Retirement through the eyes of a child....

This was posted on the Escapees forum and I just had to share it!

RETARDED GRANDPARENTS

(This was actually reported by a teacher - as told by someone else)

After Christmas, a teacher asked her young pupils how they
spent their holiday away from school.
One child wrote the following: "We always used to spend the holidays with Grandma and Grandpa. They used to live in a big brick house but Grandpa got retarded and they moved to Arizona. Now they live in a tin box and have rocks painted green to look like grass. They ride around on their bicycles and wear name tags because they don't know who they are anymore."
"They go to a building called a wreck center, but they must
have got it fixed because it is all okay now, they do exercises
there, but they don't do them very well. There is a swimming
pool too, but they all jump up and down in it with hats on."
"At their gate, there is a doll house with a little old man sitting
in it.. He watches all day so nobody can escape. Sometimes
they sneak out, and go cruising in their golf carts."
"Nobody there cooks, they just eat out. And, they eat the
same thing every night --- early birds."
"Some of the people can't get out past the man in the doll
house. The ones who do get out, bring food back to the
wrecked center for pot luck."
"My Grandma says that Grandpa worked all his life to earn
his retardment and says I should work hard so I can be
retarded someday too."..........
"When I earn my retardment, I want to be the man in the
doll house. Then I will let people out, so they can visit their grandchildren.

Gotta Love those Grandchildren!!

The weather here is frightful, snow and very cold temperatures! Hopefully we will be able to take our Texas vacation if we can dig out...lol

across the street from house

out from our deck

Hugs to all!

Ohh I forgot to add this link for Dee & Gypsy. It is The Happy Campers

http://yourhappycampers.com/order.php

We use the 40oz jar...but this time we ordered the 64oz tub so we can just refill the smaller container.

Merry Christmas

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas....ha ha!

This is not my idea for Christmas this year. With Mac's tests all coming back good, we were planning on a vacation to Texas....hmmm

We'll have to get back to you on that!

Hugs!

25 Years Ago Today....

25 years ago today, December 22, 1984, at 4:00pm Mac and I got married and blended our families together.

Sometimes it seems just like yesterday, and then again sometimes....well I'm not even gonna go there...LOL

We have definitely had our ups and downs, but through all of those we have stood together and have been better because of it.

I'm going to try to post all of our children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren...Hopefully I can get it to upload.

Our eldest...Troy and wife Kathleen

Their children:

Patrick

Michael:

and Morrissey:

Next is Trey:

He was taken from us way too young.

 

Jenni is next with her fiance, Clyde:

and their children

Jordan:

Gloria:

Natalie:

and Justyce:

Next in line is Dana and husband Russell:

and their children,

Ashley:

Britny:

Crystal:

Dakoda:

and Samantha:

 

Next is Christie and husband Dusty:

Now, our youngest, Teri and husband Lynnie:

and their children:

Kami:

Kyle:

Samantha:

Ryan:

Jaden with Samantha:

and now our Great Grandchildren:

Jaelynn, Ashley's daughter:

Brilee, Crystal's daughter:

and the youngest, Caeden, Ashley's son:

So, you see we have been truly blessed with a great family!

Hopefully we will spend many more anniversaries together enjoying our children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. We plan on traveling and spending as much time as possible with all of them!

Hugs to all!!

 

 

 

It's Cold Here.....

That about says it all! I am so tired of the cold weather. I will be glad when we can head to somewhere warm.

Mac had his Echo Cardiogram on Thursday and also the first half of his 2 day Stress Test. This was the resting part of the stress test and all he had to do was let them take the pictures while he was resting.

Friday we returned to the Cardiologist for the 2nd half of the test. They decided to do the medicine test instead of the treadmill. Mac said that he could see his heartbeat irregularity on the screen...said it would beat, skip a few beats, beat erratically, and then start again with a regular.

We go back to see the Cardiologist on Wednesday the 23rd for the results and to see what he thinks needs to be done. We are a little concerned. They discussed using a shock treatment of some kind.

Five years ago when they put his stent in part of the doctors wanted to do bypass surgery right then...there were 5 doctors consulting on hi case and 2 thought he should have surgery right away while 3 doctors wanted to try treating him with medication. So now with this new development, we wonder what the next step will be.

We sure haven't gotten much done at the house this week. I am still trying to get over this inner ear infection and it has been the pits!  I came home from the house the other night in the dark, unlocked the door to the RV, and started up the steps when I had one of those "dizzy" spells..well, I lost my balance and fell off the steps hitting my butt, and arm...now I am sore!  Nothing broken, thanks goodness!

