Life gets in the way!

Life sure does get in the way, sometimes, sure has gotten in my way a lot lately!

Last time I posted, was the day before the 4th of July. We sure did enjoy ourselves, I always love the fireworks and spending time with family and friends! I sure wish all my kids could have been there, only Jake and his family and Hannah and her best friend, Amy. No photos, it seems like I never get any photos of our celebrations.

Hannah moved out on the 1st of August. She and her best friend Amy moved into a studio apartment in town. I guess they have to grow up sometime, I just wish it hadn't broad-sided me. I made curtains for the main window. They are brown and white polka dots with a bright blue and orange stripe in the middle. It's a really cute place. I just bought her a coffee maker and a mini griddle so she could have coffee and they could make pancakes. That part has been fun, buying stuff to make their place cozy. I am going to make curtains for the kitchen area. I am using a Moda Bake Shop pattern that uses honey bun strips and wooden beads. The kitchen curtains will be brown, pink and lime green. All of the colors are based on a set of curtains the girls bought to hide the "bedroom nook" area, brown curtains with bright blue, yellow, orange, pink and lime green daisies.

Rick's mom came home at the end of July. It has been a roller coaster ride with her. She refuses to eat a lot of the time and she refuses to take her medications when we give them to her. She has been hiding food in dresser drawers after we take it into her. We have had to put a food ban on her bedroom. Don't need mice! We have had home health coming out as requested by the doctor, but she refuses to participate in what they need her to do about 50 % of the time. Today she refused to do physical therapy and let the bath aide give her a shower. She hasn't had a shower in over a week. It is really very frustrating!

On top of everything, we are moving to a new house, within the next two weeks. A much smaller house. We don't need 5 bedrooms and an $1800 rent payment now that Hannah isn't home and we have huge bills that mom's medicare won't pay.

I really like the new place. It is a farm house that was built in the early 1900's. My kind of house. It has a barn, an orchard and a garden. I am so excited for the garden. I have always wanted a garden space. As soon as we move in, I will be requesting seed catalogs so I can plan what I want in my garden. I know I want scarlet runner beans for sure. I know I want pumpkins. I know I want heirloom tomatoes. And the orchard has everything but citrus trees, citrus trees won't grow here. I will have peaches, plums, nectarines, apricots, apples, and cherries. There is also a very large raspberry bush that is full of fruit. I am going to have to learn to can! I have always wanted to learn to do that.

The house itself has beautiful old wood window seats and door frames, a huge kitchen with a fireplace, a cute little area off of the garage that has views of the mountains, and a front porch. I am sure there are hardwood floors, but they are covered with wool carpet. Not sure that is to my liking, but when you rent, there is not a lot you can say about it. I am claiming the front bedroom for my new craft room. It has two windows with window seats. Not a huge room, but I don't need a huge room. I just need a place to escape when things get to be too much. The new house doesn't have a family room like the place we are living now, and the basement family room has been where I have gone when I am stressed out.

Not excited for the moving process. I hate packing and hauling boxes. On top of that, my rheumatologist discovered that I have tendinitis in my Achilles tendon and the tendon is ready to rupture. Had to have an MRI on Thursday, the radiologist found something because he did a second set of scans higher up in my ankle and calf. I have been warned that I will probably need surgery, I am just hoping that it holds out until after we have gotten moved in to our new place.

I have spent the summer, teaching 31 students with behavior/emotional disorders. During the school year, I have a total of 10 to 12. Very draining on any reserves of sanity I had left. I am extremely grateful for the staff I work with on a daily basis, I have them to thank for what sanity I do have.

I haven't looked at any blogs, haven't really done any crafting of any sort. I am trying to tat, but I keep messing up. Must be the stress.

I sure hope that once we get moved and settled in that things go back to normal and I can get back to my happy place.

On a good note, I have the next 10 days off, which will be spent packing boxes and moving. Maybe not such a good thing!

Love,

Donnelly

4th of July Celebrations!

