A little sleet for us

Well I wanted snow, but all we are getting is some freezing rain and sleet. There is a chance for some snow flurries tomorrow, but we will wait and see. Schools are closed and waiting to see if the post office closes. The vehicles aren't designed to drive on icey roads, so I am thinking they will close.

I am so excited about the extension of my craft room. Al is taking vacation for a week in March and is going to do as much as he can on the room. I have a lot of my extra things packed in the storage room he built. My dream is finally coming true.

Confession time. I had started smoking again and it was making me sick and I have finally quit and can say that it feels really great and don't have to freeze to go smoke. I did smoke in our computer room because I didn't want my things to stink and I'm glad to say they don't. But I feel great and just praying now that my stress test goes well and my blockage hasn't gotten any worse and require surgery. Guess that is what scared me into quitting. I had 60% blockage in a main artery and 40% in the left one and that is not a good thing. Just the thought of having to open me up scares me. So this one, I only have myself to blame and I am such a fool to think that I am super woman and nothing will hurt me.

I hope I get to take some pictures for y'all to see. I am so jealous of the snow pictures I have seen, but don't like what happened in Chicago's Lakeshore drive. I can't imagine being stuck in my vehicle or bus for 9 hours. And now they have another blast of snow coming their way. I pray every gets through this.

We have our house in the country rented so I have to move into the small housse which is fine with me. Less to clean and it's only for a short time before I move back here. I told Al I wasn't coming back until he had my craft room built. He has procastenated long enough and I know love should not be built on such things, but you have to know him before you can understand him. This was a promise he made to me 4 years ago and something always gets in the way----his excuses have run out and I want my room. Am I being too "biatchy"??????????? I do love him, but trust has to be rebuilt before I move back with him. I thought it would be sooner, but things happen.
Well going crawl back under my throw. Have a great day and a safe one. Hugs, Pat

Freezing weather with no snow

I'm not sure how tired everyone is with the snow and the cold, but I can't wait for spring to get here. We have been having cold freezes,, no snow, rain, then it warms up and then freezes again. This whole week we have freezing temps in the morning. Yesterday, I went in for my epidural and there was ice on the windshield and very cold. Thank goodness they give you warm blankets when they bring you to the back. The epidural went well and only mild pain when injections started. He did this one on my C5 and C6, so the bulging disk will feel better. I am avoiding surgery by having these epidurals and I am really afraid to have surgery on my neck.

My storage room is finished and already filled with things I need to store until my expansion of my craft room. I am so excited about that, because it will begin when we get our income tax refunds. Al can't do all the work at one time, so each payday, he will use his overtime pay to buy more material. I think that will make me want to craft more than I am doing right now. I am currently sewing some curtains for the kitchen in the apt. in the country. I won't be moving back when I thought I would. I am waiting until they rent out both the house and the apt to move, so I can help with the bills. The house is just about finished and my parents would be so happy living in it, but I am sure they are looking down from Heaven and seeing the wonderful job we did updating everything. It doesn't look like the same house anymore. We have 2 potential clients that are interested and one is very interested in it, but he needs the garage and we have to keep that for all our maintenance supplies to keep the house up, plus the lawnmower and other things that most renters don't have.
Well guess I have bored you all to sleep, but I am feeling so great I had to tell you all. I hope you are all fine in blogland and getting through the snow storms. Love and hugs, Pat

An Almost Perfect Christmas

Our Christmas was almost a Perfect day, but Chris and David could not be home with us. This is my wonderful family, bottom row, left to right is Me, Pat, granddaughter Theresa, grandson Jacob, and Al

Standing from left to right is our oldest son Donnie, dil, Heidi and our youngest Jonathan.

Now you can see how happy I felt that day and for the first time in over 10 years, I was pain free. I just wish it could last forever, but I am enjoying it while I can.

Now Donnie's smile was worth a million bucks to me after not seeing him for 2 years.

