HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY, JASMINE!

Our gorgeous great-granddaughter was 3 years old on Saturday. It was such a great idea for our grandson, Quentin, to bring her and Q. Jr. to spend time with us since Bill can't travel yet. Sue, Otis and Tamisha came, too, and I loved it. Roxy and Jaritte came Friday night because Roxy was planning a surprise dinner for Rikki whose birthday was yesterday. Tamika and her family came to stay with Roxy for the weekend. They all got together and spent Saturday afternoon at a Fun Park and I am glad Bill went and had a good time. Roxy and I stayed home. It was a great weekend because I always love having family over. Roxy and Jaritte just left and now I am resting. Have a great day!

SPRING FEVER

LONG TIME................. Plant some herbs in a pot for some early gratification. The indoor smell and the green of the plant will bring some much needed hope for spring. Plus they will make any meal great for tasting or just garnish. Yes, Dennis (my husband) does all the cooking and thinks presentation makes the food taste better. He is a great cook and loves to do it. Go figure, when I was cooking for 35 plus years, I hated most of the time. Now he is retired again for now, so he cooks and I clean. Sometimes I think I get the raw deal because he uses a lot of stuff.

Seems like most of the men he retired with do the majority of the cooking after all these years. I hope everyone is hanging in there with all the world problems. Be safe and watch out for your family and neighbors. Together we can make this world a better place. I will step off the soap box now, enjoy your day!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TAMISHA!

Today is our beautiful, first-born granddaughter's birthday. She has always been a doll. Honey, I love you and I am so proud of the young lady you have always been. I know I speak for your grandfather, too. Have a great day and an even greater year!

UPDATE ON BILL'S NEUROMODULATION THERAPY

Bill is still getting used to the sensation that the stimulation uses to replace his pain. We have had to meet with the company's rep a couple of times to readjust the settings. He gave us his cell phone number and said to call him whenever we needed to. He is great because he responds right away. This has made Bill very comfortable. The wire will be taken out tomorrow and the permanent one will be implanted in a week or so. Diabetics can only have the test one in for a few days and it's probably because of the opening in their back for the cable and transmitter. When the permanent one is put in the transmitter will be implanted. The doctor that will do the implant is out of the office this week and needs to have a pre-op meeting with Bill before scheduling the surgery. Hopefully, he can see him next week and schedule surgery shortly thereafter. All in all, this has made quite a difference in Bill's quality of life. For one thing, he has not had to take the Lyrica (300 mg in a.m. & 300 mg in p.m.) for his diabetic neuropathy so he doesn't sleep as much during the day or as groggy. Again I would recommend this for anyone who has chronic pain to look into this therapy and see if it is for them. I had never heard of this until now, but, understand it has been around for awhile.

Have a blessed day!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JACKEE AND MARC

Today is my 2nd daughter Jackee's birthday. Marc is my handsome grandson who was born on her birthday when she was 10. She has always claimed him as her birthday present from Sue and Otis. I won't see either one today but wish them the best day and year ever.

When I delivered Jackee the delivery pains would send me into epileptic seizures since I have epilepsy from a fall down steps and hitting my head. Medicine given to me to stop the seizures, also, stopped the contractions so I had to have a C-section. I am very proud of the woman she has become and every pain was worth it. She has given us 2 beautiful grandchildren. I am, also, proud of the young man that Marc has become. I love both of you madly! I am so blessed to have a great family.

So far, so good with Bill's SCS test. I am so happy about this and naturally so is he. I will keep you informed.

Have a blessed night and sweet dreams!

HEALTH-CARE ASSOCIATED INFECTION

I received a comment on one of my blogs from a lady named Barbara. She evidently is trying to get the information and prevention out about Health-Care Associated Infection. She gave me permission to copy info from the website. However, instead of just cutting and pasting a little here, I am going to give the web address. The site is very informative and I want to thank Barbara.

It's ironic that I read it today because today Bill had a Spinal Cord Stimulation procedure done. Chris took us in their truck because our little car is not comfortable for Bill to ride in. She and Dennis are always there for us if we need them. The procedure he had done is a test run to see if it will help with his chronic pain. We have talked to so many people about it that we are sure it is going to work.It's a lot technical for me to explain here but they threaded a wire up by his spine. There is a cord attached to a "pacemaker" like box that is on the outside. He has a remote control to use with it. After a few days it will be removed. He will then have a permanent one put in and the box will be implanted in his lower area. This isn't very technical so if anyone is interested in finding more info for themselves or someone else in chronic pain I'll give the websites. Bill had a Medronic one put in. It is called Neurostimulation Therapy. The website is

TameThePain.com

Another is from St. Jude medical and their site

poweroveryourpain.com

I will for sure be back to give you the results!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SUE!

