Catching Up

I finally finished the two posts I had in drafts. See below ("Are you ready for some football" and "El Paso Trip"). Sorry Ricky, I know you have been waiting patiently for the football post. I started writing them in October but hey I have a good excuse for not finishing them until now. One word S H I N G L E S. Yes, Shingles.

I do NOT want to go through what I have been through for the last 8 weeks EVER again! Shingles also called Herpes zoster, or zoster is a painful skin rash caused by the varicella zoster virus (VZV), the same virus that causes varicella or chickenpox. After an individual has chickenpox, this virus lives in the nervous system and is never fully cleared from the body. Anyone who has ever had chickenpox is at risk for the development of shingles, although it occurs most commonly in people over the age of 60. My doctor informed me they can develop at any age. Mine started in my upper right back shoulder and ran down my entire right arm to my hand. The pain was deep down in the nerves. I was beyond crying, I was wailing. Gerald had to rush me to the ER in the middle of the night. I was unable to do anything with my right arm. Gerald had to do everything for me, he should be given a badge of honor for all he did! My sister JoAnne was a big help too. She had to take off from work to take me to my third visit to the doctor, pick up prescriptions and take me to the store. I couldn't of made it through without them. I was in excruiting pain for most of the 8 weeks. The pain began to taper off around week six. I weaned myself off of all the medications (I had seven at one point) except for the pain pills. I didn't know I should of not stopped those "cold turkey". I was taking a strong morphine based narcotic. Practically hours after stopping the drug, I went into withdrawals. I don't know which was worse, the actual shingles or going through withdrawals. At the time I didn't know what was wrong with me. Gerald looked up what I was on and told me "you are going through withdrawals, did you know that what you are going through is worse than a heroin addict going through withdrawals"? Really? Oh great! I now have empathy for a drug addict who has to go through rehab! Praise God that He got me through it and I am pretty much back to normal now, whatever "normal" is. If any of you have had the chickenpox, I encourage you to talk to your doctor about getting the shingles vaccine. Typically the vaccine is for people aged 60 and over but some doctors will give it to you sooner. I am so thankful my pain didn't last longer than it did because some people deal with the post pain for months sometimes even years! A BIG Thank You to sister's JoAnne and Jan and my good friend Anita for checking up on me daily during my ordeal.

Earnest came home for Thanksgiving. He had a whole week off and Gerald took the week off too. It was nice to have them both around because I was at the tail end of my ordeal and still needed help with some things. They were both a big help as we had The Junction boys over for a Thanksgiving luncheon on that Tuesday. Thanksgiving was quiet here, then we had a second Thanksgiving at my sister JoAnne's house on Saturday.

On Friday our nephew Ryan had to have emergency surgery to remove a kidney stone the size of a lima bean. Poor guy, he would of never passed it. Hopefully he is feeling better this week!

Happy Belated Birthday's and Upcoming Birthday's

November: Stephanie (our beautiful sweet niece)

December: Zachary (our very talented track star nephew)
Grandma Yolie (our beautiful step mom and grandma)
Little Miss Maylee-1st Birthday! (our precious little great-niece)

Hope you had and have wonderful birthday's!

Are you ready for some football?

On September 19th we took a nice drive up to Wimberely to watch our youngest nephew Ricky play football against a team from Dripping Springs. Ricky played quarterback this season. When Gerald and I got to the game we took one look at the players warming up on the field and thought we were at the wrong field because the opposing team looked like high school freshmen! Ricky's team mates were a little intimidated when they first saw these guys. For the first few plays the team was a little shaky but once they made some tackles they gained their confidence. As the game went on it was like watching David vs Goliath! Ricky's team kicked butt! They wore down the big guys and in the end they won! The game was tied at zero but in the last few seconds of the game Ricky saw an opening and ran the ball in for the winning touchdown! Yay Ricky! I was down on the sidelines taking pictures and when I realized what was happening I dropped the camera (it was on a strap around my neck so no I didn't break it) and cheered Ricky on to his touchdown. I was so bummed that in all the excitement I didn't get a picture of the touchdown...Yay Rangers!

