Graduation Day! for Patrick

Yesterday, our younger son, Patrick, graduated from Texas Wesleyan University.  It has been a long road for him (and for us,too) but, we are so very proud of him and all that he has accomplished while going to college and managing the college loan money the way he did.  Interesting fact about his graduation:  He was one of two graduating seniors who majored in Religion and the other student just happens to be his girlfriend, Melissa.  Here they are together after the ceremony yesterday evening.  The next picture is of me, Jim, Patrick, Mom, and James.

Believe it or not, 40 year class reunion!!!

I'm working slowly but surely to put together some "memorabilia" for our class reunion this weekend. I'll share a little of it now: Above is a pencil/pen drawing made by our 6th grade art teacher of the school where we were for 6 or 7 years (depending on whether or not you went to Kindergarten) This picture drew some attention from a former student of mine who now drives by the building in Fort Worth on his way to work each day. He stirred up some interest in the year that it was first built. I went to Meadowbrook Elementary from 1958 to 1964.

This is just one example...more later...

Old is being brought down for the New

I found this on my facebook page tonight. It makes me feel old because that was a NEW building whenever I lived down there on campus during my 4 years of college!
Just thought I 'd pass on the video...

Celebrating with Lynda & Cole

We ate at Dunraven's to celebrate Lynda and Cole's 34th wedding anniversary. Happy anniversary to them both! (on June 8)

On Tuesday, we rode the aerial tramway and spent most of the morning atop the mountain where it was. I waited while everyone else trekked to the top of the mountain. Jim and Lynda somehow got lost and had to do a lot of backtracking--not an easy task at that altitude!

Here We Are in Denver...

We arrived here at Estes Park last night, June 6, 2009. We went to Kaily 's (our niece) graduation party for about 45 minutes yesterday afternoon. That was in Denver which is where we flew in to at about noon. After having to wait almost an hour for our "reserved" rental mini-van, we drove first to downtown to the Capitol Hill People's Fair. It was mostly just different kinds of foods and various arts and crafts. That is what all of the pictures are from.

Pictures from the Vatican

First Port of Call - Rome, Italy

Rome was the first stop on our Mediterranean Cruise. We joined a group of 4 other couples for a private tour of Rome. The driver acted as our guide except for the times that he could not enter the different places but had to remain with the car. We rode in a mini-van: Peter and Charlene, Bill and Allie, Mark and Debbie, James and Martha, and Jim and I. The ruins of the Coliseum was the first big stop and at that moment there was a loud crash of thunder. From inside the coliseum the thunder reverberated and the building acted as a megaphone magnifying the thunder. During the time that we were there a heavy rainstorm caused us to need the umbrellas that we brought. We had about 30-45 minutes to walk around inside the ruins and take pictures.



After the Pantheon and the Trevey Fountain, our driver, Gilberto, took us to a typical family restaurant for lunch. We skipped the octopus and a few of the other odd looking dishes but we did enjoy most of the others that the owner/operator had on display. All in all it was very good!

The afternoon was spent touring The Vatican with our own guide who communicated with us via a headset that each of us wore and the microphone that she wore. Without her we would have been lost. But as it was we had a very good afternoon. A treasure of the world, The Vatican houses many statues, paintings, tapestries, and mosaics. The barrel-shaped ceilings of the exhibit halls is absolutely awe-inspiring and I was very glad that we had such a great guide for the tour.

My Grandmother

Yesterday I spent the day with my grandmother. I had gone over to her apartment to help her try to get her phone to ring (as opposed to just vibrating). But I even though I was able to figure out that it was in Silent Mode, I couldn't figure out how to get it out of the Silent Mode! So we decided to come over to my house. Maybe James will show up and help us figure it out. We stopped and picked up Taco Bueno for lunch and then came home to eat it.

Nannie particularly likes the dogs and thinks they are very smart. Of course, they are! And she was most impressed with them going and getting in their kennel whenever I said we had to go and that I wanted them to go get in their bed! They are always very much in favor of going to bed (because they get to have a treat!).

Next we drove over to Wyndell (my uncle, Nannie's youngest son)'s house to see if he could fix the phone. He couldn't do it either. After a short visit with Frieda (my aunt, Nannie's daughter-in-law, we left and stopped by the phone store to get it fixed and sure enough when I took it in the girl I asked just punched a couple of buttons and oila! it was fixed!

So then before I took her back to her home, we stopped in Minyards to get some table salt, and some biscuits that she needed to make the dressing that she's planning to bring to my house next week for Thanksgiving. She was able to really move quickly as long as she had the walker in front of her. As we checked out she managed to get them to try to guess how old she is and when they found out she was 105 they could not believe it! Of course then they have the usual question: "what have you done to keep yourself looking so good?"

