Moving to O'z Ark

Dear readers,
I am now just running one blog over at O'z Ark-



Here

testing

Musings

Well, I would say that the red-haired gene is dominant in dogs. Rebel has thrown out many red offspring. Moppy sits there between her parents comtemplating being stuck with the old folks. Everybody as been fixed so more puppies are not in our future, but I do miss the anticipation, but not watching Maggie, in the background, with extreme worry as Rebel is quite a bit larger than she is in size. She just kept having more and bigger puppies. The risk of losing her was not worth the pleasure of being surrounded by squirming bits of fun.
I am about to take a walk around the yard in this cooler air. I have about 20 more bulbs to bury here and there then I will have met my goal of putting out a hundred new bulbs each fall. With the ground so wet this year, my task has been one of ease.

I cooked supper last night which is a rare treat for us. The first year that I was off with the sickness, the only hobby that I had, besides teaching, was the cooking channel. I fixed supper every night. Eddy and I lived to tell the story of my brilliant concoctions, but did so with 30 extra pounds each. We soon came to the realization that this practice had to stop, and went back to light suppers of a salad or bowl of cereal. Last night, however, with the cold and wet settling in seemed the right time for the scents of roasted pork and potatoes to seep down the stairs.

Well, as you can see, I live a mundane, but peaceful life. A great deal more peace will be ours once this last test of the year is finished on Monday. Sunday night, I will stay up all night and go in for an EEG of my brain on Monday morning. The great irony to me is that my problems happen when up and around. However, they measure one's brain waves in a resting state. I am hoping that it shows that I am not having mild seizures, and, instead, the episodes are the result of my brain being squeezed and released all day by the vasoconstrictor which allows me to be upright. It is always an adventure when the put all the goop on all the little electrodes in my hair. My hair is long and thick. This means when I come out afterwards, I resemble some creature from Boggy Creek. It also means that we just have to come home afterward instead of shopping or eating out in the restaurant. So I will be treated to dollar cheeseburgers from the drive-through at McDonald's. Ahh, life is good!

later

Good Day

Friends and family,

Please forgive the larger type, but I haven't the faintest idea where my glasses are to be found. I awoke this morning to find that I was registering as human on the blood pressure scale and 120/80 was blinking merrily on the readout. It has been more than 2 weeks since I contracted a 24 hour bug which turned into a 2 week dehydration and bottomed out on the scale at 70/50 on most days. Let me tell you that there is not much that a human wishes to do with these numbers unless add them together for a weight!

I met my new neurologist (Dr. Demitri Fomin) last week and I have found something beneficial about a cultural exchange with Russia or thereabouts! He took oodles of time with Eddy and myself, explained any and everything and has a million dollar smile. Probably cost me that much, but so what. Life's pleasures start narrowing down after 50 or at least the recovery time takes waaay too long to indulge too often.

Well, our trip to New York City is official. Eddy and I are going to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary there in Dec. with Jake as our tour guide. As long as Jake has lived there, we have never seen the city decorated for Christmas. We have the plane tickets, and are going to stay with a couple in Park Slope (Brooklyn-where Jake lives) that rent out the top level of their home for weekends. They live on Jackson Place which is just up the street from Jake. Jake and Andy's apartment is nice for the city, but I think Jake wants to get rid of us for part of each day! A 25 year old can quickly overdose on too much Mom!

I am spending this whole week alone as Eddy is in Louisville, KY for a trade show for the co-op. I am cleaning out everything he always never lets me touch so on Saturday watch CNN for unusual weather activity in the fly-over country. He will storm and rant for a while, but I truly know who has the upper hand in these closets in this marriage. I close with a couple of pictures of the grandgirl just in case you aren't surfing my facebook or other assorted web plunderings. thanks for reading,

Jeanie

a postscript-I won 24 blue, and 13 red ribbons at our county fair with my photography. Some of the prints were then sent on to the district fair where I won 10 blue, and 9 red ribbons. A very small start, but then a pearl was once a grain of sand, so......my pride goeth before my fall!!

Jeanie

The above is a reprint of my family letter and I know that some of you are also on my blog list from time of old, so just delete away if you are forced into double dipping! It is pouring down rain right now. I had such grand plans today to get the porches and patio ready for winter, but that will now be another day. This rain will make it so easy for me to plant tulip and daffodil bulbs, iris, lillies, and some roses tomorrow.

well, I need to remove myself from the computer and go write some hand-written notes to mail, and fix some cards with pictures to go out to various relatives and such.

later-oh the pic is of Reesa as she looks out the window looking for Sally and Chloe, the lab and sheltie who inhabit the back deck of Sach and Codi's house.

There are days that you wish that something exciting was happening to you. Days full of spirited occurrences that would cause the people around you to sneak looks at your life and just want to stand beside you and feel the backwash of the excitement.... Make it happen. Wake up tomorrow and pull the energy of possibilities close to you. Wrap it around your heart and wear it like a cloak. It can be your life.