Ricky #40 AFTER the winning touchdown!

Nephew Randy did awesome this season! He played for Smithson Valley Middle School as safety on defense and receiver on offense. I was at the last game which was for district and it was exciting to say the least! In the end they won...Yay Mustags District Champions! Randy ended his season with a total of 5 touchdowns, a forced fumble, scooped up a fumble by the opposing team and ran it in for a touchdown and had several tackles for the year! Way to go Randy!

Randy #11 on the end

Earnest finished up his first season at Sul Ross on November 14th. He had an awesome year! He started in every game as a defensive linebacker. He finished #3 defensive player for the team, he placed 10th out of over 50 in conference for tackles, he was one of four freshmen nominated by the coaches in his conference for freshman of the year (a kid from Mary Hardin-Baylor won), and he was one of five freshman named to the conference honorable mention list! Way to go Earnest!

Earnest #11 Homecoming with team mates

El Paso Trip

In September we went to El Paso to visit dad and Yolanda and to watch Earnest play. Sul Ross had a non-conference game on the 12th. Sadly they lost, but played a great game. Earnest played pretty much the whole game with the exception of a much needed break after he ran approx. 60 yds. to tackle the receiver just before the goal line! We had a great time watching him play!

Gerald, Dad, Earnest, Yolanda

One of the things I miss about El Paso are the mountains. I forget how much I miss them until I see them again...

View from Dad and Yolanda's house

An unexpected surprise happened when Gerald and I rolled into town. We took a little drive through our old neighborhood before getting to dad and Yolanda's. We were driving down a street that some dear friends live on. We were looking for their old house. Now let me back up and explain that they had in recent years moved to another house on the same street but we did not know where it was. Anyways, right about the time we found their old house Gerald says "I wonder where their new house is?". I look over and about 2 houses down on the other side of the street there stood Len and Judy in their driveway! Now what were the odds of us driving down their street at just the time that they would be out in their driveway? Boy were we so glad to see them! They invited us in and we had a wonderful visit!

On our way home we stopped at Balmorhea State Park. Gerald hadn't been there in 40 years and I had never been. It was a nice relaxing trip!

July and August?

So what happened to July and August?

A teenager moved in for the summer. That should be a clue of where the time went! As many of you know, Gerald and I are respite foster parents. A young man we have known for 4 1/2 years through the foster program needed a place to stay until he started college. He stayed with us and we helped him get ready for college, got him to Freshman Orientation and moved him into his dorm. He is attending Sul Ross University in Alpine, Texas and is a defensive linebacker for the football team. Go Lobos!

"Packed up and ready for college"

His name is Earnest Jones and he and his siblings came to the area via Hurricane Katrina. Earnest has a great story to share and has been featured in numerous local news stories. Among other things he rescued a nine month pregnant lady and her little one from drowning that he spotted from the top floor of an apartment building. Once he got her to safety, he made sure the helicopters saw that she needed to be airlifted out. He survived his time at the Superdome and hitchhiked all the way to Oklahoma searching for the family he'd been separated from. Finally after 3 months of searching, he was re-united with his mom and siblings in San Antonio. All of this at the age of 14!

He attended Boerne High School and was a star football player and was also on the track team. He was co-captain of the football team, a member of the national honor society, a special olympic coach, homecoming king, and on and on. Unfortunately during the third district game his senior year he was hit and tore his ACL. He was out for the rest of the season. He had surgery last fall and went through 9 months of rehab. He worked hard all summer to get ready to play. His wish is to be picked up by a Division I college. After attending his second freshman practice, Earnest was bumped up to practice with the upper classmen. They have played 2 non-conference games thus far and he played almost the entire game each time. Presently he is #3 defensive player on the team stats with 13 tackles for 2 games! He is 6ft. 230 pounds and can squat 700 pounds!

