Who's sicklyerest

It was quite cute, on Fri morning, which was after the night that I was the sickest and still not feeling too great in the morning, I came upstairs and found Macy and Stella and Hattie and Papaw. I looked at Macy and said, "I'm sick, somebody made me sick." Macy said, "Stella or Macy?" and I said, yes. Macy quickly replied, "Stella."

Christmas morning

Jason was supposed to get to Utah on Christmas Eve around 2pm, instead, he spent all day in the Indy airport, finally went home and caught a flight out early on Christmas morning. Chris and Alyona picked him, and joined the rest of us at Paige's. Still not as bad as his experience trying to get home last year, stuck at the SLC airport, finally got a flight to Chicago and drove to Indy. Then it was all weather; this time it was problems with the plane.

Still, we had a nice Christmas.

 Poor little Macy was still sick, but getting better, and got a few of the rest of us (me! and Jessica and Alyona a little) sick.

For Christmas Eve we stayed at Paige's because my mom and sis Kris came over, Paige and fam went to the Upstills. Christmas Dinner was at Paige's, and the Upstills and Kristi came for that. It was enjoyable.

Friday the skiers were only Jason and Chris. Usually a bunch go, but Scott and Jessica went to Oklahoma for her family's Christmas with a grandmother who isn't expected to live much longer, Paige couldn't leave nursing Hatie for that long, Rick's hip hurts too much, Kincade was working and I haven't skiied for 60 pounds ago.

Jason left early on Sat, Rick and I did some after Christmas sales with Paige and ggrrls, Paige and fam went to get family pics and Rick and I were onto Chris' for borscht and salad. Watched The Villian, which I had been trying to get everyone to see. I saw it 30 years ago and remembered it being funny. It's not.

Rick left early this morning, and I will stay for Scott and Macy's Bday, Jan 1 and 3. I go back home on Jan 7 because tickets were half the price than they were earlier.

Macy sick

Stella came home sick from school last week, passed it on to both Macy and Paige (and Macy was just getting over from a bout of something or other). Yesterday we were out and they weren't feeling well, so Rick took both Stella and Macy home. Macy took a nap and when she woke up, her temp was high and her chest was raspy, so Paige and I took her over to the InstaCare. The doc there said he wasn't set up to really see what was happening with her, but because of a fever of 103.5 and a heartrate of 160 (quite high) he recommended she be taken to the hospital ER. Kincade met Paige and I came home.

There they weren't as worried as the InstaCare doc, saying the high heart rate was normal with a high fever, took some chest x-rays to make sure more wasn't going on, gave a prescription for antibiotics (for the ear infection he found, but told Paige we are the only Western country that treats for ear infections) and sent her home. She hadn't eaten much yesterday, so Kincade had stopped and gotten her a McDouble and she ate almost the entire thing.

Meanwhile, Hattie had woken up and it was dinner time. She doesn't like bottles, even with breast milk in them. But this time, with no options, Rick was able to get her to take a bottle. Sure wasn't happy until she got a little food in her tummy.

When you have children, the fun and games never end. If it's not one thing, then it's another. As parents, I think being worried about your children continues until you die or become senile.

Weather and weather and weather

Having been raised in Idaho and enjoyed all the snow and cold weather when it came, I have to say I really enjoyed living in the 2 warm states I have, North Carolina and Texas. Today it's supposed to be 77*. It was 11* in Eagle Mt a few days ago.

Rick and I went to a Christmas dinner party last night, it was at The Domain (Austin's "nice" mall). The side facing the mall walk area was open (altho had big glass doors/windows that could be pulled to close it) and it was fun to be sitting in the open air, essentially, having the dinner party.

I write all this because Chris sent us a pic looking out his French doors.
Well anyway, lots of snow (I have tried for 10 min to post it, so I'm giving up).

I think when we retire to the Utah Valley area, we will need the winter house in St George.

And these are our Leaders and Statesmen, behaving like Jr and High School "In-group" kids

Everything is political

I was buying stamps to mail my Christmas cards, and bought some nativity type and then saw the Hannukkah stamps and asked for some of those also. I was talking to my sis Kris and told her I had bought Hannukkah stamps. She said, "Why did you do that?" with the implication that since I'm a Christian....
I said to show solidarity with Israel, because of Iran's continuing promise to obliterate the country as soon as they get nukes, and the entire Mideast assembling against them, and with Obama's foreign policy such that Israel is not able to count on the Americans as their oldest ally since statehood in 1948 (and before).

