Good Food, Friends & A Movie

Last night we decided that we would invite our friend Pam to come ove and have dinner with us. Well we also made sure to tell her to bring her two adult kids Kris & Jason too! That we were gonna have a big old pot of Spagetti., along with the fixings of salad and garlic bread. Needless to say she wanted to bring the salad and garlic bread. So we said Okay to that. During the conversation we asked if they had seen the movie "Marley & Me." To which she said "No," none of them had seen it yet. Luckily I had bought it a couple of weeks earlier, but had not had a chance to watch it yet. So we all decided to make it dinner and a movie night!
Now everything was planned and Mike sprung into action. Lord bless him. He truly loves to make him specila Spagetti sauce. Seems his is a little more spicier than mine!

Anyway, about 6:00 PM everyone showed up and we got ready to eat. Of course dinner centered around Jason starting his new job on Monday. Which we were glad to hear about. And of course about Kris's latest flying escapedes. She is an airline stewardess! After dinner we got the dishes done and proceeded to get all comfy on the sofa and watch the movie. Now of course I had heard that the movie might be sad. But that did not stop me from watching it. All I knew was that I just loved the previews to it and the dog was just beautiful! LOL

So here we go with the previews of other movies. Now Pam of course wanted us to skip over them! yet she lost out on that battle. I mean hey we might see something good to either go buy or rent for another night of movie watching! So after we got through those the movie started. The music started and of course Pam & Kris wanted to talk some! UGH!!!! We had to give them that look of "Hey, be quiet now!" LOL Seems they were trying to figure out who this person was and what other movie they had played in before. Finally we got them quieted down.

Now the movie was "TERRIFIC!" Everything about it was! I really cannot tell you everything about it all. Just that it will have you laughing and of course crying too! As for letting children under the age of say 9 watch it I am not too sure about. Think you would have to read the reviews on it yourself to make that decision. Let me just say that between all of the popcorn we ate, the laughter we laughed, and the tears we cried. This movie is one that I am so grateful that I bought for my collection! It is also one that I highly recommend that everyone watch. Especially if you are an animal lover like me! There was one part of the movie that reminded me of my Chow named Widget and what we went through with him.

Just know that we definetly will start doing this on a permanent basis. It was such much fun and a good time was had by us all! The next movie I bought for us to watch is called "Hotel for Dogs!" Yes, I know seems I am on a roll with movies about dogs. Plus I have already seen "Beverly Hills Chihuaua!" So everyone if you want to invite your friends and family over for a fun-filled night that is not expensive and is enjoyable. Then why not do dinner and a movie?

Oh by the way in 2 more days I am heading out for Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. So I guess I best get busy finishing up my laundry, packing, and everything else I need to do. Till later have a blessed day and enjoy your week and weekend. Will post more when I get back at the end of next week. Take care.

Nana Net (Annette)

Climb

Morning everyone. Hope your day is going good. Mine is great! It is the final week of college and tis what I call the week of stress!! Yep, FINALS all week. So wish me luck! LOL

As for the title of my blog it pretty well is about me climbing over some mountains in my life these past couple of years. That the past few days I have been reflecting back on some things. Seems that the warm weather has caught me in a kind of mood that sets my mind to wandering. Plus with the final week of school I sure do need an escape from it all too. And I sure do not need for my mind to be down and out while I am off at the beach! Ya know it is only 5 days until we leave!!!! YEAHHHHH

Anyway, my late Moms' birthday is coming up on the 10th of May. Plus that day is Mothers' day, as well as my niece Christy's birthday too! And also the day that my grandson Carson is having his birthday party! Whew, so much happening in just one day. Well it got me to thinking about past Mother Days, birthdays and all. More so the last two years that have gone by. I truly do miss my Mom. I wish she could have been here for the birth of my first grandchild. Lord I know she would have been right here by my side when he was born. Cause she never ever missed the birth of any of her grandchildren, nor great-grandchildren while she was alive! It was just something that she took great joy in attending. That she truly was an awesome lady. And something that I hope and pray that I can follow in her footsteps and be also. I just wish that I could of learned more things from her. :0( But alas the good Lord needed her more than I did. Plus I truly did not want her to suffer anymore from the Alzheimer's. It is a disease that I do not wish on anyone. To me I honestly believe it is worse than any other type out there.