He is well liked in the community and I can't go anywhere without someone coming up to me and asking how Earnest is doing. He is one of the finest young men you could ever meet. We are very proud of him and he was such a joy to have around. We have no doubts he will go far! So don't forget the name, Earnest Jones!

A few of our summer highlights:

-Teri, nephew David and Rich came for a visit. David and Rich did the Six Flags and Schlitterbahn thing, it was great fun!

Rich, Earnest and David

Rich, David, Teri and Me

-We were invited to tour the new Dallas Cowboy stadium and watched the Paul McCartney concert from a private suite!

-I attended a rug hooking workshop in Fredericksburg.

-The Junction boys came over for a luncheon, which they planned, shopped and prepared themselves.

Happy Belated and Upcoming Birthdays!

July: Rebecca and Samantha-our cutie pie niece's

August: Clint-our talented nephew in-law

Gary-Gerald's "older" brother

September: Ruben-brother in-law

Jimmy-our very smart nephew
Teri-sister in-law
Ricky-our football star nephew
Katie-our beautiful niece
Amy- sister in-law

Hope you all had and have wonderful birthdays!

Gaston's White River Resort

Gerald just got back from a pre-bid meeting in Bull Shoals, Arkansas. They will be bidding on some work that needs to be done on the dam. While there he discovered the Visitors Center in Bull Shoals is named after a James A. Gaston...no relation...we think...well, you never know...we should research the family tree. James also known as Jim Gaston owns a top rated fishing resort on the White River. Gerald took a side trip to check it out and was impressed with the resort. He got a kick out of finding out the resort was established in 1958, the same year he was born so of course he had to buy a hat and t-shirt that said "Gaston's White River Resort Est. 1958". He can't wait to get back to the White River area to do some trout fishing even if they don't get this job! :O)

If you like trout fishing check out their website: http://www.gastons.com/

"Tea-rrific"

Last week I posted my "mission impossible" to make a tea party hat...here is how it turned out:

I think it turned out half way decent...I had fun making it!

The food and tea were delicious and it was fun getting dressed up...all the ladies looked beautiful! Phyllis sure put together a wonderful tea party...I had a "tea-rrific" time!

Mission Impossible?

My mission...if I choose to accept it...is to transform all of this...

...into a victorian tea party hat by Monday! I will be attending a friend's tea party Monday morning and I want to make my own hat. I found a cute dress on the sale rack yesterday and the stuff to make the hat was half price at Michael's. So here is the outfit I will be wearing...

Wish me luck! I will post a picture of my finished hat, good or bad. This post will self destruct in 5 seconds...5...4...3...2...1... :O)

Happy Birthday!

June 5: Jan & JoAnne (my sisters)

June 9: Lizzy (our beautiful niece)

We hope you all had wonderful birthdays!

We love you!

Let's see...

...in the last two weeks we:

1. The Castillo's stayed with us while here for our nephew Ryan's graduation (May 30th).
2. Hosted Ryan's graduation party.
3. The Gaston's came for a visit.
4. Hosted an "end of school year" party for The Junction boys.

Let's start with Ryan's graduation...

My sister Jan, husband Ted and all the kids, Jimmy, Cassondra, Zach and Rebecca along with Cassondra's boyfriend Pete came to stay with us during Ryan's graduation weekend. We enjoyed having them here and they all were a HUGE help preparing for the party. My dad ("Pops") and Yolanda ("Grandma Yolie") came in from El Paso and stayed with my step-sister Sylvia who lives here. My step-brother Joe, wife Amy and our nieces Sydney and Sammy came down from Dallas and stayed with my sister JoAnne and brother-in-law Ruben. This was the first time in many years that all of us were together in one place! As you can see from the picture, my dad and Yolanda have quite the crew! The graduation party was attended by 100 family and friends! It turned out to be a beautiful night despite a brief thunderstorm that decided to park itself right above us just as we finished setting the tables.

Congratulations Ryan we are all very proud of you!

Good luck with your new job this summer and at A&M in the fall!

