Born In Burrwood

I had every intention to get on here to wish you all a Very Merry Christmas but time just got away from me. I hope you all had a Marvelous Christmas with your loved ones and that your wishes all came true! Just in case I don’t get back, Happy New Year! I hope the new year brings nothing but many blessings your way. We had a wonderful Christmas. Every year I make everyone gather around the Christmas tree for a family picture. Here’s this years… Bill loves his new chair. Here he is taking it for a test ride. The look on his face was priceless when the boys carried it in. Our oldest son has been in New York looking for work. His girlfriend lives there so he’s hoping he can find something there and hopefully be able to move. They drove home for Christmas and it was so nice to see her again. The kids really spoiled us this year. Besides helping me with the chair for Bill. They bought us gift cards for our favorite restaurants and you’ll never guess what they got for me! K

Not by the chimney but definitely with care!  We don’t have a fireplace so that’s where I hang them.  I don’t think Santa cares, do you? Would you believe that I just started shopping last Saturday?  Weekends and nights is the only time I have to do it and I don’t like going out at night anymore so that leaves the weekends for me.  I could go during the week but then I’d have to take Brody with me and I certainly don’t want to do that. Isn’t it amazing how all these insurance company’s know when you’re turning 65? I am so sick of all of them calling here. The more I talk to them the more confused I get. Thank you Carole, for the advice you’ve given me!  I sure appreciate it!  There are so many different plans with several price ranges that it makes it hard to figure out what the best one is for you. Why can’t they just have one that works for everyone? It would be so much simpler.  There are plans that will cost you zero dollars a month all the way up to outer space lol. The zero dolla

That I let you all know that I’m still alive and kicking.  Brody keeps me pretty busy.  I bet I’m up and down a million times a day at least. Did I ever tell you about the day he got a hold of a sharpie and drew on my table, the refrigerator and cupboards? I about died. I was able to get it off the table and cupboard and most of the refrigerator but I could get it all off the fridge. I don’t know why. Some of it came off but in other spots it looked like it bled right into the fridge.  I thought I had the sharpie where he couldn’t reach it but wouldn’t you know, a few days later he found it again and drew a real pretty picture on my bathroom wall. I couldn’t decide if I wanted to paint over it or frame it lol. I think I’ll paint over it. I have to take Brody to school in the morning to be tested for early childhood. I’m sure they’ll accept him as his speech isn’t the greatest. I can understand most of what he says but those who don’t know him has a hard time.  I don’t know how long a

Yesterday I opened my Google reader to find out who blogged so I could go visit. Well, stupid me I accidently hit mark all as read so they all were removed from the reading list. Now I have no idea and can’t remember who blogged darn it. I hate when I do dumb things like that. Duh , just had brainstorm. They all would be on my profile page wouldn’t they lol. I hate when I do stupid things like that and then realize all wasn’t lost. Thanksgiving is next week, are you ready?  How did that get here so fast? I’m so not ready for the Holidays yet. Christmas will be fun this year though with Brody. He’s at that perfect age where they get so excited and happy.  I hope he leaves the Christmas tree alone. He was really good last year and didn’t bother it at all. This year though he’s into things more and I’m constantly getting after him. Keep your fingers crossed for me. I have an insurance man coming today to talk about a supplemental policy. I’ll be 65 in Feb.  and will be on medicare. I

A few days ago I was reading a book while Brody was playing in the dining room with his toys. I heard him playing with his noisy truck that he turns on just to drive me crazy I think lol. Then I thought I heard someone taking the gate down that blocks off the back room to keep him out and away from the back door. I thought it was Bill coming in so I didn’t pay much attention to it. After a minute or so and that Bill hadn’t said anything to me, I got up to see what he brought home from the store. Much to my horror I realized that Bill wasn’t home and I didn’t see Brody. I ran all through the house looking for him. I looked under tables, in closets, behind chairs but I couldn’t find him anywhere. I headed for the back door thinking that he’d gone outside. I ran out calling his name and looked around the yard, I ran out to the street and looked up and down and still didn’t see him. My neighbors boy came out to go to work and I asked him to look in their backyard to see if Brody had gone o

