Debbie, your plans sound divine. Yes, it is May and we are getting the col weather also. We were at Sam's club today and a MOm had her little girl in winter coat and hat. Maybe a little overkill but it was in the 50's. Tomorrow is supposed to be much better. I was out in jeans, sweater and jeans jacket.

Husband told me about his plans for his present. He said he wasn't supposed to say (what?) but Michelle had suggested he buy me a gift for Mother's Day. He had an idea of what he wanted so off to Kohl's he went. Before he left I told him I wear a size 8 in a ring. Well he had in mind a necklace and just didn't find anything he liked. So he said he will look for a ring instead since that is what I was expecting.

We usually have no plans at all for MOther's Day and just the 3 families that live here get together for a meal. Well my sister had her cancer surgery at Easter time and therefore didn't go down to see her daughter in Arkansas. The deal was that her daughter would drive here for Mother's Day instead. Then our youngest brother calls and says they are on vacation in Tennessee and wanted to come over here for Mother's Day. So my sister then says to him that it would be so nice of our other brother could come. So John calls Paul and they are coming up. So our usual quiet day now has 14 people. My sister and I aren't up to cooking for that many people neither do we have a house for it. We do it at our house for Thanksgiving and it's a chore, a loving chore but a chore. So that's going out somewhere that can accomodate 14 people so it will be interesting what we all come up with. That will be on Saturday night as Paul can't stay through Sunday.Then my brother John wants to take us all out on Sunday. So that is 12 of us. I hope all of our personalities can take it two days in a row.

I have different pipe dreams for our house. One is a large covered deck or Florida room coming off our kitchen with french doors. Now that would accomadate all of us.

With Charlie's ulcerative colitis, we run the washer a lot. I mean a lot. And by we I mean he does it. He knows I would help but he just cannot ask. But today on his way home from Kohl's he was incontinent big time in the car. He never goes out anywhere without wearing a diaper but this time it was going down his legs. And we also have protection on the car seats. So after he cleans up, he does his laundry. Well not later I start having diarrhea! I don't know if it is my antibiotic or not. The last time I didn't get to the bathroom in time and had the same mess! Wish we had times it better and saved some water! Oh well, such is the life of an MSer and a husband with UC.

Hi Everyone!

I hope all you Mom's had a great Mother's Day!

I spent part of last week at DD26's house helping DD24. DD26 and her husband went on their honeymoon. Their dog gets really whinny and unbearable when they are gone so DD24 asked if I could come help her with the dog. He was much happier with me their. I guess I am the Alpha female. It was a nice break for me too as I get tired of my own 4 walls, so to speak. It was nice to look at someone else's 4 walls. DD26 and her husband are going away again in a few months for their yearly family vacation with her husband's family. I'm sure I will be helping out again. I think DD24 will still be living there then.

Speaking of DD24, I am so proud of her. She has been working part-time and going to school part-time and is a single mom. She has managed to maintain a 4.0 while doing all of this. She will be done with classes this week and will then start her clinicals. She had to quit her job as clinicals is a "9 to 5" type job and can't be done on a part-time basis. Once she is done with her clinicals, she will hopefully will get a job at the OB/GYN where she is doing her clinicals. She's a pretty amazing girl.

I've been working on my mini paintings and enjoying doing them. I love them because they're small and take less time than a bigger painting. I'll post some pictures once I figure out how to post them from my phone.

I hope you all have a great evening!

Congrats for your daughter... not the best of mother's days here, but hopefully things will turn around.

I've wanted to get back into playing with my art supplies but the GB is keeping me hopping, I'm so very much so hoping the DSD gets herself a more regular shift, or a job with more regular hours. Right now she works anywhere from 10 in the morning till 3 am the next morning as a waitress. She seems to love killing me by trying to squeeze as many doubles in as she can, so I seem to be doing more raising of the GB than mommy at this point

Trust me I'll be keeping all this in mind come tax season again . Woohoo get to claim 2 kids!!! That is if she gets her son back from OH anytime soon, and if I survive a 2 and 4 year old until tax season.

Other than that hope everyone is doing well, I'm trying my best to practice some yoga... I am a tree...I am a tree... I am a tree so I have plenty of switches for the DSD... no wait... I am a tree...

Starz, how I remember those days where we could claim our children as dependents and get refunds! But now I have wonderful grand children instead and I guess that makes it all worthwhile!.

I hope everyone is safe and well with all the weather patterns we are having right now. I am just so tired of rain, rain, and more rain. Luckily we are not having any flooding. I am sure that there are some areas around some of our creeks that have flooding but we don't. I remember when our oldest daughter lived in this one area of Kentucky. They lived around a creek and I am glad they were far enough up from the creek that they never saw it in their yard. But right below them was awful.

