O Christmas Tree....

Here is my tree...taken this morning with my new coat. Now you need to know that I got this second hand coat at Saver's...how's that for $26.00. I love it.

Family...Thanksgiving

We really had a fun and relaxing Thanksgiving....Towards evening, the older ones thumbed through all the sale adds. They all shopped on line for the big sales and the story of Clayton and Black Friday was mentioned with some great laughter.
Later...Sam tried on his Aunts' big boots and then ask me for a cowboy hat...the next thing you knew...he and Tanner were putting on an impromptu western play which was based on a movie they saw at school. Whatever the basis...we were all just hooting at the performance.
All in all..it was just great fun.

Mostly finished

I don't think I have had too many stops since Thanksgiving....Cindy and I started decorating on Friday after Thanksgiving. I think I will be drawing out all the stops this year (as Cindy says...Mom you haven't felt like doing this for years, and she is right). The tree is up, but no picture yet. I have been working my part time job and we have had Sam over a great deal. I love my new part time job...I'm working at a boutique type Chocolate Shop that sells imported Belgium chocolate. It's kind of a strange job for someone that is working so hard to take off weight. I have lost 58 pounds so far....but it has been really difficult. However, craving chocolate has never been one of my problems.
We will be entertaining quite a bit over the holidays...thus...decorations!

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all my wonderful family....I am very thankful for each and every one of you!  I have made my dressing (Grandma Powell's), my sweet potatoes, have my Watergate Salad made and in a few minutes I will peel my potatoes.  It should be a great day tomorrow....only our immediate family will be here.  I usually have 19 or 20...but, none of us invited extras this year. 
My goal is to take some family pictures tomorrow...

Back in Routine

I have finally gotten back into routine around here.  Now I am going up to Sam's house at 7:30 AM instead of him coming here...he and his Dad were always running late.  I will go again tomorrow morning, but this morning Sam asked if he could come back down to our house in the mornings...I replied that that is up to him...only if  Sam will cooperate and be on time.
Sam is such a sweet kid, but he sure can be a pistol at times.
Monday night when they were out at TacoBell, Sam was playing his DS and without even looking up, he says "Hummmm, I wonder what Grandma and Grandpa were doing on Nov.21, 1971?"   His little math mind had figured out what might have been going on since our Cindy was born in September of 1972.  As Sam says,  that's way too much Adult Information!

Home Again

I got home around 11 this morning.  I'm not sure I will drive to St.Louis again by myself...I started home last night after the services around 4:30 and I thought I could do it.  It was really tough and I just could not see with darkness and heavy rain...so I pulled off and checked into a motel off of I70.  Then I got up at 6:45 and started home.  More than half of the drive I was driving in really thick fog....I'm really, really glad to be home.

RIP Roni

Just way too much loss these last few weeks...our dear friend Roni lost her battle with cancer this morning at 1 AM. Roni is the friend in the center. I presented her with a Prayer Shawl just this last April. All of us were just together for lunch when I went down to see Lisa and meet Reed just two weeks ago...then a week ago Tuesday they took her to the hospital and the cancer had spread to her spine...they had to put her in a semi-coma to control the pain and she never woke up. I am so happy she is not in pain any more.

St. Louis Trip

Top...down LouAnn and Katie, Abby, little Reed a nd Lisa, LouAnn and Barb, and Jimmie. We really had a great time celebrating little Reed's 1st birthday.

The Two of Us Fly Fishing

Bennett

Thank you all so much for the pictures...you all look like you had a fun time. . I wish I could have joined you all. Here is a picture of Skip fishing at Bennett Spring and I thought you all might enjoy... He looks more like Jim every day and his mannerisms are sooo the same.

School of the Ozarks

The last day in Branson was beautiful and we visited S of O and at a wonderful lunch at the Keeting Center. The students are still so friendly and the food was fantastic!

Home Again, Home Again...Jiggitty Jog

Back home from a week in Branson with good girl friends from Jewell.  Tired ...but had a great time!

He played a good game!

We had a wonderful time at Paxton's game on Saturday morning. He really had been hit hard in the back and was standing out for a few minutes. Also, he is very sad that his cousin Patsy is in Electronic Jail....

