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