Not many decorations this year, but having him home was the best gift after Jesus's birth.

Jonathan and Theresa in the kitchen having fun. Jonathan is 6 ft. tall, so you can imagine how tall Theresa is for being 9 years old.

That's my little angel and I'm praying Chris will have children, because I think Jonathan and Heidi

are finished having children.

She is such a sweet child, but when I have her and her brother together, they fight over such

silly things, so I try to have one at a time. Of course Jacob is at the age when it is not cool to hang with granny.

3 generations of Jochums, so hopefully when Jacob is old enough, finished with college and finds his mate, they will have a boy and we will have 4 generations. Al's mother is still living, but his dad drowned when he was about 3 years old, trying to save his nephew from drowning. His mom raised 5 boys alone at a time when there was no welfare for her.

Everyone, including myself, thought they were not ready to marry, but Heidi was pregnant and here they are together and will be married 15 years this April. Both have great jobs, but I always wished that he would return to college and get his degree like our other children and Heidi.

Here we are, the men in my life---Al is still a part of my life, even though we can't live together.

Chris, if you are reading this, we missed you and David, but we understand. Maybe next year, we can all be together and you and David will be married by that time.

Our Christmas was not about gifts, but about Jesus and Love of Family, so for me, it was the greatest gift.

Donnie left on the 28th and flew out on New Year's Eve, after visiting some of his friends. He rested and then caught a train on New Year's Day and spent a few days in Montreal. He will now leave for Portland, Oregon and will have his Christmas with Chris and David in Vancouver.

I hope you enjoyed seeing my family. We are very close and we all love each other unconditionally. They are my strength and it's what kept me fighting when I was so sick.

I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas with your families, because without family, there is a void.

We are having a deep freeze, but nothing like people are having in the Midwest and North, but with temps in the low 20s, we have to take precautions and get things as though a hurricane were coming, not to mention protecting pipes. There is a possibility of some snow mixed with ice. I like the cold weather, but not in the teens.

I wish all of you the best this year filled with many Blessings, lots of smiles and buckets of hugs. Take the time to say I love you or that you are sorry for hurting someone when you didn't mean to. Life is too short to hold grudges. Love, hugs, and Prayers. Pat

The Snow is gone and Who Dat?

How about our Saints! Wow who would have thought they would come this far. Guess we can throw the brown paper sacks away and do away with the "Aints"! If they win tomorrow, they will be 12 and 0----Super Bowl is looking good and will bring lots of money to the city and state. Hotels are booked already and for those who can't afford the tickets, there will be many tailgaters out there and parties in every house and sports bars. I like college football, more because of the outrageous salaries that the pros make. Did I fall asleep when the sport became a business! I have some orders for candy bouquets if they make it to the Super Bowl, so guess I have to hope that they get there.
Well we didn't think that it would last, but it was cool just the same. There is still some on roof tops, but melting and making a mess.
I am not sure if this is my 400th post or not, but if it is, I will still keep my word for a giveaway, but things are happening fast right now and my computer will be going home tomorrow. Not sure how long it will take me to get on my laptop---it's old and slow. So if you don't see me post, you know why.
Donnie, my son, lifted my spirits so much and he will be spending an entire week with me. He usually divides his time between family and friends, but I get him for an Entire week, so baking cookies will be done.  Not sure how much decorating I will get done, but it will be simple this year.
A dear sweet blogger has helped me through some things and I can't thank her enough. She knows who she is and is very humble, so no need to mention any names.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

Well who would have thought that we would get snow---real snow. We live about 1 1/2 hours from the Gulf and this sure was a , but it was so beautiful coming down in huge flakes. It is supposed to snow all night, so we will see what things look like in the morning.

Awards

Please forgive me this morning for being such an idiot. My head is in LaLa Land and the rest of my body in bed. I totally forgot every thing on the draft and my head is spinning, but wanted to thank Mary from Crash and Smash and Deena from Deena's Story (Please use my links on the sidebar) for the wonderful awards they gave me.