The 4th of July is on a Sunday, as you well know. In our community, Sundays are sacred as well they should be. This year, our community struggled with whether or not to have fireworks tomorrow or on Monday. We were supposed to split our celebrations over three days, now it is over two. Our community fireworks were supposed to be on Monday, July 5th; but due to overwhelming community support, they will be tomorrow. The small town that hosts the biggest, and maybe the only parade in our area had their parade today.

We were facing the prospect of going to the parade alone. Hannah graduated this year and is out of town. We were facing the prospect of having no kids to watch the parade. Thanks to our son Jake, his wife Becky and our grandson Jackson, we had one of our children (out of five) and one of our grandchildren (out of four; well, two if you count Jackson's sister who is due in October) with us.

The weather this year is so different from previous years. We had to wear sweaters and cover up with blankets. It was pretty chilly this morning. That being said, we have burned crispy in previous years, sometimes before the parade even started (it starts at 10:30). This is the second year in a row there was no military fly-over. Hello? We have been going to this parade for 20 years. 18 years of fly-overs and then no fly-overs for the last two? Sucks!

The parade was nice. We loved the color guard carrying the flag, the civil air patrol youngsters carring the flag, the old cars, the tractors and the floats that threw candy (for the kids)! We loved the 59 buick, we loved the pretty girls (aka rodeo royalty), we loved the wagon pulled by 4 draft horses, we loved the miniature horses pulling the buggies, we loved the Shriners riding the little cars and the little motor cycles. I loved the green tractors (John Deere), while Becky, Jackson and my friend Terri loved the red tractors. Becky's dad and Terri's dad both drive the red tractors (International/Case). Every year there is a guy that rides his John Deere while standing up and spins it in circles, always my favorite. I always stress out that he will turn too sharp and have an accident, every year. A couple of years ago he wasn't there and we were all sad.

We didn't like the black powder rifle association firing their loud, stinky guns, they are always in the parade. They have never been our favorite.

Like I said before, only one of our 5 were home for the parade. Only two of our 5 will be home for the fireworks. Christy and her husband, Brent and our grandkids, Isaak and Sophie, live in Phoenix, Arizona. Cassie and her fiance, Chris, live in Anchorage, Alaska and are camping this weekend. Jake, Becky and Jackson are here with us. Brady and his wife, Kylie, are in Boise, our state capital, where they live. Brady is training for a 1/2 marathon this month and a Reno, Nevada to Sacramento, California bike race in August. They will be spending the holiday with friends. Hannah has spent the weekend with her best friend, Amy's family, in Pocatello and will hopefully be home tonight or tomorrow morning.

Our local college hosts the fireworks. They always start around 10 P.M. It is our tradition to get there around 2 P.M. and stake out a spot. We always bring our grill, plenty of blankets, food, drinks, and games. We always keep the grill going long enough to make s'mores for anyone who wants one! We always are just beyond the bounderies of where the fireworks are let off. We always feel the fireworks in the ground and in our chests. We always have between 30 and 60 people in our spot by the time the fireworks start! We have been doing this for 20 years. We have our family, their extended families, our friends and their extended families. In a couple of our cases, we have our grandchildren. This is my birthday and anniversary presents rolled into one holiday!

Even though I am sad that I won't see all of my kids tomorrow, I am grateful that our children are in good health, our grandchildren are in good health, our friends and their families will be with us tomorrow. I am also grateful that my mother-in-law is in good hands and recovering well. I am happy that my dad made it through hip replacement surgery yesterday.

Hope everyone has as much fun as we will tomorrow and that everyone is safe!

Love,
Donnelly

Too long between posts

It has been so long since I last posted. My mother-in-law has been in poor health the last little bit and we have finally found out that she needs to have a heart valve replaced and a bypass. We are in our capital city, Boise, at the hospital waiting for her surgery.

We are relieved that she is going to be getting better!

Love,

Donnelly

Graduation!

Hannah graduated yesterday! I now no longer have children in school. Makes me rather sad, I must say. Graduation was nice. Pretty short compared to all our other children's graduations. Hannah's class only had 79 graduates, our other kids' classes had well over a hundred.

