Sweet Daniel. Rest In Peace

 Hello Everyone,

 I know that it has been a while since I have updated my blog. Some things have happened that has kept me away from the computer. Mainly I just needed to rest.
 This is Daniel. Daniel was born with a rare heart defect. He was given to live to the age of 3 but he survived against all odds. He just graduated High School.He is 18. Very smart and very fun loving. Daniel passed away last night.
 The day that I went into the hospital, Daniel was care flighted to UCLA where they discovered that he had a brain tumor. It was inoperable. With his heart defect, the operation would have killed him. They sent him home Monday and said he had anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months.. Daniel lived 4 days and then he went home to be with the Lord. Our hearts are heavy for the loss of this precious young man.
 I never met Daniel, but his sister is the mother of my grand daughter and I have heard stories of Daniel over the years. I know that he was a shining star to everyone that knew him. He loved to make others laugh and he laughed often himself. Sleep in Peace Daniel. You will be missed beyond compare. Your battle here on earth is over, but I can just imagine you making the angels laugh in Heaven.

 I had a blockage in my foot. Pieces of plaque buildup broke off and went to my foot and a blood clot in my left leg as well so that landed me in the hospital for several days. Once home I was not allowed out of bed other than to use the restroom or take a shower. Every once in awhile I could get online on the computer for a little while. I really haven't felt up to doing much. I did a few scrap pages for fun and tonight I did one for one of the designers. I have 3 left to do but will take my time. She never asks for more than 2 but I love her, she is one of my dearest friends so I try to do extra for her as she is so very sweet to me. She checked on me several times a day while I was in the hospital. Even with her time difference she was checking on me. Lins lives in South Africa and deals with such horrible violence that we cannot even imagine. She was born and raised there and will not leave because she would not have a place for her animals and her parents are there.

 I have a few things from the internet that I will share with you and since it is after 2:00 am in the morning I have to go to bed. I just can't seem to sleep tonight. So much on my mind. Matthew is sick, Laurie is pregnant but the pregnancy is not going well. She is cramping and has said several times over the course of the last few weeks that she thinks something is wrong. She is just in her first trimester so she sees the doctor on Friday unless something happens between now and then. It has just been a stressful couple of weeks on my end,

 I am sure that we can all relate to this! I would not object to a few ounces of energy of my grandson Dante.... Whew what a boy! When that child was born, he was born wide awake and has stayed that way. Sleep for him is a miracle! But we love him so we just grin and bear his sleepless nights.

 Isn't this cloud just awesome? It is a peaceful reminder to the ones that I have lost that there is a place for our fur babies. Some call it the Rainbow Bridge. I just know that someday I will be reunited with my sweet fur babies of all kinds. My dogs, my cats, my pet rat, my rabbits, birds and all of the rest that hold a piece of my heart.

This is a card that a friend of mine made for me while I was in the hospital. I didn't expect all the support that I have received from my friends. This is just one of the cards. I have tons more and sweet letters and phone calls. These coming from my online friends. Not one call from my family other than my own children and they called and visited every day. Apparently the one sister that I did ask to contact the rest didn't. And to tell you the truth I didn't feel up to being on the phone much anyway. Let me tell you that they had me on some heavy duty drugs while I was in the hospital. My pain was managed very well and I had excellent care.

 Karyn was not here for very long as her Mother In Law had surgery of her own and she went to offer her assistance back home. I would not have wanted her to be here when she was needed there as I had the boys who took over my care and did an incredible job of it too. They seemed to anticipate my every need. They made sure that I had meals and my medication. Taking a shower was a bit uncomfortable for them, Bless their hearts but they stayed close by in case I needed anything, but I managed on my own there. Jonathan drove me to and from my doctors appointments, picked up prescriptions and called to check on me when he was at work. Nathan cooked and cleaned and I couldn't have asked for better help than they gave me.

 And now I really must go to bed. I am falling asleep here at the computer.... Have a great Sunday everyone.... BB

Friday It Is

 Hi Everyone,
 Today I want to share two pages that I did for my friends. The first one is for Samantha. We just call her Sam.
 Sam is such a sweetheart. She sends me emails all the time that are so welcome. It might just be a small email that says "I am thinking of you." or she might make me a gorgeous card. Sam is  a keeper that is for sure.
 She has gone thru the loss of her father recently and still has time to say hello to me. I wish that the miles between us were not so far. But she is in Europe and I am in Texas!

