what's new Sunday?

Good morning everyone! Here I am with a few moments to post. The baby is sound asleep upstairs which is a good thing. He will be staying with me for a few weeks. I am hoping that N will not be in hosptial too much longer. She had to go back in due to a blood infection to receive iv antibiotics. This heat is unreal. I think it may help me drop some more weight as I just can't eat. Maybe my year long stall will be over.  My mother is going to give me her treadmill. I am looking forward to having it available for the days I just don't feel like walking outside. I can easily put the baby in a carrier and walk away on it right here at home. I am trying to decide if I will attend a music festival this afternoon in DC. My brother and his son are performing. The heat was so awful yesterday I am not certain it is a good idea. I will have the baby by myself. I am thinking some nice close to home activities are more comfortable and less stressful. I hope everyone has haad a great weekend!!!

Hi there Margo and all, I just want to thank you all for replying to both my sad news, and my worried sick stomach questions, I can't tell you how much better you all made me feel...thank you. I am still having moments of missing my little Nancy friend...duh, I know that's normal...but I still just want to pick up the phone and talk to her... My tummy problem is "under control" but still not right so will call the doc Monday. I have lost a couple of pounds but know they will prob reappear when I feel better.. We have to drive clear out to camp today and pick Beth up again, then drive her out to her college town...takes over 3 hours. Then thank goodness her grandpa will pick her up in town here tomorrow (she will ride the bus into town, quite a big deal for the princess don't ya know) and he will take her back out to camp. Then Wednesday we will go get her and her last final is Thursday which is the day we will also help finish clean out the dorm and all that business, then take her back to camp for the summer! Pheww....can't wait till all those back and fourths are over. Our weather is the pits, but I do have to say I see some sun this am. Hopefully it will stay. So, first, off to church where husband is playing with his worship team band, called Celebrate Grace. They have a website. And then off to pick up the Bethalope. Have a great Sunday all and thank you so much again, Cheryl

Good morning all.... I spent most of the morning yesterday applying for a civil service job... good grief, what a nightmare that was! ... I am very computer literate but this web site was killing me... seemed like it took a half hour just to figure out how to create an account! I am dealing with the weird situation at my present job by simply not dealing with it... I just go to work, try and do a good job and be as cheerful as I can. God will put me where he wants me... so I will just be of good cheer and trust Him and quit worrying about it... I am grateful to have a job. My brother in law makes 6 figures a year and gets to travel all over the world and take cruises and live in a huge house... and he just got laid off... downsized... I never had any of those things so I can't miss them! I bought some nutrition bars and beef jerky yesterday... I am searching for something to snack on while I drive my route... I can't seem to find anything that will keep me going and be easy to eat while I drive... gotta be something like those Lance crackers or something like that... easy to grab and shove in my face while I navigate to my next stop... we'll try the  beef jerky and see how that goes... Hope you all have a great Sunday!

good morning! i'm up now,i think.....roxie has been out and she is lounging in the sun on the chair by the kitchen slider...and the ac is roaring.... no news about my g'ma this morning so hopefully no news is good news- i'll talk with mom later-she has church at 930...g'ma is a very strong woman a fighter -i guess not knowing more is what is bothering me.....that and some family stuff-allow me to ramble a teensy...yesterday would have been my sister patty's birthday..she passed in 2005-some of you may remember that? she was the one in prison. she and i were close -as much as we could be from only knowing each other since 2000 mostly by mail. patty's death brought mom and g'ma (her mother) closer; they had had years and years of bad feelings. today is my sister vickie's birthday-vickie and i have met and starte dto have a relationship but vickie had her own "stuff" goin on in her life and most of it wasn't good and she couldn't deal with having an older sister -no matter what my intentions might have been. so one sister is gone and i cannot celebrate and the other i can't even send a card to cuz she won't let me know where she is...g'm aknows but-um g'ma is the one in the hospital and is sworn not to tell. ok- enuff of them and me- i guess i'm whining....most of you-almost all i think-have always known who you were and who your family was and i have only had mine since 2000 and so much of it is so new and the feelings get so very raw. i do not know that any of you can actually understand-except for a very few who are on the other end of adoption and hold fears that may or may not ever come to pass.sorry...i guess i am a deeper, more complex person than i ever thought.  i have to find another part time job--or something full time that will last and i don't see that on the immediate horizon! i actually enjoy the job i have-i just need MORE!!!! damn i'm greedy-and so is the electric company and the gas company and the phone company and let's not even talk about the mortgage and the car payments!!!!! marc; gosh i can understand what you are saying about your BIL....but i have grown accustomed to the phone and lights working when i want them!  i decided that yesterday's headache was actually my body reacting to a lacka carbs and ouch it hurt! so this morning i am trying to walk that tightrope to try to get rid of the carb monster and keep away the headache!! well- i don't know anything new about anything i don't think...hot and humid goes the day... hugs and prayers to you all.......