My Best Friend

This is my best friend Marilyn. She has been a friend since Junior High and she was my Maid of Honor and I was hers.

The Happy Couple

Here are my friends Joni and Ray. I have known Joni since we were in 3rd Grade. What a party!

St.Louis Weekend

Wow...we sure did have an awesome weekend in St.Louis. We celebrated not only my birthday, but also my dear friends 50th Anniversary. In the top picture...the friend sitting in the front is Roni...she is battling major cancer. She has 75 tumors on her liver and she was wearing her chemo bag to the party. The bottom picture is from the over-the- top surprise party for Joni and Ray.

Big Oak Tree

I went over to my friend Anna Mae's (89 years old) home today to see the huge oak tree that fell in the storm on Friday night. Wow..it sure is a loss...Anna Mae thinks that it is well over 200 years old. She can't wait until they cut it down and she can count the rings.
Some of our friends didn't get their electric until late last night.
So far, I have talked only to Sam...but he sure had a awesome day today which was his first day of 5th Grade.

Camera Explanation:

I did learn about the little slide on the ScanDisk...it kept flipping....the problem was that it then broke off and they are so expensive...I had to wait to buy a new ScanDisk...the lady at Walmart has helped me retreive my picture for prints...but I can't download on my computer.  The whole thing has been a real learning....expensive lesson about a faulty Disk....now I finally have a new one and I am $48.00 poorer.

Home Again

We had a wonderful day at the Merk Reunion. It was in Atlantic Iowa and this was the 69th year it was held. I first attended this runion when I was in grade school...we drove down to West Plains and picked up my Grandpa Merk...then drove all the way up to Iowa. We stayed with one of Grandpa's brothers in DesMoines. What a fun, fun day. This reunion is always held on the 3rd Sunday in August...sure wish that long ago we had set up a reunion for all of us. The one in pink is from my Grandpa's generation... Grandpa was the oldest of 15 and the one in pink was married to the youngest Merk brother. Some are first cousins to my Dad, but most are my generation and we remember playing as young kids. My Dad's Uncle Joe used to take many of us over to the skating rink in town....fun, fun memories.

The Boys

Finally I have been able to upload pictures...my scandisk for my camera had some little button that went into a position that would not allow me to download. I took these pictures yesterday so that I will have something to take to the Merk Reunion tomorrow up it Iowa. Hope you all are having a great weekend!

Cindy getting her room ready....

I worked with Cindy all day getting her room ready.  She was always such a trooper to help me put up my bulletin boards...turn around is fair play.
I have really been dieting since April 1st...I'm tickled to say that I did reach a mild goal today...I am down 40 pounds...still have 35 to go.  Boy it sure is easier to put it on  than to take it off!
My Mom used to say that I took after Grandpa Powell's side of the family...really use to make me mad as a kid....my Mom and Aunt Winnie were always so skinny....too bad I never will be tall or skinny.

Yeah....rain!!

We had a major downfall of rain....we were out with the boys buying them shoes for school.. The lights went down to emergency lights in Sport's Authority.  Glad for the rain...hated that it scared the boys so much.  We were in a building with a tin roof...I kids just can't get Joplin completely out of their minds.

Scout Camp

Sam and his Dad leave for Scout camp tomorrow and will be home on Saturday.  I sure hope we have a little, at least, break in the weather so that they can enjoy some of the activities.  We are suppose to have rain tonight and in the morning....they have been so wrong for so long.
I saw today that the heat index  in Little Rock was 122 degrees today.  I sure hope you are all doing as well as can be expected.
We are trying to find a little window to go to the camper.  It is just too hot to go to the tin box!

Really.... STUPID

I think the elected officials in Washinton are really STUPID

Hold the Press!!!!

Holy Toledo.....we had seven drops of rain this morning.  It was all black outside at 7 AM...I drove up to Cindy's to take care of their dog.  The kids are at Branson for the weekend.
It was so dark that I almost thought we were under severe storm warnings....nothing on the news.  Then, low and behold...the whole thing cleared in 10 minutes...maybe we got 6 or 7 drops.   Yippee Skippee.
Got the funniest email today about politics...
All the politicians (represented as birds shitting) looking down off the branches only see shitheads, people looking up at politicians...only see a..holes.  Prefect discriptiong of Washington!