 This next page is for my fellow friend who is from Europe but lives here in Texas. Still the miles between us is far. She lives up by Ft. Worth. One day I hope to get up that way so I can meet her and give her a hug and several.

Rosie is one of a kind. Right now she has the flu and has been ill for several days. But even while being sick, Rosie made me the most beautiful page. She is testing out a new art program. I am not sure what it is all about but she paints. And she paints the most gorgeous paintings. I received an email from Rosie not long ago and she asked me if she could paint something for me. An animal, bird or flower. Well the Cardinal is my favorite bird and I found out that it was also one of her favorites as well. This is the page that she did for me. It is so beautiful. If you click on it you can see the fine detail of the feathers that she applied. Now one little bit of information about Rosie. When she was 18 she had meningitis.She lost the use of one hand and sight in one eye. She also suffers from Fibromyalgia and is in a lot of pain. But her heart is so open even when sick as she is. I love the painting that she did for me.

 Isn't this just gorgeous? Thank You Rosie and Thank You Sam for taking time out to think of me!

 Now on for my rant of the day.... Warning, there might be more than one rant. It is possible.

 The other day while I was at the doctor there was a mom and I am assuming her daughter that came in. I am assuming the girl was in her early teens. Or a in between. I am guessing that she was between 12 and 14.
  In the clinic there were 3 gentlemen, me and another lady. The girl was dressed in a bikini bathing suit and a see thru cover up type shirt that went over the top of her torso but met just below her stomach line.
 Now is it just me or is it totally irresponsible to go anywhere in public dressed this way? People do not seem to regard how they dress these days. I would have been appalled to have my daughter dress like that for an appointment or anywhere else.Even with  swimming I feel that she could have put on shorts and a t-shirt. Two of the Gentlemen were obviously trying not to look at her but the other one actually goggled at the girl. The woman I could tell was as shocked as I was.
 We have men that wear their jeans sagging so low we can actually see their butts! We have women who are grossly over weight trying to wear clothes that are 5 times to small for them, Breasts and Butt hanging out at all angles. We have people that wear pajamas to the grocery store. We have women and teenage girls prancing around half Naked. I don't understand it. Maybe I am old fashioned but I don't care. I am not a prude but some things should be covered up.
 My sister dressed like that when she was grown. I was taking my daddy to the VA Hospital once and she wanted to go with us which was fine. But when my dad saw how she was dressed he refused to get into the car with her dressed as she was. She had on a mini skirt that if she bent over you could see everything and a tank top and boots that came up to the knee with enough fake jewelry that my dad had a fit over. He called her some ugly names and she and he had a blow up. She declared that she was grown and could wear what she wanted to. To make a long story short she did not go with us to the VA, While she was dressed or I should say half dressed, I had on a long broom skirt with a top and a vest. Yes I was probably to covered up but I could never wear clothes like that.

 I won't go into Politics or Religion but I will have to have a go at Social Media. Why does people post such horrible images? Why do they tell their life story and every tragedy that befalls them on Facebook? Twitter? Snap Chat and all the others. I am okay with people asking for prayer when they need it for the bad things that happen in life, but I had to delete a person yesterday because I was just so tired of hearing all of her woes.... All because of a break-up. She married a man and she posted all wonderful pictures and how happy she was and he was the one for her. Not even 2 months she had divorced him and it was a play by play account of what he said, what she did and she would get drunk and post such angry and vulgar posts. I thought... Well I am deleting you because you are not the same person that I knew. And I knew her in real life. I just got tired of seeing a hundred posts a day of how rotten this person was, and then there were several more people in her life that she let loose on. Good Grief. Well she is now one less person that I have to see on my wall. I should have done it a long time ago.
 Another person keeps sending me friend requests. I knew this woman from when she was a little girl. I was friends with her and her mom when she had her first baby. I watched her and her daughter grow up. I don't know what happened in this girls life to make her turn into the woman that she is today, but I do not want her as a fb friend. I keep in touch with several of the people back home that I have heard stories from. I feel a twinge of guilt when I decline the invitation, but she has gone from one abusive relationship to another in the past years that I just cringe. When she talks she is so vulgar that it makes me sick. So I declined her invitation again last night.

