“Try and fail, but don't fail to try.”

ruthenberg status update 8/11/11

2011-08-11T16:52:00.003-05:00

I haven't blogged in a long time. Not much to say. I mostly was working, spending time with my dad, spending more time with my Dave, missing my children and grandchildren back in Michigan, and relaxing.

Then Dave and I got the idea that we needed a bigger house so that if and when our families from Michigan come to visit, there is room for them to stay.

We found a lovely house to rent and decided to move. So for two weeks or so we boxed up all our "stuff" and on August 8 we had the movers come. Just before that I had been having increasing pain and numbness in my back, hips, legs, and feet. So I went to the doctor, had an x-ray and a MRI of my back. Apparently I have bulging discs in my lumbar spine. Well the move didn't help - in fact it made it worse. But I am waiting to get an appointment at a Pain Clinic here in Enid.

On Monday, after all our stuff was moved to the new location - a storm blew through. 96 mph winds. Knocked down a lot of electrical poles. So we didn't have any power until the next afternoon. It must have been hilarious (to others if they were watching) to see Dave and I dig through all the boxes to find the candles and flashlights, all the while getting irritated with each other because we were hot, tired, sweaty, and uncomfortable.

Then I realized that my dad might not have power. So at 9 p.m. I made Dave drive me through the storm ravaged roads to get to Golden Oaks to check on him. Because of Dave's expert driving we were able to navigate around downed poles and through the back entrance of Golden Oaks. There were generators running. People in the hallways. One entrance was closed off because of the downed lines. I went to Dad's apartment and he was in bed and pretty comfortable. He still had air conditioning because of the generators, so he didn't want to come back to our house. I got him caught up on what happened and made plans to go get him the next day. He had a doctor's appointment to go to.

Golden Oaks had some windows blown out by the storm in the atrium where they have the main dining room. They weren't sure when they would get the electricity restored.

one of those days

2011-05-29T18:40:00.003-05:00

Sunday was one of those days. I didn't think I would have a bad day, but starting in the afternoon, the day went downhill.

First it started off with Dave looking for his VirginMobile USB so that he could work online at the baseball games tomorrow. I couldn't find it. I am pretty sure that we brought it home from our trip and that I had it one day when we had tornado warnings. After looking in all the usual and unusual spots, I couldn't find it. I could tell that Dave was getting upset that I couldn't find it. I was getting hungry, blood sugar dropping, etc. But he wanted me to go to Walmart right then to get a new one so that we could get it set up.

I got one and brought it home. Started setting it up...still hungry...decided to start the rice-a-roni and the chicken. I started the butter to melt in the skillet and turned back around to continue activating the wi-fi device. I forgot about the butter until I realized that it was burning. I got that off the stove and asked Dave if he would take me out to dinner. He wasn't as mad at me anymore because he thinks we left the usb in a motel on the way home. I don't think so, but was glad he wasn't mad at me.

So I got the USB working on his laptop and we decided that I had better not try to cook some food, since I was having so much bad luck already.

We went to Napoli's. Dave ordered his favorite food, pizza. I didn't want pizza, so I ordered Stuffed Pasta Shells in pink sauce. For some reason I couldn't handle the pasta shells. The mozzarella cheese was so thick that I couldn't get it, the sauce, and part of a shell on the fork. It kept sliding off. At one point one slid off into the rest of the sauce and splashed all down the front of me.

At that point, I kind of gave up. I was embarrassed that my shirt was filthy. And I needed more napkins. They only provide you with one. After a bit I was able to put the shells on to a plate and eat them that way.

I am happy to report that the rest of the day went better and Monday was productive also. Dave had to work, so I took my dad for a drive to get him out of his apartment. We went to see the Gloss Mountains. But after seeing the San Juan Mountains, the Gloss Mountains only looked like hills. Then when I came back home I swept and mopped the kitchen and bathroom floors.

Glad I don't have too many days like Sunday.

need sleep

2011-02-14T21:19:00.002-05:00

For the last few months I have been waging a battle with sleep. My body doesn't want me to sleep for some reason, so it is making up these stupid little twitches, itches, pains, and uncomfortableness so that I cannot lie still. But it is getting even worse, where I cannot NOT lie down. Around 9 or 10 p.m. my body just starts feeling like it has to lie down. Or it cannot sit up. I have to move or lie down. I cannot sit still. It is so uncomfortable feeling and I hate it.

So I am trying different things. I went to the doctor and he thinks I have restless leg syndrome. So we are trying the medication for that. But so far it hasn't seemed to help. Actually it might be a little worse.

Then I went to a chiropractor. Not sure that did anything.

Today I tried not having any coffee in the morning. I seem a little better this evening. Maybe I am just getting too much caffeine.

Now a couple of days later - still can't sleep. Nothing seems to work. I am so tired.

Valentine's Day and husbands

2011-02-14T13:59:00.002-05:00

I have never been really gung-ho about valentine's day. It seems like it is more for the card, candy, and jewelry companies than for what it was says it means. However, I am afraid that we did give a little money to the jewelry store, but not because it was valentine's day. Dave has lost a lot of weight and his original wedding band was falling off. Since I didn't want him to lose it and therefore possibly have other women think he is available, I suggested he and I get our bands updated. Which we did. We now have bands that are a little more sparkly then the original ones.

On another note: I almost lost my husband. I am trying to make light of it and it actually happened so fast that I didn't realize the implications while it was happening. Dave woke up on 1/31 with diarrhea. After three hours of almost constant diarrhea, he was dehydrated and in pain. I guess his potassium was extremely low. I called an ambulance after not being able to reach the doctor immediately. They got him to the hospital and was able to start IV fluids and bring his potassium back up to where it was suppose to be. It was 2 when he was admitted and it is suppose to be 3.5-5. It took a few days for him to start feeling better. When I married him his parents warned me that he could go into an adrenal crisis very quickly and I had had a glimmer of this eleven years ago before we were married. But I was scared. That first night, when he was either in pain or sleeping from the pain meds, all I could think about was how much I would miss him if he died. I felt helpless because I couldn't do anything except make sure that the doctors and nurses understood that he an underlying conditional called congenital adrenal hyperplasia and that it was the salt-wasting type. I am not even sure what all that means. I just know that by saying that the doctors were pointed in the right direction to help him get better. I am glad that his parents warned me so that I could help him get the medical attention he needed.

But he is better now. Like I said, it all went so fast and I made light of what happened when he was first in the hospital because I didn't really know what was going on. Just a bad case of the flu? But for someone with CAH even a normal case of the flu can be life threatening.

Birthday blues

2011-01-16T16:57:00.002-05:00

Well, yesterday was my birthday. Dave got the day off and we planned to go to Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge Eagle Watch and then stay at a local hotel for a "night away from home". A rare day - spending time with my husband.

Florida with Dad

2010-09-20T22:55:00.002-05:00

Monday 9/20/2010 - Looks like we will be able to get the trailer sold if we can't give it away to relatives. We really just need someone to take over the monthly expenses and use the trailer periodically during the year. The problem is this mobile home park is a 55 and older community. But I have all the information and contact numbers of people here at the park who can help me sell the place. I also have the application form that the new owner needs to fill out to get approved at the park.

My asthma or bronchitis is not much better. I am still weak, tired, coughing, wheezing and stuff. I want to get back home soon. It is a little difficult working from here and I am getting homesick. Once Dad sets his mind to something, he doesn't like to wait around to do it. So he is ready to pack up his belongings and head west as soon as we can. I am thinking we can get the get some things done in the morning and then start packing up the van. Maybe I can get two days off at work and head out for Enid on Wednesday.

I am going to put Dad up at the local bed and breakfast, Maple Place, until he can check out the independent living apartments that are available.

Then we can get into a routine where he comes over to my place most days to eat and visit while Dave is at work. As he gets to know people in Enid, he might find bridge games to play or other activities that he would like. I think that he will need to get a hover-round or something to help him get around. He has a lot of trouble walking, but otherwise is in pretty good health for an 87 year old.

changes are afoot

2010-09-16T23:49:00.005-05:00

Thursday - 9/16/2010 - I talked to my dad today. He says his shortness of breath is getting so bad he is having trouble getting around his trailer. He is in Florida by himself. His choice. But he is finally telling me that he can no longer care for himself; he needs help.

I need to go to Florida and see what to do. Do I pack him up and drive him back to Enid and find a small place for him to live? Dave and I do not have enough room in our house for another person. Or is he doing so bad that I need to just stay with him down there in Florida for a while?

I don't want to leave Dave alone. I am so torn. When Dave gets home tonight we will have to talk.

Friday - 9/17/2010 - Dave took the news better than I thought he would. He understands that I have to take care of my dad. So I will fly to Florida tomorrow and see if I can convince him to move to Enid where I can help him more with things. I checked around and there are independent living apartments were he can live independently for a reasonable price.

Saturday - 9/18/2010 - I am here at Dad's. He is amenable to packing up and moving west. I am kind of excited in a way. I think he will like it there and I will feel better knowing he is close by.

Sunday - 9/19/2010 - Kari and her in-laws might take the mobile home off Dad's hands. That will be great for Dad. He won't have to worry about the place when he moves. We might be able to leave for Enid during the week this week if it works out.

is my husband crazy?

2010-09-12T12:19:00.002-05:00

It is Sunday. Dave finally has a day off. We can sleep in. This will be great. He got home late last night - 1:30 a.m. We didn't go to bed until about 2:30-3:00. I had mentioned that we could go to IHOP in the morning. In Dave's mind this translated to "let's get up early and get to IHOP before the church people do and it get's busy". What? Get up at 8:00 a.m.?

But we did. And it was pretty good. It was nice to get out of the house - together - for once. Now we are happily camped on our couch with our laptops and snacks and HD TV watching NFL football, our fantasy football leagues, checking emails, and monitoring FB for any important information that our friends and family might want to say.

Oh, yeah, my husband is crazy. But I still love him.

the GYM is calling

2010-09-11T21:19:00.003-05:00

I want to get back to going to GYM. I miss my personal trainer Stephanie. So, since I felt better today I did a few exercises here in my home to get ready to go back. I turned on some Don Henley and bounced up and down on my exercise ball, held my hand weights and moved my arms in different positions 8 or 10 times, and tried the one hard exercise with the ball that Stephanie had me do. Lie on the floor, put your heels on the exercise ball, lift your hips, and roll the ball towards your behind and out again. I did that about 8 times, I think. I don't think it lasted more than 10 minutes, but it more than I have done in a while.

Tomorrow, I hope to do more. Maybe even walk around the block.

after effects of asthma attack

2010-09-11T16:22:00.002-05:00

I thought I would post a follow up of the after effects of the stupid asthma attack. Hopefully it will clear my mind and maybe put some friends and family fears to rest that I am going crazy. Or maybe not. Who knows.

Let me preface this blog post by saying that I hate having to ask anyone for help or not being able to fully accomplish my duties at home and work. I am much happier helping others and doing a good job.

So, anyway, I finally get home from the hospital - where I will remind everyone that I didn't want be in the first place, but the doctor said I had to go and then the doctor said I had to stay - and I am feeling a little better, but I am still coughing, wheezing in the upper airways, and apparently now emotionally off-kilter from the steroids that I got in the hospital.

