Happy NEW YEAR to everyone. This may be a short post since I'm the only one up. It's early and I haven'y had breakfast or showered and dressed yet. Of course I'm a pretty slow typist too so that drags out the post. I'll add on later after I get ready for the day. We had a little snow yesterday, but the wind blew and the temperature warmed up and between the two most of it is gone this morning. Brother Joe said the same thing about Springfield.
Joe and I had a nice conversation on IM yesterday evening. He is on the Board of Directors of the Railroad Museum and they are in the process of restoring a motor car. (I hope I got that right. Correct me if I'm wrong, Joe. I can't ask him to correct me this morning because it's his day to volunteer and he's not on his computer. ) He's been going to Kiwanis lunches with Dave the last two weeks . He says they haven't been very crowded because of the holidays.
Pete and Janet had the family over for Christmas Day breakfast. Nancy made her specialty which is monkeybread with ham. Doesn't that sound like a name that Pete made up for it? Monkeybread with ham!! He said last week in his weekly call that there were seven of them there. I don't think he told me which seven. I'll get it straight when he calls this Saturday. He said he's going to have to make a trip to Quartzsite, I think to get some stuff. Caitlin is home but has to go to Spokane to Gonzaga soon. I think I posted she got back from Florence two weeks ago tomorrow. We're all very proud of that girl.
We have company and I have more updates after while. People are now getting up.

Joe sent news and holiday greetings to all through Sue. Here is his e-mail:

From: jgfelin@aol.com
To: marthaboaz@aol.com
Sent: 12/25/2009 5:13:09 P.M. Central Standard Time
Subj: Re: MERRY CHRISTMAS

We made out annual Christmas Day trip to the Berns's house, (Lydia's folks) Dave and M.E, Lisa and Jack, Mary and me. Breakfast at about 9:30 followed by opening gifts. Very enjoyable. Lydia and her foks are going to Eldon Saturday, to see David Berns's folks.

Just a little bit of snow on the ground here but enough to make driving somewhat dangerous, especially farther west. Around Nevada, MO they had about an inch.

Saw Sean yesterday (Thurs) at the grocery store where he works. Brian called him while I was there. Brian is in town but has to go out again Saturday.

They (Sean & Brian)? were going to be with their Mom today, in Bolivar today. Sunday they (?) were going to meet Mike and family at Mikes farm, weather and roads permitting. (Brian would be on the road that day)


Merry Christmas to all

I got the staples out of my head today and, though the doctor told me it probably wouldn't hurt much, IT DID!! Fortunately there were only three of them in my scalp but, as the doctor afterwards explained, the emergency room doctor had stapled hair and all. She was surprised they hadn't shaved that area of my head. She removed them with a regular staple remover, and they looked like paper staples. I'm just relieved that they're no longer in there. She said she could possibly have missed one and just come back if I felt anymore. She must have never had any in her scalp.
Margaret and Norm are hosting their family this evening fot their Christmas dinner. I'm fairly sure the kids all bring something to contribute to their supper as they do here. The younger ones probably are eager to get home and get to bed and then to wake up to see morning and that Santa has arrived. I talked to Scott while ago and asked him when Santa was arriving there. He said he doesn't know but it will happen while the boys are sleeping. He said he's going to bed early even if they won't.
We are hoping to have Jalen and Brayden stay with us a few days next week. The arrangements haven't been finalized yet. They're off school the rest of this year. Drew's off too. He's at Mizzou at Columbia. All three of my grandsons are extra good students. Brayden and Jalen always bring us the papers they get back from tests and stuff. Drew has a 3.0 GPA. I'm a proud old Granny.
We're having steak for Christmas Eve dinner. Rose is sending me a message on her cellphone by dictating an e-mail. She is testing some new application; meanwhile I can hear her. I think she's just practicing. She and Shirley love their Apple paraphernalia.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE to everyone and HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY to JALEN. Jalen was 12 years old yesterday. We hope he had a great birthday and now he has Christmas coming right up. We miss seeing him and look forward to the next time wiyh him and his brother and their dad. They are both off school all this week and next week.
I was up at six this morning - first one in the house - maybe because I went to bed so early and it was almost the shortest day of the year. Snow is forecast for today and tomorrow but seldom is that forecast right. It would be nice to have a White Christmas.
Donald and Vita stopped by for a visit on Tuesday. They're in town until Chrismas Day when they go on to Plattsburg to spend the holdays with their families there. They took them all to New York for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and told them that was going to be their Christmas present. What about Santa? ? We talked a lot about old times and wondered how we got so old so quickly. They saw Caitlin in Florence. I may have already put this in the blog. He keeps in touch with Wanda Jean and the address for her is the one I posted earlier in Florida and is the right one for her. We got a Christmas card from her.
They stopped at Margaret and Norm's yesterday. Margaret said they also reminisced a lot about old times. I think there's some disagreement about what really happened 'back in the old days'. Donald says we need Pete and Joe to remember correctly. Margaret was probably better at remembering than Rose and Donald and me.
I'm getting the staples out of my scalp this morning and I dread it sorely. My scalp is still very sore and tender so I'm hoping the doctor will deaden the area somehow. My appointment is at 11:30 and sometimes there's quite a waiting period.
Shirley and I picked up A Barbie Camper for Suzanne and and Doug (aka Santa) to leave for Josie for Christmas. They were a hot item for little girls this year and hard to find. Suzanne came by here to get it last night and said the night before that Josie decided to make a new wish list for Santa. The Barbie Camper and other things she had asked for earlier weren't on the new list. When Suzanne explained that Santa might not be able to bring things on the new list at this late time, Josie explained to her "Yes, he can. Remember. he's Santa". They have the presents locked in a room and somehow Lukas and Josie both know they're in there and have been begging to have just one so they know that Santa doesn't bring them all.
We're invited to Chris and Shelly's tomorrow for turkey dinner. I haven't seen their house with all their Christmas decorations inside and outside so I'm looking forward to it and to the turkey dinner and visiting with the other folks who will be there.
We haven't seen much of Goldman this week but he and his Suzanne and I are going out to dinner next Tuesday. Ding and I usually go out on Thursday nights but the holidays have messed up this week and next week. Next year we'll get back on our regular schedule.

