New Pic of The Kids

Here you go, Iggy!

New photo of my kiddos, taken on Saturday night at Eric's company (belated) holiday party. I must admit...they clean up well! Sara accompanied her brother as she did last year and they had a great time.

Physical Therapy is going well, she wants to try acupuncture in the coming visits. Has anyone ever had acupuncture?? It will be something new for me. I guess I will give it a try. Might help with the muscle spasms and tension I am having. She explained that some of my muscles in my right leg are so tense and hard and it is probably from constantly tensing up when anyone would come near me, kind of a defensive action to protect my hip or anticipating the pain, and even now, when I am not in pain, I kind of freeze up automatically, for no good reason. She put some pressure on one muscle in particular and man did it hurt...but after a couple of minutes of soft tissue massage, it relaxed and quieted down. I don't understand how needles on certain pressure points will help but I am willing to give it a try. Guess I better shave my legs before my next visit, eh??

On that note...I shall go. Stay warm, people. It's a cold one out there today!!

Christmas 2012

I was definitely in the mood for the holidays this season and it started very early on. We got the tree up during Thanksgiving weekend and I did 90% of my Christmas shopping online this year so everything was shipped and wrapped well before Christmas Eve, unlike years past.

Some of my shopping was reduced because of a decision made by George's kids that we only buy for the little ones this year, which we went along with with the exception of George's youngest, since he has no children yet. My family also does a Secret Santa instead of buying for everyone which is fun and a lot less costly considering how many there would be to buy for.

I was my son's Secret Santa this year. He is a difficult person to buy for because he usually just gets what he wants when he wants something. I had to be creative and knowing Eric's love for fast food, I decided to make the rounds and get gift cards to all of his favorite spots. I then picked up a bottle of his favorite booze and wrapped all the gift cards and taped them to the bottle. I thought it was a great idea and he was cracking up when he opened them. Then he said, "Well so much for my New Year's resolution to stop eating fast food." Oh well...I tried.

Eric opening his gift cards.

My brother Dave and Sara

Great Niece Kendall pretending to be swallowed up by the sofa

Group shot with a couple people missing

We stopped to visit my Brother in law and his family on Christmas Day and had a great visit. This is a shot of my brother in law Ray and my sister in law Diane with George's grand daughter Amelia, who was also there visiting.

Amelia

All in all it was a fun couple of days but I have to admit, I was happy once New Year's was over. Sara arrived at the house on December 21st and didn't go home until January 1st. I love her to pieces but she leaves a trail everywhere she goes and there wasn't a single inch to spare on my bathroom counter with all of her hair and face products. I spent January 2nd cleaning her room, changing the bed linens and straightening up the bathroom.

So on to 2013 and hopefully it will be a great year!

I'm A Little Bit Country...

One of the highlights of my summer was attending a Keith Urban concert. I know, anyone who knows me knows I love music but the country genre was not something I ever bothered with. But 2 years ago after I bought a car that had XM radio installed in it, I started listening to a lot of different kinds of music. I landed on a certain station that plays modern country music which, to me, is what I normally listen to with a slight twang. I found myself really enjoying what I was hearing and within a month I was singing along with just about every song.

When I saw that Keith Urban was performing in my area, I made sure I purchsed tickets. It was a long 4 month wait for the day to arrive but it was well worth the wait. If you are ever in a position to see him live...GO! 90 minutes of non stop singing, dancing and that man has some incredible guitar skills! I was not disappointed. The crowd was on their feet the entire time. We were able to get some good pictures because Keith was all over the pavillion. It was a great night that I did not want to see end! It won't be the last country concert I will attend, for sure!

Hello 2013!

Well I don't know if anyone will read this since I have been AWOL for a looooongggg time butI find I have a lot of time on my hands so why not post something.

Where do I begin??

Some of you are aware that I recently had hip replacement surgery in October. It's been a long road to recovery but I am almost there. 11 days after surgery I had to be readmitted to the hospital because I had an infection at the incision site. Luckily for me it was caught quickly because any infection deep in the tissue or around the hardware would have been a disaster. As it was, opening up the incision to clean it out was bad enough but I'd take that over removal of the prothesis any day. So three more days in the hospital and 6 weeks on a very intense anti-biotic infused twice a day treatment program and so far so good. I don't know when I will start to relax about the whole infection thing...it still looms overhead like a dark cloud, but at least it is more gray now than black. I have the BEST doctor who took all the precautions in the world, even postponing surgery for 2 years because I had less than perfect lab results, but in the end, it didn't matter, I got an infection anyway. But that's how I roll...nothing ever goes easily for me. I hope that by my next appointment, he will be more relaxed, and then perhaps I can relax. But I feel pretty good and the terrible pain I was in 24/7 is now gone and I can actually sleep more than 45 minutes at a time at night now, which is awesome! In fact, most nights I sleep 5-6 hours at a stretch now.

The holidays were really good for our family this year. Thanksgiving was here at my house, George helped with the turkey lifting and basting and Sara and I did the rest. My Mom did bring a few of her specialities such as her cranberry relish and some home made rolls which were completely devoured. The guys watched football and my neice, daughter, mother and I played some board games after dinner. My nephew Sean stayed home so we were able to have a drama free Thanksgiving.

Christmas Eve was spent at George's son Patrick's place. Pat made several sauces and set up a pasta bar for dinner. Pat's fiancee was our mixologist and made some very creative drinks for the occaision. Of course, the grandkids got spoiled rotten and I was very happy to have both Sara and Eric with us this year. We had an ugly Christmas sweater contest which was won by Patrick although George did everything in his power to win including attempting to bribe the judges by taping dollar bills to his red bow.

Patrick, George and Jon

Christmas Day was spent at my parents house. For the most part, it was a good day. Sean was there and he may be 21 years old but my great niece, who is 4, is better behaved than Sean is and I just had to keep away from him. I could go on for hours about everything that bugs me about this kid but it's not productive and will just make me upset so suffice it to say he came very close to ruining my day but I wouldn't let him. We just went home a little earlier than planned. New Year's Eve was spent at home, very quiet, just George and myself. New Year's Day we went to dinner at my parents house and by then I just wanted it to all be over!! I couldn't wait to get the Christmas tree down and put away and after having Sara here for 12 days...my house was in dire need of a straightening!

So now we are a week into the new year and things are changing already. George's daughter and her husband have called it quits after 8 1/2 yrs of marriage. This saddens me greatly especially since there are 2 young kids in the mix. I suppose we can hope for a reconcilliation, who knows what might happen but I don't see it.

On a positive note, George's son Jon and his wife Nikki had a baby girl this past September. Amelia Elizabeth is a happy healthy 4 month old now with a huge smile and very cute chunky thighs!! We love her to pieces.

Grampy and Amelia

I guess this is a good place to stop. I hope everyone is well and I will definitely try to make more frequent stops here. At least until I am back to work. Then who knows how much time I will have.