Does Good Luck Follow You?

Some people seem to just be born lucky, and then there's people like me! I think that bad luck follows me around, nothing ever comes easy , and everything I seem to try to accomplish lately just turns into one big disaster. My computer was down again, my Norton antivirus expired, and just in one day, the minute the computer was turned on, it was infected with viruses. The computer had to spend a couple of days at the computer hospital, getting rid of the viruses.

You know that I picked out the monument, or headstone for my husbands grave. They are supposed to have it up by memorial weekend. I went to the cemetery to see if they had layed the slab for the monument last weekend. They layed the slab all right but in the wrong place! My hubby is buried next to his dad, then my spot, and a new neighbor will be next to me! They layed the slab on mine and my new neighbor's! It is no where near my husbands grave. I had to visit the monument place and tell them that they goofed up. I don't think they believed me at first, but I checked it 3 times last weekend to make sure I wasn't nuts! Ok, I am nut's, I will admit that! I did have the guy laughing when I said the slab seems to be for me and my neighbor. He didn't get what I meant by that, so I had to explain. The cemetery marked it now with red flags so they will have to move the slab and the mount the monument. They better have it done by memorial weekend or I am going to ask for some money back for their mistakes. My husbands estate has to go through probate and that is a whole other story. It depresses me to just think about it.

I have been busy getting my flower beds ready and bought a ton of flowers today, so I can plant some each night this week. I hope you are all having some luck in your life's.

Experiencing God

My husband Pete was the kind of man that kept his calm through trials. . . he was a very patient person. His heart was seen in the way he cared more about others than himself. Take for instance when he prayed, I asked him , " Pete, do you pray for yourself?" His response was that so many others were praying for him so he thought he should be praying for others. Pete came to know God better during his illness. In fact, rather than getting bitter with God about his illness, Pete got closer to God, accepting Jesus' eternal gift. This quiet man also possessed amazing inner strength and courage. In one of life's irony's during his first battle with cancer he prayed to God, I don't want my kids to ever have cancer--give it to me instead of them, he had four different battles with cancer and we have four kids.

Just to let you know that I have had Internet problems for a month, I would try to read blogs and the Internet would lose connection. Friday I was able to get a new Internet modem, and I am up and running again. I have missed you all.

What Have I Been Doing?

I haven't had much time lately to post or read any blogs. You all know how hard it is to get caught up with reading once you get behind. I had a great trip to Minnesota. The concert was great, and Joe's solo performance was amazing. It was probably about 20 minutes long and the string section was the only other instruments that played with him. He is so talented and I had to say it brought tears to my eyes. He got a standing ovation! He was the only standing ovation, no one else got one and we were all so proud of him. I didn't get pictures because my camera batteries were dead, I had the camera with me but forgot to charge it, as I hadn't used it for awhile.

The picture that you see of the two dogs, is a photo of our first boxer Oscar and our chihuahua Pockets. As I was getting ready for church the Sunday before Easter Pockets started having trouble breathing, within 45 minutes he layed down and died. He was my son Andy's dog. I kept trying to call Andy, as I knew he was dying. Andy finally called me back and he came home to help me with his little dog Pockets. It was a sad day for us and especially for Andy. It just really freaked me out that day. So this is a little tribute for Pockets. He was 13 years old. Oscar the other dog in the photo died at age 3 of lymphoma. He got lymphoma the same time as Pete's last lymphoma came back in 2006.

I have been busy picking out the grave headstone and relieved now that it is done. They should have it up by memorial weekend, which will be nice. I have also been meeting with my banker doing some financial planning with Pete's 401k and Pension. The pension they are still trying to figure that out. I tell you nothing goes smoothly with this stuff. The pension is an old plan and Pete and a couple others are the only ones that have it. They don't have it anymore. They were grandfathered in on the Pension. I suppose they will be trying to get out of paying that!!

I have been doctoring once again. They had me on a higher dose of cholesterol medicine. Before I left for Minnesota I broke out with a rash all over! I stopped taking the medication, thinking that it was causing the rash. After I got back it wasn't going away so I found a day to see the doctor. They didn't think it was from the medicine, but they didn't know what it was from. They are keeping me off the med for awhile till the rash clears. Then I am supposed to take it again and if the rash comes back, we will know it is the medicine. They put me on prednisone and it made me sick. I don't do medicine very well. That is why I never go to the doctor, because once you go, it seems you just keep going. The rash isn't gone quite yet, but I won't take the prednisone. I'll try the med once again, when the rash gets a little better.

I have been very busy with work with some stressful things, so by the time I get home I am dead tired. Hope you have all been well. I hope to have sometime this weekend to catch up and read your blogs.

Oboe Joe

I would like to introduce you to my nephew Joe. He attends the University of Minnesota where he studies the oboe. He will graduate this year. Joe is a talented young musician. Has performed as a soloist with the Minnesota Orchestra, the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra and the Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphonies.



Joe is currently the Principal Oboe of the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra. He also plays with the University of Minnesota Symphony Orchestra. He is a member of the West Bank Winds Woodwind Quintet. Joe has a private teaching studio and is co founder and oboe instructor of the 4th Street Music Collective. This is just to name a few of his amazing dedication to music. He has pursed this since he was young and remained dedicated to playing the oboe. He also has a great singing voice and plays the piano well. His love though is the oboe.



