the blues they are upon me
they sneak up late at night

other times you see them coming
tis when it's a real fright

wish there was a place to run to
a secret cave somewhere around

where it was dark and lonely
like my heart feels right now

these sobs weren't meant for many
maybe not even those few

the heart must need a deep cleanse
that only a cave will do

been through many a dark time
they're never really fun

so sure I'll get through this one
patience now everyone

Feb. 25th 2007 What fun Jerry and I had Friday night at Disneyland! We arrived in the afternoon having not gone for 2 weeks. It was quite busy yet that didn't stop us from going on our favorite rides; Screamin', Tower of Terror, and Space Mountain. We met up with good friend Sara Pillet and her boyfriend, Dave. It was a time for first's; the first time we'd enjoyed Disneyland with Sara, and the 1st time we'd met Dave. We munched on snacks we brought while they had ate delicious smelling corn dogs that they bought off a cart right on Main Street. Since Dave hasn't been on many rides we let Sara and him choose where we'd go, which turned out to be fun. We rode Thunder Mountain, my 1st time in the dark, and tried our hand at raising our scores at Buzz Light year. I'm not a huge fan of Thunder Mountain, mainly because it is a rough ride and usually bothers my arthritic shoulder. I discovered a way to ride it though that makes it possible to eliminate the stress and it has become a new favorite, especially at night. We took in 2 events; Walt Disney's Parade of Dreams, which is always fun, and "Remember...Dreaams Come True" Fireworks Spectacular. The fireworks is just amazing, and I got to see Tinkerbell FLY!! I was so jazzed, as every time Jerry and I have stayed to see this amazing event it had been cancelled due to weather conditions. What an amazing and delightful treat. Tink soars through the sky quite fast. Her wings and outfit are illuminated and very magical! It was such a special treat for me! The fireworks and lighting of the castle are set to some of Disneylands more popular rides/movies and were quite fantastic. At some point in the evening we discovered that Ariel's seating platform was empty and Sara and I tried our hardest to show off our mermaid impressions, a very hilarious event! At the end of the evening on our way down Main Street to leave Disneyland, Sara treated us all to Disneylands fudge! My Disneyland companions will tell you what a chocoholic feind I am, and how long I've dreampt about savoring some of this fudge. Come to find out there is a good reason for those dreams......We had "Tiger Butter" (my 1 favorite), "Rocky Road" and "Amaretto" (my 2nd favorite). Wow! I've never tasted such devine fudge in my life. This is something we might do again for a special occassion! Thank you Sara and Dave! yum!!!!!! While cast member Judy B. was ringing up our fudge order I noticed her adorable Peter Pan collectible pin on her uniform collar. We got to talked about what a great guy Peter was and how hot he is. As our conversation came to a close Judy took the pin off her collar and handed it to me, telling me to "take good care of him"! How delightful! I was just telling Sara how much I wanted a Peter Pan pin for my shadow box. I have a few adorable Tinkerbell pins and it only seemed fair to allow Peter Pan to be with her! It made a great ending for a very delightful evening! Love you Sara!..........more news will follow as time permits.........

Feb 12, 2007 I've been feeling the blues lately, despite all the wonderful visitors that have come our way, including a nice phone call from Jerry's brother Hal, who phoned in for a chat from the OC airport while he was waiting for a flight to take him home to Indiana. My Aunt Lou came up from San Diego and took Jerry and I out to lunch. We had a great visit while she was here, as we always do and it was so good to just be in her company. She is especially dear to me, as Jerry and I were married at her & Uncle Jim's house 35 years ago! Sara Pillet came down from Torrance for a days visit last Friday, her 1st solo trip here. We had a lot of catching up to do; her life has had many drastic changes lately, but somehow she's managed to keep her head high and is an inspiration to me. We both love to scrapbook so we not only had a lot to talk about, but also went out and shopped a little. We are already planning our next get together. Last but never least Beth and Steve Wilson came down also from Torrance. They are Sara's parents, and we have been friends for a long time. Beth took a full time job almost immediately after I quit working, putting a screaching halt to our visits. We are working on fixing that, but for now it was simply delightful to be in the same room with these 2 people I really adore!

Jerry's job search remains just that; a search, and a frustrating one too. He's not received any phone calls from recruiters and although he has submitted his resume to more companies we've heard nothing. I'm sure a lot of the blues I'm feeling is coming from here. I think he's naturally feeling quite blue about this as well, yet he is good at keeping it under the surface most of the time. Please keep him in your prayers and thoughts. We both do appreciate it.

My health could be better, but I seriously haven't much to complain about. I don't feel I got the same benefit out of this last Remicade treament, possibly due to my stress level. I've no one to blame for that, so it's on my list to de-stress. Ideas are welcome for that one. I've been using my TENS unit so much that I've had to order new pads and lead wires. I'm just thankful I have it, as I'm not sure where I'd be without it.

The boys are doing good. Jason will be 28 this weekend, hard to believe our oldest is almost 30! He's got a new roommate and busy at work, etc. Matt has been busy busy with work. He shot a beauty pageant this last week, a new gig for him; can't wait to see the photos. He said it went well, and while we're pleased we're not surprised.

Rain with cooler temperatures has been our forecast lately. We had a good rainstorm this last week, and a few more sprinkles yesterday. The high hasn't been much above 70, with lows in the high 40's.

I'll be posting photos here soon. I'm working on getting my act together, I promise.

Jan. 26th 2007 Tomorrow, Jan. 27th marks the 25th year since my son, James Richard passed away at the young age of 8. I often think of him using his previously unmoveable legs to run freely through "my grassy care free heaven" that I know doesn't exist. This September he would be 35, a picture of his face at that age I can't see in my mind. Jan. 29th marks the 35th anniversary of Jerry and my anniversary, another landmark I can't wrap my foggy brain around. I love them both so much, and find it so hard to mourn the loss of my son while feeling the joy of my huge love for my husband. I guess life never figures in fair when these events come our way, we just have to find a way to deal. If anyone has that deck of cards please tell me where to buy them. I believe I'd pay any price to hold the answer in my hand.

Jan. 17th, 2007

Wow, this last Remicade treatment I had this morning has really kicked my butt! I have been so wiped out today. It took a little over 3 hours for the infusion and all I want to do is sleep. I have little strength and it is a real struggle to keep my eyes open. I'm not sure if it's because I was pretty exhausted prior to the treatment or what, but I haven't had this reaction since my 1st infusion. I'm also having a struggle with the billing staff at the Dr's office and the insurance. The insurance requested the dr's tax id, address, etc, which is nothing new for them to do, it's almost like a stall technique. But the billing staff called the insurance company and found out they want my medical records as well. I'm sure they are questioning the fact that I'm seeing 2 RA drs. The RA Dr. that is monitoring my Remicade treatment down here in M.V. is not the RA Dr. that I have been under the care of for the last 5+ years. She is up in Huntington Beach and was referred to me by a very good source. I am very very pleased with her, and trust her. This M.V. Dr & the H.B. Dr are friends, and he is monitoring me during the infusions because I needed a Dr. within my network so I could afford the cost. My H.B. dr is out of network. Each vial of Remicade medication costs the Dr's $1000 each. I am getting 4 vials. Out of network infusion would cost me $3,300 a year! These medications are so outrageous. Of course we get a lower in network cost, and it is worth it for the benefit I am getting from the medication. I have been on 2 injectables, Humeria, and twice on Enbrel and am also on a lot of other medications. The last 2 years have been rough so we are all thrilled that the Remicade is working. I do appreciate everyone's suggestions to take a different approach to my RA such as holistic, etc, but please, no comments. I've looked into everything and have read the pro's and con's. Thank you though.

In other news Jerry continues his job search. A few nibbles here and there but honestly nothing to report right now. It's better to keep it low key anyway, then the disapointment until the next lead comes around isn't as high! Right? Right! We will of course keep you updated and such. We do feel positive about the new year's possibilities.

In our spare time, and we really feel like we don't have any lately, we've been working on our web sites. Jerry has some great ideas, which inspires me. He's been helping add all kinds of fun new features that you might see or hear, such as Jason's music, and other ones you probably won't. He's been helping me clean up my html pages, which I am so grateful for. (Sometimes I'm grumpy about it though because I still want to know every little thing about pitterpat, and I'm too tired to do so!) Jerry's been using a web site program called "Go Live" (I think that's right) which once he learned it, has helped him a lot. He's made several changes to his website, so you might want to check that out. I've updated some of the family and friend pages with new text and photos, and would like to do the same with the garden pages but that may have to wait until this next summer. I've been working a lot on my photos on my computer. Jerry bought me a external hard drive and I've moved all my photos on to it. I've been working on getting them more organized and then I'll re-burn them for safe keeping. I take a lot of photos every week at Disneyland, and have been working on weeding them out, which is hard. I've also been having Matt print out photos at his job for my Disneyland scrapbook that I'm starting to work on. I made a nice one for Terry and Karen and want one for us. I've also been making paper cards, which is so much fun. I joined a local scrapbook store. For $12 a year you can have total access to their die cutting tools, as well as other tools they have in the store. It makes for wonderful card titles, scrapbooking titles, etc. It is a fun hobby, and not as physically demanding as gardening. I've been working harder on exercising at the rec center 2 times a week. Some weeks are better than others, but I also walk almost daily so that feel good. I do take a lot more naps then I used to, and rest often.

Jerry's also been a wonderful help with the household chores. I can't even begin to explain my gratitude for this help. He's also been so patient and understanding with my health and I truly am not sure how I lucked out in getting someone with so much compassion and love. I have been blessed with an angel for sure. He will be so missed when he goes back to work. I'm sure the empty nest syndrome will hit me even harder.

The boys are doing fine. We keep in contact with Jason frequently via phone and email. He's still got a roomate with a child, but that seems to be going good. We are proud of his hard work and determination to live life as he desires. Hard to believe he'll be 28 in Feb. Matt is doing good too, though I think a bit over worked as he still only has 1 day off a week. He's dealing with a specialy bad cold right now, which has him run down, otherwise he's fine. We see him usually once a week, sometimes every other week.

Well, between this post and the work I did on pitterpat tonight I've put in more time than I planned. Isn't that the true nature of computers? Why do I love it so then? ha! Until next time, thanks for coming by, sign the guest book or email me a note. Love ya, pf

Jan. 15th, 2007

Lots to talk about this week. We had the privelage of going to Club 33 with our good friends Terry and Karen last Tuesday, January 9th. As part of Terry's retirement from the phone company (he retired in June of '06, if I am correct), he was allowed to bring 5 people to dine there; a supervisor had to attend. It was Karen's 1st time to meet Margaret, and all of us quickly got along. Margaret is very sweet and couldn't say enough nice things about Terry. We had a dollar limit of course, but it was more than generous. We were to be outside the Club 33 door at precisely 11:15. Terry rang the bell and a hostess shortly opened it. Immediately upon entering Club 33 I was struck by all the gorgeous wood work, opulent materials used for draperies and furniture, and in true Disney style attention to detail. The Club 33 insignia is on numerous items, and there are Hidden Mickies to boot! We rode a very small elevator to the 2nd floor walking by the salad and dessert buffets on either side of us, and were led to our table. Of course Terry and I were anxious to record our every move with photos and all of the staff was more than happy to help us. Our table was set with one of a kind china made specifically for Club 33. Intricately folded napkins sat atop the plates which as soon as you stepped away from the table, clean and folded ones appeared in their place. Bottled water was served, as was our choice of a delicious bottle of Merlot, or other beverages. Once we selected our main course we were told we could start on the 1st course, a huge abundance of salads, potatoes, vegetables, cheese, fruit; more than enough to make a meal out of on all it's own. For the main course I ordered Halibut, and it was so tender it fell apart at the mere touch of my fork. Waiters served our wine and water without asking, and were present but unobtrusive. The conversation around the table was a bit of getting acquainted, shop talk, and plain ole' entertainment! Terry and Karen are easy people to be around, and everyone had a good time. When we 1st sat down for lunch we were only the 2nd table with guests; by the time we got our main course the main dining room, which probably held 10-12 tables all together, started to fill up. There were elderly couples and young couples, some with children. The dessert bar was unbelieveable. Of course there was the chocolate fountain with marshmallows and fruit to gorge yourself on. There were also cookies, cakes, eclairs, chocolate dipped coconut cookies; more than anyone should have to choose from. There were even Mickey shaped almond cookies! During the course of dinner, Terry and I each managed to take photos in the men's and women's restrooms which were both decorated to the 9! We were seranaded by the New Orleans band and bordello singer while we ate, and heard the train leave the main station. We were allowed on the patio just outside the dining room and from there Terry and I were able to take pictures galore! After our leisurely lunch, we wandered around a few of the areas outside the main dining room. The Trophy room, which had a long dining table in it, had several pictures hanging on the walls as well as a fireplace and bookcase that held some special Disney treasures. The hallway had more pictures and a display cabinet with items one could purchase. There was so much to take in that I almost felt overwhelmed. It would have been nice to stay for another hour and take more photos. As the time to leave approached too soon, we walked down the stair getting our photo taken one more time before we opened the door and entered the world of Disneyland. As I let the door slowly shut behind me I leaned my head in and said "Goodbye Club 33, it was wonderful and we're going to miss you!".

Jan. 8, 2007

Happy New Year everyone! I know I've been lax in updating my website and I apologize. I always feel as if I need to include new photos, partly because I always have new photos to share and also because I love photos! For now, and possibly at times in the future, I will be adding photos in the web gallery style, so as to upload them in a faster manner. There of course won't be as much text with them, but maybe doing things this way I will be more likely to post a blog along with the photos on a more frequent basis.

I've been super busy, what with getting together with all our friends, and my never ending love of all things crafts. I also got 2 free bookcases from a friend, and spent days reorganizing every single book and magazine in the house! Whew! My arms thought they were going to die. Just as I thought I was finished and landed off the stepstool on the ball of my right foot I felt this horrendous pain in my calf! Bolts of lightening flashed before my eyes, and it took quite a while before I could even begin to contemplate walking. After thinking about it for a while, I called my dear friend Debbie in Georgia, who is a PT Assistant. She felt I pulled a muscle and gave me the low down on what to do. Thank you Debbie!

No news to report on Jerry. He continues to look every day and remains cheerful for the most part while at home. I must admit we do enjoy each others company, and I will be sooo very lonely when he goes back to work. Please keep him in your prayers.

Time to sleep....I'd call it "my beauty rest" but I'm getting too old to lie about such a thing and expect to get away with it.......sign the guest books peoples......you know the drill.

Dec. 14, 2006

As the saying goes "things come in three's" and for us it appears to be true. The clock timer on the spa quit working this week, sending us searching to find the replacement part sooner than later. Being an older spa it's not always easy to locate the parts. After a bit of internet and yellow pages searching we managed to find one. Sensing that "threes" thing our sprinkler clock timer quit working too. Luckily that was found at our local hardware store. Both looked relatively easy for Jerry to repair. I suppose in some weird way I was trying to put an end to stuff breaking when I tried to walk through our bedroom screen door. Only the screen itself needed replacing, as for me....I'll be fine in a week or so. Welcome to my world.

