Still hibernating...

Well I was moving along hot and heavy there for awhile but then it got the best of me. I've successfully missed posting in the month of April and half of May. But that doesn't mean I have been sitting idle, no actually that would be an understatement.

So this year has been very weird. Many happenings good and bad. And they just keep giving. Right now a dear friend (my age) has had two strokes in a six day period. The plaque is breaking off between his corroded artery and his brain so there is no way to stop the blood flow because you just can't do that to the brain without severe side affects (DEATH). So they are trying to fix him by giving him medicine. His first stroke occurred while at home in West Virginia. Then after being released he and his wife decided to go to the beach for a relaxing Mom's Day. Well the second stroke happened on Saturday in OC. So we all learned that Berlin, MD is the home of a stroke center in their hospital where he has been through 1 pm today. He is currently in route back to West Virginia by ambulance which had to be contracted for and since it is departing from Maryland, you MUST have a certified EMT in the State of Maryland riding in the ambulance. And the poor guy doesn't have insurance so the story just goes on. Hopefully his ride today will be uneventful and we can get him back to the rehab center in Martinsburg (that would accept him without insurance for a hefty fee) for them to make his right arm work again. Since Buddy is an auto mechanic and that is their livelihood, it is imperative that he gets it working again. Knowing him, I believe he can. However, we must get the problem resolved too. That is another thing for the doctors to fix before the plaque breaks off again. We aren't sure right now what is next. But say some prayers again for him please. Seems like that's all I've been asking for this year. But it's for another worthy cause who truly needs it.

I apologize to Rosemary and Jana for not following up on all the challenges going on at their Opus-Gluei site but I have been doing things at home. Like my comfort foods are ba-sketti (or spaghetti as others call it) and mashed potatoes. Those always seem to be the foods of choice unless ice cream is involved and then it's hands down ice cream. I had other items identified to do but just never got to them. I will try to do better but not sure when that will actually be.

I wanted to post the cards I made for the "Aunties" for Mom's Day. I also made one for my MIL which I took to the cemetery on Mom's Day too. Just felt like it was something I had to do too. Then I went and visited with my aunties and had dinner with them. When I got home, I called my Mom in Florida and talked to her and my dad for quite awhile. They liked the cards too. It was a nice Mom's Day too.

This is my Aunt Fran's card.

All the insides said "Rock" in same color as the "MY" on cover.

This is my Aunt Blanche's card.


And this is my Aunt Ag's card.

And this is my MIL's card.

Oh and my uncle doesn't know it yet, but he's getting an "Uncle" card for Dad's day so he doesn't feel left out.

This is my Uncle Red's card.

BTW I'm Flakey - hmm are you really surprised!!!!


I made the cards with pictures of them from the years that I acquired from my MIL's house and scanned into the computer. Pretty cool huh??? And I used alphabet letters which I have had forever too. All in all, it was a very fun and rewarding project! Ok, fun anyway!

Well that's all I have for right now but I wanted to post something to show that I'm still here. I have a meeting tonight I must attend for the MC HPC (Monkey County Historic Preservation Commission) to deny our request for vinyl siding on my grandmom's house that we still own and rent out. You see it's located in Takoma Park in Monkey County MD and it was declared a historic property because it's a Sears house. Neat you say. No way!!! With that wonderful distinction, it means that you MUST follow all the HPC regulations BEFORE you change the property at all. So we have been paying to paint the wood house every 3-5 years because if you don't you get cited from the City. Then if you don't do it right, you get cited by the City. And if you don't cut your grass, cut the trees, take down the ivy, etc., etc., you get cited by the City. And it's just such a wonderful distinction that you pay more and more money to Monkey County to try and meet the requirements. So I am making Monkey County take the time and research the request to only deny the request but at least I feel a little better because some of my tax money was spent on their salaries to do the research. What a bunch of crap!!! Anyway that is at 7:30 in downtown Silver Spring so I must leave in a bit to go down 29 to get there. Oh joy!!! We should have sold the damn house when we lost my grandmom back in 88. Then it would be someone else's problem. Now we pay and boy do we pay.

Sorry for the rambling but that's the breaks. Watch what you wish for and do your research on historic properties before you buy them. Or in our case, if you already own it and they designate it historic, then you get to pay whopping fees to the government in order to maintain the property you already own. Quite a racket if I do say so myself!!!

Well hope all are well. Hugs to all & I'll be back on later.

KTTTT....................................