Proud Parents!

Dad & Yolanda's Clan!

This past weekend Gerald's brother Gary, nieces Stephanie, Katie, Lizzy and nephew David along with Stephanie's boyfriend Jason and David's friend Rich came for a visit. We had a great time! We were bummed that our niece Larissa, husband Clint and little Miss Maylee were unable to make it. Maylee is teething and was running a little fever so Clint and Larissa felt it best not to make the four hour drive with a teething baby...I don't blame them! Also, our niece Ashleigh and her boyfriend Matt were away on a cruise and could not come. On Saturday we went to the Riverwalk and did the touristo thing and later took the kids down to our homeowners park to swim in the river. They had a great time! We also enjoyed hearing Gerald and Gary's funny stories. They had us all laughing. Our nieces and nephew got to hear some great stories and learned some new things about their dad and uncle! ;O)

Katie & Lizzy

Stephanie & Jason

David, Lizzy, Gerald, Me, Gary, Rich

Sunday morning Stephanie, Katie and Jason headed home and Gary, Lizzy, David and Rich stayed to help us get ready for The Junction party. I don't know what we would of done without all of their help! We also had help from our good friends Carol and Troy along with the Walters family, Marcus, Katrinaa, Evan and Lilly! We rented a dunking tank, sno cone machine and had water balloon fights. Gerald cooked up a huge batch of the famous "Gaston Tacos", yummy! The boys requested the dunking tank so they could dunk the staff. It was so much fun! Everyone enjoyed the dunking tank but I think Gerald enjoyed dunking me a little TOO much! How odd, I seemed to be the target for many of the water balloons!

Lizzy & Gary getting the tacos ready!

Gerald & Troy cookin' up the tacos!


Gerald trying his darndest to hit the target...after several attempts...he missed...

...and resorted to cheating!

(click on the pictures so you can see up close what a BIG cheater he is!)

...so that's what's been happin' around the Rockin' G & B lately. We enjoyed our break from working on the place...fun and games are over and now it's time to get back to

work on The Western Town!

The Return of "Pepe"

In an earlier post ("Oh Deer!") I wrote about my little friend Pepe Le Pew. This morning I fed all the critters, came in to get second cup of coffee, and went back outside to water the plants. Guess who I smelled when I opened the door? Yup, Pepe Le Pew. He's somewhere in the vicinity. He's either attracted to Pussycat's food or still looking for Penelope Pussycat...

Huh? 610?

Most of you know I am VERY low-tech with this blogging thing. Let's just say I'm not the sharpest tool in the blogger shed. I still struggle with some of this stuff. Well yesterday I somehow stumbled on our blog stats and imagine my surprise when I saw that we had 610 "profile views". I didn't realize there was a "profile view" counter.

HUH? Are you kidding me? At first I thought I saw 61 but when I took a second look it was indeed 610. I really don't think 610 different people have viewed our profile. I have concluded it must be that all 3 of you who read our blog have checked out our profile 203.33333 times or maybe at the most 5 of you have checked it out 122 times...what other explanation is there? Oh wait...make that 640 profile views, who are you people?

New Twist on Tuna Casserole

Last night I had to come up with something for dinner. Our pantry is a little on the bare side as I am in desperate need of a grocery run. I took what I had on hand...

...and I came up with what I call "Tuna Casserole Ole". I am not a big Tuna Casserole fan, but I must say this came out pretty tasty! Gerald loved it. Give it a try, it is quick and yummy! Drop me a comment if you make it and tell me what you thought of it. As most of you know, I don't measure, so these are approximate measurements. Adios for now, I'm off to buy vittles...

Tuna Casserole Ole

1 1/2 cups elbow or egg noodles
4 0z Velveeta cheese or 4 slices American cheese or cheddar cheese
1 can tuna, drained
1 can cream of mushroom or cream of celery
1 can Rotel tomatoes
1/2 - 1 cup chopped onions
1 cup frozen peas, or mixed vegetables
1/2 cup crushed tortilla chips

Heat oven to 350. Cook noodles and drain. In the same pot add cheese sir until melted (the heat from the noodles will melt the cheese without putting it back on the heat). Add the next 5 ingredients and mix well. Spoon into a greased casserole dish and top with crushed tortilla chips. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until heated through. Serve with a salad. Serves 6.

