In Mourning

This has been an eventful week. My MIL passed away on Saturday, the 18th, and my wonderful daughter who was my MIL's caregiver for 4 years is taking it very hard. She was so close to Mom that it broke my heart to see her< Serenity, crying. She knows gramma is in Heaven but it isn't much easier for us that are left behind. Grams was in such pain. In 1993 she had a procedure done that involved a basket type thing put inside her to hold up her bladder. It didn't get the proper care and all of us kids forgot about it. So lately, she was having bladder infections, uti's and lots of other issues. One thing led to another and it ultimately killed her. She was 88 and had dementia but still, it hurts for us left behind, She is in Heaven though. Out of pain, and with her dear husband and my parents.
I have company now so more on this issue later on in a few days.

Discouraged

Today is November 2, 2017. I have spent about an hour searching through my emails looking for responses from people I wrote to regarding my new book. I haven't heard from most of them that I sent books to. I just want to know if they enjoyed it because I have heard from reviews on Amazon that it is a great read. I think I will start another book and see how it goes. After 52+ years of marriage, five kids, 14 grandkids and soon to be 7 great grandkids, I have oodles of stories in my head. I want to share them. I've thought of compiling a book of a few short stories. I am not sure of where to start so I guess I will start from when I first got married. Do you think that would be good? Start there and lead into some of the things that took place before we started our family. Or should I start with some adventure we had and go from there? Such as, when we were waiting to have our home constructed, we lived in a 24-foot camp trailer with one of our children and five grandkids. Can you imagine that? We had no power, no toilet, no water, no privacy. We did have an outhouse and outdoor shower. We borrowed water from a neighbor who already had a well on his property. Two kids slept on a bed made from the table, and four slept on the floor. Their ages were 3, 4, 8, 9, 11, and 19. Do you want to hear the story?

Watching Gunnar

Gary and I are dog/house sitting for four days while our son and his family go on a much needed and long past due vacation. Their dog, Gunnar, has a herniated disc in his back and is in much pain lots of the time. We are here because Gunnar couldn't make it up our porch steps without lots of pain or being carried. So we are at Matt's house in town. Even though it is in town, it is very quiet and peaceful because they are in a culdesac and not very many neighbors.
Gunnar managed to get himself up onto the couch and I will not disturb him until later tonight. He is sleeping peacefully, perhaps due to his pain medication. I will try to get him to eat too. He hasn't eaten all day. 
I am tired and hope I can sleep okay. I've never spent the night here before. It is also a mini vacation for us. 
Tomorrow is the humane society vet clinic to get exams and shots at a discounted price, but it is 23 miles away. I am supposed to take my two chihuahuas because they both need rabies shots.
I will decide that tomorrow morning though. It is once each month so no big deal if I wait til November.
I am going to close now. Will try to do more writing this weekend.

Book Signing and Radio Interview

Hi all. 
As usual, it has been about one month since I've written on here. Sorry. 

On Friday the 22nd of September, my co author and I are having a radio interview for our book. I'm a little anxious as I have never done this before. Then, on the 30th, a book signing. Wow, it seems like it is time for another book to be in the makings. I'm trying to figure out what I want to write about. I think a short book about some funny things that happened when the grandkids were growing up in our home. There are many; camping, fishing, hiking, hunting, and even a few horseback riding adventures. 

I will be in prayer about it and let God lead me to the right one for my audience. 
Have a great evening and I will get back here when I can.

Catching up a little

This is long past due. With my son's help, the Story of Duke is finished, published and we've even sold a few. I am going to have a book signing on the 30th of September. My son and I will be together and he will be promoting his two books as well as our joint one. It is such a blessing to finally have it finished. I guarantee you will need a box of tissues when you read it. It is an emotional book from the moment you start reading it until the end. I regret to say that it has taken over 20 years to get this accomplished. Lots of tears and starts and restarts. God is good. He made sure my son would be by my side to encourage me. I pray it gets the coverage it needs to bring a little joy to the reader's heart. It is a true story and takes place in our local area. It has pictures and lots of humor.

I am sorry for taking so long in between my blog postings. I will try to do better. I am currently working on another story and will try to keep you posted.

Our 14-year-old cat passed away a few months ago. It was so sad. I would love to have a kitten. One of my daughters has two beautiful little kitties. I wanted them so much. I decided against it though because hubby and I want to travel and no use getting a kitty and leaving her home for others to deal with. I will try to enjoy them from afar. 

It rained the other nite. We were sitting in the living room and saw a flash of lightning, then the thunder. Later on, when we were in bed reading, a huge bang and a bright light at the same time came through our room and lit it up brighter than daylight! Need I say it scared the dickens out of me. My heart thumped for a long time. Couldn't see any sign of where it struck but I swear, it was as if a bomb went off in our house or a plane crashed in our back yard. 

That was so scary. 

Well, it is late and I am tired. I will close for now. I will try to write at least once a week from now on if I have something to share.

