Tricks-Treats and a whole lot of FUN

It happened, the weekend came and it went and with it was a whirlwind full of FUN. The “little rascals” arrived on Thursday night, which happens to be bowling league night for Huhoney and me. Owen was VERY upset that we were not at home when they got there. He fell asleep 20 minutes before we got home. Lauren was all chatter though and would not go to bed until I tucked her in. (I love it!) All was well…..

I had to work on Friday but the family came and kidnapped me at the office at 11 am. hehehe, it worked out well! We spent the day on Friday just hanging out, went to the Mall and did a little shopping for Ryan. Each one of the rascals got something though. Papa heated up the pool because it still is in the 70’s here, but they didn’t bring their suits and maybe that was a good thing…a cold this time of year is not a good thing.

Papa looks a little grumpy in this picture doesn’t he? I just noticed that LOL, but he actually wasn’t grumpy, he was having a great time making the rascals and the rest of us yummy French Toast for breakfast, which was gobbled up….

Ryan

Owen Lauren

Silly boys you can’t get them to pose they always want to make goofy faces…

Then it was off to "’Staleighs Farm’. This is a place where the kids love to go. It is a working farm and each year they turn it into a playground for the kids. A petting zoo, and rides and even a corn maze which we didn’t venture into this year. We spent a couple of hours there just letting the rascals get good and dirty.

Koltyn loved the animals and loved washing his hands too!

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Owen has his very own calf so right in with the goats and sheep and other animals was not a big deal to him. Everyone loved it!

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Even the big kid had to get into the picture and thought it was funny letting the (dumb) turkey’s peck at his finger….I want you all to remember this photo ok….

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going down the barrel slide was a lot of fun. I thought about it, and probably should have gone done it…my cellulite would have gotten a good beating LOL.

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at the bottom of the slide was a nice soft pile of corn to land into. Lauren even went down the slide…no problem, face first into the corn. It was pretty funny! (you had to have been there).

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round and round on the tire horses, with Mike being the one to make it turn round and round…Owen also helped at one point and when he wasn’t helping was giving out ‘high fives’…

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Yeah, you are thinking WHAT ARE THEY THINKING…this baby thinks he is much older than 18 months and will climb anything and everything….

Papa was really enjoying the kids and watching them have a great time, I just wanted to squeeze him… here is the adorable mom and dad of the adorable “little rascals” and here is ma and pa who were having a wonderful day. The weather could not have been more perfect.

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Lauren was ready to have her wrist band removed, one last sit on the teeter-totter, and then Koltyn was ready in his daddy’s arms ready to go home and take a nap. I think that daddy was ready to go home and take a nap too!

Anyway, Papa found his spot right away when returning to the homestead…..remember the picture of Papa letting the dumb turkeys peck his finger and thought it was funny…..well ya don’t do it in front of a ‘rascal’ that thinks you are his hero…because it just results in this……and it wasn’t pretty…..he was devastated…Owens’ finger was a little too tasty….

I think that is the last time that Papa and Owen will stick their fingers in a pen of really dumb turkeys……

AND YOU THOUGHT THIS WAS THE END OF THIS POST…..NOT HARDLEY….

NEXT: was the gutting of the PUMPKINS to make

JACK-O-LANTERNS

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Oma prepared the faces….and the rascals pulled the slimy insides out, Papa helped the rascals put gloves on, they didn’t like the feel of all the slim..it was pretty funny. The seeds were separated and Mike cleaned, salted and baked the pumpkin seeds for a crunchy snack later.

Of course I had to let little lollipop Lauren play in the “make” (make-up). She will sit for 30 minutes dolling herself up.

It was hard to get all the rascals together and sit still for a second, they were too excited to get going and collect the goods…so this is a snap shot of a quick pic before the ‘great escape’ into sugarland!

2 chickens

1 skeleton

1 puppy

and a fairy princess

PRICELESS!

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The finished JACK-O-LANTERNS turned out pretty good!

This is what was left of the “chicken-man’s” feet

the material of course wore completely out in just a few blocks

And of course good-byes are always hard… here Oma, you can have some of my MEMMUMMEMS (M&m’s)

I am sure that the ride home was a total sugar high for mom and dad and the “little rascals”

Goodbye “little rascals” until next visit!

and last but not least of all my 2 darlings in NC had a great time Trick-or-treating too!

NO HALLOWEEN PICTURES OF THEM THOUGH!

only these I had to COPY from FACE BOOK!

I SURE DO HAVE SOME CUTE GRANDKIDS!

Guilty…

I was also tagged, I think by Marcy probably a couple of other people too! hehe so I better get it done since I never do these tags.  So what do you all really know about me???? good ???

