HI GALS ~ :wave:

I hope you are all having a great start to your week-end. Angie and I just got back, from our Saturday morning walk to Starbucks, with the girls. They love it and what a nice way to get 3.5 miles in with your wife. It is a beautiful morning here. I thank :angel: God and our TROOPS for this wonderful opportunity I have to do this.

Angie has bell practice this morning, then later she is helping to :chef: cook and serve at church for a Lutheran Women's League function. I will just have to suffer here and watch football! ;)

I will be taking the knucklehead nephew out for some driving lessons this morning...always :fr:

Work has been slow for me again, nothing to worry about....just yet....doesn't sound good for the nation, we do have work coming up, so that is good. My brother and I have been working on my niece's condo....it needs a lot of help....we are almost ready to move her in. I don't have any idea how she and her husband can afford it...I am pretty sure my sister and brother in law will end up moving in with her, as soon as they get back here from Illinois.

I thank you all for your prayers. Not much has changed, as far as we know, on Jeff and Scotty this week. I am doing fine with the loss of my mom. I think of her often but always in ways that are beneficial for my health! I know where she is, I know that it is normal to miss her and I know that she doesn't want me to be :( sad....so...as always....I do what my mother says! ;) I made "her" goulash this week in her memory for the nephew and I, Angie isn't a big fan of it so I made it the night she had BUNKO....my brother and I have had it at work all week....I just gotta learn how to cook for 2-3 instead of 6!! Now that 3 are gone!! :)

Angie and I are going to a play tomorrow....The Jersey Boys...should be fun.

RENNIE ~ I love the No Bark :jeno: story. Right now the doors and windows are open...it is a glorious day here in southern California, a lot of folks are out walking with their dogs, so my girls just have to visit (bark) with all of them!

LAURIE ~Great job on the replacement of candy with :angel: praise songs! Awesome!

WILMA ~How is the new exercise room working out so far? As I said my weight is maintaining...I am still hoping to get 2 more down....but as long as I don't gain I will be happy...for now...;)

ROSEBUD ~Prayers for your husbands shoulder....ouch! :( At least he has you to take care of him and give him :hug: Glad to hear your weather was nice for you...I hope it still is!

KAREN ~Love the poem! Thank you for always remembering me in your e-mails and posts! It means a lot to me. I hope this finds not only you, your family, but also your sis and father doing well. Here is another :angel: PRAYER for the sale of the home! There are a ton of them around here for sale.....the condo above my niece's just was lowered to $40 thousand under what she paid for hers a few months ago...she is not happy :(

BARBARA ~Welcome and :angel: prayers for your shoulder! I hope you were able to get some information to help from the MRI yesterday.

AUNT SUE ~I hope you enjoy your loooong week-end with your family and niece! Thanks as always for the prayers and again, prayers for Jim.

CAROL ~How are all those puppies doing? I can't even imagine...glad you have all that land!!

HAVE A GREAT WEEK-END WITH YOUR FAMILIES GALS!

WORSHIP HIM WHEN AND WHEREVER YOU CAN!

Thanks for all your prayers, had the MRI yesterday, it was OK I have a bit of fear about being in enclosed spaces, but I just spent the time during the MRI praying and I felt very peaceful. I won't know the results for a few days. Thanks all for your prayers.

OH RENNIE...there are PLENTY of chores around here that need done...wink....I'm just a little feeling faint Ang'......

Barbara ~ I know what you mean about the MRI's...no problem here for the tight space...but just as soon as they say "Be still"...I have a zillion places I need to scratch!!

:wave: HELLO EVERYONE ~ We had a lovely sunny day yesterday, so we went shopping and spent some time in town just enjoying the weather. DH had a physio-therapy session, and things went well for him; the therapist told him that he has to use the arm or he will lose all his mobility in it. I took advantage of the beautiful day and went for a couple of walks to get my exercise in ...

On Wednesday, DH and I had our weekly HOE-DOWN; we may up them to twice a week to see if that helps me (probably Saturday night). The adrenaline helps me to sleep without any pain in my legs, which can wake me up or stop me from relaxing enuff to go to sleep in the first place. I could feel the adrenaline in my body and could have danced and played my instruments for hours, but we decided to stop at midnight.

We are doing this as an aerobic type of exercise for me; if I am careful not to overdo it, I can mix up the dances with playing the instruments. Now, these are just things like cha-chas, tambourines, clackers, spoons, and such, but it is so much fun.

DH and I always comment how we wish they had those old-fashioned HOE-DOWNS here. In days gone by, they used to have HOE-DOWNS in barns on Saturday nights and the price was nominal, if not free; they would usually just charge for refreshments and food that was made by the women attending. Boy, those were the days, eh???

GARDEN UPDATE ~ On Thursday, we gleaned up our garden; picked the rest of the tomatoes, summer turnips, and onions; it took me all the rest of that day to clean and process them into containers and storage. We are leaving the carrots in til the end of October as they are still too small; maybe by then we can get some decent four-inchers plus a few baggies of baby carrots.

It's very rainy here today; I put up some more small baskets on our garden fence for the birdies; DH took a board and nailed it (using his good arm) to a pole at the end of our deck, so the birdies have what is called a platform feeder. It's a bit big, but they will love that; and it's so close by that I can go out and put the seed in it myself for the winter.

Well, that's all that's going on here right now; so I hope everyone is feeling well and having a great weekend. Take good care of yourselves ~ your fellow encourager :hug: ROSEBUD :hug: ^PRAYERS^ are going up for YOU and YOURS ...

Well, she had to do part of it over as she said I moved..I had to go along with her seeing as how I was trapped. Rennie what happened to your shoulder?

