Have you done this???

Today was the day...I have done MY part...Have you???

I went today and had my mammogram. No...It is not the most pleasant of experiences...but all of us gals need to do it---for ourselves, and the ones who love us!

Come on now...call and get that appointment if you haven't done it already.

AGE doesn't matter. My daughter was 32 last year when they found her cancer. My sister was 80 this year when they found hers. My daughter recently had her year follow-up check up and mammogram--everything is great! My sister is taking radiation treatments [she may even be through with them by now].

They would be the first in line to tell you...get your mammo!! They are sure glad THEY did!!!

Jacob at Two! [or was it One?]

Loving on TJ Cinnamon . Not so sure TJ appreciated it! Hershey Bar got in the pic, too.

Not sure what this was all about. maybe he was doing some kind of 'trick' ??? Uncle Kirk was looking on. Swinging with Mom in Nana and Papaws back yard.

Waiting for Uncle Kirk to graduate from SFCC. I found these pics the other day, and since Karen just finished blogging about Jacob's first high school dance, I thought I would share what he looked like as a toddler. See, he had lots of curls even then!! Love you Jake!!!

How to have a Garage Sale!

No, I'm NOT going to give you step by step instructions!  Just going to share about our very successful sale this past weekend.

E---N MO has a city wide sale in the Spring and in the Fall.  Kirk and Stacy have a great place to have a sale.  Their garage is big and their driveway is fairly level, and they live in a great housing addition, too, only a block off of a well traveled road. [like that run-on sentence??]

Anyway, we had a great sale last Spring with Stacy's sisters and her Mom, too.  The kids all know that we NEED to get rid of a lot of the STUFF that has collected in our house over the past 30+ years. I tried all summer to go through stuff and get a bunch of it ready for the sale this Fall.  I did get some work done, but there was always something else that needed doing ,too.

Two weeks ago, we did take a load down to their house, but most of that was stuff that we had brought back from previous sales- intending to try and sell it again. Once we got all of that out of the garage and a corner of the basement where it was stored, it was easier to get motivated about getting more stuff together.

We ended up taking three more van loads-2 during the week prior to the sale and one the night before .  We spent Thursday night at their house so we would be ready EARLY Friday morning to get everything set out for the sale. Stacy's Dad and Kirk made an awesome rack to hold ALL of the clothes[except one small table of baby/kid clothes] that ran 2/3 of the way down their driveway.  It was great to not have to worry about the wind blowing a rack over, or a rack collapsing because it had too many heavy clothes on it! Other than an entertainment center for Kirk and Stacy, none of us had any really 'big ticket' items to sell this time. Stacy's mom[Debbie] and Ron and I and Kirk and Stacy were the only ones selling this time. We had a pretty steady stream of 'customers' all day Friday and up until about 2PM Saturday. Kristopher did bring a few things down Friday night and we put them out Saturday, too.

When we sorted out the 'remainders' we gave several boxes of items to Stacy's great aunt to sell in a 'senior center' store she manages, and several boxes to Goodwill/Salvation Army, but I believe we sold well over 2/3 of the things we had put out to sell. Stacy kept back a few things she wanted to try and sell again, and I did, too. We brought home one half full tub of knick knack stuff, and one fairly full of clothing and 17 empty tubs!![not counting the cardboard boxes of stuff we took, too.]

Now we need to sort through some more 'stuff' and get ready for another sale here in a couple of weeks!  I told you we need to get rid of LOTS of stuff!

Momma Gets a Day with Her Boys!

A little over a week ago, Karl called his Dad all excited.  He had found out that the Chiefs would be in St.Louis to play the Rams, and--that his boss had season tickets, and--that he wasn't going to use the tickets and Karl could have them. The game was on Thursday September3rd.

