Wednesday, November 28, 2018 - Another Doctor Appointment; Another Long List of To-do's; Visit with a Special Couple; and Christmas in Riverside Park

Wednesday, November 28, 2018 - Another Doctor Appointment; Another Long List of To-Do's; Visit with a Special Couple; and Christmas in Riverside Park.

We have a busy day planned, but before it was over it was busier and longer than we anticipated, but it was still a great day!

Dean had an appointment with the dermatologist at 8am in Joplin this morning, so we were up and around early in order to leave a little before 7 to be sure we were on time.  We didn't have time to do any of our errands yesterday while in Joplin, so we want to take care of them today.  Since Dean has such an early appointment, we have all day to get things done before we leave Joplin.

The drive to Joplin this morning was amazing - the sky was just beautiful.  I must have taken 30 pictures, maybe more.  I went through them this morning and picked out the following ones to share.

The two above were taken south of Oswego as we headed to Chetopa.

As we neared the city limits of Chetopa

Veteran's Memorial at Chetopa

Sunrise at Neosho River in Chetopa

A few miles east of Chetopa

What a display God provided us this morning.  It was breathtaking!

We made it to Joplin about 20 minutes early for Dean's appointment, so we made a quick pit stop at McDonald's and grabbed a sprite.  I typically bring a bottle of water along with us, but forgot this morning.  I think the sprite syrup was all but gone - yuck!  No time to go in and tell them and get something else, so on we went.

Dean wasn't in the doctor's office long - even though they did burn off a spot that was pre-cancerous on his ear and another spot on his chest.  The one on his chest was more of a nuisance than a medical issue so he'll be glad to have it gone.   We left by 8:30.  I have a list of things we need to do before leaving town and we got right to it.

Dean has decided for his birthday he wants a new satellite to replace our Tailgator.  We purchased it almost five years ago shortly after we bought Bentley.  Most of the time it's worked pretty good for us, but many of the shows I like to watch and a few that Dean enjoys, we are unable to get a good enough picture or sound to watch them.  So, we are looking for something with a better signal and that will pick up both the western and eastern arcs.  He has researched the various satellites and has decided he wants the Winegard Pathway X2.  We decided to drive to Carthage to see if any of the RV dealers carry those and not one of them did.  After three stops we headed back to Joplin to continue on with our list of to-do's.  

Back in Joplin, our first stop was at Lowe's to look at replacement globes for the lights over our island in the RV.  You might remember that one broke a short while ago.  We only found one globe we liked at Lowe's.  It's a little longer that the ones we have and has more yellow color in it than I prefer, so I'm going to do a little more research before making a decision.  Of course, while we were there we had to look around a little as well.  Not a problem though as I enjoy it as much as Dean does.

We decided that we would take some back roads and travel on north to Best Buy next.  From there we can work our way back south, with the idea of arriving at Golden Corral near 11:00.  Dean has a coupon for a free birthday lunch there, so it will be a "cheap" lunch for us today.  At Best Buy we purchased bluetooth headphones for Dean.  I think this present is for me as much as it is him.  Sometimes in a confined space it is nice if he can listen to the TV and I don't have to.  Most of the time I do not care, but occasionally when I'm working on something and really need quiet to concentrate, (budget, paperwork, and sometimes when I'm working on the blog, etc.) I do better if there are no distractions.  I had a store credit and a $5 Best Buy Reward that we applied, and the headphones were on sale ($20 less) - yea!

Next stop was at Northpark Mall where I returned a Christmas gift I bought Sunday for one of the grandkids.  I decided it wasn't the best choice and I found something I thought this grandchild would like much better!  While there I wanted to stop at Ulta to buy some makeup.  WIth that done, we moved to Ross.  I purchased some things for myself there on Sunday but waited to get home to try them on.  They all went back - so disappointing!  

As we were leaving I realized we needed to backtrack to Khol's.  I had something I want to get here for one of the grandkids.  It didn't take me too long to pick out what I needed, and our next stop was at Golden Corral for lunch.  We both enjoyed nice salads - a good way to keep from eating too much other food, and then a little dessert before continuing on with our list.  Next stop was Walmart to pick up just a few things we needed.  

We timed this just right.  I had contacted my step-dad, Larry and his wife Verna earlier to see if they would be available this afternoon for us to stop by for a visit and they were.  We had a great visit and stayed for quite awhile.  They had this cute little "candy sleigh" on their table that someone at their church gave them recently.  I thought it was so cute I had to take a picture.

As we were getting ready to leave their apartment, I got a phone call from a young woman asking for Dean - hmmmm!  I passed it to him, and it turned out to be great news - his hearing aid that he dropped off about a week ago was in and he could pick it up today!  So we added in one more stop and drove to Sam's next.  While we were there I grabbed a couple of boxes of cereal for Dean.

