Terminal

As I was driving yesterday this word kept coming to my mind, as we are now thinking of this word in connection with our sister. To say that out loud, She has terminal cancer. But as I was driving along, I got to thinking, heck we are all terminal. We were terminal the day we were born. At least this body as we know it now is in a terminal condition. This body is not getting out of here except in death. A rather sobering thought huh?

And what do we do with that knowledge? We blunder along day in and day out, pretending that we will be here forever? We do, you know it as well as I do. We don't ever want to acknowledge that one day we too will be gone.

Then I got to thinking about how we feel about these mortal bodies and how we care for them. Mostly how we don't care for them. We all hate different things about our bodies. Our thighs are too big, boobs not big enough, hair wrong color, too short, too tall, and the list goes on and on.
Then how do we care for this wonderful body we have, and yes it is wonderful even if we don't think we like it. We eat crap that clogs our veins, makes us fat, gives us cancer! We put lethal things into it like drugs, alcohol, tobacco, and way too much food. Then we probably don't exercise and take care of the physical aspect. Then we have the nerve to complain when it isn't working right!! Oh, we should just be ashamed of ourselves.

But we are human and we have weaknesses. Maybe we just need to just sit back from time to time and remind ourselves that we are all terminal and how we spend our remaining time is totally up to each one of us. Wow, just think about that last part. It is our own free will and choice to live our life any way we choose! I wish I had that insight many years ago. I know there are many things I would have chosen differently but since that is all past tense we can only move fore ward, and forgive ourselves because we did the best we could with what we knew at that time. There are many things I would like to see and do, maybe it's not to late.



Thought for the day:: we know from daily life that we exist for other people first of all, for whose smiles and well-being our own happiness depends.
—Albert Einstein

Brothers and Sisters

Sis no. 1 made it home from the hosp. yesterday. Thurs. Yea, no tubes and seems to be doing OK for now. Hope this lasts awhile. Bad news, the dog that bit her hubby died, no kidding. I could joke about that but I know it is no joking matter to them to loose their little chiwawa.

We were going to have a little cookout at Bro. No 2's home tonight before Bro. No 1 heads home in the morning. But No. 2 is sick with a bad cold so we X'd him off our list of fun places to go to. So Bro. No 1 is headed out to spend some time with Sis before he leaves.

Oh, did I mention that his flight is at 6 AM. I volunteered to take him back to the airport. Lets see he has to be there by 5 AM, and it is about 1 1/2 hr drive. So need to get up at: WHAT!! how did I get myself into this. No wonder Bro. 2 said he would go pick him up last Sat. Yea, he got in at 1 PM!! But guess he is worth it. IT has sure been nice to have him here this week. We have all shared him around and let him be our errand boy too. Hung out with me in my store and looked at computer pictures. Gosh, never did get him over to put up my new ceiling fans for me. And he is an electrician. Silly me.

Thought of the day: How do those dead bugs get into those enclosed light fixtures? (maybe I should have asked that electrician brother!)

$4.00 scrip

Well he did get the 4 $ scrip {antibiotic} but forgot to mention that when he was there with the 60$ scrip he had a second one for 20$ He had no idea what it was but he took it. Find out later that it was for Cultirelle, something that keeps you from getting diarrhea when you are on antibiotics! But all is well, I think, Took him for Pizza Tue pm after all the confusion and the brothers had taken him to see his wife.

Sis No 1 seems to be better. Sis no. 2 went up this AM early and they have clamped the GTube and letting her take clear liquids and see what happens. The bowel blockage is partially relieved for now. So maybe she will be able to go home in a day or so and see how she will do.

A "funny" story: When the 3 of us were in the oncology Dr. office he was telling us about the possibility of putting in a PEG tube, {basically a feeding tube, but used to open the end and let the build up of gas in the stomach out, which was a BIG problem at that time} He barely finished telling about that and Sis No 1 in her Jessica Simpson impersonation said "I want one"!! Well we were scheduled to see the dr. about putting on in on Monday but she was already in the hospital by then. I would like to see one put in before she goes home, because I know we will end up with similar problems again before long.

