Morning Luvs....still fighting the cold, huh? DD has bad allergies right now. I am waiting for them to hit me. I usually get fall allergies pretty bad.

I'm opening up a new tab to look at your signs.....wow, you were busy. ha You got quite a few done didn't you. What a great little design. I know your family will love to have those. I'm looking at all of them together and they look almost identical. You have done it lots of times, but I find it really difficult to do more than one of the same thing for some reason. It really bugs me when I have to. ha

Our weather is going down down down. I have to turn on the little space heater in the mornings and wear a jacket until it warms up. It's only 55 outside right now. It will be in the low 70's for most of the week since it's supposed to rain tomorrow and Wed. I'm trying to ignore it. ha

Let's see, Saturday we hung around the house and worked in the yard. DH took us out for a burger and that was about it. Sun, we went to church and then we had a few visitors stop by. One group was from our small town in MS.....an older man and woman out here visiting the man's daughter. He is 90 years old now and quite frail so I was glad to get to see him again. He was always a chipper little man when I was growing up and a great favorite with us teenagers. He is distantly related to our family. Then last night we had to go pick up a trumpet for my DS. He is starting band today. He will be a 3rd generation trumpet player. My dad and I both played trumpet from jr high to college. I also played french horn and melaphone. We still have my Dad's original trumpet which I played, but it needs some work and a new case so we are borrowing my brothers until we get the work done on the old antique for him to play.

I didn't get all the peppers done. It takes a while for them to dry in the dehydrator and I was wondering if they were the cause of DD's allergies (I started sneezing too) so after the first batch was done I decided to wait and see if she'd get better. I dried some tomatoes and it's time for another batch of them to go into the drier. They are so good dried. I can't quit eating them. ha I will use them in my soups this winter or just for snacks. I bought a new veggie at the store the other day to try. It's a horned melon. Even seen one of those? It was strange, but I like to try new things just to say, yes, I've had that. ha I bought some baklava for the kids to try Sat too.

Time to run DD to school. I'll check the gallery again when I get back. Looks like there is more there for me to see. I hope to get something of my own finished up today. ~Anj

G'day Anj, Just a quick note while I have my "cuppa joe". DH wants to go out to the Fair today. It just started this weekend. I've got to remember to take the camera along this time so I can photograph the tablescapes for the Holiday forum gals! Have to see how hot it is going to be today, if too hot, might wait until late afternoon so it will start to cool down.

Boy, your temps have really dropped. I know you are not ready for cold weather yet. Let's hope you have some really nice Fall days to enjoy. We've still been getting the upper 90's. I like it best in the 80's I guess, but unfortunately I don't get to set the "big thermostat". LOL

That is great that your son will be continuing the family tradition of trumpet playing. Bet that makes your Dad quite proud too. You played three instruments?? What a talented gal you are! Do you still enjoying playing them sometimes? I have NO musical ability at all. Can't even carry a tune or even clap in rythym. In fact, I always watch the person next to me in church and clap when they do. My DS used to love to "mess me up" by clapping off beat on purpose sometimes. LOL

So the dehydrated veggies taste good just as a snack? Would never have thought of that. I love dried fruits, so I'd probably like veggies too. Now I'm thinking it might be fun to have a dehydrator! Might have to put that on my Christmas list. Do you add any seasoning to them? I think I will do a google search and read up on them a bit. I just learn all kinds of new info from you. ;o)

Trying to figure out a new project to paint. Have a cute pumpkin/kitty pattern that looks pretty simple so I might cut out a few so I can paint on them in the evenings while we travel. We are planning to head out on Saturday afternoon.

The place where we are having the upgrades done on the motor home is located outside of town, and the man said they have full hookups right there and a loaner car if we need one. DH told him we travel with two dogs, and he said "No problem, there's lots of open space where you can just let them run if you want." Wow! How nice is that? They will both be in "critter hunting heaven". LOL

Well, I've rambled on enough here, better get in the shower. Hope your painting plans work out today, I'll check back tonight before I go to bed.

