Home of Fish Lines, by Lila Fish
JUNE 23, 2006
Birthdays
are fun, if you don't really count how many you've had! Wednesday
night we all got together on the occasion of my 76th. Sarah
baked a low-carb cake, which was really good, and which she served
with ice cream. We ate the left-overs from Father's Day,
and all had a great time. The babies are now 4 months
old and such fun to play with-- I shall always regard them as my
personal Birthday Presents, even if they were born a few months
earlier! Being a Great Grand is truly grand! And I have received
so many cards from family and friends, which are also so nice to
have. Thank you all!! After all these years, I
have just about everything and don't really need gifts. Besides,
at this stage of my life, every day is a major celebration!!!
Last
night Linc took me out to dinner and to the circus. We had
planned to go to a fancy restaurant, but it was pouring out when
we got to the restaurant, so we elected not to get out of the car.
Instead, when the weather let up we had dinner at the North Market,
which in truth, I really enjoyed, and then we went on to the Circus.
It stopped raining just before we arrived, and we were able
to remain dry as we made our way in. The circus was small,
but fun, and we enjoyed it all.
Tonight Grandson,
David is coming over for dinner, and we will continue to celebrate,
as he will bring Linc a Father's Day gift and will also bring me
a Birthday gift from his mother, our daughter, Carol! Not bad, being
able to party from Saturday (the luncheon at the tea room)
through Friday!
Cathy was supposed to
come over and we were going to finish up her daughter's wedding
today but it is raining out and she is having car trouble, so we
have postponed our 'work day' until next week sometime. I
only have a few bows left to do for her centerpieces and we will
be finished. I can easily make them this week-end and we will
truly be finished.
JUNE 19, 2006
Relief
at last! At least for now, anyway. I am up to 200mg
of Ultram ER and finally my system seems able to tolerate it. I
still feel a little nauseous at times, but nothing I can't live
with! At least I only seem to be in pain when I walk, and
I do think I can handle that!
I was able to actually
enjoy my week-end! On Saturday, 5 of us with June Birthdays
celebrated with other friends at the Tea Room in Lithopolis. Linc
and I had gone over previously and paid for a carrot cake, which
I thought at the time was rather expensive. But when they
brought it to us (with a candle !) at the table, I was so pleased
to see how large it really was! There were 9 of us there and we
each had a generous slice (the cake consisted of 3 layers)
and I still brought home half of it for Linc. It was huge
and delicious! And I was pretty nearly pain-free, so all and
all it was a fun outing!
On Sunday we went to Chris
and Carrie's for Father's Day. It was a lovely day, with
4 generations present! Chris and TJ were positively beaming
on their very first Father's Day! Rob also celebrated Father's Day
and of course, it was his first as a Grandfather, and Linc
was the wonderful Patriarch - Father, Grandfather and Great Grandfather!
We had a wonderful time! The girls were precious as
always, and we had so much food left over that we took it all
over to Rob's where it was refrigerated and we will enjoy it again
for Family Night which just happens to also be my 76th Birthday!
It is hard to believe that our babies are nearly 4 months
old. Actually, Audry will hit the 4 month mark tomorrow, and
Allison's "Big 4" will be celebrated Friday. I am ever glad that we decided to
leave our lake home, as lovely as it was, and return to Ohio and
most of our family!
JUNE 12, 2006
The
Screen Saver on my computer reads, "If you laugh it doesn't
hurt so much." Well, that may be true most of the time,
but these past few weeks have been terrible for me! I am finally
off the Cymbalta for my Neuropathy. My system seems to have built
up a resistance to it, and it was doing nothing so far as the
pain in my feet is concerned. The 300 MG of Ultram ER was
too much - I was really in La La Land the day I tried it-not to
mention that I vomited twice! So now I am only taking
a 100 MG dosage of the Ultram which we will bump up to 200
MG in 6 more days . Hopefully my system will tolerate
the larger dosage and maybe I'll be "pain-free" for a
while. Unfortunately, the 100 MG dosage is not strong enough,
so I really hurt most of the time! Add to that the fact that I have
put off making a dental appointment since we moved back to
Ohio, and all of a sudden everything in my mouth hurt! On
Friday I finally went to a dentist in CW, and now my teeth
are cleaned and 2 of them have been filled, and my bite has been corrected
( again!) - so that another tooth that has been bothering
me now seems to be ok. Needless to say, it has been a long, painful
week-end, but I think, finally, my mouth is all set for another
6 months! Now if we could just alleviate the pain in my feet...
