This is the same kitten, right?

This is the same kitten, right?

Junior Got Lost - The Adventures of Junior the Giraffe

Junior looking for the way home

Went into University of Missouri Hospital's Emergency Room Friday night with intense abdominal pain. Turned out to have kidney infection - which wasn't found on trip to Cooper County Memorial Hospital ER the night before.

Scott decided that this time we're going to MU. Ambulance took me while he gathered up some things, including Junior, who's been my comfort through my surgeries.

When we left ER around 7PM Scott was so tired and I was tired and we forgot all about Junior even though he'd been my pillow!

Today I had an appointment in Columbia with hip replacement doctor so after that we went by MU ER and there Junior was!
He's home!

I'm sorry Lord Vader, the blue one proves difficult to turn.

I'm sorry Lord Vader, the blue one proves difficult to turn.

The Dark Side is stealing your thoughts

The Dark Side is stealing your thoughts

Beware the Dark Side which lurks behind you

Beware the Dark Side which lurks behind you

Some days you get it from both ends.

Some days you get it from both ends.

Going to the auction

Mighty Mo says "Hey, gotta tell my bro, Smokey Joe, about this."

Smokey Joe says, "Yep, Mo, we oughtta go!"

Stephanie Plum work here?

Is this Stephanie Plum's place of employment?
Wonder which truck "Goes Boom" in next chapter?

Well, it is the day before my birthday and things are going okay for now. Got a card from my daughter last week when she sent her dads out she sent mine too. She knew she would forget if she didn't. I got a card from my parents yesterday and will add a little bit to what they sent me $ and buy me a new swimming suit for this year. Of course it all will wait till next week when I get paid.

I am kitty sitting this weekend or at least till Tuesday. These guys just got their eyes open on Thursday and have already won my heart and Scott's too. If I had the camera over here I'd take a pic of them but Scott has the camera over there right now. One little black one which I am calling Might Moe.....now this can be for Mighty Mouth cause it is the loudest or for Mighty Motor cause his motor runs nearly the whole time it is nursing on the bottle. The other 2 are grey and one has a bit more lighter grey around its face and I have been calling it Smokey Jo. The other has just been being called Baby for now, it is the most content during feeding time....but the hardest to get the bottle away from when it is time to quit. The other 2 pretty much quit on their own but the last one has to be told it is time to stop. Yes, I am enjoying myself doing this.

I've also learned a new name for an art thing I use to do all the time and just thought it was junk but now I see it as ZENTANGLE. Want to know more about it look here
http://www.zentangle.com/about-what-is--1.php
You never know you might be an artist and didn't even know it! It is a lot like doodling or as is pointed out in some of the material I have read about it it is also a form of meditation. I use to do things like this all the time but was told all I was doing was wasting paper......NO I was making ART.

Grumman the Wonder Cat

Just had to share this pic of Grumman the Wonder Cat......he is so funny to watch. You wouldn't believe by watching him play that back before Thanksgiving he was rescued from being an almost roadkill cat. He was in such bad shape, 2 or 3 breaks in his pelvic area, a break in his tail close to the pelvic and since then we have decided he has had a break in the tip of his tail. Also he had major nerve damage to his left leg where he was dragging it behind him......well as you can see in these pics he is now getting that leg up under him very nicely now. He also is beginning to put weight on that leg when he is moving around. You can definitely tell however, when he is tired as the leg get more lazy about pulling up under him.....there are times when Scott has to refuse to play games with him when he is like that.

Grumman has gotten where he will come up to Scott and hunch his back and act like he is going to come at him the turn around and run, it seems to be his way of trying to get Scott to play chase with him. Another thing Grumman does is when you are playing with something you are pulling and he is chasing, he has a habit of going in front of the object where he thinks it will come out at......he loves waiting for things to come out the other side. We now have several "tubes", like toilet paper tubes and paper towel tubes and even a gift wrap tube that you put a small ball on the edge of them and he will literally knock the ball trying to get it to the other end. We have pics of him with his leg up to the body in the tube......he also loves looking down the tubes to see you at the other end.