Big Bro. has been spending time with all of us and it has been great to have him here. We had to kick him out to the farm to sleep as he was keeping sis #2 awake with his tickle cough that he has. After his first nite out there he told me it sure was dark out there in the country. Seems our security light had burned out, so called the electric co. to come fix it, since it belongs to them. We just pay a flat fee monthly for the electric and use of their light.

Ok thats it for now.

Things have gone to hell in a handbasket

Where to start?
So much has happened in the last week or so that I want to just make a note here to help me keep track of it all.
First of all, I have two sisters. The oldest will be No. 1 and the other No. 2, I also have two brothers and I will identify them as bro.1 and bro. 2.

On the 8th the 3 of us sisters went together for No. 1's consultation after her testing and we were not surprised to find out that she had a malignant tumor in the abdomen. She has been sick along time and many tests, till she had this one which gave a confirmation. She was told that it is inoperable and that she would be terminal from it. It was decided that she would be put on hospice and she was to get her affairs in order. She is doing a very brave thing. She has done the paper work to donate her body to a medical school in Kansas City.

So we notified her 2 daughters and son, who all live in other states. Also bro. 1 lives in an eastern state. We did do a get-away trip, the 3 sisters to Branson Mo. as mentioned in the prev. post. That was the 13th. and 14th. On the 18th her "kids" arrived and were able to spend 2 days with her. On Fri PM the 19th within an hour after the last one left she got pretty sick and I went to her house and called the hospice nurse. We stayed till things were under control and felt she could rest. Sat. was so so for her, not great but not to bad. Bro. No 1 got here on Sat. Then Sun things got worse and hospice came in the morning, then later in evening a neighbor had to call them again and both of us sisters went too and it was really bad. The pain could not be relieved by any measures that the hospice nurse had so she called the Dr. and we got an ambulance called and took her to the hosp. This was around 9pm. Sis No 2 and I went up together and stayed while they did xrays, gave her "good" stuff to stop the pain and other drugs to try to get her BP down. Got her admitted after midnight. ER Dr. told us she was totally obstructed in her bowel and gave us a pretty poor prognosis. I had Sis #2 go home {she had just been in ER the night before for a bad UTI and really needed to be home in bed} I stayed the nite. Brothers and sis showed up next morning, Monday. Oncology Dr. made rounds and felt we could work on this and try to resolve at least temporary some problems. They gave suppositories, also started a med called lactulose thru her NG tube to help loosen the stool up on the upper side.

Now on Mon late afternoon her husband is in the room and shows her his finger. Find out that one of their little dogs had bitten him a couple days before and just broke the skin good. Well his finger was badly swollen and red streaks going up his arm. So he was to go to Urgent Care on his way home. About 7:30 sis no. 1 got a call from Urgent care, they were concerned about the husband as he was unsteady and was to go to the local hosp to be admitted for IV antibiotics. Sis no 1 had just gotten to sleep but she called me, I am closer to their house, Can't reach him on the phone, so I head out to his home and find him, a little bit confused and I take him to the hosp ER. {Oh, if you are still with me, it just gets better and better}

ER was slam full, {many folks use ER for their family medical needs} So I left him there with inst to have them call me if they don't admit him. Went home, exhausted, went to bed. Guess what? At 11PM the phone rang and I had trouble trying to figure out how to push the right button to answer it! ER said he was ready to be taken home!! My hubby said," stay in bed I will go get him and take him home." He had gotten a shot and sent home with a script. Grrrrrrrr why didn't Urgent care to that?? So I find out about this after I had gone to the hosp where Sis No1 is at 6 AM so I could be there when the Dr. came in. A niece had come in and Sis was doing much better this AM so I left to go help husband of No 1 with his script. I was afraid they had ordered some real expensive RX and there are many Walmart scrips that are only $4.00. So I get there and we decide he will go to his primary Dr. and then go get the scrip filled. Wellllll, he forgot to tell them he needed a 4$ scrip. I get a call, that his scrip is $60. So I tell him to let me call the Dr. and try to get another scrip. By this time I am here at my store.

So that is where we are at this moment. The brothers are headed to pick up the husband to go visit at the hospital and then pick up his scrip. I am crossing my fingers that they followed thru and got him an appropriate scrip. Finger still looked pretty bad this morning. Needs soaked I think but they didn't tell him to do anything, {he says}

Not sure if I left anything out. I probably need to go out to check on him this evening and make him soak his finger and put a dressing on it if the Dr. office didn't. Need to see what kind on instructions they gave him. {ER had sent home a nice pre printed instruction sheet on what to do for a dog bite and the signs and symptoms to watch for.} DUH! A little late for that info!