Luvs

Hey Luvs....My painting plans went askew yesterday. I got a call from the school saying DD had gotten stung by a bee and was breaking out and I needed to come get her. I grabbed Benadryl and raced up there. OH MY GOSH!! She got stung on her ankle, but her whole face and shoulders were swollen, red and looked like she had rocks under her skin! I freaked out! I gave her 2 Benadryls to take even though one lady told me to only give her one cause I didn't want her sleeping all day. I said Oh my gosh I'm gonna have to take her to the hospital. They said no, they won't do anything unless she's having trouble breathing. Glad I didn't listen! They were wondering if I was gonna leave her there or take her home! Of course I'm taking her home.....have you seen her??? So I took her straight home and called my pediatrician and they said take her IMMEDIATELY to the childrens hospital. Ahhhhh! I crammed her and 4 yr old in the car and started racing toward the hospital which is clear on the other side of the valley. Called DH to meet me close to it cause I didn't know exactly where it was and we met and sped up there. They took her straight in at the ER and started pumping her full of steroids and antihistimines. They told me that giving her the Benedryl probably saved her life!!! They said it kept it from affecting her lungs and sending her into anaphylactic shock since she does already have asthma. The hives spread all over her entire body! They said they had never seen anything that bad from a bee sting. We were there until around 8pm last night when they finally got the rash to start going away. They almost kept her overnight for observation. So she has to stay on the steroids and histimine meds for another 4 days plus the Benedryl 3 times a day for a couple more days. And she has to keep a Epinephrine shot with her at all times from now on. Soooooo
I kept her home today cause her whole foot is still really swollen up and she couldn't put it in a shoe and I went up to the school this morning and explained to them how serious this is and they are really going to work with us to try to keep her safe. 3 other kids got stung yesterday so I asked them to check the PE field to see if there is a nest out there. We think it was a hornet that stung her. She has been stung a few times before this and nothing happened. In fact she got stung 2 weeks ago by a paper wasp and it made a mark like a mosquito bite. So we have to get her to an allergists to try to pinpoint which bees she is allergic to, although she may now be allergic to all of them. So freaking scary! I have to brag on the 4 yr old though cause she was so good having to sit there for all those hours with nothing to keep her occupied but some cartoons that she doesn't really watch and a notepad to draw on. Just always watch people when they get stung even if they've never been allergic before. One of my online friends told me that a 51 yr old man got stung over the weekend, complained to his wife, she told him to buck up and get back to work in the yard.....she found him 1/2 hour later dead! He'd been stung before too and it never bothered him.

So that's been my excitement. I had to run to the grocery store this afternoon.

DS is really excited to be playing the same instrument that his mom and g-pa played. I also play the piano very badly, but took lessons for about 5 years when I was young. Wish I had one to practice on at home. I'd also like to learn to play the flute so DH said he might get me one for Christmas. That would be a fun gift! You are cracking me up with your non-rythym stories. ha

I'm just learning how to do the dehydrator things too by reading on the internet. My family liked cucumbers sliced thin and dried without salt. The ones with only a tiny bit of salt were too salty for them. I didn't put anything on the tomatoes, but I've heard you can smoke them before you dry them and they are excellent. I liked them plain, but I generally like tomatoes any way I can get them. I like it cause I have so much excess in the garden and I have been using it to make bread crumbs from stale bread. ha Using up those last bananas in the bunch before they go bad...sprinkle with a little cinnamon. I'm sure I'll find more uses for it.
Did I tell you I tried your parmesan tomatoes the other night? I left them in a little too long and the cheese got a little hard, but I ate them anyway and it was still good. ha I made them again with mozzerella cheese and I liked them that way too. Thanks for the recipe!

Glad things are so convenient where you are getting your Rv fixed up. It'll be so nice for ya'll. My parents are working on their new/old camper to try to get it spiffed up for the upcoming hunt at the end of Sep.

Well, I'd better get supper fixed. I'm just fixing a big pot of cheese grits and crescent rolls for supper. ha It'll be warm and filling. It's rainy and cold tonight. Talk to you tomorrow. It will be raining all day so I HOPE nothing bad happens so I can get some painting done. I never know. ~Anj

OMG! Way too much excitement going on for you! I am so glad you thought to take the Benadryl with you. I know bee stings can be really serious if they cause an alergic reaction. That is just so scary to think that she could have died from it and the teachers don't know that!

I think I told you about looking at my 2 yr. old dog out on the patio one day and her whole face was swollen and you could barely see her eyes. Same kind of thing--a bee sting. Took her to the vet and he said the same thing, that we were lucky it hadn't affected her breathing!

I feel so bad for that 51 year old man--and especially for his wife who had no idea how serious it could be! Can you imagine that? No way I'd ever be able to forgive myself.

