Southern Porch Extension

[Verna]

Don, my heart breaks with yours because I know you suffer along with Carol for every pain and problem she has. Both of you are in my prayers.

Allison, I hope you have a lovely, painfree time at Urbana, and that your surgery goes well.

Laurie, I, too, am glad you had a good Christmas Day.

We enjoyed our family at Christmas time. They're our special blessings.

Carole, I hope all your travels are safe.

Edy, I pray you and husband get over your illnesses quickly. It seems so many right now are covered with colds and flus and other viruses.

Mariane, Dear, I hope your pains are not keeping you from the joy of your precious boys.

Wishing a double portion of God's blessings to all on the porch.

[Edy]

Verna

[ready2go]

Let's see here...

Who has not been seen on the porch lately?

Debbie...

Joanney...

Carol...

Mariane (not very often)...

Other...

Where are they?

[Edy]

They're probably all recuperating from the holiday calendar of events, Don, too exhausted to put fingers to keyboard, brain too overloaded to think, simply desperate for some restful sleep.

Which makes me wonder why the rest of us aren't in the same boat! Don, go get some rest from your labors! You've sure earned it!

No sense pushing ourselves - although shoveling snow in the cold, this morning, did charge my batteries----for awhile, anyway. Such nice fresh Minnesota winter air!

[ready2go]

They're probably all recuperating from the holiday calendar of events, Don, too exhausted to put fingers to keyboard, brain too overloaded to think, simply desperate for some restful sleep.

Which makes me wonder why the rest of us aren't in the same boat! Don, go get some rest from your labors! You've sure earned it!

No sense pushing ourselves - although shoveling snow in the cold, this morning, did charge my batteries----for awhile, anyway. Such nice fresh Minnesota winter air!

I think they are recuperating from something else. Their exhaustion, overload, and desperation existed well before the holiday calendar kicked in. Hmmm...maybe it was too much celebrating on Labor Day.

Me? I ain't got time to rest. I had a batch of apple/cinnamon breakfast donuts made by 5:15am today. Yummm!

~ ~ ~

Over the past 2-3 days I saw at least a hundred robins randomly flying around my back yard. At this time of the year they should be basking in warm sunshine waaayyy south of us. A few of them do spend the winter here, but not hundreds in my snow-covered yard. They are not gonna like the blizzards with minus 30 degree windchills that will surely come. But then, maybe it's a sign of an early spring. One can always hope.

Don

[Green Leaves]

Just popping in to let you know we are still with family. We have 6-8 inches of snow as of yesterday and it snowed more overnight so don't know what we have now. This morning Marty travel 2 1/2 hrs to see my sister and brother. Hopefully the roads will be in good shape.

Love you all

Carol

[Ms. Barbie]

I'm still around. Work is stressful and as of Friday, I was diagnosed with pneumonia.

[Edy]

I'm still around. Work is stressful and as of Friday, I was diagnosed with pneumonia.

Dear Ms. Barbie - Not nice! With pneumonia, you need time off to recuperate. My Howard's bad cough made me uneasy, knowing that his good friend ended up in ICU with pneumonia. Thanking the Lord, Howard is much better, today.

But, you need looking after until you're on the mend - tell your job I said so! Thanks for letting us know - so we can "look after" you even though from a distance.

[Laurie]

Barb, I knew you weren't feeling well, but I didn't know you had pneumonia. I'm sorry to hear this. And I know it's really hard for you to get time off with your demanding job and heavy responsibilities. Wish someone was there to take care of YOU. Hugs to you dear lady.

We had our family Christmas yesterday. My sister-in-law made small teddy bears out of my dad's old shirts for us. My sister and niece made a beautiful memory book of pictures from Dad's life and a lovely video that included those same pictures plus others. What treasures. I expected there to be sad moments yesterday, but I didn't expect for it to feel kind of like losing him all over again. I just keep crying today.

As expected, someone brought up an inappropriate subject. On the other hand, now that it's out in the open, maybe it will end up being a good thing. I can only hope so. I've VERY stressed over this issue and so is my mom.

[Verna]

Don, your energy and talents amaze me!

Carol, I wouldn't mind a little of your snow--very little, mind you! Enjoy your family!

Edy--Sending big hugs back to you!

Laurie, I remember that the first Christmas after a loved one's passing in the hardest, but just think about how wonderful Christmas must be in heaven for your dad! Praying that your issue will be resolved in a good way.

Barb, I am so sorry you're sick this time of year. Hope you're well soon.

My giveaway for those who entered the contest on Goodreads ended today, bringing two winners, one in Minnesota and one in Washington--both male. I noticed (in a little research) that one fellow was 22. I can't help but think he'll be disappointed in poems by a grandmother! That was a great way to advertise, and I enjoy entering for free books. I have won one, that will be published in January. I see a great number of vampire novels. Needless to say, I don't enter for those.

Missing Mariane here. She's such a ray of sunshine!

Happy New Year to all my porch friend. May you find extra blessings you hadn't even hoped for!

[ready2go]

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!

I trust all are bright-eyed and bushy-tailed this morning after watching the big ball drop in NYC. Actually, I didn't see the ball drop, nor, did I hear the clock strike twelve. I went to bed at 9:15pm, and was making zzzz's by 9:16pm. Kinda boring, eh?

Just imagine...it's 2013!!! When I was a kid I always thought anything over 1970 would be Buck Rogers science fiction stuff, and just not possible.

Well, 2013 is only a few hours old, and I'm already having some trouble. Let's see here...

* I tipped a full glass of orange juice onto the countertop and floor at 5:00am causing a sticky mess to clean up.

* A dish of Carol's morning meds slipped out of my grasp...dumping them all over the floor. There I was crawling around the kitchen floor at 5:20am trying to find all 14 of them. Several would have made our dog very sick or worse if she had swallowed them. Fortunately, all were located after much searching.