I am so “NOT” a very good person when it comes to talking about meme, and feel guilty for not answering when several have given me the opportunity so here goes:

Six names you go by:

1. Mom/Mother

2. Lindalu

3. Little lulu (as a child and now by Huhoney)

4. Mema (by Brooklyn) Grammy (by Madi)

5. Oma (by all the other grandchildren)

6. “Princess” LOL when I am good….

Three things you are wearing right now:

1. Dark brown dress slacks

2. Copper colored dress jacket (I am at work folks)

3. lipstick! (always)

Three thing you want very badly at the moment:

1. To be completely out of debt (hey just being honest here)

2. For all my children to be out of debt (just being honest once again)

3. For all my blogger friends and village people to be healthy and happy!  (oh and world peace for sure along with a million dollars…you see I have all the other stuff….happiness and love…so …..just being honest once again LOL)

Three things I did last night/yesterday:

1. went to work

2. went out to lunch with Huhoney

3. fell asleep on the sofa when I got home ARGH! then stayed awake half the night because I fell asleep on the sofa when I got home from work!

Two things you did today:

1. Went to work….(boring but thankful for it)

2. Anticipating the arrival of the “little rascals” tonight!

3. Going bowling with the league (snuck that one in)

Two people you talked to on the phone:

1. Well I talk to a lot of people on the phone all day long so…..

2. My sweet beautiful daughter Natalie

Three favorite beverages:

1. A warm cup of tea on a cold winter night

2. A cold glass of anything cold on a  hot summer day

3. I would like to say water….but I don’t like water…so…

I will do the I am the cutest one prize later.  I think this is information overload today for me! LOL  I have a much more interesting post to post about the beautiful weather we have been having!

I'm A Little Tea Cup.... You all know the song…

Love this story or not, you will not be able to have tea in
a tea cup again without thinking of this.

There was a couple who took a trip to England to shop in a
beautiful antique store to celebrate  their 25th wedding> anniversary.
They both liked antiques and pottery, and especially
teacups. Spotting an exceptional cup, they asked "May
we see that?? We've never seen a cup quite so  beautiful."  

As the lady handed it to them, suddenly the teacup spoke.
"You don't understand. I have not always been a
teacup. There was a time when I was just a lump of red clay.
My master took me and rolled me pounded and patted me over
and over and I yelled out, "Don't do
that." "I don't like it!" "Let me
alone," but he only smiled, and gently said;
"Not yet!"

Then WHAM! I was placed on a spinning wheel and suddenly I was  spun around and around and around. "Stop it!
I'm getting so dizzy!? I'm going to be sick!",
I screamed.
 
But the master only nodded and said, quietly; 'Not
yet.'
   
He spun me and poked and prodded and bent me out of shape
to suit himself and then he put me in the oven. I
never felt such heat. I yelled and knocked and pounded at
the door.  "Help! Get me out of here!"
 
I could see him through the opening and I could read his
lips as he shook his head from side to side, 'Not  yet'.

When I thought I couldn't bear it another minute, the
door opened. He carefully took me out and put me on the
shelf, and I began to cool. Oh, that felt so good! "Ah,   
this is much better," I thought. But, after I cooled he
picked me up and he brushed and painted me all over.
The fumes were horrible. I thought I would gag. 'Oh,
please, Stop it, Stop, I  cried.
 
He only shook his head and said. 'Not yet!'.
Then suddenly he put me back in to the oven. Only it was
not like the first one. This was twice as hot and I
just knew I would suffocate.  I begged. I pleaded. I screamed. I cried. I was convinced I  would never make it. I was ready to give up. Just then the  door opened and he took me out and again placed me on  the shelf,  where I cooled and waited and waited, wondering  "What's he going to do to me  next?"

An hour later he handed me a mirror and said 'Look at
yourself.'  And I did. I said, “That's not me; that couldn't
be me. It's beautiful. I'm beautiful!!!”
 
Quietly he spoke: "I want you to remember, then,'
he said, 'I know it hurt to be rolled and pounded and
patted, but had I just left you alone, you'd have
dried up. I know it made you dizzy to spin around on the
wheel, but if  I had stopped, you would have crumbled. I know it hurt and it was hot and disagreeable in the oven, but if I hadn't
put you there, you would have cracked. I know the fumes were
bad when I brushed and painted you all over,  but if I hadn't done that, you never would have hardened. You would not have had any color in your life. If  I hadn't put you back in that second oven, you  wouldn't have survived for long because the  hardness would not have held. Now you are a finished product. Now you are what I had in  mind when I first began with you."
 
The moral of this story is this:

God knows what He's doing for each of us. He is the
potter, and we are His clay.
How different we all are like a tea cup!

He will mold us and make us and expose us to just enough pressures of just the right kinds  that we may be made into a flawless piece of work to  fulfill His good, pleasing and perfect   will.