Oh Deer!

Woke up this morning to the STRONG smell of "Pepe Le Pew" AND found that our deer friends had helped themselves to a geranium feast. My two favorite geraniums were reduced to stalks sometime during the night or early morning. Oh well...that's what I get for moving them within deer reach! Hopefully they will grow back quick with the help of "Miracle Grow".

As for "Pepe Le Pew", hopefully he moved on to look for his girlfriend "Penelope Pussycat" elsewhere because my kitty kat girls will kick his butt! By the way, for those of you too young to remember, there was a Looney Tunes cartoon (waaaay back when) about a french skunk (Pepe Le Pew) who wanted Penelope Pussycat for his girlfriend but his odor among other things offended her.



"BEFORE"



"AFTER"

A Little...

...behind on the blog.

Here's the latest:

We took a quick and I mean quick trip to Oklahoma for a surprise party the weekend of April 25th. The party was for our dear friend Spence one of Gerald's old Coast Guard buddies. We have known Susie and Spence for 30 years and they are like family to us. Gerald and Spence were stationed together in Owensboro, KY and Kodiak, AK.

Part of the fun was seeing Susie and Spence's two kids, Kristy and Jake. We hadn't seen them in 20+ years. It was hard to believe the cute little 5 year old girl we last saw was now all grown up and married. Kristy and Josh have been married 5 years and they have two beautiful little boys. Jake was around 2 the last time we saw him and he has turned into a fine young man! He is super sweet and still a cutie patutie!

Another highlight of the party was getting to see our old Coastie friends Bob and Joe. They were also stationed in Owensboro with Gerald. We had the pleasure of seeing Bob this past year but the last time we saw Joe was 30 years ago! It was a joy to catch up with him and meet his wonderful wife Carrie. I am working on a slide show of our trip and will post it as soon as I finish it.

Oklahoma has toll roads. We're not used to toll roads. Spence had told us it would cost approx. $4.50 to take the highway we wanted to head out on. Well it didn't cost us $4.50, it wound up costing us a little over $50.00! Why so much? Because...because...well because we had to stop and feed a few slot machines before crossing the state line. Geez, $50 up in smoke in less than half an hour. We were ahead at one point. Like the saying goes, "should of stopped while we were ahead"! ;o) It was fun.

We had hoped to stop in Fort Worth on the way up or way down to visit familia, but because of the drive time and Gerald needing to get back, we weren't able to swing it. :O(

Last week I had the joy of hosting our monthly Bunco group. It was our end of year party and it was so much fun. We will take the summer off and then start back up in the fall.

My sister JoAnne and I are busy getting ready for Ryan's graduation. We are hosting his celebration party here on the 30th so there is much to do. Mucho family and friends will be attending, we look forward to seeing everyone!

As always, we continue to work on the place on the weekends. Yesterday we finished putting the last of the porch railing on. Gerald planted two more trees and did lots of yard work. Inch by inch we are getting closer to being done.

Little Helper

The saturday before Easter we finished putting up the shelves for my cookbooks and installed the desk. Well Snicker's (a.k.a "Snicker Doodles") thinks we built the desk JUST for him as this is his new favorite place to sleep and look out the window. Whenever we sit at the computer he is right there to help out with the mouse or just lounge around! I think he was inspired by the card that is sitting on the desk behind him. It is a picture of a cat in sunglasses lounging on the beach with a drink. I hope he doesn't expect us to bring him a drink everytime he lounges on the desk or ask for sunglasses because the lamp is too bright for his eyes!!

"I'm not spoiled, well...maybe just a little...and quit already with that camera, I'm tryin' to get some sleep here!"