One last stop before heading home, was to make a stop at my lung doctor.  They called me yesterday to remind me of my appointment on Thursday.  I thought they told me 3:15, but when I looked at my phone (I put my appointments on my phone at the doctor's office when they originally set it up) it says 1:00.  When I open the calendar, it showed 2:00, so I wanted to make sure I had the correct time.  In addition I have a CD of the CT scan they did in Tahlequah last week.  I planned to just take it with me tomorrow, but since we were in town I thought it would save time tomorrow if I dropped it off so Dr. Slocum would have time to view it before my appointment tomorrow (Thursday).  Yes, I have to come back to Joplin again tomorrow.  She wanted to know if I had copies of the report for my Pulmonary Function test and the CT scan.  I was surprised they did not have them as I filled out paperwork to have it faxed to Dr. Slocum the day I had the tests done and they assured me they would go out that day.  So I had to fill out and sign a request for Dr. Slocum's office to fax to the hospital to get that information - hopefully it arrives before my appointment tomorrow.  I'm so glad we made this stop today.  

A beautiful sunset as we returned to Oswego

It was almost 5:00 before we made it back to Oswego.  Needless to say we were both worn out.  Fortunately we had some leftovers that I could heat up for dinner and I did not have to cook.

Misti called me while I was at Dr. Slocum's office.  Since I left my phone in the truck, Dean answered it.  She wanted to know if we had been to Riverside Park in Oswego yet to see the Christmas decorations.  She had seen something there that reminded her of Dean and encouraged us to go out.  We didn't go by when we returned to Oswego, but we decided to drive out there about 7.  She told us to go up the center road of the park through the "tunnel" and it was just to the right.  When we got there someone was parked in the middle of the road working on their display and we could not get through or see anything.  We rode around for awhile looking at other Christmas displays in town before making our way back one more time.  Unfortunately they were still working on their display, so we decided to drive south on the main entrance road to the east side of the park, hoping we could see it from that side.  As we neared the area where they were working I saw what Misti was referring to.  It's had to do with an ongoing joke between Misti and Dean.  He hates the movie "The Christmas Story" - you know the one - about the boy who got the BB gun for Christmas.  There was a display of the leg lamp from the movie as one of the decorations in the park.  We had a good laugh over that.  Thanks Misti - we needed a good laugh after such a long day.  

I didn't take pictures last night of the park because not all of the individual decorations are up.  The deadline is soon, so once they are all up, we will make another trip through so I can share some of the pictures with you.  There are many new ones from last year and some real surprises too!

We returned to Bentley, then watched a Christmas movie before heading to bed.  

Tuesday, November 27, 2018 - Happy Birthday to Dean!; Lunch with Friends at Downstream;

Tuesday, November 27, 2018 - Happy Birthday to Dean!; Lunch with Friends at Downstream; 

As usual I was up early.  Dean and I decided a few years ago we would not buy birthday cards for each other anymore, so I took the time before he got up to write him a birthday note!

I am so blessed that God put him in my life.  We have such a great time together and enjoy so many of the same things.  He makes every day fun - and we often laugh like little kids over the silliest things.   I couldn't ask for a better mate and best friend to spend the rest of my life with.  Happy birthday Dean!

We are meeting friends near Joplin, Mo at Downstream Casino for lunch at their Spring River Cafe.  We left a little early so we could stop in Chetopa at the Chetopa RV Center, where we purchased our Heartland Big Horn almost 5 years ago.  The LCD panel display for our level up system quit working and our remote that operates a number of things has not worked for quite sometime.  (Fortunately, Dean was able to go through the steps from memory to get the landing gear in place.)  It definitely needs to be repaired before we move Bentley again.  We purchased an extended warranty shortly after we purchased Bentley and it has proved to be worth the money.  However, considering all of our needed repairs, they have been small in comparison to many folks we know or read about today.  Our cost for these two repairs will be freight on the repair parts and the $100 deductible.   We still have a couple of years left on the extended warranty.  Even though our repairs have been small, we've used it at least once a year, and we are near, if not a little over, the break even point for what we paid for it.  

We left with just enough time for us to arrive at Downstream just a few minutes before our meeting time of 11:30, where we joined our friends (Alvin & Linda, Keith & Drena).  After visiting for 20-30 minutes we headed to the buffet.  I noticed a line forming near the Noodle Bar - similar to a Mongolian Grill.  I joined it and enjoyed the best meal I've had here.  I selected vegetables, chicken and steak along with garlic sauce, dark sauce and a touch of sweet chili sauce - on the recommendation of the lady standing next to me.  What a great combination. 

We will be traveling with these two couples in March, which was the purpose of our lunch today, so we could talk about it.  Keith, with input from everyone, has put together what looks to be a fantastic trip.  We are looking forward to it.  We had a great time visiting before, during and after dinner.  As we left, we had to take a few minutes in the parking lot to look Alvin's new truck over.  It's beautiful and should provide a great ride for them on future RV trips.

