Where Did The Last Five Months Go?

It has been a long time since I have blogged. I usually talk about planting my garden, and how it is going. I haven't had very good luck with the peppers or tomatoes this past year, But the beans,lettuce, squash, and onions, have all done well. I canned about 30 pints of beans from a small patch 3 feet by 4 feet. The lettuce has gone to seed. I haven't harvested the onions, I hope they will keep, after I harvest them. Last year my onions lasted until after Christmas. This year I grew the walla walla sweet ones, and I am told they don't keep as well as the yellow ones I grew last year. I take comfort in the fact that my neighbor's tomatoes aren't doing very well this year either, so I think it has been a poor year for them. May also brought some distressing news about my pacemaker/defibrillator that I have. The leads which are attached to my heart through a vein in the heart, have been recalled. Now I was told that it was dangerous to remove them, but the insulation that covers part of the wire could cause problems by coming apart there are three wrappings around these wires. Needless to say I have prayed and thought about this a great deal. I talked to my primary care doctor, and my cardiologist. I looked on the Internet, and that just made it worse. So I decided to get another opinion about it from another cardio doctor. Come to find out my leads at least 2 of them are NOT the Reita brand, and the other needs to be checked a little closer. The FDA wanted to have the cardio docs do a screening every 3 months, and the doctors said what about all of the radiation that the patient is exposed to??? Needless to say the FDA doesn't always think things through. Long story short, mine seems to be working perfectly, according to the ST. Jude technician and he monitors it every 6 months or so anyway. Whew! I decided to quit spending my time being concerned about it. I have about three and one half years left on the pacemaker. When it is worn out they will leave the leads if they are still working properly and put in a new device. We had a wonderful Mothers day party by Nicole, and a birthday party for grandpa by Crystal. I didn't realize they were going to do it. We had my b-day in June and it was great and Sharon and Steve gave us tickets to go to the Williamette Country Music Festival, which was in early August. For the month of July the highlight was the Arnold Family Reunion, which we attended over the 4th and it was really wonderful. We so enjoyed seeing all of our grandchildren and the great grandchildren, not to mention the fireworks, and the great food. So fun. Then home again, jiggity jig and it was kind of a cool month so things namely tomatoes didn't grow. I have been sewing and finished a bed cover for my bed, it is king sized remember and it is really beautiful if I do say so myself. I used the blocks granny Grace gave me years ago. I had it quilted and I worked on it for part of last year and finished it in Feb. I want to make some drapes for the window in the bedroom to match, haven't gotten to it yet. Back to the music festival, it was held in Brownsville which is 26 miles from Eugene, on a big working ranch up there, it was a lot of fun, and it came the middle of August in the hottest heat wave we have had in years, record temperatures of 100 degrees or more, and it was HOT and the sun was out in full force. We drove up each day as the places to stay were all filled in Brownsville( pop a little over 3,000) so very small motel. We went up as it was so hot in the afternoon and had big hats, and lots of sunblock, no shade except for my umbrella. We got to see a lot of really nice shows, the first night Sugarland late at nine, they were okay, although not as good as I expected them to be. The gates opened at 1:00 and the opening was at 6:45 and then we saw Rodney Atkins for an hour and he was my favorite for Friday. Saturday we saw Lee Brice, he is fantastic I loved him. He has written lots of hits. Then Billy Currington he was really great, another songwriter/performer then a special for the heart gallery for foster kids really touching, then on to Martina McBride, she is truly wonderful and it was her first time in Oregon and she couldn't say enough about the beautiful scenery here. Wonderful composer and perfect performer. The next day which was Sunday, we went to church and drove up and saw Amy Clawson really great, then the Band Perry, which I had never heard of, but they were the best rock a billy band I have ever heard, truly amazing. Two brothers and a sister, plus their band, and they all played something also, The sister sang and was joined by her brothers for harmony. They were really great. Big Trace Adkins came last to close out the festival, he is everything that you see on TV, but almost electric on stage, so sincere and just really a sweet man. He is really as unselfish and giving as he appears to be, a true patriot, and a wonderful performer, he really gave us our money's worth. I really loved being there, it took me a few days to recoup, but it was worth it. I would've liked it to be a little cooler. We were grateful we went, thank you Sharon and Steve for the tickets, and they treated us so well, carrying our stuff, chairs,water, food for snaking umbrella and etc for us each day., plus we parked right in front of one of the entrances, with not too far to walk. My summer has been really good, except for the few issues that I have dealt with, but all and all I am doing quite well for my age. We lost my younger Sister in the Spring, and I wrote about her in the little Nellie Blog, however her funeral was truly amazing, such beautiful music, and great talks. The luncheon was amazing, and the tables were beautiful, there were pictures of my sister and her family everywhere. It was beautiful, and they made bookmarks for all who attended courtesy of Jon and Deb Sherry's son and daughter in law. It was a wonderful celebration of her life. Sherry planned all of the talks, and music. I love you all till next time.