One more night's sleep and I will be A-OK Ready to face what ever is next.

Girls Gone Wild

This is what happens when you try to take your sisters to a respectable resort for a little sister get-away!!

We had a great time. Took in a show, Pierce Arrow. WOW!! They are awesome. Great music and a bunch of good looking guys to boot.

The comedian was very entertaining, kept us laughing too.

Then Sun AM we went down to the lake front to The Landing, and did a leisure stroll thru the area and had breakfast in old downtown Branson. Had rained 4 inches while we slept so the lake was up and we couldn't go on the walkway on the edge of the lake.

Having lots of family in this week to visit with Sister No. 1. I know she is looking forward to seeing her family.

Quote for the day: May you live all the days of your life. _ Jonathan Swift

Well, lets see: Got the window repaired in the pickup. Had forgotten that I didn't carry comprehensive on it as it is an older truck, so had to pay $193 out of pocket for the pleasure those boys had in knocking out the window. Hope they are real proud of themselves. Hubby thinks I should park out in the street about 1/2 block away from the store. But I decided I wouldn't be held hostage and feel I couldn't park right behind my store in plain site of all the folks that travel the alley and the local police dept just up the alley. So There!

Had a little scare Sat nite. We stayed out to the farm, been trying to do that a couple nites a week. Anyway, got a call at midnight on my cell. I figured it was the nursing home looking for some help. But it was my sister in law. She said her heart had been racing and skipping for over an hour and thought she should call an ambulance. We told her to unlock her door and sit on the couch till they got their and we were on our way. They kept her in ER for an hour or so and she had another short burst of this arrhythmia. Sent her home with some pills and to follow up with her cardiologist. So far no more incidence but at 83 you never know. We think that she over did it Sat. Was cleaning the window screens with the hose and a long handle brush. You think??
Of course that sounds like something I would do. We always think we can keep doing stuff that we shouldn't.

Thats it for now. Reading Memoirs of a Geisha, very good book if you get a chance to read it.

Waiting the the left over rain from Hurricane Gustov. Supposed to come in tonight and last a couple days. Sure have have had more rain than usual for this time of year. Grass will grow clear up till we get a hard freeze.

Thought for the day: Why do you have to "put your two cents in".... But it's only a "penny for your thoughts"? Where's that extra penny going?

NOT AGAIN!!!!

Well here we go again. Small town crime hits us again. Notice anything unusual about our little farm truck?

Yea, the window is broken out. Happened Wed. I drive it to the store alot, saves having my better auto sit out in the hot sun all day. I park in the alley way behind my store. (The police dept. is just one block up the alley) I have 3 witnesses that saw 3 boys going up the alley with baseball bats just before someone came in and told me my window was broken out. The city cops got here right away and one went to find the boys and talk to them. Of course they didn't know ANYTHING about any broken windows. And no one saw them do it. So that is pretty much the end of it. All you have to do is deny that you did something and you won't be punished for your crime. Hmmmmm sounds like some of our politicians doesn't it. Maybe thats how they learn. Amazing that people think that being dishonest is an OK thing. Our little local police won't do anything. They are still "investigating". Isn't that a joke. It will just be paper work for them to file away. Just like the break in out at the farm in June.

Not much more news, Oh, we did trade in the big FJ Cruiser for a Subaru Outback. Much more practical for folks our age, we don't need big 4 wheel drive vehicles anymore, (if we ever did). Love the new car. I broke it in driving to my grand daughters wedding last Sat. in the rain all day! Well back to my weaving. Lets hope we have had our share of law incidence!

Thought for the day: Honesty is the first chapter of the book of wisdom....