Her answer is that she has worked hard all of her life. She enjoyed the attention that they gave her and then we left again and went back to her apartment. I thought she did pretty well considering that she wasn't really planning to leave for the day. Hopefully she didn't get too tired from all of that getting up and going out anf about.

I think that we may do it again sometime soon. We'll see!

Closer and closer...

This morning finds the actual day of our embarkation sneaking up on us and we have about a week and a half before it will be off to Barcelona where we will get on board the Norwegian Jade. There we will find our "mini-suite" that will be our home away from home for the next 3 weeks as we travel first to the Eastern Mediterranean and then to the Western Mediterranean (actually North western Africa (Morocco) and islands beyond that).

While I'm very excited about our trip the most important thing right now is that my mom is having out-patient surgery on Wednesday of this week. I will be her care giver or as I think of it her "watcher outer" and will be staying over at her house at least until the weekend and until she can move around better on her own. She will have the carcinoma that they found from the spot on her right leg (between her knee and her ankle) removed and a small skin graft will be made over it. So she will then be sent home with instructions to not move that leg and it will be in a splint in order to remind her of that!

I'm planning to take our dogs, Buffy and Willow over to her house with me because Jim will be in Washington, DC, during that time. Rather than make James be responsible for the dogs all that time we're gone plus this week and, because I know that Mother will enjoy the two of them sitting in her lap, etc., they are going with me. I have a doctor's appointment on Thursday (just a check up to make sure my stimulators are doing what they should be and will be for the rest of the year while I'm off on the other side of the world).

My brother, Scott, lives with my mom, but works odd hours--from about 3:30 in the am until 2:00 or so in the afternoon. So he's really not a lot of help when it comes to her getting some help. My brother Clay will be there at the hospital too so he can help a little bit that day as much as he can because he, just as Scott does, has to go to work. So, it fell to the "retired" family member (that would be me) to be there the most.

That reminds me of my grandmother with whom I spent the day yesterday. But that's another story...:)

Keep us on your prayer list, please!

Just 26 days until we depart for the Mediterranean!

We are so excited! We got a call from the travel agency and they said that the cruise line was happy to offer us an upgrade free of charge! And so we accepted...of course! Instead of an inside stateroom on deck 5, we will be dwelling in a mini-suite with a balcony on deck 11! That's incredible!

We've never even been inside a room with a balcony so as you can imagine...we are looking forward to it! They had tried to upgrade us earlier last month but said they couldn't give us the same room for both cruises --our 21 day cruise is actually two cruises---the first is a 12 day trip to the eastern Mediterranean. Jim is probably most excited about this part of the trip...When we land in Alexandria, Egypt, we will be there for two days--so we'll be taking a private small group tour (12 couples) from there to Cairo with an overnight in a 4star hotel in Cairo. We can't wait to see those great pyramids and the sphinx!

And then at the end of the 12 days we go back to Barcelona but this time we head west and go to Morocco--Casablanca and Agdir, and then the Canary Islands, a Portuguese island and then to Malaga, Spain before the 9 days bring us back again to Barcelona--- and then we will spend two nights in Paris, France before coming home to Arlington!

We will arrive here on Dec. 23, hopefully ready as we can be for a very happy and merry Christmas!

Then Jim will still be on vacation when we get back---I think he'll have to be back at the office on about the 6th or 7th of January!

A New Vehicle for us!

Finally, something new and different! We picked up our new car (new to us- it does have 12,000 miles on it) but it is a nice one. We came home with a Cadillac SRX Crossover...as you can see from the pictures it is very similar to a station wagon...We drove it this weekend to Lake Elliott which is near Texarkana on the Red River Army Depot. Once we got there all we did was relax and play Bocce Ball, cards, and we ate three main meals there. Lynda, Cole, Dennis, and June went with us. It was a nice weekend.

Fire Alarms at 1 a.m. !!!!!!!!!!!!!

The very first night of our stay we were awakened at about 1:00 am to the sound of people running up and down the hallwayand slamming doors outside our room and what we finally recognized as the fire alarm. Jim said that when he first woke up he heard people yelling, "EVACUATE THE BUILDING!" Both of us finally threw on the first thing we could find---I put my t-shirt and pants on over my pajamas, stuck my feet into my shoes, grabbed my walking stick and my purse (although later on it didn't really have the right stuff in it!), and we walked quickly next door and banged on the Hardisons and the Parishes doors. Lynda and Cole came out but Dennis stuck his head out his door, said for us to go on and they'd catch up. We were not in the main building but in an "add-on" part, on the third floor, and so we headed for the stairwell...Once we got down to the bottom floor we first ended up in a kind of "boiler room" --- the exit door was padlocked! So we backtracked a little and went a different way. Eventually, we ended up in the inner courtyard where the pool was. From there we could see the lobby and the front door of the hotel. As we came out those doors we headed across the street and then toward the curb on the opposite side of the street where we sat down and waited. Probably in about ten minutes or so, Dennis and June finally caught up with us. Still no firemen though. After what seemed like forever, the fire trucks could be heard arriving and then the firefighters in their gear were streaming into the lobby of the hotel. There had been no smoke or fire but someone pointed out that it smelled like rubber burning near the elevator. It turned out that the elevator was the reason for the late night "fire drill." It served to remind us of those things that we all did not do when the actual time came to "evacuate." Jim and I both said that from now on we will make sure the stuff we need is together instead of spread all over the area, before we go to bede each night!

