Angelrose's Journey

[minniecarousel]

YAY! for your family dinner - it sounds like you always have a great time with your cousins.

I have a family get-together here on Sat. I have 7 siblings - only one lives out of the area. He and his wife and their daughter will be in town. A nephew is newly-engaged, so we'll be meeting his future in-laws and a cousin from So Cal who is very involved in our family tree is coming too. We should be at about 30!! I'm busy cleaning, and buying & prepping food.

Our weekend in Tahoe was great. We saw Aspens in their golden color. But I'm remembering how much I hate casinos! The smell of smoke just gets to me.

 

[Angelrose]

WOW you will have a wonderful time with all your relatives. I'm glad you had a good time in Tahoe. I've never been there, but I've seen pictures of the aspens. They are just gorgeous.

We did have a great time last night. We laughed and talked and stuffed ourselves silly. I just hated to leave. I guess we all did because we were practically the last ones out of the restaurant.

We asked our waitress to take out picture. The first one she said, "say banana split". Then next one she said, "say whatever you like". Well our family is of one mind, we all said ****. Then we all laughed. I downloaded the pictures but I have no idea where they were downloaded to. I hate the program on my new camera. Sometimes it goes where I want and other times, it goes in far off LALA land. I will have to wait until Chuck comes back here to find them.

When he does I will post them here. He has to come back to install a new dvd player. My old one just freezes up all the time. So it's time. They sure have come down in price. This new one was under $50. I remember when they were around $200.

I went to the dr for my checkup yesterday. Everything was fine, except my cholesterol is rising. It's not my diet or lack of exercise. Just heredity. I don't have to take any medication but it's something to watch. Maybe when I go back to eating hot oatmeal in the morning it will go back down. Right now I'm eating cold cereal with yogurt.

I am indeed coming down with a cold. I hate that. I don't have time for it. And I hate that it makes me so tired. I haven't been able to exercise for the last two days. All I do is sleep or just veg.

Now tomorrow I have to babysit my little Zoey because Karen is running a 5K and then later Jesse is running a kids 1K. He is so excited about it. So I will babysit from 7:45 until after lunch. I'm sure after that I will go home and take a nap.

Sunday I am looking forward to taking both kids to Storybook land and riding all the rides with Jesse and Zoey. Although the last time, Jesse wanted to ride a few rides all by himself. Sniff, snurffle! He is growing up! Monday I get to go to the pumpkin patch with Jesse and Zoey. I'm going to be watching over Zoey but I am sure she will be right by her brother. Whatever he does, she has to do.

I will take pictures there too. Hopefully Chuck will be able to download my pictures into their proper folder.

 

[4nana]

Hi AR, so glad you had a great get together with your cousins, laughter is so good for the soul ! Hope cousin Butch is feeling better. Great job on the mostly good ck up, bet you dr is happy with your huge wgt loss!

Tell Karen good luck at the 5K, our 16yo DGS is running 5k with the scouts tomorrow. He loves running, we watched his HS cross country meet this week too. Went to other DGS's (a senior) soccer game and watched him kick the winning goal for his team and get interviewed by reporter. Needless to say, he was on cloud 9 as now they go to playoffs!

Hope you have fun at Storybook Land and the Pumpkin patch w/Jesse and Zoey. I'm also anxious for our trip with grands end of month, also the yummy pumpkin and apple cider donuts they sell . Love fall and everything about it! We're all packed as tomorrow we leave for a 3 day getaway to Lancaster Pa. We love our foliage trips, and that beautiful part of country with so many markets, crafts, baked goods, and the many autumn activies.

*Snapppyd, belated Happy 31st Anniversary sweetie!! Also sending best wishes on your trip w/your sisters! Go with the flow and have a wonderful time!

*minniecarousel, glad you had fun in Tahoe. Must have been beautiful in it's fall glory. Your dinner family dinner sounds great and know you'll have fun catching up!

Everyone have a wonderful fall week-end.

