"Catching Up On The Past Few Weeks!"

The past past few weeks have been pretty busy for me, with more activity than I'm used to. It's hard for me to get around and go out because of the pain that I'm in, but each of these trips were necessary and thank the Lord, I'm still alive to tell about it all. (LOL!)

Let's start with my monthly trip to the pain clinic with my sister, Carol. On Wednesday, 25 November 2009, Carol picked me up and we went to Groton to see Dr. Ortiz. The next day was Thanksgiving, so the waiting room was packed that day because they had over-booked appointments. We had quite a long wait and both of us were in a lot of pain to begin with, so it didn't go over big with us, but we always handle it well because we usually have a good time together.

I had what I call a "cruise control" appointment, which just means that everything was pretty much the same as it was the last time that I saw him, so there was no need to change anything. Carol did have some problems, so they worked on them and then we left.

After that, we went to Shur-Save for our groceries, went to the Post Office, then headed over to Mom's for our monthly get-together with Sande. We usually have such a nice time, but this time, it was a little strained because Carol said something to Mom about how Dion and I wouldn't be coming for Thanksgiving, and as usual, the whole thing got blamed on me.

I couldn't wait for Carol to take me home because I was in so much pain.

The next day was Thanksgiving and I needed to go home to rest up if I were to have any hope of being able to go to dinner—anywhere.

When Dion got home from work that night, he put away all the groceries that I brought home with me, plus he helped me get undressed and he put me to bed. I was in so much agony that I was in bed for the night by 6:30 p.m. and he took care of me like no nurse you have ever known. He was loving and tender, plus he even read to me. He is so wonderful to me—I love him so much!



Thursday, 26 November 2009...Thanksgiving Day. Dion and I definitely decided that we would go to his mother's for dinner and that we were not going to go over to my mother's and join them afterwards because they complain and say that it's just not good enough that we show up later anyway, so why spoil a perfectly good day?

We had a wonderful time at Dion's mom's. The dinner was delicious and as always, his mother was as adorable as can be. She is always so sweet to me and she makes me feel loved. It's so peaceful and calm over there—totally different from the chaos that has become the norm at my mother's now.

Besides Dion's mom, Dion and me, the following were present for dinner: Daren, Cheryl and Dara; and Donna, Bob and Matthew. I looked around the table and immediately wished that Duane had been there—I miss him so much. After that, I wistfully thought how nice it would have been if Drew, Vikki, Dana, and Katie would have popped in and joined us. I don't know about the rest of them, but I miss them a lot.

When dinner was done, Dion and I went home, sunggled together and watched some DVD movies. All in all, it was a great day. There was no arguing or back-biting and it was a day to be thankful for.



Monday, 30 November 2009...Dion took the day off from work today so that he could take me back to Dr. Ortiz's for my third in a series of "trigger point injection treatments" on my left shoulder. The first two times I received a series of twelve shots in each visit and this time I received somewhere between 8 to 10 shots, but they were big ones, and they hurt really bad! (I have to remember to tell Dr. O. that after he left the room, the pain went all the way up the left side of my face and my ear, plus it hurt my left arm and the top of my left hand.)

Dion and I stopped at the Phoenix Bookstore on the way home, but I didn't go in—I just didn't feel good after receiving all those shots. Then we went to Penny's for lunch. It was really nice, but we had to wait for quite a long time, which Dion can't seem to tolerate very well. Once he got food in his tummy he was in better spirits, though.

Then we went to get my prescriptions, which they promptly messed up at Rite Aid. Ever since Josie, the long-time pharmacist they had, left for medical reasons, that place has made mistakes and messed up my prescriptions every month. And to top it all of, they're rude!

When we finally got home, I called Audra and wished her a "Happy Birthday" because thirty years ago today, I went with Carol and the doctor into the delivery room and helped deliver her into this world. I was the first one to see her! She was "my little baby." I'll never forget it—it was wondrous to behold.

We ended the day much like any other—in each other's arms. There is nothing better for me than to fall asleep being held by the man I love, with my ear to his chest, listening to his heart beating steadily, as he strokes my hair and tells me that he cherishes me. Heaven is here on earth, sometimes.



Until next time...stay safe, stay well, and may God bless you all.

Cynde

Please visit my other blogs:
Cynde's Got The Write Stuff ~and~ Usurper Exposed. Thank you!

"Ahhh...The Memories!"

This past Saturday, (08 August 2009) Dion was outside walking around our property, and guess who was keeping an eye on him? Yep, our kitty, Capote. Dion got a shot of him on a tree stump just behind our yard, right in front of the gully. We have a really deep gully running the whole length of our property, behind our home, and when it rains, the stream runs so wild that you would swear there was a train traveling full speed behind our place. Some nights, though, the sound of the wind combined with the roaring stream is so soothing, that it lulls us to sleep.