When it happened. We were heading home after having a nice  dinner at one of our favorite places about 15 miles from home.  I was just sitting there content and full from our meal, staring out the window watching the clouds when all of a sudden Bill said “Holy Sh*t, there’s smoke pouring out of the back of the van.” I looked through the rearview mirror on my side and sure enough, there was tons of dark smoke billowing out.  I said “ I wonder if we’re on fire?” Neither one of us could smell anything like something was burning though. The Van started jerking and slowing down drastically. Bill started pulling off of the road onto the shoulder when all of a sudden the van just wouldn’t go anymore.  The road was a narrow two lane road and the shoulder was very very narrow, we were on a curve and still part way on the road so he turned on the hazard lights. I don’t know who’s brilliant idea it was to install those lights on cars but I hope he got a raise.   I told Bill that I bet we blew the

For some reason this slide show wouldn't go into the blog below. Maybe it was too long already? Who knows!

We had such a good time when we went up north a couple of weeks ago. We went back to Wildcat mountain to see the changes of the leaves. It wasn’t quite a peak yet but pretty none-the-less. Here’s before and after pictures.   It really is gorgeous country up there. The ride up was pretty too. I took lots of pics but I’ll put them in a slide show so as not to take up so much space in here. My favorite part of the trip though was when we went to a Veterans Memorial. It isn’t a war memorial, it’s a memorial to Veterans from every branch of the service and tells about what and where they served in all the wars they have been in. Bill is a Navy Veteran and was wearing his Navy hat that day. I can’t tell you how proud of him I was that day when people would come up to him, shake his hand and thank him for serving. It actually brought tears to my eyes. My favorite and most heart breaking place at the memorial was the statues of the fountain of tears. It Reminds us of the "cost of war

My laptop is sick so I'm taking her to see the doc. She stops responding and freezes up and is getting very temperamental. When I get her back I'll post pics of the trip we took over the weekend. Hope it doesn't take too long. Take and will see ya soon!

We haven’t been anywhere all summer so a couple of weeks ago and since Sis is on vacation we decided to take a day trip somewhere. The problem with that was we didn’t know where to go. Rhonda tried suggesting a few places but we’d already been to those that she mentioned. Others mentioned some places as well but we’d been to those too. Bill was looking through a mag we have and found a place we hadn’t been to yet. It was called Wildcat Mountain State Park. It was a gorgeous ride on the way up and would be really beautiful if the colors were in full bloom but it was too early for that yet. Once we got to the park there was an overlook there and I was surprised at how high we were. I don’t think of Wisconsin as having too many high elevations but we do to a certain degree. Nothing like the Rocky’s of course but pretty none the less. Here’s a picture from the overlook. Of course it doesn’t look as pretty from a picture as it does in person but take my word for it, it was very pretty. Afte

That’s how old my babies are today. When they were born my oldest was 5 and our second son was 2 1/2. They were the first twins born in our immediate family and what a ruckus they caused. I still remember the day we found out we were having twins just like it was yesterday. I came home and said to Bill..”Well, you really did it this time” The first thing out of his mouth was “Think of the groceries”  I thought that was funny. Mom and Dad were the next ones I called to tell them we where having twins and she dropped the phone and started yelling at Terry to tell her about it. There I am hanging on the phone and mom’s yelling out the door and telling the whole neighborhood about it. My grandpa was especially excited. He’d call almost everyday to see how I was feeling and after they were born they were almost the first ones there to see us. Our daughter weighed 4’ 14” and our son weighed 6’12”, big for twins I know. But even at that she had so stay in the hospital until she weighed 5 poun