Thank goodness for the flowers I am doing for Cathy's
daughter's wedding! It helps to keep busy, so I have most
of the Bouquets done , all of the Boutonnières and a few of
the corsages. (My dresser drawers and closet shelves are
also as neat as can be!!) We hope to finish up everything
on Thursday.
But I have not been to Family Night
or seen the babies in over two weeks! I just haven't been
up to it with all the pain and discomfort I've been in. But
tonight Rob is coming over for dinner and it will be good to see
him, at least!
Today we planted Tomato Plants and some
flowers in a "Patio Garden" for small spaces, given to
us by Margaret. The tomato vines actually hang up-side-down. The
soil and other flowers are on top. We also filled
another planter with flowers, so the patio out back now looks
prettier!
MAY 28, 2006
I guess Summer
Is Here!! It's pretty warm out today! And we have surely
had a lot of goings on lately. Linc and I spent nearly a week
at Salt Lake City, visiting Katie and Dave. And we did have
a great time. The mountains there are something to see. Totally
unlike any around here, and of course, in SLC the
mountains are everywhere. Some still are wearing their white
winter caps! We did a lot of sight seeing, including the Great
Salt Lake, Park City, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, a huge Copper
Mine, Ski Lifts in the Mountains, and of course, the Mountains,
the Mountains the Mountains! And of course, now when we think
of Katie, we can actually place her in her home. Built in
the 1800's, Katie's home is lovely. She and Dave have a lot
of work to do, but have also done a lot, and it's a very nice place
to live!
Yesterday, Linc and I went to our
favorite Winery, Glen Raven, near Cochocton, and so now are set
for a while! It is a pleasant drive there, and we always enjoy
the trip. We stopped in Dresden Ohio and wandered through
the stores. I have never seen so many Longaberger Baskets.
Mostly discontinued ones, but still rather pricey! But
it was a nice day for a trip, and then we stopped and had dinner
at Uno's in Pickerington.
We also found a Pier I
Outlet Store, and I intend to go back there this week and
pick up a few items for the top of the big TV that Margaret gave
us! Hopefully, we will also be able to find a seat cushion
for our Ethan Allen Rocking Chair there!
Tomorrow
David is coming over for a visit, so I guess I will make some Corn
Pudding for him! He is in the middle of Finals and will be
a Senior at OSU next year. Or maybe he is finally finished
with Exams??? In any case, we sure hope he stays in the Columbus
Area after he graduates.
Haven't seen the babies in a
while, but hope we will be able to remedy that situation this week
sometime!
Babe called a while ago, and it always
brightens my spirits when I talk to her. I love being near
the family - but how I miss our Lake friends and all of my
activities there!
But I am going to do Cathy's daughter's
wedding flowers and I guess that will keep me out of trouble and
busy for a while!
MAY 16, 2006
Linc
and I had such a nice day, yesterday! Sarah brought Audry
for a visit and we even got Grampa to hold her! She was a
little angel--smiling and "talking" to us most of the
time. Very few tears, although one can easily tell that she
is tired. Apparently she doesn't sleep much during the day,
which does tend to make poor Sarah worry! But apparently TJ
didn't sleep much during the day as a baby, and still doesn't require
much sleep as an adult, so I guess Audry comes by the 'sleepless'
trait honestly! Anyway, we truly enjoyed our visit with both
Audry and Sarah. Thank you so very much, Sarah! (Molly is still
checking out all those 'interesting' baby odors.)
