CHANGING AGAIN

I am in Arlington at my sister's house. I am on my way to Lubbock and stopped here to get my sister. We found out, when I was in Huntsville, that probably now daddy will not have surgery until Thursday or Friday. The doctor wants to give daddy some more steroid injections to decrease the swelling in the neck. My mother also said that the carotid artery that caused daddy an anuersym many years ago was blocked again. The doppler came back okay and the heart doctor gave the okay for surgery. But I am not sure about the artery. Mother said the doctor mentioned he would have to be very careful and work around that. So.....not sure what that means.

Needless to say, we covet prayers for my family at this time. I am praying that daddy does well in surgery and that the surgery will be soon, if they are going to do it. My sister and I are going to Lubbock tomorrow and we will come back this way by the weekend. I need to be back at home by Sunday, so I can return the car I am driving.

Thank you, Lord for working for a car dealership. A perk is getting to use a car that uses less gas than my big ole van. But, I also know that I need to get the car back so they can sell it. I am driving a VW Jetta. Not a bad little car to drive.

Again, thank you for your prayers for my family and I will try to keep you in touch by way of my blog. It may be this weekend before I can update since my parents don't have a computer. I'm not sure when I will be at a computer again. The prayer should be for the best for my dad. Thanks again.

CHANGING TIMES

Well, it looks like I may be headed to Lubbock tomorrow. Dad had to go to the ER today. He could not walk and when he talked with the doc he suggested they go to the ER. I talked with mom when they put him in a room. The PA says they will do surgery tomorrow night or Wednesday night. Wow! That is quick, but so much better than the week of Thanksgiving!

Thank you for your prayers for my dad. I know you will be praying for them. Dad is 82 and has heart problems. They did a doppler this afternoon and that should be a clue as to whether they can do the surgery or not. Mom also said they were taking him to surgery to do a steroid injection tonight. Not sure what that is about, but probably wanting to see if they can delay the surgery. We will see. I will probably leave sometime tomorrow and go to Dallas and get my sister and then we will head to Lubbock.

I am having a flu shot in the morning and I don't want to not get that. I need that! So......I may be hurrying to get out of town tomorrow. But now is so much better than in a couple of weeks. I can then be home by the weekend and have a good two weeks to get ready for my company. I am sorry my dad is having this much trouble. I still am anxious about the surgery, not sure that surgery will be the answer, but I am here and they are there and I have to trust they know what they are doing. I am sorry he is having so much trouble.

Again, please keep my parents in your prayers. This is such a problem when you live 12 hours away from aging parents. Wish I were closer. But for whatever reason, we are still here, even after three years of prayers to be closer to my family. (My family, at least kids, moved here). I am closer to my kids but not my parents and they are alone in Lubbock. Thank you for the church family there as they minister to them.

PROGRESS!

I have made progress. This weekend I was able to clean the garage, move the old freezer and move the weight bench out of the extra room. I need to get going this morning and now clean the bedrooms.

Yes, the kids moved back to their apartment. It was really quiet at our house this weekend. But we did have some quiet time for Tollie and I on Friday night and enjoyed being alone! But I do miss those little kisses and hugs from the girls. Ashton was so adamant that they were back in their apartment. I think it is best for them that they be home with their things and have their own space. They are such little troopers.

I will continue to clean and get the house ready for our company. Only 2 1/2 weeks until Thanksgiving and our house will be full and full of love. I am so looking forward to it. It will be such a blast. We will wish it were not over so quickly, I know.

I don't have a lot of time today as I need to get the vaccum out and start cleaning the floors. Have a great day. Hope everyone is feeling better! I certainly am.

BEING TAGGED

Several in the blog world are tagging others to see what their 23 post had to say and especially the 5th sentence in that post. Supposedly, it has deep meaning. Here is my sentence:

First, I am so tired. I just want to sleep.

Yep, I guess that could sum up the bigger portion of my life! I do feel tired a lot. In fact, I use to feel so tired I wanted to sleep all the time and then I finally realized I was depressed and took "happy pills" for a while. But, now I am not taking anything! Back in the summer I went to my family doctor and the PA put me on a cholesterol lowering drug and I didn't like the way it made me feel. She tried some other medications, two different ones and each one made me feel wierd. So......back in September, I went off everything. I don't take vitamins, no glucosamine-chondroitin and certainly no cholesterol medication. I read somewhere that taking the glucosamine-chondroitin can raise your cholesterol. So I figured if I stopped taking it, then I wouldn't need the cholesterol medication any more. And.......if I don't go back to the doctor then I won't know if my cholesterol is lowered or not! I think is a form of sleeping?!? Just ignorance is bliss? Out of sight, out of mind? Of course my mind is out there anyway. Sort of broke!

So, maybe there is deep meaning in my sentence. I am asleep, so be sure you don't wake me when you come by to read and comment!

TODAY MAY BE THE DAY!

Today is Friday! Friday is the last day of this week, well almost anyway. Saturday is the last day and it is a work day for me and mine.

