HELLO LADIES ~ we had a lovely fall spring day today; cool and sunny all day. I just love fall days like this; I was able to go for a little walk to check my garden and feed GOD's little friends, our birdies, that come by. Will have to woo them to come along with us wherever we go ~ lol; I'm sure they'll find us with a little help from above.

HEY PURPLE ~ guess it's just you and me for a while, as MEOWEE and VALDINE are both on trips this weekend. Sounds like VAL is taking a much deserved holiday before starting her new position; don't blame her.

Congrats on winning the games last night; I like those prizes esp with meat costing so much these days. Those prizes are quite practical. Good idea to cook up meals ahead; I am doing the same now too. Many times, I do at least two meals at once; that saves times, money, and electricity too.

I also really enjoyed watching the Olympics this time round; good clean fun and every thing seemed to go pretty smoothly without much scandal; it was nice to see how hard CHINA worked to put on a good games and I think they succeeded at that. I hope we can do at least as well for our winter games in Vancouver in 2010.

Regarding Geneologies ~ many of our family on both sides seem to have come from Ireland and England; plus a small number may be Native Indians on my Dad's side. On my mother's side, they are mostly Irish, and some may be East Indian and the connection there may have come from England and Scotland again, as I may have mentioned before. I have a cousin who has spent a lot of time on the geneology on my Father's side of the family, which we have in common.

So I got some more packing done today; did small glass trinkets from my bedroom and the like; while Dh made his trip to the dump successfully this time and he also put some stuff in storage for us today too. He is feeling much better today and I'm so glad about that; he isn't worrying so much now. May GOD bless the nice young man who helped DH unload his trailer today; he sure appreciated the help.

I also transplanted my SNAKE PLANT today as it had grown six new shoots and the older ones were dying off. I put it in a larger planter with all new soil and it looks very nice; already for the move to a new place.

Well that's all the news for now; over the next while we will be preoccupied with packing and carting to a storage place that someone has generously offered for us to use for now. Everything being in a rush the way it was, we won't have time to move it all right now.

Take good care ladies, your friend ROSEBUD

HI PURPLE ~ our day started off so wonderful; warm and sunny ... just peachy. Later in the afternoon a small storm with big winds came by and knocked over one of our cupboards (like a large wardrobe) so DH put it in our trailer to take to storage; the damage was only on the back and small so DH will be able to mend it as he is handy with wood stuff that way.

I did a lot today and now I'm exhausted; I did some dying of linens and things. Don't know if you have ever done that; I learned it in a 4-H class I took when I was young becuz I was so bored living on a farm at the time (all work and no play). This is my second batch (did one last week too), so I'm all done now: today I did few more towels and mostly underthings and they all turned out great. The last batch I did was towels and I did them a lovely medium old country green, and that gave them new life. Today I did lilac, plum purple, and plum pink; it was a nice mix and they look lovely.

I also made some fruit bran muffins with blueberries for DH; and we packed some more boxes tonight for awhile. Now I'm on strike becuz I told DH that is not how I plan to spend all my Friday nights, which are supposed to be for fun: I want Friday Fun ... lol!

Well, becuz of the weather, we will go in town to pick up some more boxes tomorrow instead; DH didn't want to go when it was raining and very windy like that. I'm afraid he has been very stressed out with this moving thing and you are so right what you said. It's one thing to move when you want to and you know where you are going, and when, and why; but this was not very nice to put us in such a pinch two months before our winter.

We do have a couple of places lined up, but there are still many details that have to be looked into and we are still waiting for people to get back to us so we can know what we are doing. We have not moved in over 16 years and the cost of places has climbed astronomically in that time; so much so, that many landlords don't even want to tell us how much the utilities are going to cost us (i.e. the heat and the hydro), so we can't take a place until we know whether we can afford to stay there or not. Maybe they are afraid to scare us off; but like many people today, we have a limited income to spend on housing so we have to know approximately what those costs are going to be.

DH doesn't want to move into a place and then have to move because we can't pay the heat. We have a good credit rating and I don't want that ruined either. So we have to be a bit cautious before making our final decision. Our neighbours have been fortunate to find a place already, but they have six adults sharing the costs, and we don't.

But I know that we have a place one way or another; we have been offered two places that we know we can go to no matter what. We have two that are supposed to get back to us: one next week and one the first week of October, but that delays us somewhat. So we are packing and getting everything ready as much as we can.

Dh was still stressing a bit again today; but I hope that once we have a place secured for sure, that he will relax a bit. It is hard when you are alone and don't have relatives around that can help you or a big family like our neighbours have. Gee, small families suck ... lol! Oops ... sorry, just expressin' some thoughts there. Well, our problem is that our family is spread out far and wide; but it is large by some standards.

