort of stain on it. So i had to wear my scrub jacket all day.
I had an excruciating headache where it hurt so bad i thought i would either cry or my head would explode.
And i got into a petty disagreement with a co worker who one would describe as a complainer who thinks everyone does everything wrong and thinks she is perfect and who would blow everything out of proportion to the boss to make herself look good.


I have worked at this job for almost 12 years and with this co-worker for almost as long. She's not a supervisor. She does the same job as me. We have not seen eye to eye for years but to keep my sanity and peace in the room i ignore her. Not typically ignore her but just ignore the things that irritate the majority of people. She complains about everyone. Including me behind my back. People have transferred out of our department because of her.


Today just was not the day to deal with it. It was such a petty thing to argue over but its usually the little things that break the camel's back. After it was over i sat there for a few minutes and then left my chair. I went straight up to the office manager's office, not to tattle, but to just cut her off at the pass because i knew that she would be running her happy butt right up there at her first opportunity. Maybe lucky for me he wasnt in his office. I actually even waited around for him but he never came. I went around the corner and plopped my butt down in one of the secretary's chairs in front of her desk. She asked me what was wrong and i told her. I told her it was such a petty thing but it just irritated me. I'm usually cool calm and collected.


I'm sure this isn't the end of it. I bet tomorrow something will happen. I'm sure the story will have developed a life of its own. Thats just how she is.

I'll keep ya'all posted!

Till Later...

I Want Some Cake!

The other day i went to Taco Bell for lunch and the drive-thru girl gave me a whole handful of mild sauce packets. If you have ever eaten at Taco Bell you know that on these packets are little remarks written right across the front of them. Cute little clever remarks that just make you laugh.


Then i got this really bright idea!


Since Mister Christerfer Brainwhisperers is currently unemployed i thought that he could put his very clever and witty humor into comments on these packets! What a cool job! He could do it from home and make loads of money! Well...if he didnt make loads of money at least he'd get a discount at Taco Bell and ya know what i call that? Dinner!

In Honor of our fellow blogger friend Brainwhispers and today being his 30 Somethingish Birthday...i dedicate this blog entry to him.

Have a very Happy Birthday!
I hope you and Sara have a wonderful visit!

Till Later.....

Out of The Mouth's of Babes.

We went to the grocery store the other day, me, oldest grandgirlie and middle grandgirlie.
As we were walking in from the parking lot two Nuns in full Habit were leaving the store.
Middle grandgirlie asked who they were. We explained that they were Nuns and that they were in the Catholic religion. (We are Lutheran). Older grandgirlie explained that they are married to God.

Middle GrandGirlie said " So they sing in the Opera?"

That had me giggling for days.


Till Later....

The Worst Grandma Ever!

Well...it's official.
I am the worst Grandma ever.
My oldest granddaughter has been badgering me to take her to some walk/run thing that her school is having. There was a paper sent home and money was needed. I have two grandkids at this school. I cant afford EVERY thing that they send home. I buy them fun books from the bookclub at school. I buy them yearbooks. I buy them school pictures. I give them money for extra ice cream at lunch. I pay for field trips and t-shirts with thier school logo on it so passing up a walk/run where physical exersion is required is ok.
The paper came home for this walk/run and the deadline came and went. I thought i had already laid that problem to rest. No we arent going. Its a charity thing and i feel bad that we arent going but i'm not having you get donations and walk/run this thing when you can barely make it 2 times around the track at school without complaining to your teacher that you are tired. Ok. Nuff said.

So today is the walk/run.
I have a lot of things to get done.
Like cleaning this house that these 4 children including thier mother mess up!
Its a beautiful day. But thats ok.