It looks like the kids apartment may be ready at last! This may be the last day they are here, or maybe tomorrow. I think they like being here, of which I am glad. I am glad my home is such that people can come and stay and enjoy themselves. But there comes a time when I need my house back! Okay, okay, I know I could kick them out and say enough already! But I want them here! I love having my grandkids come in and kiss me good morning and say "have a nice day!" I love that Emma came to me crying this morning and just needed a hug. I love having them here!

But in the greater scheme of things, I need my house back. I need to get started cleaning and getting ready for company. I have deep cleaning to do in both rooms that are occupied. Today will be cleaning in the garage and outdoors. Tomorrow will be cleaning in the bathroom, changing out faucets. We have a problem with the faucets in the front bathroom. So....I have purchased new faucets and hopefully, they will improve the function. I need to clean the closet in there and the shower and tub and especially the floor. I need to clean my own bathroom.

I think it is funny how that as we live and do our everyday things, the room can get filthy around us and it seems to creep up on me. I know I should do somethings every day, some every week but sometimes it is several weeks before I get around to it. And then when something like Rita comes along, it may be more than several weeks! So......I have a lot to do.

I have only about two and half weeks before Thanksgiving! I spent time Wednesday looking at tile for my kitchen. I think insurance is going to pay for our kitchen damage from Rita afterall. We spoke with our agent and he agreed that it should be paid for. Our deductible is large, but it should be enough to finish out our deductible and still get some cash to do the job. I have to get our receipts copied and faxed to them. I don't want to be greedy but I do want to get what is coming to me from insurance. Afterall, I have been paying into Farmers for 35 years and have only had a few claims in all that time. This is ligitimate damage and they should pay us for the damage.

I found a pretty porcelain tile. Wouldn't you know it is more expensive than ceramic! But it is so pretty and goes well with the laminate flooring in the den. It will allow us to replace the kitchen and still have continunity into the den. I think it will make a good flow. Tollie is even talking of replacing the carpet in the hall and bedrooms. That would be great, but I don't want to use all of our funds up. It has been nice to have surplus these last few weeks. We need to keep it that way. You never know what may come up!

I spent some time yesterday getting recipes off the internet to make bar cookies. I want to make up some batches this weekend and get ready for my Christmas baskets. I think this year, instead of doing several things, I am just going to make all kids of different bar cookies. I think it will be fun to try different types and variations and then make a basket of them. You see, every year I make up baskets for those people at work. I have done this for several years and now I can't not do it. Mr. R would be so disappointed if I didn't do it. He looks forward to it every year. I have always, in the past, made a loaf of homemade bread and then added some homemade pear jelly to it. But this year, I think I will do something different and make the various cookies. It will be fun to see how many different types of cookies!

Have a great weekend. I plan to work, work, and work some more and get ready! The holidays will be here before we know it.

PS Haven't heard from my dad, yet. He should get the package today or tomorrow, hopefully!

TRIBUTE!

I want to write a tribute to my husband. He is the greatest and I love him so very much. It seems lately, I have not taken the time to really let him know how much he means to me. We had so much going on and it will only get worse during the holidays.

So......this is to say that I love my man more than words can describe. I know he is great and I can't explain to you here how he makes me feel and how proud I am to be his wife! One of the best things about my Tollie is that others respect him so much. I work part-time at the same place Tollie has worked for 28 years. I have a great time at work, mainly because I am respected and valued, only because they value and respect Tollie so much. This has to be the reason because it started that way, even before they really knew me!

I thank God every day for Tollie and look forward to many more years of marriage and happiness and joy and fun with him. We have been married 35 years as of last June. We have been through many difficulties and much more happiness. And through it all, we find strength in each other after we follow our Lord's lead. I think that is one great thing about us, we have the Lord in our lives and we both look to Him for guidance and that makes it easier to deal with anything.

Tollie was and is a wonderful dad. I say was and is because his dad days have changed since our girls are grown. He was a wonderful dad in that he was involved with the girls. He made every effort to talk with them and be there for them and love them. He was not afraid to make them cry or laugh! He had their best interest at heart and made sure they knew the Lord and what he had done for him. The girls love their dad and he is special in a lot of ways. When our oldest got married, she made sure and mouthed "I love you, daddy" into the video camera set up at the front. Her dad cherishes this moment. Of course, it was a surprise to him and he loved it! There is a specialness with both girls and I thank God that he has been an example of what true love is and a mentor for a good marriage. I think my daughter has chosen wisely for her mate. We think of Paul as our son, not our son-in-law. And our other daughter will choose wisely as well. We have been concerned about some of her choices for boyfriends at times, but she has a good one now. So we have confidence she will find that right mate. One of the things their dad always told the girls is, "look for the right mate but more importantly, be the right mate." I think that shows a lot of wisdom on his part. That shows the kind of dad he is.

Tollie has always had a heart of compassion for those less fortunate. He is a hard worker and really loves what he does at work. He is a hero at work so much of the time, (when he fixes a computer, they all love him) and he is my hero all the time.