Do the doctors know everything?
I would say no. I went to the doctor on Thursday because I still felt bad, but not bad enough to be in the hospital. Actually, I hope to never want to be in the hospital. Anyway, I went alone, so maybe I heard him wrong, but he said he thought my reaction to the asthma attack was more than it should have been. What? You mean I was overreacting to not being able to breathe? What the heck was I suppose to do? I haven't had an attack like that ever. I didn't know what I was doing wrong. I didn't know what to do. I went to the doctor to help me. The doctor said I needed to go to the hospital. What was I suppose to do? Not go to the hospital? Then when I wanted to go home, the doctor told me I couldn't because my O2 sats and wheezing needed to be under control. Okay, now I am very confused. I guess I will have to talk to him again and see if I misunderstood.

But the steroids and the inhalers and the antibiotics are messing up my body. I think. Or whatever triggered the asthma attack is messing up my body. I still am coughing, wheezing and generally feel weak whenever I try to do anything. But I can breathe. Today, Saturday, I am much better...still coughing and weak, though.

Asthma action plan and regimen:
1. When lungs feel tingly and/or am having trouble with attacks while exercising, I will start nebulizer treatments 4 times a day for a day or so.
2. I will check my peak flow meter readings every day.
3. If the nebulizer treatment doesn't seem to work, I will call the doctor so he can start me on an oral steroid.

Things I should have remembered about my asthma symptoms
Every fall I have problems
Every four years or so, it gets worse (last bad attack was in Fall 2006)
Moving to a different part of the country can cause more problems

What are husband are for anyway?
Okay, I was singing my husband's praises in an earlier blog, but I was really mad at him on Thursday and most of Friday and okay, maybe a little today. No, I think I am over it. What did he do? It was what he didn't do or what I perceived that he didn't do. He didn't take my health seriously. He was very preoccupied with his work and didn't go with me to the doctor the first time and then again on Thursday.

When I am not feeling well I do not (apparently) make good decisions for myself and it would have been helpful if my husband, who granted is overworked and stressed from said work, could have helped me make the decision to go to the doctor, eventually go to the hospital, and later support when when the doctor was saying I was overreacting.

So I was rightfully, I thought, mad at him. But with him being overworked and stressed already, I was not about to confront him during work or late at night. In my mature, yet over emotional, mind I knew that that would not have been a good thing. Not good for him, not good for me. So I plotted in my mind. I needed a good night's sleep. Since Dave has been coming home late, he wants to stay up for a while and companionship. This has caused my sleep habits to be totally out of whack, plus the steroids have not helped either. My plan was put blankets and pillows out on the couch and close the bedroom door and try to get to sleep before he got home. But that would have started a fight. So I didn't. I cried. I called other people who would listen to me. I felt worse because I was being such an idiot. All through this Dave is oblivious to my madness. Luckily for him.

Long story a little shorter - We talked about it this morning. He felt bad. He will do better. All is well in the Ruthenberg household.

Loneliness
Being sick in Enid, OK without family around was lonely. Especially with Dave working so much. I felt sorry for myself at a certain point, not being near the people that I feel comfortable with. Also, missed having my mom around. 58 years old and still sometimes would like to have my mom around. But thank goodness my three kids all took turns listening to me whine. My mother-in-law was a peach and listened also. Even a long distance friend, Denise, who I have never met, was sweet enough to listen to my complaints.

Hopefully next week, I will back to being the selfish, productive person that I love to be. I have to walk on Sunday 9/19 in the Enid MS Walk, so I have to be better.

Oh, if you want to sponsor me at the Walk, click here. www.nationalmssociety.org/goto/dlruthenberg_enid

last day at the hospital - yippee!

2010-09-05T22:17:00.002-05:00

I am home now and am feeling better and better.

That was last night. Now today, Monday, I still feel better than I did at the hospital, but nowhere near where I need to be to function normally. Still wheezing a little bit and very tired. I think in my mind I thought I would be all better when I got out of the hospital. Of course, I didn't realize how bad my asthma was and that was what got me in the hospital in the first place. So I had better listen to my body more I guess.

But I still wonder what I did wrong. How did I get so bad so fast? Is my house not clean enough? Did I have too much stress, not enough sleep, not eating properly, etc?

Guess I will have a lot of questions for the doctor when I see him in a week.

2nd half of day 4

2010-09-04T13:14:00.004-05:00

Still short of breath and having attacks even with all the steroids and breathing treatments. The doctor said that my body is just taking a little longer to respond to the medication. But my O2 stats are looking good and my lungs are sounding better.

They don't have the results of the CT chest scan. They want to be sure there isn't an underlying problem that is preventing me from getting better. But it is probably just me being slow.

I haven't had severe problems with asthma except for when I have had bronchitis or pneumonia, although in retrospect, the bronchitis/pneumonia might have been caused by the asthma. So whenever I got sick, it would last for months on end. But I thought I was doing better at staying healthy, staying cold free and if I was short of breath, I would take small measures to fix it. This time, no cold/bronchitis symptoms, so it kind of surprised me when my breathing seemed to be compromised so quickly. But in looking back the last few weeks, even two months, I should have paid atttention to some signs that something wasn't right. At night I was having trouble staying asleep and getting up 3-4 times a night, with lots of snoring and restlessness. I would have thought I would be sleeping better because I felt very tired and weak during the day. A consequence of not sleeping was that my concentration level was getting worse. I was having trouble completing projects at work. But all this was happening very slowly.

One thing I can do in the future is to use a peak flow meter daily and track how I do on that. If I start doing poorly on that, then I can talk to my doctor and see if I need to change my medications for my asthma.

I am not sure if I am feeling better tomorrow and the doctor still doesn't have the CT chest scan results if he will let me go home. I know that they don't want to send me home and then have me get worse and have to be admitted again.

We will see what day 5 brings tomorrow.

On another note: My husband is the greatest. He is having to work overtime at work and still he has made time to come to visit, call and make sure that I have the things I need. He has provided me with clean underwear, socks, some extra clothes, food from outside the hospital, and he loving and calming personality. He sat with me this morning for a bit and almost immediately I relaxed and was even starting to fall asleep. I noticed he was dosing off also. For some reason we have that affect on each other...to put the other person at complete ease and even calm each other down. I love just holding his hand because his hand is warm and comforting. I don't think I have ever held anyone else's hand has felt that way to me. I am so thankful I have him in my life.

4th day in the hospital

2010-09-04T06:55:00.002-05:00

It is early morning at St. Mary's. I have been awake since 4.m. when the respiratory guy woke me up to give me a breathing treatment. It is 7:00 a.m. now. My breakfast order has been put in.

I have mixed feelings about wanting to go home. Don't get me wrong. I love my home and it will be great to get home, but I am still short of breath when I walk around and have this weird dry cough. I wonder what I will feel like when I go outside - will it be better or worse. I had the CT chest scan with contrast last night and I wonder what there results are. My O2 stats are still around 94-96%. So do I hope that they see something on the CT scan so that they can fix whatever it is, or do I hope there isn't any thing wrong other than asthma and hope they send me home today with instructions on how to better control my asthma symptoms. I am torn.

So later this morning the on-call physician for Family Physicians, Dr. Shelton, will bring me the news and make the decision. Of course, I will FB and the blog the results.

asthma update

2010-09-03T07:22:00.003-05:00

It is 10:00 a.m. and I still don't know if I am going home today or not. The nurse doesn't think so. I am feeling a little better. More like I feel when I am at home when I have the problems with my asthma. The nurse thought I might have bronchitis and still need IV antibiotics.

It is 12:40 - still no sign of the doctor telling me if I leaving the hospital or staying another night. I think I feel better. But if they want me to stay another night and I am to get more IV drugs, I need to get a PIC line. The IVs keep collapsing.

Hopefully he will show up soon.

1:15 p.m. - Dr. Lawrence, a wonderful doctor, showed up. He reviewed my labs and stuff. My O2 sats are still not where he wants them. My white blood count skyrocketed to 22,000 (I think that is what he said). A review of normal WBC tell me that it should be in the 4,000 to 10,000 range. This can be caused by the steroids that I have been getting. He said my lungs are clear, but I am still short of breath and weak when moving around. So he wants to do a chest CT with contrast to rule out a pulmonary embolus and/or pulmonary fibrosis (although this is hard to detect, but can sometimes be seen). To be able to do the contrast CT he has to give me more steroids and IV benadryl, because I have had reactions to IV contrast before. Also, my veins are not handling the IV ports, so they will put in a PIC line for easier access. Since I will have the PIC line, then he will give me more IV antibiotics. Otherwise, I could have started taking the antibiotics by mouth. Other stupid thing my body does when taking steroids is I get thrush (yeast infection in the mouth). So medicine for that. If I feel better tomorrow and the CT scan is good, I might be able to go home. But I will be seeing another doctor, Dr. Shelton, who I am told looks like Tom Cruise.

It is worrisome for me about the shortness of breath and stuff because my mother was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis when she was about 58 years old and she died from complications of the disease at age 64. I do not want to follow in my mother's footsteps. I know that I am a little healthier than she was. She was a smoker for a very long time. I just lived with my smoker parents and was exposed to secondhand smoking during my early development years.

Now with years and years of asthma symptoms, bronchitis, pneumonia and just a general decrease in lung capacity ever since the birth of my third child in 1979, it is hard to stop thinking about my mom's problem.

So I have the PICC line and will be getting the CT chest with contrast and will update everyone later.

Asthma sucks

2010-09-02T00:10:00.002-05:00

A couple of weeks ago I had to quit going to the GYM because I was having problems breathing while working out. Then I started having problems with coughing up gunk almost every day. This is usually a sign of my asthma symptoms, but I don't usually have the problem every day, maybe just once a week. I take my allergy pill regularly. Take Aciphex to control gastric reflux which can cause asthma. I try to eat right. But sometimes (in the late summer - fall time of year) I just can't control it.

Today was one of those days. Funny thing about not being able to push the bad air out of your lungs - it makes you not think straight. I can't even make the decision for myself to go to the doctor. I keep thinking it will get better. It didn't. I finally went to the doctor. I was coughing, tight chest, and I guess the doctor couldn't really hear the air leaving my lungs. They did a breathing treatment. I wasn't very improved. Only improved enough for the doctor to hear the wheezing as the air was trying to leave. So she wanted to admit me to the hospital so that I could be put on every 6 hour breathing treatments and IV antibiotics and steroids and a chest x-ray in case I had pneumonia.

So off to St. Mary's I went. I am feeling anxious because I was leaving a lot of unfinished business at work. My boss was counting on me. I feel like I am letting everyone down.

But right now I guess I need to do everything the medical staff says so that I can start breathing better. Tomorrow morning I will have the results of the blood tests and chest x-ray. Maybe I have pneumonia and didn't know it. Maybe I just have a bad case of asthma.

After about two hours of trying to start an IV, I finally was able to complete a dose of Rocephin and Zithromax and got a dose of Solu-Medrol. I have had three breathing treatments also. I am still coughing a little, have a tight chest and wheeze on expiration. Hopefully after Dave visits tonight I can sleep and feel better in the morning.

I also feel bad that I am adding to Dave's stress. He is already working long hours and now he is probably worrying about me (a little).

At least he doesn't have to take care of me in the hospital like I took care of him back in August of 2000.

Be careful what you wish for.

2010-08-22T16:38:00.002-05:00

I married Dave in 2004. Back then he didn't totally agree with my intuition, my idea that there are angels among us, and my other ideas about life and living. But I think he is slowly coming around.

