Really?

I can't believe it's been a month since I've posted again!

I took a week and a half off work the end of June and got ready for a family get together and camping trip at McCall, Idaho. It was great to see family from California, New Orleans and Idaho, all in one place for a few days together.

My son, his wife & our little BeeCharmer from Idaho were there. My daughter was in from Southern California. My youngest brother and his wife and three kids from the Central Coast of California were there. My parents from Idaho were there. My nephew and his fiance from New Orleans were there. We had a great visit, a great time, memories that will last a lifetime were made.

Our BeeCharmer enjoyed her first fishing trip, the day before me and MyGuy made it up to McCall.

Oh, yes, she has legs... she just learned how to tuck her feet up under that tray. So cute!

The morning after we arrived, we were up early for an hour's drive to Riggins, Idaho, for the thrilling, whitewater raft trip down the Salmon River, The River of No Return.

That's my brother and his wife and son sitting up front. Me and MyGuy are behind them. An incredible experience!

After rafting we took another hour drive north, to Grangeville, Idaho. My brother's boss owns a 1540 acre ranch there and they had a feast waiting for us all. What a treat! Great people, great food! A good time was had by all. Beautiful country there.

We drove two hours back to camp. It was late and dark, and we were exhausted. What a beautiful day.

The next morning we had a pancake breakfast for the kids and just relaxed. Family started departing, as they had been there for a few days before we arrived. My son and his wife took their beautiful baby and were the first to leave. My brother and his family, and my nephew and his fiance had to leave the next day. My daughter had to leave the following day. So in the end, it was just me and MyGuy and my parents.

Our last full day there, MyGuy and I enjoyed a calm and peaceful canoe cruise up the Upper Payette River at the north end of the Payette Lake. We were out about two hours, and enjoyed every minute of it. We went around one bend and heard a tree crack crackle snap and fall to the forest floor. It was amazing. Then, into an inlet of a large pond off the main river, we came upon a young female moose feeding on the grassland there. Amazing again!

We had an amazing visit and fantastic time with family, full of beautiful campfires and wonderful food. It was a good for the soul kind of trip.

Oh! I forgot to mention a huge wind storm that blew through our campground, our last night we were there. We had been amazed by the timbering of a huge ponderosa pine in the wilds as we canoed around earlier that day. Then, later that night, I was scared to death by the falling of trees, one after another, in a horrific wind storm that hit the Long Valley of Idaho. The sky turned yellow from all the pine pollen as the storm hit. Lightening and thunder soon followed, darkening the sky. We were fortunate to only have a branch of one of these trees fall on the roof of our truck and bounce to the hood, putting a baseball size dent in the roof with a few scratches. There was no damage to our trailer.

Calling All Knitters

About a week and a half ago, I received an email from my local fancy yarn shop stating they have accepted a challenge to knit 2700 caps... in honor of our Troops.

The email went on to say, as many of us here in the Boise, Idaho area already know, the 116th Brigade from Idaho, Montana and Oregon is shipping out to Iraq in September. There are about 1500 soldiers from Idaho and 1200 from Montana and Oregon involved in this deployment. The Yarn Shoppe in Meridian, Idaho, has accepted this challenge to recruit knitters to help them make 2700 knitted caps to be given to the soldiers as they deploy. These caps will be used to keep the soldiers warm in the winter, and can also be soaked with water to keep their heads cooler in the summer under the military helmets.

You see, my son is in the 116th Idaho Army National Guard, and he has received orders for deployment to Iraq this September. He'll be sent to Fort Shelby, Mississippi, for a two month training before actual deployment to Iraq in November. His trainings have already increased to several two and half week trainings. He's completed two of these shorter trainings already. Sometimes, I can't breathe with the thought of him being deployed...

I took this photo of my son at his Basic Training Graduation, June 2008, at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.

I've completed my first cap (pictured above) and I'm on just my second cap, and plan to make as many as I can to help this crusade in honor of my son and his fellow Brigade brothers. In just one week, the empty basket at the Yarn Shoppe has filled with caps from so many others who have knitted in honor of our Troops. More caps are needed, I'm hoping to spread the word and meet the challenge of completing 2700 caps.

These caps must be made of 100% wool for safety and must be in medium to dark earth tone colors. I know the Yarn Shoppe has order plenty of Cascade 220 yard in these colors.

2 Weeks Later

I believe I have the BEST grandchild out there, though I know there's at least a few of you that may beg to differ. My little BeeCharmer, as I will refer to her for this blog sake, has just turned 9 months old this past week. Above is a pic from yesterday, my BeeCharmer was letting me know just how much she loved me..

I work fulltime outside the home, four 10-hr days, Monday thru Thursday which allows me to help with babysitting most Thursday nights, Fridays, and weekends. Not all weekend, the days do vary, but I will never say no to helping out the kids with watching this little girl.

Our BeeCharmer arrived on a beautiful, late summer morning, September 9, 2009. Below are pics from the hospital...

I will upload more pics later. Enjoy!

WOW!!!

OMGosh!! I cannot believe it's been more than a year since I've posted! Wow!!! A whole year!