If you don't know Tollie, you should meet him and get to know him. He is special and I am thankful he is mine and I am his. We are one and I look forward to the rest of our lives together and in love and peace with each other. Come grow old with me, the best is yet to be!!!!

ANTICIPATION!

I am counting the days for Thanksgiving. I was told once that if you look too much to the future, you lose the days of the present. I guess that could be true, but I am so looking forward to Thanksgiving and I don't want anything to get in the way.

So.....I am a little ticked at my dad for scheduling his surgery for the Monday before Thanksgiving!!!! I know he is having trouble and wants to get it done as soon as possible, but I think in all this I am mainly concerned that he is having this type of surgery to begin with. He believes he is going to live forever and is so determined to do whatever to get him to that point!

My dad has had some recent problems with cervical neck herniation. It started only a few months ago and when he saw a neurosurgeon, he immediately wanted to do surgery. Of course, he told him it was no hurry and it was an elective surgery! I told my sister I would like to check and see if the doc has just bought a new Mercedes or something! As far as I know, no other modalities have been tried. So why the hurry to do surger? It will be a three hour surgery, complicated with metal plates, screws, cages and done posteriorly, which I understand is not usually done, at least according to the articles I have read. He will have a long recovery time. He will have to wear a neck collar for some time and it could take up to six months for full recovery and again, according to the articles I have read, will never be the same. When you fuse the spine, it is never "like it was." My dad is 82 years old! The biggest thing is he is in no pain! He has some numbness and tingling in his arms and hands. And he is having a little trouble walking from a dragging foot. Those are his symptoms!

So.....I ask for prayers for my dad. I ask for prayers of wisdom and an open mind to other solutions to try. I ask for prayers for my mom who is there to take care of him. I ask for prayers for my sister, who just broke her ankle and is now on crutches. She plans to be there for the surgery, but is unsure at this point. I ask for prayers for me. I have given mother and daddy a choice of my being there for the surgery, coming in one day and leaving the day after the surgery or coming a week later and spending the week to help them out. It is in their hands. But I have told them, I will be home on Wednesday before Thanksgiving!

How cold and hard you say? Well, my daughter's boyfriend is coming for Thanksgiving and is bringing his mother. We have never met and I am so anxious to visit with her. We have e-mailed and I know we will be friends immediately! The Lewis', Lavonne, Trent, Mindy, the kids and g-kids and us! A houseful, but a house full of love and laughter and games and enjoyment. I have pictured it for so long and especially after Rita came through and we wondered if it would even take place. Now......I am counting the days in anticipation of a fun time.

TRICK OR TREAT!?!

I find it amusing that my kids did not want their kids to have anything to do with Halloween when they were first married and first parenting days! But now, they still don't like Halloween but are in the trenches. Actually, my son-in-law Paul is in the trenches mainly because he is a youth minister and has those responsibilities. So.......our congregation is doing a Trunk or Treat. This is where members of the church decorate the trunks of their car and the kids then go around and do the trick or treating thing from these trunks. It is a safe environment that allows for the experiences without the trouble or problems associated with Halloween. We are having a chili supper first and then inviting the community to come and participate.

Last evening, Paul and I went canvassing around the neighborhood, passing out flyers annoucing the invitation to the Trunk or Treat. He confessed that he didn't mind doing it and it was the first time he had ever done anything like that. I told him I didn't mind doing it as it was totally harmless, and in fact was a first step in introducing ourselves to the neighborhood. We talked with those jogging and outside during our walk.

I must preface this event with the fact that Paul was very discouraged yesterday. He became the youth minister for our church back in the summer and has been doing an excellent job. But he is very discouraged. He has a small youth group. Really only two kids in the H.S. group and two in the J.H group. There is an additional kid that graduated but has stayed around. The problem he is having is that the kids want to do the fun things, but when it comes to doing the "spiritual" things, like the passing of these flyers, they find excuses to not do it. That is why he and I did the passing out of the flyers. He is discouraged to the point of wanting to go back to teaching and I think if he could would start tomorrow and kiss this experience goodbye!

I have been trying real hard to encourage him to hang in there and concentrate on the younger kids and do what he can. He is limited when he has so few and until we do something to encourage and get young families to visit, it will be hard. Paul has tended to "jump" from one activity to another, which includes jobs as well. I had hoped he would stay with the teaching and I believe he will return there next summer and hopefully stay. They need some stability in their young family. So, I pray for them and Paul's decisions and will try to encourage them as I can.

I am encouraging another young family who is really struggling right now. I walked out in faith a couple of Sundays ago and confronted a young man with his sinful actions in their marriage and told him we needed to talk. His wife and parents did not think he would go through with it, but Tollie and I had dinner with this young family last week and I boldly challenged them both to work, work together and save this family. They have two precious young souls counting on them to make this work and they need to put aside their own wants and desires.

I know there a lot of hurting people and especially young families who need our help, guidance, prayers and mentoring. I pray I am mentoring boldly to help save them. Pray with us as we teach young families in class and work with them each day.

HOME TODAY!