For me the song that is playing on my playlist is one that talks about how life always seems to put mountains or roadblocks in front of you! And that you have got to learn how to go through them, somehow or someway! For me these last couple of years it appears that is all that has happened to me everytime I have turned around! But yet I have some how managed to get through them. Though I must admit I just about gave up! More so when I lost my Mom, and my brother-in-law 5 months later. Seems that the saying that death comes in 3's is oh so true! Still though I refuse to give up. Guess you could say it is because I feel as if so many people in my family do depend on me. Maybe because they are always checking in on me and looking for me. Plus asking me to help them alot! Examples would be my nephews up here always needing me to help them with their little ones (babies). That since their Dad's death they have looked at Mike and me as their children's grandparents! "0) Which for us is a blessing! Cause Lord knows we do love kids. Plus we love watching them grow and seeing them learn all kinds of new things! It amazes me how quickly they seem to grow each and everytime we see them! Especially when we see our grandson, Carson. My mind gets blown away when I hear him talk on the phone with us! He is such a trip! Plus his Mom is teaching him how to do sign language! Not bad for one who will turn two next month! Last time I seen him he was signing and I was like what is he saying. His Mom was telling me what he said , when I said Lord I need to take a class on this! LOL Cause if he can do it, then I can. So like the song "Climb" there is that mountain that I have got to get through. Because I know it is not going to move out of my way. And I surely can not move it on my own!

Now know that in 5 days I will be heading out on my trip to the beach to soak up the sun. And also to get me some much needed Vitamin D from the rays of the sun too! :0) Believe me I am counting it all down and can not wait to be on the road again! I know that Mike is excited too. Just not sure if he is as much as I am. LOL Oh well enjoy the beautiful weather, and get outside too. Will post more before I leave. TaTa

Work, Work, Work

Morning all! Decided I would back track a little. In my last post I mentioned how my sons truck was messing up! Well he had brought it home for his Dad to work on it. That is to try and figure out where the leak was coming from. So off to the shop Mike went to meet Duane to have a look see. Needless to say after about 5 hours of messing around with it they finally found out what was going on. It appeared that the problem was coming from either the head gasket or a freeze plug! Now of course this meant spending a lot of money on his 19 year old truck. Which in our opinion really was not an expense worth spending at the present time. Plus the fact that his truck had over 250,000 miles on it! Not bad for Duane's' first truck (automobile) and also that we had gotten more than our money's worth out of it. And that it was a Chevy too boot! LOL

Anyway, while he was here Mike and him went ahead and did a complete tune-up, oil change, rotated the tires, and even washed it! WOOHOO.... All in all it was a great day and one well spent with our son. More so seeing how we are not able to spend lots of time with him. The down side was that he was not able to bring his wife Jennifer, nor his son (my grandson) Carson with him. That with them living about 3 hours away and his always working with his own business makes it hard for him/them to get away. Plus Mike having his own business to makes it hard for us to escape also! So we will take whatever time we can get and make the most out of it!

Now to update you. Five days after this was done the clutch went out in his truck at 4:30 in the morning on his way to work! UGH!!!! Bless his heart. But seems that the old Chevy just bite the dust. But not to worry the next day he bought him another truck. This time a newer model and a four wheel drive too! So hopefully this one will last just as long!!!!! As for the Chevy.....well it is now in junk yard heaven!!!!! Yep, he and a friend towed it there after some other problems crept up while trying to load it onto the tow truck! All in all Duane said he is so glad that we all did not spend the extra money to fix the leak after all. As for me I have to agree with him!