During a time when his work wasn't going so well, I asked him what he wanted to do instead. He said that he wanted to be a writer. I said go for it. I also told him to put the idea of what type of writer in his mind and to just keep that idea there. Just know that his final goal would become reality, his wish would come true, even though he didn't know how. I said that with that in his mind doors and opportunities would start opening up. He just had to allow himself to believe.

Well, guess what. I think he might grudgingly agree that I was right. Six years later, after having the nerve to move to Enid, OK, he is on his way to realizing his dream. He is now the sports editor for the local paper. I am so proud of him. And I am glad that he allowed me to help him get to where he is at.

Random acts of kindness

2010-08-06T21:55:00.003-05:00

I love doing things with Dave and miss him when he has to work nights (which lately is most of the time), but being alone sometimes gives me a chance to perform random acts of kindness. Tonight I was able to give blood and then was going to attend the Movie at the Ballpark. I went up to the concession stand, but there was quite a line. There was only one lady working at the concession. Oh my. One lady jumped out of line and went in and helped. I wanted to help, but didn't know if it was allowed. Finally I got up enough nerve to ask and they said, "Get in here". So I did. I felt like I was in Hell's Kitchen or something. I didn't know where anything was or the prices of things. I finally caught on and the three of us felt into a routine. The lady that was there first, Judy, I think, was awesome. She was buzzing around everywhere, making popcorn, nachos, ice tea, pizza. Then a young girl came to help also. We hit our stride. I was passing out the popcorn and making nachos. The other two were at the windows. It was a fun 45 minutes. I love doing random acts of kindness.

Day off with the hubby

2010-07-23T22:19:00.004-05:00

I had a wonderful day off with Dave. It is not often that I get to spend a whole day with him and not have to worry about work or anything else. Friday Dave had a furlough day and he asked me to spend the day with him. After getting the go ahead from the company I work for to take the day off, we started planning the day. Pizza and shopping and get out of town seemed to be the themes for the day.

Now Dave and I rarely fight, but sometimes he gets testy and I get frustrated. These are usually times when we are shopping or eating out when the sales clerk gets too pushy or the wait staff make mistakes or take too long or if the food is not just right. So I always prepare for a few minor confrontations. I always don't do any shopping for myself that might take too long for me to compare prices, try things on, or just otherwise bore Dave to distraction. When we go out together it is all about both of us having a great time, but neither of us being too selfish in the shopping or food area. Like for instance, I love fish to eat, but I never ask Dave to go to a restaurant that is primarily fish, like Red Lobster or something. On the other hand, Dave knows that I only like pizza up to a point, whereas he could eat it morning, noon and night. So he is real conscious about subjecting me to an overload of pizza dining. You see, Dave is one of the sweetest men I know - in a manly way. :)

But we decided to go to the mall in Oklahoma City and then see if we could find a pizza joint to eat at. We are still looking for a good pizza in Oklahoma. So far we have tried all the pizza joints around Enid and even some out in the vast, wide open country around Enid. We even tried a place in Edmond. It was okay, not bad, but still we want the right ingredients, the fresh made taste, perfect crust.

We started our day off at Cafe Garcia to eat a breakfast of two soft taco breakfast tacos with bacon, coffee and on my tacos, fresh mild salsa. This is our favorite breakfast. We usually have it on Sunday morning, but Cafe Garcia has decided to not serve breakfast on Sunday during the summer. Hopefully this will not continue into the fall.

After a brief stop back at the house and then gassing up the car, we were on our way to OKC. The trip always seems longer than we think it is going to be, but Dave listens to talk radio or Status Quo and I read. So we enjoy the quiet companionable time.

At the mall we picked out a couple of stores that we wanted to check out. I will just give you the highlights. The Buckle. Dave found a cool shirt. The sales clerk, Kathy, wasn't too pushy and actually was quite helpful. I even found that they shorten jeans for free so in the future we will check out their jeans for Dave and see if we can get some stylish jeans. I, of course, need to lose more weight to be able to fit into anything in that store. We also found something at Eddie Bauer for me - a light weight vest that has 4 pockets. I want to be able to take my cell phone, camera, binoculars, and video camera (all of them pocket size) and have them accessible quickly when we go hiking. I can't stand things hanging on my neck and a backpack makes it hard to get to the items quickly. They didn't have my size, but again, the sales clerk was so nice and she helped us order it online - should be here in 3-6 days - and I think the shipping is free.

All in all, it was a nice pleasant visit to the mall. As I think of it we didn't even run into groups of people who wouldn't get out of our way or walked right into our path, so we didn't have that irritant either.

Well then it was 3:00 p.m. and we didn't want to do more window shopping, but the pizzeria that we wanted to go to wasn't open until 5:00 p.m. Not knowing what to do we did nothing except drive around Bricktown. We found the first location of the pizzeria, but of course it was closed and it didn't seem to have a lot of parking spaces. Maybe people walk there. It was in an out of the way spot. So we went looking for the other location with the help of our GPS. It was in a better location and more parking. After waiting around at the local Panera until 5, we finally were seated at the Wedge Pizzeria on Western Ave. The waiter was very attentive, explaining how all their ingredients were either made there or imported from Italy or as fresh as they can be. We were given some samples of their homemade meatballs and gelato. Delicious. The pizza was baked in a wood fire oven and was excellent. We topped our pizza with the homemade Italian sausage and mozzarella. The sauce was a combination of the garlic and marinara. I think next time we will order the marinara. Unless I can convince Dave to order two pizzas and he get his with his toppings and I can get mine with my toppings and we can take some home for later.

All in all it was a wonderful day. We have only been married for 6 1/2 years, but I still love hanging out with Dave. He is fun, intelligent, and comfortable to be around. It is so hard to describe. Guess I will stop trying.

Acknowledge other people's accomplishments

2010-07-03T12:44:00.003-05:00

My dad and I have been talking on the phone a lot lately. I never was good at communicating with him in the past. I would get so busy with my own life and just forget to call or write. And truthfully he and I used to fight. He would say things, I would get defensive, we both would argue and then we would end hanging up and not talking to each other for a long time. I didn't really understand my dad and I didn't think he liked me or approved of me. He seemed to always be critical of me. I have tried hard to not be that way in my own life, but I think I was doing the same thing to him. I know that I have done well to not be critical of my own children, but yet I was critical of my dad.

I just wanted my dad to say that he thought I was doing well, respected my decisions, even though they were different than what he would do, and not have him dwell on my past mistakes. But I never really stopped to listen to him, or to respect his decisions even though they were different than what I would do, or stop dwelling on his past mistakes.

Well, maybe we both have grown up a bit (I am 58 and he is 87), but now in our phone conversations we don't seem to be doing a lot of blaming of past problems, and I think we are both respecting each others decisions.

I am learning more and more about what he was like when he was growing up and why he is the way he is during these weekly, sometimes biweekly, phone calls. Recently he and I were talking about how he tried and tried to get his parents to recognize his accomplishments and give him some praise, even a little bit. He worked hard on the farm that his family worked (they didn't own their own farm most of the time) in southern Ohio. He worked for other farms and was even able to raise enough money to purchase a refrigerator for his parents - their first refrigerator. He doesn't remember them saying thank you for that gift. There were other things that he did to try to get them to like him. Maybe they did love him, but he didn't feel like they did and this need to please others to get recognition for his accomplishments carried over into his adult life.

My dad served in the army (503rd parachute infantry regiment), was a Zenith TV repairman (back when there were tubes and transistors) and a production engineer at Lear Seigler for 14 years. He provided a very nice home for his family of wife and three kids. I remember that he converted a Volkswagen bus into a "travel trailer" putting in a table and bench seats that converted into bunk beds for everyone to sleep - kind of the first conversion van, I guess. We took that on at least one "out-west" vacation. We were exposed to fishing, camping, horseback riding, the Grand Canyon, and Yellowstone Park.

Growing up I wanted to please my parents and felt that no matter what I did, it was never enough. Maybe since Dad had the same experience with his parents, he was unable to change the pattern with us kids. Maybe his parents also experienced the same thing when they were growing up. It certainly would explain his attitude. I think in some ways because he never received recognition for his accomplishment growing up he was still trying to find that recognition from others in his adult life. Feeling good about yourself without worrying about what others think is a hard thing to learn as you grow up especially if you have never had the prerequisite praise while growing up. At some point you have to learn it, but everyone learns it at different times.

But it doesn't hurt for us to look around us and notice the accomplishments of others and let them know that you appreciate them. It will speed up the process of others feeling good about themselves so that they can then praise others and make them feel good.

Better late than never - I appreciate my dad and all that he has done. He is very thrifty and frugal (something that I certainly can learn from) and has very high standards for neatness and cleanliness. I know that I take after him in my work ethic. He is a very hard worker and if he was able to he would be still working today. He plays to win and hate to lose (bridge and cribbage) and has a great sense of humor.

One of his latest accomplishments which has just blown me away is that at the age of 87 he is now on the Internet. He completes Sudoku puzzles every day on the internet (I cannot complete a puzzle that isn't Easy). Most people his age cannot even turn on a computer, much less get connected to the internet, use email, and monitor Facebook. I have clients that are less computer literate than he is. So I congratulate him on this accomplishment. Having dad have access to the internet makes it easier to communicate with him. I can see when he is online and then call him on the phone. I think the next thing will be for me to send him a microphone so that we can Skype. :)

foot problems

2010-04-04T15:45:00.003-05:00

I went to the podiatrist, against the advice of my personal trainer. She feels that a chiropractor using the airrosti method of healing sports injuries would work better. But I do not have any experience with that and am a little distrustful of chiropractors in general. I don't feel they can fix everything. I may try a chiropractor for a musculoskeletal problem, but I think that the podiatrist will find that I have a neuroma or something.

He took x-rays and felt around. I went back today to get the diagnosis and treatment. Tendinitis. He gave me a cortisone shot to help with the inflammation and it should get better. We shall see. I might try some other therapies also, taping, icing, deep massage, etc.

But the good thing is that there are exercises to do that do not hurt my foot. So the personal trainer is working on the rest of my flabby body.

hitting a mini-wall

2010-03-25T13:15:00.002-05:00

I am not sure what that means....I guess when you are exercising, running or bicycling and stuff, you hit a wall and need to get past it to continue working out. I think I hit a mini-wall. While walking on the treadmill today the pain in my left foot was getting worse. It starts at the top right of the ankle, and shoots into the joint below my big toe. The pain was probably a 5 or 6, but because it hurt everytime I stepped on that foot I guess it wore me down and I started to get teary. Also, I was trying not to hold on to the treadmill while I walked and swing my arms naturally, but I kept getting off balance. Not sure why.

Well, I tried to hide the fact that I was crying and keep walking, but after 10 minutes, I gave up and went to the restroom to sob a little. When I came out I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, leave or try another machine. Someone asked me what the problem was and I told them - crying again - darn waterworks - and she had me try stretching out the backs of my legs and use a tennis ball to stretch the tendons in my feet. That seemed to help a little. I will have to do that more, of course. I then did about 4 minutes on the rowing machine and called it a day.

With no real weight gain and so much pain, I am pretty discouraged. But I have an appointment with someone at the gym tomorrow who is suppose to assess my problem areas and get a game plan set. Also I wonder if I should go to a podiatrist - maybe get steroid injections in my feet again to help the arthritic inflammation.

on my way to being a fitness freak

2010-03-18T13:29:00.003-05:00

Well, I know that I am a computer geek, but can I become a fitness freak? I am going to try. I now have a personal trainer, a gym, and a heart monitor with watch. I have the necessary "gym" clothes and shoes (I think). I had my heart tested a couple of months ago and it is in good shape. I have been tracking my calorie intake for 6 days. woo-woo.