Conference, and all of the things that have been going on the last couple of month.

Well it has been awhile since I posted, and will try to catch up with this post. I loved all of the conference talks this time. I felt like a lot of the talks were for me. I have been struggling with a few things and I got a lot of answers from the talks. I will need to study them in more depth so I really understand them. I already made one decision and that is to quit my FaceBook game of FrontierVille. I have gotten caught up in it and it has just gotten a lot more time consuming than I want to take out to play it. I just don't need to waste time doing it anymore, I have a lot more things to do with my time. I need to block it from my FB page but I don't know how, but I have a friend that I am sure will tell me as she did the same thing. I have had a lot of trials this past few months, first I got the colon problem, then I got vertigo, and on top of that my back really got into a kink. I think I pulled a muscle really, at least that is what we decided went wrong as it comes and goes a lot, it gets better and then I move a certain way or turn over in the bed and it starts over:-( it is getting better now, but still is annoying sometimes and hurts. I have been on a colon cleanse and yeast killing diet for the past two months. I haven't had any sugar or gluten or white potatoes, rice, or pasta. She added legumes and brown rice a couple of weeks ago. I have lost about 15 pounds and my joints feel better. I went to a Naturopathic doctor as I didn't want to have surgery on my colon. She is working with me to get my colon healthy again. It has been a challenge sometimes, but my colon feels better and I haven't gotten anymore bacterial infections in it. I talked to a lot of people that have had the surgery, and then they either have to do it again or they have to take antibiotics a lot. That is what I want to avoid, so that is why I have been so faithful on this diet. It has been hard at times, but I don't miss the sugar as much as I do the nice white loaves of french bread and pizza. I do miss chocolate and sometimes I think about it and then I remember what surgery entails and it is easy to let it go. Ed aka, grandpa and dad has been doing a little struggling or his own, too he has had a lot of depression and went to the doctor and is on a new medicine that seem to be helping him a lot. He is working too hard as usual. He will be 80 at the end of May on the 29th, so I think he is entitled to be tired. I am working with a physical therapist for the vertigo, learning how to have better balance, and to use my eyes to balance with not my ears. I didn't realize that our ears, are such a large part of the balance we have. I tell all of you stay young, and don't grow mature (I refuse to say older) cause it isn't easy sometimes. I want all of you to know that I am so proud and happy to have all of you for my children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. You are such a wonderful part of my life and I love you all so much.

The Holidays And Happy New Year!

