All My Children #004

Hi kids,

I hope your all doing well this week. My week started out good. I went to my yoga class, I think I am getting a little better at it. I like going there. It feels good to be a part of it. I started out this week doing my exercise in my new room ! Yeah for me ! I did it Mon,Tues,Wed and then Thurs ... ughhh !!! Not so much ! I pulled my right Hamstring muscle. Not fun at all ! I hobbled around all day. Angela told me how to take care of it, and I have been doing the Advil/ice twice a day. It seems to be helping, thanks Ang !

Aunt Patty and I went shopping on Wednesday. More than anything, just to get out of the house really. We had lunch out ( in which she enjoyed the most ) and bought a few things. I went to that big TJMaxx & Home store in Cannedegua, I really like looking around there. I guess until this weather turns nicer, that is one thing I can do to get out of the house.

Thursday, was when I heard from Aunt Sheree about Grandma being in the emergency room. I felt very scared and wished I could be there right then. She was having a lot of pain in her chest. Then, Sheree called me back again at 11 pm, and told me we almost lost Grandma, due to a reaction to the Nitro pill that they gave her ! Well ... as you could imagine, I was really upset. Sheree assured me that Mom was doing fine now. She also was no longer having pain. Every thing was swirling thru my brain though. I prayed mostly. I woke Dad up, even thought I hated to, just cause I needed to talk to someone. I didn't keep him up long though, he hasn't been getting enough sleep lately the way it is. I have thought a lot about my life, and my Mom. I can't imagine my life without my Mom ... yet. I lost my precious Dad when I was only 29 yrs old. I still miss him terribly. I cannot give up my Mom any time soon. I love her so very much and am so very grateful to have such a loving, wonderful Mom. I feel very fortunate. I have a wonderful relationship with my Mom. I feel so very close to her. We talk a lot on the phone. We always end up having a good laugh about something. She gives me good advise and is a very good listener when I need to talk. She makes me feel good about myself and as a mother, a wife, a daughter, and a sister. She always brags on me and tells me what I am doing right. And it seems, she is the one that will always notice things about me. She will say to me that I look good ( even if I don't ) or that she likes my outfit, she is the one to tell me how nice I look, how pretty my hair looks, or that I have a great smile, or that she thinks I am beautiful. She always tells me how proud she is of me. It is sure nice to have a Mom like that. I know she loves me. And I know she knows how much I love her. I have realized too, that I have helped her thru-out her trying times. Her joys and her sorrows. Her stress with worry over John's health. I guess that is what it is all about. Family. I will forever be grateful. I am so blessed. I thank God that she is home and doing fine. No ... they haven't found what caused all the pain as of yet, but I hope Grandma still pursues the issue with her family doctor.

Ed came here this weekend with Oscar to visit Dad and I. It was so good to see him. He helped Dad carry the treadmill into the attic into our new exercise room. It looks nice. I am glad that is all set up now. He also helped Dad lay the new wood flooring in the center of the attic floor. It looks very nice. We have a two ft section over by the windows and also the center ( maybe a 4 or 5 ft section) that is the dark wood, then the middle is a 15ft by 12 ft section of carpet. We will do the same thing on the other side of the attic one day this year. Anyhow, it looks great. Thank you so very much for all of your help Ed, you are a good son ! We enjoyed seeing little Oscar too. Tucker and Oscar had a great time playing a lot. He is such a cutie. Ed had him neutered and his due-claws removed. So he still has some tender spots that are healing up. I think it is nice that they get to have each other to play with. Saturday night I made Chicken Parmesan for dinner and Aunt Margaret joined us. So we all had a nice visit. On Ed's way out of town, he followed us to Aunt Margaret's house, and helped Dad carry the old treadmill into her basement.

Ang drove her Mustang up to Grandma's and Johns house Saturday. John bought it to give to his grandson Christopher. So she had her last trip in it. Then John paid for her to fly back to Charlotte on Sunday. So, that is all taken care of. Angela traveled back home safe, Ed & Oscar traveled back home safe and Grandma is back home safe. Tom and Jennifer are healthy and safe, Bill and CJ and baby Gaio are healthy and safe. I'd say it was a good week for sure.

Well, that was our week in a nutshell. I love you all very much. I feel so grateful to have each one of you in my life. You each bring to my life so many special blessings. Thank you. I hope you will always know how very deeply you are loved. I am one fortunate lady. May God bless you all.

Joy is in release, so thankfully received,
Joy is in sorry, so sweetly mourned and grieved,
Joy is to be found, you find it through yearning,
Joy is in coming and going, waiting and watching, living and learning.
- Norris Chumley

I love you, Momma G

All My Children #003

Hi Kids,

I trust you all had a good week. I cannot believe I forgot to make my post last night ! Geez ! I wondered if anyone would notice, and I will tell you, it felt good because both Dad and Angela did and asked me where it was ?! Yeah !! I guess I got behind.