Dean and I needed to get back so we could pick our granddaughter Haleigh up at school, and we made it just in time!

Misti stopped by later to wish Dean a Happy Birthday, and he received several calls throughout the day.  

This is going to be a busy week with two more trips to Joplin, and one to Wichita this week.  Stay tuned!

Monday, November 26, 2018 - My "To Do" List Was Long---but not anymore!

Monday, November 26, 2018 - My "To Do" List Was Long---but not anymore!

With all that we've had going on, in addition to the the long holiday weekend, I've just been adding to my "To Do" list.  Finally, this morning I was able to start marking things off.  What a great feeling to see that list whittled down to just one or two items that do not need to be addressed until later this week.  

Today more doctor appointments were made, and one had to be changed.  I also changed our hotel reservations for Logan's graduation, that will be held at the Great Lakes Navy Base, near North Chicago, IL.  I thought his graduation was on Dec 8 - however, I learned this weekend it is Dec 7.  Fortunately, it was easily fixed.   I ordered a few more Christmas presents; ordered refills on my prescriptions; went to the grocery store; checked emails and now it's time to fix dinner.  It's hard to believe I can list all of those to-do's in this small paragraph when it took several hours to complete them all!   Sounds so simple, doesn't it?  I'm just glad they are taken care of.

Late this afternoon I put everything in the Instapot to make chicken and noodles for our dinner tonight.  On this cold evening, they will taste really good.  I made a large batch so I am going to share some with Misti and Haleigh.   

It turned really cold yesterday afternoon so Dean filled our water tank and picked up the water hose so it wouldn't freeze overnight.  Since it's supposed to be below freezing again tonight he'll wait until tomorrow to put the water hose back out.  The Weather Channel indicates we should be able to leave it out for at least five nights, as the temperatures are expected to be above freezing.  Of course, we'll check that daily to be sure.  Those warm days will provide time for me to do some laundry this week.  It's amazing how fast the laundry hamper can fill up!

We have been enjoying some really beautiful sunsets here at Hillside RV Park, in our hometown of Oswego, Kansas.

 

The sunset to the southwest of Bentley's parking spot.

I haven't posted a picture of Bentley lately - so here's one with tonight's sunset in the background. 

Dean and I decided that we would once again join an RV group called Harvest Hosts.  Harvest Hosts is made up of a variety of businesses such as farms, wineries, breweries, museums, golf courses and other unique attractions that permits RV's to park on their properties overnight.  

We joined Harvest Hosts a couple of years ago but it didn't work out for us since we were not traveling full-time then.  We were always on such a tight schedule we didn't feel like we had the luxury of making time to visit places that were not in a direct route to our next stop.  Now that we have a little more leeway, we think it will offer us some great experiences.  Harvest Hosts is offering their current annual rate of $49 until the end of 2018 and if it is renewed annually, the rate will remain at $49.  However, if you wait until January 1, 2019 the rate will increase to $79/year.  If you are interested in learning more about Harvest Hosts, you can check out their link here.  
If any of our RV friends are interested in becoming a member, please let me know and I'll be glad to share our reference link with you.  It will save you 10% off the membership price and we receive $10 for each person who signs up under our link.

We've got quite a few things going on the rest of this week, so stay tuned!

  

Sunday, November 25, 2018 - Celebrating Birthday #17 with my Granddaughters!

Sunday, November 25, 2018 - Celebrating Birthday #17 with our two oldest Granddaughters!

In 2014 I started taking my three granddaughters Haleigh, Dacy & Kamron shopping together.  Our first trip was over spring break.  Here they are posing on March 14, 2014.  Dacy (left) and Haleigh (right) were only 12 years old.  Kamron (center) was only 8.  Today Kamron is 13 and the girls are 17.  WOW....where does the time go?

I'm not sure when or why we switched from Spring Break to Birthday trips, but I've taken all three girls shopping every year since.  The last couple of years I've taken Kamron by herself and continue to take Haleigh and Dacy together.  Kamron's birthday is in August and the other two girls birthday's are October 30 and November 23.  I enjoy spending this special time with them.

Birthday Trip with Kamron, July 2019

I took Kamron shoppping earlier this year before we left on our Northeast trip in August. 

Yesterday Haleigh, Dacy and I spent the day in Joplin.  I picked them up around 9 and we made it to Joplin a little before 10.  