It's been a while since my last post but I've been under the weather and have good reason for my lack of updates. I practically had to beg to get out of the hospital and was released last Friday. As Aunt Janet says, in hospitals they wake you up to give you a sleeping pill. I had to come home to start feeling better. It worked.



We had our family Christmas celebration here on Saturday with a delicious brunch. Scott, Jalen, and Brayden arrived Friday evening from Louisville. Scott's girlfriend, Beth, arrived from Kansas City Saturday morning. Drew got here from Columbia on Saturday. Mark and Karen got here from Kirkwood on Saturday after they picked the eggs and fed the five chickens. Shirley's nephew Michael and his wife Leslie arrived from St. Charles as did Chris and Shelly. Katie and Austin live in Kansas and couldn't make it this year but were sorely missed. Of course Shirley, Rose and I were here and it was a wonderful celebration.



Jalen and Brayden were very eager to open presents and I think ate very little of their meal. Lots of people brought stuff for the brunch besides what Rose and Shirley put together. In spite of several trips to the store last week, we had to send Scott again on Saturday morning.



I got so many thoughtful gifts. Mark Lary had made a trip to Evansville, Illinois, on the day after Thanksgiving where Brick (all three boys' Dad) was born and is buried and made me an album of pictures of the town today. Much of it is the same. The church, St. Boniface, where he was baptized looks to be in use today. His parents' home and service station are still there. There's a grain elevator that's been there forever. I'm eager to go down there myself. I got lots of other super gifts and am still absorbing and appreciating them.



Brayden and Jalen disappeared shortly after they got their gifts opened and went off to play with them. We grownups sat around and reminisced old times.We had lots of laughs. Our tree is beautiful and isn't drooping yet. Rose and Shirley keep lots of water in its' holder. Margaret and Norman sent a lovely poinsetta. It's huge and looks great in the living room.



Rose, Scott, and Mark all took pictures so I'm hoping we'll get lots of them posted. Scott got me a Kodak Easy Share but he's going to have to teach me some more about it. I have something similar that Mark and Karen got me after Katie's wedding and I'll maybe get wiser about both of them - or make one of them just do it for me.



There's more update and I'll post it later.

Joe sent us an e-mail with a link to a video of the Springfield School Board meeting in which the board recognized Joe's daughter Lisa and granddaughter Lydia. It's interesting for several reasons: Lisa's National Teacher of the Year award is an astonishing achievement. Lydia's role in her group (which I don't totally understand) certainly makes her a superstar too. Mary, Joe's wife, just retired from 43 years of teaching. And Central High School in Springfield, where Lisa teaches and Lydia is a student, is one of the best high schools in the nation. Finally, the man on the school board, as Joe tells us in his e-mail, is the grandson of Bess Hosmer, a woman we knew well when we were young She had an insurance agency with her office on the Square in Marshfield. Joe refers to the "Is your dog vaccinated?" If you are curious, the story is posted on this blog, and we all repeat it often, so you, no doubt, know it.

Anyway, I watched the video and enjoyed it very much. Hope you do too! [Joe's daughter is Ms. Lisa Lilley, and his granddaughter Lydia is the beautiful girl just to the left of the woman explaining her group's achievement.

Here is Joe's e-mail with the link:

"Not sure just how to forward this but wanted Donald, Vita & Grandsons to see both Lisa and Lydia's pictures, etc. on the video. Note Mary is also show on the clip.

The Bd of Director making the remarks about how good it is to have some good news and not have to battle the budgets is Andy Hosmer. His grandmother was Marshfield's Bess Hosmer, as in "Is your dog vaccinated"

Hope you enjoy.
Bro Joe




In a message dated 12/16/2009 7:14:54 P.M. Central Standard Time, llilley@spsmail.org writes:
http://springfieldpublicschoolsmo.org/board/VideoArchives/2009-2010/Dec15.html

Lisa Lilley

ACTFL 2010 National Language Teacher of the Year
National Board Certified Teacher - World Languages
Spanish, Central High School, Springfield, Missouri"

Update

Dr. Hogan released Sue from the hospital early this evening. She is doing well but is unsteady still from all the ativan. It takes a while to purge your system of that stuff. Her blood sodium level was slightly low. Hogan's orders: sprinkle a lot of salt on your food and eat potato chips. Hard to imagine a real doctor saying that!

Scott and boys arrived around 8:30, and they are medicinal. Things are looking up. Who knows, we might even have a white Christmas.