We had a nice down pour this last week. It was very welcome as it has been drier than my skin lately. There was a touch of wind to go along with it, but all has calmed back down to chilly winter weather with an occassional warm afternoon. I guess all the complaining about the recent warm weather made some difference.

Nothing new to report on Jerry's job search. He had a few nibbles here and there but nothing panned out. Now that the holiday season is here I'm sure it will be even slower than normal. That's not slowing him down though, as he keeps up his daily searching on the web. Keep him in your thoughts please.

We had a great day at Disneyland this week. The Matterhorn was running again so we took a spin. I forgot how rough that ride was. My holy gosh! What was I thinking? It was almost more than I could handle. Jerry went on the Small World ride to see the Christmas decorations, which we enjoyed. Both parks were playing Jingle Bells intermixed with It's A Small World, catchy and cheerful until day 3, then I was desperate to get it out of my head! I have pics galore to upload, but beings I'm making the few gifts we are giving I have ZERO free time. I will be glad when I'm done and focus on fun stuff intermingled with being responsible.

Jerry will celebrate his birthday this month with a dinner at the Cheesecake Factory with good friends Terry, Karen, me of course and hopefully Matt. It's nice to have something fun to look forward to. I love you sweetie!

I'm doing so-so and sometimes better. I've recently had my 3rd treatment of Remicade and can tell a noticeable difference in my hands and shoulders, even my knees this time. It is such a relief. I still have to be somewhat careful with how much I do, or I can send myself into a small flare. I am a blessed girl, let me tell you. It's fun to feel good enough to go to Disneyland and California Adventure and just be a silly carefree girl!

ttfn

Dec 1st, 2006

We are now into the month of December, and it's hard to believe a whole year has passed so quickly. We had a nice Thanksgiving with good friends, the Bennets. Jill is such a great cook, and along with some of her family members, we feasted and visited for quite some time. Matthew came down with friend Lynn giving all of us a chance to catch up on his life. He's doing good, working more than full time still with Shooting Stars, and with a lot of responsibility. We are so proud of him and certainly glad we get to see him often.

There is nothing new to report in regards to Jerry's job search. We both feel December might be slow, but that still hasn't stopped him from looking. Remaining upbeat isn't always easy, but something we are trying to continue to do. I do feel fortunate in many ways though, because he's been so much help here at home. He's written this years newsletter, made the address labels, and is working on posting the newsletter on his website. Email notices will be sent out with the link when he's done. That in itself is worth its weight in gold. At least lots of compliments, hugs and kisses for sure!

This next week will be my 3rd infustion of Remicade and I'm ready for it. Within 2-3 days I noticed improvement in my hands and shoulders and some in my knees. My rheumatologist told me I would feel the effects wearing off close to when I was due for my next infusion. I went 2 weeks between the 1st and 2nd, and 4 weeks between the 2nd and now 3rd. I will probably go 6 weeks between the 3rd and 4th infusions, during which time I am hoping I will see even more marked improvement in my shoulders, hands, and knees. My hands and shoulders are the worst, especially during peak times of crafting, gardening or cleaning. I'm still trying to work out at the rec center 2 x a week, but with my busy schedule lately, I've been going more like 1 x a week, with stretching and walking done daily. I am feeling somewhat optomistic about the positive aspects of Remicade and hopeful it will continue to improve.

I hope to post more new Disneyland photos. Jerry, Terry, Karen and I went last week on a Tuesday afternoon. We lucked out as it was hardly busy, and we got on rides fairly soon. We stayed for the Christmas parade and I got some wonderful photos. Then we saw the fireworks, after which they had it snow. It was so beautiful and such a special time for me.

Well, that's all for now folks. I look forward to seeing who's come by to visit, and signed the guest book on their way out.

Nov. 7, 2006

Life can sometimes feel so unfair, can't it? It's been just 4 months since Jerry was officially unemployed, and yet it seems more like 6. On a bad day, even longer. He has been on a few interviews, several which seem quite promising, and had quite a few phone conversations with recruiters (formerly known as head hunters). He's spent hours looking at job listings on line, posting his resume, and networking. With the whole process taking place on the web now it's hard to feel any forward motion, heck, it's hard to feel any motion at all. It feels a lot like time has stood still. This whole process at this time and age in our lives is very stressful. Jerry and I will have been married 35 years in January. We've had our fair share of hardships, getting Jerry through school, losing a child, struggling with jobs, raising kids (who have both turned out great by the way), buying a house, paying college tuitions, and finally feel like it's "our" time. Time to enjoy each other, to possibly celebrate our 35th anniversary with a great vacation, to get the house painted, put in new windows, new carpet, etc. and to really just kick back and relax. Instead, stress, poor health, feelings of uncertainty, even inadequacy are what we are dealing with right now. The future looks uncertain and at times I personally want to run and scream out "enough already". Real cheerful, right? This is how I feel during the low points. I do have a positive outlook most of the time. It's just that I feel there is so little I can personally do for my sweetheart. It's easy to say stand by your man, it's harder to know how to. I want to assure him, comfort him, and be there for him. I'm just struggling with how to do that, so that it truly boosts his spirit. I guess just one day at a time. One moment at a time. Together.

October 24, 2006

Despite being unemployed I'm busier than ever it seems. I did finally manage to load up a bunch of new Disneyland photos. I LOVE going there. It's like I can be a child and just focus on having fun! Wish I had the strength to stay all day. It's one of the best things we've done for fun in a long time. Jerry and I have the best time, and we know we are lucky to live so close!

So back to life here on the ranch. Jerry continues his job search. So far, nothing new to report, but we try to remain hopeful. It is hard at times, stressful and dissapointing that it has taken so long. He has remained in touch with his colleques from Ericsson. Some have good jobs, others are also still looking. We will keep you posted on Jerry's progress. In his spare time he is more than generous in helping around the house while keeping up his homeowner responsibilites. Lucky me, for sure!

I'm started a new arthritis treatment today. I had my 1st IV infusion of Remicade today, administered at a local RA Dr's office. There is a nurse who is in the room the whole time (3 1/2) hours, along with several other patients who are taking different medications too. She caters to us, taking our blood pressure, checking to see if we are ok and if we need anything, etc. All very comforting. It totally wiped me out, made me slightly nauseous, upset my IBS, and exhausted me. Other than that (trust me that's good!), I came through it just fine and I'm scheduled for my next treatment in 2 weeks. I'll be getting a treatment every 2, 4, 6, then 8 weeks, and hopefully be able to be on an every 8 week treatment plan. I'm trying to remain positive in hopes that this medication will help with the pain and stiffness that has become an every day part of my life.

The boys are doing good. I saw Matt on Monday when we shopped together at Costco. He's doing good at work and keeps busy in his spare time (what spare time? he works 6 days a week!!, runs errands, does chores the 7th day!). He looked good as always. This empty nest thing is a hard one. The most recent email from Jason said that he's doing good. He had been skim boarding as of late in his spare time, and played in a house jam band at a party in Manila a few weekends ago. Anywhere from 3-8 musicians, some of whom had no experience, some who pretty good, everyone was rocking out for a good four or five hours. Played the guitar for awhile, my first time on the drums too :) We had 2 saxophonists, 3 guitarists, 2 drummers, a conga player, a bow saw player and a handful of singers. Sure sounds like fun!

My mom Ruth, is doing good. She's been a busy traveler this year, going to a relative's 90th birthday celebration further north, a family reunion out of state, and now visiting another relative while they renew their vows after 50 years together. She's handling her illness's like a trouper and we keep in constant contact. Hard to believe she's 81 and still going strong.

Time for rest. Email me if you have a question or want to chat. Sign the guest book and look for new postings and photos as time permits. Can't believe October is almost gone. Time flies when you're having fun!

October 3, 2006

Yes, I know I've haven't been good about posting, but give me a kudo's for creating a new Disney Photo link! I have a lot of pictures to upload, as we have been going weekly since we got our annual passports around my birthday in September. It was the one treat we gave ourselves during this transition in our lives. I will do my best to not only add more news but to load more photos in both the Disney section as well as in the regular section. I was blessed with a wonderful birthday from family and friends. Jerry got me the passport, my great son Matt got me a wonderful lens for my new SLR Digital camera, and friends were very generous as well. I have been enjoying myself taking pictures of everything and I can't wait to share them. Brief news on the home front, Jerry continues his job search with earnest. He has also been a huge supporter of everything related to my struggle with this frustrating Fibromyalgia and Arthritis. But more on all of that at a later date. It is now time for more rest. I have become a big fan of that lately.

September 1st, 2006

Much has happened in the last month since I've posted photos and a bit of news here on pitterpat. Jerry continues his job search with earnest using Right Management and several on line job search sites. It's been a slow and stressfull process yet somehow we're getting through it. Since I've been home as well (I quit my job in end of May) it has been nice spending this much time alone together. It hasn't been like this since we were first married more than 34 years ago. We have definately been enjoying each others company. One nice thing is we compliment each other more as each year passes!

Jerry's been doing a lot of projects around here, as well as feeding our scrubjays in an effort to get them to feed out of his hand. They've done so 3 times, but not on a consistent basis. The older jay seems to think this is his territory and he runs off the young ones. It's quite funny to watch. They also have cool mannerisms that are fun to observe. We feed them unsalted peanuts, as according to a good friend this is what they prefer. I'm still working on getting more good photos.

As you'll see in the new photos section we now have a nice vinyl arbor in our corner garden. The 2 podacarpus trees were just not happy on either side of the entry way. We've since moved them down by the garbage can area so they can sort of hide that area. They'll get more water down on that end of the yard, which I think they really need. Jerry also added a nice brick area on that end of the yard which will be so nice when the rains arrive.

The boys are doing good. Jason has taken in a temporary roommate, a male co-worker who has a 2 year old daughter. A kind gesture on Jason' part for sure! Matt is working a lot, and is doing a great job. We are very proud of both boys to say the least!

I'm feeling pretty poorly most of the time, mostly my fibromyalgia with my arthritis thrown in for good measure! I do manage to keep busy though exercising 2 days a week at the rec center which I recently joined. If I'm not attending a yoga class, then I'm working out on the equipment they have there. I enjoy it a lot. I also use my ellipticle almost daily as it gives me a great cardiovascular workout. The Dr has upped 2 of my medications and I go see her in 2 weeks for another check up. I think the increase has helped somewhat, just not sure if the side effects are worth it. Are we having fun yet?

I'll keep you posted on Jerry's job search as well as other family news as time allows. I plan on having a fun upcoming birthday! We're going to Disneyland! yeah!

August 1st 2006

Jerry finished the fountain! Check out the photos in my new photo section. It's so tranquil and nice! The weather has finally cooled off in fact we even had a bit of rain, such a relief. ttys

July 27th 2006

Wow...July has flown by. Hard to believe it's been a month since Jerry was given notice of termination from his job. He's been attending Right Management courses and checking out opportunites on line through them. He's also been very busy around the homestead helping out with chores. He's shampooed the entire house carpet, and it turned out nice. He hung some drapery rods and is now working on the fountain we just bought for the corner garden, doing all the electrical himself. That's going to be a lot of work! He's been so helpful with house hold chores too, so much so he'll be greatly missed when he goes back to work as I'll have to do it all myself!

The boys are good. Jason recently sent us some of his quitar music, which he wrote and plays on his 12 string. It's so beautiful it brings tears to my eyes every time. If you want to hear it, send me an email and I'll forward it on. Otherwise he's doing fine, working hard as always.

Matt's been working in the heat, ugh! and he doesn't have air conditioning to go home to either, poor guy! Right now he's shooting soccer and training rookies on a weekend day. Things have been busy at work which means more money but less time off. Still its hard to make ends meet in the OC. joy....

I've kept myself busy with the garden which needs almost daily misting or watering, trying to finish up the little details in the guest room, and sorting through pictures I've piled up through the years. I'd gotten 1 1/2 years behind in putting photos into our albums so I just finished organizing them. It's fun to look back and see the kids when they were little or the house when we first moved in. Time has a way of slipping by. My health hasn't been my favorite topic lately as it has been so aggravating. My Fibromyalgia has been a constant source of pain and limitations. When it gets out of hand my RA acts up and this humidity isn't helping anyone I'm sure. I have been going to yoga classes 2 x a week at the rec center. The instructor is very good and doesn't push us into doing stretches or poses that feel uncomfortable like other instructors I've had. Still I have so much I want to do and sometimes it feels like all I do is lay around wishing I could get to it! Are we having fun yet?

July 4th 2006

Happy 4th to my friends & family! Hoping you have some good bbquing planned with friends or family with fireworks to follow. Matt will be joining us for a while which will be a nice treat. It's been so hot and humid here the last few days. We even had a small thunderstorm today which really didn't help at all. It's still muggy.

Jerry's doing fine as can be expected. He'll be going into Right Management after the 4th to get started on the job search. Wish him luck. He does deserve some time off to destress.

Switching my medications; from Humera to Enbrel, was rough. I'm still on the prednisone, hate it, makes me want to munch munch all day, and it's not really helping. I still feel like I'm on the verge of flaring up and have lots of nerve pain. Hate it! Going up to dr's Wed to sign the paperwork so we can get the Remicade started. Feeling a bit nervous about that too, but shall see.

The boys are doing fine. Matt's working hard as usual, and we hear from Jason occassionally, and when we do he sounds fine.

My brand new Nikon D50 camera is acting up so I am taking it up to Nikon in Torrance this week to have it looked at. Can't even being to tell you how upsetting that is!! It wasn't even a month old!!

Will sign in asap, take care and sign the guest book darn yee!

June 26th, 2006

Prayers for my sweet hubby. This Wednesday is his last day at Ericsson. He's been there for 18 years, so this will be a hardship for him. Hopefully I can be of some comfort. Love him SO much!

June 22, 2006

Happy Fathers Day to all my friends. We had a nice day with Matt, also attended a friends graduation from UCI on the 18th, a proud moment for his parents and us since he's like a son to us. The weather was beautiful, perfect for such 2 great moments in life.

I'm officially unemployed now. I can't say that I've slowed down any. I've been spending 2 days a week at a pilates based physical therapy program for my back. It's harder than I thought it would be and I frequently come home exhausted. I have 2 more sessions then I'll be done, which hopefully will result in a bit more free time. I will have exercises to do daily forever, but it could be worse. I miss my co-workers and the patients at PRO PT. It was so nice to visit with them weekly.

I've been spending at least 1 day a week, sometimes 2, at the drs office for various reasons. The Orthopedic Spine Dr rx'd me the pilates classes. I've had my RA checkup, visited the local urgent care for flare ups and asthma. Had a cortisteriod injection in my left shoulder for RA as an outpatient at the hospital. I was pretty stressed about that, but it ended up not hurting as much as I anticipated. I'm pretty sore (will be for a few days) and can't exercise and will only be able to do light housekeeping (such a shame) for a week & 1/2. No offense to any of my drs but I am tired of going and I'd like a break. It would be nice to feel like I am unemployed so I can stay home and rest.

I've joined the local rec center and will start going there this week. It has a lot to offer, and one of my goals was to keep exercising since I won't be joining the circuit training girls at PRO PT on Mon. Wed. eve anymore. That I miss too. They are great girlfriends! I will be able to take yoga & pilates classes, as well as other classes swim, use the gym equipment, treadmill, etc, and they have showers to clean up after wards if I need. Fun!