UGHHHHHHH

UGHHHHH..... Well it has been a while! Seems my computer caught a nasty virus to start with. That I tried my hardest to get rid of it on my own. And with no such luck! So on the telephone I go. Now the fun part was the other person on the other end of the line telling me they would send me an e-mail explain step-by-step what I was to do to get rid of it! Yeah right!!!!! Supposedly I got rid of it. But then low and behold it popped back up! Now mind ya, I have been on-line for over 13 years and never (knock on wood) had a virus before on my computer! Seems this one was stubborn. So I called them again. Well they got into my computer and let me just say the dang gum thing is GONE!!!!!!! Knock on wood to be safe..............

Of course that is not all that has kept me off line. That I have been sick too thanks to old man winter. It appears that he/she will just not leave me alone either! It started out two weeks ago with just feeling yucky. Then the coughing real bad. Next the yucky stuff coming up. So off to the Doctor I went. Appears I got me a bad case of "Bronchitis!" UGH!!!! Well my Doctor put me on a real strong antibiotic, a nasal spray, and told me to go buy a real good Vitamin C tablet to start taking. That my lungs are doing great just a lot of rattling going on. But other than that, hopefully I will be new again soon! He (my Dr.) says it is just going to take time for my body and lungs to heal from the surgery longer than they thought. Must be cause my immune system is weak. Plus I am a little screwed up too! LOL

But wait there is more....LOL Never dull around here! That my son came down to visit the other week too. That his 19 year old truck was about to bite the dust! Yep, it kept leaking this stuff out underneath it and it was not from the radiator we found out! Thank goodness my hubby is a mechanic! Nope, it seems the freeze plug or head gasket is about to blow up in it! Well his truck has over 200,000 miles on it! Needless to say, we fixed it the best we could and he went back home. But called Friday night to let us know the clutch went out in it at 4:30 that morning on his way to work! :0(
So Saturday, he and his wife was out looking for him a new ride as well as us! Luckily, he found him a used truck. And got a great deal on it! Thank goodness. Yet, his cousin (our nephew) called to tell us his clutch went out in his truck as well! UGH!!!
Seems now we have another truck to fix! That Joshua's can be fixed! LOL

Like I said it is never dull around here. And I sure do not have time to be sick! Believe me I am counting down the days till we leave for the Oceanside! Which is now only 12 more days. Lord knows I need to soak me up some sun and fresh air. Plus turn off my cell phone! Oh no, I can not do that there might be a true emergency! LOL I better leave it on just in case and screen my calls! :0)

So there ya have it. This is what has been going on in my little world. I will say that Easter was lovely. And I hope you all had a lovely one too. Take care. Blessings to each and everyone of you! Ta Ta

Kaden's First Birthday

Yes, I know it has been a week since I have blogged...Shame on me. But I have been so busy that time just got away from me!!! That this past Saturday was my great-nephews first birthday! His Mom and Dad (my nephew & his wife) decided that they wanted to have his Birthday party at my house. They said it was because my house was bigger than theirs. I think it was cause they wanted me to help clean up the mess!!! LOL Anyway, my Saturday started out with the phone ringing off the hook. That is both phones!!!! Seems that they waited untill the last minute to get everything together. Lord will these young chaps in their twenties never learn????

About 2 hours before the party was to start the rain started coming down. :-( And of course here came Josh & Lauren with the stuff for the party. Now they had forgot some items. You know the goodies for the treat bags that the little kids get for attending the party, etc. So off to the store I go to finish getting these things. Next it was my cell phone ringing asking me to pick up some bags of ice! Well I asked them was there anything else they forgot! LOL To which they replied "NO!" Whew, thank goodness. I finally got home with just 45 minutes to spare. Now I needed to get ready myself for this party!