Sometimes it seems in our household that the only luck we have is bad. I hate posting this new development but feel I must. Sue had a petite mal seizure on Wednesday morning, fell off a kitchen stool, and banged her head hard on the ceramic tile. From the blood that gushed from the back of her head, we concluded she was badly hurt and called 911. Medics arrived, strapped her to a board, put her head and neck in a brace, and off we went to Barnes Jewish Hospital in the ambulance. She regained consciousness in the ambulance. Chris met us at Barnes, and we began the E.R. ordeal.

As soon as practical, she had a CT scan which showed no fracture and no concussion--a huge relief given how hard she fell. She had staples (not stitches) to close the 2 1/2 inch gash, but then had another seizure. This time the E.R. physicians gave her a heavy dose of ativan which put her into a deep, deep sleep.

Chris and I came home in the evening before they transferred Sue to a regular room in neurology. Around 10:00 pm, as I was trying to call the hospital to get an update (a futile effort because HIPPA laws preclude any release of information), a neurologist resident called to make sure she had a good list of Sue's meds. This resident said Sue was in a room and doing well.

Today, the expectation was that she would come home, but she was still suffering the effects of ativan in her system and was too wobbly to move about much. So, one more overnight in Barnes.

Sue's phone number is 314 452-3685, and she is in room 11575, hopefully only until tomorrow morning.

Turns out, after hourly checks of her blood levels, Sue is suffering from low sodium caused by the med she takes to control seizures. Ironical, since low sodium can cause seizures. Now the trick is to either change meds or get the sodium levels up. I think the tentative decision of her neurologist is to work on the sodium so as not to disturb a drug trial she is in that holds promise.

If there is any silver lining in this very dark cloud, for me it was that I got to spend a lot of time yesterday with Sue's son Christopher who is one of the bright lights on this planet.

We are thinking of putting a sign on our front door: "Mash 4077"
"Fur Lined" may go into the trash

It's really cold here in Missouri today with occasional snow flurries, and it's supposed to be colder tonight. Rose dropped me off to get a haircut while she did some of the grocery shopping and Shirley did some of the other shopping. Needless to say, we hurried! I haven't heard from Margaret today. Yesterday she and Norman were going over to Scott AFB to have some prescriptions filled, and I'm sure they stayed home today unless they had to go out. The snow isn't supposed to accumulate much.

Ding and I went over to Belleville last Thursday to see Fat Jack. He was better than he has been in the past few visits. He is doing quite a bit of therapy and had been able to go out to lunch recently. Ding and I plan on taking him out to eat when the days get longer and it's not dark so early. There's a place nearby where we can just take him in the wheelchair. It's called Marco's on Main where Ding and I have eaten several times when we've gone to visit Jack.

Late on Friday Scott and Brayden arrived. We three old ladies were thrilled, to say the least. Brayden slept with Scott that night but was up first. I got up next. We sneaked in and he kissed Aunt Rose to wake her up. She didn't mind that alarm clock. Scott dropped Brayden and me off at the Hollensbe's Saturday morning on his way to Columbia, and Brayden hardly knew his dad was gone the whole weekend.

We had spaghetti for dinner Saturday night, thanks to Brayden. He did most of the cooking. He brought some of his school papers and read to us and did some 'seek and find' puzzles he brought. He amazed us. Shirley taught first grade for years and said she never had a student as smart as he is. I'm pretty sure that my first grade teacher, Arilla Deckard, didn't know what a rhombus was. He and Rose played football and then the three of us did 'pluses' and 'times'. He also likes to do spelling and write sentences.

Yesterday Karen and I went to the poinsettia display at Forest Park. It was raining and we had to walk a little way to get inside. Karen felt bad because she didn't bring an umbrella. I told her we would just walk between the raindrops. We didn't get wet. We had lunch at a place called PI. (Yes, I spelled it right.) Obama ate there about a year and half ago and sorta put the place on the map. He said its pizza was better than Chicago's. It was really good. We had some left and had it boxed to go. When we got back here, we realized we had forgotten the box!

Pete called for his weekly chat last Saturday. Nancy returned from Italy on the 18th - just in time for Thanksgiving. Caitlin is due back this week. I don't know if Kelly and the boys shot anything on their hunting expedition last week. Donald also called. They will be here sometime the week of the 21st and will bring pictures of their European trip and of their trip to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.

Weren't the photos Mark posted great? He and Karen spent a lot of time putting those pictures on corks. We teased them about having to drink so much wine to get all those corks. After all that cooking Karen did for the dinner, she did another turkey for Drew to take back to school. We all ate so much that there wasn't any leftover turkey!

Here is a link to an article in the Springfield, MO News Leader about Joe and Mary's daughter Lisa who was just named Foreign Language Teacher of the Year in the U.S: http://www.news-leader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/200912030257/NEWS01/912030348

Joe reports that Sara Palin's photo was juxtaposed on the front page with Lisa, and they were both dressed in similar red jackets. Palin was in Springfield for a book signing that day.

Look at all of these crazy little characters that showed up for Thanksgiving!

It was a great day of giving thanks and sharing with family and friends, Karen started us off with an inspirational poem by Rumi, which must have inspired everyone to dive in, it was not long before most of a fried turkey, a roasted turkey and a duck, not to mention a host of delicious side dishes brought by each of the guests were happily consumed. To top off the meal we enjoyed pumpkin flan for dessert......yummy!