Other than being windy it was a fairly mild day with temperatures in the 40's when we left and it warmed up a little more, before the weather changed around noon.  Our first stop was at Ross, then Target.  By the time we finished there we were getting hungry.  Our plan was to eat around 11 before it started getting busy.  From day one we've always had lunch at "The Olive Garden".  What are the chances of this restaurant being the favorite of all three girls - and Nana loves it too!  We arrived at Olive Garden a few minutes before it opened.  As soon as they unlocked the door, we headed for the entrance.  We were seated immediately and everyone ordered the same thing they have for the past 4 years.  Dacy, chicken alfredo; Haleigh, shrimp alfredo and Nana, pasta fagiolia.  Dacy and I love the salad.  On our first trip I told the girls I'd mix the salad up because you have to really toss it well to get the salad dressing on all of the salad since the dressing is on the bottom of the bowl.  Now it's a tradition for me to mix it - and I admit, I do it well.  😊  I love this salad and the dressing!  Dacy always comments on how well I mix it.  Just a fun little thing that become part of a tradition!   We talked about how many more years we would be able to do this.  The girls are HS Juniors.  I hope they will both remain at least in the immediate area through college but who knows where they will end up once they graduate.  We'll see, but no matter what, I'm going to enjoy each year as much as possible and hope this tradition carries on for many more years.

As usual, our lunch was wonderful.  Dacy saved half of her lunch to take home.  After paying we headed to the truck.  As Dacy opened the truck door, she realized she had left her leftovers on the table, so she ran back in to get it.  Unfortunately, they had already tossed it!  Believe it or not, they made her a whole new container of food - a full order with extra breadsticks!  She was so happy!  

Our last stop for shopping was at Northpark Mall.  When we gout out to head inside, we  immediately noticed the wind had changed and the temperatures had dropped.  We started our shopping spree at TJ Maxx where we all found a number of treasures.  I even found a number of Christmas presents - now I'm almost finished!!!  Haleigh and Dacy also were filling up their carts.  We all purchased so much we had to take everything to the truck before we continued our shopping.  We were shocked when we headed outside - the wind was blasting us directly from the west and it was raining - fortunately, not too hard.  We were on the west side of the mall, so I suggested we move the truck to the east side, where we could also park closer to the door.  That was a good move - it didn't seem near as cold on that side with the building blocking some of the wind.

We visited a number of stores here and had such a good time but Nana sure messed up and failed to get one single picture of these two girls!  How do you do that?  But here are recent pictures of both girls:

Haleigh (October 2018)

Dacy (November 2018)

We had such a fun day and the girls were very happy with their purchases!  

By the time I dropped the girls off at their respective homes, I returned to Bentley and my sweet husband around 4pm.  Fortunately the rain had stopped by the time we headed home but the wind was bone chilling!  Dean had filled our water tank, and picked the water hose up as the temperatures are to dip pretty low tonight.  

Dean and I had a quiet evening in front of the TV watching Hallmark Christmas movies.  My husband is so sweet to tolerate this time of year, knowing how much I love these movies. 

Such a great, fun day!

Saturday, November 24, 2018 - Breakfast by Dean; (Friday 11-23-18 Update); Christmas Decorating Time; Storage Wars; Updates to Budget/Blog

Saturday, November 24, 2018 - Breakfast by Dean; (Friday 11-23-18 Update); Christmas Decorating Time; Storage Wars; Updates to Budget/Blog

So my morning didn't start out quite the way I wanted.  I got up, walked down to turn on the coffee pot (without turning the light on), and went back upstairs to the bathroom.  When I turned on the light, I realized I had not put the coffee carafe back on the burner after I washed it yesterday ..... and coffee was EVERYWHERE!  What a way to start the day!  Fortunately, it was uphill after that!

Once that was cleaned up and I finally had time to set down with my first cup of coffee for the day (once the second pot finished), I worked on updating our November budget.  I was almost two weeks behind, and it felt good to get that completed.


Dean asked me if I'd like to have eggs and toast for breakfast and then set to making them.  What a great husband I have!  They sure were good, too!  

I just realized I left out two important things from my post for Friday, November 23, 2018.  Since it was Friday, Dean wanted to go eat breakfast.  While I was getting ready, he went uptown to see if Circle L was open.  He returned to advise it was not open, so I suggested we go to Chetopa to the Shorthorn Restaurant, after checking their Facebook page to be sure it was open today.  Dean was agreeable, so I called my friend Betsy who lives in Chetopa, to see if she'd like to go with us.  We picked her up and were soon ordering our breakfast.  We were very happy with the meal and we will most likely return again.  Dean wants to try their fried chicken as we've heard very good comments about it.  We had a great visit with Betsy and a few other Chetopa folks while we were there - Carl and Sara Lou; and Wayne.  

The other thing I wanted to mention was our granddaughter Dacy turned 17 today!  I'm looking forward to this Sunday when Dacy, Haleigh and I will do our annual birthday trip to Joplin.  We'll shop and have lunch at Olive Garden - their favorite restaurant!  Happy Birthday Dacy!

