another wednesday!!

i'm glad things have sort of quieted down a bit. we had a b'day party for dad on november 8th and 73 people came. he turned 80 on november 8th. my sister-in-law from missouri and another sister-in-law and brother-in-law and i did the food. we had a wonderful time and was so glad people came for it. i have pictures but have to go through some of them, as me being the photographer, some came out blurry.
we've been traveling a bit, we had the iowa petroluem convention last week. it was in coralville iowa. i went to the coralville mall while bruce was at the show. i had a nice time. it was kind of nice to get away for a bit even if it was overnight.
i'm gearing up to get ready for thanksgiving next week. i told bruce the other day this was all of our week's for appointments. bruce has a couple this week, mom had one yesterday and i have one tomorrow.
my mother-in-law has shingles. she called me last saturday as they were leaving the ER at lutheran hospital. she's been in extreme pain. she calls me just about every day but she's still feeling lousy. she said they weren't going to be here for thanksgiving. we're going to miss them. i think my count right now is 8. that'll be ok. not a whole lot of people but enough to where we're not eating by ourself. i have a fresh turkey ordered from our grocer to pick it up next tuesday. then next wednesday i have to make something to take to seneca tank for their thanksgiving. bruce says i have to eat also, but i probably won't.
i'm still maintaining my weight and staying fit. i do 2.6 miles a day on the treadmill. i have my size 6 jeans on today. i asked bruce a dangerous question today of "do these jeans make me look fat?" he was very diplomatic.
i start swim lessons this next saturday. i'm real excited about it. i don't really care if i could swim in a lake, i just want to learn to be able to swim laps in the community center's pool. i'd love to do that. i'd love not to be so scared of water. penny reminded me of something the other day when we were talking. i can remember we all in a boat and it seemed we were on the mississippi and someone forgot to put the plug in the boat and it all terrified us. i just didn't remember who it was. it was grandpa's cousin Mac McCombs and his family. all of my family is scared of water and bruce swims like a fish. ha! i'll let everyone know how i do after my first lesson.
well, i better close and take care of laundry. i had to change around our closet the other day. since i've lost weight, i told bruce i've become a clothes hog and needed some more closet space, so changed his shirts around and made more room for my clothes. ha!
hope everyone has a blessed thanksgiving! Love to all, Treasa

the days are getting shorter

we walked october 10th for ALs and we had snow on the ground. that's early for Iowa. i am not ready for snow. it's bad enough having the furnace on after having the air on for so long. we're doing ok. bruce has had an inner ear thing going on but he's at work and i've been piddling around here. i'm getting ready to make some freezer meals for a co-worker of bruce's that has ALS. his wife said during the walk that she would appreciate it. so i have the stuff to make lasagna and to make a tator tot casserole and some chicken enchiladas and try to figure out more stuff as i go along. bruce and i are not good leftover people and i wanted to make stuff that she can thaw out and cook rather than reheat. so it's taken some thought and asking people for ideas and i'm also going to be doing some experimenting with some things.
mom is doing so much better. she's gotten off of the narcotic pain pills and she's so much clearer mentally. it's like night and day.
i had a long talk with Uncle Ray yesterday and he is doing good. he was asking me about a Deb Williams which is a cousin of ours. she contacted him on facebook and he had no idea who she was so i explained it and he figured it out. i would do so much better if i didn't spend so much time on facebook. Ha! he's going to be a grandpa anyday now. Mike and Kylie are expecting a little bundle anytime now. we got a cute letter from Kelly's boy, Elijah the other day thanking us for his b'day present.
i had bruce take a package to work yesterday to get it in the mail for my best friend who turned 77 today. it should be there either today or tomorrow. i have to pick up some stamps and take a picture over to mom from elijah. that's all the running i'm doing today. i want to get some stuff accomplished around here.
i was cutting up spaghetti squash to put in the oven to cook then freeze it and i wish i owned a sharp knife. i emailed bruce and told him i'd give one of our great nephews or nieces for a sharp knife.
missy and hammer and jasmine are doing very well. they're all spoiled rotten. jasmine sleeps on my feet every night. i've been having problems sleeping so when i'm restless, she moves. the other night she went in and went to bed without me. better go, have to get lunch started. God Bless, treasa

i love my kitchenaid

and all the attachments. i did 2 bushels of apples yesterday and made applesauce. with the kitchen aid and it's attachments. i just put the grinder on with the fruit and vegetable strainer on there and put the apples in a pot of hot water until soft, brought them to the kitchenaid and ran them through the strainer and the seeds and skins go out one end and the pulp goes through another end. did i mention i love the kitchenaid? that's probably my favorite appliance besides the new stove. love that also. but the kitchenaid and it's little attachments sure make my life so much easier. love that for tomatoes for tomato sauce also. it's a breeze for apples and tomatoes, even pumpkins. so bruce is a happy camper now, we have applesauce in the freezer again. i am making apple butter next. i'll probably do that next week sometime. we're going to minnesota for three days next week and we'll be back tentatively next wednesday so it'll be after that. i took mom to the dr. this morning and she got 2 shots to her knees. she goes back next week for the 2nd series of them and then has one more round of shots the week after that. i was surprised she did it, but she did. i asked a friend for back up just in case we're not back by next thursday if the friend could take her to the dr.
penny and john are on their way to tennessee. i miss her already. i have some plants on the table for her for when she gets back.
i haven't been sleeping too well so the last couple of mornings i've been up at 6 a.m. and walk on the treadmill 2.5 miles and then start my day. i have movies and tv shows downloaded on my IPOD. i have a bunch of episodes of The Deadliest Catch. love that show. but i've been walking 12.5 miles a week on the treadmill.
we're doing a walk for ALS which is Lou Gehrig's disease October 10th in honor of Jeff Hardesty who is a co-worker of Bruce's that has been diagnosed with it and in memory of Elizabeth Coxe who is bruce's mom and she died from ALS when he was 12. it should be a good walk. we're also doing Race for a cure the susan g. komen breast cancer research, that's october 24th i think. we're not racing, we're walking. we walked for hope ministries and we raised $760.00 for them. the event raised $37,000 for them which is wonderful. they rely on no government funding, it's all private donations. it was an awesome experience.
hope everyone is doing ok and well. Take care, Treasa