Needless to say everyone started showing up and the rain still kept coming down. But hey, I do have a pretty good size house to hold them all in! So inside we all were. Now the men were out in the garage doing the cooking on the grill. The kids were ...well being kids! :-) Let me just say a great time was had by all. The food was tasty, and the best part was the expressions on Kadens face at his cake and presents. More so over his love for his Sock Monkey!

By the way, the pictures towards the end are of Kaden, his Dad Josh, his Uncle Nathan, and his cousin Kaydence. Who happens to be just 4 months younger than him! And can you believe they weigh exactly the same? Plus there is one of Sugar in there with them too with her cast on. Which by the way we got the cast off of her leg yesterday!!!!!! WOO HOO........

Here is to my great-nephew's first birthday and for many more to come. Hope you all enjoy the slide show!

A Good Laugh

Happy Spring everyone! I recieved this in an e-mail and thought I would share it! Talk about laughing until my sides hurt.... Well this here will do it for you. So please enjoy it! And do enjoy this first day of Spring.


To Be 6 Again...

A man was sitting on the edge of the bed, observing his wife, looking at herself in the mirror. Since her birthday was not far off he asked what she'd like to have for her Birthday. 'I'd like to be six again,' she replied, still looking in the mirror.

On the morning of her Birthday, he arose early, made her a nice big bowl of Lucky Charms, and then took her to Six Flags theme park. What a day!
He put her on every ride in the park; the Death Slide, the Wall of Fear, the Screaming Monster Roller Coaster, everything there was. Five hours later they staggered out of the theme park. Her head was reeling and her stomach felt upside down.

He then took her to a McDonald's where he ordered her a Happy Meal with extra fries and a chocolate shake. Then it was off to a movie, popcorn, a soda pop, and her favorite candy, M&M's . What a fabulous adventure!

Finally she wobbled home with her husband and collapsed into bed exhausted. He leaned over his wife with a big smile and lovingly asked, 'Well Dear, what was it like being six again??'

Her eyes slowly opened and her expression suddenly changed. 'I meant my dress size, you dummy!'

The moral of the story: Even when a man is listening, he's gonna get it wrong.

Friends

Sometimes in life we meet people and do not know why. Yet they come into our lives for either a brief period of time or forever they stay! That since I have only been blogging for a short time I have met some who appear to have remain steadfast here by my side. For that I want to say "Thank You!" Though these two words do not really describe how I feel. I felt I needed to say them.

That when I was going through my rough patch with my lungs you all were there with your wonderful words of encouragement & prayers! To me that really showed me how wonderful are. Plus the kind of compassionate people you are also! For some reason you were put into my path of life and I am so happy and thankful that you were! And to think you still checked in on me even when I was not blogging! LOL

I am trying to get back into the flow of blogging on a regular basis. Though at times I do get discouraged. Guess because I feel at times as though I really do not have much to say. MY "Tastier Tuesdays" did not draw much response so I decided to drop it. Instead I will just post a recipe ever now and then. It is not that I did not want to do it, I just lost interest in it myself. Plus this winter has not been to kind to me either. Still I am trying to think of other things to blog about. Some things I honestly will not blog about. Mostly because it will cross certain boundaries!

Anyway back to thanking you all. The saying up above just says so much! That it for me describes you all! That I honestly do not think I could forget any of you. Each one of you have a unique talent of your own. It is shown through each of your blogs!!! And I honestly do get a laugh, shed a tear, and at one time or another about choke on my coffee when I read your blogs! :-) But most of all I do take something away from each of them. And that is a lesson in itself. So for that I again applaud each of you!

So here is to my blogging buddies and friends in the world! Take care and know even if I do not have much to say here on my own blog. I am checking in on yours! Blessings to you all and Happy St. Patricks' Day!

