A new house. How exciting. My only regret in building our house is we didn't make it bigger. I'm not talking more rooms ... just bigger rooms. My family kind-of grew. Went from 4 to 10 ... so now I wish I had made my living room, dining room and kitchen all larger. It's great when it's just hubby and me or us and another couple, but when we have all the kids ... and at Thanksgiving and Christmas when everybody is here - it's crowded. We've talked about going out where the deck is and making a great room with a kitchen in one end and storage underneath and then turning the kitchen into an office for the business. It could work ... maybe some day.

I'm still hurting really bad. It's so warm here. Going to be in the high 80s tomorrow. Then it's supposed to turn cold and rain by the weekend so I'm not expecting the pain to get any better.

Mima ... still working on that wedding I see. When is it anyway? I'll bet you'll be glad when that is over and you're in FL!

Yes, pets can be a pain but I sure do love my Sami! But at the same time I'm sooooooooo glad to be rid of Nika. I swear that dog was ******ed. (I never thought that was two words I'd use in the same sentence ... dog and ******ed!) Joanne ... what kind of dog do you want?

Anne ... I agree ... It would be awesome if we could all get together somewhere. I'm thinking a nice five or six bedroom cabin with a fireplace and a hot tub up in the mountains of TN ... around Pigeon Forge. We could go to the Dixie Stampede one night.

My church is in revival this week ... every night at 6:30. I'm tired!!! Ed Bruce sang for us tonight. Anybody remember him? He was on Maverick ... James Garner's Co Star, He was the sheriff on Fire Down Below ... the Steven Segal movie, He was the "Tennessean" if anybody remembers back that far, He hosted "Route 66" and played on a lot of shows like Walker Texas Ranger and other TV shows plus he wrote a lot of songs. He wrote "Mama's Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys." He got saved and is now writing Christian Music. http://edbrucemusic.com/ He sings for us from time to time. He's pretty good.

I gotta go to bed ... really tired. I think my blood is low again. Have a good Wednesday.

Nice to hear from you Meme. The wedding is Saturday and the party is Sunday. Going to get the napkins today. There is a category 5 hurricane in the Gulf and it's projected to hit FL. Maybe we won't have a house to go back to. Just kidding but I am sure everyone is worried, including Joanne. Too soon to tell. I had a nice walk with my aunt yesterday and she bought me lunch AGAIN! Today I am going to the tea room with a couple of friends. Tammy, it's confusing to know what you need in a house. I moved to a small condo and set out a buffet for 14 people and got it to work. Here we have a great room and 3 other rooms that are small. We can have big parties in there. And seat 10 if we need to. My daughter went back with her old boyfriend for 5 days but realized he hadn't changed a bit. Hope she got him out of her system. Brad's coughing is making me lose sleep. He waits too long to take the Nyquil becasue he doesn't want to take it. Bye for now. Mima

Meme- SOMETIMES, I think it would be nice to have a small dog. We don't have a fenced yard and I wouldn't leave one outside here anyhow.My hubby says no still.It would just be more work for me.They do let you know when someone is around.
Tammy- Hope you find the house you like. Ours is 2 bedroom and one bath. We always said when the kids left it would be big. Well don't count on it. I need much more room. We will be about 12 for Thanksgiving. My dining area is real small. We will have to use two tables or set out food and let them sit where they want. ..
Mima- Wilma has messed up my plans for coming week. We were going away but the time to leave is up in the air now..Have a good time at the wedding. Tell your daughter men don't change,sometimes just get worse.
Hello all...Joanne