Today is my oldest daughter's, Sue, birthday. -- years ago today at this time I was on the way to the hospital to deliver her. She has been worth every labor pain I experienced and I would not trade it for anything in this world. I love you, honey, and am so proud of the strong woman and great mother you are. Thank you for such great beautiful grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Well, I guess I shoul thank Otis, too, for his part in your lovely offspring. Have a fantastic day and even greater year. Love you!

DELAYED ROCKETTES REVIEW

I just realized that I promised to tell how the show was and I didn't. I am so very sorry for that. It was a beautiful show which I loved seeing. The settings and costumes were great. And, of course, the dancing was spectacular. If you ever have a chance to see them, do not miss it! Thank you, Chris, for the ticket. Another very good friend of ours, Debbie, drove and we all had a great time.

HEALTH INSURANCE

I am sorry I haven't been on here for awhile, but, my world has been topsy-turvy as usual. However, I just felt compelled to comment on something that I just heard on Good Morning America. Some health care insurance companies are raising their premiums by quite a percentage. One shown was Anthem Blue Cross and was showing a 39 percent increase. While listening to the report the awful thing that hit me was that healthy people are cancelling their insurance to save money! My greatest tip ever is this - IF YOU CAN AFFORD INSURANCE, HAVE IT!!! You might be healthy now, but, any health problem can hit at anytime. I had a healthy nephew in his 20's who developed an awful case of shingles. Right now I have another healthy nephew whose one lung collapsed last week and had to go to the ER. My point is simply this - you might feel healthy, think you are healthy, but some ugly little thing could be developing in your body. My husband, Bill, was always healthy. Then in 2004 he was hit with strokes and we were lucky we carry insurance. He was in his 60's at the time but friends of ours had a healthy son in his 30's have a stroke the year before and he died. Several of my family members were struck with cancer and they thought they were healthy.

Now for the good side of life. My brother, Andy, came from AZ to visit with us for a couple of weeks because he wanted to spend time with Bill at home and not in a hospital or rehab center. It was a great two weeks that went by too, too fast. He did have to spend an extra 2 days because the airports got snowed in. Down South, of all places. Of course, our brother, Ricky, our sister-in-law, Annie, our sister, Marcy, our nephew, Demetrius & our niece, Rikki, were here as often as they could since we all live in the same town. Our nephew, Phil, and his family came from Atlanta and our niece, Tamika, and her family, our sister, Roxy, her son, Jaritte, and my daughter Sue came from Summerville. It was so great to have us all altogher where it was not us getting together for an illness or death. He met my granddaughter's and our niece's respective boyfriends and gave them his okay after his meeting and surreptiously observing them. They passed and he invited them over for pizza and wings which was fun. He helped a lot of things with Bill and I mentally & physically and he is truly missed. Always check his blog or his Ning Network for some informative and insightful info.

I am so blessed to have some awesome siblings. I attribute it to the fact that we had awesome parents. I had 4 brothers and 3 sisters. Sadly, 2 brothers and 1 sister have passed. Except for Andy, the ones of us left live either in the same town or 2 hours apart. Ricky and Annie live here and are so helpful with Bill. They come over to take him to his therapy which he has twice a week when they can. Then they spend time here to help keep his spirits up. And to get a break from me. LOL. Marcy is a CNA and I can call her anytime for help. Plus she comes over when she can. Demetrius is coming over to do our yardwork. Again I say I am blessed with a wonderful family.

I am going to end now, but, must please ask for prayers for my sister-in-law, Annie, and Rick and her family because I just heard from her that one of her sisters passed.

Have a blessed and wonderful week. Stay warm and keep that health care insurance.