I posted in October so I guess it is time to do a little writing and reporting so we have some history and all of you folks know what is happening in our lives and what we are doing. I usually have a fun time with Sharon in October, as we celebrate her Birthday and go to the Temple shop and enjoy some time together, but this October we had a wonderful event, as Miss Maddie made her appearance in our lives and brought a lot of blessing for all of us. She is so precious and sweet, with the spirit that all new babies bring, coming from Heavenly Fathers Arms to all of ours. They bring such a wonderful spirit to our homes and we love them so much. So Sharon was with Amy and Mike in California and helping them out, so we went later the next month. met up with Judy, and later had a wonderful lunch with Jess, Crystal, and little Cora Jean, it was so neat to see them and hug and talk with Cora. She is a sweet baby also and reminds me so much of Crystal as she has the same big eyes and fat little cheeks to kiss. She is eight and half months old now. Her eyes are brown like Jess and Judy but big and round like Crystal's. Time passes so swiftly for me now and it seems like yesterday, when Amy and Crystal were little and now they are grown married women. November brought a lot of cold weather to the valley but was dry with sunny cold days. We went to the coast and had a wonderful Thanksgiving with Sharon and Steve, though quiet as all of the kids are pretty far away now. Sharon and I made a wonderful dinner and I made the most delicious chocolate cheesecake, it was yummy. I forgot to mention that I had been sewing all summer on a quilt for my king sized bed. Granny Grace had given me a lot of printed blocks that I kept around for a long time, and one afternoon I decided to do it and so I got them out and started it. A big project and a beautiful one, it turned out really well and though lots of work, fits the bed really well and looks wonderful. It is in pinks, green, and purples, and Cathy helped me with it or I don't think I would have ever finished it, it is so large, It hangs at least 2 feet all the way around it. I love it. Cathy's sister had given her a pillow case for her birthday and so she and I decided to sew some for her kids and grand children and I sew some for a few of mine, mostly the great ones. Although I made a few for grands. I made a dozen and Cathy sewed 16 so we sewed a few. It was fun, and I got started in early November on them and then I decided to make Christmas quilts for the Arnold clan, and Crystal, as they were all married, It was a lot to do but I would've made it but I got sick with a really nasty cold, it started late Thanksgiving night and I got to the doctor the following Tuesday and I had a lot of infection in my lungs plus asthma:-( and had a lot of meds an inhaler, plus something for my cough. I have never coughed so hard in my life. So this lasted for 10 days and I didn't sew a stitch, it was depressing. I was so upset, but I got better and started in again, but decided to sew some of the quilts this summer, I got the three oldest done. I sewed until early in the morning a few days. I also made candy with Nicole and her friend Shane. We made a LOT of stuff, and the next week-end we made some cookies. It was a lot of cooking. I made some truffles that were to die for, and I will post the recipe on the blog later so you will all have it, per your mom's request. I think I made about 15 lbs of candy and several batches of cookies. Still it wasn't as much as I have made in the past. I took a lot of it to Sharon's for Christmas, they all loved it. I gave a lot away, and I took the rest a huge tray loaded to a wedding reception on New year's eve. It had been frozen, and there was a lot left and I gave it all away, as I didn't want anymore of it around. I am glad it is gone. I have gained 3 pounds, and I need to lose it again. We had a wonderful Christmas with Steve, Sharon, and the grandchildren and all of the great ones. We left before Megan, Greg, and Scarlet got there, and so they stopped for a visit with us on the way home. It is always wonderful to have Scarlet, she is so alive and happy, not to mention cute! She usually comes in smiling, but she had been asleep so she took awhile to wake up, but she was really happy when she left, smiling and kissing and waving good-bye, she is so beautiful. So much fun and we do appreciate the effort that Megan and Greg make to come so we can spend time with them. It is a good place to stop so Scarlet can run around and relax a bit from all of the car riding. She loved the kitty, Trapper, I guess she loves dogs too. She really talks a lot now. So Very sweet. I forgot to mention that in early December on the 9th Grandpa and I had our 59th anniversary and went to dinner and saw the play The Sound Of Music on the stage, it was wonderful and we had such a great time. I have a hard time believing we have been married that long. Well I think 2012 is here and we all have goals and plans to fulfill, they talked about that in Sacrament on Sunday, I really enjoyed the talks and the RS lesson which all went together and talked of those things. I love you all and I wish you all a wonderful and Happy and Healthy New Year. God Bless Love you all