It's been a few years.....

 

Things have changed a lot since my last post in June of 2022. 

Kids Update 

Steven and April fostered April's niece Nova from May 2022 and formally adopted her last June 2024. She is a sweetie. Now they have a blended family of 5. 

Michael is good. Nothing much changes with him. 

Becca and her Michael are doing well. Claire is in Preschool 2 days a week, dance class, and doing soccer. She is 3.5 and pretty smart. She's already reading sentences and words. She's about a year ahead of where her mom was. 

Jessie has been busy, She got her masters, has been working as an assistant archivist, and a second job as an administrative assistant. She also got married last October, to her girlfriend Kristal. They went to Greece for over 2 weeks for their honeymoon. 

Pets 
As for our pets, since my last post we have lost our Zooey to pancreatic cancer, Sophie to old age  (she was a 17 year old little kitty, ) and then a few months ago, Daryl lost his Fuzzball, to his liver disease he'd been fighting for several years. 

Jake, Bella and Twinkletoes are still with us, for now. 

Jake is 16.5, very arthritic, mostly blind and deaf. 

Bella has a cancerous tumor in her ear canal, which has grown a lot, causes her discomfort, and vestibular issues. We are just making her comfortable, and waiting it out. She is still doing ok, we give her a steroid daily and gabapentin for her pain. 

Twinkletoes is good, she loves being outside. 

Daryl and I had a lot going on the last few years...   

September of 2022 Daryl and I flew to Hawaii, and spent a week at the Royal Kona Resort on the Big Island. That deserves a post of it's own to come soon! 

Daryl and I went to Yellowstone in May of 2023, I am going to make a single blog post about that trip too, that was so much fun!!! 

December of 2023, we sold our house in Fort Worth, and moved to Hillsboro Texas. We have a lovely home here, bigger than our old one, but only 3 bedrooms, instead of 4. However we do have a full 2 car garage, extra large. We have a formal dining room, a breakfast area, large master bedroom and bath, and decent size secondary bedrooms, one of which is my office.  We have a lovely fireplace, and an amazing front and back yard. ALSO a huge driveway, we can get 6 cars in the driveway! 

We didn't celebrate Christmas at our home that year, we were packing and our home was super unorganized. We closed on the new house December 29. and moved in on Jan 2.  We went to Steven's house for Christmas for 2023.

2024 was a rough year. 

First big change for me - on January 29th, - 653 Customer agents were told we were getting laid off at American Airlines; we had 60 days until the layoff . March 30 was our last day on payroll. 

Given we were getting laid off, I decided to go ahead and get my mammogram. I went the day after my 62nd birthday. They found an abnormality, so had to get an ultrasound and second diagnostic mammogram. Did that on Feb 19, and I got a call later that day I needed a biopsy.

Second and huge change  - Feb 29th I had the biopsy, and it was cancer.  Surgery on May 6, had a partial mastectomy, and the surgeon got all the margins. It turns out that I didn't need chemo, but did do radiation. 

Radiation burns after it was complete were awful. But I am still here, on medication for 7 to 10 years to try to make sure it does not come back anywhere else. 

The layoff was a blessing in disguise. I had time to recover and completely get my body back to normal, or as normal as possible. 

During all this cancer "fun" I still did a lot of things with our family. Zoo trips, babysitting Claire, and Daryl took me to see New Kids on the Block in July!!!!!   

After I was all healed from Radiation, Rebecca, Michael, Claire, Daryl and myself, all went on a cruise. It was mine, Daryl's and Claires first cruise!!   We went to Cozumel and Progresso. I loved it, and would truly love to go on another one soon! 

 

Also in November, I started looking for a new job. Applied in November for several positions. Accepted the first one I was offered, and started on February 3, 2025. Still in training until early June. It doesn't pay nearly as well as I was making, but I was at my old job almost 11 years. I think this will be good. They have wonderful opportunities to move up, so I wont be doing this forever. 

Nothing much else going on. I work, take care of the house, laundry, groceries, etc. Daryl works, and takes care of all the stuff outside and fixing things up that need done. 

We spent last year getting the inside the way we wanted, but now are working on outside. We did already redo the roof of the gazebo out back, as that's where Jessie and Kristal got married. And we removed 4 trees that were on the powerlines, and about a dozen of the over 100 shrubs from out back. 

I love our new home, I love the town, and love that I have made some very good friends. 3 ladies and myself have gotten quite close, and I am so happy about that. We see each other often, and even started a small bible study group. 

So much more has gone on in the almost 3 years since my last blog post..  But it would make this one a lot longer than it is!!! 

Next posts Hawaii and then Yellowstone!  

Ramblings of an old woman..

 I haven't posted anything since we had to suddenly move last summer. 

Daryl took a long time to get over his bout of covid pneumonia. And since that time, has been sick with upper respiratory stuff frequently. Prior to Covid, he rarely got sick, and even more rarely missed any work because of it. That has changed this last year. 

I got a new position at work, moved to a regulatory department, dealing with international travel issues. I love it so much more than what I was doing, and I really loved that!   