canning season

i made 13.5 pints of grape jelly today, had to run to mom's and get a can of grape juice and came home and made another batch. i have a bushel of apples in the back of the truck and a lug of peaches on the table. going to make what is called apple pie jam and make some peach jam with them. we haven't picked our apples yet. i'll make apple butter and apple sauce out of those.
tomorrow starts the NFL. i'm so thrilled. i love football. it was exciting to watch the Iowa game last weekend even if they did win by the skin of their teeth. i am not a vikings fan but i'm a Brett Favre fan and hope he does well with the vikings. we root for the packers of course. i have no loyalty because i also root for KC and indianapolis and others.
mom is doing ok. she got 2 cortizone shots to her knees last week. she says it hasn't helped. she went and got a perm today. she has curls.
i haven't talked with uncle ray for a while. i should call him and see what's going on.
it's been so busy around here. friday i'm going to a garage sale that i've been watching for. some ladies always have a garage sale and they have fabric and i plan on being there friday when it opens. i already informed bruce i was going to be there.
penny came up last week and stayed the night and the next day we piddled around. we had fun. she has doctor's appt. up here and then she stops by. we always gab.
we're in south dakota next week. bruce just informed me of this yesterday. we'll be gone tuesday, wednesday and thursday. so guess i have to figure out what i'm wearing and such. we have the south dakota petroluem marketers' convention. i have a crocheted afghan i'm working on with granny squares so will take that. the dogs are being boarded and the kitty will be in the basement.
well, i better go and get busy. my house is a disaster. Love to all, treasa

a quiet sunday

i haven't been here much, between doctor's apointments and getting stuff canned, it's been busy around here. bruce has been helping out at a booth at the fair almost every night and i've been here. i have canned 99 pints of green beans this week and 18 pints of peaches. i have another bushel coming tomorrow of beans. they sure taste better than the store bought canned ones. ick! when it's canning season, the house usually stays the way it is until i get done canning. went to both doctors last week and i got a clean bill of health. my lab work came back kind of screwy but the nurse says when they mess with the thyroid it messes with all your metabolic counts. my cholesterol came back high and some other things were off. i don't eat alot and stay with low fat, low cholesterol diet and exercise monday through friday. so they're going to re-check it in 3 months. i have to hear from them concnerning how many calcium i'm to be taking a day. but i feel good and am glad to be back to doing what i normally do. it's so good to drive and get to the store instead of relying on others.
our garden hasn't produced like i had hoped. i was just out there and our tomatoes are ready to be picked and our corn didn't do anything. we have huge onions though. we have weeds up to my butt and i was out there a few times but think i just gave up as it's a never ending battle between me and the weeds. bruce always plants this huge garden then it seems he's always busy and doesn't get out there as much as both of us should.
uncle ray had a birthday the 19th of august and i called him and wished him a happy birthday. i felt bad thinking i should have had him over for supper of something but maybe this next week after the canning of beans.
mom is doing ok. she still haves alot of pain from her tailbone but she's been getting out a little and has some pool therapy at mercy hospital. she is in a lot of pain after that, but like we both say if you don't use it, you'll lose it.
we haven't gotten the final statement for the surgery. i think i'm scared of that one. we got a statement from the hospital stating they were billing our insurance company $14,000 and some odd change. i was like yikes!!
penny came up last week and while i was stemming beans, she piddled around with my plants and she stayed the night and left the next morning. it was nice seeing her. good thing we have a spare bedroom downstairs. jasmine, our kitty, thinks that room is hers downstairs. ha!
we traveled over to eastern iowa thursday. bruce had a customer to see and we had a nice day trip. neither one of us has been real thrilled about traveling lately. been kind of staying around home. we haven't had the boat out for a while. of course, i was on restriction for 2 weeks. last weekend it was too HOT! now this weekend it was nice temperature wise. yesterday i opened up the house and turned the air off. it was wonderful. don't think it made it to 70 degrees.
we went to the brooks and dunn concert friday night at the state fair. we had a nice time, other than our seats sucked big time. but i was thrilled to be seeing them especially since they announced they were breaking up the act. it was a good concert.
well, i better go. God Bless, Treasa

forgot about the garden

we've had a few tomatoes out of there, which were really good, and we've had a few messes of green beans which we both just ate up. i've picked zucchini out of there and bruce watered the other day. i actually picked green beans by myself the other day. everything looks good. our corn has tasseled. i asked bruce the other day "what happens if the green beans are ready to can and i can't do anything about it?" he said, well, it looks like i'll be canning, won't i? love to all, treasa