And Sunday was Mother's Day. Rob and Linc both
gave me flowers and cooked a wonderful steak dinner for me. We
had such a lovely day! I opened Carol's gift to me, and it
is a beautiful pewter Fish Pendant that she bought for me while
in Ireland. I am truly blessed to have such a wonderful family.
MAY 02, 2006
Haven't
seen "the family" since the picnic for Brian. Chris has
put pictures of Allison on his Web Page and they are adorable. But
if Sarah has added any new pictures of Audry, I can't find them! I
imagine Sarah is pretty busy though as Carrie is back to
work part time, and on the days when Carrie is working, Sarah now is tending both Audry and Allison,
who are just three days apart in age,
But
I have managed to keep busy just the same. We bought a new
Comforter set for the bedroom, which just happened to include
pillows, shams, drapes and valances. It really does look
nice in there, now. And then I made a new shower curtain,
window curtains and a slipcover for my chair in the bathroom. We
also finally found some rugs that are washable and my chair rolls
over them without causing a lot of 'bunching up'. So I think I am
finally 'finished' in there as well.
Yesterday
I went to lunch with 6 other Red Hatters to celebrate Gloria's Birthday.
She received a lot of nice gifts, and I'm proud to say that
my gift was one that received a lot of positive reactions from all!
Yesterday Rob brought the moving
van with all of Margaret's belongings on it, and he and Chris installed
her BIG ( 47" wide by 37" tall picture!) TV. Margaret
says it is too big for her house and wanted us to have it. We
are really enjoying it immensely!
By the way, eating
a banana before bedtime only worked the first time I tried it! (Sorry,
John Tesh!) The pain in my feet wakes me up several times
at night, making sleep difficult, and it is so-o painful to walk on them! Oh
well, find something to laugh about, Lila. It really does
help!
APRIL 24, 2006
It's been
a pretty busy week! We had our Family Night at Rob's and everyone
was there! I brought a "boughten" casserole, and
salad, but did make an apple cobbler which everyone seemed to enjoy.
Then, on Friday, David came over for lunch, which we truly
enjoyed. He is a pleasure to Linc and me both! Saturday,
we went with the Red Hats to Roscoe Village. I had never been
there, but since we used to have yearly memberships at Ohio Village
(now, pretty much open only for special occasions, much to our disappointment!)
most of what we saw at Roscoe was 'old hat'. except for the information
on the old canal system, which was pretty interesting. Actually,
Canal Winchester was a part of the system, and there are old locks
in Groveport as well. However, the shops in Roscoe were modern
stores with typical merchandise for the visitors. I didn't
find anything I had to have, although there were lots who did!
Then, yesterday we took a bunch of food to Rob's again,
and everyone else brought some as well, so we had a great picnic
in honor of Brian's visit to 'meet' the two babies! Emily and Andy
Replogle came over with their 2 year old, Hanna, and we had a nice
time. Josh had to go to Indianapolis, so we didn't get to
see him until evening. Actually, we didn't get home until
after my bedtime and I can never go to sleep the minute we get home
from someplace, so expected to be awake for at least an hour.
But listening to John Tesh on the radio on our way home, we
learned that eating a banana at bedtime was a surefire way to get
to sleep. And guess what! It worked! I ate a banana
and went almost right to sleep. And slept in late this morning!
In fact, when I awakened the phone was ringing and it was
Babe, from Lynchburg, VA. Linc brought me my coffee and Babe
and I must have talked for nearly an hour!
Linc
and I have been busy dusting (me) and vacuuming (him) and
putting the house in order since our cleaning gal didn't come as
scheduled on Saturday. So, here it is, nearly
noon, and I still have to get ready to 'face the day'!