 

[Angelrose]

Thanks 4nana. Butch is feeling better. But he sure went through heck last week. At least he knows what to expect for the next dose.

Babysitting Zoey was a lot of fun today. I had to sit right next to her at the table when we ate. Then I had to sit right next to her while we drew in her notebook. I got my own piece of paper and everything. I had to draw my squiggles RIGHT where she said or she would say, "NO grandmom, right HERE". I had to laugh when she took my pen and gave me hers instead. She likes to click mine. We watched Elmo and Little Einsteins and had our lunch. Then we went downstairs to play. She likes to sit in my lap and play with the remote control car. She doesn't get a chance when Jesse is there.

Then she went into her playhouse and told me to cover her up. That lasted all of two seconds and then she was up playing with something else. Then back to the playhouse and I had to cover her up again. This same routine happened many, many times.

We went back upstairs and watched tv again while I read my Kindle. By that time the rest of the family came home. Jesse did very well in his first run.

He was a little nervous before and when he got there he was scared with so many people. Then he saw his friend from daycare and he was fine. Karen ran with him and when he saw the finish line, he sprinted and was all smiles.

I will try and post some pictures of his run tomorrow.

Tomorrow I am really looking forward to Storybook Land. We will go through the corn maze. That is always a lot of fun. I just hope I don't get lost.

 

[Angelrose]

Here are the pictures of our family dinner.

This one we are looking normal.

Looking goofy after saying ****

Now you know why I am the way I am. LOL It's inherited!

Here are a couple of pictures of Zoey at Daycare. She's in yellow.

A couple of bad pictures from the pumpkin patch. This is Zoey with her best friend Anna.

On the hayride.

That is Jesse in front in the blue. That jacket he is wearing was one that Chuck wore at that age and his name on a patch on the pocket. Zoey is in pink on the left in the back with me holding her.

Now let me tell you about that pumpkin patch trip.

There were two buses. They told me which bus to get on, so I get Zoey up those big steps onto the bus and we go all the way to the back before I notice there is no more room. So back down the steps to get on the other bus. Of course there are only two seats left. Guess where? Oh, come on, guess. Yep on the very back. I felt every bump in the road on the mercifully short 15 minute bus ride.

Now these are two to four year olds. We get there and the first thing we do is go to a lady that gives each child a lesson about feed corn. And each child get an ear of feed corn. Now what are they going to do with feed corn?? It isn't pretty so you can't use it as decoration. I can just see Chuck throwing it out in his back yard for the squirrels. UHHHHHHHH NO.

Then we go to another spot where she shows us apples and there is a star in the seeds if you cut it horizontally. Did you know that apples grow in every state? Then each child gets an apple to put in the bag with the corn.

Next we go to another spot where she explains about cotton and each child gets a cotton boll with husk to put in the bag.

Finally we get to the pumpkin patch. I try to steer Zoey into picking a small pumpkin. No Grandmom, I want this one. Yeah the thing weighs 10 pounds at least. How about this one instead. Nope, grandmom I want this one. sighhhhhhhhh So into the bag goes the 10 pound pumpkin which I have to carry.

We have our picnic lunch fighting off the yellow jackets. I bring Zoey to go potty at the port a potty. She goes in and says YUCK grandmom. Yeah it was. But I clean it off as best I can and she goes. We get out and I discover everyone is gone.

I go back to the tables and the woman tells me they went on the corn maze.

Remember I told you these are 2 to 4 year olds. I'm thinking maybe 15 to 20 minutes tops. I would be wrong. It took us an hour to get through the darn thing. I was exhausted carrying that pumpkin and trying to get Zoey to walk through it. A couple of times she just stopped and I picked her up for a few steps but had to put her down again. Finally I told her we had to hurry and catch up with Jesse. That got her running and an hour later we were through. What were they thinking. I was exhausted walking on that uneven dirt and Zoey was too.