Easter Weekend

Hoping all of you had a very blessed Easter!

We had the great pleasure of hosting Easter here for family and friends. There were 25 of us, most of which were kids...the boys outnumbered the girls (11 boys & 3 girls). Over 300 eggs were hid...yes, 300 eggs!! Don't you know we will be finding little lost eggs over the next year! I spotted one in our fence coming home from the store yesterday! :O)

Everyone gathering to greet each another...

Taking a break from playing Lacrosse...

Ryan, his girlfriend Jessy & Heather...

Checking out the loot..

...and more loot. Just a few of the 300 eggs!

Update on Projects

Here's what's been happening at the ole "Rockin' G & B" for the past two weeks:

-Installed underground propane tank, along with electric and water lines for landscaping:
"Buddy inspecting the buried tank"

-Yay! No more plywood counter tops! We had our counter tops done last week. It took them 6 days to complete. It was quite an interesting process. After going back and forth between granite or poured concrete, we decided on the concrete with hand chiseled edges. Next, Gerald will be installing the natural stone back splash.

Below are before, during and after pictures. We changed out the stainless faucet to a black one.

-Dirt, crushed granite and trees delivered last week to continue with the landscaping project. Gerald and Rafa worked hard this past weekend digging holes, moving heavy rocks, etc. They planted five cedar elms and four live oaks.

Planting trees...

...and more trees.

I'm not quite sure who received the most abuse through all this...the tractor or Gerald. You be the judge...by the way, Gerald did not receive his boo boo from operating heavy equipment, moving big rocks or wrestling with the tractor. Oh no, he was too careful with all of that, it was from a sheet of plywood that slipped when he was moving it, ouch!

WARNING!

The following pictures may not be suitable for young children or the squeamish!

Look at them at your own risk! We are not responsible for vomiting!

Puncture wound to the tire...and broken bracket (on order)...see how Gerald repaired it temporarily with a chain? It didn't work too well. Also, the tractor was dead for one day...don't ask, that is a whole other story!

Gerald's boo boo...broken toe & bruised foot...yuck!

That's it for now...I have to go throw up...looking at that foot does it to me everytime. Seriously!

Ryan's Bedroom Makeover

Well it took me over 3 hours to figure this video thingy out (I know too much time on my hands) so here is my first attempt at making a slide show, turn up the volume. Also, I am still figuring out the new camera, the color of the walls is a rich gray color not light blue. I suppose I could of taken the time to edit the pictures by adjusting the color and contrast but I wanted to get this on the blog.

JoAnne and I did this total bedroom makeover while Ryan was away on spring break. JoAnne stayed up until 1 a.m. painting on the second day. I must say I was very impressed with her paint job, she did not tape off anything and there was NO paint on any of the trim work! WOW now that's a pro for you! I wish we would of taken "before" pictures. Just to give you an idea, the wall behind the bed was Texas Longhorn burnt orange and the other walls were a tan color. He did not have a headboard so it is new along with all the other furniture. Ryan has become quite an artist so the four small pictures are his original art (two eyes and two hands). The two blank canvases on the wall above the chairs are for him to create artwork for his walls.

He was surprised to say the least!

Look what Brenda Got!

What a wonderful husband I have! Look what he bought me for my birthday! Sunday was my birthday and Saturday Gerald took me to pick out a new camera. I have been wanting one for some time now. The little digital camera I had been using was on it's last leg and I was becoming more frustrated with it. Thanks Gerald!!!

We had a great weekend, sister JoAnne, Ruben and the boys had us over for dinner on Saturday to celebrate all the March birthdays (nephew Randy, Gerald and me) and Ryan's girlfriend Jessie whose birthday is this week.


Ryan got home Saturday just before dinner and we surprised him with a total bedroom makeover that we worked on while he was away for spring break. I will write about it in a separate post.

Also, they started on our concrete countertops yesterday and we are having 9 trees planted today out in our landscaping project. You know I have been taking bunches of pictures and will get them on here in the next few posts.