Hi!

The plumber has arrived!  In fact, there are two of them.  It took them about an hour and I had a new toilet!  Yea!  It does not leak!  Yea!

ANOTHER JANA STORY:  It seems she is getting rather clumsy.  Mostly because she doesn’t pick up her feet.  She stood up from a chair at the table, turned around without picking up her feet, caught her foot on the plastic cover I have to protect the rug from my chair at my desk, and down she went!  She landed on her side with her right hand under her body.  She could not get up.  I could not help her.  So, I called Renea and her and Kevin came over and helped her up.  They got her into a chair and had her sit there for a while.  She was pretty shook up.  Her knees were bothering her.  She was crying.  She was embarrassed.  I told her if she keeps falling when she comes down here, she will not be allowed to come visit any more.  She is doing better except her hand is still bothering her.  This actually happened about a week ago.

After the plumbers left Jana and I headed into Phenix City.  We stopped at Companion Animal Hospital to get a bag of dry cat food for Penny.  She has been eating this prescription dry food since she had her kidney and bladder problems.  She has not had any problem since, so I decided to keep her on it along with the new litter.  She is doing much better. 

We then stopped at Culver’s for lunch.  This is a new fast food restaurant in Phenix City.  Their food is actually good, and you get what you order.  I have been having trouble at another place messing up my order. 

The rest of the day was a lazy day and early to bed.

Saturday was kind of a catchup day in the morning.  Then we headed to the She Shack and embroidered another t-shirt for Jana.  One more t-shirt and one more sweatshirt to go!

I forgot to mention that earlier this week I took all the decorations off the tree.  Yesterday I packed the tree in it’s box.  Today we took the tree to the storage shed.  We are now down with Christmas until next December.

We didn’t have any severe weather today – just some rain; so, we were able to go to Mass this afternoon.  Last week we had to go on Sunday at 11:30.  After Mass we went to Zaxby’s for supper.  We both received gift cards for Zaxby’s for Christmas.  We have used them several times now so we shouldn’t have much left on them. 

When we got home we watched some television then, again, we had an early night.  9:30 is our new midnight 😊. 

Today is Sunday and after a lazy morning Jana and I went to the She Shack.  I embroidered her last t-shirt and sweatshirt.  

Ohio is the t-shirt and it is a redo.  The first one she had me put it on a gray t-shirt and it didn't show up very well.  This time we put it on a black one.  Looks much better.

Her projects are finished now.  On to the next ones!

Looks Like 2020 Will Be Interesting

Looks like 2020 is going to be as crazy as 2019 was.  Continuing on with problems; my toilet is leaking.  I now have to call a plumber.  When we had the bad weather I lost my internet.  Of course, they can’t come out to fix it or find out what is wrong until later in the week.  I am behind on posting my blogs.  Last night we had a lot of rain, thunder and lightning which was so loud it kept me awake.  I am tired.  Today was only supposed to be a few light showers.  It has rained about two inches so far.  And…..I had a foot doctor appointment this morning.  That did go well.  I have one more treatment and a follow up.  Hope this works.  Insurance does not cover this.

Jana and I then went to Cracker Barrel for lunch.  Next was Hobby Lobby for some t-shirts, then Winn Dixie for a few items Jana needed.  I was going to get gas but it was raining too hard.  I hate to drive in the rain, but we made it safely.

Continuing on with 2020…..I will be replacing my two living room chairs this year.  The side of one is definitely broken and should fall off soon.  The side of the other one is getting loose and they both crunch when they are reclined.  I am having problems with my kitchen stove, my refrigerator is making funny noises, and my dishwasher needs TLC when using it.  Now for the golf cart.  It will not charge.  Kevin thinks I may need “some” new batteries.  They take eight and are a lot more expensive than car batteries. 