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)

Can Do

Don't let someone tell you that you can't do something just because you are a female. I had 2 electronic items sitting that I thought were shot. Yesterday, I decided what the heck, they are going to get trashed anyway so I sat down and guess what. Both are fixed and work fine!
One was a VCR that we have packed around for several years with a movie stuck in it. Ended up buying a combo VCR/DVD unit that I like. Well I got the trusty screwdriver and opened the case up and got the mangled movie "Dances With Wolves" out and plugged it in, popped in an old movie I didn't care about and it worked just fine.
Second one was my printer/copier that I had for several years and a few months ago I put in a new ink cartridge (first time that I had one refilled by Walgreens for me) Thought I would save about 20$. Well I couldn't get it to stop printing test pages, then give me an error and do it again, over and over. Silly me, I just unplugged it and went out and got a nice new little HP printer/copier that is real cool, and it takes your camera chip and you can view your pictures on it or download to computer, only costs about 129$. Well I had an extra color cartridge for the old unit and decided what the heck I would change it too, and guess what. It printed the page to test and accepted it just fine. I didn't know that the color ink was out too, when I put in the new black one. I was blaming it on the black and figured it just was fowled up. So now I have an extra printer. Think I will take the new one home and put my old one back in the store for now.

I guess the moral of my long story is that sometimes we throw things out to quick and it sure can't hurt to tear in and try to fix them. (Just unplug them first)

Had tried to plan a little get away with hubby this last weekend, (Sun and Mon for me) And he blew it by saying he had to much to do, so I said well heck I guess I will show you and just stay home and clean house all day. Boy did I show him. Even shampooed some area rugs, filed 4 months of receipts, moved some furniture around. I was glad to come to work today!

Finally got our hay field cut (first cutting) at the farm. We had to cancel out with the neighbor who was getting it free but has had all summer to get it baled and haven't done it. You know sometimes enough is enough, you give and give and get kicked in the teeth, but that is a long story as it ties in with the gal that lived at the farm (she is friends with the neighbor) for 6 weeks and left us a mess with a break in and theft plus all the cleaning, mowing, and weeding we had to do to catch back up. Oh, did I mention that she cleaned out all my "stuff" from the house, you know towels, silver wear, cups, glasses, and such. I know it sounds petty when you think you are helping someone out, but I am so glad she is gone, oh, even left a garage can half full of beer cans. Anyway another older neighbor is baling it and we get firewood from him in exchange and the field will be clean. Maybe I will get a picture soon.

Boy I have really rambled on, Thought for the day: When somebody does you wrong, be actively angry with them. (from a little Be-Good-To-Yourself Therapy book.)

Ohhhh! A new Grandma!

Isn't she sweet? No not the grandma, the baby!

Still can't believe my little girl is a grandma. Little Miss Sweety Pie is a great baby. Sucking down that good breast milk and sleeping and pooping just like she is supposed to.

Had a great day visiting with daughter and all her girls. Grandma just can't stop smiling, actually giggling most of the time and with good reason, but I can't tell you. Did I mention Love is in the air? Well you didn't hear it from me!

Thought for the day: Love doesn't make the world go 'round. Love is what makes the ride worthwhile.

A new baby girl!!

Will have pictures next week of our new baby girl. Born Wed PM. 7 lbs. 8 oz. Khole Marie. Quite possibly the red head that I predicted and wished for!! Yes that makes me a great grand mother, but what blows my mind is that my daughter is a grandmother. How can THAT be? Everything went well and from the picture I got on my cell phone, I think she looks like her Mama. I will be down to see her next week.

Now Being an old coot that I am, I have to use my space here to gripe, right? I have been going to a new chiropractor for 3 weeks, that's 9 visits, and he did a re-evaluation today. I filled out a question sheet and indicated that I felt no better, pain in back muscles still the same. The re exam lasted about 3 minutes, measured neck flexion and commented that it was better, then did my treatment. The shocker was when I checked out they charged me 44.00$ more for the exam!! What is wrong with this picture. Well I dumped on the gal at the desk, and let her know that I thought this young Dr. needed to learn to listen to his patients or they would not be back and I wasn't so sure I would be back. The fee for a re exam was totally out of line. After 9 vi sites I feel I should be better, is that so unreasonable? So I am going back for a massage treatment from the gal I went to last month, and just stew on this awhile. Don't know what to do, but don't want to just take meds for pain, and don't want to line the pockets of the chiropractor. I have tried to do everything they tell me, ice, exercises, and I go to the gym and am very active. Almost no pain during the day, just when I lay down or sit and lean back for more than a few minutes. Its in the muscles, many tender points and seems when I press the muscles against my ribs it triggers the pain? Is this fibromyalgia? And what is fibromyalgia? When you break the word down it means muscle pain. But I know there is alot more to it than that.