Jerry's end work date is June 28th. Hard to believe that after 18 years he'll no longer be there. He'll start in ernest job hunting after that so say a big prayer for him. Love my sweetie.

Matt is doing fine. Busy with work and doing things around the house. He took his car into the shop and rented a Ford Focus while it was in for service. That made him happy he has the Honda! We see him about once a week, which is a treat, and talk on the phone a lot. He helped me find out which slr digital camera to buy and is as enthused as I am that I have it! I really appreciated the help too.

Jason's good too. We email often and sounds like his life is busy and good. He'd been studying Wing Chun, and reallly enjoyed it. He's in great shape so I'm sure he was good at it. He walks to and fro work and elsewhere which is really great. Gas is about the same price as here, which is too high!

Well folks, time to go. Please sign the guest book!

May 6th, 2006

I put in my 2 week notice at PRO PT. My health has been giving me such grief and I am simply tired of being over tired and sick. My RA Dr. asked me to consider quitting if I didn't need the income. After several weeks of thinking about the money vs my health I made the decision to leave. I've been working just over 2 1/2 years and really had hoped I could stick it out. I am such a people person and it seemed to be a perfect fit. Still, ever since my Dr. changed my medication I have been getting frequent flare ups, with a few ending up at the Urgent Care for a pain shot. As the saying goes, "this ole' mare ain't what she used to be". I'm looking forward the slower pace of life and hopefully better health.

Have a great week. Updates will follow.

April 23rd, 2006

Life has been busy as usual. Spent the weekend mostly resting with a little bit of chores thrown in to ease my guilty conscious. I had Thursday & Friday off work (more on that later), which was nice. Jerry's feeling better and has his xray & ultrasound this week. Hopefully test results will be good and they will have analized the stones to see what are causing them.

We've had some rain, which is always welcome and the garden is coming to life. That's both a good thing and bad thing, ha!! I love spring, but it does mean yard work is around the corner and I'm seriously just not in the mood lately. If I had the money I'd plow it all up, put in a lap pool, beautiful paver tile work with nice reclining lawn chairs, a covered patio area with big outdoor bbq and be done with it. I'd probably keep the hydrangeas as they aren't very much work, but the rest.....gone! Guess I'm getting old, right?

Saw the rheumatologist last week and she wants me to seriously consider quitting work. I've been feeling pretty horrible as of late, and haven't really felt good for a long time. It seems all we are doing is medicating to keep me going and I don't exactly have an energizer bunny running inside of me anymore! I've been on prednisone for 1 1/2 months now (along with my other meds) and she doesn't want me off it any time soon. All said, I told my boss and I'm now doing office work only, no more physical therapist aide floor work. Part of me is greatly relieved and feeling more calm inside, the other part is feeling sad, not only because it feels like I'm giving in and letting go to of a part of me that I've fought so hard to hang on to, but also because I know I will miss some parts of it. I've been resting more and it feels so right and good. I know this is the right thing to do, just need to come to terms with it. The Dr. wants me to see a pain specialist for my back as my sciatica is progressively getting worse; hurting on a daily basis. The stretching exercises I do don't help at all, even the back traction at my chiro dr is only temporary help. So, will see. Not sure what this new dr have up his sleeve, but as always I will proceed with caution. So, for now I'm staying on the prednisone and the Humira to see if it will finally work and go back in 6 weeks for a checkup with Rheumatologist.

Matt is doing good. He's now working for Shooting Stars full time, with Sunday and Monday off. He's shooting games on weekends, and possibly during the week, as well as helping start up a new part of SS. You can check out more on the company at www.sstars.net. He's really enjoying his Honda, something I can totally understand! Jason is doing good too. He's been having monsoon like weather lately. He's also been taking a class similiar to Tai Chi and really enjoying it. Got a bonus at work so all seems to be good with him as well!

I've been slow on getting the guest room finished. It's all in the details now, pillows, patching a few holes, etc. I've been making a few scrapbook cards, stripping the cute secretary desk I bought and resting. Lots of rest! Be sure & check out the new photos posted in the new photos section! Take care and be sure & sign my guest book the next time you stop by!

April8th, 2006

I apologize for the delay in updating pitterpat. Life has been busy and tiring as of late. Jerry went back to work this last Thursday after resting at home for quite a while following his lithotripsy procedure. He is still having some discomfort, but was reassured by the Dr. that this was normal and may be how things will play out for a while still. He has another check up in a few weeks with a few minor tests to follow up on his condition. Hopefully he will continue to improve. Thank you everyone for all your kind thoughts and prayers. They have been so greatly appreciated. I will try to post new photos and chitchat as time allows. Love you all.

March 28th, 2006

My sweet hubby had his Lithotripsy procedure today at the outpatient surgery center here in Mission Viejo. Everything went smoothly and he's resting here at home just fine. I'm feeling quite blessed with good insurance, good doctors and facilities. With so much going on lately it's certainly nice to have good health care. Family and friends have been very supportive and that's always a warm fuzzy.

It's been raining here off and on all day. Whenever it gets drizzly outside Jerry and I always say to each other "It's getting misty!", a saying Jason used to say as he ran in circles in our back yard. He seemed to love being outside when the weather was like that. It's become one of our favorite sayings.

I'm taking tomorrow off, just as a precaution, to be with Jerry. I have a lot to do; laundry, sewing, house cleaning, exercise. Not sure yet if I'll actually get around to doing it. I worked early Monday morning, and for a long while, combined with getting up early 2 mornings in a row it all seems to have played havic on me. Rest sounds better and better these days, so I frequently partake.

Just a note....isn't Google wonderful? Seems you can google practically anything and come up with the answer within the 1st three hits. I have tried Googling myself, but don't actually come up with anything that interesting. Hey, I'm also on myspace now. It's kind of fun, though in some ways another "website" I feel I have to update, so we'll see how it goes. My good friend Sara, has helped me with a lot of it. Thanks dear.

Time to sign off. More later. Love ya, byzers, over and out.

March 22nd, 2006

Hope you've enjoyed the new photos I've placed here on pitterpat. I spent 2 days with Beth, and her hubby Steve in Torrance. That used to be my old stomping grounds, so it's fun to go back and with visit with these dear friends. Beth and I always have fun visiting, shopping, talking geneology (she's always on a great & successful hunt), and in general just hanging out together. While Beth was teaching a geneology class Monday night, Steve shared some great photos of where he grew up outside of Bishop. It was quite fascinating and he is great story teller. I was able to sneak over and see their daughter, Sara's house, so cute! and her scrapbook room. Would love to go spend a day scrapbooking with her! Pure heaven! She is a girl after my own heart!

I've been on a real cleaning out mission, even getting rid of some furniture. Because of that, I'd been searching for some time for a small chest of drawers or an old desk to use in the living room. Beth an I actually found a really sweet one (see photo in new photos), and I brought it home with me. It fits perfectly in the space I had planned for it. Now to finish the guest room and then on to the desk! So much fun, so little time!

Jerry's doing good. No more episodes lately. He will be going in as out patient Tues 28th for a lithotripsy procedure to try and break down the bigger stone so he can pass it easily. He'll be taking time off work, which is not really good timing, but what can you do? Thoughts and prayers for him greatly appreciated.

Matt is fine, as is Jason. I always figure no news is good news. They both seem busy with their lives and that's always a good thing. I've been still struggling a bit with my medication, but in reality it's a common accurance so what else is new? Will keep you posted as time and events allow.

ta ta for now........

March 7th, 2006

Hope you enjoyed the new photos I posted. Matt is quite pleased with his new car. He brought it out to the house this last weekend and we went shopping in it. It's so nice and he seems quite thrilled to have it. We watched a good sci-fi movie together: Serenity. He'd seen it before and thought we'd enjoy it. We're getting rid of the 626 Mazda. It's been with us since 1990, and has been a fairly good car, though we've putting a lot of repairs into it now that it's older. Jerry's the odd man out this time around. Jason, Matt and I have Honda's, he's the only one with a Mazda. Jerry does have a nice car though. It's so fun to drive.

Speaking of Jerry, he's been having some health issues lately with kidney stones. Simply put, not fun! He's been seeing a specialist and getting some tests done. He's also on medication, which has been of some help. This whole getting older thing totally stinks. Any and all ideas on this subject would be greatly appreciated.

Got a better time table for Jerry's termination; end of June, and that date will come much sooner than we'd like, that I'm sure of. He's been working hard and trying not to focus on the negative side of it all. We've kind of been coaching each other on that whole idea.

Recent talks with Jason are that he's doing fine. He's been emailing me music he's written and played and I'm loving it. I've burned a few songs of his on cd, so if anyone is interested let me know and I'll send you a copy. He's got quite a few cool music toys now and makes some great arrangements.

Well, never a dull moment here....off to the store and then lunch with friends to celebrate another birthday. Sign my guest book and look for more postings as time allows. Love to all!

February 16, 2006

In case you missed the recent news on our end lately, here's the email Jerry sent out to his family;

If you read our Christmas letter, you probably know what's coming... Jf Ericsson's Enterprise operations have lost money 4 out of the last 5 years so they are restructuring to cut expenses - basically pulling all design activities back to Sweden. That means they will close their foreign design centers in Austria, Spain,... and Brea, CA. Apparently the decision was made last November by top management but had to remain secret during the quiet period ahead of the quarterly earnings report. We were informed on Jan. 31. At this point, we have only a broad outline: current projects must be finished and knowledge transfers must be conducted. They would like to wrap up by end of June, but I suspect it will take a little longer than that. Ericsson does have a generous severance package, if you stick with them to the bitter end. It amounts to about 26 weeks pay for my length of service, plus a year of subsidized health coverage. They have also retained an outplacement firm to help us with the job search. So probably in the fall, I will join the ranks of the downsized and re-enter the job market for the first time in about 18 years.

Jf

There....now you know.

What next? Scrimp, save, cut back...and have confidence in and stand by my husband.

more news later....

Just a smidgen of news in my health section...

January 12, 2006

The term empty nest syndrome suddenly has new meaning to Jerry and I since Matt moved out the end of December. A lot of my friends have said "well, he didn't move that far", or "he hasn't really moved out (due to the fact that he's living with friends)", all to which I will add, if he hasn't moved out here then why is it so quiet? We finally helped him get the majority of his stuff (think of George Carlin when you say that word !!) moved. His room at his new address is coming together and actually seems to be larger than the one here, plus he has a large walk in closet, a blessing! One of the nicer things about this move is he lives and works really close to several of my doctors so I can stop by and say hi often. I'm sure he knows though that we miss him dearly and are very proud of him.

As you can see in my photos I'm turning his room in to a guest room/craft room. It's been a lot of work, and will continue to be so, but I think the end result will be very nice. The bed is a trundle so we can sleep 2 now, and with the addition of a neat and cool air mattress that is the same height as a regular bed, we can put a few more people in the family room. My girlfriend, Lynn, actually painted her guest room this color first. The minute I saw it I knew it was what I wanted. A big thank you to her for saving me the time and hassle trying to pick out a color.

In other news, Jerry finally got his car out of the shop. It looks great and he's so happy not be driving a rental or even my Honda for that matter. He's kinda spoiled with his auto-dimming mirror, cd player, cruise control, and audio control on the steering wheel, to name a few of his cool extras. I'm just grateful he wasn't hurt. Since my recent driving up to see my fibro specialist once a week, I can really appreciate the stress factor that goes with regular freeway driving.

Recent news on my mom is good. She's feeling as good as can be expected for an "80 year old lady" (her words not mine). Her hip seems to be 100% back to normal, though her back still gives her grief. She had company over the New Year; 2 sisters and 2 nieces. Sounds like they all had a great time. Made me feel comforted to know she wouldn't be alone. She spent Christmas with her granddaughter and grandchildren.

Jason has had a bit of weather his way lately; back to back large storms with heavy rains. Highway 101 was closed at Confusion Hill (80 mi. south of Eureka) for a couple days due to mudslides. Humboldt County is officially in a state of emergency. Winds were actually clocked in the 70-80 mph range,with a high of 90mph at one point. 101 is/was closed between Eureka and Arcata due to flooding, and Humboldt Bay was lapping at the white lines on Hwy 255 (the alternate across the peninsula.) Most of the county lost power, from Fortuna to Trinidad, for a while. After a week of rain, those winds pulled entire trees out of the wet ground, causing most of the damage. Thank goodness they are ok.

You can read more about my health news in my "In Sickness and In Health" section. Till then, hope your doing well and thanks for coming by for a visit. Be sure and sign the guest book so I know who my friends are! love ya, this is "pa-ditter-datter" signing off (my co-workers nic name for me)!

December 28th, 2005

Wow, hard to believe so much has happened since my last update. Christmas came and went with a flash. Spending time with Jason was the highlight. He's good, looks good and in general, is good! We spent Christmas eve with good friends the Bennets. Lots of fun with home made apple martini's and margarita's! Turns out Steve doesn't like the later. ha! Christmas day dinner was spent with the Castle's in San Diego. Fun, delicious, etc. Tuesday, 12/17, Matt moved out. Jerry, Matt and I took 3 trips to Costa Mesa and he still has small stuff to move. That'll happen this weekend. His commute to work is a breeze now; 10 minutes. Lucky him! Jerry and I spent today, Wednesday running errands, car maintenence, donations, gathering free plants from friends....stuff, doing stuff. I have this week off from work, and there isn't enough time to get things done! I have a Dr. appt tomorrow, and yard and house work galore, not to mention exercising, spending time with my hubby, etc. You know, the usual life. A blessed life. I am so frustrated with my RA medication. It's not working and EVERY SINGLE TIME I do anything just a little bit overboard, my hands and joints, which already hurt like H---l, become unbearable. I'm trying....to be patient. Not always an easy thing for me to do. I have many great photos taken both by Matt and I during the holidays so if you're interesed, please email and let me know. In the meantime, have a great and safe New Years!

December 16, 2005

Sung to the tune of "It's Not Unusual To Be Loved By Anyone"

"It IS UNUSUAL to be hugged by Tom Jones....."

Sung to the tune of "What's New Pussycat" (whoah oh oh oh....oh)

"What's new pitterpat, whoah oh oh oh....oh"

Alright, I'll stop. Still, who can blame me though. I'm star struck. Tom Jones is everything he seemed to be on TV. In fact even better. Watching him from the front row of the recent concert at the Grove in Anaheim was so great!! Be still my heart! ha! My girlfriend Jill won tickets through the Orange County Register and invited Jerry and I to go with her and her husband Steve. Jill & I took the front row seats which also included back stage passes to meet Tom and the guys sat at the tables a few rows back. I bought Jill and I apple martini's and we had a blast. Jill took her martini glass and Tom signed it with a sharpie pen! He signed my ticket, which you can see on the new photos page. Such fun!

