What a start to springtime......update on my Mom

I have been posting on my facebook page about my mom and what is going on but I just wanted to post here on my blog to give a more detailed update. Today I have a few minutes to type up a post. April 1 at about 12:30AM my sister called and said she had brought my mom to the emergency room because she was feeling very weak and couldn't move very well. I asked if I should come and my sister said that then they weren't sure what was wrong but they were thinking she is probably anemic so they were going to admit her. Sunday later in the morning I went and visited with my mom, she was in a regular room and they were giving her blood, she was anemic but they were also concerned that it was Lukemia. I went home that evening and the next morning my other sister called and said that my mom wasn't doing very well at all and was moved to ICU, I got there as fast as I could and basically she was very incoherent and very tired. Tuesday came and we were all taking turns being at the hospital with her. We all three of us sisters basically were there all day long. It is amazing how tiring sitting in a hospital room can be. I was exhausted by the time Wednesday came around so only went over for a couple of hours. I went home and did some laundry, and some basic cleaning. None of us had really eaten a meal since this whole thing started. Then on Thursday morning my sister called again at 6:30am and said things were worse and to get there as soon as possible so I called my daughter and told her the same thing. We got there and she had seemed to go downhill quite a bit. One good thing to have come from all of this was that on Thursday a special visitor was coming, the Red Cross had sent a medical emergency message to my son and my nephew so on Thursday at about 3pm he and his wife came to the hospital. Thursday evening we all went out to dinner and it was the first time I had eaten a meal the whole week and it was so good. We dropped Jennifer back off at the hospital and after checking in and finding out what was going on she stopped at our house to give us an update, things seemed a little better and we for the first time since this started got to breathe a little easier. My stomach which had been sick feeling from the first phone call started to hurt a little less, and Thursday night I actually slept pretty good. I woke up Friday not feeling well, I think it may be allergies, my head was pounding and my throat was very sore and my nose was all stuffed up so I didnt' go over to visit because I wasnt' sure it was allergies and you can't go into ICU If you are sick. Okay fast forward to Monday, I went over to the hospital (it's about 15 miles away) and was there for about 4 hours and found out they were moving her to another hospital for kidney dyalisis, her kidneys were not functioning good. I just remember they also did a bone marrow biopsy for the Lukemia, she isn't producing any red blood cells and her white count went from 20, 000 the first time they checked to 46,000 and she does have Chronic Lukemia, they also thought she was starting to show signs of congestive heart failure, but now she isn't....At the new hospital she is in a regular room in isolation as she has an infection (they think ecoli) so you have to put on a gown and gloves to go in the room. This new hospital is much bigger and I dont' care for it much so far. Hopefully she won't be there too long. She was talking a little better and I think her color was better but today I only seen her for just a few minutes as they were getting her ready for the dyalisis. Sorry this is such a long post and after looking back over what I have typed I can honestly say my days may be wrong and things may not be in perfect order but I feel like my brain just isnt' working these days, and I dont' really even know what day it is half the time. I was finally able to get to the grocery store yesterday so at least we have food :) So the final conclusion is that my mom was anemic, she does have Chronic Lukemia and she is now having kidney problems. She received I think about 5 units of blood and some antibiotic and has a feeding tube for now. Please continue to keep her in your prayers. I would like to thank all of my friends, blog friends, and family for all their kind words and prayers. I truly appreciate them all. Mattie, his wife Sara, Jennifer and the kids came over on Saturday for a little while and I was so happy to get some recent pictures of them all. I will leave you with the following pictures May you all have a very blessed week. Blessings,Joann

Me and my Mattie~

Mattie and his wife Sara~

Mattie with Jennifer~

 Dylan and Katie ~

"To be self controlled, and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind and to be subject to their husbands , so that no one will malign the word of God." Titus 2:5

Katie's 5th birthday party~

We went over to Brentwood today to celebrate Katie's 5th birthday. She had a bowling party and everyone seemed to have lots of fun. Before going over Roger and I stopped at the jewelry store where he bought my wedding rings and I needed to have both my wedding rings and my emerald ring resized, while we were there we seen they were having a sale on loose diamonds so we decided to change my diamond with one that is quite larger and much more sparkly :) This new diamond makes my rings look even more beautiful than they already were.


Here are some pictures from Katie's special day


Katie's cake~







Katie with her cake~


Roger and I at Katie's birthday party at the bowling alley in Brentwood~






The bowling party~






We even got back in town with enough time to pick up my rings, so here it is~






I pray everyone has a very blessed Sunday tomorrow.
Blessings,Joann

A new servant in our home and grandkids first day of school..

Yesterday August 1st was the grandkids first day of school, I can't believe they are so old and I have no idea where the time has gone.

This is a picture of Katie getting on the bus this morning, just loved her smile and her eyes~


If anyone is my friend on facebook you can see the rest of the pictures of both Dylan and Katie on the first day of school. Dylan started 2nd grade and Katie Kindergarten.