I am not hurting too bad. Went to the gym again today to use the treadmill for 20 minutes. I guess I have two personal trainer sessions set up for next week, plus an extra one for someone to evaluate my right ankle, left knee and right hip problems.

Maybe I will get so healthy I will be running or riding a bike.....who knows.

day 5

2010-03-17T11:32:00.002-05:00

When I woke up this morning I wasn't hurting as bad as I thought I would be from the exercising that I did last night. So I was able to get up and go back to the gym and walk on the treadmill for 20 minutes. I didn't try the other machines that my personal trainer showed me last night. I need to get more comfortable there before I branch out on my own on the equipment that I don't know how to use very well. When I am less shy I will ask to be shown how to use it again.

I am suppose to have two sessions with a personal trainer next week and that might help also. In the meantime, I will keep walking. When I am on the treadmill I can feel my stomach muscles tightening up and my hip joints loosening up. My left knee is tight and a little sore and my right foot is a little sore, but it is all manageable at this point. I probably will take some acetaminophen today to help me not get too sore.

I have been fairly good on my diet and entering my food into the livestrong website. We shall see.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

2010-03-16T21:44:00.002-05:00

Well, I exercised tonight with my personal trainer. Tomorrow I will probably have pain, but not doing too bad tonight. I will try to go to the gym tomorrow before work. Hopefully I will be able to enjoy this and have fun and possibly lose weight.

Getting old

2010-03-15T14:00:00.002-05:00

I admit it..I am overweight and sedentary. Yes, I have let myself go. But I am happy. So, am I doing anything to fix this situation? Well, maybe. Maybe with a little help from the blogosphere and my friends and family. We shall see. Hopefully everyone still loves me whether I am fat or not.

Anyway, when we moved to Oklahoma we signed up to a small gym and thought we would go there regularly to walk and use the gym equipment. But my feet started hurting and Dave never really did like it, so we stopped going.

Since then Dave has embarked on his diet and weight loss. He has lost 22+ pounds and counts his calories religiously via the livestrong.com website.

In the meantime, I am still heavy and my bones ache and creak. I need to get moving. But with the weather being bad and Dave's working hours being so crazy, we haven't been able to get outside and walk.

So....I visited a local establishment called Body Solid. That sounds good. My body isn't very solid and maybe they can make it more solid. There are all kinds of torture chamber type machines in the open airy space and it felt welcoming. So I tentatively asked what their prices and policies were. They don't have a yearly or monthly commitment fee. There is an initial fee of $75 to find out your body age, flexibility, and general state of your health. Then you can sign up with a personal trainer for as low as $20/30 minutes as little or as often as you would like. Then I think you can use the state of the art treadmills (with individual overhead TVs) as often as the gym is open and as long as you have appointments set with your personal trainer.

Last Friday I had my initial assessment. Oh my lord. My 58-year-old body thinks it is 73 years old, or at least that is what the program tells me. After the assessment, I stayed to walk the treadmill for about 15 minutes. I left with a game plan for diet and exercise.

I started using Dave's website to track my calorie intake. Luckily my calorie goal for the day is more than what Dave uses. But then I won't be able to loose a much weight as quickly either. Maybe I will stick with it longer.

Tonight I go back for a 20 minute training session. I will let you know how I do.

So far after three days on the diet, nothing has happened. :(

drugs

2010-02-06T21:23:00.003-05:00

So, I guess I haven't purchased a decongestant in a long time. I decided that I might be having some chronic sinusitis and that I needed a decongestant. We had some in the house, but we were getting low, so I thought I would stock up. I went to Walmart to get groceries and thought, good, I will get some Sudafed. In the Allergy aisle, there was only a card in the spot where the Sudafed was suppose to be. It instructed me to take the card to the Pharmacy. I did a little more shopping in the health and beauty area because I knew that there was quite a line at the Pharmacy when I passed it to the Allergy aisle.

When I got to the Pharmacy and handed the card to the cashier, she yells out something like "code red" or something else, I wasn't sure. Another person comes over and asks for my license. But I didn't hear her and gave her my credit card. She gave me a "you are pathetic look" and asked again for my license. I fumbled around and found my license, which she then proceed to read with intense concentration and put all my information in their computer. Then she handed my license back to me and asked me to submit to a strip search and body x-ray, fingerprint, and retinal scans. Just kidding, but I did have to sign my name on the electronic reader. Then she walked away without another word to me. Then the other cashier was ready to take my money. My lord. I felt like I had just been vetted for a new security job or something. All that rigamarole to be able to get rid of my sinus congestion! It might have been easier to ask my doctor to give me a prescription for a decongestant.

a young heart

2010-01-21T20:43:00.002-05:00

It is hard to get old. This year I am 58. Oh my lord. Along with just the number of the years getting larger, aches and pains and other old age symptoms crop up. I have known that I have degenerative disc disease which causes pain. Probably some arthritis. Asthma, sinusitis, and through not fault of anyone else, except myself and maybe genetics, obesity.

But I have been having vague chest and back pain. So, I thought I would see if the doctor could figure out what was causing the pain and discomfort. I thought maybe I was having bad heartburn, ulcer, pulmonary problems, or spinal problem. Okay, I did wonder if maybe I was having heart problems. Anyway, I went to the doctor. He did see where I have hardly any cartilage left in my left knee (yes, the painful one), degenerative disc disease in my back, possibly causing numbness and pain in my right leg and foot, inflamed eardrums (chronic sinus drainage). He suggested a shot of steroids to stop the inflammation and possibly a test to see if I was having heart problems. I agreed.

The steroid shot helped for a few days. During that time, I had a cardiac CT. The test needs to be done with contrast and since I have had a reaction to contrast before the doctor gave me the prerequisite prednisone and benedryl before the test. The test was pretty easy. I was done and out of there in about one hour. But my face and neck felt warm to me, although the nurse didn't seem to think anything of it. By the evening, my face and neck were pretty flushed. By morning, I was wheezing and not feeling well. So back to the doctor I went. He gave me another steroid shot and a script for more prednisone. The test was on Wednesday and I was finally feeling better by Saturday, except that my mouth and throat still felt funny. But Sunday, my mouth was burning, especially the tongue, and my throat was sore. Sunday night I realized that I had thrush. So on Monday I had to call the doctor for a script for treating that. I think it is almost gone now.

Sheesh, I starting to think it wasn't worth going to the doctor for answers. Dave is thinking I am nuts. I think that if my ct scan is normal, then I am going to stay way from the doctor and try to figure out my aches and pains on my own, since it seems to be that I just keep having reactions to therapy/tests.

Luckily the results of the cardiac ct were good. I have completely clear arteries and veins around my heart and my heart's function is health, as good as young heart. This is kind of amazing since I have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, am obese, and lead a sedentary life.

So with the worry of possibly cardiac problems out of the way, I can safely exercise if I want, watching out for the arthritis, and try other home remedies to self diagnose/treat my silly ailments. Because I am NOT going back to the doctor.

the flowers

2010-01-09T21:34:00.002-05:00

Such a simple thing - log onto the hospital website - navigate to the gift shop area and choose a floral arrangement to send to my grown daughter who just had emergency surgery in Michigan while I am sitting here helpless in Oklahoma. Easy enough to pay for the flowers and I feel confident that she will get them. I don't know what else to do, except maybe call her as often as I can without bugging her, monitor facebook to see if she says anything on there, and be supportive when I do talk to her. Oh and send a prayer. I am so thankful that she has other supportive people around her and a loving, caring husband who is there by her side. I almost forget about sending the flowers until she tells me the next time I talk to her that having the flowers there helped her remember that I love her and that I am there in spirit with her. Who knew that just a simple thing would help her not miss me so much. I certainly didn't.

Jungle Friends

2009-11-28T17:04:00.004-05:00

I met this author at a craft show a couple of weeks ago and I purchased an autographed book for my granddaughter, Charly. Then I got to thinking that I should have gotten one for Luke. So I emailed her and she brought the book over to my house on her way to Walmart. So cool to have autographed copies and the author lives in Enid.

Jungle Friends by Brenda Salladay

labor of love

2009-11-28T14:56:00.003-05:00

This year I am trying to make as many of the Xmas gifts as I can for my family, knitting, sewing, and craft items. As I make each item, I think of the person that I am making the gift for. Hopefully the love that I put into making the gifts will be transmitted through the gift into the recipient's heart and they will know that they are loved, especially when they wear or use the gift.

I have many items that my mother started to make and I hope to incorporate some of these into some of the gifts, so it is as if I am passing on her love also to my children.

Boycott TV this week?

2009-10-18T16:23:00.003-05:00

http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bighollywood/2009/10/15/list-of-organically-created-iparticipate-television-programs/

This week some of our favorite TV shows will be possibly preaching at us - imploring us to "participate" or volunteer.

I am so torn - do I boycott my favorite shows next week so that I show that I do not want to participate in what I think is brainwashing by the Obama's.

Michelle and Barach Obama have enlisted the Entertainment Industry Foundation to have TV shows promote volunteerism, but I am afraid that they might be only promoting the volunteer programs that they want, like Planned Parenthood. I am trying to find out more information. If anyone else has a comment or an opinion or information, please feel free to comment.

Nobel Peace Prize

2009-10-09T11:28:00.002-05:00

What the ****? Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize? The world has turned topsy turvy. What has he done to promote peace? He has turned the US into a total state of chaos. There is unrest everywhere. The US dollar in the world is now a joke. He has made the US a laughing stock to the other world leaders. In fact, I am sure there are multiple plots to attack the US because our enemies now think that the US is weak and ineffectual and that we are on a downward slide both economically and politically.

I do have one idea. Obama could take the $1 million that he will be getting from receiving this award and give it back to the government to decrease the deficit. I know it is a drop in the bucket, but it would be a sign he wants to actually start decreasing the deficit.

Instead, my fear is that people will think that he now has more money to "give away", just like they thought in Detroit, where 3500 people stood in line to get money from "Obama's stash".

more pictures of Dad's home

2009-10-06T12:13:00.003-05:00

More pictures of Dad's home.

This is another view of his kitchen. You can see the table and chairs before we got the cushions and tablecloth.

Dad was pretty proud of his shower. I didn't use this one. It was in the master bedroom bathroom.

Dad bought a three-wheeled bike to ride around the park so he can get some exercise.
Another view of the front of his home.

My Dad in Florida

2009-10-06T11:10:00.004-05:00

I took the time to go visit my dad on his birthday, earning brownie points that I will not cash in. But he seemed to enjoy the visit, even though he said it was too short. I couldn't take too much time off from work, so I flew in on Saturday and left on Monday morning. His birthday was Sunday. We had a nice time playing cards and talking about the past.

We went to Walmart and bought cushions for the kitchen chairs, a table cloth and some placemats. I thought the red would brighten up the place.
Here Dad is relaxing in his easy chair.
Another view of the kitchen.
His bedroom. He has another bedroom that is very nice also.

This is the outside of the mobile home.

football season

2009-09-29T11:21:00.002-05:00

Well, as most of you know my husband is an avid football fan. Mostly college football, but he has been known to get wrapped up in NFL games also. Before I married him, I didn't know that much about football. My son played football in his senior year, I was in the marching band in high school, and I vaguely remembering my mother watching the Lions games every Sunday (but I thought she was just watching because Ken was, I later found out that was not the case. She was an avid Lions fan). This was the extent of my football knowledge.