Anybody who knows us, knows that we are all Chiefs fans, so that looked like a great opportunity for some of us to go.  So Karl and Ron called around to the different brothers in Missouri, to see who could go--and of course everyone had to 'check their schedules' before they could answer for sure. [I had let them know last time they did something like this that if there were enough tickets, I wanted to go too!]  Meanwhile, Karl found out he could get 2 more tickets from someone else. It wasn't long before the calls came in that everyone could go!

We [Kevin, Ron, and I] left here a little after 10:00 AM and headed an hour South and East to get Kirk, then an hour North and East to get Kris, stopped for a Subway sandwich and drink to eat on the way and headed East on I-70 to St.Louis. Made a couple of 'comfort stops' on the way and got to downtown St.Louis around 3:00PM to pick up Karl.  We went for an early dinner, because we knew that the Cardinals were playing an afternoon game and we figured it would get busy in the restaurants when that game let out and also more people were coming in to town for the football game.  Had a great dinner in a rather large facility.  When we went in, there were about 2 other tables in use inside and 2 or 3 sidewalk tables, too.  By the time we were finished with our leisurely dinner, the place was really filling up!  We had strategized together and came up with a place to park that was not too far from a restaurant, or too far from the "Dome" where the game was played. The walk was easy for me [which was the point!] and the weather was great!  We entered the Lumiere Casino from the road area where we parked and went by tunnel, using moveable sidewalks, under the busy highway and came out 1/2 a block from the Dome.!  The gates opened at 5:30. Karl, Kris, Ron, and I had seats on the 30 yard line, seven rows up from the field.  Kevin and Kirk had seats in the end zone,2nd section up from the field, and 3 or so rows up from the concourse.  By the middle of the first quarter, we realized that there were a lot of empty seats around us so they came over and sat with us the rest of the game.

We had a lot of fun to gether.  It was nice to see the interaction and be a part of it!

 Some Favorites:  Ron making a deal with Kevin to let Kevin drive to St.Louis. So that Ron wasn't too tired to drive back when all of them needed to sleep if they could, so they could get up to work today!  Holding hands with Karl as we walked along the street toward the restaurant. Taking Kirk's arm so I could step down at the curb.Everyone sharing 'bites' of their different food choices at the restaurant. Kevin bringing his cane along for me to use if I needed it [thoughtful!]. Kris bringing along a 'mixed bag' of candy to share as we traveled.

Once we cleared the downtown area we had no traffic problems all the rest of the way home.  We stopped once for gas, etc. By the time we made the rounds to take Kris and Kirk home and got to our house it was around 3 AM.[Kevin drove his car to our house and then had to wake up and drive home!] Ron had gotten coffee when we stopped for gas, and he really wasn't very sleepy.  Plenty tired, though!  We got to bed as soon as possible, and got up around 9:30 or so this morning  Will admit that we have not really done much today!  It doesn't help that the weather is dark and rainy!  We'll probably have an early bedtime tonight!

Retirement!!

As of Friday August 7th, Ron is retired! We have now begun a new era in our lives.

The company had a nice retirement party for him that evening.  All the kids who could get here were there.  Keith came down for the evening-stayed all night with us- and went back to Nebraska after breakfast on Saturday. Kevin and Cory were there, and Kristopher, and Kirk and Stacy. Of course Karen was in Oregon and Karl had been here the weekend before from St.Louis.

It was a very 'casual' affair with a baseball theme.  We were asked to come dressed in baseball themed clothes, and their were bats and baseball balloons on the tables and other 'ball' decorations, too.  Even a poster each from the Royals and the Cardinals. There were pics of Ron-from his early years down through this past year- on display, too.

There were baskets of peanuts and Cracker Jacks on each table, and the food was hamburgers, hot dogs or 'brats', and nachos! For dessert they brought out frozen malts like you can get at the ballpark.Several people had little 'gifts' or momentoes to give to Ron, and he had a few to give out, too. A silly, fun time with all that. The main thing he was given that night was a matted and framed print of George Brett and the pine tar bat incident and it was signed by George Brett. It was a GREAT night and a good celebrationof 38 years with the company, and Ron had a great time!