Misti called later to see if we could come by to help bring her Christmas tree and decorations in.  The tree is too bulky to move on her own, so we headed down there soon afterwards.  It wasn't too long and they had the trees in place and she and Haleigh were "plumping the tree" after it had laid on its side all year!   Last year I bought a little tree to put in Bentley, but I don't think I will bother with it this year.  

After a bite of lunch, we headed to the storage shed.  We wanted to take some things to storage and while we are there, we will look for our winter coats.  I never did find mine last year, not that I really needed it since the weather was pretty mild until just a few days before we headed south.  Since I will need it next weekend, I was determined to find it today - and find it I did!  It required moving lots of storage tubs and boxes, and a few weren't very cooperative, but things were a little neater when we left there - a bonus for the trip today!

I spent the rest of the afternoon bringing the blog up to date.  All in all it was a very productive day, even if it did get off to a messy start!

November 14, 2018 - November 23, 2018

November 14, 2018 - November 23, 2018


We have been busy, busy, busy!  Rather than write an individual detailed post for each day I'm going to cover highlights with a few pictures thrown in for the past 10 days.

Wednesday, we enjoyed our last morning in Lamar with Matt and family, and Jarred and Emerson before they loaded up the van with their luggage and child paraphernalia and headed to Wichita, shortly after lunch.  It was a tight fit with four car seats, luggage, play saucer/jumper for Sam, and three adults.  We will be taking the rest of their stuff with us when we head that way on Friday.  Dean and I still have a lot to do in the next several days so we spent most of the afternoon and evening resting.

Thursday Dean had an appointment with his urologist in Springfield for a followup from his prostate surgery.  He received a great report.  We were thankful to hear his PSA was "0" again.    
After leaving the doctor's office we stopped at Zio's, an Italian restaurant just down the road from the Cox Medical Complex.  The food was okay, but I think we remain a fan of Olive Garden, as far as Italian chain restaurants go.  We are fortunate to have a wonderful locally owned Italian restaurant, Josie's, near us in Scammon, KS, and it reminds me we need to visit there before we head south later this year. 
Back at Brett's later in the day, we decided to have dinner in Lamar with Brett at Cap's Cabin.  They have a great menu, including catfish (Brett), cod (me) and shrimp (Dean) along with several other great options.  We have been here with Brett before and we were happy to have the chance to return.

Friday we packed up and headed to Wichita where we will have our Christmas gift exchange with Dean's boys and their families on Saturday.  We stopped in Oswego on the way and picked up our granddaughter Haleigh (Misti's daughter).  We were very happy she wanted to go with us.  
By the time we arrived and got set up, we rested a bit and then headed to Logan's Roadhouse for dinner.
By the time we returned from dinner, it wasn't long before we were ready to turn in.  Tomorrow will be a busy day.

Saturday morning we all gathered at Heath's house (Dean's oldest son).  What a crew (18 of us)!  Brett made homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast and I purchased a fruit plate.  We spent the morning visiting while the kids enjoyed playing with their cousins.  We ordered pizzas for lunch and finished those up shortly before we left to attend Roman's (Heath's youngest son) basketball game at the nearby YMCA.  

Roman, #35, on the left

His team won and we enjoyed watching him play, along with a little "floss" dancing and skipping down the court.  

Notice Tucker (red shirt) with the Nerf "dart" - there was a lot of this "throwing" going on!

"Darts" laying on the floor - I think Heath's boys must have hundreds of these from all the Nerf guns they've received over the years.  They use large cardboard boxes as forts to play with them downstairs.

Josh, Sam, Matt & Megan

Back at Heath's we headed downstairs to their family room where gifts were exchanged between the kids.  Names were drawn several weeks ago.  I think everyone was quite happy with their gifts.  With four grown boys, and five younger ones - the Nerf gun wars were on - and a few of the girls might have been involved as well!  Actually, once everyone came downstairs, the Nerf guns were put away - but the little "nerf" ammunition was tossed back and forth with LOTS of laughter and fun.  It was a great day with this bunch and it was a treat to see all of Dean's boys and their families together.  Matt and Megan's last visit was two years ago at Christmas.

Papa Dean, Brett, Abram and Tucker in a fun game of pool - 3 generations here.

Tucker as Batman.

Brett, Tucker & Dacy

Emerson, Jarred and Andrea

Sam, Emerson and Abram

Papa Dean and Grandson Joshua Dean

Sarah, Matt, Josh, Megan and Sam
Poor Josh didn't want his picture taken.  Sarah and Sam aren't sure what is going on!  Sorry Matt is blurry - too much moving around!  Lol!

10 of our 13 grandchildren.
Tucker, Roman, Emerson, Dacy, Abram, Sam, Haleigh, Sarah, Gideon and Josh.
Not present were Logan, Kamron & Jaxson.

Casey, Roman, Abram, Gideon & Heath.