I posted earlier today but didn't get finished before I had to quit. It's not that I have a lot to do. It's just that it takes me a long time to do what I do.

Yesterday was Scott's birthday. I didn't get to spend a lot of the day with him but did get to spend some. He drove back from the lakehouse and stopped here for a while and then drove on to Louisville. He was going out to dinner with Brayden and he was hoping Jalen got to join them. He wanted them to make him a birthday present but I don't know if they did or not. I haven't heard from him today.

Shirley flew down to Lake Charles, LA, on early Friday morning and is coming home tonight. She visited her family and attended a great nephew's wedding. She gets home tonight at around eight, and Goldman and I are going to pick her up at the airport because Rose has a class she's teaching. We missed Shirley while she was away but were really glad she was here for Thanksgiving Day.

Karen is stopping by tomorrow to drop off our dish from Thanksgiving dinner. I hope she has time so we can sit and visit. She and Mark sure prepared a lovely table and dinner. Mark took time to take Rose and me out to visit and "pet" the chickens. One of them is named after me! The prettiest one!

Rose took pictures at their house that day and I'm sure she will post them soon. This blog is a good way of going back over the past. It's something like a diary. I did most of the Thanksgiving posts but Christmas is coming up real soon. Let's hear from you. Pete promised me on Saturday that he would send me a posting. I don't have it yet but that's a start.

It's been a while since my last post. I've been waiting for other people to update and have had a long wait. I'm back to feeling okay and have several things to update about. We had a terrific Thanksgiving celebration. Mark and Karen hosted the dinner and I believe everyone 'ate too much'. The meal was wonderful. The only regrettable thing about the day was that Scott and the boys didn't get there. Scott got to St. Louis later but didn't get to bring the boys. We all missed them. Karen sent a full plate here for Scott, and he had his Thanksgiving dinner while he visited with Rose, Shirley and me.

The Abbotts had their Thanksgiving celebration at Catrina and Robby's. Pete and Janet had a houseful of guests at their new home. Kelly and the boys went duck hunting Saturday morning. They celebrated Thursday at Gene's who is Janet's brother. Donald and Vita took their family to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City. I had a nice note from Jana in the Kansas crowd but don't know what they were doing. Uncle Joe and family were probably still aglow from the award that Lisa was awarded in San Diego. I'm still waiting to hear from the Washington/Oregon/Arizona bunch. I hope all of you remember - this is the Family Gazette!!

My last bout of being very ill has passed. I went into the hospital for my regular IVIG and got to feeling much worse as I was leaving. My physician kept me a day longer. Rose and Shirley were attending a conference over in Columbia, Illinois so when I came home everyone was afraid to leave me alone. I didn't know I was so popular and well-liked. Rose and Shirley came home when they could but I was sorta doped up and I'm still not sure who all was here at different times. I got up Saturday morning and was going to the bathroom and who peeked around the corner at me? Brayden! I was surprised, to say the least. Scott had come all the way from Louisville and brought him knowing he'd be back in three days. They just wanted to surprise me.

I went back to the neurologist before Thanksgiving and had some more tests after my bout in the hospital and the episode with the seizures. The tests show I have low sodium and the doctor said I should eat lots of salt and lots of salty foods. It's amazing but I am so much better. Even my left leg which I was going to have either a stent or angioplasty this week is better. I had pain with it and the pain with my walking is gone though I haven't walked any distance. I am back to riding the exercycleon a daily basis though that never did hurt.

Joe sent some lovely photos of Lisa's award celebration in San Diego. Here is the link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/2010actfltoy/sets/72157622872077340/

Brother Joe sent this e-mail today. His daughter, Lisa (Lilley) has won the teacher of the year award for foreign language.

Congratulations, Lisa!

From: Jgfelin
To: MarthaBoaz
Sent: 11/25/2009 8:18:40 A.M. Central Standard Time
Subj: Re: California

Our trip to/from San Diego, California Nov 19-22 was wonderful. Airplanes and all!

Lisa won the Foreign Language National Teacher of the Year award. She will be traveling to a number of locations throughout the U.S., in 2010. The outgoing recipient showed a power point presentation of her activities and included visiting with many dignitaries, including the Ambassador from France.

While Lisa was attending the meetings Friday afternoon, Mary, Jack (Lisa's husband) and I took a couple of tours. Very interesting. Jack and I also went through the Aircraft Carrier Midway, now a museum. On our boat tour, we also saw the Aircraft Carried Ronald Reagan. It made the oldie look small.

Ironically, Granddaughter Lydia and her High School Media Class also won a number of awards the previous week, in Washington, D.C.

Thanksgiving this year will be at daughter Beth and family's home.

Glad to hear you are up and at them again. Being away from the inter-net leaves one wondering what everyone else is doing. It is always good to get back home!

Bro Joe

This is Ding with an update......

Shelly took Mom to the hospital Monday morning for her IV-IG.....Routine Maintenance as I call it. I came down and all three of us had lunch before departing. Aunt Rose was to pick Mom up on Tuesday. Mom got all checked out and they waited for an hour for a wheelchair. Finally Aunt Rose just went out to steal one. While she was gone, Mom had one of her "spells" and they wouldn't let her go. Auntie had a client, so I came by after work to get her. I got there and we were waiting for the doctor Mom had another one. They decided to keep her another day.

