FEBRUARY

Happy February. We're in a new year and spring is on the way. I looked hard today and noticed daffodils starting to bloom. It won't be long before the forsythias make a showing. We're getting plenty of rain so it should be a good year. Right now, as I look out my dining room window, it's dark outside. We're under a thundercloud. 

Today is my beloved husband's birthday. He's finally as old as me again. I happen to be a few months older than him. That's why I tell him he should defer to my wisdom, because I'm older, don't you know. He usually just lets me have my way because I'm so vocal and won't shut up.

Yesterday we took a trip to Cracker Barrel and used the gift card we got for Christmas from Katie and Scout. Donny has been nursing a cold and didn't feel very good but he enjoyed getting out and eating his favorite meal, steak and eggs.

I'm happy to report everything is going okay with everybody in the family. I've gotten to visit my granddaughter, Alice, a few times and I think she is beautiful. She has such cute little chubby cheeks.

Momma had to call a plumber out to fix her pipes under the house. It's fifty-five years old and the cast iron started to leak. She finally got that fixed so she is hunky-dory now. I hope the pipes last another fifty-five years.

I have a ton of supplies so I can start painting Colt's room. I keep saying I'm going to paint but haven't started yet. I think I need to build a fire under me. I'm just afraid that if I get started I'll want to paint the rest of the house and that's not going to happen.

Well, until next time, or until I do something outstanding, tah-tah for now.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Mikki, Alicia, Brooke, Don, Douglas, Bailey

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

HAPPY GROUNDHOG DAY
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

RIP
Delbert Callahan

AS ALWAYS

PIO

FEBRUARY

A week ago I wrote:

There's a storm coming in the north east and they're predicting blizzard conditions. Everything is set in place for a replay of last year. About this time last year, Katie's father died. There was snow on the ground. We went to Tennessee to the funeral.

You should have seen us. We were a force to be reckoned with. Our goal was to support Katie in her most painful time of need and let her know we cared. Over this last year I have grown to love Katie better than I would have ever thought. She is a remarkable young woman and I think she's a hoot to hang out with and the feeling is mutual. Like Katie said, "We're like two peas in a pod."

Katie and I have become walking buddies. We try to go walking several times a week. We're both getting in shape. We are going to be so fit and so healthy everybody is going to be amazed. Well, I hope we are.

I'm "going under the knife" or whatever this week and I'm a little nervous about it. Not the surgery, per se; just the recovery thereafter. Ouch! I don't like pain. "It's be alright. Surely."

Last year about this time I was about to begin an odyssey with Donny when he collapsed in the bathroom. What I had mistaken for the flu turned out to be a heart attack. We were stuck in ICC during Valentine's Day. Looking back, I am so thankful we have come this far. 

You can imagine why I am nervous about having surgery after everything that happened last year.

*******

This time last week I was obsessing about my upcoming surgery. I didn't know if I'd come through it or not. I was being very pessimistic. I can happily report that I did survive and am beginning to bounce back like the proverbial red rubber ball. 

I spent Groundhog Day, watching the movie "Groundhog Day" over and over again. It felt about right. I've been mulling over the past and realizing you can only do whatever you think is right. We can only hope we make the right choices at the time. We don't get any do-overs. I would give anything if we could try until we get it right like in the movie "Groundhog Day." I have lots of days I would replay over again. I love how Bill Murray's character transforms into a better person by the end of the movie. 

******

Last month we got to go to Chuck E. Cheese's to celebrate Bennett's birthday. I forgot how much fun it is to be surrounded by about a hundred little rug rats, running and screaming, all around you. We got to fill up on pizza and enjoy the ambiance. Kids were crawling through bright colored building blocks overhead and other kids were playing various token machines happily gobbling up everyone's money. 

After about an hour, we had all had enough. Everybody split up to leave. 

Donny and I got turned around and lost before we got turned back around in the right direction and came home. 

Whew! I don't envy people who have to drag their kids to parties all the time. I can only handle that kind of excitement about once, or twice, a year.

*******

Savor every moment you have with the people you love. I can't say that enough. Love the one's you're with. Who knows if we'll ever get that opportunity again. Even if you have to face your phobia about germy kids and noise. "It'll be alright."

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Mikki, Alicia, Brooke, Don, Douglas, Bailey

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

HAPPY GROUNDHOG DAY
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

RIP
Delbert Callahan

AS ALWAYS

PIO

FEBRUARY

Greetings Y'all. If you have a honey and want to show them how much you love them, don't buy them one of those giant teddy bears. That is such a creepy gift. "Hey honey. I got a gift for you. A life size bear!"

I can imagine the woman thinking, "What the hell kind of gift is this? Does he think I'm a twelve year old girl? Nice. Now where am I going to stash this thing?" Yikes! Well, not to worry. I'm not expecting anything, big or small. a nice, quiet holiday. No drama. Please!  