She said, chuckling, I read one of your last posts, and it is true - you can make anything political.
I take that as a compliment.
     

Needed - Christmas cheer

Today I had some errands to run, take back some stuff to a couple of stores, and buy a few other things. My Christmas shopping is done, stick a fork in it (thanks to Scott), so I didn't even have the excuse of harried shopping. The crowds and people everywhere were making me crazy. The traffic is worse, and I always seem to choose the wrong lane or line. (At the airport a flight or two ago, a man and his kids were going thro security and the daughter asked her dad which line to get in and he pointed to the line behind me. I said, "I should just warn you that whichever line I'm in is always the slowest." "Me, too, so maybe we'll cancel each other out and this time it will be the fastest.")

Anyways, I wasn't feeling too cheerful or peaceful. Thought some bad words (might have muttered a few), then took a deep breath.

Always good to take a deep breath and remember who it is we are really celebrating and why. Then enjoy the lights, the music and songs, the parties, the presents - but remember it is all about the Savior. Helps to refocus the mind back towards what is important, and what is just fluff.
 

Christmas lights

Rick and I have been meaning to drive around and look at the Christmas lights, so last night we did. I had 4 locations that were supposed to be really pretty and they were. On one short street with a cul-de-sac they had a theme of the poem "Twas the night before Christmas." Everyone had a part of the poem written in cursive on a board 6'x4' or something like that. They had hot choc at the end. Most people went there, parked and walked it. We would have done that but were in our jamies. Didn't even bring a phone so no pics. All of the lights were extensive and pretty.

Next year I decided that we will put some up. Or perhaps it will just be Yvonne, since Rick is so busy with work. Anyway, after Christmas I will go to the sales and get some stuff. I would love to have a lighted Nativity, since that is the purpose of Christmas - to worship Jesus, remember Him and His birth and message to us.

Brrrrrrr

It was 82 on Tues, then the temp started dropping. On Fri morning, after a night of freezing rain, the roads were bad. These super high interstate and state highway passes were not built for this kind of weather. Rick put his jeep in 4wheel drive and went up his usual route, the farther he got up, the more the wind was knocking him around and the more ice he ran into. Many cars were on the top, afraid to come down because they had been sliding so much. Lots of accidents. Texas seldom sees this type of weather - in Indy or Philly, the sand and salt trucks would have been out all night, getting the roads ready for rush hour. No sand or salt trucks here.

It's still cold, but temps are going back up. It should be 49* today, mid 40s for the week and 50* by Thurs. The banana plant just needs to be cut back, and the 2 palms seem ok. They are guaranteed for 1 year, so I'm not too worried. Fri night Rick went out with some sheets, but the sheets would have to have been at least 4x bigger to even come close to doing any good.

Oh, but guess what? Now the global warmists are warning of 30 years of cold and BAD winter weather. The original guy who came up with the theory said he thought if the planet warmed a bit, on the whole it would be a net benefit to us.

Now, with the kooks new prophecy, we'll only be hoping that the global warming theory was true. But the truth is, weather - ice ages and warming periods, have occurred on this planet for millions of years and we puny humans can't change it either way.

I guess this post means that I can change any entry into a political diatribe at the drop of a hat, er snowflake.

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Eleven people, including Rick and me, and James, Braden's little toddler. Lee and his girlfriend, Keisha came also, so nice to see him. (Sad that he and Emily divorced, but Keisha was quite nice. I hope Emily finds someone great also. Interesting, both Emily and Keisha had the same "look." I think guys especially have a particular type of look they like and have the same girlfriend over and over again. Just my theory.)
We did miss Scott and Jessica, wish they had been here. Well, Paige and fam also, but they never could have come.
Once again, I didn't take enough pics. I wish I had, I need to concentrate on doing that.

So Rick and I picked up Jason and Kenny from the airport on Wed, then the feasting began when we went to Rudy's. Came back home, Jason needed to go somewhere (where?) and Rick went back to the airport to get Chris and Alyona. I stayed with Jason, and on the way from wherever we went, we stopped and got icecream from Shakes (I didn't, I was still doing good).