Boy, you sure come up with some doozies for excuses for not painting! LOL Whew!

I cut out some Halloween pieces yesterday. Four pumpkins with kitty cats and two haunted houses. I doubt that I'll get any painting done this week since little GD is with us until Saturday morning. I'll just take them along on our trip, we are hoping to leave around noon on Saturday.

Speaking of little GD, she kept me busy today. Her Mom asked me to take her by the doctor's office so they could check her arm where she had all her shots last week. No problem there, in fact I had her laughing by telling her a story about my brother grabbing his candy sucker and running out of the room after getting his shot. If something strikes her funny, she wants you to tell it again and again! Then we went by the pet store for fish food, and had such a good time looking at all the critters. One little bird was carrying straw to build his nest, and I always do a running naration about what he must be thinking/saying. She was giggling and wanted to keep watching him. We played outside in the water, played dolls, had grilled cheese for lunch, went over to the park to feed the ducks and play on the playground, then had spaghetti for dinner. She is sort of a picky eater, so I was thrilled when she said the spaghetti was "Yum". Of course, then Gpa tried to tell her it was so good because HE made it! Yeah, right! She ate some banana and watermelon too. We did her bath and had no problems washing her long hair, but getting her to sleep was a bit more difficult. Leaving her alone didn't work, so after telling her a couple of stories, I finally told her to roll over on her tummy so I could rub her back. I rubbed her back and--are you ready for this--sang her to sleep! Now I just told you about my lack of musical ability--but believe it or not, my GD likes it when I sing to her! LOL Wanted her asleep by 8, but made it by 9, so all in all, I'd say our first day of the four went really well. ;o)

Well, this has been a really long winded post, so I'll hush now and catch you when I can tomorrow. I have to get up early and take her to school. Let's hope the morning goes smoothly--this is so totally not my normal routine! LOL

Luvs

Morning K...
You are gonna be worn out after this week if you did all that in one day! ha How did it go getting her off to school this morning? I've got mine trained pretty good into a routine so things go pretty smoothly now, but it can get a little crazy when you aren't used to it. I kept DD home again today. She was red in the face and down her arms. Thinking it's a side affect of the meds, but wanted to check with the dr on it. It went away, so I gave her the next dose and am waiting to see if it comes back.

Wow your trip is coming up fast! And you are taking your laptop right? I'll miss you too much if you can't check in. ha Sounds like you have some fun projects cut out to work on. I am working on 4 projects today. One is made with scrapbook papers, but the other 3 are painted. I had bought some big letters for my kids initials to paint, but then I saw how cute they can be made using scrapbook papers so I decided to do them that way instead. I am going to hang them over the heads of their beds when I'm done. I'll post them on this side when I'm done so you can see them.

Well, I haven't gotten much done for the past few days so I'd better get busy. Have fun today! And I'm sure you are too hard on yourself with your musical abilities! If GD likes it you gotta be good! Don't they just make your heart happy? =) ~Anj

Hi Anj, Just a quick hello before DH gets back and puts me to work again. We are in the process of installing our bed in the motor home. Not as easy as it would be on a regular bed. We had to drill a hole in the platform for the cord, air tubes and controller--then found out something was wrong with a connector on the tubes. He took it over to the local store, if they don't have one in stock, they'll have to overnight express one to us.

Little GD was so good this morning. Ate her breakfast, let me brush her hair and put it in a pony tail and got dressed. Then she played with her toys and the dogs while I got dressed. Was quite proud to show me her school, but said "Gramma, after I show you, can we both go back to your house?" Oh,Oh! I spoke with her teacher a few minutes and met one of her little friends and she kept holding on tightly to my hand. Then her teacher said "Why don't you step into the hall with Gramma and give her a good bye hug?" Little GD started to cry, but I assured her she would have lots to tell me about when I picked her up, and the teacher took her hand and sort of steered her back in. Was a bit hard for me, but I know she gets busy with other things and is fine two minutes later! ;o) I'm looking forward to picking her up this afternoon. You are so right, they are so cute and so sweet--really makes my heart happy!

Sorry you DD is still not up to par. Bless her heart, what an ordeal. I'm sure she is anxious to be back to normal and back with her friends.

The letters with the scrapbook papers sound cute. I'll look forward to seeing them.

Gotta get to work now, will try to get on here later.

Luvs