ANYHOW, maybe we can find some more ANGELS around to come and help us; some $$$ incentives might help a bit too. LOL. DH is our worry-wart, but I get concerned that he is trying to take too much on himself; and he has to learn how to let go of his hurt feelings too.

BUT WE SHALL SURVIVE WITH GOD ON OUR SIDE!!! When we get some more details, I will pass them on. I hope you have a lovely Friday evening and I am going to enjoy the rest of mine too; gonna put my feet up with a puzzle and a hot drink, I think.

Take good care ladies, your friend ROSEBUD

Sorry I haven't been on lately. There are too many posts for me to go quickly through and comment on everyone, and with my memory so completely shot...I can't remember what I was going to say, much less what everyone else said. So, sorry...going to be selfish and just post an update since I saw the neuro yesterday and am still absorbing all that. Plus, the weather has changed so my arthritis is acting up and I'm just thinking "hot bath" I'm packing like mad and will have to keep doing so. I've got to clean my sensor on my camera for one thing, clear my memory cards, all sorts of stuff that I wouldn't do before a normal vacation and have me sure I'll forget something horrible. Last time we went to the beach for 2 nights I forgot my seizure meds and had to get an emergency Rx called in to the pharmacy there. Oh, and I've forgotten PJ's, my toothbrush, all sorts of things. I have to be an obsessive list maker/checker when it is a vacation for more than a day.

My neuro has put me on another medication to take WITH the one I was already on (and at the max dose), plus gave me another one to take if I have seizures. She said it is very likely that the trip will trigger them unfortunately...I leave on the 25th and do NOT plan to cancel the trip. I haven't been to England since '94, and haven't really been away from the boys since my oldest was born in May of '01.

The possible side effects of one of the meds I'm taking now are rather scary. True, it is very likely I won't get them, but except for multi-vitamins, Ibuprofen, and a couple anti-biotics I have yet to react to drugs in the "normal" way. I reacted so strongly to the supplemental med she tried me on last at the LOWEST dose it was possible for her to give me. She had told me I probably wouldn't even notice I was taking it. I can't take antihystamines because I have the opposite reaction from what most people get, and so severely it is dangerous to me. I have PVC's and if I take antihystamines my heart starts racing at dangerous levels, I'll often end up with one pupil dialated, I'm dead on my feet, but it is like I have full body restless leg syndrome. I was in Jr. High and my mom found me walking in a daze up and down the stairs shaking, my heart hurting, and I wasn't doing well. I have had multiple doctors say "it did what?" when I've told them my reaction to different drugs. Heck, with my first seizure medication the neuro (NOT the one I have now thankfully) was absolutely fascinated with the fact that I stopped eating and gained 50 pounds in one month...he wanted me to stay on it because it was such an abnormally severe reaction!

Anyway...though they are scary, some of the side effects are rather interesting and it amazes me that a drug can actually manage to do so many different things in different people.

Coarsening of the facial features, enlargement of the lips, gingival hyperplasia, hypertrichosis, thrombocytopenia, leukopenia, granulocytopenia, agranulocytosis, and pancytopenia with or without bone marrow suppression, Lymphadenopathy including benign lymph node hyperplasia, pseudolymphoma, lymphoma, and Hodgkins's Disease, Systemic lupus erythematosus, periarteritis nodosa, toxic hepatitis, liver damage, and immunoglobulin abnormalities may occur.

Joy. Umm...I had to google quite a few of those words. Just to give you an idea about one of them though...it is also known as "werewolf syndrome!" aaaoooooo! hey...full moon a few days ago, I missed it!

Ooh...and Sunday "So You Think You Can Dance" will be in town. I am SOOO bummed because I probably won't be able to even say hi to my cousin (Katee Shean if you watched the show...we look NOTHING alike...my aunt is Japanese and Katee looks very much like her mom, not the pasty white side of the family) after the show because of how chaotic it will be and they aren't allowed to tell people where they will be. They are traveling under assumed names even...it is that bad. Aaah well, at least I'll get to see her dance in person. She was the flower girl at my wedding.

Purple -

Thanks, I was just checking in one more time before I ban myself from the computer.

Hehe...I'm married to the computer "nerd" of the family so our stuff generally works and then we get calls about "can Pete come fix ___?" I used to do computer technical support, but now I leave it all up to him.

I'm in Oregon...our weather is very much like in the UK. We have a saying...Oregonians don't tan, they rust. Hehe...yeah, the last time I forgot my PJ's I had to sleep in jean capris and a t-shirt. If it had just been me I'd relive my university days and wander around in simply a t-shirt and undies, but didn't feel like it since the house had several people in it, and I jiggle a lot more than I did in university. Not terribly comfortable.