For dinner we went to Torchy's, 7pm. Loooong line, took 20 min to get to the front, then 40 min to get our food, which they were running out of (and keep in mind that this is a fast food type of place).

The guys (except for Rick) went and played in the Turkey Bowl on Tday morning. They were quite disappointed, after 1 1/2 hours Bro Webster shut it down. They are used to playing for 2-4 hours.

I put Rick to work helping me cook and set the table.
Here is my set dinner, I've been doing it for 10 years:
Turkey, ham, rolls, smashed potatoes, sweet potato cass, green bean cass, baked beans, corn, dressing, cranberry sauce, gravy. Desserts - Anika brought a delish apple pie, I bought cheesecake, made pumpking pie, and Kenny made a flan
We went for a walk after dinner, I felt really bad because when we got to the bottom of the hill I asked if they were up for a 3 mile walk, forgetting about the little pregnant lady, due in 2 1/2 weeks. We walked along the little creek, up the rocks and out into the subdivision. I kept asking Anika if she wanted me to call Rick to come and get her, she said no. I kept expecting her to go into labor at any moment.

Fri, the kids all went shopping to the outlet mall and were disappointed at the lack of deals, Braden went to see a great uncle, and we all met at Torchy's for lunch. We played card games, and that night we went swimming in the "heated" pool. It was luke warm and wasn't actually tooo bad but the air was cold so freezing was what I did and quickly got out, but they played in the water for 45 min. That night they ordered Rudy's. I was watching them eat in amazement, it didn't even look good, and I was still doing good with eating like a normal person and not like a hog.

Sat, Jason to airport (said he was so full he didn't even want Torchy's), Braden left, and Chris, Alyona, Rick and I went to downtown Austin to see some sights. Ate at Whole Foods. I'm still doing good. I guess I didn't start doing really bad until Sunday.

Sunday went to church, then each did his own thing. Mon I saw the doc, that evening I took Chris to the airport.

Now I'm all up to date, even tho I missed a few days for at least one blog a week.

Gratitude

Rick and I are so looking forward to Thanksgiving, with 2 of the kids coming and also Alyona. The sacrament meeting talks were on gratitude. For a good part of this year, I  really didn't think I had a lot to be grateful for. I am feeling better now (even tho my jaw is completely screwed up and my ears still ring) and I can be grateful for modern medicine and the help it is giving me. And while this feels horrible to me, others have it much worse.

Ginger, Rick's sister, got Hepatitis C soon after she graduated from high school, it destroyed her liver and she had to have a tranplant. Then lymphoma attacks her and she battles that with chemo and other medical stuff, now her liver is not doing its job again. I think it's from all the chemo she had to have to battle the second cancer. She is such a strong, believing Christian and not only talks the talk, but walks the walk in every facet of her life. Surely it would be better for her to stay on this earth and raise her 3 young children, ages 4, 6, and 11.

So, as I think about my blessings, I have a lot, even when I didn't think so. And here goes:

• my great husband
• my 4 wonderful children
• my 3 beautiful ggrrls
• my new daughters to be - Alyona and Jessica
• a safe place to live
• modern living, i.e. running hot water, electricity, abundant food, easy travel
• this one should have been first - my belief in and love of the Savior
• Rick's job
• friendships - my Philly VT companion called me yesterday, she has moved to Florida, wonderful to hear her voice. She said let's make sure we don't lose touch with each other
• medicine, whether natural or medical docs

And the list could go on and on

And don't forget the prickly pears...

Rick and I found a new walk several weeks ago. It had a large green space in the center (I would never go off the sidewalk or path, too afraid of rattlesnakes and other fun wildlife) that was filled with prickly pears, and I do love prickly pears. Have you ever touched one? They prickle.

Mom's helper

 They both look so cute. Stella does help Paige entertain Macy a lot.

Contrast in black and white.

More mushrooms

I do like nature, and mushrooms in someone's front yard qualify. These sprang up quickly because they weren't there yesterday when I was walking. Looks like they are attending an outdoor event. I only hope that it's political and they are on my side of the aisle.

Mushroom

I have been walking every day for 30-60 min. I came across this really fancy looking mushroom in someone's yard. I've never seen anything like it before, and I saw some really different mushrooms in Blanton Woods. I like odd and unique plants, along with the completely normal.

