2020

 Hello all,

I've started several times to update my blog but wasn't quite ready. The only good thing to come out of 2020 was my youngest child, Cori, moved back home and is in nursing school. 

Mom had heart valve surgery toward the end of January, the kind where they go through the vein, called TAVR. She did great, no problems with surgery. A month later, at her check up, she was starting to get a little congested. She ended up with bronchitis, then feet and legs swelling. Heart doc said it was from the steroids....a patient just has heart surgery and one of the symptoms after can be leg swelling, but lets not check that... Primary doc was no better, you know, Covid and all. She spent a few days in hospital in April, after calling the doctor who did the surgery, and he said to go to ER, but the laryngitis and tiredness continued a while. Her heart rate was a little higher and her blood pressure lower. She finally went to a heart doc closer by and went to a different primary doc too.  Hubby had outpatient surgery in Gainesville, on May 14th and I called her that night and we talked over an hour and a half. Her hoarseness was gone and she sounded so much better, thought she was finally turning a corner. On Friday the 22nd, her legs were swelling again so she went to her new doc, he wanted her to go in the hospital so they could get the fluid off while keeping check on her blood pressure. Saturday morning they found her unresponsive, they revived her twice but her heart couldn't sustain it. When she was in the hospital in April a doctor commented that the bronchitis had caused congestive heart failure, I'm not sure that is true. When she first found out about her heart valve, years ago, she said she wasn't going to have surgery for it, if it killed her it killed her. But she had to because she had no energy and tired out quickly, after a bad episode after Thanksgiving. The symptoms of no energy and tiredness continued which made her depressed. She always said if she couldn't see after herself or do the things she's used to doing, (like washing both vehicles, cleaning her carport, cutting trees down to save cats, etc  :-) then she would rather be dead. I think her heart was just too worn out after all these years, maybe if she had had the surgery done after Dad passed, but who knows, the same thing might have happened. My Mom passed away on May 23, 2020, some of you may have read her blog Jean's Tales. I miss her everyday. I used her cake holder the first time the other day and it made me cry, Hubby asked if I was okay, I said I just miss her, he said I miss her too. She told hubby after my Dad passed that she loved him like her own son. She was loved by so many who got to meet her. She was kind and generous and welcoming. She loved to laugh, and we'd laugh until we cried over nothing. But she could fuss as well, ;-) This lady made the best biscuits, we all loved them, neighbors, family and friends would check to see if there were any left if they came over. I made a video of her making them back in 2015, hoping I could eventually make them as well as her. I may one day get close, but they'll never be like hers. 

Take care, Sheila

2019 update...

Hello again,

Behind our house - they survived the holiday

We made it through Thanksgiving, now it's almost Christmas. We split Thanksgiving between Alabama and home. My brother Shawn and his family were coming to my Mom's and our youngest daughter was coming to our house for Thanksgiving. So we spent time in both places. 

Now on to how the rest of 2019 went...

Jarin spent a month in Jan -Feb visiting her friend in Washington state. She got to see cold and snow and she caught strep throat :( 

Hubby and I got to enjoy Colonoscopies a week apart. My first, the end of February and his second in March. My Dad had colon cancer in 1999 so the doctors have been on me to have it done. I put it off as long as I could. All's well that ends well, we're good.

Our new toy in April

In July, Cori changed jobs again. She gets to use her artist side in this job, designing pins and logos and such.

Hubby's late brother Mike's son got married in October. We were proud for him, he has always been a good kid / man. He was our ringbearer when we got married. We missed Mike being there.

Cori and Elliot brought us the respiratory crud at Thanksgiving and it's one that likes to linger. I'm a little bit ahead of Hubby and Jarin getting over it.

So here we are near the end of December. Mom has to have a procedure done after the first of the year. It's something they've been watching for years but time to take care of it now. Hubby's Mom had a recent fall and is in rehab to get her strength up. So please send up prayers for my loved one's in need. Thank you!

The oversized chair and ottoman we recently got rid of. I loved it but it was too big.

(Cori and Shawn's kids Madi and Noah )

Soon the year 2020 will be here and we are up to date on the years I missed.

Take care,
Sheila

Moving on to 2018...

Hello,
We made it through Halloween. In the first bunch of trick or treaters one little girl decided she didn't want candy, she wanted to come in and see what hubby was eating, lol. But she finally took the candy.

Buzzards hanging around the swans and ducks today for some reason.

There were about 4 buzzards until I went to get my camera...of course.

End of 2017...

After Dad passed Jarin and I stayed through Christmas. My brothers and their families came back at Christmas too. Jarin had a friend from Australia coming Dec 31st, Rachel. They spent a few days at Disney World since Jarin picked her up in Orlando. Jarin brought the crud back with her, then Rachel caught it a day or so later, then Mom. I thought I had dodged the bullet but then I caught it. So that delayed my leaving until Jan 15, 2018.

2018...

With still a little coughing and congestion, Jarin, Rachel and I headed back to NC. Jarin had to go back to get her car and they stayed a week up there. It snowed shortly after we got home so Rachel got to enjoy snow while she was here. We enjoyed having Rachel, she was a lot of fun and hopefully she'll get to come back soon.