Tollie will be home today. I am ready! He called last night. They were at the lodge at the base of the Chisos mountains in Big Bend, Texas. They usually stay in the desert and camp another night, but they were all tired! So, they went to the lodge, got a room and were able to shower and rest. I am so thankful he is down and okay. I did worry a little about him. As I said in an earlier post, he usually prepares a lot for this trip but this time he prepared litttle. Mainly, he prepared little because of hurricane Rita. We were gone for two weeks and during that two weeks, he was so busy! He worked constantly, getting everything back to normal. I was glad he went on the trip, but I know he would have liked to have had more time to prepare. He is okay. Now the long trip home!

Sunday! My son-in-law is preaching today. It will be a good day!

FINALLY, NO PAIN

Finally, no pain when I swollow this morning. The first in about five days. I guess the antibiotic is working. I did wake during the night and had a bad sore throat on the right side and my right ear was really hurting. I finally go some saline spray and poured it down the right nostril and then turned my head to the right. I could feel the saline going down the eustacheon tube and it felt warm going into the ear. I think that is why things are better this morning. It really helped.

It is funny the things you remember. There are so many things I don't remember from my childhood, even my children's childhoods. But this I do remember. When Mindy was a baby, she had lots of ear problems. She did not like being in crowds. I mean this was when she was about two weeks old. I would be nursing her and if I talked to someone else in a normal voice, she would cry out. And if we were in a large crowd, like at church, or her baby shower!, she cried a lot. My mother finally took her to the back room and rocked her at the baby shower. She just didn't like a lot of noise. Later she had to have tubes in her ears and that helped a lot.

But her pediatrician told me to put nose drops in her nostril and rotate her head to that side and back just a little. It would help open up her ears. I have remembered this. I don't use nasal sprays much because you can get so addicted to them and messed up with them. But I do use saline spray and it really helps. I think that is one of the reason I have been sick much. For about a year, I used saline spray every night before I went to bed. I has really changed how I am able to not cough and get a dry spot in my throat that would make me cough and gag. I don't really know how to explain it, but it has helped it.

The kids are still here. Emma was sick with a stomach virus last night. So the Goebel's are all reeling from little sleep. I just hope none of the others of us get it! She is better this morning but still complaining of some nausea. Jamie said there is a lot of stomach virus going around at her school.

I didn't sleep well last night. I couldn't get to sleep. Once I got there, it was better, but I will really be glad to have Tollie back. I just hope he is enjoying his hike and doing okay.

Have a great weekend. The weather should be good here. We are suppose to get some rain on Monday night and Tuesday and I hope so, because we really need it.

FEELING BETTER?

Well, I think I am feeling better. I went to bed last night with a sore throat on the right side. The left is doing much better. That tonsil is about the normal size, but the right side tonsil is still quite swollen and sore. It still hurts to swollow and my right ear has been hurting, especially last night.

But all in all, this morning I am feeling better. I think I have more energy and I feel hungry today. I was hoping I wouldn't want to eat for a while and maybe shed some of these pounds, but we will see.

Not much to report other than that. Just counting days to Thanksgiving when we will have a houseful of company and laughter will abound. Looking forward to happy days.

I am so thankful for the company Tollie and I work for. They were very gracious during the hurricane and took good care of us. They paid us for the two weeks we were off. I usually don't get paid if I don't work. I am hourly but they estimated my pay and paid me anyway. Then to top it off, I had extra hours from the previous time sheet and they gave those to me in addition! I wrote Mr. Ruddy a thank you note and I received a really sweet e-mail in return.

Yesterday, Tollie came in from work and he had received extra kudos for working during the two weeks of evacuation. Like I said, they are great people to work with and I am proud to say that I work for them. They are special people. Tollie has been with them for about 28 years and you now know why! God has certainly blessed us in this area of our lives, as well as other areas.

Have a great Friday!

Tonsillitis?!?

It started Monday evening when I noticed that my throat was a little dry and I had a lot of sinus drainage. I took some Loratadine, Claritin if you will, and went to bed. I was surprised when I woke during the night and found I was sore and hurting all over!

On Tuesday, I got up and took my shower to get ready for work. I made it to work, but I was moving slow. My skin hurt! Have you every felt bad where your skin hurt? My did and it didn't matter whether I touched it or not, it was so sensitive that even clothes touching was painful! I knew I didn't feel well, but thought it was the cold front pushing through another something that I might be allergic to and just stirred up my sinuses. We had an appointment with the insurance agent concerning our adjuster's estimate about 2:00 pm. I told them at work that I thought I would just go home after that and rest. I really was not feeling great and thought a nap would make things better.

I found that I just sat all afternoon and was cold most of the day! Now that is really unusual for me. I mean we are talking about someone who has a window unit A/C above her head all the time running. I mean all the time, even in the dead of winter. I sleep very warmly and can't stand to wake during the night sweating under the covers because I got to hot! Well, when I went to bed Tuesday night, I didn't even turn on the unit. That was something real different for me. And then during the night, I would get up to pee and come back to bed shivering! So......much to Tollie's delight I cuddled with him. He is a cuddler and because I sleep so hot, I don't like to cuddle. But cuddle I did that night and found when I got warm, the aching stopped in my bones.