We built our house ... I drew the plans. I made the kitchen small on purpose because I had been on crutches so much before and even in a wheel chair. I made a corner sink with the dishwasher right next to it on one side and the stove on the other side ... fridge next to the stove and then a 9 foot bar across from all that. A pantry going all the way to the ceiling next to the fridge and cabinets all under the bar and, of course all around everything else. The stairway goes behind the bar and it's open over the bar ... there's a ledge over the bar between the bar and stairway and I have my aquarium, plants and the TV there. It sounds big but it's long and narrow so I can navigate with a minimum of steps when I can't walk. I can seat 4 or 5 at the bar (it wraps around and drops down to a desk at the end) and then it opens into my dining room where I can seat 8 more. Then that opens into the living room where I can seat 8 more if we want to eat in our laps or on TV trays. I have used a card table but I don't like to ... too crowded with the kids. I have a lot of room in the basement. I have let the kids eat down there before, I have a huge room down there with a couch, love seat, table and 6 chairs, stove, fridge and TV. I just don't like having to clean up the mess. We just remodled everything 3 years ago ... put in all new flooring and those stainless steel appliances and painted everything ... I'd almost as soon as built again. What a job that was.

Joanne, you have to do like me and ask yourself just how old you will be when this dog will be getting ready to die. Most dogs live to be at least 15. That would make me 73 ... probably, at the rate I'm going now, unable to take care of an ailing dog. I really would like to have another poodle. I was thinking of trying to replace Nika with a SANE puppy that (hopefully) is not ******ed ... but when I started thinking about going through the potty training all over again and then thinking about how old I'd be when SHE started getting old & sick ... I changed my mind. They need so much care, especially at the beginning and the end. If I could get one already potty trained and calmed down and it would live about 10 or 12 years and then just die ... but what's the chances of that? I guess I'll just stick with Sami. She's trained and she loves me unconditionally. She isn't an inside dog (except in the basement when the weather is extreme) but she would lay down and die for me. She doesn't have to be penned up, just stays here on our property when whe are gone. We can leave for the weekend and just leave her here by herself. We leave her food and have one of the kids or in-laws come feed her the next day and she's still here "guarding" the place when we come back. She stays on our covered, 50' front porch. Hubby "fenced" it in for her (put up rails and a gate) and put a huge dog house on it. We only close the gate when it's pouring the rain ... she like to get out and 'play' in it! Or, sometimes, when the coyote are howling ... I lock the gate at night, I get afraid for her. She is spoiled ...

I miss Candice.

Meme- I will be 73 in March.. And you are right dogs take a lot of care.. The last one we had 14 yrs. He was blind ,incontanant, deaf and had arthritis when we had him put to sleep. I could not go through that again. Too much work.
Hello everybody Joanne

Meme, since Tim is our only child, even when he is married and has kids, this place should be big enough for gatherings. The largest room is a combination living room/dining room. Just off of it is the Florida room to the back and the kitchen to the side. Your house sounds great. Maybe we can just come to your place for a get-together!!!

Mima, I don't like taking Nyquil. When I take it, I shiver. Bob and Tim stand and watch. It's embarrassing!

Our dog will be 12 in January. Some days he seems to be hurting, but other days he's as frisky as ever. Bob really doesn't want to take him to the new house. I don't know if I can stand not to take him.

Joanne ... well, there you go then. I guess you just answered your own question. You would be between 85 and 88 when having to go through all that again with another dog. That would be really rough.

And, Tammy, I guess you just answered you own question about the house. Big enough for your family even when it grows. Boy ... am I a good counselor or what?

Meme, I live in a 1150 sq. ft. condo and I have had over 20 people here for dinner without a problem. I can only seat 12 at my table and three or 4 at the counter bar, so if we are more than that, we do a buffett. I have lots of seating area in my living room. I wouldn't mind having another bedroom, as I only have 2, but then again, it is only for a few times a year, when both my kids come and stay over, with their families.

I don't know if I told you guys, but I am going to be a grandma again-in May. It is time for a new baby, and I am quite excited. This will be my sons first biological child.

Joanne - leave the dog and enjoy your retirement. Freedom has a certain quality to it Hope that hurricane Wilma doesn't come your way.

Tammy - we built our home as well. My hubby had the plans drawn up. It was about 1750 sq. ft. and I always had a lot of room. Downsizing was the best!!!

Mima - not much longer before you leave for Florida. Glad you are home and safe right now.

Well, that's it for tonight. Catch you later.