OK I am done. Got stuff to do.

Thought for the day: Time and trouble may tame a wild, YOUNG woman; A wild OLDER woman is uncontrollable by any force.

New Garden Spot

This is our little garden so far. Of course Molly had to get in the picture, she is checking out to make sure no squirrels have been nosing around. Have baby cucumbers setting on, they are climbing on the rack to the right and the one on the left is vining okra. I think you can click on it to make it larger.

The gal and her daughter moved out yesterday from the farm, so we are back to where we were the first of May. Hubby mowed the whole yard this week and now has alot of tree trimming. Guess we just thought we should have stayed away and not bothered her but that was a mistake. We still needed to be taking care of some of the stuff. Oh, well we will get it all straightened out. Think it will actually be better to have it empty again. We will probably go out and stay once in awhile. I have alot of weeding to do in the flower beds. I was waiting for her to leave as she had a puppy and I was afraid he would be to much help with the weeding.

We listed the farm with a different agent this week and lowered the price a little so hope that will help.

Oriented my new "employee" yesterday. I think she will be just fine here. She will run the store for me on Thursdays. That is usually the slowest day of the week. I will only be a phone call away so she can reach me. She was excited to have something to do and has all the books she can read. She is another old Iowa gal, so we have alot in common. Might even take her with me on my next trip up there.

Thought for the day: Never argue with an idiot, they will bring you down to their level and beat you.

Smile, it will all work out

This is our little utility shed in the back yard. We are starting to enjoy our yard now. It was a big open yard when we moved in last winter. Now we have this, plus some flowerbeds and a garden we made with railroad ties. I will take a current picture soon of it. We have tomatoes big as golf balls and tiny cucumbers setting on.

We are listing our little farm with a different agent today. I think the gal that's been living there since the tornado is moving out. Looks like she got a double wide and put it on the same site. We still haven't found out what the remote from the air conditioner will cost. I mentioned in the last post about the break in. Spent Sunday, 3 of us installing a new door. Well Brother did most of it, but took all 3 of us to get it set. Been out twice to paint the trim. And the flower beds are all full of weeds, but hate to pull to many till she moves, as she has a pup that will try to help me and it will be worse than having weeds.

Worked Sat pm and Mon. days at the nursing home. Surprise! I think I like it. Sad to say I went in with the attitude of just getting thru it and making some extra income. Give me 20 lashes!! But I did all the treatments Mon on my own.(that's how I work best anyway) and I enjoyed it and enjoyed the patients. So think this will be a good thing. I have an older customer who is going to train with me here at the store and I will be letting her work at least one day a week here for me. Cool, I will have one employee! She knows the pay will be poor but she gets to read all the books she wants for free, and she was excited to have something to do. She says she gets so bored. So it is a win/win.

Thought for the day: Kindness makes you feel better inside, it makes you smile. When you smile you use more muscles, which helps to prevent wrinkles. It all works together!

DAMN THEIVES

I hope there is a special place in Hell for anyone who would steal from someone who has just gone thru a disaster and lost everything of value! Yesterday someone KICKED in the back door of our little farm house. I have mentioned before that we are letting a single mother and her daughter live there after the tornado on May 10th wiped her out. The house is full of hand me downs that have been donated to her. Last week a friend bought her a new stereo unit. The first new thing that she has that is really hers. She got home from work and found the back door kicked in and the stereo gone along with several speakers that came with it. They also broke a couple glass framed pictures just for fun. We went to Lowes this morning and got a new door to install and I called to tell her we would be out tomorrow to install it she said, "more bad news, they stole the remote control to our new air conditioner unit" (That we just had installed last summer) Guess it was laying on the table with the remote to the stereo so they grabbed both of them. Don't know what that will cost to replace.

Called the county sheriff Dept. and they came out and wrote up a report. That's all they will or can do. It had to be someone pretty stout to stand on a lower level in the mud room and kick uphill. One muddy boot print on the steel door.

I just checked with our insurance agent last week to let him know that someone was living at the house and he said that was good. It is not good to have a house sitting empty. I doubt they would have broken in if it was empty. Almost looks like they knew what they wanted, as there was other stuff that could have been taken easily.