Well ... let's see, yes, this was a good week in all. I painted two coats of paint on both the ceiling and walls of the attic. Dad got the Bow Flex back up and operational, and a Tv set,VCR and DVD unit hooked up. Then Dad and I carried up, two flights of stairs, from the Arbor Glen Room, the two book cases ! ( the ones from the old family rm in Chardon ) They now flank both sides of the Tv. It looks pretty darn good up there. It makes a nice room. So, this morning was my first experience working out in the newly done exercise room. I even got Aunt Patty up there with me doing a little work. Haahaaa ! She was showing me how to use a hand weight. I told her she is a very good teacher. Lets hope she will continue the enthusiasm ! Eddie is coming up this weekend, so we will see if Dad and Ed can get the treadmill up there. Whew !! It is a worry, I know it is very heavy, and it has to also go up two flights of stairs ! Eddie and Dad ... eat your Wheaties !

Well, I got most of the decorations put away, and the house back into order. I even got most of it clean too. Yeah ... it feels good. I put some bed side tables in Aunt Patty's room, one on each side of her bed, and moved the tall chest out of there. It looks very nice and much more balanced now, and she seems to like it. The one thing I will want to do for her in the future is make a statement with curtains behind her bed. She carried around a picture with a bedroom decorated like this when we were still in Chardon, so I will try to replicate it. They will hang from the ceiling, down the wall behind the bed, sort of like a princess bed. Oh .... I will do it one of these days then send pictures ok ?

I went to my " yoga " class again. I must say, I am liking it ! It is ' Kundilini Yoga '. I am not sure of how many types there are, but this one is based on your breathing and Mantra's. It can be difficult, so I modify what I am doing a lot, but I will keep it up. The people all seem to be friendly too. It appears that most of them have been doing this for years now. Luckily, there are two other ' new ' ones like me. I also did the Oprah live web cast this past week. It was good. I missed Thurs and Fri though. But I can down load it off her site. It was kind of hard to fit it in being each night in a row. Time consuming. It started every night at 9 pm and ended at 10:40ish. So ... it made it difficult to visit with Dad, seeing how he doesn't get home until late anyway. But, it was only one week. I hope I gained a lot from it. It was something new for me to do. I took notes and learned a few things for sure.

Dad used his new snow blower Sunday, it seems to work good. The three of us attended church, then went on to breakfast. Aunt Patty liked that ! She actually seemed to like the church too. There was a really good visiting Priest there this week. He grabbed your attention and held it ! Good guy. I guess because this church is so small, we will always have visiting Priest. So we shall see how it goes.

Well, not a lot to tell about this week I suppose. A lot of hard work, and it all paid off. Dad and I went on a date night Friday. I like doing that. I want to make this year a good one with Dad and I doing more things together. We went to eat at the Snug Harbor. I am looking forward to getting our bikes this spring. That will be great to be able to go out on a long bike ride together. Just so you know guys, Dad is still my sweetheart after all these years ! See ... it can happen.

Well kids, try to watch the Inauguration Tuesday. ( at least some of the coverage) It will be such an historic event. Try to keep more of an awarness about national issues. It is good to have some insite as to what is going on around us. I have such a strong feeling of hope for this new President. May God bless him, protect him and guide him. Our country is in need of change. It is a most difficult time for our nation and we need someone, somehow, to bring it back into a sense of security and stability. God Bless America. God Bless this new President, he has a lot on his plate before he even enters into his presidency.


"Three grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.-Jose Addison "

I love you all. Have a wonderful week.

Love, Momma G

All My Children #002

Hi Kids,

Well here is my new " All My Children Blog " that Tommy John has helped me to set up. Yeah !! I am really feeling as if I am getting into the technology now ! Haaaa ! I would like for each of you to let me know that you were able to access it and read my Sunday newsletter if you wouldn't mind. ( at least this first time ok ? ) Tommy said there is a " comment " link at the end of my letter you can click on and post a note back to me if you want to try that.

Well, lets see, another week has went by here in 2009. I hope you are all enjoying this new year so far ? It somehow seems as if we get a fresh start doesn't it ? I like that feeling. It brings the feeling of hope and inspires me to want to do better somehow. I think we all need to know we can start again, and that it is never too late. Change is a good thing because there is always room for improvement.

Ok, lets see what went on here in Hammondsport this week. Well, I watched the premier of
" Biggest Loser " and "Oprah's Best Life Week " ... I must tell you, I cried thru-out most of those shows. I guess I felt I connected with the pain associated with other people in both those shows. Yes ... I am struggling with my own battle of weight. At my age it is very unhealthy too. So, like many others, I too, am trying to make a difference in my lifestyle. I gravitate to any info on the subject. I must say it has helped me so far. I am looking forward to Oprah's free web cast on Monday night. I'll keep you up-dated on how I progress.