Our Becca gave us a beautiful granddaughter last August. She is the light of our lives. They call me to video chat almost daily, and I absolutely love seeing my Claire. 

Jessie is in grad school, finishing up her Masters in Public History. Hopefully when she's done, she can find a good job where she can put all this education to use. 

We still haven't sold our home here in Fort Worth. Master bath needs major repairs, shower is non working at the moment. We just don't ever have time to do what we need to do it seems. Daryl and I both work an average of 50+ hours a week each, and it's kind of exhausting. 

We have taken little trips here and there. Since my last post a year ago, we have been to Broken Bow Oklahoma twice, San Antonio twice, and Surfside Beach (Texas) this past February for a week. It's always so nice to get away from this house, the pets, and even our kids. I will share a travel post in the next few days with photos of the last  year's travels. Or even last 2 years, as I havent shared anything about our travels since our Paris 2018 trip. 

Zooey our lab mix dog, was diagnosed with diabetes last March. So we have to give her shots twice a day now of insulin. That is not a lot of fun. She had lost down to 25 pounds, and is now up to between 35-40 pounds and except for her glucose, she is absolutely healthy. 

I went to doctor in March myself with some stomach problems. They sent me for a gall bladder ultrasound to see if it was gall stones. Turns out my liver and spleen were enlarged. I was referred to a Hepatologist *Liver specialist*.  Saw him April 6, he put me on KETO diet, and ordered more tests. They took about 8 to 10 tubes of blood, and scheduled an elastogram of my liver. Did that in May, and it turns out I have stage 2 non alcoholic liver disease.  They don't really medicate or treat it anyway, but tell you that it can reverse. But I have to lose weight, and eat differently than I have my entire life. Since April 6 I am down almost 18 pounds. Not a lot, but it's a start. I go back in November for more labs, and then again the next May for another scan. 

Daryl is amazing, he didn't want me to have to do keto alone, so he is doing it also. He is losing weight as well, but he just started mid May so not as far into it as I am now. 

One of the blood tests they did was for Hemochromatosis. My great aunt Cissy had it, and it is a hereditary disorder, but my tests were not conclusive for that. Although from what I have read, I am still younger than most people when it appears. So there's that. We don't know if my mom had it or not, she was just 62 when she passed, and her dad (my great aunt's brother) passed at 52 of cirrhosis. So he could have had it also, but we don't know. 

And while I am stage 2 for NASH, my numbers were so close to stage 3, I am pretty nervous about it all. I am sticking to this diet so well, watching every carb, protein and fat that I eat, or drink. No sodas, no sugar, no bread, no pizzas, no tortillas...    It's difficult, but I am doing it. Not just for myself, but because I want to be around for my family longer. I want to see my sweet granddaughter Claire grow up, and spend as much time with her as I can. 

There is much more that has gone on with Daryl's mom's estate. I still harbor not so good feelings towards his brother and his wife. I managed to avoid seeing them the entire summer last year while they were here. I had NO, ZIP, ZILCH desire to see them, and none to ever see or talk to them the rest of my life. The house did sell, for twice what we were going to buy it for. Once the estate taxes are all done, Daryl can close the estate, distribute the rest of it, and we can close the door on that part of our lives forever. And it will not be a quiet close, but a definite SLAMMED DOOR. We are looking forward to ridding our lives of things, and people that don't add joy. 

Daryl wants us to find a house in the country with a few acres, but prices within driving distance to his job are out of our range.  Almost all places even out of driving distance, that have any acreage are out of our price range. I just had really hoped to spend the rest of our lives at the lake, but since that dream is gone, I don't even care anymore. We can just stay here I guess. 

I will try to not wait a year before a post again. Soon I will share photos (after asking my daughter ) of my beautiful and beloved Claire.  I am so in love with this 10 month old. She makes me happy to be a Memaw. I had been feeling not so loved or wanted as a Memaw the last couple of years, but Claire makes it so much better. 

Life

Things change so fast. You think everything is going well, you have the rest of your life planned out. Then some jerk (brother in law) comes along and decides he needs more money...  

Back story - we decided to buy Mother in law's house, it had been appraised at a certain amount, and Brother in law, and sister in law agreed we could buy it for that amount, less the percentage we would have paid a realtor 

Fast forward, a year. Estate still not settled. House still not in our name, until estate gets settled. Covid has hit, we have moved into house, for what we think is the rest of our lives. We were so happy, and settled. It was perfect for us. Enough room, perfect location, great neighbors, perfect.  

Housing prices start to soar. Brother in law decides it is worth 150,000 more than he and Daryl had agreed upon, for us to pay. We can't afford that. 

Now, 6 months later, he wants to sell it for 250,000 more than they had agreed we would pay. 

Needless to say, we have moved out, back to our little house in Fort Worth, fixing it up to sell, and then see where we can move. We will probably just rent something until the housing market goes back to being a buyers market, not a sellers. 

I miss the lake desperately. I miss the bids, geese and ducks. I miss our neighbors. I miss the quiet, peace you had when you were outside. I miss having room to walk without people or pets underfoot. 