Yesterday was also a very happy day for me, as anyone who has read my blog for any time now you know that I struggle with many things, homekeeping probably the main one and I am always on the lookout for things to make it easier to do. I seen this item on a TV commrcial and just had to get one. Oh am I glad I did :)


My new servant~



Look at all of these pieces~





Yes I was smart enough to put it together :)




"
I hate to even show anyone this next picture, but trying to always be a real truthful blog, here it is, yes it's the dirt cup full of well dirt! I used the new vacuum in the kitchen, pantry area and dining area and this is what got sucked up. Disgusting in one way but it makes me happy in another that I now have this much less dirt on the floors


The best part of the whole vacuum is that it weighs 12 pounds and when you do the lift away part it is only 7 pounds, now my husband was asking questions about it and wondering will it magically make me a wonderful keeper of our home, yes and no, no it's not magical but on days when my back is hurting it will be much easier to lug this little vacuum out instead of our Dyson. I am not sure when I boughtour Dyson, it's the pretty purple and silver DC17 Absolute for pet hair we bought it when we had carpet everywhere, now with our new pergo floors only the bedrooms have carpet. Our Dyson is still working just fine and I do love it it's just a little bit big and heavy for me to manuver around so this will just make things for me a little easier.

Roger's tomato crop for this year if doing very well and has produced some beautiful tomatoes, he only has 4 plants but they are huge!

Aren't these yummy looking??



Here is a picture of the back yard with our fountain corner~



And of course my baby Mandy, after she got home from the groomers~

Backpacks, lunch boxes and embroidery...

Ever since the grand kids started school, Dylan was the first and now Katie, we have tried to buy a few things for them. If they need new clothes, shoes, backpacks or anything else. This year we had planned on taking them shopping on the 23 of July, it's a Saturday and Jennifer will meet us at the mall in Tracy and we will go shopping. but this year I seen a target ad with backpacks and lunch boxes on sale. Roger and I decided we would go ahead and get the backpacks and lunch boxes today and just do clothes with them in a couple of weeks. I called Jennifer and asked what type they wanted and we were able to find the type they wanted and we are very happy. I am hoping the grand kids will be too.


Dylan's new backpack~




Dylan's new lunch box~




Katie's new backpack~




Katie's' new lunch box~





Winter wonderland update!!

Today after shopping I sat down and worked on the winter wonderland project a little more, I finished up the first part I started and have the second part almost finished
Here is what it looks like this afternoon~









Don't look too closely at it as I know it is not perfect and the stitches are still all over the place and not very uniform...I guess that gives it that homemade look :)

We have had a slightly cooler day today and so far an AC free day but it is still HOT!! Tomorrow is supposed to be a little cooler and I will try and get by with out the AC again. I am also starting a new routine tomorrow, not really a new routine but more of a how I am doing the routine, I would like to get certain things done before a certain time and tomorrow is going to be my day of deciding what needs to be done when. I try to make my bed everyday but sometimes it doesn't get done until late afternoon and I would like it to be done in the morning. Doing anything in the morning is hard for me I AM NOT a morning person at all. It takes all my energy and brain just to get Roger's lunch together and there have been many times when I forget things, this is not acceptable to me, I need to get with it and make sure I do what I am expected to do in the mornings. I have more energy and the want to do things at 11at night or later than I do at any time in the morning. I would like to change this if I can.


Thanks so much for visiting and may your day and your week ahead be blessed.

Blessings,Joann

After a long wait at the airport last night.....

My son Mattie finally got here last night right before Midnight. I left my home on Thursday at about 2pm and went to pick up my Mom, then we went over to pick up Jennifer and the kids. We got to the airport at about 5:30pm and just when we are pulling into the parking area we get a phone call telling us that Mattie is on a different flight, a later flight...a much later flight!! He was originally going to be coming in at 6:55pm and now he wasn't going to be there until 10:50pm and then that time turned into 11:45pm. So we waited and waited and then waited some more and finally he was here.


The gate where he was going to come out of, very empty~


To be able to get to this gate you have to have a boarding pass and go through securtiy, so guess What I got!!

A boarding pass(my special ticket)~




His plane arrived at 11:42pm and when he came out I made sure to give him a great big hug, he is the best hugger there is

Me and Mattie~




We left the airport after paying the outrageous fee of $27 for parking and started on our long journey home. We dropped Jennifer and Matthew and the kids off at Jennifer's house then I went to drop my Mom off at her apartment and I made it home a little after 4:30am. I was strangely wide awake and decided to stay up and get some laundry done. Now it's a little after 1:30 and I am starting to get so tired.

I may take a nap later but right now I am still doing laundry.I am putting off grocery shopping till another day other than bananas we have enough food to last for a few days.

Praying that everyone has a very blessed and wonderful weekend.