Sunday morning we hitched up Bentley and headed back to Oswego.  

Haleigh on the way home

As usual, we had to make a pit stop and chose the Beaumont Rest Stop for the first one.  While it was COLD and WINDY this morning, we had not encountered any rain or snow.  However, the road appeared to either have snow or a very heavy frost right at the top of the rise where the rest stop is located.  Once we drove into the rest stop parking we noticed the trees had a layer of ice on them.  It was the only place we saw this - it was very strange!  

Love the Flint Hills

Notice the ice or heavy frost on the road here.

Another beautiful view of the Flint Hills

After dropping Haleigh off, we headed to the RV Park where we were soon set up.  We are not excited about the cold weather today.  I was ready to put the Reflectix back in our windows and we accomplished that pretty quickly.  It makes such a difference in keeping the heat in when the temperatures drop below freezing, and even more so when strong winds accompany those low temps.

Monday morning I met my son Marc at Jaxson's school (Service Valley Charter School - part of the Oswego School District) where I picked up granddaughter Kamron for a shopping trip to Joplin.  She's out of school all week for the Thanksgiving Holiday.  I haven't had a chance to spend any one on one time with her since July so I was happy to have her to myself for the day.   We had a great time - most of it at Hobby Lobby - Kamron's favorite store.  She could spend hours in there and we did spend close to two!  Unfortunately, we had to leave early as she has a basketball game tonight in Parsons and needs to be home before 3:00.  We stopped in Oswego to pick up Papa (Dean), and Aunt Misti decided to join us too.  We dropped Kamron off, made a long walk through Walmart picking up just a couple of things we needed (killing time), and then had dinner at Chinese Chef, before making our way to the Parsons Catholic School Gym.  Kamron's team won against Edna.  

Kamron #11

She was in the process of throwing the ball to her teammate in this picture.

Marc and Jaxson joined us right as the game was getting started, and Jennifer stopped by after she finished her day at UPS.  It was a fun evening.  Within the last few days we have had the opportunity to spend time with all of our children and grandchildren (except for Logan - who is still at Navy Basic Training).  But we will see him very soon.

Tuesday Dean and I had to be in Joplin at 8am for our 6 month checkup with our primary care doctor.  Dean has been fighting a cold off and on ever since August.  It gets better and then gets a little worse, so Dr. Broce gave him an antibiotic and some nasal spray.  We hope between the two, that will clear it up.  Otherwise we are both doing well and just need to return again in 6 months.  While my blood pressure was up - it has been normal (I take it regularly; and it was perfect at my annual well woman exam last week), we assumed it must have been from the food we've had over the last several days - higher sodium levels than normal.
Dean thought he would need bloodwork so he fasted this morning - only to find out he didn't need to after all.  We stopped at The Waffle House for a quick breakfast, and Walmart to get his prescriptions, before heading back to Oswego.
Misti and Haleigh are leaving Wednesday morning for Chicago to spend the day with Logan on Thanksgiving.  He can be "adopted" by family or local groups.  Haleigh discovered her drivers license expired on her 17th birthday a few weeks ago, and she needs it to get on base.  Not sure they would accept an expired license, I ran her to Parsons after school to get it renewed.  

Wednesday we made a quick trip to Tahlequah, OK to the Cherokee Hospital there.  

It was a beautiful day for a drive!

My lung doctor orders Pulmonary Function Tests and a CT scan of my lungs twice a year - and it's time to do it again.  These are followup tests from my diagnosis of sarcodosis back in April 2017.  While I feel great, the lung doctor told me I will need to be monitored for three years.  My PFT test was scheduled for 10:00.  I just love the young lady, Dana, who administers the PFT test.  She knows we travel and told me she was looking forward to hearing about where we went since I saw her earlier this year.  We had a great visit.  My CT scan was not scheduled until noon.  Since it was only a little after 10:30 when I finished with Dana, we went to Radiology to see if they might have time to get me in rather than waiting until my 12:00 appointment.  Fortunately they got me right in and I was done by 11:00.  We made a quick stop to fill out paperwork to have copies of the two reports sent to my doctor before leaving the hospital.
Recently we ate at the Cherokee Restaurant (at our October SKP rally).  It was so good, we decided to eat lunch there today.  We were disappointed.  It was okay, but nothing like the last meal we had there.  You just never know.  Misti texted about 6:00pm to let us know she made it to their hotel.  Other than the traffic through Chicago, she said it wasn't a bad trip.  We were glad to know the trip went well for them.