Also...back in the 70's, one of our favorite places to go was a little place on Rte. 96, just outside of Ovid, called Argus's Drive-In. They had a little Restaurant with regular tables and a bar to eat at inside the place, plus outdoor tables for when the weather was good, a really nice Gift Shop for the locals and the many tourists visiting our area, and a really nice spot for Miniature Golf.

The proprietors of the establishment, Walt and Jean Argus, were friends of Mom and Dad's and they always bought their cars from Dad. Dion's father used to own a gas station in the early 60's called R & R Texaco on the corner of Rte. 96 and County Rd. 139 in Ovid, which was just up the road from Argus's, so he knew Walt Argus pretty well. The Argus' son and daughter, Rick and Cathy (?), used to come over to our house and play with us when we were little--that was a long, long time ago, but they were very happy memories.

Argus's has been closed since 2001 or thereabouts, so Dion took our "new" car over there and snapped a few pictures of the place, just so we'd have them for our memories. The place hasn't really changed at all (except that it's all run down now) since when it opened up originally (in the 50's, I think). It was such a popular place, and it was so cute in there, too. It had a real homey feel to it, and everyone was very friendly. It kinda reminded me of "Happy Days" in a way, with the comaradarie and all of that--I wish that restaurants were still like that. Every once in a while you can find one that is, but not very often. When we do, those are the places that we keep going back to...so we can hold on to that feeling of "the good ol' days".

Dana's birthday was yesterday. He would have been 57.

Until next time...stay safe, stay well, and may God bless you all.

Cynde

Please visit my other blogs:
Cynde's Got The Write Stuff ~and~ Usurper Exposed. Thank you!

"What A Flash Sleet-Storm We Had Yesterday!"

My husband, Dion, drove his 1973 Honda CB750 motorcycle to work yesterday (to save on gas money) and his boss sent him home early — just in the nick of time. It seems that while the finance manager was in his office, he heard on his radio that a storm was heading their way in a hurry, so he got on the internet and checked it out. According to Doppler radar, a sleet-storm was almost overhead, so he looked out the window, and sure enough, he could see that the sky was a hazy-looking black, not too far in the distance. He called Dion into the office and told him that he better head on home, because he was aware of how dangerous it would be for him to ride his motorcycle in a storm like that.

In the photo above, the bright white circles that you see are chunks of marble-sized sleet falling down at the very beginning of the storm. The winds were whipping around and tearing the leaves off our trees. Dion was even able to catch a leaf in mid-air in the photo. Do you see it on the right up there? He did a great job, didn't he? However, I have decided that we need a much better camera than what we have, if we're going to expect to take nice, clear shots. I'll have to start saving my coins right away.

Back to the story: The skies had been clear and the weatherman had predicted a sunny, clear day when we listened to the weather report yesterday morning, but we weren't totally surprised to hear that they were "off" in their prediction; we were just stunned that it was "off" to this extent.

In the next photo above, (with the water pump in it) our poor kitties have run for cover, and the sidewalk looks like it has snow on it doesn't it? Well, it's hail stones! And this is still just the beginning of the storm. The wind is tremendously strong and even though our camera doesn't do it justice, the sky is getting dark and has that eerie look to it that it gets just before a tornado comes zipping through causing untold destruction.

My 84-year-old mother was glad that I had called her to warn her that the storm was on the way, because she and my grand niece, Olivia, (my niece, Audra's daughter — my sister, Carol Lee's only grand daughter) were out by her swimming pool, laying in the sun and/or swimming. Mother lives fives miles away from me and the weather at my house had been exactly like hers only minutes before. She tried to call my twin sister, who lives another two miles beyond her (because that's the relay we follow to warn each other of storms coming — and I'm usually the one that starts the relays and I have to call my mother and my other sister, who lives about seven miles in another direction, too) but she must not have been home because she never answered her phone, or returned her call. Anyhooooo...

In this final photo, you can see that our sidewalk has totally disappeared. It's filled with thousands of little hail-stones, and boy, are they cold and hard! We have an aluminum roof on our home and it almost sounds like someone is shooting bb's at us. I'm glad Dion's home because it's kind of scary. And no, it's not more proof that "Global Warming" is true. That garbage is a hoax! If you want to know the truth about it, please read my story here.

Also, please watch this video:


Well, it's time to get up and fix Dion his breakfast and pack his lunch for work. I guess he'll be driving the truck today — it sounds like it's thundering outside. Oh well. So much for saving gas money, huh?