Since marrying Dave I had to either get with the program or get out of the living room, so I decided to get with the program. Then he and I decided to jointly run MACreportonline.com, a website for and about Mid-American Conference College football and basketball. We attended many, many football games and I was able to see up close (right on the sidelines) what football was about. I loved it.

This year we are in Oklahoma. No college football games to attend. I realized recently that I really miss it. With the fall season, the cooling temperatures, the different smell in the air, there was a remembrance in my mind of the excitement and anticipation that comes with attending a college football game. There was a sweet build up as you are driving to the stadium. And then when the drums roll and the crowd roars at the first kick-off, you find a sense of peace that finally football season is here.

Art Lesson - Day 3

2009-09-25T20:59:00.003-05:00

This week the art lesson was a little harder in that I was the only student and the instructor was trying to get me to work on the feet and hands and some other details, but I kept losing my concentration. These final drawings of the evening seem to be a little different style than last week's, but I am not sure. I don't know which set I like better.

It is fun getting back into drawing again after a 30 some year hiatus. It is a nice creative release. I need to practice more, so I need to have family and friends be my models. I wonder if I can use the webcam to view my models. That would be kind of crazy. Might have to try it.

Art Lession - Day 2

2009-09-25T19:40:00.006-05:00

Day 2 of the art lesson. I didn't do too bad. I guess I need to work on making things larger. Still using the contour and shape techniques to draw the model.

This second one might be one of my best so far. I even got her face in.

Art Lesson - day 1

2009-09-11T13:56:00.002-05:00

I signed up for Adult Figure Drawing classes here in Enid. They are in the evening, right after I get off of work and they are close by at the Episcopal church. The instructor is Patricia Bradley and there is one other student besides me. So I should be able to get better and better at drawing human figures. We learned two techniques, gesture and contour. Then we combined the two techniques on these two drawings that I did. I need practice, but didn't do too bad for the first day.

Live Model - Standing

Live Model - Sitting

Adobe support is the worst

2009-08-05T10:10:00.003-05:00

I want to document my horrible experience with Adobe Systems, Inc. customer and tech support.

I purchased Adobe Acrobat 9.0 Standard upgrade from Adobe's online store in September of 2008. I have the program installed on my Windows Vista Home Premium laptop and previously had it on a Windows XP Professional computer. I then removed it from that computer and installed in on a new Windows XP computer. That hard drive crashed. When trying to install on the new hard drive using Windows Vista Business I received the error that I had the product on too many computers. I contacted customer support who after three phone calls suggested I
install the Adobe Acrobat 6.0 first. Then the message I received when installing the program was that the serial number was invalid.

I contacted the customer service and tech support for Adobe about 11 times over the last two weeks and did not have a resolution until now. Tech support, after being on the phone with them for 2 hours at a time, said it was a customer service problem, customer service said it was a tech problem.

I was on the phone four times with tech support - used Windows Installer Utility, CS3 Cleaner Utility (level 2 and 4), deleted cache.pcd, reinstalled, uninstalled, and did just about everything I could think of - and still no resolution to the problem. Tech support sent me back to customer support three times and then customer support sent me back to tech support. I know I was a difficult customer to deal with. That was because of my frustration at having to call so many times, having to answer the same questions over and over again, and not getting any satisfaction. Most of the techs asked the same question they just asked me, like they were reading from a script and when I tried to ask questions other than what was on their script, they had to start over with their reading.

At one point I was told to connect directly to the internet through my modem and not my router. I tried it, but could figure out why that would cause the problem. One tech suggested that my MAC address was the problem.

I was sent to so many different areas of tech support that my head was spinning. Each person, in their Indian accent, would assure me that they would be the one to get this resolved for me. Then when they couldn't figure it out, they sent me back to customer service. Customer service then sent me back to tech support. What a miserable run-around.

I was able to finally install the Acrobat 9.0 Standard program after one of the techs finally said something that made sense to me. We renamed the Flexnet folder and that stopped the invalid serial number problem. Why this wasn't suggested to me on the first or second time I called tech support is beyond me.

This is the worst tech and customer support that I have ever dealt with.

I lodged a complaint against Adobe with the San Jose BBB so that Adobe will be aware of the horrible experience I had with their customer service and tech support.

Obama perpetuates racial dissent

2009-07-24T10:14:00.002-05:00

I am disgusted that President Obama would comment on the actions of a police officer during a call to the home of Henry Louis Gates, Jr. He clearly either did not know all the facts of the case or he purposely chose to take the side of Mr. Gates, thereby denigating the authority of the police and, in my opinion, perpetuating the idea that all whites hate blacks and especially the police cannot be expected to deal with a black person in a respectful way.

I think that this is one of the worse things that the president has done. He is pitting whites against blacks in this situation. He is speaking before he knows all the facts. He is showing that he thinks he has more power and better judgement than local governments.

I think he wants to become the dictator of America. We need to watch this man very carefully before he achieves his goal.

Small town America

2009-07-04T12:56:00.004-05:00

Besides missing my family and especially the grandkids, I enjoy living in Enid, OK. Especially last Friday. If you don't know me very well, I will let you in on a secret about me. I love fireworks. The last few years I haven't been able to see really good fireworks except on TV because we lived in the Detroit area and trying to find a location and deal with the traffic and the people was just not something I wanted to do. But hear in Enid, the crowds are not too bad and the venues for the fireworks are worth going to.

Friday night was the American Legion 4th of July tournament for baseball with a fireworks display after the last game of the night. The ballpark is very nice with roomy seats and plenty of leg room. The games are only 7 innings and if one team gets ahead of the other by 8 points after the 5th inning, then the game ends, which is what happened last night with the Enid Majors winning 11-3.

The fireworks started promptly after the end of the game. It was enjoyable to watch the fireworks from the comfort of the stadium seats.

Saturday night I wasn't going to go to the park to the see the symphony orchestra and fireworks, but Dave encouraged me to go via email (he was at work), so I took off and drove over towards the park. People were lined up along the back roads, so I pulled over as close as I could get and stepped out of my car to watch. The fireworks were even better than the night before, but next time I will have to try to be at the park when they go off to get the full effect.

All in all, I loved the firework displays in Enid.

Step-Fathers Day coming soon

2009-06-03T11:33:00.004-05:00

When I was 24, my mother remarried. She had been married for 25 years or so to my father, who was a moody and depressed person. I have had occasion to see how mean and unforgiving he can be now that I am grown up. I can only imagine what it was like living with him for my mom.

But she was able to divorce him and marry a man that was devoted to her, and he was very nice to my mom's three grown children. While they were married and before my mom died, Ken had a very generous heart when it came to his children and my mom's children. He personally helped me out a lot. Mom and Ken drove down to Ohio to get me when I was miscarrying. They paid for me to fly out to visit them in San Antonio, TX when they lived there. We had so many wonderful family get-to-togethers at their house. It seemed that we were always welcome. Both of them never forgot our birthdays or our children's birthdays. Ken created a calendar every Christmas with all the birthdays and anniversaries and passed out a copy to each of his kids and mom's kids so that we would all know what is going on. Ken kept up the tradition of sending cards and making the calendars after mom passed away 13 years ago.

Ken has loved us kids unconditionally, never being harsh or mean. This is more than my dad has done.

Ken is not feeling well now and has asked Hospice to come in for a while to help. I wish I could be there in Michigan. Since I am not able to be there in person, I do want him to know how much I appreciate him and what he did to make my mother happy.

Happy Father's Day, Ken.

Grandson Luke's visit

2009-05-31T10:30:00.006-05:00

We are having so much fun with Luke and Mindy here to visit in Oklahoma. Luke is an awesome 2-year-old. Very talkative, very lively, and enjoyable. Sure there are the screams and tantrums, but not as many as there could be.

Dave wrote an article for the paper about Luke.

I posted some pictures on photobucket:

Enid, Tornado Alley

2009-04-26T21:15:00.002-05:00

When I was in Michigan I thought it would be fun to take a trip with the Storm Chasers. I have always had an interest in the storms in Michigan. I relished the power of the storms and wanted to know more about how they form and stuff. But I was lazy and other things occupied my mind in between the storms. But everytime there was a storm I had to hold myself back from standing out in the middle of the storm. I had to remind myself to be sensible and not tempt fate.

So then Dave up and makes me move to Enid, Oklahoma. The center of extreme storms and tornadic activity. I am both excited to be in the middle of these wild storms and scared. I guess that is good. Cautiousness is a good thing. I find myself watching the interactive map online and during the worse part of the storm, one of the TV stations out of Oklahoma City has full coverage of the storm with storm chasers right in the midst of the storm giving back information.

I think I am still lazy and will not "study" about the storms, but I do like learning about them through listening to the meteorologists and watching the interactive map of the storms.

This will be interesting living in Enid, OK. I do think I will get a small suitcase packed with some extra clothes, food for Riley, some of our medications, and maybe the backup drive that I purchased that has all our computer files on it, just in case there is a tornado or even a fire. Fires seem to be another natural (or unnatural) disaster that happens frequently in OK.

i must not eat the cookies

2009-03-28T17:20:00.002-05:00

I went to the store yesterday just before the major part of the storm hit (see pictures below) and bought groceries. But I forgot to get the 100 calorie snack cookies for Dave. So I told him I would make cookies. I made some old-fashioned sugar cookies. They are are pretty good. I have to tell myself they are not here, they are not in the house, no, we have no cookies.

oklahoma - saturday 2/28

2009-02-28T21:01:00.003-05:00

Well, we are still in Oklahoma. I don't quite know how we are doing. Dave seems to be settling in to his job. He is getting to write articles. He has a regular column every Saturday and they can be read on the internet at http://enidnews.com/.

Since I work at home I not able to make friends as easily. So I feel a little isolated. I just need to find the right thing to do to get out and meet people. I have lots of ideas, but haven't settled on one yet.

It is also hard to be so far away from my family. Aydan turned 1 on Thursday and today Kari and Mark had a party for him. I hope they took lots of pictures.

Tonight I consoled myself by making a version of Chi-Chi's seafood chimichanga. It didn't have the distinctive taste, but it was good. Earlier in the week, I had made chicken chimichanga's and they were good also.

Now I am making french bread. I hope to make french toast for breakfast for Dave and I tomorrow. Then I think we are going to go hiking and then possibly eat at a restaurant we found out that way. Sundays are nice because I get to spend time with Dave.

another gorgeous day in Oklahoma

2009-02-15T18:37:00.004-05:00

With Sunday the only day Dave and I have both have off from work, we try to find something to do together that we both enjoy. But a lot of things are closed on Sunday in Enid, OK and if we want to do things outside, the weather sometimes doesn't cooperate. It did today.

We didn't have anything planned. We did have breakfast planned. We used to enjoy going out to eat for breakfast because it got us out of house and it was usually cheap. Since moving to Enid, we have been trying to find a good breakfast spot. There is no such thing. We have tried every place. IHOP, Wee Too Restaurant, Raymie's Restaurant, the Dutch Pantry and we cannot find another place that has breakfast on Sunday. Yesterday we thought we would try the Willow Inn (not an Inn). The internet said that it was open on Saturdays, not Sundays. Nope, not open. From the looks of the place I doubt the breakfast would have been acceptable.

So we have decided to give up on breakfasts. I will start cooking our favorite breakfast meals and try different recipes for breakfast. When the weather is warmer we will try to eat our breakfast outside. To get out and way from the apartment, we will have to do other things. Today we started with poached eggs, hash browns, bacon and english muffins.

