Casey is home!!

I took Casey and Rocky out for a walk in a really neat park this morning. They loved it and it was just like old times, just me and the two boys. Note in this last pic the cool rainbow at the bottom of the picture, that says it all!!

Love Di

Been layin low........

Had to post this pic as Sunday is our 1 year anniversary of the first day Tony and I met in person!! We met during the sweet 16 games, our teams were playing on the same night, just not each other; the Cards and Xavier. We met at the BW3's in Highland Heights, Tony drove for 1.5 hours to watch the two games with me and have a beer and then he drove home. Goodness, that should have been a sign of a great guy in itself. Who would have dreamed that a year later we would have been married for 3 months!! Seems like a whirlwind courtship but in reality it was just right. We didn't want to waste one more minute not being married! And we have turned out to be the perfect people for each other, even our kids get along great.

I've been laying low the last couple of days, trying to get my back to stop spasming. I over did it at the gym earlier in the week and have paid dearly. I did get on the mini tramp yesterday for a few minutes just to do something, that didn't hurt but this am I woke at 4 with bad pains. I have to stop acting like I don't have a herniated disk before I end up in bed.

Casey will more than likely be in Indy on Sunday. There are horrid storms through MT and ND and they are moving slowly. They also have a stop in St. Paul to unload so that will take some time. Can't wait to see my baby, he will be tired from all that riding I am sure.

You all have a great day, I have more bookkeeping to do and then I am done, whooo hooo!

peace and love, oh and have a great weekend if I don't get on again.

Di

This is better...........

This is the Peobo resist that I wrote about last time. The gold line is very pretty and it comes out of the tube easily, doesn't run and give you a nice fine line. In the moving I lost the little pamphlet of directions on how to use this but I looked it up in my Dharma catalog, I do have to iron this resit to fix it to the silk, no biggie, this silk scarf will not be washed so I have no chance of washing out the silk paint with this method. These colors, this bright will always stay this bright, think I have come across a plan............finally!!

I bought 4 silk scarves from Dharma, 9" x 54", all blank white, ready for painting/dying whatever. So I will hopefully get at least two done this week for our trip to Alb. Mom and Deb will love them.

Our doggie Casey will be given to the transport guy today by my Mom in Seattle. We are very excited to have him coming home. Amy was here yesterday to pick up Jake and have a little cookout with us all. She is sooo hyped up, she hasn't seen her doggie in over 3 years!! Tony and I will travel to Indy on Friday (we think) to get him from the guy as he passes through on his way to northern Ohio. Mom is already on her way to Seattle, I talked to her this am. She has so many doggie things she is sending along, plus his big kennel that we used to ship him on the plane out there. This guy is going to really wonder when he sees all that stuff!

We had a blast with Jake this weekend. Scott ended up staying with us for Sat and Sun instead of going with his mother to her friend's house. That poor kid gets drug along to the weirdest places with her and her lady friends. We took Jake and Scott with us to church and Scott was such a help with Jake. Of course Jake pulled the "I have to pee" thing in the middle of mass and Scott volunteered to take him.

We had everyone over for a cookout during the Cards vs Sienna game and it was great fun. Amy had Sarah and Kyle come too as they both go to school at U of L and they were in town. Lots of kids, lots of food and lots of fun. I always wanted more kids but of course Don wouldn't allow it, once we had one of each that was the end of kids. It used to make me sad but not anymore, now I have the bigger family that I always wanted and I am loving it!!

Have a great spring day everyone!
Di

This didn't work too well..............

First off, Happy Anniversary to Tony and me!! Today is our 3 month anniversary, man how time flies when you are having fun, lol!

Here is a pic of my little sample piece of silk that I tried the gel glue resist method on. This is a shot before I washed out the gel. Well, sorry to say that this method did not work on silk and with silk paint. I had to wash it so vigorously to get all the gel resist lines out that I about wore out the silk and the silk paint faded horribly. These colors are nice and bright in this pic but the finished piece looks like an old dirty rag!! I think this gel might work better on cotton with real dye as you don't have to steam cotton to set the dye. Dye is the way to go as it sets very well and does not fade at all, and the colors are super vibrant. In the directions for this method the lady used cotton, so cotton might be the only way to use this gel glue.