still recuperating

got the drain out Monday and was instructed by the doctor to have minimal activity for the next three days. so today is day 2 and this is really hard. i watched movies on the t.v. yesterday all day. i should have cut out my quilts before surgery but didn't think about it. so tomorrow is the last day for the minimal restriction, then i can be up and do more. it does feel good to be able to take a shower though. never take for granted the power of a hot shower and be able to wash your hair. ha! everything is healing nicely. have talked to penny quite a bit. she's doing OK. everything is healing on her well also. the pathology on the nodule was negative. i got told that Monday. I'm quite glad of that news. mom is doing OK. she's had some appointments and i can't drive until next week. so she has either taken herself or she had some friends take her. she did come over last week to see me and i was having a bad day. but we talk on the phone quite a bit.
i think of all these wonderful things while I'm down. i contacted my sil the other day and was talking of having a coxe gathering sometime. i think it's a shame their grand kids hardly know who uncle Bruce and aunt treasa are and the same goes for all the kids here, they hardly know uncle john and aunt Janis. just don't know when it would be. i have to wait until i can actually lift more than 10#. Ha!
Bruce just informed me this morning we have to be in Ohio the end of the month to tour the Kenworth plant. i thought he was joking. but he wasn't. I've never been to Ohio before. so this should be interesting.
i am in the process of making a baby afghan and have some fleece downstairs to cut into quilts. guess I'll cut that Friday so i can work on that this weekend. i need to get them finished anyway because one couple has already had their baby.
the dogs and the kitty are fine. i think they were glad i was home. Bruce said jasmine wouldn't hardly come out while i was in the hospital. hammer doesn't seem to understand why i can't let him on my lap. he has a habit of sometimes getting his feet up by my neck and i don't think that's going to happen right now.
Well, i better go. Take care and God Bless, Treasa

the surgery is over

and done with and everything is now healing. i felt really cruddy yesterday but feel better today. i was supposed to have a drain taken out yesterday but the doctor thought there was too much fluid still. i told bruce when we went in I just gave it to God and if it's God's will that it gets taken out, it will. but it wasn't. so it supposed to come out monday. kind of awkward wearing this drain and hangs down between my boobs all the time. i change this little tube in it every day. i plan on getting in the tub in a bit and getting cleaned up. that will feel so good. bruce has been taking very good care of me. we have a friend that's an RN and she stayed with me for the last 2 days. bruce had appointments thursday for him and then friday he worked. i can't lift anything over 10# and can't like walk on the track or bicycle for at least 2 weeks. can't drive for 2 weeks. i think the doctor about choked when i asked when could i start walking on the track and he said how far? i said oh, like a mile or 2 and he said maybe 1 lap but definitely not a mile until 2 weeks. yesterday was a really cruddy day for me. i always told patients that the 3rd day post op was always the worse. i thoroughly believe that because yesterday was my 3rd day post op and i was just cruddy all day. mom couldn't be at the hospital but she came over yesterday afternoon to see me. we had alot of people at the hospital with bruce. penny stayed the night with me the night of surgery. bruce had a ferocious headache that night and i told him to just get better. i really appreciated penny being there. i better go as i'm tired. take care everyone, treasa

getting ready

getting ready for surgery tomorrow. is anyone ever ready for something like this? i've been having anxiety about it and your mind always goes to worse case scenarios. i find if i get in the word, it helps me tremendously. i also pick up the afghan i'm working on and it helps calm me. bruce took today off to be with me and he's sleeping, i've been doing laundry and paid a bill and just piddling around. just got off the phone with my mother-in-law and my mom. mom won't be able to be at the hospital with us because she's been having alot of pain. our family doctor is going to be seeing me post-operatively tomorrow. she said she was managing my care after the surgery. i love her to pieces. i need to get a sprinkler out on the garden. everything is so dry. bruce wanted to know what i was going to do for fun and i said well, laundry and i'm going to home depot for a sprinkler and after it runs a few hours, i'm going out to the garden and weed. i need to stay busy. it helps me. i've picked some zucchini out of the garden, our green beans are blooming and looking good. our corn has tassled. our onions are huge. who knows what we did to make them so big? but they're the biggest we've grown. my sunflowers are about to bloom. we have watermelon on and we have a few tomatoes starting to ripen. they're itty bitty but still home grown. my hot pepper plants are doing well. i have them in pots on the front porch. i better water them today as i think about it. i found out how to get rid of the pesky gnats that fly around here. they came in some organic potting soil, take a small bowl and put about 4 drops of dish soap and pour some apple cider in the bowl and they fly in and because of the dish soap, they can't fly out and they drown. now i have bowls all over the house. i better go and get busy. take care everyone and God Bless. love, Treasa

continuation of another day

plus tuesday when i was scrubbing and such, i kept telling the dogs they were staying outside until the floors were clean, missy and hammer both will paw at the door. so i ignored it until our neighbor came to the door and said the gate was open and hammer was still in but missy was gone. so i went flying out the door walking in the 2 cul de sacs for her and yelling and no missy. bruce was roaming the neighborhood also and didn't see her anywhere. i came home and got the truck and went to the north of us and didn't see her and i had a feeling she was closer to home, (everyone in the neighborhood is familiar with missy and hammer) so i was just crossing our street and heading south on NW 4th street and she was crossing the road heading to a field and i yelled and she stopped and then she heard me and came running to the truck. i practically pulled her in the truck, once i had a hold of the collar, i wasn't letting go. she rode shotgun with me home, i had called bruce and told him i had her. everytime that gate is left open, she's out of here. hammer, on the other hand, knows a good thing when he sees it and he's not budging. she was thirsty, who knows how long she had been running, her tongue was hanging out about a mile. i put her in her dog condo for the afternoon. she scared the you know what out of me. i was the one that can't lock the gate and i mowed saturday and just kind of put the latch over the rail and i told bruce it wasn't locked but we both forgot it as we went fishing and didn't give it a thought. i am so glad i found her. God bless, treasa

