July is too darn hot!!

In case you haven't noticed, I've not been good about keeping things up to date on our blog. With a little work, a lot of play, facebook, and other stuff...I've just been so busy.

This month we've celebrated Eddie's 50th birthday in Jackson with a surprise funeral for his youth hosted by the drama queen, Dana! We had a blast seeing lots of old friends and my guidance counselor from high school who started my healthcare career...Miss Frances Crossen. When I was a senior at Jackson High School, my mom and dad wanted me to stay home, go to Union and marry a nice boy from Jackson...this was 1967 you know. I went in to Miss C's office and asked her where could I go without any money in case my parents wouldn't pay? While I had a tennis scholarship, it didn't cover everything and it was at a frou frou private school...couldn't even afford the clothes! So Miss C came up with Baptist School of Nursing, now Baptist College for the Health Sciences. That started me down the road to where I am today! So thanks Miss C and it was great to see you. On the way home from Jackson we took a 150 mile detour to Harrah's in Metropolis, IL for lunch...well and to gamble a bit!

Then off to NC to see the grands. We had an absolute ball this trip! Seeing Riley and Will was divine. We did split up the kids a bit with the boys going to the NASCAR museum and go kart racing and the girls going shopping and then spending extra time at the barn doing a photo shoot for Miss Riley and Jennifer! Then the grands took their old grandparents to see our first REAL 3-D movie, Despicable Me. It was fabulous. The fun really started when we got sort of lost on the way home! I-40 west from Asheville is finally open but down to one lane resulting in hours of delays...so we scooted off I-40 and took a short cut through Cherokee, NC. Oh, did I say we had lunch at Harrah's...and did a little gambling of course. Still lost but it took longer! On the way out of Cherokee, we bypassed Gatlinburg and then went to Pigeon Forge where the adventure begins. Following maps, no we don't have a GPS, we meandered around for a while until eventually getting home about 9:30PM after leaving NC at 8:30A Eastern time! Told you it took a while longer to lose in the casino!

Tonight it's off to Donna's for our July birthday dinner! Our dinner club celebrates 4 birthdays a year at least! Sometimes we even celebrate the boys. As I sit here watching the Food Network, I'm planning my appetizer to take tonight...Cajun Crab dip from Publix with wheat thins...by request! Why do I watch the Food Network?

So July has been fun...hot, but fun! From yesterday it sounds like I'll be working more in August.

This is not working for me!

This is absolutely why I've been neglecting you! Woody and I have had the most wonderful time with our new baby Savannah Elizabeth! If we aren't playing with her, we're thinking about her and missing her! Consequently, we're not updating the blog or we're over on facebook. This is Savannah's first pool party...she's 8 weeks old and already in the pool...the screaming is because we told her she had to get out and eat and take a nap. That sounds so familiar with all our kids. Her daddy and granddaddy had a good time passing her around. Libby and I also had our time, but if you think I'm going to put a picture of either of us in a bathing suit...you are really out of your mind.

My friend Janet said when Libby had a baby that I would just go ga ga...she was so right. Between Riley and Savannah my life is complete...the boys are wonderful too, but two little girls are too much to believe. I can shop and do pedicures and have lots of fun stuff.

We have decided to put our house on the market and try to sell it to move closer to Libby and Led, and oh of course, Savannah! We've found just the thing at the Del Webb property at Providence. I don't have a clue how long it will take to sell this wonderful home we have now, but the area we want to move in to probably won't be available til next summer anyway.

I'm working some for Marsha and The Oncology Group this week and next. It's always fun but this time we're not working together. I'm going to miss having her with me. It's been a long time since I've had to travel alone. I think I remember how!

Hope you're having a wonderful summer..it's already moving way too fast for us. We're still trying to find somewhere to go on vacation! Any suggestions? We thought about Michigan or Las Vegas or another cruise. About the time we think we have it figured out, something moves on the calendar and we have to start over.

I'm so sorry!