APRIL 17,2006
We had
such a nice day yesterday. Rob and Margaret, Chris ,Carrie
and Allison helped us celebrate Easter. Allison was so
charming and her smiles really tickle us all! I think
everyone held her-except Linc! And Grandfather Rob (
yes, our son is now a grandfather - so hard for me to believe!)
will do just about anything to hold her! Anyway,
I cooked for two days, Linc cleaned up behind me, and dinner was
delicious, of course. And Margaret taught us a silly new game
with the hard-boiled eggs! It rained in the morning,
but the weather was fine by the time they all got here.
We had Family Night at Rob's again last week, and will probably
continue having it there until the new mothers feel comfortable
about driving down here with the little ones. It's good
to get together again and find out who's doing what.
Carrie
goes back to work, part time, this week and Sarah will take care
of Allison along with her Audry. I have volunteered to be
available to help out for a while if she needs me. We'll just
have to wait and see. I suspect that with two babies, only
three days apart in age, Sarah will have her hands full!
In
the meantime, Spring seems to finally have arrived here in central
Ohio, and the flowering trees and green grass, along with the lovely
yellow jonquils are a pleasure to behold!
APRIL 7, 2006
I can't
seem to wake up today! Linc had a Dr.'s appointment this morning,
so I got up early (for me!) ate a little something and then accompanied
him. We had to drive up to the northern end of Columbus, and
I waited for him in the car with a book to read. I fell asleep
and woke up just before he came out! Then we went to Whole
Foods and bought some of our favorite coffee (expensive, but oh,
so good!) We decided to get something good for lunch at Whole
Foods
and take it home rather than stop somewhere. It was very good,
so I'm glad we did!
But then I took a long
nap again! My neuropathy is pretty bad today, too, so it's
probably just as well that I was able to sleep. Yesterday I had
my hair cut, and we bought new down pillows, hoping that it would
help me to sleep better at night. Unfortunately, it
didn't work. My aching feet wake me up at night, often. I
don't think the new pills, Lyrica, are doing me any good, and as
they are so expensive, I think I will call my Dr., and work my
way off of them when it's time for this prescription to be renewed. But
we went to a restaurant in Gahanna last night, and had an excellent
dinner!.
Family Night this week was great,
too. It was the first one since our two little girls made their
appearances, and they were both so-o good. Not a peep out of either
one! In fact, they slept the whole time except when they were feeding.
I held Audry for quite a while. She smiles and sort
of giggles in her sleep. Allison was held by her grandfather,
so I didn't get a chance to be with her. Just wait until next
time!
And David brought Amanda to Family Night,
finally! She is a lovely girl and seems very nice. I
just hope we didn't scare her away! There are eight of us,
plus the two babies now, so I guess we can be intimidating. But
I certainly hope she realizes just how glad we all were to meet
her! Come back again, Amanda!
MARCH 31, 2006
Chris' web page has the
cutest pictures of our babies together! I haven't seen them
in about a week, I guess, but I have been assured that all is well
with them, and Chris is so-o good about posting pictures of them
so we can all watch their progress!
We picked up Rob at
the airport Wednesday. Margaret may have sold her house in
Florida and if so, will be moving back to Chicago. I do wish
she would move to Columbus, so Rob wouldn't go to Chicago every
week-end! We are so fond of her, too, and would love to be
able to see her more often! And I am sure the whole family
agrees!
Grandson, David surprised us with a visit Wednesday
night, and joined us for soup and sandwiches. We always enjoy
David and hope to meet his girl friend soon! (Did you read that,
David?)
Then yesterday, we got another pleasant
surprise! Tee and Bill were in town, visiting her brother.
They came down and the four of us went out to lunch. The
company was superb. The lunch (at least mine) was not so hot.
We had gone to O'Charley's and I had a hamburger that was
terribly dry! It is always so good to see Tee and Bill. We
usually go to Myrtle Beach with them, but this year they were off
celebrating Tee's birthday. (I won't say which one!) and since were
expecting the babies soon, we went by ourselves the early part of
February. Which of course, turned out to be the thing to do,
as anyone who reads my Blog already knows that we became Great Grands twice
within 3 days in February and were here for the wonderful events!