It was such a gorgeous day today, too nice to be inside, so I took Brody to the playground in the park near here. He loved it and had to try everything that was there. The climbing, the swinging the sliding, he loved it all…and so did I! It was so fun watching him and that smile of his makes it all worth while. They grow up so fast so I need to savor every little morsel. I don’t know why one of the pictures in the slide show says it was deleted, it certainly wasn’t inappropriate so who knows. I went back and looked and tried to fix it but it didn’t work. Oh well, don’t sweat the small stuff huh. The weather sure is a changing around here. It’s already getting down in the lower 40’s at night. I hope this doesn’t mean winter will come fast and furious. At my age fast and furious is a bad thing. At my age we want and need things to slow down and kind of meander a bit don’t you think lol. All I know is I am NOT ready for winter. Fall on the other hand is welcome to get here and stay as

School has started and that’s a big thumbs up lol. It’s been pretty hectic around here during the summer. The kids are really enjoying having friends around to play with instead of being stuck out in the country with no neighbors around like it was when they lived in the boondocks. They sure don’t let the grass grow under their feet I can tell you that. They are either riding their bikes around the neighborhood or at a friends house. They aren’t ones to watch TV or spend much time on the computer and that’s a good thing.  Brody keeps busy too…to my dismay lol. Yesterday he poured syrup all over the kitchen floor. Someone (me) left it out on the counter within his reach lol. He’s grown so fast and I forget he can reach things better now. He’s at the age now where he wants to do everything by himself and that sometimes leads to messes. Well, except using the potty chair that is. He’ll sit there no problem but getting him to tell me when he has to go has been a problem. Fingers crossed h

I’ll start with the bad news first and get that out of the way. Toni, my sons girlfriend has been having problems with her legs. She has a LOT of pain and has days where she can hardly stand on them let alone walk. Because she doesn’t have any insurance she put off going to see a doctor for awhile but she finally went a couple of weeks ago. We along with the doctors was worried that she might have MS but all the tests they ran they determined that she doesn’t have that but they don’t know what is causing it. She even drags her foot when she walks which is a symptom of MS but they say it isn’t that. A good and bad thing that showed up on the MRI and CT scan though showed she has a brain aneurism. It’s good that they found it and they said that it’s small but it’s scary that she even has one. She now has to go to Madison and see the doctors there and find out how to treat that and find out what is causing everything. Maybe it’s that that is messing up her legs. I don’t know, I just ho

Brody thought he was pretty cool when Devan put those tattoos on him. Indeed, he does seem like a rebel sometimes. He loves it outside but he is a fast little bugger, too bad grandma isn’t. I don’t dare take him for a walk and not use the stroller. I tried that once and it was a pretty dumb idea. He started running ahead of me when we got down by the river. He took off like a shot toward the river back because he wanted to throw rocks in the river. I took off as fast as I can and got to him before he got too close but it scared the bejeezer’s out of me. So I learned my lesson. No more walks without the stroller. He might not like that idea but he will just have to deal with it unless his brother and sister are with us or his mom takes him. Bill finally bought himself a new toy. I don’t know why he didn’t buy one years ago as we have a pretty big yard to mow. The first time he mowed this year with the push mower took a lot out of him. I don’t think he’s totally back to normal after ge

It’s been a busy time around here but before I get into that I want to say how bad I feel for all who lost loved ones in the recent tornados that hit yesterday. It’s been a wild spring so far and I pray it settles down soon. Now this is what I’ve been up too… Take care of Brody of course (My most important job right now). He’s a lot of work but he’s a lot of fun at the same time. He says his name now and if you ask him he’ll tell you his name is Bwody He knows and will tell you the name of the shapes heart, circle and star. He knows the colors purple and red and blue so far but we’re working on more. Spongbob is his favorite cartoon to watch but between you and me, I’m getting a bit tired of it lol. Last week was a busy one. First we had Devans spring concert which was great. I was amazed at how good those kids sounded together. I didn’t hear one bad note during the entire program. Well, part of the program I was able to see that is, I had to take Brody out because he wanted to