So with nothing concrete in mind, we headed out at about 11 a.m. to see what we could find to do. We started driving north on U.S. 81. I got out the map and the GPS and noticed that we were headed to Kansas. At U.S. 11 I told Dave he had three options, north to Kansas, east to Ponca City, and west to the Great Salt Plains Wildlife Refuge. He wanted me to decide. I said west and I am glad I did. What a nice spot we found. We found a 1.25 mile nature trail with marshes, woods, and a lake. I didn't bring my camera, which is a shame because we saw an opossum, an armadilla, a herd of deer, a woodpecker, and lots of ducks and geese (mallards, wood ducks, and Canadian geese). Definitely a place that we will return to many times. As the seasons change the scenery will change.

walking still

2009-02-10T22:20:00.002-05:00

Well, I am doing pretty good with the walking. I have been walking almost every day the track has been open. I think I only missed one day. Now I have to figure out how to get Dave there. I know he wants to lose weight, but he hasn't figured out when he get go over there during the day before he goes to work.

And I haven't lost any weight. That is a bummer, but I am not going to give up.

On another note, the tornadic weather did not come our way here in Enid. The sky got pretty dark and a little rain and some wind. But that is all.

Exercise - day 3

2009-02-04T21:47:00.001-05:00

Well, I have go to the activity center three times now. Hopefully I will keep it up.

On another note, Dave and I have been married for five years now.

Exercise

2009-02-01T20:50:00.003-05:00

Starting a resolution. I will walk at the Activity Center every day that I can. There is an church across the street from our apartment complex (about two blocks away) where we can walk on a track and use exercise equipment (if we want to). They open at 7 a.m. and close at 9 p.m. most days. I am going to try to walk first thing in the morning. I am already. I bought a 2 gb MP3 player and loaded it with music to walk to. I think I have the right shoes. We will see how much my feet hurt afterwards. The track seemed to have a shock absorbing type of material on it, so that should help. I have to walk 15 times around the track for a mile. I might have to get a counter or something, or just make sure that I walk for 30 minutes or so.

Hiking in Glass Mountains

2009-01-11T21:26:00.003-05:00

Dave and I went exploring today and had a little adventure. The Glass Mountains are called this because of the gypsum and selenite cause the sun to reflect and make the mesas look like they have glass on them.

We wanted to climb to the top of the mesa. There seemed to be stairs to the top. But at the very top, the steps stopped and there was just rock to climb and it was fairly steep. I think that we were more worried about how to get down once we got up. Both of us are out of shape and need a little more conditioning. But still it was disappointing to get almost to the top. After we climbed back down, we decided to hike around the valley a little. Then we went back to the car and got our lunch to eat. The PB&J sandwiches hit the spot.

Then we thought it would be good to explore some more. We found a path. At least we thought it was a path. But it turns out it was a small creek bed and as we walked along it it became slightly muddy. Then all of a sudden Dave stepped into a very muddy spot and sunk into the mud up to his ankle with one foot. While pulling out his foot, his shoe stayed in the mud and his other foot sunk into the mud. We were laughing quite hard by this time. Dave got out of his other shoe so that now he was on dry ground in her stocking feet and his two shoes were buried in the mud. I took off my shoes and socks and rolled up my pant legs and went into the mud to get Dave's shoes after we tried unsuccessfully to tried to pry the shoes out of the mud with our walking sticks, but they were stuck too tightly. I was unsuccessful. Dave's shoes are still in the mud, left for posterity.

We headed back to the car, barefooted and sock footed, carrying my muddy shoes. My feet were cold and caked with mud. We cleaned off our feet as much as we could and threw my dirty shoes in the trunk.

Exploring with Dave is always an adventure. Stay tuned for next weeks' adventure.

If you find time, check out the pictures of Glass Mountain.
http://s525.photobucket.com/albums/cc331/koalahug15/Glass%20Mountain%20Oklahoma/

Xmas in Oklahoma - Kingfisher Lights

2008-12-25T22:54:00.003-05:00

Here I am in my Xmas finest and new hairdo. This was last Sunday when we went to Dave's boss's open house.

Tonight we went to the town of Kingfisher, about 40 miles south of Enid. They have a large light display. So we decided to go see it after we had a lovely dinner of ham, macaroni and cheese, corn bake, and crescent rolls.

This is a swinging walking bridge that is very well lighted.

This is a picture of some of the lights along the driving road, but taken from the swinging bridge.

Another shot of the swinging bridge.

I tried to get a picture of the lights as we drove through the lighted arch.

Life is good

2008-12-20T22:34:00.002-05:00

I found some shoe inserts that make me heel not hurt. I am happy now.

Also, Dave bought me a new purse. It is awesome.

http://www.travelonbags.com/7283.html

It is so comfortable. I can wear it while I am driving, shopping, walking, and it has compartments for everything. Thanks Dave.

pictures of apartment in Enid

2008-12-19T22:22:00.002-05:00

I thought I would let you see that we did get some snow here in Enid. Of course, it is gone now. The first picture is Dave scraping the snow off the car. The second is our front door. The third is a picture of a pretty tree across the parking lot. The fourth is a picture of our unit from a little farther away. And the fifth is Dave at the mailbox, not far from where I took the fourth picture.

Xmas in Oklahoma

2008-12-13T21:34:00.002-05:00

We are getting prepared to have our first Christmas in Enid. We have our scant decorations set up. Tomorrow we will get the Xmas cards set up to send out and do some online shopping. We will have to get creative this year to "spend" Christmas with our family.

I want to get a menu set up for Dave and I. Probably ham and macaroni and cheese and some appetizers.

Right now I am just waiting for Dave to come home from work. Probably won't be home for another hour and a half.

my political opinion

2008-12-10T21:17:00.002-05:00

My political opinion.

The government is going to heck in a handbasket. I think that the arrest of the Illinois governor is just the tip of the iceberg. I believe there are many, many political figures that have been getting away with shady and illegal things for quite a few years and they are getting bolder. Now some of them are getting caught. I predict that we will find out that Obama is one of these people. He sure seems to be linked to quite a few of them. How can one man have that many acquaintances that are on the take or doing illegal things or just are not nice people without him being like those friends. And I think things are going to get worse before they get better. Wait that is what Obama said? Does that mean he knows what I just suspect? And just to weigh in on the automakers bailout - NO, do not bail them out.

explain to me like I am an 8-year-old

2008-12-06T00:10:00.002-05:00

The Office

Michael - "Explain to me like I am an 8-year-old." "Okay, now explain to me like I am a 5-year-old."

I am sad - miss detroit

2008-12-05T22:04:00.002-05:00

This is the first real sadness that I have noticed. I am intermittently watching the MAC Championship game on the TV. The game is played at Ford Field in Detroit. If we were still living there, I would be on the field taking pictures and Dave would be in the press box. Then they showed the people ice skating downtown. I have never done that, but it made me wistful. Crazy I know. I miss my family, but I get to talk to them and I will have the web cam going soon, so I will see the grandkids and they will see me. Maybe we can even do a show and tell at Christmas.

The saga of the critters - stuffed and otherwise.

2008-12-03T10:08:00.006-05:00

Charly gave us two little stuffed animals to keep us safe on our trip. They seemed pretty comfortable in the car and didn't complain much.

When we got to the apartment, we showed them around. They seemed to like the fireplace. Although today the wind is blowing a lot and making the fireplace flue crash and bang, so they are in the bedroom listening to music so that they aren't scared.

Riley the green-cheek conure also had a good time in the car. After arriving at the apartment, he decided he wanted a bath, so I got a picture and a video of his first bath in the new apartment.

Then we went to Kari's on the way to Oklahoma

2008-12-03T09:59:00.005-05:00

On our way to Oklahoma, we stopped at Kari and Mark's to see the grandkids. Kari had prepared chili and corn bread and hotdogs. The chili was delicious, but a little spicy for my taste. Dave probably would have eaten more if we weren't going to be cooped up in a car for many, many hours together.

Charly gave us two little stuffed animals when Kari told her to tell us goodbye and that she wouldn't be seeing us for a while. See the next post.

Packing before our move

2008-12-03T09:20:00.003-05:00

Mindy and Luke came over on the Saturday before we left for Oklahoma so I could see Luke and to help pack. Luke kept us all busy. Kari also came over to help pack.

I still have to get the pictures to post

2008-11-30T22:07:00.002-05:00

Well, the pictures are still in my camera. I know, it isn't that difficult to take the memory card out of the camera and upload to the computer, but right now it seems like a lot. I promise I will get to it. Probably tomorrow, but don't hold me to it.

It has been a nice day. Dave had the day off so we could hang out together. We went to breakfast and then drove around Enid checking out the sites. Dave tried to find the spots that his editor showed him, but it took us a while.

We also checked out an Italian restaurant to see if their pizza was good. It was pretty good.

We then came home and rearranged the living room and emptied a box or two.

I have a list of positives about Enid and the new apartment:

Almost unlimited garbage bin.
Drains that drain faster than the house in DH.
Larger bathroom.
Malls within 2 minutes of apartment.
Warmer weather.
Fireplace in the apartment (probably won't use it, but you never know)

Oklahoma move part 2

2008-11-29T19:23:00.002-05:00

Well, we are here. I wanted to blog sooner than this, but it has been crazy. I have pictures to post and stories to tell. So much to say, so little time to get it all said.

A quick recap: We had everything packed by 10 a.m. on Friday. The guys who were going to load the truck for us came about 20 minutes later. Mike came about 10:10 or so. He was a wonderful help. Then Dad and Uncle Tom came so Dave could go with them to take their car to the airport parking. By the time the got back from the airport, the truck was loaded. Mike left for Lansing with the couch and loveseat and we all went to the UHaul place to get the autotransporter attached to the truck and the Hyundai on the autotransporter. Then Dad and Uncle Tom took off for Oklahoma. Dave and I went back to the house to finish closing it up and then we were on our way. We arrived in Oklahoma on Saturday evening. The moving men to unload the truck came Sunday morning. Dad and Les flew back to cold Detroit Sunday evening. We unpacked most of Monday. Tuesday we went to work, me to my take-a-long job and Dave to his new job.

I will be filling in the blanks in future posts. The stopover at Kari and Mark's, the fall I took on my front porch, the misadventures of Les and Tom and all the aches and pains that have accompanied the move.

Oklahoma move

2008-11-08T20:33:00.002-05:00

We have made one of the first steps to moving to Oklahoma. We found an apartment complex that has an available apartment. This complex, Seven Pines Village owned by ERA Nicholas Real Estate, will have a house available for rent in February and they have many homes for sale which if we decide to rent or buy, they will release us from the lease on the apartment. The apartment is a 2 bedroom, 1 bath apartment for a 6-month lease of $475 a month. You can see pictures of the place at the link above.

Now we need to figure out how we are going to move and sell or rent our house here in Dearborn Heights.

Go West Ruthenbergs

2008-11-07T12:27:00.002-05:00

Looks like we will be moving to Enid, Oklahoma. Dave has been offered a job there at the Enid News and will be starting November 25. I will be moving down there as soon as I can. I have to sell the house (or rent it) and pack everything up. I might be contacting family members to see if they want some of our furniture so we don't have to take everything.

More to follow.

Poem by my Grandfather, Willis McMillan

2008-11-02T13:34:00.003-05:00

My dad, Jerry McMillan, gave my sister a poem that his dad, Willis McMillan, wrote. Cindi sent it to me. I would like to share it here.