another day

it's been so busy around here. mom had her surgery last week and took her to the doctor to get the dressing changed last wednesday. penny had surgery monday and is now home. i've talked with her this morning, she sounds alot better than she did in the hospital. she almost had pneumonia after surgery. i don't think being around for her surgery and such helped my anxiety level but like i told her this morning, i was there for HER not to see what she's going through. i'm nervous. when i came home monday and bruce was here, i cried and said I don't think i can do this. he said well, we would have faith that it would never bother you and when you're ready you can get it done. i said well, #1- God never gives us more than we can handle and #2- if i put it off, that's letting fear rule. so it's getting done july 28th, don't know what time yet.
i cleaned the carpets last week because i have a habit of taking the trash out and when it's too heavy, i drag it down the hallway, well, the last time i did that it had some vegetable oil in there and i made a stripe down the hallway. i was sick of looking at it. so i got it all cleaned up and the night before it rained and missy came in yesterday and i had mud all over the carpet again so had to clean it again today. took the machine over yesterday and cleaned mom's for her. i got my kitchen floor scrubbed tuesday. it looks so much better.
the dog kennel is done. Halluejah! so the dogs are sleeping outside in their dog condo. all the construction tools are out of the kitchen and put away. so since the porta kennels were gone out of the kitchen, i got it cleaned up. i need to get out to the garden and get some weeding done, just haven't had time.
uncle ray is trying to sell his house. some friend of his has made a website for him.
i'm taking mom to an inside farmer's market this afternoon. she wants some beans and corn.
we had company over tuesday night for supper, nancy and larry and marty. we had a nice visit. i got rid of the recumbent bike. nancy came over with some eager young friends and they lifted it and brought it from downstairs and put it in their pickup. larry had knee replacement surgery about 3 weeks ago and it's going to be helping him with his rehab.
we went fishing last saturday at big creek. i caught about 5 white bass and a crappie and bruce caught about 5 bass and a small white bass. none were legal, so we always catch and release. but it was fun being on the boat. now if we could just get it on the trailer straight. ha! i better go so i can get some more done around here. take care everyone and God Bless, Treasa

forgot to add something

i've also been working on making recipe books for the girls for christmas and have been working on all the millions of recipes i have copied and are stored on the computer. i ,finally last week or so, figured out with the software i have for the recipe collection how to capture the recipes i've saved and i won't have to type them out. Thank Goodness! i have so many recipes i've saved that it's not even gunny. love to everyone, treasa

sorry this hasn't been updated

we have been so busy. bruce was on vacation for a week and we went to the game and stayed in KC for a few nights. we had a wonderful time. the cardinals won and albert hit a home run. we went to nebraska furniture mart while we were there and ordered a new stove. it got delivered last thursday. i'm still reading the instruction manual as to how to start the oven and turn it on. LOL! i like it. i just have to figure out how to use it. it's an electrolux and double ovens and convection oven. i am going to try baking some bread in it this afternoon. we got it delivered last thursday and thursday evening my inlaws came over because they wanted me to scan some pictures for them and make 2 CD's for them. so i invited them to stay for supper as bruce was having home made pizza. i had to get the instruction manual to figure out to set the oven temp. everyone laughed as they said it might be midnight when they ate. mom had surgery yesterday and she's doing well. i take her tomorrow morning to get her dressing changed. i have surgery scheduled for 3 weeks today. i really am dreading it but will be glad when it's over and the healing begins. i'm having my thyroid removed. i'll have to stay overnight. so just keep us all in your prayers. penny is almost having the same thing done next week. i'm debating to go down to be there with them when she has it done. what made me so upset about the thyroid issues was i thought they were going to say the 85# weight loss was because of the thyroid, not ww and all my discipline and hard work. ha! we worked in the garden while we were on vacation and took the boat out and ran around saylorville for an evening. it was fun. bruce started work on the dog kennel, building the dogs a better system and it's still in the process of being built. he made a place underneath the deck where they can sleep, now it's just the enclosure around them that they are working on now. i say they because our ex-nephew in law is working on it during the day. bruce was teasing me the other day and said something about maybe he better put an a/c in there, i looked at him and said they are dogs and they sleep in the house in the air all day long until they have to piddle or something, it won't hurt them to sleep outside. then i get the porta kennels out of the kitchen. he scares me with his projects because he used to do that in the old house, start a project around may and not be done until september. now he says his next project is building double ovens in the kitchen. i'm not so sure about the kitchen being tore up. ha! i've always wanted built in double ovens and he says well, he's going to see about it. we kind of sort of picked some out but our handyman will have to do quite a bit of stuff to the kitchen and i know he does good work, but still. i better go and fix my lunch. i got the refrigerator cleaned out and washed out, you know it's bad when something is stuck on the shelf and you can't even get the shelf to move. i have to have bruce try and get it out when he comes home for lunch. i can't as i hurt my shoulder a week and a half ago. all i did was lift 3 cases of water and some birdseed from sam's into the back of the truck and my shoulder has hurt ever since then. i actually feels a little better today and i don't want to hurt it again. i have enough going on. love to all, treasa

another day

i'm semi anxiously awaiting the results of the ultrasound from last week on the thyroid. janis, the nurse from dr. gannon's office, called and said that dr. gannon wanted this other radiologist to read the ultrasound and see what he says before they tell me anything. so i wait, kind of impatiently. we're doing good otherwise. we took the boat out about a week and a half ago. we rode it around saylorville for a bit. we leave the 19th for the game in kc and then we're leaving for branson for a week. bruce and i will rent a condo down there and take the boat out on taneycomo for the week. i've already made arrangements to board the kitty and the dogs. our garden looks good with the rain we've been getting. sunday night we were all in the basement because of the tornado warnings. but fortunately we got rain and that was it. we had a potluck at church sunday and i made 2 trays of cookies to take plus a savery chicken casserole. everyone enjoyed it. we had enough cookies leftover for bruce to take to seneca and they devoured them. mom is doing well. she still has some numbness in her hand and says the shot she went for did her no good. but she's ok. i stopped at uncle hank and aunt kate's gravesite today. i don't remember ever being there but it's right up the street from us and when i came home from the dentist i stopped. i wanted to see if anyone had put any flowers on their grave. i finally found it and yes, there were flowers on their graves. henry is there also. (for mike and kylie, this is grandpa's brother. his name was charles mathews and everyone called him hank and his wife's name was katherine, but she was always aunt kate to us. they had a son who is gone and his name was henry, they also have 2 or 3 daughters that are alive.) i'm not usually a big cemetary person. i saw uncle ray yesterday. he came over for me to put some ointment in his eye. i need to talk to him more. he calls and tells me someone like dolly parton is on "60 minutes" or Vince Gill is going to be at the civic center and they're just not my favorite artists. well, bruce just drove in for the evening so i better go. take care everyone, treasa