I called the plumber, and he is scheduled for tomorrow.  The ATT guy is also coming tomorrow to see what can be done about my internet.  Not sure what I will do if they cancel my service.  I have been told if it cannot be fixed easily it will be cancelled.  They are not longer servicing this area.  I will not get HughesNet.  Kevin has that and does not like it at all.  There is no cable service out here so that won’t work. 

So far we have had 3-1/2 inches of rain.  We are supposed to have more rain this afternoon.  Could be a few storms with thunder and lightning.  I just hope it is over by suppertime.  We have Bible Class tonight, and that’s at St. Patrick’s in Phenix City which is about a 45 minute drive in good weather.

We had another inch of rain.  It was not over by suppertime.  However, we went to Bible Class anyway.  It was white knuckle driving all the way.  Class was just as big this week as last week.  Most of the people live close to the church.  By the time class was over it was just a misty rain, so I stopped and filled the gas tank.

No one from AT&T came to the house, but they must have worked on the connection at the pole because I am back up and running just fine – so far.  That happened this morning.

The plumber came this afternoon.  My toilet is cracked and every time we flush it the toilet leaks.  It is also leaking from the bottom which could be the seal.  They will be back tomorrow to install a new toilet.

Yesterday I embroidered two more t-shirts for a gift.  I still have one sweatshirt and two t-shirts for Jana.  Hopefully, I will get them done on Friday.  Then I need to get started on some quilting that I have been putting off.

Well, the plumber did not come today.  Due to a miscommunication I thought he would be here at 1:00 p.m. and he put down after 1:00 p.m.  Since it is getting so late in the day I told them to come tomorrow, but put me first on the list.  We shall see.

Internet is back up and running

Due to some severe weather my internet has been down for a while.  Back up and running again!

I now have all my Christmas decorations down and put away except for my tree.  I will get to that eventually.  I am still working on Jana’s t-shirts and sweatshirts.  We went shopping for new t-shirts because she didn’t like two of the others she had.  We embroidered one with the four chihuahuas like we put on the one sweatshirt.  The other one is called a woodland scene.  We also embroidered a t-shirt with a dog and two cats on a scooter.   We also embroidered a sweatshirt with a butterfly. They all turned out nice.  We had embroidered one with the state of Ohio bird which she didn’t really care for so we bought a different colored t-shirt and tried again.  It would have been great except I screwed it up and now I will be buying her a new t-shirt and will try again.  We still have two sweatshirts to go.

Brian and Tracy are here for the weekend.  They got in about three o’clock this morning.  Of course, Brian and Kevin are already fishing.  We could have some rain tonight, but the worse is supposed to come tomorrow.  We are in a level three situation where we could have extreme wind, up to five inches of rain and tornadoes. Brian and Tracy along with Kevin and Renea were supposed to go camping at Uchee Creek campground and do a lot of fishing, but because of the bad weather it was decided they would just stay and visit at Kevin’s.  Just another weekend in Alabama. 

I went to Opelika Sewing for my first class in digitizing.  They didn’t tell me I needed a special program.  When I arrived they explained it to me.  I said okay, and I thought I would buy it then.  That is until I heard the price.  $1,800!!!!!  Needless to say, I didn’t buy the program and have cancelled my other class.  The other class I signed up for which was a software program would have cost me $4,000 so I cancelled those classes also.  I will continue to use You Tube.  I did, however, keep my quilting class.  I seem to have everything I need for that one.

Monday I went to my nephrologist for my six month appointment.  He told me to keep doing what I am doing because everything was fine.  I go back in six months.

Jana and I decided to take a class at St. Patrick’s church.  They have been having these monthly classes, and we thought we would give them a try. They are held on Tuesday evenings.  This month is about the Gospel of St. John.  We attended the first class on Tuesday evening, and we thoroughly enjoyed it.  We even learned something that first night.  Father Dave actually gave us “homework.”  Almost like being back in school.

Wednesday we went shopping at Walmart for t-shirts, had lunch at Applebee’s (which was very good) and stopped at Winn Dixie. 