Labor Day Recovery!

Well, everybody has gone home and the house is quiet. I can still feel the brushes of love that was shared this weekend as I pick up toys and find cups with names on them scattered throughout the house and patio. I have rarely seen my parents so excited as everyone began to get here and the noise level was picked up on satellite. I will be posting pictures and commentary over on www.jdoliver.blogspot.com later on today and you can see some of the joy. My parents did not have a reception when they married, so they had never had a wedding cake. I took pictures of them as they cut the cake that I had made at the Salem bakery, and as they fed each other pieces of cake. Those are some of the best pics that I took because they only had eyes for each other.

This coming weekend we travel to the Lake of the Ozarks in central MO for a birthday celebration on the other side of the family. Eddy's aunt will be turning 80 and a lot of the Olivers from Arkansas are going to make the trip up to honor her and visit. I have never seen the lake so this will be a new place to put on my map of places that I've been.

I am excited about these travels as it gives me something to plan for during the week, and it doesn't seem so long.

well, I need to go work on editing all of the pictures. Oh, the one above this post is of myself and my gorgeous daughter-in-law, Codi. My niece took the picture on Saturday.

later.....

No more machines!

I have had it with anything mechanical. My dishwasher is losing water like granny without her depends. My washing machine shudders when I go near like a wild man on crack. My mixer only works on the slowest setting and ejects the beaters spontaneousl...y kinda like a robot losing its mojo. My hair straightener thingy just quit-no heat or passion left in it; kinda like my.....well, I won't give an example for that!

Just Thinking!

Oh, thank the gods that be for this weather! I feel like a human, and not a cave bat. I have walked every day this week and the endorphins or whatever are rocking. I got up this morning and did my Saturday cooking while Eddy was in the house. Since I don't cook unless someone is there with me(not highly recommended for fainting or seizing spouses!) then I had to get up early-6 am. It has been so long since I was coherent at that time much less cooking. Made spaghetti, cornbread and blueberry muffins. I know that the Italians might frown on cornbread with a pasta dish, but I am out of bread. I am getting a bread machine for Christmas along with a Kitchenaide mixer, and a food processor. As one can tell, I watch a steady diet of the cooking channel.

Eddy and I are busy preparing for mom and dad's 50th wedding anniversary party at our house on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend. It will only be family, but that will still be quite a good size crowd. Their actual anniv. was June 6, but this was the weekend that we could get everyone from Missouri, Indiana, and Arkansas all together. Jake isn't coming this year as he makes so much to work holidays that he will come on an off time. Yay for unions! I was really down on unions until my son had to join one and began to reap the benefits of insurance, retirement, 401 k, vacation and super wages for holidays and weekends!

Okay, I'm going over to http://www.jeanieoliver.blogspot.com/ to work on O'z Ark for awhile as I have lots of garden and yard updates.

later-oh, the picture is from NASA=can't beat outer space!

Perseid Meteor Showers

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/08/090812-perseids-best-meteor-shower.html
I am not the best at getting links correct but this should get you to the Nat. Geo. site to tell you about the meteor showers visible in the night sky tonight. We, here, in the Ozarks, at least we who live on bald high hills have great views for these. I plan on going out tonight to watch as what fun is there in being a night owl if you do not see the glory of the heavens!

Went today for a fun time at Hair Kreations as Kathy worked her magic and I am younger, richer, thinner, and wealthier; all from the chair of a beauty shop. Having no immune system, I can never brave a tattoo parlor for fear of infection so the girls at the shop gave me an honorary henna tattoo that will wear off in a couple of weeks. You know if you give life a chance, laughter just waits to pounce upon you, and today was my lucky day!

The best time that I've had in ages! You haven't lived until you've seen some old friends do the chicken dance, or watched Nancy demonstrating how Linda W. put drops in her nose! Maybe my pictures will have captured some of the fun and wonderful food, friends, and gifts. Life is a blessing.

Last night was so perfect with friends, friends, friends, that I am not touching anything this morning, just savoring the wisps of remembered laughter floating down the stairs and the glow of girlish triumph clumped around the karaoke machine. Do you remember when you were a kid and the fun of rolling over and over down a steep side of the lawn? There are some itching girls out there this morning recalling the thrill.

I ask you this; "How did I, the person so allergic to cats that I can't breathe in an enclosed room with one, end up with 1 barn tomcat, 1 back deck tomcat, 2 patio tomkittens, and lest we forget, 1 imaginary cat(a gift from my baby sister)?" I will tell you how; the minute that we realized that Abby and Mallory love cats and kittens, well, there you go, anything for the girls!

I am missing my little sister; spending Friday with her, shopping at resale shops and antique stores and eating out somewhere we both love!

I am going through my annual late summer addiction to the food channel, and we all are looking well-fed around here! My next project is to try a few canning projects-very small-just some pints of tomatoes and a few pickles. I would like to learn how to make my own tomato sauce as much as can whole tomatoes. Maybe even can my own spaghetti sauce.