December 11, 2005

It's 11:35 on a Sunday nite as I blog a bit for those whom decide to stop by. As Christmas draws near I've been trying hard to make each day count; finishing up Xmas gift projects, decorating, making fudge to take out marketing for work, planning weekly menus for dinner, spending time with family, making sure I keep up with my weekly exercise, and what should be most important, but often gets shoved to the back of my list; RESTING!! My computer room/retreat is in a constant state of mess because I'm working on 2-3 projects at once, and I'm always behind on my gardening and housework. Nevertheless, I'm not really complaining, just explaining. My ex co-worker, Debbie, and her family are due to leave CA to Georgia this next weekend and I am extrememly sad. I will miss them all so much. Jake Wernowsky was born Nov. 28th, and is such a beautiful, calm baby. I can't seem to get enough of him. Makenna is quite good with him for just being 3 years old. What will I do without "my little ones"? Work has been constantly busy, and rewarding. Home life, despite being busy, is good, and my health is at a standstill. No real positive changes yet with the change to this new medication, Humira. Jerry and I are going with our good friends, the Bennets, to see Tom Jones perform at the Grove in Anaheim. I am SO excited. I am a huge fan of his, and this should be fun, fun!! Thank you sweet hubby for going with me! In the meantime, I will update here when I can and thanks for stopping by. Love ya.

November 23rd, 2005

Wishing all who enter here a blessed and peaceful Thanksgiving. This holiday has arrived quickly for the Fuller family. We have been invited to spend turkey day with good friends of ours; the Bennets. It should be really nice, as Jill is an awesome cook. It will be great to spend time with her kids, hubby and family. Friday, we are cooking a roast & having Matt's friend, Lynn over after they get off work. Jerry and I have the day off from work, which will include some much needed rest on my part. I also need to get cracking on the xmas newsletter & wrapping some xmas gifts. 98% of my shopping is done! yahoo! We are all fine here, just busy like I always report. Matt has joined me in working out at the gym. We work out together Tuesday evenings, and he comes in to work out Thursday evening when I am working. I love having him there, and co-workers & patients/training client comment on how nice it is to meet him. He's doing great with his multiple jobs, as well as helping out around home. Sure going to miss him when he moves out. Jason and girlfriend, Chuck, are coming down for Xmas, so we are all excited about seeing them. My mom is spending turkey day with her granddaughter & great grandkids, which I'm happy about. I certainly didn't want her to be alone. Not sure what my sister in law is up to, but she knows she is in our hearts, always. Yesterday, the 22nd was my brother Rich's 64th, which was a hard day for all of us. The upcoming holidays will hard as well. In other news, my RA doctor has changed one of my arthritis medications, Enbrel, to Humira. So far, it's been hard. My RA was breaking through the Enbrel, and now it's having a field day. She said I should be feeling better by January though, so lets hope so. I manage to stay stubborn and active though, so really, no complain, just explaining. And on that cheery note, PLEASE sign the guest book. I love seeing who's come by to visit. Love you all, Happy Turkey Day.

October 18, 2005

A good friend recently told me I don't update my blog here on pitterpat often enough. She said she reads her sons blog and then goes on to mine and while she enjoys the photos I try to update on a more frequent basis, she misses reading about my life. This statement took me quite by surprise as I have often felt I didn't really have anything interesting to write about. Since I do believe she was sincere, I am hereby going to add a few notes about the going's on's with the Fuller family in the last month.

To begin with, it seems Winter, or at least Fall has arrived. We had our first big storm of the season and it arrived with a big bang. Several big bangs in fact. Thunder and lightening arrived during the early afternoon as I was unloading groceries from the trunk of my car. It was so loud it startled me enough to make me jump! Big droplets of rain proceeded to fall shortly after, but they didn't last long. It took at least another hour or so for the storm to hit full force, and we were blessed with a fair amount of rain.

I spent the one day last week at South Coast with a simply wonderful, dear and lifelong friend of mine. We exchanged belated bd gifts, as well as early xmas gifts. She spoiled me rotten with 3 wonderful pieces of linen. I partially scanned one of them for the pitterpat home page photo. It is a counted cross stitch flower alpahabet and I adore it to pieces. I love you Beth! The other 2 pieces of linen she gave me are so gorgeous. They are also counted cross stitch, and are white tablecloths done in brown thread. They are stunning. I plan on taking a picture and posting them at a later date. I love love love them all. Thank you Beth!

I'm finally getting a handle on Xmas. Before I worked I would have had my shopping done by now, packages wrapped as well as mailed. My xmas cards would have been mostly addressed and I would probably be 1/4 of the way through the Christmas newsletter I put in with the cards. As it is I'm just now wrapping gifts, having only mailed one, and haven't even begun on the newsletter or cards yet. I know most people are just now thinking about these things, never-the-less it is late for me.

Jerry and Matt are fine. Matt had his first paid photo shoot since graduating from UCI. This shoot is for "Steel My Heart" wrist huggers & accessories. He attended an event & took photos of their products & employees. You can visit them at www.steelmyheart.com. He's still working at Pro Photo Connection during the week and Shooting Stars on Saturdays. Jerry's busy busy at work. Ericsson is doing good, which is of course great. There's still that commute, but he's continuing his 9/80 schedule which allows him every other Friday off. That's something I'm jealous of. A little slice of heaven would be if my day off during the week would be Fridays!

Haven't talked to Jason in a while, but hoping no news is good news. Him and Chuck are planning on coming down for a few days during Christmas. It will be great to see them as always. Talked to mom this last weekend and she's doing fine. The holidays will be hard for her this year, as to be expected. Can't talk her into coming down for them though, so guess she'll keep herself busy with Karen and the great grandkids. They bring a lot of joy to her life.

I'm doing ok for the most part. Work is keeping me busy. We are losing our Physical Therapist Assistant, Debbie. She is moving to Georgia with her husband and daughter, Makenna, who just turned 3. John's job is allowing him to move closer to his son, Cole, who's 13 & misses his dad. While this will be a nice slice of life for them, everyone at Pro PT will miss them dearly. Debbie is due to give birth to her second child Nov 28th. Look for pictures of Makenna taken at her 3rd bd party in my new photo section and pics of Debbie & John there as well. Will miss you tons Debbie. Luv u 2.

My RA doc is changing one of my arthritis medications, so I've been spending more time resting than normal. I'll try to update my health blog so there'll be more information on the medication change for those of you who are interested. I'm a little nervous, but also hopeful.Well, time to post those new photos. Be sure & sign my guest book so I know who's stopped by.

September 23, 2005

Yes, contrary to popular belief I am still kicking around here somewhere. I know friends and sometimes even family wonders if that's true. Between daily life to-do's, work, dr appointments, and now the new TV schedule there never seems to be a dull moment. For those of you who didn't know, yes we are TV buffs.

In case you were wondering, here's SOME of our favorites;

House
Lost
Medium
ER
Grey's Anatomy
Numbers
Desperate Housewifes
Cold Case
The West Wing
CSI-(all of 'em)
Survivor
Alias
Battlestar Gallactica

Nothing like a cold drink, a soft recliner couch, and a good show to relax with after a hard day.

So, the first day of autumn has arrived. We had a spectacular brief storm Tuesday, complete with thunder bolts "of lightening, very very frightening, mama mia, mama mia, me, Galileo, Galileo, Galileo, figaro, Mangnifico_oh_oh_oh".....

Pardon me, I seem to break into song (Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen) whenver I say "thunder bolts".

So, It rained hard for about 5 minutes, then completely stopped. Wednesday we had another short burst of rain, and now the weather has cooled. At least I didn't have to water the garden that day. The days have been cooler now, and the evenings almost chilly.

Jerry has been busy as always at work, and he's still enjoying his 9/80 schedule which allows him every other Friday off. Lately he's spending his Friday's off dealing with our cars. Last weekend it was getting the Mazda 626 (that Matt drives) smog check done. Today was getting new tires on my car. Lot's to do, I know, but certainly something I appreciate him doing as it's usually my job. Thanks sweetie.

Matt's still working hard at both of his jobs, and getting worn down by the schedule too. He'll need a weekend off to recoup soon. He took some awesome photos last week of the sunset, so hopefully he'll post them on his website at some point. He is really a gifted photographer. He's also in the process of dismantling his room, getting rid of a few things, so when he has time he's tackling that big job.

I've been spending time between chores, work and the doctors office. I'm probably going to have a change of medication here soon. My RA doctor put me on a 3 week course of Prednisone to see if my arthritis responded positively. She did this as a test (probably wrote about this in my health section) to see if it was my RA that was acting up or my Fibromyalgia. The idea was if I felt better then we'd see about changing my mediations. Since my RA has subsided, my thinking is at my next checkup we'll be discussing the med change. Also had my yearly physical, and now need to go get my mammogram. Joy!

Also was given a great article on Fibromyalgia, so if anyone is interested in a copy just let me know and I'll be happy to email you a copy. It ran in the LA times last month I believe.

Well, hope that covers enough news for now. Be sure and sign my guest book so I know who's been visiting!

August 12th, 2005

Life has seemed to slow down, at least temporarily, around here. We had a buzz of activity with company and then the kitchen. Our visit with everyone was so nice. Jerry took 2 weeks off from work, I took 1. And what a sweet feeling it was to wake up every morning and know my sister was in the house! And how sad it was to have her and Tyrus leave. I managed to hold back until we dropped mom, Dee and Tyrus off at John Wayne, and then I melted into a rain of tears. Dee and I have obviously decided it WILL NOT be another 9 years before we see each other again.

Mom seems to be doing great healthwise. She's amazing; she turned 80 in July and is still sharp as a tack, still scolding where she thinks is needed, telling stories, and in general enjoying herself amongst family and friends. She is just as mobile as she was before she broke her hip, which by the way appears to have healed wonderfully although she does move a bit slower.

Dee looks wonderful, trim and more beautiful than ever. Tyrus is so sweet and they obviously adore each other. They are a perfect match in many ways. Dee does have many health problems which are naturally more apparent in the am & pm hours of the day. She still has her love of sweets (kindred we are), and as I always remembered, she daily applies makeup to a face that obviously does not need it. This was Tyrus's 1st ride on an airplane & 1st time out of Texas! He is patient, kind, and fun to talk with. He's had his share of trajedies in his young life, but they haven't made him bitter.

It was great to see Aunt Lou, and though we invited Uncle Jim to lunch he must have had something better to do than sit around with a mostly girl gab fest. My cousin Margene came up from San Diego as well and spent 1 night, which was a 1st. She has such a great sense of humor and the chatter increased 10fold once she arrived. Too much to catch up on.

And on to the kitchen! I took a ton of pictures (as always), but posted only the best due to site retrictions. As you can see the granite completey transforms the look of the kitchen! It appears a bit darker in the photos, but up close and personal it clearly has more brown tones and is simply stunning. The new sink is exceptionally deep and the brushed nickel faucet has a sprayer atttached to the end. We also have a built in soap dispenser, and a filtered hot water spicket, which makes us all feel spoiled! With just a bit of help from Jerry, I personaly measured and drilled each and every hole in the cabinets to install the brushed nickel hardware which I think turned out very nice. I AM WOMAN...HEAR ME ROAR....ooopps...down off my self-built pedestal! It feels good to have it all done and to enjoy it so much.

Family news.....

Matt is a full time employee at PRO PHOTO Connection in Irvine. He's been working for PRO PHOTO for about 1 1/2 months now and while he's still adjusting to not having much if any free time he does like the constant income. He is also still employed with Shooting Stars, the sports photography company he's been working for for several years now. Last week, between both jobs, he worked a full 7 days. He's also trying to start his side line photography business which is hard work, so he is usually sleep deprived. Once in a while, always when there's a good steak involved, he'll join us for dinner and the 3 of us catch up on up on life. I treasure these times with him.

Jerry's been busy busy at work, which he'll bring home in the evenings with him on occassion. He's been part of a conference call with Hyderabad, India a few times in regards to some Ericsson phone system bugs. He's the "bug killer" as he posts on his website;

Jerry's website

All over and above my head yet very interesting. Through a friend he's learned some new freeway navigational tips to short cut his travel time to and fro work, which he seems to enjoy trying out. You know us "So Cal-ers", nothing better we like to do than drive. (insert sarcasim) His honey-do list has a few big projects on it, which I know thrill him to no end......"trim front patio trees", "shampoo tv room carpet"....OK, OK...enough said on that.

I'm doing ok. Jump on over to my health page to read more about me, since the only news I ever have to share is about this old, boring body! ....big grin.....

Patty's health

See you later.....aligator.....

July 24th, 2005....

My sister Dee and her boyfriend are here from Texas for a week's visit and I couldn't be happier. It's been 9 long years since I've seen her and it feels like a slice of heaven to have her in my home. The only thing that would make it better is if she wasn't suffering so with her RA, Fibro, Lupus, Sclederma, Polymystosis, Sjogrens Syndrome, and who knows what else she may be diagnosed with. Her boyfriend Tyrus is here and it is really nice to meet this gentle guy. More later, time to go visit.

June 14th, 2005

It's been one month today since my brother passed away and yet the pain and reality still seems as raw as the first time I heard the news. For those of us who were fortunate enough to know Richard, we were blessed with a truly kind and gentle man. I will always remember the story my mom told my sister and I when my parents were looking to adopt. Mom and dad wanted a girl, yet when Richard saw my sister Denise and I, he said "lets take them both". Mom said she thought about it and decided why not? That was my true birthday, when we came to live with the Wares. Richard was 12 years older than me, and he was often at school or on a date when I was a child. I know there were times when Dee and I were "bugging" him! What teenager wouldn't feel a bit hassled by 2 little girls who always wanted to hang around with you? It was only the later years of my life that Richard and I would spend quality time together, and my sister-in-law Maria was a bit asset in making that possible. The last 3 summer vacations were spent at Rich & Maria's house, with mom only a few mintues away. Jerry and I still don't know what to do this summer, as all we want to do is go to Rich & Maria's house, lounge around the pool sipping on our margarita's, take the boat out, stopping on the way home from the lake with mom for a great steak and continue our visiting. These will be the memories that will keep me going. That and Richard's beautiful smile, and generous heart.

On a happier note, Matt is graduating from UCI on June 18th, and Jerry and I could not be prouder of him. He will graduate with a degree in Studio Arts, and a minor in Digital Arts. Turning 23 on June 4th, Matt is finally entering a new and exciting phase of his life. He got his 2nd set of braces off in May, after a grueling oral surgery and recouperation process that took over 5 months to complete. He has retainers he must wear 24/7 for a year, but has never looked better (not that he ever looked like he needed it to begin with!). Life is bright son, put on your new shades!

May 14th 2005

7:40 am this Saturday morning Jerry and I learned that my brother Richard had had a massive heart attack last night and was in the hospital on life support, yet showing no signs of brain activity. 4:50 pm today we learned Richard's vital signs slowly faded and he truly is gone.

It all feels so surreal. Hard to believe he's gone. Wishing I was physically with my mom, my sister in law, my sister and brother....neices, nephew......family......

Waiting to hear about the funeral. Trying to be strong, but feeling so helpless and so tremendously sad.
Will post more later.

