FAST DAYS!

Seems like every day is going faster and faster and I am helpless to stop it! I'm sure everyone has days like that, but it just seems like summer is whizzing by at an alarming rate. Scott continues to do well, still has minimal pain, but a LOT better than what it was. We are leaving on Thurs. afternoon and heading to Virginia to visit my brother and his wife. Can't wait! :) We are mentally packed, but physically not even close! I was gonna mow tonight, but the rain changed my mind. So glad for the rain, but I think I heard the grass squeaking taller as the evening wore on and the drops were soaking in! Oh well, tomorrow night is another chance.

I will be taking Christopher to Strongsville on Thursday morning to get his knees checked out. He had double knee surgery for a congenital problem 2 years ago and is having a lot of pain in them as of late. Want to get it checked out, and we had the appt. made before all the plans were in place to head for Virginia. We will stop at Elkins, WV for the night, so at least I'll get a little bit of a break from the driving! We are taking Scott's scooter along and plan on touring the Shenandoah Caverns while we are down there. I had the vehicle serviced and had the brakes checked, as the extra weight from the lift and scooter will add to the need for good brakes!

Now we're just trying to line up people to come and play with our new puppy and new kitten while we are gone. Hate to leave them, but really looking forward to getting away. It's been a LONG last couple of months. We will stay until Monday when we head straight home. Sure hope the humidity doesn't come along with us.

Today the storms beat the running kids to the windows! I had a call from Erica, saying that both bathrooms and our bedroom was soaked!!! Grab the towels, then turn on the fans, as I didn't want the hardwood floors to warp. She did a great job, and I got all of the towels and rugs dried once I got home. Even got a pan of lasagna made (although Chris did all of the work) for tomorrow night's supper. Then put a batch of party mix in the oven. Don't even want to try to go visit my brother without a big bowl of it! Chris is having a couple friends over tomorrow night for supper and then a bonfire. Hope the rain gets out of here by then! :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS......IN JULY!

Only 5 more months until Christmas!!! Can you believe it!? Seems like this year is flying by quicker than ever. I wished several people Merry Christmas in July and got the Bah-Humbug reply! Oh well, I have been shopping a little and gotten a few gifts. Not really going out and looking, but if something jumps out at me and I know someone who it would work for, I buy it! :) On that note, Mom, Erica and I hit the Millersburg town garage sales on Saturday! Boy did we have fun. Started at 10 a.m. and didn't get back home until around 3 p.m. Filled the back of my Durango with a LOT of Longaberger baskets! My sis-in-law from Virginia is an avid collector, and when I hit a couple juicy sales, I gave her a call and got the thumbs up! Then we headed for Coccia House to get some yummy pizza for supper. After that it was off to check out the old cars at Wooster's cruise in! Sure would love to find one that we could afford. We would love to have an old car to run after ice cream on Sunday's! :)

This week seemed to bring more pain to Scott after he had been improving since surgery. On Tuesday I called his pain management Dr. asking for feedback on what we could do to relieve some of his pain. Got a call on Wednesday aroudn 5:15 p.m. asking if we could be to Cleveland on Thursday morning by 8:15 a.m. Sure, but what are you gonna do???? Gonna try a sympathetic nerve block. At this point it seems to have helped. Still has some pain, but back under control compared to what it was. Scott will have 2 more of these blocks over the next couple of months. We were lucky to grab an early appt. and then get out of town, as President Obama was making a visit to the Clinic. When the president hits town, they also tend to close a lot of roads, so we were glad to make a quick get-away!

Chris came home from camp in Michigan today. Along with a LOT of sand and dirt! The first load of clothes has been thru the washed twice!!! Oh well, they all had fun. Quiet week around here without him! I got the garage cleaned out, as well as the basement rec room and laundry room. Great feeling to get all that done!

FUN TIMES IN THE SUMMER!

So many fun things are simple and close to home. Watching boys skate, watching them scarf down TONS of food, even though they just ate at Kyle's house, Sobe the new puppy and Erica tussling in the grass, Chowder the new kitten hanging off the screen door.......the list goes on. Even though we have been home more than usual the last couple of months, there is a lot to be thankful for. Time with family is memories in the making. We have had a lot of laughs and have learned to appreciate sleep even more when the new puppy and new kitten decide to sleep all night.

On another note, Scott is doing better most of the time and has been in his workshop building Peanut Butter bird feeders!!!! Yea! I have sold 4 of them already! :) He did have a bit of a mishap with the door, as he didn't open it far enough and crashed it with his knee. But that is even feeling a bit better. Today he just relaxed in the breeze on the deck and watched the new puppy romp with Snickers our other dog!