On Sunday afternoon, Ron and I headed to Branson for a week of R&R.  Did a lot of resting and reading, saw one show, did a little shopping and ate at least one meal a day out somewhere! Came home this past Sunday with a stop in Springfield to see my nephew Raymond on the way.

Now I am wondering when it is really going to hit Ron that he is retired...and NOT just on an extended vacation!!

How SAD!

I have some other things I want to tell you about...but first...I HAVE to comment about a tragedy.  It is so hard to even think about it, but maybe we need to think about it  a little.

A young man is dead. His wife no longer has her beloved husband.  His two kids no longer have their Dad. His sister no longer has her twin.ETC. ETC.

The big question is WHY???

Part of the answer we will never know--maybe all of it.  There were some clues---there was some treatment, and medication---there was a lot of love---  but for some reason he wanted life to be over.

He couldn't think it all through...couldn't see how much hurt and distress he would cause. [I'm convinced that if he could have he would not have done what he did!]

It is hard for us to wrap our minds around that fact sometimes:--They really don't --even can't-- understand how much we love them and want good things for them.

Depression is so insidious.  It causes a glitch in the thinking of those who have it!

[ Those with Bi-polar syndrome are another group of people who can not always think things through.  That is why so many of them want to get off of their meds when they are 'doing better'. They think that they don't need them anymore...that they have been cured.  If I am totally honest I have to say here that even diabetics don't always think right about their disease either.  It is easy to go into denial and decide to ignore your food plan , your need for taking your meds on time and getting enough exercise, etc.]

There are no 'easy answers'. No 'miracle cures' for depression. Each person's story is different.  The only thing we CAN do is just keep trying! Keep loving!  Keep re-assuring!  Keep nagging [in a kind way] to take their meds, see their doctors.....!  The biggest thing, and probably the best, that we can do is PRAY!, both for them and WITH them.

God Bless!!

Karl hits the BIG 40!

Karl had his birthday this past Tuesday.  It was one of those 'milestone' events we all face--the big 40!  I don't think it 'bothered' him as much as it would have a year or so ago.  He seemed to take it all in stride.

Danielle and I went to St.Louis to get him on Friday.  Today we all [the ones who live in this area] went to Truman Lake for a cookout and 'celebration' of his birthday. I found a few "Over the Hill" banners, etc. at the Dollar Store in Warsaw and Robbie and I taped them up around the shelter.  Karl had a little bit to say about that, but not so much.  I think He really kind of liked them!

Kevin brought pork steaks to grill[ I know that surprises some people--uh, not much, that is his favorite thing to grill!] Kirk and Stacy brought hotdogs and Ron and I brought hamburgers and hot dogs.  Kevin and Danielle made a fresh salsa [everything was from their garden] and Kevin fixed some guacamole, and sliced some tomatoes.  Kirk and Stacy  brought chips, too. And I made a pasta salad and some cole slaw. For once, Karl didn't get a lemon cake[there was a glitch about who was making it!?!?] but Kris and I stopped at Wal-mart and picked up and "excellent" chocolate birthday cake!  Kris also brought his famous Kristopher dip and the cream cheese, bacon and cheddar spread he makes for crackers that we all like, too.Val and Robbie brought several different kinds of cookies -homemade- that were great

Several people went down to the beach and played in the water for a while, but mostly we just sat around and visited together. and 'spent time' with each other.  Cory came down after she got off work and got to spend a couple of hours with us, too.  As we were leaving, the sun was beginning to set.  This giant orange and gold ball was reflecting on the water as it slowly sank behind one of the Ozark Hills. It was Beautiful!

Robbie came home with us and is spending the night.  Then he is going with us to take his Dad back to St.Louis tomorrow afternoon. Kristopher and I are making the trip this time.  After this coming Friday, Ron and I will be able to handle this part pf it,---but more about that LATER!