30 Years ago today!!!

30 years ago today I gave birth to a wonderful daughter!! That’s right Sarah turns 30 today. I remember the night she was born so well almost as if it were yesterday.

Sarah–one hour old!!

Sarah– now at 30 years old!

Sarah has always been the best daughter a Mom could have. I can’t say enough wonderful things about her so I won’t even try. In 5 months or so she will give birth to a child of her own. I still can’t believe I’m that freakin’ old. WTF happened? It all went by so fast. Well, that must mean I have had a good life so far and I would have to say that is true. I still have so much to look forward to. I just wish time would slow up a little. I guess I can’t stop time though.

Anyway I wish my daughter the happiest of birthdays. I love her more than words can say!!

Happy New year everyone!!! I love you all too!!!! All this freakin love. I am such a sap. Ha! Ha!

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Big News!

I have some big news to tell you all.

WE are moving to the island of Martha’s Vineyard. Sarah has worked there for 7 years and her bosses and our family feel it is time to make the big move to the Vineyard. Sarah spends almost three hours a day commuting on the boat and this time is taken away from the time she could be spending with our family, especially new baby.

The house we are renting has four bedrooms so Sarah and Obie won’t have to live in the basement anymore. My bedroom is on the first floor and the second floor has three bedrooms–one for the wasband when he visits, one for new baby and one for Sarah and Obie. There is a farmer’s porch the whole length of the front of the house . I just imagine myself going out there at night rocking the baby. There is a deck on the back of the house and 1 1/2 acres of land. It has a big kitchen with lots of cupboard space and counter space–something I don’t currently have. It has so many closets too. It has a dining area which we don’t have now.

I have always loved the house I am in because I have been here 35 years and it is home. I know we can make the new house into a home if we are all together. You can even see the water from the house in the winter when there are no leaves on the trees. There are no houses behind us all the way to the water. It is all trees. You can barely see the house across the street and next door with all the trees.

It even has a laundry room on the main floor. I won’t have to do any stairs. It also has not one but two full baths. I feel that I will be living like a queen. I am so not use to a house this big.

I will post some Christmas photos but Sarah has my camera and I keep forgetting to ask her for it.

I’ll post photos of the house as soon as soon as I get them. This is a google image and the house is right in the middle.

Your pregnancy: 16 weeks

See the big picture

How your baby’s growing:

Get ready for a growth spurt. In the next few weeks, your baby will double his weight and add inches to his length. Right now, he’s about the size of an avocado: 4 1/2 inches long (head to rump) and 3 1/2 ounces. His legs are much more developed, his head is more erect than it has been, and his eyes have moved closer to the front of his head. His ears are close to their final position, too. The patterning of his scalp has begun, though his locks aren’t recognizable yet. He’s even started growing toenails. And there’s a lot happening inside as well. For example, his heart is now pumping about 25 quarts of blood each day, and this amount will continue to increase as your baby continues to develop.

Soon you’ll experience one of the most wonderful moments of pregnancy — feeling your baby move. While some women notice “quickening” as early as 16 weeks, many don’t feel their baby move until about 18 weeks or more. (And if this is your first baby, don’t be too impatient — you may not be aware of your baby’s movements until 20 weeks or so.) The earliest movements may feel like little flutters, gas bubbles, or even like popcorn popping. Over the following weeks they’ll grow stronger and you’ll be able to feel them much more frequently.

Comparing Christmas!!

Another befor eand after photo. Last Christmas vs. this Christmas.

Last Year!

This Year!

I will post more photos tomorrow but I had to post this. I hope you all had an Absolutely Fabulous Holiday. I know I did.

Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah!!

I celebrate Christmas but I have a lot of Jewish friends whom I adore so I want to wish everyone a happy holiday for whatever you are into.

This is my last post until after Christmas.  I am wrapping presents but I had to take a little time out—boring.  Honestly, I’d rather do dishes.  I wish I had enough bags so I could just throw every present into a bag but in our new quest to save money because of new baby I am wrapping.

This afternoon I go to my sister’s so we can make the appetizers and desserts for tonight’s party.  My niece shows up and we all cook together.  I wish Sarah could be there but she has to work.  It was more fun when it was the four of us but times change which to be honest with you I always have a tough time with.  I am a glutton for routine but things are going to be changing for me fast in the future and I will just have to roll with it.

Tonight we attend the party and tomorrow we go to Obie’s father’s and step mom’s  for dinner.  Usually we go to my sister’s but from now on we are going to alternate families.  Fortunately Obie’s family is awesome and I am sure we will have a great dinner and a wonderful time.  They are very laid back and fun to be with.

I’ll take lots of photos and hopefully videos.

I want to take time now to thank all of my wonderful blog buddies for a great year.  You have all been there for me through thick and thin.  I can’t believe I am fortunate enough to have made such good friends.  I don’t say this lightly either.  I really freakin’ mean it. I love you all.

Merry Christmas and to all a Goodnight!!!