Nana Net (Annette)

Race City Chihuahua

Meet the newest addition to my ever growing family! Her name is "Sugar" and she belongs to my nephew Nathan and his family. Now she is just 8 weeks old and is quite the little charmer! Seems that she thinks she rules the house here whenever she comes to visit. Of course my Sadie Bella & Lucky are not to sure what to make of her as of yet. Sadie Bella though does act as if she is Sugar's Mom. LOL I caught her the other day licking her all over and being playful with her and all. But of course Lucky just snarls at her and then goes outside to bask in the sun. Sort of like "Well, you are getting on my last nerve!" :-) I just laugh at them all and think to myself that I truly have gone to the dogs!!!!




So, anyway this past Tuesday, Natan came over with his daughter Kaydence to visit while his wife was at work. We were sitting around doing much of nothing but listening to KayKay being vocal. For being 8 months old she sure has a good set of lungs on her! Well Sugar had to go outside to take care of business. Of course we do not let her go out there by herself right now. So Nathan picked her up and off he went. About the time he headed out the door my phone rang. So he grabbed Kaydence to go out with them. While on the phone I heard all of the dogs raising such a ruckus. The next thing I knew I heard Lil Sugar howling in pain. I quickly got off the phone and got up to see my neighbors Rottweiler on my back porch. Of course "Max" is a friendly Rotty and such a big old baby. But Lord knows he has not been over in ages. Let alone climbed the fence in the last 6 months. To say I was surprise is putting it mildly!!! Before I could get the door opened Nathan came flying through it with Sugar and Kay Kay and said "I think her leg is broke!" I just stared at him and then said whos?" He said Sugars.... I took her from him and look at her front left leg. She was howling up a storm. For such a small dog she sure could howl! After inspecting her it appeared her leg was broke. I immediately called my vet. Unfortunately he had just left his office. Now it was just 6:00 PM. which was the way my luck was going this past couple of weeks! So his nurse told me to take her to the Emergency Vets office. Well I got ready to hit the road. But first I had to make sure that Max got back into his yard. Which his owner had already got him back there. Then asked what happened. We told him how Max decided to visit, and in the process of climbing the fence to come play with Sadie Bella and Lucky, he accidently ran over Sugar! Guess she was so small he did not see her. :-( Luckily for us my neighbor said he would take care of all of the vet bills. Just let him know how Sugar was and all. After that I called Mike as I headed out for the 20 mile one way trip with Sugar curled on my chest.



Well we got there and had to wait. Seems the "Full Moon made for a busy night at the Vets office. Yep, the evilness was out in full swing for the animals. The vet finally got us back there and after the exam, and x-ray it did not sound good. Nope, the surgeon thought Sugars growth plate had been broken!!!! I just cried, and cried. She recommended that I leave her overnight and let the head surgeon take a look at her and call me in the morning. So that is what I did. Of course I said my see ya in the morning to Sugar for I left and just cried all the way home.


We got the call from the head surgeon about 9 am and he said that the leg was broke at the wrist area and the growth plate was pushed out. But he did not recommend the $1200.00 suregery. WHEW, talk about relief. Instead he wanted to push the growth plate back into place and put her into a cast. I told him that sounded good. he next told me we could come pick her up after lunch. So about 12 noon I went to get Sugar. Talk about love, and tears of joy. Oh my how happy she was to see me and I to see her. As for the ride home, it truly was a challenging one. But she is now safely back home. And Max is got a new collar to keep him back in his yard. Seems that his battery had died in his that keeps him inside his yard. As for the Vet bill........ well the grand total so far that I had to pay in full was $583.42. :-() Was it worth it???? You bet your sweet hiney it was. Will I be reimbursed by my neighbor? Yep, at the first of the month! Thank ya sweet Jesus. And thank goodness for VISA!!!!!!

Going Insane

A picture is worth a 1000 words!!!!! So it has been said.... And this one truly describes me for the last week. That life around my parts of the woods has not been easy this last few days. Nope that my sister and her two boys have been arguing so much that I am ready to just run away!!!!

Now mind you I truly do love them all and hate it when they disagree. More so when they put me in the middle of their arguments! But it seems that every since their Dad passed away almost two years ago that the two sons and their Mom argue alot! And the sad part of it is that it 9 times out of ten is over stupid crap!