Old grandgirlie tells me yesterday that they can still go to the walk/run even if they didnt pay. Everything is free. The food is free. The face painting is free. We can even wak/run for free. She needs to go to cheer everyone on and if you have the most school spirit you win a prize. So please take me to the dollar store so i can buy stuff that is gold and yellow so i can show my school spirit.
I told her that i didnt think we were going. We might run by and check it out but we arent participating. I really dont think we are going. (come on grandma be a little more committed!). Besides, her mother told her she was grounded. I dont remember what she is grounded for but probably because she rolled her eyes at her mother.

So this morning she wakes me up at 7:30.
"What time is it Grandma?"
"We arent going Cynnamann."
I hear her grumble as she walks out of the room.
"You are the worst grandma ever!"

Its Official.


Till later...

Hopi Get A Good Grade...

My oldest Granddaughter had this project to do for school.
She had to make a life like village of an Indian tribe of her choice.

She needed to label it with the Region and the Climate and a few other things that i dont remember. She was given two weeks to do it and it was due yesterday.

Did i mention that my Grandgirlie is a Drama Queen?

There is not a day that goes by that something isnt wrong for her.
Her hair doesnt look right. She hated the school lunch. Her teacher gave her a dirty look. Dinner isnt what she wants. The grass tripped her. The sky looks funky. Her sister bothered her.
I could go on.

But anyway...

So this project was due and i wanted to get this going before the deadline. We are last minute Charlies so i didnt want to be up all night the night before helping her with this thing so Saturday we went and bought some clay and paint. I havent been feeling well and was at the worst on Saturday so we quickly got what she needed and came home.

Of course she didnt think we had bought enough clay or paint.

She started molding the homes for her village.
We got the bright idea that if she just made the walls we could hook them together when she was ready to put it all together.
Cool. Good idea.

So by Sunday she had all her walls done. It had rained and she needed natural resources so she tried to use mud to connect the pieces.

The mud didnt hold. I told her that we would try to put it together with the clay. I still didnt feel well so i told her we would work on it Monday night.

Monday night came and went.

Tuesday night i still wasnt feeling well. I told her mother to go buy some glue so Grqndgirlie could finish this thing up.
My daughter told Grandgirlie that she should have told her this project was due. She would have helped her sooner.

Helllooooo! Where ya been for the last 4 days??

Anyway...

Grandgirlie then said she needed people in her model and a ladder to get into her adobe homes and she needed to make some pots and a stove and its not gonna be done by tomorrow and it looks stupid and the other kids projects are gonna look better and its not holding and why are we glueing it to a box and the big piece looks like a subway and she should have picked the TeePee and i have a headache and and.....

I told her to calm down. It looked just fine. I told her that Hopi Indians back in the day didnt have builders do the job. They built it themselves and they werent perfect. She used her natural resources and it looked just fine.

But i was worried.
I thought it looked funky.
Bad Grandma, bad bad...

She took it to school yesterday and when she came home i asked how it went.

She said she stood in front of the class and gave her presentation and the teacher graded it right then and there and she got all stars! The paper will come home in her Friday folder.

I asked how the other kids projects looked. She said pretty good.I asked if anyone said anything about her project and she said they liked it.

She then said...."I thought mine looked awesome."

Whew!

Another adolescent bullet dodged.

Here's the finished project....















I am sooo proud!

Till Later...

Could Someone Help Me With Editing The Header of My Blog??

I added that picture there of the bear juggling the hearts and now i want to delete the picture. I go in to edit it and click on the link to remove image and it doesnt remove it. Can anyone help??
Blast you AOL for eliminating your user friendly journal!

Itchy...

My left hand itches.
That's suppose to mean i'll be coming into some money soon.
Hmm...
Let's see...
I dont get paid for another week.
I didnt play the lottery today.
I did find a penny though and i put it in my shoe.
I just checked my shoe.
I lost the penny.
I wont be inheriting any money.
All our money is in the stock market.
Hmmm..

I probably just need some lotion.

Till Later...

Under Construction

Since AOL gave us the boot it looks like i'm gonna maybe blog over here.
Maybe.
We'll see.

Till Later...