Electricity and Snow!

 

I wrote this yesterday so you will know that the snowstorm actually happened the day before.

 

You don’t realize how much you really need electricity until you lose it. We got a snowstorm yesterday and about 6:30 PM just as I was going to make rice we lost our electricity. I had made boneless pork chops with sweet potatoes and pineapples in the crock pot. We ended up eating it in the dark without rice. Fortunately I had kerosene lanterns. Within 10 minutes of losing our power I was bored. I hate it, I mean I really hate not being able to get online. One minute you have the world at your fingertips and the next minute you are in a cold dark house.

I ended up reading by the lantern which was somewhat difficult because I can’t see all that well on a good day. I finally went to bed around midnight, early for me but I was bored ( and by now fairly blind from reading in the near dark). All night long I heard noises: snow falling down the roof, branches crashing into my car and big wooden swing, people knocking at my bedroom door ( the wasband said it was a woodpecker banging on the house). I had crazy dreams. Then I heard voices. I thought angels were speaking to me but it was Barry and Obie cleaning off the cars.

By early morning my mind was roiling (Yes, roiling is a word. I know because I had to look it up.) With a roiling mind I got up to no electricity. How could this be? With all our technology and I am sitting in a cold dark house without hot coffee. Fortunately Barry needed coffee in the morning so he and I set out to find hot coffee and breakfast. We ended up at Dunkin Donuts because they have a new weight watchers breakfast.

At this point we decided there was no reason to go home so Barry took me on a 4 hour drive. We had a great time bird watching from the car because I don’t do bird watching any other way. We saw a lot of cool birds. I guess they were cool. In the birder’s world who’s to know.

Barry took this photo on our ride.

When we got home , Lo and Behold we had electricity. The first thing I did–Yes, you guessed it, I got online.

My Intentions are Good!!

I go through this every Christmas.  About the middle of November I get all excited about making crafts and baking for the Holidays.  I plan ahead and then suddenly it’s Christmas and I have hardly anything finished.  How does Christmas just crawl in on me without me knowing it?

Here I am tonight trying to finish all the cookies we should have done by now.  Sarah did tons of baking but we still don’t have enough and she doesn’t have any more days off until Christmas.

Well, it’s OK, I work fairly well under pressure.  Barry and I went to Target to finish up my Christmas shopping this morning and now I am making chocolate covered spoons.

We decorated the tree on Tuesday night.

The tree is smaller than what we usually buy but it is still a good size.  Barry and Sarah even put lights on some of the bushes outside.

I’m one of those people who hurrys to get everything done but actually doesn’t seem to get anything done.

Well, I am going to go make some more chocolate peanut butter balls and somehow not eat any.  Oh, I almost forgot, we are supposed to get a foot of snow tomorrow.   Maybe we will actually have” A White Christmas”.

I’ll leave you with one of my all time Christmas songs.  I especially love this version with David Bowie and Bing Crosby.

I have to put this song on too.   Bing singing  “White Christmas”.

It’s a Wonderful Life!

I have to admit, life has been good to me over the last year. After going through some rough years I was beginning to wonder when things might fall into place.  I finally feel at ease with my life and I am really happy about that.  Don’t get be wrong I don’t sleep on a bed of roses nor would I want to.  I can’t even imagine how that could be a good thing what with the thorns and all but Life is good.

And I will make thee beds of roses
And a thousand fragrant posies,
A cap of flowers, and a kirtle
Embroidered all with leaves of myrtle

So I went to the Vineyard with Sarah on Saturday.  I stayed up in the apartment until she got out of work and then we went to see the play  “It’s a Wonderful Life”.  It was excellent.  They did it as if it were a radio play back in the 40’s. You could see the special effects guy making all the sounds as if he were in the radio station.  They even sang little radio commercials in between acts.

The next day we went shopping.  We went to a beautiful sheep farm where they sold nice gifts, to a chocolate store ( I stayed in the car), and we did a lot of shopping in Vineyard Haven.

Vineyard Haven.  You can see Sarah’s store across the street.

Sarah and I

On Monday Sarah and the Wasband and I went to the Imax theater to see   “The Day The Earth Stood Still”.  I enjoyed it but I liked the original version better.

This is a video of Barry trying to push the wheel chair up the ramp at the mall while trying to tell Sarah of our last trip here with Leslie when we went to see Waterfire in Providence. On that trip he and I ended up hysterically laughing because he couldn’ t seem to push me up the hill.

Sarah and I still have a lot of baking and making of gifts to do.  I can’t believe Christmas is next week.  We have our tree up but we will decorate it tonight.  Sarah and Barry did outdoor lights last night. It’s getting to feel a lot like Christmas.

Going To The Vineyard!!

Tomorrow morning Sarah and I are going to Martha’s Vineyard for the weekend. I will miss weight watchers but I think I have lost about 2 pounds this week. Sarah got tickets to the play “It’s A Wonderful Life”. We have front row seats thanks to the wheel chair. They are having a great Christmas celebration over the weekend in Edgartown.