Another rainy and disappointing day. Is it too much to ask to have 2 or 3 or so days of sunshine and decent temps in a row? I really am not complaining though as that would take a lot of nerve when you think about what has been going on in other states. So many storms and tornados this year and we’ve already broken the record for the month of April. Needless to say Spring has be a huge bust for the whole country from the sounds of it. It has to get better…doesn’t it? I hope you all had a wonderful Easter! Ours was delightful! All of the kids and grandkids were home and nothing is better then that. Brody was a happy little boy. The Easter Bunny brought him a Trike! He jumped right on it and put his feet on the peddles right away but hasn’t figured out you have to push to get it going. If the weather ever turns decent we’ll get him outside and show him how to do it. When and if that happens I’ll be sure to post pictures. I bought myself a gift for Easter. Well, not just for myself I gues

I haven't forgotten any of you. It's just that when I sit down to write a blog Brody will get into something and I have to get up to see what he's doing. I swear, I'm up and down a million times a day. I will say one thing, he is learning that no means no. Sometimes you have to be more stubborn then he is but sooner or later he realizes that I'm bigger and stronger then he is lol. He'll be 3 soon so he knows when he's being naughty but like most 2 year olds, they keep trying. His favorite thing is getting into the refrigerator and that drives me bananas. I do try to come around and read your posts. Thank god for Google reader as it lists them all and I can keep up with the news. I don't always leave a comment but I do catch up sooner or later.  Right now I have over 80 to read so please be patient, I'll read them all but will probably only comment on a couple. Speaking of Brody. He does make me laugh. The other day he crawled up in the computer chai

That’s what our neighbors light over her garage was doing the other night. Bill looked out the window and told me Marilyn’s light is flashing on and off. Since I was still dressed and he was in his pj’s I said I would go over and check on her. We wondered of course if she was okay so I put my shoes on and went over there. I knocked on her door and started to open it when she came to the door and I asked her if she was alright. She had been crying but she was okay. It turns out that she had been watching a movie on television and she said she always cries at movies. I told her we wondered if everything was okay because her light on the garage kept flashing but it turns out that something was wrong with the light. She was thankful for me coming over to check on her but felt silly because I caught her crying lol. I told her I was just glad she was okay and that nothing was wrong. I do wonder if the light might have shorted out eventually though and maybe cause some problems there. It’

For without it we might never have found out that Bill needed a pacemaker. I know Terry told you that he had one implanted last Monday and I thank you all for the prayers you sent. He started having fainting episodes and even though I took him to the ER each time and he even spent time in the VA hospital nothing ever showed up on all the tests they took. The second time it happened and I took him to the ER the doctor there thought that his heart was slowing or missing beats I guess you could say and he’s the one who ordered the 30 day event monitor. After he got that he still spent a few days in the VA hospital but nothing showed. They sent him home and told him to keep wearing the monitor and thank God he did. A week ago Friday he had another spell and pushed the button on the monitor. The next day the doctor called and told him that he needs to get to the hospital asap and that he needed a pacemaker. He told the doctor that he had an appointment the next Friday in Madison at the VA b

Isn’t this cute? My daughter bought herself a new laptop and Brody kept wanting to play with it so she bought him his own. She’s slowly buying things for her new place when she moves out. She also bought a set of Racheal Ray pots and pans, a set of Chicago Cutlery and a set of dishes so she’s well on her way to getting things she’ll need to set up housekeeping again.  She hopes to be out by spring. I must say having a 2 year old around the house again is both fun and frustrating. He can be pretty stubborn at times and I have to be more stubborn then he is. But on the other hand he makes the day fun for the most part and makes me smile. Having toys laying around and the mess that comes with kids was hard getting use to again though.  But it won’t be long and they’ll be gone and I will miss them for sure and the mess….for awhile! I’m very happy to report that both Bill and William are doing great. Bill did have a little dizzy spell the other day but he thinks it was because he bent