Joe has been auditioning at schools for undergraduate school. He auditioned at Julliard and Yale. There was one other but I forgot what school that was. We are all so very proud of Joe and his accomplishments. The good news is in, Joe was accepted to Yale! What a great accomplishment for him.



I taking a road trip with my youngest sister this weekend. I haven't left the state for at least ten years. We are heading up to Minneapolis to hear Joe perform as a soloist with the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra on Sunday. I will get to see my oldest sister, Joe's mom. My younger sister's daughter and her only grandchild live in St. Paul so we will see them too. They are forecasting snow Friday night and Sat. around here, I will be so disappointed if the weather wrecks our plans. Check this out about Joe's upcoming guest solo.

A Man of Few Words, But a Man With Many Names

My husband Pete was a man of few words. He was quiet and a little bashful. I' m chatty and a bit crazy! They say opposites attract and I think that's true. Well, as you know I have posted some things about my hubby Pete, but that's not his real name. I was introduced to him through a friend of mine that I worked with back in 1985. Pete was a friend of her husbands, she thought Pete was cute, but warned me that he was really quiet especially around people that he didn't know. He was pretty darn cute and a really nice guy but he was quiet and shy. It was like pulling teeth to get him to say much. That got better overtime, but he still wasn't a big talker in big crowds of people he didn't know, he wasn't one to start a conversation with a stranger. Let me explain the man of many names. Pete, not his real name, but that is what I called him. His name is James. Since I was introduced to him and all his friends called him Pete, that is what I called him. So my family and most folks I knew called him Pete. His family and everyone at his workplace knew him as Jim. I dated him for four years before we got married and it was to hard to start calling him Jim. I did however call him Jim on occasion and James if I really wanted his attention. I have confused lots of people when I would refer to him as Pete and then once in a while I would say Jim. People would give me a strange look, like perhaps I had more than one man in my life. The doctor called him Jim, his nurse called him Pete. My poor husband had to answer to lots of names. When he was in the hospital before he passed, I had called my Pastor and told him that they had to put Jim on a ventilator, he was coming to pray with us. My Pastor knew him as Jim. The next time I called my Pastor and told him that we were going to take Pete off the ventilator as soon as all of us had gathered, as the Pastor was coming to be with us when that happened. I was an emotional mess at that time. The Pastor said well ok, but who is Pete? I bet he thought I was either totally gone or I had two men in my life. I think it is funny now, I think back and remember he sounded so puzzled, like he didn't know what to say. Of course I had to give a brief explanation on who Pete was. I think he breathed a sigh of relief!

Previous Post!

I just posted and I have this long empty space before you can get down to the comments. I don't know how to fix it. So if your going to comment you'll have to scroll down through the empty space to comment. How did that happen? I wish I was smart enough to figure it out!



I forgot this important news. The insurance company came through, finally!!

What were you doing 27 years ago on this day?

What were you doing on March 11, 1982? This is me in March of 1982. I am fat and pregnant with my third child. I was 27 years old. Tom and I were poor. We had 2 other children, Seth almost 6 and Emily 3. We lived in a two bedroom apartment in Omaha. Note the awful hairdo! What was I thinking. I had always had long hair and this was the first experiment with short hair. A shag haircut!

This is the early morning of March 11, 1982. I am having my coffee and making a list for my mother-in-law. I am in labor. I am reassuring my oldest son Seth, that mommy is going to the hospital to have our new baby. Those days we didn't know if it was a girl or a boy. He was a little worried about his mommy. Emily was sleeping and Tom went to get his mother to stay with the kids.

This is a lovely photo of me. I spent the morning and a good part of the day in very hard labor. With not much progress they decided to do a Cesarean Section. I was put out and never felt a thing after that! Thank God! Andy was born at 2:46pm. at St. Joseph's Hospital in Omaha, Ne. I spent 5 days at the hospital. I had hemorrhaged into my abdomen overnight, I had to have 3 units of blood the next day, I was on stand by surgery so I never got to eat. Two days later at supper, they brought food to me. Then the doctor came and said Andy had congenital cranial steno sis. He was born without a soft spot on his head and his skull was fused already. This meant that when his brain grew his head would grow long and social pressure would be hard for him. So at age 6 weeks he had surgery on his skull to open the suture line in the skull that would allow his brain to grow and his head to be a normal shape. That is a story to be told another time. I could not eat after that upsetting news.

Andrew is born. He doesn't look to happy. He weighed 10lbs 5 0z. He was one big baby! I did have my one tube tied after this. My babies got bigger every time and I was not going to ever give birth to a 12 pounder!

This is my baby Andrew John, 5 days old getting ready to leave the hospital. He is going home to meet his brother and sister. Andy was a very good baby. I just can't believe that my baby is 27 years old today. Happy Birthday Andy!

Tom and I divorced when Andy was 3 years old. Pete is the only Dad that Andy really knew. Tom has not seen Andy since age 10. He wouldn't know him if they ever ran into each other.

Note: Yesterday, March 10th would have been me and Pete's 20 year anniversary.

I haven't been reading blogs lately, I haven't been feeling well, have been having some cardiac tests this week. I am falling apart all of the sudden. I will try to get caught up with my reading soon. I thought I would do better at posting this month. This is the first one!