No more work for me until Tuesday, which is awesome. We plan on going to Carrabba's for supper to celebrate our 16th anniversary! Taking the kids and Mom and Dad are going along to celebrate their anniversary which was in April. Should be a fun night!

JULY????!!!!

Where has the month of June gone? O.k., depending on when you read this, it is still June, but come on....I am still wondering where in the world January and February went. We have been enjoying the beautiful weather by sitting on our deck a lot! Didn't do much, as Scott is still swollen and sore from surgery. We did get that one weekend out, but decided to just take it easy and let him heal. Tonight he is horribly sore, probably due to the cold front and rain that is making it's way to our area. The birds have been chirping up a storm and have been eating a TON of food! Guess they don't want to be out in the rain. I split a coconut open this weekend and hung the 2 halves in our tree! Great to watch the birds nibble on it. I also made a fairy garden on our deck, complete with a little fire ring! Then I made a small one and put it on Mom's porch for her to find! I just love those little gardens. So many ways to fix them up.
We are planning on going to my Aunt and Uncle's for the Fourth of July for a cook out. Not sure what I am supposed to make to take along yet, but I'm gonna volunteer to make a cheesecake, as that sounds really good right now! I have a couple new recipes that I might have to try. I am off Thurs. thru next Monday!!! Glad to have an extra long weekend with Scott and the kids. We are also enjoying our new kitten, Chowder! He is so funny to watch. Right now he's chasing his tail in a box! We think he's got to be getting dizzy.
Erica is packed and ready to head to the Mennonite conference with her youth group in Columbus tomorrow! What fun for all of them. I am so thankful for the sponsors and their willingness to take the kids and have this experience with them.
Enjoy a safe and fun Fourth! ;)

AWAY FOR THE DAY!!!

We have been trapped at home for over 2 months! Since Scott's pain has been so bad, other than the trips to the Dr. and to Mom and Dad's now and then, we just haven't left Holmes County. I am happy to report that on Saturday we went to a movie and out to eat!!! :) The kids and I even ran into a couple stores for a few new summer items! Felt so good to go away as a family. We saw the movie, "Imagine That". Good movie and then we ate at Red Lobster! Delicious as always.
We were back to the Dr. on Friday and got a good report. Scott will be starting 6 weeks of PT this next week. The Dr. said there is a lot of inflammation around the knee cap area. He felt it was from Scott's weakened muscle in the upper thigh, so PT will be concentrating on that area. He said if that is strengthened up, it should better support the knee cap and keep it from causing inflammation. Overall the pain has been reduced. Still using crutches for support, but the pain is probably 1/2 of what it was. Seems to be mostly in the area of the incisions, so we think even more of that will leave!!! :)

A BEATUIFUL DAY!

Scott's surgery revealed that he does not need knee replacement and shouldn't anytime soon! That was a plus, but the Dr. said he never would have believed it before he looked inside the knee. He found one area that was needing some "cleaning up" and did that. Now we wait and see how it goes. Overall, Scott's pain seemed a bit better until last evening. Some storms moved thru to the north of us and caused the pain to really escalate. So, we are really praying that the surgery did it's job and in the next couple of weeks we can see improvement.
On another note, our Sunday School class arrived early Saturday morning and proceeded to mulch all our flower beds, trimmed the trees, dug up an old tree and tore down an old swing set!!! So much done, in such a short amount of time. To thank them, I made desserts to the 8 families represented and delivered a lot of those last night. I could never have gotten so much done in one day as they did in just a couple hours!
Erica has now gotten her driver's license and is enjoying this new freedom. Bible school starts this week, so that will be a big help that she and Chris can come and go as needed instead of waiting on a ride! They are helping the in 4 and 5 year old classes!

SURGERY

After a bunch of frustrating weeks of running to different Dr.'s, we will finally have surgery for Scott on Wed. the 10th. The Dr. told us he is not sure if this will solve all of the pain issues, but he is willing to try. I put in a call to Scott's old ortho Dr. and he called today to let me know that he feels this is the best thing to try at this point. I had talked to so many different Dr.'s and had so many conflicting suggestions that I needed to hear from a Dr. that I have known and trusted over the past 9 years. He was very nice and said this Dr. is very good and that he will be in contact with him after the surgery to see what he discovered! Not sure of the time for surgery yet, but it will be on Wed. in Garfield Heights (CCF has space at Marymount hospital).

On another note, we have a new little kitten named, Chowder that has joined our flock of cats!!!! He appeared at Erica's boyfriends house on Friday and he delivered it to us! :) Cute as a button and lots of fun. Then on Sunday, I had to take one of our other cats, Kiki, to the vet! His ear was HUGE with ???? blood and he had a bad ear infection! He had minor surgery today and I pick him up tomorrow after I take Scott to the Dr. to check his BP and to my Dr. to get allergy shots!