Christmas presents

Since I have only gotten a Christmas list from Paige for her family, I have decided to get everyone else these items:
1. We all love Torchy's, so Torchy Taco t-shirts.

.
There are a bunch of new political books out:

• Things That Matter, Charles Krauthammer
• Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims, Rush Limbaugh
• America the Beautiful, Ben Carson
• Good Tidings and Great Joy, Sarah Palin

Some fun ones:

• Si-cology, Si Robertson
• Being Dead is No Excuse, Gayden Metcalfe

Some useful ones:

• Debt Free Living in a Debt Filled Word, Trevor Thomas

Merry Christmas to all!!

More Macy

Out shopping for slippers. Can't quite tell what kind they are. Has her cute little maxie skirt on.

Macy and her suckers

Halloween 2012 Paige, Kincade, and the girls finished having all the fun they were up for Trick or Treating, I was still handing out goodies. Macy went over to the candy basket and was choosing out the suckers. When they got home from Trick or Treating this year, Paige told the girls to get a piece of candy and they could eat it before bed. Stella choose something chocolatey and Macy choose...a sucker.  They got to choose a few treats each day, and Macy always choose suckers. Here she has a ring pop and a dumdum sucker.

It reminded me of the pic of her I posted of her with the 2 pacifiers.

I also should mention that Stella and Paige stayed out waaay after Macy and Kincade had given it up.

Hair

Yippee!! I went to the hair stylist here in Cedar Park that I thought I could like. Last time she followed Kirby's formula for the color and it was too yellow (gold), at any rate I didn't like it. She said different products give different colors. This time she went darker. It is waaay darker than I have ever had it, even darker than my natural color, but I like it. Also the cut was cute and I like it. She gave me a few tips on styling that might help.
Yay.

This is what it looks like and I super like it.

Holidays

I love this season of the year, starting in Sept. I love Fall, weather and trees changing, it feels so fresh and new. I enjoy Halloween. But Thanksgiving and Christmas have to be my favs. This year Jason and a friend, Chris and Alyona, Braden and wife and child, and maybe Lee and Emily (altho Scott texted me yesterday to say they are getting a divorce, sad for them) will all be coming. I do love a crowd for Thanksgiving.

My Thanksgiving Dinner is set - I have fixed the same food for maybe 10 years - it works well for me.

Then Rick and I are off to Utah for Christmas. Really looking forward to seeing the ggrrls, especially little Hattie, and our sons and their girlfriends (that word doesn't seem to fit).

And since I haven't talked about my ears recently, I must say that flying upsets my ears for 2 days; that day, the day after, and sometimes even the third day. They ring louder, and my head feels full and funny, that might also have to do with the change in altitude when I go north to the Rockies. I think the pressurized plane and just the plane noise are what does it. And, of course, I get the same loverly experience when I fly back home. Oh, well, I think I am dealing with it better. (Rick and Jason might disagree.)

A few times when things were especially noisy or loud at Paige's house, Macy would put her hands over her ears, look at me, and declare that the noise was hurting her ears. Wonder where she got that from?

Last night Kincade Facetimed us, and was bringing Hattie up close to the camera, she looked so cute, her little face and body filling the space.

PaPaw volunteered to put Hattie to sleep...

...so he took her up to her room to rock her. But maybe Hattie put PaPaw to sleep!

Macy

Paige fixed a sandwich for Stella and Macy for lunch. Since Macy likes spicy foods, she took a bite, then immediately took off the top bread and complained because there wasn't any mustard on her sandwich. She does like her food spicy.

Stella

Paige and I were driving home from Stella's dance class on Mon, and Stella told Paige something like this (can't remember exactly): "I'm glad we're home, mom, because I need to hydrate."

I looked at her, wondering where she gets her vocabulary.

Ggrrls

Stella and Hattie

Stella reading!!

A little cutie, being a big girl

Ready for the blessing

Also ready for the blessing

Halloween at Paige's

Two little ggrrls, Stella is Taffeta (I think that's right, from some movie), and Macy is Strawberry Shortcake. Hattie was Waldo, from Where's Waldo, Pagie was dressed like a pig and had a sign which had a quote from Animal Farm, Kincade was a 50s greaser.