the garden is finally in. we got it planted last weekend and then God did his part and we got lots of rain. so everything has really perked up. mom has to be over at tower medical for an epidural tomorrow to her neck. i have to pick her up by 6:30 and have her there by 7:15. ugh! i always have to drive her little puddle jumper. it's teeny. oh well! if it makes her more comfortable, then that's what counts. it was a nice 3 day weekend. we got the garden in saturday and sunday. i officially have 43 tomato plants out in the ground. we had 9 too many and gave them to a neighbor. we were just talking last week that we didn't need as many tomato plants and then i go and buy a flat of plants. i still have a flat of some flowers to plants and have to get them planted somewhere. my mil loaned me 2 of her photo albums and i've been busy scanning them into the computer. i'm almost done and then i'm making CD's for everyone. i told bruce last night the pictures were just priceless. there are pictures of stephen when he was a baby and jen when she was younger than hailey. pictures of all of the family gatherings down at knoxville, just precious. i have to finish mom's album also. just haven't done it yet. then i make CD's for my side of the family. we got our other new truck last friday. i love it. the only thing is with the new trucks, they have microsoft sync in them and you can sync your phone or your IPOD in them. it was real easy to sync my IPOD in the burgundy truck, can't do it with bruce's truck. it drives me nuts because my phone won't sync with the burgundy truck. but bruce has the exact phone and his did with his truck. go figure!! i took my phone out to verizon yesterday and they changed something with security settings and it still won't. so they said well, some phones just aren't compatible with the sync system. huh? bruce has the same phone except his is a slate color and mine is purple. oh well! i like using my bluetooth anyway, that way if we're both in the truck, and both of our phones ring, at least i can hear the conversation i'm having. he likes his broadcasting over the stereo speakers and i don't. i think it's too distracting for the driver to be messing with all the buttons like the volume and such for a phone call in his truck. mine works just fine with my bluetooth. but i love the new truck. i took it out to sam's yesterday and did not have a problem parking with it like he said i would. when i get time i'll post a picture of it. this is our personal truck so we'll be taking it to the game next month. i can't wait. the game sounds so much fun. i can't wait for that either. i better go so i can get something accomplished today. God Bless, Treasa

spring time has finally arrived

im so glad. we got a railing put on the front of the house and it looks so nice. i got some flower boxes and got some geraniums planted in them and it's really pretty. i have been planting some outside. we got a fence up around the garden and will be planting that this weekend. we bought a new truck about 2 weeks ago. it's a blue 2009 f-150 crewcab and really a nice truck. well, now i think we've bought another one to trade the red one in. bruce went over to dewey's and signed the purchase agreement and they're doing a few things to it. this one is a king cab and i am so excited. it has a foot longer box on it than the others we've had. but it's really a nice truck. i think we'll pick it up on saturday as we have to have his blue truck at charles gabus ford tomorrow morning for some safety recall. mom is doing ok. she still has pain but she's not taking as many of the strong pain pills. she's been able to go out and get her groceries and such. i haven't talked to uncle ray for quite a while. i made 2 batches of strawberry-rhubarb jam today. God has blessed us so much with the wonderful rhubarb that i wanted to make some jam. we're going to put in some tomatoes, definitely green beans, some corn, zucchini and some yellow squash (for me) onions, i don't know what else. we're a little late this year but whenever he could get out and get it tilled, it would start raining.

i started a compost pile and we firgured out where to keep it. i have to go out tomorrow and try and stir it up a little. i'm excited about that because we have alot to compost that normally goes down the disposal. we've been doing yard work and getting the place spruced up. bruce mowed this week. i have been planting. i want to get some peony bushes for the side of the deck and get them planted and maybe, just maybe, the dogs won't destroy them. HA! we're talking of taking the boat out this weekend also. that will be fun. i better go as bruce has an appointment and he'll be here soon to pick me up. take care and God bless, treasa