May 5th, 2005

Busier than usual around here. Decided to get a housekeeper and are very pleased. They spent 3 hours last weekend scrubbing everything top to bottom and we were all amazed how clean our house is! They waxed the kitchen floor though, and Matt walked out and slid right into the kitchen table and chairs. ha! Sorry hon! Had a nice visit with the Wilson's last week and really enjoyed the time with them. Also had a nice suprise from my boss for Secretaries day. A GC from Miguel's (my fav mex restaurant) and a GF to the movies. We went and saw Sahara, and thought it was pretty good. Very nice of my boss! Received emails from my sis last week. She's been recently diagnosed with several new diseases; Lupus, polymositis, and scleroderma! This is on top of Rheumatoid Arthritis and Fibroymyalgia! Okay sis, that's enough! Bless her sweet heart. She is getting care from a nice RA Dr. finally, and on some medication. Hopefully this help will be what she has needed all along. I love you sweet-sis-o-mine. News on Matt; he will get his braces off within a month and is finally able to eat steak. Yes! He is chewing normally and everything appears to be in great shape. What an ordeal for him to have to go through. Thank goodness we are almost at the end. Jerry's doing fine. He came into my work and helped me create a few documents that we needed. He also patiently helped create a few things at home as well. I am so lucky to have such computer smart guys, aren't I? News on my mom; she will be turning 80 in July and we're working on a reunion at my brother & sister in laws this summer. Yahoo! Now to come up with a gift! Signing off for now, take care and remember I love ya!

April 15th, 2005 - Tax Day

Finally a few minutes to post. We've been super busy here with termites, dry rot, work, etc. Our life comes in three's anymore. Advantage Termite came out and inspected inside the walls and found everything to be okay-dokay, thank goodness. Now on to the repair work and the need to repeat the chant "I think I can...I think I can." A good margarita/gin & tonic celebration is in order when all is said and done. Matt's going strong in his new quarter. He's carrying a full 16 units this time, and all in 2 days. Just the way the schedule worked out. He put in a few extra hours at the college equipment cage job last week, which is a good thing. He's feeling better all the time, and has an upcoming visit with the oral surgeon. Two phrases he's patiently waiting to hear are "braces off" and "you can chew steak". Jerry's commuting and driving when he's not working on the house chores. Work remains busy, which is a good thing. I'm doing pretty good. More tired than usual, but it's obvious why. The ygarden is starting to bring more work with its bloooms. Dr. visits show I'm hanging in, so can't complain. Saturdays evenings you will find the both of us reclining and enjoying our favorite TV shows recorded with our wonderful DVR. God we love that thing!

April 7th, 2005

With so much going on lately I haven't had time to post new photos or pictures. I hope to correct that sooner than later. We've celebrated a friends birthday, spent money big time by killing off termites and added to our homeowner chores 10-fold. All said, we are fine, so no worries. Just know we love you, think of you and will work on pitterpat soon! As my sweet brother Dan likes to say "TTFN" (ta ta for now).

March 22, 2005

It is raining as I write this. We have had several storms in O.C. over the last few weeks, yet this one is the biggest. The rain sounds like miniature golf balls bouncing off the roof and I fear my sweet peas will be pulp and must cut them back soon. Matt's Senior Exhibition went well. He was so proud as were we. Life here at the Fullers has been uneventfull. St. Patricks Day was celebrated minus the green beer and Easter will be quiet. We hope all is well with you. I will be posting new photos within a week or so. Enjoy these in the meantime.

February 27th, 2005

This month has flown by. We had a nice Valentines Day. My co-worker/friend, "Deb", made a delicious dinner for us; Beef Wellington with twice baked potatoes and chocolate for dessert. What a treat! We watched a video and had a really nice evening. The rain has stopped for now anyway, with a record 7.25" in a weeks time. The backyard is still a slush bucket. I have work to do out there so I'm hoping it will clear up soon. My sweet peas are blooming and as always are a real pleasure. This last weekend Matt caulked around the new front door. When it finally stops raining (more rain is supposidly due Tuesday) he'll paint everything again. We had some serious swelling of the door frame during this last rain storm and we could hardly shut the door. With a little bit of adjustment it works good as new. We were told the large volume of rain possibly created moisture to get inside and behind the wood, causing it to swell. Hopefully the caulking will prevent future episodes. Speaking of Matt, he's doing good with recouperating from his surgery. He goes to the oral surgeon tomorrow, Monday, and should be able to stop wearing the rubber bands 24/7 and go back to just wearing them at night. He had his checkup with the orthodontist and was told if the surgeon says its ok, he could possibly have his braces off by April. Let's keep our fingers crossed. He still having to sleep on the couch due to swelling, but is able to eat a bigger variety of soft foods. Jerry's cold is gone and in it's place is my allergies and asthma. I'm having to take my inhaler a bit more frequently. More annoying is my cough. Always something. For the 1st time in a long time Jerry and I both had a 3 day weekend off together. We did a few errands, slept in, read the paper, went out to breakfast and caught up on our recorded TV shows; Medium, Third Watch, Judging Amy, Numbers, ER, House, to name a few. We enjoyed the Oscars and were a bit surprised with "Million Dollar Baby" taking in such a large portion of the awards. Jerry's been working on the taxes (Ouch!). I did a lot of laundry. In general, life. Hope you're all doing well. Thanks for stopping by and be sure and sign the guest book. Love ya!

February 11th, 2005

This is a 1st; Hosting someones "15 minutes" on my website! To state it correctly, my husbands "15 minutes" within my website guest book. It's there if you're interested, so take a few minutes and read it. Happy Valentines Day!

PS....PRO PT, my place of employment, is treating 2 wonderful patients; Jonathan Conder, and Carly Draudt. They both have websites, which I have linked to below.

Jonathan's website is very inspiring. Life can be so cruel, and yet reading about Jonathan gives the average person hope. It truly lights up my day when I see Jonathan's smile, along with his mother or father's, walk through the door for their physical therapy sessions. Thank you Jonathan, for bringing joy to my life.

Carly is another one of our wonderful patients at PRO PT. I met her for the 1st time today and love her infectious laugh and constant smile. She has such wonderful, devoted parents, and I look forward to seeing them all again very soon.

February 7th 2005

We've had too much weird weather here (which in turn affects my bones) so I haven't posted as much as I'd like to lately. Jerry and I celebrated our anniversary quietly, went out to dinner with Matt, watched TV. Guess that's what ole folks do, right? Maybe on our 35th we'll go on a small cruise, or something! Matt is doing better all the time, though he still can't chew his food. He goes into the Dr for a checkup tomorrow, so he'll hopefully find out when he can eat like a normal person. He had new bands put on his braces last week after the splint came out. He's enjoying that for sure! He's still sleeping on the couch, in the recliner as every time he sleeps laying down his face swells up and then it hurts. Poor guy. Jerry's feeling better now. He's left with a cough and stuffy nose, but at least the worst of it is over. Crossing my fingers to make sure I don't come down with whatever he has. So far, so good. We went and saw "Electra" with Jennifer Garner. Nothing to write home about. Also rented "Shall We Dance", with Jennifer and Lopez and Richard Gere. Great movie, especially if you love to dance. Also rented "The Manchurian Candidate" with Denzel Washington and Meryl Streep. Good, but depressing. Hope everyone has a great Valentines Day. Who doesn't love chocolate!

January 29th, 2005

Today is our anniversary! 35 plus years together if you count the time spent dating. Pretty great in my book. Nothing special planned for today. Relaxing with the paper, going to a movie and a great dinner. Yahoo! OutBack here we come. Steak, potatoes, margarita's....now we're talking.

By the way, Jerry is finally feeling better. He went to the Dr. on Monday, got a prescription, and just yesterday broke his low grade fever. So that happened. And it was no fun, according to the both of us. At least he's on the mend.

January 24th, 2005

After 5 weeks, 2 colds, and 4 days now with a fever, Jerry broke down and agreed to go to the Dr. today. Poor guy. That's a long time to be sick. I also think this is the first day he's taken off from work in years. More later.

January 16th, 2005

It wouldn't be a "normal" January here at the Fullers if we didn't have to replace a major appliance, repair a broken one, or spend a lot of money towards a house hold item. It's been like this for so long I forget when it actually started. Last year we replaced both bathroom toilets and upgraded a few of the fixtures. All said, it wasn't to surprising when the appliance repairman told us it would cost around $300 to fix our dishwasher, and the carpenter told us they'd have to rebuild the new door frame. Jerry and I did a bit of investigating and ended up deciding on buying a new dishwasher, specifically a Whirlpool. Once I went out to purchase it and saw their high end ones (which are Kitchen Aid) I was tempted, but just couldn't bring myself to spend that kind of money. Even with my dry, cracked hands saying "go for it, go for it".......Of course I missed the ordering cut off date by one day, so we'll have to go for 2 weeks without one. I feel guilty for whining about washing dishes by hand. Definitely spoiled here. We've also set up the date to have our door frame rebuilt. Turns out the carpenter didn't allow enough room around the door, so it'll take another 2 hours to rebuild it, at least this will not cost us a penny. Jerry and I spent a good part of Sunday working in the yard. It's still kind of soggy back there, but things need to be cut back. We're suppose to have more rain and some wind this week, which is ever so annoying. The sun has finally come out, and it's actually warm during the day. In other news, Matt is doing good. He got our cold, poor guy. Just when he was getting back on his feet from the surgery. Hopefully it'll travel the same course as ours and the worst will only last 2 days. He got another part time job on campus, checking out camera equipment in the photo lab on Fridays for 4 to 6 hours. He also went back to work for Shooting Stars on Saturday. He slept good Saturday night. His bed is still the TV room couch! He's supposed to get his bands off this next Friday, which should make somewhat of a difference in talking and eating. If all goes well, he'll be able to get the splint out of his mouth the following Friday, something he's definitely looking forward to. Time to exercise, and get ready for work.

Januay 9th, 2005

The New Year has started off with a bang, but what else is new? Several storms have hit Orange County hard, and we're all feeling a bit waterlogged. Our dishwasher has not run for 2 days now and we're all feeling whiny and spoiled. The repairman is due out Tuesday afternoon, not a minute too soon. The new front door framework has warped and we can hardly get it open and shut. And to top it all off the Mazda Matt drives has a leaky trunk. In all honestly the trunk has been like that for a while, but we thought we'd gotten it repaired before the rainy season started. Of course we realize life could be worse, but we're still going to complain. Temporarily anyway.

In other news, Matt is recouperating from his oral surgery nicely. I took him in for his 3 week post op check up, and the surgeon was very pleased. In 2 weeks Matt will be able to leave the rubberbands off during the day and wear them only at night. This will make talking so much easier. In 3 weeks he will get the splint out. That bit of news really perked him up. The "splint" is much like a retainer only larger, making it really hard to eat even blended food. He's still not sleeping that well. Sleeping on the recliner in an upright position is getting really old and sleeping laying down makes his face swell. Still he is making baby steps, and occassionally he gets a good nights sleep. Through everything he's been a real champ!

I had my 1st acupuncture session last week. I also had some suction cup thingy on my back (for the lack of a better word) and I noticed a difference in my myofacia pain. It is VERY expensive, so unfortunately I won't be doing this on a regular basis. My RA Dr. wanted me to try it out and see if I got any relief for my fibromyalgia and sciatica.

Jerry's fine; work has kept him busy, but he's not complaining. He's been relieved from yard duty due to all the rain and that makes him a happy camper. He's also really enjoying the new DVR we got as a dual Xmas present. No more programming all of our favorite shows allows him more free time when he gets home from work. Big smile!

Hope everyone had a good New Year!

December 30th, 2004

The New Year is almost upon us. I have the next 4 days off from work, after a short 2 day week. It's been nice to be able to stay home with Matt during his recovery period, slow but sure he's making progress. He goes in for another check up next week and starts his next quarter next Wed I believe. Let's pray he has the energy. Plus he's not allowed to talk with his rubberbands and splint in, so that'll be interesting for him. It's not quite the same as getting a dismal note for P.E. Hopefully he'll be doing as good a job as he has been and we can breath a sigh of relief. My mom is doing great. Last I heard she was getting through her physical therapy at the nursing home just fine. She's anxious to move on with this whole ordeal and has really been going full speed ahead. I talk to her frequently and am happy to report all the good news. Time to attend to my garden. I'm way behind in household and yard duty chores. Happy New Year everyone!

December 25th- 2004

Merry Christmas everyone. Slow but sure we're surviving Matt's recouperation from major oral surgery. The kid has been a champ and despite some serious lack of sleep we're getting there. It's been 1 week and 4 days as of today. He has his 2nd checkup on Monday the 27th. The same day I go back to work. Ugh! In other news, my dear mom fell and broke her hip this last Monday. She's had surgery to repair it, they put a rod in instead of a hip replacement and she's doing good. Great news! She will stay in the hospital until Monday or Tuesday then briefly go to a nursing facility and finally spend time at my brother and sister in laws house until she's on her own. The whole family is very grateful for everything they have done to help mom through this difficult period. Anyone wishing to send a get well note to mom please email me with her temporary address. And if I don't post for a while, Happy New Year everyone!

December 19th- 2004

Let it be known that despite the lack of bloggerish on pitterpat these days I'm still alive! My son Matthew had his oral surgery (on the 14th) and my husband turned 54 (on the 18th). If that doesn't qualify as a good excuse for not putting fingers to the keypad, I don't know what does. At any rate I thought I should post a few notes for those who wander by. (See the guest book, my brother likes to correct me there-ha! love you Dan, and yes I believe I have corrected everything, but please feel free to leave me a note on anything else you find, I'll take all the help I can get.) The good news is Matt is improving slowly day by day. This has got to be one of the hardest things I have ever done with this dear child of mine. It tears at my every heart strings and just when I feel I have lost the "mother lioness with her cub" feeling something happens and I slip back. I took 4 days off last week and thanks to a wonderful boss am taking next week off as well. Matt's been on a liquid diet and has lost all appetite for almost everything. Keeping him hydrated is the key and so far so good. Bless his sweet patient heart he is being a real champ, and for that I will stand on my soap box and loudly proclaim him wonderful because I am his mother! On the other note, my sweet husband turned 54 Saturday. He looks even more handsome than the day I married him and I love him so much more. He is also very patient. Now I know where Matt gets this trait from. He stayed home all last week to help with Matt and just knowing he's there makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Maybe he doesn't know that or how much I love him, but I feel strong when he is beside me. I think he had a nice birthday, and we had a friend come watch a movie with Matt while we went out to a horrible dinner (I have to lie, Matt does read this you know!) to celebrate. I gave him an oak clock among other gifts, and Matt bought him a computer game. All in all, it's been a exhausting few days. If you wish you can sign the guest book as I like to see who comes by for a visit. Hopefully I'll be able to add more at a later date, alas for now it is past my bedtime...........

P.S. To my dear friend Pauline, who just lost her sister to cancer. I love you dear friend and will pray you find peace within you during this hard time in your life. Your faraway friend forever.

December 8th-2004

Time is slipping by, kind of like that song by Van Morrison. I've been too busy lately and am not really ready for Christmas. In fact, lets face it, I can't believe it's already almost here. I've gotten the Christmas cards out, and the presents wrapped and mailed. The tree goes up this weekend, and then we close in on Matt's oral surgery on the 14th. We're all trying not to think about it, even though that's probably all we do think about. Please God, if you're listening, take care of my son. Everyone else, a prayer that he'll do fine would be greatly appreciated. Jerry and I will obviously be home to take care of him.