I woke Wednesday morning, after Tollie had left for work, to a ringing doorbell. I jumped up to see who was there. It was my son-in-law. He needed some socks before he went to work. Remember, my kids have been staying with us until their apartment is ready. Maybe this week!?! Anyway, I let him in and told him I didn't feel well and went to take a hot shower. I realized right away, my neck was swollen in all the glands and I could hardly turn my head. It hurt every time I swollowed. After my shower, I got the flashlight and took a look. EWUUU! My tonsils were swollen and had white spots all over them. This was de javu! I use to have that happen when I was kid. But never in succession enough to have them out. I remember my mother taking and "painting" merthiolate on them. That was probably putting mercury poison in my system, but who knew then! Anyway a quick call to the doctor.

Well, my regular doctor was in today. He is semi-retired and I never can remember the days he is in and those he is out! But he had not appointments. Would I be interested in seeing another doctor or even a nurse practioner? Certainly. I will see the janitor if he has a key to the medicine closet! Would it be alright to go to another location? Sure! So four hours later I was seeing a nurse practioner.

SETMA ~ Southeast Texas Medical Associates. They are a monster of a machine! I mean they have four known locations to me and employee hundreds. They probably employ more than the local hospital! The amazing thing about them is that they are paperless. You see I can go to another location because all my history is on the computer. They don't need my chart! Although when I walked in the office to face a room full of people and a long desk with a choice of about eight clip boards to sign in on, I did wonder why they had shelves of charts in the back!

I finally found the correct sign in board and signed in, noticing that only four people were ahead of me and their names were highlighted. Hopefully, they were all on their way to the pharmacy or some testing to be done! However, I was willing to wait and wait, I just need some drugs! After a very few minutes my name was called. I paid my co-pay and sat back down. In another fewer minutes, my name was called. I found the young lady at the front door. Where was she taking me? Oh, across the hall to another suite of exam rooms! I told you they are a monster of a machine. She got my info on how I was feeling and said someone would be right with me. Sure enough, the nurse practioner came in after about four minutes. Wow! That is better than any doctor! She got the repeated info and then asked to exam me. She looked in my ears and then asked me to open my mouth. I obliged to a resounding Whoa! You do have a problem! Yes.....I thought that was why I was here!?!

She began to tell me I need a flu shot but not now while I was sick. She wanted me to gargle with salt water twice a day. Oh, I like her. She uses them ole home remedies. She proceeded to tell me to take Advil, not the generic, but Advil. It would help with the pain and swelling. She asked if I was allergic to anything and I could tell by my response the wheels stopped turning. Yes, I am allergic to penicillin and Ceclor. Oh my! Those are the two best things to treat this with. So.....she pulled a trusty little devise from her pocket and said, "let's see what Stanford has to say about this." She punched the screen several times and then asked if I had ever taken Biaxin. Yes! I had. I think it was for a urinary infection or tooth infection, can't really remember which. That is what she would prescribe. She wanted to give me a shot but the only injections she had was for the things I couldn't take. She said she was do a culture for documentation but that she would be treating me the same with or without it. I didn't think it was necessary. We both had seen my "kissing" tonsils and knew there was infection. Why have a culture to tell us the same?

I left in a few minutes with a prescription and assurance that I would call if I did not start to feel better in the next few days and that I would call tomorrow if I needed something for pain. So off to the pharmacy to get my drugs. It would be a while before they could fill it so I went home and asked Tollie to go after work to pick it up.

This morning, I do feel somewhat better. I still have swollen tonsils, especially the right side. But I am not cold anymore and even slept with the A/C unit on last night. Of course, when it is cold outside, it only blows air, not cold air. So I slept pretty good. Only waking once with a really bad sore throat and took some more Excedrin because it had worked so well earlier and went back to sleep. I am up, showered and dressed, wondering if Tollie made it Uvalde okay.

Tollie left last night about midnight to start his backpacking journey. He offered to call it off to stay home with me, but I assured him I would be alright with him gone. I do have my drugs and I can sleep without any one here.

BIG BEND TIME

This is the time for my husband and his friends to go backpacking in the Big Bend. I think it is a guy thing. They drive hours and I mean hours to arrive a the Chisos Basin. They will leave at midnight tonight and arrive there sometime early Thursday morning. I think it takes about ten hours to get there. It is about 673 miles from here to there. They plan to camp in the desert on Thursday night and then hike up the mountain on Friday. They will camp in the mountains on Friday night and hike back down on Saturday. Spend the night again in the desert and then head home on Sunday. They will arrive back home about 8:00 pm.

All this travel to hike up a mountain peak. Like I said, it must be a guy thing. Now I can see going that distance to attend a flea market or some flower show or craft sale! But to climb a mountain? I just know that Tollie enjoys this time and is ready every year to go. It will be cold this year. It is suppose to be in the 40's at night and he will be cold. The daytime temp will be up in the 70's so that will be good. I just hope he doesn't push it too much. The other two guys he is going with go every year and they are little more physically fit. Tollie ususally spends time walking around the neighborhood with his back pack to prepare for the trip. Because of hurricane Rita, he could not do that and I don't think he is as much prepared as usual.