* At 5:40am while rinsing the same glass that was once filled with orange juice, it fell into the sink and broke into a zillion pieces. Uff da!

Also, during the past month or two I have begun to stutter occasionally when faced with a stressful situation. I've never done that in all of my 72 years...until recently. That is annoying to me, and worrisome to Carol who believes she is the cause of my stress. Well, maybe that's so...and maybe not.

H..hav..ha..have a gr..gre..great day y'all.

Don

[BeachGrandma]

Don, I haven't been in because I had a bad reaction to the dye in the CT scan. Christmas day I spent in bed, not realizing it was a reaction to the dye. John and Tim were afraid I was dehydrated so Tim was going around the area trying to find a gas station open where he could buy some Gatorade or other drinks in that category. We kept discussing whether to go to the ER or what. I was having a great deal of difficulty breathing and was almost unable to swallow even a tiny bit of drink. The weakness was terrible, too. I didn't want to frighten the boys by going to the hospital so in the middle of the night, I'm sure it was the Lord who woke me up and directed me to check Google to see if there was any information about the dye. Was there ever! I remembered then the technician saying, "You may have a reaction to the dye. Some people do." And sure enough, in the article I read it listed difficulty breathing and swallowing and terrible weakness. I cannot tell you how relieved I was because I knew that would pass. I had felt so bad all day that I even went over my will, my obituary and a sheet of instructions if I should die soon. It scared John half to death. I did get on Facebook because I had to keep in touch with my relatives, especially since I hadn't been able to send out Christmas cards this year. Thank you to those of you who sent Christmas cards to us. I feel bad that I wasn't able to reciprocate. I haven't yet received a report on the CT scan of my abdomen, but the procedure for looking down my throat with a scope and looking around my esophagus has been scheduled for Jan 15. I have no idea what will follow but John feels sure surgery will be necessary.

I'll try to do better about posting. Over the holidays I felt so overwhelmed that I frankly was glad when the fireworks over the ocean last night indicated that the holidays were finally over.

Take care.

[Laurie]

Mariane, I'm sorry to hear you had such a bad reaction to the dye. It seems like they should have let you know what possible reaction symptoms might be. I understand that you didn't want to upset the boys, but it could be that an ER visit would be less upsetting than the alternative in some cases. I hope you understand that I only say that out of concern. I'm glad you checked in with us today and updated us. Please let us know about your test results when you can.

Don, I'm sorry to hear you had such a rough morning and that you've started stuttering lately. You have so much on your shoulders and have had for so long.

Today is my dad's birthday.

It looks like another rough year ahead with surgeries and more uncertainty about how I'm going to be able to tolerate working and how to make a living working at home.

[Edy]

After reading your posts, Don, Mariane, and Laurie, the first thing that came to mind is a quote:

"We don't know what the future holds, but we know Who holds the future."

So, with that in mind, I will wish everyone a most blessed and
Happy New Year!

Don, you might consider mentioning the recent onset of stuttering to your doctor. At our age, we can anticipate the possibility of "mini-strokes" or small ischemic episodes that do strange things to our usual manner. Other than that, we also have reduced resources in dealing with stresses that didn't bother us when we were more youthful! Like I tell people, as a nurse I felt like an air-traffic controller, trying to keep 12 planes in the air at once. Now I can't even get one off the ground!

Mariane, if it weren't for e-mail greetings and shortcuts like facebook, nobody would get Christmas greetings from me, anymore. That used to be my big year-end synopsis, but it has evaporated, like the 12 planes in the air! Still, some people, some even older than I, still bless me with the old-fashioned postal greetings, which I certainly appreciate (and which we're more likely to respond to with a phone call).

Laurie, I'm trusting for you God's open and closed doors to provide direction as you face those uncertainties. Casting all our cares on Jesus, because we know He cares for us is a frequent reminder that pops in my head when distresses try to attack me. Also "the joy of the Lord is our strength" encourages me when all I feel like doing is dragging my body to bed.

Perhaps this might serve to help all of us in some way: recently (trying to downsize) I've decided to limit cereal purchases to the old fashioned have-to-cook-it (as opposed to instant-microwave packets) oatmeal. I was reading that cinnamon is such a valuable spice for our diet, so I'm now pouring on the cinnamon, in addition to a spoonful of coconut oil, a bit of butter and brown sugar, a glug of whipping cream plus milk to cover. Wow, is that an energizing breakfast! We recently saw a tv interview with a doctor whose husband was suffering from Alzheimer's. She documented noticeable improvement in his condition after she began adding coconut oil to his diet, so I figure it might be good for everyone's brain. I think the extra added oil-butter-cream also contributes to satisfaction that slows stomach emptying and inhibits the desire to nibble! I know I feel better since beginning my new morning regimen.

Well, my sister has invited us over for coffee and Scrabble, so I best be on my way. Oh, I should take a picture to show you how my not-so-little-anymore granddaughter Claire (she's still only 11 years old, but taller than her G'ma Edy!) painted my fingernails. We gave her one of those kits for doing designer nails, so I am showcasing ladybugs. I teased a little girl at church, Sunday, telling her the ladybugs were going to get her, as I wiggled my fingers in her direction. Her mama asked her if she'd like ladybug fingernails and first her head went side-to-side ("no"), then without missing a beat switched to up and down "yes."

[Edy]

Oops! Forgot to mention: Happy 8th Day of Christmas!

When hubby woke this morning, I asked him, "Where are my 'eight maids a milking, seven swans a swimming, six geese a laying, five golden rings, four calling birds, three french hens, two turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree'?" He still hasn't produced any of them! And, he's supposed to be my true love! Sigh - I guess the honeymoon must be over!