The other night when Grumman was here I went into my bedroom to put up my laundry and he came to the door and talked at me like he was asking permission to come in so I told him "sure come on in". Then he went over to the bed and again like he was asking permission to get up on the bed....."sure you can get up there", so he jumped up and then came the fun part. He walked over to the pillow I use between my knees when I sleep and tried to put his head under it.......ah I thought I know what he wants. So I took a couple more pillows and made him a bridge and sure enough he dove under it. Then I went to the other side and peaked in the small tunnel and he jumped out at me. You see that is a game he and Scott play all the time of "where is the kitty" and then you look under where ever he is and he jumps out at you.....even though we know he has no front claws you can't help but jump back some when he does it......but he looks so proud of himself when it happens. Later Scott came in and played with us so even the comforter got into the act as Grumman figured out how to burrow under it so only his nose or an eye could be seen.

He is Grumman, our Wonder Cat......thank you to those who saved him from being road kill and becoming an important part of the family.

Grrrr

Well it is no wonder everyone keeps getting sick........one day it is in the 30's and then like yesterday we had the windows open. In fact I left them open all night and looks like it will be another good day weather wise. Go Figure!

I'm a bit frustrated today as I feel like I need a means of transportation of my own. I have needed to go a couple of places recently and have had to wait till Scott feels like getting out to get there......I'm sure it is part of my control issues.......wait did I really write that about control issues? I have been wanting a vehicle of my own for some time now but just don't have the bucks to get one just yet. I do feel like God has a plan for it all but you know how it is when things just seem like they are standing still and not moving at all..... Think I will get outside here in a bit and see if that doesn't help.

sitting in the "MIDDLE" of Missouri

ya know it has been really funny so far this week, and yes I know that this is just Tuesday........but here we sit in the "MIDDLE" of Missouri and yesterday while we were out we saw all kinds of chunks of packed snow in parking lots. It didn't come from Boonville......I know Aunt Judy said they got some snow in Smithton and the guy at the new local hobby shop lives in Arrow Rock and he said they got inches of snow. However, here in Boonville, I looked out and said oh it is snowing cause I saw the snow on the roof tops and then I looked out again and said......it's quit and still only a scuff on the roof tops.....and that was gone by night time.
Not complaining because we didn't get any but just think it funny how it went clear around us here. My daughter offered to package some up and send it to me from Omaha but that's okay........this gal is ready for SPRING!! Got CABIN FEVER setting in bad some days. I had it so bad the other day I walked down the way a bit and got a candy bar at In and OUT, the local convenient store over by the Casino.......then got caught in a small rain shower and had to sit over there to wait out the rain. No big deal only lasted half hour and the walked back to our building and felt good for having been out.....it was in the 60's that day.

Earlier that week Scott and I had been over to the Ft. Kemper Park, which is the grounds where Kemper Military School was, and he flew some kits while I just sat and soaked up the sun. I'm ready for good weather and some picnics..........was thinking would love to see our family......I mean the whole BIG family get together some time soon for an old fashion "GRANPA COEN" get together. I sure miss not seeing the family and I am sure there will be those that I won't even recognise any more!!

Well, time to get dressed and do something today......not sure what yet, maybe I'll go work on the train layout in the other room.

Monday!!!

Well the title should say it all, but for us it was also laundry day so I am BEAT!
We stopped by so Scott could take his laundry up to his place and he brought his cat with him to take to my house. We have so much fun messing with this poor cats head as we have all kinds of sounds coming thru the one good speaker I have on my computer. Tonight it was frog sounds from the Missouri Conservation sight of frogs from Missouri http://mdc.mo.gov/nathis/herpetol/frog/id.htm this is such a cool site not only can you see the frogs and what the look like, you can listen and if you wish download thier sounds. It is a wonder I have a speaker left when Grumman finally found the speaker where it was coming from!! I'll have to add some of the pics we took later of him trying to catch the arrow on the cursor also......so funny, Grumman would even run around and try to see the arrow in the back when we could get it off far enough from the front of the monitor.

Scott and Grumman have gone home now and I need to take meds so I can come down and get some sleep tonight. I just wasn't sleepy last night so it was almost light outside before I fell asleep. Can't let that happen very often or it just throws everything off.

I am very happy with the way my hip is healing. A little tender tonight but look for the Dr to tell me to get off the cane when I see him on the 17th of this month.
Good night all!!