I have just been so busy with my baby Savannah that I have not been able to keep up with our blog! We just love being with her...she's been to the mall and out to lunch with us several times already. She is going to love to shop...particularly Dilliard's...wonder where she gets that (Libby and Mimi)? Our Libby is a wonderful mom and Led is a great dad. I'm really surprised that Lib is so maternal..a bit casual in her approach to motherhood...just like me. She turned out ok so I guess Savannah will too! Her aunt Estelle gave her the bunny, and we had a wonderful Mother's Day brunch!

I'm sure many of you have experienced or know of the horrific floods we had in Tennessee two weeks ago. These are just two of our shots..one as we tried to head down Main Street and one of what was a very vibrant volleyball court and park where lots of people played. Hopefully we'll soon be back to normal.

Consulting has been slow lately, but the medical writing and editing has kept me hopping. I'm really enjoying writing for LiveStrong Health http://www.livestrong.com/health/! It's a challenge to change from writing and editing for medical journals to writing for the public on the Web! This being semi-retired and working part time is wonderful...lots of free time, no pressure unless self imposed and getting to pick and choose what you do! I'm still selling photos on line and occasionally at Buffalo Trading Company in West Yellowstone, MT! If I had to go back to a full time job, I think I'd scream. Let's hope the market recovers so I never have to go back to "real" work! But just think...next March I get to draw social security! Can you believe I'm so old?

We are still movie junkies...saw Letters to Juliet this weekend. I don't care what the critics say..it's a wonderful, feel good movie. The scenery is wonderful and having been to Italy, we loved seeing some of the same sights that we saw when we traveled there. Last week we saw The Losers...again, the critics panned it and we loved it.

I'm just before giving up on facebook...it's getting boring but it still allows me to keep up with lots of friends, acquaintances and people I have no idea who they are! What are you thinking about the time you spend there? Is it worth it?

Hope you all have a wonderful week and I'll try to be a bit better at keeping this up to date...it's about time to start traveling again, but we're struggling about where to go. Any ideas?

Welcome Baby Savannah!

Where to begin? What an exciting week with the arrival of baby Savannah Elizabeth on Monday, April 12th at 4:43 PM. She weighed 7 lbs 4 oz and was 20 inches long! What a tiny little thing. She has a full head of black hair and dark blue eyes at the moment. As we all know, eyes and hair color at birth are not necessarily what goes forward. Granddad and Mimi stayed at the hospital during the day and then came home and stayed with her til Friday afternoon. We send Dad out to work to pay for future shopping...she will definitely be a fashionista. All said she is absolutely beautiful and I'm not the least bit prejudiced!

Since the past week has been monopolized by Savannah, there isn't much more to chat about unless I go on and on about every smile (gas of course), diaper change, feeding...well, you get the idea. My world was all wrapped up in her last week. There are tons of pictures on facebook! I'll write more later.

What a Wonderful Easter!

We had a wonderful weekend with family to celebrate Easter. At a time when strife is rampant across the world, isn't it wonderful that you can still get together, play putt-putt and silly games and feel such a sense of peace and calm and love? Libby is very due, Riley is very smart, Jennifer is wonderful to put up with my son, and Led is very wonderful to put up with my daughter! Oh...and Woody isn't so bad either! We did over indulge...way too much food! I actually cooked two nights in a row which may be a record since the kids left home!

The Easter bunny hopped right through our home and it was such fun...holidays are always more fun with little ones. I can't wait til Savannah gets here on or before (if you think Libby's right) April 17th! She will be the first grandchild to live close enough to see often. Marilyn and I will have to share time with baby sitting! Her first grandchild and my first close one!

Just watched Andy Roddick win at the Sony in Miami. Made me miss tennis but I don't think the knees would hold out longer than a few games. It's rough getting old. Speaking of old...it may be nap time as we had to get up early to see if the Easter bunny came! More later dudes and dudettes!

Happy Spring!

I am so badddd...I thought I'd pop a little note on my blog and I can't believe I have not written since February! I guess facebook is taking lots more time than I thought. So...where to begin?