Thursday we had Thanksgiving dinner at my sister and brother-in-law's, Crystal and Lonie's.  Lonie made the entire meal - including five different pies.  He is an excellent cook and his pies are the best.  He has perfected the crust.  It is so light and flaky.  For our lunch, he made homemade chicken and noodles, turkey (some of the best ever - always so moist), two kinds of dressing (bread and cornbread), gravy, deviled eggs, cranberry salad, homemade rolls and green beans.  He made five pies, chocolate, coconut cream, pumpkin, cherry and peach.  Oh my, we were so full.  It was the first time in twenty-five years I haven't fixed Thanksgiving dinner for our family.  I missed the kids/grandkids being here but I didn't miss fixing the meal.  (Someday I'll be anxious to do it again)  I really appreciate Lonie and Crystal for inviting us and letting us join their family.  In addition to Dean and I, their son Rye and his family, my sister Cindy and her husband, and Lonie's mom attended.  We all helped clean up and then visited for an hour or so before Dean and I headed back to Bentley.  We napped awhile and later in the evening my best friend from school, Cheryel, stopped by to visit for an hour or so.  It was fun to catch up with her.  She moved to the Corpus Christi area earlier this year so I haven't seen her for quite some time.  We hope to stop in to see her as we leave Texas the end of February, before meeting up with our friends in Louisiana around the first of March.

Friday, Cindy called to see if I wanted to do something this morning.  We decided to make a quick trip to Parsons.  We visited a few shops and the new Dollar Tree before heading home.  We are going to their house later this evening to eat dinner and play cards.  I did some cleaning and work before we left for their house at 5:00.  Cindy made hamburger stew, which was delicious.  I bought a platter of cookies at Walmart earlier today.  We enjoyed those while we played cards.  Cindy and I skunked the guys the first two games, then they beat us the next two rounds.  The playoff game to declare the winner was won by none other than "THE GIRLS".  We had a great time and shared many laughs throughout the evening.

Sunset as we were leaving for Cindy & Elmer's this evening.

While Dean and I still have quite a few plans in the next few weeks I don't think (at least, I hope) it won't be quite as hectic as the past couple of weeks have been.  I'm ready to get back to posting to the blog on a daily basis.

I'm thankful for each of you that follow along and I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  

Saturday, November 10, 2018 - Kansas City, Here We Come!; Sunday, November 11, 2018 - Enjoying Family Time; Monday, November 12, 2018 SNOW!

Saturday, November 10, 2018 - Kansas City, Here We Come!

Today is the day Matt and family (Megan - Josh, Sarah & Sam) are flying into Kansas City International Airport.  Brett and Tucker (Dacy chose to stay at the house) and Dean and I both drove our trucks to pick them up.  To include 5 additional people with 3 car seats and all of their luggage, we needed both vehicles to haul everyone and everything.  Tucker drove his dad's truck all the way to the airport.  He's a little over 15.5 and he did a good job making his way through the KC traffic.

Bridge over Missouri River on our way to KCI Airport

Skyline of Downtown KC

We were about 20 miles away from the airport when Matt texted they just landed.  Their plane arrived at 11:18 and I think it was supposed to land around 11:40.  We pulled up to the baggage claim area for United a little before 11:40.  Brett and Dean stayed with the trucks but before we could get far we saw Matt walking toward us with two large suitcases.  I needed to use the restroom so I walked down to the first door, to find Megan and the kids waiting just inside.  Sarah yelled "Nana" and came running towards me.  I picked her up and gave her a big hug.  It was good to see her and the rest of the family again.  

We were able to get loaded up pretty quick, since the car seats were already in place.  Matt and Josh rode with Brett and Tucker.  Brett and Tucker visited Matt & Megan a couple of years ago in New York.  At that time Tucker became Josh's best friend.  He's been excited to see Tucker ever since, so he was thrilled to spend one on one time with Tucker on the trip back to Lamar.

Megan set in the middle between Sarah and Sam in the backseat of our truck.  We all stopped for lunch at "The Corner Cafe" in Riverside, MO.  What a find!  The food was wonderful!  It wasn't long and we were back on the road.  It seemed no time until we arrived at Brett's.  I'm sure the kids were thrilled to be out of the car seats, vehicles and planes so they could run around.  We had a great afternoon and evening spending time with them.  

Josh & Sarah playing with Peppa the Pig

How many adults does it take to put up a pack and play?

A boy and his dog - Tucker & Winson!

Sam

Sunday, November 11, 2018 - Enjoying Family Time

I was up early this morning to bake a cake.  My sisters, my daughter Misti and my sister Cindy's girls and their families (Nikki and Melissa) came over around 1pm to see Matt & Megan since they will not be in Oswego this year.  They are also bringing some desserts.  It was an interesting time baking....  I had unglazed 4"x4" tiles in the oven since shortly after we purchased Bentley.  Over time, they broke so I removed them earlier this year.  I purchased a pizza stone to use instead, but I forgot to put it in the oven this morning and my cake was not even close to being done when I checked it 45 minutes later.  Oh no, can I save it?  I added the pizza stone and cooked it at least another 30 minutes.  I was not sure if it would even be edible for fear parts of it would be way overdone.  However, the thing about this oatmeal cake, once you add the frosting it needs to go back in the oven for another 5 minutes.  The frosting is basically butter, brown sugar and a little milk (with pecan pieces and coconut added).  During that 5 minutes the liquid portion just soaks into the cake.  Fortunately, it turned out just fine!

