DRUG REHAB

At some time or other people need help to fight their fears and habits. This can be done with the help of a quanified drug rehab program. Within these programs there are doctors, counselors nurses and the opportunity to make new friends that are looking for the same thing you are. That is freedom from a controlling drug that is runing your life and the life of the ones who love you.

Stonehawk is the place where you can get the experienced help that you need and deserve. Their qualified people can and will get you onto the road of recovery with meetings and followup visits with the doctors and other qualified staff members.

TIME TO THINK

Like I said in my last blog I stuff rag. While I stuff 3000 I have plenty of time to think and think I do. I think of the past present and future. I think a lot of the time my wife, Andie, was in the hospital due to her stroke. She was in the ICU at Northwestern Hospital in Chicago for over a month and then sent to a rehab hospital near the city of Chicago. At this point of what I am going to tell you I want to impress upon you that if you have a loved one in a hospital, rehab hospital or nursing home VISIT OFTEN AND NEVER SHOW UP AT THE SAME TIME. There was a day in November that I showed up early so I could go the therapy with her. When I entered her room she was sitting in a wheelchair, which was fine, and facing a blank wall. The TV was on and there was a large picture window overlooking a park with children playing and cars going by. This upset me. I wheeled her in front of the picture window and her eyes lit up from being able to look outside and see this beautiful park with children having a good time. I pulled up a chair to sit next to her. I don't know if she knew who I was but I gave her a kiss and held her hand until it was time to go to therapy. I let my feelings be known to the nurses and doctor and my wife spent a lot of days looking out of that window.
There are other things that I will share with you at a later time.

STUFFING RAG

As a retired person I try and find things to do. Actually Andie and I were doing this stuffing process before she passed on. It's not actually stuffing rags, it is folding and inserting eyeglass cleaning cloths into a plastic shield with a business card. This is a great job for me because I can sit and watch tv while doing it or take it to the camper and work on them there. Not only that but I make a little extra income from doing this from working at home.

REPLY TO KAREN COMMENT

This just goes to show you how small this world is. I know the scrapbooking store well, I pass it every time I go to Wall-Mart or Kroger. We have been at the campground for 10 years and love it.

WEEKEND AT THE CAMPER

Seeing that it was such a nice weekend I decided that after Mandy's doctor appointment we would go to my camper in Plymouth, Indiana. We arrived about 2:00 in the afternoon, I unloaded the car and put things into the refrig. It was such a beautiful day that I said to myself, self we have done all the work we are going to do today. So I went accorss the street to my neighbors and said hi. An hour later I went back to my camper and made a grocery list, went to the Wal-Mart in town and picked up what I needed. Picked up dinner on the way back, Chicken Ceaser Salad, again put things away and ate. At 8:30 went back across the street where they had a roaring camp fire going and told stories and jokes and caught up on the news from not seeing these folks for six months. It had to about 12:00 when we all parted. I went home and prepared myself for the next days work.

TUESDAY-WEDNESDAY-THURSDAY

After an exciting day at Sea World, Tuesday was a welcome day to relax and the best thing was that the TEMPERATURE WAS 79 degrees. As a matter of fact T W T the temperatures were in the high 70's and mid 80's. Since Billy was going to work on Thursday, he works seven days on and seven days off, he took us to a great steak house in Molton Texas. I was really full when I left there. Thursday again to relax and get ready for our trip home on Friday.

BLOGGERWAVE

There is a new kid on the block and it's name is Bloggerwave. If you are looking for some quick, easy cash this is the place to be. Just sign up take the op and write about this good thing that has happened to the blogger world.