*************

We had an appointment with our insurance agent yesterday. He had pulled our file and had received the same estimate the adjuster had given us. He already had some questions and had already called to find out about some stuff. He is asking for another adjuster and he said he thought the kitchen floor should be paid for as well. He also thought the food in the refrigerator and even maybe the living expenses we had while evacuated. So he is checking on those things and we should hear from another adjuster in a couple of days. I just want them to pay for the kitchen floor, or at least to count it in the estimate toward the deductible and then maybe we will get something.

We both has said as time goes by, we don't notice the floor as much as we did. So......we may not do anything but if they will pay for the kitchen floor, we will probably put down tile and then try our very best to have the laminate in the den replaced by the good stuff in the kitchen. They say it is not possible, but I think it could be done. It would have to be done a certain way and very delicately but we will have to see. I certainly plan to tile the laundry room.

I think I am cleaning out the garage today. That is if I feel okay to do that. I have not felt well the last couple of days. My throat has hurt and my ears have hurt. I know it is sinus stuff brought on by the cold front, but I think I ran fever the last two nights. I am never cold and I have been shivering when I get out of bed. So....hopefully, I am feeling better. At least I am not shivering this morning!

Thanksgiving is coming and I am counting the days. We are having lots of company and I want to enjoy all that to the fullest. Have a great day and count your blessings!

RECOVERY

Things are beginning to get back to normal and about the time we think they are back, we find something unusual. After work on Friday we made a few stops for errands and then as we were heading home I told Tollie I wanted to run into Walmart. Mind you, this is a 24 hour Super Walmart. As we came near the store, we realized there were no cars in the parking lot. They had closed at 6 pm!

Then Saturday, Jamie need to run to Walmart and I went with her. We arrived about 5:45 and had to wait in line to get in the door. They let us in about 5:55 and we were able to shop and get what we needed, only because the lines in the checkout were out into the store in every line open. Waiting for them to thin down, we were able to make our selections and then head to the checkout line where we still had to wait. It is unreal!

I wonder where all the people are coming from and yet everywhere you turn, businesses are asking for employees. It seems not everyone has returned to Beaumont, yet there are so many cars and people here. At first I thought it was from the line workers and tree workers, but they would be driving their trucks, and this is just car traffic! So, I'm not sure what the deal is or what is happening but it is no fun to run errands in a short amount of time. You have to make plans for everything to take longer then it use to.....which includes eating out. There is always a wait on sitting and everything just takes longer.

But I do believe things are getting back to normal. We seem to be getting back into a routine. Our routine is not yet normal simply because we still have our kids living with us. Their apartment is almost finished and probably they will be going back to their apartment this week. It will be quiet here when they leave. I love having the little girls come to our room every morning and give us a hug and kiss. Ashton wakes me up with a nose to nose kiss if I am still asleep when she comes in. She is so soft and gentle and happy!

Tollie leaves for Big Bend this week also. So......I may be here by myself the latter part of the week! That will be different, but it could be soothing at the same time. I think we have all be dealing with post traumatic syndrome. Not the kind where people are having to seek help, but a mild form of it where you just feel tired and emotional. This has been an emotional ride for all of us. I am thankful we had no more damage than we had, but what we have we are having to fix and I think we had assumed since it has been so long, we were immune to such devastation. It was a shock to see all the damage and now our landscape everywhere has changed. I really need to work in the yard and do some different things because I have always had so much shade and all my plants were planted with that in mind. Now......I have sun, full sun for much of the day. At least my plants will be able to adjust with the winter sun and not the summer sun. That will help. It will be interesting to see who all this comes up in the future.

Have a great week. I plan to.

TOMORROW IS FRIDAY

Tomorrow is Friday and usually that is just another one of my days to spend at home, doing what I need to do and sometimes what I want to do. Tomorrow though is the end of a very busy week. I have been putting on different work hats. That on top of the post traumatic stress syndrome we all seem to have.

Last night, Tollie and I both came home and thought we would rest our eyes for just a few minutes before going to Bible class. Wrong! An hour and a half later we awoke with a start realizing we had slept hard and class had already started.......without us. Then when the kids got here, they were all beat as well. It just seems we all are tired and emotional and I think it is still a residual from Rita. She packed a punch and we are still reeling.

So....tomorrow I will work in parts and sell parts all day. Hopefully, the regular parts person will be back and in full swing by Monday. (She is in jepoardy of losing her job if she does not come back soon!) I don't mind filling in for her, but I realize how very tired I am when working there. It is also brain tired because I am having to remember so many things from so long ago! Actually, it was only about two years ago, but seems a lifetime.

I realize also how much I enjoy my part-time job and how stress free it is and fun. So.....even though Fred indicated he may want me to take my old job back, I want to continue doing what I am doing and enjoying it.

How about you? Do you enjoy your job, and why?