So back to the move, Hubby came back up mid February for a couple of months and we finished getting the house ready. Getting rid of stuff and taking stuff to the dump or goodwill. Gave some things to friends. The movers came March 6 and 7 to get us packed up and loaded. His job got Hubby a hotel in Greensboro near work and I stayed a couple of days in town because I had Carpet cleaners and such coming after the movers left. Then I went up to the hotel in Greensboro. While there we picked out stuff for the new house we were building in Florida. A one story finally after all these years. We did our taxes and the girls taxes. Just enjoyed our time together. Thankfully our house in NC sold pretty quickly and we closed on that in May. I left NC to go to Mom's on April 9th, thinking Hubby had to stay a few more weeks but he only had to stay about a week longer.

So the next few months was me going down to stay with hubby in the camper 6 weeks or so then back to mom's, back and forth.

Then Hubby's dad started going downhill with infections and such until he passed on Aug 11. He was a retired Air Force veteran so he got the full military funeral.

We finally closed on our house Sept 21. It shouldn't have taken over 9 months to build but it did. 

Completed

The kitchen minus the fridge and stove

Our doors are dark grey

Oct 6 - 10th - Hubby spent in the hospital with pneumonia. He came home the Wednesday before thinking it was the flu but he was no better by Saturday. I told him he needed to go to the hospital - 'no, I'll be alright' - can you walk to the car or do I need to call an ambulance? 'I can walk to the car'. So we got him dressed and to the hospital. Hurricane Michael was headed this way during that time, he got out the day it was expected but lucky for us we had no effects from it. 

On to 2019...

Take care,

Sheila

The 2017 update...

Good afternoon!

We have been busy the last two weekends. We had to clean up the love bug onslaught. Weekend before last we cleaned off the front porch, door and windows. The love bugs make their way between the screen and window. The builders put the window screens in half-arsed,  just saying, so we cleaned them out, me inside - hubby outside and got the screens put in right. Then I put out a little decoration for Halloween. This weekend we cleaned the rest of the windows and trim, then cleaned the back porch. I washed the rocking chairs and tables. So glad that is done. We had our back porch screened in a couple of weeks ago. So that will keep the love bugs, frogs and birds that want to make a nest and poop on our rockers out. Doggies have a visit with a new vet today. Charlie needs a couple of shots.

Well on to 2017. It was not a good year.

On January 20 we lost Hubby's brother Mike unexpectedly. Others knew him as Steve but he was Mike to family. Sudden cardiac arrest. Still hard to believe. Hubby and Mike's son Justin gave the Eulogy, they did a great job, I wish I had a recording of it. Hubby started working on moving us back closer to home.

So around June Hubby went to Macon, Ga for a few months. The company had a place there and Lake City, FL. We weren't sure which place we'd end up but they were both about the same distance from home (Alabama).

Come August, Cori took another job and moved to Orlando, FL. Tech support and making power apps. Hubby said she could fall down and find a $100 dollars (pertaining to how easy she could fall into a good job..ha).

Then in September I followed Jarin to Mom's so she could stay there while I got the house ready to sale. I stayed a little while, stopping by Macon on the way there and staying in Macon a few days on the way back to NC. It was a little hard going back to NC by myself though.
Shortly after, it was decided that Lake City is where we were headed. Hubby came back to NC here and there. We ended up buying a travel trailer for him to stay in in Florida.

For Thanksgiving that year, Cori went to her Dad's and Jarin came up to NC. She was going to stay with me until I went down for Christmas. But God had other plans. Right after Thanksgiving my Dad took a turn for the worst and we headed to Mom's on Dec 1st. He was unresponsive by then, though he did open his eyes that night, but I don't know if he was aware. All the siblings (except my brother Ronnie who passed in 2013) were there when he passed on Sunday morning the 3rd.

    Mike

          (Cori said Uncle Mike doesn't look like he'd be funny but he is...ha.)

  Hubby, his Dad and Mike

   (Summer before we moved to Washington state)

                                     

 Dad

   Dad - Army 

  From his and Mom's 60th Anniversary celebration

       Mom and Dad were 16 days from their 68th anniversary when he passed. Love him and miss him.

To be continued...
Take care,
Sheila

It's me again...

Surprise, surprise...it has been awhile. Things have changed since the last post. But I will catch you up.

We are all doing well. No longer in NC, now in Florida. But I'll get to that on another post.

2016-
About 4 days over the 4th of July in 2016, Cori was given a chance to go to an Anime convention in L.A. to demonstrate a company's drawing tablets for computers. She owned one that she used to draw on her computer. She told them if they paid her way she would come do it and they did, paid all her expenses. While there they offered her a job and she went to China to train for 2 months, from Sept 1 to Nov 1. Yes, her mama survived... She made a few videos for them demonstrating the products and also designed and drew the booklet that came with the tablets. Here's a link to a couple of them. She didn't know they were planning to make a video in the first one so she didn't dress for it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFkOYC4QAEs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VO9CV1-0S7c

She became their tech support for the tablets and also helping with English translation.