Well, I am a very proud Gramma of a beautiful 8 month old granddaughter. She is the light of my life! A total Bee Charmer! I have never known a more happier baby. I'll share pics soon!

I've taken up knitting too. It was an old hobby of mine, long forgotten when I divorced the father of my children, all so many years ago (in 1993.) Divorce affects everyone differently, but for me, a huge part of me died when I divorced my one and only love of my life. Seems everything about me died with that horrific life event. I am so glad I've found my way back to knitting, and I will be posting pics of some of my projects.

And, for those of you who remember me... I love taking pics! And Santa brought me a new digital SLR this last Christmas! I'm so excited to get out and do some shooting! It's been so darn cold here, I haven't really had much energy to bundle up and go out. Especially, with a new baby to play with here at the house!

So, I'm going to try to get back to blogging, and hope I don't bore you to death with baby stories, knitting projects, and photos of my day outings.

Surviving Life

I started this blog when my guy went long haul trucking. I thought this would be a good venue for him to see what I'm up to, what I'm thinking, another source for us to stay connected. An old fashioned twitter of sorts, huh? lol

Well, as the years roll by, we seem to never see each other. Life's struggles are just as bumpy when you're not in the presence of your significant other on a daily basis. And maybe, life is even harder to deal with when you only have 24 to 48 hours to share in person with your man.

I find that I skip over all the real issues - bills, chores, things that just need to be done - and get to the fun in life, leaving the "to do" lists undone when he's home. Then, when he leaves, the list of "to do's" are still there, and I feel overwhelmed that nothing ever gets done unless I do them. And to be honest, some of the things, I just cannot physically do them. I feel bad for even mentioning this, I feel guilty even, knowing he just cannot be home. He has to work.

Then I remember, sure, he's not home every night, but he is home two or three days in a row before leaving again. Not as often, but sometimes he's home four to five days at a time. Many times, he's home during the week while I'm at work. So, in my mind, he's got time to do some of these "to do" things.

Then I think about how he's been gone on the road, and just sitting at home doing nothing, seems perfectly okay. I understand.

But then, I think about how darn tired I am after working 10 hour shifts with an hour and half lunch in the middle... makes for 12 hour days! I don't want to do any work when I get home either. But, come my days off, the dishes and laundry and mopping and cleaning, etc.... all needs to be done!

Don't get me wrong, I love my man, I love having fun with him.

Since I told him the other day, I want a husband, I have been thinking. Thinking long and hard about "us." What is "us?" Who are we? What are we doing? Gosh, I just turned 49 this year, he's in his 50's. I realize now, I want more from our relationship, and it's just not gonna happen.

It's just never easy.

I have a funny story... I get wound up and scared, pretty easily.

The other night, I'm sitting here, watching t.v. alone when I thought I heard someone at the front door. The door is dead bolted locked. Then, I heard a twist of the handle, a jiggle back and forth. Hmm... some one's out there and they seem to want in. I even thought I saw a shadow through the stained glass window next to the door! All of a sudden, I hear the weirdest sound, "zzz-zzzzz-zzz-zzzzzzz!" OMGosh! Some one's actually trying to drill their way into the house! OMG!!! It was about the time I thought my heart was going to LEAP out of my chest when a VHS tape popped out of the VCR!!! :::::::::try to breathe::::::::: (Auto eject!)

One of my dogs had probably stepped on the remote control (we have remotes all over the couch), turning the VCR on and there was a tape in the deck. The tape played, unbeknowned to me, all the way through, and when it reached the end of the tape, it automatically re-wound! (click, click, zzzzz-zzz-zzzzzzz-zzzzzzzzzzz...) OMGosh!!! I could have just died!!! LOL

I really do hate being alone!

It's a GIRL!!!

20 Weeks

The kids went in for their ultrasound on Monday. The baby is perfect, growing exactly how it's supposed to, and........... it's a GIRL!!!

After work I stopped by to see the kids and they weren't home. They were at Baby's R Us! lol The kids live with her parents now, and her parents were home. The ultrasound photos were laying on the dinner table so I took a peek... perfect little profile shot, arms and legs, and did I mention, two little feet with toes!!!? And, of course, the kids wanted to know the gender, and there it was, our little girl.

Can't tell I'm a bit excited, can you? ;)

Baby Update

I'm still so very excited! Maybe, I'm just in disbelief. I really cannot believe it's my turn to be a Gramma! All my friends have grandchildren and talk about the joys of grandmother-hood, all the time.

Monday, the kids went in for their first ultrasound. It had been rescheduled from the week before due to some miscommunication between the insurance and doctor's office.

First of all, I want to say, my daughter in law, TheMom, is doing great, she's feeling great. My son, TheDad, is ecstatic! He couldn't wipe the smile off his face if he tried. LOL So cute.

So back to the first ultrasound. Their visit went well. TheMom was telling me, everytime she or TheDad would say anything, the baby would bounce around, arms and legs everywhere. TheMom got to giggling so much, the tech was having a hard time getting a freezed frame shot of the baby. Awww!