To me, doing things like this with Sarah is what Christmas is all about. I am really looking forward to this.

Your pregnancy: 14 weeks

How your baby’s growing:

This week’s big developments: Your baby can now squint, frown, grimace, pee, and possibly suck his thumb! Thanks to brain impulses, his facial muscles are getting a workout as his tiny features form one expression after another. His kidneys are producing urine, which he releases into the amniotic fluid around him — a process he’ll keep up until birth. He can grasp, too, and if you’re having an ultrasound now, you may even catch him sucking his thumb.In other news: Your baby’s stretching out. From head to bottom, he measures 3 1/2 inches — about the size of a lemon — and he weighs 1 1/2 ounces. His body’s growing faster than his head, which now sits upon a more distinct neck. By the end of this week, his arms will have grown to a length that’s in proportion to the rest of his body. (His legs still have some lengthening to do.) He’s starting to develop an ultra-fine, downy covering of hair, called lanugo, all over his body. Your baby’s liver starts making bile this week — a sign that it’s doing its job right — and his spleen starts helping in the production of red blood cells. Though you can’t feel his tiny punches and kicks yet, your little pugilist’s hands and feet (which now measure about 1/2 inch long) are more flexible and active.

So baby has gone from a shrimp to a lemon. I wonder if they will continue to compare baby to food. I guess baby will be an orange soon.

I did what little shopping I had to do on Amazon today. The Vineyard has some awesome shops so I might pick up a few things there.

I have to make this short because it’s late and I have to pack and get ready for tomorrow. I hope you all have a great weekend. I will try to post tomorrow while Sarah is working. I will take lots of photos too.

Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation! Red Sox Stuff!

Today was one of those errand and appointment days. I first got up and had to put on a slow cooker Beef Jerk Roast. Then I met with Jane from the hospice.

Murphy is the dog and they use him for therapy for the kids. I know you can’t actually read the article but it was all she had to give me. The little boy’s name starts with C and she will be giving C the Red Sox stuff next week. So now we can lay to rest this whole thing. Something just occurred to me. Quite often Kaylee would say she didn’t understand something that a real 17 year old would definitely understand. Which to me indicates it is some one pretending to be 17. Maybe a man because a woman would know what a 17 year old girl would understand but a man might not. Even a teenage boy would know but probably not a man. I know my wasband would have no clue as to what a 17 year old girl would or would not know at that age. Just a thought.

I had a doctor’s appointment then I had to go to the P.O. and three different banks. I had to pick up my brother and take him to the doctor. I was just driving all around town in circles to get all this done. I’m dizzy now. I think more from hunger than the circles.

Definition: “TENS” is the acronym for Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation. A “TENS unit” is a pocket size, portable, battery-operated device that sends electrical impulses to certain parts of the body to block pain signals.

My doctor gave me one of these yesterday when I got fitted for the leg and back brace.

I used it last night while watching TV. If you ever get one here are some warnings.

1. Don’t suddenly turn it on high by mistake. Holy Crap!! You’ll shock the shit out of your self. Talk about jumping out of your seat.

2. If you happen to turn it on high by mistake, try to remember which way to turn it off. Not knowing this just makes the shock last longer. At least my hair is puffy today,

3. Please remember to turn off the unit before you try to remove the sensors. They are very sticky and stick to your hand while giving you an amazing shock that goes right up your arm to your brain. While that’s happening you tend to forget to turn off the unit and you just keep getting shocked over and over. Your screaming, hopefully, will bring someone to your room to snatch it out of your hand.

4. I think the point is that screwing up this thing keeps you from concentrating on your pain.

Hopefully when I get the hang of it and quit shocking myself it will help.

I have other things to say but I don’t want to bore you. I received two awards recently that I want to post about. I need to put the 14 week pregnant picture up and talk about this weekend. I will write all this up tomorrow.

The Hospice

I decided this morning to call The Hospice of Cape Cod.
and see if I could find a child to give the Red Sox stuff to.  I was sort of hoping I wouldn’t find one there.  I didn’t want to think about some poor kid being there at all.  It’s way to sad.   At the same time though, a child who happens to be there might just enjoy some Red Sox stuff.  I talked to a wonderful woman who told me she had a little boy there who would love the stuff.  As soon as she said that I got teary.  I hate to imagine that little boy in a hospice.  I won’t be able to meet him because of privacy issues but at least I know the stuff is going to someone who will appreciate it.

I am bringing the stuff to her tomorrow.  I will post again tomorrow after I do.  Come to find out the woman I talked to knows people that I do but I guess that would happen in a small town.  I look forward to tomorrow.  This is when I wish I was rich so I could just give stuff away all the time.  It really is better to give than receive though I do like a prize on occasion.

Today I am on my way out to get fitted for a knee and back brace hoping that will help me walk better. I have to go now or I will be late.  Ta! Ta!