Here's My Update, Miss Sally!

Hello, Blogger Friends!

I received a nice little blog post a few days ago from one of the sweetest blogging ladies I know, Miss Sally. In it, she asked me in the nicest way possible if I could update my blog so that she could have some additional "entertainment" in her life. I don't know if I'd call my blogs entertaining, but her simple request got my creative juices flowing again, so here we go (for better, or worse)!

I can't believe my last post was on April 29th! I 'm sure this is due to the fact that our daughter had her baby on May 10th. Everything went well (praise the Lord!), and our grandson, Dante, is healthy and doing great! And since our daughter, her fiancee', our grandson, 2 dogs, 3 cats, 1 LOUD cockatiel and several fish still live with us, our house has been nothing shy of a "Cheaper by the Dozen" movie. LOL

What can I say about our new (and only) grandson except that he is cute, he makes us laugh, and we love him to pieces! Being a grandparent is so much fun. I've posted some pics of Dante below--one of my husband with him in their Red Wing hockey shirts, and one of Dante in his baptismal outfit. He was, thankfully, baptized on July 22nd. He was just sleeping away that morning...probably dreaming of giant bottles of formula (he eats VERY well) and soft, fuzzy diapers, when suddenly cool water was poured over his head 3 times by our Pastor. His response? A slight jump at each wetting of his head, then...z-z-z-z-z-z. It didn't even phase him. He also slept through his baptismal lunch afterward. LOL

Grandpa Nono and Dante.

Dante in his baptismal outfit.

Jason (the fiancee') is now working as a sheet metal worker/rough carpenter. The job pays fairly well for a young man, and he really likes the guys he works with. He hopes that after 90 days, he'll be able to get medical benefits and maybe have the opportunity to join the union.

Angela interviewed for a part-time Veterinary Assistant job near our house recently, but was disappointed to find out she was the "runner up." However, the vet did tell her that if her new office becomes really busy when it opens on Sept. 1, Angela will be the first Vet Tech she calls to help out. In the meantime, Angela is keeping her eyes open for other vet opportunities.

Jason and Angela would love to make enough money to move out on their own, get married, etc., but with this economy being what it is, we don't see that happening very soon. Which is why I hear Tom tell me at least once a week, "I can't wait until these kids move out and you and I are empty-nesters again! I need some peace and quiet!" LOL

Tom and I have been doing fine. We decided to switch medical doctors this summer, and have been undergoing all the "new patient" tests. So far, I have high cholesterol (not WAY high, but higher than it should be), and also have to schedule 3 other tests in the next month or so. Tom is still waiting on his blood results to see how his diabetes is doing. My guess is it's out of control again, and we're hoping this new doc can adjust his meds and help it get back INTO control. Being old(er) stinks sometimes!

My job is going really well. Tom's, on the other hand, still sucks, and he doesn't know if he's going to get laid off anytime soon since his company is so awful that they have almost no business these days. A layoff would blow us out of the water financially, so we're hoping that doesn't happen. But it's not looking good right now. Tom's been searching for a new job for the past 3 years, but there aren't any jobs in his field in Michigan. Most of them are outside of the Phoenix area, around Charolotte, NC, or in California. We really don't want to move out of state because we'd miss our families a lot, but we'll see what the future holds.

We managed to make a trip north to the Rifle River in June with our River Gang friends, and hope to get back up there over Labor Day weekend. The June trip was Rocco's first time riding on a tube. Let's just say it was...well...interesting. Tom & I have a "dual tube" raft with a blow-up cooler that sits in between us (see pic below).

This allows Rocco to walk back and forth between us while tubing. What we didn't realize was that even though our group stops to swim and let their dogs go potty halfway through the trip (it's maybe an hour long total), Rocco couldn't hold his pee throughout the second-half (longer portion) of the trip. Or maybe it was that he'd drank too much river water that day. Who knows? Either way, imagine my surprise when he walked over to me on my end of the tube, and just peed away on my legs for like 30 seconds. What could I have done? At least I was in my swimsuit and was able to get into the water to rinse off. And then, on the 2nd trip of the day, he peed on Tom the same way! (Like I told Tom, at least he loves us equally...LOL) Our friends just about split a gut laughing at us and him that day. You could tell Rocco felt really bad about it, and we didn't get upset with him because we were in the middle of the river and he had nowhere else to go. We'll see how he does on his next tube ride trip, but we'll definitely make sure he doesn't drink any river water that day!

Tom, Jason, Angela, Dante, the dogs and me were also blessed to be able to make our annual trip to Michigan's Upper Peninsula with my family during the last weekend of July. My brother brought up a used jet boat that he'd recently purchased, and he took all of my nephews tubing on the lake. He also let all the adults drive his boat and speed around the lake. That was so much fun! The trip was very relaxing, and we all came home feeling rested and happy. Below are a few pics from the trip:

My nephew's girlfriend and I playing Ladder Ball in front of our cabin.

My siblings, their spouses, my nephews, Uncle Jack & Aunt Janet (who live nearby) and my dad along with our dogs.

OK. Update completed. I hope this meets with your satisfaction, Miss Sally. Later this week, I look forward to spending some time reading everyone else's blogs and catching up on what's new with all of you.

Hugs and God bless!