The baby measured 12 weeks. Gosh. We have a long way to go. They have a long way to go! The due date is September 14. Perfect! Now, we just pray all continues to go well and no problems arise. In six weeks, they go in for another ultrasound. (I don't remember ultrasounds being so available! lol) The kids want to know the sex of the baby, so at this next ultrasound, they will find out if we're having a boy or a girl.

My son wants a boy. No hesistation or questions about it, a boy is what he wants. TheMom doesn't care, boy or girl, she's just happy to be having a baby.

Photo snagged from Free Photoshare

Then There Were Eight... (Yorkies)

This is Simon.

Simon was first born, and latched onto Lucy with vigor. I would have never guessed that he would soon have such a struggle to survive. By day three, Simon was lifeless and losing weight. He was having trouble staying latched on, poor little guy. I started bottle feeding Simon, every two hours, immediately. After each feeding, I would put him with Lucy and tried to get him to nurse. I would try this too, before the bottle feedings, thinking he would be hungry enough to stay latched on. Nope. Seemed he had a problem suckling. Bottle feedings became the norm.

In his third week, I noticed a slight doming to his head. I was immediately reminded of Peanut. Simon had a lot of soft tissue on the top of his head. I brought him to the Vet immediately. Sure enough, my suspicions were right on. Simon was developing water on the brain, just like Peanut. I caught it early and Simon was put on prednisone, a steriod, to help reduce the swelling of his brain.

The meds worked! The swelling and soft tissue slowly disappeared. Simon never got as bad as Peanut had. Today, Simon is perfect! Healthy as the rest of the dogs. He's gonna be a tiny one, and he likes to bite. I call him my Tiny Biter, after Elton John's song, Tiny Dancer. LOL

Breaking News!

I'm going to be a GRAMMA!!! OMGosh! I can't believe it!

My son and daughter-in-law are having a baby!

My first grandchild!

Photo snagged from free photo site.

I received this Yorkie graphic message from my guy's niece, wishing me a Happy Birthday today! I was surprised to hear from her! Actually, I have been surprised by a lot of folks today...

At my work, in my department, we do this thing where if it's your birthday month, you are in charge of the potluck/luncheon. I've been at my current job for nearly seven years now and this tradition has become fun. When you're in charge of the monthly lunch celebration, you get to bring what you enjoy most.

Today was different only by the fact I have been at my employment there for quite some time now, and folks have started to request a particular dish I've made before. So last night, I threw together my Pozole (Mexican Stew) and let it simmer over night.

This morning, trying to get everything together, I was running late. When I arrived at work, my receptionist shouts, "Goooood morning!"

I thought it odd, her shouting so early in the morning, but I was carrying a very heavy pot of my stew and was darting for my office where I could set it down, and didn't give her loud welcoming another thought. As I stepped inside the door of my office, I caught a glimpse of another one of my employees! She was jumping down from the top of my desk! LOL The girls were thankful I had been late this morning, and did a great job decorating my little part of the office.

I received phone calls, emails and text messages throughout the day from friends and family. My guy sent me a singing text, wishing me a happy day. Later, I received a personal voicemail on my work line where he sang his birthday wishes to me. ;)

At lunch, the whole facility joined me for a cup or two of soup. Mmm! So good on a freezing cold day! Everyone visited and had a good time. My boss had two helpings! He told me too, they had a card for me, but that the last known person to have the card was not present. He would track it down and assured me he'd get it to me.

As you know, I raise Yorkies, and no matter how special the day is, I have to run home at lunch time to let the dogs out. The surprise was when I got back to work. I found a couple of cards and a present left on my desk! Wow! Decorations, cards, gifts, emails... Wow! They have never treated me so well before!

So the facility card was full of warm wishes for my birthday and a gift card to a local scrapbook store! Cool! The second card was from my personal staff. These girls are just so sweet! They got me a blouse and a gift card to a nice clothing store. Wow! I was almost overwhelmed.

Then, if that wasn't enough, these same girls ran to the Cheesecake Factory and got me a slice of cheesecake, leaving on my desk when I went to my afternoon meeting. Wow. I split the cheesecake with them, it was so rich, just a bite or two was plenty for me.

Another co-worker and close friend, took me to dinner after work. Boy! I had a wonderful birthday this year, and it's not quite over... my guy comes home tomorrow night after a week and a half run from Idaho to California to Utah to Arizona to California to Utah and back to Idaho.

And, it all started last Sunday when my parents took me to dinner because my birthday fell on a Wednesday this year and I work long, long hours. Sunday just made sense, a better time to relax and enjoy each other's company without rushing. My son and his wife joined us. We had a good time.

Anyway, I just had to share that I've had a great day. ;)

They Don't Get Much Cuter Than This...

Introducing, Simon and Arty (Garfunkel)...


Simon was so small, he reminded me of the Alvin and the Chipmunks! Hence, the name Simon. Isn't he cute?


Arty is full of personality, never a dull moment with him. He's bright eyed and bushy tailed, and loves to play.

Born on October 19th, the boys are just seven weeks old. Simon will be staying with us a bit longer than I usually keep puppies because he is so small. Arty will be ready to go at eight weeks, but I plan on holding him for his forever family until Christmas.