AIRLINE TRAVEL

Here's a tip for those who will be traveling by air and run into problems. This is from my knowledge as a Customer Service Agent for an airline. I am now retired, but, I worked in reservations for several year and my final years were working at the ticket counter and at the gate. Keep in mind that the agent in front of you is not responsible for acts of God or if a plane is delayed or cancelled due to maintenance or some other problem. They hate it when that happens. All they want is to get everyone on the planes and have no hassles. When they give you information on delays or whatever, they are giving you the information that has been given to them. They are not making it up! When they have to handle these inconveniences they do their very best to try to get everyone handled and to their destination. They will be less likely to go that extra mile for someone who is rude and in their face. The best thing to do is keep your anger to yourself and let the agent do their job. It will go much faster and better for you. I have had a passenger throw his credit card at me because he had to pay a fee. When he came to the counter he was late for his flight and the rules were to be rebooked for the fare he was on there was a fee to be paid. There was no standby on that fare. When he came up to the counter he had an attitude. And it definitely wasn't my fault he missed the flight! I could have waived the fee but since he was so rude to me to begin with I told him the fee he had to pay for him and his wife. He tried to get me to waive it and I told him I had to follow the rules. He threw his card at me and I threw it back at him and told him not to be throwing anything at me. He then put the card back on the counter and I charged him the fee. If he would have been nice in the beginning I would have waived the fee. I have traveled both on the airline I worked with and others and have heard the same thing from other agents. If a customer is rude, they don't work as hard to help them as they could. Now this might not be all agents, but, you just might get the agent that this applies to. The thing to do is let the agent help you. Then get the address for the C.E.O. or president of the airline. Send them a certified letter of what problems you encountered and how dissatisfied you were. Do this for anything but an act of God. That they can't help you with. Whenever I have a complaint I never go to the customer service of a company. I send a certified letter to the head of the company. I learned this years ago. I have done it and had great success at getting my issues resolved this way.

Now have a great trip and a great holiday season! All of you in those snow areas, be safe.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

I feel I can say those words and not offend anyone. I find that there our others who are looking for trouble in any words a person says.

Please be safe, happy, and good health to all.............ALWAYS!

ROCKETTES CHRISTMAS SPECTACULAR

Tomorrow Chris and I will really be starting our holiday season. She has bought tickets for us to see the Rockettes Christmas show. It will sure be a fun filled beautiful afternoon! Today we worked at our church's resale shop for our monthly sale. We had a pretty good showing of people to come through. My brother and sister-in-law helped out, too.

Here's a tip for your leftover turkey. When I came home I put the turkey that was left into a big pot, bones and all, and let that boil for a good while in water and chicken broth. I, also, cut up an onion and some garlic cloves and dropped that in. When the meat was falling off of the bones I took the bones out of the pot and took all of the meat off. I then put the meat back in the pot with a bag of mixed vegetables and a bag of cut okra and spices. Fresh rosemary from my plant outside gave it a good flavor. Put in whatever seasonings you like to your taste. It's really good on a nice cold day like today.

Have a great evening! I'll be back tomorrow or the next day to tell about the Rockettes.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We had a great one and great food. It is great having a large family and having them be here together for a happy occasion. We had four turkeys = 2 fried and 2 roasted with 2 different stuffings. There was plenty family and plenty food. We will be doing our annual trek to the Chitlin' Strut in Salley SC. This year there will be a chitlin' eating contest handled by the World League of Champion Eaters. I believe that is the correct name. The World Champion eater will be in the contest plus three other ranking competition eaters. My nephew, Demetrius, is also going to be in the contest so we will all be there cheering him on.

Bill is still recuperating from his surgery and having a lot of pain. I will be so glad when he is through all of this. I will, also, be glad when Chris is back in town because I sure miss her being here.

Check out my brother Andy's blog. Especially check out the 5 postings entitled Why I Am A God-Fearing, Gun-Toten, Conservative-Capitalist, American Patriot! If you feel so inclined, leave a comment on his blog for these.

Have a great weekend!

Happy Thanksgiving

Hi All
It's been a long time since I have been on the blog. I just want to wish good life and better days to come for all.
Have a Blessed Thanksgiving and a safe one. I am off to see family and will return on the 1st. I know that Jackie will keep you all informed on the doings the next couple of weeks.
She is a real friend and has a lot on her mind these days. Please pray that all our families, may they have good health and peace of mind.

THANKSGIVING IS ALMOST HERE!

I can't believe Thanksgiving is next week already! We will have the family that can make it here for dinner and I am looking forward to it. Bill had shoulder surgery a week ago, but, he said it would be okay to still have the dinner here. He had to have surgery because last month he fell as we were going into the building for our bible study group. He blacked out for a second and fell off of the stoop. In doing so, he chipped a bone in his shoulder and messed up his rotator cuff. Thank God, he didn't mess up his back surgery that he had done in April. He is pretty sore, but, surviving as he calls it. Dominique and I try to make him as comfortable as possible.

Here's a little tip that I got from my sister-in-law, Annie. Get some tamarind seasoning or soup mix which is a powder. Sprinkle it on chicken with some other seasonings like garlic or onion powder. Bake it in the oven and save yourself some calories by baking instead of frying. It is delicious. I, also, like to line my grill with aluminum foil that has been oiled & then grill the chicken on that. Delicious!

Well, I have to go get ready to take Bill to his therapy session. Have a great day!

HAPPY 17TH BIRTHDAY, DOMINIQUE!