Zion's National Park

Mom and I drove thro the park until we came to Checker Board Mt. It was so pretty. It's been a long time since I took the shuttle thro the part you can't drive. Next time, I would love to do that and go on a few of the short hikes.

Back Home

SOOOO nice to be back home.
I enjoyed my time in Utah. Spent 1 week with mom, and then little over 1 week with Paige, culminating in the baby blessing of little Hattie.

I really enjoyed my time with mom, perhaps because it wasn't so long. When I first started staying there, I spent 2 months, of 2 times each, and the later times were 2 or 3 weeks. Way too long. It really burnt me out from enjoying going.

I get back to see this monstrosity of a house they are building behind us. Really makes me unhappy to see it. I think it is even destroying the value of our home, it is so bad. Makes me angry at the developers, that they are so willing to hurt others so they can profit more.

I have lots of pics and will be putting them on blogging posts in the days to come.

Really nice to be home, even tho I miss the ggrrls and my kids. Hattie is changing each day more and more. She laughs out loud now. She is a lot of work, holding and caring for her, but when I'm home, I miss getting to do that.

Stella slept with me every night, and Macy would come down to my room each morning. We would sit on the bed and talk. I let them play a few games on my iPad (Kincade put some kid games on). Fun, fun, fun.

Ears are ringing like crazy today. Something about the plane ride, the pressure, really upsets my ears for the first day after. Tomorrow I see Doc Peppard.

Must blog

I really dislike blogging from my iPad. But it's either that or no posts until I get home, and I don't want to do that either.

Little Hattie is so sweet, I love holding her. Macy has such a firecracker of a personality, she makes me smile, and Stella is a very diligent student. She is learning to read and finds all the words she knows when I read to her.

Scott and I are meeting for lunch tomorrow, and he has promised to not let me eat too much. Paige has lost 15 pounds in 6 weeks, and I've lost then gained, rinse and repeat, the same 3-5 pounds. Definitely need to get losing. Especially since Chris' wedding is in feb and I would be greatly pleased to be down 30 pounds.

Grandmother Hill

I can't put any pics on because I didn't bring my laptop with me. It's harder to post with my iPad, so this will be short. I have been here just since Sunday, and leave tomorrow. Back to Paige's, very excited to see my little ggrrls.

I hadn't been wearing my splint, for a variety of reasons, or taking the pain or muscle relaxant pills. I started to get dizzied, more headaches, yesterday ringing was so loud it was driving me crazy, and then my jaw started hurting! Rick asked if I had called Doc Peppard yet about just doing orthodontics, no, so he said he would. Talked with him this morning and they both have convinced me to continue with the splint therapy. I have worn it since yesterday and also started the meds again. I must say I have felt better today.

Seattle skyline

Alyona sent this pic. I love city skylines, especially at night. We have some great pics of NYC night time skylines, taken from across the Hudson in Jersey City. I now wish we had done more northeast coast things while we were there. But we thought we had plenty of time....

Broncos football game

The menfolk's Bronco weekend in Denver was last weekend. They had a grand time as usual. They have been going to one of the Bronco's Denver football games for 4 or 5 years. Scott and Kincade always stay at the same place in Glenwood Springs (I love that town), sometimes joined by Rick and Chris.

Twelve years ago, 2001, Jason and Rick went to the last game held in the Mile High Stadium. And now with Peyton Manning the quarterback, doesn't matter if they're Bronco or Colt's fan, they love to see him pulling the game out of a loss in the last quarter or last few plays.

The only football game I have ever watched from beginning to end (and that includes when I was a high school cheerleader) was in 2007, when the Colts won the SuperBowl. I remember I was doing a lot of subbing and the teacher's lounges, especially the elementary school in Mill Creek, were all decked out showing Colt spirit.

I just read a little about the beginnings of the sport in "Imprimis," conservative pamphlet put out monthly by Hillsdale College. The first intercollegiate game was in 1869 between Princeton and Rutgers with 25 players to a team, 11 each side on the field playing. The pamphlet said it isn't "a contact sport - it's a collision sport." In the early days, without the safety equipment and rules now used, it wasn't unusual to have a dozen players die every season. In 1905, 18 people died playing the game. "Players would wrestle for advantage by throwing punches and jabbing elbows...even try to gouge their opponent's eyes." The usual hue and cry about this "savage" game that was a "huge training ground for young gladiators, around whom as many spectators roar as roared in the (Roman) amphitheatre" commenced. The New York Times ran an editorial about Two Curable Evils - the first evil was lynching and the second was football.

