My Mom's Car

My Mom totaled her car Wednesday. Thank goodness it hit the front and not the side. She was going to change lanes and didn't know a car was beside her then turned too hard the other way and ran into a guard rail. No other cars were involved. If I have the story straight she hit the back of the car then it turned and hit the front. Both air bags deployed and Mom was wearing her seat belt.

The only injury to my mom was some scratches on her arms from the air bags. She is staying with my sister for a few days. Thank goodness for Suzie, she is just an angel on earth.

Grandpaw Babysitting

Caught the baby smiling. She is such a somber baby but you can just see her little mind working a mile a minute. Steve couldn't pick her up but the older kids helped with her.
Here is Coby and Jasmine. You can see that Coby is a big boy.
Here is Jerrica you can't hardly get her to stand still to take her picture.


Grandpaw got to baby sit while Steph and I went shopping for her birthday present (s). She found some really cute outfits. She is so small her clothes look like doll clothes compared to mine.

The youngest is walking now. Coby who is six is big for his age and Grandpaw said he was a lot of help with the little one because Grandpaw couldn't pick her up.
Well Grandpaw survived and so did the kids.

Well we have lost a good neighbor. Hope some one nice like her moves in there. Steve was getting in his truck when he heard water running and called the land lord. Sure enough one of the pipes had broken. The land lord was thankful that Steve called him because the land lord pays the water bills.

Ramblings

Moocher's girl friend is coming over again. Guess she is looking for food. When I was feeding Moocher outside he would just let her come and take the food away from him. Sit there and watch her eat.

He is gaining some of the weight he lost back. Spoiled kitty getting can food and dry food all day long. He must hear me in here because even at three in the morning he will be pawing at the door to come in.

Suppose to take Steph - Steve's daughter - shopping today but it won't be much fun for me my funds are low so close to the end of the month. She is so small her Dad just gives her money because it is very hard to buy for her - sometimes she even has to go to the children's section.

Just hanging out for August - three doctor's appointments. Need to call my primary doctor and set up an appointment with her. I have some heat rash that I just cannot seem to get rid of - I have tried everything from powders to ointments and it goes away a little then comes right back. All my meds for high blood pressure etc has run out. I know I have been procrastinating and I need to get back on my meds. At least I am seeing my other doctors and taking the meds they prescribed for me.

It hardly seems possible that it is going to be August soon. This year is just flying by. I better get on the move with the Christmas presents I am going to make. There are a lot of parts to them so I need to start looking now.

Moocher is in seventh heaven over there eating his can cat food. He has started staying in a little more now but now that his girl friend is coming around he will want to be outside.

Birthdays

Marrisa looks like she is saying 'I didn't do anything why am I in here?' A year old but still no hair.
One of the t shirts Steph bought her Dad. It is so hard to buy clothes for Steph so her Dad just gave her money and we are suppose to go to the store to spend it.

Went to Steph's to take her a birthday card. Her Dad, Steve, and Steph have the same birthday - July 26. My daughter's birthday was July 25. I forgot to take a picture of the big afghan I made her but she liked it. Sent her one of those musical birthday cards and she said it made her laugh.

It Works

Went to my last therapy session Tuesday. I elected to stop since I had eight sessions already and even the therapist agreed nothing was happening with my shoulder except making it hurt worse. It isn't long before I see the doctor again and we will hash out what to do. I don't think I need it operated on just one of those shots every now and then to take most of the pain away.

Trying this copy and paste for the blog - hope it works it would save me from tieing up the phone lines during the day. I still have dial up and you can't use the phone while I am on line.

Steve is still waiting to hear what is happening with worker's comp. He recieved some papers that denied everything because he wasn't at the limit of what could be done medically for him. There isn't anything more that can be done except another operation which even the doctor said may be useless. Steve is worried a third operation may leave him worse off like the second one did.

We are getting a little rain every day now but it still isn't enough. Thank goodness we haven't had any thunder storms like we did the other day. I am waiting for the land lord to come have one of his men fix my stove - again - and I am going to ask them to take away the TV that the lightening got. I can't lift it and Steve really can't lift it so someone else is going to have to get it out of here.

Thunder Storm

We had a really bad thunder storm here the other day. It hit the sentry pole in the neighbors field where the horse is. Thank goodness the horse is OK. It took out our TV in my room mate's bedroom. We don't know what to do about that right now.

Been going to therapy but don't think it is helping any - just wasting a lot of gas to drive there three times a week.

Not getting to blog as much as I would like because I have dial up and have to keep the phone lines free for my room mates doctor and lawyer to call during the week. He is still waiting for something to happen in way of a settlement since he has decided against having another operation - he is afraid it will leave him worse off then the last one did.