 Last rant of the day. Several years ago I was in a relationship with a man who was great to me, but not so great with my kids. Very strict and I come to find out that he was very hard on the kids. Not the girls but the boys, He is in jail now. He is in prison and has no family so I have kept in touch with him over the years.
 He is where he is at because of some very bad decisions and I cannot help him. He badgers me to talk to this judge or that judge or who ever that he thinks that he can get help from. I sent him a letter and told him NO WAY was I going to do any of the things that he asked me. The letter was long and it was not a nice letter. Last night I got a letter from him sent anger shock waves thru me. Of course it was all about him and his woes.
 We all have our own problems but you know we each have a responsibility to do what is right for ourselves and if cutting some of these people from my life is what I have to do then so be it. I sent a letter off this morning that said I would no longer be in contact. You know, it wasn't as hard as I thought that it would be....

  Now if my left leg and foot would just stop hurting. I had a bad accident with my pain pills. My sugar dropped bad one day. I was shaking really bad and hurting. I was taking my morning medications and all of a sudden I began to shake. I dropped the bottle into the sink. Most of my pain pills went down the drain. What didn't go down the drain immediately started melting. I have gone as long as I can without my pain pills. I have 4 left and I have suffered greatly. My pain management doctor will not refill my script until my next appointment. In the mean time I have no options but to just suffer thru this. I cannot go back until the 17th. I am trying not to use the last of my pain pills but I do know one thing. I will never have my medications next to my sink again. I only had them there because it was convenient but have now moved everything to a small table. My hands shake a lot, so that is another reason that I have problems with opening bottles. The sink gave me a place to lean against. I can't believe this has happened and let me tell you Tylenol and Ibuprofen does not help at all. I am up most of the night walking around and trying to rub the pain out. Sometimes it helps but at other times, most of the time I don't have much relief. The pain last night was so bad that I went outside with the Mosquitoes and cried. I didn't want to wake up the rest of the house with me up and down and crying. Finally I gave in and took the pain pill. I will not have enough to last. It is a controlled script so it has to be monitored closely. I am glad of that, but I don't agree with when you have an accident such as I that there is no alternative.

 My son bought me lunch so I am going to go and sit down with him and enjoy. Take care and I hope that your day is good. I hope to try and remember all of my blessings and feel Blessed, even while I am in pain I know that I have a lot to be thankful for. BB

This Week Has Flown By

 Hi Everyone,

 Wow this week has flown by fast. At least during the day. Here at night not so much. My feet and legs hurt so bad that they cramp up and jump around and makes it impossible for me to rest. But last night I did rest. I rested well for the first time in a week.

 I went to see my new Endocrinologist yesterday. My ride transportation picked me up around 9:15 even tho my appointment wasn't until 10:30. They allow an hour in case of traffic accidents and around here traffic in general. It gave me enough time however for us to stop off at a near by McDonald's so that I could get some breakfast and a cup of coffee since I had over slept. I kept hitting the snooze alarm. Perhaps because I didn't fall asleep until almost 5:00 am with my feet hurting as they were.

 The doctor is a woman, and I usually do not care for my women doctors except my Ob/Gyn doctor. But I rely on first impressions and my first impression was... Wow, this woman knows her stuff! Kind and considerate and she took her time asking questions, and in listening to what I had to say. While most doctors allow a paltry 15 or 20 minutes, she gave me a full hour.
 She was under the assumption that my Internal Medicine and Primary Care Doctor was taking more of an active interest in my diabetes and my kidney. The only one that I have left. She agreed that the amount of insulin that I take is on target but not the way that I was giving my self the shots. She said that it was ridiculous for me to be taking 12 shots a day, so she cut those in half. 55 units in one spot and 55 in the other and my regular sliding scale. And she said to do the same at night and she put me on a pill because my body is resistant to the insulin. This new pill will help my cells open up and receive the insulin.
 But I have protein in my urine and should never have protein in my urine, So we are doing a 24 hour urine test where I collect up to 24 hours and she wants to do another test on my kidney. As for the adrenaline glands she is going to take a closer look but she thinks that the tests were a false positive on the cortisol and she said that she will also take a closer look at my body's absorption of Vitamins and Minerals. Considering that I am not retaining Vitamin D is the biggest concern. She said when your body is depleted of that one Vitamin that it can cause fatigue and pain and a general sense of not feeling well. The good news is that I am on a high powered Vitamin D. The bad news is that she has to find out why my body is not retaining it.
 All in all it was a good visit. The office was kind enough to call my transportation for me. The building is really hard to find and way in the back of other facilities, so I had to go out and wait for my ride to pick me up.
 We were at 112 yesterday with the heat index. It was really hot out side but I was afraid that they wouldn't be able to find me so I went out to the parking lot to wait. Bad mistake since the mosquito's like to have eaten me alive. This is the county that had the cases of the Zika Virus and the one case of West Nile. I took a look at each little blood sucker as I killed it. All babies as far as I could tell. But the ride transportation pulled up just as I was ready to find a different office to sit in until they got there. Good thing that I took my walker as I know that I would not have been able to walk that far on my own.