THE WORDS

Last night, my youngest daughter called me and asked for my advice! Wow! What a great feeling that was! You have to understand this is the same child that didn't want anything to do with her parents when she was in high school. That is probably an exageration but you get the picture. So this was a moment. A moment when I had her undivided attention and because she wanted me to share my thoughts with her. It was also a very sobering moment. A moment in time when what I said could have potential bad outcome or good outcome.

The best part of it all was the realization that my parenting days have not ended. I know when she went off to college and the other daughter married and has a family of her own, I felt somewhat lost. It seemed everyone had a job, but me. My job had ended. I knew in my head that my job never ends, but in my heart, I felt lonely and sad. I needed to be needed. Even though we had our troubles when Mindy was in high school, she was still home and needed me. I knew and she knew it. But when she went off to college and she grew up, all of the sudden my job was over, or at least it felt over for a time.

So you see why it was important for me last night to connect with her. I am so proud of Mindy. Actually, I am so very proud of both my girls. My oldest daughter is a school nurse and is the best mother of two precious girls. Her choice in a mate is wonderful and we love Paul like a son, not a son-in-law. And then there is Mindy. She is so beautiful and poised and mature. She has a heart for God and people. I love to hear her talk of her studies and what she is learning and how she plans for the future to help those who can't seem to help themselves. She is beautiful in and out. She has plans, but the wonderful part is she relies totally on the Lord. She is moving to Missouri in January and although she has made some connections for looking for a place to live, that is still up in the air. I worry how she is going to make it and where she will live. She has every confidence in the Lord that it will all work out and be great. I love that about her. She knows whose she is and I am thankful she has the father to place her confidence in.

So.......the words, "mother, I need your advice...." have a special place in my heart today as I rehearse the words we spoke and the advice that I gave her. She is special and I love her. Thank you God for my special girls......all of them!

INSURANCE!!!!

Well, our insurance adjuster was just here. We have minimal damage. And the insurance coverage does not cover our kitchen floor, because it was a power outage not within the confines of our home. In other words, the power outage was caused by outside causes, not our lines. Go figure! I thought that would be covered, but any way, since it is not covered, then our freezer, the floor in the laundry room, the kitchen floor are not covered. The food was covered but we have a large deductible and it was only about 350.00 worth of food lost. We did have minimal damage on the roof, not much, just the northeast corner and she marked that. We had fences down and they cover that with the wind damage coverage we have, but again due to our deductible, no coverage.

So....the bottom line, we didn't have enough damage to go over our deductible. I guess that is good news and bad news at the same time. I was so hoping to have enough to cover the floor, at least. We will live with it, but it is damaged. Tollie says we will get an estimate and see what it will cost to replace those pieces. We have been told you can pop out the laminate flooring and replace them, with the right person doing it. So we will see about that.

Rita left a lot of damage in a lot of homes and I should feel very thankful and lucky that we have no more damage than we have. I guess right now I am feeling a little cheated. Don't ask me why! I really don't know. It is just a feeling and I can't explain it.

Thankfully, we have had money from FEMA and the Red Cross and that will help cover some of this damage. I don't want to be greedy. Actually, the amount we received from them covers the deductible, so if we had had a lot of damage, it would have been great. I am thankful!

Life continues on in Beaumont. We have had a lot of damage and I think you can feel that when you try to find a place to eat out. There are so many restaurants still closed and many running on low staff with minimal menus. They were saying on the news this morning that many employers are struggling in their businesses because people have not returned to their jobs. They are unsure what is causing this, if people are still evacuated or just didn't return. It will be interesting in the next few weeks to see if more return. If they don't return, believe me the jobs are open here. If you need a job, come on down and I think you would be able to get a good job easily.

Our adjuster was saying that Orange really had a lot of damage, but you never heard much about it on the news. She said they never had the military coverage that Beaumont had and yet there was no looting going on. I thought that said something good about Orange! I think there are a lot of smaller towns that are in the same boat as Orange. They had major losses but the news didn't cover them. In fact the news is still covering Katrina, even now. I guess it is the storm of the year.

How about those Astros! Yeah, I hope they make it into the World Series. That would be exciting. It was a good game last night. I don't usually watch baseball, but I watched last night and enjoyed it. I think it is more fun to be there, but was a good game. Go Stros!!!!

NEW JOB

I have a new job this week. I went to work yesterday and as you can imagine, all sorts of things are happening. It is still a process of trying to gear up to work and everyone is a little overwhelmed at what has happened and how long it is taking to get things back to normal. I am trying to do whatever needs to be done and just be there for who ever needs me.

The parts person who took my job when I retired is going to be out for two more weeks. It was asked of my boss if I could fill in for her. He made a resounding no because he had already given me a job to do this week. I am the official cook for lunch for the next three days. Wow! Getting paid for what I love to do......cook. I started immediately thinking of the menus and doing a shopping list.

I went yesterday afternoon and got the groceries for the chicken and sausage gumbo for today, the Hot Chicken Salad and hot yeast rolls for tomorrow and the potatoes for the Potatoe soup for Friday. I am excited and my boss certainly is excited.