Grandkids

Steve picked up a couple of his grandkids for a few hours Saturday. Here are Jasmine and Jerrica.
Jasmine likes to have her picture taken.

Oh, the horrers

Torture machine number one - they make you turn the fan with your arms. The seat slids so they can slid you right up there to place your feet on the pads.. you are trapped till they come to move you to another machine.
Part of the 'therapy' room. I have seen people on these tables with the staff doing things to them. I myself have to lay down for some of the torture they put me through.
Ah, some of their various tools of torture - ususally doing with weighting you down more and more.
That is me on the dreaded pullies. Up and down, up and down till just when you can't possibly do it again here comes the tech to change you to yet another set of torture.

It really itsn't as bad as I thought it would be. The things that worries me is that my shoulder is hurting worse now then when I started. I go back Friday and I am going to ask about it.

What are they?

Bet you can't guess what these are going to end up as. My daughter gave me the suggeston - she has released a sewing maniac.
Here's another picture. Still don't know - well I will update you when they are finished somemore.

Moved my sewing maching in my bedroom so it wouldn't make so much noise. The only place to put it was my desk - the one where you couldn't tell what was under there for the papers and medicines piled on it. After some ruthless tossing and properly fileing paper and organizeing my meds in their box there was actually a desk under there and plenty of room for the sewing machine.

Marigolds

This is the tomato pot - I planted marigolds in it for now. Marigolds are suppose to be a good in between plant.
Marigolds every where.
One of the blooms the egg plant is growing. Guess I will have more egg plants.

Every thing here is hurry up and wait. Steve applied for disability and he is waiting to hear from them. My shoulder is still hurting - worse now that they are moving it all around. Hope this helps in the long run and I haven't wasted my time and gas.

My hibscus is blooming. I never thought it would bloom in the pot I have it in.
Hibiscus full bloom. Too bad they don't last but a day.

Been to the grocery store and had sticker shock. Thought I was doing pretty good even with picking out special things for Steve - he just doesn't have any appitite. Of course he gave me the money for stuff for him.

Had my third therapy session and it hurt more then the other two. The therapist have me doing different exercises. Hope all this helps my shoulder. I felt bad about complaining about my shoulder when Steve's was so much worse, but mine got to hurting so bad I had to do something about it.

Hope everyone is enjoying the nice warm weather - me I could do with it a little cooler.

Tomato plants all bagged up - good thing I had a big lawn and leaf bag and I even let the plants dry out for a day.

It is getting too hot to plant much of anything now but flowers so that is what I am going to buy. My egg plant is holding up good though and setting more blooms.

Still sewing. Nice yellow material I am working with now. I think I have made enough shorts now and have the pattern right so I have moved on to the tank top. My first attempt wasn't very good I tried something different with the neck and arm holes and it didn't turn out. Had to add some width to the pattern - I do believe that this one will come out better.

Boy, did I pull a good one this morning. I woke up at nine thirty looked at the clock and paniced - jumped up throwing clothes and shoes on brushing my teeth with on rapid pace and jumped into the truck. I was about two miles from the house when it dawned on me that it was Sunday - I thought I had therapy today! Came back to the house and Steve was still asleep. At least I could relax and have my coffee.

I have a little fly in the house that just seems to love me - and yes I do take baths - the little bugger just won't leave me alone. I will get the can of bug spray and sit there waiting for him to land on me and wouldn't you know when ever I have that can handy he doesn't buzz around me. How long do flies live - it looks like this one is going to die of old age.

Well the last of the tomato bushes are pulled up. Now you can see what a big pot I had some of them in. Steve got it from work, when he was working, the landscape people brought palms in them then just threw the pots in the dumpster so Steve got one - now he wishes he had gotten two of them.
A pile of tomato limbs. I am going to let them dry out some before I try to bag them. The trash man will take them as long as they are in a bag.

I sprinkled a lot of marigold seeds in the big pot - I may just end up buying some plants since the seeds came off the marigolds I have now and the seeds may not grow. Marigolds are good for the soil. They help destroy nematodes and rebel all kinds of critters.

Last of the tomatoes. I stripped the bushes of all the little green tomatoes and got two pints. Now if I have a taste for green tomatoes all I have to do is open a jar. Of course it won't be like having fried green tomatoes - just thought of something I wonder if friend green tomatoes would freeze - that may well be worth looking into next time tomatoes are growing.

There is no title for this post because blogger won't let me put one in there.

I am getting a little bit tired of all the glitches blogger has but after all it is free and we should put up wit it's problems.

Steve spent all afternoon the other day watching his friends build a dog house for Ty's puppies. Not sure what kind of dog it is but it is big. She had thirteen puppies but one died. Now she has a nice dog house and pen to keep the puppies corralled when they start venturing out.