Back to Brian and Tracy.  Tracy spent most of the day Friday with Jana and me after she got some sleep.  It was great visiting with her.  We don’t get to spend much time with her, and this was fun.  After Brian and Kevin got home from fishing they fixed supper (which Brian furnished) over an open fire.  He fixed a pork loin in a cast iron pot.  It was awesome.  We baked potatoes or sweet potatoes (our choice) along with some other side dishes.  Ryan stopped over and had supper with us. It’s always good to see him.  Spent the evening talking and laughing.

Saturday was an alert day.  Jana and I spent most of the day and evening over at Kevin and Renea’s along with Brian and Tracy.  We had a lot of rain, lightning, high winds, thunderstorm watches and warnings and tornado watches.  There were tornado warnings and tornadoes around us, but we were very lucky.  Kevin made gumbo for him and Brian.  He grilled chicken for the rest of us.  Penny and Mattie stayed in the mobile home since the weather didn’t get bad enough for us to get them and bring them to K & R’s.  Jana and I went home early evening.  Brian and Tracy planned on making it an early night since they were leaving at 3:00 a.m. 

Jana and I didn’t go to church until Sunday morning because of the bad weather on Saturday night.  We stopped at Wendy’s for lunch and they screwed up my sandwich again.  That is beginning to be a habit.  Guess I will take them off my list for a while.  We then spent a quiet day and evening.  Brian and Tracy arrived home safely.

More Embroidery

I now have all my Christmas decorations down and put away except for my tree.  I will get to that eventually.  I am still working on Jana’s t-shirts and sweatshirts.  We went shopping for new t-shirts because she didn’t like two of the others she had.  We embroidered one with the four chihuahuas like we put on the one sweatshirt.  The other one is called a woodland scene.  We also embroidered a t-shirt with a dog and two cats on a scooter.   We also embroidered a sweatshirt with a butterfly. They all turned out nice.  We had embroidered one with the state of Ohio bird which she didn’t really care for so we bought a different colored t-shirt and tried again.  It would have been great except I screwed it up and now I will be buying her a new t-shirt and will try again.  We still have two sweatshirts to go.

Brian and Tracy are here for the weekend.  They got in about three o’clock this morning.  Of course, Brian and Kevin are already fishing.  We could have some rain tonight, but the worse is supposed to come tomorrow.  We are in a level three situation where we could have extreme wind, up to five inches of rain and tornadoes. Brian and Tracy along with Kevin and Renea were supposed to go camping at Uchee Creek campground and do a lot of fishing, but because of the bad weather it was decided they would just stay and visit at Kevin’s.  Just another weekend in Alabama. 

I went to Opelika Sewing for my first class in digitizing.  They didn’t tell me I needed a special program.  When I arrived they explained it to me.  I said okay, and I thought I would buy it then.  That is until I heard the price.  $1,800!!!!!  Needless to say, I didn’t buy the program and have cancelled my other class.  The other class I signed up for which was a software program would have cost me $4,000 so I cancelled those classes also.  I will continue to use You Tube.  I did, however, keep my quilting class.  I seem to have everything I need for that one.

Monday I went to my nephrologist for my six month appointment.  He told me to keep doing what I am doing because everything was fine.  I go back in six months.

Jana and I decided to take a class at St. Patrick’s church.  They have been having these monthly classes, and we thought we would give them a try. They are held on Tuesday evenings.  This month is about the Gospel of St. John.  We attended the first class on Tuesday evening, and we thoroughly enjoyed it.  We even learned something that first night.  Father Dave actually gave us “homework.”  Almost like being back in school.

Wednesday we went shopping at Walmart for t-shirts, had lunch at Applebee’s (which was very good) and stopped at Winn Dixie. 

Thursday most of the day was spent embroidering.  Not sure what all we will be doing today.

Happy New Year!

I guess it’s time to start my blogs.  It’s been a very busy few weeks, but things are starting to calm down now.  I had my last doctor appointment for 2019 (cardiologist).  Everything is fine.