Speaking of Jerry, he's been fighting a cold these last 2 weeks. Matt and I have been Lysoling the house and everything in it, to keep us healthy. ha! Matt's spent this last week dealing with his finals, postponing his jury duty summons (the timing stinks obviously), and playing "City Of Hero's". Jerry conducted some knowledge transfer sessions, as Ericsson is transferring support for some of its older products to India. That kept him busy for 3-4 days, now he's back to bug fighting, both at home and work! I've been going to my own doctor appointments; 1 Orthopedic surgeon checkup (all went well), 1 Rheumatoid Arthritis doctor checkup (not bad either), 1 colonoscopy (don't want to discuss that sh...), as well as making treats and delivering them to Doctors in the area for my work, PRO PT. This is better known as marketing. My boss, John Santos has hired us some help and we're excited to have a good friend, Robin, on our team. So, short and sweet that this is, bye for now, and I'll be back later. Merry Christmas everyone!

November 12th - 2004

I've been busy scurrying around getting Xmas & Jerry's bd shopping done. Now I must start working on our yearly newsletter and Christmas cards. The house is very dirty, and I'm very tired, and feel yucky 95% of the time, but overall I am in a bit better spirits. My sweet hubby has been very patient with me and I certainly don't deserve him. Not that he is available mind you. :) My girlfriend came into work and brightened my day this week. Thank you dear. My son has been especially attentive, and that warms my heart. Speaking of warm, I'm so darn cold. It's been freezing here lately. Brrr...We cold-blooded-originally-from-Nothern-Californian's have been soaking over time in the spa as of late. Take care friends and family, and know I love you and most certainly miss you even if you don't hear from me. Got that? Byzers.......Over and out.

November 8th - 2004

I can't believe we're already done with the 1st week of November. Seemed like the best time to make a pot of soup. I found this recipe in Real Simple Magazine and made a few changes. The 1st was substituting chicken in place of corn because Jerry doesn't like corn. The 2nd change I made was substituting 3 canned chipotle chilies with a small can of green chilie salsa, simply because I didn't want to go to the store. I topped the warm chowder off with slices of avocado and sharp cheddar cheese. It was simply devine! Enjoy. Next I'm making a pot of chili with corn bread.

October 31, 2004- Happy Halloween!

With Thanksgiving and Christmas around the corner I am busier than ever. I fear my friends think I no longer like them. Nothing could be further from the truth. I'm just doing my best and trying to get enough rest. (See "In sickness and in health" for recent health updates). I've started wrapping Xmas gifts, shopping for my hubby's upcoming bd and trying to keep up with all my other responsibilities. Add to that occassionaly insomnia (how in the hell does that come about with my overtiredness from my low thyroid...anyone?). I have been thinking about starting the annual Christmas newsletter, reorganized my computer/craft retreat area, and looked out the window at my poor neglected garden which I must tend to SOON! Work is going well, for all of us. Matt, Jason and I all got a raise at about the same time which was cool. Matt's been super busy with his class load this quarter, and Jerry survived the long commute during these last 2 big rain storms. I waited until 3 days before Halloween this year to buy candy as I've been on a sugar high lately. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. You know it's fall when our local Golden Spoon has "Pumpkin Pie" fat free yogurt. Yeah, I'm so tickled. Our Thanksgiving feast this year will probably be steak and potatoes as all of us are turky-ied out! Hope everyone goes out to vote Tuesday. It will be a very interesting election to say the least. Happy Early Thanksgiving everyone!

October 13, 2004-Columbus Day

Much to much going on lately. Had my 1 yr anniversary at Pro PT. That was cool. Check out the new photos to see the special bd celebration with friends earlier this month. Back and forth to the Dr. for check up about my thyroid levels. Their still too low, so my meds have been getting lowered every 3 weeks. Don't ask, that's just how they do it with the meds! The med change makes me so tired I can barely stand it. My back is still bugging me, so my RA Dr. wants me to get a 2nd opinion with an ortho specialist. Working on that, and not overyjoyed about it at all. Matt got a raise at Shooting Stars, so yahoo Matt! Thats great news. I mailed off the 1st Christmas package this week. More to follow, trying to get that whole thing organized and ready to rumble. I have a head start, just not sure how long it'll last. It's been very foggy and cool in the mornings around here with mid day warming up a bit. I've started walking to and fro work which I enjoy. On anoher note, I hope all of my friends realize I still care about them, I just don't have enough hours in the day.....take care, love you all!

September 23rd, 2004

I realize it's been almost 20 days since I've posted here. The pace of my life has been almost unstoppable, which I suppose could be seen as good or bad depending on how you look at it. My birthday was good, and depressing. If I could just get over the number thing, I think I could feel a bit better. When I was young I used to think 30 was old. Then 40. Somehow I never saw myself as reaching 50. That was probably a bit of denial going on there. Even last year when I turned 50, it didn't sink in. Now that I'm 51 there is no doubt I am in my 50's! Stupid, I know. All said and done I've been really blue about this age thing, just hoping I'll snap out of it. A dear friend of mine, Katie, spent some quality time on the phone with me giving me some good tips, all things I appreciate so much. Love you Katie. You'll never know how much I appreciate you.

My family is doing good. My sweet husband, Jerry, puts up with me when I don't know why he should. I think God or someone was looking out for me when he sent him my way. Somehow I managed to snag him and even better, keep him for over 34 years now. We both were able to take my bd, a Friday, off from work. We went to a movie & dinner, and still had 2 days to goof off. Nice. He bought me a beautiful 2 toned watch (it has a nite light! yes!) to replace the one I had, which he also bought. It was working fine until it fell off my wrist while I was riding my neice's horse in Forest Hill (think Grass Valley) the summer before I turned 50. That will definately be the last time I get on a horse. I couldn't walk for 2 days, my knees were so sore. My son Matt, bought me a pretty stained glass, blue, wind chime, which hangs right outside the TV room patio door. When the wind blows you can hear her gentle chimes and it reminds me of how special he is to me. Family and friends sent me cards and gifts, and spoiled me rotten. Lucky me!

My son, Jason is down in So Cal with his girlfriend, Chuck. They are here to attend her sister's wedding this weekend. It's been 2 years since Jerry and I've seen him. His hair is long, down past his shoulders. He looks great, lean and strong. He is doing great at work, getting one promotion after another. I'm so proud of him.

Work is good. Our summer help left for school, miss you Sarah, but we've hired someone else, so working on training again. I still love my job, I have a great boss, and great PT Assistant, so feel very lucky that way. I'm looking forward to cooler weather so I can start walking to and fro work again. We're managing to keep busy, and I enjoy the people part of this job. I find great comfort in caring for others, just strive to do a good job, daily.

Spending most of my free time resting, and doing chores. I scrapbooked another section for my girlfriend, Beth. She has done endless genealogy for both Jerry and I, so I owed her at least that. I only wish there was more time to pursue that new interest. Thank you Beth for all you do for me!

Jerry's job at Ericsson continues to keep him busy. He's been stressed lately with meeting certain deadlines, debugging OWS's. I can finally and truly appreciate it when he just wants to kick back on the weekend. Takes a working person to "get that"! Seems like we don't see each other that often, which I don't like. He goes to work early, I get home from work late, we're tired, so on and so forth. Nothing new I know. Still my life would not be complete without him. He is in my every breath.

Matt's back to school this Friday. He's had a long summer off, with little paying wages. He's finally employed on a more permanent basis with Shooting Stars again. He loves playing with those digital cameras, and is saving his money for a proffessional one of his own. While off, he was "employed" by his parents. I will miss his hard work around here, that's for sure. He will do almost any job you ask of him, though yard work isn't his favorite!

Signing off for now. Check other posts, pics, etc. I'll try to keep up my postings. Till then, love you.

September 4th, 2004

Counting down......6 days till I turn 51. How in the hell did that happen? Seems like yesterday I was just 26, then I wake up one morning and I have grey hair, I can't hear, and my bones ache!

In other news, Jerry and I are hooked on HBO's 6 Feet Under, hence the photo on my main page. A friend told me about it so I decided to rent it. Jerry and I caught snipets of the 1st episode when it aired several years ago. We were in a Redding hotel visiting his brother Bill & family, and we were very tired, so it seemed exceptionally bazare. Not having HBO at home we never pursued it. At least not until Robin mentioned it. Now we watch 1 episode an evening, & are in the middle of the 2nd season. In short, we're addicted! Jerry said one reason we probably like it is that it's a "30 Something" sort of show, with a lot of people in their 30's, whinning about their lives. And anything goes! Hang on tight, it's a bizarre and interesting life of a family who live in and run a funeral home. Very interesting.

August 19th, 2004

Another week has literally flown by. After almost a year of working part time, I think I get it.....

1) time travels at lightening speed when one is working

2) one has very little free time to do fun things

3) grey hairs seem to come in twice as fast

4) one will miss spending more time with family and friends

In all seriousness, I still like working part time I just didn't realize when I jumped into this world, that it would take up so much time. I have a great boss though, I love the people part of this type of work, and I love learning everything. My brain is working overtime!

In other family news, Matt's surgery has been postponed for now. He's fine, in fact we're all fine, it's just another one of those things. When we do line it up, you'll hear about it. He went up to northern California with a friend on a summer road trip (isn't there a cool song about this?) and had a great time. While up there, he saw Jason and his girlfriend Chuck, who are both doing good. Speaking of Jason, he will be flying down here to So Cal in Sept with Chuck to attend her sisters wedding. We're looking forward to seeing him as it's been awhile.

Be sure to check out the new photos I've posted. We've been busy around here and I wanted to share some of our work with you. Be sure and sign the guest book, as I always love to see who's been coming around. Until then....love you all!

August 6th, 2004

Some good news.....if you can call having arthritis good news. I was initially told I had osteoporosis, which is not a good thing. I talked with the Dr.'s office today and the diagnosis is actually osteoarthritis. Not exactly good news, but when you've been thinking for 3 days that you have osteoporosis, well....you get the drift.

August 3rd, 2004.....late evening.....

I'm finally getting around to posting a few new photos, and adding a bit of news. We've been so busy with homeowner duties that there doesn't seem to be any free time. Jerry just had a 3 day weekend and he spent a good deal of that time working on moving and rebuilding the sprinkler manifold. We tore out the front redwood bench which was falling apart and replaced that area with a planter bed. Since the sprinklers needed work we decided to move them down to the end of the flower bed. We planted a nice mixture of geraniums; drove all over heck and gone to find just the right size and kind of rock to add some character to the flowerbed, and now Jerry's been working on finishing up a black wrought iron hose holder that will complement the new black doormat. I'm also painting the wood frame around the windows white, got a new small white patio set and white wrought iron planters. With the grey house, white trim & black accents it should look really nice. Once it's all done I'll take a photo to post, as always.

We went down to San Diego this last Saturday evening to visit with the Castles and my brother Rich and wife Maria who were in town to attend a wedding on her side of the family. Lou & Jim cooked up a nice dinner and we enjoyed visiting with everyone. Matt went with us which was really nice. He's been earning money around here since he's not working much anymore with Shooting Stars. He's due to have his oral surgery this month and won't be able to get a new job for a while, so I've been pleased to have his help. I know he's sick of cleaning house and doing yard work. He finished his summer class Monday and is getting ready for a road trip up north with a friend. He'll be stopping in and seeing his brother Jason, which is really cool.

Will write more as time permits. Time for sleep.

July 11th, 2004....mid evening.....

Jerry & I took a great summer vacation to Grass Valley for the 3rd year in a row this July. We stay at my brothers house; Rich & his wife Maria, and visited family in the area. Maria's mom, Natalia is staying with them for now, so they gave us their main bedroom suite, and they camped out in their guest house. Their bathroom had just been renovated with marble floors, double sinks & a deep tub so it was like having our very own private hotel room with TV and access to the fridge (not a good thing after weighing in when we got home.) Thank you so much R & M! They gave a great bbq on the 4th which my cousin's Janet & Colleen from Sacramento joined in on. We all enjoyed a great menu including homemade ice cream that Jeff & Dana made, playing in the pool and catching up on each families news. Later in the week R & M took us out on their boat to a nearby lake, as well as celebrating mom's 79th birthday (her health is pretty good). We also had the pleasure to meet their great new neighbors, the Sisco's; Stan and Eileen. In the course of a year they've done an amazing job of renovating their home, which they so graciously gave us a tour of. We also had the pleasure of meeting 2 people that Rich & Maria worked with at PG&E; Clay and Cindy. All in all, our vacation was wonderful. Here's to next years!

June 29th, 2004...bedtime......

I'm missing my sis, Dee a lot lately. We have lived apart so much of our lives and now more than ever it would be wonderful to be near her, to comfort her when she doesn't feel well (we both have RA), and to just be able to give her a hug. It's been a long time since I've seen her and I just can't help feeling like it's not right having a sibling live so far away. Doesn't seem fair. I love you sis and am with you in spirit.

Life here on the Fuller ranch keeps pluggin along. Matt is in summer school and doing good. He is working hard when he's not at school and helps out a lot around the house. Couldn't ask for a better situation. Hubby's work is good too. Lots to do, and on top of that he keeps things running smoothly around the house and yard as well. Lucky us. My job is good. I still love it, and still feel amazed that I was so lucky to have it fall into my lap. Someone was watching out for me. I've been working there now 9 months, hard to believe. I work with great people and throughly enjoy the physical therapy side of the job as well. Fun! Lots going on in the garden, things blooming all over the place, sweet peas, hydrangeas, roses, geraniums, jasmine, campanula, etc. Lots of activity with the birds, and bees. Our grapes are plugging along too. I love summer.

June 20th, 2004 Sunday eve, late.....

Today was Father's Day. I hope my sweet husband had a good day. It didn't seem as special as it could have been as I was just plain worn out. Jerry did enjoy a relaxing morning reading the paper though, then opened gifts Matt & I gave him, which he seemed pleased about. Matt gave him a nice hand picked card & special written sentiment, along with a Donna Summer CD. Thank you son, for making Dad feel special today. I gave him a copper bird bath & feeder, which he had fun finding a special place for. I'll try to post pics from father's day at a later date.

We enjoyed our company this last week; Jerry's brother Bill, wife Tammy, and their 4 kids drove down from Redding to spend a few days with us. Typical June gloom dampened their plans for Wild Rivers, but they managed Knott's Berry Farm instead and came home tired but happy. We'd never met Ryan, who's already 14 months old, so that was a real treat. He's like a small carbon copy of Bill, and such a sweet little guy. Shelby is 6 yrs old now, and still loves to be the center of attention, a true only-girl-in-the-family-princess! She'll be going into 1st grade and claims she can do more because of this fact. I love to hear such tales! Zach will be a Jr. in High School this year, and Josh in 7th grade. My how times flies. We had great fun sitting around visiting over homemade margarita's, and lasagna one evening, and Jerry's special taco salad the next. We just love these guys, and love to just spend time with them. Sure wish they didn't live so far away. They headed up to Long Beach to see some friend Saturday afternoon.

