A Little Update

It's been a couple months since I've blogged anything. I see there have been some changes made to Blogger! It's taking me a little while to figure things out but as with anything new, I'll get it figured out sooner or later!

What have I been up to since March? Well, let me see. I finally got my veggie garden all started. This year I planted spinach and radishes (which I've already harvested), pepper plants including one jalapeno for my SIL, tomatoes, green beans, corn, basil, lettuce and cucumbers. The peppers, basil, lettuce and the tomatoes I bought from Birdsong Hollow Farm in Woodbury, TN. They grow varieties not normally found in say, Walmart or Lowe's or any place like that and maybe not even in a real garden center. A lot of their stuff is heirloom. This is my first year of growing plants from BHF and heirlooms. I'm looking forward to harvest time!

Besides working in the vegetable garden, I've been busy weeding, planting and transplanting in my flower beds. Weeding never seems to end and especially after it's just rained for a couple days!

I've been doing a LOT of reading! I love my Kindle. When I first got it, I wasn't so sure but it's so easy to always have a book on hand to read. I had a friend ask me today when I find time to read. Well, I always spend some time each day reading. I read while I eat breakfast or lunch, if I'm by myself. In between chores I read. At night I read instead of watching TV. For me, there's nothing much of interest on TV to watch, so I read.

During April and so far in May I've read 21 books. Some of those I especially enjoyed are "River's Call" by Melody Carlson. This is the second of a series she has written. I read "River's Song" back in March and look forward to the next one.

"In Name Only" by Ellen Gable was a good book, too.

I really enjoyed reading "Promise Me This" written by Christian author, Cathy Gohlke (my daughter interviewed her on her website last month, EricaSenecal.com). I think this book would make a good movie.

Though I don't usually read mystery genres, for book club I read "Heat" by Stuart Woods and was surprised that I enjoyed it even if at times I was a bit nervous! I actually had a hard time putting it down.

Last night I finished "Dunaway's Crossing". This is Nancy Brandon's first novel, which was just published in March. I'm looking forward to reading more of her books. 

I keep track of the books I read on Goodreads. For 2012 I've challenged myself to read 100 books. So far, I've read 45 books and I'm eight books ahead towards my goal!!

And, speaking of books, my daughter, Erica, is writing a book herself. Right now she's entitled it "Broken" but that's subject to change by the time she finishes the book! Her sister, Dawn, and I are two of her beta readers, along with several other family members and friends.

I can't say I don't watch TV at all. I do occasionally like to watch "Chopped" and believe it or not, "Storage Wars"!! My BIL got me hooked on these shows last summer when he was visiting. I don't watch either one on a regular basis but when I'm looking to veg out I'll see if either one of these shows is on. Occasionally I will check Xbox for a good documentary or movie to watch. Of course, when the granddaughters are here I have to watch "Sponge Bob", "Scooby-Do" and other kiddie shows!!

There are a couple things coming up that I'm looking forward to and will, hopefully remember, to blog about. Later this month, OWH is having a Memorial Day Sketch Bloghop. Haven't done one of those in quite awhile so decided I'd sign up. In June, Erica and I are going with the LSS, Sassy Scrapper, on a weekend scrapping retreat. The end of July, our friends, Bernie & Ray from NJ are going to Cincinnati. Since it's only five hours from here we are going to go up there for a couple days to see them.

Now it's time to get back to my Kindle and find another book to read!! Til next time....

Trying New Things

Well, I did it! I fell for the Pinterest craze! Not without some help, though. I found it a little confusing but with my DD's help, I got the hang of it!! Actually, it's pretty cool and I'm enjoying searching for things to pin! I like seeing what others have pinned.

It took me awhile to get onto Facebook a few years ago, but now that's old hat!! I just hate that every time you turn around they seem to change it. They just can't seem to leave it alone. Not sure how I'll like the new Timeline thing, but as with all things new, pretty soon it'll be a familiar way of FB life - and then they'll come up with some new change!!

Having a blog was another new thing to me until my daughters talked me into it! Again, as with FB and Pinterest, I needed their help to get started. I find I spend more time on FB and don't keep up with blogging. Months can go by without writing anything. Of course, I don't always have, what I consider, much of interest to write about. I get intimidated by reading other blogs and seeing how well some of them are written and how interesting they are. The one thing I like about blogging is that it is sort of a diary, albiet, a public diary, but I can look back on things that have happened or what I've maybe had on my mind or heart to share.

Considering my previous blog about losing my memory, maybe it's a good thing to blog, have a FB timeline and Pinterest interests. Some day I may need these things to stimulate my memory or, if nothing else, maybe my grands will get a kick out of reading what their Nana had to say. I know I would have if my Grandmother had technology like we do and used it.

Let me hop over to FB and Pinterest and see what's going on. Til next time....

Chemo Brain or ???

First of all, let me say that I do believe that Chemo Brain is a real condition that can happen if you've had chemotherapy. I've read many stories about people who experience loss of memory, sometimes short term, sometimes longer after undergoing treatment when they were otherwise fine before. When you think about it, it makes sense. You're putting these super duper chemicals in your body which make you lose your hair and can have other side effects, why can't it hurt your brain, too?

It's hard to tell for me since I'm of the age where it's hard to remember my name sometimes!! I've forgotten words that I've been trying to think of or sometimes even names of people I know but then they always eventually come to me. This is a natural thing that happens when you get to a certain age or so they say!