Hannah and her best friend Amy

Hannah and Amy

Hannah, Rick and I

Hannah and my mom

Hannah her oldest brother Jake, his wife Becky and their son Jackson

Hannah her oldest sister Christy, her husband Brent and their daughter Sophie

Hannah her older brother Brady and his wife Kylie

Hannah and her friends Shelby and Kayla. Hannah has know these two since they were all 5!

Hannah, Kenzie and Mallory. Hannah has also known these 2 since they were all 5!

Hannah and her friend Renuka. Renuka is an exchange student from Thailand.

I am going to miss going to school events and school sports, but I am excited to watch Hannah grow and I am excited about what is in store for Rick and I.

Have a great day!

Donnelly

Scapbooked, today!

I actually scrapbooked today!

I hate to admit how long it has been since I have actually scrapbooked for me.

I made a wedding album for my daughter-in-law, Becky, for Christmas 2008. It was of Jake and Becky's wedding photos from June 2006. I will have to ask her if I can have it back for an afternoon to photograph it.

I also made an album for my daughter-in-law Kylie in July 2008, It was of Brady and Kylie's wedding photos from June 2008. Again, I will have to ask Kylie if I can have it back for an afternoon to photograph it.

I haven't scrapbooked for my albums since 2005! I have a ton of excuses, but none seem to really matter much, not even to me. Hannah has been spending a lot of time looking at my albums lately and asking why they end in 2005, why there aren't more pages. So here is the start to what I hope is a ton of scrapbooking to come.

This is a layout of Hannah and Rick at the Filer High School Prom during the Father/Daughter Dance.

Here is a list of the products I used: the green polka dot is Bo Bunny, the pink and green patterned paper is The Girls Paperie by Margie, the circle journaling spots are Heidi Swapp, brads (unknown) flowers are various collections by Prima, cardstock by Bazzill and ribbon by Maya Road.

Have a great day!

Donnelly

Slide Scans from my Childhood

My mom gave me some money for my birthday, so I put a little money with it and bought myself a Film and Slide Converter by innovative technology.

There are some things that really drive me crazy about it. I have had to reload the software every time I plug it in. Visited their website, but it was not helpful. That being said I am still really glad that I got it. It has made me happy, made my mom happy enough to cry, and made both of my sisters happy. One of which I am not close with and we are now talking because I am sharing the photos with her.

A few years ago, my dad gave my youngest sister and me all of his slides from when we were little. There were over 400 of them! He quit taking slides in 1976. Then my mom dug through stuff and gave me as many of the negatives from our childhood as she could find that weren't destroyed in their basement flood last fall. I have noticed some from 1979. Hope there are some between 1976 and 1979, if not I am grateful for what I have!

Here are a few of my favorites of the ones I have scanned so far.

This is me (with the glasses), my sister Dana (on the left) and my sister Deon (on the right) circa 1974. This was the end of June in the mountains around Ely, Nevada.

This is my dad (I have always thought he looks like Elvis), Deon (my youngest sister on the left), Dana (my sister on the right) and me (on the far right) circa 1974. Same trip as the first photo.

This is my sister Dana and I circa 1971. The yellow knee socks make me so happy!

My sister Dana, my sister Deon, and Me circa 1972

This is me, my sister Dana, my sister Deon and my mom circa 1973

This is my mom and me circa April 1967. We both almost died the day I was born. My umbilical cord was wrapped around my neck and I was blue and not breathing. My mom was hemorrhaging badly and almost died. That is why her arms are so bruised, from the hospital.

This is me and my Grammy Elsie, she is my dad's mom. Circa September 1967

This is my Grandpa Haines, me (on the left), Dana (on the right) and Deon (on the far right). We are "mooching" butterscotch lifesavers from him. My grandpa was my best friend for as long as I can remember. He died of a stroke on the 3rd of July 1991. But he knew my daughter Hannah was coming (her birthday was 01/06/92) and he was happy about it. We had told him in June that she was coming. One of these days, I will have to share Hannah's story about my grandpa. It is pretty amazing.

Thanks for indulging my trip down memory lane.

Have a great day!

Donnelly