Matt's been working super hard around here, earning money for his upcoming vacation and for a lens he wants for his Canon SLR camera. It is so nice having his help. Words can not express how much I appreciate him. He does such an excellent job on all the chores. My oven hasn't been this clean in years! Thank you so much Matt.

I go see my Rheumatologist this Tuesday. Will be interesting to see what she says. I'm so darn tired all the time, can't help but wondering if my thyroid is off again. I know I'm doing too much. Work is busy, and there's lots to get done around the house and yard. Same ole.....I'll try to post new pictures here soon. I took qite a few when the Fullers were here, and on Father's Day. Have a good week everyone. Love ya!

June 15th, 2004, Tuesday

As you can see by the photo on my home page, we are expecting company this Thursday, Jerry's brother Bill, wife Tammy, and their kids, Zach, Josh, Shelby, and the latest addition, Ryan, whom I added to the photo. The picture of him was taken when he was 6 months old. He's now 14 months and though not walking, Tammy says he's trying to. Since we've never met him, we're looking forward to it. They will be staying with us for just a few days, so we hope to get in as much time with all of them as we can. I'm taking 1 day off work, Jerry another, and it should be great fun. Life otherwise has been busy, as usual. Matt, Jerry and I have been working on refinishing the old/new arbor I bought. It's been a lot of work, not that I didn't think it wouldn't be. Work is going good, very busy, and my PT painful. ha! Matt is out of spring session, and will start a summer session of 2 classes in about 2 weeks. He's helping me out around the house, which is greatly appreciated. He's also finializing his plans for his summer vacation with a friend. Jerry installed the last of the garden bed sprinklers Sunday. We found a fairly easy sprinkler system to install in the secret/corner garden beds, to make it less work to water. Since that part of the garden took the longest to water, it is a big load off my mind. Thank you sweetie. Well, back to chores, and exercises.

June 9th,2004-Wednesday

The dull, rhythmic plodding of my tennis shoes on the cement sidewalk were no match to the rapid fire list going off in my head this morning as I took my daily walk. Ever since I started working life seems to be speeding by me; often times leaving me standing in the dust with nothing more than a look of "what the heck just happened" expression on my face. I've worked before, never with kids though, if you can call our last born at 22 a kid. I think age has got something to do with this feeling of life in the fast lane. 51 is fast approaching and I don't like the number. I've also been dealing with more health issues, something that's not new to me, but certainly making life as I know it harder to deal with. I do have new found empathy for all the loved ones and people I hardly know who work and try to find time for a bit of fun in amongst all the chores that seem to pile up while we're at work. I do love my job, don't get me wrong. I feel very lucky to have been at the right place at the right time. I'm just still trying to get a hold of something that feels allusive; having it all! I don't feel willing to give up on doing everything, caring for my family, taking care of the house and garden, keeping in touch with my friends on a somewhat consistant basis, taking care of myself, and finding time to pursue the hobbies I love and enjoy. I find I cheat myself most by not allowing time to take care of myself properly given my age and health. This is big on my list of "need to fix that". I think my family feels a bit neglected, though I try hard to make sure the essentials are taken care of; food, attention, love. The house has taken on a new dirter state, something I don't like. The garden is still thriving, but looks a bit neglected. I know some of my friends are growing frustrated, but what can I do? At least I am contributing to my son's education and that feels huge. Somewhat of a relief for my husband who's always been there for all of us no matter what, always putting himself last. And certainly for a good cause; Matt! I guess time will tell whether I have to buy newer/faster shoes to keep up with the flow of life lately, or whether I just need to start letting go. Off to ponder that one......

June 5th, 2004- Saturday

We took Matt out to dinner at Benihana's last night for his 22nd birthday. It's been years since Jerry and I have been there. The food was outstanding, although the atmosphere was a bit loud. ha! A sure sign of getting older. We all had some variation of steak & veggies, topped off with tempura ice cream with strawberries. Darn good. Jerry & I spent most of Saturday working in the garden. I made up several fairy gardens (I'll try to post pictures soon), installed a new sprinker system for the flower beds called "Simple Soaker". It works better than we imagined, although we'll need to go buy one more set. The package comes with a 50 foot small black hose that you can lay down in the beds where ever you like. Then you place/puncture 5 sprinklers in strategic places, and turn them on. It is fairly easy and the results are pretty good. So from here on out watering a large portion of the flower beds will be really easy. Yeah! Special thanks to my sweet husband for all his hard work. We made a nice steak dinner (yes, we do love our meat, don't we?) with baked potatoes, veggies, and salad. One of the nicest things was having Matt eat with us. That doesn't happen that often, so it's always a treat when he does. The rest of the day was spent taking a nap, and being lazy. A pretty good Saturday, don't you think?

June 3rd, 2004

We celebrated our son's 22nd birthday a day early today, due to all our varied schedules. We gave him a digital camera, a Fuji A210 to be exact. According to his dad (I was at work) he played with it for several hours with a big grin on his face. When I spoke to him this evening, he said it was fairly easy to use and he'd already taken a small movie of Jerry with it, as well as a good photo of his pet hamster, Hamlet. Guess he likes it! I just want to add how much we love you Matt. You're so very dear to us, and we feel very blessed to have you in our lives. Happy birthday!

June 1st, 2004

Been super busy lately. I've spent considerable time in the garden. As you can see from the photo on my home page, we have a new arbor in our yard. I bought a climbing white lace cap hydrangea for the arbor. The botanical name for it is; H. anomala petiolaris. It is from Russia, Korea, & Japan. It can grow as high as 40-60 feet, has clinging aerial roots and 6" to 10" wide lace cap flowers. It can be pruned back to hardwood when dormant. I am so excited. I also went to the neatest nursery with my girlfriend Loreli. It's in Orange & called the M & M Nursery. It is full of fairy gardens, yard arbors, plants, etc. Just exquisite. I was in heaven and came home with all kinds of ideas! She got the jump on me, and started her small fairy gardens already. They turned out adorable. I'll try to post the pics soon.

Be sure & check out the new link; Home Improvements. I'll be adding more to it and other sections of my website as time permits.

A little note, please sign my guest book. I didn't realize it wasn't working, but my sweet hubby fixed it. I'd love to hear from you.

May 23, 2004

I worked Tuesday, so I could take Friday off last week. I left fairly early in the morning & arrived at Beth & Steve's around 11:00am. Beth & I immediately started playing catch up. As always it's wonderful to see her. She is by far my "longest" friend, and we get along like sand & sea. We spent Friday running errands, talking about decorating ideas for her guest room, as well as watching "Calendar Girls" (which Steve sweetly rented for us) & muching Smores Scones Beth made, dipped in powdered sugar that evening. Thismovie hit home, especially since Beth & I both "feel old". Ha! Not that we are, by any means mind you. Beth would definately be a better candidate for posing for the calendar than I, though. Shudder. Don't even go there Patty.

Saturday we took Steve to the airport in the am, where he left for a business trip. Sad to see him go, as I enjoy his company. Beth & I went over to the TJ Max & More & hyperventilated as we stepped in the door. It was hard not to buy the store out. Hands down the best "& More" I've been ever been in, & I make it a point (if I'm driving no matter which side of the road) to stop in every one I see. Hit Trader Joes for lunch, dined on turkey sandwiches, strawberry lemonade (now you know who got me addicted to lemonade), and candy. After cooling off from hot flashes brought on by too many sweets (reference "The Wisdom Of Menopause" by Christiane Northrup, M.D.) we headed over to Westchester Faire, only to find out it had been gone for over 2 years & replaced by a used book store. Dissapointment set in as we browsed old books, then left.

20 minutes later we set off for a thrift store & nursery, only to stop at a small shop that held treasures once housed in Westchester Faire. Beth & I both came away with deals, & a tired smile on our face. Any further shopping was quickly dismissed as 2 tired friends headed home, that is until another TJ Max store was spotted on the right side of the road. Being a good friend, Beth gave in to my whinning to stop & do a quick run through, as well as hitting the "Dress Barn" immediately next door. Got to say, the TJ Max in Culver City needs a good manager as well as a serious make over. Ouch. Found a cute outfit & shoes at Dress Barn, which I didn't need, but still bought. Thank you sweetie!

Home desperately called us, & after 2 hours of semi resting & dining on quacomole & carob raisins we headed over to Sara & Ben's new condo in Long Beach. Wow! It's a really nice 2 level condo with a great view of Long Beach from Sara's loft. We aoohed & aaahed over tons of wedding photos with Ben being a good sport about the whole process. Did I mention how great Ben is? Such a nice guy, with a quiet & quick sense of humor. Sara's a lucky gal & Ben is a lucky guy!

All of us took off to Luke & Diana's apartment in Long Beach. They are such a cute couple, and live in a really nice area. After the apartment tour & bit a of gabbing, all 6 of us headed over "Mimi's" for dinner. I love Mimi's! Dinner was delicious & dessert heaven. Chocolate, carmel & Banana's Foster pie was shared by all. Beth & Steve (mind you Steve was in Colorado) treated us to dinner despite all efforts made by me to do otherwise. Beth's loud protest to my mere mentioning of paying (reference "The Wisdom Of Menopause" again) can be willingly testified by the kids.

Saturday evening was spent on geneology. As many of you know, Beth did my biological families geneology way back when. For my 50th birthday she is compiling additional data along with what she currently had, in a binder for me. What a gift! Beth searched the DeVeau's, and the Fuller's, aided by frequent phone calls to Jerry for information. After all was said and done, it looks like we will get a large portion of it. Thank you my dearest friend. Your gift of time and effort means the world to Jerry and I. I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Beth and I left Sunday morning around 9:30 (wondering what the _ _ _ _ we stayed up so late for), her to Church, and I, to home. It was a wonderful weekend, one I hope to do again. A gentle reminder to Beth that she is welcome at our house anytime to spend a similiar weekend. And yes, we do have a great TJ Max & More nearby! Love you Beth.

May 18th, 2004

June gloom weather is upon us early this year. The mornings are overcast and chilly, and often extend until almost noon. When the sun does come out even though there is a slight breeze, it still warms up to the low to mid 80's most days.

Henry's Marketplace opened up in Trabuco Center over a week ago. Every one I know has been anticipating the opening even before the major grocery stores were on strike. Henry's moved into a vacant and once popular Edwards Cinema building, which had to under go considerable renovation. The roots of Henry's Marketplace was established in 1943 on a San Diego street corner selling truckloads of peaches, and has since grown to 16 store locations. This particular store is directly across the street from a Ralph's grocery store, and is almost double the size of an average Trader Joes. Their produce is outstanding, and they offer a large selection of all natural food, including bulk grains, nuts, seeds and candy, as well as a large selection of vitamins and supplements. Filet Mignon was on sale mother's day week, and after 1 1/2 days of marination, was an outstanding feast for all 3 of us!

Work has been busy, as always. We've hired a PT aide, which is much needed and nice. I'm doing some of the training which has been interesting. Every day is a new adventure at work, which makes it a fun job the majority of the time.

I've been rather busy in the garden when time permits. Everything is blooming, and needs attention. Pruning, watering, misting; all are indicators of what this summer will be like. I got another batch of glads on clearance a while back, and planted them behind the hydrangeas. They won't bloom until next year, but will the following year there should be double what I have now, and that'll be a sight!

Jerry got his 1st ding in the Mazda 6. Something shifted in the garage, and my wheelchair fell on the hood. It left a small, but noticeable dent. Insert sad face here. We managed to buff out most of the discoloration, and only had to apply a small bit of paint. Darn.

Hope to enter more later, right now, it's time to rest.

May 10th, 2004

My girlfriend, Carol, stopped by to wish me a Happy Mothers's Day! Carol just got nominated & awarded "Employee Of The Year" in her school district. I'm going to her "awards ceremony" if you will, one evening this week. I finally uploaded a few photos from the garden tour I went to the 1st weekend of May. I have a bit more to do on this section, but not enough time in a day. Had a great Mother's Day. My sweet hubby bought me wonderful gifts! How he spoils me. One of them was a Tom Cruise DVD, "The Last Samurai". I watched all the extra's DVD, which was too cool. Thank you so much dear. Matt also gave me a great gift; a framed print of a photograph he took in my garden. It is a close up of one of my hydrangeas and simply stunning in the mahogany frame he chose. I promtly hung it over the TV room sofa. Work has been good, super busy thou, so less time to get my "to-do's" crossed off the list here at home. I've done a bit of gardening, and got to babysit my co-workers daughter, McKenna one evening last week. Totally fun! Looking forward to seeing Jerry's brother & family next month. 9 people in the house will be interesting, but really great fun. Had a nice chat with Jerry's brother Hal last weekend. His daughter Dena, was on her Senior Prom, and you could just hear the bittersweet in his voice when he talked about his "little girl" growing up. Love you Hal, Deb, & Dena. Hope to update more here as time permits. Take care everyone.

May 4th, 2004

Top of the list is to remind any and all who visit here, to check out the "Very Interesting" link. I took photos (this time) of a crop of yellow mushrooms that are growing in my big ficus. The 1st time I saw them, I was upset and immediately dug them out. Then I "googled" yellow mushrooms and read that they are in fact, Leucocoprinus birnbaumii, a totally harmless mushroom that is often found growing in houseplants, are not poisonous, and only very rarely cause some stomach upset in people and animals who eat them. In fact, this mushroom is so common that Tom Volk made it the "Fungus Of the Month" at Tom Volk's Fungi. Verrrry interesting.....

Next on the list is to check the garden tour link I recently created called "Garden Tour May 2004". This was the Mary Lou Heard Memorial Garden tour. Most gardens were only open Saturday or Sunday, with a few open both. I was only going to go on Sunday, but after reading the description of some of the gardens on the tour I quickly called my girlfriends, who were just heading out. They were kind enough to pick me up and off we went for a full day of tours in Huntington Beach. We didn't get to all of them, but at the end of the day we did end up at what used to be our old stomping grounds in Huntington Beach, Heard's Nursery, where you could find the unusual for your garden as well as talk to some very informative gardeners. Mary Lou Heard was a one of a kind lady, and if you were lucky you might be able to chat with her for a bit at her nursery. Once she passed away, Heards was bought by 2 women who are working hard at keeping her spirit alive. After Heards, we would visit Vintage Rose next door which always featured vintage china, hand painted furniture, jewelry, and often just that special "thing" for your garden. Unfortunately, Vintage Rose is no longer there. Sunday I went out with another girlfriend to 4 local Mission Viejo gardens, which was fun. It never ceases to amaze me just how many different gardens and gardeners there are in area.

The biggest garden I saw was in Huntington Beach, and labeled "estate tour". The description in the tour paper said "Tucked away within a condominium complex, this 3/4 acre garden features trellises, a gazebo, fountains and a pond. The property was transformed from a 1930's era working garm to a beautiful colonial garden. You will see over 100 roses, among the thousands of plants including over 40 trees of various species as you walk along bricked pathways, which include raised vegetable gardens. Many of the plants were grown in the large greenhouse. The beauty of the gardens is complemented by a view of southeastern Orange County from over the top of a long white picket fence. " As my girlfriends and I parked our car and walked towards the estate, a lady, walking back to her car after viewing the gardens said "You are in for a treat". Truer words were never spoken. Once you stepped foot onto this property, your breath was taken away. There was almost too much to take in, which I am sure most visitors would agree with. It made you want to go home and dig in the dirt, which I have practically been doing ever since.