A Very Busy Day

Tomorrow will be a very busy day for me. Beginning at about 9:00 I have an appt. for a haircut. Then I need to run downtown to take care of a possible mixup with the ticket I got for running a red light back in April. I've taken Comedy Defensive Driving and sent in the certificate but after a 25 min. wait on the "busy" agents who must have been talking for a very long time with each person who called, I don't think they have my certificate. The deadline is Aug.4 and I finished my course on June 30. (Wish me luck!)

Then at 11:30 I am meeting two retired friends and one other friend who continues to teach for lunch at BRAVO in the Highlands. After lunch I have a doctor's appt. with the doctor who will be taking care of my colonoscopy. (this is the appt to schedule it...)

On Thursday morning I have an appt with the nurse practioner at my gp's office. She's checking my ears for me to see if we need to flush them out.

Then I need to get with Janet W. in order to let her use some of my storaoge type stuff for toting her scrapbooking supplies to Weatherford with us this weekend.

James is meeting with his store manager and one of the regional big bosses--he has been working all night to straighten the store up for the guy so I hope he's impressed!

I've also got to start packing up my stuff for this weekend. We'll be off to the Covered Bridge Inn in Weatherford ( actually not in weatherford but in the country to the south of Weatherford.

Can't believe it but don't have any great shots of Carolyn and her family from a couple of weeks ago when Marylee and I visited them...I'll close with those...You have better pics...send 'em my way! please, Marylee or Carolyn!

Last night we celebrated Patrick's birthday ( and my mom's birthday too, actually) . James was off work, so he came too, and we all had dinner at Mijo's. (Mijo's is a favorite place of ours that we used to eat at once and sometimes twice a week. But it had, believe it or not, been 4 weeks since we have eaten out!)

That's as a result of our new "diet" and exercise program that Jim and I are now involved in. We had fallen into the habit of almost always eating out and that had added a little more of the dreaded "belly fat" to each of us! But now we are eating much healthier and enjoying a better fit of our clothes, so that is terrific! The diet is the same one that we sort of followed back last year before we left on the first cruise (Western Caribbean). That was very successful for as long as we stuck to it but this time we have the added exercise plan that we did not have the first time. It includes "interval walking" every other day...and then a total body workout on the opposite days. We need to get with it though with the exercising...kind of not quite in the habit of doing that yet.

James is working hard at his job---training for assistant manager---still paying us back for the money we've loaned him and walking the straight path as far as we can tell.

Patrick is back after a week in Siloam Springs, Arkansas, where he was the program coordinator (both curriculum and worship services with the senior high students each night) for their mission trip this summer. In a couple of weeks he'll be serving as the dean of the camp at Glen Lake for the senior high summer camp in Glen Rose. Other than that he's struggling with trying to stick to the 'part-time' schedule that he is paid on at the church. He really needs another job but he doesn't want to give up the church job and he really needs a degree to get one of the full time positions that are available every once in a while.

I'm really enjoying the scrapbooking hobby--too bad I don't get paid to do my own stuff...but I really enjoy it! Our friends the Parishes just returned from a trip to Colorado and the Hardisons will be returning from a Caribbean cruise on Sunday. Makes me wish I could go now too...but our next cruise will be after Jim finishes the job he's assigned to right now...He has already booked us for a TWENTY-ONE DAY Meditterranean Cruise embarking from Barcelona, Spain and stopping in Rome, Athens, Ephesus, Cairo, Malta, and back to Barcelona, then to Morocco, Canary Islands, Portugal, and Spain with two nights in Paris on the way back home....It is going to be so very exciting!

CTMH layouts continued

And these are the pages that you inspired me to put together, Carolyn!



This one makes me think of John Travolta for some reason or other! :o)

scrapbook layouts for CTMH

ok so do you remember this picture from a couple of months ago? This layout just seemed too pretty to put boys' pics so I decided to add some of the first pictures of me and pictures with my mom and dad and also my 105 year olod grandmother who is about 45 in this picture. Here is the finished product:

Just a few words and a bunch of pics

First word: frustrating -- that is the feeling I keep being filled with while we attempt to help James get his life back...