So today I am trying another trial on a different reist, this is a commercial water based gutta from Peobo. I have three tubes that I have never opened, it makes a very fine nice line, I tried it on paper last night. This resist you do not wash out, it comes in colors like gold and silver and copper and it shiney and really neat stuff. It adds a really pretty fine line in color for the design, I am excited to try it. For color I am going to try dying the piece in kool aid, you can get some awesome effects in kool aid on silk. I have to boil the silk piece so hopefully the gutta will stay, I'm crossin my lil fingers.

Lil Jake comes to spend the weekend with us so I have lots to do to ready the house for him. Scott has been here this past week, first time he has spent 5 consecutive days with us and it was fun. He is a great kid. His Mother had to keep him on the phone for 1 hr. last night with her non-stop nonsense. She is the most combative person I have ever met, even beats out my ex and that is saying a lot.

You all have a great day and enjoy our last day of winter!!

Di

Hey guys

Hey guys, no time for photos today. I have so many things on my plate that it boggles my wee mind. I am trying to get at the pieces of silk that I bought from Dharma so that I will have Mother's Day gifts in hand when I get to Albqueruque for Easter. So much easier than mailing them later. But, alas..............that means I have to actually create the little masterpieces first!!

One of my Mother's contacts in art out in Port Angeles gave me a really great heads up on a technique for using a resist on silk that is NOT toxic and therefore going to be really good for me. It is plain ol gel glue, the kind you give kids to use, who wudda thunk it! I previously used melted wax for a resist but the smell and toxicity of melted wax is just to high of a price for me to pay. Plus, in this house there is no basement to hide in and create a mess in so anything I melt is smelly all over the house. The 4....soon to be 5 doggies and Tony and the kids cannot all wear a facemask all day!! Well maybe they could and maybe it would be super cute to see us all in them but that ain't gonna happen, ha!

So my focus today is #1 go to my fitness instruction apt. at LAC (Louisville Athletic club) #2 finish the trials on this new resist and use my best paints so I can see if it works #3 MAKE AT LEAST ONE OF THE DESIGNS on the silk scarf so that I am feeling like I am making progress on this quest.

It is raining here today so I won't be tempted by outside stuff. Like yesterday when Derek and I went to Auto Zone and bought oil and all the stuff to change my oil. That was actually really fun and REALLY MESSY!!

Oh by the way, I do not have YO's email address. I read all of her posts but can't post to her blog and wanted to email her but alas it is not in my mail box. Can someone please email me at dmenglert@bellsouth.net her email address.

Thanks and hugs all around!

Di

Casey is coming home!!!

My step Dad Bob with Casey in Port Angeles, WA.

This is a picture of Casey and Amy taken some years ago when we lived in Alexandria. Casey was/is Amy's dog. She begged and begged for this dog from the pet store, we had to visit it several times a week as a puppy in a large litter. It turned out that this little guy was the runt and the very last dog left. The owners of the pet store said to one of the workers, " if that lady and girl come to see that dog again just give him to them", so that is how we ended up with Casey. Don always called him the most expensive free dog ever. We built a $3500 fence for our yard and the main reason was so Casey could have a great fenced yard to bark in. lol!

Casey was my constant companion when I first got sick, he slept with me in the bed when Don would go to work and I was first bed ridden and at home. This went on for almost a year I was so heavily medicated to stop moving that I slept almost constantly. Casey would jump in the bed with me and snuggle next to me to comfort me. Many days I spent crying to him and holding him wondering if I would end up in a nursing home I was in such a horrible state with the Dystonia. When I started to get better we adopted a little friend for Casey, Rocky our little Chihuahua, they were fast friends and had so much fun together. Casey was a gently giant to our little 1.6 lb tiny baby puppy, he would let Rocky lay with him for naps it was so cute. Our two cats at the time would always snuggle with Casey too for naps, he was just the most loveable dog ever.

Fast forward to Don kicking Amy and me and little unborn Jake out of our family home. He said and take that "damn dog with you" so we tried to do just that but non of the apts. that I could afford on disability would allow 50 lb dogs. So my mother and step-Dad who had just lost their two sweet yellow labs to old age said they would take him in for a year for us. This was such a blessing for us and turned out to be a really amazing blessing for them. They missed their two big labs so much, they had them since they were pups when they died so they had not been without pets for many years. Casey fit right in and helped heal the wounds and losses from the "boy's" deaths.

