FarmTown

Ok...I am sooo hooked on playing this little sim game called "FarmTown". It's so much fun. You get to build your own farm by plowing, planting, selling, etc. You can receive and send gifts of trees, flowers and animals. It's a virtual farm! It's so relaxing!! You meet new people who you can hire to harvest for you which gets you more moolah when you sell your crops! You can buy houses and barns and fencing and rivers and windmills and all sorts of things to make your farm awesome! If you are on FaceBook you should check it out! If you are not on FaceBook, or MySpace, you can check it out by going to the website...FarmTown and clicking on the "Play FarmTown" button at the top of the page! Oh so exciting! For my FB friends...join up! The more neighbors you have...the more experience points you can get for visting and tending to your neighbors farms. Add people that you hire to harvest for you to your buddy list (if you want or like them) and then you can hire them again! You can make alot of new friends that way! And get away sometimes from real life and just life the simple farm life!! So c'mon! "Won't you be...my neighbor?"

Nice Photo Op!

Well, we woke up this morning, like normal at 8am. Sitting in the bedroom watching the Fox8 morning news, and Paisley begins barking. It's a different bark, a bark we haven't heard before. Mama hollers out "PAISLEY!". Yet, the pup continues with this barking rampage. So, being the loving mama I am to her, I head into the living room and remind her, as I do so many times, "They are in their yard. They are not bothering you!". "They" being the neighbors dogs, Kayla (a black lab) and Lola (a white lab), both of whom Paisley despises. Anyway, the look on her face told me it wasn't Kayla or Lola, so I step to the door to look out. And what do I see? But a single doe...standing in our neighbors driveway and munching on oaklings. Needless to say, I zoomed into the computer room, grabbed my camera off the charger and flew back into the living room...and this is what I got...







Wow! What a sight that was! It's unusual to see a deer at that time of day so close to a home..or even at all. We've seen them before, but it's been in the early evening time! So naturally, I snapped the above photos before she sauntered on across the road and into the brush where I could no longer see her. Wow! What a beautiful day this could turn out to be!

Long Week...

Well, it has been quite a week so far. G'dad, who had been in a nursing home since early May, passed away on Saturday, June 13, 2009 around 608am. He had been ok Friday afternoon when we went to see him, sleepy, but that's usual for him. He had a small bit of congestion, but we weren't too worried b/c he'd had that before due to the fact that he had trouble swallowing. We went on and went to bowling that night, then about 330am Sat morning, we got a call from the nursing home that they were taking him to the hospital. He was vomitting, high fever and respiratory distress. So, we got woke up and dressed and headed to the hospital. We got there around 430am or so, but they wouldn't let us go back at that time b/c there was a "violent trauma" there the same time, and NO-ONE was going in or out. So, we just waited. We stepped outside for some air and to catch a smoke, when one of the guards came out to find us to let us know we could go in. The triage nurse (the BEST triage nurse we ever encountered there) walked us back to his room. We had decided on the way over that we weren't going to call anyone else, like Uncle Ricky until we knew what was going on. Well, that changed as soon as we walked into the room. When we saw g'dads color (around his mouth and his hands had already started to turn), we knew. Without a word being spoken, I grabbed my cell and dialed my uncle. This was about 520am or so. He got there about 15-20 minutes later. While we were waiting for him to arrive, we both held g'dads hands and talked to him. Me on one side and Mama on the other. Telling him things like "I love you" and "Don't worry, we'll be ok" and "Everything is ok now". He couldn't respond b/c they had him "comfortable" so that he wasn't hurting. About 5 minutes before my uncle got there, the ER doc came in and told us he was critically ill and that he had pneumonia. Well, as soon as we heard that, we knew he wouldn't live much longer. The staff at Moses Cone ER were super during this time, leaving us to our last precious minutes with him. As soon as my uncle arrived, I moved to Mama's side so he could hold his hand and touch him and talk to him. Mama and I were holding one hand, rubbing his shoulders and forehead and telling him we loved him, and my uncle was doing the same. Then, about 5 till 6 or so, he actually stopped breathing. So he drew his last breath sometime within minutes of 6am. We stood there with tears in our eyes as we watched and waited for him to draw another breath, but that didn't happen. Around 608am, his heart finally stopped beating. Mama stopped his watch at that time. The nurse came in at the sound of the alarm, turned that off and checked for a heart beat. Hearing none, he stepped out and summoned the doctor for verification. We left the hospital about 5 minutes later to come home.

We got home, and Paisley, who normally BOUNDS around the fridge to greet us bouncing all the time, slowly walked around the fridge, ears back, a sad look on her face. She knew. She gently placed her two front paws on Mama's thighs and stretched up to give her lovin's...then she did the same to me. She was soooo sweet and gentle. But she knew...she knew her buddy wasn't coming home. She knew he was gone. I think she knew the moment we got the call that he wasn't coming home.

Well, the funeral home called around 8ish to set up a time to discuss his arrangements. We went that afternoon and got everything set up, picked out his casket, memorial information, obit info, etc. Tough stuff. Decided on times, flowers, etc. He wanted a simple graveside service with Military Honors. That's what he got. He didn't really want a visitation, but we thought it best to have one so that any of his nieces and nephews that lived out of town could have a chance to say their goodbyes. So, we had the visitation on Monday night, and the service on Tuesday afternoon.