**************************************

I'm afraid I didn't get what I wanted for Valentine's day. My husband blacked out and fell in the bathroom recently. I helped him up and his head was cold and clammy. He said he felt weak but wasn't hurting anywhere. I thought he might be getting the flu. He monitored his blood pressure and it was too low for him. He called the doctor the next week. After taking blood tests, they called the next day and told me to get him to the emergency room immediately because his blood work showed he had a heart attack. That's why he fell.

We went to Hamilton Medical Center in Dalton and they admitted him after poking and prodding him for hours. They planned a stress test for the next day but the cardiologist said it was too dangerous to run a stress test until they found out the problem. They scheduled a heart catheterization for the next day.

Instead of getting good news from the doctor, we were told that Don needed bypass surgery. I rode in the ambulance with Don as he was transported to Chattanooga at Memorial Hospital. We went to the same hospital that Daddy had been in only a couple of months before. He was supposed to have surgery on Friday, a week after his bathroom fall but they wanted to do some tests on his liver first. His surgery was postponed until the next Monday.

After five hours of surgery, he was moved to recovery in the CVICU. They kept him in ICU monitoring his blood pressure and pumping him full of drugs in IV's. 

Colt and I camped out in his room the night before his surgery. We intended in traveling back and forth to see him in the hospital but the south was slammed with a snowstorm. I was hospital bound in the waiting room until Scout was able to come to the hospital and rescue me. I was so happy to get back home and take care of things, not to mention sleep in my own bed.

Colt was supposed to take me back to Chattanooga today but Don said he was still in ICU and told me to wait. He thinks he will be placed in a room tomorrow. I certainly hope so. It is very hard sleeping on a little bench in the waiting room. 

I was able to snag a recliner after a couple of days when most of the families cleared out. They didn't want to be stuck at the hospital because of the storm. I didn't have that luxury. I don't trust my car enough to drive it to Chattanooga so I rode with Colt up there. Scout came to pick me up in Mama's car. I don't mind driving an old car but it is really inconvenient when you want to go somewhere and don't know how reliable it will be.

My sweetie is in the hospital after having quadruple bypass surgery and valve repair. He was a walking timebomb. I am so grateful that he went to the doctor in time to correct it. That is the best Valentine's gift I can thing of. Our wonderful family has been right there to support and encourage us throughout all this. Friends who are going through their own difficulties are so kind and caring and have been invaluable to our family. It is times like this that you learn who cares and who doesn't. Thank you all. I love you, each and every one. 

I hope you all had a happy and healthy Valentine's day. I hope we don't get any more snow this winter. It's too much. Everything is too much. This has been a difficult year, so far, and it's only February.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Mikki, Alicia, Brooke, Don, Douglas, Bailey

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

HAPPY GROUNDHOG DAY

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

RIP
Delbert Callahan

AS ALWAYS
PIO

FEBRUARY

February started off with a bang. So far there has been a tornado, an earthquake, and even a little bit of snow. Jonquils and mini-forsythias are struggling to bloom. Mother Nature's turned upside down. The weather is like a crazy bitch, blowing hot and cold. There's no telling what might happen next. 

No matter what the groundhog says, we still have about six more weeks of winter. It sure is a wet winter. Colt said the Almanac had predicted that. I don't know how they are able to nail weather so often but those farmers always had to watch the weather so they probably passed it on for thousands of years. 

Saturday I watched a marathon showing of Groundhog Day, all day long. It's a surprisingly sweet and romantic film with Bill Murray and Andie McDowell. The more I watched it, the more I liked it. 

Sunday I immersed myself in The Walking Dead reruns while the guys watched football. Today was Superbowl Sunday. The Ravens and the 49ers. That's a big deal in America. Half of the country, and most of the south, watch the Superbowl. Go Teams!

Colt's friends, Brent, and Brenda, and their three kids came to watch the Superbowl. They stayed until Brenda's little boy got cranky and wanted to go home. He was a tired little fellow. 

I am enamored with the twins, Mason and MacKenzie. Boy, what a handful. They're old enough to walk now. Oy! I adore little kids. Their older brother,Logan, was a very well mannered and sweet little boy. He had enjoyed seeing the chickens and goat when they first came over. He just wasn't used to being over here and was tired after a few hours. I can understand that. I get antsy when I'm in another environment, too, if I have to stay too long.

*****

I've taken up reading again. I bought a paperback from our new Dollar General Market and got hooked. It was a light look at Washington through the eyes of an idealistic young woman who worked for a young Senator at the capitol. Since I've been so immersed in politics lately, I thought it would be fun to read a story about it from the "inside". The book Sammy's Hill by Kristin Gore was fin-tas-tic! (You'll have to read the book to get that reference.) If you run across this book and like a good romantic comedy, check it out. You won't be disappointed.

I've started on another paperback book from the dollar store. It's a humdinger. It is written by someone raised in north Georgia. I can hardly wait to see how it ends. More book reviews later, maybe.

HAPPY GROUNDHOG DAY

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Mikki, Alicia, Brooke, Don, Douglas, Bailey

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

RIP

Delbert Callahan

AS ALWAYS

PIO