Someone has hacked into our web server and has caused us….let me say, George…many hours of stress to repair the damage they have done. I don’t understand why people find this entertaining but I assume they get something out of doing this. Oh well, all is well and I’m thankful for George’s knowledge and patience in repairing it.

Not much happening here in gloomy Kentucky. It’s been warmer than normal, but we have a definite absence of sunshine, so all I see is GLOOM.  Some of the spring flowers are popping up and a few are even blooming but they won’t last long since winter will raise it’s ugly head again soon.   Oh well, it’s almost February so winter has made a turn towards spring and for that I’m more than thankful.

Monday is Lorin’s last day of work before he retires and I know that’s a time of mixed emotions. I’m sure there will be lots of projects to complete around the house, travel to enjoy, and the hiking trip next summer in the Rocky Mountains so his first year will be a busy one.  After that, a routine will develop and each day is usually filled with something. Happy retirement, Lorin!!!

George’s foot continues to heal…at least we pray that’s happening…and he’s down to one crutch for one more week, a boot for three more weeks, and then we find out if he’s back to normal shoes, etc. It’s been an ordeal for him but we’re thankful for a good surgeon and the Lord’s healing hands.

No news of interest so I’ll get back to my knitting. This sweater is taking me forever and I’m currently knitting sleeves…my least favorite thing to knit for whatever reason…and I feel sure this will be finished for NEXT winter!

We currently have a sweet family at the “blue house” that’s checking out Asbury University for their oldest daughter for next fall.  This is a definite time of mixed emotions…the first is a hard one! The empty nest is a very difficult time in a mother’s life but one we all want for our children…we “stay at home Mom’s” work ourselves right out of a job…and it’s hard to turn loose at times. We pray the visit goes well for them, they will love the university, and our “blue house”.

Have a great weekend and let’s all look for the blessings we receive in abundance each day. Love to all!

Blessings….

The day is almost over but I’m coming in at the last possible minute to wish my brother, Lorin, a very happy birthday. I talked with him earlier today and at that point it had been a good birthday day for him. Not only did he celebrate his birthday today but he will also be retiring in a week.  I wish him the very best with his retirement and may all his dreams come true.  We have found that retirement sure doesn’t mean idleness but a change of directions.  Happy Birthday and Happy Retirement!!!  Love you.

Yesterday was a very exciting day for both Ryan and Jerod.  Let me begin with Ryan…Yesterday morning we headed to Louisville to watch Ryan and his Marine ROTC team compete in a drill competition.  To say they were good is a big understatement.  In fact they were beyond outstanding.  All the MANY hours of practice sure showed and paid off big.  They won first place and it was well deserved.  Congratulations Ryan.  You and the team were amazing and I’m so glad we were able to see you all perform.  Jerod was in an academic meet yesterday and he tested first in social studies and language arts.  In fact he had a PERFECT score in language arts!!!  He also was first in quick recall so he had a very successful day and should be very proud of himself. I know we are all very proud of him!!!   Now today was a good day for Tyler as he placed second in the wrestling meet he was in.  That’s a tough sport and he’s doing very well in spite of his recent surgery.  He was on two different wresting teams but one was finished a week or so ago and now he can concentrate on just this one until it ends right before baseball begins.  Gotta love the year round sports!  These sure keep the Mama / Papa’s hopping not to mention the grandparents.  Congratulations to each of you boys and may you continue to excel in each of these different areas.

Nothing else to brag about so guess Ill get back to watching the football game.  Have a great week and we’ll do the same.  Love to all.

Blessings…….

We’re suppose to go to Louisville in the morning to watch Ryan and his ROTC drill team do their amazing “twirls, etc.” with their rifles, but I just heard we may be getting some ICE.  Snow is bad enough, but ICE makes it impossible to get around.  We’ll just have to see if it really hits our areas before we give up all hope of going tomorrow.  Can we all say … SPRING we’re eagerly waiting for your return?

Not much happening on this dreary Friday but we did have an amazing sunset last evening.  It was absolutely beautiful!  Therefore, I won’t complain about the dreariness today when I can see God’s handy work like we  saw last night.

Today was “clean the blue house” day since our guest left out early this morning.  They were a sweet family and seemed to have enjoyed their time here and at the seminary.  We have more people coming in next week for three days and then nothing until March.  Therefore, February will be used for any “handyman” projects that needs to be completed.  We do have a lot of bookings through June and for that we are thankful.  We’ll get additional bookings for the summer and fall months, so we aren’t concerned…yet.

Have a great evening and let’s really think SPRING!  Winter is just so…so, depressing, cold, and dreary.  Oh well, here’s hoping all the bugs are being sacrificed so we won’t have many this spring / summer.  Love to all!