Our listing on the house expired last week so we are going with another agent. Sure be glad when it is sold!!!

So that's my sad note for today. Working (after work at the store) this evening at the nursing home. Still getting some orientation time.

Thought for the day: Everything works out in the end. If it hasn't worked out, its not the end.- Unknown

Life is Good

Yea!! I sold 6 rugs this week. Boy I am going to have to get busy now. Business has been pretty slow this past month in my little book store kingdom. But seems to be picking up this week. Maybe with gas so high, folks are looking to shopping local. Dang they should be doing that anyway. I see a little hamburger joint opened up the road but have already heard bad stuff, like greasy fries. They probably won't be there long. It is funny, the building has been many different things over the years. Back in about 1975 or so when I lived here with hubby no. 1, he managed a feed store in that building. Its been a restaurant several times, second hand store and for the last couple years a day care center. We really don't need another hamburger place in this little town. Have 3 other restaurants that are struggling to keep business going.

Well here is a pic. of my denim rug that I plan to put on my e-bay store.

More rain storms came thru this week but nothing damaging in our area. Garden is growing, have little tomatoes set on and the cucumbers are starting to climb up their wire. Will do a pic soon to post.

Headed to Ar. tomorrow to spend some time with Daughter and Girls. Looking forward to seeing them and patting a certain tummy. Yeah, I am going to be a great grandma soon. Probably the youngest one ever!! Supposed to be a little girl, and I hope she has bright red curls!!

Thought for the day: No matter what our age or condition, there are still untapped possibilities within us and new beauty waiting to be born.

Still finding time to read

Just finished a good book. Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende. It is a historical novel, seems that's what I read any more. The setting starts in Chile, 1843 and follows this girl into adulthood and her journey to find her sweetheart who went to the gold rush in Ca. A great way to learn some history that is not found in the history books and get a feel for what life was like back then.

Have started another one that is a sort of mystery that jumps back and forth from the present to the 11th century and linking these 2 women together to reveal a secret. The title is Labyrinth by Kate Mosse.

I am sure I will get off on some other subject soon. I have a couple of Deepok Chopra's newer books, but have to read them in bits and pieces and then read it again. The Third Jesus is very interesting and I think he has some real insight that we can all learn from without taking anything away from what you may already believe. That is what I like about him. He is not trying to browbeat anyone into accepting his beliefs. Just opening the door to make us think for ourselves and follow our own journey.

Had my first massage therapy session yesterday. I can tell you it won't be my last. Have been having alot of trouble with the muscles across my back and shoulders and neck. I am fine all day and can work in the yard and at the gym but when I lay down in bed it starts hurting and really messes up my sleep. Have tried the chiropractor and no change. I followed my gut feeling (something we need to do more often) and felt I needed the muscles worked on, not my spine. So we will see. I know that it made it worse for last nite I slept very little after 2 AM. So I am hoping that a couple sessions will loosen up the muscles and get the knots and tightness out of them.

Thought for the day: "Spirituality isn't something I believe in. It is what and who I am: a spiritual being having a human experience, as the French philosopher and priest Pierre Teilhard de Chardin profoundly said."

Guess we will just have to walk!

Gas just went up 20 cents per gal. in the last 2 days!!! That makes it 3.79 in our little community. How can they do that? It is crimminal! Of course it has nothing to do with Memorial Day Weekend, right. We are so stupid if we believe that. Of course IF it goes down it will be by 2 or 3 cents at a time and we will be so grateful.

I have no thought for the day, I am just MAD.

Girls with beer bellies

Did you ever post something that you regretted later. That was what I had done with this post, so now I am deleting it and leaving this apology. I think I was a little judgemental and could have been hurtful to some folks, even if I don't know you I have no right to do that. So there you have it. My first retraction.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, Its off to work I go!

Well I did it. I broke down and applied for a job, (only the "partest" time job I could get) I really don't want to work. (beats fist on table) But business has been so slow at the book store I just felt I needed to dust off my nursing skills and pick up a little work. Actually I am looking forward to getting back in the swing of things. I will be working one shift a week at a place called Health and Rehab. It is a skilled nursing facility. I put my application in Mon. and did the pee test, and they called me on Wed to ask when I wanted to come in and get orientation started. So there you have it.