Dean headed into Brett's about 7 or so and I followed a little later.  Brett made homemade cinnamon rolls earlier this week and froze them.  He baked them this morning for breakfast.  They were delicious!  Poor Sam had a tough night and ended up getting sick in his bed.  Poor little guy!  He seemed perfectly fine today though and was laughing and playing like getting sick earlier never happened.

Brett made homemade chicken and noodles and mashed potatoes for lunch.   He's a good cook and enjoys doing it, and we enjoyed the fruits of his labor in the kitchen!

All of the company arrived a little after 1pm.  I think everyone had a good time visiting with each other and the desserts that were brought to share.  Once everyone left we just hung out, enjoying one another's company the rest of the evening.



Monday, November 12, 2018 - SNOW!!

I woke up at 4:00am to snow on the ground, continuing snowfall with temperatures just above freezing, and COLD air coming from the heat registers!!!  Oh no, we ran out of propane!  Fortunately, we have two tanks.  Dean does not leave them both on, so we know for sure when the first tank runs out, and we don't end up getting caught with out any propane at 4:00 in the morning!   He got up and went out to turn the second one on - what a way to start the day, but better this, than no propane for many hours!  Fortunately the temperatures were above freezing.

I have a doctor appointment this morning in Joplin at 8:40.  Dean was concerned about me driving and offered to take me.  I had a list of errands I wanted to run, and I knew he wouldn't want to go with me for all of those, so I told him I'd be fine on my own.  However, as the morning progressed and the snow did not let up, I decided to forget the errands and let Dean drive me.  It's about an hour drive and we left early enough to allow for any extra time we might need due to the weather.

Cemetery we passed on the way to Joplin - notice the flag - wind is straight out of the north & COLD!!

Foggy, but very beautiful!

We made it to the area by my doctor's office with plenty of time to spare, so we stopped at the McDonald's just down the road to use their facilities.  Dean ordered a breakfast sandwich meal.  The parking lots both at McDonald's and the doctor's office was fairly slick, so I was glad Dean chose to drive me.  By the time his meal was ready and we drove to the doctor's office I had 10 minutes to spare.  As usual, I got right in and was out within 30 minutes or less.  My next stop was downstairs for my annual mammogram.  My appointment there wasn't until 10:10 but since it was snowing so hard they had received many cancellations.  Fortunately, I was taken back almost immediately.  We were back at Brett's between 10:15 and 10:30. 

Taken as we were leaving my doctor's office - that's Freeman hospital in the background.  

We enjoyed the scenery as we drove back to Brett's. 

Josh and Sarah are pretty excited because today their Uncle Jarred and cousin Emerson is coming to visit for the next few days.  Jarred took a week of vacation so he could spend time with brother Matt and family.  He and Emerson arrived around noon.  With all of the excitement of getting to see each other, now they all seemed a little tentative about playing together....until all the eyes were off of them by the "big people".  Soon they were all good friends and were doing just fine.  Sarah was just 6 mos. old the last time Matt & family were back in Kansas, Emerson was only 1.5, and Josh 2.5 so they had to get to know one another all over again.  Fortunately, with Skype, Duo and phone calls, it helps keep them aware of each other, but you just can't beat one on one visits!

Sarah and Josh anxiously awaiting Emerson's arrival!

It was another busy, but fun day.  Brett had to work this morning and arrived home about the time I had warmed up the chicken and noodles and mashed potatoes for our lunch today.  Dean helped me do the dishes from lunch.

Emerson with the red Chiefs hat, Megan, Sarah on her lap and Josh.

Megan tickling these three kiddos  ----   they loved every minute of it!

Not sure what was so funny here - but Matt was telling the story - sorry, all you see of him is his feet!

The wonders of a snowfall!

We visited all afternoon.  The kids played.  Dean and Brett went into town to run a few errands.  Brett is the EMS Director for Barton County, MO.  As he was getting ready to 

grill hamburgers and brauts for dinner tonight, he received a call in reference to a car accident, and had to leave.  Dean took over the grilling job.  While it took a while to get the fire going well, he did an excellent job, as usual.  Brett texted later to say he wasn't sure when he'd be back and at 8:30 or so Dean and I headed to Bentley for the night.  We were both worn out.  

As far as the snow, it continued off and on a good part of the day.  I'm not sure how much snow we actually received, but I would guess at least 3 inches.  It was pretty to look at, but oh, so cold and wet when we had to go out!  Fortunately, temperatures will be warming up later in the week.