We saw an Eagle yesterday

Ever have one of those days where you saw something as it moved by you fast then later you did the thing of .......Wow did I really see that? Well yesterday was one of those days.
Guess I was having a case of Cabin Fever and Scott was here so we put $5 in the tank and set out to find a Conservation site that we had seen on the web page. It was just south of Pilot Grove, it is mainly a boat access ramp for the Lamine River. Anyway we had just gotten there and Scott was getting out a kite to try to fly, I was walking down the boat ramp and suddenly looked up and there was a mature Bald Eagle flying about 50 ft off the ground and about 50 ft accross the river from us........WOW AWESOME!! I quickly called out to Scott so he could see it and frantically tried to get the camera on and get a pic. Well I did get a pic but not one where you could tell it was an Eagle. Oh well, I and Scott know what we saw and we were on a high needless to say!Of course later it was one of those things were we both thought about what we saw and wondered had we really seen the Eagle. I mean we were out in the middle of no where and saw an Eagle.....we were on a gravel road and the grader was out working on this gravel road....how cool is that??
By the way Scott did get 2 of his kites in the air, however, the wind kept changing on us so they didn't stay up very long. We did enjoy just getting out, but believe me seeing the Eagle was worth evey bit of the time we were out.

I'm still here!

WOW has it been awhile since I was on here. So much has been happening and even more are in the works. It may be a time before I am back on here as I will be having a total Hip replacement done this coming Monday the 26th of Jan,2009. I have needed it for sometime now but while in the KC area it was very hard to find Dr who would even look at my hip. Of course having the gastric bypass and loosing the weight has helped the situation also. It has gotten a lot worse especially over the last year now and lets face it when you go to the Dr to have your knee evaluated for work done on it and the Dr comes back in after ordering ex-rays for the hip that isn't working right and he tell you lets get the hip done first.......you know it is time to get it done.

Since I was on last Scott needed to get his own place and we decided we just need to actually live apart right now.Living with being bipolar is not always an easy yhing to live with. He comes over a lot and sometimes brings his cat, Grumman over and we all have a pretty good time while he is here. He will be helping me out as he can while I go through this surgery and recooperating. Well, Scott and Grumman Kitty will be helping me out anyway. Grumman has his own litterbox here and his own toys......mostly the box from my sewing machine and a couple paper sacks...... but he is a happy kitty and knows this as his home as much as his regular home. Since Grumman is fixed and has had his front claws removed it is a lot easier on my furniture but still wish he had his claws for his sake, the vet assured us it is better for him since he has to live in apartments this way.

Okay, know this is a short message but need to try to sleep some tonight........GOOD NIGHT ALL

Don't you just wish life was easier?

The last few days have been rather rough around our household. Life keeps on going no matter what but when things like bipolar takes over our lives, one wants to give up on life. I'm not talking suicide or taking ones life, I'm just saying that those days makes you wonder where God is. Those days you want to ask Adam and Eve where their heads were for bringing this upon everyone. Oh well, life does go on and so will we.

I recently recieved some new pictures from my daughter Bridgette, and then some of her dog, my"gran'dog" Jake.





















We fell in love with Jakes Picture and have an 8x10 of it on our "Grandkids" wall. Of course this picture of Brie and another is also up on the "family" wall in the livingroom also.

Family is very important to us and we try to support the kids as much as we can. Currently Rusty my son and his friend Brenda are staying with us and have both gotten jobs here in Boonville and are just waiting for their first pay checks to get their own place to live. Here is a recent Picture of Rusty and Brenda.

Hello to all

Been awhile since I perched here......been out flying kites when the weather was right for one thing.



We have really enjoyed flying the kites this year so far. I wish I could stay at it longer but the arthur and fibro just keep interfering with my having fun.......but I just have to keep trying and not allowing it all to get me down. Unfortunetly, the days we haven't been able to get out has usually been because of the weather or no wind that day is another big problem with trying to accomplish the art of kite flying.


Flying a kite is an art you may laughingly say? Well it can be, you see kites are not all in the diamond shape we all had when we were children and the "tails" you put on your kites these days are not old rags that mom just had laying around.


We have kites that are made of ripstop nylon and out "tails" are made out of polyethelyne plastic ribbon; we have also picked up some ribbon at good ole Wally's World and put that on a couple of the smaller kites. We also have several different sizes and shapes to the things that hold the different strings in which we send our kites up on. We now have a couple places where we go to fly the kites, one is on the property of the old Kemper Military School.....which now is a city park and then last Sunday afternoon we went out to the football field at the high school and flew some of our kites there for a couple hours.

Here's 2 kite companies to look at to see different types and sizes kites can be.
http://www.gombergkites.com/index.html
and
http://www.intothewind.com/
There's a lot of kite places on the internet, in quite a few countries.