So, OK, I broke down and bought a little bit more marked down material at Wal Mart. I changed the blouse pattern and I think this time it may work. Going to try it anyway. I really don't need any more blouses but I have the sewing bug and this blouse is a challenge.

As soon as it gets daylight I am going to start pulling up tomato plants. The big one if going to be hard - there are so many places where it is tied up to keep it from falling over. A good sharp knife should take care of it though. If I time it right I should be done by the time Steve is ready for his coffee then I can take a shower. Need to make a trip to Lowes - they have more flowers there. I want to plant marigolds in the large pot. They are suppose to help kill nematodes and other bugs plus being good for the soil. I don't understand why Steve doesn't want to plant anything in the big pot I tried to explain why I wanted to plant marigolds but I think he doughts the entire process.

Whoopee - no more therapy till Tuesday. It really doesn't hurt that much but it is boring. I try to keep my self interested in what they are doing to me but even that is getting to be the same thing. And this is only my second visit. The place I do my therapy is the same place that Steve did his at. Every one there remembers Steve. Steve is so hard headed and gets bored so easy I get the impression form the staft that he gave them a little trouble.

Rain everywhere.....

...but here. Got soaked leaving therapy, got soaked leaving Wal Mart, really got wet leaving the post office but is it raining her at home - no, nada, zilch - not a drop thought the skies look like they are about to bust lose.

Made it to my second therapy today. I am so used to going to my mother's that I was just driving along when I realized I had missed turning - but I got there in plenty of time.

Have my kid's birthday presents mailed off. One is on the eleventh and the other on the twentyfith so she is going to have to wait to open hers. Just couldn't think of standing in line twice but wonder of wonders the post office wasn't crowed this afternoon. I guess people getting off on Friday afternoon don't want to go to the post office.

Still waiting for an MCI bill that they called me up and told me I owed them $88! Something is fishy here. When Verizon switched me to fiber optics the MCI bill came one time in my name and Steve and I got on the phone and explained that he pays the long distant part of the bill and it should come in his name. He talks to a lot of his family and friends who live other places and I hardly call anyone long distance. For a company that was so worried about their money they sure aren't in any hurry to send me a bill like I asked them to. Oh well, guess I won't worry about it any more. They had to have made a mistake.

Think I will go raid the rest of the green tomatoes and put up a couple of jars. This is getting to be fun.

Tomatoes

Here is my presser cooker. It will only hold pints. That is OK because it makes just right for Steve and me to split. I was trying to remember how many years it had been since I canned anything - has to be twelve years or more. Bought a box of jars and a handy little set the store had with the jar lifter and funnel and lid picker upper and a thing to take air bubbles out. With this investment I guess I will just have to keep canning.
Got a little too much juice in them - hey, I haven't done this in years - I got eight pints of stewed tomatoes.
Old trick if your whatever floats to the top turn the jar upside down. Seems to have worked with most of mine.

Did I forget to tell you these were the last ripe tomatoes and I was not going to let them go to waste. Too hot now for tomatoes. What I really want to put up is some strawberry jam. I'll find something - I have three jars left - I know that doesn't add up to twelve but a friend sent us some stewed tomatoes and we have only used one of his so I am sending back one of his jars and one of my new ones.

I know the tomatoes should sit at least a week before we eat any but I am almost ready now - we have been having fresh tomatoes for every meal. Steve loves tomatoes but I think he got his fill this time.

Gave Up

I totally give up on feeding Moocher outside. The ants are still a problem along with other cats, possums, raccoons, the stray dog or two. It was like I put out a sign LUNCH.

Moocher has lost so much weight. He disappered for a while right after I bought him all these goodies at the store - I couldn't find him but a few days later there he was. He stays in a little bit more now too. He jumped up in Steve's lap the other night which he hasn't done in a while.

Steve's arm is still in the shape it was in after the second operation - worse. The second doctor looked at all the xrays and MRIs he had Steve take and said there was no point on operating on it again but they would do it if he wanted it. He isn't going to because he is scared it would be worse off again.

I get to go to therapy for four weeks - three times a day. Now you would think it would be for my knees but it isn't - it is for my shoulder. My shoulder had been hurting since before Steve got hurt and a few months ago got so bad that my primary doctor sent me back to my knee doctor only this time to look at my shoulder. When both the doctors tried to lift my arm I couldn't help let out a little SCREAM so they knew something was wrong. If I can get therapy and not have an operation I am all for it. The MRI they did on my knee showed some torn ligaments and the doctor said to just stay off of it as much as possible. Maybe I will learn to drive one of those little carts around Wal Mart.