This past week a couple things happened that have me a little concerned. When I told my DD about them, they sounded so hysterical we were laughing til we were almost crying, but the first event really isn't a laughing matter and could have had dire consequences.

I had driven to the local library to get some books for my MIL. I came home, pulled into the garage, shut the door, picked up the books and got out of the car. On my way upstairs I heard a noise but couldn't figure out what it was. I just thought it was the heater my DH uses when he's working in the garage. I went upstairs and went about my business. About three hours later, DH comes home, hands me my keys and asks if I'm trying to kill myself. What? I had left the car running! I had no clue or remembrance of it!

Now this event is rather funny. The next morning one of my friends called me on my cell. We were chatting and I wanted to share something with her from my phone. Well, I looked and looked all over the house for the phone and couldn't find it. I did this for about 10 minutes and then it hit me - I was talking on the phone!! Duh!! I didn't say anything to my friend cause I felt so dumb!

I'm keeping a record of these things in case I need them for the future. DD told me she did some research because I was really concerned about Alzheimer's. She thinks it's more like Chemo Brain. Time will tell. Chemo Brain I can live with. Having Alzheimer's would be very hard.

Getting caught up...

Yikes! Can't believe the last time I posted was September! Where has the time gone?

So, what's been happening since I last posted? Well, let me see...my MIL fell on September 7th and broke her hip. She was in the hospital for several days and had to have an operation. Thankfully, it was just a fracture repair and not a whole hip replacement. Then she was in rehab for almost two months. Now she has PT at home a couple days a week. She's doing just fine! She's a tough, stubborn 92 year old!!

Having her in the rehab took up most of our time as we visited her just about every day. Once in awhile our daughter would visit which gave us a break. While she was there my BIL from AZ visited. He was scheduled to visit prior to her falling and decided to come anyway.

While this was going on, I did manage to get the Fall gardening done. I had a bunch of trees and perennials I had bought on sale that I finally got planted.

Then, it was time for Thanksgiving. My BIL from FL came to visit for the week. We didn't tell my MIL he was coming so it was quite a surprise for her to see him walk in the door! While he was here we took him to see the Opryland Hotel, which is always a beautiful place to visit and especially at this time of year when it's all decorated for Christmas. Going to the Hotel is a family tradition, though my MIL didn't go this year. We always have a picture taken at the poinsettia tree, which is what it sounds like..a huge tree made from poinsettias! Absolutely gorgeous.

Another day we took Stew to the George Dickel Distillery. Gene & I have been to the Jack Daniels Distillery. This tour was basically the same, but on a much smaller scale. It's an interesting freebie to do.

I cooked Thanksgiving dinner and the TN family came to our house. There was plenty to eat! Next year I'm hoping we'll have a deep fryer and will be able to make deep fried turkey. Ummm ummm good! If you've never had it, give it a try. It's delicious! I remember the first time I heard about it, I pictured it being so greasy, but it isn't at all. The skin is nice and crispy but the meat inside is so tender and juicy with no grease at all.

I started my Christmas decorating the other day. It's been raining all week until today so tomorrow I plan to do the outside. I have all the gifts wrapped that I have bought so far. Still have some more shopping to do but most of it is done. Been making my Christmas cards in between other things and have quite a few done. I haven't been this ahead of schedule in many years! It feels good!

Today I had my six month visit to the oncologist. Everything is still looking good. I thought I would be able to stop the meds and start seeing her once a year but I still have another six months of meds and have to see her in six months. After that, I can stop meds and will only have to go once a year for the next five years.

Guess that's about it for the update since September. Til next time....

God bless,
Linda

Remembering 9/11

September 11, 2001 is one of those days that you will always remember where you were and what you were doing when you first heard the news - just like those of us who were around then remember when President Kennedy was assassinated or our parents and/or grandparents when Pearl Harbor was attacked. These kinds of days are burned into our hearts and memories forever.

I was at work at the church where I was the secretary at the time. I started at 8:30. A little before 9 one of the parishioners came in and told me one of the Twin Towers had been hit by a plane. Though I had a radio, I rarely listened to it but I turned it on. Then we heard the second Tower had been hit. One plane hitting the Towers could be a mistake, but not two.

When we heard about the plane going down in Shanksville, PA and the Pentagon being hit, it was unbelievable. What in the world was going on?? Was our country under attack?? I remember some of ladies were there at the church and they didn't believe me when I ran in to tell them the Towers had actually fallen.

I remember thinking I just wanted to be home and have my family together. At the time our son was at school in Texas with the Air Force. He had just joined the Air Force earlier in the year. What did this mean for him?

Later in the day when I was home and able to see the pictures of what was going on in New York, it was just so surreal. It's still hard to comprehend that something like this actually happened.

Suddenly, everywhere you looked, people were flying flags. In fact, after awhile flags were hard to find in stores so many had been bought. There were flags and patriotism everywhere. People were flocking to houses of worship. It was nice to have the country united for the few months that it lasted.

For those of us who were alive that day, September 11th will never be known as "September 11th" but always as 9/11 and we will always remember where we were and what we were doing that day.

May God bless our Troops! May He bring comfort and peace to those who lost loved ones that fateful day 10 years ago and to the families who have lost loved ones in the fight against terrorism since 9/11.