Blessings,Joann

Father's day visit with Jennifer and Katie

today is Father's Day and Jennifer and Katie came over and we all went out to lunch. Had a nice visit as we always do when they visit. I am so happy to have Jennifer for a daughter, she always comes by and visits and brings the grandkids over for us to see. Of course most of the time it's because either Dylan or Katie says they want to see grandma or grandpa because they miss us.
Here are some pictures~

Jennifer and Roger~




Jennifer, Roger and Katie~



And here is one of Roger and Me~



Roger even mentioned how he really likes the fact that Jennifer takes the time to come by often even though they live an hour away.

I hope all the Fathers out there in blogland had a very wonderful and blessed day.

Blessings,joann


**Edited to add**

Don't know if you can actually see it or not but I am wearing the dog tag necklace Mattie gave me, On one side it has a yellow ribbon and says Proud Mother of a U. S. Military Son

and has the Bible Verse JOshua 1:9
"I will be strong and courageous. I will not be terrified, or discouraged;for the Lord my God is with me wherever I go."
On the other side is the prayer of salvation. I wear it everyday!

A little bit of this and that...

On Tuesday this past week I took Mandy to the vet for her spaying surgery. I picked her up Wednesday morning, she came home and started licking her inscision area. I called the vet and they said that wasn't good and to keep her from doing that. Well it is very hard to keep a puppy from licking unless you hold them every moment and since I couldn't do that of course the area opened back up. Saturday morning she was back at the vets office and they put some surgical glue on the spot and put a collar on her. She was not very happy about that. She is still trying to get it off but she has to wear it until next weekend.

This is her before going to the vet on Saturday~





And this is her after going to the vet on Saturday~




On Friday we started the flooring project, Roger worked all day including overtime and still came home and started tearing carpet out. This is the hallway with the ugly old carpet~




Here is the hallway after the carpet was pulled up~





The hallway done except for the trim~


THis is looking from the hallway into the living room~



The living room before~



The living room during~



Roger worked very hard and by Sunday night it was all done!



The living room all done~




I think the new flooring looks so nice with the black tv stand and bookcases~



I love the look of the new flooring and it has made the house look so pretty and light with the light colored floor.


I was also lucky enough to see Katie and Jennifer this weekend, here is a cute picture I took of Katie by the pool~




Have a wonderful week ahead
Blessings,Joann

Mother's day gifts and Jennifer's birthday party

I didn't make a post after Mother's day because believe it or not I did not take any pictures :(

I did however take a few pictures of the purse I got and what I gave Jennifer.

My new purse~





Jennifer's Mother's day gift~





The back of her gift~





Jennifer drinks lots of coffee and loves cups, I thought this particular cup was just so cute, very girlie looking and she also loves Faith Hill so anything the the word Faith on it is something she would love.

Thursday I was waiting for our new flooring to be delivered and here it is, lots and lots of it~


Here is a close up of it, the name of the color is something like splatted beach, I like it because it is nice and light~



I know it will be a big project for Roger to do but I am sure as always it will get done beautifully. He also installed the last door, we have now replaced every old door including closet doors, that is a total of 15 doors, three or four of them are steel outside doors and the rest are all inside doors that are white with 6 panels on them. Makes the house look newer with the old dark doors gone.





Saturday we had a get together for Jennifer's birthday, I had asked first if her and Chris had made any plans for her birthday but they hadn't and so we offered to give her a party after all we are her parents! We had at first planned on just having some cake but then Roger decided to go ahead and have dinner too. We ended up having BBQ chicken (Roger is the best BBQ er I know) a big salad and some corn on the cob. We had 12 people including Roger's mom and a very good friend of the family named Bill.

Katie came as cute as she always is~




And she can always find the dirtiest place to play :) We have all the nice pretty grass we put in and she still found a small dirt area to play in ~



Here she is trying to look out our back gate at the park behind our home~






After dinner was cake time and present time. I had ordered Jennifer an Amy Knapp Christian family organizer just like mine but they haven't gotten here yet so we just gave her a card and also Roger had made a couple of Cd's for her. One was Point of Grace and the other was Kutless

Here is the cake~




And here is Jennifer, Katie and the cake~



So that's what's been going on around here. Praying that everyone has a wonderful Week ahead.
Blessings,Joann

Dylan got an award at school for being caring!!

I went over to Jennifer's yesterday to go to Dylan's school for their assembly. Dylan was getting an award and this was important for me to be there. Roger wished he could have gone but he had to work. The award was for Caring showing care to another child or adult. For Dylan this is such a good thing, he has been struggling with ADHD for a while now and I am so proud of him for his accomplishments. He is a wonderful child.

Here he is with his award~





Here is a picture of both of us~



We went out to Lowes the other night and bought our new back door, I really like it because it has a screen and window built into it. Our house is very dark most of the time and anything that will let light in is great. Now we don't have to have the door open and a screen door. I can get both light and air from this new window in the door. Roger is working on it right now as I am typing this post. I will post again when he is done so you can see the new door.



Our back door as it is right now~