update on mom

i took mom to the doctor this afternoon and she was in such pain. dr. gannon finally got in the room to see her and she was just almost crying with pain. so dr. gannon had janis, the nurse, give her a pain shot and she ordered an MRI and fortunately she goes tomorrow for it in west des moines. so i'll be taking her to that. the pain shot helped but she still wants her to take the pain pills until they can get to the bottom of what is causing so much pain. it's her tailbone that hurts her so much and now her neck. i have been doing some planting of some flowers and getting the outside looking nice again. we have part of our railing up and it is sure pretty, it just makes the front of the house now. i have some flower pots hanging over the rails of the railing and they blew off yesterday. (nothing was connecting them to the railing) so bruce contacted out handyman and he's going to connect them somehow for me. i trimmed a bunch of old dead stuff off of the flowers that's coming up and am going to have a compost bin this year. we don't have the garden in yet but we plan on it. i cut my first cutting of rhubarb this week and cooked it down and added some splenda and have been having that. i love rhubarb but didn't want the sugar. so the splenda works for me. same with strawberries, i love them and can now have them with the splenda, which works great for me. i made goal the last few weeks ago. my dr. said i should be between 124-126 so i turned in the slip and they sent in the paperwork. i went and weighed in tuesday and i had lost 2.8#. it's taken me months to lose anything resembling a pound and now i lose 2.8. i'm not complaining, but they warned me i couldn't go 2# below my lowest goal weight. i weighed 121 something here at home and was 123 something at ww. it figures though. but i'm happy to be here and it's not coming back. it's been hard at times but i enjoy buying a size 7-8. it's a heck of a lot better than the size 24 i was in. we have our annual kansas city royals vs. the st. louis cardinal game coming up june 20th. we always go down with bruce's brothers and my sister-in-laws and one's g/f. we have a good time. we will leave on the 19th and have reservations there for the friday night and then the game saturday night. i haven't told 2 of the brothers that our seats are clear out in the outfield. one of the brothers was talking about getting a suite and these were the tickets that came up on the internet and bruce said take them, he said he'd take his ball glove and try to catch a pop fly or homerun. whatever!! until next time, God Bless, Treasa

i have spent all day with mom in the Er at lutheran hospital. she's doing ok now and is home. but she scared me half to death. she called this morning before i was out of bed and told me she had such a tremendous headache last night and she felt herself being confused and couldn't think, at one point she felt like she was going to blackout. she didn't want to call us and bother us. it finally let up to where she could sleep. she said she was feeling better this morning. she called the dr's office and they said if that happens again, go to the nearest ER. i got in the shower and i could hear bruce yelling something at me and he was saying mom was in extreme pain so he told her to call 911 and she did. i was at lutheran before they were. her BP was sky high and they did a CT scan and everything came back ok, the doctor said it was a pinched nerve in her neck and gave her some pain pills and sent her home. i was scared it was another stroke. i hate being an only child. when she had the stroke 6 years ago or whenever, i hated being the one to sign and make decisions. lesson to everyone who reads this: please make sure everything is order in your life, you never know when your significant other is making decisions for you and if everything is written down and your wishes are known, it makes everything so much easier. she's at home and resting comfortably. please keep her in your prayers though, her BP is still running high and she's having memory lapses which concern me.

a new truck

we got our new truck today. it should be fun to figure out the bells and whistles on. we leave monday for minnesota and since it's the work truck, we'll be taking the new one. i like it. bruce has his phone programmed with it so when his phone rings, it'll come over the speaker of the radio. it also has an USB port for my IPOD. i threatened bruce with "honey, just think i have 5 days worth of country music programmed into my IPOD" i think he cringed. we showed dad and barb and then showed mom and came home. i mixed up some cookie dough for the freezer and will bake some tomorrow for our trip. i baked 2 dozen for bruce but he's been napping so hasn't discovered them yet. mom called me this morning while we were dealing with truck and she actually flushed the pain pills. she said earlier when she was taking quite a few of them that it was making her forgetful. now she found out she had ordered some things that she has no memory of ordering so she's swearing off the pain pills. she said she was feeling better anyway since she's started going to the pool. she said her mind was just foggy when she took them for an extended amount of time. so hopefully she can do without them and not be in a lot of pain. i've been trying to get the spring cleaning done and got the ceiling fans all turned and cleaned and such, then it turns cold today. it's been rainy and even had some thunder a little bit ago. we had lightening last night. it was hot enough we had the a/c on. i don't really want to have it on in april, i love having the windows open but it was 85 degrees here yesterday. i'll post a picture of the new truck when we get back from minnesota and hopefully it's clear and sunny.

we're finally home for a while

finally. we got back from minneapolis thursday night and we're both tired, but the convention went well, at least the first day it did. the 2nd day, i think everyone went home. the dogs and the cat are glad we're home. i had a million things to do yesterday and i still have some errands to run today. mom's car was giving her fits so we told her to take it to dewey ford and have them look at it. they called this morning and told bruce what was wrong and he told them to fix it. so hopefully it'll be fixed by today. either that or i have to be after her by 6 a.m. monday morning for an appointment at 6:50 at some rehab place for evaluation of her hand and arm. she has opted not to have the cortisone shot in her neck, rather go for some physical therapy instead. uncle ray worried me all last weekend. i tried and tried to get a hold of him and he wasn't answering his phone. finally sunday evening he came over. his phones were't working. so monday morning he took them back and i had told him we had the AT&T cordless ones for years and we loved them, haven't had a problem with them. so the store exchanged out the phones for AT&T ones. then he came over monday and wanted someone to come over and set them up for him, so i went over and did that. then he emailed me and said he was going to have to take them back as they weren't a speaker phone. i could have swore they were. he emailed me this week while we were gone and said those phones were going to work as he found the speakerphone feature on them. he had been so stressed out about the phone situation. he gets himself so worked up. but i wouldn't want to be in the situation he's in either with no phone. hopefully this next week will be quieter. we're kind of tentatively looking for a new stove. mine is soon to be 11 years old. the other night it was saying something about calling an authorized service center. finally the message went off. it's done that a few times. i found one i like, i would really love to have a gas stove rather than electric. with the new gas stoves or even dual fuel, they have 5 burners. when i'm home canning, that other burner would be handy. but bruce is pretty adamant about electric. i don't know what's the deal. we have a gas dryer, a gas hot water heater, gas fire place. i get tired of scraping on the electric stove. i boiled over some jam not too long ago. that was a mess. i found one maybe at nebraska furniture mart but don't want to order it without actually seeing it. so guess i'll keep looking. i better go so i can have breakfast and take my shower and get some errands ran. bruce needs the oil changed on his truck. so i have to take it to dewey's for that.