Blessings………

George went back to the surgeon today and it looks as though things are progressing right along. Although the bone isn’t completely healed, it is headed in the right direction.  He no longer has the need of the knee walker so it’s been returned to the rental place…can we all say HURRAY to that…and he is now able to put some weight on his foot…about half his body weight.  He’ll be like this for two more weeks, then he’ll be able to put away the crutches and walk normally.  He’ll have his foot x-rayed again in four weeks and we’re hoping for total healing…at least close to total healing…at this time.  It’s been a long ordeal but we’re just so thankful for healing and a very good surgeon and a God that has constantly watched over both of us.

We have had several people book the blue house today so our spring looks as though it will be a busy one…another good blessing.  We are even having people booking…or wanting to book…for the spring of 2013 for graduation.  People are hearing about us and have figured out it pays to call early.

It’s truly winter here but hasn’t been too terrible for the most part.  Of course, the coldest months are yet to come…February and March…and we’ll gladly welcome spring when it decides to show up.

Nothing important to write about so guess I’ll get off here.  We hope to go to Louisville this weekend to watch Ryan and his ROTC drill team perform and that’s always quite impressive.  As far as I know, all are well, happy for the most part, and glad to be alive but, there again, that’s always subject to change.  Have a good rest-of-the-week.

Blessings….

Today we begin the birthday list all over and we always get to start with … Jim.  He’s a very lucky man ’cause he’s married to my sister, Linda, and we are thankful for that.  Jim continues his teaching at DLU and can’t even imagine being retired anytime soon, loves to fish, workout, and enjoy his time with the different family members.  Happy, happy birthday Jim and may you be blessed with many more.

Blessings….

WOW…it’s COLD outside this morning.  A balmy 16 currently with a nice brisk breeze to put the wind chill factor below zero…going all the way up to 24!  We have had a very mild winter up to now and I sure hope this will be it and over soon.  Winter can really last into April in our area, so I feel sure we’ll have more “balmy” days in the weeks to come.  Sure makes me miss the beaches even more!

The schools in our area are closed, even though the roads are clear per Tanya.  I guess since so many buses have to go on all these narrow, curvy roads to pick up students, they decided it wasn’t worth the risk of sliding into a ditch.  The kids now have a makeup day added to the end of the school year…let’s hope more won’t be added on but bet there will be.

I began painting the guest bedroom yesterday and it’s looking so much better.  I picked the wrong color blue last time…a very bright blue…and I selected a slate blue this time…looking good, if I say so myself.  I’ve been having some shoulder issues for a while, nothing serious Mom/Dad, so when it got to bothering me yesterday, I stopped painting for that day.  I will finish up today all that I can.  There is a section I won’t paint until I get help moving a heavy piece of furniture but the majority of the painting will be completed today, all the furniture will be back in place, and then I’ll get back to my knitting…I’m making myself a sweater coat/jacket.  Life continues to be good and I want to get all this inside stuff completed before warm weather arrives and flower planting begins.

George continues to heal and he even managed to make a “Cat House” for Madi’s cat this week.  He misses working in his workshop and enjoyed getting back out there…keeps his leg propped on the knee walker and then scoots wherever he needs to go while working.  He’s done well but I know he would love to be able to walk again and do all he wants to do.  We continue to pray for complete healing and we’re learning patience through experiences like this.

Guess I’d better get to my painting.  Have a wonderful day, stay warm, and know spring will be here in just a few months.  Love to all!

Blessings….

Here it is the second week of January and we’re still snow free!  Isn’t that wonderful!!!!  There is a possibility this will all change later this week but I’m praying that’s just a nasty weatherman’s dream.  I know we won’t go the entire winter snow free but I can sure hope we will.

Not much happening here for now.  I got the kitchen painted last Friday and it looks so much better.  That was an all day job and glad I won’t be doing that again for a few years.  Of course, all the other rooms need painting so I’ll have lots of fun for most of this year.  We’re still going to switch out the two bedrooms but that won’t be for a little while yet.  We’re moving our bedroom stuff into what is now the guest room so we’ll have the attached bathroom…a real Master suite!  That room is smaller but we’ll make it work.  I’ll paint that room before we move our stuff into it, and then paint the other bedroom before we move the stuff in there.  I want to put two full beds into the new guest room…so we’ll have more sleeping room for our guest aka. grand kids.  The room is definitely large enough to have the two beds and should be nice once we’re done.  Again, this won’t all happen until a little later this year.  My helper will have to be walker free before we start all this.

George continues to heal, we guess.  He’s never had much pain with the surgery so there’s really not much to compare this to.  He’s still in the NO weight bearing stages and will be for a while yet.  Thank goodness for the knee walker!

Heading to Sam’s so guess I’m off here for now.  It’s a gloomy day but gonna be in the 40′s so not a bad day for January.  Love to all!

Blessings…….