The Lemonade Award is from Mary and The Biggest Heart is from Deena. Thank you both for thinking of me.

The one thing that this bug can't take from me is my Prayers and I have been doing a lot of that lately. I did work in my craft room a little while last night. My meds had me wired like some crazy lady. I tried to go out and drive and was quickly home again with my head spinning like in the Exorcist, only (sorry) I can't upchuck Pea Soup with part of my stomach wrapped around my esphogus. Not sure if it's the flu (shame on me for not having my shot), but it sure feels like last year when I got it and I did have my shot---go figure.

Today I am feeling somewhat better, but I think I will take it easy for the rest of the weekend. Last night while organizing a few things, I found things I had been looking for---what a surprise.

Please keep Joyce (Secret Garden) and her sister Jerri in your prayers. Joyce is away from her family and Jerri's baby is not due, but problems have arisen and will require an early birth. I haven't been to her blog yet, so the baby may be born already. Joyce, please know that I did read your email and have been praying that Mother and Baby are doing well.

Hope your favorite team wins the Super Bowl. I need to find my earplugs, because Al really gets into the game. I am actually hoping he goes to our son's so I can rest. Have a great weekend---hope the ice and snow is soon gone for those affected by it. Love and Hugs, Pat

My Sister's House

Oh I am so jealous about the snow that Brenda got. I could have been still living there and got to see this. They got a lot more than we did and my pictures are ugly, so I thought I would share hers with ya'll.

Now why couldn't we get that much. I'm still waiting for my nephew to send the pictures, they had 8 inches just north of Baton Rouge.

My almost fil had the last rites and I went today and he is so fragil, but was laughing and giggling the entire time. I am going back to spend the day tomorrow as they gave him 2 to 4 weeks and I love this man so much. I cried after leaving and I know the pain they will feel if he dies near Christmas---it's hard enough anytime, but the holidays just seem to make it worse. They put him in his wheelchair and brought him to the door to see it and he smiled. Please keep Mr. Norace and his family in your prayers. The world is a better place because of him. He was always helping people when he could, which was often. Pop will be missed by all who loved him and those who knew him. My heart is so heavy right now and it's hard not to cry. Bryan promised to call me anytime during the night if things got worse.

My wish came true

Well today Al woke me up to a wonderful thing---my wish came true for snow. Even though we don't have as much as up north,

it is still fun to see. My batteries were weak, so the pictures didn't come out too great, so they are charging while it's still snowing. I really want to go out and play in it, but the drugs are still hanging on after yesterday.

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My epeduram went great except I got nauseated before they took me in and was in pain, so they called Al from the lobby and the doctor said it was okay to take it with a very small sip of water. Al thought they had finished already and the injection had made me sick, so he returned to the lobby to wait it out. Since my withdrawals are still kicking, I cried like a baby and they ended up giving me Vestid because I didn't want to feel a lot of the pain while they did the ededuram. It's totally different than the one they give you when you have a baby and ouch, it hurts the entire time. My back feels like a million bucks, but it's still numb and the effects won't kick in for about 2 weeks, so I have to take things easy and no lifting during that time. My blood pressure has dropped from 198/126 to 144/102, but my pulse rate is still high. I still haven't gotten the results of the ultra sound and blood work, so Dr. G said to call his office today---hope the snow doesn't close everything down.

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Well, I am going to decorate our tree with the mom and dad, and grandma and grandpa ornaments, then finish up my nativity tree. I went to Goodwill last week and you would not believe what I got for $.99---a Waterford crystal tree ornament still in it's box. Tia if it were a snowflake, I would send it to you, because I know you collect them.

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I hope all of you have a great day and are enjoying the Christmas Season. My head is spinning so going back to lay down for a little until it passes. Love and hugs to all of you. Pat