A couple more important notes: First, our prayers go out to the families and loved ones of Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson, who both died yesterday, 25 June 2009. (It's the same date that my grandmother, Dorothy Denise Davis Carpenter ("Grammy"), passed away on in, gosh, I think it was 1995, at the age of 99 — she would have turned 100 yrs. old that August, less than two months away.)

Second, please pray for my sister Carol Lee's husband, Allen (everyone calls him "Foo"). He had to be taken to the emergency room last night. He had about four episodes yesterday where he couldn't catch his breath and almost passed out. The first time was while he was on his tractor, and he was able to get off it before he got hurt. He went in the house to lay down for a little while, thought he felt better, then went out to hang the laundry. It was beastly hot out and he could not catch his breath, felt a weight upon his chest (does that remind you of anything?) and fell to his knees). He went back in and layed back down for a few more hours. This kind of thing happened two more times!(Why do men have to be so pig-headed and think that they can fix everything on their own?) I guess he finally figured he better call Carol and get some help, so she took him to the hospital.

When they got to the emergency room, they took him to: "Trauma Room Two", which happens to be the very same room that Audra was admitted into when she was in that near-fatal car accident years ago where she got hurt so badly and received the horrible brain damage that has changed her personality and her entire life so much. It's been a rough road for her, but she's a real trooper. Anyway, they took a CT-scan of his brain and thank the Lord, he hasn't had a stroke, but they kept him overnight because they think there is something wrong with his heart. So, please pray that he'll be alright, would you? I love him so much! And of course, Carol; their daughter, Audra; they also have a son, Bret; and Livvie (that's Olivia); and the rest of the family love him, too.

Until next time...stay safe, stay well, and may God bless you all.

Cynde

Please visit my other blogs:
Cynde's Got The Write Stuff ~and~ Usurper Exposed. Thank you!

Where It All Began

All I can think about lately is little Noah. I can't wait until he gets here. So that made me think that maybe it would be a good time to tell the story of Sande's and my beginning.

We were actually triplets, but little Cande didn't make it. My mother never talks about it, but I know it hurts her to this day. She does love to tell the story about when she found out she was pregnant for twins—even though they didn't know we were triplets until she lost Cande: the third baby, my tiny, little sister.

My father owned a car dealership (he sold Oldsmobiles and Chevrolets) and he was away at a big Dealership Meeting in Syracuse, N. Y. at Krebb’s Inn when my mother got the good news. Ordinarily, news like that could have waited until he got home a few days later, but this was different! You see, Dad and his ex-wife had their own set of twins, and when he had left her for cheating on him, (several times!) she kept telling him that he’d be sorry—he’d never be able to have twins with anyone else. In fact, she gloated over it.

My father told my mother about what she had said before they got married, and said it was a ridiculous thing for her to say. They both laughed about how funny it would be if he and Mom were able to have twins some day, but, it was soon forgotten; they got on with the beginning of their new, happy lives together. They had both agreed that whether or not they had twins would not be the key to their happiness. However, deep inside, my mother wanted to give my father twins—she wanted it that more than almost anything!

Mom and Dad totally erased that conversation from their minds, and one year later, my brother, John was born. Four years after that, my sister, Carol Lee, joined him. Now it was another four years later, and Mom was making a phone call to the secretary at the Dealership meeting. Mom briefly told her the story about Dad’s first set of twins and what his “ex” had said, then she asked when their next break would be.

"This is too good to wait!” the secretary had said. “Why don't I just go right over and have them take a phone to his table; it'll give those boys some real excitement!" and that's exactly what she did.

My mom excitedly spoke to my dad over the phone. “Sweetheart, I have some good news for you,” she said, trying hard to suppress the giggles that were waiting to burst forth.

“Go ahead, honey,” he replied, nervously. “I’m always happy to hear good news.”

“Miles, we’re having twins!”

“What do you know!” he exclaimed. Then he turned to the men in the meeting and said, “My wife and I are having twins!”

The room filled with men was abuzz, congratulating my father and making wise cracks. Everybody in the room started whooping and hollering; my dad was the proudest man in the world.

“I’ll have to get off the phone now, Mary Ellen. I can’t hear you over all the ruckus,” he told her. “You’ve made me so happy…and honey, don’t forget—I love you!”

“I love you, too, Miles,” she had answered, tears of joy spilling down her cheeks.

When our father put the announcement in our hometown newspaper five months later, it read: "New Models Arrive At Local Dealership," and he proudly heralded the arrival of their twin girls, Cynde and Sande. Boy! was his was ex-wife ANGRY!!

For your enjoyment: (This reminds me so much of our childhood. There is so much love in this home. What a blessed family!)


Until next time...stay safe, stay well, and may God bless you all.

Cynde

Please visit my other blogs:
Cynde's Got The Write Stuff ~and~ Usurper Exposed. Thank you!