Today is Dominique's 17th birthday & she is out with Marcy getting their hair done. That was a birthday present from Marcy. Chris took Dominique & I to the nail salon on Friday to get a mani/pedi for D's birthday. She is getting all prettied up! We are going to give her money because her taste in clothes & mine, of course, don't match. We have been celebrating since Bill's birthday last week. We had cake & ice cream on his day. Then this weekend we did a combined birthday dinner for him and D, cake & ice cream & all. Today we will have cake & ice cream again after D gets off from work. I will pick up Charlotte, another granddaughter, from her bus stop today so she can be here when D gets off work. Her, Caroline (her mom), & her brother, Maxwell, came Saturday to celebrate with us. We had a good time. The thing was that it was all impromptu because I wasn't sure what I was going to do plus I had been sick. I ended up being sick that day with sore gums; but, my granddaughter, Tamisha, helped with that by buying me a bottle of Tequila to gargle around the sore gums. It was great having Quentin & Misty with their 2 little ones, Jasmine & Quentin, Jr., our great-grandchildren. Otis & Sue came & it is always great when we are together. Pops & his 2 gorgeous twins, Sasha & Simone, were already here. Those 2 little ones are so funny and sweet. Annie & Ricky have been fighting the flu so they couldn't come & we missed them. Demetrius moved to SC from CA earlier in the week & I am so glad about that. It was so good having him here, too, for it. Being that it was so spur of the moment planning, it's surprising that so many were here. Tamika & her kids couldn't make it because she's had a migraine for several days. Tony was working, but, told D he would be here this week. I still haven't totally cleaned my house yet. My floors need steamed! But, we had a great time. I so love having a large family. It gets overwhelming for Bill, though. It always has, but, a little more now that he has been sick. But, he still enjoys everybody. He really enjoyed himself Saturday with Otis! Just wait until Thanksgiving when the house is full!!

Well, I better go get dressed & try to get some cleaning done. Have a great week!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BILL!

Today is Bill's big day. I can't believe it's been 5 1/2 years since he had his first stroke. We will have cake and ice cream after Dominique comes home from work tonight. I have been in bed all day because I feel like another cold is coming on. My nephew and his 2 little daughter's are visiting for a few days and I don't want them to catch whatever it is I have, if I have something. Now I am going back to rest. Stay healthy and have a great week!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DADDY!

My sweet father would have been 85 today but we lost him on one of my brother's (Brother) birthday on July 28, 1988. Sadly, we lost Brother a few years later. Our dad was the best father anyone could have ever wished for. He was such a good father and great inspiration that each of my 4 brothers were blessed with his great qualities so he lives on in the 2 brothers that I have left! I love you, Daddy, and will always miss you.

SWINE FLU

That dreaded menace is certainly making it's rounds and has hit our family twice that we know of. My neice, Marissa, caught it when she flew back to the U.S. from a college semester in the Netherlands. Luckily, she is now doing great. Today the 11-year old daughter of my niece, Elisa, sat over 3 hours in the E.R. where she was finally told that she has the swine flu and a strep throat. They kept her until her fever started going down and then sent her home so she is going to be okay. My intent is to tell everyone not to take any chances if you think you might be coming down with the flu. I was in bed for over a week, but, didn't have the body pain, aches and fever. I just had the congestion, coughing, headache and just blah feeling and just felt completely wiped out. During that time I did have to take Dominique to the doctor because she wasn't feeling good and was getting an awful sore throat. Thank God she was only getting a strep throat and is fine now. I have been keeping 2 of my little grandchildren for several days now because their mom, my ex-daughter-in-law, has been down with an awful cold. Thank God, again, no swine flu. I have to get my granddaughter, Charlotte, to her bus stop by 6:30am but I feel it's worth it so Caroline can get herself back on the road to health. She works so hard that she has just worn herself down. I am glad to be able to help by keeping Charlotte and Max for her for a few days so she can totally relax. That's just another case showing that even if it's not the swine flu, something is out there knocking a lot of us for a loop. Try getting more rest, consuming Vitamin C and generally just try to keep yourself healthy and your immune system up. Stay well everyone! Now I have to go to bed so I can get up at 5:45a.m to get Charlotte to her bus stop. I cut it pretty close this morning and almost had to take her all the way to school.

CHEF BROTHER LUCK

One more thing and I promise I will not post another thing today. I have to get some work done while I am up to it. Anyhow, to check out a great interesting blog, check out my nephew's blog. He has amazing pictures and recipe ideas there. Just click on the link on our blog and it will take you right to him. Enjoy. I always get such a kick checking out his site.

Now I am really gone for the day!