It is just me, and I'm going to be staying with 3 different families that I've met on the photography board I'm an administrator on. Sounds insane, but the majority of the people on the board have met the majority of the rest of them...they all know each other and I'll be perfectly safe. It is purely for me to get photography done. I haven't touched my camera much in the last year and I want to get out of this rut and get back to it. I'm starting out in S. England, going up to Sunderland and the lake district, then heading down to the peak district and then back to Oregon. It cracks me up...we're going to visit Portland. I grew up in Portland Oregon and was glad to leave because of the drugs and gunfire in my neighborhood.

Aaah...trigeminial neuralgia...I occasionally have what the doctors haven't decided if it is an ictal headache or a cluster headache. Both of which I've heard called "suicide headache". Mine have gotten better with the seizure meds, so I think it probably was ictal headaches I was having though I never noticed them happening around my seizures...I wasn't paying much attention just trying to survive through them. To me though, trigeminial neuralgia sounds even worse.

I'm so glad that your neuro lets you take care of it and trusts you. My regular doctor is like that. Trusts me and knows that I'd rather not take medication if I don't absolutely have to. Like with my youngest...he's told me I don't need to take him to the ER again and just call the office when he starts showing signs of croup and he'll call some steroids in for us if we need rather than us having to wait till it gets to hospital admitting levels. Last time his O2 stats were in the 80's at the ER and he almost had to spend the night. Does your medication seem to generally work for you? How are you coping?

Katee is fantastic. She was the top girl from the show this year (of course, we think she should have won) and is doing WAAAY more dances than any of the others during the tour. I'm worried for her, hope she doesn't injure herself seriously. One of the first dances she ever had with Josh, he dropped her on her head (not in the filmed version thankfully).



Rosebud -

I'm glad you are looking into the utilities cost. Here, they are saying natural gas will go up 40% in November. The gas stove, furnace, and gas fireplace that were such a draw when we first moved here...not quite so much now. You are being very smart...too often people look at rent and call it good...nevermind what the rest of the place will cost them and then they can end up in a world of hurt. Glad you are thinking ahead! Good luck!

HI CHICKIES ~ we had a beautiful sunny day today; I came in early just to read your posts and now I am going to make dinner as DH just came in. I will come by later to write a longer post.

HANG IN THERE, CAFFEINE ~ I NEVER believe everything I hear or read anywhere; esp on those possible side-effects charts. It is important to be aware of them, but most people won't have any of those side effects at all. Hope you and your DH have a wonderful trip to England; make a list to remember your list ... LOL!


BE BACK LATER , your friend ROSEBUD

HI LADIES ~ I put my feet up after dinner to rest them awhile, and do a small crossword puzzle; and promptly fell asleep. I didn't wake up until now: hence, why I am posting in the middle of the night ~ LOL!

Well, we had another lovely fall-spring day today, so we went into to town to pick up some more boxes and tape, and such that we needed. It is cooler than normal this year, but the sun sure makes it a lot nicer. We got a lot of packing done this week, and next week, I want to tackle my extra dishes. I decided to rest this weekend becuz I have been very tired: trying to do too much too quickly, I think.

I guess I'm getting a lot of exercise doing all this work; I am still trying to get some short walks in each day, but I do miss the longer ones I was doing this summer. Maybe when we know where we are going, things will get sorted out again. We should have some more news about that this week.

CAFFEINE ~ oops, as I re-read your last post, I see you are taking a solo photo trip to England; hope you have a great time. Maybe you could pack your suitcase now, starting with pj's, underthings, tees, and pants. I have so many clothes that I could pack a couple of suit cases ahead and be already to go, if need be.

Sorry to hear that you also suffer from severe migraines like our PURPLE; they're certainly no fun. My SM (stepmom) suffers from them all the time, and the doctors seemed to have trouble finding the source, although they suspect they are STRESS-based.

HI PURPLE ~ glad you are having some nice sunny fall weather there. You are lucky to have so much close family near you. We have a terrible shortage of specialty housing here; they now say there is a 3-year waiting list. With the population aging the way it is, our governments, on all levels, should have looked at this problem more closely.

The problem is only going to get worse before it gets better, I'm afraid. We also have a terrible housing shortage here on top of that: not enuff places for all the people here; and with the crazy rise in fuel prices lately, in almost every area (oil, gas, and propane), this is putting people in a real bind. It is very cold here in this country (and even more so in the far North where we live), so where and how do they find AFFORDABLE housing???

As you know, our apartment complex is being closed down for that very reason: the rise in oil costs. The oil is costing more than people can recoup in rent, so more and more people are either selling their places and/or closing them down, which just makes the situation even worse.

HI TO VAL and MEOWEE!!!