For your prayers for Bill and William. Thank God both are home and feeling well. Williams procedure was quite long, 5 hours and very nerve wracking. They were successful in doing what was needed when they were finally able to get to it. They tried to go through his thigh but because of him having so many surgeries and heart caths the veins there were narrowed with scar tissue and they couldn’t get through. Instead they went in through his shoulder and neck area. Since they were in there they decided to take the opportunity and check his other surgery sites to see how they are holding up and I’m happy to report that they said they all look great! I can’t tell you how happy I am to hear that. I hope and pray he never has to go through anything else as long as I’m still alive. We have been told that he may have to have another open heart when he’s older as the valve they repaired when he was 4 might need replacing someday. I pray it won’t be for many many years from now. Bill’s problem

My youngest son is a Steelers fan and he made a bet with a co-worker who is a Packer fan that if the Pack won the Super Bowl that he would shave his head. Well, we know how that turned out don’t we? My son, being a man of character, isn’t one who welches on a bet. They were all at our other son’s house for a Super Bowl Party so after the game was over they broke out the clippers and proceeded to shave his head. I think he looks pretty cute bald. What do you think? His girlfriend who is a die hard Packer fan was really enjoying this. He’s such a good sport and loves having fun so I’m sure he was laughing right along with the rest of them. Not only that. Because he was the only Steelers fan in the house they even gave him a special place to sit and watch the game. Wasn’t that nice of them? He also made a bet with his girlfriend and has to take her to the Red Lobster for dinner. Darn, I wish I’d made a bet with him.

William is scheduled to have the catheter ablation on the 9th, 2 days after his 19th birthday. They are going to do another sonogram on his legs first to make sure there is no scar tissue on the veins that they need to use, if there is they have to find another way to do it. I’m going to go with them of course. I just couldn’t stay home and wonder all day what’s going on. If all goes well (and it will) he’ll go in in the morning and go home late afternoon. He seems to be fine with it and says he’s not nervous but the day of he might be. I know I would be and he doesn’t remember anything from his other surgeries. Last week he had an echo-cardiogram and other tests done to see how his heart is doing from his past surgeries etc. and they said that all looks really good. I’m sure grateful for that. Even though I know he’ll be fine I’m still nervous and anxious and will be happy when it’s all over and he’s back home. Brody has been keeping me busy. He sure is a curious tyke. He likes to ge

Beth and I were talking the other day about what nice backgrounds and layouts that Scrappin'Blogs website has and how pretty they are. While looking through all the choice and categories there we saw that they had sports and football layouts BUT they didn't have the important ones. How can you have a football category and not have a Packers one or Beth's favorite teams right? Well, Beth emailed them and asked them if they could make me a Packer's one and a Wisconsin Badger's one and her Atlanta Braves layout and by golly they did. Wasn't that nice of them! It was just a few days ago that we were talking about and she emailed them asking if they could make those for us and were we ever surprised that they did it so fast. I love it, don't you? I thought that was so nice of them to make them so fast and so nice of Beth to ask them for both of us. Thanks Beth :) Do you watch American  Idol? I love that show and to be honest I was a bit worried about it now t

Way back several years ago when we got our first cell phones we got them through the union where Bill worked. It was and is a great deal as we only pay $8.00 a month per phone and only 9 cents a minute. We don’t use our phones a lot so I’ve never seen any reason to change to a different plan. The people at the phone store tells us we have a great plan every time we got to get new phones so I’m sticking with it. Our monthly bill is seldom more then $25.00 for both phones so you can see what I won’t change. If we used our phones a lot then I would probably change to plans that have unlimited minutes, texting and things like that but we don’t and those plans are usually about double for one phone then what we pay for two. Anyway… Bill wanted a new phone so about a month ago we went to the store so he could pick it out . He had internet and texting put on it as do I but it’s on a pay per use method as we don’t do that much either. The reason he wanted internet was because he wanted to do