The day of the service, it poured rain that morning. Then, it slacked up as we were driving to the cemetary. Just as the preacher, Ed "Bless Your Heart" Lawing, began the service, it began to mist.



Kind of like, washing away the old to bring in the new. With the Military Honors, the Randolph County Honor Guard was there to send him a soldiers farewell. Shooting off 3 vollies of 7, playing Taps on the bugle, then presenting the flag to Mama. At the conclusion of the service, the misting stopped. Kind of wild, huh? We hung around for a little bit...talking to friends and family. We came home, and some family came by also and we had a little bit of lunch. When they left, we decided to go back out to the cemetary and take Paisley, so she could say her goodbyes. Boy, did she! She sniffed all the flowers...



...and then, left 2 paw prints in the fresh dirt as if to say, "I love you!"



Ohhh it was precious! At the head of the grave, was an American Flag.



We had her sit there, and she looked towards it, almost like she's at attention!

Anyway, with the arrangement plan for his funeral, we received a link to an everlasting online memorial. I have been working on it, getting it just right, adding pictures, etc. If you would like to check it out, pay your respects, or just have it for memories, you may vist by clicking Walter T. Willard. It is still and will probably be under constant construction and changes. It's really a neat site and wonderful way to memorialize a loved one. There is a picture movie on there as well as just a picture site.

Thanks to all that gave their love, care, support, prayers and thoughts! All are greatly appreciated!

So, here I sit with yet another migraine headache. Or, shall I say, the same one I had yesterday...yeah it returned. I've taken half a 7.5/500 vicodin...hoping that will help. I go see Dr. Smith and Junius today at 2:30. Oh, I haven't told you about them yet, have I? How silly of me! Dr. Smith is a chiropractor, he helps me to manage my back pain through adjustments and such. And Junius...oh Junius...he's a massage therapist. I see him first, before my adjustment by Dr. Smith. Junius helps the fibro pain through deep muscle and tissue massage. Oh it's wonderful. I have cut back to one visit per week, but I think I'm gonna have to bump back up to 2 a week. That helps me alot. Keeps me from getting stiff and sore. And I'm more flexible and able to do a little more with their help. Anyone in GSO or surrounding areas I definately recommend going to see them! They are located on W. Market Street, beside Asahi Japanese restaurant. The sign still says Advanced Integrated Medicine, but they are now HealthSource (no affiliation with the gov't Health Source). If you need some chiropractic care or even massage therapy care, do go see them! And tell em I sent ya!

Ok...migraine is blurring my screen now, so I'm gonna leave it right here and post later!

Just Some Cuties...

I'm Lazy

Ok, so it's been March since my last post, and here it is June. Boy how time flies when you're having fun!

Speaking of fun, let me clue you in on all the fun I've been having since posting last!

Hmm, where to start?

The rest of March was spent in training. Yep, training. Remember how I was unhappy with the program that I was working on through Alpine? I did mention the opportunity in my last post, and the rest of March was training time. From 8am-4pm Monday-Friday for 4 weeks I was training in a virtual classroom. Made alot of friends during training and some of us ended up on the same shifts so we still get to "hang out."

We went "live," well semi-live the 3rd week in April. We spent about 5 days in "nesting." Nesting is a time period where we take live calls, yet we have meetings called "huddles" through out the day, to give us "breaks" from the phones. We also had "SME's" which are System Management Experts to help us out at any time. It was kind of scary hitting the phones, but once I took the first couple of calls, I started to feel more comfortable.

Well, if that wasn't enough on me...

Somewhere around the end of April...G'dad had a massive GI bleed and was in the hospital for about 5 days. We estimate that he lost about half his body volume in blood. He was given about 5 transfusions during the time he was in the hospital. So, I missed work due to that. Then, he came home on a Wednesday, and by Saturday morning, he was back at the hospital.

He had a MASSIVE, and I do mean MASSIVE, stroke. As in, he was completely limp on the left side of his body and couldn't use his left hand, arm or leg at all. He was in the hospital for about 3.5 weeks that time and now he's at Clapp's Nusring Home. He went there for rehab, but he's declined instead of improved. He's soooo not himself. He's become mean and basically, a baby. He has cursed and slapped at us multiple times, actually connecting once with Mama. Those of you that read this that KNOW him, KNOW this is NOT him. We know it's the stroke that's caused it. But it's VERY stressful on us. Especially when we get no emotional support from anyone else. It feels to me, like the rest of the family doesn't care. They say they can't stand to see him there, that it hurts them to see him like this...well DAMMIT! How the hell do they think we feel? Do they think we are some cold hearted bitches that don't hurt every time we go see him? Which is every damn day! And how often do THEY go see him? I think maybe they've been there like 4 or 5 times since he went in to Clapps on May 13th? And we've been every day? Sometimes twice a day?!? That don't make sense!

Ugh...as I sit here typing this up, I have a really bad migraine headache. And getting myself riled up and upset isn't helping it.

Anyway...I promise promise promise I will post more often. Maybe now that things "seem" to be settling down some, I can!!