So when life seems hard, and you are being pounded and  patted and pushed almost beyond endurance; when your  world seems to be spinning out of control; when you feel  like you are in a fiery furnace of trials; when life seems  to "stink", try this:

Brew a cup of your favorite tea  in your prettiest tea cup, sit down and think on this  story  and then, have a little talk with the  Potter.

 

Gone tooooo long…..

Oh my goodness, the time has just gone by so quickly.  First off I want to thank EVERYONE for being sooo kind and thoughtful and keeping me in all of your prayers.  PRAYER is so powerful and I felt the love from family and friends.

As you know by now, surgery on October 2nd was quite the event!  A little recap and please forgive me…journaling for posterity may be boring to some!

Enter the hospital at 7:45.  Go to admission.  Sit in the waiting room.  Wait for only 15 minutes.  Get called back into dressing room.  Get in pretty blue and white gown.  UH OH, stomach is starting to growl.  I am hungry.  Too bad.  Girl comes in, asks me my name and BD.  Takes my vitals.  Does an EKG on me.  Says my heart is in great shape. (well that’s good, what if it hadn’t been could I have gone home?).  Asks which arm I want the needle stuck in.  I tell her, good luck no one can ever find a vein but I am sure you can since you WORK in the hospital.  NOPE can’t find a vein in my arms.  I am sure I have one….they are just deep.  OK, I give you permission to stick it in the top of my hand.  She is very gentle and good.  It pricked only a little.  HUGE TEARS WELL UP IN MY EYES.  Not because it hurt, but because I am finally realizing this is the point of no return.  Huhoney, gets tears in his eyes too. (I should have had him take pictures of the whole thing..but I didn’t really think of it until now LOL)  We wait.  She asks if I have to potty.  YEAH.  come back to my little cubby.  NO I don’t want to watch tv thank you.  We wait some more.  In comes the doctor and goes over the procedure.  He anticipates about a 2 or 3 hour surgery.  In comes the anesthesiologist.  He says I will start to feel sleepy.  OK, no problem.  “WOW THIS IS GOOD STUFF, WHAT ARE YOU GIVING ME, HONEY THIS IS REALLY GOOD STUFF, I LIKE THIS STUFF, WHAT IS THIS STUFF”? they start wheeling me down the hall, “YEAH WOW WHOOOO I AM FEELING REALLY GOOD” (Huhoney says that I wouldn’t shut my mouth, I kept telling them how good I was feeling all the way down the hall to surgery, he is behind me calling out “I LOVE YOU HONEY, EVERTHING WILL BE OK….” and I am just rambling on  “OK HONEY, WOW, THIS IS GOOD STUFF, WHAT DID YOU GIVE ME, YEAH I AM FEELING GOODDDDDDDDDDDDD…..” Can you get on this other bed for us Linda….”SURE” I AM FEELING GOOD!”, here says the nurse, lets put this pretty little blue cap over your hair….OK…(I think in the background they are going to try and hurry and shut me up….) THEN ALL OF A SUDDEN…LIGHTS OUT.  I didn’t wake up until around 6 when I was in my room.  The surgery took 7 long hours.  Yep the 2 hour surgery ended up an all day-er.  Over 50 tumors were removed.  He stopped counting he said.  He was an excellent surgeon who called in 2 other surgeons after 3 hours.  All went well.  They did not remove all of the tumors.  They were just too deep and didn’t want to disturb the main nerve to my face.  Nice of them don’t you think?  I still have full function on my facial nerves.  My ear lobe is numb and probably will never regain its feeling.  Not a biggie.  My face along my chin is numb, that may come back after time.  I actually asked the surgeon (who is also a plastic surgeon) to suck some of the extra fat out from under my chin….but he didn’t.  Oh well.  No extra nip and tuck.  Even though he filleted my face back.  I looked pretty bad the first several days.  But I am back to my old self once again.  Good ole pain killers helped for the first week or so.  Work was still there waiting for me. (sigh) life is the same.  life is good.  All is well.  Because they did not remove all the tumors and these are benign tumors (thank goodness) they will still continue to grow.  Can we prevent the growth.  YES, we can.  But I would have to be treated with radiation therapy.  I am weighing the options and praying for the right resolve as to what to do.  A lot to think about over the next couple of months as I heal.  I will let you know what we decide.  So much to think about. this pic is the day I went home (2nd day) and there was a tube in my next for drainage.  GROSS HUH.  NOT a pretty picture.  The drain was left in for 3 days then removed.

still have my smile and no droopy eye or mouth!

and today….not so bad huh!

I AM SOOOOO BLESSED!

Once again….thank you ALL for your prayers and well wishes!