Margo, I do understand part of your feelings on family. My wonderful and much loved neice Autumn Elise is adopted. She came to us on Christmas Eve of 1980. We waited for her for 3 years. She was a high risk adoption since her biological father never signed the papers for her to be adopted. He never even knew if she was a girl or a boy. He was a married man who lived in the next town over. We have no idea if he is still there or not. Autumn use to speak of finding her real birth mother but so far has never done anything about it. I hope that she doesn't since what we know of her birth mother is not so good. My sister told her that if she does want to find her birth mother she would help her the best that she could and I have told her the same. Autumn has known and grown up with the fact that she is adopted. She also knows that she is loved more than she ever could be. She and I have a very close relationship and always have had. She is the only neice that I will ever have on my side of the family and she and her daughter hold a very special place in my heart. It makes no difference to me if she is blood related or not. She is her and to me that is what I love.  The only thing that is bad about the whole thing is that we have no idea on the medical background of either of her parents. Carolyn and Rusty was told nothing about that at all. That makes it really hard when something happens to her and she gets sick. So far so good but I worry about what is going to happen when she is older and gets sick more. Just wanted to let you know that I kind of understand but not really.

brenda...you do kindof understand but not really! and i certainly understand everything taht you said! my own parents are wonderful people but i thank God daily that i was not raised by them....would not have had a great deal of the experiences that i did have.... i do know my family's health history as it was very well documented before my birth - a great deal of kidney and diabetes and stuff so it helped me in my appeal for my wls!  adoptions are much different now than they were when we were being born. i was never made to feel "different" intentionally by my parents ...but i always felt that there was something missing...and now i know that i am the eldset of 6 of my mother's children and 3 of my father's--and none of them want to have a big sister! well-except for patty who died. and steve wants me around when something goes wrong with mom so he can blame me for being all the way down here in ohio.....i don't want to go into a great deal more here -not that i mind talking about it cuz i don't mind at all...but some on the board are on the other end of adoption-being the adopted parent and it opens wounds and possible hurts for them that i am not trying to open--and hope not to cause worry...each of us as adoptees are different in our desires to know our birth parents or not..... anyhow- what a special bond you have with your neice and a blessing that she has her wonderful parents!!!!!! thx for responding to this!

BRenda, Have you looked at the posts about going to Michigan in October? Did you kow youare getting hijacked and picked up on the way from Chicago to Frankenmuth?????? Carla. 

Good morning, Margo and all the others. Hope that today is good! It is sunny and cooler this morning. We had a tornado warning last night but it all went out over the lake before it hit us. We did get some rain but not a bad storm. I guess there was funnels in Chicago last night. They weren't sure last night if it was one or several. All they seemed to know was that it was on the ground for a long time. I guess some of it hit in Gary/Miller area which is the next city over. There is a town between us. I haven't read the paper this morning so I am not sure what went on there. Bill wanted to do some fishing this week but the weather forecast showed rain all for the next 5 days. He was not a happy camper when he heard that one! Guess what we are doing today!!!??? Having ANOTHER cookout! Are we surprised? Today is hot dogs. That is what Bill the cook is wanting. That surprises me too since he doesn't usually like them to much. He never stops amazing me!!! I told him that I would make some hot dog sauce just like mom made and that made him very happy too. Gosh after today there is only going to be 7 more cook outs and that is if he only does 1 time a day!! He has been known to do it 2 times a day. He is a George Foreman~a lean (well~not to lean!) , mean (well~not mean at all!), grilling machine!  I didn't go to the grocery store yesterday. Bill wants to go with me (probably to pick the meat for grilling! haha) and he asked if we could go today. I told him that was fine with me since I didn't really feel up to going either. lol So that is what is going on today at the Russell household! I better get going. I have some things to do before it is off to the grocery and do my thing there. I hate going now since the prices are so high. That takes all the fun out of everything! I am sending love and hugs to all. Prayers are going up for everyone and special ones for those in need of them.

I am soooooooooooo envious of the warm/hot weather in all your special places in the world.  Here on the coast of Washington State, we're having the coldest spring/summer in 50 years.  The temps are low to mid 50s for highs.  I am cold all the time.  Add rain and wind and it's miserable.  My winter sweaters and corduroy pants may be loose and hanging on me but I don't dare put them away! I am having a quiet Sunday in my sewing room making a purse for my mother.  It's not quite turning out the way I imagined so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.  I'm anxious to move on to quilting sometime time today. Marc:  I hear you about applying for civil service jobs.  I have a state gig but had been applying for federal jobs.  I haven't been successful and the on line application process has been a frustrating and time consuming task.  The state gig is looking better all the time! I hope everyone has a wonderfully restful Sunday.  nan

Good morning Margo and all my dear sisters and brothers. Started out having a nice quiet Sunday, getting ready to go to rehearsal with a new community band this afternoon, then the kids here for dinner.  As I've told you before they are vegetarians, so Sunday dinner here is MUCH different than most Southern homes. No smoked hams, green beans with bacon, etc. here.  Today it's Cuban Black Beans with Rice.  Actually, it's very yummy, and we really don't miss the meat one day a week  LOL So, dinner is made, kitchen cleaned up and I move onto clean the front bathroom when disaster strikes.  Some how, I have no idea how, I got my big toe caught in the bath mat and tore the nail away from my toe back by the cuticle, bending the toe under my foot in the process.  I'm reasonably sure it's broken, but the dang nail keeps bleeding. Needless to say, it hurts like the devil.  Would someone please wrap me up in bubble wrap????  I'm off to elevate and ice, guess there's little else to do with it.  Hope everyone's day is better than mine!  Love and hugs to all.