I want my life back

I want my life back. Last night, I dreamed again of a classroom. This time it wasn't one I call a nightmare. The nightmares are the ones where I can't get to the kids on time, or I keep trying to get to school or I'm outside and can't get the door open to my class. This was a real dream. I could smell the sweat of the ponytail of the little girl who was hugging me. I want this back. I want to see their faces turned toward me as the sunflower follows the light. I could smell the chalk in the dream. I was one of the last ones to still use chalk. There is so much magic in chalk. It can lure you in to math races, it can trace the outline of your hand, it can draw the planets in order, My Very Eager Mother Just Sent Us Nine Pizzas, it can draw a map of your life and then you can change it in a second. I want my life back. I want to smell the box of pencils when you open them, and wonder at the magic they will wring from a disbelieving mind. I want to teach you a new word and have it float back to me as you go to lunch. Discombobulate. I want my life back. I am existing in a clear bubble of "you don't really seem to be a part of me anymore". Even my family forgets that I am here, alone, working through each day, fighting the horror of being forgotten by the humans around you. I want my life back. I want to be the go-to gal of the hallway. I want to be searching all summer for objects at yard sales that will let a child feel, touch, explore, take home, question, answer new knowledge. Things like barns for Charlotte, and plastic food for Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, play money from old games to send home to a needy child to practice with, huge bins for legos cause you never get too old for legos, a ratty old box of arrowheads from some widows garage, stuffed toys to hug when you are not for sure about how to borrow and carry. I want my life back. I want to go to workshops and rail against the stupidity of some new order of teaching and watch as the new order turns into the old order that I was already wearing like some comfortable old sweatshirt. I want to drive myself somewhere just because, just because I wanted to go, not have to plan 3 days ahead of time to exist in a change of medication. I want my life back. I want my husband to just assume when he gets home that I am okay. I don't want to see for one more day that look of "please let today have been a good day for her". I want to just hop in tennis shoes and walk the back forty with him. I want to laugh about forgetting my phone number instead of seeing that wrenching look of horror cross his face as he realizes that it is getting worse. I want my life back. I want to plan a trip for my kids that will include a museum that will be filled with tons of things to talk and write about later. I want to volunteer to help at Bible School, volunteer for the Relay for Life, volunteer to decorate for Harvest, volunteer to tutor, volunteer to help a friend with a broken arm, volunteer to help with girl scouts, volunteer to cook for a new family. I want my life back. I don't want to see the edges of me starting to turn clear and know that my invisibility is advancing by minute degrees. I want to have parties and sleepovers and gossip fests and feel plugged into by other people. I want my life back.

Just Musings

Well, we have new kings of the hill around here. The mockingbirds have become like pets with no fear of cats, dogs, or humans. Today, they just sat on the railing, 2 feet from me while I had my morning pretend coffee. I guess that I will take the camera out and get some REALLY close up pics.
We are headed out this morning to Bentonville to the grandgirl. Sach and Codi are having a cookout, so we'll get to see some friends and other babies. Jake is in Mexico and it makes me nervous when I can't talk to him, he will never get over being the baby of the family even at 25.
It is like April out this morning with the temps in the 60's. I sat outside yesterday and read my magazines and books for over an hour......it is amazing what it does to your psyche to be able to be outside in the fresh air.
I have finished my official week of no news tv. I presented myself the challenge of no news or talk shows for 1 whole week. The reason that I chose these is because I am addicted to them. Also, no nasa, or discovery, or anything on the internet besides blogs. I needed to cleanse my mind and focus on my meditation and calm. It is amazing to think that I do not know what happened in the world for one week. NO weather channel, no earthquake check, no nothing. The book that I am reading about true meditation suggests this as a way of letting go.
oops, have to go get ready to travel,
later

Rainy Day Musings

Rain, rain, go away. Wouldn't it be wonderful if it rained all night and the sun shone all day. I guess, though, that would mean that we lived in Hawaii, and I do love my Ozarks and hardwoods so I will cope. We have had the most unusual summer ever!

I have been working like crazy on my scrapbooking projects and I'm starting small ones for various people for Xmas presents. Last year, I did photos for everyone and I wanted to tweak my gift this year.

Yesterday, Eddy took me to Mt. Home for the opthamologist. I needed a driver as the dilation of pupils makes one snowblind in July. After we finished there, we went to see our new great-nephew, Wesley Oliver, born on July 13. Babies are abounding around here. Later we to Fred's Fish House on the way home, and were a bit disappointed by the food. Since Eddy is very fond of all you can eat places, I think he came away hungry. A hungry man is not a happy one!

