DD's surgery went as well as could be expected yesterday morning, she got to come home last night. Other than getting over the surgery, she feels better already! She is able to eat without vomitting now! Thanks to you all for keeping us in your prayers. JT is going to be shown around town any day now. She's gonna love it here! Pics of that coming within a couple of days. She'll be leaving here within a week, I don't want to hold up the train. It's going to someone *very special* next! (which could be ANY one of you!) Susiesunshine ~ thanks so much for your sweet and wise words! We were lucky to have a very experienced surgeon around 60 years old. He and the hospital took such good care of her! And yes, those disposable diapers are handy, I used the cloth kind 90% of the time back in the 70's with my kids. Smickers ~ thanks for those prayers! I think she already feels better with that diseased gall bladder gone! Luna ~ LOL at wanting to be like Susiesunshine when you grow up ... don't we all?!? The grandsons have been as good as it gets with their age group thankfully! Oh to be young again and have all that energy! Jan ~ We thought the vomitting and nausea was caused from the two pregnancies back to back (13 months apart). Now that the little one is 5 months old, and daughter kept being sicker, they finally ran more tests last week, and finally got it diagnosed. They put her surgery ahead of others for Mon morning because it was so bad when they finally figured it out. The gallbladder can be hard to diagnose. Her pancreas was inflammed too, and should improve now. SusieRose & Hubs ~ That touched my heart about the best child care being myself. As ya'll know, the safest world available to our grandchildren is their grandparents. We're so protective of them. Their needs come at the top of the list. I am thankful that I'm not working now and that I can be a totally devoted and focused grandmother. I continue to pray for your Dad and family too! Kirk and Carol ~ Your kids are small enough for those sleep deprivation memories to be fresh! I had forgotten until last year when these grandkids arrived! Get some rest?! Don't I wish?! haha. I will in a couple of weeks when daughter is back up to snuff. The kids would love to get ahold of JT and slobber all over her, but that ain't gonna happen. They will be allowed to hold her for a short photo session only, because they want to eat everything in sight LOL. I have JT loaded up with lots of bling! I didn't know she came with her own little jewelry box! She's wearing a lot now! haha Jeanne ~ Gosh, I sure do hope your daughter comes through her surgery well!!! You will have a similar burden on you with your little one is only 20 mo. Grandma will help them make it more seamlessly! Your daughter will be so grateful for your help! You're right about the GKs being worth the wear and tear! Yes, hubby and son in law both are great with the kids, but SIL works 5 or 6 days a week (sometimes I think he has it the easiest lol) but there seems to be no replacement for the woman's touch when it comes to small kids. Not to take away from a father's importance now ... :-) Please let us know how your DD does with her surgery! Cindee ~ thanks so much, I know you don't have much time! Good to see ya :-) Karen ~ What a beautiful graphic! I feel the good wishes going out via her! Did she fly out of your garden?! Kudz ~ Thanks so much! How are you doing these days yourself? Been wonderin' about ya! Joan ~ You're right about keeping the kids busy, and you should know, with those beautiful grandkids you have! Bright ~ I'm hanging in there, but need some Geritol LOL. Thanks for your prayers! Marlene ~ We're hoping this surgery is the last too! Thanks for the prayers! Sandy ~ Thanks for your prayers and good wishes! Vickie ~ The GKs are so refreshing, yep, we have a good time all day long ... well at least they do LOL. Honestly it looks like a day care center around here! Thanks for the prayers! OK, time for the 5 month old to wake up. Hubby has the 18 month old at the moment. I'm upstairs, he's downstairs :-) Hugs to you all, it means a lot to know you're there. This seems to be my therapy group as well as junkin' your notes touch my heart. ~tenderlee

I wrote this message yesterday and I forgot to press send it!! I think is understandable with all this things going on around me and the shooting at Ft. Hood. As I write this I turned on the TV on CNN and they are talking about a shooting at an office in Orlando !! 8 people shot and the shooter is on the loose. When all this madness will stop? Thanks everyone for encouragement. I really need it. I am so stressed out about my sister situation, my surgery and when I came home tonight I heard about Ft Hood shooting, Lucy's scare and all those poor soldiers who's life was cut short. I do not want any more stress and worries for a while !!! Lucy, my sister is 6 years younger than me and she is the youngest of the 4 of us (3 sisters and one brother). I'll let you know how things are progressing. Pat

I'm glad you're feeling better and off the drugs so the little one can nurse again! I too had no desire to look. I had to dress Joe's incision from his hip replacement for a week or so and I've seen my share of medical trauma between horses, dogs, cats and of course four sons! No need to see someone elses!! :) And I do agree with Trudy, Stacie be careful about what you post. I know you've posted a lot about your brother and since your name link includes your blog with address and last name, it will be easy for things to get back to him.... you never know and sometimes this is a smaller world than we think. Grace

It does take some planning (or staying up late at night to cut up enough fruit for a couple of days) to do CORE, but I think it's been worth it. I don't know why it works, but it does. Maybe all that fiber offsets the calories? One of my coworkers is doing Jenny Craig's plan and just can't believe that we don't count calories or points or SOMETHING and yet we still lose weight. When I tell her I had a baked potato or rice, she just shakes her head and says it's wrong. And yet we continue to lose weight. Think how we'd do if we could actually get our butts in gear and do some exercise. On CORE we have 5 points a day to play with. In the beginning we were very strict about making sure we only used 5. Now, we kind of know how many points our snacks are worth and just guess. And it's still working. And we really haven't downsized our meal portions (you SHOULD pay attention to portion size). As long as it's a core food you can eat until you're satisfied. My new favorite dessert is chocolate pudding with couscous in place of tapioca. The best part is that it's CORE. I do understand about hectic schedules, believe me. I work full time and have a lengthy commute. It's all about doing this for ME, and I'm worth it. That doesn't mean that I don't grumble when I'm cutting up fruits or vegetables at 10:00 p.m. Sometimes I will make or prep something for the following night's dinner before I sit down to tonight's dinner. DH made a ground beef and chicken meatloaf for dinner on Monday. I boiled one artichoke for an idea I had that I wanted to make later in the week. On Tuesday, the plan was to just reheat leftovers for dinner. So, before I did that, I chopped and diced and sauteed and put together a yummy ham, potato, artichoke fritatta, cooked it on top of the stove for a bit, then put it in the oven and went about heating up the leftovers for dinner. Today's lunch is fritatta. Maybe even dinner if it's as good as it smells!