Jana has taken down her Christmas decorations and they are put away until next year.  I haven’t even started yet. 

Jana and I have been spending some time at the she shack.  I have embroidered one sweatshirt and two t-shirts for her.  My machine is working just fine and all three have turned out really nice.  I still have a few more to go.  I also need to embroider a few “winter” tea towels for me.

Jana's Sweatshirt

Jana's t-shirts

The following are a few examples of the tea towels I made for gifts for Christmas.  I made about twenty more than are shown here, but this gives you an idea of what they look like.  Every one was different.

I also made Jana 12 more to hang during the year.

I quilted mug rugs for everyone for presents also.  I quilted 30 of them.  These are just an example.

I have signed up for several classes at Opelika Sewing for the months of January and February.  I am considering a few more.  I still have a lot to learn about my embroidery/sewing machine.  One of the classes is a quilting class and two are learning digitizing and computer software. 

A Jana and Mattie Story:  This also involves an armadillo.  We actually have quite a few of them on our property here, but Jana and Mattie had never seen one until one cold and dark night.  They were leaving my place to go to their camper and Mattie spotted the armadillo.  Of course, Jana had her arms full and Mattie tried to take off after the critter.  Good thing she was on a leash.  Anyway, after much yelling at Mattie and stumbling around by Jana they managed to get into the camper.  The next day Jana did some laundry here and when they left to go to the camper that evening lo and behold here comes the armadillo.  There was a lot more yelling at Mattie and stumbling by Jana but again they managed to get into the camper okay.  We think the critter had been living under Jana’s camper, but after all the commotion caused by Jana and Mattie it has left for the woods. 

We have been having a lot of rain, but it hasn’t been very cold.  It feels more like fall than winter.

That's about it for now.  Back to "work."

If The Wind Would Just Quit Blowing…..

The weather has been a little weird here lately.  It seems everyday is windy.  The temperature has been in the 70’s for a high some days and in the 40’s for a high other days.  The nights have been in the 30’s sometimes and in the 50’s others.  It just can’t make up it’s mind if it wants to be winter.


The Christmas shopping is finished.  The presents are wrapped and under the trees.  The stockings are hung on the bannister with care (just had to throw that in).  I have a big stack of boxes to get rid of.  I (we) bought a lot of things on the internet this year.  I hate to get rid of the boxes because they are so nice and sturdy, but I don’t know what else to do with them. 


The Christmas cards are written and mailed.  It’s interesting how times have changed.  Years ago when Jim and I lived in Cincinnati and we belonged to all these organizations, etc.  I would send at least a hundred cards.  This year I sent 25.  Of course, I don’t receive very many either.


My embroidery machine has been repaired.  I picked it up last week.  They had to replace one part, but other than that they cleaned and oiled the machine.  I haven’t had a chance to use it yet.  After the first of the year I will be embroidering t-shirts and sweatshirts for both Jana and me.  We have bought the shirts and picked out the patterns.  I watched several You Tube videos to refresh my memory on what stabilizers to use, etc.  I am ready!


Now Jana and I are just getting the house in order (that means dusting and running the sweeper) and doing our laundry.  Last night we went to Kevin and Renea’s for pizza and hot wings.  We only ate pizza.  Stephanie and Ray were there along with friends Patrick, Kara and their two children.  Had a really nice time.  Tonight is Mass.  Tomorrow is celebrating Ryan’s birthday.  His birthday is the 21^st of December and we usually celebrate a few days early. 


Last weekend Kevin and Renea were out of town.  Renea visited her Aunt Pat and Kevin went to Cincinnati.  They took the dogs with them.  I took their mail into their house along with several packages that were delivered.  It amazing how you get used to certain things.  I told them when they returned that going into their house and not being greeted by the dogs was very strange.  I missed them.