ANYHOW, I hope you all have a pleasant and restful weekend; do take good care of yourselves too, your friend ROSEBUD

HI LADIES ~ we were so blessed to have another sunny fall day: it was cool but still very nice. Last night, we had one of the worst frosts I can recall: everything was covered in a white frost. We don't usually have such a hard frost as this until the middle of October. Sadly, I lost some of my flowers, but managed to save four baskets for awhile.

Spent the day catching up on emails and such; only packed one box of tupperware today (special plastic containers). We had a lovely roast chicken dinner with veggies from our garden, which I picked today.

Not too much too report today, as I spent the day doing things like reading and such. I spent some time outdoors working with my plants too, and just enjoying the lovely weather.

HEY PURPLE ~ you are fortunate to have a lot of help with housing there in England. There are some places here, but there is a terrible shortage compared to the need; and right now, none are available. Our town is also a rescue center: whenever a far-away northern town experiences floods or other natural disasters, our town takes many of the refugees (in the hundreds), so that also takes up many of the empty places.

Sometimes, as has happened here, some of these people do not return to their original towns when the crisis is over ... instead, they just stay here. Some people think this is part of the reason we have such a shortage here right now; and I think that they might be correct about that.

Oh boy, what a job: washing the dog; our NIKO doesn't like that at all. Earlier this month, on a nice, rare hot day, we took him to a nearby lake for his bath. It was apparent to us that he hasn't been swimming much in his short life. Most of the time, we just walk around the shore with him on lead and get him to chase sticks but he is so clever that he knows if he goes too far, he will get all wet. We are going to take him to a lake with a shoreline that has less of a slope next time. For the winter, it will be back to the bathtub, which he doesn't like at all!

HELLO TO VAL and MEOWEE ~ hope you ladies both had lovely trips this weekend.

HI CAFFEINE ~ hope those cluster headaches get better sometime soon. I had a headcold earlier this month that had a lot of headaches on and off; didn't enjoy that, as I don't usually get headaches much, so I can appreciate that you are looking for ways to get relief from them. I have heard from more than one source that some kinds of antidepressants can relieve migraines for some people; so maybe that is something you might want to ask your doctor about.

Well, I'm off to have some tea, put my legs up, and do a puzzle or two; so take good care ladies, your friend ROSEBUD

I am back and I definitely had a terrific weekend, but I am sooooooo tired.

Hope to get caught up opn things tomorrow . . . see you later.

HI LADIES ~ We had a lovely sunny fall day again until dinnertime when some clouds rolled in. I just heard that we are having torrential rains out there right now, so I will have to hurry up this post and get off here just in case it gets worse.

HI MEOWEE ~ glad you had a nice trip; boy, that was a short one for such a long ways away. I hope you got to enjoy yourself a bit. I'm sure you are tired if you drove all that way and back.

HI PURPLE ~ nice shots of RIZZIE; next time, we go to the lake, I'll be sure to take my digital camera and get some of NIKO there too. NIKO is young yet, so I hope he will get used to baths and showers and swimming eventually.

I'm sorry to hear you also suffer so much pain; but glad that you have found a way to help relieve it some, esp so that you can sleep. I have pain every day too; like today, I did a lot of packing of my good dishes and my feet and legs were throbbing by dinnertime. They are getting a much-needed rest while I read and post tonight.

I didn't get the calls I hoped for today; so I made some calls to no avail. Guess this is gonna be a waiting game; I have never seen things like this before. Usually people are anxious to get good tenants and get back to you right away or they already have all the info prepared ahead of time.

Why is it when we HAVE TO move, everything is going through the roof in a crazy fashion? Rents, heat, hydro, and housing prices are nuts here right now. And the reall shame is that we are seeing dozens and dozens of houses sitting empty right now and we can't get one to rent ... ugh!!!

Yah, these frosts are a month early; I trimmed up my plants yesterday and today and they look pretty good again. I am gonna keep better watch and bring them in if that thermometer goes down too low from now on.

PS ~ I get 18 medium muffins from my fruit & bran muffin recipe and put some in the freezer for later (see the recipe below).

Well, it's time for my tea and crossword puzzle; take good care ladies, your friend ROSEBUD

*** FRUIT & BRAN MUFFIN RECIPE ***

1-1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1-1/2 cups NATURAL Bran (Quaker)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar (opt)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 cup raisins
1 x large chopped apple OR 1 mashed banana
3/4 cup blueberries (last)
2 x large eggs
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/8 cup molasses
1-1/2 cups juice* or skim milk

Combine and put about 1/4-1/3 cup mix into 18 lightly greased muffin tins; and bake at 400 F for about 20 minutes. Watch if you have a hot oven.

* NOTE * for a less sweet muffin, you can omit the white sugar.

* I like to use pure apple or cranberry juice to give them more flavor and vitamin goodness. I also vary these and sometimes sub dried cranberries or almond slivers or mashed carrot or a wee bit of flax meal, etc.