A LITTLE DISCOURAGED

It is beautiful outside. Sunny and warm. I am inside trying to pay bills. As usual there isn't enough money to pay all. I am a few hundred shy but can make it up somewhere. I suppose. God has blessed this family so much. I cannot overlook the blessings He has bestowed on us. It is still a hard knock when one can't stretch the paydays to cover basic needs. Some bills I can let go but food is a necessity and where does that come from? The grocery store. Our power bill jumped from $100 last month to nearly twice that this month. It hurts and we cannot figure out totally why it did that. I know God provides. It isn't always easy waiting upon the Lord. He knows all of us so well. He will help in our time of need.
I am not up  to par today. My breathing is erratic again and I can barely stand up to do things. This is the fourth of July weekend. We have out of town company down the road at a camp site so will try to visit with them today. 
bye now. till we meet again.

The Story of Duke

My son and I just finished our book. It is available at Amazon and we have some to sell too. If you buy through us, you can get your copy signed. However as I have not written a book before, I don't know how meaningful it is to a person to get their copy signed. 
Some of you reader's might know that I have tried to write this book for over ten years. I just got writer's block about every time I started on it. Since it is a true story, I knew what was going to be in it and how it ended. I just couldn't seem to get it together well enough to do it. My son finally decided it was time and as he was published before, he helped me write it. It is my dream come true. A beautiful story. You will need tissue as you read it. 
I want to apologize for taking all these years to complete it but now it is done. I will be writing more family adventures as they are easier for me to do true stories. 
Hope to write on here soon. 

Finally Finished

To all you who are following my blog. I'm sorry that I haven't posted in a few weeks. I have been pretty busy finishing my novel. It is finally completed. I should have plenty of time for my blog now.
My husband, Gary, and I went on a much needed vacation a few days ago. We spent 11 days with family and friends on an island in Lake Shasta, California. It was a special time for both of us. I however, could not do much to help the ladies because my heart is out of rhythm and I get short winded pretty easy and quite a lot. I have an appoint scheduled to get it shocked back into rhythm.
Anyway, I took a few falls while there. Four to be exact. I didn't get too badly hurt, just a knee and arm. I also had swelling of my feet and legs and I was going into congestive heart failure. I didn't know this at the time. I stayed swollen from day two on to the end of the camp out. When we got back to civilization, we spent two days with friends. She is an RN and she treated me and helped me get back to not being swollen. It was great and I know it was Divine intervention because Gary and I were headed home and she texted me and said she was home so we could come over. Thank God for that. I might have ignored it all if I had gone back to the coast. I did call my cardiologist's nurse and she told me to just go home and put up my feet and take it easy.
It appears that I am okay as far as that is concerned. Thank you Jesus for watching over me and my family and leading me to Alicia that day so I could get the much needed treatment.

I am going to close now and go do my chores. I will try to blog at least two times a week. No excuse not to now, until I start my next novel.

SORRY!

I apologize for not posting in so long. Life has a way of getting in the way of things. Of course, I do find time to do whatever I really want to do, such as play computer games, watch tv, write whenever I want, etc. So once again I apologize. I have no excuse.

I am excited to let all you readers know I am co authoring a book. It is about a family pet and it is a story of how he saved my son's life, then lo and behold, the family had to save his life. It is going to be edge of your seat entertainment. (I hope anyway). 

Lot's of changes have occurred since I last wrote. We downsized from 9 people in our household to 5. that is quite a change. Our power bill went from over $350 to $103. Thank God for that. Our food bill is down of course. Our laundry is way down and our house is changed quite a bit. The grand kids are pretty quiet. I do get up with them in the mornings and cook breakfast for them than my husband drives them down the road to the bus stop. He prays with them each morning before they go to school. When he returns home, we watch a bible DVD and listen to four chapters of the Bible then we pray. Afterwards I walk on the treadmill, then he walks. Then we go about our business. I to write or clean, he to clean and clean, and clean. Well, you get the point.

I am going now. I just wanted to touch bases with you all. I am so thankful for my Jesus and I am so thankful for my family. I hope to reach out to you again soon.

Just Thinking

well, well, well. The new year has officially begun. I pray for a great year and I do so wish my family will be able to get their lives in control and let God do His will in their lives. So many of my children have had rough times and as a mom, it truly hurts me to see them going through such pain. They are all Christians but not all walking with the Lord. Some of them want their own way and some of them are too impatient to wait upon God and His will.

We reap what we sow so I pray for them to want a close fellowship with God. He needs to become real in their lives and they need to live for Him. So do I. All the above is what I need also.

It is one thing to give advice, quite another to take it sometimes.  
It is quiet here tonight. One grandson is at the nearby school playing basket ball with his cousin, another grandchild is waiting to go to the movies. My hubby is watching TV and I am writing this blog. It is nice to relax for a while. Ought O. Hubby is sleeping. LOL. He does that a lot now days. I wonder if God meant for humans to retire or to go on working until we die. I think go on working. If one owned/worked his own farm/ranch, there would be no retiring. So makes sense to work until you die. Rest on Sunday and at evening. Whew! I am so thankful for retirement. Yes! Raising grandkids is a work in itself. Love them to death but in two years, they will all be raised. Maybe not gone out of the nest, but raised. 50 + years of marriage, five kids, and haven't had an empty nest for 46 years. I wouldn't change a thing. Love all of them, glad we were here for our kids when they needed us. Looking forward to the quieter times ahead though. 
I am going to close on that note. I will write more later.