I thought we were done, but oh noooo. We had to have a hayride! Oh YIPPEE. We were bumped and jostled for another half hour. The buses were ready to go. We got on and were lucky to get in the middle this time.

Jesse was right in back of me. I asked him if he was buckled in and he said yes. But I was wondering how he could reach around to talk to me. So I get up and look and he had indeed buckled himself in. The only thing was the belt had been used by an adult before and was way to loose. So I got him strapped in and his friend.

Zoey fell asleep as soon as the bus started. When we got back to daycare, I got her in her room, she just went to her sleeping mat, laid down. The teacher covered her up and she was asleep.

One funny story. When we got there, Zoey ran up to Jesse and gave him a big hug. He reluctantly gave her a hug back. Then she gave him another hug and he hugged her back, but said, "that's enough hugs for now Zoey". I just had to laugh.

I went home and laid down for an hour. I did have fun and I don't mean this to sound mean or anything. It's just it is funny when I think about it now.
I do think it was too strenuous for the little ones. And one tired old grandma carrying a 10 pound pumpkin for a couple of hours.

 

[minniecarousel]

I love your style of writing! I was right there with you. I could picture it all. You're such a good Grandma. The whole idea sounds great: finding a pumpkin, hayride, corn maze...what could go wrong?! You're a good sport.

You all look so happy in your cousins picture. What a wonderful bond you have with them.

I'm starting to get excited about my trip to Disneyland with my sisters - less than 6 weeks now. The sister just 18 months older than me had the melanoma cut off her arm and they say they got it all! My oldest sis is feeling better after her radiation treatments. Not getting as tired as she was. They should both be good to go!

 

[Angelrose]

Thank you minniecarousel. I enjoy writing about my adventures. Plus I have a very strange sense of humor. Unfortunately my son seems to have inherited that from me and expanded upon it.

I'm so happy that both your sisters are feeling better now. Only 6 weeks away! I know how excited you are for this trip.

I'm excited about my next trip to Disney too. It's only 466 days away.

 

[Angelrose]

Hello my friends. Just wanted to check in and tell you that I am fine and so are Chuck and Karen. They never lost power at all. I lost power for about 15 hours. No trees down on my property and no water in my basement. But every leaf, acorn and small branch in creation is now on my yard, driveway and pool deck. Our town was very lucky. I only saw a couple of downed trees today.

Karen asked me to come shopping with her to get the kids something to do. We did our Christmas shopping at Toys R Us. I got everything I needed for both kids. Karen got all of her Christmas and birthday presents for Jesse's friends and some things for Zoey and Jesse.

Then we went to Penney's and got Jesse some new jeans and a sweater and a cute little sweater for Zoey.

We had lunch at the food court. We both got Philly cheese steaks and fries. Yeah, I am so looking forward to weigh in tomorrow night.

We took the kids to see Hotel Transylvania. Let me tell you that is one hysterical movie. Karen and I are both going to buy that as soon as it comes out on dvd and make it a Halloween tradition. I was laughing out loud and so was Karen. Zoey fell asleep and Jesse got a little scared at times, but he did laugh a lot through it too.

We cmae home and got the kids something to eat and as soon as Chuck came home from work we got the kids dressed in their costumes and went back to the mall for trick or treating. I'm glad we got there early because EVERYBODY in the whole world was there.

A lot of the stores ran out of candy. It got so crowded that Zoey got scared and daddy had to hold her. We were there for about an hour and then we left. The kids were happy that they got their treats.

Now on Monday, our governor has decreed that will be trick or treating night. That day I have to go get some work done on my shoulder for skin cancer. Not looking forward to that but it has to be done. I had it done before so not a real big deal.

Want to know what I did with no power? I put away all my Halloween decorations a day early and decorated my bedroom and computer room for Christmas. Yep, you heard that right. I get my house decorated and the tree up before Thanksgiving.

 

[minniecarousel]

Decorating for Christmas already, eh? Nervous energy? I love hearing how much you seem to enjoy decorating for the holidays. Starting early makes sense.