Teddy Roosevelt, a man's man if there ever was one, loved the game and threw his weight behind supporting it, even as he played in it for Harvard. The early game looks little like what is played now, as rules became more formalized and safety equipment became required.

But some type of football has been played for centuries. There are reports of early settlers at Jamestown, Virginia playing games with inflated balls. Even Shakespeare has some mention of football in a few of his plays.
       
At any rate, the guys look forward each year to their annual pilgrimage to Denver, paying homage to the Broncos and football.

Teeth, Jaw, Splint therapy

Several people who read the last blog commented on those loverly teeth. I looked and looked to find those. Funny, huh? Huh? Yeah, funny.

Started the Splint Therapy on Thurs. By Thurs evening, my ears were ringing like crazy, I was dizzy, and was starting to get a headache. I wore the splint until Fri mornig and then took it out. It must be moving my jaw (or at least holding it in place) and my ears didn't like it. Turns out my ears don't like much.

Sat morning I put the splint back in, determined to give it a good try. Meanwhile, I'm getting dizzier, the headaches are coming back, the ringing is settling a little, but not as low as it was before. So I wore the splint off and on, first saying I wasn't going to do it, my main complaint had always been the ringing ears, then saying I would do it and fix my jaws and perhaps it would help. Yes, the docs were more concerned about the effect of my misplaced jaw on the joints and discs, but the ringing was what was driving me insane (if I hadn't been that way already).

I decided to still go to my appointment on Wed and talk with the occlusion specialist about this new development, and ask for another 2 weeks before I make my decision.

I got up this morning, dizzy was high, ears ringing medium, but slight to no headache. And now, at 5pm, the ringing is back to low, dizzy is low (but it had been gone) and no headache - well maybe a little on the top of my head.

Now I'm thinking maybe I can do the therapy, but I'm still going to ask him if I can wait 2 weeks before I make my decision. He has emphasized that once I start I must continue, there is no going back. That's my plan and I'm sticking to it - unless I change it.

So if you all thought you wouldn't get to hear anymore about my ears, you're wrong. The saga continues. Everyone gets to share in the pain.

Mouth, jaw, teeth...

I saw the occlusion specialist again today, he had the splint ready, fitted it to my bite. I need to wear it 24/7 for the next week, see him again next Wed and make my decision of whether to go forward or not. If not, I can use the splint as a mouth/night guard.

After looking at the molds of my teeth, peeking inside my mouth, and looking at x-rays, he said I would need to have orthodontics and jaw surgery at the conclusion of this splint therapy. Misaligned jaws are something I was born with, and then the braces I had at age 37 just messed it all up even more (and perhaps the braces when I was 10, but really orthodontics knowledge and ability was not like it is now at 50 years later). I'm missing adult teeth and still have baby teeth, which is partly what caused the orthodontic problems (the orthodontist got my teeth straight, but that was not the main concern). I should have had surgery on my jaw in my teens or early 20's to get the joints aligned correctly.

My sister Cheryl has also read stuff about leaning your hand on your jaw, sleeping, especially at a young age on your side and side of head, and that this can cause jaws to shift. So if you lean your hand on your jaw, quit.

This will take 3-4 years to complete, cost about $20,000 - $30,000 (little of which insurance will pay), and hopefully, my teeth will no longer look like the above pic.

And I hope the ringing has stopped - or at least lowered!!! But the volume is not bad now, most of the time. Dizziness is mostly gone, and headaches are gone.

And that's my sad tale.

Trees

Because of the new houses going up in back of us, we are getting some trees and other landscaping  along the back. Sat we went to 2 nurs and looked at trees, bushes, grasses, ground covers. We decided which place to have do the work, he sent a plan on Sat evening, we tweaked it a little and I went yesterday and looked at the trees he will bring.

One of the houses is framed out - just looks and feels like it is on top of us. We got really used to having nothing there and don't like looking out our backyard and seeing this house. I guess we don't get everything we want.