Second word: love -- the very feeling I keep coming back with, not only for James but for Jim and Patrick who I feel so proud of and so much love for both!



Third word: distress -- I really am concerned about Jim and his feelings about the loss of his mom. It could have been so much better if he and his brother were on better terms..(aside to that--how can I help my two sons maintain a healthy relationship with each other)



Change of subject: Here are those pictures that I've done most recently after we did the fi rst scrapbook using Close to my Heart materials and supplies...As you can see, I got started on some pages of pictures of my childhood and I really have enjoyed working with these pictures.

Having Fun Looking Through Old Pictures

Since I was looking for one particular picture to use on a layout about a birthday celebration five years ago, I have had the most fun for the last couple of days sorting through old pictures and trying to get them into boxes by their date taken (which sadly is missing on most- - let this be a lesson to everyone - - label your pictures!)

Today I read Carolyn's blog and that made me want to find another picture that I remembered...So, I even went over to mother's house to pull her old pics out and finally I found it and a lot more--that's it right up here..>>>^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^So, even though I didn't have any girls to take pictures of playing "dress up" I did find pics of me doing that very thing! I will enjoy putting these into scrapbook form...thanks for the idea, C!

Random Thoughts Re: our lives

Today is such a beautiful day with a temperature in the mid 70s at 6:00 pm. This kind of weather makes all of us wish for the warmer weather of spring time and the pear trees are already all covered with blooms! Our yard is sprouting several spots of dandelions (which I'm sure our neighbors are not thrilled with since our weeds tend to encroach on to their weedless and regularly sprayed yards!) I'm thinking about calling our yard guy and asking him to come and cut the yard, but I'm also wondering if I have him do that, will it cause the weeds to spread even more? What do you think?

I just spent the afternoon with my grandmother. Even though I'm retired I tend to just stay home most of the day unless I have something like lunch to go out for or the tutoring that I'm doing at my old school each week -- 2 half days and 1 full day. My grandmother fell over her walker one night two weeks ago and is recovering from that. She said today that she is very sore and thinks she broke a couple of ribs. Amazing, considering that she is 104 and will be 105 next month.

One more story about my grandmother...she is a democrat through and through and even though she had fallen two weeks ago and was very uncomfortable, she managed to GO TO THE POLLING PLACE (!) and vote last week! She told me that the people at the school where she went to vote were really hopping trying to make sure that she was ok once she got through the door. Bobby, her friend ala Driving Miss Daisy, is one of the most unbelieveable saint-like people. He takes care of her by taking her places like SAM"S and the doctor's appointments that she has occasionally. She insists that he drive her car, and he does similar things for others who live in the apartment (Sr. active living) complex where she lives alone. Ah, but , I digress..more about Bobby another time... back to the election ... I was sharing a joke that Patrick made with my grandmother = Last Tuesday night, Patrick and I met Jim at a restaurant and then Jim left in his car to go vote and Patrick and I came back to the house. At 7:00, Patrick and I walked over to the rec.center in the park that attaches to our neighborhood. The center had served as a polling place for 4 precincts and the place was very crowded. We were directed to the gym and found people standing around a person who served as a signpost by holding a paper with the precinct number on it. We found our number and stood with our group. I looked around and didn't see anyone that I knew! Usually I always see someone having lived here and taught in this area of town for over 26 years! But...no one! When I voiced that to Patrick he came back at me with a funny observation: "Well, Mom, all your friends are REPUBLICANS!" Ha! That must be true of the neighborhoods nearby for sure (even though when we left after staying an hour amid the confusion, I saw two friends from church and three friends who live next door...) but I can report that I was a part of TX history this year after that primary election. Jim has always teased my grandmother about being a democrat with three children who vote republican but I don't think that she realized that Jim and I lean to the left most of the time...so she was a little surprised at the funny from Patrick.

New Computer!

Friday afternoon when I got back home after meeting with some teacher friends at Starbucks Jim arrived at home just a few minutes before me. He said there was a surprise in the scrapbooking room for our anniversary. Much to my surprise, there were four big boxes sitting in the floor of the room: a new Compaq desktop computer, along with a new printer and an adapter to get that computer onto our home network so that I can check in to the internet.

We had talked a little bit earlier about getting this setup so that we could share the laptop (after we take it in to be fixed before it's warranty runs out...So, now I'm in the process of learning an updated version of the Windows Vista.

I set most of it up myself having more than a little bit of trouble with the wireless adapter to hook me up to the internet. Other than that, it was not a difficult thing to do and I was successfully making changes to the setup of the current programs.

I'm hoping to be able to use this c omputer to access the Heritage Makers site and making a few books . This week I should have lots of time to do that and Ihope to be able t0 finish some other projects. Jim is off to Minnesota and Iowa for the week. It will be a long week for both of us!

I'll add more to this tomorrow...