Rennie, I had a frozen shoulder too. Very painful to go through therapy. I did 3 months with the therapist as well, then DH did the routine with me after that. It was incredibly hard. I had to instruct him to keep pushing even if I screamed, cried, begged him not to. I wouldn't want to go through it ever again!!!! I'm back to about 95% for most motion. I've noticed that when I do some yoga moves, it is considerably less than that, but I am satisfied. The Dr. explained that I had so much scar tissue that just isn't flexible - it will not stretch. The only other alternative is surgery - which I am not crazy about. I think I will just keep modifying my yoga routines - LOL I hope you have fun at the zoo tomorrow. Take lots of pictures and share some with us!!!!

Gary, I will keep you and Jeff and Scotty in prayer. Losing a parent is tough - both DH and I have lost our Dad's. It continues to be difficult at unexpected times and in unexpected places. Prayers ascending!!! Enjoy the play with Angie tomorrow!

Carol, thank you! I love your siggy!

Barbara - prayers for you and your MRI results as well! Waiting can be so hard - I hate it. I am so impatient and try not to imagine the worst.

Rosebud - a hoedown sounds like so much fun. I've never been to one - but hearing you describe it - I want to!

I hope everyone has a blessed Sunday! Enjoy the Lord's day :)

Rennie , I fell and broke my shoulder, I have very little use of that arm , I can't touch the top of my head as an example. Do I know about the pain? I slept in my clothes for the first couple of months, it was so painful to get in and out of clothes,it is better though, I don't scream now ,I only groan when trying to get in and out of clothes.I am doing physical therapy so I think that is helping but doctor is doubtful the physical therapist is more optimistic.So we'll see what the MRI says.

Thank you all for your prayers , don't mean to be a whiner. I am greatful it was my shoulder and not my hip and equally greatful it was my left shoulder as I am right handed. The funny thing about is I fell in CHURCH ! Yes, I still go to church.

BARGOO ~ that's funny and sad, all at the same time (fell in church and broke your shoulder). No, it wasn't funny that you broke your shoulder; I mean that it happened in church, of all places!

We certainly understand what you ladies went/are going thru. I help DH take off his t-shirts; which I just stopped wearing when I hurt my shoulders. Getting dressed and undressed has to be the most painful thing do when you have a bad shoulder. I had therapy too and I found that it really helped, esp the heat therapy. They used an infrared laser heater thing; kinda looked like something out of the future, but it worked great!

HOWEVER, hated the ice therapy; did that once and said NEVER AGAIN; as that just caused me MORE pain. The therapist apologized profusely; and I don't think that they ever used that method again ~ lol! But in time, it finally healed well enuff to use it again (at first, I couldn't use my arm at all; they called that a SLEEPING SHOULDER). I can't throw a baseball with that arm anymore, but I can do most other things a little bit, as long as I don't overdo it (repetitive things are out).

The therapist told DH that he cannot do any of those heavy and/or repetitive motions that re-injured him (lifting large cement blocks, shoveling gravel, and lifting heavy objects). You can warn them ahead, but it doesn't do any good; DH says he has finally learned his lesson. Yah, until all the pain goes away ... huh-huh ...

BARGOO ~ DH's therapist is getting him to move his arm in gentle, small motions to keep it mobile; he said in time, it will get better. My therapist said and I quote "If it's not better in 10 years, it never will be!" Well, it is better, just not back to original; but hey, I am just grateful for what I can do now! DH is missing part of his shoulder bone and lost some muscle, so he has limited range as well. But since you broke the shoulder and with possible ligament or muscle damage, that may take longer to heal, as it did with DH. Will pray for your shoulder; and I sincerely hope that you see some improvement, and get some relief soon!

We had a lovely sunny day; and friends dropped over after lunch for a quick game of EXTREME CHASE (marble and card board game); that was fun. We had a nice, lean roast beef dinner with veggies from the garden and a light, fruit crisp for dessert. Did well on my plan today. We have a busy week coming up; therapy and eye glass appointments, trip out of town, etc.

Well, I hope that everyone else is well; have a great week, your fellow encourager :hug: ROSEBUD :hug: ^PRAYERS^ for YOU and YOURS ...

I just wanted to say Hi

Angie and I had a great time at the Jersey Boys play today. There is a lot of "story" about Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons...including Joe Pesci....a wonderful and fun show!

Hello Everyone, Just wanted to pop in and say Hello!! We have had a very cold day here today! Our high temperature was 25 degrees! And we woke up to about 5 inches of snow on the ground! It was blowing and snowing most of the day. Tomorrow is supposed to be nicer though!

Gary ~ I've been intending to tell you that I think your "Golden Girls" Are just Beautiful!! They look like they are just as spoiled as Ginger and Sissy are!

Have a good evening everyone and I'll try to catch up with posts tomorrow! My thoughts and prayers are with all of you.

Oh, I remember the MRI. I was scared since I had heard so many stories. But they gave us a choice of music and gospel was one. That helped. I was in quite a bit of pain and it took about 40 min. but I did it!! ha! The puppies are getting out of their pen now. They look so cute running around the yard. But they don't stay away from their moms too long. Karen, my kids love snow and their big event is to go skiing in Colo. every year. They'll all be glad to hear about your snow. We used to get a lot of snow here in WI but seems lately not as much.

Asking for PRAYERS for our San Diego county. Right now 250,000 people have been evaquated from the fires. My son and daughter in law and my ex-wife's sister have been too...they are headed to my house. My neighbor has about 15 family already with him....the neighborhood is gonna rock tonight!