Just July

Well, I am stuck in the house again for a while as we change medicine once again. This time, it has caused me to have little appetite except for green beans. I know , it sounds almost like pregnancy! At least everyone has plenty of fresh stuff from the garden.
I have been on a scrapbook bender and have almost finished one of Reesa for the month of June. I finally got smart about it and went to a site and ordered a set of stuff for scrapbooking each month. This is a lot easier on me since trying to get to the store in Mountain Home or Hobby Lobby wasn't working out! I would end up with an overwhelming amount of stuff that I never used. I am also much better off staying out of stores on my limited budget.
I go tomorrow for another MRI in Mountain Home on my brain. Then off to a new neurologist in Jonesboro. I have been having a terrible time with the black spots in front of my eyes and the speech problem has arisen again. So, MRI, then CT scan, then another EEG in Jonesboro. This is how Eddy and I spend vacation and quality time together!!

First Base?

Mentos has a gum that it advertises as "First Base" gum. There is a napkin laying beside it with a lip print and phone number. How in the world did how far a girl lets you go get to be a baseball analogy? Obviously, men created this goofball way of letting other males know what she allowed without coming right out and saying it. Here's the kicker, having sons, I know that they don't use these terms nor do their friends. Boys, not men, hopefully, use real anatomical names like lips, boobs, etc.! Men are not supposed to kiss and tell! Okay, so who does say it? And, since we were saying it in the sixties, how did it survive to a new century? How does one go about finding out the bases are even the same anymore? Heaven forbid that we actually ask some young man who is dating to lay out the specifics of a baseball game on a Friday night date!
I remember when the runner was supposed to be stranded on first base with no chance of second for at least 10 dates. And if first base is a kiss, according to Mentos gum, then good girls did not kiss on the first date. Not to say we didn't pop the gum in our mouth and pray, for what we really weren't sure. Maybe he will, but what do I do if he does!
Well, after 30 years with the same man, my experience level with dating has diminished; however, I still remember my first base experience. But, I'll never kiss and tell!

Reasons for Edward Cullen to Bite Me!

I can't see a thing up close anymore. Not so bad because you can use cheater glasses except in the bathtub or while you are putting on make-up. So in the summer, I go outside and use the hose to shave my legs so I don't end up with half a forest going up the side of one leg. Since I just finished the Twilight series, vampires have been on my mind! I started thinking this morning, if Edward bit me, I'd have extraordinary vision and I wouldn't have to worry about shaving outside where the UPS man might catch me in a compromising position. But wait, if he bit me, I wouldn't have to worry about shaving ever again! My legs would be gorgeous marble shapes with no human hair. For a lady who has been shaving a brunette forest from her legs since 4th grade, the venom doesn't sound so bad. Then I sat there thinking, for women, the possibilities are endless. No more worrying about the brunette roots in this long mane of blond hair. Oh, and wrinkles, why it sounds to me like venom is the new botox. And if you are younger and considering Edward's bite, then no more pms! You would gain not only immortality, but 2 more weeks every month of your long life. No swelling or psychotic behavior for a week.
No wonder vampires are rich. They aren't buying food, razors, lotion, Motrin, etc. ever again.
Now this is only if Edward bites you. If his alter ego, Robert Pattinson bites you, well, that wouldn't be so bad, either. You could sell that part of your body on ebay for enough to retire. So things are looking good any way you look any way you bite it!

blurry world

This is how I feel this morning-like my outside is blurred to those around me and I'm only clear to myself behind the front. Maybe it's the weather. It feels like impending storm or impending change and I'm about tired of change! Oh, well......

Tara is coming over today and I think we are going to play with our cameras. Maybe I'm just bored today.

Sach stopped by over the weekend for an overnighter. He had been on his annual fishing trip on the Norfork and White rivers with all of his AGR buddies. After one night of all them in a cabin, he decided to come here and sleep in a king-sized bed with 70 degree air conditioning! He was also in his brand new truck and I think wanting to show momma and daddy his first "brand-new" truck had a lot to do with his coming over. It's a King Ranch 4 -door Ford with a million bells and whistles. He has certainly earned it as he works 12 hour days and every weekend. The lawyer business is bigger than ever since the insurance companies have been tightening up on their payouts with several years in a row of hurricanes and such. They have to make it up somewhere and they choose to do alot of refusing forever on the ordinary claims of the ordinary driver in car insurance. It is always the small-town person hit worst as stats show that rural citizens are less likely to use an attorney in a car wreck settlement. Don't ever mess with the insurance people. Tell the adjuster that your attorney will call and watch the change in attitude. Sach calls insurance companies the devil dogs of the business world.

gotta go walk

later

Playing catch-up or ketchup!

Okay-I'm tired! enough said... I decided that this year I would have enough tomatoes to satisfy my cravings but now I have 10 more ready to go somewhere besides the pots that I put them as small babies. The garden is full-so I think that I will get out early in the morning and put them out in my flower beds. I have some extra space and lots of hay for mulching so we'll see how this goes.

I have found that I can't keep everything updated -blogs, myspace, facebook, twitter, email, etc. This is great because it mimics my lost world of having too much to get done. I feel satisfied when my projects get ahead of me. It means that I'm here and alive! Perhaps this sounds twisted to others who want to get to a point where they have nothing to do. Sorry!