I don't have much of a point of reference (my knowledge of US geography is lacking!) So I wasn't sure where you are located in the state. It's been very eye-opening to see the devastation. Thanks for checking in.

My daughter-in-law's family is in and near Southampton, NY. Most of them lost power, but nothing worse. Of course, I had to bite my tongue and not say anything about my son and DDIL moving to "hurricane country". eh - they've lived in "earthquake country" all these years!

We've gotten so few Trick-or-Treaters. Maybe it's because we live on a hill - no one wants to walk up and down it. At least I can take left over candy to work. High schoolers like candy!

 

[Angelrose]

minniecarousel, I am about 20 minutes north of Atlantic City. Just far enough inland that I am usually pretty safe. I live in a very small town, a little north of Absecon and 5 minutes from Smithville. I don't know if that helps you any.

I never get any trick or treaters because I have a very long driveway and it's kind of dark. I do live on 10 acres of woods. I have neighbors across the street from me and I go over and make their two boys up a bag with goodies for them. I spend Halloween night giving out candy at Karen's friends house while they all go out trick or treating. Now I'm hoping it doesn't rain on Monday night.

I have a lot of decorations to put out at Christmas and I have to do it a little at a time. I did more decorating today. I enjoy doing it and Ron used to love seeing everything. I'll try and post some pictures of my Christmas decorations.

 

[snapppyd]

Hello ladies! I had a wonderful time with my sisters in Disney. Thanks to Sandy we had to extend our stay by two days! We only went to the Magic Kingdom one evening, spent the rest of our time relaxing by the pool, going out for drinks and dinners.

There was a level of stress with the three of us wondering what was happening back home. My DH works for the electric company, so he is now working 12-hour shifts, six days a week. He is exhausted.

My one sister's daughter lost her roof shingles, but not the actual roof. She was actually in Disney at the same time we were, and had to stay an extra 4 nights - it got very expensive for them. They have two little girls and were vacationing with good friends who also have two girls (ages 5 - 9).

I'm safely in my NY apartment - my neighbor down in NJ checked my house and said everything is fine- we are far inland. The devastation I have seen on my beloved Long Beach Island is heartbreaking - as is the destruction in New York and Connecticut.

Hope everyone is safe and warm, we are expecting a nor'easter to hit tomorrow into Thursday, which could mean more flooding for those already hit so hard.

DH's cousin lives in Staten Island and her house flooded. My niece's boss lost her home and her cars - they didn't evacuate when they should have and almost got killed when the water rushed through their windows.

I'll post some pics from our trip tomorrow.

 

[Angelrose]

So glad you had a great time at DW. Also am glad that you didn't have any damage. Sending a big THANK YOU to your husband for all he is doing. It is much appreciated by all.

I am sorry about your DH cousins who lost so much. I've learned that when they say evacuate, you evacuate! Of course I have no say in the matter. Karen says, "Mom, you are coming here". And that's the end of the discussion. LOL

I had a great time last night with Trick or Treating. We went to Karen's friends house for pizza before all the kids went out. I can't help it, I ate two pieces of the most delicious pizza. It was called Mom's Pie. It was roasted grape tomatoes and mozzarella on a thin crust. I'm sure that is going to cost me at my weigh in Thursday. I gave out candy sitting in a nice warm house while everyone went out in the cold. I had a lot of fun.

Yesterday morning I went to daycare and read to the 3 year olds first and then into Jesse's room. It was very funny. Jesse was privileged and sat on my lap while I read. LOL But the other kids crowded around me. The teacher made them sit on the rug which lasted all of 2 seconds before they all crowded around me again. I loved every minutes of it.

Here are some pictures.

Here are a couple of pictures of me in my Cat in the Hat pj's.

Yeah, I am weird. But I love it.

I got my flu shot today at the CVS. It was great and my medicare pays for it. I glad that's over with.

I did my duty and voted first thing this morning. Hope everyone votes for the candidate of their choice.