The next morning Shelly went to pick Mom up. Aunt Rose had eye surgery that morning to alleviate the after effects of cataract surgery....and it went swimmingly. She and Shirley had a conference starting Wednesday afternoon and going through Sunday in Columbia, IL. I ended up spending the night with Mom Wednesday to make certain all was good. She did fine Wednesday evening, hanging out with Goldman and having Cicero's for dinner. We had Starbuck's for breakfast.

Shirley came home for lunch that day, got Mom some soup and tended to one of her clients. Mom had a rough time of it for the next few days, having some minor seizures, but then taking Adavan to control them which really knocks her out. Mad Dog came over and took care of Mom on Thursday afternoon. I left work that day and had a delivery to a facility that is the same one that our friend Fat Jack is staying. After visiting with Jack, I brought back Subway and Mad Dog, Mom, and I ate together. The next morning I got up and went to work after being relieved of duties by Mad Dog. He went to work at 10 after being relieved by brother Mark, who came to Bemes after being relieved by Shelly, who brought sandwiches from the Bread Company for lunch. I came over after work and took over for Shelly.

Mom was supposed to go and help Scott out in Louisville this weekend, but couldn't make it....so he and Brayden came here. They got in late Friday night, and I tried to keep Mom up, but she was too exhausted. So it was a wonderful surprise to realize that Brayden and Scott were there when she woke up. It seems to have really helped her too....She seems over her round of seizures and getting back to good health and spirits. Uncle Pete called on Saturday and chatted a bit. Aunt Rose came by for awhile and Scott and Brayden went bowling.

Shelly and I came over with lunch as Scott and Brayden had a long drive back. Brayden didn't want to leave, which of course thrilled Granny. Aunt Rose and Shirley are due back this afternoon. We then have a short week, with Thanksgiving and all. Shelly and I are big fans of waiting in line all night for Black Friday, but have decided to take this year off. We are all gathering at Mark and Karen's. Karen has gathered lots of family to run in the Kirkwood Turkey Day run early that morning.....we should be quite the pack.....I will probably bring up the rear, just as I have most of my athletic career (I am good at it though!).

Mom hasn't gotten any return to sender mail from her Wanda Jean address, so we think it must be good. However, she hasn't gotten a reply either....

All for now,....

Ding

I haven't posted for a while and there's several things that need updating. I talked to Margaret today. Rose and I have been talking to her everyday, and Norman and Robbie have been taking turns staying with her cause they'd like someone to be with her in the hospital as much as possible, i.e., someone who is familiar with her seizures. Norm's the only one who's familiar with them and he has a bed in her room. When he has to go home and really rest and shower occasionally, Robbie fills in for him. Margaret is hooked up to wires and has a hat made out of gauze looking stuff atop her head. Rose and I went to see her Tuesday afternoon and she already was hating being confined to the bed. The doctors decreased her medicines gradually since Monday. Tomorrow is her fifth day, and they told her she'd have to stay 3 to 5 days when she first went in. So far the monitors have only registered a bit of brain waves which could have been from the hit on her head from an accodent she was in some years ago. Today and tonight they are not going to let her go to sleep, thinking this may bring on some seizures. Needless to say, she's ready to go home. I haven't heard Norm complain but I bet he's ready to stay home.

Other news, Scott and Brayden went to Florida last week for their annual Spring vacation. Jalen's mother did't let him go. They did a lot of swimming and playing football. I'm going back to Louisville on the 18th for several days and hope I have as good a time this time as I did last time.

I missed Pete's (aka John Leo Felin) call Saturday. He called yesterday to get Margaret's number. They were pretty much moved. It was no easy task after 28 years on the farm.

This will be a quick post. I wanted to update about Margaret's upcoming stay in the hospital. She has to go in Christian Northeast next Monday, the 9th, for a monitoring check on the spells she's been having. She will have to stay in the hospital from three to five days depending on how many seizures she has while she's there. A family member who is familiar with the seizures will need to stay with her as much as possible. Margaret says Norman is the only family member who has been with her when she has these spells. The spells are currently stopped by medication so a family member and the monitoring will help observe and count the frequency of the spells. Margaret thinks they may or may not take all her medication she takes now to control these spells away during her stay in the hospital. I think Norm is ready to spend a lot of time with her there in the hospital, and we're available when we can be.

Brother Joe sent this e-mail to Sue about his granddaughter Lydia.

"A Springfield, MO, television station crew came to Central High School 2 weeks ago and interviewed Lydia and a class mate of hers regarding the ACT. The show was aired yesterday. You can view it at http://ozarksfirst.com/content/video/?cid=202032"

Lydia gave a wonderful interview in it about preparing for her college entrance exams. Thanks for sharing, Joe!

I "lifted" this photo from Facebook.

Janet sent this e-mail to Sue. [Caitlin is Nancy and Rick's daughter and Nancy is Janet and Pete's daughter.]

Hi Sue. Do you remember how excited we all were 50 years ago to have a new baby girl? A really little baby girl--5 lbs. Kind of scary. Can't believe Nancy's 50. She looks 30 and has the energy of a 20 year old.