I’m not sure (or I don’t remember is more like it) how much I told you about Penny losing hair.  Both her sides were almost nude along with her tail, back legs and belly.  She was constantly licking and throwing up hairballs.  I took her to the vet and they were not sure what was going on.  Everyone thought it was anxiety over me being gone so long in the hospital and every time I left the house she thought I wasn’t going to return.  We got the hairballs under control, but she still was losing hair.  I got the bright idea that maybe it was the litter I was using for her.  I had been using the same littler from the time I got her, but they had changed it by adding fabreze and other ingredients to eliminate dust, smells, etc.  I bought her Tidy Cat Fresh and Clean.  It has no additives.   It’s been two weeks now and her hair is starting to come back.  Yea!


I guess that’s about it for now.  Just in case I don’t write another blog before Christmas….Merry Christmas Y’All!

Thanksgiving Plus

We had a really nice Thanksgiving.  We went to Kevin and Renea’s for dinner.  Ryan, Stephanie and Ray were there.  Renea brought her mom home from the Nursing Home.  It was good to see her.  We had turkey, ham, sweet potato casserole, candied yams, Renea’s family’s cornbread stuffing, the Althoefer’s stuffing (made by me), rolls and other goodies.  We had pumpkin pie, apple pie and pecan cheesecake for dessert. 


Friday I put the decorations on my tree with help from Jana.  We also put a few more decorations around the house.  Jana put all the empty boxes in the back of my car to be put away on Saturday.  I also decorated three small trees, one of which I designated Penny’s tree.  Of course, she hasn’t paid any attention to that tree.  She just goes to the big ones. 


Saturday Jana and I finished decorating.  We took all the empty boxes to the shed for storage.  Kevin and Renea went to the Iron Bowl.  For those of you who don’t know what that is that is the football game of the season (here in Alabama) when Auburn University and Alabama play each other.  This year Auburn won.  WAR EAGLE!  By the way, it was me that let the dogs out……before Jana and I went to church.  Yes, I did let them back in before we went to church.  Also let them out when we got home. When I let them back in I fed them supper, gave them fresh water, and gave them a treat.  Kevin and Renea made good time getting back home so I didn’t have to let them out again.


Sunday I fixed a turkey breast in the crockpot for Jana and me.  There were no leftovers after dinner on Thanksgiving, and Jana and I like leftovers so we fixed our own.  I also fixed mashed potatoes, gravy and stuffing.  I had made some extra stuffing on Thursday so we had some left for us.  Tasted good as always.


I also did several loads of laundry.  I had several Christmas quilts to wash so we could use them since they had been stored in bins in the shed.  I also washed two lap blankets that we had been using, and I put them away until after Christmas.  In fact, I made the mistake of putting them on top of a bin in my bedroom and Penny has claimed them for her own.  I also washed my Christmas t-shirts. 


Monday we went to the post office in Opelika to mail a few things.  From there we went to Walmart and then to Opelika Sewing Center.  I have been having a lot of problems with my embroidery machine, and I have two years of service at OSC since I purchased it there.  I had to leave it since it needed to be cleaned.  They were also going to check some of the problems I have been having.  Two of the problems were resolved before I left.  I was using the bobbin thread that came with the machine.  It was not the right weight for embroidery.  I now know what to use.  They changed the bobbin and put in the correct thread.  The other problem was I had the presser foot too high.  They showed me how to fix that and that corrected another problem.  I am so glad I took the machine to them and getting the problems fixed.  I actually learned a lot in the short time I was there.


Leaving there we went to Arby’s for lunch.  What a mess, not our lunch but traffic.  We usually go out through Lowe’s parking lot.  However, they were repaving the lot and had quite a bit of it blocked off.  We did some maneuvering and managed to get across the highway to Tigertown.  Jana went into Target to get another Christmas plate.  I had bought three and she bought two when we were there the other day.  Now she has three.


Next we went Krogering.  Bought quite a few items.  Came home.  Unloaded the car.  Put the cold stuff away and collapsed.  Didn’t finish putting the groceries away until suppertime.  We had leftover turkey breast on croissants for supper.   Sure did taste good.  Spent the evening watching television.