Those Golden Years
By: Willis McMillan

Some fifty years ago
When my heart was all aglow
I met a little girl named Lucille.
She was so neat, with much eye appeal.
She lived with her sister, mother, and father on a hill
In a little town called Waynesville.
At church and socials she played the piano,
And very popular as you all may know.
On Sundays and holidays, rides we would take
In her father’s new Model T.
They asked me to go along for company’s sake
And that made me as proud as could be.
Four sons was all we had –
Wendell, Gerald, Irwin, and Richard Eugene.
They all were healthy fine lads.
That made six of us on the team.
When brother Dillon lost his mate,
Lenora and Jo Ann we did take.
We loved them like they were our own,
And we all tried to give them a happy home.
In 1942, Lucille not feeling her best,
We moved to Cincinnati for a rest.
Our four sons in the service for U. S. A.
Thank God, all safe home, we did pray.
Wendell, Martha; Jerry, Gerry Ellen; Dick and Pat –
All found homes with a welcome mat.
Grand children: we’ll say seven.
All good children go to heaven.
Linda, Tommy, Debbie, Cindy, Mike,
Dale and Timmy;
All together that’s a good many.
Oh, yes, one great-grandchild.
Right now that’s putting it mild.
Now Johnny in February 1964 died.
Then at that time all of us cried.
Mom was my secretary and kept the money.
She from the start was my honey.
Wonderful golden years together liven.
And I thank God for all blessings given.

What Brett and I do for fun on the weekend

2008-11-01T20:54:00.003-05:00

Brett and I were taking pictures of the Western Michigan vs Eastern Michigan football game today. If you want to see the actual action pictures check out www.macreportonline.com/mrogallery tomorrow. We should have all the pictures up by then.

I caught Brett walking back to my side of the field.

Then I accidentally got a slightly blurry pic of him from across the field.

Brett caught a pic of me in the background of a play from across the field

More pictures from the visit

2008-10-31T18:56:00.003-05:00

Mindy talking to Grandpa Ken.

Kari took these pictures of the cousins getting into things.

They are pretty darn cute.

Everyone loves to make some music.

Kari and Aydan.

Grandpa Morris visit

2008-10-31T17:44:00.007-05:00

My stepdad isn't feeling real good, so we all went to visit him. Here are some pictures.

Charly took this wonderful picture of me and Aydan.

Mike and Luke are so cute together.

Kari and Aydan

Charly was entertaining Grandpa Ken's sister, Joann.

Grandpa Ken enjoyed the visit, I think.

short story - Whose favor should she be in?

2008-10-30T16:54:00.004-05:00

The couple was leaving the grocery store. The husband was pushing the cart and the wife was following behind. As they reached the door, an item fell out of the cart of another shopper. The wife stopped to pick up the item for the other shopper, unbeknownst to the husband. As he leaves the store, he turns back to see that his wife is not following as closely behind him and he lifts his eyebrows as if to say "What happened?". His wife replies, "I stopped to help someone pick up something they dropped." Her husband shakes his head in dismay. He is single minded in his need to get out of the store where everyone gets in his way and his need to get home to relax. "I am just trying to find favor with the gods", his wife states. "Well, you are losing favor with me", he tosses back. They both smile. He knows he is intolerant, and she knows that he knows. It is just the way he is. At least he can laugh about his intolerance. She loves him anyway.

Did you watch the Obama tv show tonight? I DID NOT

2008-10-29T19:35:00.002-05:00

I am proud to say that I did not watch the Obama paid television show tonight. Where does he get the money for this? I am leery of a person who has sooooo much money that they can pay for primetime television for 30 minutes on seven different networks.

Luckily cable and satellite have hundreds of other networks. Too bad he doesn't have enough money to buy time on every network. For someone who wants the "little people" to feel he knows what they are going through, he sure knows how to flaunt his money.

Biden interview shows his true colors

2008-10-26T08:27:00.003-05:00

Interesting YouTube video.

I guess after Biden was interviewed on this Florida TV station, his wife was supposed to be interviewed, but Obama's campaign nixed that idea with this statement:

"This cancellation is non-negotiable, and further opportunities for your station to interview with this campaign are unlikely, at best for the duration of the remaining days until the election," wrote Laura K. McGinnis, Central Florida communications director for the Obama campaign.
McGinnis said the Biden cancellation was "a result of her husband's experience yesterday during the satellite interview with Barbara West."

miss fixit

2008-10-23T17:49:00.003-05:00

Dave hates it when I do this, but I still keep doing it and I think secretly he likes it.

This is what happened: Dave wanted to get a bound double-sided copy of the MAC Football Preview to take with him on his job interview. So we went to Office Depot to get the file printed on nice paper and bound with spiral coils. The Office Depot worker was having problems getting the printer to duplex the test pages. It kept jamming up in the printer. I first suggested that maybe since the first page was one large graphic that we needed to try printing the second and third pages on front and back. The paper still jammed. So I suggested that there might be a small piece of paper in the roller. Dave was cringing. He hates when I butt in. But the worker was a smart young man and listened to me and found the offending small piece of paper in the rollers of the printer and the next try worked perfectly. We now have a nice 37 page bound copy of the football preview that he is so proud of.

Yep, my 56 years on this earth, 20 some of it working in an office with many printers, copiers, and computers, has given me wisdom that I love to share with others.

Oh, what else was funny was that Dave made a reference to something that Bender says in Futurama, "It is all everyone else's fault" The Office Depot young man, looked up at him and said, "What? Bender from Futurama?" He seemed impressed that Dave would be quoting from Futurama. Score one for Dave.

joe the plumber

2008-10-16T19:22:00.004-05:00

I might be in the minority, but I think John McCain kicked butt last night. Sure there were some discrepancies in both of their statements, but I thought Obama was clearly bugged by how much McCain was on the offensive.

Now, this thing about Joe the Plumber. This is really bugging me. I liked the fact that McCain brought up the incident between Joe and Obama, but the media is taking it way too far. Why is the media crucifying him? He just wanted to ask a simple question. Now people are digging up all kinds of things on him.

Is this what will happen if Obama becomes president? If someone has a differing opinion or questions something the president does, will they be scrutinized and dissected and hounded?

my leaky faucet is fixed!!

2008-10-06T19:41:00.001-05:00

My dad has been staying with my sister and she had a meeting to attend today in Pontiac. Cindi brought my dad over and dropped him off and he fixed my leaky faucet. I can't tell you how thankful I am, plus I got to spend more time with Dad and with Cindi. We went out to eat after Cindi was done with her meeting.

All in all it was a nice day.

Thanks Cindi and Thanks Dad.

body aches

2008-09-28T17:56:00.002-05:00

I know that I am out of shape. I don't want people trying to be encouraging. I know that my loved ones will love me even if I am out of shape. I am the only one who can make me feel better and for some reason I haven't found the motivation that I need.

You would think that I would want to exercise more so that I wouldn't hurt so bad when I try to do things. I think the problem stems from the fact that I am addicted to my job and the computer. Both of those are not conducive to moving around and exercising. I mean if I had a job where I had to move to actually perform the job, that would be better for me, I guess.

My latest problem with aches and pains stems from two things. A football game and cleaning the cars. Yesterday I walked down to the field at Eastern Michigan from the press box. Now, this should be easy, but for me who is top heavy and out of shape, it is scary. There are no handrails, so I feel like I am going to go head first down the steps. Plus the fact that my left knee hurts, so I have to go down the steps kind of sideways so that my left knee doesn't give out. Well, that made my right thigh cramp up when I finally was on the field. Today it just feels like a deep bruise. But I must of used other muscles also because I was very achy.

But then today I really wanted to get to my projects that I have planned. Cleaning the cars has been on my list for awhile. Not the outside - Dave can take the cars to the car wash for that, but the inside, vacuum and dust. The cars weren't as bad as I thought they were, but it took a lot of bending and pulling and stuff. Plus the garage had to be cleaned up a little so that I could clean the Santa Fe. I did get them all done. But boy, am I beat.

More projects to come:
Clean windows, especially the front windows.
Sweep garage, take cushions to basement, take golf clubs to basement also.
Plant tulip bulbs and clean up yard. Possibly trim bushes one more time.
Clean and organize office closet.
Organize kitchen closet.

I will keep you all posted on how this all goes.

MAC Football Week Five Preview

2008-09-27T10:40:00.001-05:00

Probably the biggest celebrity alum to come out of Ball State, late-night host David Letterman, gave some publicity to his alma mater's team recently, talking up the Cardinals' win over Indiana on his CBS show. Can an appearance from Brady Hoke on the show be far behind?

read more | digg story

What I did today

2008-09-20T19:49:00.002-05:00

Dave didn't have anything planned as far as football games, so he was going to watch all the games on TV. I thought I would try to get things done that I have been putting off. Here is my list:

Fix leaky bathtub faucet
Clean both cars (vacuum and dust)
Give blood
Do the grocery shopping
Finish the final touches on the manuscript that I am editing for someone.

So far I have only done the "give blood", grocery shopping, and I am working on the manuscript.

The give blood made me really tired. I hope to do some of the other things tomorrow.

I like to give blood, I feel righteous about it, plus I am O negative which means they really like by blood, but boy I am so tired from it. I think I have blogged about this before. Oh well.

Grandpa McMillan

2008-09-14T20:13:00.003-05:00

Grandpa McMillan came up to Michigan just before the first hurricane and came to visit me on Friday. On Sunday all the kids and their kids converged on Mindy and Mike to hang out for a few hours. This picture is missing the husbands of Mindy and Kari (Mike and Mark) and me.

freezer kitten

2008-09-13T10:56:00.002-05:00

Dave and I and my dad went over to Les and Joannie's last night to chat for a bit and introduce them to my dad. When we got there, they mentioned that they couldn't find one of their two kittens. They said they looked everywhere, but couldn't find the little fella.

Well, we all sat down and started chatting and then Joannie asked us if we wanted anything to drink. Dave got up to go to the refrigerator to get a pop. When he opened the door, he hollared, "The cat is in the refrigerator!"

The kitten had crawled into the refrigerator when Joannie had put some pops in the refrigerator and she didn't see him.

He probably was in there only a little bit and didn't seem fazed at all. He wasn't even cold. Crazy kitten.

one reason I like cornergas - witty repartee

2008-09-08T21:30:00.002-05:00

Brent, the gas station owner has a scheme to find out how tall Wanda, his employee, is. He elicits the help of Hank the handyman/loafer that hangs out at the gas station and the cafe. When the plan doesn't work, because Wanda tricks Hank, Brent says: "Why do I even involve you in my schemes?"
Hank replied thoughtfully: "Maybe you are afraid of success on some level."

Don't know if it will come across as funny as it did when I heard it in this blog. Maybe you had to be there. But really, that was a classic response.

psycho

2008-08-26T22:08:00.001-05:00

We were watching the original Psycho and then Dave flipped to the local news where they were showing a clip of Hillary Clinton giving her DNC speech... but I thought we were still watching Pscyho.

Scary.

If you look real close you can see me

2008-08-23T17:00:00.003-05:00

The MAC is running a MAC on TV and I am in there somewhere. Maybe about half way through they are showing pictures of all the people interviewing people at tables. I am in the far back. I will try to get more information if you are interested. LOL

The link below describes the TV schedule for the MAC preview.

http://macreportonline.com/index.php/20080818338/Football/MAC-Gridiron-Preview-Set-to-Air.html

New additions to the Les and Joanne family

2008-08-18T09:52:00.003-05:00

Les and Joanne have new additions to their family. Ollie and Stanley are Maine coon kittens.
I believe Ollie is the lighter colored kitten and Stanley is the darker one.