SEA WORLD SAN ANTONIO

The day after Easter was an exciting day for us. We went to Sea World in San Antonio, Texas. We awoke at 7:00 a.m. and were on the road at 8:00. It is just about a 2 hour drive from my daughters home to Sea World which opens at 10:00 a.m., we got there at 10:03. Being as I had purchased our tickets on line, we didn't have to wait in the existing long line to buy tickets. The first thing we did was of course hit the restrooms. The second thing we did was go to a large tank with about 8 dolphins in it. At this tank you could lay on the slanted stone wall and touch the dolphins who would come up to you for that purpose. The kids had a ball touching them. From there it was the Coral Reef, with sharks, stingrays and any other type of fish you could imagine. It was beautiful. Buy the was, since it owned by Budweiser, they have a hospitality house where you can relax and sample their product (2 glasses only), which is a good thing. Can you imagine if they had no limit. From there we went to the Dolphin show being careful not to sit in the "splash zone" seeing it was only 62 degrees out. What a wonderful show. Fast paced, loud music, fancy diving from the all over the theater and amazing tricks by the dolphins. It was a half hour show.
From there on the the big roller coaster (Steel Eel). This is not my kind of ride. Billy, Julie, Spencer and Serena were the brave ones.
The park theme this year is "HONOR OUR HERO'S'. When we went to see Shamu perform, it was very touching what they did. They asked all military personnel, past or present to stand and accept a round of applause. I'm proud to say I was part of the group that stood. Anyway that too was a wonderful show. It's amazing what they can do with those whales. After that we went to the kiddie rides and play park where we spent the rest of the day. At 6:00, which was their closing time, we stopped and bought our memory items (Shamu stuffed animals), went to our vans and headed home with lots of wonderful memories.

EASTER DAY

I was sleeping soundly at 7:15 a.m. when I heard this noise in the kitchen of my daughters house. I went to check it out and here were my grand kids sitting at the kitchen table with five beautifully wrapped Easter baskets sitting in front of them. Each was filled to the brim with toys and candy. Each child sitting there with eyes wide waiting for the command to take off the neatly prepared paper which my daughter Lorri put on so nicely the night before. The word "GO" was given and all heck broke loose. When it ended, all were happy with the contents of their baskets.
Lorri prepared an awesome meal of ham, beef brisket, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes with brown sugar, corn, rolls, green beans and whatever beverage you wanted. I didn't realize, but now that I counted faces, there were 17 people there for dinner. Good job Lorri.
As the sun was setting, it was time to have the egg hunt. Lorri went into the front yard and hid the eggs all over the yard. The video movies I have of this event are priceless. Eggs opened, prizes taken out and with everyone being happy with what they got, it was time to shower and go to bed for an exciting day at Sea World in San Antonio on Monday.

REPLY TO KAREN

Hi Karen. In repl y to your comment. Yes thank God for those wake em up bumps. We are here and are having a wonderful time. Thank you for your concern and comment,.

REPLY TO DANA

Hi Dana: I am so glad to hear from you and know that you enjoy my stories. I can assure you that they are real. We did have a safe trip except when I fell asleep while driving. You can read about that in my blog. Once again thank you for your comment.

ON THE ROAD

Friday morning at 3:15, Julie, Delaney and myself climbed into my van and started our 1234 mile trip to Shiner Texas. It was a pretty sight seeing the sun come up in the east, not a cloud in the sky. In Illinois there isn't much scenery to see because it is mostly flat land, but as we went south and then west it got better. The weather was 33 degrees when we left home and believe it or not it was 39 when we got to our destination in Texas. I did something I have never done before while driving. I FELL ASLEEP!!!!!!. Thank the Lord they have those little ridges along side the road and that jerked me back to reality. I pulled over and Julie drove while I slept for a few hours. We drove straight thru and arrived at my daughters house at approx. 11:30 p.m..

OFF TO TEXAS

In the midst of darkness Julie, Delaney and I will rise from slumber (2:30 a.m.). The car will be packed and ready to go. We will pick Delaney up as she sleeps and carry her to the van and put her into a seat. When she wakes we will be well down the road and she will wonder how she got here. After a quick meal along the road we will put a DVD into the player, a new movie I bought called Charlotte's Web. This is one of Delaney's favorite movies. I bet she will watch it about 10 times before we get to where we are going, a little town known as Shiner.
More of our escapades as time goes by.

FAMILY ARRIVING FROM FLORIDA

My brother-in-law and sister-in-law are stopping by to spend the night before they head for northern Illinois. I wonder how they will enjoy this weather as opposed to the 87 degree temperatures they just came from. When I said enjoy this weather I meant it is cold here 42 degrees. We'll just stay indoors and chat and they can tell me of the experiences at Disney World with their family. They were in Florida for two months to get away from the cold here.
I bet they are glad to be home.

REPLY TO COMMENT FROM KAREN

Hi Karen, I would like to thank you for wishing Andie a Happy Birthday. Even though she is not here, I'm sure she heard those words and appreciated them. Thank you