Libby is very pregnant and due April 17th. I love being home so we can see her grow. We went with her to have a 3D ultrasound which was incredible. You can see all of Miss Savannah's features so when she arrives, we'll already feel like we know what she looks like. Libby has had so many baby showers and received so many wonderful gifts. The thing I find most interesting is that so many of her clients have given her parties and gifts! She must be a really good sales rep like her dad...she certainly didn't get it from me. Our fence is gorgeous that Led put in for us while we were in Florida. It's black, looks like wrought iron and has spindles? pickets? that are close enough together that Harley can play out back to his hearts' content. Andy likes it too...now if I can just get him to go behind the pool to poop rather than right by the sidewalk!

I celebrated my birthday at Lib's couples' shower...fabulous cake. Woody got me two river birch trees which are wonderful. Just one more year for Social Security!!

Work has been slow this first quarter and I find myself liking it that way! I am writing for pay (really low pay but I enjoy writing more than editing) but haven't even been editing much...I find myself quoting articles pretty high so they find someone cheaper. Does this mean I've finally embraced retirement? I will continue to work for Marsha if she needs me, but after talking to our accountant and doing our taxes, I may not be able to afford to work as much as last year!

We have just about got the yard ready for the summer. Our jonquils and hyacinths are absolutely gorgeous. We are enlarging one flower bed in front, but took out all the flower beds in the back that were around the old fence. We're trying to go more maintenance free so riding and edging is about the extent of yard work once we get the front beds planted each spring with petunias and impatiens. I have two tomato plants, the little tommy toes ones, on the screened porch which was all we really ate last year. I like fried green tomatos but Ed said he'd give me some so I don't have to plant any big ones.

This month I finally took what Carol did on the Haynes/Hurt family genealogy and the Boyd family from the North Henderson/South Carroll County The Watcher's website and found out that I am eligible for the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Daughters of the Confederacy, am English through and through on my mother's side and Irish by way of Scotland on the Boyd side! It just validated what I knew on the Irish side, but our clan did come from Scotland originally...I was able to track back to 1730 on the Boyd side in the U.S. and by clan name way back, and Carol had it back to the 1500's or so on our mothers' side! I think I'll stop now before I find out something I'd rather not know...so far all the family has been on the up and up!

As we approach Easter, please know that I keep all of you in my prayers so please return the favor! and enjoy my Irish prayer from Saint Patrick:

May the strength of God pilot us.

May the power of God preserve us.

May the wisdom of God instruct us.

May the hand of God protect us.

May the way of God direct us.

May the shield of God defend us.

Happy Spring!

Heading Home to Tennessee!

I can't believe that our winter stay in Destin is ending! We just got here. One of the problems with getting older is that everything moves so much faster. Saturday night we went to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse to hear Michael who is one of the best horn men on the planet and to have lots of fun!

At least the weather has been fabulous and has provided much time to walk on the beach. Saturday was so beautiful that we just sat on the beach after our walk and talked to each other and to everyone that meandered by...we have some great friends here.

I'm now writing for Demand Studios who provide content for a variety of web sites. Whenever I have an hour or two, I can go online and claim a topic, write it, submit it and then they put money in my PayPal account! Since I still can't write dialog, at least I'm getting paid for writing original content! I'll let you know how it goes.

I'm also watching entirely too much Olympics and NASCAR!! Gotta go watch!

Daytona 500!

Just a few pictures of our wonderful weekend at Daytona! The Saturday Nationwide Race was great...Tony Stewart won and Danica and Junior did ok until someone wrecked each of them. The 88 car is Junior's and the 14 is Tony! We had fan zone passes that got us right on the track before both of the races...Saturday, and of course, the Daytona 500 on Sunday. The Sunday race was a pain because of track problems. Hours of delay! You would think that if you were having the "Super Bowl" of racing, you'd check the track DAILY...obviously, they didn't, leading to a pot hole that had to be fixed mid race.

We've had fun too in Saint Augustine. Drank tons of water from the Fountain of Youth and bought 10 bottles to bring home! Ate dinner at Harry's which is the best meal we've had in a while. Also checked out the Oasis and Conch House restaurants. All the meals were great! We're at the KOA in Saint Augustine Beach and it's been superb. Highly recommend it. Great location. We spent all day in Old Town Saint Augustine which was wonderful. Bought some fun things...and Cindy's birthday present! We'll head back to Destin in the morning. And then, try to figure out when we can head back to Nashville so we don't get caught in snow.

Miss you all!