 It was almost 3 when I got home. I was exhausted from the traffic and from the long ride as we had to take another person home and pick another person up before my driver could take me home. I understood that she couldn't take me home, go all the way back across town and pick up another person. I was on the way back North so I told her that was fine. It made a longer day for me but we stopped and got something to drink and we chatted.

 I came home and hit my bed. I needed the time to decompress before Karyn and Jonathan got home anyway so I rested and then the kids got here and they decided on Panda Express for dinner. I cringed at the Chinese food but I ate it expecting my sugar to be thru the roof this morning, but guess what? It was a good number. Perhaps that little pill is going to work for me. I sure hope so.

 I am having to update this as I have forgotten to add a few things.
 First of all yesterday as I was walking out front to meet my transportation, I noticed a big huge tree limb sitting on top of my girlfriends car. I also saw a man walking around taking pictures. He was wearing a name tag and I wanted to ask him why he was taking pictures but my ride showed up just then and I had to go. But I did call her and tell her about the limb on her car.
 We are having heavy tree limbs falling everywhere. I am sure that it is because it is so dry here. Our Crepe Myrtles are fading in color, leaves are falling as if it were Autumn already. I did talk to her last night thru a few text messages. The tree limb did not damage her car so that was a blessing!

 My friend Amanda is having a baby and I if she does not have him by the 8th, they are going to induce her on the 9th. We talked awhile and I told her about the tree limb and the man that I saw walking around taking pictures and she said that when she was on her way to see the doctor a few days ago she saw lots of executive men walking into the front office. She said none of them looked pleased. I know that we have had quiet a few new owners here in the 2 years that I have been here. So I am wondering what is going on around here.  And I am also thinking of the man that was taking several pictures of my friends car with the huge limb sitting on the top of it.

 The neighbors got rid of the couple that was doing all of that fighting. I am so pleased. However I did see the woman back a couple of weeks ago. She too is pregnant. I thought that she was when she was here and that man was slapping her around but not positive. Well I am positive now. She didn't stay long. The man of the house wouldn't let her in. I heard him telling her that she and her other half had almost gotten him and his family evicted and she wasn't putting them back in that position again. She cried but he stood firm and went back inside and shut the door. She knocked a few times still crying but no one came to the door and she finally left. It has been very nice and quiet here since they have left.

 My son Nathan had his birthday August 1st. He turned 25. We didn't do anything special. We asked him what he wanted to do and he said just stay home and chill. So Karyn went and got a box of chicken, cole slaw and mashed potatoes and gravy. No one was hungry they said. Ha... I have never seen a box of chicken disappear as fast as that one did. It was very good and I enjoyed the day of not having to cook.

 The next night I made dinner. Meat Loaf night and no one really ate except Nathan and I. I had everything ready when the kids got home from work but later when I went to make sure that the food got put away, there was hardly anything left. So they did eat, just not at the time that Nathan and I ate dinner. Then Karyn made brownies for Nathan's birthday. They all watched the latest Superman movie and I enjoyed reading my book until Karyn came to bed.

 Karyn and Jonathan will be going back home on the 6th. Joe's mom is scheduled for surgery on the 8th in Dallas and so Karyn took the time off work. She will not be back until the 14th. She is leaving Foxy here with us. Jonathan will spend Saturday night with his dad. Something that he has not done in 15 years. I was surprised to find out that he wouldn't be coming back that night. I was going to go with him because I thought that he would be coming back the same day, but since he is staying overnight I will stay here at home.

 Well I guess this finally is the end of this blog post. I think that I have said all that I have to say for now. It is past time for lunch now so I need to test my sugar and find out where I stand. I am thinking that I will have a cup of Butternut Squash soup. There is a brand that I really like and it is low in carbs and no cholesterol. So that is the plan.

 Today will be busy as I have to make some phone calls and then I have to do some laundry and I really need to clean a bit. I guess I should get started! Have a great day and thanks for stopping by. BB