I think this is Ollie.
And this should be Stanley, unless I have them confused.

Steven Banks/Olympics

2008-08-12T19:01:00.001-05:00

Every time I hear the olympics theme, I think of Steven Banks. My kids will understand.

I want control of the TV control

2008-08-09T19:54:00.002-05:00

Dave has control of the TV control and he keeps checking back to the Olympic coverage. Each time they start a little human interest on Dara the swimmer he flips back to something else. It has happened twice. I guess I will never find out her "story".

Random acts of kindness, part 2

2008-08-08T16:46:00.004-05:00

I have to preface this blog with mentioning that I am fine, I did not get mugged, robbed, or raped while committing a random act of kindness. I say this for Dave's benefit because he thinks I am way too trusting.

What happened was that I had to run some errands after work. I went to Walgreens and then was headed back west toward the grocery store. The street is a four lane street and I was in the far right lane. Up ahead I saw a car that either seemed to be going very slow or was stopped. As I got closer I realized that the car was stopped (there is no stopping/parking on this street) and I was going to have to get into the other lane - fast. I was worried about this car sitting there, as most cars on this street go faster than the posted 40 miles and it is not always easy to pull into the left lane. Should I call the police and let them know an abandoned car is on Joy Road? No, I don't have the number. I guess I could have dialed 911, and I was considering that as I pulled into the grocery store parking lot. As I parked, I noticed a man and a woman head back down the street walking as fast as they could, carrying.....yes, a gas can! I pulled out of my parking spot and drove over to them, honked my horn and waved them over. I asked if they were going back to the car stopped in the street. Yes, they were. Hop in, I said. The woman got in the front and the man in the back with the gas can, and I carefully pealed out to get back to the car as fast and carefully as I could. It was 0.2 miles back down the road and luckily no one had crashed into it. Did I mention that the emergency flashers were not on? Yikes. As I pulled up behind the car and put my flashers on, the lady asked me how much she owed me. I laughed. Sorry I did. I never even thought of charging them to drive them 0.2 miles. Crazy. I assured her that she didn't owe me anything and in fact, I was going to stay behind them with my flashers on while they put the gas in the car and then drive off. Which is what happened.

Wow, what a good feeling that gave me. Not only do I feel like I helped those two people, but probably some poor person who would have hit that care while coming home from work and not really paying attention to the traffic.

Letter to Barack Obama

2008-07-31T17:13:00.002-05:00

July 31, 2008

Dear Mr. Obama,

You don't need to keep playing the race card. You are a human being. It doesn't matter what color you are. I don't care whether you or anyone else is black, white, or green. I just want to know that you would have the ability to lead the USA. I don't see where you would be able to do that if you are constantly worrying about whether someone is picking on you because you are black. Sheesh. Grow up.

Deb Ruthenberg
Dearborn Heights, MI

The Sartorial Splendor of Football Media Days

2008-07-30T16:38:00.001-05:00

My editor's assignment was simple: Participate in the MAC media football day at Ford Field in Detroit, taking on the task of a sports reporter and asking questions to find out more information about the football teams across the Mid-American Conference.

read more | digg story

More pictures from this weekend

2008-07-27T20:40:00.002-05:00

Dave is caught playing with grandkids.

Weekend fun

2008-07-27T20:31:00.003-05:00

Kari, Mark, Aydan and Charley came over to visit. We checked out the Telegraph Cruise. We saw a lot of fancy classic cars and listened to a rock 'n roll band. Charley danced. She is so active. Wish I had all her energy.

Violent women

2008-07-24T19:22:00.003-05:00

The Shock (women's basketball) in Detroit just went crazy and started fighting with the other team they were playing. At the start of the fight, one Shock player walked up to another player and just walked her down. The cat fight was on.

When did women stop being demure, refined, and lose their dignity? I think I know when and where. Reality TV. The Soup did a show called "Chicks, Man" and it highlighted the reality shows like Bad Girls, Keeping up with the Kardashians, and Rock of Love, to name a few. Reality shows ask that women act stupid, get drunk and disgusting, vomit, eat gross things, cry, get angry at the drop of the hat, dress like skanks, and pretty much degrade themselves in any way they can. No wonder the women of Shock allowed their emotions to get the better of themselves and start a fight during the game. They are acting just the way they think that society wants to see them act.

Whatever happen to depicting women as nurturing, loving humans? Is this a sick way for men to feel better about themselves? Have they been feeling like women have been demasculating them on TV and so they want to humiliate women on TV?

Why are women allowing this? This is disgraceful. I encourage women everywhere to NOT WATCH shows that depict women in this horrible way. Do not allow your young ladies to watch. Entice your significant other to not watch these shows. Boycott the shows. Soon they will disappear if we do not watch and do not give credence to these types of stereotypes.

dancing conure

2008-07-23T16:39:00.001-05:00

Riley groovin' to the blues

weekend update

2008-07-20T19:07:00.003-05:00

Well, since I enjoyed reading Kari's account of her weekend, I thought I would write about my weekend.

Saturday we got quite a bit done. First we took the Focus into Midas to get the brakes looked at. Then we went to Bob Evans to eat breakfast, our weekly ritual to get out of the house. Then we came home to wait to hear the bad news about the car. While at home I worked on the computer a bit. Found that we might be able to "sell" the ebook on Amazon published as a Kinele book, but I will have to reformat it.

The car needed new shoes, rotors, and two link pins. Oh my. Oh well. Had to be done. So we authorized the work to be done. They said probably it would be ready around 1 p.m. Dave and I decided we needed to get out and move around a bit, but since the car with the Metropark sticker was getting fix. So we went to Farmington to their Founders Day celebration. Did a lot of walking and looking. Saw a man dressed all in gold, acting like a statue, tipped his hat when we walked by. Wow - he was good. I thought he was a statue.

Then we came back to get the car.

I then made pork chops with gravy, low calorie. Very good. I recommend them. I am having fun making all these new low calorie recipes. It gives me ideas for more or at least how to modify them so that we like them even better.

Sunday morning comes.....we hang out for a bit. I decide to start the laundry I needed to do. Then I wanted to shorten the curtains in our bedroom. That didn't take too long. By the time I was done, Dave was ready to get out and do more sight seeing. We went to Royal Oak's largest garage sale. It was a garage sale that was in a parking garage. It was huge. Nothing there caught our eye. Lots of junk.

Last stop was Como's for pizza. Then home to vegetate in front of the TV and computers. I did little things like changing the bed sheets and wash towels.

Healthy appetizers

2008-07-17T22:02:00.003-05:00

Dave has been giving me suggestions for food to fix for him and I that is lowfat, low calorie, or both.

This is one that I made that I recommend:

From the Healthy Living magazine.

Mini Bacon Quiches
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 pound sliced bacon, cooked and crumbled
1/2 cup reduced-fat ricotta cheese
1/2 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup shredded reduced-fat cheddar cheese
1 small onion, finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
Dash cayenne pepper
Dash pepper
2 packages (2.1 oz each) frozen miniature phyllo (fillo) tart shells

1. In a small bowl, combine the first nine ingredients. Place tart shells on an ungreased baking sheet; fill each with 2 teaspoons mixture.
2. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until filling is set and shells are lightly browned. Serve warm.

They were good cool also.

MAC Facilities Begin Upgrades

2008-07-16T20:35:00.001-05:00

With kickoff of the 2008 football season just six weeks away, Mid-American Conference fans will no doubt notice upgrades at a couple of venerable facilities while fans in another MAC city will be celebrating the final season in their school's home stadium.

read more | digg story

will they answer my question?

2008-07-01T18:57:00.003-05:00

I emailed Rod and Mario with the FSN Detroit website asking them a question and they are suppose to answer it on an upcoming Tigers Live game. Will they answer it today? We shall see. The question I asked was: Do the Tigers still do all those fancy-dancy hi-fives they used to do when they hit a homerun and then went to the dugout?

Silly question, but I remember they used to have some very elaborate hi-fives with each other. Choregraphed perfectly. Maybe they will look up old film footage of them and replay them.

so I thought the ebook was all done......

2008-06-30T19:39:00.002-05:00

My sigh of relief changed today. Dave was going through the ebook and found that the team schedules had either changed or there was minor errors. So........I had to log into my laptop, go back into the Word document, make the changes, then convert to a pdf file, then upload to the website again.

Okay, done. I can get back to work.

But wait, I forgot to reset the bookmarks in the pdf file. So had to spend time setting up the bookmarks and then upload to the website.

Whew, all done.

Right?

Wrong.

Dave and I were suppose to start working out in the yard in the evenings this week so that we could get caught up on that. Dave started early, but came in when I was done with work and he sheepishly told me that there were more corrections that he found in the pdf.

So while cooking supper, I made the changes in the Word document, converted to pdf and showed Dave how to do the bookmarks in the pdf program. Once the bookmarks were done, I uploaded the files to the website and we were done.

Right.

So we went outside to finish work in the yard. We sweated and got dirty. For two couch potatoes we did pretty good. Dave got a whole section of the driveway weed free and I weeded and then put stuff down to keep the weeds at bay behind the garage where the three bushes are. It felt good to get it done. There is still more to do in the yard, but we will get it done this week. I also have to clean the house. Will get that done also. The bathtub was cleaned yesterday.

Then Dave checked the pdf file again. Yep, one more correction. This one I was able to fix right in the pdf file, so that was quick.

I hope Dave doesn't find any more corrections.

The ebook link is on this blog and I encourage anyone that wants to find out all the inside information about college football for this season - specifically the Mid-American Conference - then buy this ebook. You will be one step ahead of the game.

Finally finished Dave's ebook

2008-06-29T18:34:00.002-05:00

Dave has been working hard on an ebook for a football preview of the Mid-American Conference. In the past when he has done this, he hasn't charged for the document, but he put so much work into it and so did I that we wanted to get something for the hard work. Well, I think we have it mostly done and I can breath a sigh of relief. The ebook will go on sale on July 2 and I will put a link to the store as soon as it is up so that all my family and friends can go there and buy it if they feel like it. It will be $4.95 and you can use either a credit card or paypal. I set up the store, set up the website, made graphics so that others can advertise the book on their websites. Dave is getting the advertising for the book out with google adwords and other people's website.

If any one wants to advertise the book on their website, please let me know (Mindy).

having fun at the CVS

2008-06-14T19:54:00.002-05:00

So, since I work from home I don't get out much. Saturdays are my day to get out all by myself. Crazy, I know. I usually go to the grocery store, but sometimes I get a manicure and today I had my hair trimmed. But I also went CVS to get Father's Day cards and such. Well, the line was long and only one register open. When a second register opened, I noticed that the people getting in line were confused about where to go, so I decided to direct traffic. So with a smile on my face and lightness in my tone, I started telling people where the end of the line was, pointing out the next in line so that person could go to the second open register.

Then a gentleman in line behind me asked me if I knew if CVS gave rainchecks because he wanted to get one for the Arizona tea that was on sale, but they had run out of. I hollered out to one of the cashiers asking that very question. The answer was yes, so the gentleman stayed in line.

It is funny....the cashiers seem grumpy and hassled... but when I started my joking and stuff, they seemed to perk up and one of them even smiled. It was fun.