In other news, life continues to be super busy around here. I have newfound admiration for all women (and men for that matter) who work and have a family. I never knew it could be so hard to do both. I think it will be a long struggle for me to fully understand that I simply can not do everything I use to. All said, I do love my job and look forward to going to work every day. I know I'm lucky, because not everyone can say that. I'm also appreciative of all the help my family gives me. Thank you guys!

Jerry and Matt are fine. Traffic on Jerry's commute seems to be a bit more sticky than it used to be, making it more of a drag than ever for him I'm sure. Matt's still working hard in school, and at his social life. He visits his friends often on campus, and we're lucky if he has dinner with us once a week. He's a good guy to have around whenever you have heavy things to lift, as he can attest to today; he unloaded 2 heavy bags of potting soil for me. Hey Northern Californian's, can you believe we pay for dirt?

April 24th, 2004

Don't know where the time goes. This last week was super busy at work. I did marketing on my own, made the most delicious toffee/chocolate dessert for 2 big Dr's offices, a total of 18 plates. Hoping to get a lot of referrals from it. Also got a wonderful "Happy Assitant" card from my boss, signed by both him and the PT Assitant. Included in the card was a nice gift certificate for Claim Jumper. Made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Jerry has been enjoying his 3 day weekend so far. Friday he ran errands, and remarked on how nice it was to be out during the daylight hours, as well as on the weekend when there were crowds of people everywhere. He also did laundry, which I appreciate more than I think I let on. I'll take all the help I can get. He's also done a lot of yard work, and washed his new car. Busy guy. Me, I worked on getting my napping down to a science. Very important stuff. We watched "House Of Sand And Fog", a good but very depressing movie. Get the kleenex handy if you want to watch this one. Matt worked about 8 hours for Shooting Stars, shooting baseball games right now. It was super hot here, and he got a bit fried, despite wearing sunscreen. .

April 20th, 2004

Life has been absolutely crazy busy this last week. Between work, marketing for work, and home life, I don't seem to have any down time. I was so tired I went to bed last night at 9, a new record for me! I can honestly still say I love my job though, so that makes me feel very lucky. Jerry and Matt are doing good. Jerry's always my rock, there for me when I'm down or helping out with chores and such around the house. Lucky me. Matt worked this last weekend for Shooting Stars, the 1st time in a while, only to get rained out after 2 hours. Bummer. Hoping he'll get called back this next weekend, as it has been slow for him lately. School is going good for him otherwise. He's working hard at it. We had a great rain storm this last weekend. The news had mentioned we might, but I didn't take much stock in it. It really poured & you could literally see my garden smile. Many of my plants are in full bloom, especially my roses. I planted some candy apple in front of my rosemary hedge in the front yard. I've tried everything there to just give it some color. If this doesn't work, "forget about it" (said with an attitude). My hydrangeas are ready to bloom and it's going to be a show down so grand I may just camp outside to enjoy it. The 3 new hydrangeas I planted are doing great, now I just need to get the rest of my bulbs in the ground. Like I said, never enough time. I go see the Dr. this morning for my checkup. I have a list of questions/complaints to talk to her about, after all isnt' that why I pay her? Best get my butt in gear......

April 12, 2004

Hope every one had a nice Easter. We were laid back, had hamburgers on the grill, watched a bit of the tube and just enjoyed being home. Matt did some gardening for me, which was ever so wonderful. He also helped Jerry replace a broken headlight on the 626 he drives. Jerry replaced the screen in the front door, as well as a few other chores. I worked on my scrapbooking which I haven't done in a long time. Sure enjoy it. Jerry and I spent about 3 hours on my computer getting my website back up and running. Not sure what was wrong, but I wasn't able to load photos & text up as I use to, so I'm struggling to do it via the command prompt. As if I have HTML learned! What a joke. I'm sure I'll work it out, just never seem to have enough time to really sit down and master all of it. Here's my apology for all errors I will probably make in the future. I have new photos in the garden to add, hopefully will find time to load them up. In the meantime, off to breakfast and then Costco, before work. At least the weather is nice. Have a good Monday.

April 9, 2004

Matt did indeed get on the Dean's list for a second time in a row. Jerry and I are very proud of you Matt for working so hard in school and love you lots. Keep up the great work. Speaking of work, I put in 7.25 hours today with the PT Assistant at work, the longest I've ever worked, and it has worn me out! Our boss wasn't in today and we were jamming from 9am until 2pm straight! Yikes! Hard work, but we have such great patients that it's sure worth it. Deb, the PT Assistant is sure a lot of fun to work with too. I am very lucky. Jerry had the day off work, due to his 9/80 schedule. He took my car in for it's smog check, thanks sweetie! He also did laundry, picked me up from work, ran errands, and brought home dinner, while I recouped in the spa and then the couch. That's my man! Thank goodness I have the weekend off to rest. Hopefully Matt will be helping me in the garden tomorrow to earn some money. I bought some plants, which I hope to take photos of this weekend, that are in need of getting in the ground. It rained last night some, which was a welcome surprise. Well, it must be bedtime, I know there's lots more to share, but it's not happening. Goodnite and Happy Easter everyone!

April 3, 2004

Matthew got his grades today for Winter Quarter @ UCI's Claire Trevor School Of Arts, and his dad and I were really impressed. He should get on the Dean's list, once again. Very impressive Matt! We are so very proud of you, keep up the great work!The photo on PitterPat's main page was taken by Alexis in Mammoth last February when they went for a ski trip. Matt is using his new/used camera he bought on ebay a while back, it's a Canon and he's really enjoying using it.

March 28th, 2004

Had a very nice weekend. Went to the Wilson/Pillet weddding in Palo Verde Saturday. Got some nice photos and really enjoyed the whole ceremony and reception. Jerry and I enjoyed dancing, eating and in general being a part of this special event in the Wilson's life. Sara and Ben surely are cute together. They started they week long honeymoon on a road trip up to Yosemite and back. I hope they have a relaxing time. I spent most of today being lazy; read the paper, made some phone calls, talked to my younger brother Dan who just had a birthday. Also talked to my mom, my sis and my 2 girlfriends on the phone, and another girlfriend on line! I puttered in my garden a bit, did a load of laundry and rested a lot, cause I was very tired. I have to work tomorrow afternoon, so I'll head to bed for now.

March 18th, 2004

My goodness have I ever been busy lately. The photo my home page shows me with some dear friends, Beth & Steve Wilson. I recently spent time with them, visiting and having fun helping them get their guest room re-decorated. They have been empty nesters for a while now and with their oldest daughter, Sara, getting married this month and company coming, it seemed like a good time to take out the old and bring in the new. I always feel like part of the family when I'm there and have a great time just being in everyone's company. Thank you Steve, Beth, Sara, Matthew, and Luke. I also got to meet Diana, Luke's adorable girlfriend. She is so nice and we both love Tinkerbell, so how cool is that?

Jerry and Matt went to the Mazda Rev-It-Up event last weekend at the air force base and got to test drive the Mazda 8 and Miada Turbo through an obsticle course. I was in Torrance at the time, but I heard it was pretty darn cool.

I hope to get back on here to write updates soon, and work on different sections of PitterPat. I have so many new pictures to post and so much work to do it feels like I'll never find the time. All in good time.

Work has kept me pretty busy; I'm working about 16 hours a week. I enjoy it a lot, which I know is lucky for me. My house is dirty, but what else is new? The garden is really taking off with all the warm weather we've been having lately. It makes me want to go play in the dirt. A stupid underground mole is making havoc in our garden still. Seems like watering his tunnels isn't helping. Darn.

My friend passed away last week. Bummer. Had a chance to visit with him just a few days before he died. It was good to see him, just wish I'd had a bit more time. Life just isn't fair, is it?

Matt's in finals at UCI and studying hard. I know he's really looking forward to the break between quarters. Jerry's busy at work as always, and helping out more around the house, a welcome treat for me. Lucky me.

More postings later. Time for bed.

March 9th, 2004

Went and saw a friend today who's dying of cancer. He's such a great guy, and while I've only known him for a short while I felt such a connection from the moment I walked into work and met him. He's one of those quiet kind of people, who's sentences are usually weighted with well thought out words. Cancer has changed his life in ways other than the obvious. He said since he found out he was sick he looks at the world in a different light; he's not as cynical, nor as judgemental and he doesn't take every day for granted. I've heard illness can do this to you. I know it certainly has for me. Sometimes people say it's overly dramatic. I think it wouldn't hurt if the world were a little bit more like this in general.

March 5th, 2004

Have a couple days off work, after working long and hard on marketing with one of my boss's. Trying to play catch up with chores and rest. Finally found some time to work on on the garden photo section here, so check it out. Need to learn more about this whole HTML thing, but seem to have very little time. Stupid chores!.

March 1st 2004

As you can see I've have been really busy lately, which is probably why you haven't heard from me lately. Must have been all that time I spent getting ready (snip, tuck, pad....ouch!) I must say for my 1st time on the red carpet at the Academy Awards this last weekend, I was quite comfortable with posing for the photographers. Now back to real life, work, chores, etc. Hope to get some more work done on my website here real soon!

Feb 15th, 2004

We had a nice Valentines Day yesterday. Jerry gave me a big box of chocolates, Yum!, and a wonderfully romantic Hallmark card. The sentiment inside was so sweet, I loved it! I gave him a nice "sweat" outfit, which fit him great. Last week the Orange County Register ran an article about bird watching, and invited people to go on line and record and then submit birds they see in their yards. He spent a while finding the species of birds we have seen, and then created a spreadsheet so he could log the birds in our yard. When he 1st started looking into this there was only 1 listing for Mission Viejo. When Jerry finally submitted our count, there were at least 4, so I guess we weren't the only people in Mission Viejo who read the paper & were interested! Here's where you can go to see this information; BIRDSOURCE Matt's girlfriend, Alexis came down from Berkeley for the long 3 day weekend. Matt made a special sushi dinner for them, which Alexis said was yummy. I finally got around to cutting back the hydrangeas and roses. This is the latest I've ever been in getting this huge task done in our yard. It was simply a matter of time. I will now move on to housework, and a ton of other chores that have been neglected since the whole "bathroom repair" incident happened. I've somehow been keeping up with the laundry. I was goofing off on line tonight, and decided to down load "iTunes". I also bought 3 songs, one of which I've heard on the radio a lot lately and can't get out of my head "Remember When" by Alan Jackson. I know, it's a country song, so the whole secret is out, I listen to county stations from time to time! Get over it. It's a beautiful song that speaks of where Jerry and I are at right now in our lives. Cool.

Feb. 9th 2004

Life has been so exhausting lately. Way too much going on. Rapid burnout is fast approaching. Almost finshed with our bathroom; 2/3 rd done with the painting, and then finished. I must say both bathrooms look very nice. I've been working in the garden, getting everything cut back, although all my plants are budding. ha! Poor confused souls. After being referred to a great little upholstery business and quoted a good price, I broke down and took the infamouse pink queen anne chairs in to get slip covers made out of matalesse. You would be hard pressed to find this small "pop & daughter" run business so I'll tell you where it is, Alicia to Via Fabricante, right at the 5th driveway. They do a spectacular job, and I can hardly wait to get my slipcovers. Thanks Robin for the referal. I'm finally almost over my cold. Started out as what I thought was just my allergies acting up, then went into laringitis, and has been playing havoic with my asthma. I've also been dealing with my stupid & much annoying sciatica. Got an RX for PT (@*#?!!) at work. Let me tell you about the pain.....well, nevermind. Jerry's been trying to play catchup with the checkbook, since most of our money has been going out. Matt's been studying hard, and Hamlet (Matt's cute hamster) has been going crazy for the occassional sunflower seeds I sneak him. He's just too cute as he grabs them out of your hand and crazily munches on them, stuffing the seeds into his already furry little cheeks. Ah, if life were only so easy.

Feb. 2nd 2004

Had a nice anniversary. Both of us took the day off from work. Lazed the morning away till brunch at Mimi's. Then went and saw "Big Fish". In my opinion, it was mediocre. Had dinner at Cheesecake Factory; yummy steaks, brought home cheesecake of course. Nice day for sure. I'd say save it for a Saturday night rental. We're still working on the bathrooms. Finally finished the master/Matt's bathroom this weekend. Installed new hardware, mirror and light, so it looks really nice. Now on to ours. Finished patching the wall, most of the baseboard is down, just have to paint the lower half of the wall and we can move on to the rest. Going to install a new mirror, and light fixture in there as well. Matt had a nice 3 day visit in Berkeley with his girlfriend Alexis. He flew in and out of Long Beach on JetBlue. Nice to have him home again. Well on to working in the garden, then some housework before I have to go to physical therapy and then work. Take a look at the photos to see the new guest bathroom.

Jan. 27th 2004

Seems like all we've been doing here on the Fuller Ranch is repairs. We got Matt's/guest bathroom done, finally. The new floor is down, caulking, baseboards, splashguards around toilet finished. I moved onto painting the entire bathroom. I took down the wallpaper border, stripped the doors on the wall cabinet, and sanded and painted them. I also got a new shower curtain in a pale green damask, a few new green hand towels which complement the off white towels I already had. We replaced some of the hardware as well, so everything looks clean. Jerry laid down the new master bathroom floor this last weekend, along with some of the new baseboards. We both did some of the caulking, so that only leaves a few dozen chores left to finish up. Then I'll get to paint that bathroom. Gosh, I can hardly wait. Jerry also is going to replace the bathroom fans, and install a fax modem on my computer when this is all done. And I desperately want to get to work on the slipcovers for the Queen Anne chairs that I bought in December for the living room. Much to do around here. Jerry and I are both taking Thursday off for our anniversary. We want to go out to dinner somewhere special, but haven't decided on a place yet. With our current budget it might just be McKey Dee's!

Jan. 20th 2004

Things have been a bit hectic around here lately. That's probably an understatement, but I'll stick with it for now. Life actually started becoming hectic the end of the year, when the spa heater quit. Jerry fixed that with a $3 part in a couple of hours. Next, multiple electronic problems; TV & VCR repairs, and now it seems to be plumbing. Strange how as one gets older joy can be found in a new toilet! Yup, we are the proud owners of 2 low flush toilets, a new faucet in the master bath, new flooring in the guest/front bath (and eventually the master bath), and most importantly a new copper T-joint in the wall behind the new master bath toilet. The steps that led up to this new ownership are probably fairly common, still the trauma & stress related to any plumbing problem is on it's own scale. So basically the toilet scenario went like this. Have a little bit of extra money in the bank, hem and haw about what to do with it, make a decision to get the guest/front toilet worked on, & next thing you know, both bathrooms are in turmoil! As if that wasn't enough, the guest/front bath had roots growing down into the line. Those little suckers crept up beside the pipe and down into the toilet!

Jan. 16th, 2004

Learning html, so in the process of redesigning my website. It's lots of fun, but 'tis hard to find the time it requires. Please have patience with me as eventually all my usual sections will be here though the link names may be different.