Then that very next March 18th our dear step-Dad Bob passed on from brain cancer. Yes, today is the anniversary of Bob's death, he has been gone 3 years now. Casey has been a constant companion to Mom these 3 years and has brought her so much comfort much like he did for me when I was so bad and in bed. At 75 years young she can no longer care for Casey like she used to be able to when Bob was there, she can't get down on the floor to brush him and she can't lift him. And Casey is getting older and needs special arthritis meds and has trouble walking so he is now quite a bit more expensive than he was 3 years ago. I called Amy and asked her what she thought about taking Casey back home to us and of course she said, "yes, Mom do it, we need Casey back". So I told Mom I would look for a ground transport to bring Casey back home to us and we finalized a good transport for him yesterday.

Casey will be coming home on Monday of next week, driving with a moving company driver on his way to a move from Seattle to Ohio. He will sit in the cab with the driver and keep him company on the trip. I will meet up with the truck in Indianapolis and get Casey from him there. This awesome sweet dog is now making it back to us full circle. We can now care for him in his older years and time of need just like he did for me and then for Mom and Bob.

This is why I haven't been on the computer blogging, setting up his transport and bidding back and forth on UShip has been very time consuming.

Peace and love to everyone!!! We get our big sweet pup next week, I can't wait to see him, I haven't seen him in over 3 years.

Di

Latest project..........

I am making Jake a little covered pillow for his second birthday party. He loves this fabric and used to carry around the fabric piece before I had a chance to make it into something. We thought that was so funny so we had to take it from him when he was napping so I could make it into something. This pic is hard to see but I am machine quilting around each of the little cars on the fabric. Then I will sew each quilted side into a pillow.

On the subject of Katy's zingers. This method she has of going through the symptoms and systematically trying this and that to find the cure of reducing the zingers has me thinking. I am not supposed to be eating wheat flour products and sugar. I have been trying to give them up again and I have noticed that when I do give them up my zingers are greatly reduced. I had attributed the increase in them from the stress of living in a new city, new kids, etc. But now I think it is just the diet and a little of the stress.

You all have a great day, big hugs all around.

Di

Henry's Ark trip last Sunday

This past Sunday Tony and I took Scott and Amy and Jake to Henry's Ark since it was such a nice day. There were a lot more people there than the day Tony and Jake and I went in Jan when it was only 14 degrees. We were happy that Scott could join us as he couldn't make it to Jake's party on Friday and was busy on Sat. Scott is Tony's youngest son, the one that his Mother "hogs", literally! She will not allow him to spend the night with us anymore even though he has an adorable bedroom at our house...............YES, she is wacked but that is another story. We were happy to have him for the day on Sunday and he and Amy get along really well and Jake adores him. Scott is 15, Amy 20.

In the picture above Amy, Scott and Jake had to try out the very friendly burro for a ride for Jake. They didn't actually "ride" her, just sat Jake on her back. These burros were so cute and friendly and filthy!! Thank God we had hand sanitizer in the car!

The two camels that Tony about lost his left hand to while feeding! These two were VERY hungry and apparently love carrots. Wonder if you can buy carrots that are a foot long just for feeding camels??? lol!

This was the bunny area, neat very fat bunnies in elevated cages. Scott and Jake were big friends on this excursion to the Ark, Jake had to have him in sight at all times.

This emu was after us the whole trip down this little walking path to see the animals. He had to have whatever we were feeding the other animals, kind of freaked us out and he would get right in your face. Amy finally had to pick up Jake and run from this guy....Several of the animals at the Ark just roam freely among the visitors, not exactly the safest way to operate a zoo.

I am going to try to get caught up with all of the posts you all have put up this past week. We are working outside a lot lately and I just run out of time before Tony gets home and we have dinner and go to a meeting.

Love you all, big hugs all around,

Di

Fun weekend

Jake "big" Birthday present from Tony and me and Derek, he loved it!!

This is the crazy dinosaur cake I made for Jake for his birthday party at our house last Friday. Those are toys that I bought at Target and I just stuck them on the cake, the snake started to fall off toward the end. The frosting is homemade marshmallow creme, really yummy and was nice and glossy to spray the green coloring on it. Cake flavor was red velvet, Amy's favorite.

Lil Jacob is 3 Today!!

This is such a sweet picture of Amy and lil Jacob, taken exactly 3 years ago today! Wow, how time flies when you are changing diapers and chasing after the little guy.