After she returned in November she rescued a kitten she named Tokki (Toe-key).


We stayed home Christmas 2016 because Jarin had to work. Turned out to be the last Christmas there because I didn't decorate for 2017. More to come....

To be continued...

Take care, 

Sheila

Hello,

We are still here. Nothing much 'new' going on. We had a good Valentine's' and I hope you all did as well. We've had a few episodes of snow and ice sprinkled here and there. Going after while to get a haircut. It's been a few months since I last went. My hairstylist wanted to style it a little different way, so I am letting her. (Mainly because Cori didn't think I would let her...ha) I was letting it grow as long as I could stand it, so hopefully I'll be a little further along into the style with this cut. Nothing drastic, just letting some of the layers grow out that I've had for years.....and years.....and years. Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks. :) It should be a nice weekend with highs in the low 60s. 

Jack, you shared your pics recently of the old tree at the Alamo. So I thought I would share a couple of mine with daughter Cori (Cori of different color hair fame). This was when her Granny and Grandpa and Granny's cousin Patricia, came to visit us in San Antonio.

Here she is on the Riverwalk boat with Granny's cousin Patricia. Granny was on there too.

I am still waiting for that one good snow this year. Not sure if we will get it, but a girl can hope can't she.

Take care,

Sheila

A wrap-up of 2015...

Well, here we are into another year. I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year's.  We stayed home this Christmas for the first time in about 20 years. Jarin started a new job in October and she had to work so we stayed home this year. We missed everyone but we had a great Christmas. We cooked our Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve so we could relax on Christmas Day. We grilled steaks on Christmas Day.  Jarin and I made our annual trip to the Festival of Lights the week of Thanksgiving.  That is at the Tanglewood Park here. Lowes Foods took over sponsorship this year and brought back the marshmallow roast. We always like to get one of the big pretzels.

Our outside decorations this Christmas.

I mentioned looking for some battery lights for the swag on the door and Hubby found some and brought them home. They worked great.

Christmas Eve before Santa came. :-)

Christmas Moon 

I'll catch you up a little on the rest of 2015. Hubby healed great from his eye surgery in February to fix his Orbital floor blowout fracture that happened when he slipped on an icy, outside escalator on a business trip to Chicago.  He had his other surgery in Mid May for the ICD, he had no problems and recovered well from that also. Hopefully everything will go well on the medical front this year. 

The many hair colors of Cori in 2015... I'm sure there were some shades I missed.

Cori got to see her favorite Kpop (Korean) band in person, twice this year.  Once at Earth Day in Washington DC (bottom two pics) and the other at KCON 2015 in New Jersey (top two). She got to touch their hands in New Jersey, that's her favorite she's touching in the pic (dark haired one).

In June, Jarin and Cori went to Heroes Con in Charlotte again. I went on Friday with Jarin because Cori had classes and that was the day to pick up the ticket badge and free stuff.  I did meet the cartoonist for Snuffy Smith. I bought two compilation books of comic strips for him to autograph for me and my Dad.

He also drew a picture in each one.

(my Dad's)

Some dress in costume at Heroes Con.
The ladies of Hocus Pocus.

Shawn, wife Iliana and little Sierra after canoe race

Brother Shawn competed in the Texas Water Safari canoe race in July (I believe his 7th time). They canoe over 260 miles, starts on Saturday morning and they have to be at checkpoints along the way by certain times. It is usually in June but all the rain and flooding postponed it twice until July. He competed in mixed with another lady Debbie, they came in 7th overall and 1st in mixed. For my Facebook buddies there is a video I shared on my wall that Debbie put together of their race. I got to watch along the way on Periscope. I stayed up until 5:30 am on that Monday morning to watch them come in at the finish line. That was neat to get to do, I was able to let him know I was watching and congratulate them at the end and say hi to the family. 

Then we met at Mom's later in July and went to the beach for an overnight. Sierra is into Frosty the snowman and he was there at the beach...ha. 

Jarin and I went by to see the military stone that was put on brother Ronnie's grave, while we were home. We miss him.

I caught a double rainbow in September, on Labor Day.

Hubby had to use up some vacation time before the end of the year so he went to his parents Thanksgiving week. He didn't get to go during the summer when the girls and I went. He also took the week after Christmas and since we had pleasant weather that week we got the garage cleaned out. Oh and we had a few problems with our Christmas lights on the bushes in front. We thought it was because of the steady rain we thought would never end. We replaced a couple of net lights and after Christmas they went out again, turns out it may have been a rabbit that chewed through the cord. Well, something did and I have seen rabbits run for the hills when we came out with the dogs to do their business. And last but not least, Cori wrecked her car a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving. She was fine, drove it home. The headlight on the front passenger side fell out. She wanted to keep it so I guess we need to build her a box to hold it so she can hang it in her room...ha. Too bad we don't know how to wire it so she can turn it on and off for a light.

So I think that pretty much wraps up 2015, the highlights anyway. 

Hope everyone has a great week!
Take care,

Sheila