We have no good food in this house. I am now on pound 15 of weight loss on this trek to 50 pounds so I can stop the weekly lectures by medical staff. I know my own limitations, though, and junk food has to stay out of the line of sight. I'm dying right now for some Cheetos and frozen pizza and macaroni and cheese and thick-sliced bologna and biscuits and gravy and a cheeseburger. Okay, you've the picture in your head, I am sure.

I have to go and get my dominant position in the living room by grabbing the remote and being prepared to stare down my lovable husband....I am woman, hear me roar!

later

I'm Back!

So excited that the new computer, Dell Studio 17 laptop, is now hooked up to the Internet! I told facebook that I felt like old friends had just walked in the house. So many of my friends that I have made in the last year were through blogs and email! We were hit by lightening yesterday afternoon for the 2nd time in 3 weeks. This time it hit the back side of the house pretty hard, blowing chargers out of the wall, etc.! It also got my mercury vapor light-got to get someone at the co-op on that issue!
Went to school yesterday and helped Tara clean out our old storage room. It is always bittersweet whenever I walk in the door. I am doing so much better with the addition of the new medicine, that maybe next year I can go down once a week. The main problem is that I still don't have friends up here in Fulton County. There's not really anything to join except the Master Gardeners and I can't keep up with them. It's embarrassing for me to tell total strangers that I need to sit down and rest and the 70 and 80 year old members are going strong!

Sach and Codi and Reesa will be here tomorrow. We have 2 weddings this week and weekend. Hopefully Sach brings me a memory card for my new D40 Nikon camera and I can get back to posting on my other blogs..... feel very lost without the camera too
later

At sach's house with baby reesa-good times!

 

April in Paradise

 

Note to white house: my baby boy works in 1 of those tall buildings in manhatten; yesterday's plane flyover was all wrong! Expect further paperwork from me on this issue!

I am finding that i have no urge to spend money: i can trace this phenom back to my stay at mayo clinic-did eddy have them put a chip in my head? All female friends stay back; i may be radioactive and your man may learn of the technology!

A cheeseburger for breakfast-3 cheers for sonic and america!!

Can i say again that i love my thursday nights and grey's anatomy?!!

This day seems surreal without the wind; as if some giant being is holding its breath.

I'm laying here reading vogue cover to cover which means its time to talk to jake!!

I love allison: you wouldn't find her clothes in my closet, though-go idol!

Too bad; lil just can't put it all together-simon is shutting her down!

Jeanie "overdo everything-get lectured by husband" oliver at your service!

Too tired.

So tired...

The doctor was able to tell that the place in my breast is not cancer-will keep an eye on it-don't have to go through surgical biopsy-i figured i was about due some good news!B-)

The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence; ooh, happy thought-we own the other side of the fence!!

What determines your success is you, you may falter, yet a stumble is not a fall. You must determine to prevail, you have already won through the trying.

Cranky Day

You had best beware that reading this could reveal the true nature of my hidden thoughts. If you have a preconceived notion of what is going on behind my eyes then, spoiler alert!
Yesterday was a grueling march through doctor's offices and machines. Now if you are male or a young female, then you haven't experienced the joy of a mammogram. When we say we are smashed into that machine, we mean it. Clearly the whole setup was designed by someone not suffering from overendowed mammaries because you have to stand on your tiptoes while your gown is hanging off the side of you like melting frosting on an outdoor wedding cake in July. I kept wanting to scoop up something, if not my dignity, then at least some material. Now you know, by my estimation, I've had 14 of these little jewels, the tests, not my mammaries over the last 15 years and it doesn't get any better. We can tell that there was water on Mars, but no perfecting the boob smash and bash. Tell me why.......

I was politeness personified until I got back to the lobby. Two ginormous elderly species of women were waiting by the door, maybe sisters since they shared the same chin hair pattern, and pendulous sway to their mammary glands. They clearly wanted to assess the wait time for the mammogram. So in a loud voice designed to assist sister in hearing also, lady number one, asked, " Did you have a mammogram?" All 15 pairs of eyes in the waiting room swiveled my way, a hushed expectancy hovering over the room. What do you say? I always taught my kids not to lie, but they weren't around to know. Then I couldn't think of a good lie. Numerous options went through my head:
1. "no, I went back for an mri, but probably someone in the room is going to know that their spouse is in the machine and has been for an hour, and will repudiate my story"
2."no, I clean for the offices and decided to come out through the lobby door"
3."no, I was having a secret meeting with an unknown entity and who would think of looking for us in a mammography area"

I did consider saying,"it's none of your business, ye old besom!" Finally, after several seconds, I just said, "yes".