We just got an e-mail from Caitlin. She was in Paris last weekend, saw all the sights and loved the city. Thursday she goes to the Czech Republic for the weekend. They has regular college classes 4 days a week and do a lot of travel to other countries on the weekends. She is taking a full load of credits so sometimes does homework enroute. What an incredible experience. I thought this might be an interesting item for the blog. Love to all, Janet

I have several things to post but wanted to post the update about Wanda Jean today. She had a heart attack and has moved to Florida with a daughter. For those of you who don't know, she's the daughter of Mom's sister, Mildred (aka Aunt Mit) and our first cousin. Wanda previously lived in Gadsden, Alabama, and has moved to Florida. The only address I have in Florida is Wanda Philbrick, 2924 S.E. 19th St., Okeechobee, Fl. 34974-6318. I got my update from Pete wh had heard this from Donald who may have been in Europe when the heart attack happened. If anyone has any more current news about Wanda, we would all like to hear know it. Thanks.



I'll post the other current news either later today or tomorrow.

This is a photo of Leslie's (Springfield friend of Sue's) son Jeffrey with his beautiful baby. Jeffrey is in Iraq.

PHOTOS FROM MIKE MADDEN: Mike, his parents Curt and Virginia, Curt and Virginia and Baby in 1953, Sean, Mike's vinyard
[Mike and Sean are our first cousins, sons of Curt and Virginia. Uncle Curt was mother's brother. For you family historians, Mother was the oldest of four. The others were Curt, Mildred, and Kent. All are deceased. Aunt Virginia lives in a retirement home in Springfield, MO]

And here is the note Mike included with his photos:

"Hey, sport! [He is writing to Sue!] I wish I wasn't so busy. Maybe Quest Diagnostics will retire me soon and I can get all caught up. When I retired the first time, I got caught up and didn't like it, though.

I got pretty overwhelmed with the vineyard this summer. This was the third year for about a third of the vines and they just went wild. I spent every minute of every weekend trying to stay caught up with maintaining trellis problems, tying up vines, mowing and spraying. In the meantime, my day job was busy, too. I have 4 call centers to run and I'm trying to build a 5th one for a new product. I also help design software for our current products and then implement software changes that drive better performance or efficiency improvements.

Sarah and I had a great time last year at Hermann. We are doing it again this year, but I didn't know if I could go until late last week and we are going to be there Saturday and Sunday of this week. I did hear from Sabrina but I thought they had decided they weren't going this year. I remember that great meal at The Cottage restaurant off in the woods.

I'm pretty burned out at this point. I've been getting home at 9 or 10 at night every night and then working the vineyard on weekends. Here are some pictures you might like.

I noticed you were over in Louisville. I think that is a very fun town. Hope you are feeling OK. You did great last year in Hermann. Especially in the bar!

Hope to see you soon.

Mike"

I have an update and some really great pictures from Mike Madden but have to wait until Rose has time to help me post them here.

I have to update before I forget all the great things that's been happening to me. After I flew back from Louisville last Thursville by myself (I may have already put that in here), on Friday Chris (aka Ding) and Shelly took me to see Melba. Melba worked with Brick and knew the kids' Dad quite well. After our visit with Melba we went out to dinner. On Saturday Rose dropped me off at the Ameristar Casino where I met Margaret and we tried our luck for a while. [He said he had taken a sleeping pill.] I spent the night with them and we visited Sunday morning until Rose came and to get me. When I got up, Norman was coming in the door with fresh donuts. We visited more when Rose arrived, and I had to come home to take my nap, a daily ritual.

I forgot to add that Goldman took me to see Fat Jack on Saturday morning. This time he was sitting up in his wheelchair and went to the lunchroom for his lunch. He said he had been doing therapy and has lost about 40 pounds. He invited Goldman and me to have lunch with him but we declined.

Pete call Saturday morning with his weekly call. He and Janet were beginning their move to town. At that point they only had a table and some chairs. Sounded like enough for a poker game. They had been without electricity for several hours Friday night. He thought a car must have hit a pole.

A really good friend of mine and Rose's, Mary Myers, was stricken with a very painful virus on Sunday and admitted to the hospital. Ding took me to see her on Monday, and Mark (Spreitler) took me to see Melba on Tuesday. -I hope I got my days and patients right-I thought I had my hospitals mixed up when Mark and I were sitting in traffic!

Mary went home on Tuesday and Melba is going home today. Melba is much improved and her husband, Roger, thinks her home atmosphere will help boost her recovery even faster.

Leslie, our former neighbor in Springfield, just returned from a trip to Seattle to visit her grandchildren and daughter-in-law. Jeffrey, her son, is in Baquoba, Iraq. Let's all pray for him every day.

Rose and Shirley continue to take such really good care of me. I do as much as I can and exercise every day. Brother Joe and I talk on line almost every day. Time for breakfast.

Brayden is Chucky from the horror movie Childs Play and Jalen is Chris from the rock band Slipknot.

IF THESE TWO GUYS COME KNOCKING AT OUR DOOR ON HALLOWEEN, WE WILL JUST GIVE THEM ALL THE CANDY WE HAVE!!!!

We lifted this interesting bulletin from niece Sabrina's Facebook Page:

"My son Brett, my cousin's wife Shelly and I ran the Gumbo Flats Pumpkin Run yesterday. Shelly and I ran the 5K while Brett ran the 10K. He finished about 2 minutes after us and placed 47 out of 595, first in his age group of 14 and under. Never mind how we placed. We trained, he didn't. =)"

Brett (we think) still holds track records from Middle School.