If it wasn't for the wedding, we would be in FL right now and I sure would be worried. We have to watch and wait to leave next WEd. Life is what happens while you are making other plans. One scenario has that hurricane coming this way. But we live very far from the Cape!!We will have to make sure nothing can blow around. I hope Mike is ok first of all!! Brad says he wouldn't buy again if something happened to our house. It survived Charlie with very little damage so there is hope. One day at a time. We had a lovely lunch at the Tea Room. Pumpkin and Squash soup. tea, a scone, and apple crisp for me. I also went and got the printed napkins and they are nice. Mima

Well, it's a good thing I like my house because I'm stuck with it probably until I die! ha I have a 'lift' to go up and down to the basement and have the downstairs to slop over to when I need the extra room ... have my piano room down there when I need to get away from hubby! And he has his garage down there when he needs to get away from me! Also, we can send the kids down there to the big room with all the toys and the TV when we can't stand THEM anymore! So it works out good with 2 floors. Our house isn't huge by any means ... the rooms aren't that big at all ... I've often wished we had made them bigger.

I dread the weekend - it's supposed to get cold and rain. If I hurt any worse than I'm already hurting I think I'll just take some sleeping pills and sleep through 'till next week. Maybe that's a good idea ... the bears have it right - just hibernate through the yucky weather!

Good morning. This is ME today - I have a headache that doesn't want to leave - feels like sinus trouble to me, but could also be from my neck.

Meme - I hope you don't have too much MORE pain with the change of the weather. At least here, it is now consistently in the 40's during the day but soon, we will be into the 30's and the rest I am NOT ready to think about It is the darn humidity that causes me the most pain, NOT the cold. I actually feel pretty good when it is really cold, as far as pain goes.

Mima - I hope that storm loses some ground in the next little while. My goodness, I would be scared to death. Never been around a hurricane, and only two tornados that touched a place where people actually live. Usually, they hit out in the open fields. Never even knew we had such a thing until 20 years ago!!!!

Here's a cutie for you

Oh thanks, Anne ... I LOVE THAT! It just fits me so! I haven't snapped yet but I'm just on the verge! I was a little late mailing my Capital One payment last month ... I have it for when I want to buy something on the internet. Well, lo and behold, I noticed the dummies went up on the interest to TWENTY-SIX percent this month. Just because I forgot to mail the payment ... ONE TIME! (it's just my alzheimers - actually that's when all that was going on with my face being numb, etc.) I've had that card since 2001! I started to just cut it up but I snapped! I called them just now and told them if they didn't lower the interest rate back down I was going to cut up the card and start using my Discover card ... and they did. Boy did that make me feel better! Girl power!!!

Hey Meme, good for you. They sure aren't wanting to loose clients NOW. Those interest rates are outrageous! I pay mine every month, but I sure feel sorry for those that can't. I haven't snapped YET, but I am draggin

Anne, congrats on the grandbaby!! Loved the snapdragon!! Wow, can I relate to that!!

Meme, it is cold and rainy here today. I am so glad that I called for a sub and stayed home today. I slept most of the time. Bob was off today, so it was nice eating lunch together. Way to go on the credit card! My brother did that once, and they lowered the rate when he called them.

We're going to sit down tonight and make decisions about Tim's senior pictures. They are all so good, but we really do need to decide and get back with the photographer (even though he is my cousin). He did a great job. Not a bad one in the bunch. Craig said that Tim was an easy one to do.

I guess he's a handsome boy!! The storm is supposed to lose strength when it gets to FL-good news. Well, the bride called up last night and said her mother had bought SUNFLOWERS to put on the table. This is after we worked with a color scheme of lilac, blue and green. And Angela made centerpieces to match. Back to a redneck wedding. I must have been upset because I dreamed I was about 4 hours late for the reception and I had all the stuff. So theyw ere waiting and didn't know where I was. Don't get me wrong, I think sunflowers are beautiful but you would plan a different color scheme. What will change tomorrow?? I am getting a manicure and pedicure this morning. Bye Mima