"thought so," was her yelled reply, "because the top 3 buttons are undone on your blouse, and my bra looks just like that!"
With casual elegance, I looked down at my chest. Needless to say, her hearing might have been going, but her eyesight was clearly 20/20. I took a deep breath and started buttoning, all the while hiding my gleaming, killing look behind a composed face filled with charm and sangfroid. As I finished, the sisters also finished their conversation," it can't be the same bra"," yes, it can", "ask her where she got hers", "your bra has more lace on it and her's didn't fit well". Two size 80DD old ladies were fighting over the fact that my bra didn't fit well in front of that filled waiting room. What could I do? I took a deep breath and bowed to everyone, then walked out without a backward glance thinking that there would not be a next time for this to ever happen to me again. I'm not going back for a mammo until I have lost so much weight that I have no need to wear a bra. That will take care of that problem.

I avoid blogging sometimes-I guess there are times that I just don't want to let someone stand outside of my window looking in on my life or mind. I am having a day of "how did this all happen to me". I am very realistic and realize that sooooo many others have it worse than I do medically but I don't lament the medical factors. I mourn for the loss of my former life today. This happens to me when I go to school for a visit. My mind knows just what to do. I could walk into any elementary classroom and teach. I didn't want to give it up. I am so often surrounded by people who don't want their career choice. I loved mine and I was very good at it. I'll brag on myself since I am having a "better go eat some worms" moment. For a person who thrived on the challenge of unlocking the mystery of each mind, my days are filled with blah. No challenge. I think that is why I have taken on every task they suggested in my pt. At least trying to fulfill all of those exercises gives me goals to push.

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Don't call list!

With the cold weather jumping back on the wagon, it seems like someone called off my launch. I just got so ready to be out of this house forever and now I'm stuck in here for awhile. Now there are lots of things to do, I don't want to pack stuff away or organize. This cave is as straightened as I care for....

I'm going down to meet Jamie after school and surf the aisles of Wal-Mart and Alco! Oh, the excitement! We will get a good gossip session in before I have to head home.

If you are trying to call me on my home phone and I don't answer, it's because I'm taking no more calls asking me to give money. How did this escape the no-chance, leave me alone legislation? I don't want to be mean to sheriff's deputies asking for teddy bear money, or mother's against all kinds of things. I'm just tired of saying no and feeling guilty because I hang up when they beg me not to hang up. I get almost superstitious about these calls like the minute I hang up on them, then these people on phone banks somewhere are putting me on some voodoo, stick a pin in her, list for not listening and giving money.

Windy Country

The wind has become a beast with a life of its own. Given the March adage, in a like a lion, out like a lamb, my guess would be the beast is a lion.

We have spent the weekend, our first at home together with no guests or distractions, working on the trees in the yard and fields. So many of the trees, I started in flower pots from 12 inch twigs. It hurts to see them now in a place where their survival through the heat of summer will be iffy.

What does this spring bring in plans and goals? well, first the taxes......

Suffering from withdrawals

We won't see baby for the next 2 weeks and somebody around here is suffering from withdrawal symptoms. We are so addicted to seeing how she has changed from week to week.

The Viola girls are in the semi-finals of the state tournament this evening at Greer's Ferry and we thought we might ease down there to see the game but the big guy is exhausted. So we will listen on the radio-Go Longhorns!

Back to 5 ten hour days next week as the scope of the line checks has only expanded as they reach Izard county.

I ordered Tavis Smiley's new book yesterday. I so enjoy watching him on tv and have never read his written word. I'll keep you posted.

later......

Hot Pink

I thought that I would post my pics taken for Kim's Hot Pink Color Challenge taken this week. Kim has set up a group on Flickr for this fun. Come and play along.

Kim will designate a new color for each week.

I have been working on paying bills and sending out baby pics in cards to all of the greats, grands, aunts, cousins, etc..

later

Blue Eyes?

By some trick of lighting Reesa's eyes appear very blue here when they are still the navy blue of all baby eyes.

The Oliver household is just in survival mode these days. Eddy's dad has been in and out of the hospital at Calico and last night we had to take him back. My dad goes to the doctor, I believe, today in Mountain Home. He REALLY plans on having the catheter removed! Whether that is a reality is something that I'm glad not to be there for. I was there last week for everything else and I could really develop a phobia for hospitals. Over the past year and a half, I have either been a patient in or visited 7 different hospitals. Let me tell you, they all smell the same!!!

I have been trying to slowly clear my own yard of the branches as there is no one else to do it. Eddy leaves at 6 something and gets home at 6 something! Add in feeding to the schedule and Eddy has to depend upon me for the news and weather report, something he really hates to turn over to someone not quite as junkie about those issues as he is.....I get 15 min of speaking time in the evening and morning if I am lucky. I am 1000th on the list of importance on answering his cell for my call, so if you're thinking that you want a decision made by the Oliver household right now and you always thought that I should be CEO, then call me now. I'm getting all the current say so!

If I could complain, why does it seem that all major appliances conspire to fail together? My washing machine jumps around my laundry room like a coked-up space vehicle and no amount of balancing helps. The dishwasher has decided to form some kind of union, being a Maytag also, and will only work only one setting if I sit beside it and press my hand in a certain place. NOW, my oven element has gone out on top of everything else.