I have the gumbo stewing in the large pot right as I type this. I can smell it throughout the house. I started the potatoe salad last night and will finish it up in a minute. (I didn't know people ate potatoe salad with their gumbo until recently!) I need to get a fresh lemon pie made. We came home from Rita with one of the lemon trees intact with three large lemons still hanging on and yellow! So....I will make a couple of lemon pies for those few of us lucky enough to eat them. I am feeding about 25 people. It will be a long, but very fun day.

Are you able to get paid for what you love to do? I hope so. Have a great day!

NORMALCY

There is something to be said for normalcy. Even though the kids are staying with us, Jamie is trying to keep the girls on a normal routine, as much as possible. She is getting them up in the morning and getting them to their daycare, even though she is not working yet. Her school should resume next Monday.

I didn't do much yesterday, other than picking up, making my bed and cooking supper and shopping for groceries, which is pretty much what I do on Monday's. So, things are slowly getting back to normal. I know that kids mostly do better on normal routine and it makes sense that probably most of us require normal routine to function well.

Today, I go back to work. It will be interesting to see what that unfolds. I am part-time and my boss is not back to Beaumont, yet. They just got their electricity back yesterday. So, I am going to do my own thing and interview people to find out what their adventure was during this hurricane process. It will be interesting to find out what others did and how they coped and where they went. I will then put together a newsletter to distribute to the company for everyone to see what happened to our "family". I think my boss will like the idea as well.

Life in Beaumont is slowly returning back to normal, as well. A lot of the resturants are opening and trash is picked up today! Yeah! That has been horrible. Every time you walk outside the smell hits you from all the freezer and refrigerator food! That will be a really good thing.

Is is wrong for us to have a normal routine in our spiritual life? I know we can get in a rut in everyday life when we go through the same routine all the time. So, do we get in a rut in our spiritual life as well? It has made me wonder if normalcy in our spiritual life is good or if we need to keep things stirred up to keep our relationships fresh and not so much in a rut. I would like to hear your thoughts. Have a great day, blogworld! I plan to.

HOME AT LAST

Two weeks and two days ago, Rita paid a visit to our home. I left on September 22, thinking it would be my last time to walk out the front door of my home. It is a hard thing to do and I had packed all the things that I thought I could not live without. Pictures, pictures and more pictures. Picture albums, pictures framed taken from the walls. I had packed sentimental items, such as the quilt Tollie's grandmother made for us when we married. The four delicate glass bowls I had found at a flea market that called my name. The girl's baby dolls they had when they were infants. Things that money could not replace, time could not replace and actually it was very little.

The first time we evaucated back in the 1980's, we drove three vehicles piled high with pictures and momentums. Of course there were four of us then so naturally we had more stuff. But this time, it was different. I guess my priorities have changed! I walked through the house for two days trying to decide what to take and what to leave. It was hard and eventually, I just couldn't make any more decisions. I had all that I could handle and it was harder than I ever thought it would be. But at least now I know that my family and the memories we have made mean a lot more than my "stuff". I walked away from my house, really thinking it would not be habital after the storm.

But Rita had other ideas. She moved just enough east to give us her good side. There were still 120 mph sustained winds. I can't even imagine staying in a house with wind that strong! And there was some damage, mostly fences down, power lines down, trees and trees and more trees down but not one shingle was lost from our roof, at least that we can see. We are having it inspected to make sure, but we believe we came out of all this relatively unscathed. We did have some floor damage in the laundry room and the kitchen when the freezer and refrigerator leaked water. We will see what insurance will do about that and the fences and the food we lost.

What have I learned from Rita? Stuff is stuff and the important thing is to know that people are more important than any stuff. I have also learned there are all kinds of people out there. There are some really strange and weird people. I cannot imagine anyone wanting to stay in the midst of such strong, unpredictable weather! I know that I have a lot, God has blessed us immensely and I know that I am not as thankful as I should be. I will leave when another hurricane decides to visit us, no matter the size! It is just not worth the risks of staying and riding out the storm.

I have also learned that being home is really comforting. We were so blessed to be at my sister's house for a few days, worshiping with them on Sunday. They were so gracious to us and it was comforting to be with family. We then went to a lake cabin that really soothed my soul. It was quiet and I could walk in the woods and think and work on my projects and be isolated from all the news. I think that was good.!?! But most of all it made me appreciate Tollie's employer so much. They have taken such good care of us and we are most thankful. I appreciate so much our home and am ready to take better care of it and use more to the service of God. I know I have become lazy and selfish in how I use my time and my home and I want to do better with that.

The kids are with us at this time. Their apartment was damaged by flooding water and they are displaced as they fix it. It is good to have the kids here, especially the grand kids. They are so cute and I love that Ashton climbs in bed with me in the morning and loves on me. They are precious children. Emma is a hoot and I love her strength and laughter.

Thank you God for all that you do for me and my family, the way you have protected us and helped us through this difficult time. Thank you for your love and care with people who have been so good to us. Thank you for our jobs and the people that provide work for us. Thank you, thank you and thank you.