We will be spending Christmas in Garnett with my brother and Jenni & family. I am going to cook a small meal instead of going out to dinner. Hopefully this Christmas dinner will go better than last year's...lol

Mac & I re-arranged the cabinets in the RV and have already taken out some stuff that we don't think that we will use. I also re-arranged the pantry to make things a little easier to see.

I still need to go through the closet in the RV and take some things out. I just don't know what to keep and how much of each thing. I have a LOT of shoes(flipflops, athletic, and slipons) that I really don't want to get rid of. Hmmm...such a dilemma.

We got Shadow's bed and litter box all set up in the RV yesterday to see how it was going to work. Now we need to bring him out here for a trial run...

I have been struggling on how to display our grandkids photos...there are so many of them...17 and 3 great grandkids...when my sister was here over Thanksgiving we made a shopping trip to Lawrence and at Hobby Lobby we saw some memo boards and we both thought that they might work for what I want. I just have them sitting on the top of the kitchen slide...

Now I can add or replace easily without a lot of frames to work with. I still have a few frames and need to get the photos of our kids put in the RV, but I can do that anytime since I have copies of all of our photos either on the Laptop, External Hard drive, or USB Memory.

Well, I have a roast and fixings in the Crockpot and we are headed over to the house to do laundry and try to get some work accomplished today...LOl

 

We wish for all our family and friends to have a

Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year!

 

Family Night Christmas Dinner with Jerry

Friday night we went to Ottawa to the Village West Assisted Living Facility where my brother, Jerry, lives. The facility was having their yearly Family Christmas dinner for residents and family.

Jerry looks like he is feeling pretty good and nodded when I asked if he was ok. Natalie and Justyce joined us at the dinner. they just love Jerry to death! Here are some photos from the evening:

We had a great time with Jerry and the meal was pretty good. All too soon it was time to head back home. We dropped Justyce off at home and Natalie was going to spend the night at the RV with us. She keeps telling us that she is gonna take a year off of school and travel with us and I can "Road School" her while she is with us...lol. She loves the RV and wants to travel with us!

Saturday was a nothing day...I still feel really crappy and this ear infection has really gotten me down. I have an outer & inner ear infection so my ears are plugged up and I cannot hear, plus the inner ear infection part has me really dizzy and nauseaous. This really sucks! I am so tired of this! I have been sick since before Thanksgiving and this has lasted long enough!!!

We just hung around the RV all day Saturday. Natalie and I watched TV and her and Mac spent time on the Laptops while I slept. Nat's mom called and said it was time for her to go home, so Mac loaded her up and off they went. She is a good kid and is in a very bad frame of mind right now. she is having to go and live with her dad beginning Jan 2nd and she does not want to go! She has been very emotional and has cried a lot!

The rest of the day was just spent with Mac on the Laptop and watching TV and me laying on the couch or the bed.

Sunday morning we got up and Mac made us a breakfast sandwich and we are trying to make some plans on an upcoming trip that we will go on. We still have some stuff to do at the house but not sure if we will get to it today or tomorrow...all the days are the same now!

Well I hope everyone has a great week!

Hugs to all!!!

 

Spending Time with Friends and Work on the House

Here is another apology...I have just not been feeling very well and I know it is no excuse, but that is the main reason that I haven't gotten this new post done.

We spent last Thursday-Saturday in Merriam, KS visiting with our friends Paul & Mary while they are there for the holiday's. They took us to Jack Stack BBQ for dinner...WOW! It is sooo good! We had never ate there before and we are big BBQ lovers. If you are in Kansas City, please make a trip there and have some of their tasty food!! I took my camera, but with such great company, I forgot to take any photos!

Friday, I had planned on making dinner for all of us, but the Witwer Big Bull was quarantined. Mary's eye was red and swollen and she was afraid she had Pink Eye. So Mac and I just hung out and headed out to do a little shopping. Nothing exciting.

Saturday Mary was much better, so I made the Taco Soup and some appetizers. They came over about 5:30 and we spent a great evening visiting and eating...lol..I know that surprises some of you. Again, no photos...I don't know what was wrong with me, but we just got all caught up with the visiting knowing that we would be leaving the next morning.

Sunday came way too soon! We were up and preparing to travel back to Garnett so that we could get started on the house again. I woke up with a swollen right eye and was thinking maybe I had what Mary had caught. We said our goodbye's and See ya Laters and off we headed...

We made it home and got the RV set back up at the RV Park. We just kind of kicked back knowing that we would be hard at it again on Monday at the house.

Monday we went over to the house and got back to work. Mac got the rest of the Family Room painted...YEAH! I worked on the Office to get things ready for him to move into there next.