George went to his surgeon’s office this morning and got the stitches out of his foot…wound looks very good ’cause he’s had a GREAT nurse taking care of it…and he was surprised, if not shocked, when he saw the x-ray and how long the screw was that was put in.  It’s around 3 inches long!  Of course, the bone has not moved any closer together and the doctor said there shouldn’t be much change yet.  We go back in two more weeks for another x-ray…still no weight on that foot.  After his next visit, he will be able to put a little weight on that foot (25 lbs. of pressure) for one week, 50 lbs pressure on the second week, 75 lbs on third week, and hopefully at the 4th week he’ll be able to walk normally.  Of course, should there be any negative changes we’ll have to go back to square one.  Therefore, let’s be praying for complete healing.  This is a long ordeal but worth it if he heals completely.

Not much else to write about and I’ve laundry to do since our guest left this morning.  They must have done some of the towels ‘casue there’s really not many of those that were used and needing me to wash them…also, they left the house in very good order! They were a sweet family and they said they’d be back.  This is certainly a perk to owning the “blue house”…getting to meet LOTS of super nice people.  We’re definitely blessed by them all.

Enjoy the day!

Blessings…….

I don’t care if the sun is trying to shine…14 degrees is COLD.  Today will be our coldest day so far…we even had lots of snow flurries, with no accumulation, thankfully, yesterday along with lots of strong wind…but that’s all past us for now and tomorrow it’s suppose to be somewhat warmer.  At least, the forties will be warmer after a day in the teens.  Come on spring!

We have been blessed to have our current guest at the “blue house” for 14 days…that has sure helped in replacing what we lost by not getting to go to Florida.  They are a sweet family from Fairbanks, AK. and plan to come to the lower 48 once a year to see grandma.  Hopefully, we’ll see them again as they say our guest house was perfect and helped them have the best Christmas ever.  Our next family arrives on the 10th and will also be here for almost two weeks.  Last year we only had guest for 4 days in January but this year we have 16 days booked, so far, and we feel so very blessed.

Tomorrow George will get his stitches out of his foot and the wound looks really good.  Unfortunately, he still has several weeks before he can put any weight on this foot.  I think they will x-ray the foot tomorrow to see if the screw is doing what it’s suppose to do and we’ll sure be sad if it’s not.  He’s done really well through all this but it’s just inconvenient to be on a knee walker all the time.  Oh well, it could be worse!  Could be summer and he’d sure have a hard time mowing the yard with the knee walker!

Got to get busy.  Stay warm, stay well, and stay close to the Lord.  Love ya!

Blessings…..

What a year 2011 was.  We had lots of stuff happen…some good while some was not so good.  We had a full year of having the “blue house” up and running and we managed to have 142 days of paying guest…and a few days of just sharing the house with others…and we are very pleased.  We continue to have people wanting to stay there for various events and that keeps us both smiling.

This year we saw some of our kids move to new places with their work…Carter to Dallas and Clark to Racine, WI…Melissa changed directions with her real estate career and this has proven to be a good move…Tanya got her PNP degree from Vanderbilt and has settled into a practice at UK Pediatric Clinic…and Scott continues with his job in sales and exceeds the bosses expectations along with keeping a step or two ahead of those sweet twins.  Therefore…all is well with all the kids.  Of course, the grand kids, are all busy with life and some we see seldom…which is very sad…while some we are blessed to spend time with often.

George has loved his wood working shop he’s created in our carriage house and has managed to make quite a few things.  He also made a second bathroom for us, relocated some doors / walls in our original bathroom, and put in some slate around our living room fireplace…this 116 year old house is looking pretty good!  He has ended this year with a broken foot…which cancelled out our six weeks in Florida…and he had to have surgery to put a screw  in to help fuse the bone together.  He’s getting in lots of reading now since he can put ZERO weight on that foot for at least a month…could be up to three months.  Thank goodness for the “knee walker” which enables him to get around quite well.

As for me…I keep busy with all the “Suzy Homemaker” duties for the two houses.  I have managed to get some things knitted / crocheted this year and I enjoy that.  Of course, I always have a book, or two, being read, dog sitting for a couple of the grand dogs, and spending time just being  a wife and a Mimi.

We managed to get to Texas twice this past year and that was good.  My parents continue to do well and have FINALLY settled into their new place quite well.  They have made friends there and for that I am so thankful.  I pray that when it comes time for us to relocate to an independent living place, we will have one as nice.  Down sizing is hard at any stage of life, but when we realize it’s only STUFF and we really can be without it, life is good once more.

There’s laundry to finish up so guess I’ll run for now.  I’ll have lots to do tomorrow as our guest will be leaving…they’ve been there 12 days…and than means lots of laundry plus get the “blue house” ready for the next family.  Have a very blessed 2012 and know each one reading this is loved and valued by me.

Blessings……..