we had a nice time at Stephen's wedding. i'm tired and have been downloading pictures and getting some emailed out to john and janice. posted some on the prayer circle and posted some on facebook, gee, they haven't even been married for 8 hours and it's already all over the internet. we leave for wisconsin monday so have to get ready for that tomorrow after church. i have alot to do. we have a sick dog. he has colitis. i didn't know dogs got something like that. but he's doing better since he's been on some medicine since friday. we'll take them to the vet for boarding monday and they can deal with it. i'm tired so am planning on hitting the hay. take care, and God bless. treasa ps- mom goes to see the neurosurgeon monday morning at 7:30 for her hand. so please keep her in your prayers.

bruce and i at nephew's wedding

the new bride and groom

another day in paradise

we went to bible study last night and had a good lesson. i really like mark and jody, our pastor and his wife. they are really wonderful people. when we got home, hammer had the runs in his porta kennel and we cleaned that out and i gave him a bath and let him outside for a while and he went again, then around 4 a.m. he was whining and bruce let him out and finally put him in his outdoor kennel and this time it looked like there was some blood in the stool so i called the vet and took him to the vet's office this morning. they're going to check him out. i have an appointment for a haircut and a pedicure at noon so have to get ready for that. mom goes to see dr. gannon tomorrow morning early (FINALLY!) and i have to have over there at 8:45. i am 124.4 this morning. i am starting to keep track of my weight so when i go see dr. gannon on the 13th, she can see that i'm stuck. we went for a bike ride last night and i enjoyed it thoroughly. we went up around this little trail where there's a pond and it was a good ride. it was a little chilly but i enjoyed it. maybe this will help get these extra 4 pounds off. i just need to learn about the different gears on the bike and remind myself to sit back in the seat. we also bought what they call a trainer which is something to make your bike stationary so when the weather is bad, i can take the bike downstairs and work on it there. my knees are a little sore but i took some extra tylenol last night. the ride was further than we had gone before. i have today's sudoku in my purse all ready for the pedicure. that's my thing lately, it started last summer when bruce was going through all he was going through. i started working on the sudoku and am hooked. there are some days i can't get it but most i can get. it just takes concentration. i better go. i have a cupboard to straighten out to get ready for more pans. they've shipped so should be here soon. God Bless, treasa

well, another week. we're having chilly weather. our nephew is getting married this weekend and i keep telling the girls they're going to freeze. our niece bought this little dress with the spaghetti straps. it's april and Iowa, i've seen snow in iowa in april. oh well. they mostly think i'm just an old fuddy duddy anyway. we bought bicycles this last weekend. i haven't been on a bike since i had a stingray and the banana seat. that ought to date me. i've never had a bike with any gears on it. so this is new to me. they had to cut the seat down so i could fit on it. but we went around the neighborhood last night. it was really windy. i'm just glad we're not doing hills yet. my knees are sore a little but about the same as when i'm on the treadmill or the stationary bike. like i told bruce i wanted one for exercise, that doesn't necessarily mean we're doing RAGBRAI anytime soon. i saw on the news there's another blizzard in south dakota. mike and kylie are driving from texas to south dakota soon. i sent 2 packages to them last week. they should hopefully be there by now. one had a Bible in it that i gave grandma and grandpa for their 50th wedding anniversary. i somehow got it back and i wanted mike and kylie to have it. they're the next generation of Mathews and they can keep it and pass it on to their grandkids. mike doesn't have very much of anything of grandma or grandpa's. i'm heading to sam's in a little bit. i have a few things on a list. we leave for wisconsin next week for a convention in the dells. then the week after we leave for minneapolis for another convention, then we'll be done for a while. i ordered a new set of pans yesterday. i figured, we take the cooking kit with us and i'm always taking some of my pans, so i ordered a new set for the house then can take the older set with us when we travel. we stay where we can cook and it helps me stay on track with ww. when i get a chance, i'll post a picture of the new bride and groom. his name is stephen and her name is naren. she has a little girl from a previous marriage and her name is jordan. she's 6 i think. i love taking pictures and some ctually turn out good so i asked naren if she'd be offended if i brought our good canon digital and took some pictures and she said not a problem so i'm getting the battery charged up and going to take that. i have a pair of black dress pants and a plum almost sheer top with a plum jacket over it and i have a black shell for underneath. the good news is the black dress pants are a size 8. i've been stuck with my weight for a while, i go to like 125 and then like yesterday i was 123. i want to get down to 120. so my ww gal told me to talk to my doctor and see what she said so i have an appointment with my doc the 13th of april and will talk to her then. i better go before i write a book.

i have been busy and more busy. yesterday our niece and i got the house cleaned up ready for tomorrow. i went and got the cake today and a few other things. i cooked a big supper for kelly and mark and the ones here last night. i behaved myself and had a broiled turkey breast and some veggies. it was nice to see kelly and mark and penny and john. i had not seen penny for over a year. tonight my brother-in-law came over and he brought his little grand daughter and i cooked supper for them and bruce. we just got done and they're watching episodes of Baa Baa Black Sheep. i have basketball on in the kitchen. i love it when it's tournament time for NCAA. even if Iowa and iowa state isn't in the show, i always find someone to root for. mom came over last night to see kelly and mark and everyone. she's having alot of problems with her hand and might have to be having surgery again on it. she's finally getting in to see dr. gannon this next friday and i am going to be taking her. my mother-in-law is having a chemical stress test next friday. when they went for the cardiologist's something was odd on the EKG or the echo they had done. i finished alisia's afghan and am going to start on the baby blankets soon. i have some breathing room next week finally. i sent a bunch of jams and jellies home with penny and john and kelly and mark. i have to get some ready to mail to mike and kylie next week. ttyl and God Bless, treasa

it's been like a chinese water drill around here. saturday i baked cookies all day, i made a double batch of chocolate chip, double batch of the peanut blossom cookies, a double batch of oatmeal raisin cookies and a quad batch of snickerdoodles. i was so tired saturday night, i fell asleep on the couch and woke up and the kitty was standing with her 2 front paws on the couch and she was touching noses with me. scared the daylights out of me. i have most of the cookies in the freezer. we're getting ready to leave for nebraska tomorrow for the convention. i went to walmart and hy-vee this morning. bought me some summer shorts and t's and some clothes for elijah. mark and kelly and elijah are coming up here friday for supper and to see us and mom and uncle ray. plus i have the shower this weekend. busy around here. today and tomorrow actually looks like spring is getting here. springtime is my favorite time of year. better go and start getting stuff done for tomorrow.