MARCH 24, 2006
Who says the Ballet
isn't simply wonderful? Gloria gave me her ticket to the Ohio
Theater and we picked up Shirley and Helen on our way. Then Linc
dropped us off yesterday morning to watch the dress rehearsal
of the Ballet. We saw three productions, and I would be hard
pressed to tell you which one I enjoyed best. Today's paper
gave the third production, Stars and Stripes absolutely rave
reviews. While this is very true, the other two productions
we saw--Play and Lambarena, were equally impressive
so far as I was concerned! After the Ballet, we all went to
Pickerington for lunch at Uno's, which as usual, was very good.
So a great day it was, indeed.
Of course,
on Wednesday, Linc and I went to Sarah's to visit with her and baby
Audry. Carrie was nice enough to bring Allison over to join
us and to say that I had a great time, is putting it mildly. We
were there a little over two and a half hours, and I held either
Audry or Allison the whole time! They are both one month
old, now, such pleasures to behold. They both had their eyes
open most of the time, and neither one of them objected strenuously
to my holding them (except when 'meal time' came around and
I had nothing to offer them!) Fortunately, (for me) they both
were not hungry at the same time! Anyway, I can't think of
a better way to spend the day! Being a great grandmother is
definitely a great thing to be!
MARCH 21, 2006
Yesterday
was the first day of Spring, and it is snowing out as I write
this! Not much sticking as the roads and sidewalks are too
warm, but it is cold out there!! Personally, I can hardly
wait for the weather to warm up a bit.
It is hard
to believe that Audry was one month old yesterday and Allison will
be one month old tomorrow! We have certainly enjoyed every
minute that we have spent with them! There is nothing
I enjoy more than holding them. Either one of them!
I have decided that Allison looks like my side of the family
- my nephew Ed, to be exact, so I have e-mailed him some pictures
and am now awaiting a reply! Audry, I think, resembles TJ's
side of the family. Of course, they are both so little that
I could be wrong. Time will tell! Sarah tells me that Audry
is "cooing" a little. I can't wait to see her. The
other day I spent a great deal of time holding and talking to Allison.
She is so sweet! I think that the one I am holding at the
time is my favorite! But they are both wonderful little beings,
and I am ever amazed at their perfection!
March, 13,2006
I see
that it has been some time since I've written, but we have
been so busy having fun with the new babies! For those of
you who are uninformed, Sarah and TJ Kauffman are the proud parents
of Audry Harper, born February 20, while her cousin, Allison came
along just three days later, much to the pleasure of her
parents, Chris and Carrie Fish. Both little girls are adorable
and doing fine! Allison got off to a rocky start, though--she
had too much fluid in her little lungs, making it difficult to breath and
so was taken to ICU and put on oxygen. Allison's Mom and Dad
visited with her as often as allowed, but had to leave the hospital
without her! But she is home, now, making up for lost time, and
all seems to be fine. In the meantime, Linc and I ("Great
Grandparents", thank you very much!!) have visited with them
both as often as we dared without being too "pushy". Honestly,
I could hold either one of the babies for hours!
Carol
and Katie came in this weekend, and while we were so glad to have
them here, we know that the sole reason for their visit
was to meet the two darling girls! Actually, Linc and I benefited
greatly by their visit as we were able to go over and visit with
the little ones as well! In fact, on Saturday night I took dinner
over and we finally celebrated our 3 February Birthdays and Valentine's
Day as well. Now we have two more February Birthdays, bringing
the total to 5! Audry was born on Carrie's birthday,
and then, of course, along came Allison! What fun!!
Carol
had to return to Michigan on Sunday (she leaves for work in Ireland
on Friday!) but Katie is over at Sarah's right now, enjoying both
babies, as Carrie and Allison are there as well. Lucky, lucky Katie!!
I
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