 

[BearcatsFan]

I love your Cat in the Hat costume! Looks like you were enjoying being with the children as much as they enjoyed having you in their classroom.

I don't blame you for indulging in the pizza. You have to live a little, right? Once in a while is okay, in moderation! That's what I tell myself, anyhow.

Good for you for getting your flu shot - so important. I got mine two weeks ago and hardly felt it at all.

Hope you have a good rest of the evening, Angelrose.

 

[snapppyd]

Oh how I love your pictures! You really know how to enjoy life! Glad you had fun with the kiddies, they will always remember these moments

 

[Angelrose]

Thank you BearcatsFan and snappyd. I'm glad you liked the pictures. I try to enjoy every day because you never know how many more you are going to have. I think Ron would be terribly disappointed in me if I didn't go crazy with the decorations for the holidays. Decorating the house also gives me something to do and cheers me up.

This is the beginning of November, isn't it? I didn't enter into a time warp and it's really January, did I? Then why do I have 2 inches of snow outside right now? I just hope we don't lose power again tonight. The lights have flickered once or twice, but they are steady now. It will probably all melt by tomorrow afternoon. At least I hope it does. I really want to get out and walk tomorrow. I feel like a slug right now. I haven't done my workout in over a week. First because I wasn't feeling well, then the power was out and now I'm decorating. Friday is my day out and shopping and Saturday I will be with Chuck and the family until after lunch. Sunday I do my grocery shopping. Maybe by Monday I can get back to it again. Of course I also need to use the leaf blower on the driveway. LOL Maybe by New Year.

 

[minniecarousel]

I love that you read to the kids, Angelrose. Jesse must be so excited when you come in for that.

snapppyd - I'm going to Disneyland with my 2 sisters in a few weeks. I will have to remember to take it easy and not do the Parks "my way"! Which is up early, see everything and stay late! My husband and I are going back at the end of Jan, so I can go crazy then!

We are having crazy weather. At 5 o'clock yesterday afternoon, it was 79 degrees. At 6:15 today it is probably 20-25 degrees cooler, and we have rain coming. Not like you guys are getting, though. Our near-by 3800 foot mountain might get snow! (it's pretty at a distance - wouldn't want it just outside my door!)

 

[Angelrose]

Thanks minniecarousel. Jesse greeted me with "GRANDMOM! MY GRANDMOM!" AWWWWWWW that made me feel so special. I got a big hug too.

 

[chell]

You look wonderful!!!

 

[Angelrose]

Thank you chell. Good to hear from you again.

I went out today for my end of week treat at IHOP. I went my usual way and there was a detour. No problem. The last time I went down another street and it got me back to the same road I needed to be. This time that street was also blocked, so I went down the next street.

OMG it was the street from hell. No, I take that back. It's wasn't a street at all. It was wall to wall pot holes. I don't think it has been repaved since time began. Everyone was going about 15 miles an hour and zig zagging all over trying to miss the biggest holes.

I finally get to another road and have no clue where I am. By some miracle I turned right and found myself.........yeah, back practically home again. So I back tracked and went on the Parkway and finally got to my IHOP 45 minutes later.

But those cinnamon pancakes were worth it. LOL I did some shopping at Walmart and got a new space heater for my car. I don't have a garage so I need the heater to warm up the car and get rid of the frost on those cold mornings. I stopped at the mall and bought a few things at Hallmark and then in Bath and Body Shop for Christmas presents.

I didn't take a chance of getting lost again on my way home. I just went back on the Parkway. I get lost so easy. I think even if I had a GPS in my car I would get lost.

 

[minniecarousel]

he - I always said that I didn't want a car with GPS, but then I've used the directions finder on my i-phone and I like it. Thought the GPS would be too distracting and confusing - probably not though.

Looks like we're going to dinner in San Francisco tomorrow. My husband and son are working at a hiring event and daughter-in-law and I will join them later. We live so close to such an amazing city and rarely get over there.