I'm back in Missouri. Scott and the boys took me to the airport in Louisville. It was an uneventful trip back. Ding and Goldman picked me up at the airport here in St. Louis. Rose and Shirley were attending a three day Jungoan get together and had meetings last night and couldn't be there. Rose even had some of those meetings today, and it's her birthday HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROSE!!!! Chris, Goldman, and I went to dinner at TGI Friday's after they picked me up.

My wanting updates from other people paid off from Uncle Joe. He's been working several days, a little at a time, on a railroad track motor car which is parked at the Springfield railroad museum. It has not run since about 1985, and they have no tracks to run it on at the museum. The museum people feel it should be kept in as good condition as it was the day the former owner donated it to the museum. He will try to send photos later.

Joe also wrote that he worked Tuesday, October 20, until noon at Wheeler Heart and Vascular, a part of Cox Hospital. His routine assigned volunteer day is on Tuesdays from 8:00 am until noon. Joe's oldest daughter, Lisa, goes to San Diego around November 18 for an awards presentation. She is candidate for teacher of the year from the midwest section of the U.S.A. Joe, his wife Mary, and Lisa's husband Jack are flying out to San Diego to be present at the ceremony.

Thank you, Uncle Joe and family. Keep us updated.

I have a nice update from Mike Madden with lots of pictures which I'll post soon. Rose is busy with housecleaning right now, and I can't get her to stop. (Not like when we were kids.) She has to help me with posting pictures. Chris is coming to take me to go see Melba in St. Anthony's hospital and then to dinner. Goldman is taking me to see Fat Jack in the morning.

Happy Birthday Aunt Rose!

I had P.E. yesterday. I liked it. we are taking my granny to the air port. To take her back to st.louis. bye

Hello! My name is Jalen Spreitler! I'm in the 6th grade. Its okay(not!) I'm i something called "Drum Corp" and tes I'm awesome. I'm sure you saw my little bro's section. I LOVE video games(duh). I like to go to granny's lake house,sk8 board, swim, etc. I'm 11 going on 12. I won a Guitar Hero contest in Louisville on expert mode. You know why I won... its because I'M JUST THAT AWESOME!!!!! If I could change my name it would be... mmmmmm... AWESOME!!! Who ever is reading this must love to be AWESOME!!! Well gotta do my homework(stupid, stupid homework). Talk to ya laters. I might even make my own blog. I think I'll can it... Jalen the AWESOME kid. Well see ya.

I'm up early this morning but it's an hour difference here in Louisville and I went to bed early. Brayden doesn't have to get up for another hour and then we're going to go to school in a taxicab again. His blog entry was work from his end. He had to go to the refrigerator to spell what he likes to take for lunch. I told him I had never had that for lunch. There's a poster of St. Louis here in the living room that helped him with that spelling but other than that he was on his own.

Brother Joe sent me sent updates on happenings with his family which I'll post when I have a printer. I told him to send me hard copies -not IMs- because my memory is so bad. At first he didn't know what I meant. Then I got the update and Scott's printer didn't work. Scott is going to try to print it at work today.

If this 6 year old boy can post on the blog then we should be getting some updates from other parts of the country. Thank you, Joe, for your newsy report. Joe told me he doesn't like to update but he loves to read it. I'm sure people get tired of hearing about me!

My friend Melba is not doing very well. I'm sure that some of you have met her on occassions over the past 45 years. This stroke has blinded her in one eye and only left 10 per cent in the other eye. I did talk to her last night and she and I decided that God must definitely be a man because no woman would do this to us. She still has her sense of humor in spite of it all.. She told Roger to cover her because she thought she was showing her ass. Then she said it didn't matter since she'd been showing her ass for years.

I'm going to fly alone again tomorrow evening for the second time since I've been like this. Either Ding or Goldman will meet me at the airport. Again, I get that royal treatment. Melba's husband wanted to know if I was flying on my broomstick what with Halloween coming up.

It's Brayden's favorite day at school - P. E. Day. I never liked that day and, as I remember, they made us do it three times a week. These boys can't believe how seemingly primitive things were when I was in grade school. I didn't go to a one room school either. Time to get him up.

my name is Brayden. i am 6 years old. my brother is Jalen. he is 11 years old. I have a dog named Layla. and a cat named Leo. I like p.e. at school. My teacher said i am the smartest kid in my class. her name is Tammy Walker but all the kids call her Mrs. Walker. I don't like school. I do learn there. I like star fruit and lunchables nocho kind. My granny is visiting me and my brother and my dad and we live in Loville and my granny lives in st.Louis with my 2 favrite aunts. ther names are rose and sherley. My granny is sisters with my 2 aunts.

I'm having trouble getting on the blog to post and have been frustrated all night with the struggle but made it. I'm not sure how I did it. Aunt Rose gave me some help on line and I'm afraid to get off this posting because I might not get back on. Brayden wants to help me with a posting while I'm here so hope he can be here this afternoon and also his brother. Unless I'm still typing, I hope I can figure out how I got on to post so he and I can get back on. His brother wasn't here last night. Scott goes to work very early so I rode with Brayden in a taxi to school. He explained to me that I'm too old for 1st grade so I had to come home in the taxi.