Sach, Codi and Reesa will be here this weekend for her first trip to Fulton County. Stay tuned for video.

I need to go now and take pictures of the puppies as I need to start the campaign to disburse them among the unsuspecting of the area.

later

It is so hard to imagine that it has been so long since I have blogged here. Our lives have been turned to a different setting since the ice storm. I haven't seen Eddy long enough to even say , Hi. This week they have gone back to just the co-op employees handling everything, but they will work 10 hour days for who knows how long. We really do not need any wet snow, or more importantly, wind. That is asking a lot of the weather channel at this time of the year. I haven't even thought yet about cleaning up my own yard as there have been others that needed me worse like mom and dad. We have also had one of those times in our family when there has been lots of sickness and surgery. Dad has prostate cancer and his surgery was 2 days ago. They employed some space age cryo -freezing the area affected, I believe. The key thing will be watching to see if dad decides to follow post-op instructions or not. Scar tissue is not a pretty result of too much too soon after surgery.
We are headed to Bentonville this weekend as Jake is flying in from New York to see Reesa for the first time. The trip over will be the longest time that I have spent with Eddy(awake) since January 26!

A wild and crazy time

This ghostly image is about all I have seen of Eddy through this wild and crazy time. I am soooo glad to have my surrogate companion, my computer, back on line and humming cheerfully in the background. Jamie and I were discussing which item we would rather have, a tv or computer, and, for me, a computer comes in first, hands down.

I guess there needs to be some background filler to this story. Last week, we were were blitzed with an ice storm of epic proportions. At some points in the surrounding counties, Eddy saw ice as thick as coke cans clinging to miles of swaying and sagging power lines. Of course the physics of this phenom soon snapped 1000's of poles as far as the eye could see. 1000's of people are still without power and will be for weeks to come. We have been declared a national disaster area and are existing in a state of emergency. Fortunately the weather cleared and the temps warmed or lives would have been endangered from the cold. We are expecting 60 degree days for the next week and that will help. However, next weekend we could have severe weather, (storms) and that would set us back again into the stone ages!

Law and Order is about to come on so more later. Tomorrow I have a hair appointment to get this mess colored and trimmed then I'll blog on other sites with pics of the ice.
later

Jake looks very ferocious in this photo-Maybe some of his Viking ancestors popping up in the dna. He's wearing his new coat that he used his xmas money to buy.
It has been one of those days where I knew that I should get the taxes started but there were so many other cool things to do-
1. start a new book-The Story of Edgar Sawtelle
2. practice with my camera
3. laundry
4.dishes
5.crochet
6.scrapbook
7. watch Ellen finally get George Clooney on the show
8.knit
9.rearrange furniture
Well, so the message is coming through loud and clear that I hate paperwork!
Tomorrow, I plan to watch every second of the Inauguration. Oh, I really miss having a classroom right now. With the magic of the computer, the whole class could watch every morsel of this historic ripping of the same old fabric of America and feel the magic of history that occurred on their watch even if they were only in the 3rd grade.

I just proclaimed in a previous whiney post that nothing happened today but .....
the ups guy delivered my new lenses so now I have a wide angle lens and a telephoto lens. So I can either catch some great shots of wildlife that I can't get close enough to or I can become a private eye and find out who's cheatin' on who!

Also, yesterday- I drove myself to the the doctor- one small step for Jeanie, one giant leap for independence.

Just an average joe kinda day

I decided to post a pic from summer just for the pep up value-nothing of any interest happened to me today-Tom Cruise was on the View-the ups man delivered some more of my pictures-I walked one and half mile-I did laundry-have everything packed to go spend the week with Reesa and Codi and Sach-finally it is my turn-they don't need me and probably don't want me but I am desperate for people to talk to and things to do.
I have decided that I am going to tape Eddy's snoring and use it to keep the deer out of my yard. For some reason this past week, my tolerance for the snore has just flatlined. I'll go weeks when I don't even notice it-
Friday night tv is so incredibly boring. Well , I can't even think of something to complain about...

Spending money-what happened to me?

I use to be the world's best spender. But when I paid off all my credit cards three years ago and went to what I call " actual buying" versus buying with unreal cash, something happened to my psyche. Reality spending has almost made me an anorexic buyer. I constantly check my account on line and plan out purchases forever. The only problem with this is that it makes me afraid to make those splurge expenditures. Like overeating, what if I spend too much? I've had the money saved for quite awhile now for a new camera-I'm up to 1000.00 carefully nestled in the bank-the research that I have put into a new camera would put a doctoral candidate to shame, and yet I can't bring myself to make the plunge-what if I buy something that isn't that much better than what I have? What I have done is buy , from a friend, some used lenses that fit my old camera, for a song. I'll play with those for awhile. I know that I used to do spending therapy, now I need saving therapy!