Things are going well with the gal that moved in out to our little farm. We have been getting the rest of our stuff out of the garage. I was out there this morning and it was so sad to see her stuff piled up, all covered with mud and so much has something broken. Bless her heart, she was happy to have her two old rockers, just need to do some gluing and cleaning. It is strange to see what got ruined and some fragile things like ceramic birdhouses not a chip. She is in love with the place and really wants to buy it, so I hope when the dust settles she can do just that. Maybe this was meant to be. She is getting the electricity switched to her name today. Maybe if she can buy it, I can negotiate with the agent and say, hey I found my buyer, can you come down on your commission?? Seems fair to me. When we sold our house in Nv. we found our own buyer and the agent got all the commission. I thought that was stinking. Boy I bet those folks are sorry they bought that place, it was when the market was high and now I know it is worth alot less than they paid for! So glad we got out when we did. Nevada is one of the states that has had the most foreclosures.

Thought for the day:Worry looks around, Sorry looks back, Faith looks up.

Tornado! Wow, where to start?

Saturday's big tornado in SW Mo was too close. It is true what they say. It sounds like a train coming.
There are many stories and there are 14 dead in our county so far. More when you count the ones in Oklahoma. So my story is pretty insignificant, but to say I am here and unharmed and family is OK. But here it is.

We were having a family gathering at my Brother's house for our oldest brother who came in from NC. I have 2 sisters in the area also. We were seeing the sky looking bad and knew we were in for a storm. So both sisters headed home. One a few blocks away and the other about 12 miles. Just after they left the sirens started, so we 4 that were left at the house started watching the sky. Suddenly we heard the train sound and the lights went out. We crowded in the bathroom with the dogs in arms. (one was hiding under the bed) In a few min. we peaked out and the sky was real bright. Found some huge hail balls in the yard. And started hearing all kinds of police and ambulance sirens. I went home about 10 miles to the so. and was shocked by what I saw. I will post a couple pictures here but it is just the tip. Seems the tornado came out of Oklahoma, and made a path across country and hit the west and south side of our little town and then kept going. Many houses lost. Haven't heard a count yet.

We have one family that we heard their story and our old neighbor from out to our farm is a very good friend of this gal, Debbie is a single mom with a 7 year old daughter. She, her daughter, her boyfriend, and the Old neighbor with her 2 kids were in Debbie's trailer house so of town when it hit. They tried to get out and it was to late, the boyfriend was sucked thru a glass door and cut real bad. The rest were all thrown out on the deck and as the trailer began to twist apart, they were all, and I repeat ALL thrown into a huge hole where just a few min before a big tree had stood. Then the trailer house rolled over the top of them!! I still get chills just thinking about it. Debbie said she just knew she was going to die. The boyfriend spent a couple days in ICU and is home now to recuperate.

You know how when you hear about a disaster you always wish you could do something to help. Well we decided that we have a house sitting empty waiting to sell out to our little 20 acre farm, which is on the north side of town. So we offered it to Debbie to live in for awhile. It sure won't hurt us any and will give her some time to get things figured out. She has a couple of horses and they are OK and will be put in the pasture. I just feel grateful to be able to do something that will help someone.

So that is it for now from SW Missouri. My heart goes out to everyone who is suffering from their losses. There was 2 families who lost multiple lives. One was husb, wife, and 2 kids that the house fell in on them. And another that had 3 family members. We saw on the news this morning that a 21 year old firefighter died in the hospital yesterday from injuries. We was spotting the tornado and getting warnings out to help others.

IF you are safe and sound, count your blessings. We have many!!

Better think before you spend that IRS rebate check!

Folks, here is what will happen to your money:
If we spend the money at Wal-Mart, all the money will go to China.
If we spend it on gasoline, it will go to the Arabs.
If we purchase a computer, it will go to India.
If we purchase fruits and vegetables, it will go to Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala.
If we purchase a good car, it will go to Japan.
If we purchase useless stuff, it will go to Taiwan.

None of which will help the American Economy.
We need to keep that money here in America.
The only way to keep that money here at home is to spend it at yard sales, since those are the only businesses left in the U.S. where the money still stays in America.