Last night Scott and Brayden had nachos or tacos for dinner. Maybe both, I'm not sure. Not me. I had leftover steak and baked potato and Texas toast. Brayden was incredulous that there was anybody that didn't like nachos and tacos. Aunt Rose was with him on that one. He made me eat one bite of something and warned me that it was going to be hot. IT WAS!!

I've enjoyed my stay here in Louisville tremendously. I meant to stay home last weekend when we went back on Friday. I was out of pills and had a doctor's appointment on Tuesday. Scott went back for a guys' weekend at the lakehouse. They were going to do a lot of drinking and card playing and some of them did a lot of fishing. Scott said they ate a lot of fried food including fish so I guess the fish were biting. I think the weather was a bit cold but they probably didn't notice. When they cook down there their only vegetable is potatoes. I know Doug fries the fish and Scott usually cooks breakfast, but they also eat some freezer food. Scott says he's back on his diet since the weekend is over. They chip in for the food and the cleaning lady.

Speaking of cleaning lady, cleaning ladies are coming here today. Scott had a flashback last night. I was having him 'clean for the cleaning lady'. He said it was just like when he was a kid at the Glenlea house. He finally told me that we had to leave something for them to do. With these two boys and a cat and a dog, they will have plenty to do. I think there might be a team of two. They just arrived.

I don't think I finished my plan for my trip over here. I went home last weekend and my original plan was to stay. I got my medicine, changed my doctor's appointment to Friday, Scott needed me, booked a flight to Tuesday and came back to Louisville with Scott. Rose, Shirley and I thought we were going to have the little boys for the weekend but they didn't get to come. Now I'm going home Thursday and going to the neurologist on Friday. If that's confusing, I understand. I'm going home Thursday. Also, it's nice to be needed. I can't do much but I can help out a bit here. The weather here today is beautiful and the forecast for tomorrow is good too.

I talked to Margaret for a while yesterday. It was funny. I was thinking about calling her and my phone rang and it was her. She has to go in the hospital sometime soon for either a CAT Scan or MRI. Either she wasn't sure or I'm not. Joe and I talked on IM this morning and he was going for a check up. Maybe I'll know more when Brayden and I update later today. Pete called with his usual Saturday call. They've bought a house in town and are selling the farm and Quartzsite. I think Joe said Pete is going to make a trip down there to get things ready to be up to market. I talk to Rose at least 3 or 4 times a day even when I'm here. Donald, that leaves you.

Rose's birthday is Friday. She will jump 2 years ahead of me for a while and 3 ahead of Donald. How did we all get so old so quickly! Norm's birthday is not too long after Rose's. I think Rose wants me, her and Shirley to go to that fancy restaurant again this year. Looking back on the blog you can see how they take such good care of you and pamper you. To be truthful, maybe I shouldn't go. In my condition people treat me that way all the time. Even in my sad condition I'm lucky and thankful to have all the people taking care of me and loving me. I never forget that.

While I've been here alone in the day and waiting to post on the blog, I've been reading back over old postings on this blog. There are a lot of postings that aren't from St. Louis. We're still the 'Aunt Camp' as Sandi as Sandi always called us. There's people we've lost track of or don't know what's going on with. Sandi and the bunch that spell their name wrong, the Kansans, I know of at least one in Arizona, the Alabamans, the Plattsburg nieces, etc., etc., etc. COULD WE PLEASE HAVE SOME NEWS!! I plan on getting to Plattsburg sometime so Scott figured out it's 195 miles from the lake house. Mfriend Leslie from Springfield {that King boy's wife} is going to Seattle this weekend to see her daughter-in-law and grandchildren . Her son is in Iraq.

Just had a phone call that one of dear friends from GMAC suffered a stroke. Melba Woolford She and I went through many things together. She worked with me and with Brick. I don't know how bad it is. I only had a voice message. Will call another friend back shortly.

I'm going to post this and hope we get Brayden this afternoon and he and I will write together. He doesn't understand that there weren't computers when I was in first grade. Dad didn't have them either in first grade. Maybe I'll hear what Joe had done today.

I haven't updated for a while since I've been to Louisville and am now back in Louisville. This computer of his is hard for me to operate. Chris had one of them and he picked it up while we were in St. Louis. I did fly over here with no trouble and am much more confident about flying alone and will fly home. --This is the computer that Chris worked on and it just went dark for a bit and I thought I had lost all my work --Chris would have heard from me ---It's still not doing things right. I'll make this one paragraph cause it won't let me change. I took a lot of Brayden's school papers this weekend and Rose and Shirley loved them. Jalen is in 6th grade and explained to me he doesn't have any. They use computers a lot. He is in an advanced 6th grade and has a 4.0 GPA. Brayden is the Smartest Kid in his Room and his teacher even says so. I didn't get to see them this evening but hope I do tomorrow after school. He wants to help me update the blog so we may do that tomorrow evening.

The photo of the two beautiful young women is of Sabrina (Margaret and Norm's daughter) and her niece Erice (Randy and Lynn's daughter). Erica is in her second year of college at Westminster in Fulton, MO. The middle photo is of Nathan, Sabrina, and Jacog. (Nathan and Jacob are Stephanie and Dan's sons.) And the third photo is of Stephanie, Sabrina, and Catrina--Margaret and Norm's daughters. WOW! What gorgeous folk!

I lifted these photos off Stephanie's (our niece's) Facebook Page just to post here.