Macy Renee Upstill

It's so much fun having all the electronics we do - it makes keeping in touch with each other much easier - since we live so far away. We FaceTime, text, and send pics thro our streams and can then comment on the pics.

Kincade sent this pic. Stella used to wear that little crocheted hat, that's also a dress Stella used to wear, as are the boots. But little Macy looks just as cute as Stella did when she wore them.

Hair

I last went to Kirby (hair stylist) 5 or 6 weeks ago. On the spur of the moment I decided to change my style and saw a cute cut pic, he thought it would be different and look nice. I hated the cut. It was odd. Time to get it colored and cut again, so I called up the other recommended person here in Cedar Park, got an appointment and yesterday afternoon she did it. And I liked it. She did a good job, and started the style on the way back to what it was before and I liked.

When it was time for her to blow it dry and style it, I said I needed to put in my ear plugs because I have tinnitus. Turns out she does also. When it first happened about 1 1/2 years ago, the ring was loud and about drove her crazy. Sounds like me. She has TMJD and also had to have surgery on her jaw discs, which I don't need. An ENT is helping her with the tinnitus and thinks it might be related to her allergies and sinus problems, so she is on allergy meds and antibiotics and believes it's getting better. The stylist in the chair next to hers had to have jaw surgery in her teens, because of problems she was born with.

This all makes me feel better and feel like I'm not being picked on by some cosmic force, but indeed, bite/jaw problems and tinnitus have happened to other people. And it's not the worst thing that I may have to deal with in life. Even tho last Feb, March, April I felt like it was.

THIS is why I still talk about the tinnitus with people. Plus if I hadn't, I wouldn't have discovered the book Turning the Volume Down (courtesy of my VT), which has helped me a lot to understand and then have a plan to go forward.

But back to my hair, this is what it looked like:

and this is what it now looks like:

Halloween ggrrls

Adorable little things. Paige's 2nd fav holiday is probably Halloween, so of course her kids like it and she dresses them in Halloweeny outfits. Stella announced she wanted to wear only Halloween type clothes until the big day. Ummmm, I don't think she has enough orange and black to do that.

I love prickly pears

Some of these grow to almost tree-like, definitely large bushes.

The Alamo

The fort has been completely rebuilt. An officer at the time had the old fort torn down so it couldn't be used by anyone else.

Outdoor theatre along the River Walk

The stage is across the canal, the audience sits on the grassy ledges. It would have been fun to have attended a play.

River walk in San Antonio

We really enjoyed our stay in San Antonio;the River Walk was fun and quite pretty. Lots of hotels, restaurants, shops along the way.

San Antonio and Corpus Christi

Rick and I went to the beach 5 times, usually with kids, in North Carolina, and to the Blue Ridge mountains once. We wanted to go back, especially to the mountains but didn't before we left. In Philly there was a whole bunch more stuff we wanted to do before we left.

We decided we had better do the stuff we want to do right away and not wait for the perfect time. On Fri we left for San Ann and Corpus (as the local yokels there called them) and came home on Sunday. In San Antonio we went to the Alamo, and stayed on the Riverwalk. We walked up and down it - it was quite fun. Since we had a hotel right on the Riverwalk, we walked late at night and early the next morning.

On Sat we drove to Corpus Christi, went to Padres and Mustang Island (which is actually one long barrier island). We stayed on Mustang Island, which is where our neighbor recommended. These beaches are used in ways we haven't seen before - people could and did drive right onto the beach. You're also allowed to set up tents and camp, and have bonfires. Lots of people had their poles stuck into the sand and were fishing. We also saw lots of kayaks and fishing boats. The water is not pretty like Florida's water.

In NC, people go to the beach or the mountains. In New Jersey, people go to the shore and play in the water and walk along the boardwalks (we never got there). In Maine, people went to the beach but even in the hottest part of Aug the water is Cold, with a capital C. We were there in Oct on Halloween weekend and only dipped our toes in. The last morning we also woke up to a couple of inches on snow on our car and the ground (that was unusual).

It's interesting seeing what everyone calls the beach/shore, and how they use it. I wasn't surprised to see that Texas allows the most liberal use of their beaches.

If we go again, we will rent kayaks and kayak around in the shallow bays.