I am so angry. I am so hurt. I have never hated another person this much. 

He and his wife decided to come here to "help" since Daryl and I were both ill with Covid in April.  - Daryl was VERY ill for a while, in the hospital with Pneumonia, I thought he wouldn't make it. But he did, and has recovered almost to normal now. Still gets tired easy, as do I, and he still has a cough at times BUT he has been able to do things for weeks now. They showed up, decided to "take over" everything. They had "meetings" with real estate agents, they met the one Daryl liked, and were SO rude to him. My husband's sister in law is awful.. truly awful, 

We moved out quickly before they got here. Left 90% of OUR stuff there, and our kids would go every day, or every few days and pack up stuff to bring  home. THE JERK complained that "stuff keeps disappearing"... YEAH OUR STUFF!!  He threw a hissy fit over toothpicks! TOOTHPICKS! There is a Kroger, HEB and WalMart, he can get more!  I left a shelf full of groceries, 2 big packs of GOOD toilet paper (although I was tempted to go stock up on Dollar tree stuff and leave for them) I left paper towels, cleaning supplies, etc. BUT apparently I was supposed to leave MORE. Stuff I bought and paid for. ALL our household supplies, and groceries come out of my checks. I bought the stuff. 

Sorry for the grumbling.. Its just hard right now. 

Paris September 2018

It's been almost 2 years. But in September 2018 Daryl and I took the most amazing trip to Paris France. American Airlines had given all employees 2 round trip tickets anywhere they flew, so we used mine for the trip to Paris.  And please, I know I am not a "photographer" and have no training as such, but I do LOVE taking photos, and I think I got some awesome shots!!!!!  (and ALL with my cell phone!)

We spent 6 full days there, and we could have spent a month, and still not seen all we wanted to see. 

We had the cutest little apartment that I found for us. It was literally right across the Seine from the Louvre..  and 2 blocks or so from Musee d'Orsay. 

So tired, just got off the plane and Uber'd to the apartment. The Seine is behind us . 

After getting to our rooms, and taking a short nap, we got an Uber, to our first planned visit - the Catacombs of Paris. 

                      

                                        

   

The Catacombs were amazing..  It was something that Daryl had really wanted to do, and I am so glad I got tickets for it weeks before, because it was closed the rest of the time we were in Paris for our visit. 

Day 2 - we had a "Big Bus" pass, so we got on it to take a tour of Paris, and kind of get an overview of what we wanted to go see. 

                                                             

                 

After the big bus tour, we decided to get off at the 

Arc de Triomphe and walk to the top. 

It was a LOT of steps 280... I had to stop frequently because I was out of breath. 

But the views of Paris were so worth it!!!! 

  

 

After we finished on the Arc, we walked around on the Champs D'Elysee, ate at a wonderful sandwich shop there, saw some awesome things, and then walked to the Eiffel Tower area. It was gorgeous, we walked up to a perfect viewing area, and as it got dark, we watched it get all lit up. 

We decided to walk back to our apartment - that was a VERY long walk..  we walked along the Siene the entire way, saw some interesting people, felt a little scared once or twice, but we made it back safely. And we were so hungry after all the walking, we ordered Domino's pizza :) 

Our next day we spent the morning getting to know the public transportation system. We had a great time on the subway, and wandering around Paris. 

That afternoon we headed to the Eiffel Tower where we had tickets to go up to the top. 

I have to say, I have wanted to go to Paris and visit the Eiffel tower since I was very young. It was a dream come true, and I got to do it with the love of my life, my best friend. 

We ate dinner at a nice little restaurant very close to the Eiffel Tower. It was so delicious, and they even had margaritas !

 We rode the bus back to the apartment after, and crashed, we were pretty worn out. 

he next morning we walked around and found a nice little sidewalk cafe to have breakfast at. It was perfect. Then we just sort of wandered around and looked at little shops and things.  

We then went to the Louvre. That was amazing. You would need a full week just to see everything there.  We barely saw anything and we spent hours there. 

Seriously - looks like the Death Star from Star Wars in the upper right corner... Was painted hunderds of years ago. 

We had a wonderful time at the Louvre. 

The next day we went to Versailles. Was a little cloudy and drizzly, but we had a great time. We rode the train from Paris to Versailles. 

The next day - Montemarte!  

We rode the funicular up the hill, and walked back down! 

I have always wanted to see the Moulin Rouge! We also visited Sacré-Cœur. It was absolutely breathtaking. European Cathedrals are just the most beautiful things ever. We had lunch again at a sidewalk cafe. It was so very good!  We also visited the Pantheon after we left Montemarte. 

After we saw the Pantheon, we hopped on a bus to head back to the apartment, and then made a VERY quick visit to the Musee D'Orsay. We only had a little over an hour before they closed, and this was our last full day in Paris. 

Time ran out on us before we saw even a tenth of the museum. We had to leave. 

We left the next day and flew home. 

It was the absolute best vacation I have ever had. Fulfilled my dreams, with the one person I wanted to share it with. My sweet husband. 

Best.   Trip.   Ever.