i wasn't here yesterday. i cleaned the kitchen floor and got a bunch of stuff done around here. this morning i decided to get to sam's and get what was on my list instead of waiting to do it tonight. i got some stuff for the wedding shower and when i got home, had messages of some people saying they were coming. so that was good news. i slept better last night. talked to my doctor's nurse yesterday and the doctor wanted me to try some ambien, only problem is i was just making fun of it the day before, it was saying one of the side effects was sudden death and i piped up and said well, i'd never take that. so it had kind of scared me off it. i'll just keep doing what i've been doing and that's nothing, if i sleep, i sleep, if i don't well, so what. dr. gannon thinks me not sleeping is due to my high thyroid levels that came back and when i go to her in april, they said they needed to decide how to treat me. i always knew i was high maintenance. i talked to kelly this morning. her and mark and elijah are coming to iowa next week. she said they were definitely coming to see us. i don't see how i could get away. i have alot to do before the shower. i experimented with some cookie dough this week and i can succesfully freeze cookie dough, let it thaw out and bake it. so will be doing that for the shower. i'm delighted with my experiment. i can have it ready to go whenever i want it now. plus bruce has the nebraska petroluem convention next tuesday and wednesday, we'll be home wednesday night. it always wears him out at the conventions. mom is doing somewhat better. she's still having some pain. she has been out and about the last couple of days. she went to lunch then to the store, this morning she was at walmart. well, bruce will be home soon for lunch so i better get.

went to weight watchers this morning and lost .2 of a pound. what's the deal. i'm trying to get to goal and last week didn't lose anything. argh! have a bunch of stuff to get done today, water the plants, bake some cookies and want to experiment with freezing some cookie dough for next week for the shower. plus want to get the vacuuming done. waiting on a call from the doctor sometime today. the dogs are in as it's foggy and muddy outside. they had fits this morning as there was a loose german shephard out. better go so i can get something accomplished.

i haven't been able to sleep. that's originally why i went to the doctor in january anyway. then they found all this stuff out about my thyroid and blah, blah! it's been dreary here the last few days. i got the jigsaw done that i was working on and now have to finish alisia's afghan for her b'day. she turns 16 tomorrow and her afghan isn't done. i have 2 baby afghans to make when i get hers done. Michael and kylie are having a baby and so is shane and his wife. we had a nice quiet weekend. we each did some things around the house yesterday. we went to church and enjoyed the sermon very much. i enjoy the people, they are all so nice and kind and they know my name. i decided while i couldn't sleep that i'm going to for go making cupcakes for the shower and just make a bunch of cookies, even figured out how to freeze the dough so all i have to do is throw them in the oven a few days before the shower. i've heard from one person concerning the shower affirming they were coming and that was Naren's mom. should be a fun time. bruce said he was thinking of taking the dogs out to the hunt club while we had our hen party!! ha! i don't have to worry about the kitty, as soon as she hears the doorbell, she'll be under the bed.

today has been hectic. last night my sil came over and helped with the invitations for the wedding shower. we're having that march 22 at OUR house. that means the house has to be clean. lol! today i picked up some chicken from fareway and had to package it and stick in the freezer. we are 2 people and we have 2 freezers that are stuffed. we have to start eating what we have. i put up 40# of chicken today; 20# of boneless chicken breast and 20# of chicken hindquarters. bruce likes those and i like them to make chicken and dumplings or something for him. they make a richer broth. kelly and mark are coming home march 17th-23 and i don't know if we'll be able to see them or not. bruce has the petroluem marketers' convention in nebraska the 16th and 17th and the next 3 days i have to get ready for the bridal shower. so it might be tight scheduling. mom really wants to see them but she really needs alot of prayers. she's been hurting so much in her back and such. she actually let the doctor put 2 shots in her back tuesday. she has to be really hurting if she let him do that. she's been taking those strong pain pills and they're alot of times not touching the pain. so please keep her in all of your prayers.

today was a good day. found out the biopsy of the thyroid was negative, had some errands to run and was gone all morning. tomorrow i'm taking mom out to lunch. we haven't been able to do that for a while. weather here was great, had the windows open and let the house air out. getting things together for a bridal shower for our nephew's g/f, they're getting married april 4th.

wednesday march 4th, 2009

i sit here and play on the computer waiting for the doctor's office to call about the results of my biopsy yesterday. i hate waiting. it's cool here in Iowa, i really should be getting other stuff done around here. the dogs are outside and the kitty is sleeping on the bed. bruce is at work. i haven't decided what i'm making for supper, was thinking of some chicken on the rotisserie, that sounds good to me. tonight we're watching "Australia" on pay per view on the cable. we lead such boring lives. we just got back from branson this last sunday, bruce had a convention and i went shopping for some much needed clothes. i can fit in a size 8 which is so exciting for me. i've lost 80# so far, probably a little more since we came back from branson. i plan to keep it off.