I have to watch how long I stay with the action of flying the kites due to the pain in my body. If I'm not careful I will have spasms all night in my legs and arms. I also am back to having a lot of pain in my heel again where the achilles tendon and the calcium deposits that accumilate in my heel seem to keep rubbing so bad. Having already had 3 surgeries on that foot/heel to have the deposits removed, I'm doubting it will do much good to have it done again. I am suppose to see a foot dr next month and I will talk to them about all of it again and see what this one might suggest. ONE DAY AT A TIME ......my life motto!!

Well, I an just 7lbs shy of having lost 100 lbs since surgery July25th,'07........had a couple weeks of a stand still as my body shifted the weight around some. This month when I got paid I went and bought myself womens size 24 capri pants and boy was I PLEASED!! I was still in 26 just a week before that when I had bought a pair of capri pants and they are so big I will need to put a couple tucks in them so I can continue to wear them.

Well, need to close tonight and go on to bed, listened to a talk show last night that was interesting and had helpful information on it, so only got about 4 hours of sleep last night and the slept for about an hour this afternoon. Anyway meds are kicking in and need some sleep.......NIGHT ALL!

More pics to share

Well, here is a more recent pic of me.....actually taken this last Friday, Feb. 29,2008. The shirt is an early birthday present from my hubby with Tinkerbelle on the front and the jeans are my first ones i have bought myself since loosing weight. It is really nice to be able to go to Walmart and buy them off the rack and get them to fit. Not sure if I have said this recently but i am almost to having lost 100 lbs since July25th.

GO ME!!!!!

The thing on my arm and hand is because of Arthur, fibromyalgia and carpel tunnel all hitting at the same time.....which is also why I am up at this time of night/morning. We have a storm front just south of us and it is hurting me so bad tonight. I just took more pain meds so hopefully it will kick in here soon or I will need to go find both of my wrist/thumb things to put on. Can't do much for the lower half of the body that hurts but wait for the meds to kick in....amazing what you can do with one hand and using the hunt and peck system!!
These pics are of some of the thousands of geese we have seen this year flying overhead. It is very cool listening to them of a morning as they seem to head South for the day and then of an evening when the head back North for the night. There have been some flocks that you couldn't see in the sky until the sun hit them just right as they were all snow geese. This group were all trying to land in a small area just in front of a house here in the outskirts of town, there was a small pond in front of the house.




We are pretty sure that back in January we saw
eagle overhead soaring. One of our friends here in the building said he'd seen it too and was really sure that was what it was. It stayed around for about a week but it has been too cold to watch for it most of last month. It could still be around but we wouldn't know it.

Saturday, Sunday and Monday while the weather was so nice, we listened to several songbirds while we had the windows open. However, today we froze and wore extra clothes and heavy coats. I prefer the warmer weather!!


Okay, meds are kicking in.....back to trying to sleep again. Night!

Can't believe it has been so long......

Hello to all, hope this finds you all doing good and either having not had the flu or over it!! So far we have been blessed and haven't had the flu but the Fibromyalgia has been almost as bad as having it. Scott and i both have this but we are at different points in how we are affected by it. Of course it has my left side just throbbing most of the time.....my left side is the side to have something happen to it before any other part of my body.

Right now Scott is telling me what the weather is saying it will be doing tonight and tomorrow.....I liked it better today when we could sit out in the patio area and enjoy the out doors. Rain and possible snow........way to go March.....true to form! At least we were able to open the windows the last couple days and air out the house.......of course tomorrow I need to go thru and water all of the plants now since the wind dried everything out. After i finish this I will be making another entry to add some pics that we have taken of my Christmas Cactus still blooming their heads off. Ahhh let me just add them now.......

If ya look good at at least one of them you will see my ceramic toad peeking out from under the plant......he just looks so normal in there. I do have a smaller cactus plant that is blooming it's head off too but it is the same color as this one. I do have some other pics I will add over the next few days that we have taken but right now I am so hot I have to go find a cooler room. This happens after i have had some protein drink.

Jerrica's Birthday pics

Well, I discovered I for got to put up the 2 pics I have of Jerrica's birthday in October so better late than not at all.

These are ones Aunt Brie took when she took Jerrica out for her birthday, I think they went to the Zoo. It is hard to believe Jerrica will be going to school next year.