Grandkids

We have had the grandkids a lot the last week....today I went with Cindy and we took Sam to a new specialist at Children's Mercy.  One of the major things that Autistic kids deal with is colon problems.  We were there from 1:15 until 5:00.  Sam was really good and we think we learned a lot today.  He had his first blood test...so we will wait until this Friday to probably hear the results.  We really are not concerned about the lab work...but it's always good to hear the test results.
When we drove home at 5:00...the bank thermometer said 104 degrees....come on heat relief!!!!

Hot, Hot.....Hott!!!

I know we are no hotter than the rest of you....but, it too hot!  We really don't even want to go outside...so, that is one thing to be really happy about....BEING RETIRED!
The boys will be here all day tomorrow and we are taking them to a play on Thurs...."The Wiz" and then going to play in the fountains.  We hope to go swimming tomorrow, but it is actually suppose to rain all day....I will try to send along some pictures of the boys.
Let's see....reading the funny papers!

Been really busy this week...

I sure wish I had more to show for all the work I have completed....some of the house looks good and cleas....the rest sure needs it's turn.
We have been doing some car shopping...I think I'm going to get rid of the Bug and get a bigger car for traveling....we'll see.  Hope you have a fantastic weekend...

Yippee Skippee

I think I have my blog fixed.....hope this all comes through

Happy Weekend...

Wow...is it ever starting out hot early this morning. We have been blessed with kind of moderate temperatures up until today.....but, the heat wave of 100 has arrived for the weekend.

We decided to stay home because of the heat...but we do have some inside plans made for the weekend.

Some how I got my arm twisted to teach our Sunday School class this weekend. I said to several that I really had not thought of a topic....I could go with the topic "Cancer Does not Have Me" and I actually got kind of emotional and thought that maybe that was not the best topic for me...so, another friend suggested patriotic....so....I'm going with "Made in America"....obviously I won't be talking about Walmart anymore.

Hope your weekend is fantastic and thanks for the time you all spend with your blogs...I read

Damn Yankees

Hi all....just got back in town late last night. On this last trip we went to Arrow Rock Missouri and went to the theatre with a group of my friends and we saw "Damn Yankees"...it was absolutely awesome!

Weather wise...it has been absolutely beautiful for the last 4 days...yippee skippee!

Sam was with his mom and myself last week and he asked what a coursett is....Cindy told him that it was something that women wore under their dresses in the 18th Century. Instead of a bra and panties...this is what women wore. He said, "I don't understand why it keeps coming up in my game." (he has a handheld game)....Finally I ask him to spell it for me...he spelled course set. Cindy and I were laughing so hard...it was hard to blend into traffic on the highway.

Good Results...

I t was wonderful for the Dr. to say I do not have to come back for 6 months....I have been on a 3 month visitation for a year....it is such a relief to get good news about this ole "stinky" cancer...Yippee Skippee!

Putting one foot....

Just putting one foot in front of the other.....busy stuff to do. Today we are going to the lawyer and finally drawing up new wills. Cindy made the comment that our wills were so old that they still stated that if something should happen to Mike and I...she and Paul were left to the care of Jim and Barb.
So...today we are drawing up new Heath Directives and Durable Power of Attorney's. We also got all our titles changed to what they call a TOD (transfer on death) and our bank accounts changed to POD (pass on death)...we are just trying to avoid that pesky old Probate Court for the kids and make things easier. There certainly isn't that much stuff to be left, but we want to avoid them having to pay a certain percentage to the State. In Florida, they don't have Probate....very interesting..

Home

We are home safe and sound. We had a big weekend with all the kids down at Bennett...our camper and Paul's. It was a money pit weekend for us...leak and awning broke in the wind and rain.

Kansas City Weather

Wow...what a weird weather day today. We are all safe, but I was up in St.Joseph for a funeral and Mike called as said to stay put for awhile. We watched carefully and came home without incident. Lot's of folks spent alot of time in the basements...it did hit in Sedalia...hope you all are not blowing away.