Hi Everyone!

Starz - You must be exhausted from "raising" your GB right now! Waitressing is such hard work and depending on where you work, the pay can be awful. People do not realize that waitresses only make an hourly wage of around $2.00/hr from the employer. The rest of their income comes from tips which they have to share with other employees like the bus people and/or bartender. And, a lot of people don't tip and/or don't know how to tip. Additionally, if a customer skips out on a meal, the waitress has to pay. It's a rough industry to be in. Although, I think everyone should be a server to learn about human behavior and to learn to serve others. It's a valuable lesson. I hope your DGD finds a way to earn a living so that she can be home with her little ones more. I am sure she misses them while she is working.

Doydie - It's supposed to be a rainy spring/summer due to El Nino. I am glad you are not having any flooding. I know others who are being slammed with horrible weather as well as tornados. So scary!

I didn't do too much today. I've been dealing with horrible fatigue this week and have been sleeping a lot more than usual. I took a good nap today and yet, I am ready for bed now and it's only like 5:00 p.m. Looks like I will be in bed and sleeping by 9:00 p.m. again.

Last week DD24 took me out last week. Actually, she wanted me to go with her to look at a place she might move to and on the way back to my house she was hungry and needed to eat before school. She went to Chick Fil A (? sp??) drive through and while in the line we saw that this Salvation Army store was having a 50% off sale. They had stuff outside and she saw a dresser she wanted to look at after she got her food. The dresser was a great deal and she ended up getting it for my grandson for when they move. While we were there I was in the shop part looking around and saw a toaster oven that looked brand new. It was only $10 and I had planned on buying one at Target over the weekend. I tested the toaster oven out and it worked fine. We went to paid and he only charged us $5 for the toaster oven. I got home and checked the name brand and this $5 toaster over retails on Amazon for $225!!! I got a screaming deal on it. It's a DeLonghi and honestly someone probably bought it and it sat on their counter as there is no sign of this oven being used. Well, just a tiny mark on the glass that just it is "used" was all I saw. I love finding deals like that!

I hope you all are having a great day!

DeLonghi is a great brand, Tricia! You got a exceptional deal on that! I love Goodwill/Salvation Army stores. If you've got the time (and energy) to look around you can find some great deals. I remember getting a Dooney & Bourke handbag for $5!! It looked unused. No marks and the interior was clean as a whistle. I'm sure whoever was pricing it had no idea it was worth probably $300!

We've had some thunder showers here this afternoon. Nothing like other places go. My youngest DS was out of town all week for business and said he spent most of the night in the stairwell and lobby of the hotel with all the other guests due to tornado warnings. He said the storms were all around him....within 5 miles or so.....but they didn't get the violent weather other places got. I'm glad he's home now. And so is DIL...she's had both babies by herself this week!

I was never a good shopper at Goodwill/Salvation Army/etc. My Mom could go in and spot a huge deal and I could be in the exact same area and I must have blinders on that never allow me to see something. It's not that I don't like the stores, I do, I jsut can't find anything. She was the same at yard sales. I remember one time she was having a yard sale and she noticed there was one down the street. So I stayed at hers while she walked down to the other one. She immediately saw some fine crystal and milk glass and bought it real cheap. She brought it to hers, went in the house and cleaned them up and put prices on them that were way over what she paid.

Well I have been getting treatment for what they called a dry socket after my tooth removal. Today I went for a recheck and apparently it was never a dry socket but severe osteoarthritis of the jaw joint. I hope it is not actually diagnosed as TMJ since hardly any insurance pays for any treatment of that. So I am on a very soft diet for two weeks and big doses of Ibuprofen. Eve a very soft chocolate chip cookie hurts to chew. So I don't know what kind of food I am going to eat. I ate a banana for lunch and grimaced the whole way through.

Hi Amy, use a NutriBullet and blend everything, from hot meals to cold meals. I recently blended a stew down to a thickish consistency soup, added extra hot water, herbs and flavouring and DB said best soup he'd had in years, or blend it and the place on a bed of soft sweet potato mash, carrot mash or mashed potato.

Doydie you have my dearest and deepest sympathies for a soft diet. I had to have all of my upper teeth removed thanks to a terrible infection that affected the entire roof of my mouth. It took nine months before I could eat solid food and even bananas counted as solid for me. I went through a lot of Slimfast shakes, tomato soup and creamed potatoes. (and a few snifters of brandy ) It is not something I would ever wish on my worst enemy for even a day, and I know how rough 2 weeks are. Hang in there

Pamela June, I was a nurse for many years and served that to many patients and I just can't make myself do it. But thanks for the suggestion. So far I am doing oK. My banana this morning went down with much less pain. Maybe the big doses of Advil is helping.