One new thing I have done is to join a Yoga class. Haaaaaaaa !! It was pretty funny really. But ... I did like it and I will return this Monday. It runs for 6 wks then starts again. I wish it were three days a week,unfortunately it is only on Monday evenings. I hope to be able to master the chant ... I felt silly not knowing what to say, there I sat, on my yoga mat, in candle light, others all around me, trying to look cool, supposing to have my eyes shut, relaxing and saying these strange sounds ( mantra's ).... well, I tried to have one eye open ... look around .... grab at my eye glasses, try to see the paper in the dark to read the mantra again and try to mimic the sounds.... pretty funny. What was good though, is the fact that it is hard work. That form of exercise is great. You feel so stretched and muscles feel worked for sure. So, I'll let you know how I do.

I took down all of the Christmas decorations this week. I haven't gotten them all put away yet though. I still have the big tree to get down. I still need more bins brought down to put away other stuff too. So needless to say the house is in a post-Christmas mess right now. Oh well, it will get done. I am only one person.

I drove to Erie PA on Friday. I met Grandma,John and Aunt Patty there at a Bob Evans restaurant. They brought Patty to the half-way point between our houses so I could get her back. The weather has been very wintry. Snow everyday in the forecast so it was a better idea not to have to travel further. ( 3-hrs to Erie for them and me ) So we had lunch together, then got on the road. Aunt Patty and I decided to try our luck out at the Seneca Casino on the way back home. Well, as you may have guessed, I didn't win ! Aunt Patty thinks she did, because when she checked out, she still had $15 left, so I told her she is so lucky. It made her day. She likes sitting at the slots and playing. I put a twenty in her 5cent machine and she played for 35 mins ! Not to bad.

We got up this morning to about 8 inches of snow in the driveway. So Dad and I bundled up and shoveled snow together. All of the driveway,the turn-around and the sidewalk from the library to the grocery store. Whew !! Big job !! Then we hurried inside showered and went to church. We haven't really been taking the time to go since living here in Hammondsport. Always letting the house and all the work get in our way. We both missed it though. It is very different here than our St Gabriel in Ohio, I loved Father Fred, but, hey change is good too. We went to breakfast after chruch and talked with a nice guy named Jim, that told Dad about the best kind of snowblowers. Well .... guess what ? Dad went and bought one today ! Haaaaaa ! (remember I told you how snowy it has been ! ) So, he said if we see Jim next Sunday, he is going to tell him he cost him $1000 ! Haaaaa !! Now we will want to try it out !

Dad and I started work on the attic. We managed to move everything out of the right side. ( as you get to the top of the stairs) We bought some carpet and padding and got them down, we have sanded and puttied any nicks in the wall and ceiling and filled woodwork nail holes, sanded and wiped down, bought paint and starting tomorrow, I will begin the lovely job of painting the ceiling. I am getting excited again about accomplishing something. I guess I have felt burned-out for awhile now. But, I am ready to get a move on now on this house again. This part of the attic will be our exercise room. See ... I really am trying to help myself. Dad said we will put a Wii up there too. ( haahaahaa ! Tommy ... I blame you for this ! )

Tommy is going to help me learn to post pictures in the near future. That will be a cool addition ! Then I can really show you our progress !

"Only one thing has to change for us to know happiness in our lives: where we focus our attention. -Greg Anderson"

Well, that's my week in a nutshell. I hope you are all well. Keep us all up-dated in your lives. I love you each so very much.

All My Children #001

Hi kids,

"When your body mind and soul are healthy and harmonious, You will bring health and harmony to those around you..."
B.K.S. Iyengar

Well, here it is ... the first addition of my weekly news letter to all of you. Something new for 2009. ( I thought you would get a kick out of the title Ang ) I thought this would be a nice way of keeping in touch with each of you and keeping you up-dated on what's going on here in Hammondsport. I am thinking I will try to accomplish this by emailing a short note each Sunday evening.

So it is the New Year ! Wow ! 2009 ! I can hardly believe it. I remember how odd it seemed saying ' 2000, instead of 19 something ?! Now it is already 2009 ... and next year ? I suppose some will say ' twenty-ten instead of 2010 ? Geez ! Time feels like it is flying by me sometimes.