January -to be or not to be

January is such a indecisive month-it can't figure out if it is to be happy that now the days are getting longer and full of more promise or if it is to be a winter month with doses of blah for some. I love January. Everybody I know has a birthday in January including me! I was talking with a friend today about my desire to have a greenhouse. If I had one, I would already have the seed ordered and ready for planting. Now, Eddy's fear is that a greenhouse would never make it on this hill. And he's probably right unless we anchored it to his hay barn! That would put a kink in his pathway.
I need to consider doing my taxes right away then they don't hang over me like a sword ready to cut off my pleasure at scrapping or going or just plain ol' tv watching.
I can remember in the classroom that I loved January because it meant that testing was just around the corner. I am addicted to the thrill of the competition and that's all testing his-how well can we do compared to others. Sounds just like a race....
So today I have been playing on my computer, something that I haven't really done for awhile and looking at everything else and thinking "you know what the days are longer, I'll just wait until this afternoon for that chore!"

Why I like him

Marriage is not easy. It's not that simple to exist with someone who has just as strong a will as me. I have stored up the good memories and I figure if I ever wrote a book on how to stay married, it would be titled "Remember and Forget" . Many, many times, I have have been so angry, frustrated, bewildered, or just ambivalent about my spouse. But more often, I have liked him. Is it "love" that keeps people existing in the same house. I don't know that you really ever have to say, "I love You". I think if you find that you just tolerate this other person's idiosyncrasies that you are a long way toward the golden anniversary.

What do I like about Eddy Oliver? He can be brought to his knees by a child. The most impatient man with the outer world, he slowly bends to hear the breath of a child. If you want to ride around the yard 101 times on the mule and you are less than an adult, he is there for you. Even though, he knows the cat can't be coaxed from the top of the hay bales, he'll hold you up there until you are hoarse with, "kitty, kitty, kitty".

Remember my book title? I remember how estatic he was all 3 times that I was pregnant. My memory of his patience with me through 2 labors and the smashing disbelief of the loss of a baby at 5 months, sneak up on me at the oddest times. You can, of course, be sure that these passages of our past are replaying now that we are so freshly blessed with grandbaby. It seems like yesterday that I was crushing his hand as contractions hit me like the waves of high seas. He told me over and over, "you will forget this pain as soon as we see the baby"

I forget the bad times. I feel that I have a remarkable talent to just forget and get on with stuff like life. I forget the times that we were sure that maybe a separation was best for all of us.

Well, editing this photo made me think for just a moment.....I do remember that I, like the baby in this photo, have been able to just grab Eddy Oliver and hold on. He has never let go of my life and I'll never forget that.

The surprise of his life

Sach has asked for a trumpet for Christmas for several years now so he could play in church and such. Well, this year I found one for him with the help of Jennifer Church, one of my former students who now is a band director herself. She delivered it on an icy day last week right before we went to Bentonville. Sachmo was delighted!

Some Like it HOT

just a shot that I liked from the plane window-it was so cold when we went to Philly 2 weeks ago. I like it hot! I would move somewhere warmer in a flash if I could take my friends and family with me.
Today is one of those odd too warm days for Dec. -you get the feeling that change is going to smash down on you at any moment. I have been working today on getting even more ready to leave at a moment's notice. Eddy brought me two loads of cedar to make wreaths for the outside of my house. I know it may seem odd to continue to decorate when for the first time in 29 years, Santa will not be coming to our house. I feel like it's necessary for the soul to spread cheer to people who come to my house at this time of the year. NO matter how old you are, Christmas decorations and lights make you smile. If not, then bah humbug to you and come over and see if my house can't make it right for you this Christmas. I'm working on pics of the whole house for one of my blogs, probably O'z Ark.
later

Busier than a bee

I have no time for journaling as I try to get my house and life ready to go at a moment's notice. Codi is due any day and the dr offered to break her water on Friday. However, Sach had purchased tickets for the Andy William's Christmas Spectacular for tonight, so they are in Branson with Codi wobbling but determined to make it through one more weekend!
I can't even think where to begin to catch my blog up on everything so some info about my life will remain just innocent words in an old-fashioned journal by my bed.

Last night, we took mom and dad with us to the coop Christmas party. Eddy and I rarely win any of the door prizes, but last night we racked up with a food dehydrator, game camera, and mountain springs water gift basket. If you read this blog and get any of this for Christmas, it can't really be considered regifting if the items were won in a drawing!

I'm addicted to the holiday channel on my radio part of tv. How can you not love a channel that you know every word to every song. Am preparing for the trip to St. Louis tomorrow to the Barnes-Jewish hospital. I will be outpatient and, truthfully, beginning to dread these adventures. It is not like they tell me that I am cured! I will take pictures and try to post about these travels.
we are awaiting the baby's birth with bated breath.-Codi is in that special place that all expectant mothers go toward the end with the focus of each day layered with the labor of breathing and arising from the seated position.

more experimentation with the girls