Tuesday we didn't get much accomplished...Mac had his appointment with the Cardiologist and I just was feeling worse. I just can't seem to kick this stuff. I have a doctors appointment on Wednesday so I will see what he has to say.

Two of our granddaughter's, Natalie & Justyce had their Winter Program so we took off about 6:45 for that. Here are a couple of photos of the girls:

Natalie:

Justyce:

It was a great program, but somewhere these schools have forgotten the regular Christmas songs...they sang African songs, Hebrew songs,Spanish songs, Hannakah songs, but no traditional Christian Christian songs. I was very disappointed about that, but the girls sang very well and looked great!

On Wednesday, we were back at the house working. The office would be painted today!!! YEAH! That is the last room to paint. Then all we need to do is finish packing and sorting.

Mac hard at work while the Project Photographer is hard working too...lol

Here is a photo of the desk that I will try to sell before the auction. It is huge, but at least it comes apart in 3 bottom sections and 3 top sections.

The doctor gave me an antibiotic and some drops for my ears so we will see if this will make me well again!

We are off to the house again today so that I can finish sorting through the stuff that was on the desk.

Friday evening we will be going over to have dinner with my brother at the Assisted Living Facility. It is their Christmas Family Night. Natalie & Justyce will be going with us....I guess we will see how that goes.

Saturday I will be going to a Progressive dinner with some friends for some food and a lot of conversation. Sounds like a lot of fun, huh?

Well, I need to get to work...

Hugs to all!!!

Three Wonderful Days with Great Friends!

Sorry I haven't posted, but Mac and I have both been sick. I guess we pushed ourselves too far working on the house...

But, we have spent the last three days with some great friends. On Saturday we met Kevin & Arlene Sullivan in Seneca, OK at the Bordertown Casino RV Park to spend some time gambling and a lot of time visiting. Mac and I weren't up to much on Saturday.

As we pulled in to the RV Park we looked up and Kevin & Arlene were pulling in right behind us!! What timing! It was amazing.

We both got all set up and decided we would go up to the Casino for some dinner and to make a small donation for the night. We had a great dinner(no buffet here) and then split up to spend a little money.

We went to get our Player's Card and you get to spin a wheel to see if you can win some money. Arlene & I won $5.00. I think Kevin won $2.00, and Mac hit the Jackpot on his spin and won $50.00. That just started his lucky 3 day streak!! We spent a couple of hours in the casino and then headed back to our RV's so we could all rest up for Sunday.

Sunday morning arrived and we were off to the Downstream Casino & Hotel Resort just south of Joplin, MO. This is a really nice place. The Hotel is in MO, the Parking lot & RV parking is in KS, and the Casino is in OK. LOL...We went in and the first thing on our list was a Players Card so we could see if we got any discounts...nope...so we headed over to the Buffet for lunch! Since it was Sunday, it was Brunch. It was awesome! Also had a yummy piece of Raspberry Cheesecake!  Now it was time to head in to the Casino and gamble off all that food! LOL...well I made my donation. I don't think anyone else really made any money here except for the $50.00 that Mac won, and I took $20.00 of it to play!

Monday we headed over to Miami, OK to the Buffalo Run Casino for some more casino time...it doesn't look like much on the outside but was very nice on the inside. Since it was about 1:30 we decided that maybe we should have some lunch first. We had a great waiter that took a photo of us together.

The waiter told us that there was a Slot Tournament at 3pm so we decided to enter after we had our lunch. I had never done this but it was a lot of fun...Arlene took 1st Place, Mac took 3rd Place, Kevin took 5th Place(I think) and I took nothing...lol. Then we were off to the casino floor to spend some of our money. I won $98.00 but like a dummy I kept playing and ended up only cashing in $12.50. Mac on the other hand left the casino about $110.00 to the good..even deducting the money he paid for lunch! I need his luck!

We headed back to the RV's and settled in for the night with the promise of meeting for the $0.99 breakfast on Tuesday morning before Kevin & Arlene had to head south toward Texas.

Mac & Kevin clowning around!

Hey Kevin! Where's your winnings???

"I left them all in Oklahoma"

Now is the time I have been dreading for the last three days...It is time to say goodbye to this great couple!

......Sob......Sigh.....Sob....

and they are off....sob...sob...

and only one more thing to say...

We had a great time this last few days with you, Kevin & Arlene!! See you again in just a few months!

We will be staying here in Seneca for a couple more days to try to get over this crud that we have, and then we will be off to Kansas City to meet up with Paul & Mary at their park in Merriam for a few days!

Hugs to all!!