Dad and I just got back from traveling to Ohio and Indiana. We had a great time. We had a lot of fun at the New years Eve benefit Tommy & Jennifer hosted with some other folks. Thanks guys ! We had a very good time ! Will this become an annual event maybe ? What a great cause to support ... Rise Up Against Cancer ! It was great company, food,dancing and socializing. We had fun spending time with Jennifer and Tommy for a few days. Ok, I had to admit, I like the Wii game thing. You got me Tommy ! We had a wonderful dinner at Jennifer's parents house on New years Day. They were so nice and fun to hang out with. I am happy we got to help Tom and Jennifer set up at the Bridal show too. They really did it all, but we helped carry things ! haaa ! They had a great looking booth, I sure hope it brings them lots future business ! They both put forth so much efforts into their business. Tommy, you may have lost your job at perhaps not the best timing, but ... now you get to walk away and leave it in 2008. All things happen as they should. It is your time to change it up. Look forward and no regrets. You wanted to do this, maybe you got pushed a little earlier then you were thinking, but maybe God was thinking ' NOW'S THE TIME ". Dad and I wish you and Jennifer wonderful success. We love you both so very much.

We went to see the movie Valkyrie ( sp ? ) with Eddie last Friday night in Ohio. I thought it was a good movie. It brought a lot of history back into my thoughts. It made me feel for the people of that time frame. Sometime it is easy to forget how some folks have survived their circumstances. Eddie , thank you for taking such good loving care of Tucker for us. I am glad Oscar and Tuck had that chance to finally be able to play hard. Seeing how Tucker got hurt at Christmas time, they sure didn't get play time then. It was fun to spend some time with you too Eddie. Dad and I love you so very much. Come and see us a lot this year, we always look forward to you and Oscar coming. I just love that little Oscar too. Oh ... by the way, did I tell you that you made some of the best peanutbutter cookies I have ever ate ! It is true, I am not trying to be Grandma ! Haaaaa ! They were sooooooo good ! We will be keeping you in our prayers for the test you will be taking in the near future. ( certified fraud examiner) I know you will do just fine.

Thank you each for all of our Christmas gifts. We enjoyed the holiday season because of each of you. I still have to pinch myself to believe I really had Bill & CJ here with us for Christmas ! What a gift that truly was. That will be a memory I will forever treasure. I still remember seeing CJ's face at the door with a great big red bow around her neck, then seeing Bill with his big bow around his neck, standing behind her with a great big smile ! Both of them saying " MERRY CHRISTMAS, your presents are here !!! " I felt I couldn't breathe at that moment. I felt it couldn't be true, and it was true. I can still see Angela jumping up and down and screaming with the door wide open, and from that moment on, it felt like I was in slow motion. I am glad I had a wall behind me to lean on. My tears came fast and I was truly completely overjoyed. Thank you, you planned such a wonderful,loving gift for us. I love you both so very much. I am glad Dad and I had the opportunity to come to your house for a visit in early December too. Your home is so beautiful. So warm and inviting. I was so happy we got to see your Christmas lights and your tree. I am especially thankful for the blessing of CJ carrying this baby safely. What a joy it is for all of us to have a new member of our family on the way. This child shall be so loved. May God bless you each day.

Last fall I was happy to get to spend a whole week with Angela in Charlotte. I love your new apartment ! Although it could have been under better circumstances, in the end, it all worked out perfectly. Thank God the tests came back negative. I am hoping to be able to spend some time each year with you, it is always fun to be together. I am happy to hear you got your car to Ang. ! For those of you that probably do not know, Ang bought a 2007 Honda Accord LX, today. She sold her Mustange to Grandpa John. He is getting it for Christopher ( sort of like his grandchild) She can fill you each in on the details. Ang, thank you very much for all the help you gave during Christams. I love having you home with us. Your nut roll was hmmm hmmm good !!! (Sorry Tom, I know we were suppose to bring you some, we were piggies and ate it all.) Dad and I love you so very much Ang. Be safe driving that new car.

Well, 2008 brought us many new things. It was mostly a good year. We certainly made a lot of headway with this old house. Hey ... we moved in ! Thank you for any help you each gave to us in getting things done here too. We greatly appreciate it. We have decided to take one room at a time now and finish it up the best we can. We will get there sooner or later. What ever it takes. But one thing I know for sure, we will set aside some time for us too. It cannot all be about this house all of the time. I want to spend time with each of you too. I want to be able to get to know this area better too. There are lots to see and do here. And after all .... we will have a beautiful grandchild born this summer, and that WILL TAKE FIRST PRIORITY !!!

Ok, enough for my first news letter. I love each of you, so very dearly. You are each, always in my prayers. Go on... get started and make this one of your best years yet. It is yours to make it happen. Get your health in order. Work hard, but take time for yourself too. Be more understanding, more loving toward one another. You will see the difference it can make in daily life. Keep in touch with each other. Make it a priority. Family is of most importance. Don't let time escape without reaching out to one another each month. We are all busy in our own lives, but we are important to each others lives too.

All my children, I love you, your Momma G