Jacob was born 3 days ahead of his due date at 1:31 p.m. Amy and Derek and I were living in our first "home" after the divorce, a very small townhouse apt right across the street from NKU, where both of the kids ended up going to college. Amy was a senior in HS and she had been a very good student her senior year, given that she had the pregnancy to deal with and a new school. Her "old" school Holy Cross was making it very difficult to accept her being that she was pregnant for her senior year. So we enrolled her in the county H.S. one that was 1800 students and sooo different from her awesome small Catholic HS. She did great there as she knew a lot of these kids from gradeschool days.

Amy had the big master bedroom with the bath in this little townhouse apt. I had the tinest room as I just had a twin bed and didn't need much room. Derek had the middle sized bedroom. All were upstairs in the townhouse and Amy had Jake's crib in her room as there was no room for his own room there. It was cozy and tight, but a house full of a lot of love and excitement.

We threw a big baby shower for Amy there in that townhouse, the main "ground" level was a big living room and a big kitchen and a small bathroom, that was it. Derek and Amy and I made all the food and it was actually hosted by her friends at her job at Hallmark. They did all the decorating and games and prizes.

The day of Jake's birth Amy woke at 3 am and said she had bad contraction. She was in active labor right from the start and it did not quit. We got into the car at 6 am as her contractions were 2 min. apart and not stopping. I drove and I was not a good driver then and really was quite freaked out. I remember saying Hail Mary's all the way there! When we got there she was put on a monitor and the nurses and Dr's were so good to her. They said she was not any further than 2 cm dilated so we waited. The contractions never let up and they gave her an epidural for the pain. She was such a trooper, she pushed for maybe an hour total and gave birth to Jake at 1:31 in the afternoon.

This pic was taken just hours after he was born, she had him inside her PJ's to keep him skin to skin in contact with her. The nurses were so great with them, never anything unkind because of her young age of only 17. Dr. Lea delivered Jake and he was my Dr. for years, so I knew him well and he was so good to her and Jake.

Jake's father did not see him be born or visit him in the hospital. He didn't even know he was born until Jake was almost a year old as we couldn't find him. He didn't want to be found, he moved from place to place to avoid Amy. Later we found out that Jacob has a 1/2 brother and he is almost exactly 1 year older than him. He was running from both mothers and both of his young sons.

I am so thankful for lil Jacob and that Amy wanted to have her son and raise him. Because of him I know I had a purpose for getting better with my health, I had a reason to get out of bed, someone that needed me. God works in mysterious ways and this lil guy has always been thought of as an "angel" sent by God to all of us. He has healed so many wounds in our family.

Big hugs to you all and much love,

Di

Been gone too long.........missed you all!

I've been away from the blogging TOO LONG!! I've missed you all so much. We have had one computer for three of us to use this past few weeks and yesterday we had no internet for most of the day. Derek looks for work in the morning on the computer so I have gotten away from my blogging. Now his computer is FINALLY working in his room so I can go back to my little stories.

This pic of Jake was taken last weekend when Derek and I went up to his apt. to move him out. I also took my vehicle so I could get some yard stuff from my friend Tony that was storing things for me in his garage. I had a little time with Patty and Amy and Jake and we had fun, went to lunch and then Derek and I went back to Louisville.

Tony and I have been going to an Al-Anon meeting 5 times a week since Derek has come to live here. He is doing great, lots of improvement in his attitude and he is trying very hard to get a job. He also has his van up for sale and has a couple guys interested in going in together to buy it for their trips to Nascar races. He is going to use the money to pay off his student loan and then he can get back to finishing those last few classes for his degree. This has him very encouraged as he has been in school now for almost 5 years and is sooo close to graduating. Being clean and sober is going to make that dream a reality, FINALLY!!

With Derek here we have been able to get almost the entire yard ready for spring. Derek is used to a lot of manual labor and loves to be outside so almost everyday we are out doing work in the yard. Tony is so pleased, this is something we can't seem to get caught up on on the weekends with just the two of us to do the work and now it is almost all done! Derek and Tony get along really well. Where Tony's son Warren was so angry all the time and always fighting us on everything, Derek is just the opposite, he is very easy to get along with and willing to do just about any work you bring up that needs to be done. Oh and Derek is an excellent cook!! So much for losing those pounds I gained, lol!

Tomorrow Jake and Amy come down for a little party for Jake's 3rd birthday. I'll have a pic of Jake in his BIG present from us. He is going to love it! ...................stay tuned!!

Got to get at it, you all have a great day, I am so happy to be back and able to read your posts!@

love and hugs,
Di