Of course I am not going into details here! let me just say it has to do with my sister and her daughter-in-law! Enough said..... The point is that life is to short to spend it fighting over things that really should not have been started out as a disagreement to begin with! Plus to put me in the middle of!

When you think about it, family and friends are all we truly have in this world. Except for the dear Lord above. That is if you do believe in him. Which I do 100%!!!!! For me I enjoy as much time as I can get with them all. Which in my opinion is not enough time! Guess you could say because of work schedules, distance away from each other, etc. So when we do get together I surely do not want it spent in ugliness!!! No sirree..... Instead I want to spend it making memories! Plus enjoying it to the fullest.....

Of course we all know there will be some disagreements and not everything will be all sugar and spice. :-) But we can hope it will be! And who knows 9 times out of 10 it is. You could say that I am one who just wants us all to get along. Could i be asking for way to much???? Naw, don't think so. Yet, certain ones think I am. Well, in my house it is play by my rules, or just don't bother coming by. Cause I hate stress! Lord knows these past few years I have had more than my share!!!!!! Yet, somehow I have survived it! Maybe it is because I am meant to! ROFL

Whatever the reason may be, I just know that I have gone "Insane" this past week! So therefore I am going to take some much needed me time and get things back to normal! Even if I have to become a you know what in order to do it! (YIKES) So say a prayer that it does not come to that.

In closing I did get me a new camera!!!! YEAHHHHH So now I can begin taking pictures again. I truly did not realized how much I missed it. First though I got to read all of the instructions that came with it. UGH... This is not my favorite part. It must be done, so I know what I am doing! Wish me luck and look out.

Till my next posting (which I will try to keep up to date with) know you all are in my thoughts and prayers. Blessings to all. Now I am off to locate my mind! HeeHee

Annette

Winter Wonderland

Oh my what a "Winter Wonderland" we have! This is what I awoke to Tuesday, morning. Now mind you that I just could not sit at home. No sirree.... I just had to go out and get me some look see and of course pictures. The little child inside of me wanted to have some fun. So, of course my dear sweet hubby Mike, decided that we would go out. But before we even got started my friend of over 34 years called. Yep, seems that Pam had the same idea too! Only she had a major problem... Her automatic garage door had come off track! Yep, and it was just barely hanging on up nabove her SUV! Well Mike and I went down to rescue her SUV. Needless to say we saved the day for her.

Well, after the great start to our day, we set off to get us some breakfast. The only thing that was not to crowded was Denny's. The restaurant was crowded and short staffed. But that did not dampen our spirits. We did enjoy ourselves. Plus the snow was so beautiful to look at and see. After we got done eating we went back to Pams' house and Mike decided he needed to go home and do some shoveling! So Pam and I took off to have a look around at everything.

As you can tell in my slideshow we got some beautiful & wonderful pictures. The Interstate 77 was backed up heading towards Charlotte. But yet heading northbound towards Virginia was no problems at all to get through. Lord how we felt bad for those heading Southbound... We seen lots of power lines down, as well as trees. Which in the one picture we had pulled sideways to take it. And of course a vehicle was coming at us! Needless to say, Pam was screaming, "Hurry up and take the picture of that damn tree down! Here comes a car!' Talk about laughing our heads off!!!!!!! We two are truly crazy women on the loose when we get together. But what fun we do have! The other pictures are of Lake Norman, and I will admit the snow around it and all sure was gorgeous. Now I did manage to get someones snowman in one too. This was at the Gold Course!

Just know that by the time we got back home we had seen all kinds of lovely sights and truly enjoyed ourselves. Plus Mike was just finishing up his shoveling duties. Oh yeah, even my babies, Sadie Bella & Lucky loved the snow too! And to end the day we had snowball fights! For me the kid inside had a wonderful and fun filled day.

Enjoy the slideshow. And know I wish that all of you could have been here with us to enjoy it!